"Why, let the strucken deer go weep,
The hart ungalled play,
For some must watch, while some must sleep,
Thus runs the world away."
Hamlet, III.ii.271-74
Another consultation took place in the forward part of the scow, at which
both Judith and Hetty were present. As no danger could now approach unseen,
immediate uneasiness had given place to he concern which attended the
conviction that enemies were in considerable force on the shores of the lake,
and that they might be sure no practicable means of accomplishing their own
destruction would be neglected. As a matter of course Hutter felt these
truths the deepest, his daughters having an habitual reliance on his
resources, and knowing too little to appreciate fully all the risks they ran;
while his male companions were at liberty to quit him at any moment they saw
fit. His first remark showed that he had an eye to the latter circumstance,
and might have betrayed, to a keen observer, the apprehension that was just
then uppermost.
"We 'ye a great advantage over the Iroquois, or the enemy, whoever they are,
in being afloat," he said.
"There 's not a canoe on the lake that I don't know where it 's hid; and now
yours is here. Hurry, there are but three more on the land, and they 're so
snug in hollow logs that I don't believe the Indians could find them, let
them try ever so long."
"There's no telling that-no one can say that," put in Deerslayer; "a hound is
not more sartain on the scent than a redskin, when he expects to get anything
by it. Let this party see scalps afore 'em, or plunder, or honor accordin' to
their idees of what honor is, and 't will be a tight log that hides a canoe
from their eyes."
"You're right, Deerslayer," cried Harry March; "you're downright Gospel in
this matter, and I rej 'ice that my bunch of bark is safe enough here, within
reach of my arm. I calcilate they '11 be at all the rest of the canoes afore
to-morrow night, if they are in ra' al 'arnest to smoke you out, old Tom, and
we may as well overhaul our paddles for a pull."
Hutter made no immediate reply. He looked about him in silence for quite a
minute, examining the sky, the lake, and the belt of forest which inclosed
it, as it might be hermetically, like one consulting their signs. Nor did he
find any alarming symptoms. The boundless woods were sleeping in the deep
repose of nature, the heavens were placid, but still luminous with the light
of the retreating sun, while the lake looked more lovely and calm than it had
before done that day. It was a scene altogether soothing, and of a character
to lull the passions into a species of holy calm. How far this effect was
produced, however, on the party in the ark, must appear in the progress of
our narrative.
"Judith," called out the father, when he had taken this close but short
survey of the omens, "night is at hand; find our friends food; a long march
gives a sharp appetite."
"We're not starving, Master Hutter," March observed, "for we filled up just
as we reached the lake, and for one, I prefar the company of Jude even to her
supper. This quiet evening is very agreeable to sit by her side."
"Natur' is natur'," objected Hutter, "and must be fed. Judith, see to the
meal, and take your sister to help you. I 've a little discourse to hold with
you, friends," he continued, as soon as his daughters were out of hearing,
"and
wish the girls away. You see my situation, and I should like to hear your
opinions concerning what is best to be done. Three times have I been burnt
out already, but that was on the shore; and I 've considered myself as pretty
safe
ever since I got the castle built, and the ark afloat. My other accidents,
however, happened in peaceable times, being nothing more than such flurries
as a man must meet with, in the woods; but this matter looks serious, and
your
ideas would greatly relieve my mind."
"It's my notion, old Tom, that you, and your huts, and your traps, and your
whole possessions, hereaway, are in
desperate jippardy," returned the matter-of-fact Hurry, who
saw no use in concealment. "Accordin' to my idees of valie,
they 're altogether not worth half as much to-day as they
was yesterday, nor would I give more for 'em, taking the
pay in skins."
"Then I've children!" continued the father, making the
allusion in a way that it might have puzzled even an indifferent
observer to say was intended as a bait, or as an
exclamation of paternal concern, "daughters, as you know,
Hurry, and good girls too, I may say, though I am their
father."
"A man may say anything, Master Hutter, particularly
when pressed by time and circumstances. You've darters,
as you say, and one of them hasn't her equal on the frontiers
for good looks, whatever she may have for good behavior.
