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

    Byron, Marino Faliero, IV.ii.230-35.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Bathes in deep joy, the land and sea."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"No see moccasin," said Hist, impatiently "why no look--and see him."

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

Hurry had lowered the sail, and by this time the Ark was within two
hundred yards of the castle, setting in, nearer and nearer, each moment,
but at a rate too slow to excite any uneasiness. Each now took the glass
in turn, and the castle, and every thing near it, was subjected to a
scrutiny still more rigid than ever. There the moccasin lay, beyond a
question, floating so lightly, and preserving its form so well, that it
was scarcely wet. It had caught by a piece of the rough bark of one of
the piles, on the exterior of the water-palisade that formed the dock
already mentioned, which circumstance alone prevented it from drifting
away before the air. There were many modes, however, of accounting for
the presence of the moccasin, without supposing it to have been dropped
by an enemy. It might have fallen from the platform, even while Hutter
was in possession of the place, and drifted to the spot where it was now
seen, remaining unnoticed until detected by the acute vision of Hist.
It might have drifted from a distance, up or down the lake, and
accidentally become attached to the pile, or palisade. It might have
been thrown from a window, and alighted in that particular place; or it
might certainly have fallen from a scout, or an assailant, during the
past night, who was obliged to abandon it to the lake, in the deep
obscurity which then prevailed.

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

"Well then, Delaware, go yourself if you're so tender of your squaw,"
put in the unceremonious Hurry. "That moccasin must be had, or Floating
Tom will keep off, here, at arm's length, till the hearth cools in his
cabin. It's but a little deerskin, a'ter all, and cut this-a-way or
that-a-way, it's not a skear-crow to frighten true hunters from their
game. What say you, Sarpent, shall you or I canoe it?"

"Let red man go.--Better eyes than pale-face--know Huron trick better,
too."

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

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

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

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

The Delaware was now greatly at a loss how to proceed. At one moment, as
he came round in front of the castle, he was on the point of stepping up
on the platform and of applying his eye to one of the loops, with a view
of taking a direct personal inspection of the state of things within;
but he hesitated. Though of little experience in such matters, himself,
he had heard so much of Indian artifices through traditions, had
listened with such breathless interest to the narration of the escapes
of the elder warriors, and, in short, was so well schooled in the theory
of his calling, that it was almost as impossible for him to make
any gross blunder on such an occasion, as it was for a well grounded
scholar, who had commenced correctly, to fail in solving his problem in
mathematics. Relinquishing the momentary intention to land, the chief
slowly pursued his course round the palisades. As he approached the
moccasin, having now nearly completed the circuit of the building, he
threw the ominous article into the canoe, by a dexterous and almost
imperceptible movement of his paddle. He was now ready to depart, but
retreat was even more dangerous than the approach, as the eye could
no longer be riveted on the loops. If there was really any one in the
castle, the motive of the Delaware in reconnoitering must be understood,
and it was the wisest way, however perilous it might be, to retire
with an air of confidence, as if all distrust were terminated by the
examination. Such, accordingly, was the course adopted by the Indian,
who paddled deliberately away, taking the direction of the Ark,
suffering no nervous impulse to quicken the motions of his arms, or to
induce him to turn even a furtive glance behind him.

No tender wife, reared in the refinements of the highest civilization,
ever met a husband on his return from the field with more of sensibility
in her countenance than Hist discovered, as she saw the Great Serpent
of the Delawares step, unharmed, into the Ark. Still she repressed her
emotion, though the joy that sparkled in her dark eyes, and the smile
that lighted her pretty mouth, spoke a language that her betrothed could
understand.

"Well, Sarpent," cried Hurry, always the first to speak, "what news
from the muskrats? Did they shew their teeth, as you surrounded their
dwelling?"

"I no like him," sententiously returned the Delaware. "Too still. So
still, can see silence!"

"That's downright Injin--as if any thing could make less noise than
nothing! If you've no better reason than this to give, old Tom had
better hoist his sail, and go and get his breakfast under his own roof.
What has become of the moccasin?"

