The Prairie

by James Fenimore Cooper

  CHAPTER VI

  He is too picked, too spruce, too affected, too odd, As it were too peregrinate, as I may call it. --Shakspeare.

  The Anglo-American is apt to boast, and not without reason, that hisnation may claim a descent more truly honourable than that of any otherpeople whose history is to be credited. Whatever might have been theweaknesses of the original colonists, their virtues have rarely beendisputed. If they were superstitious, they were sincerely pious, and,consequently, honest. The descendants of these simple and single-mindedprovincials have been content to reject the ordinary and artificialmeans by which honours have been perpetuated in families, and havesubstituted a standard which brings the individual himself to the ordealof the public estimation, paying as little deference as may be to thosewho have gone before him. This forbearance, self-denial, or commonsense, or by whatever term it may be thought proper to distinguish themeasure, has subjected the nation to the imputation of having an ignobleorigin. Were it worth the enquiry, it would be found that more than ajust proportion of the renowned names of the mother-country are, at thishour, to be found in her ci-devant colonies; and it is a fact well knownto the few who have wasted sufficient time to become the masters of sounimportant a subject, that the direct descendants of many a failingline, which the policy of England has seen fit to sustain by collateralsupporters, are now discharging the simple duties of citizens in thebosom of this republic. The hive has remained stationary, and theywho flutter around the venerable straw are wont to claim the emptydistinction of antiquity, regardless alike of the frailty of theirtenement and of the enjoyments of the numerous and vigorous swarmsthat are culling the fresher sweets of a virgin world. But as this is asubject which belongs rather to the politician and historian than tothe humble narrator of the homebred incidents we are about to reveal,we must confine our reflections to such matters as have an immediaterelation to the subject of the tale.

  Although the citizen of the United States may claim so just an ancestry,he is far from being exempt from the penalties of his fallen race. Likecauses are well known to produce like effects. That tribute, which itwould seem nations must ever pay, by way of a weary probation, aroundthe shrine of Ceres, before they can be indulged in her fullest favours,is in some measure exacted in America, from the descendant instead ofthe ancestor. The march of civilisation with us, has a strong analogyto that of all coming events, which are known "to cast their shadowsbefore." The gradations of society, from that state which is calledrefined to that which approaches as near barbarity as connection with anintelligent people will readily allow, are to be traced from the bosomof the States, where wealth, luxury and the arts are beginning to seatthemselves, to those distant, and ever-receding borders which markthe skirts, and announce the approach, of the nation, as moving mistsprecede the signs of day.

  Here, and here only, is to be found that widely spread, though far fromnumerous class, which may be at all likened to those who have pavedthe way for the intellectual progress of nations, in the old world. Theresemblance between the American borderer and his European prototypeis singular, though not always uniform. Both might be called withoutrestraint; the one being above, the other beyond the reach of thelaw--brave, because they were inured to dangers--proud, because theywere independent, and vindictive, because each was the avenger of hisown wrongs. It would be unjust to the borderer to pursue the parallelmuch farther. He is irreligious, because he has inherited the knowledgethat religion does not exist in forms, and his reason rejects mockery.He is not a knight, because he has not the power to bestow distinctions;and he has not the power, because he is the offspring and not the parentof a system. In what manner these several qualities are exhibited, insome of the most strongly marked of the latter class, will be seen inthe course of the ensuing narrative.

