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the fall, and shelves over the bottom for fifty feet; so that when I ve been
sitting at the foot of the first pitch, and my hounds have run into the
caverns behind the sheet of water, they ve looked no bigger than so many
rabbits. To my judgment, lad, it s the best piece of work that I ve met with
in the woods; and none know how often the hand of God is seen in a wilderness,
but them that rove it for a man s life.
 What becomes of the water? in which direction does it run? Is it a tributary
of the Delaware?
 Anan! said Natty.
 Does the water run into the Delaware?
 No, no, it s a drop for the old Hudson; and a merry time it has till it gets
down off the mountain. I ve sat on the shelving rock many a long hour, boy,
and watched the bubbles as they shot by me, and thought how long it would be
before that very water, which seemed made for the wilderness, would be under
the bottom of a vessel, and tossing in the salt sea. It is a spot to make a
man solemnize. You can see right down into the valley that lies to the east of
the High-Peak, where, in the fall of the year, thousands of acres of woods are
before your eyes, in the deep hollow, and along the side of the mountain,
painted like ten thousand rainbows, by no hand of man, though without the
ordering of God s providence.
 Why, you are eloquent, Leather-stocking! exclaimed the youth.
 Anan! repeated Natty.
 The recollection of the sight has warmed your blood, old man. How many years
is it since you saw the place?
The hunter made no reply; but, bending his ear near to the water, he sat for
a minute, holding his breath, and listening attentively, as if to some distant
sound. At length he raised his head, and said--
 If I hadn t fastened the hounds with my own hands, with a fresh leash of
green buck-skin, I d take a Bible oath that I heard old Hector ringing his cry
on the mountain.
 It is impossible, said Edwards,  It is not an hour since I saw him in his
kennel.
By this time the attention of Mohegan was attracted to the sounds; but,
notwithstanding the youth was both silent and attentive, he could hear nothing
but the lowing of some cattle from the western hills. He looked at the old
men, Natty sitting with his hand to his ear, like a trumpet, and Mohegan
bending forward, with his arm raised to a level with his face, holding the
fore finger elevated as a signal for attention, and laughed aloud at what he
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deemed to be their imaginary sounds.
 Laugh if you will, boy, said Leather-stocking,  the hounds be out, and are
hunting a deer. No man can deceive me in such a matter. I wouldn t have had
the thing happen for a beaver s skin. Not that I care for the law! but the
venison is lean now, and the dumb things run the flesh off their bones for no
good. Now do you hear the hounds?
Edwards started, as a full cry broke on his ear, changing from the distant
sounds that were caused by some intervening hill, to the confused echoes that
rung among the rocks that the dogs were passing, and then directly to a deep
and hollow baying that pealed under the forest on the lake shore. These
variations in the tones of the hounds passed with amazing rapidity, and while
his eyes were glancing along the margin of the water, a tearing of the
branches of the alder and dog-wood caught his attention, at a spot near them,
and, at the next moment a noble buck sprung on the shore, and buried himself
in the lake. A fullmouthed cry, directly from the lungs of the hounds,
followed, when Hector and the slut shot through the opening in the bushes, and
darted into the lake also, bearing their breasts most gallantly to the water.
CHAPTER VIII.
 Oft in the full-descending flood he tries
To lose the scent, and lave his burning sides.
Thomson
 I know dit--I know d it! cried Natty, when both deer and hounds were in full
view;--  the buck has gone by them with the wind, and it has been too much for
the poor rogues; but I must break them of these tricks, or they ll give me a
deal of trouble. He-ere, he-ere--shore with you, rascals--shore with you--will
ye?--Oh! off with you, old Hector, or I ll hatchel your hide with my ramrod
when I get ye.
The dog s knew their master s voice, and after swimming in a circle, as if
reluctant to give over the chase, and yet afraid to persevere, they finally
obeyed, and returned to the land, where they filled the air with their
howlings and cries.
In the mean time, the deer, urged by his fears, had swam over half the
distance between the shore and the boats, before his terror permitted him to
see the new danger. But at the sounds of Natty s voice he turned short in his
course, and for a few moments, seemed about to rush back again, and brave the
dogs. His retreat in this direction was, however, effectually cut off, and,
turning a second time, he urged his course obliquely for the centre of the
lake, with an intention of landing on the western shore. As the buck swam by [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]