ly from her late exertions, and her desire to land. A dead silence
immediately fell on the lake, during which the three in the Ark were
using their senses differently, in order to detect the position of the
canoe. Judith bent forward to listen, in the hope of catching some sound
that might betray the direction in which her sister was stealing away,
while her two companions brought their eyes as near as possible to
a level with the water, in order to detect any object that might be
floating on its surface. All was vain, however, for neither sound nor
sight rewarded their efforts. All this time Hetty, who had not the
cunning to sink into the canoe, stood erect, a finger pressed on her
lips, gazing in the direction in which the voices had last been heard,
resembling a statue of profound and timid attention. Her ingenuity had
barely sufficed to enable her to seize the canoe and to quit the Ark,
in the noiseless manner related, and then it appeared to be momentarily
exhausted. Even the doublings of the canoe had been as much the
consequence of an uncertain hand and of nervous agitation, as of any
craftiness or calculation.

The pause continued several minutes, during which Deerslayer and the
Delaware conferred together in the language of the latter. Then the oars
dipped, again, and the Ark moved away, rowing with as little noise as
possible. It steered westward, a little southerly, or in the direction
of the encampment of the enemy. Having reached a point at no great
distance from the shore, and where the obscurity was intense on account
of the proximity of the land, it lay there near an hour, in waiting for
the expected approach of Hetty, who, it was thought, would make the best
of her way to that spot as soon as she believed herself released
from the danger of pursuit. No success rewarded this little blockade,
however, neither appearance nor sound denoting the passage of the canoe.
Disappointed at this failure, and conscious of the importance of getting
possession of the fortress before it could be seized by the enemy,
Deerslayer now took his way towards the castle, with the apprehension
that all his foresight in securing the canoes would be defeated by this
unguarded and alarming movement on the part of the feeble-minded Hetty.

Chapter X.

"But who in this wild wood
May credit give to either eye, or ear?
From rocky precipice or hollow cave,
'Midst the confused sound of rustling leaves,
And c