“Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that's gone,
And o'er his cold ashes upbraid him;
But nothing he'll reck, if they'll let him sleep on,
In the grave where a Briton has laid him.”
Charles Wolfe, “The Burial of Sir John Moore,” vi.
The reader must imagine the horror that daughters would experience, at
unexpectedly beholding the shocking spectacle that was placed before the
eyes of Judith and Esther, as related in the close of the last chapter.
We shall pass over the first emotions, the first acts of filial piety,
and proceed with the narrative by imagining rather than relating most of
the revolting features of the scene. The mutilated and ragged head was
bound up, the unseemly blood was wiped from the face of the sufferer,
the other appliances required by appearances and care were resorted to,
and there was time to enquire into the more serious circumstances of the
case. The facts were never known until years later in all their details,
simple as they were, but they may as well be related here, as it can be
done in a few words. In the struggle with the Hurons, Hutter had been
stabbed by the knife of the old warrior, who had used the discretion
to remove the arms of every one but himself. Being hard pushed by his
sturdy foe, his knife had settled the matter. This occurred just as
the door was opened, and Hurry burst out upon the platform, as has
been previously related. This was the secret of neither party's having
appeared in the subsequent struggle; Hutter having been literally
disabled, and his conqueror being ashamed to be seen with the traces of
blood about him, after having used so many injunctions to convince his
young warriors of the necessity of taking their prisoners alive. When
the three Hurons returned from the chase, and it was determined to
abandon the castle and join the party on the land, Hutter was simply
scalped to secure the usual trophy, and was left to die by inches, as
has been done in a thousand similar instances by the ruthless warriors
of this part of the American continent. Had the injury of Hutter been
confined to his head, he might have recovered, however, for it was
the blow of the knife that proved mortal. There are moments of vivid
consciousness, when the stern justice of God stands forth in colours so
prominent as to defy any attempts to veil them from the sight, however
unpleasant they may appear, or however anxious we may be to avoid
recognising it. Such was now the fact with Judith and Hetty, who both
perceived the decrees of a retributive Providence, in the manner of
their father's suffering, as a punishment for his own recent attempts
on the Iroquois. This was seen and felt by Judith with the keenness of
perception and sensibility that were suited to her character, while
the impression made on the simpler mind of her sister was perhaps less
lively, though it might well have proved more lasting.
“Oh! Judith,” exclaimed the weak minded girl, as soon as their first
care had been bestowed on sufferer. “Father went for scalps, himself,
and now where is his own? The Bible might have foretold this dreadful
punishment!”
“Hush, Hetty--hush, poor sister--He opens his eyes; he may hear and
understand you. 'Tis as you say and think, but 'tis too dreadful to
speak.”
“Water,” ejaculated Hutter, as it might be by a desperate effort, that
rendered his voice frightfully deep and strong for one as near death as
he evidently was--“Water--foolish girls--will you let me die of thirst?”
Water was brought and administered to the sufferer; the first he
had tasted in hours of physical anguish. It had the double effect of
clearing his throat and of momentarily reviving his sinking system. His
eyes opened with that anxious, distended gaze which is apt to accompany
the passage of a soul surprised by death, and he seemed disposed to
speak.
“Father,” said Judith, inexpressibly pained by his deplorable situation,
and this so much the more from her ignorance of what remedies ought
to be applied--“Father, can we do any thing for you? Can Hetty and I
relieve your pain?”
“Father!” slowly repeated the old man. “No, Judith; no, Hetty--I'm no
father. She was your mother, but I'm no father. Look in the chest--'Tis
all there--give me more water.”
The girls complied, and Judith, whose early recollections extended
farther back than her sister's, and who on every account had more
distinct impressions of the past, felt an uncontrollable impulse of joy
as she heard these words. There had never been much sympathy between her
reputed father and herself, and suspicions of this very truth had often
glanced across her mind, in consequence of dialogues she had overheard
between Hutter and her mother. It might be going too far to say she had
never loved him, but it is not so to add that she rejoiced it was no
longer a duty. With Hetty the feeling was different. Incapable of
making all the distinctions of her sister, her very nature was full
of affection, and she had loved her reputed parent, though far less
tenderly than the real parent, and it grieved her now to hear him
declare he was not naturally entitled to that love. She felt a double
grief, as if his death and his words together were twice depriving her
of parents. Yielding to her feelings, the poor girl went aside and wept.
