The Prairie

by James Fenimore Cooper

  CHAPTER XXI

  Dally not with the gods, but get thee gone. --Shakspeare.

  Mahtoree had scarcely given the first intimation of his real design,before a general discharge from the borderers proved how well theyunderstood it. The distance, and the rapidity of the flight, however,rendered the fire harmless. As a proof how little he regarded thehostility of their party, the Dahcotah chieftain answered the reportwith a yell; and, flourishing his carabine above his head, he made acircuit on the plain, followed by his chosen warriors, in scorn of theimpotent attempt of his enemies. As the main body continued the directcourse, this little band of the elite, in returning from its wildexhibition of savage contempt, took its place in the rear, with adexterity and a concert of action that showed the manoeuvre had beencontemplated.

  Volley swiftly succeeded volley, until the enraged squatter wasreluctantly compelled to abandon the idea of injuring his enemies bymeans so feeble. Relinquishing his fruitless attempt, he commenced arapid pursuit, occasionally discharging a rifle in order to give thealarm to the garrison, which he had prudently left under the command ofthe redoubtable Esther herself. In this manner the chase was continuedfor many minutes, the horsemen gradually gaining on their pursuers, whomaintained the race, however, with an incredible power of foot.

  As the little speck of blue rose against the heavens, like an islandissuing from the deep, the savages occasionally raised a yell oftriumph. But the mists of evening were already gathering along the wholeof the eastern margin of the prairie, and before the band had made halfof the necessary distance, the dim outline of the rock had melted intothe haze of the back ground. Indifferent to this circumstance, whichrather favoured than disconcerted his plans, Mahtoree, who had againridden in front, held on his course with the accuracy of a hound of thetruest scent, merely slackening his speed a little, as the horses of hisparty were by this time thoroughly blown. It was at this stage of theenterprise, that the old man rode up to the side of Middleton, andaddressed him as follows in English--

  "Here is likely to be a thieving business, and one in which I must say Ihave but little wish to be a partner."

  "What would you do? It would be fatal to trust ourselves in the hands ofthe miscreants in our rear."

  "Tut, for miscreants, be they red or be they white. Look ahead, lad,as if ye were talking of our medicines, or perhaps praising the Tetonbeasts. For the knaves love to hear their horses commended, the same asa foolish mother in the settlements is fond of hearing the praises ofher wilful child. So; pat the animal and lay your hand on the gewgaws,with which the Red-skins have ornamented his mane, giving your eye asit were to one thing, and your mind to another. Listen; if matters aremanaged with judgment, we may leave these Tetons as the night sets in."

  "A blessed thought!" exclaimed Middleton, who retained a painfulremembrance of the look of admiration, with which Mahtoree hadcontemplated the loveliness of Inez, as well as of his subsequentpresumption in daring to wish to take the office of her protector onhimself.

  "Lord, Lord! what a weak creatur' is man, when the gifts of natur' aresmothered in bookish knowledge, and womanly manners! Such another startwould tell these imps at our elbows that we were plotting against them,just as plainly as if it were whispered in their ears by a Sioux tongue.Ay, ay, I know the devils; they look as innocent as so many friskyfawns, but there is not one among them all that has not an eye on oursmallest motions. Therefore, what is to be done is to be done in wisdom,in order to circumvent their cunning. That is right; pat his neck andsmile, as if you praised the horse, and keep the ear on my side opento my words. Be careful not to worry your beast, for though but littleskilled in horses, reason teaches that breath is needful in a hard push,and that a weary leg makes a dull race. Be ready to mind the signal,when you hear a whine from old Hector. The first will be to makeready; the second, to edge out of the crowd; and the third, to go--am Iunderstood?"

  "Perfectly, perfectly," said Middleton, trembling in his excessiveeagerness to put the plan in instant execution, and pressing thelittle arm, which encircled his body, to his heart. "Perfectly. Hasten,hasten."

