THE PRAIRIE

By J. Fenimore Cooper

INTRODUCTION

"The Prairie" was the third in order of Fenimore Cooper'sLeatherstocking Tales. Its first appearance was in the year 1827. Theidea of the story had suggested itself to him, we are told, before hehad finished its immediate forerunner, "The Last of the Mohicans. " Hechose entirely new scenes for it, "resolved to cross the Mississippi andwander over the desolate wastes of the remote Western prairies. " He hadbeen taking every chance that came of making a personal acquaintancewith the Indian chiefs of the western tribes who were to be encounteredabout this period on their way in the frequent Indian embassies toWashington. "He saw much to command his admiration, " says Mrs. Cooper, "in these wild braves... It was a matter of course that in drawingIndian character he should dwell on the better traits of the picture, rather than on the coarser and more revolting though more common points. Like West, he could see the Apollo in the young Mohawk. "

When in July, 1826, Cooper landed in England with his wife and family, he carried his Indian memories and associations with him. They crossedto France, and ascended the Seine by steamboat, and then settled fora time in Paris. Of their quarters there in the Rue St. Maur, SarahFenimore Cooper writes:

"It was thoroughly French in character. There was a short, narrow, gloomy lane or street, shut in between lofty dwelling houses, the laneoften dark, always filthy, without sidewalks, a gutter running throughthe centre, over which, suspended from a rope, hung a dim oil lamp ortwo--such was the Rue St. Maur, in the Faubourg St. Germain. It was agloomy approach certainly. But a tall porte cochere opened, and suddenlythe whole scene changed. Within those high walls, so forbidding inaspect, there lay charming gardens, gay with parterres of flowers, andshaded by noble trees, not only those belonging to the house itself, but those of other adjoining dwellings of the same character--one lookedover park-like grounds covering some acres. The hotel itself, standingon the street, was old, and built on a grand scale; it had been the homeof a French ducal family in the time of Louis XIV. The rooms on the twolower floors were imposing and spacious; with ceilings of great height, gilded wainscoting and various quaint little medallion pictures ofshepherds and shepherdesses, and other fancies of the time of Madame deSevigne. Those little shepherds were supposed to have looked down upon_la mere beaute_, and upon _la plus jolie fille de France_ as she dancedher incomparable minuets. Those grand saloons were now devoted to thehumble service of a school for young ladies. But on the third floor, to which one ascended by a fine stone stairway, broad and easy, with elaborate iron railings, there was a more simple set of rooms, comfortably furnished, where the American family were pleasantlyprovided for, in a home of their own. Unwilling to separate from hischildren, who were placed at the school, the traveller adopted this planthat he might be near them. One of the rooms, overlooking the garden, and opening on a small terrace, became his study. He was soon at work. In his writing-desk lay some chapters of a new novel. The MS. Hadcrossed the ocean with him, though but little had been added to itspages during the wanderings of the English and French journeys. "

When, some months later, the story appeared, its effect was immediate onboth sides the Atlantic. It is worth note that during his French visitCooper met Sir Walter Scott. Cooper was born at Burlington, New Jersey, 15th Sept. , 1789, and died at Cooperstown, New York (which took its namefrom his father), 14th Sept. , 1851. 

The following is his literary record:

Precaution, 1820; The Spy, 1821; The Pioneers, 1823; The Pilot, 1823; Lionel Lincoln, or the Leaguer of Boston, 1825; The Last of theMohicans, 1826; The Prairie, 1827; The Red Rover, 1828; Notions of theAmericans, 1828; The Wept of Wish-ton-Wish, 1829; The Water-witch, 1830; The Bravo, 1831; The Heidenmauer, or the Benedictines, 1832; TheHeadsman, 1833; A Letter to his Countrymen, 1834; The Monikins, 1835;Sketches of Switzerland, 1836; Gleanings in Europe: 1837; (England)1837; (Italy) 1838; The American Democrat, 1838; Homeward Bound, 1838;The Chronicles of Cooperstown, 1838; Home as Found (Eve Effingham), 1839; History of the U. S. Navy, 1839; The Pathfinder, or the InlandSea, 1840; Mercedes of Castile, 1841; The Deerslayer, or the FirstWarpath, 1841; The Two Admirals, 1842; The Wing-and-Wing (Jack oLantern), 1842; The Battle of Lake Erie, or Answers to Messrs. Burges, Duer and Mackenzie, 1843; The French Governess; or, The EmbroideredHandkerchief, 1843; Richard Dale, 1843; Wyandotte, 1843; Ned Myers, orLife before the Mast, 1843; Afloat and Ashore (Miles Wallingford, LucyHardinge), two series, 1844; Proceedings of the Naval Court-Martial inthe Case of Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, etc. , 1844; Santanstoe, 1845;The Chainbearer, 1846; Lives of Distinguished American Naval Officers, 1846; The Red Skins, 1846; The Crater (Marks Reef), 1847; Captain Spike, or the Islets of the Gulf, 1848; Jack Tier, or the Florida Reefs, 1848;The Oak Openings, or the Bee-Hunter, 1848; The Sea Lions, 1849; The Waysof the Hour, 1850. 

Ernest Rhys 1907

AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION

The geological formation of that portion of the American Union, whichlies between the Alleghanies and the Rocky Mountains, has given rise tomany ingenious theories. Virtually, the whole of this immense region isa plain. For a distance extending nearly 1500 miles east and west, and600 north and south, there is scarcely an elevation worthy to be calleda mountain. Even hills are not common; though a good deal of the faceof the country has more or less of that "rolling" character, which isdescribed in the opening pages of this work. 

There is much reason to believe, that the territory which now composesOhio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and a large portion of the countrywest of the Mississippi, lay formerly under water. The soil of all theformer states has the appearance of an alluvial deposit; and isolatedrocks have been found, of a nature and in situations which render itdifficult to refute the opinion that they have been transferred to theirpresent beds by floating ice. This theory assumes that the Great Lakeswere the deep pools of one immense body of fresh water, which lay toolow to be drained by the irruption that laid bare the land. 

It will be remembered that the French, when masters of the Canadas andLouisiana, claimed the whole of the territory in question. Their huntersand advanced troops held the first communications with the savageoccupants, and the earliest written accounts we possess of these vastregions, are from the pens of their missionaries. Many French wordshave, consequently, become of local use in this quarter of America, andnot a few names given in that language have been perpetuated. When theadventurers, who first penetrated these wilds, met, in the centre of theforests, immense plains, covered with rich verdure or rank grasses, theynaturally gave them the appellation of meadows. As the English succeededthe French, and found a peculiarity of nature, differing from all theyhad yet seen on the continent, already distinguished by a word that didnot express any thing in their own language, they left these naturalmeadows in possession of their title of convention. In this manner hasthe word "Prairie" been adopted into the English tongue. 

The American prairies are of two kinds. Those which lie east of theMississippi are comparatively small, are exceedingly fertile, and arealways surrounded by forests. They are susceptible of high cultivation, and are fast becoming settled. They abound in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana. They labour under the disadvantages of a scarcity of woodand water, --evils of a serious character, until art has had time tosupply the deficiencies of nature. As coal is said to abound in allthat region, and wells are generally successful, the enterprise of theemigrants is gradually prevailing against these difficulties. 

The second description of these natural meadows lies west of theMississippi, at a distance of a few hundred miles from that river, andis called the Great Prairies. They resemble the steppes of Tartary morethan any other known portion of Christendom; being, in fact, a vastcountry, incapable of sustaining a dense population, in the absence ofthe two great necessaries already named. Rivers abound, it is true; butthis region is nearly destitute of brooks and the smaller water courses, which tend so much to comfort and fertility. 

The origin and date of the Great American Prairies form one of naturesmost majestic mysteries. The general character of the United States, ofthe Canadas, and of Mexico, is that of luxuriant fertility. It wouldbe difficult to find another portion of the world, of the same extent, which has so little useless land as the inhabited parts of the AmericanUnion. Most of the mountains are arable, and even the prairies, in thissection of the republic, are of deep alluvion. The same is true betweenthe Rocky Mountains and the Pacific. Between the two lies the broadbelt, of comparative desert, which is the scene of this tale, appearingto interpose a barrier to the progress of the American people westward. 

The Great Prairies appear to be the final gathering place of the redmen. The remnants of the Mohicans, and the Delawares, of the Creeks, Choctaws, and Cherokees, are destined to fulfil their time on thesevast plains. The entire number of the Indians, within the Union, isdifferently computed, at between one and three hundred thousand souls. Most of them inhabit the country west of the Mississippi. At the periodof the tale, they dwelt in open hostility; national feuds passing fromgeneration to generation. The power of the republic has done much torestore peace to these wild scenes, and it is now possible to travelin security, where civilised man did not dare to pass unprotectedfive-and-twenty years ago. 

The reader, who has perused the two former works, of which this is thenatural successor, will recognise an old acquaintance in the principalcharacter of the story. We have here brought him to his end, and wetrust he will be permitted to slumber in the peace of the just. 

J. F. Cooper Paris June 1832

THE PRAIRIE

CHAPTER I. 

 I pray thee, shepherd, if that love or gold, Can in this desert place buy entertainment, Bring us where we may rest ourselves and feed. --As you like it. 

Much was said and written, at the time, concerning the policy ofadding the vast regions of Louisiana, to the already immense andbut half-tenanted territories of the United States. As the warmth ofcontroversy however subsided, and party considerations gave place tomore liberal views, the wisdom of the measure began to be generallyconceded. It soon became apparent to the meanest capacity, that, whilenature had placed a barrier of desert to the extension of our populationin the west, the measure had made us the masters of a belt of fertilecountry, which, in the revolutions of the day, might have become theproperty of a rival nation. It gave us the sole command of the greatthoroughfare of the interior, and placed the countless tribes ofsavages, who lay along our borders, entirely within our control; itreconciled conflicting rights, and quieted national distrusts; itopened a thousand avenues to the inland trade, and to the waters ofthe Pacific; and, if ever time or necessity shall require a peacefuldivision of this vast empire, it assures us of a neighbour that willpossess our language, our religion, our institutions, and it is also tobe hoped, our sense of political justice. 

Although the purchase was made in 1803, the spring of the succeedingyear was permitted to open, before the official prudence of theSpaniard, who held the province for his European master, admitted theauthority, or even of the entrance of its new proprietors. But theforms of the transfer were no sooner completed, and the new governmentacknowledged, than swarms of that restless people, which is ever foundhovering on the skirts of American society, plunged into the thicketsthat fringed the right bank of the Mississippi, with the same carelesshardihood, as had already sustained so many of them in their toilsomeprogress from the Atlantic states, to the eastern shores of the "fatherof rivers. "[*]

 [*] The Mississippi is thus termed in several of the Indian languages. The reader will gain a more just idea of the importance of this stream, if he recalls to mind the fact, that the Missouri and the Mississippi are properly the same river. Their united lengths cannot be greatly short of four thousand miles. 

Time was necessary to blend the numerous and affluent colonists of thelower province with their new compatriots; but the thinner and morehumble population above, was almost immediately swallowed in the vortexwhich attended the tide of instant emigration. The inroad from theeast was a new and sudden out-breaking of a people, who had endured amomentary restraint, after having been rendered nearly resistless bysuccess. The toils and hazards of former undertakings were forgotten, asthese endless and unexplored regions, with all their fancied as well asreal advantages, were laid open to their enterprise. The consequenceswere such as might easily have been anticipated, from so tempting anoffering, placed, as it was, before the eyes of a race long trained inadventure and nurtured in difficulties. 

Thousands of the elders, of what were then called the New States[*], broke up from the enjoyment of their hard-earned indulgences, and wereto be seen leading long files of descendants, born and reared in theforests of Ohio and Kentucky, deeper into the land, in quest of thatwhich might be termed, without the aid of poetry, their natural and morecongenial atmosphere. The distinguished and resolute forester whofirst penetrated the wilds of the latter state, was of the number. Thisadventurous and venerable patriarch was now seen making his last remove;placing the "endless river" between him and the multitude his ownsuccess had drawn around him, and seeking for the renewal of enjoymentswhich were rendered worthless in his eyes, when trammelled by the formsof human institutions. [+]

 [*] All the states admitted to the American Union, since the revolution, are called New States, with the exception of Vermont: that had claims before the war; which were not, however, admitted until a later day. 

 [+] Colonel Boon, the patriarch of Kentucky. This venerable and hardy pioneer of civilisation emigrated to an estate three hundred miles west of the Mississippi, in his ninety-second year, because he found a population of ten to the square mile, inconveniently crowded!

In the pursuit of adventures such as these, men are ordinarily governedby their habits or deluded by their wishes. A few, led by the phantomsof hope, and ambitious of sudden affluence, sought the mines of thevirgin territory; but by far the greater portion of the emigrantswere satisfied to establish themselves along the margins of thelarger water-courses, content with the rich returns that the generous, alluvial, bottoms of the rivers never fail to bestow on the mostdesultory industry. In this manner were communities formed with magicalrapidity; and most of those who witnessed the purchase of the emptyempire, have lived to see already a populous and sovereign state, parcelled from its inhabitants, and received into the bosom of thenational Union, on terms of political equality. 

The incidents and scenes which are connected with this legend, occurredin the earliest periods of the enterprises which have led to so greatand so speedy a result. 

The harvest of the first year of our possession had long been passed, and the fading foliage of a few scattered trees was already beginning toexhibit the hues and tints of autumn, when a train of wagons issued fromthe bed of a dry rivulet, to pursue its course across the undulatingsurface, of what, in the language of the country of which we write, iscalled a "rolling prairie. " The vehicles, loaded with household goodsand implements of husbandry, the few straggling sheep and cattle thatwere herded in the rear, and the rugged appearance and careless mien ofthe sturdy men who loitered at the sides of the lingering teams, unitedto announce a band of emigrants seeking for the Elderado of the West. Contrary to the usual practice of the men of their caste, this party hadleft the fertile bottoms of the low country, and had found its way, bymeans only known to such adventurers, across glen and torrent, overdeep morasses and arid wastes, to a point far beyond the usual limits ofcivilised habitations. In their front were stretched those broad plains, which extend, with so little diversity of character, to the bases of theRocky Mountains; and many long and dreary miles in their rear, foamedthe swift and turbid waters of La Platte. 

The appearance of such a train, in that bleak and solitary place, wasrendered the more remarkable by the fact, that the surrounding countryoffered so little, that was tempting to the cupidity of speculation, and, if possible, still less that was flattering to the hopes of anordinary settler of new lands. 

The meagre herbage of the prairie, promised nothing, in favour of a hardand unyielding soil, over which the wheels of the vehicles rattled aslightly as if they travelled on a beaten road; neither wagons nor beastsmaking any deeper impression, than to mark that bruised and witheredgrass, which the cattle plucked, from time to time, and as oftenrejected, as food too sour, for even hunger to render palatable. 

Whatever might be the final destination of these adventurers, or thesecret causes of their apparent security in so remote and unprotecteda situation, there was no visible sign of uneasiness, uncertainty, oralarm, among them. Including both sexes, and every age, the number ofthe party exceeded twenty. 

At some little distance in front of the whole, marched the individual, who, by his position and air, appeared to be the leader of the band. Hewas a tall, sun-burnt, man, past the middle age, of a dull countenanceand listless manner. His frame appeared loose and flexible; but itwas vast, and in reality of prodigious power. It was, only at moments, however, as some slight impediment opposed itself to his loiteringprogress, that his person, which, in its ordinary gait seemed solounging and nerveless, displayed any of those energies, which laylatent in his system, like the slumbering and unwieldy, but terrible, strength of the elephant. The inferior lineaments of his countenancewere coarse, extended and vacant; while the superior, or those noblerparts which are thought to affect the intellectual being, were low, receding and mean. 

The dress of this individual was a mixture of the coarsest vestments ofa husbandman with the leathern garments, that fashion as well as use, had in some degree rendered necessary to one engaged in his presentpursuits. There was, however, a singular and wild display of prodigaland ill judged ornaments, blended with his motley attire. In place ofthe usual deer-skin belt, he wore around his body a tarnished silkensash of the most gaudy colours; the buck-horn haft of his knife wasprofusely decorated with plates of silver; the marten's fur of his capwas of a fineness and shadowing that a queen might covet; the buttonsof his rude and soiled blanket-coat were of the glittering coinage ofMexico; the stock of his rifle was of beautiful mahogany, riveted andbanded with the same precious metal, and the trinkets of no less thanthree worthless watches dangled from different parts of his person. In addition to the pack and the rifle which were slung at his back, together with the well filled, and carefully guarded pouch and horn, he had carelessly cast a keen and bright wood-axe across his shoulder, sustaining the weight of the whole with as much apparent ease, as if hemoved, unfettered in limb, and free from incumbrance. 

A short distance in the rear of this man, came a group of youths verysimilarly attired, and bearing sufficient resemblance to each other, and to their leader, to distinguish them as the children of one family. Though the youngest of their number could not much have passed theperiod, that, in the nicer judgment of the law, is called the age ofdiscretion, he had proved himself so far worthy of his progenitors asto have reared already his aspiring person to the standard height ofhis race. There were one or two others, of different mould, whosedescriptions must however be referred to the regular course of thenarrative. 

Of the females, there were but two who had arrived at womanhood; thoughseveral white-headed, olive-skinned faces were peering out of theforemost wagon of the train, with eyes of lively curiosity andcharacteristic animation. The elder of the two adults, was the sallowand wrinkled mother of most of the party, and the younger was asprightly, active, girl, of eighteen, who in figure, dress, and mien, seemed to belong to a station in society several gradations above thatof any one of her visible associates. The second vehicle was coveredwith a top of cloth so tightly drawn, as to conceal its contents, with the nicest care. The remaining wagons were loaded with such rudefurniture and other personal effects, as might be supposed to belongto one, ready at any moment to change his abode, without reference toseason or distance. 

Perhaps there was little in this train, or in the appearance of itsproprietors, that is not daily to be encountered on the highways of thischangeable and moving country. But the solitary and peculiar scenery, in which it was so unexpectedly exhibited, gave to the party a markedcharacter of wildness and adventure. 

In the little valleys, which, in the regular formation of the land, occurred at every mile of their progress, the view was bounded, on twoof the sides, by the gradual and low elevations, which gave name tothe description of prairie we have mentioned; while on the others, the meagre prospect ran off in long, narrow, barren perspectives, butslightly relieved by a pitiful show of coarse, though somewhat luxuriantvegetation. From the summits of the swells, the eye became fatigued withthe sameness and chilling dreariness of the landscape. The earth was notunlike the Ocean, when its restless waters are heaving heavily, afterthe agitation and fury of the tempest have begun to lessen. Therewas the same waving and regular surface, the same absence of foreignobjects, and the same boundless extent to the view. Indeed so verystriking was the resemblance between the water and the land, that, however much the geologist might sneer at so simple a theory, it wouldhave been difficult for a poet not to have felt, that the formation ofthe one had been produced by the subsiding dominion of the other. Hereand there a tall tree rose out of the bottoms, stretching its nakedbranches abroad, like some solitary vessel; and, to strengthen thedelusion, far in the distance, appeared two or three rounded thickets, looming in the misty horizon like islands resting on the waters. Itis unnecessary to warn the practised reader, that the sameness ofthe surface, and the low stands of the spectators, exaggerated thedistances; but, as swell appeared after swell, and island succeededisland, there was a disheartening assurance that long, and seeminglyinterminable, tracts of territory must be passed, before the wishes ofthe humblest agriculturist could be realised. 

Still, the leader of the emigrants steadily pursued his way, with noother guide than the sun, turning his back resolutely on the abodesof civilisation, and plunging, at each step, more deeply if notirretrievably, into the haunts of the barbarous and savage occupants ofthe country. As the day drew nigher to a close, however, his mind, whichwas, perhaps, incapable of maturing any connected system of forethought, beyond that which related to the interests of the present moment, became, in some slight degree, troubled with the care of providing forthe wants of the hours of darkness. 

On reaching the crest of a swell that was a little higher than the usualelevations, he lingered a minute, and cast a half curious eye, on eitherhand, in quest of those well known signs, which might indicate a place, where the three grand requisites of water, fuel and fodder were to beobtained in conjunction. 

It would seem that his search was fruitless; for after a few moments ofindolent and listless examination, he suffered his huge frame to descendthe gentle declivity, in the same sluggish manner that an over fattedbeast would have yielded to the downward pressure. 

His example was silently followed by those who succeeded him, thoughnot until the young men had manifested much more of interest, if not ofconcern in the brief enquiry, which each, in his turn, made on gainingthe same look-out. It was now evident, by the tardy movements both ofbeasts and men, that the time of necessary rest was not far distant. Thematted grass of the lower land, presented obstacles which fatigue beganto render formidable, and the whip was becoming necessary to urgethe lingering teams to their labour. At this moment, when, with theexception of the principal individual, a general lassitude was gettingthe mastery of the travellers, and every eye was cast, by a sort ofcommon impulse, wistfully forward, the whole party was brought to ahalt, by a spectacle, as sudden as it was unexpected. 

The sun had fallen below the crest of the nearest wave of the prairie, leaving the usual rich and glowing train on its track. In the centreof this flood of fiery light, a human form appeared, drawn against thegilded background, as distinctly, and seemingly as palpable, as thoughit would come within the grasp of any extended hand. The figure wascolossal; the attitude musing and melancholy, and the situation directlyin the route of the travellers. But imbedded, as it was, in its settingof garish light, it was impossible to distinguish its just proportionsor true character. 

The effect of such a spectacle was instantaneous and powerful. The manin front of the emigrants came to a stand, and remained gazing atthe mysterious object, with a dull interest, that soon quickened intosuperstitious awe. His sons, so soon as the first emotions of surprisehad a little abated, drew slowly around him, and, as they who governedthe teams gradually followed their example, the whole party was sooncondensed in one, silent, and wondering group. Notwithstandingthe impression of a supernatural agency was very general among thetravellers, the ticking of gun-locks was heard, and one or two of thebolder youths cast their rifles forward, in readiness for service. 

"Send the boys off to the right, " exclaimed the resolute wife andmother, in a sharp, dissonant voice; "I warrant me, Asa, or Abner willgive some account of the creature!"

"It may be well enough, to try the rifle, " muttered a dull lookingman, whose features, both in outline and expression, bore no smallresemblance to the first speaker, and who loosened the stock of hispiece and brought it dexterously to the front, while delivering thisopinion; "the Pawnee Loups are said to be hunting by hundreds in theplains; if so, they'll never miss a single man from their tribe. "

"Stay!" exclaimed a soft toned, but alarmed female voice, which waseasily to be traced to the trembling lips of the younger of the twowomen; "we are not altogether; it may be a friend!"

"Who is scouting, now?" demanded the father, scanning, at the same time, the cluster of his stout sons, with a displeased and sullen eye. "Put bythe piece, put by the piece;" he continued, diverting the other'saim, with the finger of a giant, and with the air of one it might bedangerous to deny. "My job is not yet ended; let us finish the littlethat remains, in peace. "

The man, who had manifested so hostile an intention, appeared tounderstand the other's allusion, and suffered himself to be divertedfrom his object. The sons turned their inquiring looks on the girl, whohad so eagerly spoken, to require an explanation; but, as if contentwith the respite she had obtained for the stranger, she sunk back, inher seat, and chose to affect a maidenly silence. 

In the mean time, the hues of the heavens had often changed. In place ofthe brightness, which had dazzled the eye, a gray and more sober lighthad succeeded, and as the setting lost its brilliancy, the proportionsof the fanciful form became less exaggerated, and finally distinct. Ashamed to hesitate, now that the truth was no longer doubtful, theleader of the party resumed his journey, using the precaution, as heascended the slight acclivity, to release his own rifle from the strap, and to cast it into a situation more convenient for sudden use. 

There was little apparent necessity, however, for such watchfulness. From the moment when it had thus unaccountably appeared, as it were, between the heavens and the earth, the stranger's figure had neithermoved nor given the smallest evidence of hostility. Had he harbouredany such evil intention, the individual who now came plainly into view, seemed but little qualified to execute them. 

A frame that had endured the hardships of more than eighty seasons, wasnot qualified to awaken apprehension, in the breast of one as powerfulas the emigrant. Notwithstanding his years, and his look of emaciation, if not of suffering, there was that about this solitary being, however, which said that time, and not disease, had laid his hand heavily on him. His form had withered, but it was not wasted. The sinews and muscles, which had once denoted great strength, though shrunken, were stillvisible; and his whole figure had attained an appearance of induration, which, if it were not for the well known frailty of humanity, would haveseemed to bid defiance to the further approaches of decay. His dress waschiefly of skins, worn with the hair to the weather; a pouch and hornwere suspended from his shoulders; and he leaned on a rifle of uncommonlength, but which, like its owner, exhibited the wear of long and hardservice. 

As the party drew nigher to this solitary being, and came within adistance to be heard, a low growl issued from the grass at his feet, andthen, a tall, gaunt, toothless, hound, arose lazily from his lair, andshaking himself, made some show of resisting the nearer approach of thetravellers. 

"Down, Hector, down, " said his master, in a voice, that was a littletremulous and hollow with age. "What have ye to do, pup, with men whojourney on their lawful callings?"

"Stranger, if you ar' much acquainted in this country, " said theleader of the emigrants, "can you tell a traveller where he may findnecessaries for the night?"

"Is the land filled on the other side of the Big River?" demanded theold man, solemnly, and without appearing to hearken to the other'squestion; "or why do I see a sight, I had never thought to beholdagain?"

"Why, there is country left, it is true, for such as have money, and ar'not particular in the choice, " returned the emigrant; "but to my taste, it is getting crowdy. What may a man call the distance, from this placeto the nighest point on the main river?"

"A hunted deer could not cool his sides, in the Mississippi, withouttravelling a weary five hundred miles. "

"And what may you name the district, hereaway?"

"By what name, " returned the old man, pointing significantly upward, "would you call the spot, where you see yonder cloud?"

The emigrant looked at the other, like one who did not comprehend hismeaning, and who half suspected he was trifled with, but he contentedhimself by saying--

"You ar' but a new inhabitant, like myself, I reckon, stranger, otherwise you would not be backward in helping a traveller to someadvice; words cost but little, and sometimes lead to friendships. "

"Advice is not a gift, but a debt that the old owe to the young. Whatwould you wish to know?"

"Where I may camp for the night. I'm no great difficulty maker, as tobed and board; but, all old journeyers, like myself, know the virtue ofsweet water, and a good browse for the cattle. "

"Come then with me, and you shall be master of both; and little more isit that I can offer on this hungry prairie. "

As the old man was speaking, he raised his heavy rifle to his shoulder, with a facility a little remarkable for his years and appearance, andwithout further words led the way over the acclivity to the adjacentbottom. 

CHAPTER II

 Up with my tent: here will I lie to-night, But where, to-morrow?--Well, all's one for that --Richard the Third. 

The travellers soon discovered the usual and unerring evidences that theseveral articles necessary to their situation were not far distant. Aclear and gurgling spring burst out of the side of the declivity, andjoining its waters to those of other similar little fountains in itsvicinity, their united contributions formed a run, which was easily tobe traced, for miles along the prairie, by the scattering foliage andverdure which occasionally grew within the influence of its moisture. Hither, then, the stranger held his way, eagerly followed by the willingteams, whose instinct gave them a prescience of refreshment and rest. 

On reaching what he deemed a suitable spot, the old man halted, andwith an enquiring look, he seemed to demand if it possessed theneeded conveniences. The leader of the emigrants cast his eyes, understandingly, about him, and examined the place with the keenness ofone competent to judge of so nice a question, though in that dilatoryand heavy manner, which rarely permitted him to betray precipitation. 

"Ay, this may do, " he said, satisfied with his scrutiny; "boys, you haveseen the last of the sun; be stirring. "

The young men manifested a characteristic obedience. The order, for suchin tone and manner it was, in truth, was received with respect; but theutmost movement was the falling of an axe or two from the shoulderto the ground, while their owners continued to regard the place withlistless and incurious eyes. In the mean time, the elder traveller, asif familiar with the nature of the impulses by which his children weregoverned, disencumbered himself of his pack and rifle, and, assistedby the man already mentioned as disposed to appeal so promptly to therifle, he quietly proceeded to release the cattle from the gears. 

At length the eldest of the sons stepped heavily forward, and, withoutany apparent effort, he buried his axe to the eye, in the soft body of acotton-wood tree. He stood, a moment, regarding the effect of the blow, with that sort of contempt with which a giant might be supposed tocontemplate the puny resistance of a dwarf, and then flourishing theimplement above his head, with the grace and dexterity with which amaster of the art of offence would wield his nobler though less usefulweapon, he quickly severed the trunk of the tree, bringing its talltop crashing to the earth in submission to his prowess. His companionsregarded the operation with indolent curiosity, until they saw theprostrate trunk stretched on the ground, when, as if a signal for ageneral attack had been given, they advanced in a body to the work, andin a space of time, and with a neatness of execution that would haveastonished an ignorant spectator, they stripped a small but suitablespot of its burden of forest, as effectually, and almost as promptly, asif a whirlwind had passed along the place. 

