"Why, let the strucken deer go weep,
The hart ungalled play,
For some must watch, while some must sleep,
Thus runs the world away."Hamlet, III.ii.271-74
Another consultation took place in the forward part of the scow, at
which both Judith and Hetty were present. As no danger could now
approach unseen, immediate uneasiness had given place to the concern
which attended the conviction that enemies were in considerable
force on the shores of the lake, and that they might be sure
no practicable means of accomplishing their own destruction would
be neglected. As a matter of course Hutter felt these truths the
deepest, his daughters having an habitual reliance on his resources,
and knowing too little to appreciate fully all the risks they ran;
while his male companions were at liberty to quit him at any moment
they saw fit. His first remark showed that he had an eye to the
latter circumstance, and might have betrayed, to a keen observer,
the apprehension that was just then uppermost.
"We've a great advantage over the Iroquois, or the enemy, whoever
they are, in being afloat," he said.
"There's not a canoe on the lake that I don't know where it's
hid; and now yours is here. Hurry, there are but three more on
the land, and they're so snug in hollow logs that I don't believe
the Indians could find them, let them try ever so long."
"There's no telling that- no one can say that," put in Deerslayer;
"a hound is not more sartain on the scent than a red-skin, when
he expects to get anything by it. Let this party see scalps afore
'em, or plunder, or honor accordin' to their idees of what honor
is, and 't will be a tight log that hides a canoe from their eyes."
"You're right, Deerslayer," cried Harry March; "you're downright
Gospel in this matter, and I rej'ice that my bunch of bark is safe
enough here, within reach of my arm. I calcilate they'll be at
all the rest of the canoes afore to-morrow night, if they are in
ra'al 'arnest to smoke you out, old Tom, and we may as well overhaul
our paddles for a pull."
Hutter made no immediate reply. He looked about him in silence
for quite a minute, examining the sky, the lake, and the belt of
forest which inclosed it, as it might be hermetically, like one
consulting their signs. Nor did he find any alarming symptoms.
The boundless woods were sleeping in the deep repose of nature,
the heavens were placid, but still luminous with the light of the
retreating sun, while the lake looked more lovely and calm than
it had before done that day. It was a scene altogether soothing,
and of a character to lull the passions into a species of holy
calm. How far this effect was produced, however, on the party in
the ark, must appear in the progress of our narrative.
"Judith," called out the father, when he had taken this close but
short survey of the omens, "night is at hand; find our friends
food; a long march gives a sharp appetite."
"We're not starving, Master Hutter," March observed, "for we filled
up just as we reached the lake, and for one, I prefer the company
of Jude even to her supper. This quiet evening is very agreeable
to sit by her side."
"Natur' is natur'," objected Hutter, "and must be fed. Judith,
see to the meal, and take your sister to help you. I've a little
discourse to hold with you, friends," he continued, as soon as his
daughters were out of hearing, "and wish the girls away. You see
my situation, and I should like to hear your opinions concerning
what is best to be done. Three times have I been burnt out already,
but that was on the shore; and I've considered myself as pretty
safe ever since I got the castle built, and the ark afloat. My
other accidents, however, happened in peaceable times, being nothing
more than such flurries as a man must meet with, in the woods; but
this matter looks serious, and your ideas would greatly relieve my
mind."
"It's my notion, old Tom, that you, and your huts, and your traps,
and your whole possessions, hereaway, are in desperate jippardy,"
returned the matter-of-fact Hurry, who saw no use in concealment.
"Accordin' to my idees of valie, they're altogether not worth half
as much today as they was yesterday, nor would I give more for 'em,
taking the pay in skins."
"Then I've children!" continued the father, making the allusion
in a way that it might have puzzled even an indifferent observer
to say was intended as a bait, or as an exclamation of paternal
concern, "daughters, as you know, Hurry, and good girls too, I may
say, though I am their father."
"A man may say anything, Master Hutter, particularly when pressed
by time and circumstances. You've darters, as you say, and one
of them hasn't her equal on the frontiers for good looks, whatever
she may have for good behavior. As for poor Hetty, she's Hetty
Hutter, and that's as much as one can say about the poor thing.
Give me Jude, if her conduct was only equal to her looks!"
