CHAPTER XXXI IN WHICH NANTAUQUAS COMES TO OUR RESCUE
A MAN who hath been a soldier and an adventurer into far and strangecountries must needs have faced Death many times and in many guises. Ihad learned to know that grim countenance, and to have no great fear ofit. And beneath the ugliness of the mask that now presented itself therewas only Death at last. I was no babe to whimper at a sudden darkness,to cry out against a curtain that a Hand chose to drop between me andthe life I had lived. Death frighted me not, but when I thought of onewhom I should leave behind me I feared lest I should go mad. Had thisthing come to me a year before, I could have slept the night through;now--now--I lay, bound to the log, before the open door of the lodge,and, looking through it, saw the pines waving in the night wind and thegleam of the river beneath the stars, and saw her as plainly as thoughshe had stood there under the trees, in a flood of noon sunshine. Nowshe was the Jocelyn Percy of Weyanoke, now of the minister's house, nowof a storm-tossed boat and a pirate ship, now of the gaol at Jamestown.One of my arms was free; I could take from within my doublet the littlepurple flower, and drop my face upon the hand that held it. The bloomwas quite withered, and scalding tears would not give it life again.
The face that was, now gay, now defiant, now pale and suffering, becamesteadfastly the face that had leaned upon my breast in the Jamestowngaol, and looked at me with a mournful brightness of love and sorrow.Spring was in the land, and the summer would come, but not to us. Istretched forth my hand to the wife who was not there, and my heart laycrushed within me. She had been my wife not a year; it was but the otherday that I knew she loved me--
After a while the anguish lessened, and I lay, dull and hopeless,thinking of trifling things, counting the stars between the pines.Another slow hour, and, a braver mood coming upon me, I thought ofDiccon, who was in that plight because of me, and spoke to him, askinghim how he did. He answered from the other side of the lodge, but thewords were scarcely out of his mouth before our guard broke in upon uscommanding silence. Diccon cursed them, whereupon a savage struck himacross the head with the handle of a tomahawk, stunning him for a time.As soon as I heard him move I spoke again, to know if he were much hurt;when he had answered in the negative we said no more.
It was now moonlight without the lodge and very quiet. The night wasfar gone; already we could smell the morning, and it would come apace.Knowing the swiftness of that approach, and what the early light wouldbring, I strove for a courage which should be the steadfastness of theChristian, and not the vainglorious pride of the heathen. If my thoughtswandered, if her face would come athwart the verses I tried to remember,the prayer I tried to frame, perhaps He who made her lovely understoodand forgave. I said the prayer I used to say when I was a child, andwished with all my heart for Jeremy.
Suddenly, in the first gray dawn, as at a trumpet's call, the villageawoke. From the long, communal houses poured forth men, women, andchildren; fires sprang up, dispersing the mist, and a commotion arosethrough the length and breadth of the place. The women made haste withtheir cooking, and bore maize cakes and broiled fish to the warriors whosat on the ground in front of the royal lodge. Diccon and I were loosed,brought without, and allotted our share of the food. We ate sitting sideby side with our captors, and Diccon, with a great cut across his head,seized the Indian girl who brought him his platter of fish, and pullingher down beside him kissed her soundly, whereat the maid seemed not illpleased and the warriors laughed.
In the usual order of things, the meal over, tobacco should havefollowed. But now not a pipe was lit, and the women made haste to takeaway the platters and to get all things in readiness. The werowance ofthe Paspaheghs rose to his feet, cast aside his mantle, and began tospeak. He was a man in the prime of life, of a great figure, strong asa Susquehannock, and a savage cruel and crafty beyond measure. Over hisbreast, stained with strange figures, hung a chain of small bones, andthe scalp locks of his enemies fringed his moccasins. His tribe beingthe nearest to Jamestown, and in frequent altercation with us, I hadheard him speak many times, and knew his power over the passions of hispeople. No player could be more skillful in gesture and expression, nopoet more nice in the choice of words, no general more quick to raisea wild enthusiasm in the soldiers to whom he called. All Indians areeloquent, but this savage was a leader among them.
He spoke now to some effect. Commencing with a day in the moon ofblossoms when for the first time winged canoes brought white men intothe Powhatan, he came down through year after year to the present hour,ceased, and stood in silence, regarding his triumph. It was complete. Inits wild excitement the village was ready then and there to make anend of us who had sprung to our feet and stood with our backs againsta great bay tree, facing the maddened throng. So much the best for uswould it be if the tomahawks left the hands that were drawn back tothrow, if the knives that were flourished in our faces should be buriedto the haft in our hearts, that we courted death, striving with wordand look to infuriate our executioners to the point of forgetting theirformer purpose in the lust for instant vengeance. It was not to be. Thewerowance spoke again, pointing to the hills with the black houses uponthem, dimly seen through the mist. A moment, and the hands clenched uponthe weapons fell; another, and we were upon the march.
