he celebrated American
axe, a tool that is quite unrivalled in its way, was then not very
extensively known, and the savages were far from expert in the use of
its hatchet-like substitute; still, they had sufficient practice in
crossing streams by this mode to render it certain they would construct
a raft, should they deem it expedient to expose themselves to the risks
of an assault. The death of their warrior might prove a sufficient
incentive, or it might act as a caution; but Deerslayer thought it more
than possible that the succeeding night would bring matters to a crisis,
and in this precise way. This impression caused him to wish ardently for
the presence and succor of his Mohican friend, and to look forward to
the approach of sunset with an increasing anxiety.

As the day advanced, the party in the castle matured their plans,
and made their preparations. Judith was active, and seemed to find a
pleasure in consulting and advising with her new acquaintance,
whose indifference to danger, manly devotion to herself and sister,
guilelessness of manner, and truth of feeling, had won rapidly on both
her imagination and her affections. Although the hours appeared long in
some respects to Deerslayer, Judith did not find them so, and when the
sun began to descend towards the pine-clad summits of the western hills,
she felt and expressed her surprise that the day should so soon be
drawing to a close. On the other hand, Hetty was moody and silent. She
was never loquacious, or if she occasionally became communicative, it
was under the influence of some temporary excitement that served to
arouse her unsophisticated mind; but, for hours at a time, in the course
of this all-important day, she seemed to have absolutely lost the use
of her tongue. Nor did apprehension on account of her father materially
affect the manner of either sister. Neither appeared seriously to dread
any evil greater than captivity, and once or twice, when Hetty did
speak, she intimated the expectation that Hutter would find the means
to liberate himself. Although Judith was less sanguine on this head, she
too betrayed the hope that propositions for a ransom would come,
when the Indians discovered that the castle set their expedients and
artifices at defiance. Deerslayer, however, treated these passing
suggestions as the ill-digested fancies of girls, making his own
arrangements as steadily, and brooding over the future as seriously, as
if they had never fal