"I see, Harry March, I can only count on you as a fair-weather
friend; and I suppose that your companion will be of the same way
of thinking," returned the other, with a slight show of pride,
that was not altogether without dignity; "well, I must depend on
Providence, which will not turn a deaf ear, perhaps, to a father's
prayers."
"If you've understood Hurry, here, to mean that he intends to desart
you," said Deerslayer, with an earnest simplicity that gave double
assurance of its truth, "I think you do him injustice, as I know
you do me, in supposing I would follow him, was he so ontrue-hearted
as to leave a family of his own color in such a strait as this.
I've come on this at take, Master Hutter, to rende'vous a fri'nd,
and I only wish he was here himself, as I make no doubt he will be
at sunset tomorrow, when you'd have another rifle to aid you; an
inexper'enced one, I'll allow, like my own, but one that has proved
true so often ag'in the game, big and little, that I'll answer for
its sarvice ag'in mortals."
May I depend on you to stand by me and my daughters, then, Deerslayer?"
demanded the old man, with a father's anxiety in his countenance.
"That may you, Floating Tom, if that's your name; and as a
brother would stand by a sister, a husband his wife, or a suitor
his sweetheart. In this strait you may count on me, through all
advarsities; and I think Hurry does discredit to his natur' and
wishes, if you can't count on him."
"Not he," cried Judith, thrusting her handsome face out of the
door; "his nature is hurry, as well as his name, and he'll hurry
off, as soon as he thinks his fine figure in danger. Neither 'old
Tom,' nor his 'gals,' will depend much on Master March, now they
know him, but you they will rely on, Deerslayer; for your honest face
and honest heart tell us that what you promise you will perform."
This was said, as much, perhaps, in affected scorn for Hurry, as
in sincerity. Still, it was not said without feeling. The fine
face of Judith sufficiently proved the latter circumstance; and if
the conscious March fancied that he had never seen in it a stronger
display of contempt- a feeling in which the beauty was apt to
indulge- than while she was looking at him, it certainly seldom
exhibited more of a womanly softness and sensibility, than when
her speaking blue eyes were turned on his travelling companion.
"Leave us, Judith," Hutter ordered sternly, before either of the
young men could reply; "leave us; and do not return until you come
with the venison and fish. The girl has been spoilt by the flattery
of the officers, who sometimes find their way up here, Master March,
and you'll not think any harm of her silly words."
"You never said truer syllable, old Tom," retorted Hurry, who smarted
under Judith's observations; "the devil-tongued youngsters of the
garrison have proved her undoing! I scarce know Jude any longer,
and shall soon take to admiring her sister, who is getting to be
much more to my fancy."
"I'm glad to hear this, Harry, and look upon it as a sign that
you're coming to your right senses. Hetty would make a much safer
and more rational companion than Jude, and would be much the most
likely to listen to your suit, as the officers have, I greatly
fear, unsettled her sister's mind."
"No man needs a safer wife than Hetty," said Hurry, laughing,
"though I'll not answer for her being of the most rational. But
no matter; Deerslayer has not misconceived me, when he told you
I should be found at my post. I'll not quit you, Uncle Tom, just
now, whatever may be my feelin's and intentions respecting your
eldest darter."
Hurry had a respectable reputation for prowess among his
associates, and Hutter heard this pledge with a satisfaction that
was not concealed. Even the great personal strength of such an aid
became of moment, in moving the ark, as well as in the species of
hand-to-hand conflicts, that were not unfrequent in the woods; and
no commander who was hard pressed could feel more joy at hearing
of the arrival of reinforcements, than the borderer experienced at
being told this important auxiliary was not about to quit him. A
minute before, Hutter would have been well content to compromise
his danger, by entering into a compact to act only on the defensive;
but no sooner did he feel some security on this point, than the
restlessness of man induced him to think of the means of carrying
the war into the enemy's country.
"High prices are offered for scalps on both sides." he observed,
with a grim smile, as if he felt the force of the inducement, at
the very time he wished to affect a superiority to earning money
by means that the ordinary feelings of those who aspire to be
civilized men repudiated, even while they were adopted. "It isn't
right, perhaps, to take gold for human blood; and yet, when mankind
is busy in killing one another, there can be no great harm in adding
a little bit of skin to the plunder. What's your sentiments, Hurry,
touching these p'ints?"
