nt, the present picnic resort of Cooperstown; and a
full understanding of the events described as having taken place on this
spot almost depends upon some reference to the actual conformation of
the land. It was on the northern side of the projecting point that Hetty
had landed on the errand just referred to, setting her canoe adrift.
Wah-ta-wah promised to meet her Delaware lover, Chingachgook, at the
same landing-place, on the next night, at the moment when the planet
Jupiter should top the pines of the eastern shore. Here came
Chingachgook and Deerslayer in their canoe, at the appointed time, to
steal the maiden from the Hurons, but found that she could not keep the
tryst. Around this point Deerslayer gently propelled his canoe southward
until he gained a view of the fire-lit camp, which the Hurons had moved
from the region of Blackbird Bay to the southern slope of Three-Mile
Point. Back again to its northern side he paddled softly, and having
joined Chingachgook, they left the canoe on the beach near the point,
and made their stealthy detour, approaching the camp from the west, in
the shadow of the trees, informing Wah-ta-wah of their presence by
Chingachgook's squirrel-signal. The spring that still bubbles for the
refreshment of picnickers on the northern shore of the Point was the one
which Wah-ta-wah made a pretext to draw away from the camp the old squaw
who guarded her, and here Deerslayer throttled the vigilant hag, while
Chingachgook and his Indian sweetheart raced for the canoe. Here, when
Deerslayer released his grip to follow them, the squaw alarmed the camp.
Along the stretch of beach he ran eastward to the place where the lovers
were already in the canoe awaiting him, and from this point Deerslayer
pushed their canoe to safety, yielding himself to capture.

It was at Five-Mile Point that the Hurons were afterward encamped when
Deerslayer, whom they had released on parole, returned at the appointed
hour to redeem his plighted word. Back of Five-Mile Point is a
picturesque rocky gorge called Mohican Canyon, through which a brook
ripples, with clumps of fern and rose peeping from the crevices of its
rugged walls. Having fulfilled his pledge, Deerslayer soon ventured the
dash for liberty that so nearly succeeded; and, after making a circuit
of the slope, it was along the ridge of Mohican Canyon that he ran at
top speed to try a plunge for the lake, with the whole band of Indians
in pursuit.

[Illustration: