 CHAPTER IX. Yet art thou prodigal of smiles. Smiles sweeter than thy frowns are stern. Earth sends from all her thousand aisles a shout at thy return. The glory that comes down from thee bathes in deep joy the land and sea. BRYANT. THE FIRMAMENT. 11. Lines 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 verger, 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 eclivities, 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. Trees 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 ferocene, 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 Dear Slayer 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, enforcing 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, has been said, its shape was not unlike that which is usually given to be hives, or to a haycock. 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, dear Slayer 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 scowl was then checked when it was brought head to wind by the action of the breeze. As soon as this was done, dear Slayer 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 affected, and the young man checked the drift when he was told that the stern of the scowl was within fifteen or eighteen feet of the desired spot. In executing this maneuver, dear Slayer 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 of 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 to the shore, where she could watch the beach and the rock, and give timely notice of the approach of either friend or foe. Had he was also placed on watch, but it was to keep the trees overhead in view, at least 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 dear Slayer checked the arc 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, Chingachuk, 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 of ascertaining the extent of the danger he ran, whether 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 dear Slayer as soon as he had checked the drift of the arc, deeming it imprudent to venture unnecessarily near the shore. Is anything to be seen of the Delaware chief? Nothing, dear Slayer. The rock, shore, trees, nor lake seems to have ever held a human form. Keep close, Judith, keep close, Heddy. A rifle has a prying eye, a nimble foot, and a desperate fatal tongue. Keep close, then, but keep up active looks and be on the alert. To it grieve me to the heart did any harm befall either of you. And you, dear Slayer, 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 away, although you look so pleasant and comely. But keep your eyes on the rock and the shore. And the dear Slayer 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 it? What is it, Judith? He hastily demanded. Is anything to be seen? There is a man on the rock, an Indian warrior in his paint, and armed. Where does he wear his hawksfeather, eagerly added, dear Slayer, relaxing his hold of the line in readiness to drift nearer to the place of rendezvous? Is it fast to the warlock, 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 serpent 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 dear Slayer's side, simply uttering the exclamation, HUG! 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, DEAR SLAYER! cried Judith, hastily barring the door, in order to prevent an in-road by the passage through which the Delaware had just entered. PULL FOR LIFE AND DEATH! THE LAKE IS FULL OF SAVAGES, WAITING AFTER US! The young man, for a chingach cook 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, DEAR SLAYER! FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE! cried Judith, again at the loop. These wretches rush into the water like hounds following their prey, ah! The scow moves, and now the water deepens to the armpits of the foremost, but they reach forward, and will seize the arc. A slight scream, and then a joyous laugh, followed from the girl, the first produced by a desperate effort of their pursuers, and the last by its failure, the scow which had now got fairly in motion gliding ahead into deep water with a velocity that set the designs of their enemies at naught. As the two men were prevented by the position of the cabin from seeing what passed a stern, 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 them, for the present? demanded Dear Slayer, when he felt the rope yielding as if the scow was going fast ahead, and heard the scream and 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 arc 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 lays 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. Jhingochuk, 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. Until he spoke not, and most of all did he avoid the betrayal of a womanish curiosity by asking questions. Judith and Hedy, said dear Slayer, with an untaught natural courtesy. This is the Mohican chief of whom you have heard me speak. Jhingochuk, as he is called, which signifies big serpent, so named for his wisdom and prudence, and cunning, and my earliest and latest friend. I know it must be he by the hawks' feather over the left ear, most other warriors wearing him on the warlock. As dear Slayer 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 across 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 Jhingochuk 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 had his 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 was no need for rowing again 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 again to the castle. In the meanwhile the Delaware and I will talk over matters, and get correct ideas of each other's notions concerning 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 Delaware's. 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 dear Slayer, 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 dear Slayer 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 Susquehanna. Unreaching 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 hovered 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 Chinkuchuk 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 there being more numerous than he had at first supposed, and by there 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 Hury had fallen into their hands, and, as a matter of course, near a spring. Well, Sarpent, asked dear Slayer when the other had ended his brief but spirited narrative speaking always in the Delaware tongue, which for the reader's convenience we only 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 captives, the father of these young women, and of another who I somewhat conclude is the lovier of one of them? Chinkuchuk 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 certainty, though many solid blocks might be hewn out of his trunk yet. And as for Hury Harry, so far as height and strength and cumlinness 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, dear Slayer. The mingos are too many to cage their game. Some watch, some sleep, some scout, some hunt. The palefaces are treated like brothers to-day. To-morrow they will lose their scalps. Yes, that's red nature, and must be submitted to. Judith and Heddy, here's comforting tidings for you, the Delaware telling me that neither your father nor Hury Harry is in suffering, but baiting 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, dear Slayer, return, 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 lovier? 