The Prairie

by James Fenimore Cooper

  CHAPTER XVI

  These likelihoods confirm her flight from hence, Therefore, I pray you, stay not to discourse, But mount you presently. --Shakspeare.

  An hour had slid by, in hasty and nearly incoherent questions andanswers, before Middleton, hanging over his recovered treasure with thatsort of jealous watchfulness with which a miser would regard his hoards,closed the disjointed narrative of his own proceedings by demanding--

  "And you, my Inez; in what manner were you treated?"

  "In every thing, but the great injustice they did in separating me soforcibly from my friends, as well perhaps as the circumstances of mycaptors would allow. I think the man, who is certainly the master here,is but a new beginner in wickedness. He quarrelled frightfully in mypresence, with the wretch who seized me, and then they made an impiousbargain, to which I was compelled to acquiesce, and to which they boundme as well as themselves by oaths. Ah! Middleton, I fear the hereticsare not so heedful of their vows as we who are nurtured in the bosom ofthe true church!"

  "Believe it not; these villains are of no religion: did they forswearthemselves?"

  "No, not perjured: but was it not awful to call upon the good God towitness so sinful a compact?"

  "And so we think, Inez, as truly as the most virtuous cardinal of Rome.But how did they observe their oath, and what was its purport?"

  "They conditioned to leave me unmolested, and free from their odiouspresence, provided I would give a pledge to make no effort to escape;and that I would not even show myself, until a time that my masters sawfit to name."

  "And that time?" demanded the impatient Middleton, who so well knew thereligious scruples of his wife--"that time?"

  "It is already passed. I was sworn by my patron saint, and faithfullydid I keep the vow, until the man they call Ishmael forgot the terms byoffering violence. I then made my appearance on the rock, for the timetoo was passed; though I even think father Ignatius would have absolvedme from the vow, on account of the treachery of my keepers."

  "If he had not," muttered the youth between his compressed teeth,"I would have absolved him for ever from his spiritual care of yourconscience!"

  "You, Middleton!" returned his wife looking up into his flushed face,while a bright blush suffused her own sweet countenance; "you mayreceive my vows, but surely you can have no power to absolve me fromtheir observance!"

  "No, no, no. Inez, you are right. I know but little of theseconscientious subtilties, and I am any thing but a priest: yet tell me,what has induced these monsters to play this desperate game--to triflethus with my happiness?"

  "You know my ignorance of the world, and how ill I am qualified tofurnish reasons for the conduct of beings so different from any I haveever seen before. But does not love of money drive men to acts evenworse than this? I believe they thought that an aged and wealthy fathercould be tempted to pay them a rich ransom for his child; and, perhaps,"she added, stealing an enquiring glance through her tears, at theattentive Middleton, "they counted something on the fresh affections ofa bridegroom."

  "They might have extracted the blood from my heart, drop by drop!"

  "Yes," resumed his young and timid wife, instantly withdrawing thestolen look she had hazarded, and hurriedly pursuing the train of thediscourse, as if glad to make him forget the liberty she had just taken,"I have been told, there are men so base as to perjure themselves at thealtar, in order to command the gold of ignorant and confiding girls;and if love of money will lead to such baseness, we may surely expectit will hurry those, who devote themselves to gain, into acts of lesserfraud."

  "It must be so; and now, Inez, though I am here to guard you with mylife, and we are in possession of this rock, our difficulties, perhapsour dangers, are not ended. You will summon all your courage to meet thetrial and prove yourself a soldier's wife, my Inez?"

  "I am ready to depart this instant. The letter you sent by thephysician, had prepared me to hope for the best, and I have every thingarranged for flight, at the shortest warning."

  "Let us then leave this place and join our friends."

  "Friends!" interrupted Inez, glancing her eyes around the little tentin quest of the form of Ellen. "I, too, have a friend who must not beforgotten, but who is pledged to pass the remainder of her life with us.She is gone!"

  Middleton gently led her from the spot, as he smilingly answered--

  "She may have had, like myself, her own private communications for somefavoured ear."

  The young man had not however done justice to the motives of Ellen Wade.The sensitive and intelligent girl had readily perceived how little herpresence was necessary in the interview that has just been related,and had retired with that intuitive delicacy of feeling which seemsto belong more properly to her sex. She was now to be seen seated on apoint of the rock, with her person so entirely enveloped in her dress asto conceal her features. Here she had remained for near an hour, noone approaching to address her, and as it appeared to her own quick andjealous eyes, totally unobserved. In the latter particular, however,even the vigilance of the quick-sighted Ellen was deceived.

  The first act of Paul Hover, on finding himself the master of Ishmael'scitadel, had been to sound the note of victory, after the quaint andludicrous manner that is so often practised among the borderers of theWest. Flapping his sides with his hands, as the conquering game-cock iswont to do with his wings, he raised a loud and laughable imitation ofthe exultation of this bird; a cry which might have proved a dangerouschallenge had any one of the athletic sons of the squatter been withinhearing.

