The Prairie

by James Fenimore Cooper

  CHAPTER XXIX

  If that shepherd be not in hand-fast, let him fly; the curses he shall have, the tortures he shall feel, will break the back of man, the heart of monster. --Shakspeare.

  It will readily be seen that the event just related was attended by anextraordinary sensation among the Siouxes. In leading the hunters ofthe band back to the encampment, their chief had neglected none of thecustomary precautions of Indian prudence, in order that his trail mightescape the eyes of his enemies. It would seem, however, that the Pawneeshad not only made the dangerous discovery, but had managed with greatart to draw nigh the place, by the only side on which it was thoughtunnecessary to guard the approaches with the usual line of sentinels.The latter, who were scattered along the different little eminences,which lay in the rear of the lodges, were among the last to be apprizedof the danger.

  In such a crisis there was little time for deliberation. It was byexhibiting the force of his character in scenes of similar difficulty,that Mahtoree had obtained and strengthened his ascendency among hispeople, nor did he seem likely to lose it by the manifestation of anyindecision on the present occasion. In the midst of the screams of theyoung, the shrieks of the women, and the wild howlings of the crones,which were sufficient of themselves to have created a chaos in thethoughts of one less accustomed to act in emergencies, he promptlyasserted his authority, issuing his orders with the coolness of aveteran.

  While the warriors were arming, the boys were despatched to the bottomfor the horses. The tents were hastily struck by the women, and disposedof on such of the beasts as were not deemed fit to be trusted incombat. The infants were cast upon the backs of their mothers, and thosechildren, who were of a size to march, were driven to the rear, like aherd of less reasoning animals. Though these several movements were madeamid outcries, and a clamour, that likened the place to another Babel,they were executed with incredible alacrity and intelligence.

  In the mean time, Mahtoree neglected no duty that belonged to hisresponsible station. From the elevation, on which he stood, he couldcommand a perfect view of the force and evolutions of the hostileparty. A grim smile lighted his visage, when he found that, in pointof numbers, his own band was greatly the superior. Notwithstanding thisadvantage, however, there were other points of inequality, which wouldprobably have a tendency to render his success, in the approachingconflict, exceedingly doubtful. His people were the inhabitants of amore northern and less hospitable region than their enemies, and werefar from being rich in that species of property, horses and arms, whichconstitutes the most highly prized wealth of a western Indian. The bandin view was mounted to a man; and as it had come so far to rescue, orto revenge, their greatest partisan, he had no reason to doubt its beingcomposed entirely of braves. On the other hand, many of his followerswere far better in a hunt than in a combat; men who might serve todivert the attention of his foes, but from whom he could expect littledesperate service. Still, his flashing eye glanced over a body ofwarriors on whom he had often relied, and who had never deceived him;and though, in the precise position in which he found himself, he feltno disposition to precipitate the conflict, he certainly would have hadno intention to avoid it, had not the presence of his women and childrenplaced the option altogether in the power of his adversaries.

  On the other hand, the Pawnees, so unexpectedly successful in theirfirst and greatest object, manifested no intention to drive matters toan issue. The river was a dangerous barrier to pass, in the face of adetermined foe, and it would now have been in perfect accordance withtheir cautious policy, to have retired for a season, in order that theironset might be made in the hours of darkness, and of seeming security.But there was a spirit in their chief that elevated him, for the moment,above the ordinary expedients of savage warfare. His bosom burned withthe desire to wipe out that disgrace of which he had been the subject;and it is possible, that he believed the retiring camp of the Siouxescontained a prize, that began to have a value in his eyes, far exceedingany that could be found in fifty Teton scalps. Let that be as it might,Hard-Heart had no sooner received the brief congratulations of his band,and communicated to the chiefs such facts as were important to be known,than he prepared himself to act such a part in the coming conflict,as would at once maintain his well-earned reputation, and gratify hissecret wishes. A led horse, one that had been long trained in the hunts,had been brought to receive his master, with but little hope that hisservices would ever be needed again in this life. With a delicacy andconsideration, that proved how much the generous qualities of the youthhad touched the feelings of his people, a bow, a lance, and a quiver,were thrown across the animal, which it had been intended to immolateon the grave of the young brave; a species of care that would havesuperseded the necessity for the pious duty that the trapper had pledgedhimself to perform.

