University of Virginia Library

5. CHAPTER V.

In the last chapter we left the combatants breathing in
their narrow lists. Accustomed to the rude sports of wrestling
and jumping, then so common in America, more especially
on the frontiers, Hurry possessed an advantage, in
addition to his prodigious strength, that had rendered the
struggle less unequal than it might otherwise appear to be.
This alone had enabled him to hold out so long, against so
many enemies; for the Indian is by no means remarkable
for his skill or force in athletic exercises. As yet, no one
had been seriously hurt, though several of the savages had
received severe falls; and he, in particular, who had been
thrown bodily upon the platform, might be said to be temporarily
hors de combat. Some of the rest were limping; and
March himself had not entirely escaped from bruises,
though want of breath was the principal loss that both sides
wished to repair.

Under circumstances like those in which the parties were
placed, a truce, let it come from what cause it might, could
not well be of long continuance. The arena was too confined,
and the distrust of treachery too great, to admit
of this. Contrary to what might be expected in his situation,
Hurry was the first to recommence hostilities. Whether
this proceeded from policy, or an idea that he might gain
some advantage by making a sudden and unexpected assault,
or was the fruit of irritation and his undying hatred
of an Indian, it is impossible to say. His onset was furious,
however, and at first it carried all before it. He seized the
nearest Huron by the waist, raised him entirely from the
platform, and hurled him into the water, as if he had been

a child. In half a minute, two more were at his side, one
of whom received a grave injury by falling on the friend
who had just preceded him. But four enemies remained,
and, in a hand-to-hand conflict, in which no arms were used
but those which nature had furnished, Hurry believed himself
fully able to cope with that number of red-skins.

“Hurrah! Old Tom,” he shouted; “the rascals are
taking to the lake, and I'll soon have 'em all swimming!”
As these words were uttered, a violent kick in the face sent
back the injured Indian, who had caught at the edge of the
platform and was endeavouring to raise himself to its level,
helplessly and hopelessly into the water. When the affiray
was over, his dark body was seen, through the limpid element
of the Glimmerglass, lying, with outstretched arms,
extended on the bottom of the shoal on which the castle
stood, clinging to the sands and weeds as if life were to be
retained by this frenzied grasp of death. A blow, sent into
the pit of another's stomach, doubled him up like a worm
that had been trodden on; and but two able-bodied foes remained
to be dealt with. One of these, however, was not
only the largest and strongest of the Hurons, but he was
also the most experienced of the warriors present, and that
one whose sinews were the best strung in fights, and by
marches on the war-path. This man had fully appreciated
the gigantic strength of his opponent, and had carefully husbanded
his own. He was also equipped in the best manner
for such a conflict, standing in nothing but his breech-cloth,
the model of a naked and beautiful statue of agility and
strength. To grasp him required additional dexterity and
unusual strength. Still Hurry did not hesitate; but the
kick, that had actually destroyed one fellow-creature, was
no sooner given than he closed in with this formidable antagonist,
endeavouring to force him into the water also.
The struggle that succeeded was truly frightful. So fierce
did it immediately become, and so quick and changeful were
the evolutions of the athletæ, that the remaining savage had
no chance for interfering, had he possessed the desire; but
wonder and apprehension held him spell-bound. He was
an inexperienced youth, and his blood curdled as he witnessed
the fell strife of human passions, exhibited, too, in an
unaccustomed form.

