Chapter 12 - Page 2

manifesting the reluctance
of a young savage to confine his limbs in the usual appliances
of civilized life, the chief submitted to the directions of his
companion, and finally stood forth, so far as the eye could detect,
a red man in colour alone. Little was to be apprehended from this
last peculiarity, however, the distance from the shore, and the
want of glasses preventing any very close scrutiny, and Deerslayer,
himself, though of a brighter and fresher tint, had a countenance
that was burnt by the sun to a hue scarcely less red than that of
his Mohican companion. The awkwardness of the Delaware in his new
attire caused his friend to smile more than once that day, but he
carefully abstained from the use of any of those jokes which would
have been bandied among white men on such an occasion, the habits
of a chief, the dignity of a warrior on his first path, and the
gravity of the circumstances in which they were placed uniting to
render so much levity out of season.

The meeting at the morning meal of the three islanders, if we may
use the term, was silent, grave and thoughtful. Judith showed by
her looks that she had passed an unquiet night, while the two men
had the future before them, with its unseen and unknown events.
A few words of courtesy passed between Deerslayer and the girl,
in the course of the breakfast, but no allusion was made to their
situation. At length Judith, whose heart was full, and whose novel
feelings disposed her to entertain sentiments more gentle and tender
than common, introduced the subject, and this in a way to show how
much of her thoughts it had occupied, in the course of the last
sleepless night.

"It would be dreadful, Deerslayer," the girl abruptly exclaimed,
"should anything serious befall my father and Hetty! We cannot
remain quietly here and leave them in the hands of the Iroquois,
without bethinking us of some means of serving them."

"I'm ready, Judith, to sarve them, and all others who are in
trouble, could the way to do it be p'inted out. It's no trifling
matter to fall into red-skin hands, when men set out on an ar'n'd
like that which took Hutter and Hurry ashore; that I know as well
as another, and I wouldn't wish my worst inimy in such a strait,
much less them with whom I've journeyed, and eat, and slept. Have
you any scheme, that you would like to have the Sarpent and me
indivour to carry out?"

"I know of no other means to release the prisoners, than by bribing
the Iroquois. They are not proof against presents, and we might
offer enough, perhaps, to make them think it better to carry away
what to them will be rich gifts, than to carry away poor prisoners;
if, indeed, they should carry them away at