As for poor Hetty, she's Hetty Hutter, and that's as much
as one can say about the poor thing. Give me Jude, if her
conduct was only equal to her looks!"
"I see, Harry March, I can only count on you as a fair-
weather friend; and I suppose that your companion will be
of the same way of thinking," returned the other, with a
slight show of pride, that was not altogether without dig-
nity; "well, I must depend on Providence, which will not
turn a deaf ear, perhaps, to a father's prayers."
"If you 've understood Hurry, here, to mean that he intends to desart you,"
said Deerslayer, with an earnest simplicity that gave double assurance of its
truth, "I think you do him injustice, as I know you do me, in supposing I
would follow him, was he so ontrue-hearted as to leave a family of his own
color in such a strait as this. I 've come on this at take, Master Hutter, to
rende'vous a fri'nd, and I only wish hehe was here himself, as I make no
doubt he will be at
sunset to-morrow, when you 'd have another rifle to aid you;
an inexper'enced one, I '11 allow, like my own, but one that
has proved true so often ag'in the game, big and little, that
I ll answer for its sarvice ag'in mortals."
May I depend on you to stand by me and my daughters,
then, Deerslayer?" demanded the old man, with a father's
anxiety in his countenance.
"That may you, Floating Tom, if that's your name; and
e, as a brother would stand by a sister, a husband his wife, or a suitor his
sweetheart. In this strait you may count on
me, through all advarsities; and I think Hurry does dis-
credit to his natur' and wishes, if you can't count on him."
"Not he," cried Judith, thrusting her handsome face out
of the door; "his nature is hurry, as well as his name, and
he '11 hurry off, as soon as he thinks his fine figure in danger. Neither
'old Tom,' nor his 'gals,' will depend much on
Master March, now they know him, but you they will rely
on, Deerslayer; for your honest face and honest heart tell us
that what you promise you will perform."
This was said, as much, perhaps, in affected scorn for
Hurry, as in sincerity. Still, it was not said without feeling. The fine face
of Judith sufficiently proved the latter circumstance; and if the conscious
March fancied that he had never seen in it a stronger display of contempt-a
feeling in which the beauty was apt to indulge-than while she was looking at
him, it certainly seldom exhibited more of
a womanly softness and sensibility, than when her speaking
a blue eyes were turned on his travelling companion.
"Leave us, Judith," Hutter ordered sternly, before either
of the young men could reply; "leave us; and do not
return until you come with the venison and fish. The girl
has been spoilt by the flattery of the officers, who sometimes
find their way up here, Master March, and you '11 not think
any harm of her silly words."
"You never said truer syllable, old Tom," retorted Hurry,
who smarted under Judith's observations; "the devil-
tongued youngsters of the garrison have proved her undo'
ing. I scarce know Jude any longer, and shall soon take to
admiring her sister, who is getting to be much more to my
fancy."
"I 'm glad to hear this, Harry, and look upon it as a sign that you're coming
to your right senses. Hetty would make a much safer and more rational
companion than Jude, and would be much the most likely to listen to your
suit, as the officers have, I greatly fear, unsettled her sister's mind."
"No man needs a safer wife than Hetty," said Hurry,
laughing, "though I 'U not answer for her being of the most
rational. But no matter; Deerslayer has not misconceived
me, when he told you I should be found at my post. I '11
not quit you, Uncle Tom, just now, whatever may be my
feelin's and intentions respecting your eldest darter."
Hurry had a respectable reputation for prowess among his
associates, and Hurter heard this pledge with a satisfaction
that was not concealed. Even the great personal strength of
such an aid became of moment, in moving the ark, as well as
in the species of hand-to-hand conflicts, that were not unfre'
quent in the woods; and no commander who was hard
pressed could feel more joy at hearing of the arrival of
reinforcements, than the borderer experienced at being told
this important auxiliary was not about to quit him. A
minute before, Hutter would have been well content to com-
promise his danger, by entering into a compact to act only
on the defensive; but no sooner did he feel some security on
this point, than the restlessness of man induced him to think
of the means of carrying the war into the enemy's country.
