friends; let us to our covers, for no man can tell
when or where a Maqua[15] will strike his blow."

The Indians silently repaired to their appointed stations, which were
fissures in the rocks, whence they could command the approaches to the
foot of the falls. In the centre of the little island, a few short and
stunted pines had found root, forming a thicket, into which Hawkeye
darted with the swiftness of a deer, followed by the active Duncan. Here
they secured themselves, as well as circumstances would permit, among
the shrubs and fragments of stone that were scattered about the place.
Above them was a bare, rounded rock, on each side of which the water
played its gambols, and plunged into the abysses beneath, in the manner
already described. As the day had now dawned, the opposite shores no
longer presented a confused outline, but they were able to look into the
woods, and distinguish objects beneath the canopy of gloomy pines.

A long and anxious watch succeeded, but without any further evidences of
a renewed attack; and Duncan began to hope that their fire had proved
more fatal than was supposed, and that their enemies had been
effectually repulsed. When he ventured to utter this impression to his
companion, it was met by Hawkeye with an incredulous shake of the head.

"You know not the nature of a Maqua, if you think he is so easily beaten
back without a scalp!" he answered. "If there was one of the imps
yelling this morning, there were forty! and they know our number and
quality too well to give up the chase so soon. Hist! look into the water
above, just where it breaks over the rocks. I am no mortal, if the risky
devils haven't swam down upon the very pitch, and, as bad luck would
have it, they have hit the head of the island. Hist! man, keep close! or
the hair will be off your crown in the turning of a knife!"

Heyward lifted his head from the cover, and beheld what he justly
considered a prodigy of rashness and skill. The river had worn away the
edge of the soft rock in such a manner, as to render its first pitch
less abrupt and perpendicular than is usual at waterfalls. With no other
guide than the ripple of the stream where it met the head of the island,
a party of their insatiable foes had ventured into the current, and swam
down upon this point, knowing the ready access it would give, if
successful, to their intended victims. As Hawkeye ceased speaking, four
human heads could be seen peering above a few