Death is here and death is there,
Death is busy everywhere.
SHELLEY
It was a breathless moment. The only clue the fugitives possessed to the
intentions of their pursuers was in their gestures and the indications
which escaped them in the fury of disappointment. That a party had
returned already, on their own footsteps, by land, was pretty certain;
and all the benefit expected from the artifice of the fire was
necessarily lost. But that consideration became of little moment just
then; for the party was menaced with an immediate discovery by those who
had kept on a level with the river. All the facts presented themselves
clearly, and as it might be by intuition, to the mind of Pathfinder, who
perceived the necessity of immediate decision and of being in readiness
to act in concert. Without making any noise, therefore, he managed
to get the two Indians and Jasper near him, when he opened his
communications in a whisper.
“We must be ready, we must be ready,” he said. “There are but three of
the scalping devils, and we are five, four of whom may be set down as
manful warriors for such a skrimmage. Eau-douce, do you take the fellow
that is painted like death; Chingachgook, I give you the chief; and
Arrowhead must keep his eye on the young one. There must be no mistake,
for two bullets in the same body would be sinful waste, with one like
the Sergeant's daughter in danger. I shall hold myself in resarve
against accident, lest a fourth reptile appear, for one of your hands
may prove unsteady. By no means fire until I give the word; we must not
let the crack of the rifle be heard except in the last resort, since
all the rest of the miscreants are still within hearing. Jasper, boy,
in case of any movement behind us on the bank, I trust to you to run out
the canoe with the Sergeant's daughter, and to pull for the garrison, by
God's leave.”
The Pathfinder had no sooner given these directions than the near
approach of their enemies rendered profound silence necessary. The
Iroquois in the river were slowly descending the stream; keeping of
necessity near the bushes which overhung the water, while the rustling
of leaves and the snapping of twigs soon gave fearful evidence that
another party was moving along the bank, at an equally graduated pace;
and directly abreast of them. In consequence of the distance between
the bushes planted by the fugitives and the true shore, the two parties
became visible to each other when opposite that precise point. Both
stopped, and a conversation ensued, that may be said to have passed
directly over the heads of those who were concealed. Indeed, nothing
sheltered the travellers but the branches and leaves of plants, so
pliant that they yielded to every current of air, and which a puff of
wind a little stronger than common would have blown away. Fortunately
the line of sight carried the eyes of the two parties of savages,
whether they stood in the water or on the land, above the bushes, and
the leaves appeared blended in a way to excite no suspicion. Perhaps the
very boldness of the expedient alone prevented an immediate exposure.
The conversation which took place was conducted earnestly, but in
guarded tones, as if those who spoke wished to defeat the intentions
of any listeners. It was in a dialect that both the Indian warriors
beneath, as well as the Pathfinder, understood. Even Jasper comprehended
a portion of what was said.
“The trail is washed away by the water!” said one from below, who stood
so near the artificial cover of the fugitives, that he might have been
struck by the salmon-spear that lay in the bottom of Jasper's canoe.
“Water has washed it so clear that a Yengeese hound could not follow.”
“The pale-faces have left the shore in their canoes,” answered the
speaker on the bank.
“It cannot be. The rifles of our warriors below are certain.”
The Pathfinder gave a significant glance at Jasper, and he clinched his
teeth in order to suppress the sound of his own breathing.
“Let my young men look as if their eyes were eagles',” said the eldest
warrior among those who were wading in the river. “We have been a whole
moon on the war-path, and have found but one scalp. There is a maiden
among them, and some of our braves want wives.”
Happily these words were lost on Mabel; but Jasper's frown became
deeper, and his face fiercely flushed.
The savages now ceased speaking, and the party which was concealed heard
the slow and guarded movements of those who were on the bank, as they
pushed the bushes aside in their wary progress. It was soon evident
that the latter had passed the cover; but the group in the water
still remained, scanning the shore with eyes that glared through their
war-paint like coals of living fire. After a pause of two or three
minutes, these three began also to descend the stream, though it was
step by step, as men move who look for an object that has been lost. In
this manner they passed the artificial screen, and Pathfinder opened
his mouth in that hearty but noiseless laugh that nature and habit had
contributed to render a peculiarity of the man. His triumph, however,
was premature; for the last of the retiring party, just at this moment
casting a look behind him, suddenly stopped; and his fixed attitude and
steady gaze at once betrayed the appalling fact that some neglected bush
had awakened his suspicions.
