Ay;
here's just the bird we want, for it's as good for the fire, as it
is for the aim, and nothing should be lost that can be turned to
just account. There, further north, Delaware."
The latter looked in the required direction, and he soon saw a
large black duck floating in stately repose on the water. At that
distant day, when so few men were present to derange the harmony
of the wilderness, all the smaller lakes with which the interior
of New York so abounds were places of resort for the migratory
aquatic birds, and this sheet like the others had once been much
frequented by all the varieties of the duck, by the goose, the
gull, and the loon. On the appearance of Hutter, the spot was
comparatively deserted for other sheets, more retired and remote,
though some of each species continued to resort thither, as indeed
they do to the present hour. At that instant, a hundred birds were
visible from the castle, sleeping on the water or laying their
feathers in the limpid element, though no other offered so favorable
a mark as that Deerslayer had just pointed out to his friend.
Chingachgook, as usual, spared his words, and proceeded to execution.
This time his aim was more careful than before, and his success
in proportion.
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