  "Ay, the beast is no sloth," continued the trapper in the Tetonlanguage, as if he continued the discourse, edging cautiously throughthe dusky throng at the same time, until he found himself riding at theside of Paul. He communicated his intentions in the same guarded manneras before. The high-spirited and fearless bee-hunter received theintelligence with delight, declaring his readiness to engage the wholeof the savage band, should it become necessary to effect their object.When the old man drew off from the side of this pair also, he cast hiseyes about him to discover the situation occupied by the naturalist.

  The Doctor, with infinite labour to himself and Asinus, had maintained aposition in the very centre of the Siouxes, so long as there existed thesmallest reason for believing that any of the missiles of Ishmael mightarrive in contact with his person. After this danger had diminished, orrather disappeared entirely, his own courage revived, while that of hissteed began to droop. To this mutual but very material change was owingthe fact, that the rider and the ass were now to be sought among thatportion of the band who formed a sort of rear-guard. Hither, then, thetrapper contrived to turn his steed, without exciting the suspicions ofany of his subtle companions.

  "Friend," commenced the old man, when he found himself in a situationfavourable to discourse, "should you like to pass a dozen years amongthe savages with a shaved head, and a painted countenance, with,perhaps, a couple of wives and five or six children of the half breed,to call you father?"

  "Impossible!" exclaimed the startled naturalist. "I am indisposedto matrimony in general, and more especially to all admixture of thevarieties of species, which only tend to tarnish the beauty and tointerrupt the harmony of nature. Moreover, it is a painful innovation onthe order of all nomenclatures."

  "Ay, ay, you have reason enough for your distaste to such a life; butshould these Siouxes get you fairly into their village, such would beyour luck, as certain as that the sun rises and sets at the pleasure ofthe Lord."

  "Marry me to a woman who is not adorned with the comeliness of thespecies!" responded the Doctor. "Of what crime have I been guilty,that so grievous a punishment should await the offence? To marry a managainst the movements of his will, is to do a violence to human nature!"

  "Now, that you speak of natur', I have hopes that the gift of reason hasnot altogether deserted your brain," returned the old man, with a covertexpression playing about the angles of his deep set eyes, which betrayedhe was not entirely destitute of humour. "Nay, they may conceive you aremarkable subject for their kindness, and for that matter marry youto five or six. I have known, in my days, favoured chiefs who hadnumberless wives."

  "But why should they meditate this vengeance?" demanded the Doctor,whose hair began to rise, as if each fibre was possessed of sensibility;"what evil have I done?"

  "It is the fashion of their kindness. When they come to learn that youare a great medicine, they will adopt you in the tribe, and some mightychief will give you his name, and perhaps his daughter, or it may be awife or two of his own, who have dwelt long in his lodge, and of whosevalue he is a judge by experience."

  "The Governor and Founder of natural harmony protect me!" ejaculated theDoctor. "I have no affinity to a single consort, much less to duplicatesand triplicates of the class! I shall certainly essay a flight fromtheir abodes before I mingle in so violent a conjunction."

  "There is reason in your words; but why not attempt the race you speakof now?"

  The naturalist looked fearfully around, as if he had an inclination tomake an instant exhibition of his desperate intention; but the duskyfigures, who were riding on every side of him, seemed suddenly tripledin number, and the darkness, that was already thickening on the prairie,appeared in his eyes to possess the glare of high noon.

  "It would be premature, and reason forbids it," he answered. "Leave me,venerable venator, to the c
ouncil of my own thoughts, and when my plansare properly classed, I will advise you of my resolutions."

  "Resolutions!" repeated the old man, shaking his head a littlecontemptuously as he gave the rein to his horse, and allowed him tomingle with the steeds of the savages. "Resolution is a word that istalked of in the settlements, and felt on the borders. Does my brotherknow the beast on which the Pale-face rides?" he continued, addressinga gloomy looking warrior in his own tongue, and making a motion with hisarm that at the same time directed his attention to the naturalist andthe meek Asinus.

