“Thou'rt passing from the lake's green side,
And the hunter's hearth away;
For the time of flowers, for the summer's pride,
Daughter! thou canst not stay.”
Mrs. Hemans, “Edith. A Tale of the Woods” II. 191-94
Our two adventurers had not far to go. Hurry knew the direction, as soon
as he had found the open spot and the spring, and he now led on with the
confident step of a man assured of his object. The forest was dark, as a
matter of course, but it was no longer obstructed by underbrush, and the
footing was firm and dry. After proceeding near a mile, March stopped,
and began to cast about him with an inquiring look, examining the
different objects with care, and occasionally turning his eyes on the
trunks of the fallen trees, with which the ground was well sprinkled,
as is usually the case in an American wood, especially in those parts of
the country where timber has not yet become valuable.
“This must be the place, Deerslayer,” March at length observed; “here is
a beech by the side of a hemlock, with three pines at hand, and yonder
is a white birch with a broken top; and yet I see no rock, nor any of
the branches bent down, as I told you would be the case.”
“Broken branches are onskilful landmarks, as the least exper'enced know
that branches don't often break of themselves,” returned the other; “and
they also lead to suspicion and discoveries. The Delawares never trust
to broken branches, unless it is in friendly times, and on an open
trail. As for the beeches, and pines, and hemlocks, why, they are to be
seen on all sides of us, not only by twos and threes, but by forties,
and fifties, and hundreds.”
“Very true, Deerslayer, but you never calculate on position. Here is a
beech and a hemlock--”
“Yes, and there is another beech and a hemlock, as loving as two
brothers, or, for that matter, more loving than some brothers; and
yonder are others, for neither tree is a rarity in these woods. I fear
me, Hurry, you are better at trapping beaver and shooting bears, than
at leading on a blindish sort of a trail. Ha! there's what you wish to
find, a'ter all!”
“Now, Deerslayer, this is one of your Delaware pretensions, for hang me
if I see anything but these trees, which do seem to start up around us
in a most onaccountable and perplexing manner.”
“Look this-a-way, Hurry--here, in a line with the black oak--don't
you see the crooked sapling that is hooked up in the branches of the
bass-wood, near it? Now, that sapling was once snow-ridden, and got
the bend by its weight; but it never straightened itself, and fastened
itself in among the bass-wood branches in the way you see. The hand of
man did that act of kindness for it.”
“That hand was mine!” exclaimed Hurry; “I found the slender young
thing bent to the airth, like an unfortunate creatur' borne down by
misfortune, and stuck it up where you see it. After all, Deerslayer, I
must allow, you're getting to have an oncommon good eye for the woods!”
“'Tis improving, Hurry--'tis improving I will acknowledge; but 'tis only
a child's eye, compared to some I know. There's Tamenund, now, though
a man so old that few remember when he was in his prime, Tamenund lets
nothing escape his look, which is more like the scent of a hound than
the sight of an eye. Then Uncas, the father of Chingachgook, and the
lawful chief of the Mohicans, is another that it is almost hopeless to
pass unseen. I'm improving, I will allow--I'm improving, but far from
being perfect, as yet.”
“And who is this Chingachgook, of whom you talk so much, Deerslayer!”
asked Hurry, as he moved off in the direction of the righted sapling; “a
loping red-skin, at the best, I make no question.”
“Not so, Hurry, but the best of loping red-skins, as you call 'em. If he
had his rights, he would be a great chief; but, as it is, he is only
a brave and just-minded Delaware; respected, and even obeyed in some
things, 'tis true, but of a fallen race, and belonging to a fallen
people. Ah! Harry March, 'twould warm the heart within you to sit in
their lodges of a winter's night, and listen to the traditions of the
ancient greatness and power of the Mohicans!”
“Harkee, fri'nd Nathaniel,” said Hurry, stopping short to face his
companion, in order that his words might carry greater weight with them,
“if a man believed all that other people choose to say in their own
favor, he might get an oversized opinion of them, and an undersized
opinion of himself. These red-skins are notable boasters, and I set down
more than half of their traditions as pure talk.”
