The Pioneers; Or, The Sources of the Susquehanna

by James Fenimore Cooper

  CHAPTER XXIX.

  "It is noised, he hath a mass of treasure." --Timon of Athens.

  When Marmaduke Temple and his cousin rode through the gate of theformer, the heart of the father had been too recently touched withthe best feelings of our nature, to leave inclination for immediatediscourse. There was an importance in the air of Richard, which wouldnot have admitted of the ordinary informal conversation of the sheriff,without violating all the rules of consistency; and the equestrianspursued their way with great diligence, for more than a mile, inprofound silence. At length the soft expression of parental affectionwas slowly chased from the handsome features of the Judge, and wasgradually supplanted by the cast of humor and benevolence that wasusually seated on his brow.

  "Well, Dickon," he said, "since I have yielded myself so far implicitlyto your guidance, I think the moment has arrived when I am entitled tofurther confidence. Why and wherefore are we journeying together in thissolemn gait?"

  The sheriff gave a loud hem, that rang far in the forest, and keepinghis eyes fixed on objects before him like a man who is looking deep intofuturity:

  "There has always been one point of difference between us, Judge Temple,I may say, since our nativity," he replied; "not that I would insinuatethat you are at all answerable for the acts of Nature; for a man is nomore to be condemned for the misfortunes of his birth, than he is to becommended for the natural advantages he may possess; but on one pointwe may be said to have differed from our births, and they, you know,occurred within two days of each other."

  "I really marvel, Richard, what this one point can be, for, to my eyes,we seem to differ so materially, and so often--"

  "Mere consequences, sir," interrupted the sheriff; "all our minordifferences proceed from one cause, and that is, our opinions of theuniversal attainments of genius."

  "In what, Dickon?"

  "I speak plain English, I believe, Judge Temple: at least I ought; formy father, who taught me, could speak----"

  "Greek and Latin," interrupted Marmaduke. "I well know thequalifications of your family in tongues, Dickon. But proceed to thepoint; why are we travelling over this mountain to-day?"

  "To do justice to any subject, sir, the narrator must be suffered toproceed in his own way," continued the sheriff. "You are of opinion,Judge Temple, that a man is to be qualified by nature and education todo only one thing well, whereas I know that genius will supply theplace of learning, and that a certain sort of man can do anything andeverything."

  "Like yourself, I suppose," said Marmaduke, smiling.

  "I scorn personalities, sir, I say nothing of myself; but there arethree men on your Patent, of the kind that I should term talented bynature for her general purposes though acting under the influence ofdifferent situations."

  "We are better off, then, than I had supposed. Who are these triumviri?"

  "Why, sir, one is Hiram Doolittle; a carpenter by trade, as youknow--and I need only point to the village to exhibit his merits. Thenhe is a magistrate, and might shame many a man, in his distribution ofjustice, who has had better opportunities."

  "Well, he is one," said Marmaduke, with the air of a man that wasdetermined not to dispute the point.

  "Jotham Riddel is another."

  "Who?"

  "Jotham Riddel."

  "What, that dissatisfied, shiftless, lazy, speculating fellow! he whochanges his county every three years, his farm every six months, and hisoccupation every season! an agriculturist yesterday, a shoemaker to-day,and a school master to-morrow! that epitome of all the unsteady andprofitless propensities of the settlers without one of their goodqualities to counterbalance the evil! Nay, Richard, this is too bad foreven--but the third."

  "As the third is not used to hearing such comments on his character,Judge Temple, I shall not name him."

  "The amount of all this, then, Dickon, is that the trio, of which youare one, and the principal, have made some important discovery."

  "I have not said that I am one, Judge Temple. As I told you before, saynothing egotistical. But a discovery has been made, and you are deeplyinterested in it."

  "Proceed--I am all ears."

  "No, no, 'Duke, you are bad enough, I own, but not so bad as that,either; your ears are not quite full grown."

  The sheriff laughed heartily at his own wit, and put himself in goodhumor thereby, when he gratified his patient cousin with the followingexplanation:

  "You know, 'Duke, there is a man living on your estate that goes by thename of Natty Bumppo. Here has this man lived, by what I can learn, formore than forty years--by himself, until lately; and now with strangecompanions."

  "Part very true, and all very probable," said the Judge.

