something in the Bible about
cooling the tongue of a man who was burning in Hell fire?"

Judith turned away shocked, but Hetty eagerly sought the passage, which
she read aloud to the conscience stricken victim of his own avaricious
longings.

"That's it, poor Hetty; yes, that's it. My tongue wants cooling,
now--what will it be hereafter?"

This appeal silenced even the confiding Hetty, for she had no answer
ready for a confession so fraught with despair. Water, so long as it
could relieve the sufferer, it was in the power of the sisters to give,
and from time to time it was offered to the lips of the sufferer as he
asked for it. Even Judith prayed. As for Hetty, as soon as she found
that her efforts to make her father listen to her texts were no longer
rewarded with success, she knelt at his side and devoutly repeated
the words which the Saviour has left behind him as a model for human
petitions. This she continued to do, at intervals, as long as it seemed
to her that the act could benefit the dying man. Hutter, however,
lingered longer than the girls had believed possible when they first
found him. At times he spoke intelligibly, though his lips oftener moved
in utterance of sounds that carried no distinct impressions
to the mind. Judith listened intently, and she heard the
words--"husband"--"death"-"pirate"--"law"--"scalps"--and several others
of similar import, though there was no sentence to tell the precise
connection in which they were used. Still they were sufficiently
expressive to be understood by one whose ears had not escaped all the
rumours that had been circulated to her reputed father's discredit, and
whose comprehension was as quick as her faculties were attentive.

During the whole of the painful hour that succeeded, neither of the
sisters bethought her sufficiently of the Hurons to dread their return.
It seemed as if their desolation and grief placed them above the danger
of such an interruption, and when the sound of oars was at length heard,
even Judith, who alone had any reason to apprehend the enemy, did not
start, but at once understood that the Ark was near. She went upon the
platform fearlessly, for should it turn out that Hurry was not
there, and that the Hurons were masters of the scow also, escape was
impossible. Then she had the sort of confidence that is inspired by
extreme misery. But there was no cause for any new alarm, Chingachgook,
Hist, and Hurry all standing in the open part of th