"That you've made a vast mistake, old man, in calling savage blood
human blood, at all. I think no more of a red-skin's scalp than
I do of a pair of wolf's ears; and would just as lief finger money
for the one as for the other. With white people 't is different,
for they've a nat'ral avarsion to being scalped; whereas your Indian
shaves his head in readiness for the knife, and leaves a lock of
hair by way of braggadocio, that one can lay hold of in the bargain."
"That's manly, however, and I felt from the first that we had only
to get you on our side, to have your heart and hand," returned
Tom, losing all his reserve, as he gained a renewed confidence in
the disposition of his companions. "Something more may turn up from
this inroad of the red-skins than they bargained for. Deerslayer,
I conclude you're of Hurry's way of thinking, and look upon money
'arned in this way as being as likely to pass as money 'arned in
trapping or hunting."
"I've no such feelin', nor any wish to harbor it, not I," returned
the other. "My gifts are not scalpers' gifts, but such as belong
to my religion and color. I'll stand by you, old man, in the ark
or in the castle, the canoe or the woods, but I'll not unhumanize
my natur' by falling into ways that God intended for another race.
If you and Hurry have got any thoughts that lean towards the colony's
gold, go by yourselves in s'arch of it, and leave the females to
my care. Much as I must differ from you both on all gifts that do
not properly belong to a white man, we shall agree that it is the
duty of the strong to take care of the weak, especially when the
last belong to them that natur' intended man to protect and console
by his gentleness and strength."
"Hurry Harry, that is a lesson you might learn and practise on to
some advantage," said the sweet, but spirited voice of Judith, from
the cabin; a proof that she had over-heard all that had hitherto
been said.
"No more of this, Jude," called out the father angrily. "Move
farther off; we are about to talk of matters unfit for a woman to
listen to."
Hutter did not take any steps, however, to ascertain whether he
was obeyed or not; but dropping his voice a little, he pursued the
discourse.
"The young man is right, Hurry," he said; "and we can leave
the children in his care. Now, my idea is just this; and I think
you'll agree that it is rational and correct. There's a large party
of these savages on shore and, though I didn't tell it before the
girls, for they're womanish, and apt to be troublesome when anything
like real work is to be done, there's women among 'em. This I
know from moccasin prints; and 't is likely they are hunters, after
all, who have been out so long that they know nothing of the war,
or of the bounties."
"In which case, old Tom, why was their first salute an attempt to
cut our throats?"
"We don't know that their design was so bloody. It's natural and
easy for an Indian to fall into ambushes and surprises; and, no
doubt they wished to get on board the ark first, and to make their
conditions afterwards. That a disapp'inted savage should fire at
us, is in rule; and I think nothing of that. Besides, how often
they burned me out, and robbed my traps- ay, and pulled trigger on
me, in the most peaceful times?"
"The blackguards will do such things, I must allow; and we pay
'em off pretty much in their own c'ine. Women would not be on the
war-path, sartainly; and, so far, there's reason in your idee."
"Nor would a hunter be in his war-paint," returned Deerslayer. "I
saw the Mingos, and know that they are out on the trail of mortal
men; and not for beaver or deer."
"There you have it ag'in, old fellow," said Hurry. "In the way of
an eye, now, I'd as soon trust this young man, as trust the oldest
settler in the colony; if he says paint, why paint it was."
"Then a hunting-party and a war-party have met, for women must have
been with 'em. It's only a few days since the runner went through
with the tidings of the troubles; and it may be that warriors have
come out to call in their women and children, to get an early blow."
"That would stand the courts, and is just the truth," cried Hurry;
"you've got it now, old Tom, and I should like to hear what you
mean to make out of it."
"The bounty," returned the other, looking up at his attentive
companion in a cool, sullen manner, in which, however, heartless
cupidity and indifference to the means were far more conspicuous
than any feelings of animosity or revenge.
"If there's women, there's children; and big and little have scalps;
the colony pays for all alike."