  "All true, sir; all true. Well, within these last few months haveappeared as his companions an old Indian chief, the last, or one of thelast of his tribe that is to be found in this part of the country, and ayoung man, who is said to be the son of some Indian agent, by a squaw."

  "Who says that?" cried Marmaduke, with an interest; that he had notmanifested before.

  "Who? why, common sense--common report--the hue and cry. But listen tillyou know all. This youth has very pretty talents--yes, what I call verypretty talents--and has been well educated, has seen very tolerablecompany, and knows how to behave himself when he has a mind to. Now,Judge Temple, can you tell me what has brought three such men as IndianJohn, Natty Bumppo, and Oliver Edwards together?" Marmaduke turned hiscountenance, in evident surprise, to his cousin, and replied quickly:

  "Thou hast unexpectedly hit on a subject, Richard, that has oftenoccupied my mind. But knowest thou anything of this mystery, or are theyonly the crude conjectures of--"

  "Crude nothing, 'Duke, crude nothing: but facts, stub-born facts. Youknow there are mines in these mountains; I have often heard you say thatyou believed in their existence."

  "Reasoning from analogy, Richard, but not with any certainty of thefact."

  "You have heard them mentioned, and have seen specimens of the ore,sir; you will not deny that! and, reasoning from analogy, as you say,if there be mines in South America, ought there not to be mines in NorthAmerica too?"

  "Nay, nay, I deny nothing, my cousin. I certainly have heard many rumorsof the existence of mines in these hills: and I do believe that I haveseen specimens of the precious metals that have been found here. Itwould occasion me no surprise to learn that tin and silver, or what Iconsider of more consequence, good coal--"

  "Damn your coal," cried the sheriff; "who wants to find coal in theseforests? No, no--silver, 'Duke; silver is the one thing needful, andsilver is to be found. But listen: you are not to be told that thenatives have long known the use of gold and silver; now who so likely tobe acquainted where they are to be found as the ancient inhabitants of acountry? I have the best reasons for believing that both Mohegan and theLeather-Stocking have been privy to the existence of a mine in this verymountain for many years."

  The sheriff had now touched his cousin in a sensitive spot; andMarmaduke lent a more attentive ear to the speaker, who, after waiting amoment to see the effect of this extraordinary development, proceeded:

  "Yes, sir, I have my reasons, and at a proper time you shall know them."

  "No time is so good as the present."

  "Well, well, be attentive," continued Richard, looking cautiously abouthim, to make certain that no eavesdropper was hid in the forest,though they were in constant motion. "I have seen Mohegan and theLeather-Stocking, with my own eyes--and my eyes are as good as anybody'seyes--I have seen them, I say, both going up the mountain and comingdown it, with spades and picks; and others have seen them carryingthings into their hut, in a secret and mysterious manner, after dark. Doyou call this a fact of importance?"

  The Judge did not reply, but his brow had contracted, with athoughtfulness that he always wore when much interested, and his eyesrested on his cousin in expectation of hearing more. Richard continued:

  "It was ore. Now, sir, I ask if you can tell me who this M
r. OliverEdwards is, that has made a part of your household since Christmas?"

  Marmaduke again raised his eyes, but continued silent, shaking his headin the negative.

  "That he is a half-breed we know, for Mohegan does not scruple to callhim openly his kinsman; that he is well educated we know. But as to hisbusiness here--do you remember that about a month before this young manmade his appearance among us, Natty was absent from home several days?You do; for you inquired for him, as you wanted some venison to take toyour friends, when you went for Bess. Well, he was not to be found. OldJohn was left in the hut alone, and when Natty did appear, although hecame on in the night, he was seen drawing one of those jumpers that theycarry their grain to mill in, and to take out something with great care,that he had covered up under his bear-skins. Now let me ask you, JudgeTemple, what motive could induce a man like the Leather-Stocking to makea sled, and toil with a load over these mountains, if he had nothing buthis rifle or his ammunition to carry?"

  "They frequently make these jumpers to convey their game home, and yousay he had been absent many days."

  "How did he kill it? His rifle was in the village, to be mended. No,no--that he was gone to some unusual place is certain; that he broughtback some secret utensils is more certain; and that he has not allowed asoul to approach his hut since is most certain of all."

