"Thou hast been busy, Death, this day, and yet
But half thy work is done! The gates of hell
Are thronged, yet twice ten thousand spirits more
Who from their warm and healthful tenements
Fear no divorce; must, ere the sun go down,
Enter the world of woe!"-Southey, Roderick, the Last of the Goths, XXIV, i-6.
One experienced in the signs of the heavens, would have seen that
the sun wanted but two or three minutes of the zenith, when Deerslayer
landed on the point, where the Hurons were now encamped, nearly
abreast of the castle. This spot was similar to the one already
described, with the exception that the surface of the land
was less broken, and less crowded with trees. Owing to these two
circumstances, it was all the better suited to the purpose for which
it had been selected, the space beneath the branches bearing some
resemblance to a densely wooded lawn. Favoured by its position and
its spring, it had been much resorted to by savages and hunters,
and the natural grasses had succeeded their fires, leaving an
appearance of sward in places, a very unusual accompaniment of the
virgin forest. Nor was the margin of water fringed with bushes,
as on so much of its shore, but the eye penetrated the woods
immediately on reaching the strand, commanding nearly the whole
area of the projection.
If it was a point of honor with the Indian warrior to redeem his
word, when pledged to return and meet his death at a given hour,
so was it a point of characteristic pride to show no womanish
impatience, but to reappear as nearly as possible at the appointed
moment. It was well not to exceed the grace accorded by the
generosity of the enemy, but it was better to meet it to a minute.
Something of this dramatic effect mingles with most of the graver
usages of the American aborigines, and no doubt, like the prevalence
of a similar feeling among people more sophisticated and refined,
may be referred to a principle of nature. We all love the wonderful,
and when it comes attended by chivalrous self-devotion and a rigid
regard to honor, it presents itself to our admiration in a shape
doubly attractive. As respects Deerslayer, though he took a pride
in showing his white blood, by often deviating from the usages of
the red-men, he frequently dropped into their customs, and oftener
into their feelings, unconsciously to himself, in consequence of
having no other arbiters to appeal to, than their judgments and
tastes. On the present occasion, he would have abstained from
betraying a feverish haste by a too speedy return, since it would
have contained a tacit admission that the time asked for was more
than had been wanted; but, on the other hand, had the idea occurred
to him, he would have quickened his movements a little, in order to
avoid the dramatic appearance of returning at the precise instant
set as the utmost limit of his absence. Still, accident had interfered
to defeat the last intention, for when the young man put his foot
on the point, and advanced with a steady tread towards the group of
chiefs that was seated in grave array on a fallen tree, the oldest
of their number cast his eye upward, at an opening in the trees,
and pointed out to his companions the startling fact that the sun
was just entering a space that was known to mark the zenith. A
common, but low exclamation of surprise and admiration escaped every
mouth, and the grim warriors looked at each other, some with envy
and disappointment, some with astonishment at the precise accuracy
of their victim, and others with a more generous and liberal feeling.
The American Indian always deemed his moral victories the noblest,
prizing the groans and yielding of his victim under torture, more
than the trophy of his scalp; and the trophy itself more than his
life. To slay, and not to bring off the proof of victory, indeed,
was scarcely deemed honorable, even these rude and fierce tenants
of the forest, like their more nurtured brethren of the court and
the camp, having set up for themselves imaginary and arbitrary
points of honor, to supplant the conclusions of the right and the
decisions of reason.
The Hurons had been divided in their opinions concerning the
probability of their captive's return. Most among them, indeed, had
not expected it possible for a pale-face to come back voluntarily,
and meet the known penalties of an Indian torture; but a few of
the seniors expected better things from one who had already shown
himself so singularly cool, brave and upright. The party had
come to its decision, however, less in the expectation of finding
the pledge redeemed, than in the hope of disgracing the Delawares
by casting into their teeth the delinquency of one bred in their
villages. They would have greatly preferred that Chingachgook
should be their prisoner, and prove the traitor, but the pale-face
scion of the hated stock was no bad substitute for their purposes,
failing in their designs against the ancient stem. With a view to
render their triumph as signal as possible, in the event of the
hour's passing without the reappearance of the hunter, all the
warriors and scouts of the party had been called in, and the whole
band, men, women and children, was now assembled at this single
point, to be a witness of the expected scene. As the castle was
in plain view, and by no means distant, it was easily watched by
daylight, and, it being thought that its inmates were now limited
to Hurry, the Delaware and the two girls, no apprehensions were
felt of their being able to escape unseen. A large raft having a
breast-work of logs had been prepared, and was in actual readiness
to be used against either Ark or castle as occasion might require, so
soon as the fate of Deerslayer was determined, the seniors of the
party having come to the opinion that it was getting to be hazardous
to delay their departure for Canada beyond the coming night. In
short the band waited merely to dispose of this single affair,
ere it brought matters with those in the Castle to a crisis, and
prepared to commence its retreat towards the distant waters of
Ontario.
