CHAPTER XL.
"I am dumb. Were you the doctor, and I knew you not?" --Shakespeare.
During the five or six minutes that elapsed before the youth and Majorreappeared. Judge Temple and the sheriff together with most of thevolunteers, ascended to the terrace, where the latter began to expresstheir conjectures of the result, and to recount their individualservices in the conflict. But the sight of the peace-makers ascendingthe ravine shut every mouth.
On a rude chair, covered with undressed deer-skins, they supported ahuman being, whom they seated carefully and respectfully in the midst ofthe assembly. His head was covered by long, smooth locks of the colorof snow. His dress, which was studiously neat and clean, was composed ofsuch fabrics as none but the wealthiest classes wear, but was threadbareand patched; and on his feet were placed a pair of moccasins, ornamentedin the best manner of Indian ingenuity. The outlines of his face weregrave and dignified, though his vacant eye, which opened and turnedslowly to the faces of those around him in unmeaning looks, too surely'announced that the period had arrived when age brings the mentalimbecility of childhood.
Natty had followed the supporters of this unexpected object to thetop of the cave, and took his station at a little distance behind him,leaning no his rifle, in the midst of his pursuers, with a fearlessnessthat showed that heavier interests than those which affected himselfwere to be decided. Major Hartmann placed himself beside the aged man,uncovered, with his whole soul beaming through those eyes which socommonly danced with frolic and humor. Edwards rested with one handfamiliarly but affectionately on the chair, though his heart wasswelling with emotions that denied him utterance.
All eyes were gazing intently, but each tongue continued mute. At lengththe decrepit stranger, turning his vacant looks from face to face, madea feeble attempt to rise, while a faint smile crossed his wasted face,like an habitual effort at courtesy, as he said, in a hollow, tremulousvoice:
"Be pleased to be seated, gentlemen. The council will open immediately.Each one who loves a good and virtuous king will wish to see thesecolonies continue loyal. Be seated--I pray you, be seated, gentlemen.The troops shall halt for the night."
"This is the wandering of insanity!" said Marmaduke: "who will explainthis scene."
"No, sir," said Edwards firmly, "'tis only the decay of nature; who isanswerable for its pitiful condition, remains to be shown."
"Will the gentlemen dine with us, my son?" said the old stranger,turning to a voice that he both knew and loved. "Order a repast suitablefor his Majesty's officers. You know we have the best of game always atcommand."
"Who is this man?" asked Marmaduke, in a hurried voice, in which thedawnings of conjecture united with interest to put the question.
"This man," returned Edwards calmly, his voice, how ever, graduallyrising as he proceeded; "this man, sir, whom you behold hid in caverns,and deprived of every-thing that can make life desirable, was once thecompanion and counsellor of those who ruled your country. This man, whomyou see helpless and feeble, was once a warrior, so brave and fearless,that even the intrepid natives gave him the name of the Fire-eater. Thisman, whom you now see destitute of even the ordinary comfort of a cabin,in which to shelter his head, was once the owner of great riches--and,Judge Temple, he was the rightful proprietor of this very soil on whichwe stand. This man was the father of------"
"This, then," cried Marmaduke, with a powerful emotion, "this, then, isthe lost Major Effingham!"
"Lost indeed," said the youth, fixing a piercing eye on the other.
"And you! and you!" continued the Judge, articulating with difficulty.
"I am his grandson."
A minute passed in profound silence. All eyes were fixed on thespeakers, and even the old German appeared to wait the issue in deepanxiety. But the moment of agitation soon passed. Marmaduke raised hishead from his bosom, where it had sunk, not in shame, but in devoutmental thanksgivings, and, as large tears fell over his fine, manlyface, he grasped the hand of the youth warmly, and said:
"Oliver, I forgive all thy harshness--all thy suspicions. I now see itall. I forgive thee everything, but suffering this aged man to dwell insuch a place, when not only my habitation, but my fortune, were at hisand thy command."
"He's true as ter steel!" shouted Major Hartmann; "titn't I tell you,lat, dat Marmatuke Temple vas a friend dat woult never fail in ter dimeas of neet?"
"It is true, Judge Temple, that my opinions of your conduct have beenstaggered by what this worthy gentle man has told me. When I found itimpossible to convey my grandfather back whence the enduring love ofthis old man brought him, without detection and exposure, I went to theMohawk in quest of one of his former comrades, in whose justice I haddependence. He is your friend, Judge Temple, but, if what he says betrue, both my father and myself may have judged you harshly."
"You name your father!" said Marmaduke tenderly--"was he, indeed, lostin the packet?"
"He was. He had left me, after several years of fruit less applicationand comparative poverty, in Nova Scotia, to obtain the compensation forhis losses which the British commissioners had at length awarded. Afterspending a year in England, he was returning to Halifax, on his way to agovernment to which he had been appointed, in the West Indies, intendingto go to the place where my grand father had sojourned during and sincethe war, and take him with us."
