Chapter 12

"She speaks much of her father; says she hears,
There's tricks i' the world; and hems, and beats her breast;
Spurns enviously at straws; speaks things in doubt,
That carry but half sense; her speech is nothing,
Yet the unshaped use of it doth move
The hearers to collection;

Hamlet, IV.v.4-9.

We left the occupants of the castle and the ark, buried in sleep.
Once, or twice, in the course of the night, it is true, Deerslayer
or the Delaware, arose and looked out upon the tranquil lake; when,
finding all safe, each returned to his pallet, and slept like a
man who was not easily deprived of his natural rest. At the first
signs of the dawn the former arose, however, and made his personal
arrangements for the day; though his companion, whose nights had
not been tranquil or without disturbances of late, continued on
his blanket until the sun had fairly risen; Judith, too, was later
than common that morning, for the earlier hours of the night had
brought her little of either refreshment or sleep. But ere the
sun had shown himself over the eastern hills these too were up
and afoot, even the tardy in that region seldom remaining on their
pallets after the appearance of the great luminary. Chingachgook
was in the act of arranging his forest toilet, when Deerslayer
entered the cabin of the Ark and threw him a few coarse but light
summer vestments that belonged to Hutter.

"Judith hath given me them for your use, chief," said the latter,
as he cast the jacket and trousers at the feet of the Indian, "for
it's ag'in all prudence and caution to be seen in your war dress
and paint. Wash off all them fiery streaks from your cheeks, put
on these garments, and here is a hat, such as it is, that will give
you an awful oncivilized sort of civilization, as the missionaries
call it. Remember that Hist is at hand, and what we do for the
maiden must be done while we are doing for others. I know it's
ag'in your gifts and your natur' to wear clothes, unless they
are cut and carried in a red man's fashion, but make a vartue of
necessity and put these on at once, even if they do rise a little
in your throat."

Chingachgook, or the Serpent, eyed the vestments with strong disgust;
but he saw the usefulness of the disguise, if not its absolute
necessity. Should the Iroquois discover a red man, in or about
the Castle, it might, indeed, place them more on their guard, and
give their suspicions a direction towards their female captive.
Any thing was better than a failure, as it regarded his betrothed,
and, after turning the different garments round and round, examining
them with a species of grave irony, affecting to draw them on in a
way that defeated itself, and otherwise