Chapter 4

Art, stryving to compare
With nature, did an arber greene dispred,
Fram'd of wanton yvie flowing fayre,
Through which the fragrant eglantines did spred.
SPENSER.

The Oswego, below the falls, is a more rapid, unequal stream than
it is above them. There are places where the river flows in the
quiet stillness of deep water, but many shoals and rapids occur;
and at that distant day, when everything was in its natural state,
some of the passes were not altogether without hazard. Very little
exertion was required on the part of those who managed the canoes,
except in those places where the swiftness of the current and the
presence of the rocks required care; then, indeed, not only vigilance,
but great coolness, readiness, and strength of arm became necessary,
in order to avoid the dangers. Of all this the Mohican was aware,
and he had judiciously selected a spot where the river flowed
tranquilly to intercept the canoes, in order to make his communication
without hazard to those he wished to speak.

The Pathfinder had no sooner recognized the form of his red friend,
than, with a strong sweep of his paddle, he threw the head of his
own canoe towards the shore, motioning for Jasper to follow. In a
minute both boats were silently drifting down the stream, within
reach of the bushes that overhung the water, all observing a profound
silence; some from alarm, and others from habitual caution. As
the travellers drew nearer the Indian, he made a sign for them to
stop; and then he and Pathfinder had a short but earnest conference.

"The Chief is not apt to see enemies in a dead log," observed the
white man to his red associate; "why does he tell us to stop?"

"Mingos are in the woods."

"That we have believed these two days: does the chief know it?"

The Mohican quietly held up the head of a pipe formed of stone.

"It lay on a fresh trail that led towards the garrison," - for so
it was the usage of that frontier to term a military work, whether
it was occupied or not.

"That may be the bowl of a pipe belonging to a soldier. Many use
the red-skin pipes."

"See," said the Big Serpent, again holding the thing he had found
up to the view of his friend.

The bowl of the pipe was of soap-stone, and was carved with great
care and with a very respectable degree of skill; in its centre
was a small Latin cross, made with an accuracy which permitted no
doubt of its meaning.

"That does foretell devilry and wickedness," said the Pathfinder,
who had all the provincial horror of the holy symbol in question
which then pervaded the country, and which became so incorporated
with its