“There is truth in what you say, Hurry, I'll not deny it, for I've seen
it, and believe it. They do boast, but then that is a gift from natur';
and it's sinful to withstand nat'ral gifts. See; this is the spot you
come to find!” This remark cut short the discourse, and both the men
now gave all their attention to the object immediately before them.
Deerslayer pointed out to his companion the trunk of a huge linden, or
bass-wood, as it is termed in the language of the country, which had
filled its time, and fallen by its own weight. This tree, like so many
millions of its brethren, lay where it had fallen, and was mouldering
under the slow but certain influence of the seasons. The decay, however,
had attacked its centre, even while it stood erect in the pride of
vegetation, bellowing out its heart, as disease sometimes destroys the
vitals of animal life, even while a fair exterior is presented to the
observer. As the trunk lay stretched for near a hundred feet along the
earth, the quick eye of the hunter detected this peculiarity, and from
this and other circumstances, he knew it to be the tree of which March
was in search.
“Ay, here we have what we want,” cried Hurry, looking in at the larger
end of the linden; “everything is as snug as if it had been left in an
old woman's cupboard. Come, lend me a hand, Deerslayer, and we'll be
afloat in half an hour.”
At this call the hunter joined his companion, and the two went to work
deliberately and regularly, like men accustomed to the sort of thing in
which they were employed. In the first place, Hurry removed some pieces
of bark that lay before the large opening in the tree, and which the
other declared to be disposed in a way that would have been more likely
to attract attention than to conceal the cover, had any straggler passed
that way. The two then drew out a bark canoe, containing its seats,
paddles, and other appliances, even to fishing-lines and rods. This
vessel was by no means small; but such was its comparative lightness,
and so gigantic was the strength of Hurry, that the latter shouldered it
with seeming ease, declining all assistance, even in the act of raising
it to the awkward position in which he was obliged to hold it.
“Lead ahead, Deerslayer,” said March, “and open the bushes; the rest I
can do for myself.”
The other obeyed, and the men left the spot, Deerslayer clearing the
way for his companion, and inclining to the right or to the left, as the
latter directed. In about ten minutes they both broke suddenly into the
brilliant light of the sun, on a low gravelly point, that was washed by
water on quite half its outline.
An exclamation of surprise broke from the lips of Deerslayer, an
exclamation that was low and guardedly made, however, for his habits
were much more thoughtful and regulated than those of the reckless
Hurry, when on reaching the margin of the lake, he beheld the view that
unexpectedly met his gaze. It was, in truth, sufficiently striking to
merit a brief description. On a level with the point lay a broad sheet
of water, so placid and limpid that it resembled a bed of the pure
mountain atmosphere, compressed into a setting of hills and woods.
Its length was about three leagues, while its breadth was irregular,
expanding to half a league, or even more, opposite to the point, and
contracting to less than half that distance, more to the southward. Of
course, its margin was irregular, being indented by bays, and broken
by many projecting, low points. At its northern, or nearest end, it was
bounded by an isolated mountain, lower land falling off east and west,
gracefully relieving the sweep of the outline. Still the character
of the country was mountainous; high hills, or low mountains, rising
abruptly from the water, on quite nine tenths of its circuit. The
exceptions, indeed, only served a little to vary the scene; and
even beyond the parts of the shore that were comparatively low, the
background was high, though more distant.
But the most striking peculiarities of this scene were its solemn
solitude and sweet repose. On all sides, wherever the eye turned,
nothing met it but the mirror-like surface of the lake, the placid view
of heaven, and the dense setting of woods. So rich and fleecy were the
outlines of the forest, that scarce an opening could be seen, the
whole visible earth, from the rounded mountain-top to the water's edge,
presenting one unvaried hue of unbroken verdure. As if vegetation were
not satisfied with a triumph so complete, the trees overhung the lake
itself, shooting out towards the light; and there were miles along its
eastern shore, where a boat might have pulled beneath the branches of
dark Rembrandt-looking hemlocks, “quivering aspens,” and melancholy
pines. In a word, the hand of man had never yet defaced or deformed any
part of this native scene, which lay bathed in the sunlight, a glorious
picture of affluent forest grandeur, softened by the balminess of June,
and relieved by the beautiful variety afforded by the presence of so
broad an expanse of water.
