The Pathfinder; Or, The Inland Sea

by James Fenimore Cooper

  CHAPTER III.

  Before these fields were shorn and till'd, Full to the brim our rivers flow'd; The melody of waters fill'd The fresh and boundless wood; And torrents dash'd, and rivulets play'd, And fountains spouted in the shade. BRYANT.

  It is generally known that the waters which flow into the southern sideof Ontario are, in general, narrow, sluggish, and deep. There are someexceptions to this rule, for many of the rivers have rapids, or, as theyare termed in the language of the region, "rifts," and some have falls.Among the latter was the particular stream on which our adventurers werenow journeying. The Oswego is formed by the junction of the Oneida andthe Onondaga, both of which flow from lakes; and it pursues its way,through a gently undulating country, some eight or ten miles, until itreaches the margin of a sort of natural terrace, down which it tumblessome ten or fifteen feet, to another level, across which it glides withthe silent, stealthy progress of deep water, until it throws its tributeinto the broad receptacle of the Ontario. The canoe in which Cap and hisparty had travelled from Fort Stanwix, the last military station of theMohawk, lay by the side of this river, and into it the whole party nowentered, with the exception of Pathfinder, who remained on the land, inorder to shove the light vessel off.

  "Let her starn drift down stream, Jasper," said the man of the woodsto the young mariner of the lake, who had dispossessed Arrowhead of hispaddle and taken his own station as steersman; "let it go down with thecurrent. Should any of these infarnals, the Mingos, strike our trail, orfollow it to this point they will not fail to look for the signs in themud; and if they discover that we have left the shore with the nose ofthe canoe up stream, it is a natural belief to think we went up stream."

  This direction was followed; and, giving a vigorous shove, thePathfinder, who was in the flower of his strength and activity, made aleap, landing lightly, and without disturbing its equilibrium, in thebow of the canoe. As soon as it had reached the centre of the river orthe strength of the current, the boat was turned, and it began to glidenoiselessly down the stream.

  The vessel in which Cap and his niece had embarked for their long andadventurous journey was one of the canoes of bark which the Indians arein the habit of constructing, and which, by their exceeding lightnessand the ease with which they are propelled, are admirably adapted to anavigation in which shoals, flood-wood, and other similar obstructionsso often occur. The two men who composed its original crew had severaltimes carried it, when emptied of its luggage, many hundred yards; andit would not have exceeded the strength of a single man to lift itsweight. Still it was long, and, for a canoe, wide; a want of steadinessbeing its principal defect in the eyes of the uninitiated. A few hourspractice, however, in a great measure remedied this evil, and both Mabeland her uncle had learned so far to humor its movements, that they nowmaintained their places with perfect composure; nor did the additionalweight of the three guides tax its power in any particular degree, thebreath of the rounded bottom allowing the necessary quantity of waterto be displaced without bringing the gunwale very sensibly nearer to thesurface of the stream. Its workmanship was neat; the timbers were small,and secured by thongs; and the whole fabric, though it was so slight tothe eye, was probably capable of conveying double the number of personswhich it now contained.

  Cap was seated on a low thwart, in the centre of the canoe; the BigSerpent knelt near him. Arrowhead and his wife occupied places forwardof both, the former having relinquished his post aft. Mabel was halfreclining behind her uncle, while the Pathfinder and Eau-douce stooderect, the one in the bow, and the other in the stern, each using apaddle, with a long, steady, noiseless sweep. The conversation wascarried on in low tones, all the party beginning to feel the necessityof prudence, as they drew nearer to the outskirts of the fort, and hadno longer the cover of the woods.

