“My brother will stay here with the scow. Wah! will soon be standing on the shore waiting, and Chingachgook must hasten.”
The Indian then joined his two coadventurers, and first lowering the sail, they all three entered a canoe, and left the side of the Ark. Neither Hutter nor March spoke to Deerslayer concerning their object, or the probable length of their absence. All this had been confided to the Indian, who had acquitted himself of the trust with characteristic brevity. As soon as the canoe was out of sight, and that occurred ere the paddles had given a dozen strokes, Deerslayer made the best dispositions he could to keep the Ark as nearly stationary as possible, and then he sat down in the end of the scow, to chew the cud of his own bitter reflections. It was not long, however, before he was joined by Judith, who now sought every occasion to be near him, managing her attack on his affections, with the address that was suggested by native coquetry aided by no little practice, but which received much of its most dangerous power, from the touch of feeling that threw around her manner, voice, accents, thoughts and acts the indescribable witchery of natural tenderness. Leaving the young hunter exposed to these dangerous assailants, it has become our more immediate business to follow the party in the canoe, to the shore.
The controlling influence that led Hutter and Hurry to repeat their experiment against the camp was precisely that which had induced the first attempt, a little heightened, perhaps, by the desire of revenge. But, neither of these two rude beings, so ruthless in all things that touched the rights and interests of the red man, though possessing veins of human feeling on other matters, was much actuated by any other desire than a heartless longing for profit. Hurry had felt angered at his sufferings, when first liberated, it is true, but that emotion soon disappeared in the habitual love of gold, which he sought with the reckless avidity of a needy spendthrift, rather than with the ceaseless longings of a miser. In short, the motive that urged them both so soon to go against the Hurons was an habitual contempt of their enemy, acting on the unceasing cupidity of prodigality. The additional chances of success, however, had their place in the formation of the second enterprise. It was known that a large portion of the warriors—perhaps all—were encamped for the night, abreast of the castle, and it was hoped that the scalps of helpless victims would be the consequence. To confess the truth, Hutter in particular—he who had just left two daughters behind him—expected to find few besides women and children in the camp. This fact had been but slightly alluded to, in his communications with Hurry, and with Chingachgook it had been kept entirely out of view. If the Indian thought of it at all, it was known only to himself.
Hutter steered the canoe; Hurry had manfully taken his post in the bows, and Chingachgook stood in the centre. We say stood, for all three were so skilled in the management of that species of frail bark, as to be able to keep erect positions, in the midst of the darkness. The approach to the shore was made with great caution, and the landing effected in safety. The three now prepared their arms, and began their tiger-like approach upon the camp. The Indian was on the lead, his two companions treading in his footsteps, with a stealthy cautiousness of manner, that rendered their progress almost literally noiseless. Occasionally a dried twig snapped under the heavy weight of the gigantic Hurry, or the blundering clumsiness of the old man, but, had the Indian walked on air his step could not have seemed lighter. The great object was first to discover the position of the fire, which was known to be the centre of the whole encampment. At length the keen eye of Chingachgook caught a glimpse of this important guide. It was glimmering at a distance, among the trunks of trees. There was no blaze, but merely a single smouldering brand, as suited the hour; the savages usually retiring and rising with the revolutions of the sun.
As soon as a view was obtained of this beacon, the progress of the adventurers became swifter and more certain. In a few minutes they got to the edge of the circle of little huts. Here they stopped to survey their ground, and to concert their movements. The darkness was so deep, as to render it difficult to distinguish any thing but the glowing brand, the trunks of the nearest trees, and the endless canopy of leaves that veiled the clouded heaven. It was ascertained, however, that a hut was quite near, and Chingachgook attempted to reconnoitre its interior. The manner in which the Indian approached the place that was supposed to contain enemies, resembled the wily advances of the cat on the bird. As he drew near he stooped to his hands and knees, for the entrance was so low as to require this attitude, even as a convenience. Before trusting his head inside, however, he listened long to catch the breathings of sleepers. No sound was audible, and this human Serpent thrust his head in at the door, or opening, as another serpent would have peered in at the nest. Nothing rewarded the hazardous experiment, for, after feeling cautiously with a hand, the place was found to be empty.