"High prices are offered for scalps on both sides." he observed, with a grim
smile, as if he felt the force of the induce-ment, at the very time he wished
to affect a superiority to earning money by means that the ordinary feelings
of those who aspire to be civilized men repudiated, even while they were
adopted. "It isn't right, perhaps, to take gold for human blood; and yet,
when mankind is busy in killing one another, there can be no great harm in
adding a little bit of skin to the plunder. What 's your sentiments, Hurry,
touching these p'ints?"
"That you've made a vast mistake, old man, in calling
savage blood human blood, at all. I think no more of a
redskin's scalp than I do of a pair of wolf's ears; and
would just as lief finger money for the one as for the other.
With white people 't is different, for they 've a nat'ral
avarsion to being scalped; whereas your Indian shaves his
head in readiness for the knife, and leaves a lock of hair
by way of braggadocio, that one can lay hold of in the
bargain."
"That 's manly, however, and I felt from the first that
we had only to get you on our side, to have your heart
and hand," returned Tom, losing all his reserve, as he
gained a renewed confidence in the disposition of his
companions. "Something more may turn up from this
inroad of the redskins than they bargained for. Deerslayer,
I conclude you 're of Hurry's way of thinking, and look
upon money 'arued in this way as being as likely to pass
as money 'arned in trapping or hunting."
"I've no such feelin', nor any wish to harbor it, not I,"
returned the other. " My gifts are not scalpers' gifts, but
such as belong to my religion and color. I '11 stand by you,
old man, in the ark or in the castle, the canoe or the woods,
but I '11 not unhumanize my natur' by falling into ways
that God intended for another race. If you and Hurry
have got any thoughts that lean towards the colony's gold,
go by yourselves in s'arch of it, and leave the females to
my care. Much as I must differ from you both on all
gifts that do not properly belong to a white man, we shall
agree that it is the duty of the strong to take care of the
weak, especially when the last belong to them that natur'
intended man to protect and console by his gentleness and
strength."
"Hurry Harry, that is a lesson you might learn and
practise on to some advantage," said the sweet, but spirited
voice of Judith, from the cabin; a proof that she had over-
heard all that had hitherto been said.
"No more of this, Jude," called out the father angrily.
"Move farther off; we are about to talk of matters unfit
for a woman to listen to."
Hutter did not take any steps, however, to ascertain
whether he was obeyed or not; but dropping his voice a
little, he pursued the discourse.
"The young man is right, Hurry," he said; "and we
can leave the children in his care. Now, my idea is just
this; and I think you '11 agree that it is rational and correct.
There 's a large party of these savages on shore and, though
I did n't tell it before the girls, for they 're womanish, and
apt to be troublesome when anything like real work is to
be done, there 's women among 'em. This I know from
moccasin prints; and 't is likely they are hunters, after all,
who have been out so long that they know nothing of the
war, or of the bounties."
"In which case, old Tom, why was their first salute an
attempt to cut our throats?"
"We don't know that their design was so bloody. It 'S
natural and easy for an Indian to fall into ambushes and sur-
prises; and, no doubt they wished to get on hoard the ark
first, and to make their conditions afterwards. That a dis-
app' inted savage should fire at us, is in rule; and I think
nothing of that. Besides, how often they burned me out,
and robbed my traps-ay, and pulled trigger on me, in the
most peaceful times?"
"The blackguards will do such things, I must allow;nd we pay 'em off pretty
much in their own time. Women would not be on the war-path, sartainly; and,
so far,there 's reason in your idee.''
"Nor would a hunter be in his war-paint," returned
Deerslayer. "I saw the Mingos, and know that they are
out on the trail of mortal men; and not for beaver or deer."
"There you have it ag'in, old fellow," said Hurry. "In
the way of an eye, now, I 'd as soon trust this young man,
as trust the oldest settler in the colony; if he says paint,
why paint it was."
"Then a hunting-party and a war-party have met, for
women must have been with 'em. It 's only a few days
since the runner went through with the tidings of the
troubles; and it may be that warriors have come out to call
in their women and children, to get an early blow."