  The Oswego, just at that place, was a deep dark stream of no greatwidth, its still, gloomy-looking current winding its way amongoverhanging trees, which, in particular spots, almost shut out the lightof the heavens. Here and there some half-fallen giant of the forest laynearly across its surface, rendering care necessary to avoid the limbs;and most of the distance, the lower branches and leaves of the treesof smaller growth were laved by its waters. The picture so beautifullydescribed by our own admirable poet, and which we have placed at thehead of this chapter, was here realized; the earth fattened by thedecayed vegetation of centuries, and black with loam, the stream thatfilled the banks nearly to overflowing, and the "fresh and boundlesswood," being all as visible to the eye as the pen of Bryant haselsewhere vividly presented them to the imagination. In short, theentire scene was one of a rich and benevolent nature, before it hadbeen subjected to the uses and desires of man; luxuriant, wild, fullof promise, and not without the charm of the picturesque, even in itsrudest state. It will be remembered that this was in the year 175-, orlong before even speculation had brought any portion of western New Yorkwithin the bounds of civilization. At that distant day there were twogreat channels of military communication between the inhabited portionof the colony of New York and the frontiers which lay adjacent to theCanadas,--that by Lakes Champlain and George, and that by means of theMohawk, Wood Creek, the Oneida, and the rivers we have been describing.Along both these lines of communication military posts had beenestablished, though there existed a blank space of a hundred milesbetween the last fort at the head of the Mohawk and the outlet of theOswego, which embraced most of the distance that Cap and Mabel hadjourneyed under the protection of Arrowhead.

  "I sometimes wish for peace again," said the Pathfinder, "when one canrange the forest without searching for any other enemy than the beastsand fishes. Ah's me! many is the day that the Sarpent, there, and I havepassed happily among the streams, living on venison, salmon, and troutwithout thought of a Mingo or a scalp! I sometimes wish that themblessed days might come back, for it is not my real gift to slay my ownkind. I'm sartain the Sergeant's daughter don't think me a wretch thattakes pleasure in preying on human natur'?"

  As this remark, a sort of half interrogatory, was made, Pathfinderlooked behind him; and, though the most partial friend could scarcelyterm his sunburnt and hard features handsome, even Mabel thought hissmile attractive, by its simple ingenuousness and the uprightness thatbeamed in every lineament of his honest countenance.

  "I do not think my father would have sent one like those you mentionto see his daughter through the wilderness," the young woman answered,returning the smile as frankly as it was given, but much more sweetly.

  "That he wouldn't; the Sergeant is a man of feeling, and many is themarch and the fight that we have had--stood shoulder to shoulder in,as _he_ would call it--though I always keep my limbs free when near aFrencher or a Mingo."

  "You are, then, the young friend of whom my father has spoken so oftenin his letters?"

  "His _young_ friend--the Sergeant has the advantage of me by thirtyyears; yes, he is thirty years my senior, and as many my better."

  "Not in the eyes of the daughter, perhaps, friend Pathfinder;" put inCap, whose spirits began to revive when he found the water once moreflowing around him. "The thirty years that you mention are not oftenthought to be an advantage in the eyes of girls of nineteen."

  Mabel colored; and, in turning aside her face to avoid the looks ofthose in the bow of the canoe, she encountered the admiring gaze of theyoung man in the stern. As a last resource, her spirited but soft blueeyes sought refuge in the water. Just at this moment a dull, heavy soundswept up the avenue formed by the trees, borne along by a light air thathardly produced a ripple on the water.

  "That sounds pleasantly," said Cap, pricking up his ears like a dog thathears a distant baying; "it is the surf on the shores of your lake, Isuppose?"

  "Not so--not so," answered the Pathfinder; "it is merely this rivertumbling over some rocks half a mile below us."

  "Is there a fall in the stream?" demanded Mabel, a still brighter flushglowing in her face.

  "The devil! Master Pathfinder,
or you, Mr. Eau-douce" (for so Cap beganto style Jasper), "had you not better give the canoe a sheer, and getnearer to the shore? These waterfalls have generally rapids above them,and one might as well get into the Maelstrom at once as to run intotheir suction."

