"That point in misery, which makes the oppressed man regardless
of his own life, makes him too Lord of the oppressor's."Coleridge, Remorse, V.i.201-04.
All this time Hetty had remained seated in the head of the scow,
looking sorrowfully into the water which held the body of her mother,
as well as that of the man whom she had been taught to consider her
father. Hist stood near her in gentle quiet, but had no consolation
to offer in words. The habits of her people taught her reserve in
this respect, and the habits of her sex induced her to wait patiently
for a moment when she might manifest some soothing sympathy by
means of acts, rather than of speech. Chingachgook held himself a
little aloof, in grave reserve, looking like a warrior, but feeling
like a man.
Judith joined her sister with an air of dignity and solemnity it
was not her practice to show, and, though the gleamings of anguish
were still visible on her beautiful face, when she spoke it was
firmly and without tremor. At that instant Hist and the Delaware
withdrew, moving towards Hurry, in the other end of the boat.
"Sister," said Judith kindly, "I have much to say to you; we will
get into this canoe, and paddle off to a distance from the Ark -The
secrets of two orphans ought not to be heard by every ear."
"Certainly, Judith, by the ears of their parents? Let Hurry lift
the grapnel and move away with the Ark, and leave us here, near
the graves of father and mother, to say what we may have to say."
"Father!" repeated Judith slowly, the blood for the first time since
her parting with March mounting to her cheeks - "He was no father
of ours, Hetty! That we had from his own mouth, and in his dying
moments."
"Are you glad, Judith, to find you had no father! He took care of
us, and fed us, and clothed us, and loved us; a father could have
done no more. I don't understand why he wasn't a father."
"Never mind, dear child, but let us do as you have said. It may
be well to remain here, and let the Ark move a little away. Do you
prepare the canoe, and I will tell Hurry and the Indians our wishes."
This was soon and simply done, the Ark moving with measured strokes
of the sweeps a hundred yards from the spot, leaving the girls
floating, seemingly in air, above the place of the dead; so buoyant
was the light vessel that held them, and so limpid the element by
which it was sustained.
"The death of Thomas Hutter," Judith commenced, after a short
pause had prepared her sister to receive her communications, "has
altered all our prospects, Hetty. If he was not our father, we
are sisters, and must feel alike and live together."
"How do I know, Judith, that you wouldn't be as glad to find I am
not your sister, as you are in finding that Thomas Hutter, as you
call him, was not your father. I am only half witted, and few people
like to have half witted relations; and then I'm not handsome - at
least, not as handsome as you - and you may wish a handsomer sister."
"No, no Hetty. You and you only are my sister - my heart, and
my love for you tell me that - and mother was my mother - of that
too am I glad, and proud; for she was a mother to be proud of -but
father was not father!"
"Hush, Judith! His spirit may be near; it would grieve it to
hear his children talking so, and that, too, over his very grave.
Children should never grieve parents, mother often told me, and
especially when they are dead!"
"Poor Hetty! They are happily removed beyond all cares on our
account. Nothing that I can do or say will cause mother any sorrow
now -there is some consolation in that, at least! And nothing you
can say or do will make her smile, as she used to smile on your
good conduct when living."
"You don't know that, Judith. Spirits can see, and mother may
see as well as any spirit. She always told us that God saw all we
did, and that we should do nothing to offend him; and now she has
left us, I strive to do nothing that can displease her. Think how
her spirit would mourn and feel sorrow, Judith, did it see either
of us doing what is not right; and spirits may see, after all;
especially the spirits of parents that feel anxious about their
children."
"Hetty - Hetty - you know not what you say!" murmured Judith,
almost livid with emotion - "The dead cannot see, and know nothing
of what passes here! But, we will not talk of this any longer.
The bodies of Mother and Thomas Hutter lie together in the lake,
and we will hope that the spirits of both are with God. That we,
the children of one of them, remain on earth is certain; it is now
proper to know what we are to do in future."
"If we are not Thomas Hutter's children, Judith, no one will dispute
our right to his property. We have the castle and the Ark, and
the canoes, and the woods, and the lakes, the same as when he was
living, and what can prevent us from staying here, and passing our
lives just as we ever have done?"
