Deerslayer (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (40 page)

Deerslayer dropped his head, and played with the end of a fish pole in the water, as he sat, dangling his legs over the edge of the platform, like a man who was lost in thought by the sudden occurrence of a novel idea. Instead of directly answering the proposal of his friend, he began to soliloquize; a circumstance, however, that in no manner rendered his words more true, as he was remarkable for saying what he thought, whether the remarks were addressed to himself or to any one else.

“Yes—yes,” he said, “this must be what they call love! I’ve heard say that it sometimes upsets reason altogether, leaving a young man as helpless, as to calculation and caution, as a brute beast. To think that the Sarpent should be so lost to reason, and cunning, and wisdom ! We must sartainly manage to get Hist off, and have ‘em married as soon as we get back to the tribe, or this war will be of no more use to the chief than a hunt a little oncommon and extr’ornary. Yes—yes—he’ll never be the man he was till this matter is off his mind, and he comes to his senses, like all the rest of mankind. Sarpent, you can’t be in airnest, and therefore I shall say but little to your offer. But you’re a chief, and will soon be sent out on the warpath at the head of parties, and I’ll just ask if you’d think of putting your forces into the inimy’s hands, afore the battle is fou’t?”

“Wah!” ejaculated the Indian.

“Ay—Wah!—I know well enough it’s Wah! and altogether Wah! Ra‘ally, Sarpent, I’m consarned and mortified about you! I never heard so weak an idea come from a chief, and he, too, one that’s already got a name for being wise, young and inexper’enced as he is. Canoe you shan’t have, so long as the v‘ice of fri’ndship and warning can count for anything.”

“My paleface friend is right. A cloud came over the face of Chingachgook, and weakness got into his mind, while his eyes were dim. My brother has a good memory for good deeds, and a weak memory for bad. He will forget.”

“Yes, that’s easy enough. Say no more about it, chief; but if another of them clouds blow near you, do your endivor to get out of its way. Clouds are bad enough in the weather; but when they come to the reason it gets to be serious. Now, sit down by me here, and let us calculate our movements a little, for we shall soon either have a truce and a peace, or we shall come to an actyve and bloody war. You see the vagabonds can make logs sarve their turn, as well as the best raftsmen on the rivers, and it would be no great expl’ite for them to invade us in a body. I’ve been thinking of the wisdom of putting all old Tom’s stores into the ark, of barring and locking up the castle, and of taking to the ark altogether. That is movable, and by keeping the sail up, and shifting places, we might worry through a great many nights, without them Canada wolves finding a way into our sheepfold.”

Chingachgook listened to this plan with approbation. Did the negotiation fail, there was now little hope that the night would pass without an assault; and the enemy had sagacity enough to understand, that, in carrying the castle, they would probably become masters of all it contained, the offered ransom included, and still retain the advantages they had hitherto gained. Some precaution of the sort appeared to be absolutely necessary; for now the numbers of the Iroquois were known, a night attack could scarcely be successfully met. It would be impossible to prevent the enemy from getting possession of the canoes and the ark, and the latter itself would be a hold in which the assailants would be as effectually protected against bullets as were those in the building. For a few minutes both men thought of sinking the ark in the shallow water, of bringing the canoes into the house, and of depending altogether on the castle for protection. But reflection satisfied them that, in the end, this expedient would fail. It was so easy to collect logs on the shore, and to construct a raft of almost any size, that it was certain the Iroquois, now they had turned their attention to such means, would resort to them seriously, so long as there was the certainty of success by perseverance. After deliberating maturely, and placing all the considerations fairly before them, the two young beginners in the art of forest warfare settled down into the opinion that the ark offered the only available means of security. This decision was no sooner come to, than it was communicated to Judith. The girl had no serious objection to make, and all four set about the measures necessary to carrying the plan into execution.

