The ladies' garland. [volume] (Harpers-Ferry, Va. [W. Va.]) 1824-1828, 1826-02-18

sang hymn of thanksgiving, while prepara-
tons We're making for their departure Oh their
return. Descending The hill into rayine, they
stopped to refresh at sparkling fountain--se that
solitary aud silent spring, around which and its
sister fountains within fifty years, the wealth,
beauty, and talents Of hemisphere were to as
scmbe in such throngs in the pursuit of health
and pleasure
Resuming their Journey, the fugtives came
at night to dense thicket, into which they pc
netrated, and took up their quarters in rulnous
old block house which llawk-eye and Chngach-
COOK had constructed during former war be-
tween the Delawarcs and MOhaWks. Here thew
were surrounded by their foes in the night; but
were undiscovered, and thus favored with a hair
breadth escape, and before morning they reach
ed = bloody pond,' near the gorge of the noun
tains which here approach each other from Ell
Their side Of the chrystal lake st Sacrament,
now called Lake George. Hawk-cye here re
ours, with sufficient historical accuracy, to the
former battles upon this spot, between the French
and English, the former under the baron Dcs-
kau, and the latter attached to the command
Of Sir William Johnson-but his narrative is in
terrupted by the challenge Of a French scnti-
mel, on the opposite shore of the fatal pond
As Hayward and Cora both speak the French
fluently, they deceive the unwary sentinel, and,
finding that the fortress commanded by Munro
is already invested by Montcalm, they pass on,
with view of extrcatng themselves from their
new difficulty. A sudden splash in the placid
bosom Of the pond startlcs Hayward, who dis
covers that Chingachgook is missing, and Of
course compartments the cause of his absence,
and is not ignorant of his fatal success In
moment the Indian is again at his side, with the
scalp of the unsuspecting grenader in his belt,
while its recent owner was already sleeping in
the pond, whose waters had been so deeply
crimsoned with the blood of his countrymen be-
fore Finding themselves thus within the French
lines, it devolved upon Hawk-eye to lead them
out, and attempt their passage to the fort in
some other way. A project, to send the Indians
forward to clear a passage through the senti-
ncls by the silent use Of the knife was lected
Their guides then led them by crcuitous route,
and steep and rugged path, to the bald and
barren brow Of 1--WE believe French mountain.
The horses are dismissed and the morning
dawns Having brought his heroes to this lof-
ty peak, the author has fine opportunity of
sketchlng landscape which for variety and
beauty for wild and rugged grandeur, is not cx-
ceeded in the world Nor has he neglected the
opportunity. Rocks, mountains, glens. the float
ing mist, the French encampment, and the be
sieged garrison the plain below, and the scene
of placid beauty presented by the unrulficd bo-
som of the lake which lies lower STILL thckly
studded with islands, rapidly though dis
tinctly brought into view, forming together
landscape Of surprising interest and subllmity
But from the manner in which the fort is in
vested, it seems utterly mpracticable for the
fugtives to reach the garrison. Hawk-eve, how
ever, discovers rolling up from the long valley
of the lake, one Of those dense and palpable fogs