ellow will forget every
thing but your comeliness. Hot words don't always come from the heart,
but oftener from the stomach than anywhere else. Try him, Judith, when
he awakes, and see the virtue of a smile."

Deerslayer laughed, in his own manner, as he concluded, and then he
intimated to the patient-looking, but really impatient Chingachgook, his
readiness to proceed. As the young man entered the canoe, the girl stood
immovable as stone, lost in the musings that the language and manner
of the other were likely to produce. The simplicity of the hunter had
completely put her at fault; for, in her narrow sphere, Judith was an
expert manager of the other sex; though in the present instance she was
far more actuated by impulses, in all she had said and done, than by
calculation. We shall not deny that some of Judith's reflections were
bitter, though the sequel of the tale must be referred to, in order to
explain how merited, or how keen were her sufferings.

Chingachgook and his pale-face friend set forth on their hazardous and
delicate enterprise, with a coolness and method that would have done
credit to men who were on their twentieth, instead of being on their
first, war-path. As suited his relation to the pretty fugitive, in whose
service they were engaged, the Indian took his place in the head of
the canoe; while Deerslayer guided its movements in the stern. By this
arrangement, the former would be the first to land, and of course,
the first to meet his mistress. The latter had taken his post without
comment, but in secret influenced by the reflection that one who had so
much at stake as the Indian, might not possibly guide the canoe with the
same steadiness and intelligence, as another who had more command of his
feelings. From the instant they left the side of the ark, the movements
of the two adventurers were like the manoeuvres of highly-drilled
soldiers, who, for the first time were called on to meet the enemy in
the field. As yet, Chingachgook had never fired a shot in anger, and the
debut of his companion in warfare is known to the reader. It is true,
the Indian had been hanging about his enemy's camp for a few hours, on
his first arrival, and he had even once entered it, as related in the
last chapter, but no consequences had followed either experiment.
Now, it was certain that an important result was to be effected, or a
mortifying failure was to ensue. The rescue, or the continued captivity
of Hist, depende