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

Under the circumstances, Hutter and Hurry were not men to be long
deterred from proceeding by proofs as slight as that of the moccasin.
They hoisted the sail again, and the Ark was soon in motion, heading
towards the castle. The wind or air continued light, and the movement
was sufficiently slow to allow of a deliberate survey of the building,
as the scow approached. The same death-like silence reigned, and it was
difficult to fancy that any thing possessing animal life could be in
or around the place. Unlike the Serpent, whose imagination had acted
through his traditions until he was ready to perceive an artificial,
in a natural stillness, the others saw nothing to apprehend in a
tranquility that, in truth, merely denoted the repose of inanimate
objects. The accessories of the scene, too, were soothing and calm,
rather than exciting. The day had not yet advanced so far as to bring
the sun above the horizon, but the heavens, the atmosphere, and the
woods and lake were all seen under that softened light which immediately
precedes his appearance, and which perhaps is the most witching period
of the four and twenty hours. It is the moment when every thing is
distinct, even the atmosphere seeming to possess a liquid lucidity, the
hues appearing gray and softened, with the outlines of objects defined,
and the perspective just as moral truths that are presented in their
simplicity, without the meretricious aids of ornament or glitter. In a
word, it is the moment when the senses seem to recover their powers, in
the simplest and most accurate forms, like the mind emerging from the
obscurity of doubts into the tranquility and peace of demonstration.
Most of the influence that such a scene is apt to produce on those who
are properly constituted in a moral sense, was lost on Hutter and
Hurry; but both the Delawares, though too much accustomed to witness
the loveliness of morning-tide to stop to analyze their feelings, were
equally sensible of the beauties of the hour, though it was probably in
a way unknown to themselves. It disposed the young warrior to peace, and
never had he felt less longings for the glory of the combat, than when
he joined Hist in the cabin, the instant the scow rubbed against the
side of the platform. From the indulgence of such gentle emotions,
however, he was aroused by a rude summons from Hurry, who called on him
to come forth and help to take in the sail, and to secure the Ark.

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

In consequence of this change in the position of the scow, which was
effected before Hutter had succeeded in opening the gate of his dock,
the Ark and the Castle lay, as sailors would express it, yard-arm and
yard-arm, kept asunder some ten or twelve feet by means of the piles. As
the scow pressed close against the latter, their tops formed a species
of breast work that rose to the height of a man's head, covering in
a certain degree the parts of the scow that were not protected by the
cabin. The Delaware surveyed this arrangement with great satisfaction
and, as the canoe of Hutter passed through the gate into the dock, he
thought that he might defend his position against any garrison in the
castle, for a sufficient time, could he but have had the helping arm of
his friend Deerslayer. As it was, he felt comparatively secure, and
no longer suffered the keen apprehensions he had lately experienced in
behalf of Hist.

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

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

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

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

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

All this while the furious struggle continued within the house. In
scenes like these, events thicken in less time than they can be related.
From the moment when the first fall was heard within the building to
that when the Delaware ceased his awkward attempts to row, it might have
been three or four minutes, but it had evidently served to weaken the
combatants. The oaths and execrations of Hurry were no longer heard, and
even the struggles had lost some of their force and fury. Nevertheless
they still continued with unabated perseverance. At this instant the
door flew open, and the fight was transferred to the platform, the light
and the open air. A Huron had undone the fastenings of the door, and
three or four of his tribe rushed after him upon the narrow space, as
if glad to escape from some terrible scene within. The body of another
followed, pitched headlong through the door with terrific violence. Then
March appeared, raging like a lion at bay, and for an instant freed from
his numerous enemies. Hutter was already a captive and bound. There was
now a pause in the struggle, which resembled a lull in a tempest. The
necessity of breathing was common to all, and the combatants stood
watching each other, like mastiffs that have been driven from their
holds, and are waiting for a favorable opportunity of renewing them. We
shall profit by this pause to relate the manner in which the Indians had
obtained possession of the castle, and this the more willingly because
it may be necessary to explain to the reader why a conflict which
had been so close and fierce, should have also been so comparatively
bloodless.

Rivenoak and his companion, particularly the latter who had appeared to
be a subordinate and occupied solely with his raft, had made the closest
observations in their visits to the castle. Even the boy had brought
away minute and valuable information. By these means the Hurons obtained
a general idea of the manner in which the place was constructed and
secured, as well as of details that enabled them to act intelligently in
the dark. Notwithstanding the care that Hutter had taken to drop the Ark
on the east side of the building when he was in the act of transferring
the furniture from the former to the latter, he had been watched in a
way to render the precaution useless. Scouts were on the look-out on
the eastern as well as on the western shore of the lake, and the whole
proceeding had been noted. As soon as it was dark, rafts like that
already described approached from both shores to reconnoitre, and
the Ark had passed within fifty feet of one of them without its being
discovered; the men it held lying at their length on the logs, so as
to blend themselves and their slow moving machine with the water. When
these two sets of adventurers drew near the castle they encountered
each other, and after communicating their respective observations, they
unhesitatingly approached the building. As had been expected, it was
found empty. The rafts were immediately sent for a reinforcement to the
shore, and two of the savages remained to profit by their situation.
These men succeeded in getting on the roof, and by removing some of the
bark, in entering what might be termed the garret. Here they were found
by their companions. Hatchets now opened a hole through the squared
logs of the upper floor, through which no less than eight of the most
athletic of the Indians dropped into the rooms beneath. Here they were
left, well supplied with arms and provisions, either to stand a siege,
or to make a sortie, as the case might require. The night was passed in
sleep, as is usual with Indians in a state of inactivity. The returning
day brought them a view of the approach of the Ark through the loops,
the only manner in which light and air were now admitted, the windows
being closed most effectually with plank, rudely fashioned to fit. As
soon as it was ascertained that the two white men were about to enter by
the trap, the chief who directed the proceedings of the Hurons took his
measures accordingly. He removed all the arms from his own people, even
to the knives, in distrust of savage ferocity when awakened by personal
injuries, and he hid them where they could not be found without a
search. Ropes of bark were then prepared, and taking their stations in
the three different rooms, they all waited for the signal to fall upon
their intended captives. As soon as the party had entered the building,
men without replaced the bark of the roof, removed every sign of their
visit, with care, and then departed for the shore. It was one of these
who had dropped his moccasin, which he had not been able to find again
in the dark. Had the death of the girl been known, it is probable
nothing could have saved the lives of Hurry and Hutter, but that event
occurred after the ambush was laid, and at a distance of several miles
from the encampment near the castle. Such were the means that had been
employed to produce the state of things we shall continue to describe.




