Vexed at his disappointment, and impatient of the presence of one he thought an intruder, the young warrior signed for the girl to move forward, holding the direction of the beach.
Hetty complied; but as she walked away she spoke aloud in English in her usual soft tones, which the stillness of the night made audible at some little distance.
"If you took me for a Huron girl, warrior," she said, "I don't wonder you are so little pleased.
I am Hetty Hutter, Thomas Hutter's daughter, and have never met any man at night, for mother always said it was wrong, and modest young women should never do it; modest young women of the pale-faces, I mean; for customs are different in different parts of the world, I know.
No, no; I'm Hetty Hutter, and wouldn't meet even Hurry Harry, though he should fall down on his knees and ask me!
Mother said it was wrong."
By the time Hetty had said this, she reached the place where the canoes had come ashore, and, owing to the curvature of the land and the bushes, would have been completely hid from the sight of the sentinel, had it been broad day.
But another footstep had caught the lover's ear, and he was already nearly beyond the sound of the girl's silvery voice.
Still Hetty, bent only on her own thoughts and purposes, continued to speak, though the gentleness of her tones prevented the sounds from penetrating far into the woods. On the water they were more widely diffused.
"Here I am, Judith," she added, "and there is no one near me.
The Huron on watch has gone to meet his sweetheart, who is an Indian girl you know, and never had a Christian mother to tell her how wrong it is to meet a man at night."
Hetty's voice was hushed by a "Hist!" that came from the water, and then she caught a dim view of the canoe, which approached noiselessly, and soon grated on the shingle with its bow.
The moment the weight of Hetty was felt in the light craft the canoe withdrew, stern foremost, as if possessed of life and volition, until it was a hundred yards from the shore.
Then it turned and, making a wide sweep, as much to prolong the passage as to get beyond the sound of voices, it held its way towards the ark.
For several minutes nothing was uttered; but, believing herself to be in a favourable position to confer with her sister, Judith, who alone sat in the stern, managing the canoe with a skill little short of that of a man, began a discourse which she had been burning to commence ever since they had quitted the point.
"Here we are safe, Hetty," she said, "and may talk without the fear of being overheard.
You must speak low, however, for sounds are heard far on the water in a still night.
I was so close to the point some of the time while you were on it, that I have heard the voices of the warriors, and I heard your shoes on the gravel of the beach, even before you spoke."
"I don't believe, Judith, the Hurons know I have left them."
"Quite likely they do not, for a lover makes a poor sentry, unless it be to watch for his sweetheart!
But tell me, Hetty, did you see and speak with Deerslayer?"
"Oh, yes - there he was seated near the fire, with his legs tied, though they left his arms free, to move them as he pleased."
"Well, what did he tell you, child?
Speak quick; I am dying to know what message he sent me."
"What did he tell me? why, what do you think, Judith; he told me that he couldn't read!
Only think of that! a white man, and not know how to read his Bible even!
He never could have had a mother, sister!"
"Never mind that, Hetty.
All men can't read; though mother knew so much and taught us so much, father knows very little about books, and he can barely read the Bible you know."
"Oh! I never thought fathers could read much, but mothers ought all to read, else how can they teach their children?
Depend on it, Judith, Deerslayer could never have had a mother, else he would know how to read."
"Did you tell him I sent you ashore, Hetty, and how much concern I feel for his misfortune?" asked the other, impatiently. "I believe I did, Judith; but you know I am feeble-minded, and I may have forgotten.
I did tell him you brought me ashore.
And he told me a great deal that I was to say to you, which I remember well, for it made my blood run cold to hear him.
He told me to say that his friends - I suppose you are one of them, sister?"
"How can you torment me thus, Hetty!
Certainly, I am one of the truest friends he has on earth."
"Torment you! yes, now I remember all about it.
I am glad you used that word, Judith, for it brings it all back to my mind.
Well, he said he might be tormented by the savages, but he would try to bear it as becomes a Christian white man, and that no one need be afeard - why does Deerslayer call it afeard, when mother always taught us to say afraid?"
"Never mind, dear Hetty, never mind that, now," cried the other, almost gasping for breath.
"Did Deerslayer really tell you that he thought the savages would put him to the torture?
Recollect now, well, Hetty, for this is a most awful and serious thing."
"Yes he did; and I remember it by your speaking about my tormenting you.
Oh! I felt very sorry for him, and Deerslayer took all so quietly and without noise!
Deerslayer is not as handsome as Hurry Harry, Judith, but he is more quiet."
"He's worth a million Hurrys! yes, he's worth all the young men who ever came upon the lake put together," said Judith, with an energy and positiveness that caused her sister to wonder. "He is true.
There is no lie about Deerslayer.
You, Hetty, may not know what a merit it is in a man to have truth, but when you get - no - I hope you will never know it.
Why should one like you be ever made to learn the hard lesson to distrust and hate!"