The convulsion was but momentary, and departed with almost the same
suddenness that marked its accession. Nathan started half up, looked
wildly around him, surveying the bodies of the two Piankeshaws, and the
visage of the sympathising soldier. Then snatching up and replacing his
hat with one hand, and grasping Roland's with the other, he exclaimed, as
if wholly unconscious of what had happened him,--
"Thee has heard it, and thee knows it,--thee knows what the Shawnees have
done to me--they have killed them all, all that was of my blood! Had they
done so by thee, friend," he demanded with eagerness, "had they done so
by _thee_, what would thee have done to them?"
"Declared eternal war upon them and their accursed race!" cried Roland,
greatly excited by the story; "I would have sworn undying vengeance, and
I would have sought it,--ay, sought it without ceasing. Day and night,
summer and winter, on the frontier and in their own lands and villages, I
would have pursued the wretches, and pursued them to the death."
"Thee is right," cried Nathan, wringing the hand he still held, and
speaking with a grin of hideous approval;--"by night and by day, in
summer and in winter, in the wood and in the wigwam, thee would seek for
their blood, and thee would shed it;--thee would think of thee wife and
thee little babes, and thee heart would be as stone and fire within
thee--thee would kill, friend, thee would kill, thee would kill!" And the
monosyllable was breathed over and over again with a ferocity of emphasis
that showed how deep and vindictive was the passion in the speaker's
mind. Then,--with a transition of feeling as unexpected as it was abrupt,
he added, still wringing Roland's hand, as if he had found in him a
sympathizing friend, whose further kindness he was resolved to deserve,
and to repay,--"Thee is right; I have thought about what thee has
said--Thee shall have assistance. Thee is a brave man, and thee has not
mocked at me because of my faith. Thee enemies shall be pursued, and the
maid thee loves shall be restored to thee arms."
"Alas," said Roland, almost fearing from the impetuosity, as well as
confidence, with which Nathan now spoke, that his wits were in a state of
distraction, "where shall we look for help, since there are none but
ourselves in this desert, of whom to ask it?"
"From our two selves it must come, and from none others," said Nathan,
briskly. "We will follow the murdering thieves that have robbed thee of
thee treasure, and we will recover the maid Edith from their hands."
"What! unaided? alone?"
"Alone, friend, with little Peter to be our guide, and Providence our
hope and our stay. Thee is a man of courage, and thee heart will not fail
thee, even if thee should find theeself led into the heart of the Injun
nation. I have thought of this thing, friend, and I perceive there is
good hope we shall prevail, and prevail better than if we had an hundred
men to follow at our backs; unless we had them ready with us, to march
this very day. Does thee hear me, friend? The Shawnee fighting-men are
now in Kentucky, assembled in a great army, scalping and murdering as
they come: their villages are left to be guarded by women and children
and old men no longer fit for war. Thee understands me? If thee waits
till thee collects friends, thee will have to cut thee way with them
through fighting-men returned to their villages before thee; if thee
proceeds as thee is, thee has nothing to fear that thee cannot guard
against with thee own cunning,--nothing to oppose thee that thee cannot
conquer with thee own strength and courage."
"And how," cried Roland, too ardent of temper, too ready to snatch at any
hope, to refuse his approbation to the enterprise, though its
difficulties immediately crowded before his eyes, "how shall we follow a
trail so long and cold? where shall we find arms? where--"
"Friend," said Nathan, interrupting him, "thee speaks without thought.
For arms and ammunition, thee has thee choice among the spoils of these
dead villains, thee captivators. For the trail, thee need think nothing
of that: lost or found, thee may be certain it leads to the old Vulture's
town on the Miami: there thee will find thee cousin, and thither I can
lead thee."
"Let us go then, in Heaven's name," cried Roland, "and without further
delay; every moment is precious."
"Thee speaks the truth; and if thee feels thee limbs strong enough--"
"They are nerved by hope; and while that remains, I will neither faint
nor falter. Edith rescued, and one blow--one good blow struck at the
villain that wrongs her;--then let them fail me, if Heaven wills it, and
fail me for ever!"
Few more words were required to confirm Roland's approval of the project
so boldly, and indeed, as it seemed, so judiciously advised by his
companion. To seek assistance was, as Nathan had justly said, to cast
away the opportunity which the absence of the warriors from their towns
opened to his hopes,--an opportunity in which craft and stratagem might
well obtain the success not to be won, at a later period, and after the
return of the marauders, even by a band of armed men.