"That would stand the courts, and is just the truth
cried Hurry; "you 'ye got it now, old Tom, and I should
like to hear what you mean to make out of it."
we "The bounty," returned the other, looking up at his
attentive companion, in a cool, sullen manner, in which,
ct.however, heartless cupidity and indifference to the means
were far more conspicuous than any feelings of animosity
or revenge.
"If there's women, there 's children; and big to and little have scalps; the
colony pays for all alike."
"More shame to it, that it should do so," interrupted
Deerslayer; "more shame to it, that it don't understand its
gifts, and pay greater attention to the will of God."
"Hearken to reason, lad, and don't cry out afore you
understand a case," returned the unmoved Hurry; "the
savages scalp your fri'nds, the Delawares, or Mohicans
whichever they may be, among the rest; and why shouldn't
ur- we scalp? I will own, it would be ag'in right for you and
me now, to go into the settlements and bring out scalps,
but it '5 a very different matter as concerns Indians A man
shouldn't take scalps, if he is n't ready to be scalped, him-
self, on fitting occasions. One good turn desarves another,
the all the world over. That 's reason, and I believe it to be good
religion."
"Ay, Master Hurry," again interrupted the rich voice
of Judith, "is it religion to say that one bad turn deserves
another?"
"I '11 never reason ag'in you, Judy, for you beat me with
ned beauty, if you can't with sense. Here 's the Canadas
paying their Injins for scalps, and why not we pay-"
"Our Indians !" exclaimed the girl, laughing with a
'In sort of melancholy merriment. "Father, father! think no
more of this, and listen to the advice of Deerslayer, who
int, has a conscience; which is more than I can say or think of Harry
March."
Hutter now rose, and, entering the cabin, he compelled
his daughters to go into the adjoining room, when he
the secured both the doors, and returned. Then he and Hurry
call pursued the subject; but, as the purport of all that was material in
this discourse will appear in the imrrative, it need not be related here in
detail. The reader, however,
can have no difficulty in comprehending the morality that
presided over their conference. It was, in truth, that
which, in some form or other, rules most of the acts of men,
and in which the controlling principle is that one wrong
will justify another. Their enemies paid for scalps, and this was sufficient
to justify the colony for retaliating. It is true, the French used the same
argument, a circumstance,as Hurry took occasion to observe in answer to one
of Deerslayer's objections, that proved its truth, as mortal enemies would
not be likely to have recourse to the same reason unless it were a good one.
But neither Hutter nor Hurry was a man likely to stick at trifles in matters
connected with the right of the aborigines, since it is one of the
consequences of aggression that it hardens the conscience, as the only means
of quieting it. In the most
peaceable state of the country, a species of warfare was
carried on between the Indians, especially those of the
Canadas, and men of their caste; and the moment an
actual and recognized warfare existed, it was regarded as
the means of lawfully revenging a thousand wrongs, real
and imaginary. Then, again, there was some truth, and a
good deal of expediency, in the principle of retaliation, of
which they both availed themselves, in particular, to answer
the objections of their juster-minded and more scrupulous
companion.
"You must fight a man with his own we'pons, Deerslayer," cried Hurry, in his
uncouth dialect, and in his dogmatical manner of disposing of all oral
propositions; "if he's f"erce you must be f'ercer; if he's stout of heart,
you must be stouter. This is the way to get the better of
Christian or savage: by keeping up to this trail, you'll get
soonest to the ind of your journey."
"That's not Moravian doctrine, which teaches that all
are to be judged according to their talents or l'arning; the
Injin like an Injin; and the white man like a white man.
Some of their teachers say, that if you're struck on the cheek,it's a duty to
turn the other side of the face, and take another blow, instead of seeking
revenge, whereby I understand-"
"That's enough !" shouted Hurry; "that's all I want,
to prove a man's doctrine! How long would it take to
kick a man through the colony-in at one ind and out at
the other, on that principle?"