It was an imposing scene into which Deerslayer now found himself
advancing. All the older warriors were seated on the trunk of
the fallen tree, waiting his approach with grave decorum. On the
right stood the young men, armed, while left was occupied by the
women and children. In the centre was an open space of considerable
extent, always canopied by trees, but from which the underbrush,
dead wood, and other obstacles had been carefully removed. The
more open area had probably been much used by former parties, for
this was the place where the appearance of a sward was the most
decided. The arches of the woods, even at high noon, cast their
sombre shadows on the spot, which the brilliant rays of the sun
that struggled through the leaves contributed to mellow, and, if
such an expression can be used, to illuminate. It was probably
from a similar scene that the mind of man first got its idea of the
effects of gothic tracery and churchly hues, this temple of nature
producing some such effect, so far as light and shadow were concerned,
as the well-known offspring of human invention.
As was not unusual among the tribes and wandering bands of the
Aborigines, two chiefs shared, in nearly equal degrees, the principal
and primitive authority that was wielded over these children of
the forest. There were several who might claim the distinction of
being chief men, but the two in question were so much superior to
all the rest in influence, that, when they agreed, no one disputed
their mandates, and when they were divided the band hesitated, like
men who had lost their governing principle of action. It was also
in conformity with practice, perhaps we might add in conformity
with nature, that one of the chiefs was indebted to his mind for
his influence, whereas the other owed his distinction altogether
to qualities that were physical. One was a senior, well known for
eloquence in debate, wisdom in council, and prudence in measures; while
his great competitor, if not his rival, was a brave distinguished
in war, notorious for ferocity, and remarkable, in the way of
intellect, for nothing but the cunning and expedients of the war
path. The first was Rivenoak, who has already been introduced to
the reader, while the last was called le Panth'ere, in the language
of the Canadas, or the Panther, to resort to the vernacular of
the English colonies. The appellation of the fighting chief was
supposed to indicate the qualities of the warrior, agreeably to
a practice of the red man's nomenclature, ferocity, cunning and
treachery being, perhaps, the distinctive features of his character.
The title had been received from the French, and was prized so much
the more from that circumstance, the Indian submitting profoundly
to the greater intelligence of his pale-face allies, in most things
of this nature. How well the sobriquet was merited will be seen
in the sequel.
Rivenoak and the Panther sat side by side awaiting the approach
of their prisoner, as Deerslayer put his moccasined foot on the
strand, nor did either move, or utter a syllable, until the young
man had advanced into the centre of the area, and proclaimed his
presence with his voice. This was done firmly, though in the simple
manner that marked the character of the individual.
"Here I am, Mingos," he said, in the dialect of the Delawares, a
language that most present understood; "here I am, and there is the
sun. One is not more true to the laws of natur', than the other
has proved true to his word. I am your prisoner; do with me what
you please. My business with man and 'arth is settled; nothing
remains now but to meet the white man's God, accordin' to a white
man's duties and gifts."
A murmur of approbation escaped even the women at this address,
and, for an instant there was a strong and pretty general desire
to adopt into the tribe one who owned so brave a spirit. Still
there were dissenters from this wish, among the principal of whom
might be classed the Panther, and his sister, Ie Sumach, so called
from the number of her children, who was the widow of le Loup
Cervier, now known to have fallen by the hand of the captive.
Native ferocity held one in subjection, while the corroding passion
of revenge prevented the other from admitting any gentler feeling
at the moment. Not so with Rivenoak. This chief arose, stretched
his arm before him in a gesture of courtesy, and paid his compliments
with an ease and dignity that a prince might have envied. As,
in that band, his wisdom and eloquence were confessedly without
rivals, he knew that on himself would properly fall the duty of
first replying to the speech of the pale-face.