It was perhaps fortunate for the concealed that the warrior who
manifested these fearful signs of distrust was young, and had still a
reputation to acquire. He knew the importance of discretion and modesty
in one of his years, and most of all did he dread the ridicule and
contempt that would certainly follow a false alarm. Without recalling
any of his companions, therefore, he turned on his own footsteps;
and, while the others continued to descend the river, he cautiously
approached the bushes, on which his looks were still fastened, as by a
charm. Some of the leaves which were exposed to the sun had drooped a
little, and this slight departure from the usual natural laws had caught
the quick eyes of the Indian; for so practised and acute do the senses
of the savage become, more especially when he is on the war-path, that
trifles apparently of the most insignificant sort often prove to be
clues to lead him to his object.
The trifling nature of the change which had aroused the suspicion of
this youth was an additional motive for not acquainting his companions
with his discovery. Should he really detect anything, his glory would
be the greater for being unshared; and should he not, he might hope to
escape that derision which the young Indian so much dreads. Then there
were the dangers of an ambush and a surprise, to which every warrior of
the woods is keenly alive, to render his approach slow and cautious. In
consequence of the delay that proceeded from these combined causes, the
two parties had descended some fifty or sixty yards before the young
savage was again near enough to the bushes of the Pathfinder to touch
them with his hand.
Notwithstanding their critical situation, the whole party behind the
cover had their eyes fastened on the working countenance of the young
Iroquois, who was agitated by conflicting feelings. First came the eager
hope of obtaining success where some of the most experienced of his
tribe had failed, and with it a degree of glory that had seldom fallen
to the share of one of his years or a brave on his first war-path; then
followed doubts, as the drooping leaves seemed to rise again and to
revive in the currents of air; and distrust of hidden danger lent its
exciting feeling to keep the eloquent features in play. So very slight,
however, had been the alteration produced by the heat on the bushes of
which the stems were in the water, that when the Iroquois actually laid
his hand on the leaves, he fancied that he had been deceived. As no man
ever distrusts strongly without using all convenient means of satisfying
his doubts, however, the young warrior cautiously pushed aside the
branches and advanced a step within the hiding-place, when the forms of
the concealed party met his gaze, resembling so many breathless statues.
The low exclamation, the slight start, and the glaring eye, were hardly
seen and heard, before the arm of Chingachgook was raised, and the
tomahawk of the Delaware descended on the shaven head of his foe. The
Iroquois raised his hands frantically, bounded backward, and fell
into the water, at a spot where the current swept the body away, the
struggling limbs still tossing and writhing in the agony of death. The
Delaware made a vigorous but unsuccessful attempt to seize an arm, with
the hope of securing the scalp; but the bloodstained waters whirled down
the current, carrying with them their quivering burden.
All this passed in less than a minute, and the events were so sudden
and unexpected, that men less accustomed than the Pathfinder and his
associates to forest warfare would have been at a loss how to act.
“There is not a moment to lose,” said Jasper, tearing aside the bushes,
as he spoke earnestly, but in a suppressed voice. “Do as I do, Master
Cap, if you would save your niece; and you, Mabel, lie at your length in
the canoe.”
The words were scarcely uttered when, seizing the bow of the light boat
he dragged it along the shore, wading himself, while Cap aided behind,
keeping so near the bank as to avoid being seen by the savages below,
and striving to gain the turn in the river above him which would
effectually conceal the party from the enemy. The Pathfinder's canoe lay
nearest to the bank, and was necessarily the last to quit the shore.
The Delaware leaped on the narrow strand and plunged into the forest,
it being his assigned duty to watch the foe in that quarter, while
Arrowhead motioned to his white companion to seize the bow of the boat
and to follow Jasper. All this was the work of an instant; but when the
Pathfinder reached the current that was sweeping round the turn, he felt
a sudden change in the weight he was dragging, and, looking back, he
found that both the Tuscarora and his wife had deserted him. The thought
of treachery flashed upon his mind, but there was no time to pause, for
the wailing shout that arose from the party below proclaimed that the
body of the young Iroquois had floated as low as the spot reached by
his friends. The report of a rifle followed; and then the guide saw that
Jasper, having doubled the bend in the river, was crossing the stream,
standing erect in the stern of the canoe, while Cap was seated forward,
both propelling the light boat with vigorous strokes of the paddles. A
glance, a thought, and an expedient followed each other quickly in one
so trained in the vicissitudes of the frontier warfare. Springing into
the stern of his own canoe, he urged it by a vigorous shove into the
current, and commenced crossing the stream himself, at a point so much
lower than that of his companions as to offer his own person for a
target to the enemy, well knowing that their keen desire to secure a
scalp would control all other feelings.
