“How now? whose mare's dead? what's the matter?”
--Falstaff
A large lumber sleigh, drawn by four horses, was soon seen dashing
through the leafless bushes which fringed the road. The leaders were
of gray, and the pole-horses of a jet-black. Bells innumerable were
suspended from every part of the harness where one of the tinkling balls
could be placed, while the rapid movement of the equipage, in defiance
of the steep ascent, announced the desire of the driver to ring them to
the utmost. The first glance at this singular arrangement acquainted the
Judge with the character of those in the sleigh. It contained four male
figures. On one of those stools that are used at writing desks, lashed
firmly to the sides of the vehicle, was seated a little man, enveloped
in a great-coat fringed with fur, in such a manner that no part of
him was visible, except a face of an unvarying red color. There was
an habitual upward look about the head of this gentleman, as if
dissatisfied with its natural proximity to the earth; and the expression
of his countenance was that of busy care, He was the charioteer, and he
guided the mettled animals along the precipice with a fearless eye and a
steady hand, Immediately behind him, with his face toward the other two,
was a tall figure, to whose appearance not even the duplicate overcoats
which he wore, aided by the corner of a horse-blanket, could give the
appearance of strength. His face was protruding from beneath a woollen
night cap; and, when he turned to the vehicle of Marmaduke as the
sleighs approached each other, it seemed formed by nature to cut the
atmosphere with the least possible resistance. The eyes alone appeared
to create any obstacle, for from either side of his forehead their
light-blue, glassy balls projected. The sallow of his countenance was
too permanent to be affected even by the intense cold of the evening.
Opposite to this personage sat a solid, short, and square figure. No
part of his form was to be discovered through his overdress, but a face
that was illuminated by a pair of black eyes that gave the lie to every
demure feature in his countenance. A fair, jolly wig furnished a neat
and rounded outline to his visage, and he, well as the other two, wore
marten-skin caps. The fourth was a meek-looking, long-visaged man,
without any other protection from the cold than that which was furnished
by a black surcoat, made with some little formality, but which
was rather threadbare and rusty. He wore a hat of extremely decent
proportions, though frequent brushing had quite destroyed its nap. His
face was pale, and withal a little melancholy, or what might be termed
of a studious complexion. The air had given it, just now, a light
and somewhat feverish flush, The character of his whole appearance,
especially contrasted to the air of humor in his next companion, was
that of habitual mental care. No sooner had the two sleighs approached
within speaking distance, than the driver of this fantastic equipage
shouted aloud,
“Draw up in the quarry--draw up, thou king of the Greeks; draw into the
quarry, Agamemnon, or I shall never be able to pass you. Welcome home,
Cousin 'Duke--welcome, welcome, black-eyed Bess. Thou seest, Marina duke
that I have taken the field with an assorted cargo, to do thee honor.
Monsieur Le Quoi has come out with only one cap; Old Fritz would not
stay to finish the bottle; and Mr. Grant has got to put the 'lastly' to
his sermon, yet. Even all the horses would come--by the-bye, Judge, I
must sell the blacks for you immediately; they interfere, and the nigh
one is a bad goer in double harness. I can get rid of them to--”
“Sell what thou wilt, Dickon,” interrupted the cheerful voice of the
Judge, “so that thou leavest me my daughter and my lands. And Fritz,
my old friend, this is a kind compliment, indeed, for seventy to pay to
five-and-forty. Monsieur Le Quoi, I am your servant. Mr. Grant,” lifting
his cap, “I feel indebted to your attention. Gentlemen, I make you
acquainted with my child. Yours are names with which she is very
familiar.”
“Velcome, velcome Tchooge,” said the elder of the party, with a strong
German accent. “Miss Petsy vill owe me a kiss.”
“And cheerfully will I pay It, my good sir,” cried the soft voice of
Elizabeth; which sounded, in the clear air of the hills. Like tones of
silver, amid the loud cries of Richard. “I have always a kiss for my old
friend. Major Hartmann.”
By this time the gentleman in the front seat, who had been addressed
as Monsieur Le Quoi, had arisen with some difficulty, owing to the
impediment of his overcoats, and steadying himself by placing one hand
on the stool of the charioteer, with the other he removed his cap, and
bowing politely to the Judge and profoundly to Elizabeth, he paid his
compliments.
“Cover thy poll, Gaul, cover thy poll,” cried the driver, who was Mr.