"Pale-face, you are honest," said the Huron orator. "My people
are happy in having captured a man, and not a skulking fox. We
now know you; we shall treat you like a brave. If you have slain
one of our warriors, and helped to kill others, you have a life
of your own ready to give away in return. Some of my young men
thought that the blood of a pale-face was too thin; that it would
refuse to run under the Huron knife. You will show them it is not
so; your heart is stout, as well as your body. It is a pleasure to
make such a prisoner; should my warriors say that the death of Ie
Loup Cervier ought not to be forgotten, and that he cannot travel
towards the land of spirits alone, that his enemy must be sent
to overtake him, they will remember that he fell by the hand of a
brave, and send you after him with such signs of our friendship as
shall not make him ashamed to keep your company. I have spoken;
you know what I have said."
"True enough, Mingo, all true as the gospel," returned the simple
minded hunter, 'you have spoken, and I do know not only what you
have said, but, what is still more important, what you mean. I
dare to say your warrior the Lynx was a stout-hearted brave, and
worthy of your fri'ndship and respect, but I do not feel unworthy
to keep his company, without any passport from your hands. Nevertheless,
here I am, ready to receive judgment from your council, if, indeed,
the matter was not detarmined among you afore I got back."
"My old men would not sit in council over a pale-face until they
saw him among them," answered Rivenoak, looking around him a little
ironically; "they said it would be like sitting in council over
the winds; they go where they will, and come back as they see fit,
and not otherwise. There was one voice that spoke in your favor,
Deerslayer, but it was alone, like the song of the wren whose mate
has been struck by the hawk."
"I thank that voice whosever it may have been, Mingo, and will say
it was as true a voice as the rest were lying voices. A furlough
is as binding on a pale-face, if he be honest, as it is on a red-skin,
and was it not so, I would never bring disgrace on the Delawares,
among whom I may be said to have received my edication. But words
are useless, and lead to braggin' feelin's; here I am; act your
will on me."
Rivenoak made a sign of acquiescence, and then a short conference
was privately held among the chiefs. As soon as the latter ended,
three or four young men fell back from among the armed group, and
disappeared. Then it was signified to the prisoner that he was
at liberty to go at large on the point, until a council was held
concerning his fate. There was more of seeming, than of real
confidence, however, in this apparent liberality, inasmuch as the
young men mentioned already formed a line of sentinels across the
breadth of the point, inland, and escape from any other part was
out of the question. Even the canoe was removed beyond this line of
sentinels, to a spot where it was considered safe from any sudden
attempt. These precautions did not proceed from a failure of
confidence, but from the circumstance that the prisoner had now
complied with all the required conditions of his parole, and it
would have been considered a commendable and honorable exploit to
escape from his foes. So nice, indeed, were the distinctions drawn
by the savages in cases of this nature, that they often gave their
victims a chance to evade the torture, deeming it as creditable
to the captors to overtake, or to outwit a fugitive, when his
exertions were supposed to be quickened by the extreme jeopardy
of his situation, as it was for him to get clear from so much
extraordinary vigilance.
Nor was Deerslayer unconscious of, or forgetful, of his rights and
of his opportunities. Could he now have seen any probable opening
for an escape, the attempt would not have been delayed a minute. But
the case seem'd desperate. He was aware of the line of sentinels,
and felt the difficulty of breaking through it, unharmed. The lake
offered no advantages, as the canoe would have given his foes the
greatest facilities for overtaking him; else would he have found
it no difficult task to swim as far as the castle. As he walked
about the point, he even examined the spot to ascertain if it
offered no place of concealment, but its openness, its size, and
the hundred watchful glances that were turned towards him, even
while those who made them affected not to see him, prevented any
such expedient from succeeding. The dread and disgrace of failure
had no influence on Deerslayer, who deemed it even a point of honor
to reason and feel like a white man, rather than as an Indian, and
who felt it a sort of duty to do all he could that did not involve
a dereliction from principle, in order to save his life. Still he
hesitated about making the effort, for he also felt that he ought
to see the chance of success before he committed himself.
In the mean time the business of the camp appeared to proceed in
its regular train. The chiefs consulted apart, admitting no one
but the Sumach to their councils, for she, the widow of the fallen
warrior, had an exclusive right to be heard on such an occasion.