"No, no poor sister - this can no longer be. Two girls would not
be safe here, even should these Hurons fail in getting us into their
power. Even father had as much as he could sometimes do, to keep
peace upon the lake, and we should fail altogether. We must quit
this spot, Hetty, and remove into the settlements."
"I am sorry you think so, Judith," returned Hetty, dropping her
head on her bosom, and looking thoughtfully down at the spot where
the funeral pile of her mother could just be seen. "I am very
sorry to hear it. I would rather stay here, where, if I wasn't
born, I've passed my life. I don't like the settlements - they are
full of wickedness and heart burnings, while God dwells unoffended
in these hills! I love the trees, and the mountains, and the lake,
and the springs; all that his bounty has given us, and it would
grieve me sorely, Judith, to be forced to quit them. You are
handsome, and not at all half-witted, and one day you will marry,
and then you will have a husband, and I a brother to take care of
us, if women can't really take care of themselves in such a place
as this."
"Ah! if this could be so, Hetty, then, indeed, I could now be
a thousand times happier in these woods, than in the settlements.
Once I did not feel thus, but now I do. Yet where is the man to
turn this beautiful place into such a garden of Eden for us?"
"Harry March loves you, sister," returned poor Hetty, unconsciously
picking the bark off the canoe as she spoke. "He would be glad
to be your husband, I'm sure, and a stouter and a braver youth is
not to be met with the whole country round."
"Harry March and I understand each other, and no more need be said
about him. There is one - but no matter. It is all in the hands
of providence, and we must shortly come to some conclusion about
our future manner of living. Remain here - that is, remain here,
alone, we cannot - and perhaps no occasion will ever offer for
remaining in the manner you think of. It is time, too, Hetty, we
should learn all we can concerning our relations and family. It
is not probable we are altogether without relations, and they may
be glad to see us. The old chest is now our property, and we have
a right to look into it, and learn all we can by what it holds.
Mother was so very different from Thomas Hutter, that, now I know
we are not his children, I burn with a desire to know whose children
we can be. There are papers in that chest, I am certain, and those
papers may tell us all about our parents and natural friends."
"Well, Judith, you know best, for you are cleverer than common,
mother always said, and I am only half-witted. Now father and
mother are dead, I don't much care for any relation but you, and
don't think I could love them I never saw, as well as I ought. If
you don't like to marry Hurry, I don't see who you can choose for
a husband, and then I fear we shall have to quit the lake, after
all."
"What do you think of Deerslayer, Hetty?" asked Judith, bending
forward like her unsophisticated sister, and endeavoring to
conceal her embarrassment in a similar manner. "Would he not make
a brother-in-law to your liking?"
"Deerslayer!" repeated the other, looking up in unfeigned surprise.
"Why, Judith, Deerslayer isn't in the least comely, and is altogether
unfit for one like you!"
"He is not ill-looking, Hetty, and beauty in a man is not of much
matter."
"Do you think so, Judith? I know that beauty is of no great matter,
in man or woman, in the eyes of God, for mother has often told me
so, when she thought I might have been sorry I was not as handsome
as you, though she needn't have been uneasy on that account, for
I never coveted any thing that is yours, sister - but, tell me so
she did - still, beauty is very pleasant to the eye, in both! I
think, if I were a man, I should pine more for good looks than I do
as a girl. A handsome man is a more pleasing sight than a handsome
woman."
"Poor child! You scarce know what you say, or what you mean!
Beauty in our sex is something, but in men, it passes for little.
To be sure, a man ought to be tall, but others are tall, as well as
Hurry; and active - and I think I know those that are more active
- and strong; well, he hasn't all the strength in the world - and
brave - I am certain I can name a youth who is braver!"
"This is strange, Judith! - I didn't think the earth held a handsomer,
or a stronger, or a more active or a braver man than Hurry Harry!
I'm sure I never met his equal in either of these things."
"Well, well, Hetty - say no more of this. I dislike to hear you
talking in this manner. Tis not suitable to your innocence, and
truth, and warm-hearted sincerity. Let Harry March go. He quits
us tonight, and no regret of mine will follow him, unless it be
that he has staid so long, and to so little purpose."
"Ah! Judith; that is what I've long feared - and I did so hope he
might be my brother-in-law!"
"Never mind it now. Let us talk of our poor mother - and of Thomas
Hutter."