“Keep well up the current, Jasper,” shouted the gallant guide, as he
swept the water with long, steady, vigorous strokes of the paddle; “keep
well up the current, and pull for the alder bushes opposite. Presarve
the Sergeant's daughter before all things, and leave these Mingo knaves
to the Sarpent and me.”
Jasper flourished his paddle as a signal of understanding, while shot
succeeded shot in quick succession, all now being aimed at the solitary
man in the nearest canoe.
“Ay, empty your rifles like simpletons as you are,” said the Pathfinder,
who had acquired a habit of speaking when alone, from passing so much
of his time in the solitude of the forest; “empty your rifles with an
unsteady aim, and give me time to put yard upon yard of river between
us. I will not revile you like a Delaware or a Mohican; for my gifts are
a white man's gifts, and not an Indian's; and boasting in battle is no
part of a Christian warrior; but I may say here, all alone by myself,
that you are little better than so many men from the town shooting at
robins in the orchards. That was well meant,” throwing back his head,
as a rifle bullet cut a lock of hair from his temple; “but the lead that
misses by an inch is as useless as the lead that never quits the barrel.
Bravely done, Jasper! the Sergeant's sweet child must be saved, even if
we go in without our own scalps.”
By this time the Pathfinder was in the centre of the river, and almost
abreast of his enemies, while the other canoe, impelled by the vigorous
arms of Cap and Jasper, had nearly gained the opposite shore at the
precise spot that had been pointed out to them. The old mariner now
played his part manfully; for he was on his proper element, loved his
niece sincerely, had a proper regard for his own person, and was not
unused to fire, though his experience certainly lay in a very different
species of warfare. A few strokes of the paddles were given, and the
canoe shot into the bushes, Mabel was hurried to land by Jasper, and for
the present all three of the fugitives were safe.
Not so with the Pathfinder: his hardy self-devotion had brought him
into a situation of unusual exposure, the hazards of which were much
increased by the fact that, just as he drifted nearest to the enemy the
party on the shore rushed down the bank and joined their friends who
still stood in the water. The Oswego was about a cable's length in width
at this point, and, the canoe being in the centre, the object was only a
hundred yards from the rifles that were constantly discharged at it; or,
at the usual target distance for that weapon.
In this extremity the steadiness and skill of the Pathfinder did him
good service. He knew that his safety depended altogether on keeping in
motion; for a stationary object at that distance, would have been hit
nearly every shot. Nor was motion of itself sufficient; for, accustomed
to kill the bounding deer, his enemies probably knew how to vary the
line of aim so as to strike him, should he continue to move in any one
direction. He was consequently compelled to change the course of the
canoe,--at one moment shooting down with the current, with the swiftness
of an arrow; and at the next checking its progress in that direction, to
glance athwart the stream. Luckily the Iroquois could not reload their
pieces in the water, and the bushes that everywhere fringed the shore
rendered it difficult to keep the fugitive in view when on the land.
Aided by these circumstances, and having received the fire of all his
foes, the Pathfinder was gaining fast in distance, both downwards and
across the current, when a new danger suddenly, if not unexpectedly,
presented itself, by the appearance of the party that had been left in
ambush below with a view to watch the river.
These were the savages alluded to in the short dialogue already related.
They were no less than ten in number; and, understanding all the
advantages of their bloody occupation, they had posted themselves at a
spot where the water dashed among rocks and over shallows, in a way to
form a rapid which, in the language of the country, is called a rift.
The Pathfinder saw that, if he entered this rift, he should be compelled
to approach a point where the Iroquois had posted themselves, for the
current was irresistible, and the rocks allowed no other safe passage,
while death or captivity would be the probable result of the attempt.