The young men strolled about in indolent listlessness, awaiting the
result with Indian patience, while the females prepared the feast
that was to celebrate the termination of the affair, whether it
proved fortunate or otherwise for our hero. No one betrayed feeling,
and an indifferent observer, beyond the extreme watchfulness of
the sentinels, would have detected no extraordinary movement or
sensation to denote the real state of things. Two or three old
women put their heads together, and it appeared unfavorably to
the prospects of Deerslayer, by their scowling looks, and angry
gestures; but a group of Indian girls were evidently animated by a
different impulse, as was apparent by stolen glances that expressed
pity and regret. In this condition of the camp, an hour soon glided
away.
Suspense is perhaps the feeling of all others that is most difficult
to be supported. When Deerslayer landed, he fully expected in
the course of a few minutes to undergo the tortures of an Indian
revenge, and he was prepared to meet his fate manfully; but, the
delay proved far more trying than the nearer approach of suffering,
and the intended victim began seriously to meditate some desperate
effort at escape, as it might be from sheer anxiety to terminate
the scene, when he was suddenly summoned, to appear once more in
front of his judges, who had already arranged the band in its former
order, in readiness to receive him.
"Killer of the Deer," commenced Rivenoak, as soon as his captive
stood before him, "my aged men have listened to wise words; they
are ready to speak. You are a man whose fathers came from beyond
the rising sun; we are children of the setting sun; we turn our faces
towards the Great Sweet Lakes, when we look towards our villages.
It may be a wide country and full of riches towards the morning,
but it is very pleasant towards the evening. We love most to look
in that direction. When we gaze at the east, we feel afraid, canoe
after canoe bringing more and more of your people in the track of
the sun, as if their land was so full as to run over. The red men
are few already; they have need of help. One of our best lodges
has lately been emptied by the death of its master; it will be a
long time before his son can grow big enough to sit in his place.
There is his widow; she will want venison to feed her and her
children, for her sons are yet like the young of the robin, before
they quit the nest. By your hand has this great calamity befallen
her. She has two duties; one to le Loup Cervier, and one to his
children. Scalp for scalp, life for life, blood for blood, is one
law; to feed her young, another. We know you, Killer of the Deer.
You are honest; when you say a thing, it is so. You have but
one tongue, and that is not forked, like a snake's. Your head is
never hid in the grass; all can see it. What you say, that will
you do. You are just. When you have done wrong, it is your wish
to do right, again, as soon as you can. Here, is the Sumach; she
is alone in her wigwam, with children crying around her for food
- yonder is a rifle; it is loaded and ready to be fired. Take the
gun, go forth and shoot a deer; bring the venison and lay it before
the widow of Le Loup Cervier, feed her children; call yourself her
husband. After which, your heart will no longer be Delaware, but
Huron; le Sumach's ears will not hear the cries of her children;
my people will count the proper number of warriors."
"I fear'd this, Rivenoak," answered Deerslayer, when the other
had ceased speaking -"yes, I did dread that it would come to this.
Howsever, the truth is soon told, and that will put an end to all
expectations on this head. Mingo, I'm white and Christian born;
't would ill become me to take a wife, under red-skin forms, from
among heathen. That which I wouldn't do, in peaceable times, and
under a bright sun, still less would I do behind clouds, in order
to save my life. I may never marry; most likely Providence in
putting me up here in the woods, has intended I should live single,
and without a lodge of my own; but should such a thing come to pass,
none but a woman of my own colour and gifts shall darken the door
of my wigwam. As for feeding the young of your dead warrior, I
would do that cheerfully, could it be done without discredit; but
it cannot, seeing that I can never live in a Huron village. Your
own young men must find the Sumach in venison, and the next time
she marries, let her take a husband whose legs are not long enough
to overrun territory that don't belong to him. We fou't a fair
battle, and he fell; in this there is nothin' but what a brave
expects, and should be ready to meet. As for getting a Mingo
heart, as well might you expect to see gray hairs on a boy, or the
blackberry growing on the pine. No - no Huron; my gifts are white
so far as wives are consarned; it is Delaware, in all things touchin'
Injins."