"More shame to it, that it should do so," interrupted Deerslayer;
"more shame to it, that it don't understand its gifts, and pay
greater attention to the will of God."
"Hearken to reason, lad, and don't cry out afore you understand a
case," returned the unmoved Hurry; "the savages scalp your fri'nds,
the Delawares, or Mohicans whichever they may be, among the rest;
and why shouldn't we scalp? I will own, it would be ag'in right
for you and me now, to go into the settlements and bring out
scalps, but it's a very different matter as concerns Indians. A
man shouldn't take scalps, if he isn't ready to be scalped, himself,
on fitting occasions. One good turn desarves another, the world
over. That's reason, and I believe it to be good religion."
"Ay, Master Hurry," again interrupted the rich voice of Judith,
"is it religion to say that one bad turn deserves another?"
"I'll never reason ag'in you, Judy, for you beat me with beauty,
if you can't with sense. Here's the Canadas paying their Injins
for scalps, and why not we pay-"
"Our Indians!" exclaimed the girl, laughing with a sort of melancholy
merriment. "Father, father! think no more of this, and listen to
the advice of Deerslayer, who has a conscience; which is more than
I can say or think of Harry March."
Hutter now rose, and, entering the cabin, he compelled his daughters
to go into the adjoining room, when he secured both the doors,
and returned. Then he and Hurry pursued the subject; but, as the
purport of all that was material in this discourse will appear in
the narrative, it need not be related here in detail. The reader,
however, can have no difficulty in comprehending the morality that
presided over their conference. It was, in truth, that which, in
some form or other, rules most of the acts of men, and in which
the controlling principle is that one wrong will justify another.
Their enemies paid for scalps, and this was sufficient to justify
the colony for retaliating. It is true, the French used the same
argument, a circumstance, as Hurry took occasion to observe in
answer to one of Deerslayer's objections, that proved its truth,
as mortal enemies would not be likely to have recourse to the same
reason unless it were a good one. But neither Hutter nor Hurry
was a man likely to stick at trifles in matters connected with the
right of the aborigines, since it is one of the consequences of
aggression that it hardens the conscience, as the only means of
quieting it. In the most peaceable state of the country, a species
of warfare was carried on between the Indians, especially those of
the Canadas, and men of their caste; and the moment an actual and
recognized warfare existed, it was regarded as the means of lawfully
revenging a thousand wrongs, real and imaginary. Then, again, there
was some truth, and a good deal of expediency, in the principle of
retaliation, of which they both availed themselves, in particular,
to answer the objections of their juster-minded and more scrupulous
companion.
"You must fight a man with his own we'pons, Deerslayer," cried Hurry,
in his uncouth dialect, and in his dogmatical manner of disposing
of all oral propositions; "if he's f'erce you must be f'ercer; if
he's stout of heart, you must be stouter. This is the way to get
the better of Christian or savage: by keeping up to this trail,
you'll get soonest to the ind of your journey."
"That's not Moravian doctrine, which teaches that all are to be
judged according to their talents or l'arning; the Injin like an
Injin; and the white man like a white man. Some of their teachers
say, that if you're struck on the cheek, it's a duty to turn the
other side of the face, and take another blow, instead of seeking
revenge, whereby I understand-"
"That's enough!" shouted Hurry; "that's all I want, to prove a
man's doctrine! How long would it take to kick a man through the
colony- in at one ind and out at the other, on that principle?"
"Don't mistake me, March," returned the young hunter, with dignity;
"I don't understand by this any more than that it's best to do
this, if possible. Revenge is an Injin gift, and forgiveness a
white man's. That's all. Overlook all you can is what's meant;
and not revenge all you can. As for kicking, Master Hurry," and
Deerslayer's sunburnt cheek flushed as he continued, "into the
colony, or out of the colony, that's neither here nor there, seeing
no one proposes it, and no one would be likely to put up with it.
What I wish to say is, that a red-skin's scalping don't justify a
pale-face's scalping."
"Do as you're done by, Deerslayer; that's ever the Christian parson's
doctrine."
"No, Hurry, I've asked the Moravians consarning that; and it's
altogether different. 'Do as you would be done by,' they tell me,
is the true saying, while men practyse the false. They think all
the colonies wrong that offer bounties for scalps, and believe no
blessing will follow the measures. Above all things, they forbid
revenge."
