Chapter I ...................................................................................................................................................1

Chapter II.................................................................................................................................................9

Chapter III. .............................................................................................................................................17

Chapter IV. .............................................................................................................................................27

Chapter V. ..............................................................................................................................................35

Chapter VI ..............................................................................................................................................45

Chapter VII............................................................................................................................................53

Chapter VIII. ..........................................................................................................................................61

Chapter IX. .............................................................................................................................................70

Chapter X ...............................................................................................................................................79

Chapter XI. .............................................................................................................................................89

Chapter XII............................................................................................................................................98

Chapter XIII. ........................................................................................................................................108

Chapter XIV. ........................................................................................................................................118

Chapter XV..........................................................................................................................................127

Chapter XVI .........................................................................................................................................131

Chapter XVII.......................................................................................................................................140

Chapter XVIII......................................................................................................................................150

Chapter XVIX ......................................................................................................................................156

Chapter XX..........................................................................................................................................165

Chapter XXI. ........................................................................................................................................174

Chapter XXII.......................................................................................................................................183

Chapter XXIII......................................................................................................................................191

Chapter XXIV ......................................................................................................................................201

Chapter XXV.......................................................................................................................................212

Chapter XXVI ......................................................................................................................................223

Chapter XXVII .....................................................................................................................................234

Chapter XXVIII...................................................................................................................................245

Chapter XXIX. .....................................................................................................................................255

Chapter XXX.......................................................................................................................................264

Chapter XXXI. .....................................................................................................................................271

Chapter XXXII. ....................................................................................................................................276

Chapter XXXIII...................................................................................................................................284

Chapter XXXIV ...................................................................................................................................291

"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore. There is society where none

intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar : I love not man the less, but nature more, From these our

interviews, in which I steal From all I may be, or have been before, To mingle with the universe, and feel

On the human imagination events produce the effects of time. Thus, he who has travelled far and seen much

is apt to fancy that he has lived long; and the history that most abounds in important incidents soonest

assumes the aspect of antiquity. In no other way can we account for the venerable air that is already gathering

around American annals. When the mind reverts to the earliest days of colonial history, the period seems

remote and obscure, the thousand changes that thicken along the links of recollections, throwing back the

origin of the nation to a day so distant as seemingly to reach the mists of time; and yet four lives of ordinary

duration would suffice to transmit, from mouth to mouth, in the form of tradition, all that civilized man has

achieved within the limits of the republic. Altbough New York alone possesses a population materially

exceeding that of either of the four smallest kingdoms of Europe, or materially exceeding that of the entire

Swiss Confederation, it is little more than two centuries since the Dutch commenced their settlement,

rescuing the region from the savage state. Thus, what seems venerable by an accumulation of changes is

reduced to familiarity when we come seriously to consider it solely in connection with time.

This glance into the perspective of the past will prepare the reader to look at the pictures we are about to

sketch, with less surprise than he might otherwise feel ; and a few additional explanations may carry him

back in imagination to the precise condition of society that we desire to delineate. It is matter of history that

the settlements on the eastern shores of the Hudson, such as Claverack, Kinderhook, and even Poughkeepsie,

were not regarded as safe from Indian incursions a century since; and there is still standing on the banks of

the same river, and within musketshot of the wharves of Albany, a residence of a younger branch' of the

Van Rensselaers, that has loopholes constructed for defence against the same crafty enemy, although it dates

from a period scarcely so distant. Other similar memorials of the infancy of the country are to be found,

scattered through what is now deemed the very centre of American civi2ization, affording the plainest proofs

that all we possess of security from invasion and hostile violence is the growth of but little more than the time

The incidents of this tale occurred between the years 1740 and I745, when the settled portions of the colony

of New York were confined to the four Atlantic counties, a narrow belt of country on each side of the

Hudson, extending from its mouth to the falls near its head, and to a few advanced "neighborhoods" on the

Mohawk and the Schoharie. Broad belts of the virgin wilderness not only reached the shores of the first river,

but they even crossed it, stretching away into New England, and affording forest covers to the noiseless

moccasin of the native warrior, as he trod the secret and bloody warpath. A bird'seye view of the whole

region east of the Mississippi must then have offered one vast expanse of woods, relieved by a comparatively

narrow fringe of cultivation along the sea, dotted by the glittering surfaces of lakes, and intersected by the

waving lines of river. In such a vast picture of solemn solitude, the district of country we design to paint sinks

into insignificance, though we feel encouraged to proceed by the conviction that, with slight and immaterial

distinctions, he who succeeds in giving an accurate idea of any portion of this wild region must necessarily

Whatever may be the changes produced by man, the eternal round of the seasons is unbroken. Summer and

winter, seedtime and harvest, return in their stated order with a sublime precision, affording to man one of

the noblest of all the occasions he enjoys of proving the high powers of his farreaching mind, in compassing

the laws that control their exact uniformity, and in calculating their neverending revolutions. Centuries of

summer suns had warmed the tops of the same noble oaks and pines, sending their heats even to the tenacious

roots, when voices were heard calling to each other, in the depths of a forest, of which the leafy surface lay

bathed in the brilliant light of a cloudless day in June, while the trunks of the trees rose in gloomy grandeur in

the shades beneath. The calls were in different tones, evidently proceeding from two men who had lost their

way, and were searching in different directions for their path. At length a shout proclaimed success, and

presently a man of gigantic mould broke out of the tangled labyrinth of a small swamp, emerging into an

opening that appeared to have been formed partly by the ravages of the wind, and partly by those of fire. This

little area, which afforded a good view of the sky, although it was pretty well filled with dead trees, lay on the

side of one of the high hills, or low mountains, into which nearly the whole surface of the adjacent country

"Here is room to breathe in! " exclaimed the liberated forester, as soon as he found himself under a clear sky,

shaking his huge frame like a mastiff that has just escaped from a snowbank. "Hurrah! Deerslayer; here is

These words were scarcely uttered when the second forester dashed aside the bushes of the swamp, and

appeared in the area. After making a hurried adjustment of hisarms and disordered dress, he joined his

"Do you know this spot!" demanded the one called Deerslayer," or do you shout at the sight of the sun? " "

Both, lad, both; I know the spot, and am not sorry to see so useful a fri'nd as the sun. Now we have got the

p'ints of the compass in our minds once more, and 't will be our own faults if we let anything turn them

topsyturvy ag'in, as has just 'happened. My name is not Hurry; Harry, if this be not the very spot where the

landhunters 'camped the last summer, and passed a week. See I yonder are the dead bushes of their bower,

and here is the spring. Much as I like the sun, boy, I've no occasion for it to tell me it is noon; this stomach of

mine is as good a timepiece as is to be found in the colony, and it already p'ints to halfpast twelve. So open

At this suggestion, both set themselves about making the preparations necessary for their usual frugal but

hearty meal. We will profit by this pause in the discourse to give the reader some idea of the appearance of

the men, each of whom is destined to enact no insignificant part in our legend. It would not have been easy to

find a more noble specimen of vigorous manhood than was offered in the person of him who called himself

Hurry Harry. His real name was Henry March but the frontiersmen having caught the practice of giving

sobriquets from the Indians, the appellation of Hurry was far oftener applied to him than his proper

designation, and not unfrequently he was termed Hurry Skurry, a nickname he had obtained from a dashing,

reckless offhand manner, and a physical restlessness that kept him so constantly on the move, as to cause him

to be known along the whole line of scattered habitations that lay between the province and the Canadas. The

stature of Hurry Harry exceeded six feet four, and being unusually well proportioned, his strength fully

realized the idea created by his gigantic frame. The face did no discredit to the rest of the man, for it was both

goodhumored and handsome. His air was free, and though his manner necessarily partook of the rudeness of

a border life, the grandeur that pervaded So noble a physique prevented it from becoming altogether vulgar.

