The Pioneers; Or, The Sources of the Susquehanna

by James Fenimore Cooper

  CHAPTER XXXVII.

  "Love rules the court, the camp, the grove." --Lay of the Last Minstrel.

  "IT would have been sad, indeed, to lose you in such manner, my oldfriend," said Oliver, catching his breath for utterance. "Up and away!even now we may be too late; the flames are circling round the point ofthe rock below, and, unless we can pass there, our only chance must beover the precipice. Away! away! shake off your apathy, John; now is thetime of need."

  Mohegan pointed toward Elizabeth, who, forgetting her danger, had sunkback to a projection of the rock as soon as she recognized the sounds ofEdwards' voice, and said with something like awakened animation:

  "Save her--leave John to die."

  "Her! whom mean you?" cried the youth, turning quickly to the place theother indicated; but when he saw the figure of Elizabeth bending towardhim in an attitude that powerfully spoke terror, blended with reluctanceto meet him in such a place, the shock deprived him of speech.

  "Miss Temple!" he cried, when he found words; "you here! is such a deathreserved for you!"

  "No, no, no--no death, I hope, for any of us, Mr. Edwards," she replied,endeavoring to speak calmly; there is smoke, but no fire to harm us. "Letus endeavor to retire."

  "Take my arm," said Edwards; "there must be an opening in some directionfor your retreat. Are you equal to the effort?"

  "Certainly. You surely magnify the danger, Mr. Edwards. Lead me out theway you came."

  "I will--I will," cried the youth, with a kind of hysterical utterance."No, no--there is no danger--I have alarmed you unnecessarily."

  "But shall we leave the Indian--can we leave him, as he says, to die?"

  An expression of painful emotion crossed the face of the young man; hestopped and cast a longing look at Mohegan but, dragging his companionafter him, even against her will, he pursued his way with enormousstrides toward the pass by which he had just entered the circle offlame.

  "Do not regard him," he said, in those tones that de note a desperatecalmness; "he is used to the woods, and such scenes; and he will escapeup the mountain--over the rock--or he can remain where he is in safety."

  "You thought not so this moment, Edwards! Do not leave him there to meetwith such a death," cried Elizabeth, fixing a look on the countenance ofher conductor that seemed to distrust his sanity.

  "An Indian born! who ever heard of an Indian dying by fire? An Indiancannot burn; the idea is ridiculous. Hasten, hasten, Miss Temple, or thesmoke may incommodate you."

  "Edwards! your look, your eye, terrifies me! Tell me the danger; is itgreater than it seems? I am equal to any trial."

  "If we reach the point of yon rock before that sheet of fire, we aresafe, Miss Temple," exclaimed the young man in a voice that burstwithout the bounds of his forced composure. "Fly! the struggle is forlife!"

  The place of the interview between Miss Temple and the Indian hasalready been described as one of those plat forms of rock, which form asort of terrace in the mountains of that country, and the face of it,we have said, was both high and perpendicular. Its shape was nearlya natural arc, the ends of which blended with the mountain, at pointswhere its sides were less abrupt in their descent. It was round one ofthese terminations of the sweep of the rock that Edwards had ascended,and it was toward the same place that he urged Elizabeth to a desperateexertion of speed.

  Immense clouds of white smoke had been pouring over the summit of themountain, and had concealed the approach and ravages of the element;but a crackling sound drew the eyes of Miss Temple, as she flew over theground supported by the young man, toward the outline of smoke where shealready perceived the waving flames shooting forward from the vapor, nowflaring high in the air, and then bending to the earth, seeming to lightinto combustion every stick and shrub on which they breathed. The sightaroused them to redoubled efforts; but, unfortunately, a collection ofthe tops of trees, old and dried, lay directly across their course; andat the very moment when both had thought their safety insured, the warmcurrent of the air swept a forked tongue of flame across the pile, whichlighted at the touch; and when they reached the spot, the flying pairwere opposed by the surly roaring of a body of fire, as if a furnacewere glowing in their path. They recoiled from the heat, and stood on apoint of the rock, gazing in a stupor at the flames which were spreadingrap idly down the mountain, whose side, too, became a sheet of livingfire. It was dangerous for one clad in the light and airy dress ofElizabeth to approach even the vicinity of the raging element; and thoseflowing robes, that gave such softness and grace to her form, seemed nowto be formed for the instruments of her destruction.