The reader will readily understand that Floating Tom’s worldly goods were of no great amount. A couple of beds, some wearing apparel, the arms and ammunition, a few cooking utensils, with the mysterious but half-examined chest, formed the principal items. These were all soon removed, the ark having been hauled on the eastern side of the building, so that the transfer could be made without being seen from the shore. It was thought unnecessary to disturb the heavier and coarser articles of furniture, as they were not required in the ark, and were of but little value in themselves. As great caution was necessary in removing the different objects, most of which were passed out of a window with a view to conceal what was going on, it required two or three hours before all could be effected. By the expiration of that time the raft made its appearance, moving from the shore. Deerslayer immediately had recourse to the glass, by the aid of which he perceived that two warriors were on it, though they appeared to be unarmed. The progress of the raft was slow, a circumstance that formed one of the great advantages that would be possessed by the scow in any future collision between them, the movements of the latter being comparatively swift and light. As there was time to make the dispositions for the reception of the two dangerous visitors, everything was prepared for them, long before they had got near enough to be hailed. The Serpent and the girls retired into the building, where the former stood near the door, well provided with rifles; while Judith watched the proceedings without through a loop. As for Deerslayer, he had brought a stool to the edge of the platform, at the point towards which the raft was advancing, and taken his seat, with his rifle leaning carelessly between his legs.

As the raft drew nearer, every means possessed by the party in the castle was resorted to, in order to ascertain if their visitors had any firearms. Neither Deerslayer nor Chingachgook could discover any; but Judith, unwilling to trust to simple eyesight, thrust the glass through the loop, and directed it towards the hemlock boughs that lay between the two logs of the raft, forming a sort of flooring, as well as a seat for the use of the rowers. When the heavy-moving craft was within fifty feet of him, Deerslayer hailed the Hurons, directing them to cease rowing, it not being his intention to permit them to land. Compliance, of course, was necessary, and the two grim-looking warriors instantly quitted their seats, though the raft continued slowly to approach, until it had driven in much nearer to the platform.

“Are ye chiefs?” demanded Deerslayer, with dignity “Are ye chiefs?—or have the Mingos sent me warriors without names, on such an arr’nd? If so, the sooner ye go back, the sooner the one will be likely to come that a warrior can talk with.”

“Hugh!” exclaimed the elder of the two on the raft, rolling his glowing eyes over the different objects that were visible in and about the castle, with a keenness that showed how little escaped him. “My brother is very proud, but Rivenoak (we use the literal translation of the term, writing as we do in English) is a name to make a Delaware turn pale.”

“That’s true, or it’s a lie, Rivenoak, as it may be; but I am not likely to turn pale, seeing that I was born pale. What’s your arr’nd, and why do you come among light bark canoes on logs that are not even dug out?”

“The Iroquois are not ducks, to walk on water! Let the paleface give them a canoe, and they’ll come in a canoe.”

“That’s more rational than likely to come to pass. We have but four canoes, and being four persons, that’s only one for each of us. We thank you for the offer, howsever, though we ask leave not to accept it. You are welcome, Iroquois, on your logs!”

“Thanks—my young paleface warrior—he has got a name—how do the chiefs call him?”

Deerslayer hesitated a moment, and a gleam of pride and human weakness came over him. He smiled, muttered between his teeth, and then looking up proudly, he said—

“Mingo, like all who are young and actyve, I’ve been known by different names, at different times. One of your warriors whose spirit started for the happy grounds of your people as lately as yesterday morning, thought I desarved to be known by the name of Hawkeye; and this because my sight happened to be quicker than his own, when it got to be life or death atween us.”

Chingachgook, who was attentively listening to all that passed, heard and understood this proof of passing weakness in his friend, and on a future occasion he questioned him more closely concerning the transaction on the point where Deerslayer had first taken human life. When he had got the whole truth, he did not fail to communicate it to the tribe, from which time the young hunter was universally known among the Delawares by an appellation so honorably earned. As this, however, was a period posterior to all the incidents of this tale, we shall continue to call the young hunter by the name under which he has been first introduced to the reader. Nor was the Iroquois less struck with the vaunt of the white man. He knew of the death of his comrade, and had no difficulty in understanding the allusion; the intercourse between the conqueror and his victim on that occasion having been seen by several savages on the shore of the lake, who had been stationed at different points just within the margin of bushes, to watch the drifting canoes, and who had not time to reach the scene of action ere the victor had retired. The effect on this rude being of the forest was an exclamation of surprise; then such a smile of courtesy and wave of the hand succeeded, as would have done credit to Asiatic diplomacy. The two Iroquois spoke to each other in low terms, and both drew near the end of the raft that was closest to the platform.