Deerslayer, as Hurry called his companion, was a very different person in appearance, as well as in character.

In stature he stood about six feet in his moccasins, but his frame was comparatively light and slender,

showing muscles, however, that promised unusual agility, if not unusual strength. His face would have had

little to recommend it except youth, were it not for an expression that seldom failed to win upon those who

had leisure to examine it, and to yield to the feeling of confidence it created. This expression was simply that

of guileless truth, sustained by an earnestness of purpose, and a sincerity of feeling, that rendered it

remarkable. At times this air of integrity seemed to be so simple as to awaken the suspicion of a want of the

usual means to discriminate between artifice and truth; but few came in serious contact with the man, without

Both these frontiersmen were still young, Hurry having reached the age of six or eight and twenty, while

Deerslayer was several years his junior. Their attire needs no particular description, though it may be well to

add that it was composed in no small degree of dressed deerskins, and had the usual signs of belonging to

those who pass their Lime between the skirts of civilized society and the boundless forests. There was,

notwithstanding, some attention to smartness and the picturesque in the arrangements of Deerslayer's dress,

more particularly in the part connected with his arms and accoutrements. His rifle was in perfect condition,

the handle of his huntingknife was neatly carved, his powderhorn was ornamented with suitable device

slightly cut into the material, and his shot pouch was decorated with wampum. On the other hand, Hurry

Harry, either from constitutional recklessness, or from a secret consciousness how little his appearance

required artificial aids, wore everything in a careless, slovenly manner, as if he felt a noble scorn for the

trifling accessories of dress and ornaments. Perhaps the peculiar effect of his fine form and great stature was

increased rather than lessened, by this unstudied and disdainful air of indifference.

"Come, Deerslayer, fall to, and prove that you have a Delaware stomach, as you say you have had a Delaware

edication," cried Hurry, setting the example by opening his mouth to receive a slice of cold venison steak that

would have made an entire meal for a European peasant; " fall to, lad, and prove your manhood on this poor

"Nay, nay, Hurry, there's little manhood in killing a doe, and that too out of season; though there might be

some in bringing down a painter or a catamount," returned the other, disposing himself to comply. "The

Delawares have given me my name, not so much on account of a bold heart, as on account of a quick eye,

and an actyve foot. There may not be any cowardyce in overcoming a deer, but sartain it is, there 's no great

"The Delawares themselves are no heroes," muttered Hurry through his teeth, the mouth being too full to

permit it to be fairly opened, " or they would never have allowed them loping vagabonds, the Mingos, to

"That matter is not rightly understoodhas never been rightly explained," said Deerslayer earnestly, for he

was as zealous a friend as his companion was dangerous as an enemy; "the Mengwe fill the woods with their

lies, and misconstruct words and treaties. I have now lived ten years with the Delawares, and know them to

"Harkee, Master Deerslayer, since we are on the subject, we may as well open our minds to each other in a

manto man way; answer me one question; you have had so much luck among the game as to have gotten a

title, it would seem, but did you ever hit anythinghuman or intelligible: did you ever pull trigger on an inimy

This question produced a singular collision between mortification and correct feeling, in the bosom of the

youth, that was easily to be traced in the workings of his ingenuous countenance. The struggle was short,

however; uprightness of heart soon getting the better of false pride and frontier boastfulness.

"To own the truth, I never did," answered Deerslayer; "seeing that a fitting occasion never offered. The

Delawares have been peaceable since my sojourn with 'em, and I hold it to be ontawful to take the life of

"What! did you never find a fellow thieving among pour traps and skins, and do the law on him with your

own hands, by way of saving the magistrates trouble in the settlements, and the rogue himself the cost of the

"I am no trapper, Hurry," returned the young man proudly: " I live by the ride, a we'pon at which I will not

turn my back on any man of my years, atween the Hudson and the St. Lawrence. I never offer a skin that has

not a hole in its head besides them which natur' made to see with or to breathe through."

"Ay, ay, this is all very well, in the animal way, though it makes but a poor figure alongside of scalps and

ambushes. Shooting an Indian from an ambush is acting up to his own principles, and now we have what you

call a lawful war on our hands, the sooner you wipe that disgrace off your character, the sounder will be your

sleep; if it only come from knowing there is one inimy the less prowling in the woods. I shall not ~frequent

your society long, friend Natty, unless you look higher than fourfooted beasts to practice your ride on."

"Our journey is nearly ended, you say, Master March, and we can part to night, if you see occasion. I have a

fri'nd waiting for me, who will think it no disgrace to consort with a fellowcreatur,' that has never yet slain

"I wish I knew what has brought that skulking Delaware ware into this part of the country so early in the

season," muttered Hurry to himself, in a way to show equally distrust and a recklessness of its betrayal. "

"At a small round rock, near the foot of the lake, where they tell me, the tribes are given to resorting to make

their; treaties, and to bury their hatchets. This rock have f often heard the Delawares mention, though lake

and rock are equally strangers to me. The country is claimed by both Mangos and Mohicans, and is a sort of

common territory to fish and hunt through, in time of peace, though what it may become in wartime, the

"Common territory" exclaimed Hurry, laughing aloud. " I should like to know what Floating Tom Hutter

would say to that! He claims the lake as his own property, in vartue of fifteen years' possession, and, will not

" And what will the colony say to such a quarrel! All this country must have some owner, the gentry pushing

their cravings into the wilderness, even where they never dare to ventur', in their own persons, to look at the

"That may do in other quarters of the colony, Deerslayer, but it will not do here. Not a human being, the Lord

excepted, owns a foot of sile in this part of the country. Pen was never put to paper consarning either hill or

valley hereaway, as I 've heard old Tom say time and ag'in, and so be claims the best right to it of any man

"By what I've heard you say, Hurry, this Floating Tom must be an oncommon mortal; neither Mingo,

Delaware, nor paleface. His possession, too, has been long, by your tell, and altogether beyond frontier

"Why, as to old Tom's human natur', it is not much like other men's human natur', but more like a muskrat's

human natar', seeing that he takes more to the ways of that animal than to the ways of any other

fellowcreatur'. Some think he was a free liver on the salt water, in his youth, and a companion of a sartain

I(Kidd, who was hanged for piracy, long afro you and I were born or acquainted, and that he came up into

these regions, thinking that the king's cruisers could never cross the mountains, and that he might enjoy the

"Then he was wrong, Hurry; very wrong. A man can enjoy plunder peaceably nowhere.''

"That's much as his turn of mind may happen to be. I've known them that never could enjoy it at all, unless it

was in the midst of a jollification, and them again that enjoyed it best in a corner. Some men have no peace if

they don't find plunder, and some if they do. Human nature' is crooked in these matters. Old Tom seems to

belong to neither set, as he enjoys his, if plunder he has really got, with his darters, in a very quiet and

"Ay, he has darters, too; I've heard the Delawares, who've hunted this a way, tell their histories of these

" There was once, as in reason; but she has now been dead and sunk these two good years.''