  The villagers were accustomed to resort to that hill, in quest of timberand fuel; in procuring which, it was their usage to take only thebodies of the trees, leaving the tops and branches to decay under theoperations of the weather. Much of the hill was, consequently, coveredwith such light fuel, which, having been scorched under the sun for thelast two months, was ignited with a touch. Indeed, in some cases, theredid not appear to be any contact between the fire and these piles, butthe flames seemed to dart from heap to heap, as the fabulous fire of thetemple is represented to reillumine its neglected lamp.

  There was beauty as well as terror in the sight, and Edwards andElizabeth stood viewing the progress of the desolation, with a strangemixture of horror and interest. The former, however, shortly rousedhimself to new exertions, and, drawing his companion after him, theyskirted the edge of the smoke, the young man penetrating frequently intoits dense volumes in search of a passage, but in every instance withoutsuccess. In this manner they proceeded in a semicircle around theupper part of the terrace, until arriving at the verge of the precipiceopposite to the point where Edwards had ascended, the horrid convictionburst on both, at the same instant, that they were completelyencircled by fire. So long as a single pass up or down the mountain wasunexplored, there was hope: but when retreat seemed to be absolutelyimpracticable, the horror of their situation broke upon Elizabeth aspowerfully as if she had hitherto considered the danger light.

  "This mountain is doomed to be fatal to me!" she whispered; "we shallfind our graves on it!"

  "Say not so, Miss Temple; there is yet hope," returned the youth, inthe same tone, while the vacant expression of his eye contradicted hiswords; "let us return to the point of the rock--there is--there mustbe--some place about it where we can descend.

  "Lead me there," exclaimed Elizabeth; "let us leave no effort untried."She did not wait for his compliance, but turning, retraced her stepsto the brow of the precipice, murmuring to herself, in suppressed,hysterical sobs, "My father! my poor, my distracted father!"

  Edwards was by her side in an instant, and with aching eyes he examinedevery fissure in the crags in quest of some opening that might offerfacilities for flight. But the smooth, even surface of the rocksafforded hardly a resting-place for a foot, much less those continuedprojections which would have been necessary for a descent of nearly ahundred feet. Edwards was not slow in feeling the conviction that thishope was also futile, and, with a kind of feverish despair that stillurged him to action, he turned to some new expedient.

  "There is nothing left, Miss Temple," he said, "but to lower you fromthis place to the rock beneath. If Natty were here, or even that Indiancould be roused, their ingenuity and long practice would easily devisemethods to do it; but I am a child at this moment in everything butdaring. Where shall I find means? This dress of mine is so light, andthere is so little of it--then the blanket of Mohegan; we must try--wemust try--anything is better than to see you a victim to such a death!"

  "And what will become of you?" said Elizabeth. "In deed, indeed, neitheryou nor John must be sacrificed to my safety."

  He heard her not, for he was already by the side of Mohegan, who yieldedhis blanket without a question, retaining his seat with Indian dignityand composure, though his own situation was even more critical thanthat of the others. The blanket was cut into shreds, and the fragmentsfastened together: the loose linen jacket of the youth a
nd the lightmuslin shawl of Elizabeth were attached to them, and the whole thrownover the rocks with the rapidity of lightning; but the united Pieces didnot reach half-way to the bottom.

  "It will not do--it will not do!" cried Elizabeth; "for me there is nohope! The fire comes slowly, but certainly. See, it destroys the veryearth before it!"

  Had the flames spread on that rock with half the quick ness with whichthey leaped from bush to tree in other parts of the mountain, ourpainful task would have soon ended; for they would have consumed alreadythe captives they inclosed. But the peculiarity of their situationafforded Elizabeth and her companion the respite of which they hadavailed themselves to make the efforts we have recorded.