These words were scarcely out of the mouth of Deerslayer, before
a common murmur betrayed the dissatisfaction with which they had
been heard. The aged women, in particular, were loud in their
expressions of disgust, and the gentle Sumach, herself, a woman quite
old enough to be our hero's mother, was not the least pacific in her
denunciations. But all the other manifestations of disappointment
and discontent were thrown into the background, by the fierce resentment
of the Panther. This grim chief had thought it a degradation to
permit his sister to become the wife of a pale-face of the Yengeese
at all, and had only given a reluctant consent to the arrangement
-one by no means unusual among the Indians, however - at the
earnest solicitations of the bereaved widow; and it goaded him to
the quick to find his condescension slighted, the honor he had with
so much regret been persuaded to accord, condemned. The animal
from which he got his name does not glare on his intended prey with
more frightful ferocity than his eyes gleamed on the captive, nor
was his arm backward in seconding the fierce resentment that almost
consumed his breast.
"Dog of the pale-faces!" he exclaimed in Iroquois, "go yell among
the curs of your own evil hunting grounds!"
The denunciation was accompanied by an appropriate action. Even
while speaking his arm was lifted, and the tomahawk hurled. Luckily
the loud tones of the speaker had drawn the eye of Deerslayer towards
him, else would that moment have probably closed his career. So
great was the dexterity with which this dangerous weapon was thrown,
and so deadly the intent, that it would have riven the scull of the
prisoner, had he not stretched forth an arm, and caught the handle
in one of its turns, with a readiness quite as remarkable as
the skill with which the missile had been hurled. The projectile
force was so great, notwithstanding, that when Deerslayer's arm
was arrested, his hand was raised above and behind his own head,
and in the very attitude necessary to return the attack. It is not
certain whether the circumstance of finding himself unexpectedly in
this menacing posture and armed tempted the young man to retaliate,
or whether sudden resentment overcame his forbearance and prudence.
His eye kindled, however, and a small red spot appeared on each
cheek, while he cast all his energy into the effort of his arm,
and threw back the weapon at his assailant. The unexpectedness of
this blow contributed to its success, the Panther neither raising
an arm, nor bending his head to avoid it. The keen little axe
struck the victim in a perpendicular line with the nose, directly
between the eyes, literally braining him on the spot. Sallying
forward, as the serpent darts at its enemy even while receiving its
own death wound, this man of powerful frame fell his length into
the open area formed by the circle, quivering in death. A common
rush to his relief left the captive, in a single instant, quite
without the crowd, and, willing to make one desperate effort for
life, he bounded off with the activity of a deer. There was but a
breathless instant, when the whole band, old and young, women and
children, abandoning the lifeless body of the Panther where it lay,
raised the yell of alarm and followed in pursuit.
Sudden as had been the event which induced Deerslayer to make this
desperate trial of speed, his mind was not wholly unprepared for
the fearful emergency. In the course of the past hour, he had
pondered well on the chances of such an experiment, and had shrewdly
calculated all the details of success and failure. At the first
leap, therefore, his body was completely under the direction of an
intelligence that turned all its efforts to the best account, and
prevented everything like hesitation or indecision at the important
instant of the start. To this alone was he indebted for the first
great advantage, that of getting through the line of sentinels
unharmed. The manner in which this was done, though sufficiently
simple, merits a description.
Although the shores of the point were not fringed with bushes,
as was the case with most of the others on the lake, it was owing
altogether to the circumstance that the spot had been so much used
by hunters and fishermen. This fringe commenced on what might
be termed the main land, and was as dense as usual, extending in
long lines both north and south. In the latter direction, then,
Deerslayer held his way, and, as the sentinels were a little without
the commencement of this thicket, before the alarm was clearly
communicated to them the fugitive had gained its cover. To run
among the bushes, however, was out of the question, and Deerslayer
held his way, for some forty or fifty yards, in the water, which
was barely knee deep, offering as great an obstacle to the speed
of his pursuers as it did to his own. As soon as a favorable spot
presented, he darted through the line of bushes and issued into the
open woods. Several rifles were discharged at Deerslayer while in
the water, and more followed as he came out into the comparative
exposure of the clear forest. But the direction of his line of
flight, which partially crossed that of the fire, the haste with
which the weapons had been aimed, and the general confusion that
prevailed in the camp prevented any harm from being done. Bullets
whistled past him, and many cut twigs from the branches at his
side, but not one touched even his dress. The delay caused by
these fruitless attempts was of great service to the fugitive, who
had gained more than a hundred yards on even the leading men of
the Hurons, ere something like concert and order had entered into
the chase. To think of following with rifles in hand was out of
the question, and after emptying their pieces in vague hopes of
wounding their captive, the best runners of the Indians threw them
aside, calling out to the women and boys to recover and load them,
again, as soon as possible.