All his efforts, therefore, were turned toward reaching the western
shore, the foe being all on the eastern side of the river; but the
exploit surpassed human power, and to attempt to stem the stream would
at once have so far diminished the motion of the canoe as to render aim
certain. In this exigency the guide came to a decision with his usual
cool promptitude, making his preparations accordingly. Instead of
endeavoring to gain the channel, he steered towards the shallowest part
of the stream, on reaching which he seized his rifle and pack, leaped
into the water, and began to wade from rock to rock, taking the
direction of the western shore. The canoe whirled about in the furious
current, now rolling over some slippery stone, now filling, and then
emptying itself, until it lodged on the shore, within a few yards of the
spot where the Iroquois had posted themselves.
In the meanwhile the Pathfinder was far from being out of danger; for
the first minute, admiration of his promptitude and daring, which are so
high virtues in the mind of an Indian, kept his enemies motionless; but
the desire of revenge, and the cravings for the much-prized trophy, soon
overcame this transient feeling, and aroused them from their stupor.
Rifle flashed after rifle, and the bullets whistled around the head of
the fugitive, amid the roar of the waters. Still he proceeded like one
who bore a charmed life; for, while his rude frontier garments were more
than once cut, his skin was not razed.
As the Pathfinder, in several instances, was compelled to wade in water
which rose nearly to his arms, while he kept his rifle and ammunition
elevated above the raging current, the toil soon fatigued him, and he
was glad to stop at a large stone, or a small rock, which rose so high
above the river that its upper surface was dry. On this stone he placed
his powder-horn, getting behind it himself, so as to have the advantage
of a partial cover for his body. The western shore was only fifty feet
distant, but the quiet, swift, dark current that glanced through the
interval sufficiently showed that here he would be compelled to swim.
A short cessation in the firing now took place on the part of the
Indians, who gathered about the canoe, and, having found the paddles,
were preparing to cross the river.
“Pathfinder,” called a voice from among the bushes, at the point nearest
to the person addressed, on the western shore.
“What would you have, Jasper?”
“Be of good heart--friends are at hand, and not a single Mingo shall
cross without suffering for his boldness. Had you not better leave the
rifle on the rock, and swim to us before the rascals can get afloat?”
“A true woodsman never quits his piece while he has any powder in his
horn or a bullet in his pouch. I have not drawn a trigger this day,
Eau-douce, and shouldn't relish the idea of parting with those reptiles
without causing them to remember my name. A little water will not harm
my legs; and I see that blackguard, Arrowhead, among the scamps, and
wish to send him the wages he has so faithfully earned. You have not
brought the Sergeant's daughter down here in a range with their bullets,
I hope, Jasper?”
“She is safe for the present at least; though all depends on our keeping
the river between us and the enemy. They must know our weakness now;
and, should they cross, no doubt some of their party will be left on the
other side.”
“This canoeing touches your gifts rather than mine, boy, though I will
handle a paddle with the best Mingo that ever struck a salmon. If they
cross below the rift, why can't we cross in the still water above, and
keep playing at dodge and turn with the wolves?”
“Because, as I have said, they will leave a party on the other shore;
and then, Pathfinder, would you expose Mabel, to the rifles of the
Iroquois?”
“The Sergeant's daughter must be saved,” returned the guide, with calm
energy. “You are right, Jasper; she has no gift to authorize her in
offering her sweet face and tender body to a Mingo rifle. What can
be done, then? They must be kept from crossing for an hour or two, if
possible, when we must do our best in the darkness.”
“I agree with you, Pathfinder, if it can be effected; but are we strong
enough for such a purpose?”
“The Lord is with us, boy, the Lord is with us; and it is unreasonable
to suppose that one like the Sergeant's daughter will be altogether
abandoned by Providence in such a strait. There is not a boat between
the falls and the garrison, except these two canoes, to my sartain
knowledge; and I think it will go beyond red-skin gifts to cross in
the face of two rifles like these of yourn and mine. I will not vaunt,
Jasper; but it is well known on all this frontier that Killdeer seldom
fails.”
“Your skill is admitted by all, far and near, Pathfinder; but a rifle
takes time to be loaded; nor are you on the land, aided by a good cover,
where you can work to the advantage you are used to. If you had our
canoe, might you not pass to the shore with a dry rifle?”
