llected, the scout threw "Killdeer" into
the hollow of his arm, and making a silent signal that he would be
followed, he led them many rods towards the rear, into the bed of a
little brook which they had crossed in advancing. Here he halted; and
after waiting for the whole of his grave and attentive warriors to close
about him, he spoke in Delaware, demanding--

"Do any of my young men know whither this run will lead us?"

A Delaware stretched forth a hand, with the two fingers separated, and
indicating the manner in which they were joined at the root, he
answered,--

"Before the sun could go his own length, the little water will be in
the big." Then he added, pointing in the direction of the place he
mentioned, "the two make enough for the beavers."

"I thought as much," returned the scout, glancing his eye upwards at the
opening in the tree-tops, "from the course it takes, and the bearings of
the mountains. Men, we will keep within the cover of its banks till we
scent the Hurons."

His companions gave the usual brief exclamation of assent, but
perceiving that their leader was about to lead the way in person, one or
two made signs that all was not as it should be. Hawkeye, who
comprehended their meaning glances, turned, and perceived that his party
had been followed thus far by the singing-master.

"Do you know, friend," asked the scout gravely, and perhaps with a
little of the pride of conscious deserving in his manner, "that this is
a band of rangers chosen for the most desperate service, and put under
the command of one who, though another might say it with a better face,
will not be apt to leave them idle. It may not be five, it cannot be
thirty minutes before we tread on the body of a Huron, living or dead."

"Though not admonished of your intentions in words," returned David,
whose face was a little flushed, and whose ordinarily quiet and
unmeaning eyes glimmered with an expression of unusual fire, "your men
have reminded me of the children of Jacob going out to battle against
the Shechemites, for wickedly aspiring to wedlock with a woman of a race
that was favored of the Lord. Now, I have journeyed far, and sojourned
much in good and evil with the maiden ye seek; and though not a man of
war, with my loins girded and my sword sharpened, yet would I gladly
strike a blow in her behalf."

The scout hesitated, as if weighing the chances of such a strange
enlistment in his mind before he answered,--

"You k