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 in truth. They 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. Dear Slayer, 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 not 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. As me. The same feelings is to be found among the young women of the Delaware's. I've known them, often and often, sacrifice their vanity to their hearts. Tis as it should be. Tis as it should be, I suppose, in both colors. Woman was created for the feelings, and is pretty much ruled by feeling. Would the savages let father go if Judith and I give them all our best things, demanded Hattie, in her innocent, mild manner? Their women might interfere, good Hattie. Yes, their women might interfere with such an end in view. But tell me, serpent, how is it as to squazz 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 is 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, dear Slayer, the trees were too many, and leaves covered their bowels 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 linements with a bright gleam of human feeling. Chinggich Guk heard the laugh of Watawa, and knew it from the laugh of the women of the Iroquois. It sounded in his ears like the chirp of the wren. I, trust a lovier'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 feelings toward each other, it's wonderful how pleasant the laugh or the speech becomes to the other person. I mean 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, dear Slayer, 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? But bless you, gal, why I've never lived enough among my own color to drop into them sort of feelings. No, never. I dares to say they are natural 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, native 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 sartan hound, when I'm on the track of a fat buck. As for unsartan dogs, I care little for their cries, seeing 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 Hetti listened with guileless attention, though it struck her simple mind as singular that the young man should refer 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, dear Slayer and his friend resumed their discourse. As the young pale-faced hunter been long on this lake, demanded the Delaware, after courteously waiting for the other to speak first. Only since yesterday noon, serpent, 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, serpent, yes, tis somewhat that away. I have fell in with the enemy, and I suppose it may be said I fought 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 Tamanund, and your own father the great Unkas, as well as the rest, is again white gifts. My scalp is on my head, as you can see, serpent, and that was the only scalp that was in danger when one side was altogether Christian and white. Did no warrior fall? Dear Slayer did not get his name by being slow of sight, or clumsy with the rifle. In that particular chief, your 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 fought well, though his eye wasn't quick enough for one who had had his schooling in your company, Delaware. My brother and friend struck the body? That was uncalled for, seeing that the mingo died in my arms. The truth may as well be said at once. He fought like a man of red gifts. And I fought like a man with gifts of my own color. God gave me the victory. I couldn't fly in the face of his providence by forgetting my birth and nature. White he made me, and white I shall live and die. Good! Dear Slayer is a pale-face, and has pale-face hands. A Delaware will look for the scalp and hang it on a pole and sing a song in his honor when we go back to our people. The glory belongs to the tribe. It must not be lost. This is easy talking, but will not be as easy doing. The mingo's body is in the hands of his friends, and no doubt his hid in some hole where Delaware cunning will never be able to get at the scalp. The young man then gave his friend a succinct but clear account of the event of the morning, concealing nothing of any moment, and yet touching on everything modestly and with a careful attention to avoid the Indian habit of boasting. Chingoch Kuk again expressed his satisfaction at the honor 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 Dear Slayer. He lifted his grapnel, and the scow immediately and quite perceptively 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 and occupation that an Indian would not be likely to desire. Dear Slayer, Chingoch Kuk, 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 affect 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 expedience 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 dependent situation, induced the girl to feel towards Dear Slayer 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. Hury'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-deficient 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 plaything 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. Dear Slayer, 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 peaked 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 center 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 was 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 in 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 is 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. "'Nature has made us a road here, and, dim as it is, there will be little difficulty following it. Do you hear nothing, deerslayer? It seemed as if the water was stirring quite near this. Certainly something did move the water, uncommon like, must have been a fish. Them creatures 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 nature to stay in them, and nature 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 skillful hands, was utterly impracticable, and each of the men seized his rifle in expectation of a conflict. I can easily bring down the paddler, whispered deerslayer, but we'll first hail him, and ask his errand. 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 certain death will follow. Stop paddling, and answer. Fire and sleigh a poor defenceless girl, returned a soft, tremulous female voice, and God will never forgive you. Go your way, deerslayer, and let me go mine. Hettie! 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 arc 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 Hettie 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 Hettie, she could refrain no longer. Then I fear poor, weak-minded Hettie has not happened altogether able to see all the vanity and rudeness and folly that lie hid behind the handsome face and fine form of 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 Harry, which will in all likelihood give them reptiles, the mingos, the mastership of a canoe? Such I fear will turn out to be the fact, deerslayer. Poor Hettie has hardly sufficient cunning to outwit a savage. All this while the canoe with the form of Hettie 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. Hettie 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 rode with the energy of those who felt the necessity of straining every nerve, and Hettie'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, Hettie 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. Hettie 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 Hettie, 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 suffice 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 Dear Slayer 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, Dear Slayer now took his way towards the castle, with the apprehension that all his foresight in securing the canoes would be defeated by this unguarded and alarming movement on the part of the feeble-minded Hetty. CHAPTER X of THE DEAR SLAYER. