g their difficult way; "grass is a treacherous
carpet for a flying party to tread on, but wood and stone take no print
from a moccasin. Had you worn your armed boots, there might, indeed,
have been something to fear; but with the deer-skin suitably prepared,
a man may trust himself, generally, on rocks with safety. Shove in the
canoe nigher to the land, Uncas; this sand will take a stamp as easily
as the butter of the Jarmans on the Mohawk. Softly, lad, softly; it must
not touch the beach, or the knaves will know by what road we have left
the place."

The young man observed the precaution; and the scout, laying a board
from the ruins to the canoe, made a sign for the two officers to enter.
When this was done, everything was studiously restored to its former
disorder; and then Hawkeye succeeded in reaching his little birchen
vessel, without leaving behind him any of those marks which he appeared
so much to dread. Heyward was silent until the Indians had cautiously
paddled the canoe some distance from the fort, and within the broad and
dark shadows that fell from the eastern mountain on the glassy surface
of the lake; then he demanded:

"What need have we for this stolen and hurried departure?"

"If the blood of an Oneida could stain such a sheet of pure water as
this we float on," returned the scout, "your two eyes would answer your
own question. Have you forgotten the skulking reptile Uncas slew?"

"By no means. But he was said to be alone, and dead men give no cause
for fear."

"Ay, he was alone in his deviltry! but an Indian whose tribe counts so
many warriors, need seldom fear his blood will run without the death
shriek coming speedily from some of his enemies."

"But our presence--the authority of Colonel Munro--would prove
sufficient protection against the anger of our allies, especially in a
case where the wretch so well merited his fate. I trust in Heaven you
have not deviated a single foot from the direct line of our course with
so slight a reason!"

"Do you think the bullet of that varlet's rifle would have turned aside,
though his sacred majesty the king had stood in its path?" returned
the stubborn scout. "Why did not the grand Frencher, he who is
captain-general of the Canadas, bury the tomahawks of the Hurons, if a
word from a white can work so strongly on the natur' of an Indian?"

The reply of Heyward was interrupted by a groan from Munro; but after
he had paused a moment, in deference to the sor