"Speak kindly then, sister, for you can't be quite certain that
spirits don't both hear and see. If father wasn't father, he was
good to us, and gave us food and shelter. We can't put any stones
over their graves, here in the water, to tell people all this, and
so we ought to say it with our tongues."
"They will care little for that, girl. 'Tis a great consolation
to know, Hetty, that if mother ever did commit any heavy fault when
young, she lived sincerely to repent of it; no doubt her sins were
forgiven her."
"Tisn't right, Judith, for children to talk of their parents'
sins. We had better talk of our own."
"Talk of your sins, Hetty! - If there ever was a creature on earth
without sin, it is you! I wish I could say, or think the same of
myself; but we shall see. No one knows what changes affection for
a good husband can make in a woman's heart. I don't think, child,
I have even now the same love for finery I once had."
"It would be a pity, Judith, if you did think of clothes, over your
parents' graves! We will never quit this spot, if you say so, and
will let Hurry go where he pleases."
"I am willing enough to consent to the last, but cannot answer for
the first, Hetty. We must live, in future, as becomes respectable
young women, and cannot remain here, to be the talk and jest of all
the rude and foul tongu'd trappers and hunters that may come upon
the lake. Let Hurry go by himself, and then I'll find the means
to see Deerslayer, when the future shall be soon settled. Come,
girl, the sun has set, and the Ark is drifting away from us; let
us paddle up to the scow, and consult with our friends. This night
I shall look into the chest, and to-morrow shall determine what we
are to do. As for the Hurons, now we can use our stores without
fear of Thomas Hutter, they will be easily bought off. Let me get
Deerslayer once out of their hands, and a single hour shall bring
things to an understanding."
Judith spoke with decision, and she spoke with authority, a habit
she had long practised towards her feeble-minded sister. But,
while thus accustomed to have her way, by the aid of manner and a
readier command of words, Hetty occasionally checked her impetuous
feelings and hasty acts by the aid of those simple moral truths
that were so deeply engrafted in all her own thoughts and feelings;
shining through both with a mild and beautiful lustre that threw
a sort of holy halo around so much of what she both said and did.
On the present occasion, this healthful ascendancy of the girl of
weak intellect, over her of a capacity that, in other situations,
might have become brilliant and admired, was exhibited in the usual
simple and earnest manner.
"You forget, Judith, what has brought us here," she said reproachfully.
"This is mother's grave, and we have just laid the body of father
by her side. We have done wrong to talk so much of ourselves at
such a spot, and ought now to pray God to forgive us, and ask him
to teach us where we are to go, and what we are to do."
Judith involuntarily laid aside her paddle, while Hetty dropped on
her knees, and was soon lost in her devout but simple petitions.
Her sister did not pray. This she had long ceased to do directly,
though anguish of spirit frequently wrung from her mental and
hasty appeals to the great source of benevolence, for support, if
not for a change of spirit. Still she never beheld Hetty on her
knees, that a feeling of tender recollection, as well as of profound
regret at the deadness of her own heart, did not come over her.
Thus had she herself done in childhood, and even down to the hour
of her ill fated visits to the garrisons, and she would willingly
have given worlds, at such moments, to be able to exchange her
present sensations for the confiding faith, those pure aspirations,
and the gentle hope that shone through every lineament and movement
of her otherwise, less favored sister. All she could do, however,
was to drop her head to her bosom, and assume in her attitude some
of that devotion in which her stubborn spirit refused to unite.
When Hetty rose from her knees, her countenance had a glow and
serenity that rendered a face that was always agreeable, positively
handsome. Her mind was at peace, and her conscience acquitted her
of a neglect of duty.
"Now, you may go if you want to, Judith," she said, "for God has
been kind to me, and lifted a burden off my heart. Mother had many
such burdens, she used to tell me, and she always took them off in
this way. Tis the only way, sister, such things can be done. You
may raise a stone, or a log, with your hands; but the heart must be
lightened by prayer. I don't think you pray as often as you used
to do, when younger, Judith!"
"Never mind - never mind, child," answered the other huskily,
"'tis no matter, now. Mother is gone, and Thomas Hutter is gone,
and the time has come when we must think and act for ourselves."
As the canoe moved slowly away from the place, under the gentle
impulsion of the elder sister's paddle, the younger sat musing,
as was her wont whenever her mind was perplexed by any idea more
abstract and difficult of comprehension than common.