The Delaware proceeded in the same guarded manner to one or two more of the huts, finding all in the same situation. He then returned to his companions, and informed them, that the Hurons had deserted their camp. A little further enquiry corroborated this fact, and it only remained to return to the canoe. The different manner in which the adventurers bore the disappointment, is worthy of a passing remark. The chief, who had landed solely with the hope of acquiring renown, stood stationary, leaning against a tree waiting the pleasure of his companions. He was mortified, and a little surprised it is true, but he bore all with dignity, falling back for support on the sweeter expectations that still lay in reserve for that evening. It was true, he could not now hope to meet his mistress with the proofs of his daring and skill on his person, but he might still hope to meet her; and the warrior, who was zealous in the search, might always hope to be honored. On the other hand, Hutter and Hurry, who had chiefly been instigated by the basest of all human motives, the thirst of gain, could scarce control their feelings. They went prowling among the huts, as if they expected to find some forgotten child, or careless sleeper, and, again and again, did they vent their spite on the insensible huts, several of which were actually torn to pieces, and scattered about the place. Nay, they even quarrelled with each other, and fierce reproaches passed between them. It is possible some serious consequences might have occurred, had not the Delaware interfered to remind them of the danger of being so unguarded, and of the necessity of returning to the Ark. This checked the dispute, and in a few minutes they were paddling sullenly back to the spot where they hoped to find that vessel.
It has been said that Judith took her place at the side of Deerslayer, soon after the adventurers departed. For a short time the girl was silent, and the hunter was ignorant which of the sisters had approached him; but he soon recognised the rich full spirited voice of the elder, as her feelings escaped in words.
“This is a terrible life for women, Deerslayer!” she exclaimed. “Would to Heaven, I could see an end of it!”
“The life is well enough, Judith,” was the answer, “being pretty much as it is used, or abused. What would you wish to see in its place?”
“I should be a thousand times happier to live nearer to civilized beings—where there are farms and churches, and houses built as it might be by christian hands; and where my sleep at night would be sweet and tranquil! A dwelling near one of the forts, would be far better than this dreary place where we live!”
“Nay, Judith, I can’t agree too lightly in the truth of all this. If forts are good to keep off inimies, they sometimes hold inimies of their own. I do’n’t think twould be for your good, or the good of Hetty to live near one, and if I must say what I think, I’m afeard you are a little too near, as it is.” Deerslayer went on, in his own steady, earnest, manner, for the darkness concealed the tints that coloured the cheeks of the girl almost to the brightness of crimson, while her own great efforts suppressed the sounds of the breathing that nearly choked her—“As for farms, they have their uses, and there’s them that like to pass their lives on ’em, but what comfort can a man look for in a clearin’, that he can’t find in double quantities in the fore
st? If air, and room, and light are a little craved, the wind-rows, and the streams will furnish ’em, or here are the lakes for such as have bigger longings in that way; but where are you to find your shades, and laughing springs, and leaping brooks, and vinerable trees, a thousand years old, in a clearin’? You do’n’t find them, but you find their disabled trunks, marking the ’arth like head-stones in a grave yard. It seems to me that the people who live in such places, must be always thinkin’ of their own inds, and of univarsal decay; and that, too, not of the decay that is brought about by time and natur’, but the decay that follows waste and violence. Then as to churches, they are good, I suppose, else would’n’t good men uphold ’em. But they are not altogether necessary. They call ’em the temples of the Lord, but, Judith, the whole ’arth is a temple of the Lord’s, to such as have the right minds. Neither forts nor churches make people happier of themselves. Moreover, all is contradiction in the settlements, while all is concord in the woods. Forts and churches almost always go together, and yet they’re downright contradictions; churches being for peace, and forts for war. No—no—give me the strong places of the wilderness, which is the trees, and the churches, too, which are arbors raised by the hand of natur’.”
“Woman is not made for scenes like these, Deerslayer; scenes of which we shall have no end, as long as this war lasts.”
