a distant wolf, of which a few prowled
through these woods; but it was a transient and doubtful cry, that might
possibly have been attributed to the imagination. When he desired his
companions, however, to cease talking, his vigilant ear had caught the
peculiar sound which is made by the parting of a dried branch of a tree
and which, if his senses did not deceive him, came from the western
shore. All who are accustomed to that particular sound will understand
how readily the ear receives it, and how easy it is to distinguish the
tread which breaks the branch from every other noise of the forest.

"There is the footstep of a man on the bank," said Pathfinder to Jasper,
speaking in neither a whisper nor yet in a voice loud enough to be
heard at any distance. "Can the accursed Iroquois have crossed the river
already, with their arms, and without a boat?"

"It may be the Delaware. He would follow us, of course down this bank,
and would know where to look for us. Let me draw closer into the shore,
and reconnoitre."

"Go boy but be light with the paddle, and on no account venture ashore
on an onsartainty."

"Is this prudent?" demanded Mabel, with an impetuosity that rendered her
incautious in modulating her sweet voice.

"Very imprudent, if you speak so loud, fair one. I like your voice,
which is soft and pleasing, after the listening so long to the tones of
men; but it must not be heard too much, or too freely, just now. Your
father, the honest Sergeant, will tell you, when you meet him, that
silence is a double virtue on a trail. Go, Jasper, and do justice to
your own character for prudence."

Ten anxious minutes succeeded the disappearance of the canoe of Jasper,
which glided away from that of the Pathfinder so noiselessly, that
it had been swallowed up in the gloom before Mabel allowed herself to
believe the young man would really venture alone on a service which
struck her imagination as singularly dangerous. During this time, the
party continued to float with the current, no one speaking, and, it
might almost be said, no one breathing, so strong was the general desire
to catch the minutest sound that should come from the shore. But the
same solemn, we might, indeed, say sublime, quiet reigned as before; the
washing of the water, as it piled up against some slight obstruction,
and the sighing of the trees, alone interrupting the slumbers of the
forest. At the end of the period mentioned, the snapping of dried
bran