the frontier habits of Judith, her language
was superior to that used by her male companions, her own father included. This
difference extended as well to pronunciation, as to the choice of words and
phrases. Perhaps nothing so soon betrays the education and association as the
modes of speech, and few accomplishments so much aid the charm of female beauty
as a graceful and even utterance, while nothing so soon produces the
disenchantment that necessarily follows a discrepancy between appearance and
manner, as a mean intonation of voice, or a vulgar use of words. Judith and her
sister were marked exceptions to all the girls of their class, along that whole
frontier, the officers of the nearest garrison having often flattered the former
with the belief that few ladies of the towns acquitted themselves better than
herself, in this important particular. This was far from being literally true,
but it was sufficiently near the fact to give birth to the compliment. The girls
were indebted to their mother for this proficiency, having acquired from her, in
childhood, an advantage that no subsequent study or labor can give without a
drawback, if neglected beyond the earlier periods of life. Who that mother was,
or, rather, had been, no one but Hutter knew. She had now been dead two summers,
and, as was stated by Hurry, she had been buried in the lake, whether in
indulgence of a prejudice, or from a reluctance to take the trouble to dig her
grave, had frequently been a matter of discussion between the rude beings of
that region. Judith had never visited the spot, but Hetty was present at the
interment, and she often paddled a canoe, about sunset, or by the light of the
moon, to the place, and gazed down into the limpid water, in the hope of being
able to catch a glimpse of a form that she had so tenderly loved, from infancy
to the sad hour of their parting.
    »Must we reach the rock, exactly at the moment the sun sets?« Judith
demanded of the young man, as they stood near each other, Deerslayer holding the
steering-oar, and she working with a needle at some ornament of dress, that much
exceeded her station in life, and was altogether a novelty in the woods. »Will a
few minutes, sooner or later, alter the matter; it will be very hazardous to
remain long as near the shore as that Rock!«
    »That's it - Judith; - that's the very difficulty! The Rock's within p'int
blank for a shot-gun, and