The stranger had been a silent but attentive observer of their progress. As tree after tree came whistling down, he cast his eyes upward at thevacancies they left in the heavens, with a melancholy gaze, and finallyturned away, muttering to himself with a bitter smile, like one whodisdained giving a more audible utterance to his discontent. Pressingthrough the group of active and busy children, who had already lighteda cheerful fire, the attention of the old man became next fixed onthe movements of the leader of the emigrants and of his savage lookingassistant. 

These two had, already, liberated the cattle, which were eagerlybrowsing the grateful and nutritious extremities of the fallen trees, and were now employed about the wagon, which has been describedas having its contents concealed with so much apparent care. Notwithstanding this particular conveyance appeared to be as silent, and as tenantless as the rest of the vehicles, the men applied theirstrength to its wheels, and rolled it apart from the others, to a dryand elevated spot, near the edge of the thicket. Here they broughtcertain poles, which had, seemingly, been long employed in such aservice, and fastening their larger ends firmly in the ground, thesmaller were attached to the hoops that supported the covering of thewagon. Large folds of cloth were next drawn out of the vehicle, andafter being spread around the whole, were pegged to the earth in sucha manner as to form a tolerably capacious and an exceedingly convenienttent. After surveying their work with inquisitive, and perhaps jealouseyes, arranging a fold here, and driving a peg more firmly there, themen once more applied their strength to the wagon, pulling it, by itsprojecting tongue, from the centre of the canopy, until it appearedin the open air, deprived of its covering, and destitute of any otherfreight, than a few light articles of furniture. The latter wereimmediately removed, by the traveller, into the tent with his ownhands, as though to enter it, were a privilege, to which even his bosomcompanion was not entitled. 

Curiosity is a passion that is rather quickened than destroyed byseclusion, and the old inhabitant of the prairies did not view theseprecautionary and mysterious movements, without experiencing some ofits impulses. He approached the tent, and was about to sever two of itsfolds, with the very obvious intention of examining, more closely, intothe nature of its contents, when the man who had once already placed hislife in jeopardy, seized him by the arm, and with a rude exercise ofhis strength threw him from the spot he had selected as the one mostconvenient for his object. 

"It's an honest regulation, friend, " the fellow, drily observed, thoughwith an eye that threatened volumes, "and sometimes it is a safe one, which says, mind your own business. "

"Men seldom bring any thing to be concealed into these deserts, "returned the old man, as if willing, and yet a little ignorant how toapologize for the liberty he had been about to take, "and I had hoped nooffence, in examining your comforts. "

"They seldom bring themselves, I reckon; though this has the look of anold country, to my eye it seems not to be overly peopled. "

"The land is as aged as the rest of the works of the Lord, I believe;but you say true, concerning its inhabitants. Many months have passedsince I have laid eyes on a face of my own colour, before your own. I say again, friend, I meant no harm; I did not know, but there wassomething behind the cloth, that might bring former days to my mind. "

As the stranger ended his simple explanation, he walked meekly away, like one who felt the deepest sense of the right which every man has tothe quiet enjoyment of his own, without any troublesome interference onthe part of his neighbour; a wholesome and just principle that he had, also, most probably imbibed from the habits of his secluded life. Ashe passed towards the little encampment of the emigrants, for such theplace had now become, he heard the voice of the leader calling aloud, inits hoarse tones, the name of--

"Ellen Wade. "

The girl who has been already introduced to the reader, and who wasoccupied with the others of her sex around the fires, sprang willinglyforward at this summons; and, passing the stranger with the activity ofa young antelope, she was instantly lost behind the forbidden folds ofthe tent. Neither her sudden disappearance, nor any of the arrangementswe have mentioned, seemed, however, to excite the smallest surpriseamong the remainder of the party. The young men, who had alreadycompleted their tasks with the axe, were all engaged after theirlounging and listless manner; some in bestowing equitable portionsof the fodder among the different animals; others in plying the heavypestle of a moveable homminy-mortar[*]; and one or two in wheeling theremainder of the wagons aside, and arranging them in such a manner as toform a sort of outwork for their otherwise defenceless bivouac. 

 [*] Homminy, is a dish composed chiefly of cracked corn, or maize. 

These several duties were soon performed, and, as darkness now beganto conceal the objects on the surrounding prairie, the shrill-tonedtermagant, whose voice since the halt had been diligently exercisedamong her idle and drowsy offspring, announced, in tones that might havebeen heard at a dangerous distance, that the evening meal waited onlyfor the approach of those who were to consume it. Whatever may be theother qualities of a border man, he is seldom deficient in the virtueof hospitality. The emigrant no sooner heard the sharp call of his wife, than he cast his eyes about him in quest of the stranger, in order tooffer him the place of distinction, in the rude entertainment to whichthey were so unceremoniously summoned. 

"I thank you, friend, " the old man replied to the rough invitation totake a seat nigh the smoking kettle; "you have my hearty thanks; butI have eaten for the day, and am not one of them, who dig their graveswith their teeth. Well; as you wish it, I will take a place, for it islong sin' I have seen people of my colour, eating their daily bread. "

"You ar' an old settler, in these districts, then?" the emigrant ratherremarked than enquired, with a mouth filled nearly to overflowing withthe delicious homminy, prepared by his skilful, though repulsivespouse. "They told us below, we should find settlers something thinnish, hereaway, and I must say, the report was mainly true; for, unless, wecount the Canada traders on the big river, you ar' the first white faceI have met, in a good five hundred miles; that is calculating accordingto your own reckoning. "

"Though I have spent some years, in this quarter, I can hardly be calleda settler, seeing that I have no regular abode, and seldom pass morethan a month, at a time, on the same range. "

"A hunter, I reckon?" the other continued, glancing his eyes aside, asif to examine the equipments of his new acquaintance; "your fixen seemnone of the best, for such a calling. "

"They are old, and nearly ready to be laid aside, like their master, "said the old man, regarding his rifle, with a look in which affectionand regret were singularly blended; "and I may say they are but littleneeded, too. You are mistaken, friend, in calling me a hunter; I amnothing better than a trapper. "[*]

 [*] It is scarcely necessary to say, that this American word means one who takes his game in a trap. It is of general use on the frontiers. The beaver, an animal too sagacious to be easily killed, is oftener taken in this way than in any other. 

"If you ar' much of the one, I'm bold to say you ar' something of theother; for the two callings, go mainly together, in these districts. "

"To the shame of the man who is able to follow the first be it so said!"returned the trapper, whom in future we shall choose to designate byhis pursuit; "for more than fifty years did I carry my rifle in thewilderness, without so much as setting a snare for even a bird thatflies the heavens;--much less, a beast that has nothing but legs, forits gifts. "

"I see but little difference whether a man gets his peltry by the rifleor by the trap, " said the ill-looking companion of the emigrant, in hisrough manner. "The 'arth was made for our comfort; and, for that matter, so ar' its creatur's. "

"You seem to have but little plunder, [*] stranger, for one who is farabroad, " bluntly interrupted the emigrant, as if he had a reason forwishing to change the conversation. "I hope you ar' better off forskins. "

 [*] The cant word for luggage in the western states of America is "plunder. " The term might easily mislead one as to the character of the people, who, notwithstanding their pleasant use of so expressive a word, are, like the inhabitants of all new settlements, hospitable and honest. Knavery of the description conveyed by "plunder, " is chiefly found in regions more civilised. 

"I make but little use of either, " the trapper quietly replied. "At mytime of life, food and clothing be all that is needed; and I have littleoccasion for what you call plunder, unless it may be, now and then, tobarter for a horn of powder, or a bar of lead. "

"You ar' not, then, of these parts by natur', friend, " the emigrantcontinued, having in his mind the exception which the other had takento the very equivocal word, which he himself, according to the custom ofthe country, had used for "baggage, " or "effects. "

"I was born on the sea-shore, though most of my life has been passed inthe woods. "

The whole party now looked up at him, as men are apt to turn their eyeson some unexpected object of general interest. One or two of the youngmen repeated the words "sea-shore" and the woman tendered him oneof those civilities with which, uncouth as they were, she was littleaccustomed to grace her hospitality, as if in deference to the travelleddignity of her guest. After a long, and, seemingly, a meditatingsilence, the emigrant, who had, however, seen no apparent necessity tosuspend the functions of his masticating powers, resumed the discourse. 

"It is a long road, as I have heard, from the waters of the west to theshores of the main sea?"

"It is a weary path, indeed, friend; and much have I seen, and somethinghave I suffered, in journeying over it. "

"A man would see a good deal of hard travel in going its length!"

"Seventy and five years have I been upon the road; and there are nothalf that number of leagues in the whole distance, after you leave theHudson, on which I have not tasted venison of my own killing. But thisis vain boasting. Of what use are former deeds, when time draws to anend?"

"I once met a man that had boated on the river he names, " observed theeldest son, speaking in a low tone of voice, like one who distrusted hisknowledge, and deemed it prudent to assume a becoming diffidence in thepresence of a man who had seen so much: "from his tell, it must bea considerable stream, and deep enough for a keel-boat, from top tobottom. "

"It is a wide and deep water-course, and many sightly towns are theregrowing on its banks, " returned the trapper; "and yet it is but a brookto the waters of the endless river. "

"I call nothing a stream that a man can travel round, " exclaimed theill-looking associate of the emigrant: "a real river must be crossed;not headed, like a bear in a county hunt. "[*]

 [*] There is a practice, in the new countries, to assemble the men of a large district, sometimes of an entire county, to exterminate the beasts of prey. They form themselves into a circle of several miles in extent, and gradually draw nearer, killing all before them. The allusion is to this custom, in which the hunted beast is turned from one to another. 

"Have you been far towards the sun-down, friend?" interrupted theemigrant, as if he desired to keep his rough companion as much aspossible out of the discourse. "I find it is a wide tract of clearing, this, into which I have fallen. "

"You may travel weeks, and you will see it the same. I often think theLord has placed this barren belt of prairie behind the States, towarn men to what their folly may yet bring the land! Ay, weeks, if notmonths, may you journey in these open fields, in which there is neitherdwelling nor habitation for man or beast. Even the savage animals travelmiles on miles to seek their dens; and yet the wind seldom blows fromthe east, but I conceit the sound of axes, and the crash of fallingtrees, are in my ears. "

As the old man spoke with the seriousness and dignity that age seldomfails to communicate even to less striking sentiments, his auditors weredeeply attentive, and as silent as the grave. Indeed, the trapperwas left to renew the dialogue himself, which he soon did by askinga question, in the indirect manner so much in use by the borderinhabitants. 

"You found it no easy matter to ford the water-courses, and to make yourway so deep into the prairies, friend, with teams of horses and herds ofhorned beasts?"

"I kept the left bank of the main river, " the emigrant replied, "until Ifound the stream leading too much to the north, when we rafted ourselvesacross without any great suffering. The women lost a fleece or twofrom the next year's shearing, and the girls have one cow less to theirdairy. Since then, we have done bravely, by bridging a creek every dayor two. "

"It is likely you will continue west, until you come to land moresuitable for a settlement?"

"Until I see reason to stop, or to turn ag'in, " the emigrant bluntlyanswered, rising at the same time, and cutting short the dialogue by thesuddenness of the movement. His example was followed by the trapper, aswell as the rest of the party; and then, without much deference tothe presence of their guest, the travellers proceeded to make theirdispositions to pass the night. Several little bowers, or rather huts, had already been formed of the tops of trees, blankets of coarse countrymanufacture, and the skins of buffaloes, united without much referenceto any other object than temporary comfort. Into these covers thechildren, with their mother, soon drew themselves, and where, it is morethan possible, they were all speedily lost in the oblivion of sleep. Before the men, however, could seek their rest, they had sundry littleduties to perform; such as completing their works of defence, carefullyconcealing the fires, replenishing the fodder of their cattle, andsetting the watch that was to protect the party, in the approachinghours of night. 

The former was effected by dragging the trunks of a few trees intothe intervals left by the wagons, and along the open space between thevehicles and the thicket, on which, in military language, the encampmentwould be said to have rested; thus forming a sort of chevaux-de-friseon three sides of the position. Within these narrow limits (with theexception of what the tent contained), both man and beast were nowcollected; the latter being far too happy in resting their wearylimbs, to give any undue annoyance to their scarcely more intelligentassociates. Two of the young men took their rifles; and, first renewingthe priming, and examining the flints with the utmost care, theyproceeded, the one to the extreme right, and the other to the left, ofthe encampment, where they posted themselves within the shadows of thethicket; but in such positions as enabled each to overlook a portion ofthe prairie. 

The trapper loitered about the place, declining to share the strawof the emigrant, until the whole arrangement was completed; and then, without the ceremony of an adieu, he slowly retired from the spot. 

It was now in the first watch of the night; and the pale, quivering, anddeceptive light, from a new moon, was playing over the endless waves ofthe prairie, tipping the swells with gleams of brightness, and leavingthe interval land in deep shadow. Accustomed to scenes of solitude likethe present, the old man, as he left the encampment, proceeded aloneinto the waste, like a bold vessel leaving its haven to enter on thetrackless field of the ocean. He appeared to move for some time withoutobject, or, indeed, without any apparent consciousness, whither hislimbs were carrying him. At length, on reaching the rise of one of theundulations, he came to a stand; and, for the first time since leavingthe band, who had caused such a flood of reflections and recollectionsto crowd upon his mind, the old man became aware of his presentsituation. Throwing one end of his rifle to the earth, he stood leaningon the other, again lost in deep contemplation for several minutes, during which time his hound came and crouched at his feet. A deep, menacing growl, from the faithful animal, first aroused him from hismusing. 

"What now, dog?" he said, looking down at his companion, as if headdressed a being of an intelligence equal to his own, and speaking ina voice of great affection. "What is it, pup? ha! Hector; what is itnosing, now? It won't do, dog; it won't do; the very fa'ns play in openview of us, without minding so worn out curs, as you and I. Instinctis their gift, Hector and, they have found out how little we are to befeared, they have!"

The dog stretched his head upward, and responded to the words of hismaster by a long and plaintive whine, which he even continued after hehad again buried his head in the grass, as if he held an intelligentcommunication with one who so well knew how to interpret dumb discourse. 

"This is a manifest warning, Hector!" the trapper continued, droppinghis voice, to the tones of caution and looking warily about him. "Whatis it, pup; speak plainer, dog; what is it?"

The hound had, however, already laid his nose to the earth, and wassilent; appearing to slumber. But the keen quick glances of his master, soon caught a glimpse of a distant figure, which seemed, through thedeceptive light, floating along the very elevation on which he hadplaced himself. Presently its proportions became more distinct, and thenan airy, female form appeared to hesitate, as if considering whether itwould be prudent to advance. Though the eyes of the dog were now to beseen glancing in the rays of the moon, opening and shutting lazily, hegave no further signs of displeasure. 

"Come nigher; we are friends, " said the trapper, associating himselfwith his companion by long use, and, probably, through the strength ofthe secret tie that connected them together; "we are your friends; nonewill harm you. "

Encouraged by the mild tones of his voice, and perhaps led on by theearnestness of her purpose, the female approached, until she stood athis side; when the old man perceived his visitor to be the young woman, with whom the reader, has already become acquainted by the name of"Ellen Wade. "

"I had thought you were gone, " she said, looking timidly and anxiouslyaround. "They said you were gone; and that we should never see youagain. I did not think it was you!"

"Men are no common objects in these empty fields, " returned the trapper, "and I humbly hope, though I have so long consorted with the beasts ofthe wilderness, that I have not yet lost the look of my kind. "

"Oh! I knew you to be a man, and I thought I knew the whine of thehound, too, " she answered hastily, as if willing to explain she knew notwhat, and then checking herself, like one fearful of having already saidtoo much. 

"I saw no dogs, among the teams of your father, " the trapper remarked. 

"Father!" exclaimed the girl, feelingly, "I have no father! I had nearlysaid no friend. "

The old man turned towards her, with a look of kindness and interest, that was even more conciliating than the ordinary, upright, andbenevolent expression of his weather-beaten countenance. 

"Why then do you venture in a place where none but the strong shouldcome?" he demanded. "Did you not know that, when you crossed the bigriver, you left a friend behind you that is always bound to look to theyoung and feeble, like yourself. "

"Of whom do you speak?"

"The law--'tis bad to have it, but, I sometimes think, it is worse tobe entirely without it. Age and weakness have brought me to feel suchweakness, at times. Yes--yes, the law is needed, when such as have notthe gifts of strength and wisdom are to be taken care of. I hope, youngwoman, if you have no father, you have at least a brother. "

The maiden felt the tacit reproach conveyed in this covert question, and for a moment she remained in an embarrassed silence. But catchinga glimpse of the mild and serious features of her companion, as hecontinued to gaze on her with a look of interest, she replied, firmly, and in a manner that left no doubt she comprehended his meaning:

"Heaven forbid that any such as you have seen, should be a brother ofmine, or any thing else near or dear to me! But, tell me, do you thenactually live alone, in this desert district, old man; is there reallynone here besides yourself?"

"There are hundreds, nay, thousands of the rightful owners of thecountry, roving about the plains; but few of our own colour. "

"And have you then met none who are white, but us?" interrupted thegirl, like one too impatient to await the tardy explanations of age anddeliberation. 

"Not in many days--Hush, Hector, hush, " he added in reply to a low, andnearly inaudible, growl from his hound. "The dog scents mischief in thewind! The black bears from the mountains sometimes make their way, evenlower than this. The pup is not apt to complain of the harmless game. I am not so ready and true with the piece as I used-to-could-be, yet Ihave struck even the fiercest animals of the prairie in my time; so, youhave little reason for fear, young woman. "

The girl raised her eyes, in that peculiar manner which is so oftenpractised by her sex, when they commence their glances, by examining theearth at their feet, and terminate them by noting every thing withinthe power of human vision; but she rather manifested the quality ofimpatience, than any feeling of alarm. 

A short bark from the dog, however, soon gave a new direction to thelooks of both, and then the real object of his second warning becamedimly visible. 

CHAPTER III

 Come, come, thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood, as any in Italy; and as soon mov'd to be moody, and as soon moody to be moved. --Romeo and Juliet. 

Though the trapper manifested some surprise when he perceived thatanother human figure was approaching him, and that, too, from adirection opposite to the place where the emigrant had made hisencampment, it was with the steadiness of one long accustomed to scenesof danger. 

"This is a man, " he said; "and one who has white blood in his veins, orhis step would be lighter. It will be well to be ready for the worst, asthe half-and-halfs, [*] that one meets, in these distant districts, arealtogether more barbarous than the real savage. "

 [*] Half-breeds; men born of Indian women by white fathers. This race has much of the depravity of civilisation without the virtues of the savage. 

He raised his rifle while he spoke, and assured himself of the state ofits flint, as well as of the priming by manual examination. But his armwas arrested, while in the act of throwing forward the muzzle of thepiece, by the eager and trembling hands of his companion. 

"For God's sake, be not too hasty, " she said; "it may be a friend--anacquaintance--a neighbour!"

"A friend!" the old man repeated, deliberately releasing himself, at thesame time, from her grasp. "Friends are rare in any land, and less inthis, perhaps, than in another; and the neighbourhood is too thinlysettled to make it likely that he who comes towards us is even anacquaintance. "

"But though a stranger, you would not seek his blood!"

The trapper earnestly regarded her anxious and frightened features, and then he dropped the butt of his rifle on the ground, like one whosepurpose had undergone a sudden change. 

"No, " he said, speaking rather to himself, than to his companion, "sheis right; blood is not to be spilt, to save the life of one so useless, and so near his time. Let him come on; my skins, my traps, and even myrifle shall be his, if he sees fit to demand them. "

"He will ask for neither:--he wants neither, " returned the girl; "if hebe an honest man, he will surely be content with his own, and ask fornothing that is the property of another. "

The trapper had not time to express the surprise he felt at thisincoherent and contradictory language, for the man who was advancing, was, already, within fifty feet of the place where they stood. --Inthe mean time, Hector had not been an indifferent witness of what waspassing. At the sound of the distant footsteps, he had arisen, from hiswarm bed at the feet of his master; and now, as the stranger appeared inopen view, he stalked slowly towards him, crouching to the earth like apanther about to take his leap. 

"Call in your dog, " said a firm, deep, manly voice, in tones offriendship, rather than of menace; "I love a hound, and should be sorryto do an injury to the animal. "

"You hear what is said about you, pup?" the trapper answered; "comehither, fool. His growl and his bark are all that is left him now; youmay come on, friend; the hound is toothless. "

The stranger profited by the intelligence. He sprang eagerly forward, and at the next instant stood at the side of Ellen Wade. After assuringhimself of the identity of the latter, by a hasty but keen glance, heturned his attention, with a quickness and impatience, that provedthe interest he took in the result, to a similar examination of hercompanion. 

"From what cloud have you fallen, my good old man?" he said in acareless, off-hand, heedless manner that seemed too natural to beassumed: "or do you actually live, hereaway, in the prairies?"

"I have been long on earth, and never I hope nigher to heaven, than I amat this moment, " returned the trapper; "my dwelling, if dwelling I maybe said to have, is not far distant. Now may I take the liberty withyou, that you are so willing to take with others? Whence do you come, and where is your home?"

"Softly, softly; when I have done with my catechism, it will be time tobegin with yours. What sport is this, you follow by moonlight? You arenot dodging the buffaloes at such an hour!"

"I am, as you see, going from an encampment of travellers, which liesover yonder swell in the land, to my own wigwam; in doing so, I wrong noman. "

"All fair and true. And you got this young woman to show you the way, because she knows it so well and you know so little about it yourself!"

"I met her, as I have met you, by accident. For ten tiresome years haveI dwelt on these open fields, and never, before to-night, have I foundhuman beings with white skins on them, at this hour. If my presence heregives offence, I am sorry; and will go my way. It is more than likelythat when your young friend has told her story, you will be better givento believe mine. 

"Friend!" said the youth, lifting a cap of skins from his head, andrunning his fingers leisurely through a dense mass of black and shaggylocks, "if I have ever laid eyes on the girl before to-night, may I--"

"You've said enough, Paul, " interrupted the female, laying her handon his mouth, with a familiarity that gave something very like the liedirect, to his intended asseveration. "Our secret will be safe, withthis honest old man. I know it by his looks, and kind words. "

"Our secret! Ellen, have you forgot--"

"Nothing. I have not forgotten any thing I should remember. But still Isay we are safe with this honest trapper. "

"Trapper! is he then a trapper? Give me your hand, father; our tradesshould bring us acquainted. "

"There is little call for handicrafts in this region, " returned theother, examining the athletic and active form of the youth, as he leanedcarelessly and not ungracefully, on his rifle; "the art of taking thecreatur's of God, in traps and nets, is one that needs more cunning thanmanhood; and yet am I brought to practise it, in my age! But it wouldbe quite as seemly, in one like you, to follow a pursuit better becomingyour years and courage. "

"I! I never took even a slinking mink or a paddling musk-rat in a cage;though I admit having peppered a few of the dark-skin'd devils, whenI had much better have kept my powder in the horn and the lead in itspouch. Not I, old man; nothing that crawls the earth is for my sport. "

"What then may you do for a living, friend? for little profit is to bemade in these districts, if a man denies himself his lawful right in thebeasts of the fields. "

"I deny myself nothing. If a bear crosses my path, he is soon the mereghost of Bruin. The deer begin to nose me; and as for the buffaloe, Ihave kill'd more beef, old stranger, than the largest butcher in allKentuck. "

"You can shoot, then!" demanded the trapper, with a glow of latent fire, glimmering about his eyes; "is your hand true, and your look quick?"

"The first is like a steel trap, and the last nimbler than a buck-shot. I wish it was hot noon, now, grand'ther; and that there was an acre ortwo of your white swans or of black feathered ducks going south, overour heads; you or Ellen, here, might set your heart on the finest in theflock, and my character against a horn of powder, that the bird wouldbe hanging head downwards, in five minutes, and that too, with a singleball. I scorn a shot-gun! No man can say, he ever knew me carry one, arod. "

"The lad has good in him! I see it plainly by his manner;" said thetrapper, turning to Ellen with an encouraging air; "I will take it onmyself to say, that you are not unwise in meeting him, as you do. Tellme, lad; did you ever strike a leaping buck atwixt the antlers? Hector;quiet, pup; quiet. The very name of venison quickens the blood of thecur;--did you ever take an animal in that fashion, on the long leap?"

"You might just as well ask me, did you ever eat? There is no fashion, old stranger, that a deer has not been touched by my hand, unless it waswhen asleep. "

"Ay, ay; you have a long and a happy-ay, and an honest life afore you! Iam old, and I suppose I might also say, worn out and useless; but, ifit was given me to choose my time, and place, again, --as such things arenot and ought not ever to be given to the will of man--though if sucha gift was to be given me, I would say, twenty and the wilderness! But, tell me; how do you part with the peltry?"

"With my pelts! I never took a skin from a buck, nor a quill from agoose, in my life! I knock them over, now and then, for a meal, andsometimes to keep my finger true to the touch; but when hunger issatisfied, the prairie wolves get the remainder. No--no--I keep to mycalling; which pays me better, than all the fur I could sell on theother side of the big river. "

The old man appeared to ponder a little; but shaking his head he sooncontinued--

"I know of but one business that can be followed here with profit--"

He was interrupted by the youth, who raised a small cup of tin, whichdangled at his neck before the other's eyes, and springing its lid, thedelicious odour of the finest flavoured honey, diffused itself over theorgans of the trapper. 

"A bee hunter!" observed the latter, with a readiness that proved heunderstood the nature of the occupation, though not without some littlesurprise at discovering one of the other's spirited mien engaged in sohumble a pursuit. "It pays well in the skirts of the settlements, but Ishould call it a doubtful trade, in the more open districts. "

"You think a tree is wanting for a swarm to settle in! But I knowdifferently; and so I have stretched out a few hundred miles fartherwest than common, to taste your honey. And, now, I have bated yourcuriosity, stranger, you will just move aside, while I tell theremainder of my story to this young woman. "

"It is not necessary, I'm sure it is not necessary, that he should leaveus, " said Ellen, with a haste that implied some little consciousness ofthe singularity if not of the impropriety of the request. "You can havenothing to say that the whole world might not hear. "

"No! well, may I be stung to death by drones, if I understand thebuzzings of a woman's mind! For my part, Ellen, I care for nothing norany body; and am just as ready to go down to the place where your uncle, if uncle you can call one, who I'll swear is no relation, has hoppledhis teams, and tell the old man my mind now, as I shall be a year hence. You have only to say a single word, and the thing is done; let him likeit or not. "

"You are ever so hasty and so rash, Paul Hover, that I seldom know whenI am safe with you. How can you, who know the danger of our being seentogether, speak of going before my uncle and his sons?"

"Has he done that of which he has reason to be ashamed?" demanded thetrapper, who had not moved an inch from the place he first occupied. 

"Heaven forbid! But there are reasons, why he should not be seen, justnow, that could do him no harm if known; but which may not yet be told. And, so, if you will wait, father, near yonder willow bush, until I haveheard what Paul can possibly have to say, I shall be sure to come andwish you a good night, before I return to the camp. "

The trapper drew slowly aside, as if satisfied with the somewhatincoherent reason Ellen had given why he should retire. When completelyout of ear shot of the earnest and hurried dialogue, that instantlycommenced between the two he had left, the old man again paused, andpatiently awaited the moment when he might renew his conversation withbeings in whom he felt a growing interest, no less from the mysteriouscharacter of their intercourse, than from a natural sympathy in thewelfare of a pair so young, and who, as in the simplicity of his hearthe was also fain to believe, were also so deserving. He was accompaniedby his indolent, but attached dog, who once more made his bed at thefeet of his master, and soon lay slumbering as usual, with his headnearly buried in the dense fog of the prairie grass. 

It was a spectacle so unusual to see the human form amid the solitude inwhich he dwelt, that the trapper bent his eyes on the dim figures of hisnew acquaintances, with sensations to which he had long been a stranger. Their presence awakened recollections and emotions, to which his sturdybut honest nature had latterly paid but little homage, and his thoughtsbegan to wander over the varied scenes of a life of hardships, that hadbeen strangely blended with scenes of wild and peculiar enjoyment. Thetrain taken by his thoughts had, already, conducted him, in imagination, far into an ideal world, when he was, once more suddenly, recalled tothe reality of his situation, by the movements of the faithful hound. 