  Though Hard-Heart was sensible of the kindness of his warriors, andbelieved that a chief, furnished with such appointments, might departwith credit for the distant hunting-grounds of the Master of Life, heseemed equally disposed to think that they might be rendered quite asuseful, in the actual state of things. His countenance lighted withstern pleasure, as he tried the elasticity of the bow, and poised thewell-balanced spear. The glance he bestowed on the shield was morecursory and indifferent; but the exultation with which he threw himselfon the back of his favoured war-horse was so great, as to break throughthe forms of Indian reserve. He rode to and fro among his scarcely lessdelighted warriors, managing the animal with a grace and address that noartificial rules can ever supply; at times flourishing his lance, as ifto assure himself of his seat, and at others examining critically intothe condition of the fusee, with which he had also been furnished, withthe fondness of one, who was miraculously restored to the possession oftreasures, that constituted his pride and his happiness.

  At this particular moment Mahtoree, having completed the necessaryarrangements, prepared to make a more decisive movement. The Teton hadfound no little embarrassment in disposing of his captives. The tents ofthe squatter were still in sight, and his wary cunning did not fail toapprise him, that it was quite as necessary to guard against an attackfrom that quarter as to watch the motions of his more open and moreactive foes. His first impulse had been to make the tomahawk suffice forthe men, and to trust the females under the same protection as the womenof his band; but the manner, in which many of his braves continued toregard the imaginary medicine of the Long-knives, forewarned him of thedanger of so hazardous an experiment on the eve of a battle. It mightbe deemed the omen of defeat. In this dilemma he motioned to asuperannuated warrior, to whom he had confided the charge of thenon-combatants, and leading him apart, he placed a finger significantlyon his shoulder, as he said, in a tone, in which authority was temperedby confidence--

  "When my young men are striking the Pawnees, give the women knives.Enough; my father is very old; he does not want to hear wisdom from aboy."

  The grim old savage returned a look of ferocious assent, and then themind of the chief appeared to be at rest on this important subject. Fromthat moment he bestowed all his care on the achievement of his revenge,and the maintenance of his martial character. Throwing himself on hishorse, he made a sign, with the air of a prince to his followers, toimitate his example, interrupting, without ceremony, the war songs andsolemn rites by which many among them were stimulating their spiritsto deeds of daring. When all were in order, the whole moved with greatsteadiness and silence towards the margin of the river.

  The hostile bands were now separated by the water. The width ofthe stream was too great to admit of the use of the ordinary Indianmissiles, but a few useless shots were exchanged from the fusees of thechiefs, more in bravado than with any expectation of doing execution.As some time was suffered to elapse, in demonstrations and abortiveefforts, we shall leave them, for that period, to return to such of ourcharacters as remained in the hands of the savages.

  We have shed much ink in vain, and wasted quires, that might p
ossiblyhave been better employed, if it be necessary now to tell the readerthat few of the foregoing movements escaped the observation of theexperienced trapper. He had been, in common with the rest, astonishedat the sudden act of Hard-Heart; and there was a single moment when afeeling of regret and mortification got the better of his longings tosave the life of the youth. The simple and well-intentioned old manwould have felt, at witnessing any failure of firmness on the part of awarrior, who had so strongly excited his sympathies, the same speciesof sorrow that a Christian parent would suffer in hanging over thedying moments of an impious child. But when, instead of an impotent andunmanly struggle for existence, he found that his friend had forborne,with the customary and dignified submission of an Indian warrior, untilan opportunity had offered to escape, and that he had then manifestedthe spirit and decision of the most gifted brave, his gratificationbecame nearly too powerful to be concealed. In the midst of the wailingand commotion, which succeeded the death of Weucha and the escape ofthe captive, he placed himself nigh the persons of his white associates,with a determination of interfering, at every hazard, should the furyof the savages take that direction. The appearance of the hostile bandspared him, however, so desperate and probably so fruitless an effort,and left him to pursue his observations, and to mature his plans more atleisure.