"That for your Moravians!" cried March, snapping his fingers; "they're
the next thing to Quakers; and if you'd believe all they tell
you, not even a 'rat would be skinned, out of marcy. Who ever
heard of marcy on a muskrat!"
The disdainful manner of Hurry prevented a reply, and he and the
old man resumed the discussion of their plans in a more quiet and
confidential manner. This confidence lasted until Judith appeared,
bearing the simple but savory supper. March observed, with a little
surprise, that she placed the choicest bits before Deerslayer,
and that in the little nameless attentions it was in her power to
bestow, she quite obviously manifested a desire to let it be seen
that she deemed him the honored guest. Accustomed, however, to
the waywardness and coquetry of the beauty, this discovery gave him
little concern, and he ate with an appetite that was in no degree
disturbed by any moral causes. The easily-digested food of the
forests offering the fewest possible obstacles to the gratification
of this great animal indulgence, Deerslayer, notwithstanding the
hearty meal both had taken in the woods, was in no manner behind
his companion in doing justice to the viands.
An hour later the scene had greatly changed. The lake was still
placid and glassy, but the gloom of the hour had succeeded to the
soft twilight of a summer evening, and all within the dark setting
of the woods lay in the quiet repose of night. The forests gave
up no song, or cry, or even murmur, but looked down from the hills
on the lovely basin they encircled, in solemn stillness; and the
only sound that was audible was the regular dip of the sweeps, at
which Hurry and Deerslayer lazily pushed, impelling the ark towards
the castle. Hutter had withdrawn to the stern of the scow, in
order to steer, but, finding that the young men kept even strokes,
and held the desired course by their own skill, he permitted the
oar to drag in the water, took a seat on the end of the vessel, and
lighted his pipe. He had not been thus placed many minutes, ere
Hetty came stealthily out of the cabin, or house, as they usually
termed that part of the ark, and placed herself at his feet, on a
little bench that she brought with her. As this movement was by
no means unusual in his feeble-minded child, the old man paid no
other attention to it than to lay his hand kindly on her head, in
an affectionate and approving manner; an act of grace that the girl
received in meek silence.
After a pause of several minutes, Hetty began to sing. Her voice
was low and tremulous, but it was earnest and solemn. The words
and the tune were of the simplest form, the first being a hymn
that she had been taught by her mother, and the last one of those
natural melodies that find favor with all classes, in every age,
coming from and being addressed to the feelings. Hutter never
listened to this simple strain without finding his heart and manner
softened; facts that his daughter well knew, and by which she had
often profited, through the sort of holy instinct that enlightens
the weak of mind, more especially in their aims toward good.
Hetty's low, sweet tones had not been raised many moments, when
the dip of the oars ceased, and the holy strain arose singly on the
breathing silence of the wilderness. As if she gathered courage
with the theme, her powers appeared to increase as she proceeded;
and though nothing vulgar or noisy mingled in her melody, its
strength and melancholy tenderness grew on the ear, until the air
was filled with this simple homage of a soul that seemed almost
spotless. That the men forward were not indifferent to this
touching interruption, was proved by their inaction; nor did their
oars again dip until the last of the sweet sounds had actually died
among the remarkable shores, which, at that witching hour, would
waft even the lowest modulations of the human voice more than a mile.
Hutter was much affected; for rude as he was by early habits, and
even ruthless as he had got to be by long exposure to the practices
of the wilderness, his nature was of that fearful mixture of good
and evil that so generally enters into the moral composition of
man.
"You are sad tonight, child," said the father, whose manner and
language usually assumed some of the gentleness and elevation of
the civilized life he had led in youth, when he thus communed with
this particular child; "we have just escaped from enemies, and
ought rather to rejoice."
"You can never do it, father!" said Hetty, in a low, remonstrating
manner, taking his hard, knotty hand into both her own; "you have
talked long with Harry March; but neither of you have the heart to
do it!"
"This is going beyond your means, foolish child; you must have been
naughty enough to have listened, or you could know nothing of our
talk."
"Why should you and Hurry kill people- especially women and children?"