"Don't mistake me, March," returned the young hunter,
with dignity; "I don't understand by this any more than
that it 's best to do this, if possible. Revenge is an Injin
gift, and forgiveness a white man's. That 's all. Overlook
all you can is what 's meant; and not revenge all you can.
As for kicking, Master Hurry," and Deerslayer's sunburnt
cheek flushed as he continued, "into the colony, or out of
the colony, that's neither here nor there, seeing no one
proposes it, and no one would be likely to put up with it.
What I wish to say is, that a redskin's scalping don't justify a pale-face's
scalping."
"Do as you 're done by, Deerslayer; that 's ever the
Christian parson's doctrine." No, Hurry, I 'ye asked the Moravians consarning
that;and it 's altogether different. 'Do as you would be done by,' they tell
me, is the true saying, while men practyse the false. They think all the
colonies wrong that offer bounties for scalps, and believe no blessing will
follow the measures. Above all things, they forbid revenge."
"That for your Moravians!" cried March, snapping his
fingers; "they 're the next thing to Quakers; and if you'd
believe all they tell you, not even a 'rat would be skinned,
out of marcy. Who ever heard of marcy on a muskrat!"
The disdainful manner of Hurry prevented a reply, and
he and the old man resumed the discussion of their plans in
a more quiet and confidential manner. This confidence
lasted until Judith appeared, bearing the simple but savory
supper. March observed, with a little surprise, that she
placed the choicest bits before Deerslayer, and that in the
little nameless attentions it was in her power to bestow, she quite obviously
manifested a desire to let it be seen that she deemed him the honored guest.
Accustomed, however, to Lhe waywardness and coquetry of the beauty, this
discovery gave him little concern, and he ate with an appetite that was in no
degree disturbed by any moral causes. The easily-digested food of the forests
offering the fewest possible obstacles to the gratification of this great
animal indulgence, Deerslayer, notwithstanding the hearty meal both had taken
in the woods, was in no manner behind his companion in doing justice to the
viands.
An hour later the scene had greatly changed. The lake
was still placid and glassy, but the gloom of the hour had
succeeded to the soft twilight of a summer evening, and all
within the dark setting of the woods lay in the quiet repose
of night. The forests gave up no song, or cry, or even
murmur, but looked down from the hills on the lovely basin
they encircled, in solemn stillness; and the only sound that
was audible was the regular dip of the sweeps, at which
Hurry and Deerslayer lazily pushed, impelling the ark
towards the castle. Hutter had withdrawn to the stern of
the scow, in order to steer, but, finding that the young men
kept even strokes, and held the desired course by their own
skill, he permitted the oar to drag in the water, took a seat on the end of
the vessel, and lighted his pipe. He had not been thus placed many minutes,
ere Hetty came stealthily out of the cabin, or house, as they usually termed
that part of the ark, and placed herself at his feet, on a little bench that
she brought with her. As this movement was by no
means unusual in his feeble-minded child, the old man paid
no other attention to it than to lay his hand kindly on her
head, in an affectionate and approving manner; an act of
grace that the girl received in meek silence.
After a pause of several minutes, Hetty began to sing.
Her voice was low and tremulous, but it was earnest and
solemn. The words and the tune were of the simplest form,
the first being a hymn that she had been taught by her
mother, and the last one of those natural melodies that find
favor with all classes, in every age, coming from and being
addressed to the feelings. Hutter never listened to this
simple strain without finding his heart and manner softened; facts that his
daughter well knew, and by which she had often profited, through the sort of
holy instinct that
enlightens the weak of mind, more especially in their aims
toward good.
Hetty's low, sweet tones had not been raised many
moments, when the dip of the oars ceased, and the holy
strain arose singly on the breathing silence of the wilder-
ness. As if she gathered courage with the theme, her pow-
ers appeared to increase as she proceeded; and though
nothing vulgar or noisy mingled in her melody, its strength
and melancholy tenderness grew on the ear, until the air
was filled with this simple homage of a soul that seemed
almost spotless. That the men forward were not indifferent
to this touching interruption, was proved by their inaction;
nor did their oars again dip until the last of the sweet sounds had actually
died among the remarkable shores, which, at that witching hour, would waft
even the lowest modulations of the human voice more than a mile. Hutter was
much affected; for rude as he was by early habits, and even ruthless as he
had got to be by long exposure to the practices of the wilderness, his nature
was of that fearful mixture of good and evil that so generally enters into
the moral composition of man.