“This is grand!--'tis solemn!--'tis an edication of itself, to look
upon!” exclaimed Deerslayer, as he stood leaning on his rifle, and
gazing to the right and left, north and south, above and beneath, in
whichever direction his eye could wander; “not a tree disturbed even by
red-skin hand, as I can discover, but everything left in the ordering of
the Lord, to live and die according to his own designs and laws! Hurry,
your Judith ought to be a moral and well disposed young woman, if
she has passed half the time you mention in the centre of a spot so
favored.”
“That's naked truth; and yet the gal has the vagaries. All her time
has not been passed here, howsoever, old Tom having the custom, afore
I know'd him, of going to spend the winters in the neighborhood of the
settlers, or under the guns of the forts. No, no, Jude has caught
more than is for her good from the settlers, and especially from the
gallantifying officers.”
“If she has--if she has, Hurry, this is a school to set her mind right
ag'in. But what is this I see off here, abreast of us, that seems too
small for an island, and too large for a boat, though it stands in the
midst of the water!
“Why, that is what these galantine gentry from the forts call Muskrat
Castle; and old Tom himself will grin at the name, though it bears so
hard on his own natur' and character. 'Tis the stationary house, there
being two; this, which never moves, and the other, that floats, being
sometimes in one part of the lake and sometimes in another. The last
goes by the name of the ark, though what may be the meaning of the word
is more than I can tell you.”
“It must come from the missionaries, Hurry, whom I have heard speak
and read of such a thing. They say that the 'arth was once covered with
water, and that Noah, with his children, was saved from drowning by
building a vessel called an ark, in which he embarked in season. Some of
the Delawares believe this tradition, and some deny it; but it behooves
you and me, as white men born, to put our faith in its truth. Do you see
anything of this ark?”
“'Tis down south, no doubt, or anchored in some of the bays. But the
canoe is ready, and fifteen minutes will carry two such paddles as
your'n and mine to the castle.”
At this suggestion, Deerslayer helped his companion to place the
different articles in the canoe, which was already afloat. This was no
sooner done than the two frontiermen embarked, and by a vigorous push
sent the light bark some eight or ten rods from the shore. Hurry now
took the seat in the stern, while Deerslayer placed himself forward, and
by leisurely but steady strokes of the paddles, the canoe glided across
the placid sheet, towards the extraordinary-looking structure that the
former had styled Muskrat Castle. Several times the men ceased paddling,
and looked about them at the scene, as new glimpses opened from behind
points, enabling them to see farther down the lake, or to get broader
views of the wooded mountains. The only changes, however, were in the
new forms of the hills, the varying curvature of the bays, and the wider
reaches of the valley south; the whole earth apparently being clothed in
a gala-dress of leaves.
“This is a sight to warm the heart!” exclaimed Deerslayer, when they had
thus stopped for the fourth or fifth time; “the lake seems made to let
us get an insight into the noble forests; and land and water alike stand
in the beauty of God's providence! Do you say, Hurry, that there is no
man who calls himself lawful owner of all these glories?”
“None but the King, lad. He may pretend to some right of that natur',
but he is so far away that his claim will never trouble old Tom Hutter,
who has got possession, and is like to keep it as long as his life
lasts. Tom is no squatter, not being on land; I call him a floater.”
“I invy that man! I know it's wrong, and I strive ag'in the feelin', but
I invy that man! Don't think, Hurry, that I'm consorting any plan to put
myself in his moccasins, for such a thought doesn't harbor in my mind;
but I can't help a little invy! 'Tis a nat'ral feelin', and the best of
us are but nat'ral, a'ter all, and give way to such feelin's at times.”
“You've only to marry Hetty to inherit half the estate,” cried Hurry,
laughing; “the gal is comely; nay, if it wasn't for her sister's beauty
she would be even handsome; and then her wits are so small that you may
easily convart her into one of your own way of thinking, in all things.
Do you take Hetty off the old fellow's hands, and I'll engage he'll give
you an interest in every deer you can knock over within five miles of
his lake.”
“Does game abound!” suddenly demanded the other, who paid but little
attention to March's raillery.
