"
"Alas! poor Hetty, you little know mankind! Seeming friends are
often more to be dreaded than open enemies; particularly by females.
But you'll have to land in the morning, and try again what can be
done for Deerslayer. Tortured he shall not be, while Judith Hutter
lives, and can find means to prevent it."
The conversation now grew desultory, and was drawn out, until the
elder sister had extracted from the younger every fact that the
feeble faculties of the latter permitted her to retain, and to
communicate. When Judith was satisfied - though she could never
be said to be satisfied, whose feelings seemed to be so interwoven
with all that related to the subject, as to have excited a nearly
inappeasable curiosity - but, when Judith could think of no more
questions to ask, without resorting to repetition, the canoe was
paddled towards the scow. The intense darkness of the night, and
the deep shadows which the hills and forest cast upon the water,
rendered it difficult to find the vessel, anchored, as it had
been, as close to the shore as a regard to safety rendered prudent.
Judith was expert in the management of a bark canoe, the lightness
of which demanded skill rather than strength; and she forced her
own little vessel swiftly over the water, the moment she had ended
her conference with Hetty, and had come to the determination to
return.
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