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. THE DEAR SLAYER by James Fenimore Cooper. CHAPTER X But who in this wild wood may credit give to either eye or ear, from rocky precipice or hollow cave, amidst the confused sound of rustling leaves and creaking boughs and cries of nightly birds, returning seeming answer? JOANA BEHE. RAINER. A TRAGITY. II. LINE III THROUGH IV. VI THROUGH 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, people 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 expedience 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 the 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 two 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 their voice should they appear to pass without observing it. The ark approached under its sail, again dear Slayer 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 dear Slayer, for the third time, speaking in English that his fair companion might understand his words, lay her head well off shore. We have got him bathed here, and needs keep the mast clear of the trees. Judith, there's a canoe. The last words were uttered with great earnestness, and dear Slayer'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. Here as straight as your bullet flies when sent again 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, concerned, 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! Here, 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 it you do? Remember to his 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 someone cares for them. We all care for them, and intend tomorrow 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 dear Slayer 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. We'll lose your way in the forest and perish for a wander 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. Or, 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? Ask, dear Slayer. I know the savage's welling can form some idea how far fair words will likely or not to work on their bloody natures. If it's not suited to the gifts of a red-skinned, will 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, dear Slayer, 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-cheat. 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, dear Slayer, 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. Dear Slayer was dumbfounded at this proof of guileless feebleness of mind, but Judith had suddenly bethought her of a means of counteracting this wild project, by 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 call of what she had to say. But no answer was given to the call. By the snapping of twigs and the rustling of leaves, had he 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 sale was again set, and the ark pursued its course toward its habitual moorings. Dear Slayer 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. Slayer hath occupied a solitary bed that night, be doing 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, for more causes than one, as the weary hours passed away making it nearly morning before she lost her recollection in sleep. Dear Slayer and the Delaware took their rest in the ark, where we shall leave them enjoying the deep sleep of the honest, the thoughtful, and fearless, to return to the girl we have last seen in the midst of the forest. When Hedy 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 eclivity 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 in 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 have 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 skepticism. To her the sublimity of the solitude in which she was placed was soothing, rather than appalling. And she gathered a bed of leaves with as much indifference to the circumstances that would have driven the thoughts of sleep entirely from the minds of most of her sex, as if she had been preparing her place of nightly rest beneath the paternal roof. As soon as Hetty had collected a sufficient number of the dried leaves to protect her person from the damps of the ground, she kneeled beside the humble pile, clasped her raised hands in an attitude of deep devotion, and in a soft, low, but audible voice repeated the Lord's prayer. This was followed by those simple and devout verses so familiar to children in which she recommended her soul to God should it be called away to another state of existence. Ere the return of mourning. This duty done she lay down and disposed herself to sleep. The attire of the girl, though suited to this 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 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 most striking contrast between her own humble couch and the sleepless pillow of her sister. Hour passed after hour in a tranquillity as undisturbed and arrest as sweet as if angels expressly commissioned for that object watched around the bed of Hetty Hutter. Not once did her soft eyes open until the gray of the dawn came struggling through the tops of the trees, falling on their lids, and united to the freshness of a summer's morning, given the usual summons to awake. Ordinarily Hetty was up ere the rays of the sun tipped the summons 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 the 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. Reaching 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 hind 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. Recalling 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 had 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 as 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. It approached no nearer, happily had he 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 returner 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. Had he was delighted with this proof of tenderness in an animal that has but a very different reputation for the gentler feelings, and as a cub would quit his 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. At least 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 had he 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 eclivity 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. Had he 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. Using the air, the dame 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 away! 