“It has the country to itself. Scarce a trigger is pulled on it; and as
for the trappers, this is not a region they greatly frequent. I ought
not to be so much here myself, but Jude pulls one way, while the beaver
pulls another. More than a hundred Spanish dollars has that creatur'
cost me the last two seasons, and yet I could not forego the wish to
look upon her face once more.”
“Do the redmen often visit this lake, Hurry?” continued Deerslayer,
pursuing his own train of thought.
“Why, they come and go; sometimes in parties, and sometimes singly. The
country seems to belong to no native tribe in particular; and so it has
fallen into the hands of the Hutter tribe. The old man tells me that
some sharp ones have been wheedling the Mohawks for an Indian deed,
in order to get a title out of the colony; but nothing has come of it,
seeing that no one heavy enough for such a trade has yet meddled
with the matter. The hunters have a good life-lease still of this
wilderness.”
“So much the better, so much the better, Hurry. If I was King of
England, the man that felled one of these trees without good occasion
for the timber, should be banished to a desarted and forlorn region, in
which no fourfooted animal ever trod. Right glad am I that Chingachgook
app'inted our meeting on this lake, for hitherto eye of mine never
looked on such a glorious spectacle.”
“That's because you've kept so much among the Delawares, in whose
country there are no lakes. Now, farther north and farther west these
bits of water abound; and you're young, and may yet live to see 'em.
But though there be other lakes, Deerslayer, there's no other Judith
Hutter!”
At this remark his companion smiled, and then he dropped his paddle into
the water, as if in consideration of a lover's haste. Both now pulled
vigorously until they got within a hundred yards of the “castle,” as
Hurry familiarly called the house of Hutter, when they again ceased
paddling; the admirer of Judith restraining his impatience the more
readily, as he perceived that the building was untenanted, at the
moment. This new pause was to enable Deerslayer to survey the singular
edifice, which was of a construction so novel as to merit a particular
description.
Muskrat Castle, as the house had been facetiously named by some waggish
officer, stood in the open lake, at a distance of fully a quarter of a
mile from the nearest shore. On every other side the water extended much
farther, the precise position being distant about two miles from the
northern end of the sheet, and near, if not quite, a mile from its
eastern shore. As there was not the smallest appearance of any island,
but the house stood on piles, with the water flowing beneath it, and
Deerslayer had already discovered that the lake was of a great depth,
he was fain to ask an explanation of this singular circumstance. Hurry
solved the difficulty by telling him that on this spot alone, a long,
narrow shoal, which extended for a few hundred yards in a north and
south direction, rose within six or eight feet of the surface of
the lake, and that Hutter had driven piles into it, and placed his
habitation on them, for the purpose of security.
“The old fellow was burnt out three times, atween the Indians and the
hunters; and in one affray with the red-skins he lost his only son,
since which time he has taken to the water for safety. No one can attack
him here, without coming in a boat, and the plunder and scalps would
scarce be worth the trouble of digging out canoes. Then it's by no
means sartain which would whip in such a scrimmage, for old Tom is well
supplied with arms and ammunition, and the castle, as you may see, is a
tight breastwork ag'in light shot.”
Deerslayer had some theoretical knowledge of frontier warfare, though
he had never yet been called on to raise his hand in anger against a
fellow-creature. He saw that Hurry did not overrate the strength of
this position in a military point of view, since it would not be easy to
attack it without exposing the assailants to the fire of the besieged.
A good deal of art had also been manifested in the disposition of
the timber of which the building was constructed and which afforded a
protection much greater than was usual to the ordinary log-cabins of the
frontier. The sides and ends were composed of the trunks of large pines,
cut about nine feet long, and placed upright, instead of being laid
horizontally, as was the practice of the country. These logs were
squared on three sides, and had large tenons on each end. Massive sills
were secured on the heads of the piles, with suitable grooves dug out
of their upper surfaces, which had been squared for the purpose, and the
lower tenons of the upright pieces were placed in these grooves, giving
them secure fastening below. Plates had been laid on the upper ends
of the upright logs, and were kept in their places by a similar
contrivance; the several corners of the structure being well fastened
by scarfing and pinning the sills and plates. The doors were made of
smaller logs, similarly squared, and the roof was composed of light
poles, firmly united, and well covered with bark.
