he laws of the
woods. No, no; I have heard that the French Indians had come into these
hills, to hunt the moose, and we are getting within scent of their camp.
Why should they not? the morning and evening guns of Ty may be heard any
day among these mountains; for the Frenchers are running a new line
atween the provinces of the king and the Canadas. It is true that the
horses are here, but the Hurons are gone; let us then hunt for the path
by which they departed."

Hawkeye and the Mohicans now applied themselves to their task in good
earnest. A circle of a few hundred feet in circumference was drawn, and
each of the party took a segment for his portion. The examination,
however, resulted in no discovery. The impressions of footsteps were
numerous, but they all appeared like those of men who had wandered about
the spot, without any design to quit it. Again the scout and his
companions made the circuit of the halting-place, each slowly following
the other, until they assembled in the centre once more, no wiser than
when they started.

"Such cunning is not without its deviltry," exclaimed Hawkeye, when he
met the disappointed looks of his assistants.

"We must get down to it, Sagamore, beginning at the spring, and going
over the ground by inches. The Huron shall never brag in his tribe that
he has a foot which leaves no print."

Setting the example himself, the scout engaged in the scrutiny with
renewed zeal. Not a leaf was left unturned. The sticks were removed, and
the stones lifted; for Indian cunning was known frequently to adopt
these objects as covers, laboring with the utmost patience and industry,
to conceal each footstep as they proceeded. Still no discovery was made.
At length Uncas, whose activity had enabled him to achieve his portion
of the task the soonest, raked the earth across the turbid little rill
which ran from the spring, and diverted its course into another channel.
So soon as its narrow bed below the dam was dry, he stooped over it with
keen and curious eyes. A cry of exultation immediately announced the
success of the young warrior. The whole party crowded to the spot where
Uncas pointed out the impression of a moccasin in the moist alluvion.

"The lad will be an honor to his people," said Hawkeye, regarding the
trail with as much admiration as a naturalist would expend on the tusk
of a mammoth or the rib of a mastodon; "ay, and a thorn in the sides of
the Hurons. Yet that is not the footstep of