Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker

by Charles Brockden Brown

  Chapter XXI.

  I likewise burned with impatience to know the condition of my family, todissipate at once their tormenting doubts and my own with regard to ourmutual safety. The evil that I feared had befallen them was too enormousto allow me to repose in suspense, and my restlessness and ominousforebodings would be more intolerable than any hardship or toils towhich I could possibly be subjected during this journey.

  I was much refreshed and invigorated by the food that I had taken, andby the rest of an hour. With this stock of recruited force I determinedto scale the hill. After receiving minute directions, and, returningmany thanks for my hospitable entertainment, I set out.

  The path was indeed intricate, and deliberate attention was obliged tobe exerted in order to preserve it. Hence my progress was slower than Iwished. The first impulse was to fix my eye upon the summit, and to leapfrom crag to crag till I reached it; but this my experience had taughtme was impracticable. It was only by winding through gullies, andcoasting precipices and bestriding chasms, that I could hope finally togain the top; and I was assured that by one way only was it possible toaccomplish even this.

  An hour was spent in struggling with impediments, and I seemed to havegained no way. Hence a doubt was suggested whether I had not missed thetrue road. In this doubt I was confirmed by the difficulties which nowgrew up before me. The brooks, the angles, and the hollows, which myhostess had described, were not to be seen. Instead of these, deeperdells, more headlong torrents, and wider-gaping rifts, were incessantlyencountered.

  To return was as hopeless as to proceed. I consoled myself with thinkingthat the survey which my informant had made of the hill-side might proveinaccurate, and that, in spite of her predictions, the heights might bereached by other means than by those pointed out by her. I will notenumerate my toilsome expedients, my frequent disappointments, and mydesperate exertions. Suffice it to say that I gained the upper space nottill the sun had dipped beneath the horizon.

  My satisfaction at accomplishing thus much was not small, and I hied,with renovated spirits, to the opposite brow. This proved to be a steepthat could not be descended. The river flowed at its foot. The oppositebank was five hundred yards distant, and was equally towering and steepas that on which I stood. Appearances were adapted to persuade you thatthese rocks had formerly joined, but by some mighty effort of nature hadbeen severed, that the stream might find way through the chasm. Thechannel, however, was encumbered with asperities, over which the riverfretted and foamed with thundering impetuosity.

  I pondered for a while on these stupendous scenes. They ravished myattention from considerations that related to myself; but this intervalwas snort, and I began to measure the descent, in order to ascertain thepracticability of treading it. My survey terminated in bitterdisappointment. I turned my eye successively eastward and westward.Solesbury lay in the former direction, and thither I desired to go. Ikept along the verge in this direction till I reached an impassablerift. Beyond this I saw that the steep grew lower; but it was impossibleto proceed farther. Higher up the descent might be practicable, and,though more distant from Solesbury, it was better to reach the road evenat that distance than never to reach it.

  Changing my course, therefore, I explored the spaces above. The nightwas rapidly advancing; the gray clouds gathered in the southeast, and achilling blast, the usual attendant of a night in October, began towhistle among the pigmy cedars that scantily grew upon these heights. Myprogress would quickly be arrested by darkness, and it behooved me toprovide some place of shelter and repose. No recess better than a hollowin the rock presented itself to my anxious scrutiny.

  Meanwhile, I would not dismiss the hope of reaching the road, which Isaw some hundred feet below, winding along the edge of the river, beforedaylight should utterly fail. Speedily these hopes derived new vigourfrom meeting a ledge that irregularly declined from the brow of thehill. It was wide enough to allow of cautious footing. On a similarstratum, or ledge, projecting still farther from the body of the hill,and close to the surface of the river, was the road. This stratumascended from the level of the stream, while that on which I trodrapidly descended. I hoped that they would speedily be blended, or, atleast, approach so near as to allow me to leap from one to the otherwithout enormous hazard.

