"Father, father! think no more of this, and listen to
the advice of Deerslayer, who has a conscience; which is more than
I can say or think of Harry March."
Hutter now rose, and, entering the cabin, he compelled his daughters
to go into the adjoining room, when he secured both the doors,
and returned. Then he and Hurry pursued the subject; but, as the
purport of all that was material in this discourse will appear in
the narrative, it need not be related here in detail. The reader,
however, can have no difficulty in comprehending the morality that
presided over their conference. It was, in truth, that which, in
some form or other, rules most of the acts of men, and in which
the controlling principle is that one wrong will justify another.
Their enemies paid for scalps, and this was sufficient to justify
the colony for retaliating. It is true, the French used the same
argument, a circumstance, as Hurry took occasion to observe in
answer to one of Deerslayer's objections, that proved its truth,
as mortal enemies would not be likely to have recourse to the same
reason unless it were a good one. But neither Hutter nor Hurry
was a man likely to stick at trifles in matters connected with the
right of the aborigines, since it is one of the consequences of
aggression that it hardens the conscience, as the only means of
quieting it.
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