The Prairie (5 page)

"Men are no common objects in these empty fields," returned the trapper,
"and I humbly hope, though I have so long consorted with the beasts of
the wilderness, that I have not yet lost the look of my kind."

"Oh! I knew you to be a man, and I thought I knew the whine of the
hound, too," she answered hastily, as if willing to explain she knew not
what, and then checking herself, like one fearful of having already said
too much.

"I saw no dogs, among the teams of your father," the trapper remarked.

"Father!" exclaimed the girl, feelingly, "I have no father! I had nearly
said no friend."

The old man turned towards her, with a look of kindness and interest,
that was even more conciliating than the ordinary, upright, and
benevolent expression of his weather-beaten countenance.

"Why then do you venture in a place where none but the strong should
come?" he demanded. "Did you not know that, when you crossed the big
river, you left a friend behind you that is always bound to look to the
young and feeble, like yourself."

"Of whom do you speak?"

"The law—'tis bad to have it, but, I sometimes think, it is worse to
be entirely without it. Age and weakness have brought me to feel such
weakness, at times. Yes—yes, the law is needed, when such as have not
the gifts of strength and wisdom are to be taken care of. I hope, young
woman, if you have no father, you have at least a brother."

The maiden felt the tacit reproach conveyed in this covert question,
and for a moment she remained in an embarrassed silence. But catching
a glimpse of the mild and serious features of her companion, as he
continued to gaze on her with a look of interest, she replied, firmly,
and in a manner that left no doubt she comprehended his meaning:

"Heaven forbid that any such as you have seen, should be a brother of
mine, or any thing else near or dear to me! But, tell me, do you then
actually live alone, in this desert district, old man; is there really
none here besides yourself?"

"There are hundreds, nay, thousands of the rightful owners of the
country, roving about the plains; but few of our own colour."

"And have you then met none who are white, but us?" interrupted the
girl, like one too impatient to await the tardy explanations of age and
deliberation.

"Not in many days—Hush, Hector, hush," he added in reply to a low, and
nearly inaudible, growl from his hound. "The dog scents mischief in the
wind! The black bears from the mountains sometimes make their way, even
lower than this. The pup is not apt to complain of the harmless game.
I am not so ready and true with the piece as I used-to-could-be, yet I
have struck even the fiercest animals of the prairie in my time; so, you
have little reason for fear, young woman."

The girl raised her eyes, in that peculiar manner which is so often
practised by her sex, when they commence their glances, by examining the
earth at their feet, and terminate them by noting every thing within
the power of human vision; but she rather manifested the quality of
impatience, than any feeling of alarm.

A short bark from the dog, however, soon gave a new direction to the
looks of both, and then the real object of his second warning became
dimly visible.

Come, come, thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood, as any in Italy;
and as soon mov'd to be moody, and as soon moody to be moved.
—Romeo and Juliet.

Though the trapper manifested some surprise when he perceived that
another human figure was approaching him, and that, too, from a
direction opposite to the place where the emigrant had made his
encampment, it was with the steadiness of one long accustomed to scenes
of danger.

"This is a man," he said; "and one who has white blood in his veins, or
his step would be lighter. It will be well to be ready for the worst, as
the half-and-halfs,
[8]
that one meets, in these distant districts, are
altogether more barbarous than the real savage."

He raised his rifle while he spoke, and assured himself of the state of
its flint, as well as of the priming by manual examination. But his arm
was arrested, while in the act of throwing forward the muzzle of the
piece, by the eager and trembling hands of his companion.

"For God's sake, be not too hasty," she said; "it may be a friend—an
acquaintance—a neighbour!"

"A friend!" the old man repeated, deliberately releasing himself, at the
same time, from her grasp. "Friends are rare in any land, and less in
this, perhaps, than in another; and the neighbourhood is too thinly
settled to make it likely that he who comes towards us is even an
acquaintance."

"But though a stranger, you would not seek his blood!"