“If you mean women of white colour, I rather think you’re not far from the truth, gal; but as for the females of the red men, such visitations are quite in character. Nothing would make Hist, now, the bargained wife of yonder Delaware, happier than to know that he is at this moment prowling around his nat’ral inimies, striving after a scalp.”
“Surely, surely, Deerslayer, she cannot be a woman, and not feel concern when she thinks the man she loves is in danger!”
“She does’n’t think of the danger, Judith, but of the honor, and when the heart is desperately set on such feelin’s, why there is little room to crowd in fear. Hist is a kind, gentle, laughin’, pleasant creatur’, but she loves honor, as well as any Delaware gal I ever know’d. She’s to meet the Sarpent an hour hence, on the p’int where Hetty landed, and no doubt she has her anxiety about it, like any other woman; but she’d be all the happier did she know that her lovyer was at this moment way-laying a Mingo for his scalp.”
“If you really believe this, Deerslayer, no wonder you lay so much stress on gifts. Certain am I, that no white girl could feel any thing but misery while she believed her betrothed in danger of his life! Nor do I suppose, even you, unmoved and calm as you ever seem to be, could be at peace, if you believed your Hist, in danger.”
“That’s a different matter—tis altogether a different matter, Judith. Woman is too weak and gentle to be intended to run such risks, and man must feel for her. Yes, I rather think that’s as much red natur’, as it’s white. But I have no Hist, nor am I like to have, for I hold it wrong to mix colours, any way except in friendship, and sarvices.”
“In that you act and feel as a white man should! As for Hurry Harry, I do think it would be all the same to him, whether his wife were a squaw, or a governor’s daughter, provided she was a little comely, and could help to keep his craving stomach full!”
“You do March injustice, Judith; yes, you do. The poor fellow dotes on you, and when a man has ra’ally set his heart on such a creatur’, it is’n’t a Mingo, or even a Delaware gal, that’ll be likely to unsettle his mind. You may laugh at such men as Hurry, and I, for we’re rough, and unteached in the way of books and other knowledge, but we’ve our good p’ints, as well as our bad ones. An honest heart is not to be despised, gal, even though it be not varsed in all the niceties that please a female fancy.”
“You, Deerslayer!—And do you—can you, for an instant, suppose I place you, by the side of Harry March? No—no. I am not as far gone in dulness as that. No one—man or woman, could think of naming your honest heart, manly nature, and simple truth, with the boisterous selfishness, greedy avarice, and overbearing ferocity of Henry March. The very best that can be said of him, is to be found in his name of Hurry Skurry, which if it means no great harm, means no great good. Even my father, following his feelings with the other, as he is doing, at this moment, well knows the difference between you. This I know, for he has said as much to me, in plain language.”
Judith was a girl of quick sensibilities, and of impetuous feelings, and, being under few of the restraints that curtail the manifestations of maiden emotions, among those who are educated in the habits of civilized life, she sometimes betrayed the latter with a freedom that was so purely natural, as to place it as far above the wiles of coquetry, as it was superior to its heartlessness. She had now even taken one of the hard hands of the hunter, and pressed it between both her own, with a warmth and earnestness that proved how sincere was her language. It was perhaps, fortunate that she was checked by the very excess of her feelings since the same power might have urged her on to avow all that her father had said, the old man not having been satisfied with making a comparison favorable to Deerslayer, as between the hunter and Hurry, but having actually, in his blunt rough way, briefly advised his daughter to cast off the latter entirely, and to think of the former as a husband. Judith would not willingly have said this to any other man, but there was so much confidence awakened by the guileless simplicity of Deerslayer, that one of her nature found it a constant temptation to overstep the bounds of habit. She went no farther, however, immediately relinquishing the hand, and falling back on a reserve that was more suited to her sex, and, indeed, to her natural modesty.
“Thankee, Judith, thank’ee, with all my heart,” returned the hunter, whose humility prevented him from placing any flattering interpretation on either the conduct, or the language of the girl. “Thankee, as much as if it all was true. Harry’s sightly—yes, he’s as sightly as the tallest pine of these mountains, and the Sarpent has named him accordingly; howsever, some fancy good looks, and some fancy good conduct, only. Hurry has one advantage, and it depends on himself whether, he’ll have the t’other or—Hark! That’s your father’s voice, gal, and he speaks like a man who’s riled, at something.”