The very opposite emotions of the two girls kept both silent for a long
time. Judith gave water to the sufferer frequently, but she forbore to
urge him with questions, in some measure out of consideration for his
condition, but, if truth must be said, quite as much lest something he
should add in the way of explanation might disturb her pleasing belief
that she was not Thomas Hutter's child. At length Hetty dried her tears,
and came and seated herself on a stool by the side of the dying man, who
had been placed at his length on the floor, with his head supported by
some coarse vestments that had been left in the house.
“Father,” she said “you will let me call you father, though you say you
are not one--Father, shall I read the Bible to you--mother always said
the Bible was good for people in trouble. She was often in trouble
herself, and then she made me read the Bible to her--for Judith wasn't
as fond of the Bible as I am--and it always did her good. Many is the
time I've known mother begin to listen with the tears streaming from her
eyes, and end with smiles and gladness. Oh! father, you don't know how
much good the Bible can do, for you've never tried it. Now, I'll read a
chapter and it will soften your heart as it softened the hearts of the
Hurons.”
While poor Hetty had so much reverence for, and faith in, the virtues
of the Bible, her intellect was too shallow to enable her fully to
appreciate its beauties, or to fathom its profound and sometimes
mysterious wisdom. That instinctive sense of right which appeared to
shield her from the commission of wrong, and even cast a mantle of
moral loveliness and truth around her character, could not penetrate
abstrusities, or trace the nice affinities between cause and effect,
beyond their more obvious and indisputable connection, though she
seldom failed to see all the latter, and to defer to all their just
consequences. In a word, she was one of those who feel and act correctly
without being able to give a logical reason for it, even admitting
revelation as her authority. Her selections from the Bible, therefore,
were commonly distinguished by the simplicity of her own mind, and were
oftener marked for containing images of known and palpable things than
for any of the higher cast of moral truths with which the pages of that
wonderful book abound--wonderful, and unequalled, even without referring
to its divine origin, as a work replete with the profoundest philosophy,
expressed in the noblest language. Her mother, with a connection that
will probably strike the reader, had been fond of the book of Job, and
Hetty had, in a great measure, learned to read by the frequent lessons
she had received from the different chapters of this venerable and
sublime poem--now believed to be the oldest book in the world. On this
occasion the poor girl was submissive to her training, and she turned to
that well known part of the sacred volume, with the readiness with which
the practised counsel would cite his authorities from the stores of
legal wisdom. In selecting the particular chapter, she was influenced by
the caption, and she chose that which stands in our English version
as “Job excuseth his desire of death.” This she read steadily, from
beginning to end, in a sweet, low and plaintive voice; hoping devoutly
that the allegorical and abstruse sentences might convey to the heart of
the sufferer the consolation he needed. It is another peculiarity of the
comprehensive wisdom of the Bible that scarce a chapter, unless it
be strictly narration, can be turned to, that does not contain some
searching truth that is applicable to the condition of every human
heart, as well as to the temporal state of its owner, either through
the workings of that heart, or even in a still more direct form. In this
instance, the very opening sentence--“Is there not an appointed time to
man on earth?” was startling, and as Hetty proceeded, Hutter applied, or
fancied he could apply many aphorisms and figures to his own worldly
and mental condition. As life is ebbing fast, the mind clings eagerly to
hope when it is not absolutely crushed by despair. The solemn words “I
have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? Why
hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to
myself,” struck Hutter more perceptibly than the others, and, though too
obscure for one of his blunted feelings and obtuse mind either to feel
or to comprehend in their fullest extent, they had a directness of
application to his own state that caused him to wince under them.
“Don't you feel better now, father?” asked Hetty, closing the volume.
“Mother was always better when she had read the Bible.”
“Water,” returned Hutter--“give me water, Judith. I wonder if my tongue
will always be so hot! Hetty, isn't there something in the Bible about
cooling the tongue of a man who was burning in Hell fire?”
Judith turned away shocked, but Hetty eagerly sought the passage, which
she read aloud to the conscience stricken victim of his own avaricious
longings.
“That's it, poor Hetty; yes, that's it. My tongue wants cooling,
now--what will it be hereafter?”