Richard Jones; “cover thy poll, or the frost will pluck out the remnant
of thy locks. Had the hairs on the head of Absalom been as scarce as
thine, he might have been living to this day.” The jokes of Richard
never failed of exciting risibility, for he uniformly did honor to his
own wit; and he enjoyed a hearty laugh on the present occasion, while
Mr. Le Quoi resumed his seat with a polite reciprocation in his mirth.
The clergyman, for such was the office of Mr. Grant, modestly, though
quite affectionately, exchanged his greetings with the travellers also,
when Richard prepared to turn the heads of his horses homeward.
It was in the quarry alone that he could effect this object, without
ascending to the summit of the mountain. A very considerable excavation
had been made in the side of the hill, at the point where Richard
had succeeded in stopping the sleighs, from which the stones used for
building in the village were ordinarily quarried, and in which he now
attempted to turn his team. Passing itself was a task of difficulty, and
frequently of danger, in that narrow road; but Richard had to meet
the additional risk of turning his four-in-hand. The black civilly
volunteered his services to take off the leaders, and the Judge very
earnestly seconded the measure with his advice. Richard treated both
proposals with great disdain.
“Why, and wherefore. Cousin 'Duke?” he exclaimed, a little angrily; “the
horses are gentle as lambs. You know that I broke the leaders myself,
and the pole-horses are too near my whip to be restive. Here is Mr. Le
Quoi, now, who must know something about driving, because he has rode
out so often with me; I will leave it to Mr. Le Quoi whether there is
any danger.”
It was not in the nature of the Frenchman to disappoint expectations
so confidently formed; although he cat looking down the precipice which
fronted him, as Richard turned his leaders into the quarry, with a pair
of eyes that stood out like those of lobsters. The German's muscles were
unmoved, but his quick sight scanned each movement. Mr. Grant placed his
hands on the side of the sleigh, in preparation for a spring, but moral
timidity deterred him from taking the leap that bodily apprehension
strongly urged him to attempt.
Richard, by a sudden application of the whip, succeeded in forcing the
leaders into the snow-bank that covered the quarry; but the instant that
the impatient animals suffered by the crust, through which they broke
at each step, they positively refused to move an inch farther in that
direction. On the contrary, finding that the cries and blows of their
driver were redoubled at this juncture, the leaders backed upon the
pole-horses, who in their turn backed the sleigh. Only a single log lay
above the pile which upheld the road on the side toward the valley, and
this was now buried in the snow. The sleigh was easily breed across so
slight an impediment, and before Richard became conscious of his danger
one-half of the vehicle Was projected over a precipice, which fell
perpendicularly more than a hundred feet. The Frenchman, who by his
position had a full view of their threatened flight, instinctively threw
his body as far forward as possible, and cried,
“Oh! mon cher Monsieur Deeck! mon Dieu! que faites vous!”
“Donner und blitzen, Richart!” exclaimed the veteran German, looking
over the side of the sleigh with unusual emotion, “put you will preak
ter sleigh and kilt ter horses!”
“Good Mr. Jones,” said the clergyman, “be prudent, good sir--be
careful.”
“Get up, obstinate devils!” cried Richard, catching a bird's-eye view of
his situation, and in his eagerness to move forward kicking the stool
on which he sat--“get up, I say--Cousin 'Duke, I shall have to sell the
grays too; they are the worst broken horses--Mr. Le Quoi” Richard was
too much agitated to regard his pronunciation, of which he was commonly
a little vain: “Monsieur La Quoi, pray get off my leg; you hold my leg
so tight that it's no wonder the horses back.”
“Merciful Providence!” exclaimed the Judge; “they will be all killed!”
Elizabeth gave a piercing shriek, and the black of Agamemnon's face
changed to a muddy white.
At this critical moment, the young hunter, who during the salutations of
the parties had sat in rather sullen silence, sprang from the sleigh of
Marmaduke to the heads of the refractory leaders. The horses, which
were yet suffering under the injudicious and somewhat random blows
of Richard, were dancing up and down with that ominous movement that
threatens a sudden and uncontrollable start, still pressing backward.
The youth gave the leaders a powerful jerk, and they plunged aside, and
re-entered the road in the position in which they were first halted.
The sleigh was whirled from its dangerous position, and upset, with
the runners outward. The German and the divine were thrown, rather
unceremoniously, into the highway, but without danger to their bones.