"But thou!" said Marmaduke, with powerful interest; "I had thought thatthou hadst perished with him."
A flush passed over the cheeks of the young man, who gazed about him atthe wondering faces of the volunteers, and continued silent. Marmaduketurned to the veteran captain, who just then rejoined his command, andsaid:
"March thy soldiers back again, and dismiss them, the zeal of thesheriff has much mistaken his duty.--Dr. Todd, I will thank you toattend to the injury which Hiram Doolittle has received in this untowardaffair,--Richard, you will oblige me by sending up the carriage to thetop of the hill.--Benjamin, return to your duty in my family."
Unwelcome as these orders were to most of the auditors, the suspicionthat they had somewhat exceeded the whole some restraints of the law,and the habitual respect with which all the commands of the Judge werereceived, induced a prompt compliance.
When they were gone, and the rock was left to the parties mostinterested in an explanation, Marmaduke, pointing to the aged MajorEffingham, said to his grand son:
"Had we not better remove thy parent from this open place until mycarriage can arrive?"
"Pardon me, sir, the air does him good, and he has taken it wheneverthere was no dread of a discovery. I know not how to act, Judge Temple;ought I, can I suffer Major Effingham to become an inmate of yourfamily?"
"Thou shalt be thyself the judge," said Marmaduke. "Thy father was myearly friend. He intrusted his fortune to my care. When we separated hehad such confidence in me that he wished on security, no evidence ofthe trust, even had there been time or convenience for exacting it. Thisthou hast heard?"
"Most truly, sir," said Edwards, or rather Effingham as we must now callhim.
"We differed in politics. If the cause of this country was successful,the trust was sacred with me, for none knew of thy father's interest, ifthe crown still held its sway, it would be easy to restore the propertyof so loyal a subject as Colonel Effingham. Is not this plain?'"
"The premises are good, sir," continued the youth, with the sameincredulous look as before.
"Listen--listen, poy," said the German, "Dere is not a hair as of terrogue in ter het of Herr Tchooge."
"We all know the issue of the struggle," continued Marmaduke,disregarding both. "Thy grandfather was left in Connecticut, regularlysupplied by thy father with the means of such a subsistence as suitedhis wants. This I well knew, though I never had intercourse withhim, even in our happiest days. Thy father retired with the troopsto prosecute his claims on England. At all events, his losses mustbe great, for his real estates were sold, and I became the lawfulpurchaser. It was not unnatural to wish that he might ha
ve no bar to itsjust recovery."
"There was none, but the difficulty of providing for so many claimants."
"But there would have been one, and an insuperable one, and I announcedto the world that I held these estates, multiplied by the times and myindustry, a hundredfold in value, only as his trustee. Thou knowest thatI supplied him with considerable sums immediately after the war."
"You did, until--"
"My letters were returned unopened. Thy father had much of thy ownspirit, Oliver; he was sometimes hasty and rash." The Judge continued,in a self-condemning manner; "Perhaps my fault lies the other way: I maypossibly look too far ahead, and calculate too deeply. It certainly wasa severe trial to allow the man whom I most loved, to think ill of mefor seven years, in order that he might honestly apply for his justremunerations. But, had he opened my last letters, thou wouldst havelearned the whole truth. Those I sent him to England, by what my agentwrites me, he did read. He died, Oliver, knowing all, he died my friend,and I thought thou hadst died with him."
"Our poverty would not permit us to pay for two passages," said theyouth, with the extraordinary emotion with which he ever alluded to thedegraded state of his family; "I was left in the Province to wait forhis return, and, when the sad news of his loss reached me, I was nearlypenniless."
"And what didst thou, boy?" asked Marmaduke in a faltering voice.
"I took my passage here in search of my grandfather; for I well knewthat his resources were gone, with the half pay of my father. Onreaching his abode, I learned that he had left it in secret; though thereluctant hireling, who had deserted him in his poverty, owned to myurgent en treaties, that he believed he had been carried away by an oldman who had formerly been his servant. I knew at once it was Natty, formy father often--"
"Was Natty a servant of thy grandfather?" exclaimed the Judge.
"Of that too were you ignorant?" said the youth in evident surprise.
"How should I know it? I never met the Major, nor was the name of Bumppoever mentioned to me. I knew him only as a man of the woods, and one wholived by hunting. Such men are too common to excite surprise."
"He was reared in the family of my grandfather; served him for manyyears during their campaigns at the West, where he became attached tothe woods; and he was left here as a kind of locum tenens on the landsthat old Mohegan (whose life my grandfather once saved) induced theDelawares to grant to him when they admitted him as an honorary memberof their tribe.