The dog, who, in submission to his years and infirmities, had manifestedsuch a decided propensity to sleep, now arose, and stalked from out theshadow cast by the tall person of his master, and looked abroad intothe prairie, as if his instinct apprised him of the presence of stillanother visitor. Then, seemingly content with his examination, hereturned to his comfortable post and disposed of his weary limbs, with the deliberation and care of one who was no novice in the art ofself-preservation. 

"What; again, Hector!" said the trapper in a soothing voice, which hehad the caution, however, to utter in an under tone; "what is it, dog?tell it all to his master, pup; what is it?"

Hector answered with another growl, but was content to continue in hislair. These were evidences of intelligence and distrust, to which oneas practised as the trapper could not turn an inattentive ear. He againspoke to the dog, encouraging him to watchfulness, by a low guardedwhistle. The animal however, as if conscious of having, already, discharged his duty, obstinately refused to raise his head from thegrass. 

"A hint from such a friend is far better than man's advice!" mutteredthe trapper, as he slowly moved towards the couple who were yet, tooearnestly and abstractedly, engaged in their own discourse, to noticehis approach; "and none but a conceited settler would hear it andnot respect it, as he ought. Children, " he added, when nigh enough toaddress his companions, "we are not alone in these dreary fields; thereare others stirring, and, therefore, to the shame of our kind, be itsaid, danger is nigh. "

"If one of the lazy sons of Skirting Ishmael is prowling out of his campto-night, " said the young bee-hunter, with great vivacity, and in tonesthat might easily have been excited to a menace, "he may have an end putto his journey sooner than either he or his father is dreaming!"

"My life on it, they are all with the teams, " hurriedly answered thegirl. "I saw the whole of them asleep, myself, except the two on watch;and their natures have greatly changed, if they, too, are not bothdreaming of a turkey hunt, or a court-house fight, at this very moment. "

"Some beast, with a strong scent, has passed between the wind and thehound, father, and it makes him uneasy; or, perhaps, he too is dreaming. I had a pup of my own, in Kentuck, that would start upon a long chasefrom a deep sleep; and all upon the fancy of some dream. Go to him, andpinch his ear, that the beast may feel the life within him. "

"Not so--not so, " returned the trapper, shaking his head as one whobetter understood the qualities of his dog. --"Youth sleeps, ay, anddreams too; but age is awake and watchful. The pup is never false withhis nose, and long experience tells me to heed his warnings. "

"Did you ever run him upon the trail of carrion?"

"Why, I must say, that the ravenous beasts have sometimes tempted me tolet him loose, for they are as greedy as men, after the venison, inits season; but then I knew the reason of the dog, would tell him theobject!--No--no, Hector is an animal known in the ways of man, and willnever strike a false trail when a true one is to be followed!"

"Ay, ay, the secret is out! you have run the hound on the track ofa wolf, and his nose has a better memory than his master!" said thebee-hunter, laughing. 

"I have seen the creatur' sleep for hours, with pack after pack, in openview. A wolf might eat out of his tray without a snarl, unless there wasa scarcity; then, indeed, Hector would be apt to claim his own. "

"There are panthers down from the mountains; I saw one make a leap at asick deer, as the sun was setting. Go; go you back to the dog, and tellhim the truth, father; in a minute, I--"

He was interrupted by a long, loud, and piteous howl from the hound, which rose on the air of the evening, like the wailing of some spiritof the place, and passed off into the prairie, in cadences that roseand fell, like its own undulating surface. The trapper was impressivelysilent, listening intently. Even the reckless bee-hunter, was struckwith the wailing wildness of the sounds. After a short pause the formerwhistled the dog to his side, and turning to his companions he said withthe seriousness, which, in his opinion, the occasion demanded--

"They who think man enjoys all the knowledge of the creatur's of God, will live to be disappointed, if they reach, as I have done, the ageof fourscore years. I will not take upon myself to say what mischief isbrewing, nor will I vouch that, even, the hound himself knows so much;but that evil is nigh, and that wisdom invites us to avoid it, I haveheard from the mouth of one who never lies. I did think, the pup hadbecome unused to the footsteps of man, and that your presence made himuneasy; but his nose has been on a long scent the whole evening, and what I mistook as a notice of your coming, has been intended forsomething more serious. If the advice of an old man is, then, worthhearkening to, children, you will quickly go different ways to yourplaces of shelter and safety. "

"If I quit Ellen, at such a moment, " exclaimed the youth, "may I--"

"You've said enough!" the girl interrupted, by again interposing a bandthat might, both by its delicacy and colour, have graced a far moreelevated station in life; "my time is out; and we must part, at allevents--so good night, Paul--father--good night. "

"Hist!" said the youth, seizing her arm, as she was in the very act oftripping from his side--"Hist! do you hear nothing? There are buffaloesplaying their pranks, at no great distance--That sound beats the earthlike a herd of the mad scampering devils!"

His two companions listened, as people in their situation would be aptto lend their faculties to discover the meaning of any doubtful noises, especially, when heard after so many and such startling warnings. Theunusual sounds were unequivocally though still faintly audible. Theyouth and his female companion had made several hurried, and vacillatingconjectures concerning their nature, when a current of the night airbrought the rush of trampling footsteps, too sensibly, to their ears, torender mistake any longer possible. 

"I am right!" said the bee-hunter; "a panther is driving a herd beforehim; or may be, there is a battle among the beasts. "

"Your ears are cheats, " returned the old man, who, from the momenthis own organs had been able to catch the distant sounds, stood like astatue made to represent deep attention:--"the leaps are too long forthe buffaloe, and too regular for terror. Hist! now they are in a bottomwhere the grass is high, and the sound is deadened! Ay, there they go onthe hard earth! And now they come up the swell, dead upon us; they willbe here afore you can find a cover!"

"Come, Ellen, " cried the youth, seizing his companion by the hand, "letus make a trial for the encampment. "

"Too late! too late!" exclaimed the trapper, "for the creatur's arein open view; and a bloody band of accursed Siouxes they are, by theirthieving look, and the random fashion in which they ride!"

"Siouxes or devils, they shall find us men!" said the bee-hunter, witha mien as fierce as if he led a party of superior strength, and of acourage equal to his own. --"You have a piece, old man, and will pull atrigger in behalf of a helpless, Christian girl!"

"Down, down into the grass--down with ye both, " whispered the trapper, intimating to them to turn aside to the tall weeds, which grew, in adenser body than common, near the place where they stood. "You've notthe time to fly, nor the numbers to fight, foolish boy. Down into thegrass, if you prize the young woman, or value the gift of life!"

His remonstrance, seconded, as it was, by a prompt and energetic action, did not fail to produce the submission to his order, which the occasionseemed, indeed, imperiously to require. The moon had fallen behind asheet of thin, fleecy, clouds, which skirted the horizon, leaving justenough of its faint and fluctuating light, to render objects visible, dimly revealing their forms and proportions. The trapper, by exercisingthat species of influence, over his companions, which experienceand decision usually assert, in cases of emergency, had effectuallysucceeded in concealing them in the grass, and by the aid of the feeblerays of the luminary, he was enabled to scan the disorderly party whichwas riding, like so many madmen, directly upon them. 

A band of beings, who resembled demons rather than men, sporting intheir nightly revels across the bleak plain, was in truth approaching, at a fearful rate, and in a direction to leave little hope that some oneamong them, at least, would not pass over the spot where the trapperand his companions lay. At intervals, the clattering of hoofs was bornealong by the night wind, quite audibly in their front, and then, again, their progress through the fog of the autumnal grass, was swift andsilent; adding to the unearthly appearance of the spectacle. Thetrapper, who had called in his hound, and bidden him crouch at his side, now kneeled in the cover also, and kept a keen and watchful eye on theroute of the band, soothing the fears of the girl, and restraining theimpatience of the youth, in the same breath. 

"If there's one, there's thirty of the miscreants!" he said, in a sortof episode to his whispered comments. "Ay, ay; they are edging towardsthe river--Peace, pup--peace--no, here they come this way again--thethieves don't seem to know their own errand! If there were just six ofus, lad, what a beautiful ambushment we might make upon them, from thisvery spot--it won't do, it won't do, boy; keep yourself closer, or yourhead will be seen--besides, I'm not altogether strong in the opinion itwould be lawful, as they have done us no harm. --There they bend again tothe river--no; here they come up the swell--now is the moment to be asstill, as if the breath had done its duty and departed the body. "

The old man sunk into the grass while he was speaking, as if the finalseparation to which he alluded, had, in his own case, actually occurred, and, at the next instant, a band of wild horsemen whirled by them, withthe noiseless rapidity in which it might be imagined a troop of spectreswould pass. The dark and fleeting forms were already vanished, when thetrapper ventured again to raise his head to a level with the tops ofthe bending herbage, motioning at the same time, to his companions tomaintain their positions and their silence. 

"They are going down the swell, towards the encampment, " he continued, in his former guarded tones; "no, they halt in the bottom, and areclustering together like deer, in council. By the Lord, they are turningagain, and we are not yet done with the reptiles!"

Once more he sought his friendly cover, and at the next instant the darktroop were to be seen riding, in a disorderly manner, on the very summitof the little elevation on which the trapper and his companions lay. Itwas now soon apparent that they had returned to avail themselves of theheight of the ground, in order to examine the dim horizon. 

Some dismounted, while others rode to and fro, like men engaged in alocal enquiry of much interest. Happily, for the hidden party, the grassin which they were concealed, not only served to skreen them from theeyes of the savages, but opposed an obstacle to prevent their horses, which were no less rude and untrained than their riders, from tramplingon them, in their irregular and wild paces. 

At length an athletic and dark looking Indian, who, by his air ofauthority, would seem to be the leader, summoned his chiefs about him, to a consultation, which was held mounted. This body was collected onthe very margin of that mass of herbage in which the trapper and hiscompanions were hid. As the young man looked up and saw the fierceaspect of the group, which was increasing at each instant by theaccession of some countenance and figure, apparently more forbiddingthan any which had preceded it, he drew his rifle, by a very naturalimpulse, from beneath him, and commenced putting it in a state forservice. The female, at his side, buried her face in the grass, by afeeling that was, possibly, quite as natural to her sex and habits, leaving him to follow the impulses of his hot blood; but his aged andmore prudent adviser, whispered, sternly, in his ear--

"The tick of the lock is as well known to the knaves, as the blast of atrumpet to a soldier! lay down the piece--lay down the piece--should themoon touch the barrel, it could not fail to be seen by the devils, whoseeyes are keener than the blackest snake's! The smallest motion, now, would be sure to bring an arrow among us. "

The bee-hunter so far obeyed as to continue immovable and silent. Butthere was still sufficient light to convince his companion, by thecontracted brow and threatening eye of the young man, that a discoverywould not bestow a bloodless victory on the savages. Finding his advicedisregarded, the trapper took his measures accordingly, and awaited theresult with a resignation and calmness that were characteristic of theindividual. 

In the mean time, the Siouxes (for the sagacity of the old man was notdeceived in the character of his dangerous neighbours) had terminatedtheir council, and were again dispersed along the ridge of land as ifthey sought some hidden object. 

"The imps have heard the hound!" whispered the trapper, "and their earsare too true to be cheated in the distance. Keep close, lad, keep close;down with your head to the very earth, like a dog that sleeps. "

"Let us rather take to our feet, and trust to manhood, " returned hisimpatient companion. 

He would have proceeded; but feeling a hand laid rudely on his shoulder, he turned his eyes upward, and beheld the dark and savage countenance ofan Indian gleaming full upon him. Notwithstanding the surprise and thedisadvantage of his attitude, the youth was not disposed to become acaptive so easily. Quicker than the flash of his own gun he sprang uponhis feet, and was throttling his opponent with a power that would soonhave terminated the contest, when he felt the arms of the trapperthrown round his body, confining his exertions by a strength very littleinferior to his own. Before he had time to reproach his comrade forthis apparent treachery, a dozen Siouxes were around them, and the wholeparty were compelled to yield themselves as prisoners. 

CHAPTER IV

 --With much more dismay, I view the fight, than those that make the fray. --Merchant of Venice. 

The unfortunate bee-hunter and his companions had become the captives ofa people, who might, without exaggeration, be called the Ishmaelites ofthe American deserts. From time immemorial, the hands of the Siouxes hadbeen turned against their neighbours of the prairies, and even at thisday, when the influence and authority of a civilised government arebeginning to be felt around them, they are considered a treacherous anddangerous race. At the period of our tale, the case was far worse; fewwhite men trusting themselves in the remote and unprotected regionswhere so false a tribe was known to dwell. 

Notwithstanding the peaceable submission of the trapper, he was quiteaware of the character of the band into whose hands he had fallen. It would have been difficult, however, for the nicest judge to havedetermined whether fear, policy, or resignation formed the secret motiveof the old man, in permitting himself to be plundered as he did, withouta murmur. So far from opposing any remonstrance to the rude and violentmanner in which his conquerors performed the customary office, he evenanticipated their cupidity, by tendering to the chiefs such articlesas he thought might prove the most acceptable. On the other hand PaulHover, who had been literally a conquered man, manifested the strongestrepugnance to submit to the violent liberties that were taken withhis person and property. He even gave several exceedingly unequivocaldemonstrations of his displeasure during the summary process, and would, more than once, have broken out in open and desperate resistance, butfor the admonitions and entreaties of the trembling girl, who clung tohis side, in a manner so dependent, as to show the youth, that her hopeswere now placed, no less on his discretion, than on his disposition toserve her. 

The Indians had, however, no sooner deprived the captives of their armsand ammunition, and stripped them of a few articles of dress of littleuse, and perhaps of less value, than they appeared disposed to grantthem a respite. Business of greater moment pressed on their hands, and required their attention. Another consultation of the chiefs wasconvened, and it was apparent, by the earnest and vehement manner of thefew who spoke, that the warriors conceived their success as yet to befar from complete. 

"It will be well, " whispered the trapper, who knew enough of thelanguage he heard to comprehend perfectly the subject of the discussion, "if the travellers who lie near the willow brake are not awoke out oftheir sleep by a visit from these miscreants. They are too cunning tobelieve that a woman of the 'pale-faces' is to be found so far from thesettlements, without having a white man's inventions and comforts athand. "

"If they will carry the tribe of wandering Ishmael to the RockyMountains, " said the young bee-hunter, laughing in his vexation with asort of bitter merriment, "I may forgive the rascals. "

"Paul! Paul!" exclaimed his companion in a tone of reproach, "you forgetall! Think of the dreadful consequences!"

"Ay, it was thinking of what you call consequences, Ellen, thatprevented me from putting the matter, at once, to yonder red-devil, andmaking it a real knock-down and drag-out! Old trapper, the sin of thiscowardly business lies on your shoulders! But it is no more than yourdaily calling, I reckon, to take men, as well as beasts, in snares. "

"I implore you, Paul, to be calm--to be patient. "

"Well, since it is your wish, Ellen, " returned the youth, endeavouringto swallow his spleen, "I will make the trial; though, as you oughtto know, it is part of the religion of a Kentuckian to fret himself alittle at a mischance. "

"I fear your friends in the other bottom will not escape the eyes ofthe imps!" continued the trapper, as coolly as though he had not heard asyllable of the intervening discourse. "They scent plunder; and it wouldbe as hard to drive a hound from his game, as to throw the varmints fromits trail. "

"Is there nothing to be done?" asked Ellen, in an imploring manner, which proved the sincerity of her concern. 

"It would be an easy matter to call out, in so loud a voice as to makeold Ishmael dream that the wolves were among his flock, " Paul replied;"I can make myself heard a mile in these open fields, and his camp isbut a short quarter from us. "

"And get knocked on the head for your pains, " returned the trapper. "No, no; cunning must match cunning, or the hounds will murder the wholefamily. "

"Murder! no--no murder. Ishmael loves travel so well, there would be noharm in his having a look at the other sea, but the old fellow is in abad condition to take the long journey! I would try a lock myself beforehe should be quite murdered. "

"His party is strong in number, and well armed; do you think it willfight?"

"Look here, old trapper: few men love Ishmael Bush and his sevensledge-hammer sons less than one Paul Hover; but I scorn to slander evena Tennessee shotgun. There is as much of the true stand-up courage amongthem, as there is in any family that was ever raised in Kentuck, itself. They are a long-sided and a double-jointed breed; and let me tell you, that he who takes the measure of one of them on the ground, must be aworkman at a hug. "

"Hist! The savages have done their talk, and are about to set theiraccursed devices in motion. Let us be patient; something may yet offerin favour of your friends. "

"Friends! call none of the race a friend of mine, trapper, if you havethe smallest regard for my affection! What I say in their favour is lessfrom love than honesty. "

"I did not know but the young woman was of the kin, " returned theother, a little drily--"but no offence should be taken, where none wasintended. "

The mouth of Paul was again stopped by the hand of Ellen, who took onherself to reply, in her conciliating tones: "we should be all of afamily, when it is in our power to serve each other. We depend entirelyon your experience, honest old man, to discover the means to apprise ourfriends of their danger. "

"There will be a real time of it, " muttered the bee-hunter, laughing, "if the boys get at work, in good earnest, with these red skins!"

He was interrupted by a general movement which took place among theband. The Indians dismounted to a man, giving their horses in chargeto three or four of the party, who were also intrusted with the safekeeping of the prisoners. They then formed themselves in a circle arounda warrior, who appeared to possess the chief authority; and at a givensignal the whole array moved slowly and cautiously from the centre instraight and consequently in diverging lines. Most of their dark formswere soon blended with the brown covering of the prairie; though thecaptives, who watched the slightest movement of their enemies withvigilant eyes, were now and then enabled to discern a human figure, drawn against the horizon, as some one, more eager than the rest, roseto his greatest height in order to extend the limits of his view. Butit was not long before even these fugitive glimpses of the moving, andconstantly increasing circle, were lost, and uncertainty and conjecturewere added to apprehension. In this manner passed many anxious and wearyminutes, during the close of which the listeners expected at each momentto hear the whoop of the assailants and the shrieks of the assailed, rising together on the stillness of the night. But it would seem, thatthe search which was so evidently making, was without a sufficientobject; for at the expiration of half an hour the different individualsof the band began to return singly, gloomy and sullen, like men who weredisappointed. 

"Our time is at hand, " observed the trapper, who noted the smallestincident, or the slightest indication of hostility among the savages:"we are now to be questioned; and if I know any thing of the policy ofour case, I should say it would be wise to choose one among us to holdthe discourse, in order that our testimony may agree. And furthermore, if an opinion from one as old and as worthless as a hunter of fourscore, is to be regarded, I would just venture to say, that man should be theone most skilled in the natur' of an Indian, and that he should alsoknow something of their language. --Are you acquainted with the tongue ofthe Siouxes, friend?"

"Swarm your own hive, " returned the discontented bee-hunter. "You aregood at buzzing, old trapper, if you are good at nothing else. "

"'Tis the gift of youth to be rash and heady, " the trapper calmlyretorted. "The day has been, boy, when my blood was like your own, tooswift and too hot to run quietly in my veins. But what will it profit totalk of silly risks and foolish acts at this time of life! A grey headshould cover a brain of reason, and not the tongue of a boaster. "

"True, true, " whispered Ellen; "and we have other things to attend tonow! Here comes the Indian to put his questions. "

The girl, whose apprehensions had quickened her senses, was notdeceived. She was yet speaking when a tall, half naked savage, approached the spot where they stood, and after examining the wholeparty as closely as the dim light permitted, for more than a minutein perfect stillness, he gave the usual salutation in the harsh andguttural tones of his own language. The trapper replied as well as hecould, which it seems was sufficiently well to be understood. In orderto escape the imputation of pedantry we shall render the substance, and, so far as it is possible, the form of the dialogue that succeeded, intothe English tongue. 

"Have the pale-faces eaten their own buffaloes, and taken the skins fromall their own beavers, " continued the savage, allowing the usual momentof decorum to elapse, after the words of greeting, before he againspoke, "that they come to count how many are left among the Pawnees?"

"Some of us are here to buy, and some to sell, " returned the trapper;"but none will follow, if they hear it is not safe to come nigh thelodge of a Sioux. "

"The Siouxes are thieves, and they live among the snow; why do we talkof a people who are so far, when we are in the country of the Pawnees?"

"If the Pawnees are the owners of this land, then white and red are hereby equal right. "

"Have not the pale-faces stolen enough from the red men, that you comeso far to carry a lie? I have said that this is a hunting-ground of mytribe. "

"My right to be here is equal to your own, " the trapper rejoined, withundisturbed coolness; "I do not speak as I might--it is better to besilent. The Pawnees and the white men are brothers, but a Sioux dare notshow his face in the village of the Loups. "

"The Dahcotahs are men!" exclaimed the savage, fiercely; forgettingin his anger to maintain the character he had assumed, and using theappellation of which his nation was most proud; "the Dahcotahs haveno fear! Speak; what brings you so far from the villages of thepale-faces?"

"I have seen the sun rise and set on many councils, and have heardthe words of wise men. Let your chiefs come, and my mouth shall not beshut. "

"I am a great chief!" said the savage, affecting an air of offendeddignity. "Do you take me for an Assiniboine? Weucha is a warrior oftennamed, and much believed!"

"Am I a fool not to know a burnt-wood Teton?" demanded the trapper, witha steadiness that did great credit to his nerves. "Go; it is dark, andyou do not see that my head is grey!"

The Indian now appeared convinced that he had adopted too shallow anartifice to deceive one so practised as the man he addressed, and he wasdeliberating what fiction he should next invent, in order to obtain hisreal object, when a slight commotion among the band put an end at onceto all his schemes. Casting his eyes behind him, as if fearful of aspeedy interruption, he said, in tones much less pretending than thosehe had first resorted to--

"Give Weucha the milk of the Long-knives, and he will sing your name inthe ears of the great men of his tribe. "

"Go, " repeated the trapper, motioning him away, with strong disgust. "Your young men are speaking of Mahtoree. My words are for the ears of achief. "

The savage cast a look at the other, which, notwithstanding the dimlight, was sufficiently indicative of implacable hostility. He thenstole away among his fellows, anxious to conceal the counterfeit he hadattempted to practise, no less than the treachery he had contemplatedagainst a fair division of the spoils, from the man named by thetrapper, whom he now also knew to be approaching, by the manner inwhich his name passed from one to another, in the band. He had hardlydisappeared before a warrior of powerful frame advanced out of the darkcircle, and placed himself before the captives, with that high and proudbearing for which a distinguished Indian chief is ever so remarkable. He was followed by all the party, who arranged themselves around hisperson, in a deep and respectful silence. 

"The earth is very large, " the chief commenced, after a pause of thattrue dignity which his counterfeit had so miserably affected; "why canthe children of my great white father never find room on it?"

"Some among them have heard that their friends in the prairies are inwant of many things, " returned the trapper; "and they have come to seeif it be true. Some want, in their turns, what the red men are willingto sell, and they come to make their friends rich, with powder andblankets. "

"Do traders cross the big river with empty hands?"

"Our hands are empty because your young men thought we were tired, andthey have lightened us of our load. They were mistaken; I am old, but Iam still strong. "

"It cannot be. Your load has fallen in the prairies. Show my young menthe place, that they may pick it up before the Pawnees find it. "

"The path to the spot is crooked, and it is night. The hour is come forsleep, " said the trapper, with perfect composure. "Bid your warriors goover yonder hill; there is water and there is wood; let them light theirfires and sleep with warm feet. When the sun comes again I will speak toyou. "

A low murmur, but one that was clearly indicative of dissatisfaction, passed among the attentive listeners, and served to inform the old manthat he had not been sufficiently wary in proposing a measure that heintended should notify the travellers in the brake of the presence oftheir dangerous neighbours. Mahtoree, however, without betraying, in theslightest degree, the excitement which was so strongly exhibited by hiscompanions, continued the discourse in the same lofty manner as before. 

"I know that my friend is rich, " he said; "that he has many warriorsnot far off, and that horses are plentier with him, than dogs among thered-skins. "

"You see my warriors, and my horses. "

"What! has the woman the feet of a Dahcotah, that she can walk forthirty nights in the prairies, and not fall! I know the red men of thewoods make long marches on foot, but we, who live where the eye cannotsee from one lodge to another, love our horses. "

The trapper now hesitated, in his turn. He was perfectly aware thatdeception, if detected, might prove dangerous; and, for one of hispursuits and character, he was strongly troubled with an unaccommodatingregard for the truth. But, recollecting that he controlled the fate ofothers as well as of himself, he determined to let things take theircourse, and to permit the Dahcotah chief to deceive himself if he would. 

"The women of the Siouxes and of the white men are not of the samewigwam, " he answered evasively. "Would a Teton warrior make his wifegreater than himself? I know he would not; and yet my ears have heardthat there are lands where the councils are held by squaws. "

Another slight movement in the dark circle apprised the trapper thathis declaration was not received without surprise, if entirely withoutdistrust. The chief alone seemed unmoved; nor was he disposed to relaxfrom the loftiness and high dignity of his air. 

"My white fathers who live on the great lakes have declared, " he said, "that their brothers towards the rising sun are not men; and now I knowthey did not lie! Go--what is a nation whose chief is a squaw! Are youthe dog and not the husband of this woman?"

"I am neither. Never did I see her face before this day. She came intothe prairies because they had told her a great and generous nationcalled the Dahcotahs lived there, and she wished to look on men. Thewomen of the pale-faces, like the women of the Siouxes, open their eyesto see things that are new; but she is poor, like myself, and she willwant corn and buffaloes, if you take away the little that she and herfriend still have. "

"My ears listen to many wicked lies!" exclaimed the Teton warrior, ina voice so stern that it startled even his red auditors. "Am I a woman?Has not a Dahcotah eyes? Tell me, white hunter; who are the men of yourcolour, that sleep near the fallen trees?"

As he spoke, the indignant chief pointed in the direction of Ishmael'sencampment, leaving the trapper no reason to doubt, that the superiorindustry and sagacity of this man had effected a discovery, which hadeluded the search of the rest of his party. Notwithstanding his regretat an event that might prove fatal to the sleepers, and some littlevexation at having been so completely outwitted, in the dialoguejust related, the old man continued to maintain his air of inflexiblecomposure. 

"It may be true, " he answered, "that white men are sleeping in theprairie. If my brother says it, it is true; but what men thus trustto the generosity of the Tetons, I cannot tell. If there be strangersasleep, send your young men to wake them up, and let them say why theyare here; every pale-face has a tongue. " The chief shook his head witha wild and fierce smile, answering abruptly, as he turned away to put anend to the conference--

"The Dahcotahs are a wise race, and Mahtoree is their chief! He will notcall to the strangers, that they may rise and speak to him with theircarabines. He will whisper softly in their ears. When this is done, letthe men of their own colour come and awake them!"

As he uttered these words, and turned on his heel, a low and approvinglaugh passed around the dark circle, which instantly broke its order andfollowed him to a little distance from the stand of the captives, wherethose who might presume to mingle opinions with so great a warrior againgathered about him in consultation. Weucha profited by the occasion torenew his importunities; but the trapper, who had discovered how greata counterfeit he was, shook him off in displeasure. An end was, however, more effectually put to the annoyance of this malignant savage, by amandate for the whole party, including men and beasts, to change theirpositions. The movement was made in dead silence, and with an order thatwould have done credit to more enlightened beings. A halt, however, wassoon made; and when the captives had time to look about them, they foundthey were in view of the low, dark outline of the copse, near which laythe slumbering party of Ishmael. 

Here another short but grave and deliberative consultation was held. 

The beasts, which seemed trained to such covert and silent attacks, wereonce more placed under the care of keepers, who, as before, were chargedwith the duty of watching the prisoners. The mind of the trapper wasin no degree relieved from the uneasiness which was, at each instant, getting a stronger possession of him, when he found Weucha was placednearest to his own person, and, as it appeared by the air of triumphand authority he assumed, at the head of the guard also. The savage, however, who doubtless had his secret instructions, was content, forthe present, with making a significant gesture with his tomahawk, whichmenaced death to Ellen. After admonishing in this expressive mannerhis male captives of the fate that would instantly attend their femalecompanion, on the slightest alarm proceeding from any of the party, hewas content to maintain a rigid silence. This unexpected forbearance, onthe part of Weucha, enabled the trapper and his two associates togive their undivided attention to the little that might be seen of theinteresting movements which were passing in their front. 

Mahtoree took the entire disposition of the arrangements on himself. Hepointed out the precise situation he wished each individual to occupy, like one intimately acquainted with the qualifications of his respectivefollowers, and he was obeyed with the deference and promptitude withwhich an Indian warrior is wont to submit to the instructions of hischief, in moments of trial. Some he despatched to the right, andothers to the left. Each man departed with the noiseless and quick steppeculiar to the race, until all had assumed their allotted stations, with the exception of two chosen warriors, who remained nigh the personof their leader. When the rest had disappeared, Mahtoree turned to theseselect companions, and intimated by a sign that the critical moment hadarrived, when the enterprise he contemplated was to be put in execution. 