Richard appeared in the air, describing the segment of a circle, of
which the reins were the radii, and landed, at the distance of some
fifteen feet, in that snow-bank which the horses had dreaded, right end
uppermost. Here, as he instinctively grasped the reins, as drowning
men seize at straws, he admirably served the purpose of an anchor. The
Frenchman, who was on his legs, in the act of springing from the sleigh,
took an aerial flight also, much in the attitude which boys assume when
they play leap-frog, and, flying off in a tangent to the curvature of
his course, came into the snow-bank head-foremost, where he remained,
exhibiting two lathy legs on high, like scarecrows waving in a
corn-field. Major Hartmann, whose self-possession had been admirably
preserved during the whole evolution, was the first of the party that
gained his feet and his voice.
“Ter deyvel, Richart!” he exclaimed in a voice half serious,
half-comical, “put you unload your sleigh very hautily!”
It may be doubtful whether the attitude in which Mr. Grant continued
for an instant after his overthrow was the one into which he had been
thrown, or was assumed, in humbling himself before the Power that he
reverenced, in thanksgiving at his escape. When he rose from his knees,
he began to gaze about him, with anxious looks, after the welfare of
his companions, while every joint in his body trembled with nervous
agitation. There was some confusion in the faculties of Mr. Jones also:
but as the mist gradually cleared from before his eyes, he saw that
all was safe, and, with an air of great self-satisfaction, he cried,
“Well--that was neatly saved, anyhow!--it was a lucky thought in me
to hold on to the reins, or the fiery devils would have been over the
mountain by this time. How well I recovered myself, 'Duke! Another
moment would have been too late; but I knew just the spot where to touch
the off-leader; that blow under his right flank, and the sudden jerk I
gave the rein, brought them round quite in rule, I must own myself.” *
* The spectators, from immemorial usage, have a right to laugh at the
casualties of a sleigh ride; and the Judge was no sooner certain that
no one was done than he made full use of the privilege.
“Thou jerk! thou recover thyself, Dickon!” he said; “but for that brave
lad yonder, thou and thy horses, or rather mine, would have been dashed
to pieces--but where is Monsieur Le Quoi?”
“Oh! mon cher Juge! mon ami!” cried a smothered voice, “praise be God, I
live; vill you, Mister Agamemnon, be pleas come down ici, and help me on
my leg?”
The divine and the negro seized the incarcerated Gaul by his legs and
extricated him from a snow-bank of three feet in depth, whence his voice
had sounded as from the tombs. The thoughts of Mr. Le Quoi, immediately
on his liberation, were not extremely collected; and, when he reached the
light, he threw his eyes upward, in order to examine the distance he
had fallen. His good-humor returned, however, with a knowledge of his
safety, though it was some little time before he clearly comprehended
the case.
“What, monsieur,” said Richard, who was busily assisting the black
in taking off the leaders; “are you there? I thought I saw you flying
toward the top of the mountain just now.”
“Praise be God, I no fly down into the lake,” returned the Frenchman,
with a visage that was divided between pain, occasioned by a few large
scratches that he had received in forcing his head through the crust,
and the look of complaisance that seemed natural to his pliable
features.
“Ah! mon cher Mister Deeck, vat you do next?--dere be noting you no
try.”
“The next thing, I trust, will be to learn to drive,” said the Judge,
who bad busied himself in throwing the buck, together with several other
articles of baggage, from his own sleigh into the snow; “here are seats
for you all, gentlemen; the evening grows piercingly cold, and the hour
approaches for the service of Mr. Grant; we will leave friend Jones to
repair the damages, with the assistance of Agamemnon, and hasten to a
warm fire. Here, Dickon, are a few articles of Bess' trumpery, that you
can throw into your sleigh when ready; and there is also a deer of my
taking, that I will thank you to bring. Aggy! remember that there will
be a visit from Santa Claus * to-night.”
* The periodical visits of St. Nicholas, or Santa Claus, as he is
termed, were never forgotten among the inhabitants of New York, until
the emigration from New England brought in the opinions and usages of
the Puritans, like the “bon homme de Noel.” he arrives at each
Christmas.