"You are sad to-night, child," said the father, whose
manner and language usually assumed some of the gentle-
ness and elevation of the civilized life he had led in youth, when he thus
communed with this particular child; "we have just escaped from enemies, and
ought rather to
rejoice."
"You can never do it, father!" said Hetty, in a low,
remonstrating manner, taking his hard, knotty hand into
both her own; "you have talked long with Harry March;
but neither of you have the heart to do it!"
"This is going beyond your means, foolish child; you
must have been naughty enough to have listened, or you
could know nothing of our talk."
"Why should you and Hurry kill people-especially
women and children?"
"Peace, girl, peace; we are at war, and must do to our
enemies as our enemies would do to us."
"That 's not it, father! I heard Deerslayer say how it
was. You must do to your enemies as you wish your enemies
would do to you. No man wishes his enemies to kill him."
"We kill our enemies in war, girl, lest they should kill
us. One side or the other must begin; and them that begin
first, are most apt to get the victory. You know nothing
about these things, poor Hetty, and had best say nothing."
"Judith says it is wrong, father; and Judith has sense
though I have none."
"Jude understands better than to talk to me of these
matters; for she has sense, as you say, and knows I '11 not
bear it. Which would you prefer, Hetty; to have your own
scalp taken, and sold to the French, or that we should kill
our enemies, and keep them from harming us?"
"That 's not it, father! Don't kill them, nor let them
kill us. Sell your skins, and get more, if you can; but
don't sell human blood."
"Come, come, child; let us talk of matters you under-
stand. Are you glad to see our old friend, March, back
again? You like Hurry, and must know that one day he
may be your brother-if not something nearer."
"That can't be, father," returned the girl, after a consid-
erable pause; "Hurry has had one father, and one mother;
and people never have two."
"So much for your weak mind, Hetty. When Jude
marries, her husband's father will be her father, and her
husband's sister her sister. If she should marry Hurry,
then he will be your brother."
"Judith will never have Hurry," returned the girl mildly.
but positively; "Judith don't like Hurry."
"That's more than you can know, Hetty. Harry March
is the handsomest, and the strongest, and the boldest young
man that ever visits the lake; and, as Jude is the greatest
beauty, I don't see why they shouldn't come together. He
has as much as promised that he will enter into this job with me, on
condition that I'11 consent."
Hetty began to move her body back and forth, and other-
wise to express mental agitation; but she made no answer
for more than a minute. Her father, accustomed to her
manner, and suspecting no immediate cause of concern, con-
tinued to smoke with the apparent phlegm which would
seem to belong to that particular species of enjoyment.
"Hurry is handsome, father," said Hetty, with a simple
emphasis, that she might have hesitated about using, had
her mind been more alive to the inferences of others.
"I told you so, child," muttered old Hutter, without
removing the pipe from between his teeth; "he's the
likeliest youth in these parts; and Jude is the likeliest
young woman I've met with since her poor mother was
in her best days."
"Is it wicked to be ugly, father?'"
"One might be guilty of worse things-but you 're by no
means ugly; though not so comely as Jude."
"Is Judith any happier for being so handsome?"
"She may be, child, and she may not be. But talk of
other matters now, for you hardly understand these, poor
Hetty. How do you like our new acquaintance, Deer-
slayer?"
"He isn't handsome, father. Hurry is far handsomer than Deerslayer."
"That's true; but they say he is a noted hunter! His
fame had reached me before I ever saw him; and I did hope
he would prove to be as stout a warrior as he is dexterous
with the deer. All men are not alike, howsever, child; and
it takes time, as I know by experience, to give a man a true
wilderness heart."
"Have I got a wilderness heart, father-and Hurry, is
his heart true wilderness?"
