Death is here and death is there,
Death is busy everywhere.
SHELLEY

It was a breathless moment. The only clue the fugitives possessed to the
intentions of their pursuers was in their gestures and the indications
which escaped them in the fury of disappointment. That a party had
returned already, on their own footsteps, by land, was pretty certain;
and all the benefit expected from the artifice of the fire was
necessarily lost. But that consideration became of little moment just
then; for the party was menaced with an immediate discovery by those who
had kept on a level with the river. All the facts presented themselves
clearly, and as it might be by intuition, to the mind of Pathfinder, who
perceived the necessity of immediate decision and of being in readiness
to act in concert. Without making any noise, therefore, he managed
to get the two Indians and Jasper near him, when he opened his
communications in a whisper.

"We must be ready, we must be ready," he said. "There are but three of
the scalping devils, and we are five, four of whom may be set down as
manful warriors for such a skrimmage. Eau-douce, do you take the fellow
that is painted like death; Chingachgook, I give you the chief; and
Arrowhead must keep his eye on the young one. There must be no mistake,
for two bullets in the same body would be sinful waste, with one like
the Sergeant's daughter in danger. I shall hold myself in resarve
against accident, lest a fourth reptile appear, for one of your hands
may prove unsteady. By no means fire until I give the word; we must not
let the crack of the rifle be heard except in the last resort, since
all the rest of the miscreants are still within hearing. Jasper, boy,
in case of any movement behind us on the bank, I trust to you to run out
the canoe with the Sergeant's daughter, and to pull for the garrison, by
God's leave."

The Pathfinder had no sooner given these directions than the near
approach of their enemies rendered profound silence necessary. The
Iroquois in the river were slowly descending the stream; keeping of
necessity near the bushes which overhung the water, while the rustling
of leaves and the snapping of twigs soon gave fearful evidence that
another party was moving along the bank, at an equally graduated pace;
and directly abreast of them. In consequence of the distance between
the bushes planted by the fugitives and the true shore, the two parties
became visible to each