Deerslayer (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

by James Fenimore Cooper

  Hurry’s companions did not view his conduct with the same indulgence as that with which he appeared disposed to regard it himself. Hutter growled out his dissatisfaction, for the act led to no advantage, while it threatened to render the warfare more vindictive than ever; and none censure motiveless departures from the right more severely than the mercenary and unprincipled. Still he commanded himself, the captivity of Deerslayer rendering the arm of the offender of double consequence to him at that moment.

  Chingachgook arose, and for a single instant the ancient animosity of tribes was forgotten in a feeling of color; but he recollected himself in season to prevent any of the fierce consequences that for a passing moment he certainly meditated. Not so with Hist. Rushing through the hut, or cabin, the girl stood at the side of Hurry, almost as soon as his rifle touched the bottom of the scow; and with a fearlessness that did credit to her heart, she poured out her reproaches with the generous warmth of a woman.

  “What for you shoot?” she said. “What Huron gal do, dat you kill him? What you t‘ink Manitou say? What you t’ink Manitou feel? What Iroquois do? No get honor—no get camp—no get prisoner—no get battle—no get scalp—no get not‘ing at all. Blood come after blood! How you feel your wife killed? Who pity you when tear come from moder or sister? You big as great pine—Huron gal little slender birch—why you fall on her and crush her? You t’ink Huron forget it? No! redskin never forget. Never forget friend; never forget enemy. Redman Manitou is dat. Why you so wicked, great paleface?”

  Hurry had never been so daunted as by this close and warm attack of the Indian girl. It is true that she had a powerful ally in his conscience; and while she spoke earnestly, it was in tones so feminine as to deprive him of any pretext for unmanly anger. The softness of her voice added to the weight of her remonstrance, by lending to the latter an air of purity and truth. Like most vulgar-minded men, he had only regarded the Indians through the medium of their coarser and fiercer characteristics. It had never struck him that the affections are human; that even high principles—modified by habits and prejudices, but not the less elevated within their circle—can exist in the savage state; and that the warrior who is most ruthless in the field can submit to the softest and gentlest influences in the moments of domestic quiet. In a word, it was the habit of his mind to regard all Indians as being only a slight degree removed from the wild beasts that roamed the woods, and to feel disposed to treat them accordingly, whatever interest or caprice supplied a motive or an impulse. Still, though daunted by these reproaches, the handsome barbarian could hardly be said to be penitent. He was too much rebuked by conscience to suffer an outbreak of temper to escape him; and perhaps he felt that he had already committed an act that might justly bring his manhood in question. Instead of resenting or answering the simple but natural appeal of Hist, he walked away like one who disdained entering into a controversy with a woman.

  In the meanwhile the ark swept onward, and by the time the scene with the torches was enacting beneath the trees, it had reached the open lake; Floating Tom causing it to sheer farther from the land, with a sort of instinctive dread of retaliation. An hour now passed in gloomy silence, no one appearing disposed to break it. Hist had retired to her pallet, and Chingachgook lay sleeping in the forward part of the scow. Hutter and Hurry alone remained awake, the former at the steering oar, while the latter brooded over his own conduct with the stubbornness of one little given to confession of his errors, and the secret goadings of the worm that never dies. This was at the moment when Judith and Hetty reached the center of the lake, and had lain down to endeavor to sleep in their drifting canoe.

  The night was calm, though so much obscured by clouds. The season was not one of storms, and those which did occur in the month of June on that embedded water, though frequently violent, were always of short continuance. Nevertheless, there was the usual current of heavy, damp night air, which, passing over the summits of the trees, scarcely appeared to descend so low as the surface of the glassy lake, but kept removing a short distance above it, saturated with the humidity that constantly arose from the woods, and apparently never proceeding far in any one direction. The currents were influenced by the formation of the hills, as a matter of course—a circumstance that rendered even fresh breezes baffling, and which reduced the feebler efforts of the night air to be a sort of capricious and fickle sighings of the woods. Several times the head of the ark pointed east, and once it was actually turned towards the south again; but on the whole, it worked its way north, Hutter making always a fair wind, if wind it could be called, his principal motive appearing to be a wish to keep in motion, in order to defeat any treacherous design of his enemies. He now felt some little concern about his daughters, and perhaps as much about the canoe; but on the whole, this uncertainty did not much disturb him, as he had the reliance already mentioned on the intelligence of Judith.

  It was the season of the shortest nights, and it was not long before the deep obscurity which precedes the day began to yield to the returning light. If any earthly scene could be presented to the senses of man that might soothe his passion and temper his ferocity, it was that which grew upon the eyes of Hutter and Hurry as the hours advanced, changing night to morning. There were the usual soft tints of the sky in which neither the gloom of darkness nor the brilliancy of the sun prevails, and under which objects appear more unearthly, and we might add, holy, than at any other portion of the twenty-four hours. The beautiful and soothing calm of eventide has been extolled by a thousand poets, and yet it does not bring with it the far-reaching and sublime thoughts of the half hour that precedes the rising of a summer’s sun. In the one case the panorama is gradually hid from the sight, while in the other its objects start out from the unfolding picture, first dim and misty, then marked in, in solemn background; next seen in the witchery of an increasing, a thing as different as possible from the decreasing twilight, and finally mellow, distinct, and luminous, as the rays of the great center of light diffuse themselves in the atmosphere. The hymns of birds, too, have no novel counterpart in the retreat to the roost, or the flight to the nest; and these invariably accompany the advent of the day, until the appearance of the sun itself—

  “Bathes in deep joy the land and sea.”

