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think the Lynx can run fastest, and some think the Panther can jump the
farthest. The Sumach thinks both will travel so fast and so far, that neither
will ever come back. Who shall feed her and her young? The man who told her
husband and her brother to quit her lodge, that there might be room for him to
come into it. He is a great hunter, and we know that the woman will never
want.
Ay, Huron, this is soon settled, accordin to your notions; but it goes
sorely ag in the grain of a white man s feelin s. I ve heard of men s saving
their lives this-away, and I ve know d them that would prefer death to such a
sort of captivity. For my part, I do not seek my end; nor do I seek
matrimony.
The pale-face will think of this while my people get ready for the council.
He will be told what will happen. Let him remember how hard it is to lose a
husband and a brother. Go: when we want him, the name of Deerslayer will be
called.
This conversation had been held with no one near but the speakers. Of all the
band that had so lately thronged the place, Rivenoak alone was visible. The
rest seemed to have totally abandoned the spot. Even the furniture, clothes,
arms, and other property of the camp had entirely disappeared, and the place
bore no other proofs of the crowd that had so lately occupied it, than the
traces of their fires and resting-places, and the trodden earth, that still
showed the marks of their feet. So sudden and unexpected a change caused
Deerslayer a good deal of surprise and some uneasiness, for he had never known
it to occur, in the course of his experience among the Delawares. He
suspected, however, and rightly, that a change of encampment was intended, and
that the mystery of the movement was resorted to, in order to work on his
apprehensions.
Rivenoak walked up the vista of trees, as soon as he ceased speaking, leaving
Deerslayer by himself. The chief disappeared behind the covers of the forest,
and one unpractised in such scenes might have believed the prisoner left to
the dictates of his own judgment. But the young man, while he felt a little
amazement at the dramatic aspect of things, knew his enemies too well to fancy
himself at liberty, or a free agent. Still he was ignorant how far the Hurons
meant to carry their artifices, and he determined to bring the question, as
soon as practicable, to the proof. Affecting an indifference he was far from
feeling, he strolled about the area, gradually getting nearer and nearer to
the spot where he had landed, when he suddenly quickened his pace, though
carefully avoiding all appearance of flight, and, pushing aside the bushes, he
stepped upon the beach. The canoe was gone, nor could he see any traces of it,
after walking to the northern and southern verges of the point, and examining
the shores in both directions. It was evidently removed beyond his reach and
knowledge, and under circumstances to show that such had been the intention of
the savages.
Deerslayer now better understood his actual situation. He was a prisoner on
the narrow tongue of land, vigilantly watched beyond a question, and with no
other means of escape than that of swimming. He again thought of this last
expedient, but the certainty that the canoe would be sent in chase, and the
desperate nature of the chances of success, deterred him from the undertaking.
While on the strand, he came to a spot where the bushes had been cut, and
thrown into a small pile. Removing a few of the upper branches, he found
beneath them the dead body of the Panther. He knew that it was kept until the
savages might find a place to inter it, when it would be beyond the reach of
the scalping-knife. He gazed wistfully towards the castle, but there all
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seemed to be silent and desolate; and a feeling of loneliness and desertion
came over him to increase the gloom of the moment.
God s will be done! murmured the young man, as he walked sorrowfully away
from the beach, entering again beneath the arches of the wood; God s will be
done, on arth as it is in heaven! I did hope that my days would not be
numbered so soon; but it matters little, after all. A few more winters, and a
few more summers, and t would have been over, accordin to natur . Ah s me!
the young and actyve seldom think death possible, till he grins in their
faces, and tells em the hour is come!
While this solioquy was being pronounced, the hunter advanced into the area,
where to his surprise he saw Hetty alone, evidently awaiting his return. The
girl carried the bible under her arm, and her face, over which a shadow of
gentle melancholy was usually thrown, now seemed sad and downcast. Moving
nearer, Deerslayer spoke.
Poor Hetty, he said, times have been so troublesome, of late, that I d
altogether forgotten you; we meet, as it might be, to mourn over what is to
happen. I wonder what has become of Chingachgook and Wah!
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