nced, became lighter with
the lurid atmosphere before alluded to; and at length, through the
trees, could be indistinctly seen the Indian fires from which it
proceeded. The young man was now desired by his conductress to use the
utmost circumspection in making the circuit of the wood, in order to
gain a position immediately opposite to the point where the path they
had hitherto pursued terminated in the opening. This, indeed, was the
most dangerous and critical part of the undertaking. A false step, or
the crackling of a decayed branch beneath the foot, would have been
sufficient to betray proximity, in which case his doom was sealed.

Fortunate did he now deem himself in having yielded to the counsel of
his guide. Had he retained his unbending boot, it must have crushed
whatever it pressed; whereas, the pliant mocassin, yielding to the
obstacles it encountered, enabled him to pass noiselessly over them.
Still, while exempt from danger on this score, another, scarcely less
perplexing, became at every instant more obvious; for, as they drew
nearer to the point which the female sought to gain, the dim light of
the half-slumbering fires fell so immediately upon their path, that had
a single human eye been turned in that direction, their discovery was
inevitable. It was with a beating heart, to which mere personal fear,
however, was a stranger, that Captain de Haldimar performed this
concluding stage of his adventurous course; but, at a moment when he
considered detection unavoidable, and was arming himself with
resolution to meet the event, the female suddenly halted, placing, in
the act, the trunk of an enormous beech between her companion and the
dusky forms within, whose very breathing could be heard by the anxious
officer. Without uttering a word, she took his hand, and, drawing him
gently forward, disappeared altogether from his view. The young man
followed, and in the next moment found himself in the bowelless body of
the tree itself; into which, on the side of the encampment, both light
and sound were admitted by a small aperture formed by the natural decay
of the wood.

The Indian pressed her lips to the ear of her companion, and rather
breathed than said,--"The Saganaw will see and hear every thing from
this in safety; and what he hears let him treasure in his heart.
Oucanasta must go. When the council is over she will return, and lead
him back to his warriors."

With this brief intimation she departed, and so