led Heyward and the
still vigorous Munro to exert all their muscles to equal. Their route
now lay along the bottom which had already been mentioned. As the Hurons
had made no further efforts to conceal their footsteps, the progress of
the pursuers was no longer delayed by uncertainty. Before an hour had
elapsed, however, the speed of Hawkeye sensibly abated, and his head,
instead of maintaining its former direct and forward look, began to turn
suspiciously from side to side, as if he were conscious of approaching
danger. He soon stopped again, and waited for the whole party to come
up.

"I scent the Hurons," he said, speaking to the Mohicans; "yonder is open
sky, through the tree-tops, and we are getting too nigh their
encampment. Sagamore, you will take the hillside, to the right; Uncas
will bend along the brook to the left, while I will try the trail. If
anything should happen, the call will be three croaks of a crow. I saw
one of the birds fanning himself in the air, just beyond the dead
oak--another sign that we are touching an encampment."

The Indians departed their several ways without reply, while Hawkeye
cautiously proceeded with the two gentlemen. Heyward soon pressed to the
side of their guide, eager to catch an early glimpse of those enemies he
had pursued with so much toil and anxiety. His companion told him to
steal to the edge of the wood, which, as usual, was fringed with a
thicket, and wait his coming, for he wished to examine certain
suspicious signs a little on one side. Duncan obeyed, and soon found
himself in a situation to command a view which he found as extraordinary
as it was novel.

The trees of many acres had been felled, and the glow of a mild summer's
evening had fallen on the clearing, in beautiful contrast to the gray
light of the forest. A short distance from the place where Duncan stood,
the stream had seemingly expanded into a little lake, covering most of
the low land, from mountain to mountain. The water fell out of this wide
basin, in a cataract so regular and gentle, that it appeared rather to
be the work of human hands, than fashioned by nature. A hundred earthen
dwellings stood on the margin of the lake, and even in its water, as
though the latter had overflowed its usual banks. Their rounded roofs,
admirably moulded for defence against the weather, denoted more of
industry and foresight than the natives were wont to bestow on their
regular habitations, much less on those they