  He particularly remarked that, while by far the greater part of thewomen, and all the children, together with the effects of the party,were hurried to the rear, probably with an order to secrete themselvesin some of the adjacent woods, the tent of Mahtoree himself was leftstanding, and its contents undisturbed. Two chosen horses, however,stood near by, held by a couple of youths, who were too young to gointo the conflict, and yet of an age to understand the management ofthe beasts. The trapper perceived in this arrangement the reluctance ofMahtoree to trust his newly-found flowers beyond the reach of his eye;and, at the same time, his forethought in providing against a reverse offortune. Neither had the manner of the Teton, in giving his commissionto the old savage, nor the fierce pleasure with which the latter hadreceived the bloody charge, escaped his observation. From all thesemysterious movements, the old man was aware that a crisis was at hand,and he summoned the utmost knowledge he had acquired, in so long a life,to aid him in the desperate conjuncture. While musing on the means tobe employed, the Doctor again attracted his attention to himself, by apiteous appeal for assistance.

  "Venerable trapper, or, as I may now say, liberator," commenced thedolorous Obed, "it would seem, that a fitting time has at length arrivedto dissever the unnatural and altogether irregular connection, whichexists between my inferior members and the body of Asinus. Perhaps ifsuch a portion of my limbs were released as might leave me master of theremainder, and this favourable opportunity were suitably improved, bymaking a forced march towards the settlements, all hopes of preservingthe treasures of knowledge, of which I am the unworthy receptacle, wouldnot be lost. The importance of the results is surely worth the hazard ofthe experiment."

  "I know not, I know not," returned the deliberate old man; "the verminand reptiles, which you bear about you, were intended by the Lord forthe prairies, and I see no good in sending them into regions thatmay not suit their natur's. And, moreover, you may be of great andparticular use as you now sit on the ass, though it creates no wonder inmy mind to perceive that you are ignorant of it, seeing that usefulnessis altogether a new calling to so bookish a man."

  "Of what service can I be in this painful thraldom, in which the animalfunctions are in a manner suspended, and the spiritual, or intellectual,blinded by the secret sympathy that unites mind to matter? There islikely to be blood spilt between yonder adverse hosts of heathens; and,though but little desiring the office, it would be better that I shouldemploy myself in surgical experiments, than in thus wasting the preciousmoments, mortifying both soul and body."

  "It is little that a Red-skin would care to have a physician at hishurts, while the whoop is ringing in his ears. Patience is a virtue inan Indian, and can be no shame to a Christian white man. Look at thesehags of squaws, friend Doctor; I have no judgment in savage tempers, ifthey are not bloody minded, and ready to work their accursed pleasureson us all. Now, so long as you keep upon the ass, and maintain thefierce look which is far from being your natural gift, fear of so greata medicine may serve to keep down their courage. I am placed here, likea general at the opening of the battle, and it has become my duty tomake such use of all my force as, in my judgment, each is best fitted toperform. If I know these niceties, you will be more serviceable for yourcountenance just now than in any more stirring exploits."

  "Harkee, old trapper," shouted Paul, whose patience could no longermaintain itself under the calculating and prolix explanations of theother, "suppose you cut two things I can name, short off. That is tosay, your conversation, which is agreeable enough over a well bakedbuffaloe's hump, and these damnable thongs of hide, which, according tomy experience, can be pleasant nowhere. A single stroke of your knifewould be of more service, just now, than the longest speech that wasever made in a Kentucky court-house."

