Could such a point once be reached, Deerslayer
thought he might get far enough out to attract the attention of
Chingachgook and Judith, who would not fail to come to his relief
with other canoes, a circumstance that promised everything. As the
young man lay in the bottom of the canoe, he watched its movements
by studying the tops of the trees on the mountainside, and judged
of his distance by the time and the motions. Voices on the shore
were now numerous, and he heard something said about manning the
raft, which, fortunately for the fugitive, lay at a considerable
distance on the other side of the point.
Perhaps the situation of Deerslayer had not been more critical that
day than it was at this moment. It certainly had not been one half
as tantalizing. He lay perfectly quiet for two or three minutes,
trusting to the single sense of hearing, confident that the noise
in the lake would reach his ears, did any one venture to approach
by swimming. Once or twice he fancied that the element was stirred
by the cautious movement of an arm, and then he perceived it was
the wash of the water on the pebbles of the strand; for, in mimicry
of the ocean, it is seldom that those little lakes are so totally
tranquil as not to possess a slight heaving and setting on their
shores.
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