A yell followed
this second disappointment, but when the offender turned towards
the circle, and presented the countenance of Hist, it was succeeded
by a common exclamation of pleasure and surprise. For a minute,
all thought of pursuing the business in hand was forgotten. Young
and old crowded around the girl, in haste to demand an explanation
of her sudden and unlooked-for return. It was at this critical
instant that Hist spoke to Judith in a low voice, placed some small
object unseen in her hand, and then turned to meet the salutations
of the Huron girls, with whom she was personally a great favorite.
Judith recovered her self possession, and acted promptly. The
small, keen edged knife that Hist had given to the other, was
passed by the latter into the hands of Hetty, as the safest and
least suspected medium of transferring it to Deerslayer. But the
feeble intellect of the last defeated the well-grounded hopes of
all three. Instead of first cutting loose the hands of the victim,
and then concealing the knife in his clothes, in readiness for
action at the most available instant, she went to work herself,
with earnestness and simplicity, to cut the thongs that bound his
head, that he might not again be in danger of inhaling flames.
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