The Leatherstocking Tales II

by James Fenimore Cooper

  “I see, Harry March, I can only count on you as a fair weather friend, and I suppose that your companion will be of the same way of thinking—” returned the other, with a slight show of pride, that was not altogether without dignity, “well; I must depend on Providence, which will not turn a deaf ear, perhaps, to a father’s prayers.”

  “If you’ve understood Hurry, here, to mean that he intends to desart you,” said Deerslayer, with an earnest simplicity that gave double assurance of its truth, “I think you do him injustice, as I know you do me in supposing I would follow him, was he so ontrue-hearted as to leave a family of his own colour in such a strait as this. I’ve come on this lake, Master Hutter, to rende’vous a fri’nd, and I only wish he was here, himself, as I make no doubt he will be, at sunset to-morrow, when you’d have another rifle to aid you—an inexper’enced one, I’ll allow, like my own, but one that has proved true so often ag’in the game, big and little, that I’ll answer for its sarvice ag’in mortals.”

  “May I depend on you to stand by me and my daughters, then, Deerslayer?” demanded the old man with a father’s anxiety in his countenance.

  “That may you, Floating Tom, if that’s your name, and as a brother would stand by a sister, a husband his wife, or a suitor his sweetheart. In this strait, you may count on me, through all advarsities, and I think Hurry does discredit to his natur’, and wishes, if you can’t count on him.”

  “Not he,” cried Judith thrusting her handsome face out of the door, “his nature is hurry, as well as his name, and he’ll hurry off, as soon as he thinks his fine figure in danger. Neither ‘old Tom,’ nor his ‘gals’, will depend much on Master March, now they know him, but you they will rely on, Deerslayer; for your honest face, and as honest heart, tell us that what you promise you will perform.”

  This was said as much, perhaps, in affected scorn for Hurry as in sincerity; still it was not said without feeling. The fine face of Judith sufficiently proved the latter circumstance; and if the conscious March fancied that he had never seen in it, a stronger display of contempt—a feeling in which the beauty was apt to indulge—than while she was looking at him, it certainly seldom exhibited more of womanly softness and sensibility than when her speaking blue eyes were turned on his travelling companion.

  “Leave us, Judith,” Hutter ordered sternly, before either of the young men could reply. “Leave us, and do not return until you come with the venison and fish. The girl has been spoilt by the flattery of the officers who sometimes find their way up here, Master March, and you’ll not think any harm of her silly words.”

  “You never said truer syllable, old Tom,” retorted Hurry, who smarted under Judith’s observations—“The devil-tongued youngsters of the garrisons, have proved her undoing! I scarce know Jude any longer, and shall soon take to admiring her sister, who is getting to be much more to my fancy.”

  “I’m glad to hear this, Harry, and look upon it as a sign that you’re coming to your right senses. Hetty would make a much safer and more rational companion than Jude, and would be much the most likely to listen to your suit, as the officers have, I greatly fear, unsettled her sister’s mind.”

  “No man need a safer wife than Hetty,” said Hurry, laughing, “though I’ll not answer for her being of the most rational. But, no matter; Deerslayer has not misconceived me when he told you I should be found at my post. I’ll not quit you, uncle Tom, just now, whatever may be my feelin’s and intentions respecting your eldest darter.”

  Hurry had a respectable reputation for prowess among his associates, and Hutter heard this pledge with a satisfaction that was not concealed. Even the great personal strength of such an aid, became of moment in moving the Ark, as well as in the species of hand to hand conflicts that were not unfrequent in the woods, and no commander, who was hard pressed, could feel more joy at hearing of the arrival of reinforcements, than this borderer experienced at being told this important auxiliary was not about to quit him. A minute before, Hutter would have been well content to compromise his danger, by entering into a compact to act only on the defensive, but no sooner did he feel some security on this point, than the restlessness of man induced him to think of the means of carrying the war into the enemy’s country.