The trapper earnestly regarded her anxious and frightened features,
and then he dropped the butt of his rifle on the ground, like one whose
purpose had undergone a sudden change.

"No," he said, speaking rather to himself, than to his companion, "she
is right; blood is not to be spilt, to save the life of one so useless,
and so near his time. Let him come on; my skins, my traps, and even my
rifle shall be his, if he sees fit to demand them."

"He will ask for neither:—he wants neither," returned the girl; "if he
be an honest man, he will surely be content with his own, and ask for
nothing that is the property of another."

The trapper had not time to express the surprise he felt at this
incoherent and contradictory language, for the man who was advancing,
was, already, within fifty feet of the place where they stood.—In
the mean time, Hector had not been an indifferent witness of what was
passing. At the sound of the distant footsteps, he had arisen, from his
warm bed at the feet of his master; and now, as the stranger appeared in
open view, he stalked slowly towards him, crouching to the earth like a
panther about to take his leap.

"Call in your dog," said a firm, deep, manly voice, in tones of
friendship, rather than of menace; "I love a hound, and should be sorry
to do an injury to the animal."

"You hear what is said about you, pup?" the trapper answered; "come
hither, fool. His growl and his bark are all that is left him now; you
may come on, friend; the hound is toothless."

The stranger profited by the intelligence. He sprang eagerly forward,
and at the next instant stood at the side of Ellen Wade. After assuring
himself of the identity of the latter, by a hasty but keen glance, he
turned his attention, with a quickness and impatience, that proved
the interest he took in the result, to a similar examination of her
companion.

"From what cloud have you fallen, my good old man?" he said in a
careless, off-hand, heedless manner that seemed too natural to be
assumed: "or do you actually live, hereaway, in the prairies?"

"I have been long on earth, and never I hope nigher to heaven, than I am
at this moment," returned the trapper; "my dwelling, if dwelling I may
be said to have, is not far distant. Now may I take the liberty with
you, that you are so willing to take with others? Whence do you come,
and where is your home?"

"Softly, softly; when I have done with my catechism, it will be time to
begin with yours. What sport is this, you follow by moonlight? You are
not dodging the buffaloes at such an hour!"

"I am, as you see, going from an encampment of travellers, which lies
over yonder swell in the land, to my own wigwam; in doing so, I wrong no
man."

"All fair and true. And you got this young woman to show you the way,
because she knows it so well and you know so little about it yourself!"

"I met her, as I have met you, by accident. For ten tiresome years have
I dwelt on these open fields, and never, before to-night, have I found
human beings with white skins on them, at this hour. If my presence here
gives offence, I am sorry; and will go my way. It is more than likely
that when your young friend has told her story, you will be better given
to believe mine.

"Friend!" said the youth, lifting a cap of skins from his head, and
running his fingers leisurely through a dense mass of black and shaggy
locks, "if I have ever laid eyes on the girl before to-night, may I—"

"You've said enough, Paul," interrupted the female, laying her hand
on his mouth, with a familiarity that gave something very like the lie
direct, to his intended asseveration. "Our secret will be safe, with
this honest old man. I know it by his looks, and kind words."

"Our secret! Ellen, have you forgot—"

"Nothing. I have not forgotten any thing I should remember. But still I
say we are safe with this honest trapper."

"Trapper! is he then a trapper? Give me your hand, father; our trades
should bring us acquainted."

"There is little call for handicrafts in this region," returned the
other, examining the athletic and active form of the youth, as he leaned
carelessly and not ungracefully, on his rifle; "the art of taking the
creatur's of God, in traps and nets, is one that needs more cunning than
manhood; and yet am I brought to practise it, in my age! But it would
be quite as seemly, in one like you, to follow a pursuit better becoming
your years and courage."

"I! I never took even a slinking mink or a paddling musk-rat in a cage;
though I admit having peppered a few of the dark-skin'd devils, when
I had much better have kept my powder in the horn and the lead in its
pouch. Not I, old man; nothing that crawls the earth is for my sport."

