ndt-looking hemlocks, "quivering aspens," and melancholy
pines. In a word, the hand of man had never yet defaced or deformed any
part of this native scene, which lay bathed in the sunlight, a glorious
picture of affluent forest grandeur, softened by the balminess of June,
and relieved by the beautiful variety afforded by the presence of so
broad an expanse of water.

"This is grand!--'tis solemn!--'tis an edication of itself, to look
upon!" exclaimed Deerslayer, as he stood leaning on his rifle, and
gazing to the right and left, north and south, above and beneath, in
whichever direction his eye could wander; "not a tree disturbed even by
red-skin hand, as I can discover, but everything left in the ordering of
the Lord, to live and die according to his own designs and laws! Hurry,
your Judith ought to be a moral and well disposed young woman, if
she has passed half the time you mention in the centre of a spot so
favored."

"That's naked truth; and yet the gal has the vagaries. All her time
has not been passed here, howsoever, old Tom having the custom, afore
I know'd him, of going to spend the winters in the neighborhood of the
settlers, or under the guns of the forts. No, no, Jude has caught
more than is for her good from the settlers, and especially from the
gallantifying officers."

"If she has--if she has, Hurry, this is a school to set her mind right
ag'in. But what is this I see off here, abreast of us, that seems too
small for an island, and too large for a boat, though it stands in the
midst of the water!

"Why, that is what these galantine gentry from the forts call Muskrat
Castle; and old Tom himself will grin at the name, though it bears so
hard on his own natur' and character. 'Tis the stationary house, there
being two; this, which never moves, and the other, that floats, being
sometimes in one part of the lake and sometimes in another. The last
goes by the name of the ark, though what may be the meaning of the word
is more than I can tell you."

"It must come from the missionaries, Hurry, whom I have heard speak
and read of such a thing. They say that the 'arth was once covered with
water, and that Noah, with his children, was saved from drowning by
building a vessel called an ark, in which he embarked in season. Some of
the Delawares believe this tradition, and some deny it; but it behooves
you and me, as white men born, to put our faith in its truth. Do you see
anything of this ark?"

"'Tis down so