  “High prices are offered for scalps on both sides,” he observed with a grim smile, as if he felt the force of the inducement, at the very time he wished to affect a superiority to earning money by means that the ordinary feelings of those who aspire to be civilized men repudiated, even while they were adopted. “It is’nt right, perhaps, to take gold for human blood, and yet when mankind is busy in killing one another, there can be no great harm in adding a little bit of skin to the plunder. What’s your sentiments, Hurry, touching these p’ints.”

  “That you’ve made a vast mistake, old man, in calling savage blood, human blood, at all. I think no more of a red skin’s scalp, than I do of a pair of wolf’s ears; and would just as lief finger money for the one, as for the other. With white people ’tis different, for they’ve a nat’ral avarsion to being scalped, whereas your Indian shaves his head in readiness for the knife, and leaves a lock of hair, by way of braggadocia, that one can lay hold of, in the bargain.”

  “That’s manly, however, and I felt, from the first, that we had only to get you on our side, to have you heart and hand,” returned Tom, losing all his reserve, as he gained a renewed confidence in the dispositions of his companions. “Something more may turn up from this inroad of the red skins, than they have bargained for. Deerslayer, I conclude you’re of Hurry’s way of thinking, and look upon money ’arned in this way, as being as likely to pass, as money ’arned in trapping, or hunting.”

  “I’ve no such feelin’, nor any wish to harbor it, not I,” returned the other. “My gifts are not scalper’s gifts, but such as belong to my religion and colour. I’ll stand by you, old man, in the Ark, or in the castle, the canoe, or the woods, but I’ll not unhumanize my natur’ by falling into ways that God intended for another race. If you and Hurry have got any thoughts that lean towards the colony’s gold, go by yourselves in s’arch of it, and leave the females to my care. Much as I must differ from you both, on all gifts that do not properly belong to a white man, we shall agree that it is the duty of the strong to take care of the weak, especially when the last belong to them that natur’ intended man to protect and console by his gentleness and strength.”

  “Hurry Harry, that is a lesson you might learn and practise on to some advantage,” said the sweet but spirited voice of Judith, from the cabin, a proof that she had overheard all that had hitherto been said.

  “No more of this, Jude!” called out the father angrily. “Move further off; we are about to talk of matters unfit for a woman to listen to.”

  Hutter did not take any steps, however, to ascertain whether he was obeyed or not, but, dropping his voice a little, he pursued the discourse.

  “The young man is right, Hurry,” he said, “and we can leave the children in his care. Now, my idea is just this, and I think you’ll agree that it is rational and correct. There’s a large party of these savages on the shore, and, though I did’n’t tell it before the girls, for they’re womanish and apt to be troublesome when any thing like real work is to be done, there’s women among ’em. This I know from moccasin prints, and ’tis likely they are hunters, after all, who have been out so long that they know nothing of the war, or of the bounties—”

  “In which case, old Tom, why was their first salute an attempt to cut all our throats?”

  “We do’n’t know that their design was so bloody. It’s natural and easy for an Indian to fall into ambushes and surprises, and no doubt they wished to get on board the Ark first, and to make their conditions afterwards. That a disapp’inted savage should fire at us, is in rule, and I think nothing of that. Besides, how often have they burned me out, and robbed my traps—ay, and pulled trigger on me,—in the most peaceful times?”

  “The blackguards will do such things, I must allow, and
we pay ’em off pretty much in their own c’ine. Women would not be on the war-path, sartainly, and so far there’s reason in your idee.”

  “Nor would a hunter be in his war-paint,” returned Deerslayer. “I saw the Mingos, and know that they are out on the trail of mortal men, and not for beaver, or deer.”

  “There you have it ag’in, old fellow,” said Hurry. “In the way of an eye, now, I’d as soon trust this young man as trust the oldest settler in the colony; and if he says paint, why paint it was.”

  “Then a hunting party and a war-party have met, for women must have been with ’em. It’s only a few days since the runner went through with the tidings of the troubles, and it may be that warriors have come out to call in their women and children, and to get an early blow.”

  “That would stand the courts and is just the truth,” cried Hurry. “You’ve got it now, old Tom, and I should like to hear what you mean to make out of it?”

