Who shall bring it back again?
Some thought the brother would not forget his sister, and that, next winter, he would see that the lodge should not be empty.
We thought this; but the Panther yelled, and followed the husband on the path of death.
They are now trying which shall first reach the Happy Hunting Grounds.
Some think the Lynx can run fastest, and some think the Panther can jump the farthest.
The Sumach thinks both will travel so fast and so far that neither will ever come back.
Who shall feed her and her young?
The man who told her husband and her brother to quit her lodge, that there might be room for him to come into it. He is a great hunter, and we know that the woman will never want."
"Ay, Huron this is soon settled, accordin' to your notions, but it goes sorely ag'in the grain of a white man's feelin's. I've heard of men's saving their lives this-a-way, and I've know'd them that would prefar death to such a sort of captivity.
For my part, I do not seek my end, nor do I seek matrimony."
"The pale-face will think of this, while my people get ready for the council.
He will be told what will happen.
Let him remember how hard it is to lose a husband and a brother. Go; when we want him, the name of Deerslayer will be called."
This conversation had been held with no one near but the speakers.
Of all the band that had so lately thronged the place, Rivenoak alone was visible.
The rest seemed to have totally abandoned the spot. Even the furniture, clothes, arms, and other property of the camp had entirely disappeared, and the place bore no other proofs of the crowd that had so lately occupied it, than the traces of their fires and resting places, and the trodden earth that still showed the marks of their feet.
So sudden and unexpected a change caused Deerslayer a good deal of surprise and some uneasiness, for he had never known it to occur, in the course of his experience among the Delawares.
He suspected, however, and rightly, that a change of encampment was intended, and that the mystery of the movement was resorted to in order to work on his apprehensions.
Rivenoak walked up the vista of trees as soon as he ceased speaking, leaving Deerslayer by himself.
The chief disappeared behind the covers of the forest, and one unpractised in such scenes might have believed the prisoner left to the dictates of his own judgment.
But the young man, while he felt a little amazement at the dramatic aspect of things, knew his enemies too well to fancy himself at liberty, or a free agent.
Still, he was ignorant how far the Hurons meant to carry their artifices, and he determined to bring the question, as soon as practicable, to the proof.
Affecting an indifference he was far from feeling, he strolled about the area, gradually getting nearer and nearer to the spot where he had landed, when he suddenly quickened his pace, though carefully avoiding all appearance of flight, and pushing aside the bushes, he stepped upon the beach.
The canoe was gone, nor could he see any traces of it, after walking to the northern and southern verges of the point, and examining the shores in both directions.
It was evidently removed beyond his reach and knowledge, and under circumstances to show that such had been the intention of the savages.
Deerslayer now better understood his actual situation.
He was a prisoner on the narrow tongue of land, vigilantly watched beyond a question, and with no other means of escape than that of swimming.
He, again, thought of this last expedient, but the certainty that the canoe would be sent in chase, and the desperate nature of the chances of success deterred him from the undertaking.
While on the strand, he came to a spot where the bushes had been cut, and thrust into a small pile.
Removing a few of the upper branches, he found beneath them the dead body of the Panther.
He knew that it was kept until the savages might find a place to inter it, where it would be beyond the reach of the scalping knife.
He gazed wistfully towards the castle, but there all seemed to be silent and desolate, and a feeling of loneliness and desertion came over him to increase the gloom of the moment.
"God's will be done!" murmured the young man, as he walked sorrowfully away from the beach, entering again beneath the arches of the wood. "God's will be done, on 'arth as it is in heaven!
I did hope that my days would not be numbered so soon, but it matters little a'ter all.
A few more winters, and a few more summers, and 'twould have been over, accordin' to natur'.
Ah's! me, the young and actyve seldom think death possible, till he grins in their faces, and tells 'em the hour is come!"
While this soliloquy was being pronounced, the hunter advanced into the area, where to his surprise he saw Hetty alone, evidently awaiting his return.
The girl carried the Bible under her arm, and her face, over which a shadow of gentle melancholy was usually thrown, now seemed sad and downcast.
Moving nearer, Deerslayer spoke.
"Poor Hetty," he said, "times have been so troublesome, of late, that I'd altogether forgotten you; we meet, as it might be to mourn over what is to happen.
I wonder what has become of Chingachgook and Wah!"
"Why did you kill the Huron, Deerslayer? -" returned the girl reproachfully. 'Don't you know your commandments, which say
'Thou shalt not kill!'
They tell me you have now slain the woman's husband and brother!"
"It's true, my good Hetty - 'tis gospel truth, and I'll not deny what has come to pass.
But, you must remember, gal, that many things are lawful in war, which would be onlawful in peace.
The husband was shot in open fight -or, open so far as I was consarned, while he had a better cover than common - and the brother brought his end on himself, by casting his tomahawk at an unarmed prisoner.
Did you witness that deed, gal?"
"I saw it, and was sorry it happened, Deerslayer, for I hoped you wouldn't have returned blow for blow, but good for evil."
"Ah, Hetty, that may do among the Missionaries, but 'twould make an onsartain life in the woods!