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Stories of the Woods; Or, Adventures of Leather-Stocking, Selected From the "leather-Stocking Tales"
Stories of the Woods Or Adventures of Leather-Stocking Selected From the leather-Stocking Tales Author:James Fenimore Cooper General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1863 Original Publisher: J. G. Gregory Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can s... more »elect from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER III. DEERSLAYER A PRISONER. Deerslayer, after tripping up the old woman, was not long in gaining the beach, where Chingachgook was already in the canoe, with Hist, anxiously waiting his appearance. Laying his rifle in the bottom of the canoe, Deerslayer stooped to give the latter a vigorous shove from the shore, when a powerful In- 'dian leaped through the bushes, alighting like a panther on his back. Everything was now suspended by a hair -- a false step ruining all. With a generosity that would have rendered a Roman illustrious throughout all time, but which, in the career of one so simple and humble, would have been forever lost to the world, but for this unpretending legend, Deerslayer threw all his force into a desperate effort, shoved the canoe off with a power that sent it a hundred feet from the shore as it might be in an instant, and fell forward into the lake, himself, face downward; -his assailant necessarily following him. Although the water was deep within a few yards of the beach, it was not more than breast-high as close in as the spot where the two combatants fell. Still this was quite sufficient to destroy one who hadsnnk under the great disadvantages in which Deer- slayer was placed. His hands were free, however, and the savage was compelled to relinquish his hug to keep his own face above the surface. For half a minute there was a desperate struggle, like the floundering of an alligator that has just seized some powerful prey, and then both stood erect, grasping each other's arms, in order to prevent the use of the deadly knife in the dark...« less