“Can an eagle fly, Jasper?” returned the other, laughing in his usual
manner, and looking back as he spoke. “But it would be unwise to expose
yourself on the water; for them miscreants are beginning to bethink them
again of powder and bullets.”
“It can be done without any such chances. Master Cap has gone up to
the canoe, and will cast the branch of a tree into the river to try the
current, which sets from the point above in the direction of your rock.
See, there it comes already; if it float fairly, you must raise your
arm, when the canoe will follow. At all events, if the boat should pass
you, the eddy below will bring it up, and I can recover it.”
While Jasper was still speaking, the floating branch came in sight; and,
quickening its progress with the increasing velocity of the current,
it swept swiftly down towards the Pathfinder, who seized it as it was
passing, and held it in the air as a sign of success. Cap understood
the signal, and presently the canoe was launched into the stream, with
a caution and an intelligence that the habits of the mariner had fitted
him to observe. It floated in the same direction as the branch, and in a
minute was arrested by the Pathfinder.
“This has been done with a frontier man's judgment Jasper,” said the
guide, laughing; “but you have your gifts, which incline most to the
water, as mine incline to the woods. Now let them Mingo knaves cock
their rifles and get rests, for this is the last chance they are likely
to have at a man without a cover.”
“Nay, shove the canoe towards the shore, quartering the current, and
throw yourself into it as it goes off,” said Jasper eagerly. “There is
little use in running any risk.”
“I love to stand up face to face with my enemies like a man, while
they set me the example,” returned the Pathfinder proudly. “I am not a
red-skin born, and it is more a white man's gifts to fight openly than
to lie in ambushment.”
“And Mabel?”
“True, boy, true; the Sergeant's daughter must be saved; and, as you
say, foolish risks only become boys. Think you that you can catch the
canoe where you stand?”
“There can be no doubt, if you give a vigorous push.”
Pathfinder made the necessary effort; the light bark shot across the
intervening space, and Jasper seized it as it came to land. To secure
the canoe, and to take proper positions in the cover, occupied the
friends but a moment, when they shook hands cordially, like those who
had met after a long separation.
“Now, Jasper, we shall see if a Mingo of them all dares cross the Oswego
in the teeth of Killdeer! You are handier with the oar and the paddle
and the sail than with the rifle, perhaps; but you have a stout heart
and a steady hand, and them are things that count in a fight.”
“Mabel will find me between her and her enemies,” said Jasper calmly.
“Yes, yes, the Sergeant's daughter must be protected. I like you, boy,
on your own account; but I like you all the better that you think of
one so feeble at a moment when there is need of all your manhood. See,
Jasper! Three of the knaves are actually getting into the canoe! They
must believe we have fled, or they would not surely venture so much,
directly in the very face of Killdeer.”
Sure enough the Iroquois did appear bent on venturing across the stream;
for, as the Pathfinder and his friends now kept their persons strictly
concealed, their enemies began to think that the latter had taken to
flight. Such a course was that which most white men would have followed;
but Mabel was under the care of those who were much too well skilled in
forest warfare to neglect to defend the only pass that, in truth, now
offered even a probable chance for protection.
As the Pathfinder had said, three warriors were in the canoe, two
holding their rifles at a poise, as they knelt in readiness to aim the
deadly weapons, and the other standing erect in the stern to wield the
paddle. In this manner they left the shore, having had the precaution
to haul the canoe, previously to entering it, so far up the stream as
to have got into the comparatively still water above the rift. It was
apparent at a glance that the savage who guided the boat was skilled
in the art; for the long steady sweep of his paddle sent the light bark
over the glassy surface of the tranquil river as if it were a feather
floating in air.
“Shall I fire?” demanded Jasper in a whisper, trembling with eagerness
to engage.
“Not yet, boy, not yet. There are but three of them, and if Master Cap
yonder knows how to use the popguns he carries in his belt, we may even
let them land, and then we shall recover the canoe.”
“But Mabel--?”
“No fear for the Sergeant's daughter. She is safe in the hollow stump,
you say, with the opening judgmatically hid by the brambles. If what
you tell me of the manner in which you concealed the trail be true, the
sweet one might lie there a month and laugh at the Mingos.”
“We are never certain. I wish we had brought her nearer to our own
cover!”
“What for, Eau-douce? To place her pretty little head and leaping heart
among flying bullets? No, no: she is better where she is, because she is
safer.”