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

    Robert Burns, "It was a' for our Rightfu' King," II.  7-12.

The last chapter we left the combatants breathing in their narrow lists.
Accustomed to the rude sports of wrestling and jumping, then so common
in America, more especially on the frontiers, Hurry possessed an
advantage, in addition to his prodigious strength, that had rendered the
struggle less unequal than it might otherwise appear to be. This alone
had enabled him to hold out so long, against so many enemies, for the
Indian is by no means remarkable for his skill, or force, in athletic
exercises. As yet, no one had been seriously hurt, though several of the
savages had received severe falls, and he, in particular, who had been
thrown bodily upon the platform, might be said to be temporarily hors
de combat. Some of the rest were limping, and March himself had not
entirely escaped from bruises, though want of breath was the principal
loss that both sides wished to repair.

Under circumstances like those in which the parties were placed, a
truce, let it come from what cause it might, could not well be of long
continuance. The arena was too confined, and the distrust of treachery
too great, to admit of this. Contrary to what might be expected in his
situation, Hurry was the first to recommence hostilities. Whether this
proceeded from policy, an idea that he might gain some advantage by
making a sudden and unexpected assault, or was the fruit of irritation
and his undying hatred of an Indian, it is impossible to say. His onset
was furious, however, and at first it carried all before it. He seized
the nearest Huron by the waist, raised him entirely from the platform,
and hurled him into the water, as if he had been a child. In half a
minute, two more were at his side, one of whom received a grave injury
by the friend who had just preceded him. But four enemies remained, and,
in a hand to hand conflict, in which no arms were used but those which
nature had furnished, Hurry believed himself fully able to cope with
that number of red-skins.

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

Hurry first attempted to throw his antagonist. With this view he seized
him by the throat, and an arm, and tripped with the quickness and
force of an American borderer. The effect was frustrated by the agile
movements of the Huron, who had clothes to grasp by, and whose feet
avoided the attempt with a nimbleness equal to that with which it was
made. Then followed a sort of melee, if such a term can be applied to
a struggle between two in which no efforts were strictly visible,
the limbs and bodies of the combatants assuming so many attitudes and
contortions as to defeat observation. This confused but fierce rally
lasted less than a minute, however; when, Hurry, furious at having
his strength baffled by the agility and nakedness of his foe, made
a desperate effort, which sent the Huron from him, hurling his body
violently against the logs of the hut. The concussion was so great as
momentarily to confuse the latter's faculties. The pain, too, extorted
a deep groan; an unusual concession to agony to escape a red man in
the heat of battle. Still he rushed forward again to meet his enemy,
conscious that his safety rested on it's resolution. Hurry now seized
the other by the waist, raised him bodily from the platform, and fell
with his own great weight on the form beneath. This additional shock
so stunned the sufferer, that his gigantic white opponent now had him
completely at his mercy. Passing his hands around the throat of his
victim, he compressed them with the strength of a vice, fairly doubling
the head of the Huron over the edge of the platform, until the chin was
uppermost, with the infernal strength he expended. An instant sufficed
to show the consequences. The eyes of the sufferer seemed to start
forward, his tongue protruded, and his nostrils dilated nearly to
splitting. At this instant a rope of bark, having an eye, was passed
dexterously within the two arms of Hurry, the end threaded the eye,
forming a noose, and his elbows were drawn together behind his
back, with a power that all his gigantic strength could not resist.
Reluctantly, even under such circumstances, did the exasperated borderer
see his hands drawn from their deadly grasp, for all the evil passions
were then in the ascendant. Almost at the same instant a similar
fastening secured his ankles, and his body was rolled to the centre of
the platform as helplessly, and as cavalierly, as if it were a log of
wood. His rescued antagonist, however, did not rise, for while he began
again to breathe, his head still hung helplessly over the edge of the
logs, and it was thought at first that his neck was dislocated. He
recovered gradually only, and it was hours before he could walk. Some
fancied that neither his body, nor his mind, ever totally recovered from
this near approach to death.