  “The bounty—” returned the other, looking up at his attentive companion, in a cool, sullen, manner, in which, however, heartless cupidity, and indifference to the means, were far more conspicuous than any feelings of animosity, or revenge. “If there’s women, there’s children, and big and little have scalps; the Colony pays for all alike.”

  “More shame to it, that it should do so,” interrupted Deerslayer; “more shame to it that it do’n’t understand its gifts, and pay greater attention to the will of God.”

  “Hearken to reason, lad, and do’n’t cry out afore you understand a case,” returned the unmoved Hurry. “The savages scalp—your fr’inds the Delawares, or Mohicans, whichever they may be, among the rest—and why should’n’t we scalp? I will own it would be ag’in right for you and I, now, to go into the settlements and bring out scalps, but it’s a very different matter as consarns Indians. A man should’n’t take scalps, if he is’n’t ready to be scalped, himself, on fitting occasions. One good turn desarves another, all the world over. That’s reason, and I believe it to be good religion.”

  “Ay, Master Hurry,” again interrupted the rich voice of Judith—“is it religion to say that one bad turn deserves another.”

  “I’ll never reason ag’in you, Judy, for you beat me with beauty, if you can’n’t with sense. Here’s the Canadas paying their Injins for scalps, and why not we pay—”

  “Our Indians!” exclaimed the girl, laughing with a sort of melancholy merriment. “Father—Father!—Think no more of this, and listen to the advice of Deerslayer, who has a conscience, which is more than I can say, or think, of Harry March.”

  Hutter now rose, and entering the cabin, he compelled his daughters to go into the adjoining room, when he secured both the doors and returned. Then he and Hurry pursued the subject, but, as the purport of all that was material in this discourse will appear in the narrative, it need not be related here, in detail. The reader, however, can have no difficulty in comprehending the morality that presided over their conference. It was in truth that, which, in some form or other, rules most of the acts of men, and in which the controlling principle is that one wrong will justify another. Their enemies paid for scalps, and this was sufficient to justify the colony for retaliating. It is true, the French used the same argument, a circumstance, as Hurry took occasion to observe in answer to one of Deerslayer’s objections, that proved its truth, as mortal enemies would not be likely to have recourse to the same reason, unless it were a good one. But, neither Hutter, nor Hurry was a man likely to stick at trifles, in matters connected with the rights of the aborigines, since it is one of the consequences of aggression that it hardens the conscience, as the only means of quieting it. In the most peaceable state of the country, a species of warfare was carried on between the Indians, especially those of the Canadas, and men of their caste, and the moment an actual and recognised warfare existed, it was regarded as the means of lawfully revenging a thousand wrongs, real and imaginary. Then, again, there was some truth, and a good deal of expediency in the principle of retaliation, of which they both availed themselves, in particular to answer the objections of their juster minded and more scrupulous companion.

  “You must fight a man with his own we’pons, Deerslayer,” cried Hurry, in his uncouth dialect, and in his dogmatical manner of disposing of all moral propositions—“If he’s f’erce, you must be f’ercer; if he’s stout of heart, you must be stouter. This is the way to get the better of christian, or savage; by keepin’ up to this trail, you’ll get soonest to the ind of your journey.”

  “That’s not Moravian doctrine, which teaches that all are to be judged according to their talents, or l’arning; the Injin like an Injin, and the white-man like a white-man. Some of their teachers say that if you’re struck on the cheek, it’s a duty to turn the other side of the face, and take another blow, instead of seeking revenge, whereby I understand—”

  “That’s enough!” shouted Hurry. “That’s all I want to prove a man’s doctrine! How long would it take to kick a man through the colony—in at one ind, and out at the other—on that principle?”

  “Do’n’t mistake me, March,” returned the young hunter, with dignity. “I do’n’t understand by this any more than that it’s best to do this, if possible. Revenge is an Injin gift, and forgiveness a white-man’s. That’s all. Overlook all you can, is what’s meant, and not revenge all you can. As for kicking, Master Hurry—” Deerslayer’s sun burnt cheek flushed, as he continued—“into the colony, or out of the colony, that’s neither here nor there, seeing no one proposes it, and no one would be likely to put up with it. What I wish to say is that a red skin’s scalping, do’n’t justify a pale face’s scalping.”