Hurry first attempted to throw his antagonist. With this
view he seized him by the throat and an arm, and tripped
with the quickness and force of an American borderer. The
effect was frustrated by the agile movements of the Huron,
who had clothes to grasp by, and whose feet avoided the
attempt with a nimbleness equal to that with which it was
made. Then followed a sort of mêlée, if such a term can
be applied to a struggle between two, in which no efforts
were distinctly visible, the limbs and bodies of the combatants
assuming so many attitudes and contortions, as to defeat
observation. This confused but fierce rally lasted less
than a minute, however, when Hurry, furious at having his
strength baffled by the agility and nakedness of his foe,
made a desperate effort, which sent the Huron from him,
hurling his body violently against the logs of the hut. The
concussion was so great as momentarily to confuse the latter's
faculties. The pain, too, extorted a deep groan; an
unusual concession to agony, to escape a red man in the
heat of battle. Still he rushed forward again, to meet his
enemy, conscious that his safety rested on his resolution.
Hurry now seized the other by the waist, raised him
bodily from the platform, and fell with his own great weight
on the body beneath. This additional shock so far stunned
the sufferer, that his gigantic white opponent now had him
completely at his mercy. Passing his hands round the
throat of his victim, he compressed them with the strength
of a vice, fairly doubling the head of the Huron over the
edge of the platform, until the chin was uppermost, with the
infernal strength he expended. An instant sufficed to show
the consequences. The eyes of the sufferer seemed to start
forward, his tongue protruded, and his nostrils dilated nearly
to splitting. At this instant a rope of bark, having an eye,
was passed dexterously within the two arms of Hurry; the
end threaded the eye, forming a noose, and his elbows were
drawn together behind his back, with a power that all his
gigantic strength could not resist. Reluctantly, even under
such circumstances, did the exasperated borderer see his
hands drawn from their deadly grasp, for all the evil passions
were then in the ascendant. Almost at the same instant,
a similar fastening secured his ancles, and his body
was rolled to the centre of the platform as helplessly, and

as cavalierly, as if it were a log of wood. His rescued antagonist,
however, did not rise, for while he began again to
breathe, his head still hung helplessly over the edge of the
logs, and it was thought at first that his neck was dislocated.
He recovered gradually only, and it was hours before he
could walk. Some fancied that neither his body, nor his
mind, ever totally recovered from this near approach to
death.

Hurry owed his defeat and capture to the intensity with
which he had concentrated all his powers, on his fallen foe.
While thus occupied, the two Indians he had hurled into the
water mounted to the heads of the piles, along which they
passed, and joined their companion on the platform. The
latter had so far rallied his faculties as to have gotten the
ropes, which were in readiness for use as the others appeared,
and they were applied in the manner related, as
Hurry lay pressing his enemy down with his whole weight,
intent only on the horrible office of strangling him. Thus
were the tables turned, in a single moment; he who had
been so near achieving a victory that would have been renowned
for ages, by means of tradition, throughout all that
region, lying helpless, bound, and a captive. So fearful had
been the efforts of the pale-face, and so prodigious the
strength he exhibited, that even as he lay, tethered like a
sheep before them, they regarded him with respect, and not
without dread. The helpless body of their stoutest warrior
was still stretched on the platform; and, as they cast their
eyes towards the lake, in quest of the comrade that had been
hurled into it so unceremoniously, and of whom they had
lost sight in the confusion of the fray, they perceived his
lifeless form clinging to the grass on the bottom, as already
described. These several circumstances contributed to render
the victory of the Hurons almost as astounding to themselves,
as a defeat.

Chingachgook and his betrothed, had witnessed the whole
of this struggle from the ark. When the three Hurons were
about to pass the cords around the arms of the prostrate
Hurry, the Delaware sought his rifle; but, before he could
use it, the white man was bound, and the mischief was
done. He might still bring down an enemy, but to obtain
the scalp was impossible; and the young chief, who would