This appeal silenced even the confiding Hetty, for she had no answer
ready for a confession so fraught with despair. Water, so long as it
could relieve the sufferer, it was in the power of the sisters to give,
and from time to time it was offered to the lips of the sufferer as he
asked for it. Even Judith prayed. As for Hetty, as soon as she found
that her efforts to make her father listen to her texts were no longer
rewarded with success, she knelt at his side and devoutly repeated
the words which the Saviour has left behind him as a model for human
petitions. This she continued to do, at intervals, as long as it seemed
to her that the act could benefit the dying man. Hutter, however,
lingered longer than the girls had believed possible when they first
found him. At times he spoke intelligibly, though his lips oftener moved
in utterance of sounds that carried no distinct impressions
to the mind. Judith listened intently, and she heard the
words--“husband”--“death”--“pirate”--“law”--“scalps”--and several others
of similar import, though there was no sentence to tell the precise
connection in which they were used. Still they were sufficiently
expressive to be understood by one whose ears had not escaped all the
rumours that had been circulated to her reputed father's discredit, and
whose comprehension was as quick as her faculties were attentive.
During the whole of the painful hour that succeeded, neither of the
sisters bethought her sufficiently of the Hurons to dread their return.
It seemed as if their desolation and grief placed them above the danger
of such an interruption, and when the sound of oars was at length heard,
even Judith, who alone had any reason to apprehend the enemy, did not
start, but at once understood that the Ark was near. She went upon the
platform fearlessly, for should it turn out that Hurry was not
there, and that the Hurons were masters of the scow also, escape was
impossible. Then she had the sort of confidence that is inspired by
extreme misery. But there was no cause for any new alarm, Chingachgook,
Hist, and Hurry all standing in the open part of the scow, cautiously
examining the building to make certain of the absence of the enemy.
They, too, had seen the departure of the Hurons, as well as the approach
of the canoe of the girls to the castle, and presuming on the latter
fact, March had swept the scow up to the platform. A word sufficed to
explain that there was nothing to be apprehended, and the Ark was soon
moored in her old berth.
Judith said not a word concerning the condition of her father, but Hurry
knew her too well not to understand that something was more than usually
wrong. He led the way, though with less of his confident bold manner
than usual, into the house, and penetrating to the inner room, found
Hutter lying on his back with Hetty sitting at his side, fanning him
with pious care. The events of the morning had sensibly changed the
manner of Hurry. Notwithstanding his skill as a swimmer, and the
readiness with which he had adopted the only expedient that could
possibly save him, the helplessness of being in the water, bound hand
and foot, had produced some such effect on him, as the near approach
of punishment is known to produce on most criminals, leaving a vivid
impression of the horrors of death upon his mind, and this too in
connection with a picture of bodily helplessness; the daring of this man
being far more the offspring of vast physical powers, than of the energy
of the will, or even of natural spirit. Such heroes invariably lose a
large portion of their courage with the failure of their strength, and
though Hurry was now unfettered and as vigorous as ever, events were too
recent to permit the recollection of his late deplorable condition to
be at all weakened. Had he lived a century, the occurrences of the few
momentous minutes during which he was in the lake would have produced a
chastening effect on his character, if not always on his manner.
Hurry was not only shocked when he found his late associate in this
desperate situation, but he was greatly surprised. During the struggle
in the building, he had been far too much occupied himself to learn what
had befallen his comrade, and, as no deadly weapon had been used in his
particular case, but every effort had been made to capture him without
injury, he naturally believed that Hutter had been overcome, while he
owed his own escape to his great bodily strength, and to a fortunate
concurrence of extraordinary circumstances. Death, in the silence and
solemnity of a chamber, was a novelty to him. Though accustomed to
scenes of violence, he had been unused to sit by the bedside and watch
the slow beating of the pulse, as it gradually grew weaker and weaker.
Notwithstanding the change in his feelings, the manners of a life could
not be altogether cast aside in a moment, and the unexpected scene
extorted a characteristic speech from the borderer.
“How now! old Tom,” he said, “have the vagabonds got you at an
advantage, where you're not only down, but are likely to be kept down!
I thought you a captyve it's true, but never supposed you so hard run as
this!”
Hutter opened his glassy eyes, and stared wildly at the speaker. A flood
of confused recollections rushed on his wavering mind at the sight of
his late comrade. It was evident that he struggled with his own images,
and knew not the real from the unreal.