As one man, the village swept through the forest toward the risingground that was but a few bowshots away. The young men bounded ahead tomake preparation; but the approved warriors and the old men went moresedately, and with them walked Diccon and I, as steady of step as they.The women and children for the most part brought up the rear, thougha few impatient hags ran past us, calling the men tortoises who wouldnever reach the goal. One of these women bore a great burning torch, theflame and smoke streaming over her shoulder as she ran. Others carriedpieces of bark heaped with the slivers of pine of which every wigwam hasstore.
The sun was yet to rise when we reached a hollow amongst the low redhills. Above us were the three long houses in which they keep the imageof Okee and the mummies of their kings. These temples faced the crimsoneast, and the mist was yet about them. Hideous priests, painted overwith strange devices, the stuffed skins of snakes knotted about theirheads, in their hands great rattles which they shook vehemently, rushedthrough the doors and down the bank to meet us, and began to dancearound us, contorting their bodies, throwing up their arms, and making ahellish noise. Diccon stared at them, shrugged his shoulders, and witha grunt of contempt sat down upon a fallen tree to watch the enemy'smanoeuvres.
The place was a natural amphitheatre, well fitted for a spectacle. ThoseIndians who could not crowd into the narrow level spread themselves overthe rising ground, and looked down with fierce laughter upon the drivingof the stakes which the young men brought. The women and childrenscattered into the woods beyond the cleft between the hills, andreturned bearing great armfuls of dry branches. The hollow rang to theexultation of the playgoers. Taunting laughter, cries of savage triumph,the shaking of the rattles, and the furious beating of two great drumscombined to make a clamor deafening to stupor. And above the hollow wasthe angry reddening of the heavens, and the white mist curling up likesmoke.
I sat down beside Diccon on the log. Beneath it there were growingtufts of a pale blue, slender-stemmed flower. I plucked a handful of theblossoms, and thought how blue they would look against the whiteness ofher hand; then dropped them in a sudden shame that in that hour I was solittle steadfast to things which were not of earth. I did not speak toDiccon, nor he to me. There seemed no need of speech. In the pandemoniumto which the world had narrowed, the one familiar, matter-of-coursething was that he and I were to die together.
The stakes were in the ground and painted red, the wood properlyarranged. The Indian woman who held the torch that was to light the pileran past us, whirling the wood around her head to make it blaze morefiercely. As she went by she lowered the brand and slowly dragged itacross my wrists. The beating of the drums suddenly ceased, and theloud voices died away. To Indians no music is so sweet as the cry of anenemy; if they ha
ve wrung it from a brave man who has striven to endure,so much the better. They were very still now, because they would notlose so much as a drawing in of the breath.
Seeing that they were coming for us, Diccon and I rose to await them.When they were nearly upon us I turned to him and held out my hand.
He made no motion to take it. Instead he stood with fixed eyes lookingpast me and slightly upwards. A sudden pallor had overspread thebronze of his face. "There's a verse somewhere," he said in a quietvoice,--"it's in the Bible, I think,--I heard it once long ago, before Iwas lost: 'I will look unto the hills from whence cometh my help'--Look,sir!"
I turned and followed with my eyes the pointing of his finger. In frontof us the bank rose steeply, bare to the summit,--no trees, only the redearth, with here and there a low growth of leafless bushes. Behind itwas the eastern sky. Upon the crest, against the sunrise, stood thefigure of a man,--an Indian. From one shoulder hung an otterskin, anda great bow was in his hand. His limbs were bare, and as he stoodmotionless, bathed in the rosy light, he looked like some bronze god,perfect from the beaded moccasins to the calm, uneager face below thefeathered headdress. He had but just risen above the brow of the hill;the Indians in the hollow saw him not.
While Diccon and I stared our tormentors were upon us. They came a dozenor more at once, and we had no weapons. Two hung upon my arms, while athird laid hold of my doublet to rend it from me. An arrow whistled overour heads and stuck into a tree behind us. The hands that clutchedme dropped, and with a yell the busy throng turned their faces in thedirection whence had come the arrow.
The Indian who had sent that dart before him was descending the bank. Aninstant's breathless hush while they stared at the solitary figure; thenthe dark forms bent forward for the rush straightened, and there arose aloud cry of recognition. "The son of Powhatan! The son of Powhatan!"
He came down the hillside to the level of the hollow, the authority ofhis look and gesture making way for him through the crowd that surgedthis way and that, and walked up to us where we stood, hemmed round,but no longer in the clutch of our enemies. "It was a very big wolf thistime, Captain Percy," he said.
"You were never more welcome, Nantauquas," I answered,--"unless, indeed,the wolf intends making a meal of three instead of two."
