inclined to deny her assertion. Then
he knocked the ashes out of his pipe, and laying his hand in a sort of rough
kindness on the girl's head, he made her a reply.
    »Thy mother was too good for this world,« he said, »though others might not
think so. Her good looks did not befriend her, and you have no occasion to mourn
that you are not as much like her as your sister. Think less of beauty, child,
and more of your duty, and you'll be as happy on this lake, as you could be in
the King's palace.«
    »I know it, father; but Hurry says beauty is every thing in a young woman.«
    Hutter made an ejaculation expressive of dissatisfaction, and went forward,
passing through the house in order to do so. Hetty's simple betrayal of her
weakness in behalf of March gave him uneasiness on a subject concerning which he
had never felt before, and he determined to come to an explanation at once with
his visiter, for directness of speech, and decision in conduct, were two of the
best qualities of this rude being, in whom the seeds of a better education
seemed to be constantly struggling upward, to be choked by the fruits of a life,
in which his hard struggles for subsistence and security, had steeled his
feelings and indurated his nature. When he reached the forward end of the scow,
he manifested an intention to relieve Deerslayer at the oar, directing the
latter to take his own place aft. By these changes, the old man and Hurry were
again left alone, while the young hunter was transferred to the other end of the
Ark.
    Hetty had disappeared when Deerslayer reached his new post, and for some
little time he directed the course of the slow-moving craft by himself. It was
not long, however, before Judith came out of the cabins, as if disposed to do
the honors of the place to a stranger engaged in the service of her family. The
star-light was sufficient to permit objects to be plainly distinguished, when
near at hand, and the bright eyes of the girl had an expression of kindness in
them, when they met those of the youth, that the latter was easily enabled to
discern. Her rich hair shaded her spirited and yet soft countenance, even at
that hour rendering it the more beautiful, as the rose is loveliest when
reposing amid the shadows and contrasts of its native foliage. Little ceremony
is used in the intercourse, of the woods, and Judith had acquired a