“Who are you?” he asked in a husky whisper, his failing strength
refusing to aid him in a louder effort of his voice.
“Who are you?--You look like the mate of 'The Snow'--he was a giant,
too, and near overcoming us.”
“I'm your mate, Floating Tom, and your comrade, but have nothing to do
with any snow. It's summer now, and Harry March always quits the hills
as soon after the frosts set in, as is convenient.”
“I know you--Hurry Skurry--I'll sell you a scalp!--a sound one, and of a
full grown man--What'll you give?”
“Poor Tom! That scalp business hasn't turned out at all profitable, and
I've pretty much concluded to give it up; and to follow a less bloody
calling.”
“Have you got any scalp? Mine's gone--How does it feel to have a scalp?
I know how it feels to lose one--fire and flames about the brain--and
a wrenching at the heart--no--no--kill first, Hurry, and scalp
afterwards.”
“What does the old fellow mean, Judith? He talks like one that is
getting tired of the business as well as myself. Why have you bound up
his head? or, have the savages tomahawked him about the brains?”
“They have done that for him which you and he, Harry March, would have
so gladly done for them. His skin and hair have been torn from his head
to gain money from the governor of Canada, as you would have torn theirs
from the heads of the Hurons, to gain money from the Governor of York.”
Judith spoke with a strong effort to appear composed, but it was neither
in her nature, nor in the feeling of the moment to speak altogether
without bitterness. The strength of her emphasis, indeed, as well as her
manner, caused Hetty to look up reproachfully.
“These are high words to come from Thomas Hutter's darter, as Thomas
Hutter lies dying before her eyes,” retorted Hurry.
“God be praised for that!--whatever reproach it may bring on my poor
mother, I am not Thomas Hutter's daughter.”
“Not Thomas Hutter's darter!--Don't disown the old fellow in his last
moments, Judith, for that's a sin the Lord will never overlook. If
you're not Thomas Hutter's darter, whose darter be you?”
This question rebuked the rebellious spirit of Judith, for, in getting
rid of a parent whom she felt it was a relief to find she might own
she had never loved, she overlooked the important circumstance that no
substitute was ready to supply his place.
“I cannot tell you, Harry, who my father was,” she answered more mildly;
“I hope he was an honest man, at least.”
“Which is more than you think was the case with old Hutter? Well,
Judith, I'll not deny that hard stories were in circulation consarning
Floating Tom, but who is there that doesn't get a scratch, when an inimy
holds the rake? There's them that say hard things of me, and even you,
beauty as you be, don't always escape.”
This was said with a view to set up a species of community of character
between the parties, and as the politicians are wont to express it, with
ulterior intentions. What might have been the consequences with one of
Judith's known spirit, as well as her assured antipathy to the speaker,
it is not easy to say, for, just then, Hutter gave unequivocal signs
that his last moment was nigh. Judith and Hetty had stood by the dying
bed of their mother, and neither needed a monitor to warn them of the
crisis, and every sign of resentment vanished from the face of the
first. Hutter opened his eyes, and even tried to feel about him with his
hands, a sign that sight was failing. A minute later, his breathing
grew ghastly; a pause totally without respiration followed; and, then,
succeeded the last, long drawn sigh, on which the spirit is supposed
to quit the body. This sudden termination of the life of one who had
hitherto filled so important a place in the narrow scene on which he had
been an actor, put an end to all discussion.
The day passed by without further interruption, the Hurons, though
possessed of a canoe, appearing so far satisfied with their success as
to have relinquished all immediate designs on the castle. It would not
have been a safe undertaking, indeed, to approach it under the rifles of
those it was now known to contain, and it is probable that the truce was
more owing to this circumstance than to any other. In the mean while the
preparations were made for the interment of Hutter. To bury him on the
land was impracticable, and it was Hetty's wish that his body should lie
by the side of that of her mother, in the lake. She had it in her power
to quote one of his speeches, in which he himself had called the lake
the “family burying ground,” and luckily this was done without the
knowledge of her sister, who would have opposed the plan, had she known
it, with unconquerable disgust. But Judith had not meddled with the
arrangement, and every necessary disposition was made without her
privity or advice.