  The Teton turned his eyes for a minute on the animal, but disdained tomanifest the smallest portion of that wonder he had felt, in common withall his companions, on first viewing so rare a quadruped. The trapperwas not ignorant, that while asses and mules were beginning to be knownto those tribes who dwelt nearest the Mexicos, they were not usuallyencountered so far north as the waters of La Platte. He thereforemanaged to read the mute astonishment, that lay so deeply concealed inthe tawny visage of the savage, and took his measures accordingly.

  "Does my brother think that the rider is a warrior of the Pale-faces?"he demanded, when he believed that sufficient time had elapsed, for afull examination of the pacific mien of the naturalist.

  The flash of scorn, which shot across the features of the Teton, wasvisible, even by the dim light of the stars.

  "Is a Dahcotah a fool?" was the answer.

  "They are a wise nation, whose eyes are never shut; much do I wonder,that they have not seen the great medicine of the Big-knives!"

  "Wagh!" exclaimed his companion, suffering the whole of his amazement toburst out of his dark rigid countenance at the surprise, like a flash oflightning illuminating the gloom of midnight.

  "The Dahcotah knows that my tongue is not forked. Let him open his eyeswider. Does he not see a very great medicine?"

  The light was not necessary to recall to the savage each feature in thereally remarkable costume and equipage of Dr. Battius. In common withthe rest of the band, and in conformity with the universal practiceof the Indians, this warrior, while he had suffered no gaze ofidle curiosity to disgrace his manhood, had not permitted a singledistinctive mark, which might characterise any one of the strangers, toescape his vigilance. He knew the air, the stature, the dress, and thefeatures, even to the colour of the eyes and of the hair, of every oneof the Big-knives, whom he had thus strangely encountered, and deeplyhad he ruminated on the causes, which could have led a party, sosingularly constituted, into the haunts of the rude inhabitants of hisnative wastes. He had already considered the several physical powersof the whole party, and had duly compared their abilities with what hesupposed might have been their intentions. Warriors they were not, forthe Big-knives, like the Siouxes, left their women in their villageswhen they went out on the bloody path. The same objections applied tothem as hunters, and even as traders, the two characters under which thewhite men commonly appeared in their villages. He had heard of agreat council, at which the Menahashah, or Long-knives, and theWashsheomantiqua, or Spaniards, had smoked together, when the latterhad sold to the former their incomprehensible rights over those vastregions, through which his nation had roamed, in freedom, for so manyages. His simple mind had not been able to embrace the reasons why onepeople should thus assume a superiority over the possessions of another,and it will readily be perceived, that at the hint just received fromthe trapper, he was not indisposed to fancy that some of the hiddensubtilty of that magical influence, of which he was so firm a believer,was about to be practised by the unsuspecting subject of theirconversation, in furtherance of these mysterious claims. Abandoning,therefore, all the reserve and dignity of his manner, under theconscious helplessness of ignorance, he turned to the old man, andstretching forth his arms, as if to denote how much he lay at his mercy,he said--

  "Let my father look at me. I am a wild man of the prairies; my bodyis naked; my hands empty; my skin red. I have struck the Pawnees, theKonzas, the Omahaws, the Osages, and even the Long-knives. I am a manamid warriors, but a woman among the conjurors. Let my father speak: theears of the Teton are open. He listens like a deer to the step of thecougar."

  "Such are the wise and uns'archable ways of One who alone knows goodfrom evil!" exclaimed the trapper, in English. "To some He grantscunning, and on others He bestows the gift of manhood! It is humbling,and it is afflicting to see so noble a creatur' as this, who has fou'tin many a bloody fray, truckling before his superstition like a beggarasking for the bones you would throw to the dogs. The Lord will forgiveme for playing with the ignorance of the savage, for He knows I do it inno mockery of his state, or in idle vaunting of my own; but in order tosave mortal life, and to give justice to the wronged, while I defeat thedeviltries of the wicked! Teton," speaking again in the language of thelistener, "I ask you, is not that a wonderful medicine? If the Dahcotahsare wise, they will not breathe the air he breathes, nor touch hisrobes. They know, that the Wahconshecheh (bad spirit) loves his ownchildren, and will not turn his back on him that does them harm."