Each man laid aside the light fowling-piece, which, under the name ofa carabine, he carried in virtue of his rank; and divesting himself ofevery article of exterior or heavy clothing, he stood resembling a darkand fierce looking statue, in the attitude, and nearly in the garb, ofnature. Mahtoree assured himself of the right position of his tomahawk, felt that his knife was secure in its sheath of skin, tightened hisgirdle of wampum and saw that the lacing of his fringed and ornamentalleggings was secure, and likely to offer no impediment to his exertions. Thus prepared at all points, and ready for his desperate undertaking, the Teton gave the signal to proceed. 

The three advanced in a line with the encampment of the travellers, until, in the dim light by which they were seen, their dusky forms werenearly lost to the eyes of the prisoners. Here they paused, lookingaround them like men who deliberate and ponder long on the consequencesbefore they take a desperate leap. Then sinking together, they becamelost in the grass of the prairie. 

It is not difficult to imagine the distress and anxiety of the differentspectators of these threatening movements. Whatever might be the reasonsof Ellen for entertaining no strong attachment to the family in whichshe has first been seen by the reader, the feelings of her sex, and, perhaps, some lingering seeds of kindness, predominated. More than onceshe felt tempted to brave the awful and instant danger that awaited suchan offence, and to raise her feeble, and, in truth, impotent voice inwarning. So strong, indeed, and so very natural was the inclination, that she would most probably have put it in execution, but for the oftenrepeated though whispered remonstrances of Paul Hover. In the breast ofthe young bee-hunter himself, there was a singular union of emotions. His first and chiefest solicitude was certainly in behalf of his gentleand dependent companion; but the sense of her danger was mingled, inthe breast of the reckless woodsman, with a consciousness of a high andwild, and by no means an unpleasant, excitement. Though united to theemigrants by ties still less binding than those of Ellen, he longedto hear the crack of their rifles, and, had occasion offered, he wouldgladly have been among the first to rush to their rescue. There were, in truth, moments when he felt in his turn an impulse, that was nearlyresistless, to spring forward and awake the unconscious sleepers; buta glance at Ellen would serve to recall his tottering prudence, and toadmonish him of the consequences. The trapper alone remained calm andobservant, as if nothing that involved his personal comfort or safetyhad occurred. His ever-moving, vigilant eyes, watched the smallestchange, with the composure of one too long inured to scenes of dangerto be easily moved, and with an expression of cool determinationwhich denoted the intention he actually harboured, of profiting by thesmallest oversight on the part of the captors. 

In the mean time the Teton warriors had not been idle. Profiting by thehigh fog which grew in the bottoms, they had wormed their way throughthe matted grass, like so many treacherous serpents stealing on theirprey, until the point was gained, where an extraordinary caution becamenecessary to their further advance. Mahtoree, alone, had occasionallyelevated his dark, grim countenance above the herbage, straining hiseye-balls to penetrate the gloom which skirted the border of the brake. In these momentary glances he gained sufficient knowledge, added to thathe had obtained in his former search, to be the perfect master ofthe position of his intended victims, though he was still profoundlyignorant of their numbers, and of their means of defence. 

His efforts to possess himself of the requisite knowledge concerningthese two latter and essential points were, however, completely baffledby the stillness of the camp, which lay in a quiet as deep as if itwere literally a place of the dead. Too wary and distrustful to rely, incircumstances of so much doubt, on the discretion of any less firm andcrafty than himself, the Dahcotah bade his companions remain where theylay, and pursued the adventure alone. 

The progress of Mahtoree was now slow, and to one less accustomed tosuch a species of exercise, it would have proved painfully laborious. But the advance of the wily snake itself is not more certain ornoiseless than was his approach. He drew his form, foot by foot, throughthe bending grass, pausing at each movement to catch the smallest soundthat might betray any knowledge, on the part of the travellers, ofhis proximity. He succeeded, at length, in dragging himself out of thesickly light of the moon, into the shadows of the brake, where notonly his own dark person was much less liable to be seen, but wherethe surrounding objects became more distinctly visible to his keen andactive glances. 

Here the Teton paused long and warily to make his observations, beforehe ventured further. His position enabled him to bring the wholeencampment, with its tent, wagons, and lodges, into a dark but clearlymarked profile; furnishing a clue by which the practised warrior was ledto a tolerably accurate estimate of the force he was about to encounter. Still an unnatural silence pervaded the spot, as if men suppressed eventhe quiet breathings of sleep, in order to render the appearance oftheir confidence more evident. The chief bent his head to the earth, andlistened intently. He was about to raise it again, in disappointment, when the long drawn and trembling respiration of one who slumberedimperfectly met his ear. The Indian was too well skilled in all themeans of deception to become himself the victim of any common artifice. He knew the sound to be natural, by its peculiar quivering, and hehesitated no longer. 

A man of nerves less tried than those of the fierce and conqueringMahtoree would have been keenly sensible of all the hazard he incurred. The reputation of those hardy and powerful white adventurers, who sooften penetrated the wilds inhabited by his people, was well known tohim; but while he drew nigher, with the respect and caution that a braveenemy never fails to inspire, it was with the vindictive animosity of ared man, jealous and resentful of the inroads of the stranger. 

Turning from the line of his former route, the Teton dragged himselfdirectly towards the margin of the thicket. When this material objectwas effected in safety, he arose to his seat, and took a better surveyof his situation. A single moment served to apprise him of the placewhere the unsuspecting traveller lay. The reader will readily anticipatethat the savage had succeeded in gaining a dangerous proximity to oneof those slothful sons of Ishmael, who were deputed to watch over theisolated encampment of the travellers. 

When certain that he was undiscovered, the Dahcotah raised his personagain, and bending forward, he moved his dark visage above the face ofthe sleeper, in that sort of wanton and subtle manner with which thereptile is seen to play about its victim before it strikes. Satisfied atlength, not only of the condition but of the character of the stranger, Mahtoree was in the act of withdrawing his head, when a slight movementof the sleeper announced the symptoms of reviving consciousness. Thesavage seized the knife which hung at his girdle, and in an instant itwas poised above the breast of the young emigrant. Then changing hispurpose, with an action as rapid as his own flashing thoughts, hesunk back behind the trunk of the fallen tree against which the otherreclined, and lay in its shadow, as dark, as motionless, and apparentlyas insensible as the wood itself. 

The slothful sentinel opened his heavy eyes, and gazing upward fora moment at the hazy heavens, he made an extraordinary exertion, andraised his powerful frame from the support of the log. Then he lookedabout him, with an air of something like watchfulness, suffering hisdull glances to run over the misty objects of the encampment untilthey finally settled on the distant and dim field of the open prairie. Meeting with nothing more attractive than the same faint outlines ofswell and interval, which every where rose before his drowsy eyes, hechanged his position so as completely to turn his back on his dangerousneighbour, and suffered his person to sink sluggishly down into itsformer recumbent attitude. A long, and, on the part of the Teton, ananxious and painful silence succeeded, before the deep breathing of thetraveller again announced that he was indulging in his slumbers. Thesavage was, however, far too jealous of a counterfeit to trust to thefirst appearance of sleep. But the fatigues of a day of unusual toil laytoo heavy on the sentinel to leave the other long in doubt. Still themotion with which Mahtoree again raised himself to his knees wasso noiseless and guarded, that even a vigilant observer might havehesitated to believe he stirred. The change was, however, at lengtheffected, and the Dahcotah chief then bent again over his enemy, withouthaving produced a noise louder than that of the cotton-wood leaf whichfluttered at his side in the currents of the passing air. 

Mahtoree now felt himself master of the sleeper's fate. At the same timethat he scanned the vast proportions and athletic limbs of the youth, inthat sort of admiration which physical excellence seldom fails toexcite in the breast of a savage, he coolly prepared to extinguish theprinciple of vitality which could alone render them formidable. Aftermaking himself sure of the seat of life, by gently removing the folds ofthe intervening cloth, he raised his keen weapon, and was about to unitehis strength and skill in the impending blow, when the young man threwhis brawny arm carelessly backward, exhibiting in the action the vastvolume of its muscles. 

The sagacious and wary Teton paused. It struck his acute faculties thatsleep was less dangerous to him, at that moment, than even death itselfmight prove. The smallest noise, the agony of struggling, with whichsuch a frame would probably relinquish its hold of life, suggestedthemselves to his rapid thoughts, and were all present to hisexperienced senses. He looked back into the encampment, turned his headinto the thicket, and glanced his glowing eyes abroad into the wild andsilent prairies. Bending once more over the respited victim, he assuredhimself that he was sleeping heavily, and then abandoned his immediatepurpose in obedience alone to the suggestions of a more crafty policy. 

The retreat of Mahtoree was as still and guarded as had been hisapproach. He now took the direction of the encampment, stealing alongthe margin of the brake, as a cover into which he might easily plunge atthe smallest alarm. The drapery of the solitary hut attracted his noticein passing. After examining the whole of its exterior, and listeningwith painful intensity, in order to gather counsel from his ears, thesavage ventured to raise the cloth at the bottom, and to thrust his darkvisage beneath. It might have been a minute before the Teton chief drewback, and seated himself with the whole of his form without the linentenement. Here he sat, seemingly brooding over his discovery, for manymoments, in rigid inaction. Then he resumed his crouching attitude, and once more projected his visage beyond the covering of the tent. Hissecond visit to the interior was longer, and, if possible, more ominousthan the first. But it had, like every thing else, its termination, and the savage again withdrew his glaring eyes from the secrets of theplace. 

Mahtoree had drawn his person many yards from the spot, in his slowprogress towards the cluster of objects which pointed out the centre ofthe position, before he again stopped. He made another pause, and lookedback at the solitary little dwelling he had left, as if doubtful whetherhe should not return. But the chevaux-de-frise of branches now laywithin reach of his arm, and the very appearance of precaution itpresented, as it announced the value of the effects it encircled, tempted his cupidity, and induced him to proceed. 

The passage of the savage, through the tender and brittle limbs of thecotton-wood, could be likened only to the sinuous and noiseless windingof the reptiles which he imitated. When he had effected his object, and had taken an instant to become acquainted with the nature of thelocalities within the enclosure, the Teton used the precaution to open away through which he might make a swift retreat. Then raising himselfon his feet, he stalked through the encampment, like the master of evil, seeking whom and what he should first devote to his fell purposes. He had already ascertained the contents of the lodge in which werecollected the woman and her young children, and had passed severalgigantic frames, stretched on different piles of brush, which happilyfor him lay in unconscious helplessness, when he reached the spotoccupied by Ishmael in person. It could not escape the sagacity of onelike Mahtoree, that he had now within his power the principal man amongthe travellers. He stood long hovering above the recumbent and Herculeanform of the emigrant, keenly debating in his own mind the chances of hisenterprise, and the most effectual means of reaping its richest harvest. 

He sheathed the knife, which, under the hasty and burning impulse of histhoughts, he had been tempted to draw, and was passing on, when Ishmaelturned in his lair, and demanded roughly who was moving before hishalf-opened eyes. Nothing short of the readiness and cunning of a savagecould have evaded the crisis. Imitating the gruff tones and nearlyunintelligible sounds he heard, Mahtoree threw his body heavily onthe earth, and appeared to dispose himself to sleep. Though the wholemovement was seen by Ishmael, in a sort of stupid observation, theartifice was too bold and too admirably executed to fail. The drowsyfather closed his eyes, and slept heavily, with this treacherous inmatein the very bosom of his family. 

It was necessary for the Teton to maintain the position he had taken, for many long and weary minutes, in order to make sure that he was nolonger watched. Though his body lay so motionless, his active mind wasnot idle. He profited by the delay to mature a plan which he intendedshould put the whole encampment, including both its effects and theirproprietors, entirely at his mercy. The instant he could do so withsafety, the indefatigable savage was again in motion. He took his waytowards the slight pen which contained the domestic animals, worminghimself along the ground in his former subtle and guarded manner. 

The first animal he encountered among the beasts occasioned a long andhazardous delay. The weary creature, perhaps conscious, through itssecret instinct, that in the endless wastes of the prairies its surestprotector was to be found in man, was so exceedingly docile as quietlyto submit to the close examination it was doomed to undergo. The handof the wandering Teton passed over the downy coat, the meek countenance, and the slender limbs of the gentle creature, with untiring curiosity;but he finally abandoned the prize, as useless in his predatoryexpeditions, and offering too little temptation to the appetite. Assoon, however, as he found himself among the beasts of burden, hisgratification was extreme, and it was with difficulty that he restrainedthe customary ejaculations of pleasure that were more than once on thepoint of bursting from his lips. Here he lost sight of the hazardsby which he had gained access to his dangerous position; and thewatchfulness of the wary and long practised warrior was momentarilyforgotten in the exultation of the savage. 

CHAPTER V

 Why, worthy father, what have we to lose? --The law Protects us not. Then why should we be tender To let an arrogant piece of flesh threat us! Play judge and executioner. --Cymbeline. 

While the Teton thus enacted his subtle and characteristic part, not asound broke the stillness of the surrounding prairie. The whole bandlay at their several posts, waiting, with the well-known patience of thenatives, for the signal which was to summon them to action. To the eyesof the anxious spectators who occupied the little eminence, alreadydescribed as the position of the captives, the scene presented thebroad, solemn view of a waste, dimly lighted by the glimmering rays ofa clouded moon. The place of the encampment was marked by a gloom deeperthan that which faintly shadowed out the courses of the bottoms, andhere and there a brighter streak tinged the rolling summits of theridges. As for the rest, it was the deep, imposing quiet of a desert. 

But to those who so well knew how much was brooding beneath this mantleof stillness and night, it was a scene of high and wild excitement. Their anxiety gradually increased, as minute after minute passed away, and not the smallest sound of life arose out of the calm and darknesswhich enveloped the brake. The breathing of Paul grew louder and deeper, and more than once Ellen trembled at she knew not what, as she felt thequivering of his active frame, while she leaned dependently on his armfor support. 

The shallow honesty, as well as the besetting infirmity of Weucha, havealready been exhibited. The reader, therefore, will not be surprisedto learn that he was the first to forget the regulations he had himselfimposed. It was at the precise moment when we left Mahtoree yielding tohis nearly ungovernable delight, as he surveyed the number and qualityof Ishmael's beasts of burden, that the man he had selected to watch hiscaptives chose to indulge in the malignant pleasure of tormentingthose it was his duty to protect. Bending his head nigh the ear of thetrapper, the savage rather muttered than whispered--

"If the Tetons lose their great chief by the hands of theLong-knives[*], old shall die as well as young!"

 [*] The whites are so called by the Indians, from their swords. 

"Life is the gift of the Wahcondah, " was the unmoved reply. "Theburnt-wood warrior must submit to his laws, as well as his otherchildren. Men only die when he chooses; and no Dahcotah can change thehour. "

"Look!" returned the savage, thrusting the blade of his knife before theface of his captive. "Weucha is the Wahcondah of a dog. "

The old man raised his eyes to the fierce visage of his keeper, and, fora moment, a gleam of honest and powerful disgust shot from their deepcells; but it instantly passed away, leaving in its place an expressionof commiseration, if not of sorrow. 

"Why should one made in the real image of God suffer his natur' to beprovoked by a mere effigy of reason?" he said in English, and intones much louder than those in which Weucha had chosen to pitch theconversation. The latter profited by the unintentional offence ofhis captive, and, seizing him by the thin, grey locks, that fell frombeneath his cap, was on the point of passing the blade of his knife inmalignant triumph around their roots, when a long, shrill yell rentthe air, and was instantly echoed from the surrounding waste, as if athousand demons opened their throats in common at the summons. Weucharelinquished his grasp, and uttered a cry of exultation. 

"Now!" shouted Paul, unable to control his impatience any longer, "now, old Ishmael, is the time to show the native blood of Kentucky! Fire low, boys--level into the swales, for the red skins are settling to the veryearth!"

His voice was, however, lost, or rather unheeded, in the midst of theshrieks, shouts, and yells that were, by this time, bursting from fiftymouths on every side of him. The guards still maintained their posts atthe side of the captives, but it was with that sort of difficulty withwhich steeds are restrained at the starting-post, when expecting thesignal to commence the trial of speed. They tossed their arms wildly inthe air, leaping up and down more like exulting children than sober men, and continued to utter the most frantic cries. 

In the midst of this tumultuous disorder a rushing sound was heard, similar to that which might be expected to precede the passage of aflight of buffaloes, and then came the flocks and cattle of Ishmael inone confused and frightened drove. 

"They have robbed the squatter of his beasts!" said the attentivetrapper. "The reptiles have left him as hoofless as a beaver!" He wasyet speaking, when the whole body of the terrified animals rose thelittle acclivity, and swept by the place where he stood, followed by aband of dusky and demon-like looking figures, who pressed madly on theirrear. 

The impulse was communicated to the Teton horses, long accustomed tosympathise in the untutored passions of their owners, and it was withdifficulty that the keepers were enabled to restrain their impatience. At this moment, when all eyes were directed to the passing whirlwindof men and beasts, the trapper caught the knife from the hands of hisinattentive keeper, with a power that his age would have seemed tocontradict, and, at a single blow, severed the thong of hide whichconnected the whole of the drove. The wild animals snorted with joy andterror, and tearing the earth with their heels, they dashed away intothe broad prairies, in a dozen different directions. 

Weucha turned upon his assailant with the ferocity and agility of atiger. He felt for the weapon of which he had been so suddenly deprived, fumbled with impotent haste for the handle of his tomahawk, and at thesame moment glanced his eyes after the flying cattle, with the longingsof a Western Indian. The struggle between thirst for vengeance andcupidity was severe but short. The latter quickly predominated in thebosom of one whose passions were proverbially grovelling; and scarcelya moment intervened between the flight of the animals and the swiftpursuit of the guards. The trapper had continued calmly facing his foe, during the instant of suspense that succeeded his hardy act; and nowthat Weucha was seen following his companions, he pointed after the darktrain, saying, with his deep and nearly inaudible laugh--

"Red-natur' is red-natur', let it show itself on a prairie, or in aforest! A knock on the head would be the smallest reward to him whoshould take such a liberty with a Christian sentinel; but there goes theTeton after his horses as if he thought two legs as good as four in sucha race! And yet the imps will have every hoof of them afore the day setsin, because it's reason ag'in instinct. Poor reason, I allow; but stillthere is a great deal of the man in an Indian. Ah's me! your Delawareswere the redskins of which America might boast; but few and scatteredis that mighty people, now! Well! the traveller may just make his pitchwhere he is; he has plenty of water, though natur' has cheated him ofthe pleasure of stripping the 'arth of its lawful trees. He has seen thelast of his four-footed creatures, or I am but little skilled in Siouxcunning. "

"Had we not better join the party of Ishmael?" said the bee-hunter. "There will be a regular fight about this matter, or the old fellow hassuddenly grown chicken-hearted. "

"No--no--no, " hastily exclaimed Ellen. 

She was stopped by the trapper, who laid his hand gently on her mouth, as he answered--

"Hist--hist!--the sound of voices might bring us into danger. Is yourfriend, " he added, turning to Paul, "a man of spirit enough?"

"Don't call the squatter a friend of mine!" interrupted the youth. "Inever yet harboured with one who could not show hand and zeal for theland which fed him. "

"Well--well. Let it then be acquaintance. Is he a man to maintain hisown, stoutly by dint of powder and lead?"

"His own! ay, and that which is not his own, too! Can you tell me, oldtrapper, who held the rifle that did the deed for the sheriff's deputy, that thought to rout the unlawful settlers who had gathered nigh theBuffaloe lick in old Kentucky? I had lined a beautiful swarm that veryday into the hollow of a dead beech, and there lay the people's officerat its roots, with a hole directly through the 'grace of God;' which hecarried in his jacket pocket covering his heart, as if he thought a bitof sheepskin was a breastplate against a squatter's bullet! Now, Ellen, you needn't be troubled for it never strictly was brought home to him;and there were fifty others who had pitched in that neighbourhood withjust the same authority from the law. "

The poor girl shuddered, struggling powerfully to suppress the sighwhich arose in spite of her efforts, as if from the very bottom of herheart. 

Thoroughly satisfied that he understood the character of the emigrants, by the short but comprehensive description conveyed in Paul's reply, theold man raised no further question concerning the readiness of Ishmaelto revenge his wrongs, but rather followed the train of thought whichwas suggested to his experience, by the occasion. 

"Each one knows the ties which bind him to his fellow-creatures best, "he answered. "Though it is greatly to be mourned that colour, andproperty, and tongue, and l'arning should make so wide a difference inthose who, after all, are but the children of one father! Howsomever, "he continued, by a transition not a little characteristic of thepursuits and feelings of the man, "as this is a business in which thereis much more likelihood of a fight than need for a sermon, it is best tobe prepared for what may follow. --Hush! there is a movement below; it isan equal chance that we are seen. "

"The family is stirring, " cried Ellen, with a tremor that announcednearly as much terror at the approach of her friends, as she had beforemanifested at the presence of her enemies. "Go, Paul, leave me. You, atleast, must not be seen!"

"If I leave you, Ellen, in this desert before I see you safe in the careof old Ishmael, at least, may I never hear the hum of another bee, or, what is worse, fail in sight to line him to his hive!"

"You forget this good old man. He will not leave me. Though I am sure, Paul, we have parted before, where there has been more of a desert thanthis. "

"Never! These Indians may come whooping back, and then where are you!Half way to the Rocky Mountains before a man can fairly strike the lineof your flight. What think you, old trapper? How long may it be beforethese Tetons, as you call them, will be coming for the rest of oldIshmael's goods and chattels?"

"No fear of them, " returned the old man, laughing in his own peculiarand silent manner; "I warrant me the devils will be scampering aftertheir beasts these six hours yet! Listen! you may hear them in thewillow bottoms at this very moment; ay, your real Sioux cattle will runlike so many long-legged elks. Hist! crouch again into the grass, downwith ye both; as I'm a miserable piece of clay, I heard the ticking of agunlock!"

The trapper did not allow his companions time to hesitate, but draggingthem both after him, he nearly buried his own person in the fog of theprairie, while he was speaking. It was fortunate that the senses ofthe aged hunter remained so acute, and that he had lost none of hisreadiness of action. The three were scarcely bowed to the ground, whentheir ears were saluted with the well-known, sharp, short, reports ofthe western rifle, and instantly, the whizzing of the ragged lead washeard, buzzing within dangerous proximity of their heads. 

"Well done, young chips! well done, old block!" whispered Paul, whosespirits no danger nor situation could entirely depress. "As pretty avolley, as one would wish to bear on the wrong end of a rifle! What d'yesay, trapper! here is likely to be a three-cornered war. Shall I give'em as good as they send?"

"Give them nothing but fair words, " returned the other, hastily, "or youare both lost. "

"I'm not certain it would much mend the matter, if I were to speak withmy tongue instead of the piece, " said Paul, in a tone half jocular halfbitter. 

"For the sake of heaven, do not let them hear you!" cried Ellen. "Go, Paul, go; you can easily quit us now!"

Several shots in quick succession, each sending its dangerous messenger, still nearer than the preceding discharge, cut short her speech, no lessin prudence than in terror. 

"This must end, " said the trapper, rising with the dignity of one bentonly on the importance of his object. "I know not what need ye may have, children, to fear those you should both love and honour, but somethingmust be done to save your lives. A few hours more or less can neverbe missed from the time of one who has already numbered so many days;therefore I will advance. Here is a clear space around you. Profit by itas you need, and may God bless and prosper each of you, as ye deserve!"

Without waiting for any reply, the trapper walked boldly down thedeclivity in his front, taking the direction of the encampment, neitherquickening his pace in trepidation, nor suffering it to be retardedby fear. The light of the moon fell brighter for a moment on histall, gaunt, form, and served to warn the emigrants of his approach. Indifferent, however to this unfavourable circumstance, he held his way, silently and steadily towards the copse, until a threatening voice methim with a challenge of--

"Who comes; friend or foe?"

"Friend, " was the reply; "one who has lived too long to disturb theclose of life with quarrels. "

"But not so long as to forget the tricks of his youth, " said Ishmael, rearing his huge frame from beneath the slight covering of a low bush, and meeting the trapper, face to face; "old man, you have brought thistribe of red devils upon us, and to-morrow you will be sharing thebooty. "

"What have you lost?" calmly demanded the trapper. 

"Eight as good mares as ever travelled in gears, besides a foal that isworth thirty of the brightest Mexicans that bear the face of the King ofSpain. Then the woman has not a cloven hoof for her dairy, or her loom, and I believe even the grunters, foot sore as they be, are ploughing theprairie. And now, stranger, " he added, dropping the butt of his rifle onthe hard earth, with a violence and clatter that would have intimidatedone less firm than the man he addressed, "how many of these creaturesmay fall to your lot?"

"Horses have I never craved, nor even used; though few have journeyedover more of the wide lands of America than myself, old and feeble as Iseem. But little use is there for a horse among the hills and woods ofYork--that is, as York was, but as I greatly fear York is no longer--asfor woollen covering and cow's milk, I covet no such womanly fashions!The beasts of the field give me food and raiment. No, I crave no clothbetter than the skin of a deer, nor any meat richer than his flesh. "

The sincere manner of the trapper, as he uttered this simplevindication, was not entirely thrown away on the emigrant, whose dullnature was gradually quickening into a flame, that might speedily haveburst forth with dangerous violence. He listened like one whodoubted, not entirely convinced: and he muttered between his teeth thedenunciation, with which a moment before he intended to precede thesummary vengeance he had certainly meditated. 

"This is brave talking, " he at length grumbled; "but to my judgment, too lawyer-like, for a straight forward, fair-weather, and foul-weatherhunter. "

"I claim to be no better than a trapper, " the other meekly answered. 

"Hunter or trapper--there is little difference. I have come, old man, into these districts because I found the law sitting too tight upon me, and am not over fond of neighbours who can't settle a dispute withouttroubling a justice and twelve men; but I didn't come to be robb'd of myplunder, and then to say thank'ee to the man who did it!"

"He, who ventures far into the prairies, must abide by the ways of itsowners. "

"Owners!" echoed the squatter, "I am as rightful an owner of the landI stand on, as any governor in the States! Can you tell me, stranger, where the law or the reason, is to be found, which says that one manshall have a section, or a town, or perhaps a county to his use, andanother have to beg for earth to make his grave in? This is not nature, and I deny that it is law. That is, your legal law. "

"I cannot say that you are wrong, " returned the trapper, whose opinionson this important topic, though drawn from very different premises, werein singular accordance with those of his companion, "and I have oftenthought and said as much, when and where I have believed my voice couldbe heard. But your beasts are stolen by them who claim to be masters ofall they find in the deserts. "

"They had better not dispute that matter with a man who knows better, "said the other in a portentous voice, though it seemed deep and sluggishas he who spoke. 

"I call myself a fair trader, and one who gives to his chaps as good ashe receives. You saw the Indians?"

"I did--they held me a prisoner, while they stole into your camp. "

"It would have been more like a white man and a Christian, to have letme known as much in better season, " retorted Ishmael, casting anotherominous sidelong glance at the trapper, as if still meditating evil. "Iam not much given to call every man, I fall in with, cousin, but colourshould be something, when Christians meet in such a place as this. Butwhat is done, is done, and cannot be mended, by words. Come out of yourambush, boys; here is no one but the old man: he has eaten of my bread, and should be our friend; though there is such good reason to suspecthim of harbouring with our enemies. "

The trapper made no reply to the harsh suspicion which the other didnot scruple to utter without the smallest delicacy, notwithstanding theexplanations and denials to which he had just listened. The summons ofthe unnurtured squatter brought an immediate accession to their party. Four or five of his sons made their appearance from beneath as manycovers, where they had been posted under the impression that the figuresthey had seen, on the swell of the prairie, were a part of the Siouxband. As each man approached, and dropped his rifle into the hollowof his arm, he cast an indolent but enquiring glance at the stranger, though neither of them expressed the least curiosity to know whence hehad come or why he was there. This forbearance, however, proceeded onlyin part, from the sluggishness of their common temper; for long andfrequent experience in scenes of a similar character, had taught themthe virtue of discretion. The trapper endured their sullen scrutiny withthe steadiness of one as practised as themselves, and with the entirecomposure of innocence. Content with the momentary examination he hadmade, the eldest of the group, who was in truth the delinquent sentinelby whose remissness the wily Mahtoree had so well profited, turnedtowards his father and said bluntly--

"If this man is all that is left of the party I saw on the upland, yonder, we haven't altogether thrown away our ammunition. "

"Asa, you are right, " said the father, turning suddenly on the trapper, a lost idea being recalled by the hint of his son. "How is it, stranger;there were three of you, just now, or there is no virtue in moonlight?"

