Chapter 5

Death is here and death is there,
Death is busy everywhere.
SHELLEY

It was a breathless moment. The only clue the fugitives possessed
to the intentions of their pursuers was in their gestures and the
indications which escaped them in the fury of disappointment. That
a party had returned already, on their own footsteps, by land, was
pretty certain; and all the benefit expected from the artifice of
the fire was necessarily lost. But that consideration became of
little moment just then; for the party was menaced with an immediate
discovery by those who had kept on a level with the river. All the
facts presented themselves clearly, and as it might be by intuition,
to the mind of Pathfinder, who perceived the necessity of immediate
decision and of being in readiness to act in concert. Without
making any noise, therefore, he managed to get the two Indians and
Jasper near him, when he opened his communications in a whisper.

"We must be ready, we must be ready," he said. "There are but
three of the scalping devils, and we are five, four of whom may be
set down as manful warriors for such a skrimmage. Eau-douce, do
you take the fellow that is painted like death; Chingachgook, I
give you the chief; and Arrowhead must keep his eye on the young
one. There must be no mistake, for two bullets in the same body
would be sinful waste, with one like the Sergeant's daughter in
danger. I shall hold myself in resarve against accident, lest a
fourth reptile appear, for one of your hands may prove unsteady.
By no means fire until I give the word; we must not let the crack
of the rifle be heard except in the last resort, since all the rest
of the miscreants are still within hearing. Jasper, boy, in case
of any movement behind us on the bank, I trust to you to run out the
canoe with the Sergeant's daughter, and to pull for the garrison,
by God's leave."

The Pathfinder had no sooner given these directions than the near
approach of their enemies rendered profound silence necessary. The
Iroquois in the river were slowly descending the stream; keeping
of necessity near the bushes which overhung the water, while the
rustling of leaves and the snapping of twigs soon gave fearful
evidence that another party was moving along the bank, at an equally
graduated pace; and directly abreast of them. In consequence of the
distance between the bushes planted by the fugitives and the true
shore, the two parties became visible to each other when opposite
that precise point. Both stopped, and a conversation ensued, that
may be said to have passed directly over the heads of those who
were concealed. Indeed, nothing sheltered the travellers but the
branches and leaves of plants, so pliant that they