The hour chosen for the rude ceremony was just as the sun was setting,
and a moment and a scene more suited to paying the last offices to one
of calm and pure spirit could not have been chosen. There are a mystery
and a solemn dignity in death, that dispose the living to regard the
remains of even a malefactor with a certain degree of reverence. All
worldly distinctions have ceased; it is thought that the veil has been
removed, and that the character and destiny of the departed are now as
much beyond human opinions, as they are beyond human ken. In nothing
is death more truly a leveller than in this, since, while it may be
impossible absolutely to confound the great with the low, the worthy
with the unworthy, the mind feels it to be arrogant to assume a right to
judge of those who are believed to be standing at the judgment seat
of God. When Judith was told that all was ready, she went upon the
platform, passive to the request of her sister, and then she first took
heed of the arrangement. The body was in the scow, enveloped in a sheet,
and quite a hundred weight of stones, that had been taken from the fire
place, were enclosed with it, in order that it might sink. No other
preparation seemed to be thought necessary, though Hetty carried her
Bible beneath her arm.
When all were on board the Ark, the singular habitation of the man whose
body it now bore to its final abode, was set in motion. Hurry was at the
oars. In his powerful hands, indeed, they seemed little more than a pair
of sculls, which were wielded without effort, and, as he was expert in
their use, the Delaware remained a passive spectator of the proceedings.
The progress of the Ark had something of the stately solemnity of a
funeral procession, the dip of the oars being measured, and the movement
slow and steady. The wash of the water, as the blades rose and fell,
kept time with the efforts of Hurry, and might have been likened to the
measured tread of mourners. Then the tranquil scene was in beautiful
accordance with a rite that ever associates with itself the idea of God.
At that instant, the lake had not even a single ripple on its glassy
surface, and the broad panorama of woods seemed to look down on the holy
tranquillity of the hour and ceremony in melancholy stillness. Judith
was affected to tears, and even Hurry, though he hardly knew why, was
troubled. Hetty preserved the outward signs of tranquillity, but
her inward grief greatly surpassed that of her sister, since her
affectionate heart loved more from habit and long association, than
from the usual connections of sentiment and taste. She was sustained by
religious hope, however, which in her simple mind usually occupied the
space that worldly feelings filled in that of Judith, and she was not
without an expectation of witnessing some open manifestation of divine
power, on an occasion so solemn. Still she was neither mystical nor
exaggerated; her mental imbecility denying both. Nevertheless her
thoughts had generally so much of the purity of a better world about
them that it was easy for her to forget earth altogether, and to think
only of heaven. Hist was serious, attentive and interested, for she
had often seen the interments of the pale-faces, though never one that
promised to be as peculiar as this; while the Delaware, though grave,
and also observant, in his demeanor was stoical and calm.
Hetty acted as pilot, directing Hurry how to proceed, to find that spot
in the lake which she was in the habit of terming “mother's grave.” The
reader will remember that the castle stood near the southern extremity
of a shoal that extended near half a mile northerly, and it was at the
farthest end of this shallow water that Floating Tom had seen fit to
deposit the remains of his wife and child. His own were now in the
course of being placed at their side. Hetty had marks on the land
by which she usually found the spot, although the position of the
buildings, the general direction of the shoal, and the beautiful
transparency of the water all aided her, the latter even allowing the
bottom to be seen. By these means the girl was enabled to note their
progress, and at the proper time she approached March, whispering, “Now,
Hurry you can stop rowing. We have passed the stone on the bottom, and
mother's grave is near.”
