pecies of intercourse lasted a month, June obstinately
refusing to abandon the grave of her husband all that time, though she
still accepted the friendly offerings of her protector. Occasionally
they met and conversed, Pathfinder sounding the state of the woman's
feelings; but the interviews were short, and far from frequent. June
slept in one of the huts, and she laid down her head in security, for
she was conscious of the protection of a friend, though Pathfinder
invariably retired at night to an adjacent island, where he had built
himself a hut.

At the end of the month, however, the season was getting to be too far
advanced to render her situation pleasant to June. The trees had lost
their leaves, and the nights were becoming cold and wintry. It was time
to depart.

At this moment Chingachgook reappeared. He had a long and confidential
interview on the island with his friend. June witnessed their movements,
and she saw that her guardian was distressed. Stealing to his side, she
endeavored to soothe his sorrow with a woman's gentleness and with a
woman's instinct.

"Thank you, June, thank you!" he said; "'tis well meant, though it's
useless. But it is time to quit this place. To-morrow we shall depart.
You will go with us, for now you've got to feel reason."

June assented in the meek manner of an Indian woman, and she withdrew to
pass the remainder of her time near the grave of Arrowhead. Regardless
of the hour and the season, the young widow did not pillow her head
during the whole of that autumnal night. She sat near the spot that held
the remains of her husband, and prayed, in the manner of her people, for
his success on the endless path on which he had so lately gone, and for
their reunion in the land of the just. Humble and degraded as she would
have seemed in the eyes of the sophisticated and unreflecting, the
image of God was on her soul, and it vindicated its divine origin by
aspirations and feelings that would have surprised those who, feigning
more, feel less.

In the morning the three departed, Pathfinder earnest and intelligent
in all he did, the Great Serpent silent and imitative, and June meek,
resigned, but sorrowful. They went in two canoes, that of the woman
being abandoned: Chingachgook led the way, and Pathfinder followed,
the course being up stream. Two days they paddled westward, and as many
nights they encamped on islands. Fortunately the weather became mild,
and when they reached the lak