duce a sensation,
piqued the pride of the girl, and gave him an interest that another,
seemingly more favored by nature, might have failed to excite.

In this manner half an hour passed, during which time the Ark had been
slowly stealing over the water, the darkness thickening around it;
though it was easy to see that the gloom of the forest at the southern
end of the lake was getting to be distant, while the mountains that
lined the sides of the beautiful basin were overshadowing it, nearly
from side to side. There was, indeed, a narrow stripe of water, in the
centre of the lake where the dim light that was still shed from the
heavens, fell upon its surface in a line extending north and south;
and along this faint track, a sort of inverted milky way, in which the
obscurity was not quite as dense as in other places, the scow held her
course, he who steered well knowing that it led in the direction he
wished to go. The reader is not to suppose, however, that any difficulty
could exist as to the course. This would have been determined by that of
the air, had it not been possible to distinguish the mountains, as well
as by the dim opening to the south, which marked the position of the
valley in that quarter, above the plain of tall trees, by a sort of
lessened obscurity; the difference between the darkness of the forest,
and that of the night, as seen only in the air. The peculiarities
at length caught the attention of Judith and the Deerslayer, and the
conversation ceased, to allow each to gaze at the solemn stillness and
deep repose of nature.

"'Tis a gloomy night--" observed the girl, after a pause of several
minutes--"I hope we may be able to find the castle."

"Little fear of our missing that, if we keep this path in the middle of
the lake," returned the young man. "Natur' has made us a road here, and,
dim as it is, there'll be little difficulty following it."

"Do you hear nothing, Deerslayer?--It seemed as if the water was
stirring quite near us!"

"Sartainly something did move the water, oncommon like; must have been
a fish. Them creatur's prey upon each other like men and animals on the
land; one has leaped into the air and fallen hard, back into his own
element. 'Tis of little use Judith, for any to strive to get out of
their elements, since it's natur' to stay in 'em, and natur' will have
its way. Ha! That sounds like a paddle, used with more than common
caution!"

At this moment the Delaware bent forwar