  "He was never fond of intruders------"

  "I know it," interrupted Richard; "but did he drive them from his cabinmorosely? Within a fortnight of his return, this Mr. Edwards appears.They spend whole days in the mountains, pretending to be shooting, butin reality exploring; the frosts prevent their digging at that time,and he avails himself of a lucky accident to get into good quarters.But even now, he is quite half of his time in that hut--many hours everynight. They are smelting, 'Duke they are smelting, and as they growrich, you grow poor."

  "How much of this is thine own, Richard, and how much comes from others?I would sift the wheat from the chaff."

  "Part is my own, for I saw the jumper, though it was broken up and burntin a day or two. I have told you that I saw the old man with his spadesand picks. Hiram met Natty, as he was crossing the mountain, the nightof his arrival with the sled, and very good-naturedly offered--Hiram isgood-natured--to carry up part of his load, for the old man had a heavypull up the back of the mountain, but he wouldn't listen to the thing,and repulsed the offer in such a manner that the squire said he had halfa mind to swear the peace against him. Since the snow has been off,more especially after the frosts got out of the ground, we have kept awatchful eye on the gentle man, in which we have found Jotham useful."Marmaduke did not much like the associates of Richard in this business;still he knew them to be cunning and ready expedients; and as there wascertainly something mysterious, not only in the connection between theold hunters and Edwards, but in what his cousin had just related,he began to revolve the subject in his own mind with more care.On reflection, he remembered various circumstances that tended tocorroborate these suspicions, and, as the whole business favored one ofhis infirmities, he yielded the more readily to their impression. Themind of Judge Temple, at all times comprehensive, had received fromhis peculiar occupations a bias to look far into futurity, in hisspeculations on the improvements that posterity were to make in hislands. To his eye, where others saw nothing but a wilderness, towns,manufactories, bridges, canals, mines, and all the other resources of anold country were constantly presenting themselves, though his good sensesuppressed, in some degree, the exhibition of these expectations.

  As the sheriff allowed his cousin full time to reflect on what he hadheard, the probability of some pecuniary adventure being the connectinglink in the chain that brought Oliver Edwards into the cabin ofLeather-Stocking appeared to him each moment to be stronger. ButMarmaduke was too much in the habit of examining both sides of a subjectnot to perceive the objections, and he reasoned with himself aloud:

  "It cannot be so, or the youth would not be driven so near the verge ofpoverty."

  "What so likely to make a man dig for money as being poor?" cried thesheriff.

  "Besides, there is an elevation of character about Oliver that proceedsfrom education, which would forbid so clandestine a proceeding."

  "Could an ignorant fellow smelt?" continued Richard.

  "Bess hints that he was reduced even to his last shilling when we tookhim into our dwelling."

  "He had been buying tools. And would he spend his last sixpence for ashot at a turkey had he not known where to get more?"

  "Can I have possibly been so long a dupe? His manner has been rude to meat times, but I attributed it to his conceiving himself injured, and tohis mistaking the forms of the world."

  "Haven't you been a dupe all your life, 'Duke, and an't what you callignorance of forms deep cunning, to conceal his real character?"

  "If he were bent on deception, he would have concealed his knowledge,and passed with us for an inferior man."

  "He cannot. I could no more pass for a fool, myself, than I could fly.Knowledge is not to be concealed, like a candle under a bushel."

  "Richard," said the Judge, turning to his cousin, "there are manyreasons against the truth of thy conjectures, but thou hast awakenedsuspicions which must be satisfied. But why are we travelling here?"

  "Jotham, who has been much in the mountain latterly, being kept there byme and Hiram, has made a discovery, which he will not explain, he says,for he is bound by an oath; but the amount is, that he knows where theore lies, and he has this day begun to dig. I would not consent to thething, 'Duke, without your knowledge, for the land is yours; and now youknow the reason of our ride. I call this a countermine, ha!"

  "And where is the desirable spot?" asked the Judge with an air halfcomical, half serious.

  "At hand; and when we have visited that, I will show you one of theplaces that we have found within a week, where our hunters have beenamusing themselves for six months past."

  The gentlemen continued to discuss the matter, while their horses pickedtheir way under the branches of the trees and over the uneven ground ofthe mountain. They soon arrived at the end of their journey, where, intruth, they found Jotham already buried to his neck in a hole that hehad been digging.

  Marmaduke questioned the miner very closely as to his reasons forbelieving in the existence of the precious metals near that particularspot; but the fellow maintained an obstinate mystery in his answers. Heasserted that he had the best of reasons for what he did, and inquiredof the judge what portion of the profits would fall to his own share, inthe event of success, with an earnestness that proved his faith. Afterspending an hour near the place, examining the stones, and searching forthe usual indications of the proximity of ore, the Judge remounted andsuffered his cousin to lead the way to the place where the mysterioustrio had been making their excavation.