"If you had seen the Tetons racing across the prairies, like so manyblack-looking evil ones, on the heels of your cattle, my friend, itwould have been an easy matter to have fancied them a thousand. "

"Ay, for a town bred boy, or a skeary woman; though for that matter, there is old Esther; she has no more fear of a red-skin than of asuckling cub, or of a wolf pup. I'll warrant ye, had your thievishdevils made their push by the light of the sun, the good woman wouldhave been smartly at work among them, and the Siouxes would have foundshe was not given to part with her cheese and her butter without aprice. But there'll come a time, stranger, right soon, when justice willhave its dues, and that too, without the help of what is called the law. We ar' of a slow breed, it may be said, and it is often said, of us; butslow is sure; and there ar' few men living, who can say they ever strucka blow, that they did not get one as hard in return, from Ishmael Bush. "

"Then has Ishmael Bush followed the instinct of the beasts rather thanthe principle which ought to belong to his kind, " returned the stubborntrapper. "I have struck many a blow myself, but never have I felt thesame ease of mind that of right belongs to a man who follows his reason, after slaying even a fawn when there was no call for his meat or hide, as I have felt at leaving a Mingo unburied in the woods, when followingthe trade of open and honest warfare. "

"What, you have been a soldier, have you, trapper! I made a forage ortwo among the Cherokees, when I was a lad myself; and I followed madAnthony, [*] one season, through the beeches; but there was altogethertoo much tatooing and regulating among his troops for me; so I left himwithout calling on the paymaster to settle my arrearages. Though, asEsther afterwards boasted, she had made such use of the pay-ticket, thatthe States gained no great sum, by the oversight. You have heard of sucha man as mad Anthony, if you tarried long among the soldiers. "

 [*] Anthony Wayne, a Pennsylvanian distinguished in the war of the revolution, and subsequently against the Indians of the west, for his daring as a general, by which he gained from his followers the title of Mad Anthony. General Wayne was the son of the person mentioned in the life of West as commanding the regiment which excited his military ardour. 

"I fou't my last battle, as I hope, under his orders, " returned thetrapper, a gleam of sunshine shooting from his dim eyes, as if theevent was recollected with pleasure, and then a sudden shade of sorrowsucceeding, as though he felt a secret admonition against dwellingon the violent scenes in which he had so often been an actor. "I waspassing from the States on the sea-shore into these far regions, whenI cross'd the trail of his army, and I fell in, on his rear, just as alooker-on; but when they got to blows, the crack of my rifle was heardamong the rest, though to my shame it may be said, I never knew theright of the quarrel as well as a man of threescore and ten should knowthe reason of his acts afore he takes mortal life, which is a gift henever can return!"

"Come, stranger, " said the emigrant, his rugged nature a good dealsoftened when he found that they had fought on the same side in thewild warfare of the west, "it is of small account, what may be theground-work of the disturbance, when it's a Christian ag'in a savage. Weshall hear more of this horse-stealing to-morrow; to-night we can do nowiser or safer thing than to sleep. "

So saying, Ishmael deliberately led the way back towards his rifledencampment, and ushered the man, whose life a few minutes before hadbeen in real jeopardy from his resentment, into the presence of hisfamily. Here, with a very few words of explanation, mingled with scarcebut ominous denunciations against the plunderers, he made his wifeacquainted with the state of things on the prairie, and announced hisown determination to compensate himself for his broken rest, by devotingthe remainder of the night to sleep. 

The trapper gave his ready assent to the measure, and adjusted his gauntform on the pile of brush that was offered him, with as much composureas a sovereign could resign himself to sleep, in the security of hiscapital and surrounded by his armed protectors. The old man did notclose his eyes, however, until he had assured himself that Ellen Wadewas among the females of the family, and that her relation, or lover, whichever he might be, had observed the caution of keeping himself outof view: after which he slept, though with the peculiar watchfulness ofone long accustomed to vigilance, even in the hours of deepest night. 

CHAPTER VI

 He is too picked, too spruce, too affected, too odd, As it were too peregrinate, as I may call it. --Shakspeare. 

The Anglo-American is apt to boast, and not without reason, that hisnation may claim a descent more truly honourable than that of any otherpeople whose history is to be credited. Whatever might have been theweaknesses of the original colonists, their virtues have rarely beendisputed. If they were superstitious, they were sincerely pious, and, consequently, honest. The descendants of these simple and single-mindedprovincials have been content to reject the ordinary and artificialmeans by which honours have been perpetuated in families, and havesubstituted a standard which brings the individual himself to the ordealof the public estimation, paying as little deference as may be to thosewho have gone before him. This forbearance, self-denial, or commonsense, or by whatever term it may be thought proper to distinguish themeasure, has subjected the nation to the imputation of having an ignobleorigin. Were it worth the enquiry, it would be found that more than ajust proportion of the renowned names of the mother-country are, at thishour, to be found in her ci-devant colonies; and it is a fact well knownto the few who have wasted sufficient time to become the masters of sounimportant a subject, that the direct descendants of many a failingline, which the policy of England has seen fit to sustain by collateralsupporters, are now discharging the simple duties of citizens in thebosom of this republic. The hive has remained stationary, and theywho flutter around the venerable straw are wont to claim the emptydistinction of antiquity, regardless alike of the frailty of theirtenement and of the enjoyments of the numerous and vigorous swarmsthat are culling the fresher sweets of a virgin world. But as this is asubject which belongs rather to the politician and historian than tothe humble narrator of the homebred incidents we are about to reveal, we must confine our reflections to such matters as have an immediaterelation to the subject of the tale. 

Although the citizen of the United States may claim so just an ancestry, he is far from being exempt from the penalties of his fallen race. Likecauses are well known to produce like effects. That tribute, which itwould seem nations must ever pay, by way of a weary probation, aroundthe shrine of Ceres, before they can be indulged in her fullest favours, is in some measure exacted in America, from the descendant instead ofthe ancestor. The march of civilisation with us, has a strong analogyto that of all coming events, which are known "to cast their shadowsbefore. " The gradations of society, from that state which is calledrefined to that which approaches as near barbarity as connection with anintelligent people will readily allow, are to be traced from the bosomof the States, where wealth, luxury and the arts are beginning to seatthemselves, to those distant, and ever-receding borders which markthe skirts, and announce the approach, of the nation, as moving mistsprecede the signs of day. 

Here, and here only, is to be found that widely spread, though far fromnumerous class, which may be at all likened to those who have pavedthe way for the intellectual progress of nations, in the old world. Theresemblance between the American borderer and his European prototypeis singular, though not always uniform. Both might be called withoutrestraint; the one being above, the other beyond the reach of thelaw--brave, because they were inured to dangers--proud, because theywere independent, and vindictive, because each was the avenger of hisown wrongs. It would be unjust to the borderer to pursue the parallelmuch farther. He is irreligious, because he has inherited the knowledgethat religion does not exist in forms, and his reason rejects mockery. He is not a knight, because he has not the power to bestow distinctions;and he has not the power, because he is the offspring and not the parentof a system. In what manner these several qualities are exhibited, insome of the most strongly marked of the latter class, will be seen inthe course of the ensuing narrative. 

Ishmael Bush had passed the whole of a life of more than fifty years onthe skirts of society. He boasted that he had never dwelt where he mightnot safely fell every tree he could view from his own threshold; thatthe law had rarely been known to enter his clearing, and that his earshad never willingly admitted the sound of a church bell. His exertionsseldom exceeded his wants, which were peculiar to his class, and rarelyfailed of being supplied. He had no respect for any learning except thatof the leech; because he was ignorant of the application of anyother intelligence than such as met the senses. His deference tothis particular branch of science had induced him to listen to theapplication of a medical man, whose thirst for natural history had ledhim to the desire of profiting by the migratory propensities of thesquatter. This gentleman he had cordially received into his family, orrather under his protection, and they had journeyed together, thus farthrough the prairies, in perfect harmony: Ishmael often felicitating hiswife on the possession of a companion, who would be so serviceable intheir new abode, wherever it might chance to be, until the family werethoroughly "acclimated. " The pursuits of the naturalist frequently ledhim, however, for days at a time, from the direct line of the route ofthe squatter, who rarely seemed to have any other guide than the sun. Most men would have deemed themselves fortunate to have been absent onthe perilous occasion of the Sioux inroad, as was Obed Bat, (or as hewas fond of hearing himself called, Battius, ) M. D. And fellow of severalcis-Atlantic learned societies--the adventurous gentleman in question. 

Although the sluggish nature of Ishmael was not actually awakened, itwas sorely pricked by the liberties which had just been taken with hisproperty. He slept, however, for it was the hour he had allotted to thatrefreshment, and because he knew how impotent any exertions to recoverhis effects must prove in the darkness of midnight. He also knew thedanger of his present situation too well to hazard what was left inpursuit of that which was lost. Much as the inhabitants of the prairieswere known to love horses, their attachment to many other articles, still in the possession of the travellers, was equally well understood. It was a common artifice to scatter the herds, and to profit by theconfusion. But Mahtoree had, as it would seem in this particularundervalued the acuteness of the man he had assailed. The phlegm withwhich the squatter learned his loss, has already been seen, and it nowremains to exhibit the results of his more matured determinations. 

Though the encampment contained many an eye that was long unclosed, andmany an ear that listened greedily to catch the faintest evidence ofany new alarm, it lay in deep quiet during the remainder of the night. Silence and fatigue finally performed their accustomed offices, andbefore the morning all but the sentinels were again buried in sleep. Howwell these indolent watchers discharged their duties, after the assault, has never been known, inasmuch as nothing occurred to confirm or todisprove their subsequent vigilance. 

Just as day, however, began to dawn, and a grey light was falling fromthe heavens, on the dusky objects of the plain, the half startled, anxious, and yet blooming countenance of Ellen Wade was reared above theconfused mass of children, among whom she had clustered on her stolenreturn to the camp. Arising warily she stepped lightly across therecumbent bodies, and proceeded with the same caution to the utmostlimits of the defences of Ishmael. Here she listened, as if she doubtedthe propriety of venturing further. The pause was only momentary, however; and long before the drowsy eyes of the sentinel, who overlookedthe spot where she stood, had time to catch a glimpse of her activeform, it had glided along the bottom, and stood on the summit of thenearest eminence. 

Ellen now listened intently anxious to catch some other sound, than thebreathing of the morning air, which faintly rustled the herbage at herfeet. She was about to turn in disappointment from the enquiry, when thetread of human feet making their way through the matted grass met herear. Springing eagerly forward, she soon beheld the outlines of a figureadvancing up the eminence, on the side opposite to the camp. She hadalready uttered the name of Paul, and was beginning to speak in thehurried and eager voice with which female affection is apt to greet afriend, when, drawing back, the disappointed girl closed her salutationby coldly adding--"I did not expect, Doctor, to meet you at this unusualhour. "

"All hours and all seasons are alike, my good Ellen, to the genuinelover of nature, "--returned a small, slightly made, but exceedinglyactive man, dressed in an odd mixture of cloth and skins, a littlepast the middle age, and who advanced directly to her side, with thefamiliarity of an old acquaintance; "and he who does not know how tofind things to admire by this grey light, is ignorant of a large portionof the blessings he enjoys. "

"Very true, " said Ellen, suddenly recollecting the necessity ofaccounting for her own appearance abroad at that unseasonable hour; "Iknow many who think the earth has a pleasanter look in the night, thanwhen seen by the brightest sunshine. "

"Ah! Their organs of sight must be too convex! But the man who wishesto study the active habits of the feline race, or the variety, albinos, must, indeed, be stirring at this hour. I dare say, there are men whoprefer even looking at objects by twilight, for the simple reason, thatthey see better at that time of the day. "

"And is this the cause why you are so much abroad in the night?"

"I am abroad at night, my good girl, because the earth in its diurnalrevolutions leaves the light of the sun but half the time on any givenmeridian, and because what I have to do cannot be performed in twelve orfifteen consecutive hours. Now have I been off two days from the family, in search of a plant, that is known to exist on the tributaries ofLa Platte, without seeing even a blade of grass that is not alreadyenumerated and classed. "

"You have been unfortunate, Doctor, but--"

"Unfortunate!" echoed the little man, sideling nigher to his companion, and producing his tablets with an air in which exultation struggled, strangely, with an affectation of self-abasement. "No, no, Ellen, I amany thing but unfortunate. Unless, indeed, a man may be so called, whosefortune is made, whose fame may be said to be established for ever, whose name will go down to posterity with that of Buffon--Buffon! a merecompiler: one who flourishes on the foundation of other men's labours. No; pari passu with Solander, who bought his knowledge with pain andprivations!"

"Have you discovered a mine, Doctor Bat?"

"More than a mine; a treasure coined, and fit for instant use, girl. --Listen! I was making the angle necessary to intersect the line ofyour uncle's march, after my fruitless search, when I heard sounds likethe explosion produced by fire arms--"

"Yes, " exclaimed Ellen, eagerly, "we had an alarm--"

"And thought I was lost, " continued the man of science too much bent onhis own ideas, to understand her interruption. "Little danger of that!I made my own base, knew the length of the perpendicular by calculation, and to draw the hypothenuse had nothing to do but to work my angle. Isupposed the guns were fired for my benefit, and changed my coursefor the sounds--not that I think the sense more accurate, or even asaccurate as a mathematical calculation, but I feared that some of thechildren might need my services. "

"They are all happily--"

"Listen, " interrupted the other, already forgetting his affected anxietyfor his patients, in the greater importance of the present subject. "Ihad crossed a large tract of prairie--for sound is conveyed far wherethere is little obstruction--when I heard the trampling of feet, as ifbisons were beating the earth. Then I caught a distant view of a herdof quadrupeds, rushing up and down the swells--animals, which wouldhave still remained unknown and undescribed, had it not been for a mostfelicitous accident! One, and he a noble specimen of the whole! wasrunning a little apart from the rest. The herd made an inclination in mydirection, in which the solitary animal coincided, and this broughthim within fifty yards of the spot where I stood. I profited by theopportunity, and by the aid of steel and taper, I wrote his descriptionon the spot. I would have given a thousand dollars, Ellen, for a singleshot from the rifle of one of the boys!"

"You carry a pistol, Doctor, why didn't you use it?" said the halfinattentive girl, anxiously examining the prairie, but still lingeringwhere she stood, quite willing to be detained. 

"Ay, but it carries nothing but the most minute particles of lead, adapted to the destruction of the larger insects and reptiles. No, I didbetter than to attempt waging a war, in which I could not be thevictor. I recorded the event; noting each particular with the precisionnecessary to science. You shall hear, Ellen; for you are a good andimproving girl, and by retaining what you learn in this way, may yet beof great service to learning, should any accident occur to me. Indeed, my worthy Ellen, mine is a pursuit, which has its dangers as well asthat of the warrior. This very night, " he continued, glancing his eyebehind him, "this awful night, has the principle of life, itself, beenin great danger of extinction!"

"By what?"

"By the monster I have discovered. It approached me often, and ever as Ireceded, it continued to advance. I believe nothing but the littlelamp, I carried, was my protector. I kept it between us, whilst I wrote, making it serve the double purpose of luminary and shield. But you shallhear the character of the beast, and you may then judge of the risks wepromoters of science run in behalf of mankind. "

The naturalist raised his tablets to the heavens, and disposed himselfto read as well as he could, by the dim light they yet shed upon theplain; premising with saying--

"Listen, girl, and you shall hear, with what a treasure it has been myhappy lot to enrich the pages of natural history!"

"Is it then a creature of your forming?" said Ellen, turning away fromher fruitless examination, with a sudden lighting of her sprightly blueeyes, that showed she knew how to play with the foible of her learnedcompanion. 

"Is the power to give life to inanimate matter the gift of man? I wouldit were! You should speedily see a Historia Naturalis Americana, thatwould put the sneering imitators of the Frenchman, De Buffon, to shame!A great improvement might be made in the formation of all quadrupeds;especially those in which velocity is a virtue. Two of the inferiorlimbs should be on the principle of the lever; wheels, perhaps, as theyare now formed; though I have not yet determined whether the improvementmight be better applied to the anterior or posterior members, inasmuchas I am yet to learn whether dragging or shoving requires the greatestmuscular exertion. A natural exudation of the animal might assist inovercoming the friction, and a powerful momentum be obtained. But allthis is hopeless--at least for the present!"--he added, raising histablets again to the light, and reading aloud; "Oct. 6, 1805. That'smerely the date, which I dare say you know better than I--mem. Quadruped; seen by star-light, and by the aid of a pocket-lamp, inthe prairies of North America--see Journal for Latitude and Meridian. Genus--unknown; therefore named after the discoverer, and from thehappy coincidence of being seen in the evening--Vespertilio Horribilis, Americanus. Dimensions (by estimation)--Greatest length, eleven feet;height, six feet; head, erect; nostrils, expansive; eyes, expressiveand fierce; teeth, serrated and abundant; tail, horizontal, waving, and slightly feline; feet, large and hairy; talons, long, curvated, dangerous; ears, inconspicuous; horns, elongated, diverging, andformidable; colour, plumbeous-ashy, with fiery spots; voice, sonorous, martial, and appalling; habits, gregarious, carnivorous, fierce, andfearless. There, " exclaimed Obed, when he had ended this sententious butcomprehensive description, "there is an animal, which will be likely todispute with the lion his title to be called the king of the beasts!"

"I know not the meaning of all you have said, Doctor Battius, " returnedthe quick-witted girl, who understood the weakness of the philosopher, and often indulged him with a title he loved so well to hear; "but Ishall think it dangerous to venture far from the camp, if such monstersare prowling over the prairies. "

"You may well call it prowling, " returned the naturalist, nestling stillcloser to her side, and dropping his voice to such low and undignifiedtones of confidence, as conveyed a meaning still more pointed thanhe had intended. "I have never before experienced such a trial of thenervous system; there was a moment, I acknowledge, when the fortiter inre faltered before so terrible an enemy; but the love of natural sciencebore me up, and brought me off in triumph!"

"You speak a language so different from that we use in Tennessee, " saidEllen, struggling to conceal her laughter, "that I hardly know whetherI understand your meaning. If I am right, you wish to say you werechicken-hearted. "

"An absurd simile drawn from an ignorance of the formation of the biped. The heart of a chicken has a just proportion to its other organs, andthe domestic fowl is, in a state of nature, a gallant bird. Ellen, " headded, with a countenance so solemn as to produce an impression on theattentive girl, "I was pursued, hunted, and in a danger that I scorn todwell on--what's that?"

Ellen started; for the earnestness and simple sincerity of hercompanion's manner had produced a certain degree of credulity, even onher buoyant mind. Looking in the direction indicated by the Doctor, she beheld, in fact, a beast coursing over the prairie, and making astraight and rapid approach to the very spot they occupied. The day wasnot yet sufficiently advanced to enable her to distinguish its form andcharacter, though enough was discernible to induce her to imagine it afierce and savage animal. 

"It comes! it comes!" exclaimed the Doctor, fumbling, by a sort ofinstinct, for his tablets, while he fairly tottered on his feet underthe powerful efforts he made to maintain his ground. "Now, Ellen, has fortune given me an opportunity to correct the errors made bystar-light, --hold, --ashy-plumbeous, --no ears, --horns, excessive. " Hisvoice and hand were both arrested by a roar, or rather a shriek from thebeast, that was sufficiently terrific to appal even a stouter heart thanthat of the naturalist. The cries of the animal passed over the prairiein strange cadences, and then succeeded a deep and solemn silence, that was only broken by an uncontrolled fit of merriment from the moremusical voice of Ellen Wade. In the mean time the naturalist stoodlike a statue of amazement, permitting a well-grown ass, against whoseapproach he no longer offered his boasted shield of light, to smellabout his person, without comment or hinderance. 

"It is your own ass, " cried Ellen, the instant she found breath forwords; "your own patient, hard working, hack!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes from the beast to the speaker, and from thespeaker to the beast; but gave no audible expression of his wonder. 

"Do you refuse to know an animal that has laboured so long in yourservice?" continued the laughing girl. "A beast, that I have heard yousay a thousand times, has served you well, and whom you loved like abrother!"

"Asinus Domesticus!" ejaculated the Doctor, drawing his breath like onewho had been near suffocation. "There is no doubt of the genus; and Iwill always maintain that the animal is not of the species, equus. This is undeniably Asinus himself, Ellen Wade; but this is not theVespertilio Horribilis of the prairies! Very different animals, Ican assure you, young woman, and differently characterized in everyimportant particular. That, carnivorous, " he continued, glancing hiseye at the open page of his tablets; "this, granivorous; habits, fierce, dangerous; habits, patient, abstemious; ears, inconspicuous; ears, elongated; horns, diverging, &c. , horns, none!"

He was interrupted by another burst of merriment from Ellen, whichserved, in some measure, to recall him to his recollection. 

"The image of the Vespertilio was on the retina, " the astounded enquirerinto the secrets of nature observed, in a manner that seemed a littleapologetic, "and I was silly enough to mistake my own faithful beast forthe monster. Though even now I greatly marvel to see this animal runningat large!"

Ellen then proceeded to explain the history of the attack and itsresults. She described, with an accuracy that might have raisedsuspicions of her own movements in the mind of one less simple than herauditor, the manner in which the beasts burst out of the encampment, and the headlong speed with which they had dispersed themselves overthe open plain. Although she forebore to say as much in terms, sheso managed as to present before the eyes of her listener the strongprobability of his having mistaken the frightened drove for savagebeasts, and then terminated her account by a lamentation for their loss, and some very natural remarks on the helpless condition in which ithad left the family. The naturalist listened in silent wonder, neitherinterrupting her narrative nor suffering a single exclamation ofsurprise to escape him. The keen-eyed girl, however, saw that as sheproceeded, the important leaf was torn from the tablets, in a mannerwhich showed that their owner had got rid of his delusion at the sameinstant. From that moment the world has heard no more of the VespertilioHorribilis Americanus, and the natural sciences have irretrievably lostan important link in that great animated chain which is said to connectearth and heaven, and in which man is thought to be so familiarlycomplicated with the monkey. 

When Dr. Bat was put in full possession of all the circumstances of theinroad, his concern immediately took a different direction. He had leftsundry folios, and certain boxes well stored with botanical specimensand defunct animals, under the good keeping of Ishmael, and itimmediately struck his acute mind, that marauders as subtle as theSiouxes would never neglect the opportunity to despoil him of thesetreasures. Nothing that Ellen could say to the contrary served toappease his apprehensions, and, consequently, they separated; he torelieve his doubts and fears together, and she to glide, as swiftly andsilently as she had just before passed it, into the still and solitarytent. 

CHAPTER VII

 What! fifty of my followers, at a clap! --Lear. 

The day had now fairly opened on the seemingly interminable waste ofthe prairie. The entrance of Obed at such a moment into the camp, accompanied as it was by vociferous lamentations over his anticipatedloss, did not fail to rouse the drowsy family of the squatter. Ishmaeland his sons, together with the forbidding looking brother of his wife, were all speedily afoot; and then, as the sun began to shed his light onthe place, they became gradually apprised of the extent of their loss. 

Ishmael looked round upon the motionless and heavily loaded vehicleswith his teeth firmly compressed, cast a glance at the amazed andhelpless group of children, which clustered around their sullen butdesponding mother, and walked out upon the open land, as if he found theair of the encampment too confined. He was followed by several of themen, who were attentive observers, watching the dark expression of hiseye as the index of their own future movements. The whole proceeded inprofound and moody silence to the summit of the nearest swell, whencethey could command an almost boundless view of the naked plains. Herenothing was visible but a solitary buffaloe, that gleaned a meagresubsistence from the decaying herbage, at no great distance, and theass of the physician, who profited by his freedom to enjoy a meal richerthan common. 

"Yonder is one of the creatures left by the villains to mock us, " saidIshmael, glancing his eye towards the latter, "and that the meanest ofthe stock. This is a hard country to make a crop in, boys; and yet foodmust be found to fill many hungry mouths!"

"The rifle is better than the hoe, in such a place as this, " returnedthe eldest of his sons, kicking the hard and thirsty soil on which hestood, with an air of contempt. "It is good for such as they who maketheir dinner better on beggars' beans than on homminy. A crow would shedtears if obliged by its errand to fly across the district. "

"What say you, trapper?" returned the father, showing the slightimpression his powerful heel had made on the compact earth, and laughingwith frightful ferocity. "Is this the quality of land a man would choosewho never troubles the county clerk with title deeds?"

"There is richer soil in the bottoms, " returned the old man calmly, "andyou have passed millions of acres to get to this dreary spot, where hewho loves to till the 'arth might have received bushels in return forpints, and that too at the cost of no very grievous labour. If you havecome in search of land, you have journeyed hundreds of miles too far, oras many leagues too little. "

"There is then a better choice towards the other Ocean?" demanded thesquatter, pointing in the direction of the Pacific. 

"There is, and I have seen it all, " was the answer of the other, whodropped his rifle to the earth, and stood leaning on its barrel, likeone who recalled the scenes he had witnessed with melancholy pleasure. "I have seen the waters of the two seas! On one of them was I born, andraised to be a lad like yonder tumbling boy. America has grown, mymen, since the days of my youth, to be a country larger than I oncehad thought the world itself to be. Near seventy years I dwelt in York, province and state together:--you've been in York, 'tis like?"

"Not I--not I; I never visited the towns; but often have heard the placeyou speak of named. 'Tis a wide clearing there, I reckon. "

"Too wide! too wide! They scourge the very 'arth with their axes. Suchhills and hunting-grounds as I have seen stripped of the gifts of theLord, without remorse or shame! I tarried till the mouths of my houndswere deafened by the blows of the chopper, and then I came west insearch of quiet. It was a grievous journey that I made; a grievous toilto pass through falling timber and to breathe the thick air of smokyclearings, week after week, as I did! 'Tis a far country too, that stateof York from this!"

"It lies ag'in the outer edge of old Kentuck, I reckon; though what thedistance may be I never knew. "

"A gull would have to fan a thousand miles of air to find the easternsea. And yet it is no mighty reach to hunt across, when shade and gameare plenty! The time has been when I followed the deer in the mountainsof the Delaware and Hudson, and took the beaver on the streams of theupper lakes in the same season, but my eye was quick and certain at thatday, and my limbs were like the legs of a moose! The dam of Hector, "dropping his look kindly to the aged hound that crouched at his feet, "was then a pup, and apt to open on the game the moment she struck thescent. She gave me a deal of trouble, that slut, she did!"

"Your hound is old, stranger, and a rap on the head would prove a mercyto the beast. "

"The dog is like his master, " returned the trapper, without appearing toheed the brutal advice the other gave, "and will number his days, whenhis work amongst the game is over, and not before. To my eye thingsseem ordered to meet each other in this creation. 'Tis not the swiftestrunning deer that always throws off the hounds, nor the biggest armthat holds the truest rifle. Look around you, men; what will the YankeeChoppers say, when they have cut their path from the eastern to thewestern waters, and find that a hand, which can lay the 'arth bare ata blow, has been here and swept the country, in very mockery of theirwickedness. They will turn on their tracks like a fox that doubles, andthen the rank smell of their own footsteps will show them the madness oftheir waste. Howsomever, these are thoughts that are more likely to risein him who has seen the folly of eighty seasons, than to teach wisdom tomen still bent on the pleasures of their kind! You have need, yet, ofa stirring time, if you think to escape the craft and hatred of theburnt-wood Indians. They claim to be the lawful owners of this country, and seldom leave a white more than the skin he boasts of, when once theyget the power, as they always have the will, to do him harm. "

"Old man, " said Ishmael sternly, "to which people do you belong? Youhave the colour and speech of a Christian, while it seems that yourheart is with the redskins. "

"To me there is little difference in nations. The people I loved mostare scattered as the sands of the dry river-beds fly before the fallhurricanes, and life is too short to make use and custom with strangers, as one can do with such as he has dwelt amongst for years. Still am I aman without the cross of Indian blood; and what is due from a warriorto his nation, is owing by me to the people of the States; though littleneed have they, with their militia and their armed boats, of help from asingle arm of fourscore. "

"Since you own your kin, I may ask a simple question. Where are theSiouxes who have stolen my cattle?"

"Where is the herd of buffaloes, which was chased by the panther acrossthis plain, no later than the morning of yesterday? It is as hard--"

"Friend, " said Dr. Battius, who had hitherto been an attentive listener, but who now felt a sudden impulse to mingle in the discourse, "Iam grieved when I find a venator or hunter, of your experience andobservation, following the current of vulgar error. The animal youdescribe is in truth a species of the bos ferus, (or bos sylvestris, ashe has been happily called by the poets, ) but, though of close affinity, it is altogether distinct from the common bubulus. Bison is the betterword; and I would suggest the necessity of adopting it in future, whenyou shall have occasion to allude to the species. "

"Bison or buffaloe, it makes but little matter. The creatur' is thesame, call it by what name you will, and--"

"Pardon me, venerable venator; as classification is the very soul ofthe natural sciences, the animal or vegetable must, of necessity, becharacterised by the peculiarities of its species, which is alwaysindicated by the name--"

"Friend, " said the trapper, a little positively, "would the tail of abeaver make the worse dinner for calling it a mink; or could you eat ofthe wolf, with relish, because some bookish man had given it the name ofvenison?"