"Peace, girl, peace; we are at war, and must do to our enemies as
our enemies would do to us."
"That's not it, father! I heard Deerslayer say how it was. You
must do to your enemies as you wish your enemies would do to you.
No man wishes his enemies to kill him."
"We kill our enemies in war, girl, lest they should kill us. One
side or the other must begin; and them that begin first, are most
apt to get the victory. You know nothing about these things, poor
Hetty, and had best say nothing."
"Judith says it is wrong, father; and Judith has sense though I
have none."
"Jude understands better than to talk to me of these matters; for
she has sense, as you say, and knows I'll not bear it. Which would
you prefer, Hetty; to have your own scalp taken, and sold to the
French, or that we should kill our enemies, and keep them from
harming us?"
"That's not it, father! Don't kill them, nor let them kill us.
Sell your skins, and get more, if you can; but don't sell human
blood."
"Come, come, child; let us talk of matters you understand. Are
you glad to see our old friend, March, back again? You like Hurry,
and must know that one day he may be your brother- if not something
nearer."
"That can't be, father," returned the girl, after a considerable
pause; "Hurry has had one father, and one mother; and people never
have two."
"So much for your weak mind, Hetty. When Jude marries, her
husband's father will be her father, and her husband's sister her
sister. If she should marry Hurry, then he will be your brother."
"Judith will never have Hurry," returned the girl mildly, but
positively; "Judith don't like Hurry."
"That's more than you can know, Hetty. Harry March is the handsomest,
and the strongest, and the boldest young man that ever visits the
lake; and, as Jude is the greatest beauty, I don't see why they
shouldn't come together. He has as much as promised that he will
enter into this job with me, on condition that I'll consent."
Hetty began to move her body back and forth, and other-wise to
express mental agitation; but she made no answer for more than a
minute. Her father, accustomed to her manner, and suspecting no
immediate cause of concern, continued to smoke with the apparent
phlegm which would seem to belong to that particular species of
enjoyment.
"Hurry is handsome, father," said Hetty, with a simple emphasis,
that she might have hesitated about using, had her mind been more
alive to the inferences of others.
"I told you so, child," muttered old Hutter, without removing the
pipe from between his teeth; "he's the likeliest youth in these
parts; and Jude is the likeliest young woman I've met with since
her poor mother was in her best days."
"Is it wicked to be ugly, father?'"
"One might be guilty of worse things- but you're by no means ugly;
though not so comely as Jude."
"Is Judith any happier for being so handsome?"
"She may be, child, and she may not be. But talk of other matters
now, for you hardly understand these, poor Hetty. How do you like
our new acquaintance, Deerslayer?"
"He isn't handsome, father. Hurry is far handsomer than Deerslayer."
"That's true; but they say he is a noted hunter! His fame had
reached me before I ever saw him; and I did hope he would prove to
be as stout a warrior as he is dexterous with the deer. All men
are not alike, howsever, child; and it takes time, as I know by
experience, to give a man a true wilderness heart."
"Have I got a wilderness heart, father- and Hurry, is his heart
true wilderness?"
"You sometimes ask queer questions, Hetty! Your heart is good,
child, and fitter for the settlements than for the woods; while
your reason is fitter for the woods than for the settlements."
"Why has Judith more reason than I, father?"
"Heaven help thee, child: this is more than I can answer. God
gives sense, and appearance, and all these things; and he grants
them as he seeth fit. Dost thou wish for more sense?"
"Not I. The little I have troubles me; for when I think the hardest,
then I feel the unhappiest. I don't believe thinking is good for
me, though I do wish I was as handsome as Judith!"
"Why so, poor child? Thy sister's beauty may cause her trouble,
as it caused her mother before her. It's no advantage, Hetty, to
be so marked for anything as to become an object of envy, or to be
sought after more than others."
"Mother was good, if she was handsome," returned the girl, the
tears starting to her eyes, as usually happened when she adverted
to her deceased parent.
Old Hutter, if not equally affected, was moody and silent at this
allusion to his wife. He continued smoking, without appearing disposed
to make any answer, until his simple-minded daughter repeated her
remark, in a way to show that she felt uneasiness lest he might be
inclined to deny her assertion. Then he knocked the ashes out of
his pipe, and laying his hand in a sort of rough kindness on the
girl's head, he made a reply.