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

Chingachgook and his betrothed witnessed the whole of this struggle from
the Ark. When the three Hurons were about to pass the cords around the
arms of the prostrate Hurry the Delaware sought his rifle, but, before
he could use it the white man was bound and the mischief was done. He
might still bring down an enemy, but to obtain the scalp was impossible,
and the young chief, who would so freely risk his own life to obtain
such a trophy, hesitated about taking that of a foe without such an
object in view. A glance at Hist, and the recollection of what might
follow, checked any transient wish for revenge. The reader has been told
that Chingachgook could scarcely be said to know how to manage the oars
of the Ark at all, however expert he might be in the use of the paddle.
Perhaps there is no manual labor at which men are so bungling and
awkward, as in their first attempts to pull oar, even the experienced
mariner, or boat man, breaking down in his efforts to figure with the
celebrated rullock of the gondolier. In short it is, temporarily, an
impracticable thing for a new beginner to succeed with a single oar, but
in this case it was necessary to handle two at the same time, and those
of great size. Sweeps, or large oars, however, are sooner rendered of
use by the raw hand than lighter implements, and this was the reason
that the Delaware had succeeded in moving the Ark as well as he did in a
first trial. That trial, notwithstanding, sufficed to produce distrust,
and he was fully aware of the critical situation in which Hist and
himself were now placed, should the Hurons take to the canoe that was
still lying beneath the trap, and come against them. At the moment he
thought of putting Hist into the canoe in his own possession, and of
taking to the eastern mountain in the hope of reaching the Delaware
villages by direct flight. But many considerations suggested themselves
to put a stop to this indiscreet step. It was almost certain that scouts
watched the lake on both sides, and no canoe could possibly approach
shore without being seen from the hills. Then a trail could not be
concealed from Indian eyes, and the strength of Hist was unequal to
a flight sufficiently sustained to outstrip the pursuit of trained
warriors. This was a part of America in which the Indians did not know
the use of horses, and everything would depend on the physical energies
of the fugitives. Last, but far from being least, were the thoughts
connected with the situation of Deerslayer, a friend who was not to be
deserted in his extremity.

Hist in some particulars reasoned, and even felt, differently though she
arrived at the same conclusions. Her own anger disturbed her less than
her concern for the two sisters, on whose behalf her womanly sympathies
were now strongly enlisted. The canoe of the girls, by the time the
struggle on the platform had ceased, was within three hundred yards of
the castle, and here Judith ceased paddling, the evidences of strife
first becoming apparent to the eyes. She and Hetty were standing erect,
anxiously endeavoring to ascertain what had occurred, but unable to
satisfy their doubts from the circumstance that the building, in a great
measure, concealed the scene of action.

The parties in the Ark, and in the canoe, were indebted to the ferocity
of Hurry's attack for their momentary security. In any ordinary case,
the girls would have been immediately captured, a measure easy of
execution now the savages had a canoe, were it not for the rude check
the audacity of the Hurons had received in the recent struggle. It
required some little time to recover from the effects of this violent
scene, and this so much the more, because the principal man of the
party, in the way of personal prowess at least, had been so great a
sufferer. Still it was of the last importance that Judith and her sister
should seek immediate refuge in the Ark, where the defences offered a
temporary shelter at least, and the first step was to devise the means
of inducing them to do so. Hist showed herself in the stern of the scow,
and made many gestures and signs, in vain, in order to induce the girls
to make a circuit to avoid the Castle, and to approach the Ark from
the eastward. But these signs were distrusted or misunderstood. It is
probable Judith was not yet sufficiently aware of the real state of
things to put full confidence in either party. Instead of doing as
desired, she rather kept more aloof, paddling slowly back to the north,
or into the broadest part of the lake, where she could command the
widest view, and had the fairest field for flight before her. At
this instant the sun appeared above the pines of the eastern range of
mountains and a light southerly breeze arose, as was usual enough at
that season and hour. Chingachgook lost no time in hoisting the sail.
Whatever might be in reserve for him, there could be no question that
it was every way desirable to get the Ark at such a distance from the
castle as to reduce his enemies to the necessity of approaching the
former in the canoe, which the chances of war had so inopportunely, for
his wishes and security, thrown into their hands. The appearance of the
opening duck seemed first to arouse the Hurons from their apathy, and by
the time the head of the scow had fallen off before the wind, which it
did unfortunately in the wrong direction, bringing it within a few
yards of the platform, Hist found it necessary to warn her lover of the
importance of covering his person against the rifles of his foes. This
was a danger to be avoided under all circumstances, and so much the
more, because the Delaware found that Hist would not take to the cover
herself so long as he remained exposed. Accordingly, Chingachgook
abandoned the scow to its own movements, forced Hist into the cabin, the
doors of which he immediately secured, and then he looked about him for
the rifles. The situation of the parties was now so singular as to merit
a particular description. The Ark was within sixty yards of the castle,
a little to the southward, or to windward of it, with its sail full, and
the steering oar abandoned. The latter, fortunately, was loose, so
that it produced no great influence on the crab like movements of the
unwieldy craft. The sail being as sailors term it, flying, or having no
braces, the air forced the yard forward, though both sheets were fast.
The effect was threefold on a boat with a bottom that was perfectly
flat, and which drew merely some three or four inches water. It pressed
the head slowly round to leeward, it forced the whole fabric bodily
in the same direction at the same time, and the water that unavoidably
gathered under the lee gave the scow also a forward movement. All these
changes were exceedingly slow, however, for the wind was not only light,
but it was baffling as usual, and twice or thrice the sail shook. Once
it was absolutely taken aback.

