es our color and our callings. Ah, I never
knew good come of boasting! And here, just as I was vaunting of our
safety, comes danger to give me the lie."

CHAPTER IV

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 w