He smiled. "The wolf will go hungry to-day." Taking my hand in his heturned to his frowning countrymen. "Men of the Pamunkeys!" he cried."This is Nantauquas' friend, and so the friend of all the tribes thatcalled Powhatan 'father.' The fire is not for him nor for his servant;keep it for the Monacans and for the dogs of the Long House! The calumetis for the friend of Nantauquas, and the dance of the maidens, thenoblest buck and the best of the weirs"--
There was a surging forward of the Indians, and a fierce murmur ofdissent. The werowance, standing out from the throng, lifted his voice."There was a time," he cried, "when Nantauquas was the panther crouchedupon the bough above the leader of the herd; now Nantauquas is a tamepanther and rolls at the white men's feet! There was a time when theword of the son of Powhatan weighed more than the lives of many dogssuch as these, but now I know not why we should put out the fire at hiscommand! He is war chief no longer, for Opechancanough will have notame panther to lead the tribes. Opechancanough is our head, andOpechancanough kindleth a fire indeed! We will give to this one whatfuel we choose, and to-night Nantauquas may look for the bones of thewhite men!"
He ended, and a great clamor arose. The Paspaheghs would have castthemselves upon us again but for a sudden action of the young chief,who had stood motionless, with raised head and unmoved face, during thewerowance's bitter speech. Now he flung up his hand, and in it was abracelet of gold carved and twisted like a coiled snake and set with agreen stone. I had never seen the toy before, but evidently othershad done so. The excited voices fell, and the Indians, Pamunkeys andPaspaheghs alike, stood as though turned to stone.
Nantauquas smiled coldly. "This day hath Opechancanough made me warchief again. We have smoked the peace pipe together--my father's brotherand I--in the starlight, sitting before his lodge, with the wide marshesand the river dark at our feet. Singing birds in the forest have beenmany; evil tales have they told; Opechancanough has stopped his earsagainst their false singing. My friends are his friends, my brother ishis brother, my word is his word: witness the armlet that hath no like;that Opechancanough brought with him when he came from no man knowswhere to the land of the Powhatans, many Huskanawings ago; that nowhite men but these have ever seen. Opechancanough is at hand; he comesthrough the forest with his two hundred warriors that are as tall asSusquehannocks, and as brave as the children of Wahunsonacock. He comesto the temples to pray to Kiwassa for a great hunting. Will you, whenyou lie at his feet, that he ask you, 'Where is the friend of my friend,of my war chief, of the Panther who is one with me again?'"
There came a long, deep breath from the Indians, then a silence, inwhich they fell back, slowly and sullenly; whipped hounds, but with thewill to break that leash of fear.
"Hark!" said Nantauquas, smiling. "I hear Opechancanough and hiswarriors coming over the leaves."
The noise of many footsteps was indeed audible, coming toward thehollow from the woods beyond. With a burst of cries, the priests andthe conjurer whirled away to bear the welcome of Okee to the royalworshiper, and at their heels went the chief men of the Pamunkeys.The werowance of the Paspaheghs was one that sailed with the wind; helistened to the deepening sound, and glanced at the son of Powhatanwhere he stood, calm and confident, then smoothed his own countenanceand made a most pacific speech, in which all the blame of the lateproceedings was laid upon the singing birds. When he had done speaking,the young men tore the stakes from the earth and threw them into athicket, while the women plucked apart the newly kindled fire and flungthe brands into a little near-by stream, where they went out in a cloudof hissing steam.
I turned to the Indian who had wrought this miracle. "Art sure it isnot a dream, Nantauquas?" I said. "I think that Opechancanough would notlift a finger to save me from all the deaths the tribes could invent."
"Opechancanough is very wise," he answered quietly. "He says that nowthe English will believe in his love indeed when they see that he holdsdear even one who might be called his enemy, who hath spoken againsthim at the Englishmen's council fire. He says that for five suns CaptainPercy shall feast with Opechancanough, and that then he shall be sentback free to Jamestown. He thinks that then Captain Percy will not speakagainst him any more, calling his love to the white men only words withno good deeds behind."
He spoke simply, out of the nobility of his nature, believing his ownspeech. I that was older, and had more knowledge of men and the masksthat they wear, was but half deceived. My belief in the hatred of thedark Emperor was not shaken, and I looked yet to find the drop of poisonwithin this honey flower. How poisoned was that bloom God knows I couldnot guess!
"When you were missed, three suns ago," Nantauquas went on, "I and mybrother tracked you to the hut beside the forest, where we found onlythe dead panther. There we struck the trail of the Paspaheghs; butpresently we came to running water, and the trail was gone."
"We walked up the bed of the stream for half the night," I said.
