It may be so, lad, muttered the scout, when he had ended; for desperate fevers are not to be treated like a toothache. Come, then, the fog is shutting in.

Stop! cried Heyward; first explain your expectations.

'Tis soon done, and a small hope it is; but it is better than nothing. This shot that you see, added the scout, kicking the harmless iron with his foot, has plowed the 'arth in its road from the fort, and we shall hunt for the furrow it has made, when all other signs may fail. No more words, but follow, or the fog may leave us in the middle of our path, a mark for both armies to shoot at.

Heyward perceiving that, in fact, a crisis had arrived, when acts were more required than words, placed himself between the sisters, and drew them swiftly forward, keeping the dim figure of their leader in his eye. It was soon apparent that Hawkeye had not magnified the power of the fog, for before they had proceeded twenty yards, it was difficult for the different individuals of the party to distinguish each other in the vapor.

They had made their little circuit to the left, and were already inclining again toward the right, having, as Heyward thought, got over nearly half the distance to the friendly works, when his ears were saluted with the fierce summons, apparently within twenty feet of them, of:

Qui va là?

Push on! whispered the scout, once more bending to the left.

Push on! repeated Heyward; when the summons was renewed by a dozen voices, each of which seemed charged with menace.

C'est moi, cried Duncan, dragging rather than leading those he supported swiftly onward.

Bête! - qui? - moi!

Ami de la France.

Tu m'as plus l'air d'un ennemi de la France; arrête ou pardieu je te ferai ami du diable. Non! feu, camarades, feu!

The order was instantly obeyed, and the fog was stirred by the explosion of fifty muskets. Happily, the aim was bad, and the bullets cut the air in a direction a little different from that taken by the fugitives; though still so nigh them, that to the unpractised ears of David and the two females, it appeared as if they whistled within a few inches of the organs. The outcry was renewed, and the order, not only to fire again, but to pursue, was too plainly audible. When Heyward briefly explained the meaning of the words they heard, Hawkeye halted and spoke with quick decision and great firmness.

Let us deliver our fire, he said; they will believe it a sortie, and give way, or they will wait for reinforcements.

The scheme was well conceived, but failed in its effects. The instant the French heard the pieces, it seemed as if the plain was alive with men, muskets rattling along its whole extent, from the shores of the lake to the furthest boundary of the woods.

We shall draw their entire army upon us, and bring on a general assault, said Duncan: lead on, my friend, for your own life and ours.

The scout seemed willing to comply; but, in the hurry of the moment, and in the change of position, he had lost the direction. In vain he turned either cheek toward the light air; they felt equally cool. In this dilemma, Uncas lighted on the furrow of the cannon ball, where it had cut the ground in three adjacent ant-hills.