"I don't know what you mean by 'future', Judith," she at length,
suddenly observed. "Mother used to call Heaven the future, but
you seem to think it means next week, or tomorrow!"
"It means both, dear sister - every thing that is yet to come,
whether in this world or another. It is a solemn word, Hetty, and
most so, I fear, to them that think the least about it. Mother's
future is eternity; ours may yet mean what will happen while we
live in this world - Is not that a canoe just passing behind the
castle - here, more in the direction of the point, I mean; it is
hid, now; but certainly I saw a canoe stealing behind the logs!"
"I've seen it some time," Hetty quietly answered, for the Indians
had few terrors for her, "but I didn't think it right to talk about
such things over mother's grave! The canoe came from the camp,
Judith, and was paddled by a single man. He seemed to be Deerslayer,
and no Iroquois."
"Deerslayer!" returned the other, with much of her native impetuosity
-"That cannot be! Deerslayer is a prisoner, and I have been
thinking of the means of setting him free. Why did you fancy it
Deerslayer, child?"
"You can look for yourself, sister, for there comes the canoe in
sight, again, on this side of the hut."
Sure enough, the light boat had passed the building, and was now
steadily advancing towards the Ark; the persons on board of which
were already collecting in the head of the scow to receive their
visitor. A single glance sufficed to assure Judith that her sister
was right, and that Deerslayer was alone in the canoe. His approach
was so calm and leisurely, however, as to fill her with wonder, since
a man who had effected his escape from enemies by either artifice
or violence, would not be apt to move with the steadiness and
deliberation with which his paddle swept the water. By this time
the day was fairly departing, and objects were already seen dimly
under the shores. In the broad lake, however, the light still
lingered, and around the immediate scene of the present incidents,
which was less shaded than most of the sheet, being in its broadest
part, it cast a glow that bore some faint resemblance to the warm
tints of an Italian or Grecian sunset. The logs of the hut and
Ark had a sort of purple hue, blended with the growing obscurity,
and the bark of the hunter's boat was losing its distinctness in
colours richer, but more mellowed, than those it showed under a
bright sun. As the two canoes approached each other - for Judith and
her sister had plied their paddles so as to intercept the unexpected
visiter ere he reached the Ark - even Deerslayer's sun-burned
countenance wore a brighter aspect than common, under the pleasing
tints that seemed to dance in the atmosphere. Judith fancied that
delight at meeting her had some share in this unusual and agreeable
expression. She was not aware that her own beauty appeared to
more advantage than common, from the same natural cause, nor did
she understand what it would have given her so much pleasure to
know, that the young man actually thought her, as she drew nearer,
the loveliest creature of her sex his eyes had ever dwelt on.
"Welcome - welcome, Deerslayer!" exclaimed the girl, as the canoes
floated at each other's side; "we have had a melancholy -a frightful
day - but your return is, at least, one misfortune the less! Have
the Hurons become more human, and let you go; or have you escaped
from the wretches, by your own courage and skill?"
"Neither, Judith - neither one nor t'other. The Mingos are Mingos
still, and will live and die Mingos; it is not likely their natur's
will ever undergo much improvement. Well! They've their gifts,
and we've our'n, Judith, and it doesn't much become either to
speak ill of what the Lord has created; though, if the truth must
be said, I find it a sore trial to think kindly or to talk kindly
of them vagabonds. As for outwitting them, that might have been
done, and it was done, too, atween the Sarpent, yonder, and me, when
we were on the trail of Hist -" here the hunter stopped to laugh
in his own silent fashion - "but it's no easy matter to sarcumvent
the sarcumvented. Even the fa'ans get to know the tricks of the
hunters afore a single season is over, and an Indian whose eyes
have once been opened by a sarcumvention never shuts them ag'in in
precisely the same spot. I've known whites to do that, but never
a red-skin. What they l'arn comes by practice, and not by books,
and of all schoolmasters exper'ence gives lessons that are the
longest remembered."
"All this is true, Deerslayer, but if you have not escaped from
the savages, how came you here?"
