cas, pointing north and south, at the evident marks of the
broad trail on either side of him, "the dark-hair has gone toward the
forest."

"Hound never ran on a more beautiful scent," responded the scout,
dashing forward, at once, on the indicated route; "we are favored,
greatly favored, and can follow with high noses. Ay, here are both your
waddling beasts: this Huron travels like a white general. The fellow is
stricken with a judgment, and is mad! Look sharp for wheels, Sagamore,"
he continued, looking back, and laughing in his newly awakened
satisfaction; "we shall soon have the fool journeying in a coach, and
that with three of the best pair of eyes on the borders in his rear."

The spirits of the scout, and the astonishing success of the chase, in
which a circuitous distance of more than forty miles had been passed,
did not fail to impart a portion of hope to the whole party. Their
advance was rapid; and made with as much confidence as a traveler would
proceed along a wide highway. If a rock, or a rivulet, or a bit of earth
harder than common, severed the links of the clew they followed, the
true eye of the scout recovered them at a distance, and seldom rendered
the delay of a single moment necessary. Their progress was much
facilitated by the certainty that Magua had found it necessary to
journey through the valleys; a circumstance which rendered the general
direction of the route sure. Nor had the Huron entirely neglected the
arts uniformly practised by the natives when retiring in front of an
enemy. False trails and sudden turnings were frequent, wherever a brook
or the formation of the ground rendered them feasible; but his pursuers
were rarely deceived, and never failed to detect their error, before
they had lost either time or distance on the deceptive track.

By the middle of the afternoon they had passed the Scaroons, and were
following the route of the declining sun. After descending an eminence
to a low bottom, through which a swift stream glided, they suddenly came
to a place where the party of Le Renard had made a halt. Extinguished
brands were lying around a spring, the offals of a deer were scattered
about the place, and the trees bore evident marks of having been
browsed by the horses. At a little distance, Heyward discovered, and
contemplated with tender emotion, the small bower under which he was
fain to believe that Cora and Alice had reposed. But while the earth
was trodden, and the footsteps o