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.»It had been mine for several years.It was with a view to people the land that I visited the lake.Natty treated me hospitably, but coldly, I thought, after he learnt the nature of my journey.I slept on his own bear-skin, however, and in the morning joined my surveyors again.«»Said he nothing of the Indian rights, sir? The Leather-stocking is much given to impeach the justice of the tenure by which the whites hold the country.«»I remember that he spoke of them, but I did not clearly comprehend him, and may have forgotten what he said; for the Indian title was extinguished so far back as the close of the old war; and if it had not been at all, I hold under the patents of the Royal Governors, confirmed by an act of our own State Legislature, and no court in the country can affect my title.«»Doubtless, sir, your title is both legal and equitable,« returned the youth, coldly, reining his horse back, and remaining silent till the subject was changed.It was seldom Mr.Jones suffered any conversation to continue, for a great length of time, without his participation.It seems that he was of the party that Judge Temple had designated as his surveyors; and he embraced the opportunity of the pause that succeeded the retreat of young Edwards, to take up the discourse, and with it a narration of their further proceedings, after his own manner.As it wanted, however, the interest that had accompanied the description of the Judge, we must decline the task of committing his sentences to paper.They soon reached the point where the promised view was to be seen.It was one of those picturesque and peculiar scenes, that belong to the Otsego, but which required the absence of the ice, and the softness of a summer's landscape, to be enjoyed in all its beauty.Marmaduke had early forewarned his daughter of the season, and of its effect on the prospect, and after casting a cursory glance at its capabilities, the party returned homeward, perfectly satisfied that its beauties would repay them for the toil of a second ride, at a more propitious season.»The spring is the gloomy time of the American year,« said the Judge; »and it is more peculiarly the case in these mountains.The winter seems to retreat to the fastnesses of the hills, as to the citadel of its dominion, and is only expelled, after a tedious siege, in which either party, at times, would seem to be gaining the victory.«»A very just and apposite figure, Judge Temple,« observed the Sheriff; »and the garrison under the command of Jack Frost make formidable sorties – you understand what I mean by sorties, Monsieur; sallies, in English – and sometimes drive General Spring and his troops back again into the low countries.«»Yes, sair,« returned the Frenchman, whose prominent eyes were watching the precarious footsteps of the beast he rode, as it picked its dangerous way among the roots of trees, holes, log-bridges, and sloughs, that formed the aggregate of the highway.»Je vous entend; de low countrie is freeze up for half de year.«The error of Mr.Le Quoi was not observed by the Sheriff; and the rest of the party were yielding to the influence of the changeful season, which was already teaching the equestrians that a continuance of its mildness was not to be expected for any length of time.Silence and thoughtfulness succeeded the gayety and conversation that had prevailed during the commencement of the ride, as clouds began to gather about the heavens, apparently collecting from every quarter, in quick motion, without the agency of a breath of air.While riding over one of the cleared eminences that occurred in their route, the watchful eye of Judge Temple pointed out to his daughter the approach of a tempest.Flurries of snow already obscured the mountain that formed the northern boundary of the lake, and the genial sensation which had quickened the blood through their veins, was already succeeded by the deadening influence of an approaching northwester
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