"This, then, is thy Indian blood?"
"I have no other," said Edwards, smiling--"Major Effingham was adoptedas the son of Mohegan, who at that time was the greatest man in hisnation; and my father, who visited those people when a boy, received thename of the Eagle from them, on account of the shape of his face, as Iunderstand. They have extended his title to me, I have no other Indianblood or breeding; though I have seen the hour, Judge Temple, when Icould wish that such had been my lineage and education."
"Proceed with thy tale," said Marmaduke.
"I have but little more to say, sir, I followed to the lake where I hadso often been told that Natty dwelt, and found him maintaining his oldmaster in secret; for even he could not bear to exhibit to the world, inhis poverty and dotage, a man whom a whole people once looked up to withrespect."
"And what did you?"
"What did I? I spent my last money in purchasing a rifle, clad myselfin a coarse garb, and learned to be a hunter by the side ofLeather-Stocking. You know the rest, Judge Temple."
"Ant vere vas olt Fritz Hartmann?" said the German, reproachfully;"didst never hear a name as of olt Fritz Hartmann from ter mout of terfader, lat?"
"I may have been mistaken, gentlemen," returned the youth, "but I hadpride, and could not submit to such an exposure as this day evenhas reluctantly brought to light. I had plans that might have beenvisionary; but, should my parent survive till autumn, I purposed takinghim with me to the city, where we have distant relatives, who musthave learned to forget the Tory by this time. He decays rapidly," hecontinued mournfully, "and must soon lie by the side of old Mohegan."
The air being pure, and the day fine, the party continued conversingon the rock, until the wheels of Judge Temple's carriage wereheard clattering up the side of the mountain, during which time theconversation was maintained with deep interest, each moment clearingup some doubtful action, and lessening the antipathy of the youth toMarmaduke. He no longer objected to the removal of his grand father, whodisplayed a childish pleasure when he found himself seated once more ina carriage. When placed in the ample hall of the mansion-house, the eyesof the aged veteran turned slowly to the objects in the apartment, anda look like the dawn of intellect would, for moments flit across hisfeatures, when he invariably offered some use less courtesies to thosenear him, wandering painfully in his subjects. The exercise and thechange soon produced an exhaustion that caused them to remove him tohis bed, where he lay for hours, evidently sensible of the change in hiscomforts, and exhibiting that mortifying picture of human nature, whichtoo plainly shows that the propensities of the animal continue evenafter the nobler part of the creature appears to have vanished.
Until his parent was placed comfortably in bed, with Natty seated athis side, Effingham did not quit him. He then obeyed a summons to thelibrary of the Judge, where he found the latter, with Major Hartmann,waiting for him.
"Read this paper, Oliver," said Marmaduke to him, as he entered, "andthou wilt find that, so far from intending thy family wrong during life,it has been my care to see that justice should be done at even a laterday."
The youth took the paper, which his first glance told him was the willof the Judge. Hurried and agitated as he was, he discovered that thedate corresponded with the time of the unusual depression of Marmaduke.As he proceeded, his eyes began to moisten, and the hand which held theinstrument shook violently.
The will commenced with the usual forms, spun out by the ingenuity ofMr. Van der School: but, after this subject was fairly exhausted, thepen of Marmaduke became plainly visible. In clear, distinct, manly,and even eloquent language, he recounted his obligations to ColonelEffingham, the nature of their connection, and the circumstances inwhich they separated. He then proceeded to relate the motives of hissilence, mentioning, however, large sums that he had forwarded to hisfriend, which had been returned with the letters unopened. Afterthis, he spoke of his search for the grandfather who unaccountablydisappeared, and his fears that the direct heir of the trust was buriedin the ocean with his father.
After, in short, recounting in a clear narrative, the events which ourreaders must now be able to connect, he proceeded to make a fair andexact statement of the sums left in his care by Colonel Effingham. Adevise of his whole estate to certain responsible trustees followed; tohold the same for the benefit, in equal moieties, of his daughter, onone part, and of Oliver Effingham, formerly a major in the army of GreatBritain, and of his son Ed ward Effingham, and of his son Edward OliverEffingham, or to the survivor of them, and the descendants of suchsurvivor, forever, on the other part. The trust was to endure until1810, when, if no person appeared, or could be found, after sufficientnotice, to claim the moiety so devised, then a certain sum, calculatingthe principal and interest of his debt to Colonel Effingham, was to bepaid to the heirs-at-law of the Effingham family, and the bulk of hisestate was to be conveyed in fee to his daughter, or her heirs.
The tears fell from the eyes of the young man, as he read thisundeniable testimony of the good faith of Marmaduke, and his bewilderedgaze was still fastened on the paper, when a voice, that thrilled onevery nerve, spoke near him, saying:
"Do you yet doubt us, Oliver?"
