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 ñ to wish my ruin ñ to be an enemy in
disguise ñ never mind; say nothing to Hurry, and another time we'll
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.
Chapter VI.
"So spake the
apostate Angel, though in pain,
Vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair."
Paradise lost, I. 125-26.
Shortly after the disappearance of Judith, a light
southerly air arose, and Hutter set a large square sail, that had
once been the flying top-sail of an Albany sloop, but which having
become threadbare in catching the breezes of Tappan, had been
condemned and sold. He had a light, tough spar of tamarack that he
could raise on occasion, and with a little contrivance, his duck
was spread to the wind in a sufficiently professional manner. The
effect on the ark was such as to supersede the necessity of rowing;
and in about two hours the castle was seen, in the darkness, rising
out of the water, at the distance of a hundred yards. The sail was
then lowered, and by slow degrees the scow drifted up to the
building, and was secured.
No one had visited the house since Hurry and his
companion left it. The place was found in the quiet of midnight, a
sort of type of the solitude of a wilderness. As an enemy was known
to be near, Hutter directed his daughters to abstain from the use
of lights, luxuries in which they seldom indulged during the warm
months, lest they might prove beacons to direct their foes where
they might be found.
"In open daylight I shouldn't fear a host of savages
behind these stout logs, and they without any cover to skulk into,"
added Hutter, when he had explained to his guests the reasons why
he forbade the use of light; "for I've three or four trusty weapons
always loaded, and Killdeer, in particular, is a piece that never
misses. But it's a different thing at night. A canoe might get upon
us unseen, in the dark; and the savages have so many cunning ways
of attacking, that I look upon it as bad enough to deal with 'em
under a bright sun. I built this dwelling in order to have 'em at
arm's length, in case we should ever get to blows again. Some
people think it's too open and exposed, but I'm for anchoring out
here, clear of underbrush and thickets, as the surest means of
making a safe berth."
"You was once a sailor, they tell me, old Tom?" said
Hurry, in his abrupt manner, struck by one or two expressions that
the other had just used, "and some people believe you could give us
strange accounts of inimies and shipwrecks, if you'd a mind to come
out with all you know?"
"There are people in this world, Hurry," returned
the other, evasively, "who live on other men's thoughts; and some
such often find their way into the woods. What I've been, or what
I've seen in youth, is of less matter now than what the savages
are. It's of more account to find out what will happen in the next
twenty-four hours than to talk over what happened twenty-four years
since."
"That's judgment, Deerslayer; yes, that's sound
judgment. Here's Judith and Hetty to take care of, to say nothing
of our own top-knots; and, for my part, I can sleep as well in the
dark as I could under a noonday sun. To me it's no great matter
whether there is light or not, to see to shut my eyes by."
As Deerslayer seldom thought it necessary to answer
his companion's peculiar vein of humor, and Hutter was evidently
indisposed to dwell longer on the subject, it's discussion ceased
with this remark. The latter had something more on his mind,
however, than recollections. His daughters had no sooner left them,
with an expressed intention of going to bed, than he invited his
two companions to follow him again into the scow. Here the old man
opened his project, keeping back the portion that he had reserved
for execution by Hurry and himself.
"The great object for people posted like ourselves
is to command the water," he commenced. "So long as there is no
other craft on the lake, a bark canoe is as good as a man of-war,
since the castle will not be easily taken by swimming. Now, there
are but five canoes remaining in these parts, two of which are
mine, and one is Hurry's. These three we have with us here; one
being fastened in the canoe-dock beneath the house, and the other
two being alongside the scow. The other canoes are housed on the
shore, in hollow logs, and the savages, who are such venomous
enemies, will leave no likely place unexamined in the morning, if
they 're serious in s'arch of bounties-"
"Now, friend Hutter," interrupted Hurry, "the Indian
don't live that can find a canoe that is suitably wintered. I've
done something at this business before now, and Deerslayer here
knows that I am one that can hide a craft in such a way that I
can't find it myself."
"Very true, Hurry," put in the person to whom the
appeal had been made, "but you overlook the sarcumstance that if
you couldn't see the trail of the man who did the job, I could. I'm
of Master Hutter's mind, that it's far wiser to mistrust a savage's
ingenuity, than to build any great expectations on his want of
eye-sight. If these two canoes can be got off to the castle,
therefore, the sooner it's done the better."
"Will you be of the party that's to do it?" demanded
Hutter, in a way to show that the proposal both surprised and
pleased him.
"Sartain. I'm ready to enlist in any enterprise
that's not ag'in a white man's lawful gifts. Natur' orders us to
defend our lives, and the lives of others, too, when there's
occasion and opportunity.
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