»Why not, Judith? Hurry and Deerslayer are friends, and friends should
always help one another.«
    »Alas! poor Hetty, you little know mankind! Seeming friends are often more
to be dreaded than open enemies, particularly by females. But you'll have to
land in the morning, and try again what can be done for Deerslayer. Tortured he
shall not be, while Judith Hutter lives, and can find means to prevent it.«
    The conversation now grew desultory, and was drawn out, until the elder
sister had extracted from the younger, every fact that the feeble faculties of
the latter permitted her to retain, and to communicate. When Judith was
satisfied - though, she could never be said to be satisfied whose feelings
seemed to be so interwoven with all that related to the subject as to have
excited a nearly inappeasable curiosity - but, when Judith could think of no
more questions to ask, without resorting to repetition, the canoe was paddled
towards the scow. The intense darkness of the night, and the deep shadows which
the hills and forest cast upon the water, rendered it difficult to find the
vessel, anchored, as it had been, as close to the shore as a regard to safety
rendered prudent. Judith was expert in the management of a bark canoe, the
lightness of which demanded skill rather than strength, and she forced her own
little vessel swiftly over the water, the moment she had ended her conference
with Hetty, and had come to the determination to return. Still no Ark was seen.
Several times the sisters fancied they saw it, looming up in the obscurity, like
a low black rock, but on each occasion it was found to be either an optical
illusion, or some swell of the foliage on the shore. After a search that lasted
half an hour, the girls were forced to the unwelcome conviction that the Ark had
departed.
    Most young women would have felt the awkwardness of their situation, in a
physical sense, under the circumstances in which the sisters were left, more
than any apprehensions of a different nature. Not so with Judith, however; and
even Hetty felt more concern about the motives that might have influenced her
father and Hurry, than any fears for her own safety.
    »It cannot be, Hetty,« said Judith, when a thorough search had satisfied
them both that no Ark was to be found, »it cannot be that the Indians have
rafted, or swam off, and surprised our friends as they slept?«
    »I do n't believe that Hist and Chingachgook would sleep,