o protect themselves against any straggler in the rear, they
placed their bodies against the trunk of an oak, standing on the side
next the fire.

The view that Deerslayer now obtained of the camp was exactly the
reverse of that he had perceived from the water. The dim figures which
he had formerly discovered must have been on the summit of the ridge,
a few feet in advance of the spot where he was now posted. The fire
was still blazing brightly, and around it were seated on logs thirteen
warriors, which accounted for all whom he had seen from the canoe. They
were conversing, with much earnestness among themselves, the image of
the elephant passing from hand to hand. The first burst of savage wonder
had abated, and the question now under discussion was the probable
existence, the history and the habits of so extraordinary an animal. We
have not leisure to record the opinions of these rude men on a subject
so consonant to their lives and experience; but little is hazarded in
saying that they were quite as plausible, and far more ingenious, than
half the conjectures that precede the demonstrations of science. However
much they may have been at fault as to their conclusions and inferences,
it is certain that they discussed the questions with a zealous and most
undivided attention. For the time being all else was forgotten, and our
adventurers could not have approached at a more fortunate instant.

The females were collected near each other, much as Deerslayer had last
seen them, nearly in a line between the place where he now stood and the
fire. The distance from the oak against which the young men leaned and
the warriors was about thirty yards; the women may have been half that
number of yards nigher. The latter, indeed, were so near as to make the
utmost circumspection, as to motion and noise, indispensable. Although
they conversed in their low, soft voices it was possible, in the
profound stillness of the woods, even to catch passages of the
discourse; and the light-hearted laugh that escaped the girls might
occasionally have reached the canoe. Deerslayer felt the tremolo that
passed through the frame of his friend when the latter first caught the
sweet sounds that issued from the plump, pretty lips of Hist. He even
laid a hand on the shoulder of the Indian, as a sort of admonition to
command himself. As the conversation grew more earnest, each leaned
forward to listen.

"The Hurons have more curious beasts than that,"