About 30 years ago, I entered a public speaking contest and performed
a short story about 2 Indian lovers who actually escape UP a cliff to
get away from their respective tribes and marry.  It is a very
humorous story, and the boyfriend is actually saved by a copy of "The
Deerslayer" in his back pocket -- a rival boyfriend shoots an arrow
up, but the book stops the arrow.  I cannot find the story anywhere,
and I've been searching for weeks, using every search time imaginable
and advanced search:  lover's leap, humorous, short story, deerslayer,
leapt up cliff, etc.  Sadly, I have no idea who the author was.

Could it be from the 1878 dimestore novel: The Hidden Lodge AKA The
Little Hunter of the Adirondacks by T.C. Harbaugh?

It was SO nice of you to answer and suggest this as a possibility, but
I really don't think this is it.  The author doesn't sound right,
neither of the titles sound right, and I don't think it was a
dimestore novel or written that long ago.  I did look up T.C. Harbaugh
on the Web and I don't see anything that leads me to think I might be
wrong and you are onto something!

But thank you again for trying!