When
he reached the forward end of the scow, he manifested an intention
to relieve Deerslayer at the oar, directing the latter to take his
own place aft. By these changes, the old man and Hurry were again
left alone, while the young hunter was transferred to the other
end of the ark.
Hetty had disappeared when Deerslayer reached his new post, and for
some little time he directed the course of the slow-moving craft by
himself. It was not long, however, before Judith came out of the
cabin, as if disposed to do the honors of the place to a stranger
engaged in the service of her family. The starlight was sufficient
to permit objects to be plainly distinguished when near at hand,
and the bright eyes of the girl had an expression of kindness in
them, when they met those of the youth, that the latter was easily
enabled to discover. Her rich hair shaded her spirited and yet soft
countenance, even at that hour rendering it the more beautiful-as
the rose is loveliest when reposing amid the shadows and contrasts
of its native foliage. Little ceremony is used in the intercourse
of the woods; and Judith had acquired a readiness of address, by
the admiration that she so generally excited, which, if it did not
amount to forwardness, certainly in no degree lent to her charms
the aid of that retiring modesty on which poets love to dwell.
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