  The thin covering of earth on the rock supported but a scanty and fadedherbage, and most of the trees that had found root in the fissures hadalready died, during the in tense heats of preceding summers. Thosewhich still retained the appearance of life bore a few dry and witheredleaves, while the others were merely the wrecks of pines, oaks, andmaples. No better materials to feed the fire could be found, had therebeen a communication with the flames; but the ground was destitute ofthe brush that led the destructive element, like a torrent, over theremainder of the hill. As auxiliary to this scarcity of fuel, one of thelarge springs which abound in that country gushed out of the side ofthe ascent above, and, after creeping sluggishly along the level land,saturating the mossy covering of the rock with moisture, it swept aroundthe base of the little cone that formed the pinnacle of the mountain,and, entering the canopy of smoke near one of the terminations of theterrace, found its way to the lake, not by dashing from rock to rock,but by the secret channels of the earth. It would rise to the surface,here and there, in the wet seasons, but in the droughts of summer it wasto be traced only by the bogs and moss that announced the proximity ofwater. When the fire reached this barrier, it was compelled to pause,until a concentration of its heat could overcome the moisture, like anarmy awaiting the operations of a battering train, to open its way todesolation.

  That fatal moment seemed now to have arrived, for the hissing steams ofthe spring appeared to be nearly exhausted, and the moss of the rockswas already curling under the intense heat, while fragments of bark,that yet clung to the dead trees, began to separate from their trunks,and fall to the ground in crumbling masses. The air seemed quiveringwith rays of heat, which might be seen playing along the parched stemsof the trees. There were moments when dark clouds of smoke would sweepalong the little terrace; and, as the eye lost its power, the othersenses contributed to give effect to the fearful horror of the scene.At such moments, the roaring of the flames, the crackling of the furiouselement, with the tearing of falling branches, and occasionally thethundering echoes of some falling tree, united to alarm the victims.Of the three, however, the youth appeared much the most agitated.Elizabeth, having relinquished entirely the idea of escape, was fastobtaining that resigned composure with which the most delicate of hersex are sometimes known to meet unavoidable evils; while Mohegan, whowas much nearer to the danger, maintained his seat with the invincibleresignation of an Indian warrior. Once or twice the eye of the agedchief, which was ordinarily fixed in the direction of the distant hills,turned toward the young pair, who seemed doomed to so early a death,with a slight indication of pity crossing his composed features, but itwould immediately revert again to its former gaze, as if already lookinginto the womb of futurity. Much of the time he was chanting a kind oflow dirge in the Delaware tongue, using the deep and remarkable gutturaltones of his people.

  "At such a moment, Mr. Edwards, all earthly distinctions end," whisperedElizabeth; "persuade John to move nearer to us--let us die together."

  "I cannot--he will not stir," returned the youth, in the same horridlystill tones. "He considers this as the happiest moment of his life,he is past seventy, and has been decaying rapidly for some time; hereceived some injury in chasing that unlucky deer, too, on the lake, Oh!Miss Temple, that was an unlucky chase, indeed! it has led, I fear, tothis awful scene."

  The smile of Elizabeth was celestial. "Why name such a trifle now?--atthis moment the heart is dead to all earthly emotions!"

  "If anything could reconcile a man to this death," cried the youth, "itwould be to meet it in such company!"

  "Talk not so, Edwards; talk not so," interrupted Miss Temple. "I amunworthy of it, and it is unjust to your self. We must die; yes--yes--wemust die--it is the will of God, and let us endeavor to submit like hisown children."

  "Die!" the youth rather shrieked than exclaimed, "no--no--no--there mustyet be hope--you, at least, must-not, shall not die."

  "In what way can we escape?" asked Elizabeth, pointing with a look ofheavenly composure toward the fire "Observe! the flame is crossing thebarrier of wet ground--it comes slowly, Edwards, but surely. Ah! see!the tree! the tree is already lighted!"