"That's a nat'ral question, and charmingly put. You are wonderful
handsome this evening, Judith, or Wild Rose, as the Sarpent calls
you, and I may as well say it, since I honestly think it! You
may well call them Mingos, savages too, for savage enough do they
feel, and savage enough will they act, if you once give them an
opportunity. They feel their loss here, in the late skrimmage, to
their hearts' cores, and are ready to revenge it on any creatur'
of English blood that may fall in their way. Nor, for that matter
do I much think they would stand at taking their satisfaction out
of a Dutch man."
"They have killed father; that ought to satisfy their wicked cravings
for blood," observed Hetty reproachfully.
"I know it, gal - I know the whole story - partly from what I've
seen from the shore, since they brought me up from the point, and
partly from their threats ag'in myself, and their other discourse.
Well, life is unsartain at the best, and we all depend on the
breath of our nostrils for it, from day to day. If you've lost a
staunch fri'nd, as I make no doubt you have, Providence will raise
up new ones in his stead, and since our acquaintance has begun in
this oncommon manner, I shall take it as a hint that it will be a
part of my duty in futur', should the occasion offer, to see you
don't suffer for want of food in the wigwam. I can't bring the
dead to life, but as to feeding the living, there's few on all
this frontier can outdo me, though I say it in the way of pity and
consolation, like, and in no particular, in the way of boasting."
"We understand you, Deerslayer," returned Judith, hastily, "and
take all that falls from your lips, as it is meant, in kindness
and friendship. Would to Heaven all men had tongues as true, and
hearts as honest!"
"In that respect men do differ, of a sartainty, Judith. I've known
them that wasn't to be trusted any farther than you can see them;
and others ag'in whose messages, sent with a small piece of wampum,
perhaps, might just as much be depended on, as if the whole business
was finished afore your face. Yes, Judith, you never said truer
word, than when you said some men might be depended on, and other
some might not."
"You are an unaccountable being, Deerslayer," returned the girl,
not a little puzzled with the childish simplicity of character
that the hunter so often betrayed - a simplicity so striking that
it frequently appeared to place him nearly on a level with the
fatuity of poor Hetty, though always relieved by the beautiful moral
truth that shone through all that this unfortunate girl both said
and did - "You are a most unaccountable man, and I often do not
know how to understand you. But never mind, just now; you have
forgotten to tell us by what means you are here."
"I! - Oh! That's not very onaccountable, if I am myself, Judith.
I'm out on furlough."
"Furlough! - That word has a meaning among the soldiers that
I understand; but I cannot tell what it signifies when used by a
prisoner."
"It means just the same. You're right enough; the soldiers do
use it, and just in the same way as I use it. A furlough is when
a man has leave to quit a camp or a garrison for a sartain specified
time; at the end of which he is to come back and shoulder his musket,
or submit to his torments, just as he may happen to be a soldier,
or a captyve. Being the last, I must take the chances of a prisoner."
"Have the Hurons suffered you to quit them in this manner, without
watch or guard."
"Sartain - I woul'n't have come in any other manner, unless indeed
it had been by a bold rising, or a sarcumvention."
"What pledge have they that you will ever return?"
"My word," answered the hunter simply. "Yes, I own I gave 'em that,
and big fools would they have been to let me come without it! Why
in that case, I shouldn't have been obliged to go back and ondergo
any deviltries their fury may invent, but might have shouldered my
rifle, and made the best of my way to the Delaware villages. But,
Lord! Judith, they know'd this, just as well as you and I do, and
would no more let me come away, without a promise to go back, than
they would let the wolves dig up the bones of their fathers!"
"Is it possible you mean to do this act of extraordinary self-destruction
and recklessness?"
"Anan!"
"I ask if it can be possible that you expect to be able to put
yourself again in the power of such ruthless enemies, by keeping
your word."
Deerslayer looked at his fair questioner for a moment with stern
displeasure. Then the expression of his honest and guileless face
suddenly changed, lighting as by a quick illumination of thought,
after which he laughed in his ordinary manner.
"I didn't understand you, at first, Judith; no, I didn't! You
believe that Chingachgook and Hurry Harry won't suffer it; but you
don't know mankind thoroughly yet, I see. The Delaware would be
the last man on 'arth to offer any objections to what he knows is a
duty, and, as for March, he doesn't care enough about any creatur'
but himself to spend many words on such a subject. If he did, 'twould
make no great difference howsever; but not he, for he thinks more
of his gains than of even his own word. As for my promises, or
your'n, Judith, or any body else's, they give him no consarn. Don't
be under any oneasiness, therefore, gal; I shall be allowed to go
back according to the furlough; and if difficulties was made, I've
not been brought up, and edicated as one may say, in the woods,
without knowing how to look 'em down."