As these questions were put with no little earnestness and some spirit, there was every probability that a hot discussion would have succeededbetween two men, of whom one was so purely practical and the other somuch given to theory, had not Ishmael seen fit to terminate the dispute, by bringing into view a subject that was much more important to his ownimmediate interests. 

"Beavers' tails and minks' flesh may do to talk about before a maplefire and a quiet hearth, " interrupted the squatter, without the smallestdeference to the interested feelings of the disputants; "but somethingmore than foreign words, or words of any sort, is now needed. Tell me, trapper, where are your Siouxes skulking?"

"It would be as easy to tell you the colours of the hawk that isfloating beneath yonder white cloud! When a red-skin strikes his blow, he is not apt to wait until he is paid for the evil deed in lead. "

"Will the beggarly savages believe they have enough, when they findthemselves master of all the stock?"

"Natur' is much the same, let it be covered by what skin it may. Doyou ever find your longings after riches less when you have made a goodcrop, than before you were master of a kernel of corn? If you do, youdiffer from what the experience of a long life tells me is the commoncravings of man. "

"Speak plainly, old stranger, " said the squatter, striking the butt ofhis rifle heavily on the earth, his dull capacity finding no pleasure ina discourse that was conducted in so obscure allusions; "I have asked asimple question, and one I know well that you can answer. "

"You are right, you are right. I can answer, for I have too often seenthe disposition of my kind to mistake it, when evil is stirring. Whenthe Siouxes have gathered in the beasts, and have made sure that you arenot upon their heels, they will be back nibbling like hungry wolves totake the bait they have left or it may be, they'll show the temper ofthe great bears, that are found at the falls of the Long River, andstrike at once with the paw, without stopping to nose their prey. "

"You have then seen the animals you mention!" exclaimed Dr. Battius, who had now been thrown out of the conversation quite as long as hisimpatience could well brook, and who approached the subject with histablets ready opened, as a book of reference. "Can you tell me if whatyou encountered was of the species, ursus horribilis--with the ears, rounded--front, arquated--eyes--destitute of the remarkable supplementallid--with six incisores, one false, and four perfect molares--"

"Trapper, go on, for we are engaged in reasonable discourse, "interrupted Ishmael; "you believe we shall see more of the robbers. "

"Nay--nay--I do not call them robbers, for it is the usage of theirpeople, and what may be called the prairie law. "

"I have come five hundred miles to find a place where no man can dingthe words of the law in my ears, " said Ishmael, fiercely, "and I amnot in a humour to stand quietly at a bar, while a red-skin sits injudgment. I tell you, trapper, if another Sioux is seen prowling aroundmy camp, wherever it may be, he shall feel the contents of old Kentuck, "slapping his rifle, in a manner that could not be easily misconstrued, "though he wore the medal of Washington, [*] himself. I call the man arobber who takes that which is not his own. "

 [*] The American government creates chiefs among the western tribes, and decorates them with silver medals hearing the impression of the different presidents. That of Washington is the most prized. 

"The Teton, and the Pawnee, and the Konza, and men of a dozen othertribes, claim to own these naked fields. "

"Natur' gives them the lie in their teeth. The air, the water, and theground, are free gifts to man, and no one has the power to portion themout in parcels. Man must drink, and breathe, and walk, --and thereforeeach has a right to his share of 'arth. Why do not the surveyors of theStates set their compasses and run their lines over our heads as well asbeneath our feet? Why do they not cover their shining sheep-skins withbig words, giving to the landholder, or perhaps he should be calledair holder, so many rods of heaven, with the use of such a star for aboundary-mark, and such a cloud to turn a mill?"

As the squatter uttered his wild conceit, he laughed from the verybottom of his chest, in scorn. The deriding but frightful merrimentpassed from the mouth of one of his ponderous sons to that of the other, until it had made the circuit of the whole family. 

"Come, trapper, " continued Ishmael, in a tone of better humour, like aman who feels that he has triumphed, "neither of us, I reckon, has everhad much to do with title-deeds, or county clerks, or blazed trees;therefore we will not waste words on fooleries. You ar' a man that hastarried long in this clearing, and now I ask your opinion, face to face, without fear or favour, if you had the lead in my business, what wouldyou do?"

The old man hesitated, and seemed to give the required advice with deepreluctance. As every eye, however, was fastened on him, and whicheverway he turned his face, he encountered a look riveted on the lineamentsof his own working countenance, he answered in a low, melancholy, tone--

"I have seen too much mortal blood poured out in empty quarrels, towish ever to hear an angry rifle again. Ten weary years have I sojournedalone on these naked plains, waiting for my hour, and not a blow have Istruck ag'in an enemy more humanised than the grizzly bear. "

"Ursus horribilis, " muttered the Doctor. 

The speaker paused at the sound of the other's voice, but perceiving itwas no more than a sort of mental ejaculation, he continued in the samestrain--

"More humanised than the grizzly hear, or the panther of the RockyMountains; unless the beaver, which is a wise and knowing animal, maybe so reckoned. What would I advise? Even the female buffaloe will fightfor her young!"

"It never then shall be said, that Ishmael Bush has less kindness forhis children than the bear for her cubs!"

"And yet this is but a naked spot for a dozen men to make head in, ag'infive hundred. "

"Ay, it is so, " returned the squatter, glancing his eye towards hishumble camp; "but something might be done, with the wagons and thecotton-wood. "

The trapper shook his head incredulously, and pointed across the rollingplain in the direction of the west, as he answered--

"A rifle would send a bullet from these hills into your verysleeping-cabins; nay, arrows from the thicket in your rear would keepyou all burrowed, like so many prairie dogs: it wouldn't do, it wouldn'tdo. Three long miles from this spot is a place, where as I have oftenthought in passing across the desert, a stand might be made for days andweeks together, if there were hearts and hands ready to engage in thebloody work. "

Another low, deriding laugh passed among the young men, announcing, ina manner sufficiently intelligible, their readiness to undertake a taskeven more arduous. The squatter himself eagerly seized the hint whichhad been so reluctantly extorted from the trapper, who by some singularprocess of reasoning had evidently persuaded himself that it was hisduty to be strictly neutral. A few direct and pertinent enquiries servedto obtain the little additional information that was necessary, inorder to make the contemplated movement, and then Ishmael, who was, onemergencies, as terrifically energetic, as he was sluggish in common, set about effecting his object without delay. 

Notwithstanding the industry and zeal of all engaged, the task was oneof great labour and difficulty. The loaded vehicles were to be drawn byhand across a wide distance of plain without track or guide of any sort, except that which the trapper furnished by communicating his knowledgeof the cardinal points of the compass. In accomplishing this object, the gigantic strength of the men was taxed to the utmost, nor were thefemales or the children spared a heavy proportion of the toil. While thesons distributed themselves about the heavily loaded wagons, and drewthem by main strength up the neighbouring swell, their mother and Ellen, surrounded by the amazed group of little ones, followed slowly in therear, bending under the weight of such different articles as were suitedto their several strengths. 

Ishmael himself superintended and directed the whole, occasionallyapplying his colossal shoulder to some lagging vehicle, until he sawthat the chief difficulty, that of gaining the level of their intendedroute, was accomplished. Then he pointed out the required course, cautioning his sons to proceed in such a manner that they should notlose the advantage they had with so much labour obtained, and beckoningto the brother of his wife, they returned together to the empty camp. 

Throughout the whole of this movement, which occupied an hour of time, the trapper had stood apart, leaning on his rifle, with the aged houndslumbering at his feet, a silent but attentive observer of all thatpassed. Occasionally, a smile lighted his hard, muscular, but wastedfeatures, like a gleam of sunshine flitting across a ragged ruin, andbetrayed the momentary pleasure he found in witnessing from time to timethe vast power the youths discovered. Then, as the train drew slowlyup the ascent, a cloud of thought and sorrow threw all into the shadeagain, leaving the expression of his countenance in its usual stateof quiet melancholy. As vehicle after vehicle left the place of theencampment, he noted the change, with increasing attention; seldomfailing to cast an enquiring look at the little neglected tent, which, with its proper wagon, still remained as before, solitary and apparentlyforgotten. The summons of Ishmael to his gloomy associate had, however, as it would now seem, this hitherto neglected portion of his effects forits object. 

First casting a cautious and suspicious glance on every side of him, thesquatter and his companion advanced to the little wagon, and caused itto enter within the folds of the cloth, much in the manner that it hadbeen extricated the preceding evening. They both then disappeared behindthe drapery, and many moments of suspense succeeded, during which theold man, secretly urged by a burning desire to know the meaning of somuch mystery, insensibly drew nigh to the place, until he stood withina few yards of the proscribed spot. The agitation of the cloth betrayedthe nature of the occupation of those whom it concealed, though theirwork was conducted in rigid silence. It would appear that long practicehad made each of the two acquainted with his particular duty; forneither sign nor direction of any sort was necessary from Ishmael, inorder to apprise his surly associate of the manner in which he was toproceed. In less time than has been consummated in relating it, the interior portion of the arrangement was completed, when the menre-appeared without the tent. Too busy with his occupation to heed thepresence of the trapper, Ishmael began to release the folds of the clothfrom the ground, and to dispose of them in such a manner around thevehicle, as to form a sweeping train to the new form the little pavilionhad now assumed. The arched roof trembled with the occasional movementof the light vehicle which, it was now apparent, once more supported itssecret burden. Just as the work was ended the scowling eye of Ishmael'sassistant caught a glimpse of the figure of the attentive observer oftheir movements. Dropping the shaft, which he had already lifted fromthe ground preparatory to occupying the place that was usually filledby an animal less reasoning and perhaps less dangerous than himself, hebluntly exclaimed--

"I am a fool, as you often say! But look for yourself: if that man isnot an enemy, I will disgrace father and mother, call myself an Indian, and go hunt with the Siouxes!"

The cloud, as it is about to discharge the subtle lightning, is notmore dark nor threatening, than the look with which Ishmael greeted theintruder. He turned his head on every side of him, as if seeking someengine sufficiently terrible to annihilate the offending trapper at ablow; and then, possibly recollecting the further occasion he mighthave for his counsel, he forced himself to say, with an appearance ofmoderation that nearly choked him--

"Stranger, I did believe this prying into the concerns of others was thebusiness of women in the towns and settlements, and not the manner inwhich men, who are used to live where each has room for himself, dealwith the secrets of their neighbours. To what lawyer or sheriff do youcalculate to sell your news?"

"I hold but little discourse except with one and then chiefly of myown affairs, " returned the old man, without the least observableapprehension, and pointing imposingly upward; "a Judge; and Judge ofall. Little does he need knowledge from my hands, and but little willyour wish to keep any thing secret from him profit you, even in thisdesert. "

The mounting tempers of his unnurtured listeners were rebuked bythe simple, solemn manner of the trapper. Ishmael stood sullen andthoughtful; while his companion stole a furtive and involuntary glanceat the placid sky, which spread so wide and blue above his head, as ifhe expected to see the Almighty eye itself beaming from the heavenlyvault. But impressions of a serious character are seldom lasting onminds long indulged in forgetfulness. The hesitation of the squatter wasconsequently of short duration. The language, however, as well as thefirm and collected air of the speaker, were the means of preventing muchsubsequent abuse, if not violence. 

"It would be showing more of the kindness of a friend and comrade, "Ishmael returned, in a tone sufficiently sullen to betray his humour, though it was no longer threatening, "had your shoulder been put to thewheel of one of yonder wagons, instead of edging itself in here, wherenone are wanted but such as are invited. "

"I can put the little strength that is left me, " returned the trapper, "to this, as well as to another of your loads. "

"Do you take us for boys!" exclaimed Ishmael, laughing, half in ferocityand half in derision, applying his powerful strength at the same timeto the little vehicle, which rolled over the grass with as much seemingfacility as if it were drawn by its usual team. 

The trapper paused, and followed the departing wagon with his eye, marvelling greatly as to the nature of its concealed contents, until ithad also gained the summit of the eminence, and in its turn disappearedbehind the swell of the land. Then he turned to gaze at the desolationof the scene around him. The absence of human forms would have scarcecreated a sensation in the bosom of one so long accustomed to solitude, had not the site of the deserted camp furnished such strong memorialsof its recent visitors, and as the old man was quick to detect, of theirwaste also. He cast his eye upwards, with a shake of the head, atthe vacant spot in the heavens which had so lately been filled bythe branches of those trees that now lay stripped of their verdure, worthless and deserted logs, at his feet. 

"Ay, " he muttered to himself, "I might have know'd it--I might haveknow'd it! Often have I seen the same before; and yet I brought themto the spot myself, and have now sent them to the only neighbourhood oftheir kind within many long leagues of the spot where I stand. This isman's wish, and pride, and waste, and sinfulness! He tames the beasts ofthe field to feed his idle wants; and, having robbed the brutes of theirnatural food, he teaches them to strip the 'arth of its trees to quiettheir hunger. "

A rustling in the low bushes which still grew, for some distance, alongthe swale that formed the thicket on which the camp of Ishmael hadrested, caught his ear, at the moment, and cut short the soliloquy. Thehabits of so many years, spent in the wilderness, caused the old manto bring his rifle to a poise, with something like the activity andpromptitude of his youth; but, suddenly recovering his recollection, he dropped it into the hollow of his arm again, and resumed his air ofmelancholy resignation. 

"Come forth, come forth!" he said aloud: "be ye bird, or be ye beast, yeare safe from these old hands. I have eaten and I have drunk: why shouldI take life, when my wants call for no sacrifice? It will not be longafore the birds will peck at eyes that shall not see them, and perhapslight on my very bones; for if things like these are only made toperish, why am I to expect to live for ever? Come forth, come forth; youare safe from harm at these weak hands. "

"Thank you for the good word, old trapper!" cried Paul Hover, springingactively forward from his place of concealment. "There was an air aboutyou, when you threw forward the muzzle of the piece, that I did notlike; for it seemed to say that you were master of all the rest of themotions. "

"You are right, you are right!" cried the trapper, laughing with inwardself-complacency at the recollection of his former skill. "The day hasbeen when few men knew the virtues of a long rifle, like this I carry, better than myself, old and useless as I now seem. You are right, youngman; and the time was, when it was dangerous to move a leaf withinear-shot of my stand; or, " he added, dropping his voice, and lookingserious, "for a Red Mingo to show an eyeball from his ambushment. Youhave heard of the Red Mingos?"

"I have heard of minks, " said Paul, taking the old man by the arm, andgently urging him towards the thicket as he spoke; while, at the sametime, he cast quick and uneasy glances behind him, in order to make surehe was not observed. "Of your common black minks; but none of any othercolour. "

"Lord! Lord!" continued the trapper, shaking his head, and stilllaughing, in his deep but quiet manner; "the boy mistakes a brute for aman! Though, a Mingo is little better than a beast; or, for that matter, he is worse, when rum and opportunity are placed before his eyes. Therewas that accursed Huron, from the upper lakes, that I knocked from hisperch among the rocks in the hills, back of the Hori--"

His voice was lost in the thicket, into which he had suffered himself tobe led by Paul while speaking, too much occupied by thoughts which dwelton scenes and acts that had taken place half a century earlier in thehistory of the country, to offer the smallest resistance. 

CHAPTER VIII

 Now they are clapper-clawing one another; I'll go look on. That dissembling abominable varlet, Diomed, has got that same scurvy, doting, foolish young knave in his helm. --Troilus and Cressida. 

It is necessary, in order that the thread of the narrative should not bespun to a length which might fatigue the reader, that he should imaginea week to have intervened between the scene with which the precedingchapter closed and the events with which it is our intention to resumeits relation in this. The season was on the point of changing itscharacter; the verdure of summer giving place more rapidly to the brownand party-coloured livery of the fall. [*] The heavens were clothed indriving clouds, piled in vast masses one above the other, which whirledviolently in the gusts; opening, occasionally, to admit transientglimpses of the bright and glorious sight of the heavens, dwelling in amagnificence by far too grand and durable to be disturbed by the fitfulefforts of the lower world. Beneath, the wind swept across the wild andnaked prairies, with a violence that is seldom witnessed in any sectionof the continent less open. It would have been easy to have imagined, in the ages of fable, that the god of the winds had permitted hissubordinate agents to escape from their den, and that they now rioted, in wantonness, across wastes, where neither tree, nor work of man, normountain, nor obstacle of any sort, opposed itself to their gambols. 

 [*] The Americans call the autumn the "fall, " from the fall of the leaf. 

Though nakedness might, as usual, be given as the pervading character ofthe spot, whither it is now necessary to transfer the scene of the tale, it was not entirely without the signs of human life. Amid the monotonousrolling of the prairie, a single naked and ragged rock arose on themargin of a little watercourse, which found its way, after winding avast distance through the plains, into one of the numerous tributariesof the Father of Rivers. A swale of low land lay near the base of theeminence; and as it was still fringed with a thicket of alders andsumack, it bore the signs of having once nurtured a feeble growth ofwood. The trees themselves had been transferred, however, to the summitand crags of the neighbouring rocks. On this elevation the signs of man, to which the allusion just made applies, were to be found. 

Seen from beneath, there were visible a breast-work of logs and stones, intermingled in such a manner as to save all unnecessary labour, afew low roofs made of bark and boughs of trees, an occasional barrier, constructed like the defences on the summit, and placed on such pointsof the acclivity as were easier of approach than the general face of theeminence; and a little dwelling of cloth, perched on the apex of a smallpyramid, that shot up on one angle of the rock, the white covering ofwhich glimmered from a distance like a spot of snow, or, to make thesimile more suitable to the rest of the subject, like a spotless andcarefully guarded standard, which was to be protected by the dearestblood of those who defended the citadel beneath. It is hardly necessaryto add, that this rude and characteristic fortress was the place whereIshmael Bush had taken refuge, after the robbery of his flocks andherds. 

On the day to which the narrative is advanced, the squatter was standingnear the base of the rocks, leaning on his rifle, and regarding thesterile soil that supported him with a look in which contempt anddisappointment were strongly blended. 

"'Tis time to change our natur's, " he observed to the brother of hiswife, who was rarely far from his elbow; "and to become ruminators, instead of people used to the fare of Christians and free men. I reckon, Abiram, you could glean a living among the grasshoppers: you ar' anactive man, and might outrun the nimblest skipper of them all. "

"The country will never do, " returned the other, who relished but littlethe forced humour of his kinsman; "and it is well to remember that alazy traveller makes a long journey. "

"Would you have me draw a cart at my heels, across this desert forweeks, --ay, months?" retorted Ishmael, who, like all of his class, could labour with incredible efforts on emergencies, but who too seldomexerted continued industry, on any occasion, to brook a proposal thatoffered so little repose. "It may do for your people, who live insettlements, to hasten on to their houses; but, thank Heaven! my farm istoo big for its owner ever to want a resting-place. "

"Since you like the plantation, then, you have only to make your crop. "

"That is easier said than done, on this corner of the estate. I tellyou, Abiram, there is need of moving, for more reasons than one. Youknow I'm a man that very seldom enters into a bargain, but who alwaysfulfils his agreements better than your dealers in wordy contractswritten on rags of paper. If there's one mile, there ar' a hundred stillneeded to make up the distance for which you have my honour. "

As he spoke, the squatter glanced his eye upward at the little tenementof cloth which crowned the summit of his ragged fortress. The look wasunderstood and answered by the other; and by some secret influence, which operated either through their interests or feelings, it served tore-establish that harmony between them, which had just been threatenedwith something like a momentary breach. 

"I know it, and feel it in every bone of my body. But I remember thereason, why I have set myself on this accursed journey too well toforget the distance between me and the end. Neither you nor I will everbe the better for what we have done, unless we thoroughly finish what isso well begun. Ay, that is the doctrine of the whole world, I judge: Iheard a travelling preacher, who was skirting it down the Ohio, a timesince, say, if a man should live up to the faith for a hundred years, and then fall from his work a single day, he would find the settlementwas to be made for the finishing blow that he had put to his job, and that all the bad, and none of the good, would come into the finalaccount. "

"And you believed the hungry hypocrite!"

"Who said that I believed it?" retorted Abiram with a bullying look, that betrayed how much his fears had dwelt on the subject he affected todespise. "Is it believing to tell what a roguish--And yet, Ishmael, theman might have been honest after all! He told us that the world was, in truth, no better than a desert, and that there was but one hand thatcould lead the most learned man through all its crooked windings. Now, if this be true of the whole, it may be true of a part. "

"Abiram, out with your grievances like a man, " interrupted the squatter, with a hoarse laugh. "You want to pray! But of what use will it be, according to your own doctrine, to serve God five minutes and the devilan hour? Harkee, friend; I'm not much of a husband-man, but this I knowto my cost; that to make a right good crop, even on the richest bottom, there must be hard labour; and your {snufflers} liken the 'arth to afield of corn, and the men, who live on it, to its yield. Now I tellyou, Abiram, that you are no better than a thistle or a mullin; yea, year' wood of too open a pore to be good even to burn!"

The malign glance, which shot from the scowling eye of Abiram, announcedthe angry character of his feelings, but as the furtive look quailed, immediately, before the unmoved, steady, countenance of the squatter, italso betrayed how much the bolder spirit of the latter had obtained themastery over his craven nature. 

Content with his ascendency, which was too apparent, and had been toooften exerted on similar occasions, to leave him in any doubt of itsextent, Ishmael coolly continued the discourse, by adverting moredirectly to his future plans. 

"You will own the justice of paying every one in kind, " he said; "I havebeen robbed of my stock, and I have a scheme to make myself as good asbefore, by taking hoof for hoof; or for that matter, when a man is putto the trouble of bargaining for both sides, he is a fool if he don'tpay himself something in the way of commission. "

As the squatter made this declaration in a tone which was a littleexcited by the humour of the moment, four or five of his lounging sons, who had been leaning against the foot of the rock, came forward with theindolent step so common to the family. 

"I have been calling Ellen Wade, who is on the rock keeping thelook-out, to know if there is any thing to be seen, " observed the eldestof the young men; "and she shakes her head, for an answer. Ellen issparing of her words for a woman; and might be taught manners at least, without spoiling her good looks. "

Ishmael cast his eye upward to the place, where the offending, butunconscious girl was holding her anxious watch. She was seated at theedge of the uppermost crag, by the side of the little tent, and at leasttwo hundred feet above the level of the plain. Little else was to bedistinguished, at that distance, but the outline of her form, her fairhair streaming in the gusts beyond her shoulders, and the steady andseemingly unchangeable look that she had riveted on some remote point ofthe prairie. 

"What is it, Nell?" cried Ishmael, lifting his powerful voice a littleabove the rushing of the element. "Have you got a glimpse of any thingbigger than a burrowing barker?"

The lips of the attentive Ellen parted; she rose to the utmost heighther small stature admitted, seeming still to regard the unknown object;but her voice, if she spoke at all, was not sufficiently loud to beheard amid the wind. 

"It ar' a fact that the child sees something more uncommon than abuffaloe or a prairie dog!" continued Ishmael. "Why, Nell, girl, ar'ye deaf? Nell, I say;--I hope it is an army of red-skins she has inher eye; for I should relish the chance to pay them for their kindness, under the favour of these logs and rocks!"

As the squatter accompanied his vaunt with corresponding gestures, anddirected his eyes to the circle of his equally confident sons whilespeaking, he drew their gaze from Ellen to himself; but now, whenthey turned together to note the succeeding movements of their femalesentinel, the place which had so lately been occupied by her form wasvacant. 

"As I am a sinner, " exclaimed Asa, usually one of the most phlegmatic ofthe youths, "the girl is blown away by the wind!"

Something like a sensation was exhibited among them, which might havedenoted that the influence of the laughing blue eyes, flaxen hair, andglowing cheeks of Ellen, had not been lost on the dull natures of theyoung men; and looks of amazement, mingled slightly with concern, passedfrom one to the other as they gazed, in dull wonder, at the point of thenaked rock. 

"It might well be!" added another; "she sat on a slivered stone, andI have been thinking of telling her she was in danger for more than anhour. "

"Is that a riband of the child, dangling from the corner of the hillbelow?" cried Ishmael; "ha! who is moving about the tent? have I nottold you all--"

"Ellen! 'tis Ellen!" interrupted the whole body of his sons in a breath;and at that instant she re-appeared to put an end to their differentsurmises, and to relieve more than one sluggish nature from its unwontedexcitement. As Ellen issued from beneath the folds of the tent, sheadvanced with a light and fearless step to her former giddy stand, andpointed toward the prairie, appearing to speak in an eager and rapidvoice to some invisible auditor. 

"Nell is mad!" said Asa, half in contempt and yet not a little inconcern. "The girl is dreaming with her eyes open; and thinks she seessome of them fierce creatur's, with hard names, with which the Doctorfills her ears. "

"Can it be, the child has found a scout of the Siouxes?" said Ishmael, bending his look toward the plain; but a low, significant whisper fromAbiram drew his eyes quickly upward again, where they were turned justin time to perceive that the cloth of the tent was agitated by a motionvery evidently different from the quivering occasioned by the wind. "Lether, if she dare!" the squatter muttered in his teeth. "Abiram; theyknow my temper too well to play the prank with me!"

"Look for yourself! if the curtain is not lifted, I can see no betterthan the owl by daylight. "

Ishmael struck the breach of his rifle violently on the earth, andshouted in a voice that might easily have been heard by Ellen, had nother attention still continued rapt on the object which so unaccountablyattracted her eyes in the distance. 

"Nell!" continued the squatter, "away with you, fool! will you bringdown punishment on your own head? Why, Nell!--she has forgotten hernative speech; let us see if she can understand another language. "

Ishmael threw his rifle to his shoulder, and at the next moment it waspointed upward at the summit of the rock. Before time was given fora word of remonstrance, it had sent forth its contents, in its usualstreak of bright flame. Ellen started like the frightened chamois, anduttering a piercing scream, she darted into the tent, with a swiftnessthat left it uncertain whether terror or actual injury had been thepenalty of her offence. 

The action of the squatter was too sudden and unexpected to admit ofprevention, but the instant it was done, his sons manifested, in anunequivocal manner, the temper with which they witnessed the desperatemeasure. Angry and fierce glances were interchanged, and a murmur ofdisapprobation was uttered by the whole, in common. 

"What has Ellen done, father, " said Asa, with a degree of spirit, whichwas the more striking from being unusual, "that she should be shot atlike a straggling deer, or a hungry wolf?"

"Mischief, " deliberately returned the squatter; but with a coolexpression of defiance in his eye that showed how little he was moved bythe ill-concealed humour of his children. "Mischief, boy; mischief! takeyou heed that the disorder don't spread. "

"It would need a different treatment in a man, than in yon screaminggirl!"

"Asa, you ar' a man, as you have often boasted; but remember I am yourfather, and your better. "

"I know it well; and what sort of a father?"

"Harkee, boy: I more than half believe that your drowsy head let in theSiouxes. Be modest in speech, my watchful son, or you may have to answeryet for the mischief your own bad conduct has brought upon us. "

"I'll stay no longer to be hectored like a child in petticoats. You talkof law, as if you knew of none, and yet you keep me down, as though Ihad not life and wants of my own. I'll stay no longer to be treated likeone of your meanest cattle!"

"The world is wide, my gallant boy, and there's many a noble plantationon it, without a tenant. Go; you have title deeds signed and sealed toyour hand. Few fathers portion their children better than IshmaelBush; you will say that for me, at least, when you get to be a wealthylandholder. "

"Look! father, look!" exclaimed several voices at once, seizing withavidity, an opportunity to interrupt a dialogue which threatened tobecome more violent. 

"Look!" repeated Abiram, in a voice which sounded hollow and warning;"if you have time for any thing but quarrels, Ishmael, look!"

The squatter turned slowly from his offending son, and cast an eye, thatstill lowered with deep resentment upward; but which, the instant itcaught a view of the object that now attracted the attention of allaround him, changed its expression to one of astonishment and dismay. 

A female stood on the spot, from which Ellen had been so fearfullyexpelled. Her person was of the smallest size that is believed tocomport with beauty, and which poets and artists have chosen as the beauideal of feminine loveliness. Her dress was of a dark and glossy silk, and fluttered like gossamer around her form. Long, flowing, and curlingtresses of hair, still blacker and more shining than her robe, fellat times about her shoulders, completely enveloping the whole of herdelicate bust in their ringlets; or at others streaming in the wind. The elevation at which she stood prevented a close examination ofthe lineaments of a countenance which, however, it might be seen wasyouthful, and, at the moment of her unlooked-for appearance, eloquentwith feeling. So young, indeed, did this fair and fragile being appear, that it might be doubted whether the age of childhood was entirelypassed. One small and exquisitely moulded hand was pressed on her heart, while with the other she made an impressive gesture, which seemed toinvite Ishmael, if further violence was meditated, to direct it againsther bosom. 