  "Trust to us, friend Cap," answered Pathfinder; "we are but fresh-watersailors, it is true, and I cannot boast of being much even of that; butwe understand rifts and rapids and cataracts; and in going down these weshall do our endeavors not to disgrace our edication."

  "In going down!" exclaimed Cap. "The devil, man! you do not dream ofgoing down a waterfall in this egg shell of bark!"

  "Sartain; the path lies over the falls, and it is much easier to shootthem than to unload the canoe and to carry that and all it containsaround a portage of a mile by hand."

  Mabel turned her pallid countenance towards the young man in the sternof the canoe; for, just at that moment, a fresh roar of the fall wasborne to her ears by a new current of the air, and it really soundedterrific, now that the cause was understood.

  "We thought that, by landing the females and the two Indians," Jasperquietly observed, "we three white men, all of whom are used to thewater, might carry the canoe over in safety, for we often shoot thesefalls."

  "And we counted on you, friend mariner, as a mainstay," said Pathfinder,winking to Jasper over his shoulder; "for you are accustomed to seewaves tumbling about; and without some one to steady the cargo, all thefinery of the Sergeant's daughter might be washed into the river and belost."

  Cap was puzzled. The idea of going over a waterfall was, perhaps, moreserious in his eyes than it would have been in those of one totallyignorant of all that pertained to boats; for he understood the power ofthe element, and the total feebleness of man when exposed to its fury.Still his pride revolted at the thought of deserting the boat, whileothers not only steadily, but coolly, proposed to continue in it.Notwithstanding the latter feeling, and his innate as well as acquiredsteadiness in danger, he would probably have deserted his post; had notthe images of Indians tearing scalps from the human head taken sostrong hold of his fancy as to induce him to imagine the canoe a sort ofsanctuary.

  "What is to be done with Magnet?" he demanded, affection for his nieceraising another qualm in his conscience. "We cannot allow Magnet to landif there are enemy's Indians near?"

  "Nay, no Mingo will be near the portage, for that is a spot too publicfor their devilries," answered the Pathfinder confidently. "Natur'is natur', and it is an Indian's natur' to be found where he is leastexpected. No fear of him on a beaten path; for he wishes to come uponyou when unprepared to meet him, and the fiery villains make it a pointto deceive you, one way or another. Sheer in, Eau-douce, and we willland the Sergeant's daughter on the end of that log, where she can reachthe shore with a dry foot."

  The injunction was obeyed, and in a few minutes the whole party hadleft the canoe, with the exception of Pathfinder and the two sailors.Notwithstanding his professional pride, Cap would have gladly followed;but he did not like to exhibit so unequivocal a weakness in the presenceof a fresh-water sailor.

  "I call all hands to witness," said he, as those who had landed movedaway, "that I do not look on this affair as anything more than canoeingin the woods. There is no seamanship in tumbling over a waterfall,which is a feat the greatest lubber can perform as well as the oldestmariner."

  "Nay, nay, you needn't despise the Oswego Falls, neither," put inPathfinder; "for, though they may not be Niagara, nor the Genessee,nor the Cahoos, nor Glenn's, nor those on the Canada, they are narvousenough for a new beginner. Let the Sergeant's daughter stand on yonderrock, and she will see the manner in which we ignorant backwoodsmen getover a difficulty that we can't get under. Now, Eau-douce, a steady handand a true eye, for all rests on you, seeing that we can count MasterCap for no more than a passenger."

  The canoe was leaving the shore as he concluded, while Mabel wenthurriedly and trembling to the rock that had been pointed out, talkingto her companion of the danger her uncle so unnecessarily ran, whileher eyes were riveted on the agile and vigorous form of Eau-douce, as hestood erect in the stern of the light boat, governing its movements. Assoon, however, as she reached a point where she got a view of the fall,she gave an involuntary but suppressed scream, and covered her eyes.At the next instant, the latter were again free, and the entranced girlstood immovable as a statue, a scarcely breathing observer of all thatpassed. The two Indians seated themselves passively on a log, hardlylooking towards the stream, while the wife of Arrowhead came near Mabel,and appeared to watch the motions of the canoe with some such interestas a child regards the leaps of a tumbler.