The Indian nodded. "I know. My brother went back to Jamestown for menand boats and guns to go to the Paspahegh village and up the Powhatan.He was wise with the wisdom of the white men, but I, who needed no gun,and who would not fight against my own people, I stepped into the streamand walked up it until past the full sun power. Then I found a brokentwig and the print of a moccasin, half hidden by a bush, overlooked whenthe other prints were smoothed away. I left the stream and followed thetrail until it was broken again. I looked for it no more then, for Iknew that the Paspaheghs had turned their faces toward Uttamussac, andthat they would make a fire where many others had been made, in thehollow below the three temples. Instead I went with speed to seekOpechancanough. Yesterday, when the sun was low, I found him, sitting inhis lodge above the marshes and the colored river. We smok
ed the peacepipe together, and I am his war chief again. I asked for the greenstone, that I might show it to the Paspaheghs for a sign. He gave it,but he willed to come to Uttamussac with me."
"I owe you my life," I said, with my hand upon his. "I and Diccon"--WhatI would have said he put aside with a fine gesture. "Captain Percy ismy friend. My brother loves him, and he was kind to Matoax when shewas brought prisoner to Jamestown. I am glad that I could pull off thiswolf."
"Tell me one thing," I asked. "Before you left Jamestown, had you heardaught of my wife or of my enemy?"
He shook his head. "At sunrise, the commander came to rouse my brother,crying out that you had broken gaol and were nowhere to be found, andthat the man you hate was lying within the guest house, sorely torn bysome beast of the forest. My brother and I followed your trail at once;the town was scarce awake when we left it behind us,--and I did notreturn."
By this we three were alone in the hollow, for all the savages, men andwomen, had gone forth to meet the Indian whose word was law from thefalls of the far west to the Chesapeake. The sun now rode above the lowhills, pouring its gold into the hollow and brightening all the worldbesides. The little stream flashed diamonds, and the carven devils uponthe black houses above us were frightful no longer. There was not amenace anywhere from the cloudless skies to the sweet and plaintivechant to Kiwassa, sung by women and floating to us from the woods beyondthe hollow. The singing grew nearer, and the rustling of the leavesbeneath many feet more loud and deep; then all noise ceased, andOpechancanough entered the hollow alone. An eagle feather was thrustthrough his scalp lock; over his naked breast, that was neither paintednor pricked into strange figures, hung a triple row of pearls; hismantle was woven of bluebird feathers, as soft and sleek as satin. Theface of this barbarian was dark, cold, and impassive as death. Behindthat changeless mask, as in a safe retreat, the supersubtle devil thatwas the man might plot destruction and plan the laying of dreadfulmines. He had dignity and courage,--no man denied him that. I suppose hethought that he and his had wrongs: God knows! perhaps they had. But ifever we were hard or unjust in our dealings with the savages,--I say notthat this was the case,--at least we were not treacherous and dealt notin Judas kisses.
I stepped forward, and met him on the spot where the fire had been. Fora minute neither spoke. It was true that I had striven against him manya time, and I knew that he knew it. It was also true that without hisaid Nantauquas could not have rescued us from that dire peril. And itwas again the truth that an Indian neither forgives nor forgets. He wasmy saviour, and I knew that mercy had been shown for some dark reasonwhich I could not divine. Yet I owed him thanks, and gave them asshortly and simply as I could.
He heard me out with neither liking nor disliking nor any other emotionwritten upon his face; but when I had finished, as though he suddenlybethought himself, he smiled and held out his hand, white-man fashion.Now, when a man's lips widen I look into his eyes. The eyes ofOpechancanough were as fathomless as a pool at midnight, and as devoidof mirth or friendliness as the staring orbs of the carven imps upon thetemple corners.
"Singing birds have lied to Captain Percy," he said, and his voice waslike his eyes. "Opechancanough thinks that Captain Percy will neverlisten to them again. The chief of the Powhatans is a lover of the whitemen, of the English, and of other white men,--if there are others. Hewould call the Englishmen his brothers, and be taught of them how torule, and who to pray to"--
"Let Opechancanough go with me to-day to Jamestown," I said. "He haththe wisdom of the woods; let him come and gain that of the town."
The Emperor smiled again. "I will come to Jamestown soon, but not to-daynor to-morrow nor the next day. And Captain Percy must smoke the peacepipe in my lodge above the Pamunkey, and watch my young men and maidensdance, and eat with me five days. Then he may go back to Jamestownwith presents for the great white father there, and with a message thatOpechancanough is coming soon to learn of the white men."
I could have gnashed my teeth at that delay when she must think me dead,but it would have been the madness of folly to show the impatience whichI felt. I too could smile with my lips when occasion drove, and drink abitter draught as though my soul delighted in it. Blithe enough toall seeming, and with as few inward misgivings as the case called for,Diccon and I went with the subtle Emperor and the young chief he hadbound to himself once more, and with their fierce train, back to thatvillage which we had never thought to see again. A day and a night westayed there; then Opechancanough sent away the Paspaheghs,--where weknew not,--and taking us with him went to his own village above thegreat marshes of the Pamunkey.
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