Chapter 19 - Page 2

has become of the gals
- I see no signs of Judith, or Hetty, though I've been through the
Ark, and looked into all its living creatur's."

Hutter briefly explained the manner in which his daughters had
taken to the canoe, as it had been related by the Delaware, as well
as the return of Judith after landing her sister, and her second
departure.

"This comes of a smooth tongue, Floating Tom," exclaimed Hurry,
grating his teeth in pure resentment - "This comes of a smooth
tongue, and a silly gal's inclinations, and you had best look into
the matter! You and I were both prisoners - " Hurry could recall that
circumstance now - "you and I were both prisoners and yet Judith
never stirred an inch to do us any sarvice! She is bewitched with
this lank-looking Deerslayer, and he, and she, and you, and all
of us, had best look to it. I am not a man to put up with such
a wrong quietly, and I say, all the parties had best look to it!
Let's up kedge, old fellow, and move nearer to this p'int, and see
how matters are getting on.

Hutter had no objections to this movement, and the Ark was got
under way in the usual manner; care being taken to make no noise.
The wind was passing northward, and the sail soon swept the scow so
far up the lake as to render the dark outlines of the trees that
clothed the point dimly visible. Floating Tom steered, and he
sailed along as near the land as the depth of the water and the
overhanging branches would allow. It was impossible to distinguish
anything that stood within the shadows of the shore, but the forms
of the sail and of the hut were discerned by the young sentinel on
the beach, who has already been mentioned. In the moment of sudden
surprise, a deep Indian exclamation escaped him. In that spirit
of recklessness and ferocity that formed the essence of Hurry's
character, this man dropped his rifle and fired. The ball was
sped by accident, or by that overruling providence which decides
the fates of all, and the girl fell. Then followed the scene with
the torches, which has just been described.

At the precise moment when Hurry committed this act of unthinking
cruelty, the canoe of Judith was within a hundred feet of the spot
from which the Ark had so lately moved. Her own course has been
described, and it has now become our office to follow that of her
father and his companions. The shriek announced the effects of
the random shot of March, and it also proclaimed that the victim
was a woman. Hurry himself was startled at these unlooked for
consequences, and for a moment he was sorely disturbed by conflicting
sensations. At first he laughed, in reckless and rude-minded
exultation; and then conscience, that monitor planted in