It is not the swiftest leaping deer that gives the longest chase, returned Hawkeye, without moving his
eyes from the different marks that had come under his view; we know that the rampaging Huron has
passed, and the dark-hair, and the singer, but where is she of the yellow locks and blue eyes? Though
little, and far from being as bold as her sister, she is fair to the view, and pleasant in discourse. Has she
no friend, that none care for her?
God forbid she should ever want hundreds! Are we not now in her pursuit? For one, I will never cease
the search till she be found.
In that case we may have to journey by different paths; for here she has not passed, light and little as
her footsteps would be.
Heyward drew back, all his ardor to proceed seeming to vanish on the instant. Without attending to this
sudden change in the other's humor, the scout after musing a moment continued:
There is no woman in this wilderness could leave such a print as that, but the dark-hair or her sister.
We know that the first has been here, but where are the signs of the other? Let us push deeper on the
trail, and if nothing offers, we must go back to the plain and strike another scent. Move on, Uncas, and
keep your eyes on the dried leaves. I will watch the bushes, while your father shall run with a low nose
to the ground. Move on, friends; the sun is getting behind the hills.
Is there nothing that I can do? demanded the anxious Heyward.
You? repeated the scout, who, with his red friends, was already advancing in the order he had prescribed;
yes, you can keep in our rear and be careful not to cross the trail.
Before they had proceeded many rods, the Indians stopped, and appeared to gaze at some signs on the
earth with more than their usual keenness. Both father and son spoke quick and loud, now looking at
the object of their mutual admiration, and now regarding each other with the most unequivocal pleasure.
They have found the little foot! exclaimed the scout, moving forward, without attending further to his own
portion of the duty. What have we here? An ambushment has been planted in the spot! No, by the
truest rifle on the frontiers, here have been them one-sided horses again! Now the whole secret is out,
and all is plain as the north star at midnight. Yes, here they have mounted. There the beasts have been
bound to a sapling, in waiting; and yonder runs the broad path away to the north, in full sweep for the
Canadas.
But still there are no signs of Alice, of the younger Miss Munro, said Duncan.
Unless the shining bauble Uncas has just lifted from the ground should prove one. Pass it this way, lad,
that we may look at it.
Heyward instantly knew it for a trinket that Alice was fond of wearing, and which he recollected, with the
tenacious memory of a lover, to have seen, on the fatal morning of the massacre, dangling from the
fair neck of his mistress. He seized the highly prized jewel; and as he proclaimed the fact, it vanished
from the eyes of the wondering scout, who in vain looked for it on the ground, long after it was warmly
pressed against the beating heart of Duncan.
Pshaw! said the disappointed Hawkeye, ceasing to rake the leaves with the breech of his rifle; 'tis a
certain sign of age, when the sight begins to weaken. Such a glittering gewgaw, and not to be seen!
Well, well, I can squint along a clouded barrel yet, and that is enough to settle all disputes between me
and the Mingoes. I should like to find the thing, too, if it were only to carry it to the right owner, and
that would be bringing the two ends of what I call a long trail together, for by this time the broad St.
Lawrence, or perhaps, the Great Lakes themselves, are between us.