Three leaps carried
this warrior to the side of Deerslayer, whose withes were cut in the
twinkling of an eye, with a quickness and precision that left the
prisoner perfect master of his limbs. Not till this was effected
did the stranger bestow a glance on any other object; then he
turned and showed the astonished Hurons the noble brow, fine person,
and eagle eye, of a young warrior, in the paint and panoply of a
Delaware. He held a rifle in each hand, the butts of both resting
on the earth, while from one dangled its proper pouch and horn.
This was Killdeer which, even as he looked boldly and in defiance
at the crowd around him, he suffered to fall back into the hands
of its proper owner. The presence of two armed men, though it was
in their midst, startled the Hurons. Their rifles were scattered
about against the different trees, and their only weapons were
their knives and tomahawks. Still they had too much self-possession
to betray fear. It was little likely that so small a force would
assail so strong a band, and each man expected some extraordinary
proposition to succeed so decisive a step. The stranger did not
seem disposed to disappoint them; he prepared to speak.
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