  "Ay, court-houses are the 'happy hunting-grounds,' as a Red-skin wouldsay, for them that are born with gifts no better than such as lie in thetongue. I was carried into one of the lawless holes myself once, and itwas all about a thing of no more value than the skin of a deer. The Lordforgive them!--the Lord forgive them!--they knew no better, and they didaccording to their weak judgments, and therefore the more are they to bepitied; and yet it was a solemn sight to see an aged man, who had alwayslived in the air, laid neck and heels by the law, and held up as aspectacle for the women and boys of a wasteful settlement to point theirfingers at!"

  "If such be your opinions of confinement, honest friend, you had bettermanifest the same, by putting us at liberty with as little delay aspossible," said Middleton, who, like his companion, began to find thetardiness of his often-tried companion quite as extraordinary as it wasdisagreeable.

  "I should greatly like to do the same; especially in your behalf,Captain, who, being a soldier, might find not only pleasure but profitin examining, more at your ease, into the circumventions and cunning ofan Indian fight. As to our friend, here, it is of but little matter, howmuch of this affair he examines, or how little, seeing that a bee is notto be overcome in the same manner as an Indian."

  "Old man, this trifling with our misery is inconsiderate, to give it aname no harsher--"

  "Ay, your grand'ther was of a hot and hurrying mind, and one must notexpect, that the young of a panther will crawl the 'arth like the litterof a porcupine. Now keep you both silent, and what I say shall have theappearance of being spoken concerning the movements that are going onin the bottom; all of which will serve to put jealousy to sleep, and toshut the eyes of such as rarely close them on wickedness and cruelty. Inthe first place, then, you must know that I have reason to think yondertreacherous Teton has left an order to put us all to death, so soon ashe thinks the deed may be done secretly, and without tumult."

  "Great Heaven! will you suffer us to be butchered like unresistingsheep?"

  "Hist, Captain, hist; a hot temper is none of the best, when cunning ismore needed than blows. Ah, the Pawnee is a noble boy! it would do yourheart good to see how he draws off from the river, in order to invitehis enemies to cross; and yet, according to my failing sight, they counttwo warriors to his one! But as I was saying, little good comes of hasteand thoughtlessness. The facts are so plain that any child may see intotheir wisdom. The savages are of many minds as to the manner of ourtreatment. Some fear us for colour, and would gladly let us go, andother some would show us the mercy that the doe receives from the hungrywolf. When opposition gets fairly into the councils of a tribe, itis rarely that humanity is the gainer. Now see you these wrinkledand cruel-minded squaws--No, you cannot see them as you lie, butnevertheless they are here, ready and willing, like so many ragingshe-bears, to work their will upon us so soon as the proper time shallcome."

  "Harkee, old gentleman trapper," inter
rupted Paul, with a littlebitterness in his manner; "do you tell us these matters for ouramusement, or for your own? If for ours, you may keep your breath forthe next race you run, as I am tickled nearly to suffocation, already,with my part of the fun."

  "Hist"--said the trapper, cutting with great dexterity and rapidity thethong, which bound one of the arms of Paul to his body, and dropping hisknife at the same time within reach of the liberated hand. "Hist, boy,hist; that was a lucky moment! The yell from the bottom drew the eyes ofthese blood-suckers in another quarter, and so far we are safe. Now makea proper use of your advantages; but be careful, that what you do, isdone without being seen."

  "Thank you for this small favour, old deliberation," muttered thebee-hunter, "though it comes like a snow in May, somewhat out ofseason."