The black grinned, conscious of the bribe that was offered him for
silence on the subject of the deer, while Richard, without in the least
waiting for the termination of his cousin's speech, began his reply:
“Learn to drive, sayest thou, Cousin 'Duke? Is there a man in the county
who knows more of horse-flesh than myself? Who broke in the filly, that
no one else dare mount, though your coachman did pretend that he had
tamed her before I took her in hand; but anybody could see that he
lied--he was a great liar, that John--what's that, a buck?” Richard
abandoned the horses, and ran to the spot where Marmaduke had thrown the
deer, “It is a buck! I am amazed! Yes, here are two holes in him, he
has fired both barrels, and hit him each time, Egod! how Marmaduke will
brag! he is a prodigious bragger about any small matter like this now;
well, to think that 'Duke has killed a buck before Christmas! There will
be no such thing as living with him--they are both bad shots though,
mere chance--mere chance--now, I never fired twice at a cloven foot in
my life--it is hit or miss with me--dead or run away-had it been a bear,
or a wild-cat, a man might have wanted both barrels. Here! you Aggy! how
far off was the Judge when this buck was shot?”
“Oh! massa Richard, maybe a ten rod,” cried the black, bending under one
of the horses, with the pretence of fastening a buckle, but in reality
to conceal the grin that opened a mouth from ear to ear.
“Ten rod!” echoed the other; “way, Aggy, the deer I killed last winter
'was at twenty--yes! if anything it was nearer thirty than twenty. I
wouldn't shoot at a deer at ten rod: besides, you may remember, Aggy, I
only fired once.”
“Yes, massa Richard, I 'member 'em! Natty Bumppo fire t'oder gun. You
know, sir, all 'e folks say Natty kill him.”
“The folks lie, you black devil!” exclaimed Richard in great heat. “I
have not shot even a gray squirrel these four years, to which that old
rascal has not laid claim, or some one else for him. This is a damned
envious world that we live in--people are always for dividing the credit
at a thing, in order to bring down merit to their own level. Now they
have a story about the Patent,* that Hiram Doolittle helped to plan
the steeple to St. Paul's; when Hiram knows that it is entirely mine;
a little taken front a print of his namesake in London, I own; but
essentially, as to all points of genius, my own.”
* The grants of land, made either by the crown or the state, were but
letters patent under the great seal, and the term “patent” is usually
applied to any district of extent thus conceded; though under the
crown, manorial rights being often granted with the soil, in the
older counties the word “manor” is frequently used. There are many
manors in New York though all political and judicial rights have
ceased.
“I don't know where he come from,” said the black, losing every mark of
humor in an expression of admiration, “but eb'rybody say, he wounerful
handsome.”
“And well they may say so, Aggy,” cried Richard, leaving the buck and
walking up to the negro with the air of a man who has new interest
awakened within him, “I think I may say, without bragging, that it is
the handsomest and the most scientific country church in America. I
know that the Connecticut settlers talk about their West Herfield
meeting-house; but I never believe more than half what they say, they
are such unconscionable braggers. Just as you have got a thing done, if
they see it likely to be successful, they are always for interfering;
and then it's tea to one but they lay claim to half, or even all of
the credit. You may remember, Aggy, when I painted the sign of the bold
dragoon for Captain Hollister there was that fellow, who was about town
laying brick-dust on the houses, came one day and offered to mix what
I call the streaky black, for the tail and mane; and then, because it
looks like horse-hair, he tells everybody that the sign was painted by
himself and Squire Jones. If Marmaduke don't send that fellow off the
Patent, he may ornament his village with his own hands for me,” Here
Richard paused a moment, and cleared his throat by a loud hem, while
the negro, who was all this time busily engaged in preparing the sleigh,
proceeded with his work in respectful silence. Owing to the religious
scruples of the Judge, Aggy was the servant of Richard, who had his
services for a time,* and who, of course, commanded a legal claim to the
respect of the young negro. But when any dispute between his lawful and
his real master occurred, the black felt too much deference for both to
express any opinion.
* The manumission of the slaves in New York has been gradual. When
public opinion became strong in their favor, then grew up a custom of
buying the services of a slave, for six or eight years, with a
condition to liberate him at the end of the period. Then the law
provided that all born after a certain day should be free, the males
at twenty--eight and the females at twenty-five. After this the owner
was obliged to cause his servants to be taught to read and write
before they reached the age of eighteen, and, finally, the few that
remained were all unconditionally liberated in 1826, or after the
publication of this tale. It was quite usual for men more or less
connected with the Quakers, who never held slaves to adopt the first
expedient.