The effect of this ingenious arrangement was to give its owner a house
that could be approached only by water, the sides of which were composed
of logs closely wedged together, which were two feet thick in their
thinnest parts, and which could be separated only by a deliberate and
laborious use of human hands, or by the slow operation of time. The
outer surface of the building was rude and uneven, the logs being of
unequal sizes; but the squared surfaces within gave both the sides and
door as uniform an appearance as was desired, either for use or show.
The chimney was not the least singular portion of the castle, as Hurry
made his companion observe, while he explained the process by which it
had been made. The material was a stiff clay, properly worked, which had
been put together in a mould of sticks, and suffered to harden, a foot
or two at a time, commencing at the bottom. When the entire chimney had
thus been raised, and had been properly bound in with outward props, a
brisk fire was kindled, and kept going until it was burned to something
like a brick-red. This had not been an easy operation, nor had it
succeeded entirely; but by dint of filling the cracks with fresh clay,
a safe fireplace and chimney had been obtained in the end. This part of
the work stood on the log-door, secured beneath by an extra pile. There
were a few other peculiarities about this dwelling, which will better
appear in the course of the narrative.
“Old Tom is full of contrivances,” added Hurry, “and he set his heart on
the success of his chimney, which threatened more than once to give out
altogether; but perseverance will even overcome smoke; and now he has
a comfortable cabin of it, though it did promise, at one time, to be a
chinky sort of a flue to carry flames and fire.”
“You seem to know the whole history of the castle, Hurry, chimney and
sides,” said Deerslayer, smiling; “is love so overcoming that it causes
a man to study the story of his sweetheart's habitation?”
“Partly that, lad, and partly eyesight,” returned the good-natured
giant, laughing; “there was a large gang of us in the lake, the summer
the old fellow built, and we helped him along with the job. I raised no
small part of the weight of them uprights with my own shoulders, and
the axes flew, I can inform you, Master Natty, while we were bee-ing it
among the trees ashore. The old devil is no way stingy about food, and
as we had often eat at his hearth, we thought we would just house him
comfortably, afore we went to Albany with our skins. Yes, many is the
meal I've swallowed in Tom Hutter's cabins; and Hetty, though so weak in
the way of wits, has a wonderful particular way about a frying-pan or a
gridiron!
“While the parties were thus discoursing, the canoe had been gradually
drawing nearer to the “castle,” and was now so close as to require but
a single stroke of a paddle to reach the landing. This was at a floored
platform in front of the entrance, that might have been some twenty feet
square.
“Old Tom calls this sort of a wharf his door-yard,” observed Hurry, as
he fastened the canoe, after he and his Companion had left it: “and the
gallants from the forts have named it the castle court though what a
'court' can have to do here is more than I can tell you, seeing that
there is no law. 'Tis as I supposed; not a soul within, but the whole
family is off on a v'y'ge of discovery!”
While Hurry was bustling about the “door-yard,” examining the
fishing-spears, rods, nets, and other similar appliances of a frontier
cabin, Deerslayer, whose manner was altogether more rebuked and quiet,
entered the building with a curiosity that was not usually exhibited by
one so long trained in Indian habits. The interior of the “castle” was
as faultlessly neat as its exterior was novel. The entire space, some
twenty feet by forty, was subdivided into several small sleeping-rooms;
the apartment into which he first entered, serving equally for the
ordinary uses of its inmates, and for a kitchen. The furniture was of
the strange mixture that it is not uncommon to find in the remotely
situated log-tenements of the interior. Most of it was rude, and to the
last degree rustic; but there was a clock, with a handsome case of dark
wood, in a corner, and two or three chairs, with a table and bureau,
that had evidently come from some dwelling of more than usual
pretension. The clock was industriously ticking, but its leaden-looking
hands did no discredit to their dull aspect, for they pointed to the
hour of eleven, though the sun plainly showed it was some time past
the turn of the day. There was also a dark, massive chest. The kitchen
utensils were of the simplest kind, and far from numerous, but every
article was in its place, and showed the nicest care in its condition.