March ceased his efforts, immediately dropping the kedge and taking the
warp in his hand in order to check the scow. The Ark turned slowly round
under this restraint, and when it was quite stationary, Hetty was seen
at its stern, pointing into the water, the tears streaming from her
eyes, in ungovernable natural feeling. Judith had been present at the
interment of her mother, but she had never visited the spot since. The
neglect proceeded from no indifference to the memory of the deceased;
for she had loved her mother, and bitterly had she found occasion to
mourn her loss; but she was averse to the contemplation of death; and
there had been passages in her own life since the day of that interment
which increased this feeling, and rendered her, if possible, still more
reluctant to approach the spot that contained the remains of one whose
severe lessons of female morality and propriety had been deepened and
rendered doubly impressive by remorse for her own failings. With Hetty,
the case had been very different. To her simple and innocent mind, the
remembrance of her mother brought no other feeling than one of gentle
sorrow; a grief that is so often termed luxurious even, because it
associates with itself the images of excellence and the purity of a
better state of existence. For an entire summer, she had been in
the habit of repairing to the place after night-fall; and carefully
anchoring her canoe so as not to disturb the body, she would sit and
hold fancied conversations with the deceased, sing sweet hymns to the
evening air, and repeat the orisons that the being who now slumbered
below had taught her in infancy. Hetty had passed her happiest hours in
this indirect communion with the spirit of her mother; the wildness
of Indian traditions and Indian opinions, unconsciously to herself,
mingling with the Christian lore received in childhood. Once she had
even been so far influenced by the former as to have bethought her of
performing some of those physical rites at her mother's grave which the
redmen are known to observe; but the passing feeling had been obscured
by the steady, though mild light of Christianity, which never ceased
to burn in her gentle bosom. Now her emotions were merely the natural
outpourings of a daughter that wept for a mother whose love was
indelibly impressed on the heart, and whose lessons had been too
earnestly taught to be easily forgotten by one who had so little
temptation to err.
There was no other priest than nature at that wild and singular funeral
rite. March cast his eyes below, and through the transparent medium of
the clear water, which was almost as pure as air, he saw what Hetty was
accustomed to call “mother's grave.” It was a low, straggling mound of
earth, fashioned by no spade, out of a corner of which gleamed a bit of
the white cloth that formed the shroud of the dead. The body had been
lowered to the bottom, and Hutter brought earth from the shore and let
it fall upon it, until all was concealed. In this state the place had
remained until the movement of the waters revealed the solitary sign of
the uses of the spot that has just been mentioned.
Even the most rude and brawling are chastened by the ceremonies of a
funeral. March felt no desire to indulge his voice in any of its coarse
outbreakings, and was disposed to complete the office he had undertaken
in decent sobriety. Perhaps he reflected on the retribution that
had alighted on his late comrade, and bethought him of the frightful
jeopardy in which his own life had so lately been placed. He signified
to Judith that all was ready, received her directions to proceed, and,
with no other assistant than his own vast strength, raised the body and
bore it to the end of the scow. Two parts of a rope were passed beneath
the legs and shoulders, as they are placed beneath coffins, and then the
corpse was slowly lowered beneath the surface of the lake.
“Not there--Harry March--no, not there,” said Judith, shuddering
involuntarily; “do not lower it quite so near the spot where mother
lies!”
“Why not, Judith?” asked Hetty, earnestly. “They lived together in life,
and should lie together in death.”
“No--no--Harry March, further off--further off. Poor Hetty, you know not
what you say. Leave me to order this.”
“I know I am weak-minded, Judith, and that you are clever--but, surely
a husband should be placed near a wife. Mother always said that this was
the way they bury in Christian churchyards.”
This little controversy was conducted earnestly, but in smothered
voices, as if the speakers feared that the dead might overhear them.
Judith could not contend with her sister at such a moment, but a
significant gesture induced March to lower the body at a little distance
from that of his wife; when he withdrew the cords, and the act was
performed.
“There's an end of Floating Tom!” exclaimed Hurry, bending over
the scow, and gazing through the water at the body. “He was a brave
companion on a scout, and a notable hand with traps. Don't weep, Judith,
don't be overcome, Hetty, for the righteousest of us all must die; and
when the time comes, lamentations and tears can't bring the dead to
life. Your father will be a loss to you, no doubt; most fathers are a
loss, especially to onmarried darters; but there's a way to cure that
evil, and you're both too young and handsome to live long without
finding it out. When it's agreeable to hear what an honest and
onpretending man has to say, Judith, I should like to talk a little with
you, apart.”
Judith had scarce attended to this rude attempt of Hurry's at
consolation, although she necessarily understood its general drift, and
had a tolerably accurate notion of its manner. She was weeping at the
recollection of her mother's early tenderness, and painful images of
long forgotten lessons and neglected precepts were crowding her mind.
The words of Hurry, however, recalled her to the present time, and
abrupt and unseasonable as was their import, they did not produce
those signs of distaste that one might have expected from the girl's
character. On the contrary, she appeared to be struck with some sudden
idea, gazed intently for a moment at the young man, dried her eyes, and
led the way to the other end of the scow, signifying her wish for him to
follow. Here she took a seat and motioned for March to place himself at
her side. The decision and earnestness with which all this was done a
little intimidated her companion, and Judith found it necessary to open
the subject herself.
