oment the body was
dragged past the end of the scow and became concealed. As for the
Delaware and Hist, they worked perfectly covered by the cabin, and in
less time than it requires to tell it, they had hauled the huge frame of
Harry to the place they occupied. Chingachgook stood in readiness with
his keen knife, and bending over the side of the scow he soon severed
the bark that bound the limbs of the borderer. To raise him high enough
to reach the edge of the boat and to aid him in entering were less easy,
as Hurry's arms were still nearly useless, but both were done in time,
when the liberated man staggered forward and fell exhausted and helpless
into the bottom of the scow. Here we shall leave him to recover his
strength and the due circulation of his blood, while we proceed with
the narrative of events that crowd upon us too fast to admit of any
postponement. The moment the Hurons lost sight of the body of Hurry they
gave a common yell of disappointment, and three of the most active of
their number ran to the trap and entered the canoe. It required some
little delay, however, to embark with their weapons, to find the paddles
and, if we may use a phrase so purely technical, "to get out of dock."
By this time Hurry was in the scow, and the Delaware had his rifles
again in readiness. As the Ark necessarily sailed before the wind, it
had got by this time quite two hundred yards from the castle, and was
sliding away each instant, farther and farther, though with a motion so
easy as scarcely to stir the water. The canoe of the girls was quite
a quarter of a mile distant from the Ark, obviously keeping aloof, in
ignorance of what had occurred, and in apprehension of the consequences
of venturing too near. They had taken the direction of the eastern
shore, endeavoring at the same time to get to windward of the Ark, and
in a manner between the two parties, as if distrusting which was to be
considered a friend, and which an enemy. The girls, from long habit,
used the paddles with great dexterity, and Judith, in particular, had
often sportively gained races, in trials of speed with the youths that
occasionally visited the lake.

When the three Hurons emerged from behind the palisades, and found
themselves on the open lake, and under the necessity of advancing
unprotected on the Ark, if they persevered in the original design, their
ardor sensibly cooled. In a bark canoe they were totally without cover,
and Indian discretion wa