rear, they placed their bodies against the trunk of an oak, standing
on the side next the fire.

The view that Deerslayer now obtained of the camp was exactly the
reverse of that he had perceived from the water. The dim figures
which he had formerly discovered must have been on the summit of the
ridge, a few feet in advance of the spot where he was now posted.
The fire was still blazing brightly, and around it were seated on
logs thirteen warriors, which accounted for all whom he had seen
from the canoe. They were conversing, with much earnestness among
themselves, the image of the elephant passing from hand to hand.
The first burst of savage wonder had abated, and the question now
under discussion was the probable existence, the history and the
habits of so extraordinary an animal. We have not leisure to record
the opinions of these rude men on a subject so consonant to their
lives and experience; but little is hazarded in saying that they
were quite as plausible, and far more ingenious, than half the
conjectures that precede the demonstrations of science. However
much they may have been at fault as to their conclusions and
inferences, it is certain that they discussed the questions with a
zealous and most undivided attention. For the time being all else
was forgotten, and our adventurers could not have approached at a
more fortunate instant.

The females were collected near each other, much as Deerslayer
had last seen them, nearly in a line between the place where he
now stood and the fire. The distance from the oak against which
the young men leaned and the warriors was about thirty yards; the
women may have been half that number of yards nigher. The latter,
indeed, were so near as to make the utmost circumspection, as to