"You sometimes ask queer questions, Hetty! Your
heart is good, child, and fitter for the settlements than for the woods;
while your reason is fitter for the woods than for the settlements."
"Why has Judith more reason than I, father?"
"Heaven help thee, child: this is more than I can an-
swer God gives sense, and appearance, and all these
things; and he grants them as he seeth fit. Dost thou
wish for more sense?"
"Not I. The little I have troubles me; for when I
think the hardest, then I feel the unhappiest. I don't
believe thinking is good for me, though I do wish I was as
handsome as Judith !"
"Why so, poor child? Thy sister's beauty may cause
her trouble, as it caused her mother before her. It's no
advantage, Hetty, to be so marked for anything as to her
come an object of envy, or to be sought after more than
others."
"Mother was good, if she was handsome," returned the
girl, the tears staffing to her eyes, as usually happened
when she adverted to her deceased parent. Old Hutter, if not
equally affected, was moody and silent at this allusion to his wife.
He continued smoking, without appearing disposed to make any answer,
until his simple-minded daughter repeated her remark, in a way to
show that she felt uneasiness lest he might be inclined to deny
her assertion. Then he knocked the ashes out of his pipe, and
laying his hand in a sort of rough kindness on the girl's
head, he made a reply.
"Thy mother was too good for this world," he said;
"though others might not think so. Her good looks did
not befriend her; and you have no occasion to mourn that
you are not as much like her as your sister. Think less of
beauty, child, and more of your duty, and you '11 be as
happy on this lake as you could be in the king's palace."
"I know it, father; but Hurry says beauty is everything
in a young woman."
Hutter made an ejaculation expressive of dissatisfaction,
and went forward, passing through the house, in order to
do so. Hetty's simple betrayal of her weakness in behalf
of March gave him uneasiness on a subject concerning
which he had never felt before, and he determined to come
to an explanation at once with his visitor; for directness
of speech and decision in conduct were two of the best
qualities of this rude being, in whom the seeds of a better
education seemed to be constantly struggling upwards, to
be choked by the fruits of a life in which his hard struggles
for subsistence and security had steeled his feelings and
indurated his nature. When he reached the forward end of the
scow, he manifested an intention to relieve Deerslayer at
the oar, directing the latter to take his own place aft By
these changes, the old man and Hurry were again left alone,
while the young hunter was transferred to the other end of the ark.
Hetty had disappeared when Deerslayer reached his new
post, and for some little time he directed the course of the
slow-moving craft by himself. It was not long, however,
before Judith came out of the cabin, as if disposed to do
the honors of the place to a stranger engaged in the service
of her family. The starlight was sufficient to permit objects
to be plainly distinguished when near at hand, and the bright
eyes of the girl had an expression of kindness in them, when
they met those of the youth, that the latter was easily enabled
to discover. Her rich hair shaded her spirited and yet soft
countenance, even at that hour rendering it the more beautiful-
as the rose is loveliest when reposing amid the shadows and
contrasts of its native foliage. Little ceremony is used in
the intercourse of the woods; and Judith had acquired a
readiness of address, by the admiration that she so generally
excited, which, if it did not amount to forwardness, certainly
in no degree lent to her charms the aid of that retiring modesty
on which poets love to dwell.
"I thought I should have killed myself with laughing,
Deerslayer," the beauty abruptly, but coquettishly com-
menced, when I saw that Indian dive into the river! He
was a good-looking savage, too," the girl always dwelt on
personal beauty as a sort of merit, "and yet one could n't
stop to consider whether his paint would stand water!"
"And I thought they would have killed you with their
we'pons, Judith," returned Deerslayer; "it was an awful
risk for a female to run in the face of a dozen Mingos!"
"Did that make you come out of the cabin, in spite of
their rifles, too?" asked the girl, with more real interest
than she would have cared to betray, though with an indif-
ference of manner that was the result of a good deal of prac
tice united to native readiness.
"Men ar'n't apt to see females in danger, and not come
to their assistance. Even a Mingo knows that."