  The old man delivered this opinion in an ominous and sententious manner,and then rode apart as if he had said enough. The result justified hisexpectations. The warrior, to whom he had addressed himself, wasnot slow to communicate his important knowledge to the rest of therear-guard, and, in a very few moments, the naturalist was the object ofgeneral observation and reverence. The trapper, who understood that thenatives often worshipped, with a view to propitiate, the evil spirit,awaited the workings of his artifice, with the coolness of one who hadnot the smallest interest in its effects. It was not long before he sawone dark figure after another, lashing his horse and galloping aheadinto the centre of the band, until Weucha alone remained nigh thepersons of himself and Obed. The very dulness of this grovelling-mindedsavage, who continued gazing at the supposed conjuror with a sort ofstupid admiration, opposed now the only obstacle to the complete successof his artifice.

  Thoroughly understanding the character of this Indian, the old man lostno time in getting rid of him also. Riding to his side he said, in anaffected whisper--

  "Has Weucha drunk of the milk of the Big-knives, to-day?"

  "Hugh!" exclaimed the savage, every dull thought instantly recalled fromheaven to earth by the question.

  "Because the great captain of my people, who rides in front, has a cowthat is never empty. I know it will not be long before he will say, Areany of my red brethren dry?"

  The words were scarcely uttered, before Weucha, in his turn, quickenedthe gait of his beast, and was soon blended with the rest of the darkgroup, who were riding, at a more moderate pace, a few rods in advance.The trapper, who knew how fickle and sudden were the changes of a savagemind, did not lose a moment in profiting by this advantage. He loosenedthe reins of his own impatient steed, and in an instant he was again atthe side of Obed.

  "Do you see the twinkling star, that is, may be, the length of fourrifles above the prairie; hereaway, to the North I mean?"

  "Ay, it is of the constellation---"

  "A tut for your constellations, man; do you see the star I mean? Tellme, in the English of the land, yes or no."

  "Yes."

  "The moment my back is turned, pull upon the rein of your ass, until youlose sight of the savages. Then take the Lord for your dependence, andyonder star for your guide. Turn neither to the right hand, nor to theleft, but make diligent use of your time, for your beast is not quickof foot, and every inch of prairie you gain, is a day added to yourliberty, or to your life."

  Without waiting to listen to the queries, which the naturalist was aboutto put, the old man again loosened the reins of his horse, and presentlyhe too was blended with the group in front.

  Obed was now alone. Asinus willingly obeyed the hint which hismaster soon gave, rather in desperation than with any very collectedunderstanding of the orders he had received, and checked his paceaccordingly. As the Tetons however rode at a hand-gallop, but a momentof time was necessary, after the ass began to walk, to remove
themeffectually from before the vision of his rider. Without plan,expectation, or hope of any sort, except that of escaping from hisdangerous neighbours, the Doctor first feeling, to assure himself thatthe package, which contained the miserable remnants of his specimensand notes was safe at his crupper, turned the head of the beast in therequired direction, and kicking him with a species of fury, he soonsucceeded in exciting the speed of the patient animal into a smart run.He had barely time to descend into a hollow and ascend the adjoiningswell of the prairie, before he heard, or fancied he heard, his nameshouted, in good English, from the throats of twenty Tetons. Thedelusion gave a new impulse to his ardour; and no professor of thesaltant art ever applied himself with greater industry, than thenaturalist now used his heels on the ribs of Asinus. The conflictendured for several minutes without interruption, and to all appearancesit might have continued to the present moment, had not the meek temperof the beast become unduly excited. Borrowing an idea from the mannerin which his master exhibited his agitation, Asinus so far changed theapplication of his own heels, as to raise them simultaneously witha certain indignant flourish into the air, a measure that instantlydecided the controversy in his favour. Obed took leave of his seat, asof a position no longer tenable, continuing, however, the directionof his flight, while the ass, like a conqueror, took possession of thefield of battle, beginning to crop the dry herbage, as the fruits ofvictory.

