ra chessmen in reserve, as a means of
smoothing any difficulty in the moment of need.

At length the savage pretended that further negotiation was useless,
since he could not be so unjust to his tribe as to part with the
honor and emoluments of two excellent, full grown male scalps for
a consideration so trifling as a toy like that he had seen, and he
prepared to take his departure. Both parties now felt as men are wont to
feel, when a bargain that each is anxious to conclude is on the eve of
being broken off, in consequence of too much pertinacity in the way
of management. The effect of the disappointment was very different,
however, on the respective individuals. Deerslayer was mortified, and
filled with regret, for he not only felt for the prisoners, but he also
felt deeply for the two girls. The conclusion of the treaty, therefore,
left him melancholy and full of regret. With the savage, his defeat
produced the desire of revenge. In a moment of excitement, he had loudly
announced his intention to say no more, and he felt equally enraged with
himself and with his cool opponent, that he had permitted a pale face to
manifest more indifference and self-command than an Indian chief. When
he began to urge his raft away from the platform his countenance lowered
and his eye glowed, even while he affected a smile of amity and a
gesture of courtesy at parting.

It took some little time to overcome the inertia of the logs, and while
this was being done by the silent Indian, Rivenoak stalked over the
hemlock boughs that lay between the logs in sullen ferocity, eyeing
keenly the while the hut, the platform and the person of his late
disputant. Once he spoke in low, quick tones to his companion, and he
stirred the boughs with his feet like an animal that is restive. At that
moment the watchfulness of Deerslayer had a little abated, for he sat
musing on the means of renewing the negotiation without giving too much
advantage to the other side. It was perhaps fortunate for him that the
keen and bright eyes of Judith were as vigilant as ever. At the instant
when the young man was least on his guard, and his enemy was the most
on the alert, she called out in a warning voice to the former, most
opportunely giving the alarm.

"Be on your guard, Deerslayer," the girl cried--"I see rifles with the
glass, beneath the hemlock brush, and the Iroquois is loosening them
with his feet!"

It would seem that the enemy had carried their artifi