Do you take Hetty off the old fellow's hands, and
I'll engage he'll give you an interest in every deer you can knock
over within five miles of his lake."
"Does game abound!" suddenly demanded the other, who paid but little
attention to March's raillery.
"It has the country to itself. Scarce a trigger is pulled on it;
and as for the trappers, this is not a region they greatly frequent.
I ought not to be so much here myself, but Jude pulls one way, while
the beaver pulls another. More than a hundred Spanish dollars has
that creatur' cost me the last two seasons, and yet I could not
forego the wish to look upon her face once more."
"Do the redmen often visit this lake, Hurry?" continued Deerslayer,
pursuing his own train of thought.
"Why, they come and go; sometimes in parties, and sometimes singly.
The country seems to belong to no native tribe in particular; and
so it has fallen into the hands of the Hutter tribe. The old man
tells me that some sharp ones have been wheedling the Mohawks for
an Indian deed, in order to get a title out of the colony; but
nothing has come of it, seeing that no one heavy enough for such
a trade has yet meddled with the matter.
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