so freely risk his own life to obtain such a trophy, hesitated
about taking that of a foe, without such an object in view.
A glance at Hist, and the recollection of what might follow,
checked any transient wish for revenge. The reader has
been told that Chingachgook could scarcely be said to know
how to manage the oars of the ark at all, however expert
he might be in the use of the paddle. Perhaps there is no
manual labour, at which men are so bungling and awkward,
as in their first attempts to pull an oar, even the experienced
mariner, or boatman, breaking down in his efforts to figure
with the celebrated rullock of the gondolier. In short, it is
temporarily an impracticable thing for a new beginner to
succeed with a single oar; but, in this case, it was necessary
to handle two at the same time, and those of great size.
Sweeps, or large oars, however, are sooner rendered of use
by the raw hand, than lighter implements, and this was the
reason that the Delaware had succeeded in moving the ark
as well as he did, in a first trial. That trial, notwithstanding,
had sufficed to produce distrust, and he was fully aware
of the critical situation in which Hist and himself were now
placed, should the Hurons take to the canoe that was still
lying beneath the trap, and come against them. At one
moment he thought of putting Hist into the canoe in his own
possession, and of taking to the eastern mountain, in the
hope of reaching the Delaware villages by direct flight. But
many considerations suggested themselves to put a stop to
this indiscreet step. It was almost certain that scouts
watched the lake on both sides, and no canoe could possibly
approach the shore without being seen from the hills. Then
a trail could not be concealed from Indian eyes, and the
strength of Hist was unequal to a flight sufficiently sustained,
to outstrip the pursuit of trained warriors. This was a part
of America in which the Indians did not know the use of
horses, and every thing would depend on the physical energies
of the fugitives. Last, but far from being least, were
the thoughts connected with the situation of Deerslayer, a
friend who was not to be deserted in his extremity.

Hist, in some particulars, reasoned, and even felt, differently,
though she arrived at the same conclusions. Her
own danger disturbed her less than her concern for the two
sisters, in whose behalf her womanly sympathies were now

strongly enlisted. The canoe of the girls, by the time the
struggle on the platform had ceased, was within three hundred
yards of the castle, and here Judith ceased paddling, the evidences
of strife first becoming apparent to the eyes. She
and Hetty were standing erect, anxiously endeavouring to
ascertain what had occurred, but unable to satisfy their
doubts, from the circumstance that the building, in a great
measure, concealed the scene of action.

The parties in the ark, and in the canoe, were indebted to
the ferocity of Hurry's attack, for their momentary security.
In any ordinary case, the girls would have been immediately
captured; a measure easy of execution, now the savages had
a canoe, were it not for the rude check the audacity of the
Hurons had received, in the recent struggle. It required
some little time to recover from the effects of this violent
scene; and this so much the more, because the principal man
of the party, in the way of personal prowess at least, had
been so great a sufferer. Still it was of the last importance
that Judith and her sister should seek immediate refuge in
the ark, where the defences offered a temporary shelter at
least; and the first step was to devise the means of inducing
them to do so. Hist showed herself in the stern of the scow,
and made many gestures and signs, in vain, in order to induce
the girls to make a circuit to avoid the castle, and to
approach the ark from the eastward. But these signs were
distrusted or misunderstood. It is probable Judith was not
yet sufficiently aware of the real state of things, to put full
confidence in either party. Instead of doing as desired, she
rather kept more aloof; paddling slowly back to the north, or
into the broadest part of the lake, where she could command
the widest view, and had the fairest field for flight before her.
It was at this instant that the sun appeared above the pines
of the eastern range of mountain, and a light southerly
breeze arose, as was usual enough, at that season and
hour.

Chingachgook lost no time in hoisting the sail. Whatever
might be in reserve for him, there could be no question
that it was every way desirable to get the ark at such a distance
from the castle, as to reduce his enemies to the necessity
of approaching the former in the canoe, which the
chances of war had so inopportunely for his wishes and security,

thrown into their hands. The appearance of the
opening duck seemed first to arouse the Hurons from their
apathy; and by the time the head of the scow had fallen off
before the wind, which it did unfortunately in the wrong direction,
bringing it within a few yards of the platform, Hist
found it necessary to warn her lover of the importance of
covering his person against the rifles of his foes. This was
a danger to be avoided under all circumstances, and so much
the more, because the Delaware found that Hist would not
take to the cover herself, so long as he remained exposed.
Accordingly, Chingachgook abandoned the scow to its own
movements, forced Hist into the cabin, the doors of which he
immediately secured, and then he looked about him for the
rifles.