In the mean while, Richard continued watching the negro as he fastened
buckle after buckle, until, stealing a look of consciousness toward the
other, he continued: “Now, if that young man who was in your sleigh is
a real Connecticut settler, he will be telling everybody how he saved my
horses, when, if he had let them alone for half a minute longer, I would
have brought them in much better, without upsetting, with the whip amid
rein--it spoils a horse to give him his heal, I should not wonder if
I had to sell the whole team, just for that one jerk he gave them,”
Richard paused and hemmed; for his conscience smote him a little for
censuring a man who had just saved his life. “Who is the lad, Aggy--I
don't remember to have seen him before?”
The black recollected the hint about Santa Claus; and, while he briefly
explained how they had taken up the person in question on the top of
the mountain, he forbore to add anything concerning the accident or the
wound, only saying that he believed the youth was a stranger. It was so
usual for men of the first rank to take into their sleighs any one they
found toiling through the snow, that Richard was perfectly satisfied
with this explanation. He heard Aggy with great attention, and then
remarked: “Well, if the lad has not been spoiled by the people in
Templeton he may be a modest young man, and, as he certainly meant well,
I shall take some notice of him--perhaps he is land-hunting--I say,
Aggy, maybe he is out hunting?”
“Eh! yes, massa Richard,” said the black, a little confused; for, as
Richard did all the flogging, he stood in great terror of his master, in
the main--“Yes, sir, I b'lieve he be.”
“Had he a pack and an axe?”
“No, sir, only he rifle.”
“Rifle!” exclaimed Richard, observing the confusion of the negro,
which now amounted to terror. “By Jove, he killed the deer! I knew that
Marmaduke couldn't kill a buck on the jump--how was it, Aggy? Tell
me all about it, and I'll roast 'Duke quicker than he can roast his
saddle--how was it, Aggy? the lad shot the buck, and the Judge bought
it, ha! and he is taking the youth down to get the pay?”
The pleasure of this discovery had put Richard in such a good humor,
that the negro's fears in some measure vanished, and he remembered the
stocking of Santa Claus. After a gulp or two, he made out to reply;
“You forgit a two shot, sir?”
“Don't lie, you black rascal!” cried Richard, stepping on the snow-bank
to measure the distance from his lash to the negro's back; “speak
truth, or I trounce you.” While speaking, the stock was slowly rising
in Richard's right hand, and the lash drawing through his left, in the
scientific manner with which drummers apply the cat; and Agamemnon,
after turning each side of himself toward his master, and finding both
equally unwilling to remain there, fairly gave in. In a very few words
he made his master acquainted with the truth, at the same time earnestly
conjuring Richard to protect him from the displeasure of the lodge
“I'll do it, boy, I'll do it,” cried the other, rubbing his hands with
delight; “say nothing, but leave me to manage Duke. I have a great mind
to leave the deer on the hill, and to make the fellow send for his own
carcass; but no, I will let Marmaduke tell a few bounces about it before
I come out upon him. Come, hurry in, Aggy, I must help to dress the
lad's wound; this Yankee* doctor knows nothing of surgery--I had to hold
out Milligan's leg for him, while he cut it off.”
* In America the term Yankee is of local meaning. It is thought to be
derived from the manner in which the Indians of New England pronounced
the word “English,” or “Yengeese.” New York being originally a Dutch
province, the term of course was not known there, and Farther south
different dialects among the natives themselves probably produced a
different pronunciation Marmaduke and his cousin, being Pennsylvanians
by birth, were not Yankees in the American sense of the word.
Richard was now seated on the stool again, and, the black taking the
hind seat, the steeds were put in motion toward home, As they dashed
down the hill on a fast trot, the driver occasionally turned his face to
Aggy, and continued speaking; for, notwithstanding their recent rupture,
the most perfect cordiality was again existing between them, “This goes
to prove that I turned the horses with the reins, for no man who is
shot in the right shoulder can have strength enough to bring round such
obstinate devils. I knew I did it from the first; but I did not want
to multiply words with Marmaduke about it.--Will you bite, you
villain?--hip, boys, hip! Old Natty, too, that is the best of it!--Well,
well--'Duke will say no more about my deer--and the Judge fired both
barrels, and hit nothing but a poor lad who was behind a pine-tree. I
must help that quack to take out the buckshot for the poor fellow.” In
this manner Richard descended the mountain; the bells ringing, and his
tongue going, until they entered the village, when the whole attention
of the driver was devoted to a display of his horsemanship, to the
admiration of all the gaping women and children who thronged the windows
to witness the arrival of their landlord and his daughter.