  All this, however, Hutter and Hurry witnessed without experiencing any of that calm delight which the spectacle is wont to bring when the thoughts are just, and the aspirations pure. They not only witnessed it, but they witnessed it under circumstances that had a tendency to increase its power and to heighten its charms. Only one solitary object became visible in the returning light, that had received its form or uses from human taste or human desires, which as often deform as beautify a landscape. This was the castle; all the rest being native, and fresh from the hand of God. That singular residence, too, was in keeping with the natural objects of the view, starting out from the gloom, quaint, picturesque, and ornamental. Nevertheless, the whole was lost on the observers, who knew no feeling of poetry, had lost their sense of natural devotion in lives of obdurate and narrow selfishness, and had little other sympathy with nature than that which originated with her lowest wants.

  As soon as the light was sufficiently strong to allow of a distinct view of the lake, and more particularly of its shores, Hutter turned the head of the ark directly towards the castle, with the avowed intention of taking possession for the day at least, as the place most favorable for meeting his daughters, and for carrying on his operations against the Indians. By this time, Chingachgook was up, and Hist was heard stirring among the furniture of the kitchen. The place for which they steered was distant only a mile, and the air was sufficiently favorable to permit it to be neared by means of the sail. At this moment, too, to render the appearances generally auspicious, the canoe of Judith was seen floating northward in the broadest part of the lake; having actually passed the scow in the darkness, in obedience to no other power than that of the elements. Hutter got his glass, and took a long and anxious survey to ascertain if his
daughters were in the light craft, or not; and a slight exclamation like that of joy escaped him, as he caught a glimpse of what he rightly conceived to be a part of Judith’s dress above the top of the canoe. At the next instant, the girl arose, and was seen gazing about her, like one assuring herself of her situation. A minute later, Hetty was seen on her knees, in the other end of the canoe, repeating the prayers that had been taught her in childhood by a misguided but repentant mother. As Hutter laid down the glass, still drawn to its focus, the Serpent raised it to his eye and turned it towards the canoe. It was the first time he had ever used such an instrument, and Hist understood by his “Hugh!” the expression of his face, and his entire mien, that something wonderful had excited his admiration. It is well known that the American Indians, more particularly those of superior character and stations, singularly maintain their self-possession and stoicism, in the midst of the flood of marvels that present themselves in their occasional visits to the abodes of civilization; and Chingachgook had imbibed enough of this impassibility to suppress any very undignified manifestation of surprise. With Hist, however, no such law was binding, and when her lover managed to bring the glass in a line with the canoe, and her eye was applied to the smaller end, the girl started back in alarm; then she clapped her hands with delight, and a laugh, the usual attendant of untutored admiration, followed. A few minutes sufficed to enable this quick-witted girl to manage the instrument for herself, and she directed it at every prominent object that struck her fancy. Finding a rest in one of the windows, she and the Delaware first surveyed the lake, then the shores, the hills, and finally the castle attracted their attention. After a long steady gaze at the latter, Hist took away her eye, and spoke to her lover in a low, earnest manner. Chingachgook immediately placed his eye to the glass, and his look even exceeded that of his betrothed, in length and intensity Again they spoke together confidentially, appearing to compare opinions, after which the glass was laid aside, and the young warrior quitted the cabin to join Hutter and Hurry.

  The ark was slowly but steadily advancing, and the castle was materially within half a mile, when Chingachgook joined the two white men in the stern of the scow. His manner was calm, but it was evident to the others, who were familiar with the habits of the Indians, that he had something to communicate. Hurry was generally prompt to speak, and according to custom, he took the lead on this occasion.

  “Out with it, redskin,” he cried, in his usual rough manner. “Have you discovered a chipmunk in a tree, or is there a salmon trout swimming under the bottom of the scow? You find what a paleface can do in the way of eyes, now, Sarpent, and mustn’t wonder that they can see the land of the Indians from afar off.”

  “No good to go to castle,” put in Chingachgook with emphasis, the moment the other gave him an opportunity of speaking. “Huron there.”

  “The devil he is! If this should turn out to be true, Floating Tom, a pretty trap were we about to pull down on our heads! Huron there!—well, this may be so; but no signs can I see of anything near or about the old hut but logs, water, and bark—’bating two or three windows and one door.”

  Hutter called for the glass and took a careful survey of the spot before he ventured an opinion at all; then he somewhat cavalierly expressed his dissent from that given by the Indian.

  “You’ve got this glass wrong end foremost, Delaware,” continued Hurry; “neither the old man nor I can see any trail in the lake.”

  “No trail—water make no trail,” said Hist, eagerly. “Stop boat—no go too near—Huron there!”