" Dead and sunk, I say, and I hope that's good English. The old fellow lowered his wife into the lake, by way

of seeing the last of her, as I can testify, being an eyewitness of the ceremony; but whether Tom did it to

save digging, which is no easy job among roots, or out of a consait that water washes away sin sooner than

" Was the poor woman oncommon wicked, that her husband should take so much pains with her body ? "

"Not onreasonable; though she had her faults. I consider Judith Hutter to have been as graceful, and about as

likely to make a good ind as any woman who had lived so long beyond the sound of church bells I and I

conclude old Tom sunk her as much by way of saving pains, as by way of taking it. There was a little steel in

her temper, it's true, and, as old Hutter is pretty much flint, they struck out sparks onceandawhile; but, on

the whole, they might be said to live amicable like. When they did kindle, the listeners got some such insights

into their past lives, as one gets into the darker parts of the woods, when a stray gleam of sunshine finds its

way down to the roots of the trees. But Judith I shall always esteem, as it's recommend enough to one woman

"Ay, Judith was the name the Delawares mentioned, though it was pronounced after a fashion of their own.

"Thy fancy!" exclaimed March, taking fire equally at the indifference and at the presumption of his

companion, " what the devil have you to do with a fancy, and that, too, consarning one like Judith? You are

but a boya sapling, that has scarce got root. Judith has had men among her suitors, ever since she was

fifteen; which is now near five years; and will not be apt even to cast a look upon a halfgrown creatur' like

"It is June, and there is not a cloud atween us and the sun, Hurry, so all this heat is not wanted," answered the

other, altogether undisturbed ; " any one may have a fancy, and a squirrel has a right to make up his mind

"Ay, but it might not be wise, always, to let the catamount knowit." growled March. "But you're young and

thoughtless, and I'll overlook your ignorance. Come, Deerslayer," he added, with a goodnatured laugh, after

pausing a moment to reflect, "come, Deerslayer, we are sworn friends, and will not quarrel about a

lightminded, jilting jade, just because she happens to be handsome; more especially as you have never seen

her. Judith is only for a man whose teeth show the full marks, and it 's foolish to be afford of a boy. What did

the Delawares say of the hussy' for an Indian, after all, has his notions of womankind, as well as a white

"They said she was fair to look on, and pleasant of speech; but overgiven to admirers, and lightminded."

"They are devils incarnate! After all, what schoolmaster is a match for an Indian, in looking into nature' !

Some people think they are only good on a trail or the warpath, but I say that they are philosophers, and

understand a man as well as they understand a beaver, and a woman as well as they understand either. Now

that's Judith's character to a ribbon ! To own the truth to you, Deerslayer, I should have married the gal two

years since, if it had not been for two particular things, one of which was this very lightmindedness.''

" And what may have been the other?" demanded the hunter, who continued to eat like one that took very

" T'other was an insartainty about her having me. The hussy is handsome, and she knows it. Boy, not a tree

that is growing in these hills is straighter, or waves in the wind with an easier bend, nor did you ever see the

doe that bounded with a more nat'ral motion. If that was all, every tongue would sound her praises ; but she

has such failings that I find it hard to overlook them, and sometimes I Swear I'll never visit the lake again."

" Which is the reason that you always come back? Nothing is ever made more sure by swearing about it.''

" Ah, Deerslayer, you are a novelty in these particulars; keeping as true to education as if you had never left

the settlements. With me the case is different, and I never want to clinch an idee, that I do not feel a wish to

swear about it. If you know'd all that I know consarning Judith, you 'd find a justification for a little cussing.

Now, the officers sometimes stray over to the lake, from the forts on the Mohawk, to fish and hunt, and then

the creator' seems beside herself! You can see in the manner which she wears her finery, and the airs she

" That is unseemly in a poor man's darter," returned Deerslayer gravely, " the officers are all gentry, and can

"There's the unsartainty, and the damper! I have my misgivings about a particular captain, and Jude has no

one to blame but her own folly, if I'm right. On the whole, I wish to look upon her as modest and becoming,

and yet the clouds that drive among these hills are not more unsartain. Not a dozen white men have ever laid

eyes upon her since she was a child, and yet her airs, with two or three of these officers, are extinguishers! " "

I would think no more of such a woman, but turn my mind altogether to the forest; that will not deceive you,

" If you know'd Judith, you would see how much easier it is to say this than it would be to do it. Could I bring

my mind to be easy about the officers, I would carry the gal off to the Mohawk by force, make her marry me

in spite of her whiffling, and leave old Tom to the care of Hefty, his other child, who, if she be not as

" Is there another bird in the same nest! " asked Deerslayer, raising his eyes with a species of halfawakened

That's nat'ral enough, when Judith Hutter and Hefty Hutter are in question. Hefty is only comely, while her

sister, I tell thee, boy, is such another as is not to be found attain this and the sea: Judith is as full of wit, and

talk, and cunning, as an old Indian orator, while poor Hefty is at the best but ' compass meant us.' " " Anan?''

" Why, what the officers call 'compass meant us,' which I understand to signify' that she means always to go

in the right direction, but sometimes does not know how. 'Compass'for the p'int, and 'meant us' for the

intention. No, poor Hetty is what I call on the verge of ignorance, and sometimes she stumbles on one side of

" Them are beings that the Lord has in his 'special care," said Deerslayer, solemnly; " for he looks carefully to

all who fall short of their proper share of reason. The redskins honor and respect them who are so gifted,

knowing that the Evil Spirit delights more to dwell in an artful body, than in one that has no cunning to work

"I'11 answer for it, then, that he will not remain long with poor Kitty; for the child is just'compass meant us,'

as I have told you. Old Tom has a feeling for the gal, and so has Judith, quickwitted and glorious as she is

herself; else would I not answer for her being altogether safe among the sort of men that sometimes meet on

" I thought this water an unknown and littlefrequented sheet," observed the Deerslayer, evidently uneasy at

" It's all that, lad, the eyes of twenty white men never having been laid on it; still, twenty truebred

frontiersmen hunters and trappers, and scouts, and the like,can do a deal of mischief if they try. 'T

would be an awful thing to me, Deerslayer, did I and Judith married, after an absence of six months !"

"Have you the gal's faith, to encourage you to hope otherwise?" " Not at all. I know not how it is: I'm

goodlooking, boy,that much I can see in any spring on which the sun shines,and yet I could not get the

hussy to a promise, or even a cordial willing smile, though she will laugh by the hour. If she has dared to

marry in my absence, she'd be like to know the pleasures of widowhood afore she is twenty !"