“My brother, Hawkeye, has sent a message to the Hurons,” resumed Rivenoak, “and it has made their hearts very glad. They hear he has images of beasts with two tails! Will he show them to his friends?”

“Inimies would be truer,” returned Deerslayer; “but sound isn’t sense, and does little harm. Here is one of the images; I toss it to you under faith of treaties. If it’s not returned, the rifle will settle the p’int atween us.”

The Iroquois seemed to acquiesce in the conditions, and Deerslayer arose and prepared to toss one of the elephants to the raft, both parties using all the precaution that was necessary to prevent its loss. As practice renders men expert in such things, the little piece of ivory was soon successfully transferred from one hand to the other; and then followed another scene on the raft, in which astonishment and delight got the mastery of Indian stoicism. These two grim old warriors manifested even more feeling, as they examined the curiously wrought chessman, than had been betrayed by the boy; for, in the case of the latter, recent schooling had interposed its influence; while the men, like all who are sustained by well-established characters, were not ashamed to let some of their emotions be discovered. For a few minutes they apparently lost the consciousness of their situation in the intense scrutiny they bestowed on a material so fine, work so highly wrought, and an animal so extraordinary. The lip of the moose is, perhaps, the nearest approach to the trunk of the elephant that is to be found in the American forest; but this resemblance was far from being sufficiently striking to bring the new creature within the range of their habits and ideas, and the more they studied the image, the greater was their astonishment. Nor did these children of the forest mistake the structure on the back of the elephant for a part of the animal. They were familiar with horses and oxen, and had seen towers in the Canadas, and found nothing surprising in creatures of burden. Still, by a very natural association, they supposed the carving meant to represent that the animal they saw was of a strength sufficient to carry a fort on its back; a circumstance that in no degree lessened their wonder.

“Has my paleface brother any more such beasts?” at last the senior of the Iroquois asked, in a sort of petitioning manner.

“There’s more where them came from, Mingo,” was the answer; “one is enough, however, to buy off fifty scalps.”

“One of my prisoners is a great warrior—tall as a pine—strong as the moose—active as a deer—fierce as the panther. Some day he’ll be a great chief, and lead the army of King George!”

“Tut—tut—Mingo; Hurry Harry is Hurry Harry, and you’ll never make more than a corporal of him, if you do that. He’s tall enough, of a sartainty; but that’s of no use, as he only hits his head ag‘in the branches as he goes through the forest. He’s strong, too; but a strong body isn’t a strong head, and the King’s generals are not chosen for their sinews. He’s swift, if you will, but a rifle bullet is swifter; and as for f ’erceness, it’s no great ricommend to a soldier; they that think they feel the stoutest, often givin’ out at the pinch. No—no—you’ll never make Hurry’s scalp pass for more than a good head of curly hair, and a rattlepate beneath it!”

“My old prisoner very wise—king of the lake—great warrior, wise counselor!”

“Well, there’s them that might gainsay all this, too, Mingo. A very wise man wouldn’t be apt to be taken in so foolish a manner as befell Master Hutter; and if he gives good counsel, he must have listened to very bad in that affair. There’s only one king of this lake, and he’s a long way off, and isn’t likely ever to see it. Floating Tom is some such king of this region, as the wolf that prowls through the woods is king of the forest. A beast with two tails is well worth two such scalps! ”

“But my brother has another beast. He will give two,” holding up as many fingers, “for old father.”

“Floating Tom is no father of mine, but he’ll fare none the worse for that. As for giving two beasts for his scalp, and each beast with two tails, it is quite beyond reason. Think yourself well off, Mingo, if you make a much worse trade.”