  Ishmael Bush had passed the whole of a life of more than fifty years onthe skirts of society. He boasted that he had never dwelt where he mightnot safely fell every tree he could view from his own threshold; thatthe law had rarely been known to enter his clearing, and that his earshad never willingly admitted the sound of a church bell. His exertionsseldom exceeded his wants, which were peculiar to his class, and rarelyfailed of being supplied. He had no respect for any learning except thatof the leech; because he was ignorant of the application of anyother intelligence than such as met the senses. His deference tothis particular branch of science had induced him to listen to theapplication of a medical man, whose thirst for natural history had ledhim to the desire of profiting by the migratory propensities of thesquatter. This gentleman he had cordially received into his family, orrather under his protection, and they had journeyed together, thus farthrough the prairies, in perfect harmony: Ishmael often felicitating hiswife on the possession of a companion, who would be so serviceable intheir new abode, wherever it might chance to be, until the family werethoroughly "acclimated." The pursuits of the naturalist frequently ledhim, however, for days at a time, from the direct line of the route ofthe squatter, who rarely seemed to have any other guide than the sun.Most men would have deemed themselves fortunate to have been absent onthe perilous occasion of the Sioux inroad, as was Obed Bat, (or as hewas fond of hearing himself called, Battius,) M.D. and fellow of severalcis-Atlantic learned societies--the adventurous gentleman in question.

  Although the sluggish nature of Ishmael was not actually awakened, itwas sorely pricked by the liberties which had just been taken with hisproperty. He slept, however, for it was the hour he had allotted to thatrefreshment, and because he knew how impotent any exertions to recoverhis effects must prove in the darkness of midnight. He also knew thedanger of his present situation too well to hazard what was left inpursuit of that which was lost. Much as the inhabitants of the prairieswere known to love horses, their attachment to many other articles,still in the possession of the travellers, was equally well understood.It was a common artifice to scatter the herds, and to profit by theconfusion. But Mahtoree had, as it would seem in this particularundervalued the acuteness of the man he had assailed. The phlegm withwhich the squatter learned his loss, has already been seen, and it nowremains to exhibit the results of his more matured determinations.

  Though the encampment contained many an eye that was long unclosed, andmany an ear that listened greedily to catch the faintest evidence ofany new alarm, it lay in deep quiet during the remainder of the night.Silence and fatigue finally performed their accustomed offices, andbefore the morning all but the sentinels were again buried in sleep. Howwell these indolent watchers discharged their duties, after the assault,has never been known, inasmuch as nothing occurred to confirm or todisprove their subsequent vigilance.

  Just as day, however, began to dawn, and a grey light was falling fromthe heavens, on the dusky objects of the plain, the half startled,anxious, and yet blooming countenance of Ellen Wade was reared above theconfused mass of children, among whom she had clustered on her stolenreturn to the camp. Arising warily she stepped lightly across therecumbent bodies, and proceeded with the same caution to the utmostlimits of the defences of Ishmael. Here she listened, as if she doubtedthe propriety of venturing further. The pause was only momentary,however; and long before the drowsy eyes of the sentinel, who overlookedthe spot where she stood, had time to catch a glimpse of her activeform, it had glided along the bottom, and stood on the summit of thenearest eminence.

  Ellen now listened intently anxious to catch some other sound, than thebreathing of the morning air, which faintly rustled the herbage at herfeet. She was about to turn in disappointment from the enquiry, when thetread of human feet making their way through the matted grass met herear. Springing eagerly forward, she soon beheld the outlines of a figureadvancing up the eminence, on the side opposite to the camp. She hadalready uttered the name of Paul, and was beginning to speak in thehurried and eager voice with which female affection is apt to greet afriend, when, drawing back, the disappointed girl closed her salutationby coldly adding--"I did
not expect, Doctor, to meet you at this unusualhour."

  "All hours and all seasons are alike, my good Ellen, to the genuinelover of nature,"--returned a small, slightly made, but exceedinglyactive man, dressed in an odd mixture of cloth and skins, a littlepast the middle age, and who advanced directly to her side, with thefamiliarity of an old acquaintance; "and he who does not know how tofind things to admire by this grey light, is ignorant of a large portionof the blessings he enjoys."

  "Very true," said Ellen, suddenly recollecting the necessity ofaccounting for her own appearance abroad at that unseasonable hour; "Iknow many who think the earth has a pleasanter look in the night, thanwhen seen by the brightest sunshine."