Had there been any keel to the Ark, it would inevitably have run foul of
the platform, bows on, when it is probable nothing could have prevented
the Hurons from carrying it; more particularly as the sail would have
enabled them to approach under cover. As it was, the scow wore slowly
round, barely clearing that part of the building. The piles projecting
several feet, they were not cleared, but the head of the slow moving
craft caught between two of them, by one of its square corners, and
hung. At this moment the Delaware was vigilantly watching through a loop
for an opportunity to fire, while the Hurons kept within the building,
similarly occupied. The exhausted warrior reclined against the hut,
there having been no time to remove him, and Hurry lay, almost as
helpless as a log, tethered like a sheep on its way to the slaughter,
near the middle of the platform. Chingachgook could have slain the
first, at any moment, but his scalp would have been safe, and the young
chief disdained to strike a blow that could lead to neither honor nor
advantage.

"Run out one of the poles, Sarpent, if Sarpent you be," said Hurry, amid
the groans that the tightness of the ligatures was beginning to extort
from him--"run out one of the poles, and shove the head of the scow off,
and you'll drift clear of us--and, when you've done that good turn for
yourself just finish this gagging blackguard for me."

The appeal of Hurry, however, had no other effect than to draw
the attention of Hist to his situation. This quick witted creature
comprehended it at a glance. His ankles were bound with several turns of
stout bark rope, and his arms, above the elbows, were similarly secured
behind his back; barely leaving him a little play of the hands and
wrists. Putting her mouth near a loop she said in a low but distinct
voice--"Why you don't roll here, and fall in scow? Chingachgook shoot
Huron, if he chase!"

"By the Lord, gal, that's a judgematical thought, and it shall be tried,
if the starn of your scow will come a little nearer. Put a bed at the
bottom, for me to fall on."

This was said at a happy moment, for, tired of waiting, all the Indians
made a rapid discharge of their rifles, almost simultaneously, injuring
no one; though several bullets passed through the loops. Hist had heard
part of Hurry's words, but most of what he said was lost in the sharp
reports of the firearms. She undid the bar of the door that led to the
stern of the scow, but did not dare to expose her person. All this time,
the head of the Ark hung, but by a gradually decreasing hold as the
other end swung slowly round, nearer and nearer to the platform. Hurry,
who now lay with his face towards the Ark, occasionally writhing and
turning over like one in pain, evolutions he had performed ever since he
was secured, watched every change, and, at last, he saw that the whole
vessel was free, and was beginning to grate slowly along the sides
of the piles. The attempt was desperate, but it seemed to be the only
chance for escaping torture and death, and it suited the reckless daring
of the man's character. Waiting to the last moment, in order that the
stern of the scow might fairly rub against the platform, he began to
writhe again, as if in intolerable suffering, execrating all Indians in
general, and the Hurons in particular, and then he suddenly and rapidly
rolled over and over, taking the direction of the stern of the scow.
Unfortunately, Hurry's shoulders required more space to revolve in
than his feet, and by the time he reached the edge of the platform
his direction had so far changed as to carry him clear of the Ark
altogether, and the rapidity of his revolutions and the emergency
admitting of no delay, he fell into the water. At this instant,
Chingachgook, by an understanding with his betrothed, drew the fire of
the Hurons again, not a man of whom saw the manner in which one whom
they knew to be effectually tethered, had disappeared. But Hist's
feelings were strongly interested in the success of so bold a scheme,
and she watched the movements of Hurry as the cat watches the mouse. The
moment he was in motion she foresaw the consequences, and this the more
readily, as the scow was now beginning to move with some steadiness, and
she bethought her of the means of saving him. With a sort of instinctive
readiness, she opened the door at the very moment the rifles were
ringing in her ears, and protected by the intervening cabin, she stepped
into the stem of the scow in time to witness the fall of Hurry into the
lake. Her foot was unconsciously placed on the end of one of the sheets
of the sail, which was fastened aft, and catching up all the spare rope
with the awkwardness, but also with the generous resolution of a woman,
she threw it in the direction of the helpless Hurry. The line fell
on the head and body of the sinking man and he not only succeeded in
grasping separate parts of it with his hands, but he actually got
a portion of it between his teeth. Hurry was an expert swimmer, and
tethered as he was he resorted to the very expedient that philosophy and
reflection would have suggested. He had fallen on his back, and instead
of floundering and drowning himself by desperate efforts to walk on the
water, he permitted his body to sink as low as possible, and was already
submerged, with the exception of his face, when the line reached him.
In this situation he might possibly have remained until rescued by the
Hurons, using his hands as fishes use their fins, had he received no
other succour, but the movement of the Ark soon tightened the rope, and
of course he was dragged gently ahead holding even pace with the scow.
The motion aided in keeping his face above the surface of the water, and
it would have been possible for one accustomed to endurance to have been
towed a mile in this singular but simple manner.