The silent wonder, with which the group of borderers gazed upward at soextraordinary a spectacle, was only interrupted as the person of Ellenwas seen emerging with timidity from the tent, as if equally urged, by apprehensions in behalf of herself and the fears which she felt onaccount of her companion, to remain concealed and to advance. She spoke, but her words were unheard by those below, and unheeded by her to whomthey were addressed. The latter, however, as if content with the offershe had made of herself as a victim to the resentment of Ishmael, nowcalmly retired, and the spot she had so lately occupied became vacant, leaving a sort of stupid impression on the spectators beneath, notunlike that which it might be supposed would have been created had theyjust been gazing at some supernatural vision. 

More than a minute of profound silence succeeded, during which the sonsof Ishmael still continued gazing at the naked rock in stupid wonder. Then, as eye met eye, an expression of novel intelligence passed fromone to the other, indicating that to them, at least, the appearance ofthis extraordinary tenant of the pavilion was as unexpected as it wasincomprehensible. At length Asa, in right of his years, and moved by therankling impulse of the recent quarrel, took on himself the office ofinterrogator. Instead, however, of braving the resentment of his father, of whose fierce nature, when aroused, he had had too frequent evidenceto excite it wantonly, he turned upon the cowering person of Abiram, observing with a sneer--

"This then is the beast you were bringing into the prairies for a decoy!I know you to be a man who seldom troubles truth, when any thing worsemay answer, but I never knew you to outdo yourself so thoroughly before. The newspapers of Kentuck have called you a dealer in black flesh ahundred times, but little did they reckon that you drove the trade intowhite families. "

"Who is a kidnapper?" demanded Abiram, with a blustering show ofresentment. "Am I to be called to account for every lie they put inprint throughout the States? Look to your own family, boy; look toyourselves. The very stumps of Kentucky and Tennessee cry out ag'inye! Ay, my tonguey gentleman, I have seen father and mother and threechildren, yourself for one, published on the logs and stubs of thesettlements, with dollars enough for reward to have made an honest manrich, for--"

He was interrupted by a back-handed but violent blow on the mouth, thatcaused him to totter, and which left the impression of its weight in thestarting blood and swelling lips. 

"Asa, " said the father, advancing with a portion of that dignity withwhich the hand of Nature seems to have invested the parental character, "you have struck the brother of your mother!"

"I have struck the abuser of the whole family, " returned the angryyouth; "and, unless he teaches his tongue a wiser language, he hadbetter part with it altogether, as the unruly member. I'm no greatperformer with the knife, but, on an occasion, could make out, myself, to cut off a slande--"

"Boy, twice have you forgotten yourself to-day. Be careful that it doesnot happen the third time. When the law of the land is weak, it is rightthe law of nature should be strong. You understand me, Asa; and you knowme. As for you, Abiram, the child has done you wrong, and it is my placeto see you righted. Remember; I tell you justice shall be done; it isenough. But you have said hard things ag'in me and my family. If thehounds of the law have put their bills on the trees and stumps of theclearings, it was for no act of dishonesty as you know, but because wemaintain the rule that 'arth is common property. No, Abiram; could Iwash my hands of things done by your advice, as easily as I can of thethings done by the whisperings of the devil, my sleep would be quieterat night, and none who bear my name need blush to hear it mentioned. Peace, Asa, and you too, man; enough has been said. Let us all thinkwell before any thing is added, that may make what is already so badstill more bitter. "

Ishmael waved his hand with authority, as he ended, and turned away withthe air of one who felt assured, that those he had addressed would nothave the temerity to dispute his commands. Asa evidently struggled withhimself to compel the required obedience, but his heavy nature quietlysunk into its ordinary repose, and he soon appeared again the being hereally was; dangerous, only, at moments, and one whose passions weretoo sluggish to be long maintained at the point of ferocity. Not so withAbiram. While there was an appearance of a personal conflict, betweenhim and his colossal nephew, his mien had expressed the infallibleevidences of engrossing apprehension, but now, that the authority aswell as gigantic strength of the father were interposed between him andhis assailant, his countenance changed from paleness to a livid hue, that bespoke how deeply the injury he had received rankled in hisbreast. Like Asa, however, he acquiesced in the decision of thesquatter; and the appearance, at least, of harmony was restored againamong a set of beings, who were restrained by no obligations morepowerful than the frail web of authority with which Ishmael had beenable to envelope his children. 

One effect of the quarrel had been to divert the thoughts of the youngmen from their recent visitor. With the dispute, that succeeded thedisappearance of the fair stranger, all recollection of her existenceappeared to have vanished. A few ominous and secret conferences, it istrue, were held apart, during which the direction of the eyes ofthe different speakers betrayed their subject; but these threateningsymptoms soon disappeared, and the whole party was again seen brokeninto its usual, listless, silent, and lounging groups. 

"I will go upon the rock, boys, and look abroad for the savages, " saidIshmael shortly after, advancing towards them with a mien whichhe intended should be conciliating, at the same time that it wasauthoritative. 

"If there is nothing to fear, we will go out on the plain; the day istoo good to be lost in words, like women in the towns wrangling overtheir tea and sugared cakes. "

Without waiting for approbation or dissent, the squatter advanced tothe base of the rock, which formed a sort of perpendicular wall, nearlytwenty feet high around the whole acclivity. Ishmael, however, directedhis footsteps to a point where an ascent might be made through a narrowcleft, which he had taken the precaution to fortify with a breast-workof cottonwood logs, and which, in its turn, was defended by achevaux-de-frise of the branches of the same tree. Here an armed man wasusually kept, as at the key of the whole position, and here one ofthe young men now stood, indolently leaning against the rock, ready toprotect the pass, if it should prove necessary, until the whole partycould be mustered at the several points of defence. 

From this place the squatter found the ascent still difficult, partly bynature and partly by artificial impediments, until he reached a sort ofterrace, or, to speak more properly, the plain of the elevation, wherehe had established the huts in which the whole family dwelt. Thesetenements were, as already mentioned, of that class which are sooften seen on the borders, and such as belonged to the infancy ofarchitecture; being simply formed of logs, bark, and poles. The areaon which they stood contained several hundred square feet, and wassufficiently elevated above the plain greatly to lessen if not to removeall danger from Indian missiles. Here Ishmael believed he might leavehis infants in comparative security, under the protection of theirspirited mother, and here he now found Esther engaged at her ordinarydomestic employments, surrounded by her daughters, and lifting hervoice, in declamatory censure, as one or another of the idle fryincurred her displeasure, and far too much engrossed with the tempestof her own conversation to know any thing of the violent scene which hadbeen passing below. 

"A fine windy place you have chosen for the camp, Ishmael!" shecommenced, or rather continued, by merely diverting the attack froma sobbing girl of ten, at her elbow, to her husband. "My word! if Ihaven't to count the young ones every ten minutes, to see they arenot flying away among the buzzards, or the ducks. Why do ye all keephovering round the rock, like lolloping reptiles in the spring, when theheavens are beginning to be alive with birds, man. D'ye think mouths canbe filled, and hunger satisfied, by laziness and sleep!"

"You'll have your say, Eester, " said the husband, using the provincialpronunciation of America for the name, and regarding his noisycompanions, with a look of habitual tolerance rather than of affection. "But the birds you shall have, if your own tongue don't frighten them totake too high a flight. Ay, woman, " he continued, standing on the veryspot whence he had so rudely banished Ellen, which he had by this timegained, "and buffaloe too, if my eye can tell the animal at the distanceof a Spanish league. "

"Come down; come down, and be doing, instead of talking. A talking manis no better than a barking dog. I shall hang out the cloth, if any ofthe red-skins show themselves, in time to give you notice. But, Ishmael, what have you been killing, my man; for it was your rifle I heard a fewminutes agone, unless I have lost my skill in sounds. "

"Poh! 'twas to frighten the hawk you see sailing above the rock. "

"Hawk, indeed! at your time of day to be shooting at hawks and buzzards, with eighteen open mouths to feed. Look at the bee, and at the beaver, my good man, and learn to be a provider. Why, Ishmael! I believe mysoul, " she continued, dropping the tow she was twisting on a distaff, "the man is in that tent ag'in! More than half his time is spent aboutthe worthless, good-for-nothing--"

The sudden re-appearance of her husband closed the mouth of the wife;and, as the former descended to the place where Esther had resumedher employment, she was content to grumble forth her dissatisfaction, instead of expressing it in more audible terms. 

The dialogue that now took place between the affectionate pair wassufficiently succinct and expressive. The woman was at first a littlebrief and sullen in her answers, but care for her family soon renderedher more complaisant. As the purport of the conversation was merely anengagement to hunt during the remainder of the day, in order to providethe chief necessary of life, we shall not stop to record it. 

With this resolution, then, the squatter descended to the plain anddivided his forces into two parts, one of which was to remain as aguard with the fortress, and the other to accompany him to the field. He warily included Asa and Abiram in his own party, well knowing thatno authority short of his own was competent to repress the fiercedisposition of his headlong son, if fairly awakened. When thesearrangements were completed, the hunters sallied forth, separating atno great distance from the rock, in order to form a circle about thedistant herd of buffaloes. 

CHAPTER IX

 Priscian a little scratch'd; 'Twill serve. --Love's Labour Lost. 

Having made the reader acquainted with the manner in which Ishmael Bushhad disposed of his family, under circumstances that might have provedso embarrassing to most other men, we shall again shift the scene a fewshort miles from the place last described, preserving, however, the dueand natural succession of time. At the very moment that the squatter andhis sons departed in the manner mentioned in the preceding chapter, twomen were intently occupied in a swale that lay along the borders of alittle run, just out of cannon-shot from the encampment, discussingthe merits of a savoury bison's hump, that had been prepared for theirpalates with the utmost attention to the particular merits of thatdescription of food. The choice morsel had been judiciously separatedfrom the adjoining and less worthy parts of the beast, and, enveloped inthe hairy coating provided by nature, it had duly undergone the heatof the customary subterraneous oven, and was now laid before itsproprietors in all the culinary glory of the prairies. So far asrichness, delicacy, and wildness of flavour, and substantial nourishmentwere concerned, the viand might well have claimed a decided superiorityover the meretricious cookery and laboured compounds of the mostrenowned artist; though the service of the dainty was certainly achievedin a manner far from artificial. It would appear that the two fortunatemortals, to whose happy lot it fell to enjoy a meal in which health andappetite lent so keen a relish to the exquisite food of the Americandeserts, were far from being insensible of the advantage they possessed. 

The one, to whose knowledge in the culinary art the other was indebtedfor his banquet, seemed the least disposed of the two to profit by hisown skill. He ate, it is true, and with a relish; but it was always withthe moderation with which age is apt to temper the appetite. No suchrestraint, however, was imposed on the inclination of his companion. In the very flower of his days and in the vigour of manhood, the homagethat he paid to the work of his more aged friend's hands was of the mostprofound and engrossing character. As one delicious morsel succeededanother he rolled his eyes towards his companion, and seemed to expressthat gratitude which he had not speech to utter, in looks of the mostbenignant nature. 

"Cut more into the heart of it, lad, " said the trapper, for it was thevenerable inhabitant of those vast wastes, who had served the bee-hunterwith the banquet in question; "cut more into the centre of the piece;there you will find the genuine riches of natur'; and that without needfrom spices, or any of your biting mustard to give it a foreign relish. "

"If I had but a cup of metheglin, " said Paul, stopping to perform thenecessary operation of breathing, "I should swear this was the strongestmeal that was ever placed before the mouth of man!"

"Ay, ay, well you may call it strong!" returned the other, laughingafter his peculiar manner, in pure satisfaction at witnessing theinfinite contentment of his companion; "strong it is, and strong itmakes him who eats it! Here, Hector, " tossing the patient hound, who waswatching his eye with a wistful look, a portion of the meat, "you haveneed of strength, my friend, in your old days as well as your master. Now, lad, there is a dog that has eaten and slept wiser and better, ay, and that of richer food, than any king of them all! and why? because hehas used and not abused the gifts of his Maker. He was made a hound, andlike a hound has he feasted. Then did He create men; but they have eatenlike famished wolves! A good and prudent dog has Hector proved, andnever have I found one of his breed false in nose or friendship. Do youknow the difference between the cookery of the wilderness and thatwhich is found in the settlements? No; I see plainly you don't, by yourappetite; then I will tell you. The one follows man, the other natur'. One thinks he can add to the gifts of the Creator, while the other ishumble enough to enjoy them; therein lies the secret. "

"I tell you, trapper, " said Paul, who was very little edified by themorality with which his associate saw fit to season their repast, "that, every day while we are in this place, and they are likely to be many, Iwill shoot a buffaloe and you shall cook his hump!"

"I cannot say that, I cannot say that. The beast is good, take him inwhat part you will, and it was to be food for man that he was fashioned;but I cannot say that I will be a witness and a helper to the waste ofkilling one daily. "

"The devil a bit of waste shall there be, old man. If they all turn outas good as this, I will engage to eat them clean myself, even to thehoofs;--how now, who comes here! some one with a long nose, I willanswer; and one that has led him on a true scent, if he is following thetrail of a dinner. "

The individual who interrupted the conversation, and who had elicitedthe foregoing remark of Paul, was seen advancing along the margin of therun with a deliberate pace, in a direct line for the two revellers. As there was nothing formidable nor hostile in his appearance, thebee-hunter, instead of suspending his operations, rather increased hisefforts, in a manner which would seem to imply that he doubted whetherthe hump would suffice for the proper entertainment of all who were nowlikely to partake of the delicious morsel. With the trapper, however, the case was different. His more tempered appetite was alreadysatisfied, and he faced the new comer with a look of cordiality, thatplainly evinced how very opportune he considered his arrival. 

"Come on, friend, " he said, waving his hand, as he observed the strangerto pause a moment, apparently in doubt. "Come on, I say, if hunger beyour guide, it has led you to a fitting place. Here is meat, and thisyouth can give you corn, parch'd till it be whiter than the upland snow;come on, without fear. We are not ravenous beasts, eating of each other, but Christian men, receiving thankfully that which the Lord hath seenfit to give. "

"Venerable hunter, " returned the Doctor, for it was no other than thenaturalist on one of his daily exploring expeditions, "I rejoice greatlyat this happy meeting; we are lovers of the same pursuits, and should befriends. "

"Lord, Lord!" said the old man, laughing, without much deference to therules of decorum, in the philosopher's very face, "it is the man whowanted to make me believe that a name could change the natur' of abeast! Come, friend; you are welcome, though your notions are a littleblinded with reading too many books. Sit ye down, and, after eatingof this morsel, tell me, if you can, the name of the creatur' that hasbestowed on you its flesh for a meal?"

The eyes of Doctor Battius (for we deem it decorous to give the good manthe appellation he most preferred) sufficiently denoted the satisfactionwith which he listened to this proposal. The exercise he had taken, andthe sharpness of the wind, proved excellent stimulants; and Paul himselfhad hardly been in better plight to do credit to the trapper's cookery, than was the lover of nature, when the grateful invitation met hisears. Indulging in a small laugh, which his exertions to repress reducednearly to a simper, he took the indicated seat by the old man's side, and made the customary dispositions to commence his meal without furtherceremony. 

"I should be ashamed of my profession, " he said, swallowing a morsel ofthe hump with evident delight, slily endeavouring at the same time todistinguish the peculiarities of the singed and defaced skin, "I oughtto be ashamed of my profession, were there beast, or bird, on thecontinent of America, that I could not tell by some one of the manyevidences which science has enlisted in her cause. This--then--thefood is nutritious and savoury--a mouthful of your corn, friend, if youplease?"

Paul, who continued eating with increasing industry, looking askaunt notunlike a dog when engaged in the same agreeable pursuit, threw him hispouch, without deeming it at all necessary to suspend his own labours. 

"You were saying, friend, that you have many ways of telling thecreatur'?"--observed the attentive trapper. 

"Many; many and infallible. Now, the animals that are carnivorous areknown by their incisores. "

"Their what?" demanded the trapper. 

"The teeth with which nature has furnished them for defence, and inorder to tear their food. Again--"

"Look you then for the teeth of this creatur', " interrupted thetrapper, who was bent on convincing a man who had presumed to enter intocompetition with himself, in matters pertaining to the wilds, of grossignorance; "turn the piece round and find your inside-overs. "

The Doctor complied, and of course without success; though he profitedby the occasion to take another fruitless glance at the wrinkled hide. 

"Well, friend, do you find the things you need, before you can pronouncethe creatur' a duck or a salmon?"

"I apprehend the entire animal is not here?"

"You may well say as much, " cried Paul, who was now compelled to pausefrom pure repletion; "I will answer for some pounds of the fellow, weighed by the truest steel-yards west of the Alleghanies. Still you maymake out to keep soul and body together, with what is left, " reluctantlyeyeing a piece large enough to feed twenty men, but which he feltcompelled to abandon from satiety; "cut in nigher to the heart, as theold man says, and you will find the riches of the piece. "

"The heart!" exclaimed the Doctor, inwardly delighted to learn there wasa distinct organ to be submitted to his inspection. "Ay, let me see theheart--it will at once determine the character of the animal--certesthis is not the cor--ay, sure enough it is--the animal must be of theorder belluae, from its obese habits!"

He was interrupted by a long and hearty, but still a noiseless fit ofmerriment, from the trapper, which was considered so ill-timed by theoffended naturalist, as to produce an instant cessation of speech, ifnot a stagnation of ideas. 

"Listen to his beasts' habits and belly orders, " said the old man, delighted with the evident embarrassment of his rival; "and then he saysit is not the core! Why, man, you are farther from the truth than youare from the settlements, with all your bookish laming and hard words;which I have, once for all, said cannot be understood by any tribe ornation east of the Rocky Mountains. Beastly habits or no beastly habits, the creatur's are to be seen cropping the prairies by tens of thousands, and the piece in your hand is the core of as juicy a buffaloe-hump asstomach need crave!"

"My aged companion, " said Obed, struggling to keep down a risingirascibility, that he conceived would ill comport with the dignityof his character, "your system is erroneous, from the premises to theconclusion; and your classification so faulty, as utterly to confoundthe distinctions of science. The buffaloe is not gifted with a hump atall; nor is his flesh savoury and wholesome, as I must acknowledge itwould seem the subject before us may well be characterised--"

"There I'm dead against you, and clearly with the trapper, " interruptedPaul Hover. "The man who denies that buffaloe beef is good, should scornto eat it!"[*]

 [*] It is scarcely necessary to tell the reader, that the animal so often alluded to in this book, and which is vulgarly called the buffaloe, is in truth the bison; hence so many contretemps between the men of the prairies and the men of science. 

The Doctor, whose observation of the bee-hunter had hitherto beenexceedingly cursory, stared at the new speaker with a look which denotedsomething like recognition. 

"The principal characteristics of your countenance, friend, " he said, "are familiar; either you, or some other specimen of your class, isknown to me. "

"I am the man you met in the woods east of the big river, and whom youtried to persuade to line a yellow hornet to his nest: as if my eye wasnot too true to mistake any other animal for a honey-bee, in a clearday! We tarried together a week, as you may remember; you at your toadsand lizards, and I at my high-holes and hollow trees: and a good job wemade of it between us! I filled my tubs with the sweetest honey I eversent to the settlements, besides housing a dozen hives; and your bag wasnear bursting with a crawling museum. I never was bold enough to putthe question to your face, stranger, but I reckon you are a keeper ofcuriosities?"[*]

 [*] The pursuit of a bee-hunter is not uncommon, on the skirts of American society, though it is a little embellished here. When the bees are seen sucking the flowers, their pursuer contrives to capture one or two. He then chooses a proper spot, and suffering one to escape, the insect invariably takes its flight towards the hive. Changing his ground to a greater or less distance according to circumstances, the bee-hunter then permits another to escape. Having watched the courses of the bees, which is technically called lining, he is enabled to calculate the intersecting angle of the two lines, which is the hive. 

"Ay! that is another of their wanton wickednesses!" exclaimed thetrapper. "They slay the buck, and the moose, and the wild cat, and allthe beasts that range the woods, and stuffing them with worthless rags, and placing eyes of glass into their heads, they set them up to bestared at, and call them the creatur's of the Lord; as if any mortaleffigy could equal the works of his hand!"

"I know you well, " returned the Doctor, on whom the plaint of the oldman produced no visible impression. "I know you, " offering his handcordially to Paul; "it was a prolific week, as my herbal and cataloguesshall one day prove. Ay, I remember you well, young man. You are ofthe class, mammalia; order, primates; genus, homo; species, Kentucky. "Pausing to smile at his own humour, the naturalist proceeded. "Sinceour separation, I have journeyed far, having entered into a compactum oragreement with a certain man named Ishmael--"

"Bush!" interrupted the impatient and reckless Paul. "By the Lord, trapper, this is the very blood-letter that Ellen told me of!"

"Then Nelly has not done me credit for what I trust I deserve, " returnedthe single-minded Doctor, "for I am not of the phlebotomising school atall; greatly preferring the practice which purifies the blood instead ofabstracting it. "

"It was a blunder of mine, good stranger; the girl called you a skilfulman. "

"Therein she may have exceeded my merits, " Dr. Battius continued, bowing with sufficient meekness. "But Ellen is a good, and a kind, and aspirited girl, too. A kind and a sweet girl I have ever found Nell Wadeto be!"

"The devil you have!" cried Paul, dropping the morsel he was sucking, from sheer reluctance to abandon the hump, and casting a fierce anddirect look into the very teeth of the unconscious physician. "I reckon, stranger, you have a mind to bag Ellen, too!"

"The riches of the whole vegetable and animal world united, would nottempt me to harm a hair of her head! I love the child, with what may hecalled amor naturalis--or rather paternus--the affection of a father. "

"Ay--that, indeed, is more befitting the difference in your years, "Paul coolly rejoined, stretching forth his hand to regain the rejectedmorsel. "You would be no better than a drone at your time of day, with ayoung hive to feed and swarm. "

"Yes, there is reason, because there is natur', in what he says, "observed the trapper: "but, friend, you have said you were a dweller inthe camp of one Ishmael Bush?"

"True; it is in virtue of a compactum--"

"I know but little of the virtue of packing, though I follow trapping, in my old age, for a livelihood. They tell me that skins are well keptin the new fashion; but it is long since I have left off killing morethan I need for food and garments. I was an eye-witness, myself, of themanner in which the Siouxes broke into your encampment, and drove offthe cattle; stripping the poor man you call Ishmael of his smallesthoofs, counting even the cloven feet. "

"Asinus excepted, " muttered the Doctor, who by this time was discussinghis portion of the hump, in utter forgetfulness of all its scientificattributes. "Asinus domesticus Americanus excepted. "

"I am glad to hear that so many of them are saved, though I know notthe value of the animals you name; which is nothing uncommon, seeing howlong it is that I have been out of the settlements. But can you tell me, friend, what the traveller carries under the white cloth, he guards withteeth as sharp as a wolf that quarrels for the carcass the hunter hasleft?"

"You've heard of it!" exclaimed the other, dropping the morsel he wasconveying to his mouth in manifest surprise. 

"Nay, I have heard nothing; but I have seen the cloth, and had liketo have been bitten for no greater crime than wishing to know what itcovered. "

"Bitten! then, after all, the animal must be carnivorous! It is tootranquil for the ursus horridus; if it were the canis latrans, the voicewould betray it. Nor would Nelly Wade be so familiar with any of thegenus ferae. Venerable hunter! the solitary animal confined inthat wagon by day, and in the tent at night, has occasioned me moreperplexity of mind than the whole catalogue of quadrupeds besides: andfor this plain reason; I did not know how to class it. "

"You think it a ravenous beast?"

"I know it to be a quadruped: your own danger proves it to becarnivorous. "

During this broken explanation, Paul Hover had sat silent andthoughtful, regarding each speaker with deep attention. But, suddenlymoved by the manner of the Doctor, the latter had scarcely time to utterhis positive assertion, before the young man bluntly demanded--

"And pray, friend, what may you call a quadruped?"

"A vagary of nature, wherein she has displayed less of her infinitewisdom than is usual. Could rotary levers be substituted for two of thelimbs, agreeably to the improvement in my new order of phalangacrura, which might be rendered into the vernacular as lever-legged, there wouldbe a delightful perfection and harmony in the construction. But, as thequadruped is now formed, I call it a mere vagary of nature; no otherthan a vagary. "

"Harkee, stranger! in Kentucky we are but small dealers in dictionaries. Vagary is as hard a word to turn into English as quadruped. "

"A quadruped is an animal with four legs--a beast. "

"A beast! Do you then reckon that Ishmael Bush travels with a beastcaged in that wagon?"

"I know it, and lend me your ear--not literally, friend, " observing Paulto start and look surprised, "but figuratively, through its functions, and you shall hear. I have already made known that, in virtue of acompactum, I journey with the aforesaid Ishmael Bush; but though I ambound to perform certain duties while the journey lasts, there is nocondition which says that the said journey shall be sempiternum, oreternal. Now, though this region may scarcely be said to be weddedto science, being to all intents a virgin territory as respects theenquirer into natural history, still it is greatly destitute of thetreasures of the vegetable kingdom. I should, therefore, have tarriedsome hundreds of miles more to the eastward, were it not for the inwardpropensity that I feel to have the beast in question inspected andsuitably described and classed. For that matter, " he continued, droppinghis voice, like one who imparts an important secret, "I am not withouthopes of persuading Ishmael to let me dissect it. "

"You have seen the creature?"

"Not with the organs of sight; but with much more infallible instrumentsof vision: the conclusions of reason, and the deductions of scientificpremises. I have watched the habits of the animal, young man; and canfearlessly pronounce, by evidence that would be thrown away on ordinaryobservers, that it is of vast dimensions, inactive, possibly torpid, ofvoracious appetite, and, as it now appears by the direct testimony ofthis venerable hunter, ferocious and carnivorous!"

"I should be better pleased, stranger, " said Paul, on whom the Doctor'sdescription was making a very sensible impression, "to be sure thecreature was a beast at all. "

"As to that, if I wanted evidence of a fact, which is abundantlyapparent by the habits of the animal, I have the word of Ishmaelhimself. A reason can be given for my smallest deductions. I am nottroubled, young man, with a vulgar and idle curiosity, but all myaspirations after knowledge, as I humbly believe, are, first, forthe advancement of learning, and, secondly, for the benefit of myfellow-creatures. I pined greatly in secret to know the contents of thetent, which Ishmael guarded so carefully, and which he had covenantedthat I should swear, (jurare per deos) not to approach nigher thana defined number of cubits, for a definite period of time. Yourjusjurandum, or oath, is a serious matter, and not to be dealt inlightly; but, as my expedition depended on complying, I consented to theact, reserving to myself at all times the power of distant observation. It is now some ten days since Ishmael, pitying the state in which hesaw me, a humble lover of science, imparted the fact that the vehiclecontained a beast, which he was carrying into the prairies as a decoy, by which he intends to entrap others of the same genus, or perhapsspecies. Since then, my task has been reduced simply to watch thehabits of the animal, and to record the results. When we reach a certaindistance where these beasts are said to abound, I am to have the liberalexamination of the specimen. "

Paul continued to listen, in the most profound silence, until theDoctor concluded his singular but characteristic explanation; then theincredulous bee-hunter shook his head, and saw fit to reply, by saying--

"Stranger, old Ishmael has burrowed you in the very bottom of a hollowtree, where your eyes will be of no more use than the sting of a drone. I, too, know something of that very wagon, and I may say that I havelined the squatter down into a flat lie. Harkee, friend; do you think agirl, like Ellen Wade, would become the companion of a wild beast?"

"Why not? why not?" repeated the naturalist; "Nelly has a taste, and often listens with pleasure to the treasures that I am sometimescompelled to scatter in this desert. Why should she not study the habitsof any animal, even though it were a rhinoceros?"

"Softly, softly, " returned the equally positive, and, though lessscientific, certainly, on this subject, better instructed bee-hunter;"Ellen is a girl of spirit, and one too that knows her own mind, orI'm much mistaken; but with all her courage and brave looks, she is nobetter than a woman after all. Haven't I often had the girl crying--"

"You are an acquaintance, then, of Nelly's?"

"The devil a bit. But I know woman is woman; and all the books inKentucky couldn't make Ellen Wade go into a tent alone with a ravenousbeast!"