“We are never certain. We thought ourselves safe behind the bushes, and
yet you saw that we were discovered.”
“And the Mingo imp paid for his curiosity, as these knaves are about to
do.”
The Pathfinder ceased speaking; for at that instant the sharp report of
a rifle was heard, when the Indian in the stern of the canoe leaped high
into the air, and fell into the water, holding the paddle in his hand.
A small wreath of smoke floated out from among the bushes of the eastern
shore, and was soon absorbed by the atmosphere.
“That is the Sarpent hissing!” exclaimed the Pathfinder exultingly. “A
bolder or a truer heart never beat in the breast of a Delaware. I am
sorry that he interfered; but he could not have known our condition.”
The canoe had no sooner lost its guide than it floated with the stream,
and was soon sucked into the rapids of the rift. Perfectly helpless,
the two remaining savages gazed wildly about them, but could offer no
resistance to the power of the element. It was perhaps fortunate for
Chingachgook that the attention of most of the Iroquois was intently
given to the situation of those in the boat, else would his escape have
been to the last degree difficult, if not totally impracticable. But not
a foe moved, except to conceal his person behind some cover; and every
eye was riveted on the two remaining adventurers. In less time than has
been necessary to record these occurrences, the canoe was whirling and
tossing in the rift, while both the savages had stretched themselves
in its bottom, as the only means of preserving the equilibrium. This
natural expedient soon failed them; for, striking a rock, the light
draft rolled over, and the two warriors were thrown into the river. The
water is seldom deep on a rift, except in particular places where it
may have worn channels; and there was little to be apprehended from
drowning, though their arms were lost; and the two savages were fain to
make the best of their way to the friendly shore, swimming and wading as
circumstances required. The canoe itself lodged on a rock in the centre
of the stream, where for the moment it became useless to both parties.
“Now is our time, Pathfinder,” cried Jasper, as the two Iroquois exposed
most of their persons while wading in the shallowest part of the rapids:
“the fellow up stream is mine, and you can take the lower.”
So excited had the young man become by all the incidents of the stirring
scene, that the bullet sped from his rifle as he spoke, but uselessly,
as it would seem, for both the fugitives tossed their arms in disdain.
The Pathfinder did not fire.
“No, no, Eau-douce,” he answered; “I do not seek blood without a cause;
and my bullet is well leathered and carefully driven down, for the time
of need. I love no Mingo, as is just, seeing how much I have consorted
with the Delawares, who are their mortal and natural enemies; but I
never pull trigger on one of the miscreants unless it be plain that his
death will lead to some good end. The deer never leaped that fell by
my hand wantonly. By living much alone with God in the wilderness a man
gets to feel the justice of such opinions. One life is sufficient for
our present wants; and there may yet be occasion to use Killdeer in
behalf of the Sarpent, who has done an untimorsome thing to let them
rampant devils so plainly know that he is in their neighborhood. As I'm
a wicked sinner, there is one of them prowling along the bank this very
moment, like one of the boys of the garrison skulking behind a fallen
tree to get a shot at a squirrel!”
As the Pathfinder pointed with his finger while speaking, the quick eye
of Jasper soon caught the object towards which it was directed. One of
the young warriors of the enemy, burning with a desire to distinguish
himself, had stolen from his party towards the cover in which
Chingachgook had concealed himself; and as the latter was deceived by
the apparent apathy of his foes, as well as engaged in some further
preparations of his own, he had evidently obtained a position where
he got a sight of the Delaware. This circumstance was apparent by the
arrangements the Iroquois was making to fire, for Chingachgook himself
was not visible from the western side of the river. The rift was at a
bend in the Oswego, and the sweep of the eastern shore formed a curve
so wide that Chingachgook was quite near to his enemies in a straight
direction, though separated by several hundred feet on the land, owing
to which fact air lines brought both parties nearly equidistant from
the Pathfinder and Jasper. The general width of the river being a little
less than two hundred yards, such necessarily was about the distance
between his two observers and the skulking Iroquois.
“The Sarpent must be thereabouts,” observed Pathfinder, who never turned
his eye for an instant from the young warrior; “and yet he must be
strangely off his guard to allow a Mingo devil to get his stand so near,
with manifest signs of bloodshed in his heart.”
