utts of both resting on
the earth, while from one dangled its proper pouch and horn. This was
Killdeer which, even as he looked boldly and in defiance at the crowd
around him, he suffered to fall back into the hands of its proper owner.
The presence of two armed men, though it was in their midst, startled
the Hurons. Their rifles were scattered about against the different
trees, and their only weapons were their knives and tomahawks. Still
they had too much self-possession to betray fear. It was little likely
that so small a force would assail so strong a band, and each man
expected some extraordinary proposition to succeed so decisive a step.
The stranger did not seem disposed to disappoint them; he prepared to
speak.

"Hurons," he said, "this earth is very big. The Great Lakes are big,
too; there is room beyond them for the Iroquois; there is room for the
Delawares on this side. I am Chingachgook the Son of Uncas; the kinsman
of Tamenund. This is my betrothed; that pale-face is my friend. My heart
was heavy, when I missed him; I followed him to your camp, to see that
no harm happened to him. All the Delaware girls are waiting for Wah;
they wonder that she stays away so long. Come, let us say farewell, and
go on our path."

"Hurons, this is your mortal enemy, the Great Serpent of them you hate!"
cried Briarthorn. "If he escape, blood will be in your moccasin prints,
from this spot to the Canadas. I am all Huron!" As the last words were
uttered, the traitor cast his knife at the naked breast of the Delaware.
A quick movement of the arm, on the part of Hist, who stood near, turned
aside the blow, the dangerous weapon burying its point in a pine. At the
next instant, a similar weapon glanced from the hand of the Serpent, and
quivered in the recreant's heart. A minute had scarcely elapsed from the
moment in which Chingachgook bounded into the circle, and that in which
Briarthorn fell, like a log, dead in his tracks. The rapidity of events
had prevented the Hurons from acting; but this catastrophe permitted no
farther delay. A common exclamation followed, and the whole party was
in motion. At this instant a sound unusual to the woods was heard, and
every Huron, male and female, paused to listen, with ears erect and
faces filled with expectation. The sound was regular and heavy, as if
the earth were struck with beetles. Objects became visible among the
trees of the background, and a body of troops was seen advancing with
m