latter event did occur, as
was the case a moment later, the savage gave a loud yell, which was
answered by a dozen voices from different parts of the mountainside.
There was no longer any time for delay; in another minute the boat was
quitting the shore under long and steady sweeps of the paddle.

As soon as Deerslayer believed himself to be at a safe distance he
ceased his efforts, permitting the little bark to drift, while he
leisurely took a survey of the state of things. The canoe first sent
adrift was floating before the air, quite a quarter of a mile above him,
and a little nearer to the shore than he wished, now that he knew more
of the savages were so near at hand. The canoe shoved from the point was
within a few yards of him, he having directed his own course towards
it on quitting the land. The dead Indian lay in grim quiet where he had
left him, the warrior who had shown himself from the forest had already
vanished, and the woods themselves were as silent and seemingly deserted
as the day they came fresh from the hands of their great Creator. This
profound stillness, however, lasted but a moment. When time had been
given to the scouts of the enemy to reconnoitre, they burst out of the
thicket upon the naked point, filling the air with yells of fury at
discovering the death of their companion. These cries were immediately
succeeded by shouts of delight when they reached the body and clustered
eagerly around it. Deerslayer was a sufficient adept in the usages of
the natives to understand the reason of the change. The yell was the
customary lamentation at the loss of a warrior, the shout a sign of
rejoicing that the conqueror had not been able to secure the scalp;
the trophy, without which a victory is never considered complete. The
distance at which the canoes lay probably prevented any attempts to
injure the conqueror, the American Indian, like the panther of his own
woods, seldom making any effort against his foe unless tolerably certain
it is under circumstances that may be expected to prove effective.

As the young man had no longer any motive to remain near the point, he
prepared to collect his canoes, in order to tow them off to the castle.
That nearest was soon in tow, when he proceeded in quest of the other,
which was all this time floating up the lake. The eye of Deerslayer was
no sooner fastened on this last boat, than it struck him that it was
nearer to the shore than it would have been had it merely