The situation of the parties was now so singular as to
merit a particular description. The ark was within sixty
yards of the castle, a little to the southward, or to windward
of it, with its sail full, and the steering-oar abandoned.
The latter, fortunately, was loose, so that it produced
no great influence on the crab-like movement of the unwieldy
craft. The sail being set, as sailors term it, flying,
or having no braces, the air forced the yard forward, though
both sheets were fast. The effect was threefold on a boat
with a bottom that was perfectly flat, and which drew merely
some three or four inches of water. It pressed the head
slowly round to leeward, it forced the whole fabric bodily in
the same direction at the same time, and the water that unavoidably
gathered under the lee gave the scow also a forward
movement. All these changes were exceedingly slow,
however, for the wind was not only light, but it was baffling
as usual, and twice or thrice the sail shook. Once it
was absolutely taken a back.

Had there been any keel to the ark, it would inevitably
have run foul of the platform, bows on, when it is probable
nothing could have prevented the Hurons from carrying it;
more particularly as the sail would have enabled them to
approach under cover. As it was, the scow wore slowly
round, barely clearing that part of the building. The piles
projecting several feet, they were not cleared, but the head
of the slow-moving craft caught between two of them by
one of its square corners, and hung. At this moment the

Delaware was vigilantly watching through a loop for an
opportunity to fire, while the Hurons kept within the building,
similarly occupied. The exhausted warrior reclined
against the hut, there having been no time to remove him,
and Hurry lay, almost as helpless as a log, tethered like a
sheep on its way to the slaughter, near the middle of the
platform. Chingachgook could have slain the first at any
moment, but still his scalp would have been safe, and the
young chief disdained to strike a blow that could lead to
neither honour nor advantage.

“Run out one of the poles, Sarpent, if Sarpent you be,”
said Hurry, amid the groans that the tightness of the ligatures
were beginning to extort from him—“run out one of
the poles, and shove the head of the scow off, and you'll
drift clear of us—and, when you've done that good turn
for yourself, just finish this gagging blackguard for me.”

The appeal of Hurry, however, had no other effect than
to draw the attention of Hist to his situation. This quickwitted
creature comprehended it at a glance. His ancles
were bound with several turns of stout bark rope, and his
arms, above the elbows, were similarly secured behind his
back, barely leaving him a little play of the hands and
wrists. Putting her mouth near a loop, she said in a low
but distinct voice—

“Why you don't roll here, and fall in scow? Chingachgook
shoot Huron if he chase!”

“By the Lord, gal, that's a judgmatical thought, and it
shall be tried, if the starn of your scow will come a little
nearer. Put a bed at the bottom for me to fall on.”

This was said at a happy moment, for, tired of waiting,
all the Indians made a rapid discharge of their rifles, almost
simultaneously, injuring no one, though several bullets passed
through the loops. Hist had heard part of Hurry's
words, but most of what he said was lost in the sharp reports
of the fire-arms. She undid the bar of the door that
led to the stern of the scow, but did not dare to expose her
person. All this time the head of the ark hung, but by a
gradually decreasing hold, as the other end swung slowly
round, nearer and nearer to the platform. Hurry, who now
lay with his face towards the ark, occasionally writhing and
turning over like one in pain, evolutions he had performed

