The Deerslayer (Barnes & Noble Classics) - James Fenimore Cooper [102]
The point in question was the first projection that offered on that side of the lake, where a canoe, if set adrift with a southerly air, would float clear of the land; and where it would be no great violation of probabilities to suppose it might even hit the castle; the latter lying above it, almost in a direct line with the wind. Such, then, was Hetty’s intention; and she landed on the extremity of the gravelly point, beneath an overhanging oak, with the express intention of shoving the canoe off from the shore, in order that it might drift up towards her father’s insulated abode. She knew, too, from the logs that occasionally floated about the lake, that did it miss the castle and its appendages, the wind would be likely to change before the canoe could reach the northern extremity of the lake, and that Deerslayer might have an opportunity of regaining it in the morning, when no doubt he would be earnestly sweeping the surface of the water, and the whole of its wooded shores, with the glass. In all this, too, Hetty was less governed by any chain of reasoning than by her habits; the latter often supplying the defects of mind in human beings, as they perform the same office for animals of the inferior classes.
The girl was quite an hour finding her way to the point, the distance and the obscurity equally detaining her; but she was no sooner on the gravelly beach than she prepared to set the canoe adrift, in the manner mentioned. While in the act of pushing it from her, she heard low voices that seemed to come from among the trees behind her. Startled at this unexpected danger, Hetty was on the point of springing into the canoe again, in order to seek safety in flight, when she thought she recognized the tones of Judith’s melodious voice. Bending forward so as to catch the sounds more directly, they evidently came from the water; and then she understood that the ark was approaching from the south, and so close in with the western shore as necessarily to cause it to pass the point within twenty yards of the spot where she stood. Here, then, was all she could desire; the canoe was shoved off into the lake, leaving its late occupant alone on the narrow strand.
When this act of self-devotion was performed, Hetty did not retire. The foliage of the overhanging trees and bushes would have almost concealed her person had there been light; but in that obscurity, it was utterly impossible to discover any object thus shaded, at the distance of a few feet. Flight, too, was perfectly easy, as twenty steps would effectually bury her in the forest. She remained, therefore, watching with intense anxiety the result of her expedient, intending to call the attention of the others to the canoe with her voice, should they appear to pass without observing it. The ark approached under its sail again; Deerslayer standing in its bow, with Judith near him, and the Delaware at the helm. It would seem that, in the bay below, it had got too close to the shore, in the lingering hope of intercepting Hetty; for, as it came nearer, the latter distinctly heard the directions that the young man forward gave to his companion, in order to clear the point.
“Lay her head more off the shore, Delaware,” said Deerslayer, for the third time, speaking in English, that his fair companion might understand his words; “lay her head well off shore. We have got em-bayed here, and needs keep the mast clear of the trees. Judith, there’s a canoe!”
The last words were uttered with great earnestness, and Deerslayer’s hand was on his rifle ere they were fairly out of his mouth. But the truth flashed on the mind of the quick-witted girl, and she instantly told her