  Her words were too true. The heat of the conflagration had at lengthovercome the resistance of the spring, and the fire was slowly stealingalong the half-dried moss; while a dead pine kindled with the touch of aforked flame, that, for a moment, wreathed around the stem of the tree,as it whined, in one of its evolutions, under the influence of the air.The effect was instantaneous, The flames danced along the parched trunkof the pine like lightning quivering on a chain, and immediately acolumn of living fire was raging on the terrace. It soon spread fromtree to tree, and the scene was evidently drawing to a close. The logon which Mohegan was seated lighted at its further end, and the Indianappeared to be surrounded by fire. Still he was unmoved. As his body wasunprotected, his sufferings must have been great; but his fortitude wassuperior to all. His voice could yet be heard even in the midst of thesehorrors. Elizabeth turned her head from the sight, and faced the valleyFurious eddies of wind were created by the heat, and, just at themoment, the canopy of fiery smoke that overhung the valley was clearedaway, leaving a distinct view of the peaceful village beneath them. "Myfather!----my father!" shrieked Elizabeth "Oh! this--surely might havebeen spared me--but I submit."

  The distance was not so great but the figure of Judge Temple could beseen, standing in his own grounds, and apparently contemplating, inperfect unconsciousness of the danger of his child, the mountain inflames. This sight was still more painful than the approaching danger;and Elizabeth again faced the hill.

  "My intemperate warmth has done this!" cried Edwards, in the accents ofdespair. "If I had possessed but a moiety of your heavenly resignation,Miss Temple, all might yet have been well."

  "Name it not--name it not," she said. "It is now of no avail. We mustdie, Edwards, we must die--let us do so as Christians. But--no--you mayyet escape, perhaps. Your dress is not so fatal as mine. Fly! Leave me,An opening may yet be found for you, possibly--certainly it is worththe effort. Fly! leave me--but stay! You will see my father! my poor,my bereaved father! Say to him, then, Edwards, say to him, all that canappease his anguish. Tell him that I died happy and collected; that Ihave gone to my beloved mother; that the hours of this life are nothingwhen balanced in the scales of eternity. Say how we shall meet again.And say," she continued, dropping her voice, that had risen with herfeelings, as if conscious of her worldly weakness, "how clear, how verydear, was my love for him; that it was near, too near, to my love forGod."

  The youth listened to her touching accents, but moved not. In a momenthe found utterance, and replied:

  "And is it me that you command to leave you! to leave you on the edgeof the grave? Oh! Miss Temple, how little have you known me!" he cried,dropping on his knees at her feet, and gathering her flowing robe inhis arms as if to shield her from the flames. "I have been driven to thewoods in despair, but your society has tamed the lion within me. If Ihave wasted my time in degradation, 'twas you that charmed me to it.If I have forgotten my name and family, your form supplied the place ofmemory. If I have forgotten my wrongs, 'twas you that taught me charity.No--no--dearest Elizabeth, I may die with you, but I can never leaveyou!"

  Elizabeth moved not, nor answered. It was plain that her
thoughts hadbeen raised from the earth, The recollection of her father, and herregrets at their separation, had been mellowed by a holy sentiment, thatlifted her above the level of earthly things, and she was fast losingthe weakness of her sex in the near view of eternity. But as shelistened to these words she became once more woman. She struggledagainst these feelings, and smiled, as she thought she was shakingoff the last lingering feeling of nature, when the world, and all itsseductions, rushed again to her heart, with the sounds of a human,voice, crying in piercing tones:

  "Gal! where be ye, gal! gladden the heart of an old man, if ye yetbelong to 'arth!"

  "Hist!" said Elizabeth; "'tis the Leather-Stocking; he seeks me!"

  "'Tis Natty!" shouted Edwards, "and we may yet be saved!"

  A wide and circling flame glared on their eyes for a moment, even abovethe fire of the woods, and a loud report followed.

  "'Tis the canister, 'tis the powder," cried the same voice, evidentlyapproaching them. "'Tis the canister, and the precious child is lost."

  At the next instant Natty rushed through the steams of the spring, andappeared on the terrace, without his deerskin cap, his hair burnt to hishead, his shirt, of country check, black and filled with holes, andhis red features of a deeper color than ever, by the heat he hadencountered.