d conscious herself of all the risks the whole party was running by
the indiscretion of Hetty, she could refrain no longer.

"Then, I fear, poor, weak-minded Hetty has not been altogether able
to see all the vanity, and rudeness and folly, that lie hid behind the
handsome face and fine form of Hurry Harry. She talks of him in her
sleep, and sometimes betrays the inclination in her waking moments."

"You think, Judith, that your sister is now bent on some mad scheme to
serve her father and Hurry, which will, in all likelihood, give them
riptyles the Mingos, the mastership of a canoe?"

"Such, I fear, will turn out to be the fact, Deerslayer. Poor Hetty has
hardly sufficient cunning to outwit a savage."

All this while the canoe, with the form of Hetty erect in one end of it,
was dimly perceptible, though the greater drift of the Ark rendered it,
at each instant, less and less distinct. It was evident no time was to
be lost, lest it should altogether disappear. The rifles were now laid
aside as useless, the two men seizing the oars and sweeping the head of
the scow round in the direction of the canoe. Judith, accustomed to the
office, flew to the other end of the Ark, and placed herself at what
might be called the helm. Hetty took the alarm at these preparations,
which could not be made without noise, and started off like a bird that
had been suddenly put up by the approach of unexpected danger.

As Deerslayer and his companion rowed with the energy of those who
felt the necessity of straining every nerve, and Hetty's strength was
impaired by a nervous desire to escape, the chase would have quickly
terminated in the capture of the fugitive, had not the girl made several
short and unlooked-for deviations in her course. These turnings gave her
time, and they had also the effect of gradually bringing both canoe and
Ark within the deeper gloom, cast by the shadows from the hills. They
also gradually increased the distance between the fugitive and her
pursuers, until Judith called out to her companions to cease rowing, for
she had completely lost sight of the canoe.

When this mortifying announcement was made, Hetty was actually so near
as to understand every syllable her sister uttered, though the latter
had used the precaution of speaking as low as circumstances would allow
her to do, and to make herself heard. Hetty stopped paddling at the same
moment, and waited the result with an impatience that was breathless,
equal