  This fond expectation was frustrated. Presently I perceived that theledge below began to descend, while that above began to tend upward andwas quickly terminated by the uppermost surface of the cliff. Here itwas needful to pause. I looked over the brink, and considered whether Imight not leap from my present station without endangering my limbs. Theroad into which I should fall was a rocky pavement far from beingsmooth. The descent could not be less than forty or fifty feet. Such anattempt was, to the last degree, hazardous; but was it not better torisk my life by leaping from this eminence than to remain and perish onthe top of this inhospitable mountain? The toils which I had endured inreaching this height appeared, to my panic-struck fancy, less easy to beborne again than death.

  I know not but that I should have finally resolved to leap, had notdifferent views been suggested by observing that the outer edge of theroad was, in like manner, the brow of a steep which terminated in theriver. The surface of the road was twelve or fifteen feet above thelevel of the stream, which, in this spot, was still and smooth. Hence Iinferred that the water was not of inconsiderable depth. To fall uponrocky points was, indeed, dangerous, but to plunge into water ofsufficient depth, even from a height greater than that at which I nowstood, especially to one to whom habit had rendered water almost ascongenial an element as air, was scarcely attended with inconvenience.This expedient was easy and safe. Twenty yards from this spot, thechannel was shallow, and to gain the road from the stream was nodifficult exploit.

  Some disadvantages, however, attended this scheme. The water was smooth;but this might arise from some other cause than its depth. My gun,likewise, must be left behind me; and that was a loss to which I feltinvincible repugnance. To let it fall upon the road would put it in mypower to retrieve the possession, but it was likely to be irreparablyinjured by the fall.

  While musing upon this expedient, and weighing injuries with benefits,the night closed upon me. I now considered that, should I emerge insafety from the stream, I should have many miles to travel before Icould reach a house. My clothes meanwhile would be loaded with wet. Ishould be heart-pierced by the icy blast that now blew, and my woundsand bruises would be chafed into insupportable pain.

  I reasoned likewise on the folly of impatience and the necessity ofrepose. By thus long continuance in one posture, my sinews began tostiffen, and my reluctance to make new exertions to increase. My browswere heavy, and I felt an irresistible propensity to sleep. I concludedto seek some shelter, and resign myself, my painful recollections, andmy mournful presages, to sweet forgetfulness. For this end, I once moreascended to the surface of the cliff. I dragged my weary feet forward,till I found somewhat that promised me the shelter that I sought.

  A cluster of cedars appeared, whose branches overarched a space thatmight be called a bower. It was a slight cavity, whose flooring wascomposed of loose stones and a few faded leaves blown from a distanceand finding a temporary lodgment here. On one side was a rock, forming awall rugged and projecting above. At the bottom of the rock was a rift,somewhat resembling a coffin in shape, and not much larger indimensions. This rift terminated, on the opposite side of the rock, inan opening that was too small for the body of a man to pass. Thedistance between each entrance was twice the length of a man.

  This bower was open to the southeast, whence the gale now blew. Ittherefore imperfectly afforded the shelter of which I stood in need;but it was the best that the place and the time afforded. To stop thesmaller entrance of the cavity with a stone, and to heap before theother branches lopped from the trees with my hatchet, might somewhatcontribute to my comfort.

  This was done, and, thrusting myself into this recess as far as I wasable, I prepared for repose. It might have been reasonably suspected t
obe the den of rattlesnakes or panthers; but my late contention withsuperior dangers and more formidable enemies made me reckless of these.But another inconvenience remained. In spite of my precautions, mymotionless posture and slender covering exposed me so much to the coldthat I could not sleep.

  The air appeared to have suddenly assumed the temperature of midwinter.In a short time, my extremities were benumbed, and my limbs shivered andached as if I had been seized by an ague. My bed likewise was dank anduneven, and the posture I was obliged to assume, unnatural and painful.It was evident that my purpose could not be answered by remaining here.