"I have never doubted you!" cried the youth, recovering his recollectionand his voice, as he sprang to seize the hand of Elizabeth; "no, not onemoment has my faith in you wavered."
"And my father--"
"God bless him!"
"I thank thee, my son," said the Judge, exchanging a warm pressure ofthe hand with the youth; "but we have both erred:
thou hast been toohasty, and I have been too slow. One-half of my estates shall be thineas soon as they can be conveyed to thee; and, if what my suspicions tellme be true, I suppose the other must follow speedily." He took the handwhich he held, and united it with that of his daughter, and motionedtoward the door to the Major.
"I telt you vat, gal!" said the old German, good-humoredly; "if I vasas I vas ven I servit mit his grand-fader on ter lakes, ter lazy togshouldn't vin ter prize as for nottin'."
"Come, come, old Fritz," said the Judge; "you are seventy, notseventeen; Richard waits for you with a bowl of eggnog, in the hall."
"Richart! ter duyvel!" exclaimed the other, hastening out of the room;"he makes ter nog as for ter horse vilt show ter sheriff mit my ownhants! Ter duyvel! I pelieve he sweetens mit ter Yankee melasses!"
Marmaduke smiled and nodded affectionately at the young couple, andclosed the door after them. If any of our readers expect that we aregoing to open it again, for their gratification, they are mistaken.
The tete-a-tete continued for a very unreasonable time--how long weshall not say; but it was ended by six o'clock in the evening, forat that hour Monsieur Le Quoi made his appearance agreeably to theappointment of the preceding day, and claimed the ear of Miss Temple.He was admitted; when he made an offer of his hand, with much suavity,together with his "amis beeg and leet', his pere, his mere and hissucreboosh." Elizabeth might, possibly, have previously entered intosome embarrassing and binding engagements with Oliver, for she declinedthe tender of all, in terms as polite, though perhaps a little moredecided, than those in which they were made.
The Frenchman soon joined the German and the sheriff in the hall, whocompelled him to take a seat with them at the table, where, by the aidof punch, wine, and egg nog, they soon extracted from the complaisantMonsieur Le Quoi the nature of his visit, it was evident that he hadmade the offer, as a duty which a well-bred man owed to a lady in sucha retired place, before he had left the country, and that his feelingswere but very little, if at all, interested in the matter. After a fewpotations, the waggish pair persuaded the exhilarated Frenchman thatthere was an inexcusable partiality in offering to one lady, and notextending a similar courtesy to another. Consequently, about nine,Monsieur Le Quoi sallied forth to the rectory, on a similar mission toMiss Grant, which proved as successful as his first effort in love.
When he returned to the mansion-house, at ten, Richard and the Majorwere still seated at the table. They at tempted to persuade the Gaul,as the sheriff called him, that he should next try Remarkable Pettibone.But, though stimulated by mental excitement and wine, two hours ofabstruse logic were thrown away on this subject; for he declined theiradvice, with a pertinacity truly astonishing in so polite a man.
When Benjamin lighted Monsieur Le Quoi from the door, he said, atparting:
"If-so-be, Mounsheer, you'd run alongside Mistress Pettybones, as theSquire Dickens was bidding ye, 'tis my notion you'd have been grappled;in which case, d'ye see, you mought have been troubled in swinging clearagin in a handsome manner; for thof Miss Lizzy and the parson's young'un be tidy little vessels, that shoot by a body on a wind, MistressRemarkable is summat of a galliot fashion: when you once takes 'em intow, they doesn't like to be cast off agin."
CHAPTER XLI.
"Yes, sweep ye on!-- We will not leave, For them who triumph those who grieve. With that armada gay Be laughter loud, and jocund shout-- But with that skill Abides the minstrel tale." --Lord of the Isles.
The events of our tale carry us through the summer; and after makingnearly the circle of the year, we must conclude our labors in thedelightful month of October. Many important incidents had, however,occurred in the intervening period; a few of which it may be necessaryto recount.
The two principal were the marriage of Oliver and Elizabeth, and thedeath of Major Effingham. They both took place early in September; andthe former preceded the latter only a few days. The old man passedaway like the last glimmering of a taper; and, though his death cast amelancholy over the family, grief could not follow such an end. One ofthe chief concerns of Marmaduke was to reconcile the even conduct of amagistrate with the course that his feelings dictated to the criminals.The day succeeding the discovery at the cave, however, Natty andBenjamin re-entered the jail peaceably, where they continued, well fedand comfortable, until the return of an express to Albany, who broughtthe governor's pardon to the Leather-Stocking. In the mean time, propermeans were employed to satisfy Hiram for the assaults on his person;and on the same day the two comrades issued together into society again,with their characters not at all affected by the imprisonment.
