"'Tis all explained!" cried the delighted Hawk-eye. "If them varlets have passed a minute, they have spent hours in striving to fabricate a lying end to their trail! Well, I've known them waste a day in the same manner to as little purpose. Here we have three pair of moccasins, and two of little feet. It is amazing that any mortal beings can journey on limbs so small! Pass me the thong of buckskin, Uncas, and let me take the length of this foot. By the Lord it is no longer than a child's, and yet the maidens are tall and comely. That Providence is partial in its gifts for its own wise reasons, the best and most contented of us must allow!"
"The tender limbs of my daughters are unequal to these hardships!" said Munro, looking at the light footsteps of his children with a parent's love; "we shall find their fainting forms in this desert."
"Of that there is little cause to fear," returned the attentive scout, slowly shaking his head; "this is a firm and straight, though a light step, and not over long. See, the heel has hardly touched the
