tly buoyant, logs of pine
were bound together with pins and withes and a little platform of riven
chestnut had been rudely placed on their surfaces. Here Hetty had been
seated, on a billet of wood, while the young Iroquois had rowed the
primitive and slow-moving, but perfectly safe craft from the shore.

As soon as Deerslayer had taken a close survey of this raft, and
satisfied himself nothing else was near, he shook his head and muttered
in his soliloquizing way--"This comes of prying into another man's
chist! Had we been watchful, and keen eyed, such a surprise could never
have happened, and, getting this much from a boy teaches us what we
may expect when the old warriors set themselves fairly about their
sarcumventions. It opens the way, howsever, to a treaty for the ransom,
and I will hear what Hetty has to say."

Judith, as soon as her surprise and alarm had a little abated,
discovered a proper share of affectionate joy at the return of her
sister. She folded her to her bosom, and kissed her, as had been her
wont in the days of their childhood and innocence. Hetty herself was
less affected, for to her there was no surprise, and her nerves were
sustained by the purity and holiness of her purpose. At her sister's
request she took a seat, and entered into an account of her adventures
since they had parted. Her tale commenced just as Deerslayer returned,
and he also became an attentive listener, while the young Iroquois stood
near the door, seemingly as indifferent to what was passing as one of
its posts.

The narrative of the girl was sufficiently clear, until she reached the
time where we left her in the camp, after the interview with the chiefs,
and, at the moment when Hist quitted her, in the abrupt manner already
related. The sequel of the story may be told in her own language.

"When I read the texts to the chiefs, Judith, you could not have seen
that they made any changes on their minds," she said, "but if seed is
planted, it will grow. God planted the seeds of all these trees--"

"Ay that did he--that did he--" muttered Deerslayer; "and a goodly
harvest has followed."

"God planted the seeds of all these trees," continued Hetty, after a
moment's pause, "and you see to what a height and shade they have grown!
So it is with the Bible. You may read a verse this year, and forget
it, and it will come back to you a year hence, when you least expect to
remember it."

"And did you find any thing of this among t