“See!” interrupted Jasper--“there is the body of the Indian the Delaware
shot! It has drifted on a rock, and the current has forced the head and
face above the water.”
“Quite likely, boy, quite likely. Human natur' is little better than a
log of driftwood, when the life that was breathed into its nostrils
is departed. That Iroquois will never harm any one more; but yonder
skulking savage is bent on taking the scalp of my best and most tried
friend.”
The Pathfinder suddenly interrupted himself by raising his rifle, a
weapon of unusual length, with admirable precision, and firing the
instant it had got its level. The Iroquois on the opposite shore was in
the act of aiming when the fatal messenger from Killdeer arrived. His
rifle was discharged, it is true, but it was with the muzzle in the air,
while the man himself plunged into the bushes, quite evidently hurt, if
not slain.
“The skulking reptyle brought it on himself,” muttered Pathfinder
sternly, as, dropping the butt of his rifle, he carefully commenced
reloading it. “Chingachgook and I have consorted together since we were
boys, and have fi't in company on the Horican, the Mohawk, the Ontario,
and all the other bloody passes between the country of the Frenchers and
our own; and did the foolish knave believe that I would stand by and see
my best friend cut off in an ambushment?”
“We have served the Sarpent as good a turn as he served us. Those
rascals are troubled, Pathfinder, and are falling back into their
covers, since they find we can reach them across the river.”
“The shot is no great matter, Jasper, no great matter. Ask any of the
60th, and they can tell you what Killdeer can do, and has done, and
that, too, when the bullets were flying about our heads like hailstones.
No, no! this is no great matter, and the unthoughtful vagabond drew it
down on himself.”
“Is that a dog, or a deer, swimming towards this shore?” Pathfinder
started, for sure enough an object was crossing the stream, above the
rift, towards which, however, it was gradually setting by the force of
the current. A second look satisfied both the observers that it was
a man, and an Indian, though so concealed as at first to render it
doubtful. Some stratagem was apprehended, and the closest attention was
given to the movements of the stranger.
“He is pushing something before him as he swims, and his head resembles
a drifting bush,” said Jasper.
“'Tis Indian devilry, boy; but Christian honesty shall circumvent their
arts.”
As the man slowly approached, the observers began to doubt the accuracy
of their first impressions, and it was only when two-thirds of the
stream were passed that the truth was really known.
“The Big Sarpent, as I live!” exclaimed Pathfinder, looking at his
companion, and laughing until the tears came into his eyes with pure
delight at the success of the artifice. “He has tied bushes to his head,
so as to hide it, put the horn on top, lashed the rifle to that bit of
log he is pushing before him, and has come over to join his friends.
Ah's me! The times and times that he and I have cut such pranks, right
in the teeth of Mingos raging for our blood, in the great thoroughfare
round and about Ty!”
“It may not be the Serpent after all, Pathfinder; I can see no feature
that I remember.”
“Feature! Who looks for features in an Indian? No, no, boy; 'tis the
paint that speaks, and none but a Delaware would wear that paint:
them are his colors, Jasper, just as your craft on the lake wears St.
George's Cross, and the Frenchers set their tablecloths to fluttering
in the wind, with all the stains of fish-bones and venison steaks upon
them. Now, you see the eye, lad, and it is the eye of a chief. But,
Eau-douce, fierce as it is in battle, and glassy as it looks from
among the leaves,”--here the Pathfinder laid his fingers lightly but
impressively on his companion's arm,--“I have seen it shed tears like
rain. There is a soul and a heart under that red skin, rely on it;
although they are a soul and a heart with gifts different from our own.”
“No one who is acquainted with the chief ever doubted that.”
“I _know_ it,” returned the other proudly, “for I have consorted
with him in sorrow and in joy: in one I have found him a man, however
stricken; in the other, a chief who knows that the women of his tribe
are the most seemly in light merriment. But hist! It is too much like
the people of the settlements to pour soft speeches into another's ear;
and the Sarpent has keen senses. He knows I love him, and that I speak
well of him behind his back; but a Delaware has modesty in his inmost
natur', though he will brag like a sinner when tied to a stake.”
The Serpent now reached the shore, directly in the front of his two
comrades, with whose precise position he must have been acquainted
before leaving the eastern side of the river, and rising from the water
he shook himself like a dog, and made the usual exclamation--“Hugh!”