"What then may you do for a living, friend? for little profit is to be
made in these districts, if a man denies himself his lawful right in the
beasts of the fields."

"I deny myself nothing. If a bear crosses my path, he is soon the mere
ghost of Bruin. The deer begin to nose me; and as for the buffaloe, I
have kill'd more beef, old stranger, than the largest butcher in all
Kentuck."

"You can shoot, then!" demanded the trapper, with a glow of latent fire,
glimmering about his eyes; "is your hand true, and your look quick?"

"The first is like a steel trap, and the last nimbler than a buck-shot.
I wish it was hot noon, now, grand'ther; and that there was an acre or
two of your white swans or of black feathered ducks going south, over
our heads; you or Ellen, here, might set your heart on the finest in the
flock, and my character against a horn of powder, that the bird would
be hanging head downwards, in five minutes, and that too, with a single
ball. I scorn a shot-gun! No man can say, he ever knew me carry one, a
rod."

"The lad has good in him! I see it plainly by his manner;" said the
trapper, turning to Ellen with an encouraging air; "I will take it on
myself to say, that you are not unwise in meeting him, as you do. Tell
me, lad; did you ever strike a leaping buck atwixt the antlers? Hector;
quiet, pup; quiet. The very name of venison quickens the blood of the
cur;—did you ever take an animal in that fashion, on the long leap?"

"You might just as well ask me, did you ever eat? There is no fashion,
old stranger, that a deer has not been touched by my hand, unless it was
when asleep."

"Ay, ay; you have a long and a happy-ay, and an honest life afore you! I
am old, and I suppose I might also say, worn out and useless; but, if
it was given me to choose my time, and place, again,—as such things are
not and ought not ever to be given to the will of man—though if such
a gift was to be given me, I would say, twenty and the wilderness! But,
tell me; how do you part with the peltry?"

"With my pelts! I never took a skin from a buck, nor a quill from a
goose, in my life! I knock them over, now and then, for a meal, and
sometimes to keep my finger true to the touch; but when hunger is
satisfied, the prairie wolves get the remainder. No—no—I keep to my
calling; which pays me better, than all the fur I could sell on the
other side of the big river."

The old man appeared to ponder a little; but shaking his head he soon
continued—

"I know of but one business that can be followed here with profit—"

He was interrupted by the youth, who raised a small cup of tin, which
dangled at his neck before the other's eyes, and springing its lid, the
delicious odour of the finest flavoured honey, diffused itself over the
organs of the trapper.

"A bee hunter!" observed the latter, with a readiness that proved he
understood the nature of the occupation, though not without some little
surprise at discovering one of the other's spirited mien engaged in so
humble a pursuit. "It pays well in the skirts of the settlements, but I
should call it a doubtful trade, in the more open districts."

"You think a tree is wanting for a swarm to settle in! But I know
differently; and so I have stretched out a few hundred miles farther
west than common, to taste your honey. And, now, I have bated your
curiosity, stranger, you will just move aside, while I tell the
remainder of my story to this young woman."

"It is not necessary, I'm sure it is not necessary, that he should leave
us," said Ellen, with a haste that implied some little consciousness of
the singularity if not of the impropriety of the request. "You can have
nothing to say that the whole world might not hear."

"No! well, may I be stung to death by drones, if I understand the
buzzings of a woman's mind! For my part, Ellen, I care for nothing nor
any body; and am just as ready to go down to the place where your uncle,
if uncle you can call one, who I'll swear is no relation, has hoppled
his teams, and tell the old man my mind now, as I shall be a year hence.
You have only to say a single word, and the thing is done; let him like
it or not."

"You are ever so hasty and so rash, Paul Hover, that I seldom know when
I am safe with you. How can you, who know the danger of our being seen
together, speak of going before my uncle and his sons?"

"Has he done that of which he has reason to be ashamed?" demanded the
trapper, who had not moved an inch from the place he first occupied.