  "Ah! Their organs of sight must be too convex! But the man who wishesto study the active habits of the feline race, or the variety, albinos,must, indeed, be stirring at this hour. I dare say, there are men whoprefer even looking at objects by twilight, for the simple reason, thatthey see better at that time of the day."

  "And is this the cause why you are so much abroad in the night?"

  "I am abroad at night, my good girl, because the earth in its diurnalrevolutions leaves the light of the sun but half the time on any givenmeridian, and because what I have to do cannot be performed in twelve orfifteen consecutive hours. Now have I been off two days from the family,in search of a plant, that is known to exist on the tributaries ofLa Platte, without seeing even a blade of grass that is not alreadyenumerated and classed."

  "You have been unfortunate, Doctor, but--"

  "Unfortunate!" echoed the little man, sideling nigher to his companion,and producing his tablets with an air in which exultation struggled,strangely, with an affectation of self-abasement. "No, no, Ellen, I amany thing but unfortunate. Unless, indeed, a man may be so called, whosefortune is made, whose fame may be said to be established for ever,whose name will go down to posterity with that of Buffon--Buffon! a merecompiler: one who flourishes on the foundation of other men's labours.No; pari passu with Solander, who bought his knowledge with pain andprivations!"

  "Have you discovered a mine, Doctor Bat?"

  "More than a mine; a treasure coined, and fit for instant use,girl.--Listen! I was making the angle necessary to intersect the line ofyour uncle's march, after my fruitless search, when I heard sounds likethe explosion produced by fire arms--"

  "Yes," exclaimed Ellen, eagerly, "we had an alarm--"

  "And thought I was lost," continued the man of science too much bent onhis own ideas, to understand her interruption. "Little danger of that!I made my own base, knew the length of the perpendicular by calculation,and to draw the hypothenuse had nothing to do but to work my angle. Isupposed the guns were fired for my benefit, and changed my coursefor the sounds--not that I think the sense more accurate, or even asaccurate as a mathematical calculation, but I feared that some of thechildren might need my services."

  "They are all happily--"

  "Listen," interrupted the other, already forgetting his affected anxietyfor his patients, in the greater importance of the present subject. "Ihad crossed a large tract of prairie--for sound is conveyed far wherethere is little obstruction--when I heard the trampling of feet, as ifbisons were beating the earth. Then I caught a distant view of a herdof quadrupeds, rushing up and down the swells--animals, which wouldhave still remained unknown and undescribed, had it not been for a mostfelicitous accident! One, and he a noble specimen of the whole! wasrunning a little apart from the rest. The herd made an inclination in mydirection, in which the solitary animal coincided, and this broughthim within fifty yards of the spot where I stood. I profited by theopportunity, and by the aid of steel and taper, I wrote his descriptionon the spot. I would have given a thousand dollars, Ellen, for a singleshot from the rifle of one of the boys!"

  "You carry a pistol, Doctor, why didn't you use it?" said the halfinattentive girl, anxiously examining the prairie, but still lingeringwhere she stood, quite willing to be detained.

  "Ay, but it carries nothing but the most minute particles of lead,adapted to the destruction of the larger insects and reptiles. No, I didbetter than to attempt waging a war, in which I could not be thevictor. I recorded the event; noting each particular with the precisionnecessary to science. You shall hear, Ellen; for you are a good andimproving girl, and by retaining what you learn in this way, may yet beof great service to learning, should any accident occur to me. Indeed,my worthy Ellen, mine is a pursuit, which has its dangers as well asthat of the warrior. This very night," he continued, glancing his eyebehind him, "this awful night, has the principle of life, itself, beenin great danger of extinction!"

  "By what?"

  "By the monster I have discovered. It approached me often, and ever as Ireceded, it continued to advance. I believe nothing but the littlelamp, I carried, was my protector. I kept it between us, whilst I wrote,making it serve the double purpose of luminary and shield. But you shallhear the character of the beast, and you may then judge of the risks wepromoters of science run in behalf of mankind."