Deerslayer knew too well the desperate nature of the struggle in
which he was engaged to lose one of the precious moments. He also
knew that his only hope was to run in a straight line, for as soon
as he began to turn, or double, the greater number of his pursuers
would put escape out of the question. He held his way therefore,
in a diagonal direction up the acclivity, which was neither very
high nor very steep in this part of the mountain, but which was
sufficiently toilsome for one contending for life, to render it
painfully oppressive. There, however, he slackened his speed to
recover breath, proceeding even at a quick walk, or a slow trot,
along the more difficult parts of the way. The Hurons were whooping
and leaping behind him, but this he disregarded, well knowing they
must overcome the difficulties he had surmounted ere they could
reach the elevation to which he had attained. The summit of the
first hill was now quite near him, and he saw, by the formation of
the land, that a deep glen intervened before the base of a second
hill could be reached. Walking deliberately to the summit, he
glanced eagerly about him in every direction in quest of a cover.
None offered in the ground, but a fallen tree lay near him, and
desperate circumstances required desperate remedies. This tree lay
in a line parallel to the glen, at the brow of the hill. To leap
on it, and then to force his person as close as possible under its
lower side, took but a moment. Previously to disappearing from his
pursuers, however, Deerslayer stood on the height and gave a cry
of triumph, as if exulting at the sight of the descent that lay
before him. In the next instant he was stretched beneath the tree.
No sooner was this expedient adopted, than the young man ascertained
how desperate had been his own efforts, by the violence of
the pulsations in his frame. He could hear his heart beat, and
his breathing was like the action of a bellows, in quick motion.
Breath was gained, however, and the heart soon ceased to throb as
if about to break through its confinement. The footsteps of those
who toiled up the opposite side of the acclivity were now audible,
and presently voices and treads announced the arrival of the
pursuers. The foremost shouted as they reached the height; then,
fearful that their enemy would escape under favor of the descent,
each leaped upon the fallen tree and plunged into the ravine,
trusting to get a sight of the pursued ere he reached the bottom.
In this manner, Huron followed Huron until Natty began to hope the
whole had passed. Others succeeded, however, until quite forty
had leaped over the tree, and then he counted them, as the surest
mode of ascertaining how many could be behind. Presently all were
in the bottom of the glen, quite a hundred feet below him, and
some had even ascended part of the opposite hill, when it became
evident an inquiry was making as to the direction he had taken.
This was the critical moment, and one of nerves less steady, or of
a training that had been neglected, would have seized it to rise
and fly. Not so with Deerslayer. He still lay quiet, watching
with jealous vigilance every movement below, and fast regaining
his breath.
The Hurons now resembled a pack of hounds at fault. Little was
said, but each man ran about, examining the dead leaves as the hound
hunts for the lost scent. The great number of moccasins that had
passed made the examination difficult, though the in-toe of an Indian
was easily to be distinguished from the freer and wider step of a
white man. Believing that no more pursuers remained behind, and
hoping to steal away unseen, Deerslayer suddenly threw himself over
the tree, and fell on the upper side. This achievement appeared
to be effected successfully, and hope beat high in the bosom of
the fugitive.
Rising to his hands and feet, after a moment lost in listening to
the sounds in the glen, in order to ascertain if he had been seen,
the young man next scrambled to the top of the hill, a distance
of only ten yards, in the expectation of getting its brow between
him and his pursuers, and himself so far under cover. Even this
was effected, and he rose to his feet, walking swiftly but steadily
along the summit, in a direction opposite to that in which he had
first fled. The nature of the calls in the glen, however, soon
made him uneasy, and he sprang upon the summit again, in order to
reconnoitre. No sooner did he reach the height than he was seen,
and the chase renewed. As it was better footing on the level
ground, Deerslayer now avoided the side hill, holding his flight
along the ridge; while the Hurons, judging from the general formation
of the land, saw that the ridge would soon melt into the hollow,
and kept to the latter, as the easiest mode of heading the fugitive.
