The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-02-09


 sHThe Deerslayer,' is the first of the Leather Stocking tales in point of se- quence so far as the stories are concern ed, but in point of publication 1t IS the last. It was long after Cooper had wrlt- ten 'The Prairie" in which he desr1pes' the death of his hero, that he wrote 'The Deerslayer in which the famous young hunter makes his appearenoe.
 This hero, Natty Bumppo Is Coopers one great achievement in character draw ing. All his other characters, picturesque and romantic though they may be, are merely accessories; but Natty Bumppo was hailed as 'one of the great prize men of fiction" by even so exacting criuc as 1hackeray.
 For modern taste, Deerslayer or Leat-l- CT Stocking. or Pathfinder, or Hawkeye call of which names are given to Bumppo in the various novels) is too suited in his conversation and too much afflicted by gift of introspection; but the stories are thrilling, and the description of natural scenes in the young America are beyond price.
 IN the eighteenth century, few years
 before the time of the French and 4 Indian wars, a strange structure be- gan to uprear itself in the middle of Lake Otsego, which then lay in that untrodden wilderness that is now central New 4ork. There in solitude so utter that even the Indians visited it only occasionally as chance rowing bands, an adventurer or mysterious antecedents who had appeared suddenly in the Mohawk Valley settle anents began to build for himself hapl- tation that probably was different from any other existing then in any part of the Western world.
 Instead of building a log cabin in the Ya1a fha nf ly adopted, he drove great spiles into shoal that rose to within few feet Of the surface-the only shoal in this whole body of water. On these spiles he erected a massive dwelling of logs fully two rect thick, loopholed for rifles and provided with a further protection in the shape pr a palisade of saplings driven into the shoal and open only at one entrance, where a platform offered a landing place.
 The very daring of this plan formed It's security. Though it was so conspicuous as to catch the eye of any intruder on those lonely shores, it was quite 1naccess- ible except by boat; and the spells to be obtained were hardly sufficient to induce Indians to transport or make birch-bark canoes for the purpose of attack. while the expedient of attacking by raft threw all the hazard on the assailing party.
 In this water fort the owner, who called himself Thomas Hutter, lived with Ais y, sidered a little deranged, or at least fee ble-minded, and Judith, a dark, glowing beauty. who had turned the head of more than one British officer in the settle ments, and, If rumor spoke truly, had not withstood their wooing with entire blamelessness.
 When they first entered their remote and lonely home there was another mem- Der in their household-the wife and mother, a beautiful, gentle, distinguished woman, strangely different from the rough savage man whose name she bore. She had not lived long after entering. the Will derness, and lay buried in the deepest part of the lake.
 For the purpose of trapping and hunt ing, Thomas Hutter built great vessel, scow-lke in construction, bearing long deck house with sides thick enough to be fire-proof: In this he cruised up and down the nine miles length of his watery domain, using sweeps in calm or head winds and sailing with big, square sail when the breeze favored.
 The Ark" as it was known to the few frotiersmen who visited the lake, was absent on one of these expeditions, when two young men broke through the June forest, and, after casting about in the un- derbrush for some time, drew forth a birch-bark canoe from the hollow or fallen tree, where 1t had been hidden. Their garments of tanned deerskin marked them as wilderness hunters, while the names by which they addressed each other would have proclaimed them to any frontiersman two of the most famous of the adventurous spirits who made the lonely trails of the great primeval forest that stretched between the St. Lawrence and the headwaters of the Delaware river.
 Though they had made their way to- gether from the settlements. they were only chance companions. The gigantic Hurry Harry, so named because of his nasty and impetuous temper, was press ing forward as a messenger of war to warn the Hutters that the French and their Iroquois Indian allies were moving from the north to attack the English and their allies. the Delawares.
 The other hunter, Nathaniel Bumppo. named Deerslayer by the Delawares, with whom he lived, was on his way to meet his friend Chingachgook, son of the Mo hican chief Uncas, the noblest of the Delaware tribes These two young men were to start together on dual mission. It was to be their first warpath. for they were to fight on the side of the English; and in addition they were in search of Chfngachgooks Indian sweetheart, Hist, who had been stolen from her wigwam by Mohlcen renegade, Yocommon, or Briar- thorn and carried off to an Iroquos band This band had moved down into the region around Otsego to hunt and fish, and the two men had arranged to pierce the forests from different directions and meet at a rock in the lower part of the lake.
 Having padded to the castle and found 1t deserted the two hunters proceeded cautiously down the lake, judging cor rectly that Hutter had worked his ark into the tree-hidden, marrow river that formed its outlet It was not easy for .tr.<~ so thoroughly had 1t been masked by na- ture with overhanglng vegetation Just within the river, holding it's position in the swift stream by means of long cable fastened to an anchor laiu far out in the lake, they discovered the ark.
 They found old Hutter prepared for their news, for after he had entered the river he had come across the trail of 8 large hunting party; and he was anx- ious and disturbed lest the Indians should cut him off before he could get the ark out of the close quarters in which she lay. The three men wasted little time in talk, but hurried the girls into the security of the cabin and hauled powerfully on the cable. To their joy, the unwieldy craft cleared the narrowest part of the river without interference and reached spot where the open lake could be seen.
 In obedience to instructions Deerslayer then retired into the cabin and watched through the loopholes for attack from astern, while the other two men, com Daratively secure in the bow, hauled up to 6Ae grapnel that lay in the lake.
 4ha ark In c1ea ring the r1pith of tha