The report of the
weapon had the usual sharp, short sound of the rifle: but when a
few moments of silence had succeeded the sudden crack, during which
the noise was floating in air across the water, it reached the
rocks of the opposite mountain, where the vibrations accumulated,
and were rolled from cavity to cavity for miles along the hills,
seeming to awaken the sleeping thunders of the woods. The buck
merely shook his head at the report of the rifle and the whistling
of the bullet, for never before had he come in contact with man;
but the echoes of the hills awakened his distrust, and leaping
forward, with his four legs drawn under his body, he fell at once
into deep water, and began to swim towards the foot of the lake.
Hurry shouted and dashed forward in chase, and for one or two
minutes the water foamed around the pursuer and the pursued. The
former was dashing past the point, when Deerslayer appeared on the
sand and signed to him to return.
"'Twas inconsiderate to pull a trigger, afore we had reconn'itred
the shore, and made sartain that no inimies harbored near it,"
said the latter, as his companion slowly and reluctantly complied.
"This much I have l'arned from the Delawares, in the way of schooling
and traditions, even though I've never yet been on a war-path.
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