boatman, a long fishing spear which he held by its centre, first dropping one end and then the other into the water, to aid in propelling the little canoe of bark, we will not say through, but over the water. At the farther end of the vessel, a form was faintly seen, guiding its motions, and using a paddle with the ease of one who felt there was no necessity for extraordinary exertions. The Leather-stocking struck his spear lightly against the short staff which upheld, on a rude grating framed of old hoops of iron, the knots of pine that composed the fuel; and the light, which glared high, for an instant fell on the swarthy features, and dark, glancing eyes of Mohegan.
The boat glided along the shore until it arrived opposite to the fishing-ground, when it again changed its direction, and moved on to the land, with a motion so graceful, arid yet so rapid, that it seemed to possess the power of regulating its progress by its own volition. The water in front of the canoe was hardly ruffled by its passage, and no sound betrayed the collision, when the light fabric shot on the gravelly beach, for nearly half its length, Natty receding a step or two from its bow, in order to facilitate the landing.
"Approach, Mohegan," said Marmaduke: "approach, Leather-stocking, and load your canoe with the bass. It would be a shame to assail the animals with the spear, when such multitudes of victims lie here, that will be lost as food for the want of mouths to consume them."
"No, no, Judge," returned Natty, his tall figure stalking over the narrow beach, and ascended to the little grassy bottom where the fish were laid in piles; " I eat of no man's wasty ways. I strike my spear into the eels, or the trout, when I crave the creaters, but I would'nt be helping to such a
