ds the shore, and
the latter was nearer, perhaps, than was desirable. Still, the water
was known to be very deep further off in the lake, and anchoring in deep
water, under the circumstances in which the party was placed, was to
be avoided, if possible. It was also believed no raft could be within
miles; and though the trees in the darkness appeared almost to overhang
the scow, it would not be easy to get off to her without using a boat.
The intense darkness that prevailed so close in with the forest, too,
served as an effectual screen, and so long as care was had not to make a
noise, there was little or no danger of being detected. All these things
Deerslayer pointed out to Judith, instructing her as to the course she
was to follow in the event of an alarm; for it was thought to the last
degree inexpedient to arouse the sleepers, unless it might be in the
greatest emergency.

"And now, Judith, as we understand one another, it is time the Sarpent
and I had taken to the canoe," the hunter concluded. "The star has not
risen yet, it's true, but it soon must, though none of us are likely
to be any the wiser for it tonight, on account of the clouds. Howsever,
Hist has a ready mind, and she's one of them that doesn't always need to
have a thing afore her, to see it. I'll warrant you she'll not be either
two minutes or two feet out of the way, unless them jealous vagabonds,
the Mingos, have taken the alarm, and put her as a stool-pigeon to
catch us, or have hid her away, in order to prepare her mind for a Huron
instead of a Mohican husband."

"Deerslayer," interrupted the girl, earnestly; "this is a most dangerous
service; why do you go on it, at all?"

"Anan!--Why you know, gal, we go to bring off Hist, the Sarpent's
betrothed--the maid he means to marry, as soon as we get back to the
tribe."

"That is all right for the Indian--but you do not mean to marry
Hist--you are not betrothed, and why should two risk their lives and
liberties, to do that which one can just as well perform?"

"Ah--now I understand you, Judith--yes, now I begin to take the idee.
You think as Hist is the Sarpent's betrothed, as they call it, and not
mine, it's altogether his affair; and as one man can paddle a canoe he
ought to be left to go after his gal alone! But you forget this is our
ar'n'd here on the lake, and it would not tell well to forget an ar'n'd
just as the pinch came. Then, if love does count for so much with some
people, particularl