" You would not harm the man she has chosen, Hurry, simply because she found him more to her liking than

" Why not! If an enemy crosses my path, will I not beat him out of it ! Look at me ! am I a man like to let any

sneaking, crawling, skintrader get the better of me in a matter that touches me as near as the kindness of

Judith Hutter! Besides, when we live beyond law, we must be our own judges and executioners. And if a man

should be found dead in the woods, who is there to say who slew him, even admitting that the colony took the

"If that man should be Judith Hutter's husband, after what has passed, I might tell enough, at least, to put the

"You!halfgrown, venisonhunting battling! You dare to think of informing against Hurry Harry in so

much as a matter touching a mink or a woodchuck ! " "I would dare to speak truth, Hurry, consarning you or

March looked at his companion, for a moment, in silent amazement; then seizing him by the throat with both

hands, he shook his comparatively slight frame with a violence that menaced the dislocation of some of the

bones. Nor was this done jocularly, for anger hashed from the giant's eyes, and there were certain signs that

seemed to threaten much more earnestness than the occasion would appear to call for. Whatever might be the

real intention of March, and it is probable there was none settled in his mind, it is certain that he was

unusually aroused; and most men who found themselves throttled by one of a mould so gigantic, in such a

mood, and in a solitude so deep and helpless, would have felt intimidated, and tempted to yield even the

right. Not so, however, with Deerslayer. His countenance remained unmoved ;his hand did not shake, and his

answer was given in a voice that did not resort to the artifice of louder tones, even by way of proving its

"You may shake, Hurry, until you bring down the mountain," he said quietly, " but nothing beside truth will

you shake from me. It is probable that Judith Hutter has no husband to slay, and you may never have a chance

to waylay one, else would I tell her of your threat, in the first conversation I held with the gal."

"I thought we had been friends," he at length added; "but you've got the last secret of mine that will ever enter

" I want none, if they are to be like this. I know we live in the woods, Hurry, and are thought to be beyond

human laws,and perhaps we are so, in fact, whatever it may be in right,but there is a law and a

lawmaker, that rule across the whole continent. He that flies in the face of either need not call me a friend."

" Damme, Deerslayer, if I do not believe you are at heart a Moravian, and no fairminded, plaindealing

" Fairminded or not, Hurry, you will find me as plaindealing in deeds as I am in words. But this giving way

to sudden anger is foolish, and proves how little you have sojourned with the redden. Judith Hutter no doubt

is still single, and you spoke but as the tongue ran, and not as the heart felt. There's my hand, and we will say

Hurry seemed more surprised than ever; then he burst forth in a loud, good natured laugh, which brought

tears to his eyes. After this he accepted the offered hand, and the parties became friends.

"'T would have been foolish to quarrel about an idee," March cried, as he resumed his meal, " and more like

lawyers in the towns than like sensible men in the woods. They tell me, Deerslayer, much illblood grows

out of idees among the people in the lower counties, and that they sometimes get to extremities upon them."

" That do they,that do they; and about other matters that might better be left to take care of themselves. I

have heard the Moravians say that there are lands in which men quarrel even consarning their religion; and if

they can get their tempers up on such a subject, Hurry, the Lord have Marcy on 'em. Howsoever, there is no

occasion for our following their example, and more especially about a husband that this Judith Hutter may

never see, or never wish to see. For my part, I feel more cur'osity about the feeblewitted sister than about

your beauty. There's something that comes close to a man's feelin's, when he meets with a fellow� creatur' that

has all the outward show of an accountable mortal, and who fails of being what he seems, only through a lack

of reason. This is bad enough in a man, but when it comes to a woman, and she a young, and maybe a

winning creature' it touches all the pitiful thoughts his natur' has. God knows, Hurry, that such poor things be

defenceless enough with all their wits about 'em; but it's a cruel fortun' when that great protector and guide

fails 'em.'' " Hark, Deerslayer, you know what the hunters, and trappers, and peltrymen in, general be;

and their best friends will not deny that they are headstrong and given to having their own way, without much

bethinking 'em of other people's rights or feline's,and yet I don't think the man is to be found, in all this

"Therein, fri'nd Hurry, you do the Delawares, at least, and all their allied tribes, only justice, for a redskin

looks upon a being thus struck by God's power as especially under his care. I rejoice to hear what you say,

however, I rejoice to hear it; but as the sun is beginning to turn towards the afternoon's sky, had we not better

strike the trail again, and make forward, that we may get an opportunity of seeing these wonderful sisters"

Harry March giving a cheerful assent, the remnants of the meal were soon collected; then the travelers

shouldered their packs, resumed their arms, and, quitting the little area of light, they again plunged into the

Our two adventurers had not far to go. Hurry knew the direction, as soon as he had found the open spot and

the spring, and he now led on with the confident step of a man assured of his object. The forest was dark, as a

matter of course, but it was no longer obstructed by underbrush, and the footing was firm and dry. After

proceeding near a mile, March stopped, and began to cast about him with an inquiring look, examining the

different objects with care, and occasionally turning his eyes on the trunks of the fallen trees, with which the

ground was well sprinkled, as is usually the case in an American wood, especially in those parts of the

"This must be the place, Deerslayer," March at length observed; " here is a beech by the side of a hemlock,

with three pines at hand, and yonder is a white birch with a broken top; and yet I see no rock, nor any of the

"Broken branches are onskilful landmarks, as the least exper'enced know that branches don't often break of

themselves," returned the other; " and they also lead to suspicion and discoveries. The Delawares never trust

to broken branches, unless it is in friendly times, and on an open trail. As for the beeches, and pines, and

to be seen on all sides of us, not only by twos and threes, but by forties, and fifties, and hundreds."

"Very true, Deerslayer, but you never calculate on position. Here is a beech and a hemlock''

"Yes, and there is another beech and a hemlock, as loving as two brothers, or, for that matter, more loving

than some brothers; and yonder are others, for neither tree is a rarity in these woods. fear me, Hurry, you are

better at trapping beaver and shooting bears, than at leading on a blindish sort of a trail. Ha! there's what you

"Now, Deerslayer, this is one of your Delaware pretensions, for hang me if I see anything but these trees,

which do seem to start up around Us in a most onaccountable and perplexing manner."

"Look this a way, Hurryhere, in a line with the black oakdon't you see the crooked sapling that is hooked

up in the branches of the basswood, near it 1 Now, that sapling was once snowridden, and got the bend by

its weight ; but it never straightened itself, and fastened itself in among the basswood branches in the way

"That hand was mine!" exclaimed Hurry; "I found the slender young thing bent to the airth, like an

unfortunate creatur' borne down by misfortune, and stuck it up where you see it. After all, Deerslayer, I must

T'is improving, Hurry t'is improving I will acknowledge ; but 't is only a child's eye, compared to some I

know. There's Tamenund, now, though a man so old that few remember when he was in his prime, Tamenund

lets nothing escape his look, which is more like the scent of a hound than the sight of an eye. Then Uncas, the

father of Chingachgook, and the lawful chief of the Mohicans, is another that it is almost hopeless to pass

unseen. I'm improving, I will allowI'm improving, but far from being perfect, as yet."

"And who is this Chingachgook, of whom you talk so much, Deerslayer! " asked Hurry, as he moved off in

the direction of the righted sapling; " a loping redskin, at the best, I make no question."