  As soon as the boat was in the stream, Pathfinder sank on his knees,continuing to use the paddle, though it was slowly, and in a manner notto interfere with the efforts of his companion. The latter still stooderect; and, as he kept his eye on some object beyond the fall, it wasevident that he was carefully looking for the spot proper for theirpassage.

  "Farther west, boy; farther west," muttered Pathfinder; "there whereyou see the water foam. Bring the top of the dead oak in a line with thestem of the blasted hemlock."

  Eau-douce made no answer; for the canoe was in the centre of the stream,with its head pointed towards the fall, and it had already begun toquicken its motion by the increased force of the current. At that momentCap would cheerfully have renounced every claim to glory that couldpossibly be acquired by the feat, to have been safe again on shore.He heard the roar of the water, thundering, as it might be, behind ascreen, but becoming more and more distinct, louder and louder, andbefore him he saw its line cutting the forest below, along whichthe green and angry element seemed stretched and shining, as if theparticles were about to lose their principle of cohesion.

  "Down with your helm, down with your helm, man!" he exclaimed, unableany longer to suppress his anxiety, as the canoe glided towards the edgeof the fall.

  "Ay, ay, down it is sure enough," answered Pathfinder, looking behindhim for a single instant, with his silent, joyous laugh,--"down we go,of a sartinty! Heave her starn up, boy; farther up with her starn!"

  The rest was like the passage of the viewless wind. Eau-douce gave therequired sweep with his paddle, the canoe glanced into the channel, andfor a few seconds it seemed to Cap that he was tossing in a caldron. Hefelt the bow of the canoe tip, saw the raging, foaming water careeringmadly by his side, was sensible that the light fabric in which hefloated was tossed about like an egg-shell, and then, not less to hisgreat joy than to his surprise, he discovered that it was gliding acrossthe basin of still water below the fall, under the steady impulse ofJasper's paddle.

  The Pathfinder continued to laugh; but he arose from his knees, and,searching for a tin pot and a horn spoon, he began deliberately tomeasure the water that had been taken in the passage.

  "Fourteen spoonfuls, Eau-douce; fourteen fairly measured spoonfuls. Ihave, you must acknowledge, known you to go down with only ten."

  "Master Cap leaned so hard up stream," returned Jasper seriously, "thatI had difficulty in trimming the canoe."

  "It may be so; no doubt it _was_ so, since you say it; but I have knownyou go over with only ten."

  Cap now gave a tremendous hem, felt for his queue as if to ascertain itssafety, and then looked back in order to examine the danger he hadgone through. His safety is easily explained. Most of the river fellperpendicularly ten or twelve feet; but near its centre the force of thecurrent had so far worn away the rock as to permit the water to shootthrough a narrow passage, at an angle of about forty or forty fivedegrees. Down this ticklish descent the canoe had glanced, amidfragments of broken rock, whirlpools, foam, and furious tossings ofthe element, which an uninstructed eye would believe menaced inevitabledestruction to an object so fragile. But the very lightness of thecanoe had favored its descent; for, borne on the crest of the waves, anddirected by a steady eye and an arm full of muscle, it had passed like afeather from one pile of foam to another, scarcely permitting its glossyside to be wetted. There were a fe
w rocks to be avoided, the properdirection was to be rigidly observed, and the fierce current did therest. (1)

  (1) Lest the reader suppose we are dealing purely in fiction, the writer will add that he has known a long thirty-two pounder carried over these same falls in perfect safety.

  To say that Cap was astonished would not be expressing half hisfeelings; he felt awed: for the profound dread of rocks which mostseamen entertain came in aid of his admiration of the boldness of theexploit. Still he was indisposed to express all he felt, lest it mightbe conceding too much in favor of fresh water and inland navigationand no sooner had he cleared his throat with the afore-said hem, than heloosened his tongue in the usual strain of superiority.