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

Chingachgook now first learned from Hist the critical condition of
Hurry. To have exposed either of their persons in the stern of the scow
would have been certain death, but fortunately the sheet to which the
man clung led forward to the foot of the sail. The Delaware found means
to unloosen it from the cleet aft, and Hist, who was already forward for
that purpose, immediately began to pull upon the line. At this moment
Hurry was towing fifty or sixty feet astern, with nothing but his face
above water. As he was dragged out clear of the castle and the piles
he was first perceived by the Hurons, who raised a hideous yell and
commenced a fire on, what may very well be termed the floating mass. It
was at the same instant that Hist began to pull upon the line forward--a
circumstance that probably saved Hurry's life, aided by his own
self-possession and border readiness. The first bullet struck the
water directly on the spot where the broad chest of the young giant was
visible through the pure element, and might have pierced his heart had
the angle at which it was fired been less acute. Instead of penetrating
the lake, however, it glanced from its smooth surface, rose, and buried
itself in the logs of the cabin near the spot at which Chingachgook had
shown himself the minute before, while clearing the line from the cleet.
A second, and a third, and a fourth bullet followed, all meeting
with the same resistance of the water, though Hurry sensibly felt the
violence of the blows they struck upon the lake so immediately above,
and so near his breast. Discovering their mistake, the Hurons now
changed their plan, and aimed at the uncovered face; but by this
time Hist was pulling on the line, the target advanced and the deadly
missiles still fell upon the water. In another moment the body was
dragged past the end of the scow and became concealed. As for the
Delaware and Hist, they worked perfectly covered by the cabin, and in
less time than it requires to tell it, they had hauled the huge frame of
Harry to the place they occupied. Chingachgook stood in readiness with
his keen knife, and bending over the side of the scow he soon severed
the bark that bound the limbs of the borderer. To raise him high enough
to reach the edge of the boat and to aid him in entering were less easy,
as Hurry's arms were still nearly useless, but both were done in time,
when the liberated man staggered forward and fell exhausted and helpless
into the bottom of the scow. Here we shall leave him to recover his
strength and the due circulation of his blood, while we proceed with
the narrative of events that crowd upon us too fast to admit of any
postponement. The moment the Hurons lost sight of the body of Hurry they
gave a common yell of disappointment, and three of the most active of
their number ran to the trap and entered the canoe. It required some
little delay, however, to embark with their weapons, to find the paddles
and, if we may use a phrase so purely technical, "to get out of dock."
By this time Hurry was in the scow, and the Delaware had his rifles
again in readiness. As the Ark necessarily sailed before the wind, it
had got by this time quite two hundred yards from the castle, and was
sliding away each instant, farther and farther, though with a motion so
easy as scarcely to stir the water. The canoe of the girls was quite
a quarter of a mile distant from the Ark, obviously keeping aloof, in
ignorance of what had occurred, and in apprehension of the consequences
of venturing too near. They had taken the direction of the eastern
shore, endeavoring at the same time to get to windward of the Ark, and
in a manner between the two parties, as if distrusting which was to be
considered a friend, and which an enemy. The girls, from long habit,
used the paddles with great dexterity, and Judith, in particular, had
often sportively gained races, in trials of speed with the youths that
occasionally visited the lake.