  "This has been a regular knock-down and drag-out," he cried, "and nobones broke! How now, old trapper, you have been one of your training,platoon, rank and file soldiers in your day, and have seen forts takenand batteries stormed before this--am I right?"

  "Ay, ay, that have I," answered the old man, who still maintained hispost at the foot of the rock, so little disturbed by what he had justwitnessed, as to return the grin of Paul, with a hearty indulgence inhis own silent and peculiar laughter; "you have gone through the exploitlike men!"

  "Now tell me, is it not in rule, to call over the names of the living,and to bury the dead, after every bloody battle?"

  "Some did and other some didn't. When Sir William push'd the German,Dieskau, thro' the defiles at the foot of the Hori--"

  "Your Sir William was a drone to Sir Paul, and knew nothing ofregularity. So here begins the roll-call--by the by, old man, whatbetween bee-hunting and buffaloe humps, and certain other matters,I have been too busy to ask your name; for I intend to begin with myrear-guard, well knowing that my man in front is too busy to answer."

  "Lord, lad, I've been called in my time by as many names as there arepeople among whom I've dwelt. Now the Delawares nam'd me for my eyes,and I was called after the far-sighted hawk. Then, ag'in, the settlersin the Otsego hills christened me anew, from the fashion of my leggings;and various have been the names by which I have gone through life;but little will it matter when the time shall come, that all are to bemuster'd, face to face, by what titles a mortal has played his part!I humbly trust I shall be able to answer to any of mine, in a loud andmanly voice."

  Paul paid little or no attention to this reply, more than half of whichwas lost in the distance, but pursuing the humour of the moment, hecalled out in a stentorian voice to the naturalist to answer to hisname. Dr. Battius had not thought it necessary to push his successbeyond the comfortable niche, which accident had so opportunely formedfor his protection, and in which he now reposed from his labours, witha pleasing consciousness of security, added to great exultation at thepossession of the botanical treasure already mentioned.

  "Mount, mount, my worthy mole-catcher! come and behold the prospect ofskirting Ishmael; come and look nature boldly in the face, and not gosneaking any longer, among the prairie grass and mullein tops, like agobbler nibbling for grasshoppers."

  The mouth of the light-hearted and reckless bee
-hunter was instantlyclosed, and he was rendered as mute, as he had just been boisterous andtalkative, by the appearance of Ellen Wade. When the melancholy maidentook her seat on the point of the rock as mentioned, Paul affected toemploy himself in conducting a close inspection of the household effectsof the squatter. He rummaged the drawers of Esther with no delicatehands, scattered the rustic finery of her girls on the ground, withoutthe least deference to its quality or elegance, and tossed her pots andkettles here and there, as though they had been vessels of wood insteadof iron. All this industry was, however, manifestly without an object.He reserved nothing for himself, not even appearing conscious of thenature of the articles which suffered by his familiarity. When he hadexamined the inside of every cabin, taken a fresh survey of the spotwhere he had confined the children, and where he had thoroughly securedthem with cords, and kicked one of the pails of the woman, like afoot-ball, fifty feet into the air, in sheer wantonness, he returned tothe edge of the rock, and thrusting both his hands through his wampumbelt, he began to whistle the "Kentucky Hunters" as diligently as if hehad been hired to supply his auditors with music by the hour. In thismanner passed the remainder of the time, until Middleton, as has beenrelated, led Inez forth from the tent, and gave a new direction tothe thoughts of the whole party. He summoned Paul from his flourish ofmusic, tore the Doctor from the study of his plant, and, as acknowledgedleader, gave the necessary orders for immediate departure.

  In the bustle and confusion that were likely to succeed such a mandate,there was little opportunity to indulge in complaints or reflections.As the adventurers had not come unprepared for victory, each individualemployed himself in such offices as were best adapted to his strengthand situation. The trapper had already made himself master of thepatient Asinus, who was quietly feeding at no great distance from therock, and he was now busy in fitting his back with the complicatedmachinery that Dr. Battius saw fit to term a saddle of his owninvention. The naturalist himself seized upon his portfolios, herbals,and collection of insects, which he quickly transferred from theencampment of the squatter, to certain pockets in the aforesaidingenious invention, and which the trapper as uniformly cast away themoment his back was turned. Paul showed his dexterity in removing suchlight articles as Inez and Ellen had prepared for their flight tothe foot of the citadel, while Middleton, after mingling threats andpromises, in order to induce the children to remain quietly in theirbondage, assisted the females to descend. As time began to press uponthem, and there was great danger of Ishmael's returning, these severalmovements were made with singular industry and despatch.

