f both men and beasts were so plainly
visible around the place, the trail appeared to have suddenly ended.

It was easy to follow the tracks of the Narragansetts, but they seemed
only to have wandered without guides, or any other object than the
pursuit of food. At length Uncas, who, with his father, had endeavored
to trace the route of the horses, came upon a sign of their presence
that was quite recent. Before following the clew, he communicated his
success to his companions; and while the latter were consulting on the
circumstance, the youth reappeared, leading the two fillies, with
their saddles broken, and the housings soiled, as though they had been
permitted to run at will for several days.

"What should this prove?" said Duncan, turning pale, and glancing his
eyes around him, as if he feared the brush and leaves were about to give
up some horrid secret.

"That our march is come to a quick end, and that we are in an enemy's
country," returned the scout. "Had the knave been pressed, and the
gentle ones wanted horses to keep up with the party, he might have taken
their scalps; but without an enemy at his heels, and with such rugged
beasts as these, he would not hurt a hair of their heads. I know your
thoughts, and shame be it to our color that you have reason for them;
but he who thinks that even a Mingo would ill-treat a woman, unless it
be to tomahawk her, knows nothing of Indian natur', or the laws of the
woods. No, no; I have heard that the French Indians had come into these
hills to hunt the moose, and we are getting within scent of their camp.
Why should they not? The morning and evening guns of Ty may be heard
any day among these mountains; for the Frenchers are running a new line
atween the provinces of the king and the Canadas. It is true that the
horses are here, but the Hurons are gone; let us, then, hunt for the
path by which they parted."

Hawkeye and the Mohicans now applied themselves to their task in good
earnest. A circle of a few hundred feet in circumference was drawn,
and each of the party took a segment for his portion. The examination,
however, resulted in no discovery. The impressions of footsteps were
numerous, but they all appeared like those of men who had wandered
about the spot, without any design to quit it. Again the scout and his
companions made the circuit of the halting place, each slowly following
the other, until they assembled in the center once more, no wiser than
when they