I can see any trail in the lake."

"No trail--water make no trail," said Hist, eagerly. "Stop boat--no go
too near. Huron there!"

"Ay, that's it!--Stick to the same tale, and more people will believe
you. I hope, Sarpent, you and your gal will agree in telling the same
story arter marriage, as well as you do now. 'Huron, there!'-Whereabouts
is he to be seen--in the padlock, or the chains, or the logs. There
isn't a gaol in the colony that has a more lock up look about it, than
old Tom's chiente, and I know something about gaols from exper'ence."

"No see moccasin," said Hist, impatiently "why no look--and see him."

"Give me the glass, Harry," interrupted Hutter, "and lower the sail.
It is seldom that an Indian woman meddles, and when she does, there is
generally a cause for it. There is, truly, a moccasin floating against
one of the piles, and it may or may not be a sign that the castle hasn't
escaped visitors in our absence. Moccasins are no rarities, however, for
I wear 'em myself; and Deerslayer wears 'em, and you wear 'em, March,
and, for that matter so does Hetty, quite as often as she wears shoes,
though I never yet saw Judith trust her pretty foot in a moccasin."

Hurry had lowered the sail, and by this time the Ark was within two
hundred yards of the castle, setting in, nearer and nearer, each moment,
but at a rate too slow to excite any uneasiness. Each now took the glass
in turn, and the castle, and every thing near it, was subjected to a
scrutiny still more rigid than ever. There the moccasin lay, beyond a
question, floating so lightly, and preserving its form so well, that it
was scarcely wet. It had caught by a piece of the rough bark of one of
the piles, on the exterior of the water-palisade that formed the dock
already mentioned, which circumstance alone prevented it from drifting
away before the air. There were many modes, however, of accounting for
the presence of the moccasin, without supposing it to have been dropped
by an enemy. It might have fallen from the platform, even while Hutter
was in possession of the place, and drifted to the spot where it was now
seen, remaining unnoticed until detected by the acute vision of Hist.
It might have drifted from a distance, up or down the lake, and
accidentally become attached to the pile, or palisade. It might have
been thrown from a window, and alighted in that particular place; or it
might certainly have fallen from a scout, or an assailant, during the