  When Doctor Battius had recovered his feet, and rallied his faculties,which were in a good deal of disorder from the hurried manner in whichhe had abandoned his former situation, he returned in quest of hisspecimens and of his ass. Asinus displayed enough of magnanimity torender the interview amicable, and thenceforth the naturalist continuedthe required route with very commendable industry, but with a much moretempered discretion.

  In the mean time, the old trapper had not lost sight of the importantmovements that he had undertaken to control. Obed had not beenmistaken in supposing that he was already missed and sought, thoughhis imagination had corrupted certain savage cries into the well-knownsounds that composed his own latinized name. The truth was simply this.The warriors of the rearguard had not failed to apprise those in frontof the mysterious character, with which it had pleased the trapper toinvest the unsuspecting naturalist. The same untutored admiration, whichon the receipt of this intelligence had driven those in the rear to thefront, now drove many of the front to the rear. The Doctor was of courseabsent, and the outcry was no more than the wild yells, which wereraised in the first burst of savage disappointment.

  But the authority of Mahtoree was prompt to aid the ingenuity of thetrapper, in suppressing these dangerous sounds. When order was restored,and the former was made acquainted with the reason why his young men hadbetrayed so strong a mark of indiscretion, the old man, who had takena post at his elbow, saw, with alarm, the gleam of keen distrust thatflashed in his swarthy visage.

  "Where is your conjuror?" demanded the chief, turning suddenly to thetrapper, as if he meant to make him responsible for the re-appearance ofObed.

  "Can I tell my brother the number of the stars? The ways of a greatmedicine are not like the ways of other men."

  "Listen to me, grey-head, and count my words," continued the other,bending on his rude saddle-bow, like some chevalier of a more civilisedrace, and speaking in the haughty tones of absolute power; "theDahcotahs have not chosen a woman for their chief; when Mahtoree feelsthe power of a great medicine, he will tremble; until then he will lookwith his own eyes, without borrowing sight from a Pale-face. If yourconjuror is not with his friends in the morning, my young men shall lookfor him. Your ears are open. Enough."

  The trapper was not sorry to find that so long a respite was granted. Hehad before found reason to believe, that the Teton partisan was one ofthose bold spirits, who overstep the limits which use and educationfix to the opinions of man, in every state of society, and he now sawplainly that he must adopt some artifice to deceive him, differentfrom that which had succeeded so well with his followers. The suddenappearance of the rock, however, which hove up, a bleak and ragged mass,out of the darkness ahead, put an end for the present to the discourse,Mahtoree giving all his thoughts to the execution of his designs on therest of the squatter's movables. A murmur ran through the band, as eachdark warrior caught a glimpse of the desired haven, after which thenicest ear might have listened in vain, to catch a sound louder than therustling of feet among the tall grass of the prairie.

  But the vigilance of Esther was not easily deceived. She had longlistened anxiously to the suspicious sounds, which approached the rockacross the naked waste, nor had the sudden outcry been unheard by theunwearied sentinels of the rock. The savages, who had dismounted at somelittle distance, had not time to draw around the base of the hill intheir customary silent and insidious manner, before the voice of theAmazon was raised, demanding--

  "Who is beneath? Answer, for your lives! Siouxes or devils, I fear yenot!"

  No answer was given to this challenge, every warrior halting where hestood, confident that his dusky form was blended with the shadows of theplain. It was at this moment that the trapper determined to escape. Hehad been left with the rest of his friends, under the surveillance ofthose who were assigned to the duty of watching the horses, and as theyall continued mounted, the moment appeared favourable to his project.The attention of the guards was drawn to the rock, and a heavy clouddriving above them at that instant, obscured even the feeble lightwhich fell from the stars. Leaning on the neck of his horse, the old manmuttered--

  "Where is my pup? Where is it--Hector--where is it, dog?"