  The naturalist raised his tablets to the heavens, and disposed himselfto read as well as he could, by the dim light they yet shed upon theplain; premising with saying--

  "Listen, girl, and you shall hear, with what a treasure it has been myhappy lot to enrich the pages of natural history!"

  "Is it then a creature of your forming?" said Ellen, turning away fromher fruitless examination, with a sudden lighting of her sprightly blueeyes, that showed she knew how to play with the foible of her learnedcompanion.

  "Is the power to give life to inanimate matter the gift of man? I wouldit were! You should speedily see a Historia Naturalis Americana, thatwould put the sneering imitators of the Frenchman, De Buffon, to shame!A great improvement might be made in the formation of all quadrupeds;especially those in which velocity is a virtue. Two of the inferiorlimbs should be on the principle of the lever; wheels, perhaps, as theyare now formed; though I have not yet determined whether the improvementmight be better applied to the anterior or posterior members, inasmuchas I am yet to learn whether dragging or shoving requires the greatestmuscular exertion. A natural exudation of the animal might assist inovercoming the friction, and a powerful momentum be obtained. But allthis is hopeless--at least for the present!"--he added, raising histablets again to the light, and reading aloud; "Oct. 6, 1805. that'smerely the date, which I dare say you know better than I--mem.Quadruped; seen by star-light, and by the aid of a pocket-lamp, inthe prairies of North America--see Journal for Latitude and Meridian.Genus--unknown; therefore named after the discoverer, and from thehappy coincidence of being seen in the evening--Vespertilio Horribilis,Americanus. Dimensions (by estimation)--Greatest length, eleven feet;height, six feet; head, erect; nostrils, expansive; eyes, expressiveand fierce; teeth, serrated and abundant; tail, horizontal, waving,and slightly feline; feet, large and hairy; talons, long, curvated,dangerous; ears, inconspicuous; horns, elongated, diverging, andformidable; colour, plumbeous-ashy, with fiery spots; voice, sonorous,martial, and appalling; habits, gregarious, carnivorous, fierce, andfearless. There," exclaimed Obed, when he had ended this sententious butcomprehensive description, "there is an animal, which will be likely todispute with the lion his title to be called the king of the beasts!"

  "I know not the meaning of all you have said, Doctor Battius," returnedthe quick-witted girl, who understood the weakness of the philosopher,and often indulged him with a title he loved so well to hear; "but Ishall think it dangerous to venture far from the camp, if such monstersare prowling over the prairies."

  "You may well call it prowling," returned the naturalist, nestling stillcloser to her side, and dropping his voice to such low and undignifiedtones of confidence, as conveyed a meaning still more pointed thanhe had intended. "I have never before experienced such a trial of thenervous system; there was a moment, I acknowledge, when the fortiter inre faltered before so terrible an enemy; but the love of natural sciencebore me up, and brought me off in triumph!"

  "You speak a langu
age so different from that we use in Tennessee," saidEllen, struggling to conceal her laughter, "that I hardly know whetherI understand your meaning. If I am right, you wish to say you werechicken-hearted."

  "An absurd simile drawn from an ignorance of the formation of the biped.The heart of a chicken has a just proportion to its other organs, andthe domestic fowl is, in a state of nature, a gallant bird. Ellen," headded, with a countenance so solemn as to produce an impression on theattentive girl, "I was pursued, hunted, and in a danger that I scorn todwell on--what's that?"

  Ellen started; for the earnestness and simple sincerity of hercompanion's manner had produced a certain degree of credulity, even onher buoyant mind. Looking in the direction indicated by the Doctor,she beheld, in fact, a beast coursing over the prairie, and making astraight and rapid approach to the very spot they occupied. The day wasnot yet sufficiently advanced to enable her to distinguish its form andcharacter, though enough was discernible to induce her to imagine it afierce and savage animal.

