But another footstep had caught
the lover's ear, and he was already nearly beyond the sound of the
girl's silvery voice. Still Hetty, bent only on her own thoughts
and purposes, continued to speak, though the gentleness of her tones
prevented the sounds from penetrating far into the woods. On the
water they were more widely diffused.
"Here I am, Judith," she added, "and there is no one near me. The
Huron on watch has gone to meet his sweetheart, who is an Indian
girl you know, and never had a Christian mother to tell her how
wrong it is to meet a man at night."
Hetty's voice was hushed by a "Hist!" that came from the water,
and then she caught a dim view of the canoe, which approached
noiselessly, and soon grated on the shingle with its bow. The
moment the weight of Hetty was felt in the light craft the canoe
withdrew, stern foremost, as if possessed of life and volition,
until it was a hundred yards from the shore. Then it turned and,
making a wide sweep, as much to prolong the passage as to get
beyond the sound of voices, it held its way towards the ark. For
several minutes nothing was uttered; but, believing herself to be
in a favourable position to confer with her sister, Judith, who
alone sat in the stern, managing the canoe with a skill little short
of that of a man, began a discourse which she had been burning to
commence ever since they had quitted the point.
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