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 men and outline that formed 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 stressed 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 deerskin, completed her attire. Her hair fell in long dark braids down her shoulders and back, and was parted above a low smooth forehead, in a way to soften the expression of eyes that were full of archness and natural 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 Watawa, which rendered into English means histohist. In a word, this was the betrothed of Chingachuk, 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 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, Watawa was the most willing to speak, and far the reddier 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 Watawa, returning the smile of Hetty in her own gentle winning manner. We could warrior that away, good warrior far off. What's your name? asked Hetty, with the simplicity of a child. Watawa, I know Mingo, good Delaware, Yankee's friend. Mingo cruel and loves scalp for blood, Delaware love him for honor. Come here, wear no eyes. Watawa 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 you 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 at war-time, and he know boy, he know want beard, no want to be told Iroquois-carried 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 ting for Paleface to scalp, know his gifts, as the good deerslayer always tell me. And do you know the deerslayer, said Hetty, coloring with delight and surprise, for getting 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 was called the Big Serpent. A bold and handsome warrior is this Serpent, too. Despite of the rich deep color that nature had bestowed on the Indian beauty, the tell-tale blood deepened on her cheeks. Until the blush gave new animation and 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. Chinguch Cook. Returned the Delaware girl, sighing out the harsh name and sound so softly guttural, as to cause it to reach the ear and melody. His father, great chief of the Mahikani, next to old Tomonand, 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, Hissed. Hetty could not pronounce the Indian name of her new friend, but having her dear slayer give her this firmware appellation, she used it without any of the ceremony of civilized life. I'm afraid, Hissed, he has come after scalps as well as my poor father and hurry, Harry. Why, he shouldn't. Ha! Chinguch Cook, great 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 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 men are too smile and pleased when he see young warrior come back from the war-path, with two, ten hundred scalp on a pole. Chinguch Cook, father take scalp, grandfather take scalp, all old chief take scalp, and Chinguch Cook take as many scalp as he can carry himself. Then Hissed, 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 Watawa, 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 hissed, to use the English in more familiar translation of the name, was favourable, 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's so long since what do I have a friend, a sister, anybody to speak her heart to. You hissed friend. Don't I say truth? I never had a friend, answered Hetty, returning the warm embrace with unthamed earnestness. I have 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 and everything, except about the scalps. No tink more of him, no say more of scalp, interrupted hissed, soothingly. You pale face, I red skin. We bring up different fashion. Dear Slayer and Chingach Cook, great friend, and know the same color. Hissed, 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 Watawa's spell, but no won't let him. No good for Delaware girl to know too much, no more than warrior some time. That great shame. My name Watawa, that's a hissed in your tongue. You call him hissed. 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, Hissed 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 and effect closed. As the quickest witted, Hissed 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 brother as well as father, she said. Why no talk of brother as well as father? I have no brother hissed. 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 brother? Got a young warrior? Love him almost as much as father? Very handsome and brave-looking, fit to be chief, if he good as he seemed to be. It's wicked to love any man as well as I love my father, and so I strive not to do it, hissed, 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 hissed, 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, mingle girl's 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, hissed. How can you know? Perhaps everybody want to marry you, and by and by 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. Hissed 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 Hissed had previously manifested a desire to use in order to prevent being seen, to an open exposure of the person of her friend, arose from the perfect conviction that no Indian would harm a being whom the great spirit had disarmed by depriving it of its strongest defense, reason. In this respect nearly all unsophisticated nations resemble each other, appearing to offer spontaneously by a feeling creditable to a human nature that protection by their own forbearance which has been withheld by the inscrutable wisdom of providence. Watawa 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 contumally and neglect that it is their fortune to meet with among the more pretending and sophisticated. Had he 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 concerned for the consequences than did her companion herself. Now the latter was apprised of the character of the protection that the pale-faced maiden carried with her. Still, as they proceeded slowly along a shore that was tangled with overhanging bushes, Had he 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 Haddie, and there is no reason why the serpents should not marry you. HIST PRISONER And Mingo got big ear. No speak of Chingach Cook when they buy. Promise HIST that, good Haddie. I know, I know," returned Haddie, half-whispering, in her eagerness to let the other see she understood the necessity of caution. I know, dear Slayer 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. Vaxed 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 father and hurry. Mingo understand that. He no understand utter. Promise you no talk about what you no understand. But I do understand this, HIST, and so I must talk about it. Dear Slayer, 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 palefaces to talk about scalps, and very bad for young woman to hear. Now you love HIST, I know, Haddie, and so among engines 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 dear Slayer called gift, one gift to talk, totter gift to hold tongue, hold tongue your gift among mingos. If Sarpent want to see HIST, so Haddie want to see hurry. Good girl never tell secret of friend. Haddie understood this appeal, and she promised the Delaware girl not to make any allusion to the presence of Chinguchuk, or to the motive of his visit to the lake. Maybe he get off hurry and father, as well as HIST, if let him have his way, whispered Watawa, 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. Think of that, Haddie, 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 Haddie, 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.