too proud to pry into their
hidden treasures unless it were for their own good. But on no account
will I open the chest alone. Stay with me, then; I want witnesses of
what I do."

"I rather think, Sarpent, that the gal is right! Confidence and reliance
beget security, but suspicion is like to make us all wary. Judith has a
right to ask us to be present, and should the chist hold any of Master
Hutter's secrets, they will fall into the keeping of two as close
mouthed young men as are to be found. We will stay with you, Judith--but
first let us take a look at the lake and the shore, for this chist will
not be emptied in a minute."

The two men now went out on the platform, and Deerslayer swept the shore
with the glass, while the Indian gravely turned his eye on the water and
the woods, in quest of any sign that might betray the machinations
of their enemies. Nothing was visible, and assured of their temporary
security, the three collected around the chest again, with the avowed
object of opening it.

Judith had held this chest and its unknown contents in a species of
reverence as long as she could remember. Neither her father nor her
mother ever mentioned it in her presence, and there appeared to be a
silent convention that in naming the different objects that occasionally
stood near it, or even lay on its lid, care should be had to avoid any
allusion to the chest itself. Habit had rendered this so easy, and so
much a matter of course, that it was only quite recently the girl had
began even to muse on the singularity of the circumstance. But there had
never been sufficient intimacy between Hutter and his eldest daughter to
invite confidence. At times he was kind, but in general, with her more
especially, he was stern and morose. Least of all had his authority been
exercised in a way to embolden his child to venture on the liberty she
was about to take, without many misgivings of the consequences, although
the liberty proceeded from a desire to serve himself. Then Judith was
not altogether free from a little superstition on the subject of this
chest, which had stood a sort of tabooed relic before her eyes from
childhood to the present hour. Nevertheless the time had come when
it would seem that this mystery was to be explained, and that under
circumstances, too, which left her very little choice in the matter.

Finding that both her companions were watching her movements, in grave
silence, Judith placed a hand on the l