st one to his final account. Yet that did not satisfy me. I
swore _eternal_ enmity against the whole people, and as I said, it shall
be carried out. While Kent is alive, he is the mortal enemy of every
red-skin."

The hunter looked up in the face of Leslie, and his gleaming eyes and
gnashing teeth told his earnestness. His manner and recital had
impressed the latter, and he forbore speaking to him for some time.

"I should think," observed Leslie, after a short silence, "that you had
nearly paid that debt, Kent."

"It is a debt which will be balanced," rejoined the hunter, "when I am
unable to make any more payments."

"Well, I shouldn't want you for an enemy," added Leslie, glancing over
his shoulder at the stream in front of him.

Both banks of the river at this point, and, in fact, for many miles,
were lined with overhanging trees and bushes, which might afford shelter
to any enemy. Kent sat in the stern and glanced suspiciously at each
bank, as the boat was impelled swiftly yet silently forward, and there
was not even a falling leaf that escaped his keen eye.

"Strikes me," said Leslie, leaning on his oars, "that we are in rather a
dangerous vicinity. Those thick bushes along the shore, over there,
might easily contain a few red gentlemen."

"Don't be alarmed," returned the hunter, "I'll keep a good watch.
They've got to make some movement before they can harm us, and I'll be
sure to see them. The river's wide, too, and there ain't so much to
fear, after all."

Leslie again dipped his oars, and the boat shot forward in silence.
Nothing but the suppressed dip of the slender ashen blades, or the dull
sighing of the wind through the tree-tops, broke the silence of the
great solitude. Suddenly, as Leslie bent forward and gazed into the
hunter's face, he saw him start and gaze anxiously at the right shore,
some distance ahead.

"What's the matter?" asked Leslie.

"Just wait a minute," returned the hunter, rising and gazing in the same
direction. "Stop the boat. Back water!" he added, in a hurried tone.

Leslie did as he was bidden, and again spoke:

"What is it, Kent?"

"Do you see them bushes hangin' a little further out in the stream than
the others?"

"Yes; what of them?"

"Watch them a minute. There--look quick!" said Kent.

"I can see a fluttering among the branches, as if a bird had flown from
it," answered Leslie.

"Wal, them birds is Indians, that's all," remarked the hunter, dropping
compo