A few, at the same time, turned south, with a view to prevent his
escaping in that direction, while some crossed his trail towards
the water, in order to prevent his retreat by the lake, running
southerly.
The situation of Deerslayer was now more critical than it ever had
been. He was virtually surrounded on three sides, having the lake
on the fourth. But he had pondered well on all the chances, and
took his measures with coolness, even while at the top of his speed.
As is generally the case with the vigorous border men, he could
outrun any single Indian among his pursuers, who were principally
formidable to him on account of their numbers, and the advantages
they possessed in position, and he would not have hesitated to
break off in a straight line at any spot, could he have got the
whole band again fairly behind him. But no such chance did, or
indeed could now offer, and when he found that he was descending
towards the glen, by the melting away of the ridge, he turned
short, at right angles to his previous course, and went down the
declivity with tremendous velocity, holding his way towards the
shore. Some of his pursuers came panting up the hill in direct
chase, while most still kept on in the ravine, intending to head
him at its termination.
Deerslayer had now a different, though a desperate project in view.
Abandoning all thoughts of escape by the woods, he made the best
of his way towards the canoe. He knew where it lay; could it
be reached, he had only to run the gauntlet of a few rifles, and
success would be certain. None of the warriors had kept their
weapons, which would have retarded their speed, and the risk would
come either from the uncertain hands of the women, or from those
of some well grown boy; though most of the latter were already out
in hot pursuit. Everything seemed propitious to the execution of
this plan, and the course being a continued descent, the young man
went over the ground at a rate that promised a speedy termination
to his toil.
As Deerslayer approached the point, several women and children were
passed, but, though the former endeavoured to cast dried branches
between his legs, the terror inspired by his bold retaliation on
the redoubted Panther was so great, that none dared come near enough
seriously to molest him. He went by all triumphantly and reached
the fringe of bushes. Plunging through these, our hero found
himself once more in the lake, and within fifty feet of the canoe.
Here he ceased to run, for he well understood that his breath was
now all important to him. He even stooped, as he advanced, and
cooled his parched mouth by scooping water up in his hand to drink.
Still the moments pressed, and he soon stood at the side of the
canoe. The first glance told him that the paddles had been removed!
This was a sore disappointment, after all his efforts, and, for
a single moment, he thought of turning, and of facing his foes
by walking with dignity into the centre of the camp again. But
an infernal yell, such as the American savage alone can raise,
proclaimed the quick approach of the nearest of his pursuers, and
the instinct of life triumphed. Preparing himself duly, and giving
a right direction to its bows, he ran off into the water bearing
the canoe before him, threw all his strength and skill into a last
effort, and cast himself forward so as to fall into the bottom
of the light craft without materially impeding its way. Here he
remained on his back, both to regain his breath and to cover his
person from the deadly rifle. The lightness, which was such an
advantage in paddling the canoe, now operated unfavorably. The
material was so like a feather, that the boat had no momentum, else
would the impulse in that smooth and placid sheet have impelled
it to a distance from the shore that would have rendered paddling
with the hands safe. Could such a point once be reached, Deerslayer
thought he might get far enough out to attract the attention of
Chingachgook and Judith, who would not fail to come to his relief
with other canoes, a circumstance that promised everything. As the
young man lay in the bottom of the canoe, he watched its movements
by studying the tops of the trees on the mountainside, and judged
of his distance by the time and the motions. Voices on the shore
were now numerous, and he heard something said about manning the
raft, which, fortunately for the fugitive, lay at a considerable
distance on the other side of the point.
Perhaps the situation of Deerslayer had not been more critical that
day than it was at this moment. It certainly had not been one half
as tantalizing. He lay perfectly quiet for two or three minutes,
trusting to the single sense of hearing, confident that the noise
in the lake would reach his ears, did any one venture to approach
by swimming. Once or twice he fancied that the element was stirred
by the cautious movement of an arm, and then he perceived it was
the wash of the water on the pebbles of the strand; for, in mimicry
of the ocean, it is seldom that those little lakes are so totally
tranquil as not to possess a slight heaving and setting on their
shores. Suddenly all the voices ceased, and a death like stillness
pervaded the spot: A quietness as profound as if all lay in the
repose of inanimate life. By this time, the canoe had drifted so
far as to render nothing visible to Deerslayer, as he lay on his
back, except the blue void of space, and a few of those brighter
rays that proceed from the effulgence of the sun, marking his
proximity. It was not possible to endure this uncertainty long.