Mr. Doolittle began to discover that neither architecture nor hislaw was quite suitable to the growing wealth and intelligence of thesettlement; and after exacting the last cent that was attainable in hiscompromise, to use the language of the country he "pulled up stakes,"and proceeded farther west, scattering his professional science andlegal learning through the land; vestiges of both of which are to bediscovered there even to the present hour.
Poor Jotham, whose life paid the forfeiture of his folly, acknowledged,before he died, that his reasons for believing in a mine were extractedfrom the lips of a sibyl, who, by looking in a magic glass, was enabledto discover the hidden treasures of the earth. Such superstition wasfrequent in the new settlements; and, after the first surprise was over,the better part of the community forgot the subject. But, at the sametime that it removed from the breast of Richard a lingering suspicionof the acts of the three hunter, it conveyed a mortifying lesson to him,which brought many quiet hours, in future, to his cousin Marmaduke. Itmay be remembered that the sheriff confidently pronounced this to be no"visionary" scheme, and that word was enough to shut his lips, at anytime within the next ten years.
Monsieur Le Quoi, who has been introduced to our readers because nopicture of that country would be faithful without some such character,found the island of Martinique, and his "sucreboosh," in possession ofthe English but Marmaduke and his family were much gratified in soonhearing that he had returned to his bureau, in Paris; where he afterwardissued yearly bulletins of his happiness, and of his gratitude to hisfriends in America.
With this brief explanation, we must return to our narrative. Let theAmerican reader imagine one of our mildest October mornings, when thesun seems a ball of silvery fire, and the elasticity of the air is feltwhile it is inhaled, imparting vigor and life to the whole system; theweather, neither too warm nor too cold, but of that happy temperaturewhich stirs the blood, without bringing the lassitude of spring. It wason such a morning, about the middle of the month, that Oliver enteredthe hall where Elizabeth was issuing her usual orders for the day, andrequesting her to join him in a short excursion to the lakeside. Thetender melancholy in the manner of her husband caught the attention ofElizabeth, who instantly abandoned her concerns, threw a light shawlacross her shoulders, and, concealing her raven hair under a gypsy hat,and took his arm, and submitted herself, without a question, to hisguidance. They crossed the bridge, and had turned from the highway,along the margin of the lake, before a word was exchanged. Elizabethwell knew, by the direction, the object of the walk, and respected thefeelings of her companion too much to indulge in untimely conversation.But when they gained the open fields, and her eye roamed over the placidlake, covered with wild fowl already journeying from the great northernwaters to seek a warmer sun, but lingering to play in the limpid sheetof the Otsego, and to the sides of the mountain, which were gay with thethousand dyes of autumn, as if to grace their bridal, the swelling heartof the young wife burst out in speech.
"This is not a time for silence, Oliver!" she said, clinging more fondlyto his arm; "everything in Nature seems to speak the praises of theCreator; why should we, who have so much to be grateful for, be silent?"
"Speak on!" said her husband, smiling; "I love the sounds of your voice.You must anticipate our errand hither: I have told you my plans: how doyou like them?"
"I must first se
e them," returned his wife. "But I have had my plans,too; it is time I should begin to divulge them."
"You! It is something for the comfort of my old friend, Natty, I know."
"Certainly of Natty; but we have other friends besides theLeather-Stocking to serve. Do you forget Louisa and her father?"
"No, surely; have I not given one of the best farms in the county to thegood divine? As for Louisa, I should wish you to keep her always nearus."
"You do!" said Elizabeth, slightly compressing her lips; "but poorLouisa may have other views for herself; she may wish to follow myexample, and marry."
"I don't think it," said Effingham, musing a moment, "really don't knowany one hereabouts good enough for her."
"Perhaps not her; but there are other places besides Templeton, andother churches besides 'New St. Paul's.'"
"Churches, Elizabeth! you would not wish to lose Mr. Grant, surely!Though simple, he is an excellent man I shall never find another who hashalf the veneration for my orthodoxy. You would humble me from a saintto a very common sinner."
"It must be done, sir," returned the lady, with a half-concealed smile,"though it degrades you from an angel to a man."
"But you forget the farm?"
"He can lease it, as others do. Besides, would you have a clergyman toilin the fields?"
"Where can he go? You forget Louisa."
"No, I do not forget Louisa," said Elizabeth, again compressing herbeautiful lips. "You know, Effingham, that my father has told you thatI ruled him, and that I should rule you. I am now about to exert mypower."
"Anything, anything, dear Elizabeth, but not at the expense of us all:not at the expense of your friend."
"How do you know, sir, that it will be so much at the expense of myfriend?" said the lady, fixing her eyes with a searching look on hiscountenance, where they met only the unsuspecting expression of manlyregret.
"How do I know it? Why, it is natural that she should regret us."