Turning to the corses that still lay on the couch of leaves where they
expired, Nathan began with little ceremony, and none of the compunction
that might have been expected, to rob them of their knives, guns, and
ammunition, with which Roland, selecting weapons to his liking, was soon
well armed. The pouches of the warriors, containing strips of dried
venison and stores of parched corn, Nathan appropriated in the same way,
taking care, from the superabundance, to reward the services of little
Peter, who received with modest gratitude, but despatched with energetic
haste, the meal which his appearance, as well as his appetite, showed was
not a blessing of every-day occurrence.
These preparations concluded, Nathan signified his readiness to conduct
the young soldier on his way. But as he stepped to the edge of the little
glade, and turned to take a last look of the dead Indians, the victims of
his own warlike hand, a change came over his appearance. The bold and
manly look which he had for a moment assumed, was exchanged for an air of
embarrassment and almost timidity, such as marked his visage of old, at
the Station. He hesitated, paused, looked at the bodies again, and then
at Roland; and finally muttered aloud, though with doubting accents,--
"Thee is a man of war, friend,--a man of war and a soldier! and thee
fights Injuns even as the young men of Kentucky fights them; and thee may
think it but right and proper, as they do, in such case made and
provided, to take the scalps off the heads of these same dead vagabonds!
Truly, friend, if thee is of that mind, truly, I won't oppose thee!"
"Their scalps? _I_ scalp them!" cried Boland, with a soldier's disgust;
"I am no butcher: I leave them to the bears and wolves, which the
villains in their natures so strongly resembled. I will kill Indians
wherever I can; but no scalping, Nathan, no scalping from me!"
"Truly, it is just as thee thinks proper," Nathan mumbled out; and
without further remark he strode into the wood, following the path which
the Piankeshaws had travelled the preceding evening, until, with Roland,
he reached the spot where had happened the catastrophe of the keg,--a
place but a few hundred paces distant from the glade. Along the whole way
he had betrayed symptoms of dissatisfaction and uneasiness, for which
Roland could not account; and now, having arrived at this spot, he came
to a pause, and revealed the source of his trouble.
"Do thee sit down here and rest thee weary limbs, friend," he said.
"Truly, I have left two Injun guns lying open to the day; and, truly, it
doth afflict me to think so; for if other Injuns should chance upon this
place, they must needs find them, and perhaps use them in killing poor
white persons. Truly, I will hide them in a hollow tree, and return to
thee in a minute."
With these words, he immediately retraced his path, leaving Roland to
wonder and speculate at leisure over the singular intermixture of humane
and ferocious elements of which his character seemed compounded. But the
speculation was not long indulged; in a few moments Nathan's footsteps
were heard ringing along the arched path, and he again made his
appearance, but looking a new man. His gait was fierce and confident, his
countenance bold and expressive of satisfaction. "Things should never be
done by halves," he muttered, but more as if speaking to his own thoughts
than to his companion.
With this brief apology, he again led the way through the forest; but not
until Roland had observed, or thought he observed, a drop of blood fall
from his tattered knife-sheath to the earth. But the suspicion that this
little incident, coupled with the change in Nathan's deportment, awoke in
Roland's mind, he had no leisure to pursue, Nathan now striding forward
at a pace which soon brought his companion to a painful sense of his own
enfeebled and suffering condition.
"Thee must neither faint nor flag," said Nathan; "thee enemies have the
start of thee by a whole day; and they have thee horses also. Truly, it
is my fear, that, with these horses and thee kinswoman, Abel Doe and the
man Braxley, thee foeman, may push on for the Injun town with what speed
they can, leaving their Injun thieves the footmen, to follow on as they
may, or perhaps to strike through the woods for the north side, to join
the ramping villains that are there burning and murdering! Thee must keep
up thee strength till night-fall; when thee shall have good meat to eat
and a long sleep to refresh thee; and, truly, on the morrow thee will be
very well, though a little feverish."
