She particularly renewed her injunctions to be on
their guard against treachery, a warning that was scarcely needed,
however, as addressed to men as wary as those to whom it was sent.
She also explained with sufficient clearness, for on all such
subjects the mind of the girl seldom failed her, the present state
of the enemy, and the movements they had made since morning. Hist
had been on the raft with her until it quitted the shore, and was
now somewhere in the woods, opposite to the castle, and did not
intend to return to the camp until night approached; when she hoped
to be able to slip away from her companions, as they followed the
shore on their way home, and conceal herself on the point. No one
appeared to suspect the presence of Chingachgook, though it was
necessarily known that an Indian had entered the Ark the previous
night, and it was suspected that he had since appeared in and about
the castle in the dress of a pale-face. Still some little doubt
existed on the latter point, for, as this was the season when
white men might be expected to arrive, there was some fear that
the garrison of the castle was increasing by these ordinary means.
All this had Hist communicated to Hetty while the Indians were
dragging them along shore, the distance, which exceeded six miles,
affording abundance of time.
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