further.

"I don't know a better way to treat with the Mingos, gal," cried
Deerslayer, "than to send you ashore as you be, and to tell 'em that a
queen has arrived among 'em! They'll give up old Hutter, and Hurry, and
Hetty, too, at such a spectacle!"

"I thought your tongue too honest to flatter, Deerslayer," returned the
girl, gratified at this admiration more than she would have cared to
own. "One of the chief reasons of my respect for you, was your love for
truth."

"And 'tis truth, and solemn truth, Judith, and nothing else. Never did
eyes of mine gaze on as glorious a lookin' creatur' as you be yourself,
at this very moment! I've seen beauties in my time, too, both white and
red; and them that was renowned and talk'd of, far and near; but never
have I beheld one that could hold any comparison with what you are at
this blessed instant, Judith; never."

The glance of delight which the girl bestowed on the frank-speaking
hunter in no degree lessened the effect of her charms, and as the
humid eyes blended with it a look of sensibility, perhaps Judith never
appeared more truly lovely, than at what the young man had called that
"blessed instant." He shook his head, held it suspended a moment
over the open chest, like one in doubt, and then proceeded with the
examination.

Several of the minor articles of female dress came next, all of a
quality to correspond with the gown. These were laid at Judith's feet,
in silence, as if she had a natural claim to their possession. One or
two, such as gloves, and lace, the girl caught up, and appended to her
already rich attire in affected playfulness, but with the real design
of decorating her person as far as circumstances would allow. When
these two remarkable suits, male and female they might be termed, were
removed, another canvas covering separated the remainder of the
articles from the part of the chest which they had occupied. As soon
as Deerslayer perceived this arrangement he paused, doubtful of the
propriety of proceeding any further.

"Every man has his secrets, I suppose," he said, "and all men have
a right to their enj'yment. We've got low enough in this chist in my
judgment to answer our wants, and it seems to me we should do well by
going no farther; and by letting Master Hutter have to himself, and his
own feelin's, all that's beneath this cover.

"Do you mean, Deerslayer, to offer these clothes to the Iroquois as
ransom?" demanded Judith, quickly.

"Sarta