  The trapper bestowed such articles as he conceived were necessary to thecomfort of the weaker and more delicate members of the party, in thosepockets from which he had so unceremoniously expelled the treasures ofthe unconscious naturalist, and then gave way for Middleton to placeInez in one of those seats which he had prepared on the back of theanimal for her and her companion.

  "Go, child," the old man said, motioning to Ellen to follow the exampleof the lady, and turning his head a little anxiously to examine thewaste behind him. "It cannot be long afore the owner of this place willbe coming to look after his household; and he is not a man to give uphis property, however obtained, without complaint!"

  "It is true," cried Middleton; "we have wasted moments that areprecious, and have the utmost need of industry."

  "Ay, ay, I thought it; and would have said it, captain; but I rememberedhow your grand'ther used to love to look upon the face of her he ledaway for a wife, in the days of his youth and his happiness. 'Tisnatur', 'tis natur', and 'tis wiser to give way a little before itsfeelings, than to try to stop a current that will have its course."

  Ellen advanced to the side of the beast, and seizing Inez by the hand,she said, with heartfelt warmth, after struggling to suppress an emotionthat nearly choked her--

  "God bless you, sweet lady! I hope you will forget and forgive thewrongs you have received from my uncle--"

  The humbled and sorrowful girl could say no more, her voice becomingentirely inaudible in an ungovernable burst of grief.

  "How is this?" cried Middleton; "did you not say, Inez, that thisexcellent young woman was to accompany us, and to live with us for theremainder of her life; or, at least, until she found some more agreeableresidence for herself?"

  "I did; and I still hope it. She has always given me reason to believe,that after having shown so much commiseration and friendship in mymisery, she would not desert me, should happier times return."

  "I cannot--I ought not," continued Ellen, getting the better of hermomentary weakness. "It has pleased God to cast my lot among thesepeople, and I ought not to quit them. It would be adding the appearanceof treachery to what will already seem bad enough, with one of hisopinions. He has been kind to me, an orphan, after his rough customs,and I cannot steal from him at such a moment."

  "She is just as much a relation of skirting Ishmael as I am a bishop!"said Paul, with a loud hem, as if his throat wanted clearing. "If theold fellow has done the honest thing by her, in giving her a morsel ofvenison now and then, or a spoon around his homminy dish, hasn't shepay'd him in teaching the young devils to read their Bible, or inhelping old Esther to put her finery in shape and fashion. Tell me thata drone has a sting, and I'll believe you as easily as I will that thisyoung woman is a debtor to any of the tribe of Bush!"

  "It is but little matter who owes me, or where I am in debt. There arenone to care for a girl who is fatherless and motherless, and whosenearest kin are the offcasts of all honest people. No, no; go, lady, andHeaven for ever bless you! I am better here, in this desert, where thereare none to know my shame."

  "Now, old trapper," retorted Paul, "this is what I call knowing whichway the wind blows! You ar' a man that has seen life, and you knowsomething of fashions; I put it to your judgment, plainly, isn't itin the nature of things for the hive to swarm when the young get theirgrowth, and if children will quit their parents, ought one who is of nokith or kin--"

  "Hist!" interrupted the man he addressed, "Hector is discontented. Sayit out, plainly, pup; what is it dog--what is it?"

  The venerable hound had risen, and was scenting the fresh breeze whichcontinued to sweep heavily over the prairie. At the words of his masterhe growled and contracted the muscles of his lips, as if half disposedto threaten with the remnants of his teeth. The younger dog, who wasresting after the chase of the morning, also made some signs thathis nose detected a taint in the air, and then the two resumed theirslumbers, as if they had done enough.

  The trapper seized the bridle of the ass, and cried, urging the beastonward--

  "There is no time for words. The squatter and his brood are within amile or two of this blessed spot!"

  Middleton lost all recollection of Ellen, in the danger which now soeminently beset his recovered bride; nor is it necessary to add,that Dr. Battius did not wait for a second admonition to commence hisretreat.

  Following the route indicated by the old man, they turned the rock ina body, and pursued their way as fast as possible across the prairie,under the favour of the cover it afforded.

  Paul Hover, however, remained in his tracks, sullenly leaning on hisrifle. Near a minute had elapsed before he was observed by Ellen, whohad buried her face in her hands, to conceal her fancied desolation fromherself.

  "Why do you not fly?" the weeping girl exclaimed, the instant sheperceived she was not alone.

  "I'm not used to it."

  "My uncle will soon be here! you have nothing to hope from his pity."

  "Nor from that of his niece, I reckon. Let him come; he can only knockme on the head!"

  "Paul, Paul, if you love me, fly."

  "Alone!--if I do, may I be--"

  "If you value your life, fly!"

  "I value it not, compared to you."

  "Paul!"

  "Ellen!"

  She extended both her hands and burst into another and a still moreviolent flood of tears. The bee-hunter put one of his sturdy arms aroundher w
aist, and in another moment he was urging her over the plain, inrapid pursuit of their flying friends.