This sentiment was uttered with as much simplicity of
wanner as of feeling, and Judith rewarded it with a smile so
that literally knew no guile. To answer without saying
more or less than he wished, was consequently a delicate
duty.
"March has his say of all things in whether of
fri'nd or foe," slowly and cautiously rejoined the hunter.
"He's one of them that speak as they feel while the
tongue's a-going, and that's sometimes different from what
they'd speak if they took time to consider. Give me a
Delaware, Judith, for one that reflects and ruminates on his
idees! Inmity has made him thoughtful, and a loose
tongue is no ricommend at their council fires."
"I dare say March's tongue goes free enough when it gets
on the subject of Judith Hutter and her sister," said the
girl, rousing herself as if in careless disdain. "Young
women's good names are a pleasant matter of discourse with
some that would n't dare be so open-mouthed if there was a
brother in the way. Master March may find it pleasant to
traduce us, but sooner or later he '11 repent.
"Nay, Judith, this is taking the matter up too much in
'arnest. Hurry has never whispered a syllable ag'in the
good name of Hetty, to begin with-"
"I see how it is-I see how it is," impetuously interrupted
Judith. "I am the one he sees fit to scorch with his
withering tongue! Hetty, indeed! Poor Hetty!" she
continued, her voice sinking into low, husky tones, that
seemed nearly to stifle her in the utterance; "she is beyond
and above his slanderous malice! Poor Hetty! If God has
created her feeble-minded, the weakness lies altogether on
the side of errors of which she seems to know nothing. The
earth never held a purer being than Hetty Hutter,
Deerslayer."
"I can believe it-yes, I can believe that, Judith, and I
hope 'arnestly that the same can be said of her handsome
sister."
There was a soothing sincerity in the voice of Deerslayer,
which touched the girl's feelings; nor did the allusion to
her beauty lessen the effect with one who only knew too
well the power of her personal charms. Nevertheless, the
still, small voice of conscience was not hushed, and it prompted the
answer which she made, after giving herself time to reflect.
"I can believe it-yes, I can believe tha, Judith, and I
hope 'arnestly that the same can be said of her handsome
sister."
There was a soothing sincerity in the voice of Deerslayer,
which touched the girl's feelings; nor did the allusion
to her beauty lessen the effect with one who only knew
too well the power of her personal charms. Nevertheless,
the still, small voice of conscience was not hushed, and
it prompted the answer which she made after giving herself
time to reflect.
"I dare say Hurry had some of his vile hints about the
people of the garrisons," she added. "He knows they are
gentlemen, and can never forgive any one for being what he
feels he can never become himself."
"Not in the sense of a king's officer, Judith, sartainly,
for March has no turn thataway; but in the sense of reality,
why may not a beaver-hunter be as respectable as a governor?
Since you speak of it yourself, I'11 not deny that he did
complain of one as humble as you being so much in the
company of scarlet coats and silken sashes. But 't was jeal-
ousy that brought it out of him, and I do think he mourned
over his own thoughts as a mother would have mourned
over her child."
Perhaps Deerslayer was not aware of the full meaning
that his earnest language conveyed. It is certain that he
did not see the color that crimsoned the whole of Judith's
fine face, nor detect the uncontrollable distress that
immediately after changed its hue to deadly paleness.
A minute or two elapsed in profound stillness, the splash
of the water seeming to occupy all the avenues of sound;
and then Judith arose, and grasped the hand of the hunter,
almost convulsively, with one of her own.
"Deerslayer," she said, hurriedly, "I'm glad the ice is
broke between us. They say that sudden friendships lead
to long enmities, but I do not believe it will turn out so
with us. I know not how it is-but you are the first man I
ever met, who did not seem to wish to flatter-to wish my
ruin-to be an enemy in disguise-never mind; say nothing to
Hurry, and another time we '11 talk together again."
As the girl released her grasp, she vanished in the house,
leaving the astonished young man standing at the steering-
oar, as motionless as one of the pines on the hills. So
abstracted, indeed, had his thoughts become, that he was
hailed by Hutter to keep the scow's head in the right
direction, before he remembered his actual situation.
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