ever since he was secured, watched every change, and, at
last, he saw that the whole vessel was free, and was beginning
to grate slowly along the sides of the piles. The attempt
was desperate, but it seemed the only chance for
escaping torture and death, and it suited the reckless daring
of the man's character. Waiting to the last moment, in
order that the stern of the scow might fairly rub against the
platform, he began to writhe again, as if in intolerable suffering,
execrating all Indians in general; and the Hurons in
particular, and then he suddenly and rapidly rolled over and
over, taking the direction of the stern of the scow. Unfortunately,
Hurry's shoulders required more space to revolve
in than his feet, and, by the time he reached the edge of the
platform, his direction had so far changed as to carry him
clear of the ark altogether; and the rapidity of his revolutions,
and the emergency, admitting of no delay, he fell into
the water. At this instant, Chingachgook, by an understanding
with his betrothed, drew the fire of the Hurons
again, not a man of whom saw the manner in which one,
whom they knew to be effectually tethered, had disappeared.
But Hist's feelings were strongly interested in the success
of so bold a scheme, and she watched the movements
of Hurry as the cat watches the mouse. The moment he
was in motion she foresaw the consequences, and this the
more readily, as the scow was now beginning to move with
some steadiness, and she bethought her of the means of
saving him. With a sort of instinctive readiness, she opened
the door at the very moment the rifles were ringing in
her ears, and, protected by the intervening cabin, she stepped
into the stern of the scow in time to witness the fall of
Hurry into the lake. Her foot was unconsciously placed
on the end of one of the sheets of the sail, which was fastened
aft, and catching up all the spare rope, with the awkwardness,
but also with the generous resolution, of a woman,
she threw it in the direction of the helpless Hurry.
The line fell on the head and body of the sinking man, and
he not only succeeded in grasping separate parts of it with
his hands, but he actually got a portion of it between his
teeth. Hurry was an expert swimmer, and, tethered as he
was, he resorted to the very expedient that philosophy and
reflection would have suggested. He had fallen on his
back, and instead of floundering and drowning himself by
desperate efforts to walk on the water, he permitted his body
to sink as low as possible, and was already submerged, with
the exception of his face, when the line reached him. In
this situation he might possibly have remained until rescued
by the Hurons, using his hands as fishes use their fins, had
he received no other succour; but the movement of the ark
soon tightened the rope, and of course he was dragged gently
ahead, holding even pace with the scow. The motion
aided in keeping his face above the surface of the water,
and it would have been possible for one accustomed to endurance
to have been towed a mile in this singular but simple
manner.

It has been said that the Hurons did not observe the sudden
disappearance of Hurry. In his present situation, he
was not only hid from view by the platform, but, as the ark
drew slowly ahead, impelled by a sail that was now filled,
he received the same friendly service from the piles. The
Hurons, indeed, were too intent on endeavouring to slay
their Delaware foe, by sending a bullet through some one
of the loops or crevices of the cabin, to bethink them at all,
of one whom they fancied so thoroughly tied. Their great
concern was, the manner in which the ark rubbed past the
piles, although its motion was lessened at least one-half by
the friction, and they passed into the northern end of the
castle, in order to catch opportunities of firing through the
loops of that part of the building. Chingachgook was similarly
occupied, and remained as ignorant as his enemies,
of the situation of Hurry. As the ark grated along, the
rifles sent their little clouds of smoke from one cover to the
other, but the eyes and movements of the opposing parties
were too quick to permit any injury to be done. At length
one side had the mortification, and the other the pleasure,
of seeing the scow swing clear of the piles altogether, when
it immediately moved away, with a materially accelerated
motion, towards the north.

Chingachgook now first learned from Hist, the critical
condition of Hurry. To have exposed either of their persons
in the stern of the scow, would have been certain
death; but, fortunately, the sheet to which the man clung,
led forward to the foot of the sail. The Delaware found

means to unloosen it from the cleet aft; and Hist, who was
already forward for that purpose, immediately began to pull
upon the line. At this moment Hurry was towing fifty or
sixty feet astern, with nothing but his face above water. As
he was dragged out clear of the castle and the piles, he was
first perceived by the Hurons, who raised a hideous yell, and
commenced a fire on, what may very well be termed, the
floating mass. It was at the same instant, that Hist began
to pull upon the line forward—a circumstance that probably
saved Hurry's life, aided by his own self-possession and
border readiness. The first bullet struck the water directly
on the spot where the broad chest of the young giant was
visible through the pure element, and might have pierced
his heart, had the angle at which it was fired been less
acute. Instead of penetrating the lake, however, it glanced
from its smooth surface, rose, and actually buried itself in
the logs of the cabin, near the spot at which Chingachgook
had shown himself the minute before, while clearing the
line from the cleet. A second, and a third, and a fourth
bullet followed, all meeting with the same resistance from
the surface of the water; though Hurry sensibly felt the
violence of the blows they struck upon the lake so immediately
above, and so near his breast. Discovering their mistake,
the Hurons now changed their plan, and aimed at the
uncovered face; but, by this time, Hist was pulling on the
line, the target advanced, and the deadly missiles still fell
upon the water. In another moment the body was dragged
past the end of the scow, and became concealed. As for
the Delaware and Hist, they worked perfectly covered by
the cabin, and in less time than it requires to tell it, they
had hauled the huge frame of Hurry to the place they occupied.
Chingachgook stood in readiness with his keen
knife, and bending over the side of the scow, he soon severed
the bark that bound the limbs of the borderer. To raise
him high enough to reach the edge of the boat, and to aid
him in entering, were less easy tasks, as Hurry's arms were
still nearly useless; but both were done in time, when the
liberated man staggered forward, and fell, exhausted and
helpless, into the bottom of the scow. Here we shall leave
him to recover his strength and the due circulation of his
blood, while we proceed with the narrative of events that
crowd upon us too fast to admit of any postponement.