  "Foolish boy!" reproachfully exclaimed the other, who had moved toa little distance from his friends, and appeared to be attentivelyregarding the movements of the hostile parties, "will you never learn toknow the wisdom of patience? And you, too, Captain; though a man myself,that seldom ruffles his temper by vain feelings, I see that you aresilent, because you scorn to ask favours any longer from one you thinktoo slow to grant them. No doubt, ye are both young, and filled with thepride of your strength and manhood, and I dare say you thought it onlyneedful to cut the thongs, to leave you masters of the ground. But he,that has seen much, is apt to think much. Had I run like a bustlingwoman to have given you freedom, these hags of the Siouxes would haveseen the same, and then where would you both have found yourselves?Under the tomahawk and the knife, like helpless and outcrying children,though gifted with the size and beards of men. Ask our friend, thebee-hunter, in what condition he finds himself to struggle with a Tetonboy, after so many hours of bondage; much less with a dozen mercilessand bloodthirsty squaws!"

  "Truly, old trapper," returned Paul, stretching his limbs, which were bythis time entirely released, and endeavouring to restore the suspendedcirculation, "you have some judgmatical notions in these matters. Nowhere am I, Paul Hover, a man who will give in to few at wrestle or race,nearly as helpless as the day I paid my first visit to the house of oldPaul, who is dead and gone,--the Lord forgive him any little blunders hemay have made while he tarried in Kentucky! Now there is my foot on theground, so far as eye-sight has any virtue, and yet it would take nogreat temptation to make me swear it didn't touch the earth by sixinches. I say, honest friend, since you have done so much, havethe goodness to keep these damnable squaws, of whom you say so manyinteresting things, at a little distance, till I have got the blood ofthis arm in motion, and am ready to receive them."

  The trapper made a sign that he perfectly understood the case; andhe walked towards the superannuated savage, who began to manifest anintention of commencing his assigned task, leaving the bee-hunter torecover the use of his limbs as well as he could, and to put Middletonin a similar situation to defend himself.

  Mahtoree had not mistaken his man, in selecting the one he did toexecute his bloody purpose. He had chosen one of those ruthless savages,more or less of whom are to be found in every tribe, who had purchaseda certain share of military reputation, by the exhibition of a hardihoodthat found its impulses in an innate love of cruelty. Contrary to thehigh and chivalrous sentiment, which among the Indians of the prairiesrenders it a deed of even greater merit to bear off the trophy ofvictory from a fallen foe, than to slay him, he had been remarkable forpreferring the pleasure of destroying life, to the glory of striking thedead. While the more self-devoted and ambitious braves were intenton personal honour, he had always been seen, established behind somefavourable cover, depriving the wounded of hope, by finishing that whicha more gallant warrior had begun. In all the cruelties of the tribe hehad ever been foremost; and no Sioux was so uniformly found on the sideof merciless councils.

  He had awaited, with an impatience which his long practised restraintcould with difficulty subdue, for the moment to arrive when he mightproceed to execute the wishes of the great chief, without whoseapprobation and powerful protection he would not have dared to undertakea step, that had so many opposers in the nation. But events had beenhastening to an issue, between the hostile parties; and the time had nowarrived, greatly to his secret and malignant joy, when he was free toact his will.

  The trapper found him distributing knives to the ferocious hags, whoreceived the presents chanting a low monotonous song, that recalled thelosses of their people, in various conflicts with the whites, and whichextolled the pleasures and glory of revenge. The appearance of such agroup was enough of itself to have deterred one, less accustomed tosuch sights than the old man, from trusting himself within the circle oftheir wild and repulsive rites.

  Each of the crones, as she received the weapon, commenced a slow andmeasured, but ungainly, step, around the savage, until the whole werecircling him in a sort of magic dance. The movements were timed, insome degree, by the words of their songs, as were their gestures bythe ideas. When they spoke of their own losses, they tossed theirlong straight locks of grey into the air, or suffered them to fall inconfusion upon their withered necks; but as the sweetness of returningblow for blow was touched upon, by any among them, it was answered by acommon howl, as well as by gestures, that were sufficiently expressiveof the manner in which they were exciting themselves to the necessarystate of fury.

