The dinner party at Colonel D'Egville's was composed in a manner to
inspire an exclusive with irrepressible horror. At the suggestion of
General Brock, Tecumseh had been invited, and, with him, three other
celebrated Indian chiefs, whom we beg to introduce to our readers under
their familiar names--Split-log--Round-head--and Walk-in-the-water--all
of the formidable nation of the Hurons. In his capacity of
superintendent of Indian affairs, Colonel D'Egville had been much in the
habit of entertaining the superior chiefs, who, with a tact peculiar to
men of their sedate and serious character, if they displayed few of the
graces of European polish, at least gave no manifestation of an innate
vulgarity. As it may not be uninteresting to the reader to have a slight
sketch of the warriors, we will attempt the portraiture.
The chief Split-log, who indeed should rather have been named Split-ear,
as we shall presently show, was afflicted with an aldermanic rotundity
of person, by no means common among his race, and was one, who from his
love of ease and naturally indolent disposition, seemed more fitted to
take his seat in the council than to lead his warriors to battle. Yet
was he not, in reality, the inactive character he appeared, and more
than once subsequently he was engaged in expeditions of a predatory
nature, carrying off the customary spoils. We cannot impart a better
idea of the head of the warrior than by stating, that we never recall
that of the gigantic Memnon, in the British Museum, without being
forcibly reminded of Split-log's. The Indian, however, was notorious for
a peculiarity which the Egyptian had not. So enormous a head, seeming to
require a corresponding portion of the several organs, nature had, in
her great bounty, provided him with a nose, which, if it equalled not
that of Smellfungus in length, might, in height and breadth, have
laughed it utterly to scorn. Neither was it a single, but a double
nose--two excrescences, equalling in bulk a moderate sized lemon, and of
the spongy nature of a mushroom, bulging out, and lending an expression
of owlish wisdom to his otherwise heavy features. As on that of the
Memnon, not a vestige of a hair was to be seen on the head of Split-log.
His lips were, moreover, of the same unsightly thickness, while the
elephantine ear had been slit in such a manner, that the pliant
cartilage, yielding to the weight of several ounces of lead which had
for years adorned it, now lay stretched, and coquetting with the brawny
shoulder on which it reposed. Such was the Huron, or Wyandot Chief,
whose cognomen of Split-log had, in all probability, been derived from
his facility in "suiting the action to the word;" for, in addition to
his gigantic nose, he possessed a fist, which in size and strength might
have disputed the palm with Maximilian himself; although his practice
had chiefly been confined to knocking down his drunken wives, instead of
oxen.
The second Chief, Round-head, who, by the way, was the principal in
reputation after Tecumseh, we find the more difficulty in describing
from the fact of his having had few or none of those peculiarities which
we have, happily for our powers of description, been enabled to seize
hold of in Split-log. His name we believe to have been derived from that
indispensable portion of his frame. His eye was quick, even penetrating,
and his stern brow denoted intelligence and decision of character. His
straight, coal-black hair, cut square over the forehead, fell long and
thickly over his face and shoulders. This, surmounted by a round
slouched hat, ornamented with an eagle's feather, which he ordinarily
wore and had not even now dispensed with, added to a blue capote or
hunting frock, produced a _tout ensemble_, which cannot be more happily
rendered than by a comparison with one of his puritanical sly-eyed
namesakes of the English Revolution.
Whether our third hero, Walk-in-the-water, derived his name from any
aquatic achievement which could possibly give a claim for its adoption,
we have no means of ascertaining; but certain it is, that in his
features he bore a striking resemblance to the portraits of Oliver
Cromwell. The same small, keen, searching eye, the same iron
inflexibility of feature, together with the long black hair escaping
from beneath the slouched hat, (for Walk-in-the-water, as well as
Round-head, was characterised by an unconscious imitation of the
Rounheads of the Revolution)--all contributed to render the resemblance
as perfect as perfection of resemblance can be obtained, where the
physical, and not the moral, man, forms the ground of contrast.