"Not so, Hurry, but the best of loping redskins, as you call'em. If he had his rights, he would be a great chief;

but, as it is, he is only a brave and justminded Delaware; respected, and even obeyed in some things,'tis true,

but of a fallen race, and belonging to a fallen people. Ah! Harry March, 'twould warm the heart within you to

sit in their lodges of a winter's night, and listen to the traditions of the ancient greatness and power of the

"Karkee, fri'nd Nathaniel," said Hurry, stopping short to face his companion, in order that his words might

carry greater weight with them, "if a man believed all that other people choose to say in their own favor, he

might get an oversized opinion of them, and an undersized opinion of himself. These redskins are notable

"There is truth in what you say, Hurry, I'll not deny it, for I've seen it, and believe it. They do boast, but then

that is a gift from natur'; and it's sinful to withstand nat'ral gifts. See; this is the spot you come to find !" This

remark cut short the discourse, and both the men now gave all their attention to the object immediately before

them. Deerslayer pointed out to his companion the trunk of a huge linden, or basswood, as it is termed in the

language of the country, which had filled its time, and fallen by its own weight. This tree, like so many

millions of its brethren, lay where it had fallen, and was mouldering under the slow but certain influence of

the seasons. The decay, however, had attacked its centre, even while it stood erect in the pride of vegetation,

bellowing out its heart, as disease sometimes destroys the vitals of animal life, even while a fair exterior is

presented to the observer. As the trunk lay stretched for near a hundred feet along the earth, the quick eye of

the hunter detected this peculiarity, and. from this and other circumstances, he knew it to be the tree of which

"Ay, here we have what we want," cried Hurry, looking in at the larger end of the linden; "everything is as

snug as if it had been left in an old woman's cupboard Come, lend me a hand, Deerslayer, and we'll be afloat

At this call the hunter joined his companion, and the two went to work deliberately and regularly, like men

accustomed to the sort of thing in which they were employed. In the first place, Hurry removed some pieces

of bark that lay before the large opening in the tree, and which the other declared to be disposed in a way that

would have been more likely to attract attention than to conceal the cover, had any straggler passed that way.

The two then drew out a bark canoe, containing its seats, paddles, and Other appliances, even to fishinglines

and rods. This vessel was by no means small; but such was its comparative lightness, and so gigantic was the

strength of Hurry, that the latter shouldered it with seeming ease, declining all assistance, even in the act of

"Lead ahead, Deerslayer," said March, "and open the bushes; the rest I can do for myself."

The other obeyed, and the men left the spot, Deerslayer clearing the way for his companion, and inclining to

the right or to the left, as the latter directed In about ten minutes they both broke suddenly into the brilliant

light of the sun, on a low gravelly point, that was washed by water on quite half its outline.

An exclamation of surprise broke from the lips of Deerslayer, an exclamation that was low and guardedly

made, however, for his habits were much more thoughtful and regulated than those of the reckless Hurry,

when on reaching the margin of the lake, he beheld the view that unexpectedly met his gaze. It was, in truth,

sufficiently striking to merit a brief description. On a level with the point lay a broad sheet of water, so placid

and limpid that it resembled a bed of the pure mountain atmosphere, compressed into a setting of hills and

woods. Its length was about three leagues, while its breadth was irregular, expanding to half a league, or even

more, opposite to the point, and contracting to less than half that distance, more to the southward. Of course,

its margin was irregular, being indented by bays, and broken by many projecting, low points. At its northern,

or nearest end, it was bounded by an isolated mountain, lower land falling off east and west, gracefully

relieving the sweep of the outline. Still the character of the country was mountainous; high hills, or low

mountains, rising abruptly from the water, on quite nine tenths of its circuit. The exceptions, indeed, only

served a little to vary the scene; and even beyond the parts of the shore that were comparatively low, the

But the most striking peculiarities of this scene were its solemn solitude and sweet repose. On all sides,

wherever the eye turned, nothing met it but the mirrorlike surface of the lake, the placid view of heaven, and

the dense setting of woods. So rich and fleecy were the outlines of the forest, that scarce an opening could be

seen, the whole visible earth, from the rounded mountaintop to the water's edge, presenting one unvaried

hue of unbroken verdure. As if vegetation were not satisfied with a triumph so complete, the trees overhung

the lake itself, shooting out towards the light; and there were miles along its eastern shore, where a boat might

have pulled beneath the branches of dark Rembrandtlooking hemlocks, " quivering aspens," and melancholy

pines. In a word, the hand of man had never yet defaced or deformed any part of this native scene, which lay

bathed in the sunlight, a glorious picture of affluent forestgrandeur, softened by the balminess of June, and

relieved by the beautiful variety afforded by the presence of so broad an expanse of water.

"This is grand! 't is solemn!'t is an edication of itself, to look upon!" exclaimed Deerslayer, as he stood

leaning on his rifle, and gazing to the right and left, north and south, above and beneath, in whichever

direction his eye passed into a setting of hills and woods. about three leagues, while its breadth could wander;

" not a tree disturbed even by redskin hand, as I can discover, but everything left in the ordering of the Lord,

to live and die according to his own designs and laws! Hurry, your Judith ought to be a moral and well

disposed young woman, if she has passed half the time you mention in the centre of a spot so favored."

"That's naked truth; and yet the gal has the vagaries. All her time has not been passed here, howsoever, old

Tom having the custom, afore I know'd him, of going to spend the winters in the neighborhood of the settlers,

or under the guns of the forts. No, no, Jude has caught more than is for her good from the settlers, and

"If she hasif she has, Hurry, this is a school to set her mind right ag'in. But what is this I see off here,

abreast of us, that seems too small for an island, and too large for a boat, though it stands in the midst of the

"Why, that is what these galantine gentry from the forts call Muskrat Castle; and old Tom himself will grin at

the name, though it bears so hard on his own nature' and character. 'T is the stationary house, there being two;

this, which never moves, and the other, that floats, being sometimes in one part of the lake and sometimes in

another. The last goes by the name of the ark, though what may be the meaning of the word is more than I

can tell you.'' " It must come from the missionaries, Hurry, whom I have heard speak and read of such a thing.

They say that the 'arth was once covered with water, and that Noah, with his children, was saved from

drowning by building a vessel called an ark, in which he embarked in season. Some of the Delawares believe

this tradition, and some deny it ; but it behooves you and me, as white men born, to put our faith in its truth.

"'T is down south, no doubt, or anchored in some of the bays. But the canoe is ready, and fifteen minutes will

At this suggestion, Deerslayer helped his companion to place the different articles in the canoe, which was

already boat. This was no sooner done than the two frontiermen embarked, and by a vigorous push sent the

light bark some tight or ten rods from the shore. Hurry now took the seat in the stern, while Deerslayer placed

himself forward, and by leisurely but steady strokes of the paddles, the canoe glided across the placid sheet,

towards the extraordinarylooking structure that the former had styled Muskrat Castle. Several times the men

ceased paddling, and looked about them at the scene, as new glimpses opened from behind points, enabling

them to see farther down the lake, or to get broader views of the wooded mountains. The only changes,

however, were in the new forms of the hills, the varying curvature of the bays, and the wider reaches of the

valley south; the whole earth apparently being clothed in a galadress of leaves.

"This is a sight to warm the heart! " exclaimed Deerslayer, when they had thus stopped for the fourth or fifth

time; " the lake seems made to let us get an insight into the noble forests; and land and water alike stand in

the beauty of God's providence! Do you say, Hurry, that there is no man who calls himself lawful owner of

"None but the King, lad. He may pretend to some right of that nature', but he is so far away that his claim will

never trouble old Tom Hutter, who has got possession, and is like to keep it as long as his life lasts. Tom is no

"I invy that man ! I know it's wrong, and I strive again the feline', but I invy that man! Don't think, Hurry, that

I'm consorting any plan to put myself in his moccasins, for such a thought does n't harbor in my mind; but I

can't help a little invy? 'Tis a nat'ral feelin', and the best of us are but nat'ral, a'ter all, and give way to such

"You've only to marry Hetty to inherit half the estate," cried Hurry, laughing; "the gal is comely; nay, if it

was n't for her sister's beauty she would be even handsome ; and then her wits are so small that you may

easily convart her into one of your own way of thinking, in all things. Do you take Hetty off the old fellow's

hands, and I'11 engage he'll give you an interest in every deer you can knock over within five miles of his

"Does game abound!" suddenly demanded the other, who paid but little attention to March's raillery.