  I therefore crept forth, and began to reflect upon the possibility ofcontinuing my journey. Motion was the only thing that could keep me fromfreezing, and my frame was in that state which allowed me to take norepose in the absence of warmth, since warmth was indispensable. It nowoccurred to me to ask whether it were not possible to kindle a fire.

  Sticks and leaves were at hand. My hatchet and a pebble would enable meto extract a spark. From this, by suitable care and perseverance, Imight finally procure sufficient fire to give me comfort and ease, andeven enable me to sleep. This boon was delicious, and I felt as if Iwere unable to support a longer deprivation of it.

  I proceeded to execute this scheme. I took the driest leaves, andendeavoured to use them as tinder; but the driest leaves were moistenedby the dews. They were only to be found in the hollows, in some of whichwere pools of water and others were dank. I was not speedilydiscouraged; but my repeated attempts failed, and I was finallycompelled to relinquish this expedient.

  All that now remained was to wander forth and keep myself in motion tillthe morning. The night was likely to prove tempestuous and long. Thegale seemed freighted with ice, and acted upon my body like the pointsof a thousand needles. There was no remedy, and I mustered my patienceto endure it.

  I returned again to the brow of the hill. I ranged along it till Ireached a place where the descent was perpendicular, and, in consequenceof affording no sustenance to trees or bushes, was nearly smooth andbare. There was no road to be seen; and this circumstance, added to thesounds which the rippling current produced, afforded me some knowledgeof my situation.

  The ledge along which the road was conducted disappeared near this spot.The opposite sides of the chasm through which flowed the riverapproached nearer to each other, in the form of jutting promontories. Inow stood upon the verge of that on the northern side. The waterflowed at the foot, but, for the space of ten or twelve feet from therock, was so shallow as to permit the traveller and his horse to wadethrough it, and thus to regain the road which the receding precipice hadallowed to be continued on the farther side.

  I knew the nature and dimensions of this ford. I knew that, at a fewyards from the rock, the channel was of great depth. To leap into it, inthis place, was a less dangerous exploit than at the spot where I hadformerly been tempted to leap. There I was unacquainted with the depth,but here I knew it to be considerable. Still, there was some ground ofhesitation and fear. My present station was loftier, and how deeply Imight sink into this gulf, how far the fall and the concussion wouldbereave me of my presence of mind, I could not determine. Thishesitation vanished, and, placing my tomahawk and fusil upon the ground,I prepared to leap.

  This purpose was suspended, in the moment of its execution, by a faintsound, heard from the quarter whence I had come. It was the warning ofmen, but had nothing in common with those which I had been accustomed tohear. It was not the howling of a wolf or the yelling of a panther.These had often been overheard by night during my last year's excursionto the lakes. My fears whispered that this was the vociferation of asavage.

  I was unacquainted with the number of the enemies who had adventuredinto this district. Whether those whom I had encountered at _Deb'shut_ were of that band whom I had met with in the cavern, was merelya topic of conjecture. There might be a half-score of troops, equallynumerous, spread over the wilderness, and the signal I had just heardmight betoken the approach of one of these. Yet by what means theyshould gain this nook, and what prey they expected to discover, were noteasily conceived.

  The sounds, somewhat diversified, nearer and rising from differentquarters, were again heard. My doubts and apprehensions were increased.What expedient to adopt for my own safety was a subject of rapidmeditation:--whether to remain stretched upon the ground or to rise andgo forward. Was it likely the enemy would coast along the edge of thesteep? Would they ramble hither to look upon the ample scene whichspread on all sides around the base of this rocky pinnacle? In thatcase, how should I conduct myself? My arms were ready for use. Could Inot elude the necessity of shedding more blood? Could I not anticipatetheir assault by casting myself without delay into the stream?

  The sense of danger demanded more attention to be paid to externalobjects than to the motives by which my future conduct should beinfluenced. My post was on a circular prefecture, in some degreedetached from the body of the hill, the brow of which continued in astraight line, uninterrupted by this projecture, which was somewhathigher than the continued summit of the ridge. This line ran at thedistance of a few paces from my post. Objects moving along this linecould merely be perceived to move, in the present obscurity.