"Thy mother was too good for this world," he said; "though others
might not think so. Her good looks did not befriend her; and you
have no occasion to mourn that you are not as much like her as
your sister. Think less of beauty, child, and more of your duty,
and you'll be as happy on this lake as you could be in the king's
palace."
"I know it, father; but Hurry says beauty is everything in a young
woman."
Hutter made an ejaculation expressive of dissatisfaction, and went
forward, passing through the house in order to do so. Hetty's simple
betrayal of her weakness in behalf of March gave him uneasiness
on a subject concerning which he had never felt before, and he
determined to come to an explanation at once with his visitor; for
directness of speech and decision in conduct were two of the best
qualities of this rude being, in whom the seeds of a better education
seemed to be constantly struggling upwards, to be choked by the
fruits of a life in which his hard struggles for subsistence and
security had steeled his feelings and indurated his nature. When
he reached the forward end of the scow, he manifested an intention
to relieve Deerslayer at the oar, directing the latter to take his
own place aft. By these changes, the old man and Hurry were again
left alone, while the young hunter was transferred to the other
end of the ark.
Hetty had disappeared when Deerslayer reached his new post, and for
some little time he directed the course of the slow-moving craft by
himself. It was not long, however, before Judith came out of the
cabin, as if disposed to do the honors of the place to a stranger
engaged in the service of her family. The starlight was sufficient
to permit objects to be plainly distinguished when near at hand,
and the bright eyes of the girl had an expression of kindness in
them, when they met those of the youth, that the latter was easily
enabled to discover. Her rich hair shaded her spirited and yet soft
countenance, even at that hour rendering it the more beautiful-as
the rose is loveliest when reposing amid the shadows and contrasts
of its native foliage. Little ceremony is used in the intercourse
of the woods; and Judith had acquired a readiness of address, by
the admiration that she so generally excited, which, if it did not
amount to forwardness, certainly in no degree lent to her charms
the aid of that retiring modesty on which poets love to dwell.
"I thought I should have killed myself with laughing, Deerslayer,"
the beauty abruptly but coquettishly commenced, "when I saw that
Indian dive into the river! He was a good-looking savage, too,"
the girl always dwelt on personal beauty as a sort of merit, "and
yet one couldn't stop to consider whether his paint would stand
water!"
"And I thought they would have killed you with their we'pons,
Judith," returned Deerslayer; "it was an awful risk for a female
to run in the face of a dozen Mingos!"
"Did that make you come out of the cabin, in spite of their rifles,
too?" asked the girl, with more real interest than she would have
cared to betray, though with an indifference of manner that was
the result of a good deal of practice united to native readiness.
"Men ar'n't apt to see females in danger, and not come to their
assistance. Even a Mingo knows that."
This sentiment was uttered with as much simplicity of manner
as of feeling, and Judith rewarded it with a smile so sweet, that
even Deerslayer, who had imbibed a prejudice against the girl in
consequence of Hurry's suspicions of her levity, felt its charm,
notwithstanding half its winning influence was lost in the feeble
light. It at once created a sort of confidence between them, and
the discourse was continued on the part of the hunter, without
the lively consciousness of the character of this coquette of the
wilderness, with which it had certainly commenced.
"You are a man of deeds, and not of words, I see plainly, Deerslayer,"
continued the beauty, taking her seat near the spot where the other
stood, "and I foresee we shall be very good friends. Hurry Harry
has a tongue, and, giant as he is, he talks more than he performs."
"March is your fri'nd, Judith; and fri'nds should be tender of each
other, when apart."
"We all know what Hurry's friendship comes to! Let him have his
own way in everything, and he's the best fellow in the colony; but
'head him off,' as you say of the deer, and he is master of everything
near him but himself. Hurry is no favorite of mine, Deerslayer;
and I dare say, if the truth was known, and his conversation about
me repeated, it would be found that he thinks no better of me than
I own I do of him."
The latter part of this speech was not uttered without uneasiness.