"It has the country to itself. Scarce a trigger is pulled on it; and as for the trappers, this is not a region they

greatly frequent. I ought not to be so much here myself, but Jude pulls one way, while the beaver pulls

another. More than a hundred Spanish dollars has that creatur' zest me the last two seasons, and yet I could

"Do the redmen often visit this lake, Hurry!" continued Deerslayer, pursuing his own train of thought.

"Why, they come and go; sometimes in parties, and sometimes singly. The country seems to belong to no

native tribe in particular; and so it has fallen into the hands of the Hutter tribe. The old man tells me that

some sharp ones have been wheedling the Mohawks for an Indian deed, in order to get a title out of the

colony ; but nothing has come of it, seeing that no one heavy enough for such a trade has yet meddled with

the matter. The hunters have a good lifelease still of this wilderness." "So much the better, so much the

better, Hurry. If I was King of England, the man that felled one of these trees without good occasion for the

timber, should be banished to a desarted and forlorn region, in which no fourfooted animal ever trod. Right

glad am I that Chingachgook app'inted our meeting on this lake, for hitherto eye of mine never looked on

such a glorious spectacle." " That's because you've kept so much among the Delawares, in whose country

there are no lakes. Now, farther north and farther west these bits of water abound; and you're young, and may

yet live to see'em. But though there be other lakes, Deerslayer, there's no other Judith Hutter !" At this remark

his companion smiled, and then he dropped his paddle into the water, as if in consideration of a lover's haste.

Both now pulled vigorously until they got within a hundred yards of the "castle," as Hurry familiarly called

the house of Hutter, when they again ceased paddling; the admirer of Judith restraining his impatience the

more readily, as he perceived that the building was untenanted, at the moment. This new pause was to enable

Deerslayer to survey the singular edifice, which was of a construction so novel as to merit a particular

Muskrat Castle, as the house had been facetiously named by some waggish officer, stood in the open lake, at

a distance of fully a quarter of a mile from the nearest shore. On every other side the water extended much

farther, the precise position being distant about two miles from the northern end of the sheet, and near, if not

quite, a mile from its eastern shore. As there was not the smallest appearance of any island, but the house

stood on piles, with the water flowing beneath it, and Deerslayer had already discovered that the lake was of a

great depth, he was fain to ask an explanation of this singular circumstance. Hurry solved the difficulty by

telling him that on this spot alone, a long, narrow shoal, which extended for a few hundred yards in a north

and south direction, rose within six or eight feet of the surface of the lake, and that Hutter had driven piles

"The old fellow was burnt out three times, atween the Indians and the hunters; and in one affray with the

redskins he lost his only son, since which time he has taken to the water for safety. No one can attack him

here, without coming in a boat, and the plunder and scalps would scarce be worth the trouble of digging out

canoes. Then it's by no means sartain which would whip in such a scrimmage, for old Tom is well supplied

with arms and ammunition, and the castle, as you may see, is a tight breastwork agin light shot."

Deerslayer had some theoretical knowledge of frontier warfare, though he had never yet been called on to

raise his hand in anger against a fellow creature. He saw that Hurry did not overrate the strength of this

position in a military point of view, since it would not be easy to attack it without exposing the assailants to

the fire of the be~ besieged A good deal of art had also been manifested in the disposition of the timber of

which the building was constructed and which afforded a protection much greater than was usual to the

ordinary logcabins of the frontier. The sides and ends were composed of the trunks of large pines, cut about

nine feet long, and placed upright, instead of being laid horizontally, as was the practice of the country. These

logs were squared on three sides, and had large tenons on each end. Massive sills were secured on the heads

of the piles, with suitable grooves dug out of their upper surfaces, which had been squared for the purpose,

and the lower tenons of the upright pieces were placed in these grooves, giving them secure fastening below.

Plates bad been laid on the upper ends of the upright logs, and were kept in their places by a similar

contrivance; the several corners of the structure being well fastened by scarfing and pinning the sills and

plates. The doors were made of smaller logs, similarly squared, and the roof was composed of light poles,

firmly united, and well covered with bark. The effect of this ingenious arrangement was to give its owner a

house that could be approached only by water, the sides of which were composed of logs closely wedged

together, which were two feet thick in their thinnest parts, and which could be separated only by a deliberate

and laborious use of human hands, or by the slow operation of time. The outer surface of the building was

rude and uneven, the logs being of unequal sizes; but the squared surfaces within gave both the sides and

door as uniform an appearance as was desired, either for use or show. The chimney was not the least singular

portion of the castle, as Hurry made his companion observe, while he explained the process by which it had

been made. The material was a stiff clay, properly worked, which had been put together in a mould of sticks,

and suffered to harden, a foot or two at a time, commencing at the bottom. When the entire chimney had thus

been raised, and had been properly bound in with outward props, a brisk ~e was kindled, and kept going until

it was burned to something like a brickred This had not been an easy operation, nor had it succeeded

entirely ; but by dint of filling the cracks with fresh clay, a safe fireplace and chimney had been obtained in

the end. This part of the work stood on the logdoor, secured beneath by an extra pile. There were a few

other peculiarities about this dwelling, which will better appear in the course of the narrative.

"Old Tom is full of contrivances," added Hurry, " and he set his heart on the success of his chimney, which

threatened more than once to give out altogether; but perseverance will even overcome smoke; and now he

has a comfortable cabin of it, though it did promise, at one time, to be a chinky sort of a due to carry flames

and fire." "You seem to know the whole history of the castle, Hurry, chimney and sides," said Deerslayer,

smiling; "is love so overcoming that it causes a man to study the story of his sweetheart's habitation ! "

"Partly that, lad, and partly eyesight," returned the goodnatured giant, laughing; " there was a large gang of

us in the lake, the summer the old fellow built, and we helped him along with the job. I raised no small part of

the weight of them uprights with my own shoulders, and the axes hew, I can inform you, Master Natty, while

we were beein it among the trees ashore. The old de no way stingy about food, and as we had often eat at

his hearth, we thought we would just house him comfortably, afore we went to Albany with our skins. Yes,

many is the meal I've swallowed in Tom Hutter's cabins; and Hetty, though so weak in the way of wits, has a

" While the parties were thus discoursing, the canoe had been gradually drawing nearer to the "castle," and

was now so close as to require but a single stroke of a paddle to reach the landing. This was at a floored

platform in front of the entrance, that might have been some twenty feet square.