When the three Hurons emerged from behind the palisades, and found
themselves on the open lake, and under the necessity of advancing
unprotected on the Ark, if they persevered in the original design, their
ardor sensibly cooled. In a bark canoe they were totally without cover,
and Indian discretion was entirely opposed to such a sacrifice of life
as would most probably follow any attempt to assault an enemy entrenched
as effectually as the Delaware. Instead of following the Ark, therefore,
these three warriors inclined towards the eastern shore, keeping at
a safe distance from the rifles of Chingachgook. But this manoeuvre
rendered the position of the girls exceedingly critical. It threatened
to place them if not between two fires, at least between two dangers, or
what they conceived to be dangers, and instead of permitting the Hurons
to enclose her, in what she fancied a sort of net, Judith immediately
commenced her retreat in a southern direction, at no very great distance
from the shore. She did not dare to land; if such an expedient were
to be resorted to at all, she could only venture on it in the last
extremity. At first the Indians paid little or no attention to the other
canoe, for, fully apprised of its contents, they deemed its capture
of comparatively little moment, while the Ark, with its imaginary
treasures, the persons of the Delaware and of Hurry, and its means of
movement on a large scale, was before them. But this Ark had its
dangers as well as its temptations, and after wasting near an hour in
vacillating evolutions, always at a safe distance from the rifle, the
Hurons seemed suddenly to take their resolution, and began to display it
by giving eager chase to the girls.

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

At the moment when the Hurons so suddenly changed their mode of attack
their canoe was not in the best possible racing trim. There were but
two paddles, and the third man so much extra and useless cargo. Then
the difference in weight between the sisters and the other two men,
more especially in vessels so extremely light, almost neutralized any
difference that might proceed from the greater strength of the Hurons,
and rendered the trial of speed far from being as unequal as it might
seem. Judith did not commence her exertions until the near approach of
the other canoe rendered the object of the movement certain, and then
she exhorted Hetty to aid her with her utmost skill and strength.

"Why should we run, Judith?" asked the simple minded girl. "The Hurons
have never harmed me, nor do I think they ever will."

"That may be true as to you, Hetty, but it will prove very different
with me. Kneel down and say your prayer, and then rise and do your
utmost to help escape. Think of me, dear girl, too, as you pray."

Judith gave these directions from a mixed feeling; first because she
knew that her sister ever sought the support of her great ally in
trouble, and next because a sensation of feebleness and dependance
suddenly came over her own proud spirit, in that moment of apparent
desertion and trial. The prayer was quickly said, however, and the
canoe was soon in rapid motion. Still, neither party resorted to their
greatest exertions from the outset, both knowing that the chase
was likely to be arduous and long. Like two vessels of war that are
preparing for an encounter, they seemed desirous of first ascertaining
their respective rates of speed, in order that they might know how to
graduate their exertions, previously to the great effort. A few minutes
sufficed to show the Hurons that the girls were expert, and that it
would require all their skill and energies to overtake them.

Judith had inclined towards the eastern shore at the commencement of the
chase, with a vague determination of landing and flying to the woods as
a last resort, but as she approached the land, the certainty that scouts
must be watching her movements made her reluctance to adopt such an
expedient unconquerable. Then she was still fresh, and had sanguine
hopes of being able to tire out her pursuers. With such feelings she
gave a sweep with her paddle, and sheered off from the fringe of dark
hemlocks beneath the shades of which she was so near entering, and held
her way again, more towards the centre of the lake. This seemed the
instant favorable for the Hurons to make their push, as it gave them
the entire breadth of the sheet to do it in; and this too in the widest
part, as soon as they had got between the fugitives and the land. The
canoes now flew, Judith making up for what she wanted in strength by her
great dexterity and self command. For half a mile the Indians gained
no material advantage, but the continuance of so great exertions for so
many minutes sensibly affected all concerned. Here the Indians resorted
to an expedient that enabled them to give one of their party time to
breathe, by shifting their paddles from hand to hand, and this too
without sensibly relaxing their efforts.

Judith occasionally looked behind her, and she saw this expedient
practised. It caused her immediately to distrust the result, since her
powers of endurance were not likely to hold out against those of men who
had the means of relieving each other. Still she persevered, allowing no
very visible consequences immediately to follow the change.

As yet the Indians had not been able to get nearer to the girls than two
hundred yards, though they were what seamen would term "in their wake";
or in a direct line behind them, passing over the same track of water.
This made the pursuit what is technically called a "stern chase",
which is proverbially a "long chase": the meaning of which is that, in
consequence of the relative positions of the parties, no change becomes
apparent except that which is a direct gain in the nearest possible
approach. "Long" as this species of chase is admitted to be, however,
Judith was enabled to perceive that the Hurons were sensibly drawing
nearer and nearer, before she had gained the centre of the lake. She
was not a girl to despair, but there was an instant when she thought of
yielding, with the wish of being carried to the camp where she knew the
Deerslayer to be a captive; but the considerations connected with the
means she hoped to be able to employ in order to procure his release
immediately interposed, in order to stimulate her to renewed exertions.
Had there been any one there to note the progress of the two canoes, he
would have seen that of Judith flying swiftly away from its pursuers,
as the girl gave it freshly impelled speed, while her mind was thus
dwelling on her own ardent and generous schemes. So material, indeed,
was the difference in the rate of going between the two canoes for
the next five minutes, that the Hurons began to be convinced all their
powers must be exerted or they would suffer the disgrace of being
baffled by women. Making a furious effort under the mortification of
such a conviction, one of the strongest of their party broke his paddle
at the very moment when he had taken it from the hand of a comrade to
relieve him. This at once decided the matter, a canoe containing three
men and having but one paddle being utterly unable to overtake fugitives
like the daughters of Thomas Hutter.