  Into the very centre of this ring of seeming demons, the trapper nowstalked, with the same calmness and observation as he would have walkedinto a village church. No other change was made by his appearance, thana renewal of the threatening gestures, with, if possible, a still lessequivocal display of their remorseless intentions. Making a sign forthem to cease, the old man demanded--

  "Why do the mothers of the Tetons sing with bitter tongues? The Pawneeprisoners are not yet in their village; their young men have not comeback loaded with scalps!"

  He was answered by a general howl, and a few of the boldest of thefuries even ventured to approach him, flourishing their knives within adangerous proximity of his own steady eye-balls.

  "It is a warrior you see, and no runner of the Long-knives, whose facegrows paler at the sight of a tomahawk," returned the trapper, withoutmoving a muscle. "Let the Sioux women think; if one White-skin dies, ahundred spring up where he falls."

  Still the hags made no other answer, than by increasing their speedin the circle, and occasionally raising the threatening expressions oftheir chant, into louder and more intelligible strains. Suddenly, one ofthe oldest, and the most ferocious of them all, broke out of the ring,and skirred away in the direction of her victims, like a rapacious bird,that having wheeled on poised wings, for the time necessary to ensureits object, makes the final dart upon its prey. The others followed, adisorderly and screaming flock, fearful of being too late to reap theirportion of the sanguinary pleasure.

  "Mighty medicine of my people!" shouted the old man, in the Tetontongue; "lift your voice and speak, that the Sioux nation may hear."

  Whether Asinus had acquired so much knowledge, by his recent experience,as to know the value of his sonorous properties, or the strangespectacle of a dozen hags flitting past him, filling the air withsuch sounds as were even grating to the ears of an ass, most moved histemper, it is certain that the animal did that which Obed was requestedto do, and probably with far greater effect than if the naturalist hadstrove with his mightiest effort to be heard. It was the first timethe strange beast had spoken, since his arrival in the encampment.Admonished by so terrible a warning, the hags scattered themselves,like vultures frightened from their prey, still screaming, and but halfdiverted from their purpose.

  In the mean time the sudden appearance, and the imminency of the danger,quickened the blood in the veins of Paul and Middleton, more than alltheir laborious frictions, and physical expedients. The former hadactually risen to his feet, and assumed an attitude which perhapsthreatened more than the worthy bee-hunter was able to perform, and eventhe latter had mounted to his knees, and shown a disposition to do goodservice for his life. The
unaccountable release of the captives fromtheir bonds was attributed, by the hags, to the incantations of themedicine; and the mistake was probably of as much service, as themiraculous and timely interposition of Asinus in their favour.

  "Now is the time to come out of our ambushment," exclaimed the old man,hastening to join his friends, "and to make open and manful war. Itwould have been policy to have kept back the struggle, until the Captainwas in better condition to join, but as we have unmasked our battery,why, we must maintain the ground--"

  He was interrupted by feeling a gigantic hand on his shoulder. Turning,under a sort of confused impression that necromancy was actually abroadin the place, he found that he was in the hands of a sorcerer no lessdangerous and powerful than Ishmael Bush. The file of the squatter'swell-armed sons, that was seen issuing from behind the still standingtent of Mahtoree, explained at once, not only the manner in whichtheir rear had been turned, while their attention had been so earnestlybestowed on matters in front, but the utter impossibility of resistance.

  Neither Ishmael, nor his sons deemed it necessary to enter into prolixexplanations. Middleton and Paul were bound again, with extraordinarysilence and despatch, and this time not even the aged trapper was exemptfrom a similar fortune. The tent was struck, the females placed upon thehorses, and the whole were on the way towards the squatter's encampment,with a celerity that might well have served to keep alive the idea ofmagic.

  During this summary and brief disposition of things, the disappointedagent of Mahtoree and his callous associates were seen flying across theplain, in the direction of the retiring families; and when Ishmael leftthe spot with his prisoners and his booty, the ground, which had solately been alive with the bustle and life of an extensive Indianencampment, was as still and empty as any other spot in those extensivewastes.