  The spot chosen by Jotham was on the back of the mountain that overhungthe hut of Leather-Stocking, and the place selected by Natty and hiscompanions was on the other side of the same hill, but above the road,and, of course, in an opposite direction to the route taken by theladies in their walk.

  "We shall be safe in approaching the place now," said Richard, whilethey dismounted and fastened their horses; "for I took a look with theglass, and saw John and Leather-Stocking in their canoe fishing beforewe left home, and Oliver is in the same pursuit; but these may benothing but shams to blind our eye; so we will be expeditious, for itwould not be pleasant to be caught here by them."

  "Not on my own land?" said Marmaduke sternly. "If it be as you suspect,I will know their reasons for making this excavation."

  "Mum," said Richard, laying a finger on his lip, and leading the waydown a very difficult descent to a sort of natural cavern, which wasfound in the face of the rock, and was not unlike a fireplace in shape.In front of this place lay a pile of earth, which had evidently beentaken from the recess, and part of which was yet fresh. An examinationof the exterior of the cavern left the Judge in doubt whether it was oneof Nature's frolics
that had thrown it into that shape, or whether ithad been wrought by the hands of man, at some earlier period. Butthere could be no doubt that the whole of the interior was of recentformation, and the marks of the pick were still visible where the soft,lead-colored rock had opposed itself to the progress of the miners. Thewhole formed an excavation of about twenty feet in width, and nearlytwice that distance in depth. The height was much greater than wasrequired for the ordinary purposes of experiment, but this was evidentlythe effect of chance, as the roof of the cavern was a natural stratum ofrock that projected many feet beyond the base of the pile. Immediatelyin front of the recess, or cave, was a little terrace, partly formed bynature, and partly by the earth that had been carelessly thrown asideby the laborers. The mountain fell off precipitously in front of theterrace, and the approach by its sides, under the ridge of the rocks,was difficult and a little dangerous. The whole was wild, rude, andapparently incomplete; for, while looking among the bushes, the sherifffound the very implements that had been used in the work.

  When the sheriff thought that his cousin had examined the spotsufficiently, he asked solemnly:

  "Judge Temple, are you satisfied?"

  "Perfectly, that there is something mysterious and perplexing in thisbusiness. It is a secret spot, and cunningly devised, Richard; yet I seeno symptoms of ore."

  "Do you expect, sir, to find gold and silver lying like pebbles on thesurface of the earth?--dollars and dimes ready coined to your hands? No,no--the treasure must be sought after to be won. But let them mine; Ishall countermine."

  The Judge took an accurate survey of the place, and noted in hismemorandum-book such marks as were necessary to find it again in theevent of Richard's absence; when the cousins returned to their horses.

  On reaching the highway they separated, the sheriff to summontwenty-four "good men and true," to attend as thc inquest of the county,on the succeeding Monday, when Marmaduke held his stated court of"common pleas and general sessions of the peace," and the Judge toreturn, musing deeply on what he had seen and heard in the course of themorning.

  When the horse of the latter reached the spot where the highway felltoward the valley, the eye of Marmaduke rested, it is true, on the samescene that had, ten minutes before, been so soothing to the feelingsof his daughter and her friend, as they emerged from the forest; butit rested in vacancy. He threw the reins to his sure footed beast, andsuffered the animal to travel at his own gait, while he soliloquized asfollows:

  "There may be more in this than I at first supposed. I have sufferedmy feelings to blind my reason, in admitting an unknown youth in thismanner to my dwelling; yet this is not the land of suspicion. I willhave Leather-Stocking before me, and, by a few direct questions, extractthe truth from the simple old man."

  At that instant the Judge caught a glimpse of the figures of Elizabethand Louisa, who were slowly descending the mountain, short distancebefore him. He put spurs to his horse, and riding up to them,dismounted, and drove his steed along the narrow path. While theagitated parent was listening to the vivid description that his daughtergave of her recent danger, and her unexpected escape, all thoughts ofmines, vested rights, and examinations were absorbed in emotion; andwhen the image of Natty again crossed his recollection, it was not as alaw Less and depredating squatter, but as the preserver of his child.