  "I do not gainsay your knowledge of the channel, Master Eau-douce, and,after all, to know the channel in such a place is the main point. I havehad cockswains with me who could come down that shoot too, if they onlyknew the channel."

  "It isn't enough to know the channel," said Pathfinder; "it needs narvesand skill to keep the canoe straight, and to keep her clear of the rockstoo. There isn't another boatman in all this region that can shoot theOswego, but Eau-douce there, with any sartainty; though, now and then,one has blundered through. I can't do it myself unless by means ofProvidence, and it needs Jasper's hand and eye to make sure of a drypassage. Fourteen spoonfuls, after all, are no great matter, thoughI wish it had been but ten, seeing that the Sergeant's daughter was alooker-on."

  "And yet you conned the canoe; you told him how to head and how tosheer."

  "Human frailty, master mariner; that was a little of white-skin natur'.Now, had the Sarpent, yonder, been in the boat, not a word would he havespoken, or thought would he have given to the public. An Indian knows howto hold his tongue; but we white folk fancy we are always wiser than ourfellows. I'm curing myself fast of the weakness, but it needs time toroot up the tree that has been growing more than thirty years."

  "I think little of this affair, sir; nothing at all to speak my mindfreely. It's a mere wash of spray to shooting London Bridge which isdone every day by hundreds of persons, and often by the most delicateladies in the land. The king's majesty has shot the bridge in his royalperson."

  "Well, I want no delicate ladies or king's majesties (God bless 'em!) inthe canoe, in going over these falls; for a boat's breadth, either way,may make a drowning matter of it. Eau-douce, we shall have to carry theSergeant's brother over Niagara yet, to show him what may be done in afrontier."

  "The devil! Master Pathfinder, you must be joking now! Surely it is notpossible for a bark canoe to go over that mighty cataract?"

  "You never were more mistaken, Master Cap, in your life. Nothing iseasier and many is the canoe I have seen go over it with my own eyes;and if we both live I hope to satisfy you that the feat can be done. Formy part, I think the largest ship that ever sailed on the ocean might becarried over, could she once get into the rapids."

  Cap did not perceive the wink which Pathfinder exchanged with Eau-douce,and he remained silent for some time; for, sooth to say, he had neversuspected the possibility of going down Niagara, feasible as the thingmust appear to every one on a second thought, the real difficultyexisting in going up it.

  By this time the party had reached the place where Jasper had lefthis own canoe, concealed in the bushes, and they all re-embarked; Cap,Jasper, and his niece in one boat and Pathfinder, Arrowhead, and thewife of the latter in the other. The Mohican had already passed down thebanks of the river by land, looking cautiously and with the skill of hispeople for the signs of an enemy.

  The cheek of Mabel did not recover all its bloom until the canoe wasagain in the current, down which it floated swiftly, occasionallyimpelled by the paddle of Jasper. She witnessed the descent of the fallswith a degree of terror which had rendered her mute; but her frighthad not been so great as to prevent admiration of the steadiness of theyouth who directed the movement from blending with the passing terror.In truth, one much less sensitive might have had her feelings awakenedby the cool and gallant air with which Eau-douce had accomplished thisclever exploit. He had stood firmly erect, notwithstanding the plunge;and to those on the shore it was evident that, by a timely applicationof his skill and strength, the canoe had received a sheer which alonecarried it clear of a rock over which the boiling water was leaping in_jets d'eau_,--now leaving the brown stone visible, and now covering itwith a limpid sheet, as if machinery controlled the play of the element.The tongue cannot always express what the eyes view; but Mabel sawenough, even in that moment of fear, to blend for ever in her mind thepictures presented by the plunging canoe and the unmoved steersman. Sheadmitted that insidious feeling which binds woman so strongly to man, byfeeling additional security in finding herself under his care; and, forthe first time since leaving Fort Stanwix, she was entirely at her easein the frail bark in which she travelled. As the other canoe kept quitenear her own, however, and the Pathfinder, by floating at her side,was most in view, the conversation was principally maintained withthat person Jasper seldom speaking unless addressed, and constantlyexhibiting a wariness in the management of his own boat, which mighthave been remarked by one accustomed to his ordinarily confident,careless manner.

