The great difficulty was in suddenly overcoming the inertia of so
large a mass, for once in motion, it was easy to cause the scow to
skim the water with all the necessary speed.
"Pull, Deerslayer, for Heaven's sake!" cried Judith, again at the
loop. "These wretches rush into the water like hounds following
their prey! Ah - the scow moves! and now, the water deepens,
to the arm-pits of the foremost, but they reach forward, and will
seize the Ark!"
A slight scream, and then a joyous laugh followed from the girl;
the first produced by a desperate effort of their pursuers, and the
last by its failure; the scow, which had now got fairly in motion
gliding ahead into deep water, with a velocity that set the designs
of their enemies at nought. As the two men were prevented by the
position of the cabin from seeing what passed astern, they were
compelled to inquire of the girls into the state of the chase.
"What now, Judith? - What next? - Do the Mingos still follow,
or are we quit of 'em, for the present," demanded Deerslayer, when
he felt the rope yielding as if the scow was going fast ahead,
and heard the scream and the laugh of the girl, almost in the same
breath.
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