ascended to the roof to take a last look, hoping that
the party would arrive in the darkness; which would at least prevent the
Indians from rendering their ambuscade so fatal as it might otherwise
prove, and which possibly might enable her to give some more
intelligible signal, by means of fire, than it would otherwise be in her
power to do. Her eye had turned carefully round the whole horizon, and
she was just on the point of drawing in her person, when an object
that struck her as new caught her attention. The islands lay grouped so
closely, that six or eight different channels or passages between them
were in view; and in one of the most covered, concealed in a great
measure by the bushes of the shore, lay what a second look assured
her was a bark canoe. It contained a human being beyond a question.
Confident that if an enemy her signal could do no harm, and; if a
friend, that it might do good, the eager girl waved a little flag
towards the stranger, which she had prepared for her father, taking care
that it should not be seen from the island.

Mabel had repeated her signal eight or ten times in vain, and she began
to despair of its being noticed, when a sign was given in return by the
wave of a paddle, and the man so far discovered himself as to let her
see it was Chingachgook. Here, then, at last, was a friend; one, too,
who was able, and she doubted not would be willing to aid her. From that
instant her courage and her spirits revived. The Mohican had seen her;
must have recognized her, as he knew that she was of the party; and
no doubt, as soon as it was sufficiently dark, he would take the steps
necessary to release her. That he was aware of the presence of the
enemy was apparent by the great caution he observed, and she had every
reliance on his prudence and address. The principal difficulty now
existed with June; for Mabel had seen too much of her fidelity to her
own people, relieved as it was by sympathy for herself, to believe she
would consent to a hostile Indian's entering the blockhouse, or
indeed to her leaving it, with a view to defeat Arrowhead's plans. The
half-hour which succeeded the discovery of the presence of the Great
Serpent was the most painful of Mabel Dunham's life. She saw the means
of effecting all she wished, as it might be within reach of her hand,
and yet it eluded her grasp. She knew June's decision and coolness,
notwithstanding all her gentleness and womanly feeling; and at last
she c