es
On thee, thou rugged nurse of savage men!"

_Childe Harold._

The heavens were still studded with stars, when Hawkeye came to arouse
the sleepers. Casting aside their cloaks Munro and Heyward were on their
feet while the woodsman was still making his low calls, at the entrance
of the rude shelter where they had passed the night. When they issued
from beneath its concealment, they found the scout awaiting their
appearance nigh by, and the only salutation between them was the
significant gesture for silence, made by their sagacious leader.

"Think over your prayers," he whispered, as they approached him; "for He
to whom you make them knows all tongues; that of the heart as well as
those of the mouth. But speak not a syllable; it is rare for a white
voice to pitch itself properly in the woods, as we have seen by the
example of that miserable devil, the singer. Come," he continued,
turning towards a curtain of the works; "let us get into the ditch on
this side, and be regardful to step on the stones and fragments of wood
as you go."

His companions complied, though to two of them the reasons of this
extraordinary precaution were yet a mystery. When they were in the low
cavity that surrounded the earthen fort on three sides, they found the
passage nearly choked by the ruins. With care and patience, however,
they succeeded in clambering after the scout, until they reached the
sandy shore of the Horican.

"That's a trail that nothing but a nose can follow," said the satisfied
scout, looking back along their difficult way; "grass is a treacherous
carpet for a flying party to tread on, but wood and stone take no print
from a moccasin. Had you worn your armed boots, there might, indeed,
have been something to fear; but with the deer-skin suitably prepared, a
man may trust himself, generally, on rocks with safety. Shove in the
canoe nigher to the land, Uncas; this sand will take a stamp as easily
as the butter of the Jarmans on the Mohawk. Softly, lad, softly; it must
not touch the beach, or the knaves will know by what road we have left
the place."

The young man observed the precaution; and the scout, laying a board
from the ruins to the canoe, made a sign for the two officers to enter.
When this was done, everything was studiously restored to its former
disorder; and then Hawkeye succeeded in reaching his little birchen
vessel, without leaving behind him any of those marks which he appeared
so much to dread. He