“You wish to speak to me of marriage, Harry March,” she said, “and
I have come here, over the grave of my parents, as it might
be--no--no--over the grave of my poor, dear, dear, mother, to hear what
you have to say.”
“This is oncommon, and you have a skearful way with you this evening,
Judith,” answered Hurry, more disturbed than he would have cared to own,
“but truth is truth, and it shall come out, let what will follow. You
well know, gal, that I've long thought you the comeliest young woman my
eyes ever beheld, and that I've made no secret of that fact, either here
on the lake, out among the hunters and trappers, or in the settlements.”
“Yes--yes, I've heard this before, and I suppose it to be true,”
answered Judith with a sort of feverish impatience.
“When a young man holds such language of any particular young woman,
it's reasonable to calculate he sets store by her.”
“True--true, Hurry--all this you've told me, again and again.”
“Well, if it's agreeable, I should think a woman coul'n't hear it too
often. They all tell me this is the way with your sex, that nothing
pleases them more than to repeat over and over, for the hundredth time,
how much you like 'em, unless it be to talk to 'em of their good looks!”
“No doubt--we like both, on most occasions, but this is an uncommon
moment, Hurry, and vain words should not be too freely used. I would
rather hear you speak plainly.”
“You shall have your own way, Judith, and I some suspect you always
will. I've often told you that I not only like you better than any other
young woman going, or, for that matter, better than all the young women
going, but you must have obsarved, Judith, that I've never asked you, in
up and down tarms, to marry me.”
“I have observed both,” returned the girl, a smile struggling about
her beautiful mouth, in spite of the singular and engrossing intentness
which caused her cheeks to flush and lighted her eyes with a brilliancy
that was almost dazzling--“I have observed both, and have thought the
last remarkable for a man of Harry March's decision and fearlessness.”
“There's been a reason, gal, and it's one that troubles me even now--nay,
don't flush up so, and look fiery like, for there are thoughts which
will stick long in any man's mind, as there be words that will stick in
his throat--but, then ag'in, there's feelin's that will get the better
of 'em all, and to these feelin's I find I must submit. You've no longer
a father, or a mother, Judith, and it's morally unpossible that you and
Hetty could live here, alone, allowing it was peace and the Iroquois was
quiet; but, as matters stand, not only would you starve, but you'd both
be prisoners, or scalped, afore a week was out. It's time to think of a
change and a husband, and, if you'll accept of me, all that's past shall
be forgotten, and there's an end on't.”
Judith had difficulty in repressing her impatience until this rude
declaration and offer were made, which she evidently wished to hear,
and which she now listened to with a willingness that might well have
excited hope. She hardly allowed the young man to conclude, so eager was
she to bring him to the point, and so ready to answer.
“There--Hurry--that's enough,” she said, raising a hand as if to stop
him--“I understand you as well as if you were to talk a month. You
prefer me to other girls, and you wish me to become your wife.”
“You put it in better words than I can do, Judith, and I wish you to
fancy them said just as you most like to hear 'em.”
“They're plain enough, Harry, and 'tis fitting they should be so. This
is no place to trifle or deceive in. Now, listen to my answer, which
shall be, in every tittle, as sincere as your offer. There is a reason,
March, why I should never--
“I suppose I understand you, Judith, but if I'm willing to overlook that
reason, it's no one's consarn but mine--Now, don't brighten up like the
sky at sundown, for no offence is meant, and none should be taken.”
“I do not brighten up, and will not take offence,” said Judith,
struggling to repress her indignation, in a way she had never found it
necessary to exert before. “There is a reason why I should not, cannot,
ever be your wife, Hurry, that you seem to overlook, and which it is
my duty now to tell you, as plainly as you have asked me to consent to
become so. I do not, and I am certain that I never shall, love you well
enough to marry you. No man can wish for a wife who does not prefer
him to all other men, and when I tell you this frankly, I suppose you
yourself will thank me for my sincerity.”
“Ah! Judith, them flaunting, gay, scarlet-coated officers of the
garrisons have done all this mischief!”