“God save us from any more of these horrible scenes!” exclaimed Judith, bending her face to her knees, and endeavoring to exclude the discordant sounds, by applying her hands to her ears. “I sometimes wish I had no father!”
This was bitterly said, and the repinings which extorted the words, were bitterly felt. It is impossible to say what might next have escaped her, had not a gentle, low, voice, spoken at her elbow.
“Judith, I ought to have read a chapter to father and Hurry!” said the innocent, but terrified speaker, “and that would have kept them from going again on such an errand. Do you call to them, Deerslayer, and tell them I want them, and that it will be good for them both, if they’ll return, and hearken to my words.”
“Ahs! me—poor Hetty, you little know the cravin’s for gold and revenge, if you believe they are so easily turned aside from their longin’s! But this is an oncommon business, in more ways than one, Judith! I hear your father and Hurry, growling like bears, and yet no noise comes from the mouth of the young chief. There’s an ind of secrecy, and yet his whoop, which ought to ring in the mountains, accordin’ to rule, in such sarcumstances, is silent!”
“Justice may have alighted on him, and his death have saved the lives of the innocent!”
“Not it—not it—the Sarpent is not the one to suffer, if that’s to be the law. Sartainly there has been no onset, and ’tis most likely that the camp’s deserted, and the men are coming back disapp’inted. That accounts for the growls of Hurry and the silence of the Sarpent.”
Just at this instant a fall of a paddle was heard in the canoe, for vexation had made March reckless, and Deerslayer felt convinced that his conjecture was true. The sail being down, the Ark had not drifted far, and ere many minutes, he heard Chingachgook, in a low quiet tone directing Hutter how to steer, in order to reach it. In less time than it t
akes to tell the fact, the canoe touched the scow, and the adventurers entered the latter. Neither Hutter nor Hurry spoke of what had occurred. But the Delaware in passing his friend merely uttered the words “fires out,” which if not literally true, sufficiently explained the truth to his listener.
It was now a question as to the course to be steered. A short surly conference was held, when Hutter decided that the wisest way would be to keep in motion, as the means most likely to defeat any attempt at a surprise, announcing his own and March’s intention to requite themselves for the loss of sleep, during their captivity, by lying down. As the air still baffled and continued light, it was finally determined to sail before it, let it come in what direction it might, so long as it did not blow the Ark upon the strand. This point settled, the released prisoners helped to hoist the sail, and then they threw themselves on two of the pallets, leaving Deerslayer and his friend to look after the movements of the craft. As neither of the latter was disposed to sleep, on account of the appointment with Hist, this arrangement was acceptable to all parties. That Judith and Hetty remained up also, in no manner impaired the agreeable features of this change.
For some time the scow rather drifted than sailed along the western shore, following a light southerly current of the air. The progress was slow, not exceeding a couple of miles in the hour, but the two men perceived that it was not only carrying them towards the point they desired to reach, but at a rate that was quite as fast as the hour yet rendered necessary. But little was said the while, even by the girls, and that little had more reference to the rescue of Hist, than to any other subject. The Indian was calm, to the eye, but as minute after minute passed, his feelings became more and more excited, until they reached a state that might have satisfied the demands of even the most exacting mistress. Deerslayer kept the craft, as much in the bays as was prudent, for the double purpose of sailing within the shadows of the woods, and of detecting any signs of an encampment they might pass on the shore. In this manner they doubled one low point, and were already in the bay that was terminated north, by the goal at which they aimed. The latter was still a quarter of a mile distant, when Chingachgook came silently to the side of his friend and pointed to a place directly ahead. A small fire was glimmering just within the verge of the bushes that lined the shore, on the southern side of the point, leaving no doubt that the Indians had suddenly removed their camp to the very place, or at least to the very projection of land, where Hist had given them the rendezvous!
The Leatherstocking Tales II Page 85