  The hound caught the well-known sounds, and answered by a whine offriendship, which threatened to break out into one of his piercinghowls. The trapper was in the act of raising himself from thissuccessful exploit, when he felt the hand of Weucha grasping his throat,as if determined to suppress his voice by the very unequivocal processof strangulation. Profiting by the circumstance, he raised anotherlow sound, as in the natural effort of breathing, which drew a secondresponsive cry from the faithful hound. Weucha instantly abandoned hishold of the master in order to wreak his vengeance on the dog. But thevoice of Esther was again heard, and every other design was abandoned inorder to listen.

  "Ay, whine and deform your throats as you may, ye imps of darkness," shesaid, with a cracked but scornful laugh; "I know ye; tarry, and ye shallhave light for your misdeeds. Put in the coal, Phoebe; put in the coal;your father and the boys shall see that they are wanted at home, towelcome their guests."

  As she spoke, a strong light, like that of a brilliant star, was seenon the very pinnacle of the rock; then followed a forked flame, whichcurled for a moment amid the windings of an enormous pile of brush,and flashing upward in an united sheet, it wavered to and fro, inthe passing air, shedding a bright glare on every object within itsinfluence. A taunting laugh was heard from the height, in which thevoices of all ages mingled, as though they triumphed at having sosuccessfully exposed the treacherous intentions of the Tetons.

  The trapper looked about him to ascertain in what situations he mightfind his friends. True to the signals, Middleton and Paul had drawna little apart, and now stood ready, by every appearance, to commencetheir flight at the third repetition of the cry. Hector had escaped hissavage pursuer, and was again crouching at the heels of his master'shorse. But the broad circle of light was gradually increasing in extentand power, and the old man, whose eye and judgment so rarely failed him,patiently awaited a more propitious moment for his enterprise.

  "Now, Ishmael, my man, if sight and hand ar' true as ever, now is thetime to work upon these Redskins, who claim to own all your property,even to wife and children! Now, my good man, prove both breed andcharacter!"

  A distant shout was heard in the direction of the approaching partyof the squatter, assuring the female garrison that succour was not fardistant. Esther answered to the grateful sounds by a cracked cry of herown, lifting her form, in the first burst of exultation, above the rockin a manner t
o be visible to all below. Not content with this dangerousexposure of her person, she was in the act of tossing her arms intriumph, when the dark figure of Mahtoree shot into the light andpinioned them to her side. The forms of three other warriors glidedacross the top of the rock, looking like naked demons flitting among theclouds. The air was filled with the brands of the beacon, and a heavydarkness succeeded, not unlike that of the appalling instant, when thelast rays of the sun are excluded by the intervening mass of the moon.A yell of triumph burst from the savages in their turn, and was ratheraccompanied than followed by a long, loud whine from Hector.

  In an instant the old man was between the horses of Middleton and Paul,extending a hand to the bridle of each, in order to check the impatienceof their riders.

  "Softly, softly," he whispered, "their eyes are as marvellously shut forthe minute, as if the Lord had stricken them blind; but their ears areopen. Softly, softly; for fifty rods, at least, we must move no fasterthan a walk."

  The five minutes of doubt that succeeded appeared like an age to all butthe trapper. As their sight was gradually restored, it seemed to eachthat the momentary gloom, which followed the extinction of the beacon,was to be replaced by as broad a light as that of noon-day. Graduallythe old man, however, suffered the animals to quicken their steps, untilthey had gained the centre of one of the prairie bottoms. Then laughingin his quiet manner he released the reins and said--

  "Now, let them give play to their legs; but keep on the old fog todeaden the sounds."

  It is needless to say how cheerfully he was obeyed. In a few moreminutes they ascended and crossed a swell of the land, after which theflight was continued at the top of their horses' speed, keeping theindicated star in view, as the labouring bark steers for the light whichpoints the way to a haven and security.