“Hush, March; do not calumniate a daughter over her mother's grave! Do
not, when I only wish to treat you fairly, give me reason to call for
evil on your head in bitterness of heart! Do not forget that I am a
woman, and that you are a man; and that I have neither father, nor
brother, to revenge your words!”
“Well, there is something in the last, and I'll say no more. Take time,
Judith, and think better on this.”
“I want no time--my mind has long been made up, and I have only waited
for you to speak plainly, to answer plainly. We now understand each
other, and there is no use in saying any more.”
The impetuous earnestness of the girl awed the young man, for never
before had he seen her so serious and determined. In most, of their
previous interviews she had met his advances with evasion or sarcasm,
but these Hurry had mistaken for female coquetry, and had supposed might
easily be converted into consent. The struggle had been with himself,
about offering, nor had he ever seriously believed it possible that
Judith would refuse to become the wife of the handsomest man on all that
frontier. Now that the refusal came, and that in terms so decided as to
put all cavilling out of the question; if not absolutely dumbfounded,
he was so much mortified and surprised as to feel no wish to attempt to
change her resolution.
“The Glimmerglass has now no great call for me,” he exclaimed after
a minute's silence. “Old Tom is gone, the Hurons are as plenty on the
shore as pigeons in the woods, and altogether it is getting to be an
onsuitable place.”
“Then leave it. You see it is surrounded by dangers, and there is no
reason why you should risk your life for others. Nor do I know that
you can be of any service to us. Go, to-night; we'll never accuse you of
having done any thing forgetful, or unmanly.”
“If I do go, 'twill be with a heavy heart on your account, Judith; I
would rather take you with me.”
“That is not to be spoken of any longer, March; but, I will land you in
one of the canoes, as soon as it is dark and you can strike a trail for
the nearest garrison. When you reach the fort, if you send a party--”
Judith smothered the words, for she felt that it was humiliating to be
thus exposing herself to the comments and reflections of one who was not
disposed to view her conduct in connection with all in those garrisons,
with an eye of favor. Hurry, however, caught the idea, and without
perverting it, as the girl dreaded, he answered to the purpose.
“I understand what you would say, and why you don't say it.” he replied.
“If I get safe to the fort, a party shall start on the trail of these
vagabonds, and I'll come with it, myself, for I should like to see you
and Hetty in a place of safety, before we part forever.”
“Ah, Harry March, had you always spoken thus, felt thus, my feelings
towards you might have been different!”
“Is it too late, now, Judith? I'm rough and a woodsman, but we all
change under different treatment from what we have been used to.”
“It is too late, March. I can never feel towards you, or any other man
but one, as you would wish to have me. There, I've said enough, surely,
and you will question me no further. As soon as it is dark, I or the
Delaware will put you on the shore. You will make the best of your way
to the Mohawk, and the nearest garrison, and send all you can to our
assistance. And, Hurry, we are now friends, and I may trust in you, may
I not?”
“Sartain, Judith; though our fri'ndship would have been all the warmer,
could you look upon me as I look upon you.”
Judith hesitated, and some powerful emotion was struggling within her.
Then, as if determined to look down all weaknesses, and accomplish her
purposes at every hazard, she spoke more plainly.
“You will find a captain of the name of Warley at the nearest post,” she
said, pale as death, and even trembling as she spoke; “I think it likely
he will wish to head the party, but I would greatly prefer it should
be another. If Captain Warley can be kept back, 't would make me very
happy!”
“That's easier said than done, Judith, for these officers do pretty much
as they please. The Major will order, and captains, and lieutenants, and
ensigns must obey. I know the officer you mean, a red faced, gay, oh!
be joyful sort of a gentleman, who swallows madeira enough to drown the
Mohawk, and yet a pleasant talker. All the gals in the valley admire
him, and they say he admires all the gals. I don't wonder he is your
dislike, Judith, for he's a very gin'ral lover, if he isn't a gin'ral
officer.”
Judith did not answer, though her frame shook, and her colour changed
from pale to crimson, and from crimson back again to the hue of death.
“Alas! my poor mother!” she ejaculated mentally instead of uttering it
aloud, “We are over thy grave, but little dost thou know how much thy
lessons have been forgotten; thy care neglected; thy love defeated!”
As this goading of the worm that never dies was felt, she arose and
signified to Hurry, that she had no more to communicate.