The Pioneers; Or, The Sources of the Susquehanna
Page 28
CHAPTER XXVII.
"Oft in the full descending flood he tries To lose the scent, and lave his burning sides." --Thomson.
"I knowed it--I knowed it!" cried Natty, when both deer and hounds werein full view; "the buck has gone by them with the wind, and it has beentoo much for the poor rogues; but I must break them of these tricks,or they'll give me a deal of trouble. He-ere, he-ere--shore with you,rascals--shore with you--will ye? Oh! off with you, old Hector, or I'llhackle your hide with my ramrod when I get ye."
The dogs knew their master's voice, and after swimming in a circle, asif reluctant to give over the chase, and yet afraid to persevere, theyfinally obeyed, and returned to the land, where they filled the air withtheir cries.
In the mean time the deer, urged by his fears, had swum over half thedistance between the shore and the boats, before his terror permittedhim to see the new danger. But at the sounds of Natty's voice, he turnedshort in his course and for a few moments seemed about to rush backagain, and brave the dogs. His retreat in this direction was, however,effectually cut off, and, turning a second time, he urged his courseobliquely for the centre of the lake, with an intention of landing onthe western shore. As the buck swam by the fishermen, raising his nosehigh into the air, curling the water before his slim neck like the beakof a galley, the Leather-Stocking began to sit very uneasy in his canoe.
"'Tis a noble creatur'!" he exclaimed; "what a pair of horns! a manmight hang up all his garments on the branches. Let me see--July is thelast month, and the flesh must be getting good." While he was talking,Natty had instinctively employed himself in fastening the inner end ofthe bark rope, that served him for a cable, to a paddle, and, risingsuddenly on his legs, he cast this buoy away, and cried; "Strike out,John! let her go. The creatur's a fool to tempt a man in this way."
Mohegan threw the fastening of the youth's boat from the canoe, andwith one stroke of his paddle sent the light bark over the water like ameteor.
"Hold!" exclaimed Edwards. "Remember the law, my old friends. You are inplain sight of the village, and I know that Judge Temple is determinedto prosecute all, indiscriminately, who kill deer out of season."
The remonstrance came too late; the canoe was already far from theskiff, and the two hunters were too much engaged in the pursuit tolisten to his voice.
The buck was now within fifty yards of his pursuers, cutting the watergallantly, and snorting at each breath with terror and his exertions,while the canoe seemed to dance over the waves as it rose and fell withthe undulations made by its own motion. Leather-Stocking raised hisrifle and freshened the priming, but stood in suspense whether to slayhis victim or not.
"Shall I, John or no?" he said. "It seems but a poor advantage to takeof the dumb thing, too. I won't; it has taken to the water on its ownnatur', which is the reason that God has given to a deer, and I'll giveit the lake play; so, John, lay out your arm, and mind the turn of thebuck; it's easy to catch them, but they'll turn like a snake."
The Indian laughed at the conceit of his friend, but continued to sendthe canoe forward with a velocity' that proceeded much more from skillthan his strength. Both of the old men now used the language of theDelawares when they spoke.
"Hugh!" exclaimed Mohegan; "the deer turns his head. Hawk-eye, lift yourspear."
Natty never moved abroad without taking with him every implement thatmight, by possibility, be of service in his pursuits. From his rifle henever parted; and although intending to fish with the line, the canoewas invariably furnished with all of its utensils, even to its grateThis precaution grew out of the habits of the hunter, who was often led,by his necessities or his sports, far beyond the limits of his originaldestination. A few years earlier than the date of our tale, theLeather-Stocking had left his hut on the shores of the Otsego, with hisrifle and his hounds, for a few days' hunting in the hills; but beforehe returned he had seen the waters of Ontario. One, two, or even threehundred miles had once been nothing to his sinews, which were now alittle stiffened by age. The hunter did as Mohegan advised, and preparedto strike a blow with the barbed weapon into the neck of the buck.
"Lay her more to the left, John," he cried, "lay her more to the left;another stroke of the paddle and I have him."
While speaking he raised the spear, and darted it front him like anarrow. At that instant the buck turned, the long pole glanced by him,the iron striking against his horn, and buried itself harmlessly in thelake.
"Back water," cried Natty, as the canoe glided over the place where thespear had fallen; "hold water, John."
The pole soon reappeared, shooting up from the lake, and, as the hunterseized it in his hand, the Indian whirled the light canoe round, andrenewed the chase. But this evolution gave the buck a great advantage;and it also allowed time for Edwards to approach the scene of action.
"Hold your hand, Natty!" cried the youth, "hold your hand; remember itis out of season."
This remonstrance was made as the batteau arrived close to the placewhere the deer was struggling with the water, his back now rising to thesurface, now sinking beneath it, as the waves curled from his neck, theanimal still sustaining itself nobly against the odds,
"Hurrah!" shouted Edwards, inflamed beyond prudence at the sight; "mindhim as he doubles--mind him as he doubles; sheer more to the right,Mohegan, more to the right, and I'll have him by the horns; I'll throwthe rope over his antlers."