"It is our duty to struggle with our natural feelings," returned thelady; "and there is but little cause to fear that such a spirit asLouisa's will not effect it."
"But what is your plan?"
"Listen, and you shall know. My father has procured a call for Mr.Grant, to one of the towns on the Hudson where he can live more at hisease than in journeying through these woods; where he can spend theevening of his life in comfort and quiet; and where his daughter maymeet with such society, and form such a connection, as may be proper forone of her years and character."
"Bess! you amaze me! I did not think you had been such a manager!"
"Oh! I manage more deeply than you imagine, sir," said the wife, archlysmiling again; "but it is thy will and it is your duty to submit--for atime at least."
Effingham laughed; but, as they approached the end of their walk, thesubject was changed by common consent.
The place at which they arrived was the little spot of level groundwhere the cabin of the Leather-Stocking had so long stood. Elizabethfound it entirely cleared of rubbish, and beautifully laid down in turf,by the removal of sods, which, in common with the surrounding country,had grown gay, under the influence of profuse showers, as if a secondspring had passed over the land. This little place was surrounded by acircle of mason-work, and they entered by a small gate, near which, tothe surprise of both, the rifle of Natty was leaning against the wall.Hector and the slut reposed on the grass by its side, as if consciousthat, however altered, they were lying on the ground and were surroundedby objects with which they were familiar. The hunter himself wasstretched on the earth, before a head-stone of white marble, pushingaside with his fingers the long grass that had already sprung upfrom the luxuriant soil around its base, apparently to lay bare theinscription. By the side of this stone, which was a simple slab atthe head of a grave, stood a rich monument, decorated with an urn andornamented with the chisel.
Oliver and Elizabeth approached the graves with a light tread, unheardby the old hunter, whose sunburnt face was working, and whose eyestwinkled as if something impeded their vision. After some little timeNatty raised himself slowly from the ground, and said aloud:
"Well, well--I'm bold to say it's all right! There's something that Isuppose is reading; but I can't make anything of it; though the pipe andthe tomahawk, and the moccasins, be pretty well--pretty well, for a manthat, I dares to say, never seed 'ither of the things. Ah's me! therethey lie, side by side, happy enough! Who will there be to put me in the'arth when my time comes?"
"When that unfortunate hour arrives, Natty, friends shall not be wantingto perform the last offices for you," said Oliver, a little touched atthe hunter's soliloquy.
The old man turned, without manifesting surprise, for he had got theIndian habits in this particular, and, running his hand under the bottomof his nose, seemed to wipe away his sorrow with the action.
"You've come out to see the graves, children, have ye?" he said; "well,well, they're wholesome sights to young as well as old."
"I hope they are fitted to your liking," said Effingham, "no one has abetter right than yourself to be consulted in the matter."
"Why, seeing that I ain't used to fine graves," returned the old man,"it is but little matter consarning my taste. Ye laid the Major's headto the west, and Mohegan's to the east, did ye, lad?"
"At your request it was done."
"It's so best," said the hunter; "they thought they had to journeydifferent ways, children: though there is One greater than all, who'llbring the just together, at His own time, and who'll whiten the skin ofa blackamoor, and place him on a footing with princes."
"There is but little reason to doubt that," said Elizabeth, whosedecided tones were changed to a soft, melancholy voice; "I trust weshall all meet again, and be happy together."
"Shall we, child, shall we?" exclaimed the hunter, with unusual fervor,"there's comfort in that thought too. But before I go, I should like toknow what 'tis you tell these people, that be flocking into the countrylike pigeons in the spring, of the old Delaware, and of the bravestwhite man that ever trod the hills?"
Effingham and Elizabeth were surprised at the manner of theLeather-Stocking, which was unusually impressive and solemn; but,attributing it to the scene, the young man turned to the monument, andread aloud:
"Sacred to the memory of Oliver Effingham Esquire, formally a Majorin his B. Majesty's 60th Foot; a soldier of tried valor; a subject ofchivalrous loyalty; and a man of honesty. To these virtues he addedthe graces of a Christian. The morning of his life was spent in honor,wealth, and power; but its evening was obscured by poverty, neglect,and disease, which were alleviated only by the tender care of hisold, faithful, and upright friend and attendant Nathaniel Bumppo. Hisdescendants rest this stone to the virtues of the master, and to theenduring gratitude of the servant."
The Leather-Stocking started at the sound of his own name, and a smileof joy illuminated his wrinkled features, as he said:
"And did ye say It, lad? have you then got the old man's name cut in thestone, by the side of his master's! God bless ye, children! 'twas a kindthought, and kindness goes to the heart as Life shortens."
Elizabeth turned her back to the speakers. Effingham made a fruitlesseffort before he succeeded in saying:
"It is there cut in plain marble; but it should have been written inletters of gold!"