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

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

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

Notwithstanding the seeming desertion of the castle, Judith approached
it with extreme caution. The Ark was now quite a mile to the northward,
but sweeping up towards the buildings, and this, too, with a regularity
of motion that satisfied Judith a white man was at the oars. When within
a hundred yards of the building the girls began to encircle it, in order
to make sure that it was empty. No canoe was nigh, and this emboldened
them to draw nearer and nearer, until they had gone round the piles and
reached the platform.

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

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

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

"Has any thing happened to father?" demanded Judith, as her foot touched
the platform; speaking quickly, for her nerves were in a state to be
easily alarmed.

Hetty seemed concerned, and she looked furtively about her as if
unwilling any one but a child should hear what she had to communicate,
and even that she should learn it abruptly.

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

"That is strange! Would the savages have drunk with him, and then leave
him behind? But 'tis a grievous sight to a child, Hetty, to witness such
a failing in a parent, and we will not go near him 'til he wakes."

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

 On the ark Hurry Harry and Tom Hutter have been awakened by the returning Chingachgook and the rescued Hist with the news that Deerslayer is a prisoner of the Mingos. Neither one of the two white men greatly regrets Deerslayer's misfortune: Hurry Harry is jealous of Judith's attentions to his rival, and Tom Hutter resents the young man's honesty and idealism. It is now that we learn the circumstances of the rifle shot and the cry of agony. It was Hurry Harry who impetuously fired the shot in the dark because he had heard the exclamation of the Mingo sentry seeing the ark close to shore; it was his bullet which caused the accidental death of the Indian maiden. Hurry Harry, initially disturbed by Hist's furious criticisms, is as little disturbed finally by her promised wrath of Manitou, the Indian deity, as he is of possible punishment by the Christian God. Tom Hutter, nevertheless, criticizes his companion in crime for making their situation worse. There is an increasing mood of dislike and distrust between the two Indians and the two white men, but they are necessary allies in a perilous position and must co-operate. Determined to make a strong stand at Muskrat Castle, Tom Hutter guides the ark in that direction as Judith and Hetty approach them in the canoe. A spyglass gives the white men an advantage in concluding that the castle has not been occupied by the Mingos. However, Chingachgook and Hist see a moccasin floating near one of the foundations of Muskrat Castle, and Chingachgook goes alone in a canoe to recover the moccasin before the ark docks at the castle. The white men are still skeptical about any Mingo threat: The identification of the moccasin as Mingo only emboldens Tom and Hurry Harry to land. The white men ignore Chingachgook and Hist's conclusion that an ambush awaits them, and they even leave their guns on the ark upon entering the castle. At first, no indication of Mingo intruders is evident; but the two white men are suddenly and ferociously attacked by Indians as they penetrate the castle. Hutter is quickly tied up by the Mingos, but Hurry Harry battles desperately to save himself. Rivenoak had disarmed his warriors because he wanted the white men taken alive, and the fight is consequently one of brute strength. Hurry Harry is finally subdued by the Mingos, and they tie him up beyond any apparent hope of escape. Chingachgook and Hist, dismayed by their inability to help the two captives, try to maneuver the ark to the open lake in order to elude capture and to warn the two sisters who are approaching in a canoe. However, the wind and the current are against the ark so that the ship is slowly drawing closer to the castle. On the platform of Muskrat Castle, Hurry Harry sees a chance for escape. He shouts to Chingachgook and Hist on the ark, and they prepare to save him as he rolls toward the ship. Hurry, however, lands in the water and is dragged along with a rope in his teeth and hands as the ark now escapes from Muskrat Castle. Hurry is dragged aboard the ark as it skims the surface of Glimmerglass. Three Mingos pursue the ark in a bark canoe, but they soon realize the impossibility of overtaking the ship and the unfavorable odds in case of a fight with its defenders. The Indians see a better target for their attack: the canoe with Judith and Hetty. A chase takes place across Glimmerglass. Each side has advantages: the girls are lighter in weight, but the Mingos have two paddles and three paddlers so that a fresh pair of hands is always in motion. The Mingos are also stronger than their feminine opponents, and they gradually reduce the distance between the canoes. Then one of their paddles breaks, forcing them to abandon the chase. Returning to Muskrat Castle, the Mingos leave after a time and the hungry girls go there. Judith sends Hetty into the castle first because she knows that the Mingos will not harm Hetty because of her mental condition. Hetty's strange report that their father is apparently sleeping leads to Judith's investigation of the premises and her discovery that Tom Hutter has been stabbed and scalped and is dying.