Far above these in nobleness of person, as well as in brilliancy of
intellect, was the graceful Tecumseh. Unlike his companions, whose dress
was exceedingly plain, he wore his jerkin or hunting coat of the most
beautifully soft and pliant deer-skin, on which were visible a variety
of tasteful devices, exquisitely embroidered with the stained quills of
the porcupine. A shirt of dazzling whiteness was carefully drawn over
his expansive chest, and in his equally white shawl-turban was placed an
ostrich feather, the prized gift of the lady of the mansion. On all
occasions of festivity, and latterly in the field, he was wont thus to
decorate himself; and never did the noble warrior appear to greater
advantage than when habited in this costume. The contrast it offered to
his swarthy cheek and mobile features, animated as they were by the
frequent flashing of his eagle eye, seldom failed to excite admiration
in the bosoms of all who saw him.
The half hour that elapsed between the arrival of the several guests and
the announcement of dinner, was passed under the influence of feelings
almost as various in kind as the party itself. Messieurs Split-rock,
Round-head, and Walk-in-the-water, fascinated by the eagles on the
buttons of Major Montgomerie's uniform, appeared to regard that officer
as if they saw no just cause or impediment why certain weapons dangling
at their sides should not be made to perform, and that without delay, an
incision into the cranium of their proprietor. True, there was a
difficulty. The veteran major was partially bald, and wanted the top
knot or scalping tuft, which to a true warrior was indispensable; not
that we mean to insinuate, that either of these chiefs would so far have
forgotten the position in which that gentleman stood, as to have been
tempted into any practical demonstration of hostility: but there was a
restlessness about the eye of each, that--much like the instinct of the
cat, which regards with natural avidity the bird that is suffered to go
at large within his reach, without daring openly to attack it--betrayed
the internal effort it cost them to lose sight of the enemy in the
prisoner and friend of the superintendent. The major, on the other hand,
although satisfied he was under the roof of hospitality, did not at
first appear altogether at his ease, but, while he conversed with the
English officers, turned ever and anon an eye of distrust on the
movements of his swarthy fellow guests. On the arrival of Tecumseh, who,
detained until a late hour by the arrangements he had been making for
the encampment and supplies of his new force, was the last to make his
appearance, the major's doubts passed entirely away. It was impossible
to be in the presence of this chieftain, and fail, even without any
other index to his soul than what the candor of his expression afforded,
to entertain all the security that man may repose on man. He had in him,
it is true, too much of the sincerity of nature, to make anything like a
friendly advance to one of a people on whom he charged all the
misfortunes of his race, and for whom he had avowed an inextinguishable
hostility of heart and purpose; but, unless when this might with strict
propriety be exercised, the spirit of his vengeance extended not; and
not only would he have scorned to harm a fallen foe, but his arm would
have been the first uplifted in his defence.
Notwithstanding the glance of intelligence which Captain Granville had
remarked, and which we have previously stated to have been directed by
Miss Montgomerie to her captor a few hours before, there was nothing in
her manner during dinner to convey the semblance of a prepossession.
True, that in the tumultuous glow of gratified vanity and dawning love,
Gerald Grantham had executed a toilet, into which, with a view to the
improvement of the advantage he imagined himself to have gained, all the
justifiable coquetry of personal embellishment had been thrown; but
neither the handsome blue uniform with its glittering epaulette, nor the
beautiful hair on which more than usual pains had been bestowed, nor the
sparkling of his dark eye, nor the expression of a cheek, rendered
doubly animated by excitement, nor the interestingly displayed arm _en
écharpe_--none of these attractions, we repeat, seemed to claim even a
partial notice from her they were intended to captivate. Cold,
colorless, passionless, Miss Montgomerie met him with the calmness of an
absolute stranger; and when, with the recollection of the indescribable
look she had bestowed upon him glowing at his heart, Gerald again sought
in her eyes some trace of the expression that had stirred every vein
into transport, he found there indifference the most complete. How great
his mortification was, we will not venture to describe, but the arch and
occasional raillery of his lively cousin, Julia D'Egville, seemed to
denote most plainly that the conqueror and the conquered had exchanged
positions.