  “Ay, that’s it! Stick to the same tale and more people will believe you. I hope, Sarpent, you and your gal will agree in telling the same story after marriage as well as you do now. Huron there!—whereabouts is he to be seen—in the padlock, or the chains, or the logs? There isn’t a jail in the colony that has a more lock-up look about it than old Tom’s chiente; and I know something about jails from exper’ ence.”

  “No see moccasin,” said Hist impatiently, “why no look and see him.”

  “Give me the glass, Harry,” interrupted Hutter, “and lower the sail. It is seldom that an Indian woman meddles, and when she does there is generally a cause for it. There is, truly a moccasin floating against one of the piles; and it may or may not be a sign that the castle hasn’t escaped visitors in our absence. Moccasins are no rarities, however, for I wear ‘em, myself, and Deerslayer wears ’em, and you wear ’em, March; and for that matter, so does Hetty, quite as often as she wears shoes; though I never yet saw Judith thrust her pretty foot in a moccasin.”

  Hurry had lowered the sail, and by this time the ark was within two hundred yards of the castle, setting in nearer and nearer each moment, but at a rate too slow to excite any uneasiness. Each now took the glass in turn, and the castle and everything near it was subjected to a scrutiny still more rigid than ever. There the moccasin lay, beyond a question, floating so lightly and preserving its form so well that it was scarcely wet. It had caught by a piece of the rough bark of one of the piles on the exterior of the water-palisade that formed the dock already mentioned, which circumstance alone prevented it from drifting away before the air. There were many modes, however, of accounting for the presence of the moccasin without supposing it to have been dropped by an enemy. It might have fallen from the platform even while Hutter was in possession of the place, and drifted to the spot where it was now seen, remaining unnoticed until detected by the acute vision of Hist. It might have drifted from a distance, up or down the lake, and accidentally become attached to the pile or palisade. It might have been thrown from a window and alighted in that particular place; or it might certainly have fallen from a scout or an assailant during the past night, who was obliged to abandon it to the lake in the deep obscurity which then prevailed.

  All these conjectures passed from Hutter to Hurry, the former being disposed to regard the omen as a little sinister, while the latter treated it with his usual reckless disdain. As for the Indian, he was of opinion that the moccasin should be viewed as one would regard a trail in the woods which might or might not equally prove to be threatening. Hist, however, had something available to propose. She declared her readiness to take a canoe, to proceed to the palisade, and bring away the moccasin, when its ornaments would show whether it came from the Canadas or not. Both the white men were disposed to accept this offer; but the Delaware interfered to prevent the risk. If such a service was to be undertaken, it best became a warrior to expose himself in its execution; and he gave his refusal to let his betrothed proceed, much in the quiet, but brief manner in which an Indian husband issues his commands.

  “Well, then, Delaware, go yourself, if you’re so tender of your squaw,” put in the unceremonious Hurry. “That moccasin must be had, or Floating Tom will keep off here at arm’s length till the hearth cools in his cabin. It’s but a little deerskin arter all, and cut thisaway or thataway, it’s not a skear-crow to frighten true hunters from their game. What say you, Sarpent, shall you or I canoe it?”

  “Let redman go. Better eyes than paleface—know Huron trick better, too.”

  “That I’ll gainsay, to the hour of my death! A white man’s eyes, and a white man’s nose, and for that matter his sight and ears, are all better than an Injin’s when fairly tried. Time and ag‘in have I put that to the proof, and what is proved is sartain. Still I suppose the poorest vagabond going, whether Delaware or Huron, can find his way to yonder hut and back ag’in; and so, Sarpent, use your paddle and welcome.”

  Chingachgook was already in the canoe, and he dipped the implement the other named, into the water, just as Hurry’s limber tongue ceased. Wah-ta-Wah saw the departure of her warrior on this occasion with the submissive silence of an Indian girl, but with most of the misgivings and apprehensions of her sex. Throughout the whole of the past night, and down to the moment when they used the glass together in the hut, Chingachgook had manifested as much manly tenderness towards his betrothed as one of the most refined sentiments could have sho
wn under similar circumstances; but now every sign of weakness was lost in an appearance of stern resolution. Although Hist timidly endeavored to catch his eye, as the canoe left the side of the ark, the pride of a warrior would not permit him to meet her fond and anxious looks. The canoe departed, and not a wandering glance rewarded her solicitude.

  Nor were the Delaware’s care and gravity misplaced, under the impressions with which he proceeded on this enterprise. If the enemy had really gained possession of the building, he was obliged to put himself under the very muzzles of their rifles, as it were, and this too without the protection of any of that cover which forms so essential an ally in Indian warfare. It is scarcely possible to conceive of a service more dangerous; and had the Serpent been fortified by the experience of ten more years, or had his friend, the Deerslayer, been present, it would never have been attempted; the advantages in no degree compensating for the risk. But the pride of an Indian chief was acted on by the rivalry of color; and it is not unlikely that the presence of the very creature from whom his ideas of manhood prevented his receiving a single glance, overflowing as he was with the love she so well merited, had no small influence on his determination.