Some additional ten minutes may have passed in this quiescent
manner, on both sides, when Deerslayer thought he heard a slight
noise, like a low rubbing against the bottom of his canoe. He
opened his eyes of course, in expectation of seeing the face or
arm of an Indian rising from the water, and found that a canopy
of leaves was impending directly over his head. Starting to his
feet, the first object that met his eye was Rivenoak, who had so far
aided the slow progress of the boat, as to draw it on the point,
the grating on the strand being the sound that had first given
our hero the alarm. The change in the drift of the canoe had been
altogether owing to the baffling nature of the light currents of
the air, aided by some eddies in the water.
"Come," said the Huron with a quiet
