straight line."

"That was a pretty name!" exclaimed Hetty; "pigeons are pretty birds!"

"Most things that God created are pretty in their way, my good gal,
though they get to be deformed by mankind, so as to change their
natur's, as well as their appearance. From carrying messages, and
striking blind trails, I got at last to following the hunters, when it
was thought I was quicker and surer at finding the game than most lads,
and then they called me the 'Lap-ear'; as, they said, I partook of the
sagacity of the hound."

"That's not so pretty," answered Hetty; "I hope you didn't keep that
name long."

"Not after I was rich enough to buy a rifle," returned the other,
betraying a little pride through his usually quiet and subdued manner;
"then it was seen I could keep a wigwam in ven'son; and in time I got
the name of 'Deerslayer,' which is that I now bear; homely as some will
think it, who set more value on the scalp of a fellow-mortal than on the
horns of a buck."

"Well, Deerslayer, I'm not one of them," answered Hetty, simply; "Judith
likes soldiers, and flary coats, and fine feathers; but they're all
naught to me. She says the officers are great, and gay, and of soft
speech; but they make me shudder, for their business is to kill their
fellow-creatures. I like your calling better; and your last name is a
very good one--better than Natty Bumppo."

"This is nat'ral in one of your turn of mind, Hetty, and much as I
should have expected. They tell me your sister is handsome--oncommon,
for a mortal; and beauty is apt to seek admiration."

"Did you never see Judith?" demanded the girl, with quick earnestness;
"if you never have, go at once and look at her. Even Hurry Harry isn't
more pleasant to look at though she is a woman, and he is a man."

Deerslayer regarded the girl for a moment with concern. Her pale-face
had flushed a little, and her eye, usually so mild and serene,
brightened as she spoke, in the way to betray the inward impulses.

"Ay, Hurry Harry," he muttered to himself, as he walked through the
cabin towards the other end of the boat; "this comes of good looks, if
a light tongue has had no consarn in it. It's easy to see which way that
poor creatur's feelin's are leanin', whatever may be the case with your
Jude's."

But an interruption was put to the gallantry of Hurry, the coquetry
of his intros, the thoughts of Deerslayer, and the gentle feelings of
Hetty, by the sudden appearance of the canoe o