The moment the Hurons lost sight of the body of Hurry,
they gave a common yell of disappointment, and three of
the most active of their number ran to the trap and entered
the canoe. It required some little delay, however, to embark
with their weapons, to find the paddles, and, if we may
use a phrase so purely technical, “to get out of dock.” By
this time Hurry was in the scow, and the Delaware had his
rifles, again, in readiness. As the ark necessarily sailed
before the wind, it had got by this time, quite two hundred
yards from the castle, and was sliding away each instant,
farther and farther, though with a motion so easy as scarcely
to stir the water. The canoe of the girls was quite a quarter
of a mile distant from the ark, obviously keeping aloof, in
ignorance of what had occurred, and in apprehension of the
consequences of venturing too near. They had taken the
direction of the eastern shore, endeavouring at the same time
to get to windward of the ark, and in a manner between the
two parties, as if distrusting which was to be considered a
friend, and which an enemy. The girls, from long habit,
used the paddles with great dexterity; and Judith, in particular,
had often sportively gained races, in trials of speed
with the youths that occasionally visited the lake.

When the three Hurons emerged from behind the palisades,
and they found themselves on the open lake, and under the
necessity of advancing unprotected on the ark, if they persevered
in the original design, their ardour sensibly cooled.
In a bark canoe, they were totally without cover, and Indian
discretion was entirely opposed to such a sacrifice of life as
would most probably follow any attempt to assault an enemy,
entrenched as effectually as the Delaware. Instead of following
the ark, therefore, these three warriors inclined towards
the eastern shore, keeping at a safe distance from the
rifles of Chingachgook. But this manœuvre rendered the
position of the girls exceedingly critical. It threatened to
place them if not between two fires, at least between two
dangers, or what they conceived to be dangers; and, instead
of permitting the Hurons to enclose her, in what she fancied
a sort of net, Judith immediately commenced her retreat, in
a southern direction, at no very great distance from the

shore. She did not dare to land; if such an expedient were
to be resorted to at all, she could only venture on it, in the last
extremity. At first the Indians paid little or no attention to the
other canoe; for, fully apprised of its contents, they deemed
its capture of comparatively little moment; while the ark,
with its imaginary treasures, the persons of the Delaware
and of Hurry, and its means of movement on a large scale,
was before them. But this ark had its dangers as well as
its temptations; and after wasting near an hour, in vacillating
evolutions, always at a safe distance from the rifle, the Hurons
seemed suddenly to take their resolution, and began to
display it by giving eager chase to the girls.

When this last design was adopted, the circumstances of
all parties, as connected with their relative positions, were
materially changed. The ark had sailed and drifted quite
half a mile, and was nearly that distance due north of the
castle. As soon as the Delaware perceived that the girls
avoided him, unable to manage his unwieldy craft, and
knowing that flight from a bark canoe, in the event of pursuit,
would be a useless expedient if attempted, he had lowered
his sail, in the hope it might induce the sisters to change
their plan, and to seek refuge in the scow. This demonstration
produced no other effect than to keep the ark nearer
to the scene of action, and to enable those in her to become
witnesses of the chase. The canoe of Judith was about a
quarter of a mile south of that of the Hurons, a little nearer
to the east shore, and about the same distance to the southward
of the castle, as it was from the hostile canoe, a circumstance
which necessarily put the last nearly abreast of
Hutter's fortress. With the several parties thus situated, the
chase commenced.