"Show me the name, boy," said Natty, with simple eagerness; "let mesee my own name placed in such honor. 'Tis a gin'rous gift to a man wholeaves none of his name and family behind him in a country where he hastarried so long."
Effingham guided his finger to the spot, and Natty followed the windingsof the letters to the end with deep interest, when he raised himselffrom the tomb, and said:
"I suppose it's all right; and it's kindly thought, and kindly done! Butwhat have ye put over the red-skin?"
"You shall hear: This stone is raised to the memory of an Indian Chiefof the Delaware tribe, who was known by the several names of JohnMohegan Mohican------'"
"Mo-h
ee-can, lad, they call theirselves! 'hecan."
"Mohican; and Chingagook--"
"'Gach, boy; 'gach-gook; Chingachgook, which interpreted, meansBig-sarpent. The name should be set down right, for an Indian's name hasalways some meaning in it."
"I will see it altered. 'He was the last of his people who continuedto inhabit this country; and it may be said of him that his faults werethose of an Indian, and his virtues those of a man.'"
"You never said truer word, Mr. Oliver; ah's me! if you had knowed himas I did, in his prime, in that very battle where the old gentleman, whosleeps by his side saved his life, when them thieves, the Iroquois,had him at the stake, you'd have said all that, and more too. I cutthe thongs with this very hand, and gave him my own tomahawk and knife,seeing that the rifle was always my fav'rite weapon. He did lay abouthim like a man! I met him as I was coming home from the trail, witheleven Mingo scalps on his pole. You needn't shudder, Madam Effingham,for they was all from shaved heads and warriors. When I look about me,at these hills, where I used to could count sometimes twenty smokes,curling over the tree-tops, from the Delaware camps, it raises mournfulthoughts, to think that not a red-skin is left of them all; unless it bea drunken vagabond from the Oneidas, or them Yankee Indians, who, theysay, be moving up from the seashore; and who belong to none ofGods creatures, to my seeming, being, as it were, neither fish norflesh--neither white man nor savage. Well, well! the time has come atlast, and I must go----"
"Go!" echoed Edwards, "whither do you go?"
The Leather-Stocking; who had imbibed unconsciously, many of the Indianqualities, though he always thought of himself as of a civilized being,compared with even the Delawares, averted his face to conceal theworkings of his muscles, as he stooped to lift a large pack from behindthe tomb, which he placed deliberately on his shoulders.
"Go!" exclaimed Elizabeth, approaching him with a hurried step; "youshould not venture so far in the woods alone, at your time of life,Natty; indeed, it Is Imprudent, He is bent, Effingham, on some distanthunting."
"What Mrs. Effingham tells you is true, Leather-Stocking," said Edwards;"there can be no necessity for your submitting to such hardships now. Sothrow aside your pack, and confine your hunt to the mountains near us,if you will go."
"Hardship! 'tis a pleasure, children, and the greatest that is left meon this side the grave."
"No, no; you shall not go to such a distance," cried Elizabeth,laying her white hand on his deer-skin pack--"I am right! I feel hiscamp-kettle, and a canister of powder! He must not be suffered to wanderso far from us, Oliver; remember how suddenly Mohegan dropped away."
"I knowed the parting would come hard, children--I knowed it would!"said Natty, "and so I got aside to look at the graves by myself, andthought if I left ye the keep sake which the Major gave me, when wefirst parted in the woods, ye wouldn't take it unkind, but would knowthat, let the old man's body go where it might, his feelings stayedbehind him."
"This means something more than common," exclaimed the youth. "Where isit, Natty, that you purpose going?"
The hunter drew nigh him with a confident, reasoning air, as If what hehad to say would silence all objections, and replied:
"Why, lad, they tell me that on the big lakes there's the best ofhunting, and a great range without a white man on it unless it may beone like myself. I'm weary of living in clearings, and where the hammeris sounding in my ears from sunrise to sundown. And though I'm muchbound to ye both, children--I wouldn't say it if It was not true--Icrave to go into the woods agin--I do."
"Woods!" echoed Elizabeth, trembling with her feelings; "do you not callthese endless forests woods?"
"Ah! child, these be nothing to a man that's used to the wilderness. Ihave took but little comfort sin' your father come on with his settlers;but I wouldn't go far, while the life was in the body that lies underthe sod there. But now he's gone, and Chingachgook Is gone; and you beboth young and happy. Yes! the big house has rung with merriment thismonth past! And now I thought was the time to get a little comfort inthe close of my days. Woods! indeed! I doesn't call these woods, MadamEffingham, where I lose myself every day of my life in the clearings."
"If there be anything wanting to your comfort, name it,Leather-Stocking; if it be attainable it is yours."