Nor was this surprising; Miss Montgomerie's travelling habit had been
discarded for the more decorative ornaments of a dinner toilet, in
which, however, the most marked simplicity was observed. A plain white
muslin dress gave full development to a person which was of a perfection
that no dress could have disguised. It was the bust of a Venus, united
to a form, to create which would have taxed the imaginative powers of a
Praxiteles--a form so faultlessly moulded, that every movement presented
some new and unpremeditated grace. What added to the surpassing richness
of her beauty was her hair, which, black, glossy, and of eastern
luxuriance, and seemingly disdaining the girlishness of curls, reposed
in broad Grecian bands across a brow, the intellectual expression of
which they contributed to form. Yet never did woman exhibit in her
person and face more opposite extremes of beauty. If the one was
strikingly characteristic of warmth, the other was no less indicative of
coldness. Fair, even to paleness, were her cheek and forehead, which
wore an appearance of almost marble immobility, save when, in moments of
oft recurring abstraction, a slight but marked contraction of the brow
betrayed the existence of a feeling, indefinable indeed to the observer,
but certainly unallied to softness. Still she was beautiful--coldly,
classically, beautiful--eminently calculated to inspire passion, but
seemingly incapable of feeling it.
The coldness of Miss Montgomerie's manner was no less remarkable. Her
whole demeanor was one of abstraction. It seemed as if heedless, not
only of ceremony, but of courtesy, her thoughts and feelings were far
from the board of whose hospitality she was partaking. Indeed, the very
few remarks she made during dinner referred to the period of departure
of the boat, in which she was to be conveyed to Detroit, and on this
subject she displayed an earnestness, which, even Grantham thought,
might have been suppressed in the presence of his uncle's family.
Perhaps he felt piqued at her readiness to leave him.
Under these circumstances, the dinner was not, as might be expected,
particularly gay. There was an embarrassment among all, which even the
circulating wine did not wholly remove. Major Montgomerie was nearly as
silent as his niece. Mrs. D'Egville, although evincing all the kindness
of her really benevolent nature--a task in which she was assisted by her
amiable daughters--still felt that the reserve of her guest insensibly
produced a corresponding effect upon herself; while Colonel D'Egville,
gay, polished, and attentive, as he usually was, could not wholly
overcome an apprehension that the introduction of the Indian chiefs had
given offence to both uncle and niece. Still, it was impossible to have
acted otherwise. Independently of his strong personal attachment to
Tecumseh, considerations involving the safety of the province,
threatened as it was, strongly demanded that the leading chiefs should
be treated with the respect due to their station; and moreover, while
General Brock and Commodore Barclay were present, there could be no
ground for an impression that slight was intended. Both these officers
saw the difficulty under which their host labored, and sought by every
gentlemanly attention, to remove whatever unpleasantness might lurk in
the feelings of his American guests.
The dessert brought with it but little addition to the animation of the
party, and it was a relief to all, when, after a toast proposed by the
general to the "Ladies of America," Mrs. D'Egville made the usual signal
for withdrawing.
As soon as they had departed, followed a moment or two afterwards by
Tecumseh and Gerald Grantham, Messieurs Split-log, Round-head, and
Walk-in-the-water, deliberately taking their pipe-bowl tomahawks from
their belts, proceeded to fill them with kinni-kinnick, a mixture of
Virginia tobacco and odoriferous herbs, than which no perfume can be
more fragrant. Amid the clouds of smoke puffed from these at the lower
end of the table, where had been placed a supply of whiskey, their
favorite liquor--did Colonel D'Egville and his more civilized guests
quaff their claret; more gratified than annoyed by the savoury
atmosphere wreathing around them, while, taking advantage of the early
departure of the abstemious Tecumseh, they discussed the merits of that
chief, and the policy of employing the Indians as allies, as will be
seen in the following chapter.