"Old Tom calls this sort of a wharf his dooryard," observed Hurry, as he fastened the canoe, after he and his

Companion had left it: "and the gallants from the forts have named it the castle court though what a 'court'

can have to do here is more than I can tell you, seeing that there is no law. Tis as I supposed; not a soul

within, but the whole family is off on a v'y'ge of discovery ! " While Hurry was bustling about the

"dooryard," examining the fishingspears, rods, nets, and other similar appliances of a frontier cabin,

Deerslayer, whose manner was altogether more rebuked and quiet, entered the building with a curiosity that

was not usually exhibited by one so long trained in Indian habits. The interior of the "castle" was as

faultlessly neat as its exterior was novel. The entire space, some twenty feet by forty, was subdivided into

several small sleepingrooms; the apartment into which he first entered, serving equally for the ordinary uses

of its inmates, and for a kitchen. The furniture was of the strange mixture that it is not uncommon to find in

the remotely situated logtenements of the interior. Most of it was rude, and to the last degree rustic; but

there was a clock, with a handsome case of dark wood, in a corner, and two or three chairs, with a table and

bureau, that had evidently come from some dwelling of more than usual pretension. The clock was

industriously ticking, but its leaden looking hands did no discredit to their dull aspect, for they pointed to

the hour of eleven, though the sun plainly showed it was some time past the turn of the day. There was also a

dark, massive chest. The kitchen utensils were of the simplest kind, and far from numerous, but every article

After Deerslayer had cast a look about him in the outer room, he raised a wooden latch, and entered a narrow

passage that divided the inner end of the house into two equal parts. Frontier usages being no way scrupulous,

and his curiosity being strongly excited, the young man now opened a door, and found himself in a bedroom.

A single glance sufficed to show that the apartment belonged to females. The bed was of the feathers of wild

geese, and filled nearly to overflowing; but it lay in a rude bunk, raised only a foot from the door. On one side

of it were arranged, on pegs, various dresses, of a quality much superior to what end one would expect to

meet in such a place, with ribbons and other similar articles to correspond. Pretty shoes, with handsome silver

buckles, such as were then worn by females in easy circumstances, were not wanting; and no less than six

fans, of gay colors, were placed half open, in a way to catch the eye by their conceits and bees. Even the

pillow, on this side of the bed, was covered with finer linen than its companion, and it was ornamented with a

small ruffle. A cap, coquettishly decorated with ribbons, hung above it, and a pair of long gloves, such as

were rarely used in those days by persons of the laboring classes, were pinned ostentatiously to it, as if with

an intention to exhibit them there, if they could not be shown on the owner's arms.

All this Deerslayer saw, and noted' with a degree of minuteness that would have done credit to the habitual

observation of his Mends, the Delawares. Nor did he fail to perceive the distinction that existed between the

appearances on the different sides of the bed, the head of which stood against the wall. On that opposite to the

one just described, everything was homely and uninviting, except through its perfect neatness. The few

garments that were hanging from the pegs were of the coarsest materials and of the commonest forms, while

nothing seemed made for show. Of ribbons there was not one; nor was there either cap or Kerchief beyond

It was now several years since Deerslayer had been in a spot especially devoted to the uses of females of his

own color and race. The sight brought back to his mind a rush of childish recollections; and he lingered in the

room with a tenderness of feeling to which he had long been a stranger. He bethought him of his mother,

whose homely vestments he remembered to have seen hanging on pegs like those which he felt must belong

to Hetty Hutter; and he bethought himself of a sister, whose incipient and native taste for finery had exhibited

itself somewhat in the manner of that of Judith, though necessarily in a less degree. These little resemblances

opened a long hidden vein of sensations; and as he quitted the room, it was with a saddened mien. He looked

If Old Tom has taken to a new calling, and has been trying his hand at the traps," cried Hurry, who had been

coolly examining the borderer's implements; "if that is his humor, and you're disposed to remain in these

parts, we can make an oncoming comfortable season of it; for, while the old man and I out knowledge the

beaver, you can fish, and knock down the deer, to keep body and soul together. I've always give the poorest

hunters half a share, but one as actyve and sartain as yourself might expect a full one." "Thank'ee, Hurry;

thank'ee, with all my heartbut I do a little beavering for myself as occasions offer. 'Tie true, the Delawares

call me Deerslayer, but it's not so much because I'm pretty fatal with the venison as because that while I kill

so many bucks and does, I've never yet taken the life of a fellowcreatur'. They say their traditions do not tell

of another who had shed so much blood of animals that had not shed the blood of man.''

"I hope they don't account you chickenhearted, lad! A fainthearted man is like a notailed beaver." "I don't

believe, Hurry, that they account me as outof theway timorsome, even though they may not account me as

outofthe way brave. But I'm not quarrelsome; and that goes a great way towards keeping blood off the

hands, among the hunters and redskins; and then, Harry March, it keeps blood off the conscience, too."

"Well, for my part I account game, a redskin, and a Frenchman as pretty much the same thing; though I'm as

onquarrelsome a man, too, as there is in all the colonies. I despise a quarreller as I do a curdog; but one has

'' I look upon him as the most of a man who acts nearest the right, Hurry. But this is a glorious spot, and my

eyes never aweary looking at it !" Tis your first acquaintance with a lake; and these ideas come over us all at

such times. Lakes have a gentle character, as I say, being pretty much water and land, and points and bays."

As this definition by no means met the feelings that were uppermost in the mind of the young hunter, he

made no immediate answer, but stood gazing at the dark hills and the glassy water in silent enjoyment.

"Have the Governor's or the King's people given this lake a name?" he suddenly asked, as if struck with a

new idea. " If they've not begun to blaze their trees, and set up their compasses, and line off their maps, it's

''They've not got to that, yet; and the last time I went in with skins, one of the King's surveyors was

questioning me consarning all the region hereabouts. He had heard that there was a lake in this quarter, and

had got some general notions about it, such as that there was water and hills; but how much of either, he

know'd no more than you know of the Mohawk tongue. I did n't open the trap any wider than was necessary,

giving him but poor encouragement in the way of farms and clearings. In short, I left on his mind some such

opinion of this country, as a man gets of a spring of dirty water, with a path to it that is so muddy that one

mires afore he sets out. He told me they had'n't got the spt down, yet on their maps, though I conclude that is

a mistake, for he showed me his parchment, and there is a lake donw on it, where there is no lake in fact, and

which is about fifty miles from the place where it ought to be, if they meant it for this. I don't think any

Here Hurry laughed heartily, such tricks being particularly grateful to a set of men who dreaded the

approaches of civilization as a curtailment of their own lawless empire. The egregious errors that existed in

the maps of the day, all of which were made in Europe, were, more~er, a standing topic of ridicule among

them; for, if they had not science enough to make any better themselves, they had sufficient local information

to detect the gross blunders contained in those that existed. Any one who will take the trouble to compare

these unanswerable evidences of the topographical skill of our fathers a century since, with the more accurate

sketches of our own time, will at once percieve that the men of the woods had a sufficient justifcation for all

their criticism on this branch of the skill of the colonial governments, which did not at all hesitate to place a

rivet or a lake a degree or two out of the way, even though they lay within a day's march of the inhabited

parts of the Colony glad it has no name," resumed Deerslayer, " or at least, no paleface name; for their

christenings always foretell waste and destruction. No doubt, howsoever, the redskins have their modes of

knowing it, and the hunters and trappers, too; they are likely to call the place by something reasonable and

' As for the tribes, each has its tongue, and its own way of calling things; and they treat this part of the world

just as they treat all others. Among ourselves, we've got to calling the place the'Glimmerglass,' seeing that its

whole basin is so often hinged with pines, cast upward to its face as if it would throw hack the hills that hang

"There is an outlet, I know, for all lakes have outlets, and the rock at which I am to meet Chingachgook