  My scrutiny was entirely directed to this quarter. Presently thetreading of many feet was heard, and several figures were discovered,following each other in that straight and regular succession which ispeculiar to the Indians. They kept along the brow of the hill joiningthe promontory. I distinctly marked seven figures in succession.

  My resolution was formed. Should any one cast his eye hither, suspect ordiscover an enemy, and rush towards me, I determined to start upon myfeet, fire on my foe as he advanced, throw my piece on the ground, andthen leap into the river.

  Happily, they passed unobservant and in silence. I remained in the sameposture for several minutes. At length, just as my alarms began tosubside, the halloos, before heard, arose, and from the same quarter asbefore. This convinced me that my perils were not at an end. This nowappeared to be merely the vanguard, and would speedily be followed byothers, against whom the same caution was necessary to be taken.

  My eye, anxiously bent the only way by which any one could approach, nowdiscerned a figure, which was indubitably that of a man armed. Noneother appeared in company; but doubtless others were near. Heapproached, stood still, and appeared to gaze steadfastly at the spotwhere I lay.

  The optics of a _Lenni-lennapee_ I knew to be far keener than myown. A log or a couched fawn would never be mistaken for a man, nor aman for a couched fawn or a log. Not only a human being would beinstantly detected, but a decision be unerringly made whether it wrerefriend or foe. That my prostrate body was the object on which theattention of this vigilant and steadfast gazer was fixed could not bedoubted. Yet, since he continued an inactive gazer, there was ground fora possibility to stand upon that I was not recognised. My fate thereforewas still in suspense.

  This interval was momentary. I marked a movement, which my fearsinstantly interpreted to be that of levelling a gun at my head. Thisaction was sufficiently conformable to my prognostics. Supposing me tobe detected, there was no need for him to change his post. Aim might betoo fatally taken, and his prey be secured, from the distance at whichhe now stood.

  These images glanced upon my thought, and put an end to my suspense. Asingle effort placed me on my feet. I fired with a precipitation thatprecluded the certainty of hitting my mark, dropped my piece upon theground, and leaped from this tremendous height into the river. I reachedthe surface, and sunk in a moment to the bottom.

  Plunging endlong into the water, the impetus created by my fall fromsuch a height would be slowly resisted by this denser element. Had thedepth been less, its resistance would not perhaps have hindered me frombeing mortally injured against the rocky bottom. Had the depth beengreater, time enough would not have been allowed me to regain thesurface. Had I fallen on my side, I should have been bereft of life orsensibility by the shock which my frame
would have received. As it was,my fate was suspended on a thread. To have lost my presence of mind, tohave forborne to counteract my sinking, for an instant, after I hadreached the water, would have made all exertions to regain the airfruitless. To so fortunate a concurrence of events was thy friendindebted for his safety!

  Yet I only emerged from the gulf to encounter new perils. Scarcely had Iraised my head above the surface, and inhaled the vital breath, whentwenty shots were aimed at me from the precipice above. A shower ofbullets fell upon the water. Some of them did not fall farther than twoinches from my head. I had not been aware of this new danger, and, nowthat it assailed me, continued gasping the air and floundering atrandom. The means of eluding it did not readily occur. My case seemeddesperate, and all caution was dismissed.

  This state of discomfiting surprise quickly disappeared. I made myselfacquainted, at a glance, with the position of surrounding objects. Iconceived that the opposite bank of the river would afford me mostsecurity, and thither I tended with all the expedition in my power.

  Meanwhile, my safety depended on eluding the bullets that continuedincessantly to strike the water at an arm's-length from my body. Forthis end I plunged beneath the surface, and only rose to inhale freshair. Presently the firing ceased, the flashes that lately illuminatedthe bank disappeared, and a certain bustle and murmur of confused voicesgave place to solitude and silence.