  "We know too well a woman's gifts to think of carrying the Sergeant'sdaughter over the falls," said Pathfinder, looking at Mabel, while headdressed her uncle; "though I've been acquainted with some of her sexthat would think but little of doing the thing."

  "Mabel is faint-hearted, like her mother," returned Cap; "and you didwell, friend, to humor her weakness. You will remember the child hasnever been at sea."

  "No, no, it was easy to discover that; by your own fearlessness, any onemight have seen how little you cared about the matter. I went over oncewith a raw hand, and he jumped out of the canoe just as it tipped, andyou many judge what a time he had of it."

  "What became of the poor fellow?" asked Cap, scarcely knowing how totake the other's manner, which was so dry, while it was so simple, thata less obtuse subject than the old sailor might well have suspected itssincerity. "One who has passed the place knows how to feel for him."

  "He was a _poor_ fellow, as you say; and a poor frontierman too, thoughhe came out to show his skill among us ignoranters. What became of him?Why, he went down the falls topsy-turvey like, as would have happened toa court-house or a fort."

  "If it should jump out of at canoe," interrupted Jasper, smiling,though he was evidently more disposed than his friend to let thepassage of the falls be forgotten.

  "The boy is right," rejoined Pathfinder, laughing in Mabel's face, thecanoes being now so near that they almost touched; "he is sartainlyright. But you have not told us what you think of the leap we took?"

  "It was perilous and bold," said Mabel; "while looking at it, I couldhave wished that it had not been attempted, though, now it is over, Ican admire its boldness and the steadiness with which it was made."

  "Now, do not think that we did this thing to set ourselves off in femaleeyes. It may be pleasant to the young to win each other's good opinionsby doing things which may seem praiseworthy and bold; but neitherEau-douce nor myself is of that race. My natur' has few turns in it, andis a straight natur'; nor would it be likely to lead me into a vanity ofthis sort while out on duty. As for Jasper, he would sooner go over theOswego Falls, without a looker-on, than do it before a hundred pair ofeyes. I know the lad well from much consorting, and I am sure he is notboastful or vainglorious."

  Mabel rewarded the scout with a smile, which served to keep the canoestogether for some time longer; for the sight of youth and beauty was sorare on that remote frontier, that even the rebuked and self-mortifiedfeelings of this wanderer of the forest were sensibly touched by theblooming loveliness of the girl.

  "We did it for the best," Pathfinder continued; "'twas all for the best.Had we waited to carry the canoe across the portage, time would havebeen lost, and nothing is so precious as time when you are mistrustfulof Mingos."

  "But we have little to fear now. T
he canoes move swiftly, and two hours,you have said, will carry us down to the fort."

  "It shall be a cunning Iroquois who hurts a hair of your head, prettyone; for all here are bound to the Sergeant, and most, I think, toyourself, to see you safe from harm. Ha, Eau-douce! what is that in theriver, at the lower turn, yonder, beneath the bushes,--I mean standingon the rock?"

  "'Tis the Big Serpent, Pathfinder; he is making signs to us in a way Idon't understand."

  "'Tis the Sarpent, as sure as I'm a white man, and he wishes us to dropin nearer to his shore. Mischief is brewing, or one of his deliberationand steadiness would never take this trouble. Courage, all! We are men,and must meet devilry as becomes our color and our callings. Ah, I neverknew good come of boasting! And here, just as I was vaunting of oursafety, comes danger to give me the lie."