At the moment when the Hurons so suddenly changed
their mode of attack, their canoe was not in the best possible
racing trim. There were but two paddles, and the third
man was so much extra and useless cargo. Then the difference
in weight, between the sisters and the other two
men, more especially in vessels so extremely light, almost
neutralized any difference that might proceed from the
greater strength of the Hurons, and rendered the trial of
speed far from being as unequal as it might seem. Judith
did not commence her exertions until the near approach of

the other canoe rendered the object of the movement certain,
and then she excited Hetty to aid her with her utmost skill
and strength.

“Why should we run, Judith?” asked the simple-minded
girl; “the Hurons have never harmed me, nor do I think
they ever will.”

“That may be true as to you, Hetty, but it will prove
very different with me. Kneel down and say your prayer,
and then rise, and do your utmost to help escape.—Think
of me, dear girl, too, as you pray.”

Judith gave these directions from a mixed feeling; first,
because she knew that her sister ever sought the support of
her Great Ally, in trouble; and next, because a sensation of
feebleness and dependence suddenly came over her own
proud spirit, in that moment of apparent desertion and trial.
The prayer was quickly said, however, and the canoe was
soon in rapid motion. Still, neither party resorted to their
greatest exertions from the outset, both knowing that the
chase was likely to be arduous and long. Like two vessels
of war that are preparing for an encounter, they seemed desirous
of first ascertaining their respective rates of speed, in
order that they might know how to graduate their exertions,
previously to the great effort. A few minutes sufficed to
show the Hurons that the girls were expert, and that it
would require all their skill and energies to overtake them.

Judith had inclined towards the eastern shore at the commencement
of the chase, with a vague determination of
landing and flying to the woods, as a last resort; but as she
approached the land, the certainty that scouts must be watching
her movements, made her reluctance to adopt such
an expedient unconquerable. Then she was still fresh, and
had sanguine hopes of being able to tire out her pursuers.
With such feelings, she gave a sweep with her paddle, and
sheered off from the fringe of dark hemlocks, beneath the
shades of which she was so near entering, and held her way
again, more towards the centre of the lake. This seemed
the instant favourable for the Hurons to make their push,
as it gave them the entire breadth of the sheet to do it in;
and this, too, in the widest part, as soon as they had got
between the fugitives and the land. The canoes now flew;
Judith making up for what she wanted in strength, by her

great dexterity and self-command. For half a mile the Indians
gained no material advantage, but the continuance of
so great exertions for so many minutes sensibly affected all
concerned. Here the Indians resorted to an expedient that
enabled them to give one of their party time to breathe, by
shifting the paddles from hand to hand, and this, too, without
sensibly relaxing their efforts. Judith occasionally
looked behind her, and she saw this expedient practised. It
caused her immediately to distrust the result, since her
powers of endurance were not likely to hold out against
those of men who had the means of relieving each other;
still she persevered, allowing no very visible consequences
immediately to follow the change.

As yet, the Indians had not been able to get nearer to the
girls than two hundred yards, though they were what sea-men
would term “in their wake;” or in a direct line behind
them, passing over the same track of water. This made
the pursuit what is technically called a “stern chase,” which
is proverbially a “long chase;” the meaning of which is,
that in consequence of the relative position of the parties,
no change becomes apparent, except that which is a direct
gain in the nearest possible approach. “Long” as this
species of chase is admitted to be, however, Judith was enabled
to perceive that the Hurons were sensibly drawing
nearer and nearer, before she had gained the centre of the
lake. She was not a girl to despair; but there was an instant
when she thought of yielding, with the wish of being
carried to the camp where she knew the Deerslayer to be a
captive; but the considerations connected with the means
she hoped to be able to employ, in order to procure his release,
immediately interposed, in order to stimulate her to
renewed exertions. Had there been any one there to note
the progress of the two canoes, he would have seen that of
Judith flying swiftly away from its pursuers, as the girl
gave it freshly-impelled speed, while her mind was thus
dwelling on her own ardent and generous schemes. So
material, indeed, was the difference in the rate of going
between the two canoes, for the next five minutes, that the
Hurons began to be convinced all their powers must be exerted,
or they would suffer the disgrace of being baffled by
women. Making a furious effort, under the mortification

of such a conviction, one of the stronger of their party
broke his paddle, at the very moment when he had taken it
from the hand of a comrade, to relieve him. This at once
decided the matter; a canoe containing three men, and having
but one paddle, being utterly unable to overtake fugitives
like the daughters of Thomas Hutter.

