Admitting all this, however,
it did not necessarily follow that its owners were in the castle.
The moccasin might have drifted from a distance, or it might have
fallen from the foot of some scout, who had quitted the place when
his errand was accomplished. In short it explained nothing, while
it awakened so much distrust.
Under the circumstances, Hutter and Hurry were not men to be long
deterred from proceeding by proofs as slight as that of the moccasin.
They hoisted the sail again, and the Ark was soon in motion,
heading towards the castle. The wind or air continued light, and
the movement was sufficiently slow to allow of a deliberate survey
of the building, as the scow approached. The same death-like silence
reigned, and it was difficult to fancy that any thing possessing
animal life could be in or around the place. Unlike the Serpent,
whose imagination had acted through his traditions until he was
ready to perceive an artificial, in a natural stillness, the others
saw nothing to apprehend in a tranquility that, in truth, merely
denoted the repose of inanimate objects. The accessories of the
scene, too, were soothing and calm, rather than exciting. The day
had not yet advanced so far as to bring the sun above the horizon, but
the heavens, the atmosphere, and the woods and lake were all seen
under that softened light which immediately precedes his appearance,
and which perhaps is the most witching period of the four and twenty
hours.
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