Chapter 3

"Come, shall we go and kill us venison?
And yet it irks me, the poor dappled foals,-
Being native burghers of this desert city,-
Should, in their own confines, with forked heads
Have their round haunches gored."

As You Like It, II.i.21-25

Hurry Harry thought more of the beauties of Judith Hutter than of
those of the Glimmerglass and its accompanying scenery. As soon
as he had taken a sufficiently intimate survey of floating Tom's
implements, therefore, he summoned his companion to the canoe, that
they might go down the lake in quest of the family. Previously
to embarking, however, Hurry carefully examined the whole of the
northern end of the water with an indifferent ship's glass, that
formed a part of Hutter's effects. In this scrutiny, no part of
the shore was overlooked; the bays and points in particular being
subjected to a closer inquiry than the rest of the wooded boundary.

"'Tis as I thought," said Hurry, laying aside the glass, "the old
fellow is drifting about the south end this fine weather, and has
left the castle to defend itself. Well, now we know that he is
not up this-a-way, 'twill be but a small matter to paddle down and
hunt him up in his hiding-place."

"Does Master Hutter think it necessary to burrow on this lake?"
inquired Deerslayer, as he followed his companion into the canoe;
"to my eye it is such a solitude as one might open his whole soul
in, and fear no one to disarrange his thoughts or his worship."

"You forget your friends the Mingos, and all the French savages. Is
there a spot on 'arth, Deerslayer, to which them disquiet rogues
don't go? Where is the lake, or even the deer lick, that the
blackguards don't find out, and having found out, don't, sooner or
later, discolour its water with blood."

"I hear no good character of 'em, sartainly, friend Hurry, though
I've never been called on, yet, to meet them, or any other mortal,
on the warpath. I dare to say that such a lovely spot as this,
would not be likely to be overlooked by such plunderers, for, though
I've not been in the way of quarreling with them tribes myself,
the Delawares give me such an account of 'em that I've pretty much
set 'em down in my own mind, as thorough miscreants."

"You may do that with a safe conscience, or for that matter, any
other savage you may happen to meet."

Here Deerslayer protested, and as they went paddling down the lake,
a hot discussion was maintained concerning the respective merits
of the pale-faces and the red-skins. Hurry had all the prejudices
and antipathies of a white hunter, who generally regards the Indian
as a sort of natural competitor, and not