The dark eye of the old warrior was dancing in his head with a wildanimation, and the sluggish repose in which his aged frame had beenresting in the canoe was now changed to all the rapid inflections ofpracticed agility. The canoe whirled with each cunning evolution of thechase, like a bubble floating in a whirlpool; and when the direction ofthe pursuit admitted of a straight course the little bark skimmed thelake with a velocity that urged the deer to seek its safety in some newturn.
It was the frequency of these circuitous movements that, by confiningthe action to so small a compass, enabled the youth to keep near hiscompanions. More than twenty times both the pursued and the pursuerglided by him, just without the reach of his oars, until he thought thebest way to view the sport was to remain stationary, and, by watching afavorable opportunity, assist as much as he could in taking the victim.
He was not required to wait long, for no sooner had he adopted thisresolution, and risen in the boat, than he saw the deer coming bravelytoward him, with an apparent intention of pushing for a point of land atsome distance from the hounds, who were still barking and howling onthe shore. Edwards caught the painter of his skiff, and, making a noose,cast it from him with all his force, and luckily succeeded in drawingits knot close around one of the antlers of the buck.
For one instant the skiff was drawn through the water, but in the nextthe canoe glided before it, and Natty, bending low, passed his knifeacross the throat of the animal, whose blood followed the wound, dyeingthe waters. The short time that was passed in the last struggles of theanimal was spent by the hunters in bringing their boats together andsecuring them in that position, when Leather-Stocking drew the deerfrom the water and laid its lifeless form in the bottom of the canoe. Heplaced his hands on the ribs, and on different parts of the body of hisprize, and then, raising his head, he laughed in his peculiar manner.
"So much for Marmaduke Temple's law!" he said, "This warms a body'sblood, old John: I haven't killed a buck in the lake afore this, sin'many a year. I call that good venison, lad: and I know them that willrelish the creatur's steaks for all the betterments in the land."
The Indian had long been drooping with his years, and perhaps under thecalamities of his race, but this invigorating and exciting sport causeda gleam of sunshine to cross his swarthy face that had long been absentfrom his features. It was evident the old man enjoyed the chase more asa memorial of his youthful sports and deeds than with any expectation ofprofiting by the success. He felt the deer, however, lightly, his handalready trembling with the reaction of his unusual exertions, and smiledwith a nod of approbation, as he said
, in the emphatic and sententiousmanner of his people:
"Good."
"I am afraid, Natty," said Edwards, when the heat of the moment hadpassed, and his blood began to cool, "that we have all been equallytransgressors of the law. But keep your own counsel, and there arenone here to betray us. Yet how came those dogs at large? I left themsecurely fastened, I know, for I felt the thongs and examined the knotswhen I was at the hunt."
"It has been too much for the poor things," said Natty, "to have sucha buck take the wind of them. See, lad, the pieces of the buckskin arehanging from their necks yet. Let us paddle up, John, and I will callthem in and look a little into the matter."
When the old hunter landed and examined the thongs that were yet fastto the hounds, his countenance sensibly changed, and he shook his headdoubtingly.
"Here has been a knife at work," he said; "this skin was never torn, noris this the mark of a hound's tooth. No, no--Hector is not in fault, asI feared."
"Has the leather been cut?" cried Edwards.
"No, no--I didn't say it had been cut, lad; but this is a mark that wasnever made by a jump or a bite."
"Could that rascally carpenter have dared!"
"Ay! he durst do anything when there is no danger," said Natty; "he isa curious body, and loves to be helping other people on with theirconsarns. But he had best not harbor so much near the wigwam!"
In the mean time, Mohegan had been examining, with an Indian's sagacity,the place where the leather thong had been separated. After scrutinizingit closely, he said, in Delaware:
"It was cut with a knife--a sharp blade and a long handle--the man wasafraid of the dogs."
"How is this, Mohegan?" exclaimed Edwards; "you saw it not! how can youknow these facts?"
"Listen, son," said the warrior. "The knife was sharp, for the cut wassmooth; the handle was long, for a man's arm would not reach from thisgash to the cut that did not go through the skin; he was a coward, or hewould have cut the thongs around the necks of the hounds."
"On my life," cried Natty, "John is on the scent! It was the carpenter;and he has got on the rock back of the kennel and let the dogs loose byfastening his knife to a stick. It would be an easy matter to do itwhere a man is so minded."
"And why should he do so?" asked Edwards; "who has done him wrong, thathe should trouble two old men like you?"
"It's a hard matter, lad, to know men's ways, I find, since the settlershave brought in their new fashions, But is there nothing to be foundout in the place? and maybe he is troubled with his longings after otherpeople's business, as he often is."
"Your suspicions are just. Give me the canoe; I am young and strong, andwill get down there yet, perhaps, in time to interrupt his plans. Heavenforbid that we should be at the mercy of such a man!"
His proposal was accepted, the deer being placed in the skiff in orderto lighten the canoe, and in less than five minutes the little vessel ofbark was gilding over the glassy lake, and was soon hid by the points ofland as it shot close along the shore.
Mohegan followed slowly with the skiff, while Natty called his hounds tohim, bade them keep close, and, shouldering his rifle, he ascended themountain, with an intention of going to the hut by land.