The Deerslayer (Barnes & Noble Classics) - James Fenimore Cooper [101]
When this mortifying announcement was made, Hetty was actually so near as to understand every syllable her sister uttered; though the latter had used the precaution of speaking as low as circumstances would allow her to do, and make herself heard. Hetty stopped paddling at the same moment, and waited the result with an impatience that was breathless, equally from her late exertions and her desire to land. A dead silence immediately fell on the lake; during which the three in the ark were using their senses differently in order to detect the position of the canoe. Judith leant forward to listen, in the hope of catching some sound that might betray the direction in which her sister was stealing away; while her two companions brought their eyes as near as possible to a level with the water, in order to detect any object that might be floating on its surface. All was vain, however, for neither sound nor sight rewarded their efforts. All this time, Hetty, who had not the cunning to sink into the canoe, stood erect, a finger pressed on her lips, gazing in the direction in which the voices had been heard, resembling a statue of profound and timid attention. Her ingenuity had barely sufficed to enable her to seize the canoe and to quit the ark in the noiseless manner related; and then it appeared to be momentarily exhausted. Even the doubling of the canoe had been as much the consequence of an uncertain hand, and of nervous agitation, as of any craftiness or calculation.
The pause continued several minutes; during which Deerslayer and the Delaware conferred together in the language of the latter. Then the oars dipped again, and the ark moved away, rowing with as little noise as possible. It steered westward, a little southerly, or in the direction of the encampment of the enemy Having reached a point at no great distance from the shore, and where the obscurity was intense, on account of the proximity of the land, it lay there near an hour, in waiting for the expected approach of Hetty; who, it was thought, would make the best of her way to that spot as soon as she believed herself relieved from the danger of pursuit. No success rewarded this little blockade, however; neither appearance nor sound denoting the passage of the canoe. Disappointed at this failure, and conscious of the importance of getting possession of the fortress before it could be seized by the enemy, Deerslayer now took his way towards the castle, with the apprehension that all his foresight in securing the canoes would be defeated by this unguarded and alarming movement on the part of the feebleminded Hetty.
CHAPTER X
“But who in this wild wood
May credit give to either eye or ear?
From rocky precipice or hollow cave,
’Midst the confused sound of rustling leaves,
And crackling boughs, and cries of nightly birds,
Returning seeming answer.”
Joanna Baillie
FEAR, AS MUCH AS calculation, had induced Hetty to cease paddling, when she found that her pursuers did not know in which direction to proceed. She remained stationary, until the ark had pulled in near the encampment, as has been related in the preceding chapter; when she resumed the paddle, and with cautious strokes made the best of her way towards the western shore. In order to avoid her pursuers, however, who, she rightly suspected, would soon be rowing along that shore themselves, the head of the canoe was pointed so far north as to bring her to land on a point that thrust itself into the lake, at the distance of near a league from the outlet.1 Nor was this altogether the result of a desire to escape;