n to the habits
of most of the other feathered inmates of the wilderness; a circumstance
which had induced Hurry to select it as his own signal. There had been
sufficient time, certainly, for the two adventurers to make their way by
land from the point where they had been left to that whence the call had
come, but it was not probable that they would adopt such a course. Had
the camp been deserted they would have summoned Deerslayer to the shore,
and, did it prove to be peopled, there could be no sufficient motive
for circling it, in order to re-embark at so great a distance. Should he
obey the signal, and be drawn away from the landing, the lives of those
who depended on him might be the forfeit--and, should he neglect the
call, on the supposition that it had been really made, the consequences
might be equally disastrous, though from a different cause. In this
indecision he waited, trusting that the call, whether feigned or
natural, would be speedily renewed. Nor was he mistaken. A very few
minutes elapsed before the same shrill warning cry was repeated, and
from the same part of the lake. This time, being on the alert, his
senses were not deceived. Although he had often heard admirable
imitations of this bird, and was no mean adept himself in raising its
notes, he felt satisfied that Hurry, to whose efforts in that way he
had attended, could never so completely and closely follow nature. He
determined, therefore, to disregard that cry, and to wait for one less
perfect and nearer at hand.

Deerslayer had hardly come to this determination, when the profound
stillness of night and solitude was broken by a cry so startling, as to
drive all recollection of the more melancholy call of the loon from the
listener's mind. It was a shriek of agony, that came either from one
of the female sex, or from a boy so young as not yet to have attained a
manly voice. This appeal could not be mistaken. Heart rending terror--if
not writhing agony--was in the sounds, and the anguish that had awakened
them was as sudden as it was fearful. The young man released his hold
of the rush, and dashed his paddle into the water; to do, he knew
not what--to steer, he knew not whither. A very few moments, however,
removed his indecision. The breaking of branches, the cracking of
dried sticks, and the fall of feet were distinctly audible; the
sounds appearing to approach the water though in a direction that led
diagonally towards the shore, and a little