To think of following with rifles in hand was out of
the question, and after emptying their pieces in vague hopes of
wounding their captive, the best runners of the Indians threw them
aside, calling out to the women and boys to recover and load them,
again, as soon as possible.
Deerslayer knew too well the desperate nature of the struggle in
which he was engaged to lose one of the precious moments. He also
knew that his only hope was to run in a straight line, for as soon
as he began to turn, or double, the greater number of his pursuers
would put escape out of the question. He held his way therefore,
in a diagonal direction up the acclivity, which was neither very
high nor very steep in this part of the mountain, but which was
sufficiently toilsome for one contending for life, to render it
painfully oppressive. There, however, he slackened his speed to
recover breath, proceeding even at a quick walk, or a slow trot,
along the more difficult parts of the way. The Hurons were whooping
and leaping behind him, but this he disregarded, well knowing they
must overcome the difficulties he had surmounted ere they could
reach the elevation to which he had attained. The summit of the
first hill was now quite near him, and he saw, by the formation of
the land, that a deep glen intervened before the base of a second
hill could be reached.
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