. The deerslayer : or, The first war-path, a tale . ut it might have led to a discovery of the place ofembarking. Deerslayer kept playing on the throat of the old woman, likethe keys of an organ, occasionally allowing her to breathe, andthen compressing his fingers again nearly to strangling. Thebrief intervals for breath, however, were well improved, and thehag succeeded in letting out a screech or two that served toalarm the camp. The tramp of the warriors, as they sprangfrom the fire, was plainly audible; and, at the next moment,three or four of them appeared on the top of the ridge, drawn
. The deerslayer : or, The first war-path, a tale . ut it might have led to a discovery of the place ofembarking. Deerslayer kept playing on the throat of the old woman, likethe keys of an organ, occasionally allowing her to breathe, andthen compressing his fingers again nearly to strangling. Thebrief intervals for breath, however, were well improved, and thehag succeeded in letting out a screech or two that served toalarm the camp. The tramp of the warriors, as they sprangfrom the fire, was plainly audible; and, at the next moment,three or four of them appeared on the top of the ridge, drawn 310 THE against the back-ground of light, resembling the dim shadowsof the phantasmagoria. It was now quite time for the hunterto retreat, Tripping up the heels of his captive, and giving herthroat a parting squeeze, quite as much in resentment at herindomitable efforts to sound the alarm, as from any policy, heleft her on her back, and moved towards the bushes ; his rifle ata poise, and his head over his shoulders, like a lion at THE DEERSLAYER. 311 CHAPTER XVII. There, ye wise siiints, behold your light, your star,Ye would be dupes and victims, and ye are,Is it enough ? or, must I, while a thrillLives in your sapient bosoms, cheat you still V Moore. The fire, the canoe, and the spring, near which Deerslayercommenced his retreat, would have stood in the angles of atriangle of tolerably equal sides. The distance from the fire tothe boat was a little less than the distance from the fire to thespring, while the distance from the spring to the boat was aboutequal to that between the two points first named. This,however, was in straight lines—a means of escape to which thefugitives could not resort. They were obliged to have recourseto a ddlour in order to get the cover of the bushes, and tofollow the curvature of the beach. Under these disadvantages,then, the hunter commenced his retreat—disadvantages that hefelt to be so much the greater, from his knowledge
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