Judith made no answer for some little time. All her feelings as
a woman, and as a woman who, for the first time in her life was
beginning to submit to that sentiment which has so much influence
on the happiness or misery of her sex, revolted at the cruel fate
that she fancied Deerslayer was drawing down upon himself, while
the sense of right, which God has implanted in every human breast,
told her to admire an integrity as indomitable and as unpretending
as that which the other so unconsciously displayed. Argument,
she felt, would be useless, nor was she at that moment disposed
to lessen the dignity and high principle that were so striking in
the intentions of the hunter, by any attempt to turn him from his
purpose. That something might yet occur to supersede the necessity
for this self immolation she tried to hope, and then she proceeded
to ascertain the facts in order that her own conduct might be
regulated by her knowledge of circumstances.
"When is your furlough out, Deerslayer," she asked, after both
canoes were heading towards the Ark, and moving, with scarcely a
perceptible effort of the paddles, through the water.
"To-morrow noon; not a minute afore; and you may depend on it,
Judith, I shan't quit what I call Christian company, to go and give
myself up to them vagabonds, an instant sooner than is downright
necessary. They begin to fear a visit from the garrisons, and
wouldn't lengthen the time a moment, and it's pretty well understood
atween us that, should I fail in my ar'n'd, the torments are to
take place when the sun begins to fall, that they may strike upon
their home trail as soon as it is dark."
This was said solemnly, as if the thought of what was believed
to be in reserve duly weighed on the prisoner's mind, and yet so
simply, and without a parade of suffering, as rather to repel than
to invite any open manifestations of sympathy.
"Are they bent on revenging their losses?" Judith asked faintly,
her own high spirit yielding to the influence of the other's quiet
but dignified integrity of purpose.
"Downright, if I can judge of Indian inclinations by the symptoms.
They think howsever I don't suspect their designs, I do believe,
but one that has lived so long among men of red-skin gifts, is
no more likely to be misled in Injin feelin's, than a true hunter
is like to lose his trail, or a stanch hound his scent. My own
judgment is greatly ag'in my own escape, for I see the women are
a good deal enraged on behalf of Hist, though I say it, perhaps,
that shouldn't say it, seein' that I had a considerable hand myself
in getting the gal off. Then there was a cruel murder in their
camp last night, and that shot might just as well have been fired
into my breast. Howsever, come what will, the Sarpent and his wife
will be safe, and that is some happiness in any case."
"Oh! Deerslayer, they will think better of this, since they have
given you until to-morrow noon to make up your mind!"
"I judge not, Judith; yes, I judge not. An Injin is an Injin, gal,
and it's pretty much hopeless to think of swarving him, when he's
got the scent and follows it with his nose in the air. The Delawares,
now, are a half Christianized tribe - not that I think such sort of
Christians much better than your whole blooded onbelievers - but,
nevertheless, what good half Christianizing can do to a man, some
among 'em have got, and yet revenge clings to their hearts like
the wild creepers here to the tree! Then, I slew one of the best
and boldest of their warriors, they say, and it is too much to expect
that they should captivate the man who did this deed, in the very
same scouting on which it was performed, and they take no account
of the matter. Had a month, or so, gone by, their feelin's would
have been softened down, and we might have met in a more friendly
way, but it is as it is. Judith, this is talking of nothing but
myself, and my own consarns, when you have had trouble enough, and
may want to consult a fri'nd a little about your own matters. Is
the old man laid in the water, where I should think his body would
like to rest?"
"It is, Deerslayer," answered Judith, almost inaudibly. "That duty
has just been performed. You are right in thinking that I wish
to consult a friend; and that friend is yourself. Hurry Harry is
about to leave us; when he is gone, and we have got a little over
the feelings of this solemn office, I hope you will give me an hour
alone. Hetty and I are at a loss what to do."
"That's quite nat'ral, coming as things have, suddenly and fearfully.
But here's the Ark, and we'll say more of this when there is a
better opportunity."