s altogether for good; and, remember, that to outwit
the knaves it is lawful to practise things that may not be naturally the
gift of a white-skin."

Duncan shook his worthy and reluctant associate warmly by the hand, once
more recommended his aged friend to his care, and returning his good
wishes, he motioned to David to proceed. Hawkeye gazed after the
high-spirited and adventurous young man for several moments, in open
admiration; then, shaking his head doubtingly, he turned, and led his
own division of the party into the concealment of the forest.

The route taken by Duncan and David lay directly across the clearing of
the beavers, and along the margin of their pond.

When the former found himself alone with one so simple, and so little
qualified to render any assistance in desperate emergencies, he first
began to be sensible of the difficulties of the task he had undertaken.
The fading light increased the gloominess of the bleak and savage
wilderness that stretched so far on every side of him, and there was
even a fearful character in the stillness of those little huts, that
he knew were so abundantly peopled. It struck him, as he gazed at the
admirable structures and the wonderful precautions of their sagacious
inmates, that even the brutes of these vast wilds were possessed of
an instinct nearly commensurate with his own reason; and he could not
reflect, without anxiety, on the unequal contest that he had so rashly
courted. Then came the glowing image of Alice; her distress; her actual
danger; and all the peril of his situation was forgotten. Cheering
David, he moved on with the light and vigorous step of youth and
enterprise.

After making nearly a semicircle around the pond, they diverged from the
water-course, and began to ascend to the level of a slight elevation in
that bottom land, over which they journeyed. Within half an hour they
gained the margin of another opening that bore all the signs of having
been also made by the beavers, and which those sagacious animals had
probably been induced, by some accident, to abandon, for the more
eligible position they now occupied. A very natural sensation caused
Duncan to hesitate a moment, unwilling to leave the cover of their
bushy path, as a man pauses to collect his energies before he essays any
hazardous experiment, in which he is secretly conscious they will all be
needed. He profited by the halt, to gather such information as might be
obtained from his sho