After Deerslayer had cast a look about him in the outer room, he raised
a wooden latch, and entered a narrow passage that divided the inner
end of the house into two equal parts. Frontier usages being no way
scrupulous, and his curiosity being strongly excited, the young man now
opened a door, and found himself in a bedroom. A single glance sufficed
to show that the apartment belonged to females. The bed was of the
feathers of wild geese, and filled nearly to overflowing; but it lay in
a rude bunk, raised only a foot from the door. On one side of it were
arranged, on pegs, various dresses, of a quality much superior to what
one would expect to meet in such a place, with ribbons and other similar
articles to correspond. Pretty shoes, with handsome silver buckles, such
as were then worn by females in easy circumstances, were not wanting;
and no less than six fans, of gay colors, were placed half open, in a
way to catch the eye by their conceits and hues. Even the pillow, on
this side of the bed, was covered with finer linen than its companion,
and it was ornamented with a small ruffle. A cap, coquettishly decorated
with ribbons, hung above it, and a pair of long gloves, such as were
rarely used in those days by persons of the laboring classes, were
pinned ostentatiously to it, as if with an intention to exhibit them
there, if they could not be shown on the owner's arms.
All this Deerslayer saw, and noted with a degree of minuteness that
would have done credit to the habitual observation of his friends, the
Delawares. Nor did he fail to perceive the distinction that existed
between the appearances on the different sides of the bed, the head
of which stood against the wall. On that opposite to the one just
described, everything was homely and uninviting, except through its
perfect neatness. The few garments that were hanging from the pegs were
of the coarsest materials and of the commonest forms, while nothing
seemed made for show. Of ribbons there was not one; nor was there either
cap or kerchief beyond those which Hutter's daughters might be fairly
entitled to wear.
It was now several years since Deerslayer had been in a spot especially
devoted to the uses of females of his own color and race. The sight
brought back to his mind a rush of childish recollections; and he
lingered in the room with a tenderness of feeling to which he had long
been a stranger. He bethought him of his mother, whose homely vestments
he remembered to have seen hanging on pegs like those which he felt
must belong to Hetty Hutter; and he bethought himself of a sister, whose
incipient and native taste for finery had exhibited itself somewhat in
the manner of that of Judith, though necessarily in a less degree. These
little resemblances opened a long hidden vein of sensations; and as he
quitted the room, it was with a saddened mien. He looked no further, but
returned slowly and thoughtfully towards the “door-yard.”
“If Old Tom has taken to a new calling, and has been trying his hand at
the traps,” cried Hurry, who had been coolly examining the borderer's
implements; “if that is his humor, and you're disposed to remain in
these parts, we can make an oncommon comfortable season of it; for,
while the old man and I out-knowledge the beaver, you can fish, and
knock down the deer, to keep body and soul together. I've always give
the poorest hunters half a share, but one as actyve and sartain as
yourself might expect a full one.”
“Thank'ee, Hurry; thank'ee, with all my heart--but I do a little
beavering for myself as occasions offer. 'Tis true, the Delawares call
me Deerslayer, but it's not so much because I'm pretty fatal with the
venison as because that while I kill so many bucks and does, I've never
yet taken the life of a fellow-creatur'. They say their traditions do
not tell of another who had shed so much blood of animals that had not
shed the blood of man.”
“I hope they don't account you chicken-hearted, lad! A faint-hearted man
is like a no-tailed beaver.”
“I don't believe, Hurry, that they account me as out-of-the-way
timorsome, even though they may not account me as out-of-the-way brave.
But I'm not quarrelsome; and that goes a great way towards keeping blood
off the hands, among the hunters and red-skins; and then, Harry March,
it keeps blood off the conscience, too.”
“Well, for my part I account game, a red-skin, and a Frenchman as pretty
much the same thing; though I'm as onquarrelsome a man, too, as there is
in all the colonies. I despise a quarreller as I do a cur-dog; but one
has no need to be over-scrupulsome when it's the right time to show the
flint.”
“I look upon him as the most of a man who acts nearest the right, Hurry.
But this is a glorious spot, and my eyes never a-weary looking at it!”
“'Tis your first acquaintance with a lake; and these ideas come over us
all at such times. Lakes have a gentle character, as I say, being pretty
much water and land, and points and bays.”
As this definition by no means met the feelings that were uppermost in
the mind of the young hunter, he made no immediate answer, but stood
gazing at the dark hills and the glassy water in silent enjoyment.