  "It comes! it comes!" exclaimed the Doctor, fumbling, by a sort ofinstinct, for his tablets, while he fairly tottered on his feet underthe powerful efforts he made to maintain his ground. "Now, Ellen,has fortune given me an opportunity to correct the errors made bystar-light,--hold,--ashy-plumbeous,--no ears,--horns, excessive." Hisvoice and hand were both arrested by a roar, or rather a shriek from thebeast, that was sufficiently terrific to appal even a stouter heart thanthat of the naturalist. The cries of the animal passed over the prairiein strange cadences, and then succeeded a deep and solemn silence,that was only broken by an uncontrolled fit of merriment from the moremusical voice of Ellen Wade. In the mean time the naturalist stoodlike a statue of amazement, permitting a well-grown ass, against whoseapproach he no longer offered his boasted shield of light, to smellabout his person, without comment or hinderance.

  "It is your own ass," cried Ellen, the instant she found breath forwords; "your own patient, hard working, hack!"

  The Doctor rolled his eyes from the beast to the speaker, and from thespeaker to the beast; but gave no audible expression of his wonder.

  "Do you refuse to know an animal that has laboured so long in yourservice?" continued the laughing girl. "A beast, that I have heard yousay a thousand times, has served you well, and whom you loved like abrother!"

  "Asinus Domesticus!" ejaculated the Doctor, drawing his breath like onewho had been near suffocation. "There is no doubt of the genus; and Iwill always maintain that the animal is not of the species, equus.This is undeniably Asinus himself, Ellen Wade; but this is not theVespertilio Horribilis of the prairies! Very different animals, Ican assure you, young woman, and differently characterized in everyimportant particular. That, carnivorous," he continued, glancing hiseye at the open page of his tablets; "this, granivorous; habits, fierce,dangerous; habits, patient, abstemious; ears, inconspicuous; ears,elongated; horns, diverging, &c., horns, none!"

  He was interrupted by another burst of merriment from Ellen, whichserved, in some measure, to recall him to his recollection.

  "The image of the Vespertilio was on the retina," the astounded enquirerinto the secrets of nature observed, in a manner that seemed a littleapologetic, "and I was silly enough to mistake my own faithful beast forthe monster. Though even now I greatly marvel to see this animal runningat large!"

  Ellen then proceeded to explain the history of the attack and itsresults. She described, with an accuracy that might have raisedsuspicions of her own movements in the mind of one less simple than herauditor, the manner in which the beasts burst out of the encampment,and the headlong speed with which they had dispersed themselves overthe open plain. Although she forebore to say as much in terms, sheso managed as to present before the eyes of her listener the strongprobability of his having mistaken the frightened drove for savagebeasts, and then terminated her account by a lamentation for their loss,and some very natural remarks on the helpless condition in which ithad left the family. The naturalist listened in silent wonder, neitherinterrupting her narrative nor suffering a single exclamation ofsurprise to escape him. The keen-eyed girl, however, saw that as sheproceeded, the important leaf was torn from the tablets, in a mannerwhich showed that their owner had got rid of his delusion at the sameinstant. From that moment the world has heard no more of the VespertilioHorribilis Americanus, and the natural sciences have irretrievably lostan important link in that great animated chain which is said to connectearth and heaven, and in which man is thought to be so familiarlycomplicated with the monkey.

  When Dr. Bat was put in full possession of all the circumstances of theinroad, his concern immediately took a different direction. He had leftsundry folios, and certain boxes well stored with botanical specimensand defunct animals, under the good keeping of Ishmael, and itimmediately struck his acute mind, that marauders as subtle as theSiouxes would never neglect the opportunity to despoil him of thesetreasures. Nothing that Ellen could say to the contrary served toappease his apprehensions, and, consequently, they separated; he torelieve his doubts and fears together, and she to glide, as swiftly andsilently as she had just before passed it, into the still and solitarytent.