  “Do as you’re done by, Deerslayer; that’s even the christian parsons’ doctrine.”

  “No, Hurry, I’ve asked the Moravians consarning that, and it’s altogether different. ‘Do as you would be done by,’ they tell me is the true saying, while men practyse the false. They think all the colonies wrong that offer bounties for scalps, and believe no blessing will follow the measures. Above all things they forbid revenge.”

  “That for your Moravians!” cried March, snapping his fingers. “They’re the next thing to quakers, and if you’d believe all they tell you, not even a ’rat would be skinned, out of marcy. Who ever heard of marcy on a muskrat!”

  The disdainful manner of Hurry prevented a reply, and he and the old man resumed the discussion of their plans in a more quiet and confidential manner. This conference lasted until Judith appeared, bearing the simple but savory supper. March observed, with a little surprise, that she placed the choicest bits before Deerslayer, and that in the little nameless attentions it was in her power to bestow, she quite obviously manifested a desire to let it be seen that she deemed him the honored guest. Accustomed, however, to the waywardness and coquetry of the beauty, this discovery gave him little concern, and he ate with an appetite that was in no degree disturbed by any moral causes. The easily digested food of the forests offering the fewest possible obstacles to the gratification of this great animal indulgence, Deerslayer, notwithstanding the hearty meal both had taken in the woods, was in no manner behind his companions in doing justice to the viands.

  An hour later the scene had greatly changed. The lake was still placid and glassy, but the gloom of the hour had succeeded to the soft twilight of a summer evening, and all within the dark setting of the woods lay in the quiet repose of night. The forests gave up no song, or cry, or even murmur, but looked down from the hills on the lovely basin they encircled in solemn stillness, and the only sound that was audible was the regular dip of the sweeps, at which Hurry and Deerslayer lazily pushed, impelling the Ark towards the Castle. Hutter had withdrawn to the stern of the scow, in order to steer, but finding that the young men kept even strokes, and held the desired course by their own skill, he had permitted the oar to drag in the water, taken a seat on the end of the vessel and lighted his pipe. He had not been thus placed many minutes, ere Hetty came stealthily out of the cabin, or house, as they usual
ly termed that part of the Ark, and placed herself at his feet, on a little bench that she had brought with her. As this movement was by no means unusual in his feeble minded child, the old man paid no other attention to it, than to lay his hand kindly on her head, in an affectionate and approving manner, an act of grace that the girl received in meek silence.

  After a pause of several minutes, Hetty began to sing. Her voice was low and tremulous, but it was earnest and solemn. The words and the tune were of the simplest form, the first being a hymn that she had been taught by her mother, and the last one of those natural melodies that find favor with all classes, in every age, coming from, and being addressed to, the feelings. Hutter never listened to this simple strain without finding his heart and manner softened, facts that his daughter well knew, and by which she had often profited, through the sort of holy instinct that enlightens the weak of mind, more especially in their aims toward good.

  Hetty’s low, sweet, tones had not been raised many moments, when the dip of the oars ceased, and the holy strain arose singly, on the breathing silence of that wilderness. As if she gathered courage with her theme, her powers appeared to increase as she proceeded, and, though nothing vulgar or noisy mingled in her melody, its strength and melancholy tenderness grew on the ear, until the air was filled with this simple homage of a soul that seemed almost spotless. That the men forward were not indifferent to this touching interruption was proved by their inaction, nor did their oars again dip until the last of the sweet sounds had actually died among the remarkable echoes, which, at that witching hour would waft, even the lowest modulations of the human voice, more than a mile. Hutter was much affected, for, rude as he was by early habits, and even ruthless as he had got to be by long exposure to the practices of the wilderness, his nature was of that fearful mixture of good and evil, that so generally enters into the moral composition of man.