r; "'t was, as you say, too heavy
for one, but it was too light for the other. Put your paddle in the
water, and send the canoe in, to that log; I'll land and cut off the
creatur's retreat up the p'int, be it a Mingo, or be it a muskrat."

As Hurry complied, Deerslayer was soon on the shore, advancing into the
thicket with a moccasined foot, and a caution that prevented the least
noise. In a minute he was in the centre of the narrow strip of land,
and moving slowly down towards its end, the bushes rendering extreme
watchfulness necessary. Just as he reached the centre of the thicket
the dried twigs cracked again, and the noise was repeated at short
intervals, as if some creature having life walked slowly towards the
point. Hurry heard these sounds also, and pushing the canoe off into
the bay, he seized his rifle to watch the result. A breathless minute
succeeded, after which a noble buck walked out of the thicket, proceeded
with a stately step to the sandy extremity of the point, and began to
slake his thirst from the water of the lake. Hurry hesitated an instant;
then raising his rifle hastily to his shoulder, he took sight and fired.
The effect of this sudden interruption of the solemn stillness of such
a scene was not its least striking peculiarity. The report of the weapon
had the usual sharp, short sound of the rifle: but when a few moments
of silence had succeeded the sudden crack, during which the noise was
floating in air across the water, it reached the rocks of the opposite
mountain, where the vibrations accumulated, and were rolled from cavity
to cavity for miles along the hills, seeming to awaken the sleeping
thunders of the woods. The buck merely shook his head at the report of
the rifle and the whistling of the bullet, for never before had he come
in contact with man; but the echoes of the hills awakened his distrust,
and leaping forward, with his four legs drawn under his body, he fell
at once into deep water, and began to swim towards the foot of the lake.
Hurry shouted and dashed forward in chase, and for one or two minutes
the water foamed around the pursuer and the pursued. The former was
dashing past the point, when Deerslayer appeared on the sand and signed
to him to return.

"'Twas inconsiderate to pull a trigger, afore we had reconn'itred the
shore, and made sartain that no inimies harbored near it," said the
latter, as his companion slowly and reluctantly complied. "This much I
have l'arned from