With such encouragement, repeated time by time as seemed to him needful,
Nathan continued to lead through wood and brake, with a vigour and
freshness of step that moved the wonder and envy of Roland, who knew
that, like himself, Nathan had been without sleep for two nights in
succession; besides, having employed the intervening days in the most
laborious exertions. Such an example of untiring energy and zeal, and the
reflection that they were displayed in his cause--in the cause of his
hapless Edith--supported Roland's own flagging steps; and he followed
without murmuring, until the close of the day found him again on the
banks of the river that had witnessed so many of his sufferings. He had
been long aware that Nathan had deserted the path of the Piankeshaws; but
not doubting his superior knowledge of the woods had led him into a
shorter path, he was both surprised and concerned, when, striking the
river at last, he found himself in a place entirely unknown, and
apparently many miles below the scene of conflict of the previous day.
"He that would follow upon the heels of Wenonga," said Nathan, "must walk
wide of his footsteps, for fear lest he should suddenly tread on the old
reptile's tail. Thee don't know the craft of an old Injun that expects to
be followed,--as, truly, it is like the Black-Vulture may expect it now.
Do thee be content, friend; there is more paths to Wenonah's town than
them that Wenonga follows; and, truly, we may gain something by taking
the shortest."
Thus satisfying Roland he had good reasons for choosing his own
path, Nathan led the way to the verge of the river; where, leaving the
broad buffalo-trace by which he descended the banks, and diving through
canes and rocks, until he had left the ford to which the path led, a
quarter-mile or more behind, he stopped at last under a grim cliff
overgrown with trees and brambles, where a cove or hollow in the rock, of
a peculiarly wild, solitary, and defensible character, invited him to
take up quarters for the night.
Nor did this seem the first time Wandering Nathan had sought shelter in
the place, which possessed an additional advantage in a little spring
that trickled from the rock, and collected its limpid stores in a rocky
basin hard by; there were divers half-burned brands lying on its sandy
floor, and a bed of fern and cane-leaves, not yet dispersed by the winds,
that had evidently been once pressed by a human form.
"Thee will never see a true man of the woods," said Nathan, with much
apparent self-approval, "build his camp-fire on a roadside, like that
unlucky foolish man, Ralph Stackpole by name, that ferried thee down the
river. Truly, it was a marvel he did not drown thee all, as well as the
poor man Dodge! Here, friend, we can sleep in peace; and, truly, sleep
will be good for thee, and me, and little Peter."
With these words, Nathan set about collecting dried logs and branches,
which former floods had strown in great abundance along the rocks; and
dragging them into the cove, he soon set them in a cheerful blaze. He
then drew forth his stores of provender--the corn and dried meat he had
taken from the Piankeshaws' pouches,--the latter of which, after a
preliminary sop or two in the spring, for the double purpose of washing
off the grains of gunpowder, tobacco, and what not, the usual scrapings
of an Indian's pocket,--and of restoring its long vanished juices,--he
spitted on twigs of cane, and roasted with exceeding patience and
solicitude at the fire. To these dainty viands he added certain cakes and
lumps of some nondescript substance, as Roland supposed it, until assured
by Nathan it was good maple-sugar, and of his own making. "Truly," said
he, "it might have been better, had it been better made. But, truly,
friend, I am, as thee may see, a man that lives in the woods, having
neither cabin nor wigwam, the Injuns having burned down the same, so that
it is tedious to rebuild them; and having neither pots nor pans, the same
having been all stolen, I did make my sugar in the wooden troughs,
boiling it down with hot stones; and, truly, friend, it doth serve the
purpose of salt, and is good against hunger in long journeys."
There was little in the dishes, set off by Nathan's cookery, or in his
own feelings, to dispose the sick and weary soldier to eat; and having
swallowed but a few mouthfuls, he threw himself upon the bed of leaves,
hoping to find that refreshment in slumber which neither food nor the
conversation of his companion could supply. His body being as much worn
and exhausted as his mind, the latter was not doomed to be long tossed by
grief and fear; and before the last hues of sunset had faded in the west,
slumber had swept from his bosom the consciousness of his own sufferings,
with even the memory of his Edith.
In the meanwhile, Nathan had gathered more wood to supply the fire during
the night, and added a new stock of cane-leaves for his own bed; having
made which to his liking, disposed his arms where they could be seized at
a moment's warning, and, above all, accommodated little Peter with a
couch at his feet, he also threw himself at length, and was soon sound
asleep.