“There, Judith!” exclaimed Hetty, who saw the accident—“I
hope, now, you will own, that praying is useful!
The Hurons have broke a paddle, and they never can overtake
us.”

“I never denied it, poor Hetty; and sometimes wish, in
bitterness of spirit, that I had prayed more myself, and
thought less of my beauty! As you say, we are now safe,
and need only go a little south, and take breath.”

This was done; the enemy giving up the pursuit, as suddenly
as a ship that has lost an important spar, the instant
the accident occurred. Instead of following Judith's canoe,
which was now lightly skimming the water towards the
south, the Hurons turned their bows towards the castle,
where they soon arrived and landed. The girls, fearful
that some spare paddles might be found in, or about the
buildings, continued on; nor did they stop, until so distant
from their enemies as to give them every chance of escape,
should the chase be renewed. It would seem that the savages
meditated no such design, but at the end of an hour
their canoe, filled with men, was seen quitting the castle,
and steering towards the shore. The girls were without
food, and they now drew nearer to the buildings and the
ark, having finally made up their minds, from its manœuvres,
that the latter contained friends.

Notwithstanding the seeming desertion of the castle, Judith
approached it with extreme caution. The ark was now
quite a mile to the northward, but sweeping up towards the
buildings; and this, too, with a regularity of motion that
satisfied Judith a white man was at the oars. When within
a hundred yards of the building, the girls began to circle it,
in order to make sure that it was empty. No canoe was
nigh, and this emboldened them to draw nearer and nearer,
until they had gone entirely round the piles, and reached
the platform.

“Do you go into the house, Hetty,” said Judith, “and

see that the savages are gone. They will not harm you,
and if any of them are still here, you can give me the
alarm. I do not think they will fire on a poor defenceless
girl, and I at least may escape, until I shall be ready to go
among them of my own accord.”

Hetty did as desired—Judith retiring a few yards from
the platform, the instant her sister landed, in readiness for
flight. But the last was unnecessary, not a minute elapsing
before Hetty returned to communicate that all was safe.

“I've been in all the rooms, Judith,” said the latter, earnestly,
“and they are empty, except father's; he is in his
own chamber, sleeping, though not as quietly as we could
wish.”

“Has any thing happened to father?” demanded Judith,
as her foot touched the platform; speaking quick, for her
nerves were in a state to be easily alarmed.

Hetty seemed concerned, and she looked furtively about
her, as if unwilling any one but a child should hear what
she had to communicate, and even that she should learn it
abruptly.

“You know how it is with father, sometimes, Judith,”
she said. “When overtaken with liquor he doesn't always
know what he says, or does—and he seems to be overtaken
with liquor, now.”

“This is strange!—Would the savages have drunk with
him, and then leave him behind? But 't is a grievous sight
to a child, Hetty, to witness such a failing in a parent, and
we will not go near him till he wakes.”

A groan from the inner room, however, changed this
resolution, and the girls ventured near a parent, whom it
was no unusual thing for them to find in a condition that
lowers a man to the level of brutes. He was seated, reclining
in a corner of the narrow room, with his shoulders
supported by the angle, and his head fallen heavily on his
chest. Judith moved forward, with a sudden impulse, and
removed a canvass cap that was forced so low on his head
as to conceal his face, and, indeed, all but his shoulders.
The instant this obstacle was taken away, the quivering and
raw flesh, the bared veins and muscles, and all the other
disgusting signs of mortality, as they are revealed by tearing
away the skin, showed he had been scalped, though
still living.