Had the girl's companion been more sophisticated, he might have
observed the averted face, the manner in which the pretty little
foot was agitated, and other signs that, for some unexplained
reason, the opinions of March were not quite as much a matter of
indifference to her as she thought fit to pretend. Whether this
was no more than the ordinary working of female vanity, feeling
keenly even when it affected not to feel at all, or whether it
proceeded from that deeply-seated consciousness of right and wrong
which God himself has implanted in our breasts that we may know good
from evil, will be made more apparent to the reader as we proceed
in the tale. Deerslayer felt embarrassed. He well remembered the
cruel imputations left by March's distrust; and, while he did not
wish to injure his associate's suit by exciting resentment against
him, his tongue was one that literally knew no guile. To answer
without saying more or less than he wished, was consequently a
delicate duty.
"March has his say of all things in natur', whether of fri'nd
or foe," slowly and cautiously rejoined the hunter. "He's one of
them that speak as they feel while the tongue's a-going, and that's
sometimes different from what they'd speak if they took time to
consider. Give me a Delaware, Judith, for one that reflects and
ruminates on his idees! Inmity has made him thoughtful, and a
loose tongue is no ricommend at their council fires."
"I dare say March's tongue goes free enough when it gets on the
subject of Judith Hutter and her sister," said the girl, rousing
herself as if in careless disdain. "Young women's good names are
a pleasant matter of discourse with some that wouldn't dare be so
open-mouthed if there was a brother in the way. Master March may
find it pleasant to traduce us, but sooner or later he'll repent.
"Nay, Judith, this is taking the matter up too much in 'arnest.
Hurry has never whispered a syllable ag'in the good name of Hetty,
to begin with-"
"I see how it is- I see how it is," impetuously interrupted Judith.
"I am the one he sees fit to scorch with his withering tongue!
Hetty, indeed! Poor Hetty!" she continued, her voice sinking into
low, husky tones, that seemed nearly to stifle her in the utterance;
"she is beyond and above his slanderous malice! Poor Hetty! If
God has created her feeble-minded, the weakness lies altogether on
the side of errors of which she seems to know nothing. The earth
never held a purer being than Hetty Hutter, Deerslayer."
"I can believe it- yes, I can believe that, Judith, and I hope
'arnestly that the same can be said of her handsome sister."
There was a soothing sincerity in the voice of Deerslayer, which
touched the girl's feelings; nor did the allusion to her beauty
lessen the effect with one who only knew too well the power of her
personal charms. Nevertheless, the still, small voice of conscience
was not hushed, and it prompted the answer which she made, after
giving herself time to reflect.
"I dare say Hurry had some of his vile hints about the people of
the garrisons," she added. "He knows they are gentlemen, and can
never forgive any one for being what he feels he can never become
himself."
"Not in the sense of a king's officer, Judith, sartainly, for March
has no turn thataway; but in the sense of reality, why may not a
beaver-hunter be as respectable as a governor? Since you speak of
it yourself, I'll not deny that he did complain of one as humble
as you being so much in the company of scarlet coats and silken
sashes. But 't was jealousy that brought it out of him, and I
do think he mourned over his own thoughts as a mother would have
mourned over her child."
Perhaps Deerslayer was not aware of the full meaning that his
earnest language conveyed. It is certain that he did not see the
color that crimsoned the whole of Judith's fine face, nor detect
the uncontrollable distress that immediately after changed its hue
to deadly paleness. A minute or two elapsed in profound stillness,
the splash of the water seeming to occupy all the avenues of sound;
and then Judith arose, and grasped the hand of the hunter, almost
convulsively, with one of her own.
"Deerslayer," she said, hurriedly, "I'm glad the ice is broke between
us. They say that sudden friendships lead to long enmities, but
I do not believe it will turn out so with us. I know not how it
is-but you are the first man I ever met, who did not seem to wish
to flatter- to wish my ruin- to be an enemy in disguise- never mind;
say nothing to Hurry, and another time we'll talk together again."
As the girl released her grasp, she vanished in the house, leaving
the astonished young man standing at the steering-oar, as motionless
as one of the pines on the hills. So abstracted, indeed, had his
thoughts become, that he was hailed by Hutter to keep the scow's head
in the right direction, before he remembered his actual situation.