"You mean all for the best, lad, I know; and so does madam, too; butyour ways isn't my ways. 'Tis like the dead there, who thought, when thebreath was in them, that one went east, and one went west, to find theirheavens; but they'll meet at last, and so shall we, children. Yes, andas you've begun, and we shall meet in the land of the just at last."
"This is so new! so unexpected!" said Elizabeth, in almost breathlessexcitement; "I had thought you meant to live with us and die with us,Natty."
"Words are of no avail," exclaimed her husband: "the habits of fortyyears are not to be dispossessed by the ties of a day. I know you toowell to urge you further, Natty; unless you will let me build you a huton one of the distant hills, where we can sometimes see you, and knowthat you are comfortable."
"Don't fear for the Leather-Stocking, children; God will see that hisdays be provided for, and his indian happy. I know you mean all for thebest, but our ways doesn't agree. I love the woods, and ye relish theface of man; I eat when hungry, and drink when a-dry; and ye keep statedhours and rules; nay, nay, you even over-feed the dogs, lad, from purekindness; and hounds should be gaunty to run well. The meanest of God'screatures be made for some use, and I'm formed for the wilderness, If yelove me, let me go where my soul craves to be agin!"
The appeal was decisive; and not another word of en treaty for him toremain was then uttered; but Elizabeth bent her head to her bosom andwept, while her husband dashed away the tears from his eyes; and, withhands that almost refused to perform their office, he procured hispocket-book, and extended a parcel of bank-notes to the hunter.
"Take these," he said, "at least take these; secure them about yourperson, and in the hour of need they will do you good service."
The old man took the notes, and examined them with curious eye.
"This, then, is some of the new-fashioned money that they've been makingat Albany, out of paper! It can't be worth much to they that hasn'tlarning! No, no, lad---- take back the stuff; it will do me no sarvice,I took kear to get all the Frenchman's powder afore he broke up, andthey say lead grows where I'm going, it isn't even fit for wads, seeingthat I use none but leather!--Madam Effingham, let an old man kiss yourhand, and wish God's choicest blessings on you and your'n."
"Once more let me beseech you, stay!" cried Elizabeth. "Do not,Leather-Stocking, leave me to grieve for the man who has twice rescuedme from death, and who has served those I love so faithfully. For mysake, if not for your own, stay. I shall see you in those frightfuldreams that still haunt my nights, dying in poverty and age, by the sideof those terrific beasts you slew. There will be no evil, that sickness,want, and solitude can inflict, that my fancy will not conjure as yourfate. Stay with us, old man, if not for your own sake, at least forours."
"Such thoughts and bitter dreams, Madam Effingham," returned the hunter,solemnly, "will never haunt an innocent parson long. They'll pass awaywith God's pleasure. And if the cat-a-mounts be yet brought to your eyesin sleep, tis not for my sake, but to show you the power of Him that ledme there to save you. Trust in God, madam, and your honorable husband,and the thoughts for an old man like me can never be long nor bitter.I pray that the Lord will keep you in mind--the Lord that lives inclearings as well as in the wilderness--and bless you, and all thatbelong to you, from this time till the great day when the whites shallmeet the red-skins in judgement, and justice shall be the law, and notpower."
Elizabeth raised her head, and offered her colorless cheek to hissalute, when he lifted his cap and touched it respectfully. His hand wasgrasped with convulsive fervor by the youth, who continued silent. Thehunter prepared himself for his journey, drawing his belt tighter, andwasting his moments in the little reluctant movements of a sorrowfuldeparture. Once or twi
ce he essayed to speak, but a rising in his throatprevented it. At length he shouldered his rifle, and cried with a clearhuntsman's call that echoed through the woods: "He-e-e-re, he-e-e-re,pups--away, dogs, away!--ye'll be footsore afore ye see the end of thejourney!"
The hounds leaped from the earth at this cry, and scenting around thegrave and silent pair, as if conscious of their own destination, theyfollowed humbly at the heels of their master. A short pause succeeded,during which even the youth concealed his face on his grandfather'stomb. When the pride of manhood, however, had sup pressed the feelingsof nature, he turned to renew his en treaties, but saw that the cemeterywas occupied only by himself and his wife.
"He is gone!" cried Effingham.
Elizabeth raised her face, and saw the old hunter standing looking backfor a moment, on the verge of the wood. As he caught their glances, hedrew his hard hand hastily across his eyes again, waved it on high foran adieu, and, uttering a forced cry to his dogs, who were crouching athis feet, he entered the forest.
This was the last they ever saw of the Leather-Stocking, whose rapidmovements preceded the pursuit which Judge Temple both ordered andconducted. He had gone far toward the setting sun--the foremost in thatband of pioneers who are opening the way for the march of the nationacross the continent.
The Pioneers; Or, The Sources of the Susquehanna Page 41
