Judith bent forward to listen, in the hope of catching some sound that might betray the direction in which her sister was stealing away, while her two companions brought their eyes as near as possible to a level with the water, in order to detect any object that might be floating on its surface.
All was vain, however, for neither sound nor sight rewarded their efforts.
All this time Hetty, who had not the cunning to sink into the canoe, stood erect, a finger pressed on her lips, gazing in the direction in which the voices had last been heard, resembling a statue of profound and timid attention.
Her ingenuity had barely sufficed to enable her to seize the canoe and to quit the Ark, in the noiseless manner related, and then it appeared to be momentarily exhausted.
Even the doublings of the canoe had been as much the consequence of an uncertain hand and of nervous agitation, as of any craftiness or calculation.
The pause continued several minutes, during which Deerslayer and the Delaware conferred together in the language of the latter.
Then the oars dipped, again, and the Ark moved away, rowing with as little noise as possible.
It steered westward, a little southerly, or in the direction of the encampment of the enemy.
Having reached a point at no great distance from the shore, and where the obscurity was intense on account of the proximity of the land, it lay there near an hour, in waiting for the expected approach of Hetty, who, it was thought, would make the best of her way to that spot as soon as she believed herself released from the danger of pursuit.
No success rewarded this little blockade, however, neither appearance nor sound denoting the passage of the canoe.
Disappointed at this failure, and conscious of the importance of getting possession of the fortress before it could be seized by the enemy, Deerslayer now took his way towards the castle, with the apprehension that all his foresight in securing the canoes would be defeated by this unguarded and alarming movement on the part of the feeble-minded Hetty.
Chapter X.
"But who in this wild wood May credit give to either eye, or ear?
From rocky precipice or hollow cave,
'Midst the confused sound of rustling leaves;, And creaking boughs, and cries of nightly birds, Returning seeming answer!" Joanna Baihie, Rayner: A Tragedy, II.L3-4, 6-g.
Fear, as much as calculation, had induced Hetty to cease paddling, when she found that her pursuers did not know in which direction to proceed.
She remained stationary until the Ark had pulled in near the encampment, as has been related in the preceding chapter, when she resumed the paddle and with cautious strokes made the best of her way towards the western shore.
In order to avoid her pursuers, however, who, she rightly suspected, would soon be rowing along that shore themselves, the head of the canoe was pointed so far north as to bring her to land on a point that thrust itself into the lake, at the distance of near a league from the outlet.
Nor was this altogether the result of a desire to escape, for, feeble minded as she was, Hetty Hutter had a good deal of that instinctive caution which so often keeps those whom God has thus visited from harm.
She was perfectly aware of the importance of keeping the canoes from falling into the hands of the Iroquois, and long familiarity with the lake had suggested one of the simplest expedients, by which this great object could be rendered compatible with her own purpose.
The point in question was the first projection that offered on that side of the lake, where a canoe, if set adrift with a southerly air would float clear of the land, and where it would be no great violation of probabilities to suppose it might even hit the castle; the latter lying above it, almost in a direct line with the wind.
Such then was Hetty's intention, and she landed on the extremity of the gravelly point, beneath an overhanging oak, with the express intention of shoving the canoe off from the shore, in order that it might drift up towards her father's insulated abode. She knew, too, from the logs that occasionally floated about the lake, that did it miss the castle and its appendages the wind would be likely to change before the canoe could reach the northern extremity of the lake, and that Deerslayer might have an opportunity of regaining it in the morning, when no doubt he would be earnestly sweeping the surface of the water, and the whole of its wooded shores, with glass. In all this, too, Hetty was less governed by any chain of reasoning than by her habits, the latter often supplying the place of mind, in human beings, as they perform the same for animals of the inferior classes.
The girl was quite an hour finding her way to the point, the distance and the obscurity equally detaining her, but she was no sooner on the gravelly beach than she prepared to set the canoe adrift, in the manner mentioned.
While in the act of pushing it from her, she heard low voices that seemed to come among the trees behind her.
Startled at this unexpected danger Hetty was on the point of springing into the canoe in order to seek safety in flight, when she thought she recognized the tones of Judith's melodious voice.
Bending forward so as to catch the sounds more directly, they evidently came from the water, and then she understood that the Ark was approaching from the south, and so close in with the western shore, as necessarily to cause it to pass the point within twenty yards of the spot where she stood.
Here, then, was all she could desire; the canoe was shoved off into the lake, leaving its late occupant alone on the narrow strand.
When this act of self-devotion was performed, Hetty did not retire.
The foliage of the overhanging trees and bushes would have almost concealed her person, had there been light, but in that obscurity it was utterly impossible to discover any object thus shaded, at the distance of a few feet.
Flight, too, was perfectly easy, as twenty steps would effectually bury her in the forest.
She remained, therefore, watching with intense anxiety the result of her expedient, intending to call the attention of the others to the canoe with her voice, should they appear to pass without observing it.
The Ark approached under its sail, again, Deerslayer standing in its bow, with Judith near him, and the Delaware at the helm.
It would seem that in the bay below it had got too close to the shore, in the lingering hope of intercepting Hetty, for, as it came nearer, the latter distinctly heard the directions that the young man forward gave to his companion aft, in order to clear the point.
"Lay her head more off the shore, Delaware," said Deerslayer for the third time, speaking in English that his fair companion might understand his words - "Lay her head well off shore. We have got embayed here, and needs keep the mast clear of the trees. Judith, there's a canoe!"
The last words were uttered with great earnestness, and Deerslayer's hand was on his rifle ere they were fairly out of his mouth.
But the truth flashed on the mind of the quick-witted girl, and she instantly told her companion that the boat must be that in which her sister had fled.
"Keep the scow straight, Delaware; steer as straight as your bullet flies when sent ag'in a buck; there - I have it."
The canoe was seized, and immediately secured again to the side of the Ark. At the next moment the sail was lowered, and the motion of the Ark arrested by means of the oars.
"Hetty!" called out Judith, concern, even affection betraying itself in her tones. "Are you within hearing, sister - for God's sake answer, and let me hear the sound of your voice, again!
Hetty! - dear Hetty."
"I'm here, Judith - here on the shore, where it will be useless to follow me, as I will hide in the woods."
"Oh! Hetty what is't you do!
Remember 'tis drawing near midnight, and that the woods are filled with savages and wild beasts!"
"Neither will harm a poor half-witted girl, Judith. God is as much with me, here, as he would be in the Ark or in the hut.
I am going to help my father, and poor Hurry Harry, who will be tortured and slain unless some one cares for them."
"We all care for them, and intend to-morrow to send them a flag of truce, to buy their ransom.
Come back then, sister; trust to us, who have better heads than you, and who will do all we can for father."
"I know your head is better than mine, Judith, for mine is very weak, to be sure; but I must go to father and poor Hurry.
Do you and Deerslayer keep the castle, sister; leave me in the hands of God."
"God is with us all, Hetty - in the castle, or on the shore -father as well as ourselves, and it is sinful not to trust to his goodness.