“Have the Governor's or the King's people given this lake a name?” he
suddenly asked, as if struck with a new idea. “If they've not begun to
blaze their trees, and set up their compasses, and line off their maps,
it's likely they've not bethought them to disturb natur' with a name.”
“They've not got to that, yet; and the last time I went in with skins,
one of the King's surveyors was questioning me consarning all the region
hereabouts. He had heard that there was a lake in this quarter, and
had got some general notions about it, such as that there was water and
hills; but how much of either, he know'd no more than you know of the
Mohawk tongue. I didn't open the trap any wider than was necessary,
giving him but poor encouragement in the way of farms and clearings. In
short, I left on his mind some such opinion of this country, as a man
gets of a spring of dirty water, with a path to it that is so muddy that
one mires afore he sets out. He told me they hadn't got the spot down
yet on their maps, though I conclude that is a mistake, for he showed me
his parchment, and there is a lake down on it, where there is no lake
in fact, and which is about fifty miles from the place where it ought to
be, if they meant it for this. I don't think my account will encourage
him to mark down another, by way of improvement.”
Here Hurry laughed heartily, such tricks being particularly grateful to
a set of men who dreaded the approaches of civilization as a curtailment
of their own lawless empire. The egregious errors that existed in the
maps of the day, all of which were made in Europe, were, moreover, a
standing topic of ridicule among them; for, if they had not science
enough to make any better themselves, they had sufficient local
information to detect the gross blunders contained in those that
existed. Any one who will take the trouble to compare these unanswerable
evidences of the topographical skill of our fathers a century since,
with the more accurate sketches of our own time, will at once perceive
that the men of the woods had a sufficient justification for all their
criticism on this branch of the skill of the colonial governments, which
did not at all hesitate to place a river or a lake a degree or two out
of the way, even though they lay within a day's march of the inhabited
parts of the country.
“I'm glad it has no name,” resumed Deerslayer, “or at least, no
pale-face name; for their christenings always foretell waste and
destruction. No doubt, howsoever, the red-skins have their modes of
knowing it, and the hunters and trappers, too; they are likely to call
the place by something reasonable and resembling.”
“As for the tribes, each has its tongue, and its own way of calling
things; and they treat this part of the world just as they treat
all others. Among ourselves, we've got to calling the place the
'Glimmerglass,' seeing that its whole basin is so often hinged with
pines, cast upward to its face as if it would throw back the hills that
hang over it.”
“There is an outlet, I know, for all lakes have outlets, and the rock
at which I am to meet Chingachgook stands near an outlet. Has that no
colony-name yet?”
“In that particular they've got the advantage of us, having one end, and
that the biggest, in their own keeping: they've given it a name which
has found its way up to its source; names nat'rally working up stream.
No doubt, Deerslayer, you've seen the Susquehannah, down in the Delaware
country?”
“That have I, and hunted along its banks a hundred times.”
“That and this are the same in fact, and, I suppose, the same in sound.
I am glad they've been compelled to keep the redmen's name, for it would
be too hard to rob them of both land and name!”
Deerslayer made no answer; but he stood leaning on his rifle, gazing
at the view which so much delighted him. The reader is not to suppose,
however, that it was the picturesque alone which so strongly attracted
his attention. The spot was very lovely, of a truth, and it was then
seen in one of its most favorable moments, the surface of the lake
being as smooth as glass and as limpid as pure air, throwing back
the mountains, clothed in dark pines, along the whole of its eastern
boundary, the points thrusting forward their trees even to nearly
horizontal lines, while the bays were seen glittering through an
occasional arch beneath, left by a vault fretted with branches and
leaves. It was the air of deep repose--the solitudes, that spoke of
scenes and forests untouched by the hands of man--the reign of nature,
in a word, that gave so much pure delight to one of his habits and turn
of mind. Still, he felt, though it was unconsciously, like a poet
also. If he found a pleasure in studying this large, and to him unusual
opening into the mysteries and forms of the woods, as one is gratified
in getting broader views of any subject that has long occupied his
thoughts, he was not insensible to the innate loveliness of such a
landscape neither, but felt a portion of that soothing of the spirit
which is a common attendant of a scene so thoroughly pervaded by the
holy cairn of nature.