" In that particular they've got the advantage of us, having one end, and that the biggest, in their own keeping:

they've given it a name which has found its way up to its source; names nat'rally working up stream. No

"That have I, and hunted along its banks a hundred times. That and this are the same in fact, and, I suppose,

the same in sound. I am glad they've been compelled to keep the redmen's name, for it would be too hard to

Deerslayer made no answer; but he stood leaning on his rifle, gazing at the view which so much delighted

him. The reader is not to suppose, however, that it was the picturesque alone which so strongly attracted his

attention. The spot was very lovely, of a truth, and it was then seen in one of its most favorable moments, the

surface of the late being as smooth as glass and as limpid as pure air, throwing back the mountains, clothed in

dark pines, along the whole of its eastern boundary, the points thrusting forward their trees even to nearly

horizontal lines, while the bays were seen glittering through an occasional arch beneath, left by a vault fretted

with branches and leaves. It was the air of deep reposethe solitudes, that spoke of scenes and forests

untouched by the hands of manthe reign of nature, in a word, that gave so much pure delight to one of his

habits and turn of mind. Still, he felt, though it was unconsciously, like a poet also. If he found a pleasure in

studying this large, and to him unusual opening into the mysteries and forms of the woods, as one is gratified

in getting broader views of any subject that has long occupied his thoughts, he was not insensible to the

innate loveliness of such a landscape neither, but felt a portion of that soothing of the spirit which is a

Hurry Harry thought more of the beauties of Judith Hutter than of those of the Glimmerglass and its

accompanying scenery. As soon as he had taken a sufficiently intimate survey of floating Tom's implements,

therefore, he summoned his companion to the canoe, that they might go down the lake in quest of the family.

Previously to embarking, however, Hurry carefully examined the whole of the northern end of the water with

an indifferent ship's glass, that formed a part of Hutter's effects. In this scrutiny, no part of the shore was

overlooked; the bays and points in particular being subjected to a closer inquiry than the rest of the wooded

T'is as I thought," said Hurry, laying aside the glass, "the old fellow is drifting about the south end this fine

weather, and has left the castle to defend itself. Well, now we know that he is not up thisaway, 'twill be but

'Does Master Hutter think it necessary to burrow on this lake?" inquired Deerslayer, as he followed his

companion into the canoe; 'to my eye it is such a solitude as one might open his whole soul in, and fear no

'You forget your friends the Mingos, and all the French savages. Is there a spot on 'arth, Deerslayer, to which

them disquiet rogues don't go? Where is the lake, or even the deer lick, that the blackguards don't find out,

'I hear no good character of 'em, sartainly, friend Hurry, though I've never been called on, yet, to meet them, r

any other mortal, on the warpath. I dare to say that such a lovely spot as this, would not be likely to be

overlooked by such plunderers, for, though I've not been in the way of quarreling with them tribes myself, the

Delawares give me such an account of 'em that I've pretty much set 'em down in my own mind, as thorough

"You may do that with a safe conscience, or for that matter, any other savage you may happen to meet.:

Here Deerslayer protested, and as they went paddling down the lake, a hot discussion was maintained

concerning the respective merits of the palefaces and the redskins. Hurry had all the prejudices and

antipathies of a white hunter, who generally regards the Indian as a sort of natural competitor, and not

unfrequently as a natural enemy. As a matter of course, he was loud, clamorous, dogmatical and not ver

argumentative. Deerslayer, on the other hand, manifested a very different temper, proving by the moderation

of his language, the fairness of his views, and the simplicityof his distinctions, that he possessed every

disposition to hear reason, a strong, innate desire to dojustice, and an ingenuousness that was singularly

indisposed to have recourse to sophism to maintain an argument; or to defend a prejudice. Still he was not

altogether free from the influence of the latter feeling. This tyrant of the human mind, which ruses on it prey

through a thousand avenues, almost as soon as men begint to think and feel, and which seldom relinquishes

its iron sway until they cease to do either, had made some impression on even the just propensities of this

individual, who probably offered in these particulars, a fair specimen of what absence from bad example, the

"You will allow, Deerslayer, that a Mingo is more than half devil," cried Hurry, following up the discussion

with an animation that touched closely on ferocity, "though you want to overpersuade me that the Delaware

tribe is pretty much made up of angels. Now, I gainsay that proposal, consarning white men, even. All white

men are not fault-less, and therefore all Indians can't be faultless. And so your argument is out at the elbow in

the start. But this is what I call reason. Here 's three colors on 'arth: white, black, and red. White is the highest

color, and therefore the best man; black comes next, and is put to live in the neighborhood of the white man,

as tolerable, and fit to be made use of; and red comes last, which shows that those that made 'em never

"You go off at halfcock, and don't hear me out. God made us all, white, black, and red; and, no doubt, had

his own wise intentions in coloring us differently. Still, he made us, in the main, much the same in feelin's;

though I'll not deny that he gave each race its gifts. A white man s gifts are Christianized, while a redskin's

are more for the wilderness. Thus, it would be a great offence for a white man to scalp the dead; whereas it 's

a signal vartue in an Indian. Then ag'in, a white man cannot amboosh women and children in war, while a

redskin may. 'T is cruel work, I '11 allow; but for them it 's lawful work; while for us, it would be grievous

"That depends on your inimy. As for scalping, or even skinning a savage, I look upon them pretty much the

same as cutting off the ears of wolves for the bounty, or stripping a bear of its hide. And then you 're out

significantly, as to taking the poll of a redskin in hand, seeing that the very colony has offered a bounty for

the job; all the same as it pays for wolves' ears and crows' heads." "Ay, and a bad business it is, Hurry. Even

the Indians themselves cry shame on it, seeing it's ag'in a white man's gifts. I do not pretend that all that white

men do, is prop-erly Christianized, and according to the lights given them, for then they would be what they

ought to be; which we know they are not; but I will maintain that tradition, and use, and color, and laws,

make such a difference in races as to amount to gifts. I do not deny that there are tribes among the Indians

that are nat'rally pervarse and wicked, as there are nations among the whites. Now, I account the Mingos as

belonging to the first, and the Frenchers, in the Canadas, to the last. In a state of lawful warfare, such as we

have lately got into, it is a duty to keep down all com-passionate feelin's, so far as life goes, ag'in either; but

"Just hearken to reason, if you please, Deerslayer, and tell me if the colony can make an onlawful law? Isn't

an onlawful law more ag'in natur' than scalpin' a savage? A law can no more be onlawful, than truth can be a

"That sounds reasonable; but it has a most onreasonable bearing, Hurry. Laws don't all come from the same

quarter. God has given us his 'n, and some come from the colony, and others come from the King and

Parliament. When the colony's laws, or even the King's laws, run ag'in the laws of God, they get to be

onlawful, and ought not to be obeyed. I hold to a white man's respecting white laws, so long as they do not

cross the track of a law comm' from a higher authority; and for a redman to obey his own red-skin usages,

under the same privilege. But, 't is useless talking, as each man will think fir himself, and have his say

agreeable to his thoughts. Let us keep a good lookout for your friend Floating Tom, lest we pass him, as he

Deerslayer had not named the borders of the lake amiss. Along their whole length, the smaller trees overhung

the water, with their branches often dipping in the transparent element The banks were steep, even from the

narrow ple, the want of temptation to go wrong, and native good feeling, can render youth.