The young man well knew that the profound stillness foreboded evil,
the savages never being so silent as when about to strike a blow;
resembling the stealthy foot of the panther ere he takes his leap.
He took out a knife and was about to cut a hole through the bark,
in order to get a view of the shore, when he paused from a dread
of being seen in the operation, which would direct the enemy where
to aim their bullets. At this instant a rifle was fired, and the
ball pierced both sides of the canoe, within eighteen inches of
the spot where his head lay. This was close work, but our hero
had too lately gone through that which was closer to be appalled.
He lay still half a minute longer, and then he saw the summit of
an oak coming slowly within his narrow horizon.
Unable to account for this change, Deerslayer could restrain his
impatience no longer. Hitching his body along, with the utmost
caution, he got his eye at the bullet hole, and fortunately commanded
a very tolerable view of the point. The canoe, by one of those
imperceptible impulses that so often decide the fate of men as well
as the course of things, had inclined southerly, and was slowly
drifting down the lake. It was lucky that Deerslayer had given it
a shove sufficiently vigorous to send it past the end of the point,
ere it took this inclination, or it must have gone ashore again.
As it was, it drifted so near it as to bring the tops of two or
three trees within the range of the young man's view, as has been
mentioned, and, indeed, to come in quite as close proximity with
the extremity of the point as was at all safe. The distance could
not much have exceeded a hundred feet, though fortunately a light
current of air from the southwest began to set it slowly off shore.
Deerslayer now felt the urgent necessity of resorting to some
expedient to get farther from his foes, and if possible to apprise
his friends of his situation. The distance rendered the last
difficult, while the proximity to the point rendered the first
indispensable. As was usual in such craft, a large, round, smooth
stone was in each end of the canoe, for the double purpose of seats
and ballast; one of these was within reach of his feet. This stone
he contrived to get so far between his legs as to reach it with his
hands, and then he managed to roll it to the side of its fellow in
the bows, where the two served to keep the trim of the light boat,
while he worked his own body as far aft as possible. Before quitting
the shore, and as soon as he perceived that the paddles were gone,
Deerslayer had thrown a bit of dead branch into the canoe, and this
was within reach of his arm. Removing the cap he wore, he put it
on the end of this stick, and just let it appear over the edge of
the canoe, as far as possible from his own person. This ruse was
scarcely adopted before the young man had a proof how much he had
underrated the intelligence of his enemies. In contempt of an
artifice so shallow and common place, a bullet was fired directly
through another part of the canoe, which actually raised his skin.
He dropped the cap, and instantly raised it immediately over his
head, as a safeguard. It would seem that this second artifice was
unseen, or what was more probable, the Hurons feeling certain of
recovering their captive, wished to take him alive.
Deerslayer lay passive a few minutes longer, his eye at the bullet
hole, however, and much did he rejoice at seeing that he was
drifting, gradually, farther and farther from the shore. When he
looked upward, the treetops had disappeared, but he soon found that
the canoe was slowly turning, so as to prevent his getting a view
of anything at his peephole, but of the two extremities of the lake.
He now bethought him of the stick, which was crooked and offered
some facilities for rowing without the necessity of rising. The
experiment succeeded on trial, better even than he had hoped, though
his great embarrassment was to keep the canoe straight. That his
present manoeuvre was seen soon became apparent by the clamor on
the shore, and a bullet entering the stern of the canoe traversed
its length, whistling between the arms of our hero, and passed out
at the head. This satisfied the fugitive that he was getting away
with tolerable speed, and induced him to increase his efforts.
He was making a stronger push than common, when another messenger
from the point broke the stick out-board, and at once deprived him
of his oar. As the sound of voices seemed to grow more and more
distant, however, Deerslayer determined to leave all to the drift,
until he believed himself beyond the reach of bullets. This was
nervous work, but it was the wisest of all the expedients that
offered, and the young man was encouraged to persevere in it by
the circumstance that he felt his face fanned by the air, a proof
that there was a little more wind.