has no business
in this quarter, unless it be curiosity, which is an endemic in these woods. But
against that I will effectually guard, though the dogs should take a liking to
his ugly visage, and let him pass.« The youth returned to the door, while giving
vent to this soliloquy, and completed the fastenings, by placing a small chain
through a staple, and securing it there by a padlock. »He is a pettifogger, and
surely must know that there is such a thing as feloniously breaking into a man's
house.«
    Apparently well satisfied with this arrangement, the youth again spoke to
the hounds; and, descending to the shore, he launched his boat, and taking up
his oars, pulled off into the lake.
    There were several places in the Otsego that were celebrated fishing-ground
for perch. One was nearly opposite to the cabin, and another, still more famous,
was near a point, at the distance of a mile and a half above it, under the brow
of the mountain, and on the same side of the lake with the hut. Oliver Edwards
pulled his little skiff to the first, and sat, for a minute, undecided whether
to continue there, with his eyes on the door of the cabin, or to change his
ground, with a view to get superior game. While gazing about him, he saw the
light-coloured bark canoe of his old companions, riding on the water, at the
point we have mentioned, and containing two figures, that he at once knew to be
Mohegan and the Leather-stocking. This decided the matter, and the youth pulled,
in a very few minutes, to the place where his friends were fishing, and fastened
his boat to the light vessel of the Indian.
    The old men received Oliver with welcoming nods, but neither drew his line
from the water, nor, in the least, varied his occupation. When Edwards had
secured his own boat, he baited his hook and threw it into the lake, without
speaking.
    »Did you stop at the wigwam, lad, as you rowed past?« asked Natty.
    »Yes, and I found all safe; but that carpenter and justice of the peace,
Mr., or, as they call him, Squire Doolittle, was prowling through the woods. I
made sure of the door, before I left the hut, and I think he is too great a
coward to approach the hounds.«
    »There's little to be said in favour of that man,« said Natty,