"It seems to me, " the trapper calmly observed, "that there is somethingdark and hidden in this matter. I am a witness that the traveller likesnone to look into the tent, and I have a proof more sure than whateither of you can lay claim to, that the wagon does not carry the cageof a beast. Here is Hector, come of a breed with noses as true andfaithful as a hand that is all-powerful has made any of their kind, andhad there been a beast in the place, the hound would long since havetold it to his master. "

"Do you pretend to oppose a dog to a man! brutality to learning!instinct to reason!" exclaimed the Doctor in some heat. "In what manner, pray, can a hound distinguish the habits, species, or even the genus ofan animal, like reasoning, learned, scientific, triumphant man!"

"In what manner!" coolly repeated the veteran woodsman. "Listen; and ifyou believe that a schoolmaster can make a quicker wit than the Lord, you shall be made to see how much you're mistaken. Do you not hearsomething move in the brake? it has been cracking the twigs these fiveminutes. Now tell me what the creatur' is?"

"I hope nothing ferocious!" exclaimed the Doctor, who still retained alively impression of his {rencounter} with the vespertilio horribilis. "You have rifles, friends; would it not be prudent to prime them? forthis fowling piece of mine is little to be depended on. "

"There may be reason in what he says, " returned the trapper, so farcomplying as to take his piece from the place where it had lain duringthe repast, and raising its muzzle in the air. "Now tell me the name ofthe creatur'?"

"It exceeds the limits of earthly knowledge! Buffon himself could nottell whether the animal was a quadruped, or of the order, serpens! asheep, or a tiger!"

"Then was your buffoon a fool to my Hector! Here: pup!--What is it, dog?--Shall we run it down, pup--or shall we let it pass?"

The hound, which had already manifested to the experienced trapper, bythe tremulous motion of his ears, his consciousness of the proximity ofa strange animal, lifted his head from his fore paws and slightly partedhis lips, as if about to show the remnants of his teeth. But, suddenlyabandoning his hostile purpose, he snuffed the air a moment, gapedheavily, shook himself, and peaceably resumed his recumbent attitude. 

"Now, Doctor, " cried the trapper, triumphantly, "I am well convincedthere is neither game nor ravenous beast in the thicket; and that I callsubstantial knowledge to a man who is too old to be a spendthrift of hisstrength, and yet who would not wish to be a meal for a panther!"

The dog interrupted his master by a growl, but still kept his headcrouched to the earth. 

"It is a man!" exclaimed the trapper, rising. "It is a man, if I am ajudge of the creatur's ways. There is but little said atwixt the houndand me, but we seldom mistake each other's meaning!"

Paul Hover sprang to his feet like lightning; and, throwing forward hisrifle, he cried in a voice of menace--

"Come forward, if a friend; if an enemy, stand ready for the worst!"

"A friend, a white man, and, I hope, a Christian, " returned a voicefrom the thicket; which opened at the same instant, and at the next thespeaker made his appearance. 

CHAPTER X

 Go apart, Adam, and thou shalt hear How he will shake me up. --As you like it. 

It is well known, that even long before the immense regions of Louisianachanged their masters for the second, and, as it is to be hoped, for thelast time, its unguarded territory was by no means safe from the inroadsof white adventurers. The semi-barbarous hunters from the Canadas, thesame description of population, a little more enlightened, from theStates, and the metiffs or half-breeds, who claimed to be ranked in theclass of white men, were scattered among the different Indian tribes, orgleaned a scanty livelihood in solitude, amid the haunts of the beaverand the bison; or, to adopt the popular nomenclature of the country ofthe buffaloe. [*]

 [*] In addition to the scientific distinctions which mark the two species, it may be added, with due deference to Dr. Battius, that a much more important particular is the fact, that while the former of these animals is delicious and nourishing food, the latter is scarcely edible. 

It was, therefore, no unusual thing for strangers to encounter eachother in the endless wastes of the west. By signs, which an unpractisedeye would pass unobserved, these borderers knew when one of his fellowswas in his vicinity, and he avoided or approached the intruder asbest comported with his feelings or his interests. Generally, theseinterviews were pacific; for the whites had a common enemy to dread, in the ancient and perhaps more lawful occupants of the country; butinstances were not rare, in which jealousy and cupidity had caused themto terminate in scenes of the most violent and ruthless treachery. Themeeting of two hunters on the American desert, as we find it convenientsometimes to call this region, was consequently somewhat in thesuspicious and wary manner in which two vessels draw together in asea that is known to be infested with pirates. While neither partyis willing to betray its weakness, by exhibiting distrust, neither isdisposed to commit itself by any acts of confidence, from which it maybe difficult to recede. 

Such was, in some degree, the character of the present interview. Thestranger drew nigh deliberately; keeping his eyes steadily fastenedon the movements of the other party, while he purposely created littledifficulties to impede an approach which might prove too hasty. On theother hand, Paul stood playing with the lock of his rifle, too proudto let it appear that three men could manifest any apprehension ofa solitary individual, and yet too prudent to omit, entirely, thecustomary precautions. The principal reason of the marked differencewhich the two legitimate proprietors of the banquet made in thereceptions of their guests, was to be explained by the entire differencewhich existed in their respective appearances. 

While the exterior of the naturalist was decidedly pacific, not to sayabstracted, that of the new comer was distinguished by an air of vigour, and a front and step which it would not have been difficult to have atonce pronounced to be military. 

He wore a forage-cap of fine blue cloth, from which depended a soiledtassel in gold, and which was nearly buried in a mass of exuberant, curling, jet-black hair. Around his throat he had negligently fasteneda stock of black silk. His body was enveloped in a hunting-shirt of darkgreen, trimmed with the yellow fringes and ornaments that were sometimesseen among the border-troops of the Confederacy. Beneath this, however, were visible the collar and lapels of a jacket, similar in colour andcloth to the cap. His lower limbs were protected by buckskin leggings, and his feet by the ordinary Indian moccasins. A richly ornamented, and exceedingly dangerous straight dirk was stuck in a sash of redsilk net-work; another girdle, or rather belt, of uncoloured leathercontained a pair of the smallest sized pistols, in holsters nicely madeto fit, and across his shoulder was thrown a short, heavy, militaryrifle; its horn and pouch occupying the usual places beneath his arms. At his back he bore a knapsack, marked by the well known initialsthat have since gained for the government of the United States thegood-humoured and quaint appellation of Uncle Sam. 

"I come in amity, " the stranger said, like one too much accustomed tothe sight of arms to be startled at the ludicrously belligerent attitudewhich Dr. Battius had seen fit to assume. "I come as a friend; and amone whose pursuits and wishes will not at all interfere with your own. "

"Harkee, stranger, " said Paul Hover, bluntly; "do you understand lininga bee from this open place into a wood, distant, perhaps, a dozenmiles?"

"The bee is a bird I have never been compelled to seek, " returned theother, laughing; "though I have, too, been something of a fowler in mytime. "

"I thought as much, " exclaimed Paul, thrusting forth his hand frankly, and with the true freedom of manner that marks an American borderer. "Let us cross fingers. You and I will never quarrel about the comb, since you set so little store by the honey. And now, if your stomach hasan empty corner, and you know how to relish a genuine dew-drop when itfalls into your very mouth, there lies the exact morsel to put into it. Try it, stranger; and having tried it, if you don't call it as snuga fit as you have made since--How long ar' you from the settlements, pray?"

"'Tis many weeks, and I fear it may be as many more before I can return. I will, however, gladly profit by your invitation, for I have fastedsince the rising of yesterday's sun, and I know too well the merits of abison's bump to reject the food. "

"Ah! you ar' acquainted with the dish! Well, therein you have theadvantage of me, in setting out, though I think I may say we could nowstart on equal ground. I should be the happiest fellow between Kentuckyand the Rocky Mountains, if I had a snug cabin, near some old wood thatwas filled with hollow trees, just such a hump every day as that fordinner, a load of fresh straw for hives, and little El--"

"Little what?" demanded the stranger, evidently amused with thecommunicative and frank disposition of the bee-hunter. 

"Something that I shall have one day, and which concerns nobody so muchas myself, " returned Paul, picking the flint of his rifle, and beginningvery cavalierly to whistle an air well known on the waters of theMississippi. 

During this preliminary discourse the stranger had taken his seat by theside of the hump, and was already making a serious inroad on its relics. Dr. Battius, however, watched his movements with a jealousy, still morestriking than the cordial reception which the open-hearted Paul had justexhibited. 

But the doubts, or rather apprehensions, of the naturalist were of acharacter altogether different from the confidence of the bee-hunter. Hehad been struck with the stranger's using the legitimate, instead of theperverted name of the animal off which he was making his repast; and ashe had been among the foremost himself to profit by the removal ofthe impediments which the policy of Spain had placed in the way of allexplorers of her trans-Atlantic dominions, whether bent on the purposesof commerce, or, like himself, on the more laudable pursuits of science, he had a sufficiency of every-day philosophy to feel that thesame motives, which had so powerfully urged himself to his presentundertaking, might produce a like result on the mind of some otherstudent of nature. Here, then, was the prospect of an alarming rivalry, which bade fair to strip him of at least a moiety of the just rewardsof all his labours, privations, and dangers. Under these views ofhis character, therefore, it is not at all surprising that the nativemeekness of the naturalist's disposition was a little disturbed, andthat he watched the proceedings of the other with such a degree ofvigilance as he believed best suited to detect his sinister designs. 

"This is truly a delicious repast, " observed the unconscious youngstranger, for both young and handsome he was fairly entitled to beconsidered; "either hunger has given a peculiar relish to the viand, orthe bison may lay claim to be the finest of the ox family!"

"Naturalists, sir, are apt, when they speak familiarly, to give thecow the credit of the genus, " said Dr. Battius, swelling with secretdistrust, and clearing his throat, before speaking, much in the mannerthat a duellist examines the point of the weapon he is about to plungeinto the body of his foe. "The figure is more perfect; as the bos, meaning the ox, is unable to perpetuate his kind; and the bos, in itsmost extended meaning, or vacca, is altogether the nobler animal of thetwo. "

The Doctor uttered this opinion with a certain air, that he intendedshould express his readiness to come at once, to any of the numerouspoints of difference which he doubted not existed between them; and henow awaited the blow of his antagonist, intending that his next thrustshould be still more vigorous. But the young stranger appeared muchbetter disposed to partake of the good cheer, with which he had beenso providentially provided, than to take up the cudgels of argument onthis, or on any other of the knotty points which are so apt to furnishthe lovers of science with the materials of a mental joust. 

"I dare say you are very right, sir, " he replied, with a most provokingindifference to the importance of the points he conceded. "I dare sayyou are quite right; and that vacca would have been the better word. "

"Pardon me, sir; you are giving a very wrong construction to mylanguage, if you suppose I include, without many and particularqualifications, the bibulus Americanus, in the family of the vacca. For, as you well know, sir--or, as I presume I should say, Doctor; you havethe medical diploma, no doubt?"

"You give me credit for an honour I cannot claim, " interrupted theother. 

"An under-graduate!--or perhaps your degrees have been taken in someother of the liberal sciences?"

"Still wrong, I do assure you. "

"Surely, young man, you have not entered on this important--I may say, this awful service, without some evidence of your fitness for the task!Some commission by which you can assert an authority to proceed, or bywhich you may claim an affinity and a communion with your fellow-workersin the same beneficent pursuits!"

"I know not by what means, or for what purposes, you have made yourselfmaster of my objects!" exclaimed the youth, reddening and rising with aquickness which manifested how little he regarded the grosser appetites, when a subject nearer his heart was approached. "Still, sir, yourlanguage is incomprehensible. That pursuit, which in another mightperhaps be justly called beneficent, is, in me, a dear and cherishedduty; though why a commission should be demanded or needed is, Iconfess, no less a subject of surprise. "

"It is customary to be provided with such a document, " returned theDoctor, gravely; "and, on all suitable occasions to produce it, inorder that congenial and friendly minds may, at once, reject unworthysuspicions, and stepping over, what may be called the elements ofdiscourse, come at once to those points which are desiderata to both. "

"It is a strange request!" the youth muttered, turning his frowning eyefrom one to the other, as if examining the characters of his companions, with a view to weigh their physical powers. Then, putting his hand intohis bosom, he drew forth a small box, and extending it with an air ofdignity towards the Doctor, he continued--"You will find by this, sir, that I have some right to travel in a country which is now the propertyof the American States. "

"What have we here!" exclaimed the naturalist, opening the folds ofa large parchment. "Why, this is the sign-manual of the philosopher, Jefferson! The seal of state! Countersigned by the minister of war!Why this is a commission creating Duncan Uncas Middleton a captain ofartillery!"

"Of whom? of whom?" repeated the trapper, who had sat regarding thestranger, during the whole discourse, with eyes that seemed greedily todevour each lineament. "How is the name? did you call him Uncas?--Uncas!Was it Uncas?"

"Such is my name, " returned the youth, a little haughtily. "It is theappellation of a native chief, that both my uncle and myself bear withpride; for it is the memorial of an important service done my family bya warrior in the old wars of the provinces. "

"Uncas! did ye call him Uncas?" repeated the trapper, approaching theyouth and parting the dark curls which clustered over his brow, withoutthe slightest resistance on the part of their wondering owner. "Ah myeyes are old, and not so keen as when I was a warrior myself; but I cansee the look of the father in the son! I saw it when he first came nigh, but so many things have since passed before my failing sight, that Icould not name the place where I had met his likeness! Tell me, lad, bywhat name is your father known?"

"He was an officer of the States in the war of the revolution, of my ownname of course; my mother's brother was called Duncan Uncas Heyward. "

"Still Uncas! still Uncas!" echoed the other, trembling with eagerness. "And his father?"

"Was called the same, without the appellation of the native chief. Itwas to him, and to my grandmother, that the service of which I have justspoken was rendered. "

"I know'd it! I know'd it!" shouted the old man, in his tremulousvoice, his rigid features working powerfully, as if the names the othermentioned awakened some long dormant emotions, connected with the eventsof an anterior age. "I know'd it! son or grandson, it is all the same;it is the blood, and 'tis the look! Tell me, is he they call'd Duncan, without the Uncas--is he living?"

The young man shook his head sorrowfully, as he replied in the negative. 

"He died full of days and of honours. Beloved, happy, and bestowinghappiness!"

"Full of days!" repeated the trapper, looking down at his own meagre, but still muscular hands. "Ah! he liv'd in the settlements, and was wiseonly after their fashions. But you have often seen him; and you haveheard him discourse of Uncas, and of the wilderness?"

"Often! he was then an officer of the king; but when the war took placebetween the crown and her colonies, my grandfather did not forget hisbirthplace, but threw off the empty allegiance of names, and was true tohis proper country; he fought on the side of liberty. "

"There was reason in it; and what is better, there was natur'! Come, sitye down beside me, lad; sit ye down, and tell me of what your grand'therused to speak, when his mind dwelt on the wonders of the wilderness. "

The youth smiled, no less at the importunity than at the interestmanifested by the old man; but as he found there was no longer theleast appearance of any violence being contemplated, he unhesitatinglycomplied. 

"Give it all to the trapper by rule, and by figures of speech, " saidPaul, very coolly taking his seat on the other side of the youngsoldier. "It is the fashion of old age to relish these ancienttraditions, and, for that matter, I can say that I don't dislike tolisten to them myself. "

Middleton smiled again, and perhaps with a slight air of derision; but, good-naturedly turning to the trapper, he continued--

"It is a long, and might prove a painful story. Bloodshed and all thehorrors of Indian cruelty and of Indian warfare are fearfully mingled inthe narrative. "

"Ay, give it all to us, stranger, " continued Paul; "we are used to thesematters in Kentuck, and, I must say, I think a story none the worse forhaving a few scalps in it!"

"But he told you of Uncas, did he?" resumed the trapper, withoutregarding the slight interruptions of the bee-hunter, which amounted tono more than a sort of by-play. "And what thought he and said he of thelad, in his parlour, with the comforts and ease of the settlements athis elbow?"

"I doubt not he used a language similar to that he would have adopted inthe woods, and had he stood face to face, with his friend--"

"Did he call the savage his friend; the poor, naked, painted warrior? hewas not too proud then to call the Indian his friend?"

"He even boasted of the connection; and as you have already heard, bestowed a name on his first-born, which is likely to be handed down asan heir-loom among the rest of his descendants. "

"It was well done! like a man: ay! and like a Christian, too! He used tosay the Delaware was swift of foot--did he remember that?"

"As the antelope! Indeed, he often spoke of him by the appellation of LeCerf Agile, a name he had obtained by his activity. "

"And bold, and fearless, lad!" continued the trapper, looking up intothe eyes of his companion, with a wistfulness that bespoke the delighthe received in listening to the praises of one, whom it was so veryevident, he had once tenderly loved. 

"Brave as a blooded hound! Without fear! He always quoted Uncas and hisfather, who from his wisdom was called the Great Serpent, as models ofheroism and constancy. "

"He did them justice! he did them justice! Truer men were not to befound in tribe or nation, be their skins of what colour they might. Isee your grand'ther was just, and did his duty, too, by his offspring!'Twas a perilous time he had of it, among them hills, and nobly didhe play his own part! Tell me, lad, or officer, I should say, --sinceofficer you be, --was this all?"

"Certainly not; it was, as I have said, a fearful tale, full ofmoving incidents, and the memories both of my grandfather and of mygrandmother--"

"Ah!" exclaimed the trapper, tossing a hand into the air as his wholecountenance lighted with the recollections the name revived. "Theycalled her Alice! Elsie or Alice; 'tis all the same. A laughing, playfulchild she was, when happy; and tender and weeping in her misery! Herhair was shining and yellow, as the coat of the young fawn, and herskin clearer than the purest water that drips from the rock. Well do Iremember her! I remember her right well!"

The lip of the youth slightly curled, and he regarded the old man withan expression, which might easily have been construed into a declarationthat such were not his own recollections of his venerable and reveredancestor, though it would seem he did not think it necessary to say asmuch in words. He was content to answer--

"They both retained impressions of the dangers they had passed, byfar too vivid easily to lose the recollection of any of theirfellow-actors. "

The trapper looked aside, and seemed to struggle with some deeply innatefeeling; then, turning again towards his companion, though his honesteyes no longer dwelt with the same open interest, as before, on thecountenance of the other, he continued--

"Did he tell you of them all? Were they all red-skins, but himself andthe daughters of Munro?"

"No. There was a white man associated with the Delawares. A scout of theEnglish army, but a native of the provinces. "

"A drunken worthless vagabond, like most of his colour who harbour withthe savages, I warrant you!"

"Old man, your grey hairs should caution you against slander. The man Ispeak of was of great simplicity of mind, but of sterling worth. Unlikemost of those who live a border life, he united the better, instead ofthe worst, qualities of the two people. He was a man endowed with thechoicest and perhaps rarest gift of nature; that of distinguishing goodfrom evil. His virtues were those of simplicity, because such were thefruits of his habits, as were indeed his very prejudices. In couragehe was the equal of his red associates; in warlike skill, being betterinstructed, their superior. 'In short, he was a noble shoot from thestock of human nature, which never could attain its proper elevation andimportance, for no other reason, than because it grew in the forest:'such, old hunter, were the very words of my grandfather, when speakingof the man you imagine so worthless!"

The eyes of the trapper had sunk to the earth, as the stranger deliveredthis character in the ardent tones of generous youth. He played with theears of his hound; fingered his own rustic garment, and opened and shutthe pan of his rifle, with hands that trembled in a manner that wouldhave implied their total unfitness to wield the weapon. When the otherhad concluded, he hoarsely added--

"Your grand'ther didn't then entirely forget the white man!"

"So far from that, there are already three among us, who have also namesderived from that scout. "

"A name, did you say?" exclaimed the old man, starting; "what, the nameof the solitary, unl'arned hunter? Do the great, and the rich, and thehonoured, and, what is better still, the just, do they bear his very, actual name?"

"It is borne by my brother, and by two of my cousins, whatever may betheir titles to be described by the terms you have mentioned. "

"Do you mean the actual name itself; spelt with the very same letters, beginning with an N and ending with an L?"

"Exactly the same, " the youth smilingly replied. "No, no, we haveforgotten nothing that was his. I have at this moment a dog brushing adeer, not far from this, who is come of a hound that very scout sent asa present after his friends, and which was of the stock he always usedhimself: a truer breed, in nose and foot, is not to be found in the wideUnion. "

"Hector!" said the old man, struggling to conquer an emotion that nearlysuffocated him, and speaking to his hound in the sort of tones he wouldhave used to a child, "do ye hear that, pup! your kin and blood are inthe prairies! A name--it is wonderful--very wonderful!"

Nature could endure no more. Overcome by a flood of unusual andextraordinary sensations, and stimulated by tender and long dormantrecollections, strangely and unexpectedly revived, the old man had justself-command enough to add, in a voice that was hollow and unnatural, through the efforts he made to command it--

"Boy, I am that scout; a warrior once, a miserable trapper now!" whenthe tears broke over his wasted cheeks, out of fountains that had longbeen dried, and, sinking his face between his knees, he covered itdecently with his buckskin garment, and sobbed aloud. 

The spectacle produced correspondent emotions in his companions. PaulHover had actually swallowed each syllable of the discourse as they fellalternately from the different speakers, his feelings keeping equalpace with the increasing interest of the scene. Unused to such strangesensations, he was turning his face on every side of him, to avoid heknew not what, until he saw the tears and heard the sobs of the oldman, when he sprang to his feet, and grappling his guest fiercely bythe throat, he demanded by what authority he had made his aged companionweep. A flash of recollection crossing his brain at the same instant, hereleased his hold, and stretching forth an arm in the very wantonnessof gratification, he seized the Doctor by the hair, which instantlyrevealed its artificial formation, by cleaving to his hand, leaving thewhite and shining poll of the naturalist with a covering no warmer thanthe skin. 

"What think you of that, Mr. Bug-gatherer?" he rather shouted thancried: "is not this a strange bee to line into his hole?"

"'Tis remarkable! wonderful! edifying!" returned the lover of nature, good-humouredly recovering his wig, with twinkling eyes and a huskyvoice. "'Tis rare and commendable. Though I doubt not in the exact orderof causes and effects. "

With this sudden outbreaking, however, the commotion instantly subsided;the three spectators clustering around the trapper with a species ofawe, at beholding the tears of one so aged. 

"It must be so, or how could he be so familiar with a history that islittle known beyond my own family, " at length the youth observed, notashamed to acknowledge how much he had been affected, by unequivocallydrying his own eyes. 

"True!" echoed Paul; "if you want any more evidence I will swear to it!I know every word of it myself to be true as the gospel!"

"And yet we had long supposed him dead!" continued the soldier. "Mygrandfather had filled his days with honour, and he had believed himselfthe junior of the two. "

"It is not often that youth has an opportunity of thus looking downon the weakness of age!" the trapper observed, raising his head, andlooking around him with composure and dignity. "That I am still here, young man, is the pleasure of the Lord, who has spared me until I haveseen fourscore long and laborious years, for his own secret ends. ThatI am the man I say, you need not doubt; for why should I go to my gravewith so cheap a lie in my mouth?"

"I do not hesitate to believe; I only marvel that it should be so! Butwhy do I find you, venerable and excellent friend of my parents, inthese wastes, so far from the comforts and safety of the lower country?"

"I have come into these plains to escape the sound of the axe; for heresurely the chopper can never follow! But I may put the like question toyourself. Are you of the party which the States have sent into their newpurchase, to look after the natur' of the bargain they have made?"

"I am not. Lewis is making his way up the river, some hundreds of milesfrom this. I come on a private adventure. "

"Though it is no cause of wonder, that a man whose strength and eyeshave failed him as a hunter, should be seen nigh the haunts of thebeaver, using a trap instead of a rifle, it is strange that one so youngand prosperous, and bearing the commission of the Great Father, shouldbe moving among the prairies, without even a camp-colourman to do hisbiddings!"

"You would think my reasons sufficient did you know them, as know themyou shall if you are disposed to listen to my story. I think you allhonest, and men who would rather aid than betray one bent on a worthyobject. "

"Come, then, and tell us at your leisure, " said the trapper, seatinghimself, and beckoning to the youth to follow his example. The latterwillingly complied; and after Paul and the Doctor had disposed ofthemselves to their several likings, the new comer entered into anarrative of the singular reasons which had led him so far into thedeserts. 

CHAPTER XI

 So foul a sky clears not without a storm. --King John. 

In the mean time the industrious and irreclaimable hours continuedtheir labours. The sun, which had been struggling through such massesof vapour throughout the day, fell slowly in a streak of clear sky, andthence sunk gloriously into the gloomy wastes, as he is wont to settleinto the waters of the ocean. The vast herds which had been grazingamong the wild pastures of the prairies, gradually disappeared, andthe endless flocks of aquatic birds, that were pursuing their customaryannual journey from the virgin lakes of the north towards the gulf ofMexico, ceased to fan that air, which had now become loaded with dew andvapour. In short, the shadows of night fell upon the rock, adding themantle of darkness to the other dreary accompaniments of the place. 

As the light began to fail, Esther collected her younger children ather side, and placing herself on a projecting point of her insulatedfortress, she sat patiently awaiting the return of the hunters. EllenWade was at no great distance, seeming to keep a little aloof from theanxious circle, as if willing to mark the distinction which existed intheir characters. 

"Your uncle is, and always will be, a dull calculator, Nell, " observedthe mother, after a long pause in a conversation that had turned on thelabours of the day; "a lazy hand at figures and foreknowledge is thatsaid Ishmael Bush! Here he sat lolloping about the rock from light tillnoon, doing nothing but scheme--scheme--scheme--with seven as noble boysat his elbows as woman ever gave to man; and what's the upshot? why, night is setting in, and his needful work not yet ended. "

"It is not prudent, certainly, aunt, " Ellen replied, with a vacancy inher air, that proved how little she knew what she was saying; "and it issetting a very bad example to his sons. "

"Hoity, toity, girl! who has reared you up as a judge over your elders, ay, and your betters, too! I should like to see the man on the wholefrontier, who sets a more honest example to his children than thissame Ishmael Bush! Show me, if you can, Miss Fault-finder, but notfault-mender, a set of boys who will, on occasion, sooner chop a pieceof logging and dress it for the crop, than my own children; though Isay it myself, who, perhaps, should be silent; or a cradler that knowsbetter how to lead a gang of hands through a field of wheat, leaving acleaner stubble in his track, than my own good man! Then, as a father, he is as generous as a lord; for his sons have only to name thespot where they would like to pitch, and he gives 'em a deed of theplantation, and no charge for papers is ever made!"

As the wife of the squatter concluded, she raised a hollow, tauntinglaugh, that was echoed from the mouths of several juvenile imitators, whom she was training to a life as shiftless and lawless as her own;but which, notwithstanding its uncertainty, was not without its secretcharms. 

"Holloa! old Eester;" shouted the well-known voice of her husband, fromthe plain beneath; "ar' you keeping your junkets, while we are findingyou in venison and buffaloe beef? Come down--come down, old girl, withall your young; and lend us a hand to carry up the meat;--why, whata frolic you ar' in, woman! Come down, come down, for the boys are athand, and we have work here for double your number. "

Ishmael might have spared his lungs more than a moiety of the effortthey were compelled to make in order that he should be heard. He hadhardly uttered the name of his wife, before the whole of the crouchingcircle rose in a body, and tumbling over each other, they precipitatedthemselves down the dangerous passes of the rock with ungovernableimpatience. Esther followed the young fry with a more measured gait;nor did Ellen deem it wise, or rather discreet, to remain behind. Consequently, the whole were soon assembled at the base of the citadel, on the open plain. 

Here the squatter was found, staggering under the weight of a finefat buck, attended by one or two of his younger sons. Ahiram quicklyappeared, and before many minutes had elapsed, most of the huntersdropped in, singly and in pairs, each man bringing with him some fruitsof his prowess in the field. 

"The plain is free from red-skins, to-night at least, " said Ishmael, after the bustle of reception had a little subsided; "for I have scouredthe prairie for many long miles, on my own feet, and I call myself ajudge of the print of an Indian moccasin. So, old woman, you can give usa few steaks of the venison, and then we will sleep on the day's work. "

"I'll not swear there are no savages near us, " said Abiram. "I, too, know something of the trail of a red-skin; and, unless my eyes have lostsome of their sight, I would swear, boldly, that there ar' Indians athand. But wait till Asa comes in. He pass'd the spot where I found themarks, and the boy knows something of such matters too. "

"Ay, the boy knows too much of many things, " returned Ishmael, gloomily. "It will be better for him when he thinks he knows less. But whatmatters it, Hetty, if all the Sioux tribes, west of the big river, arewithin a mile of us; they will find it no easy matter to scale thisrock, in the teeth of ten bold men. "

"Call 'em twelve at once, Ishmael; call 'em twelve!" cried his termagantassistant. "For if your moth-gathering, bug-hunting friend, can becounted a man, I beg you will set me down as two. I will not turn myback to him, with the rifle or the shot-gun; and for courage!--theyearling heifer, that them skulking devils the Tetons stole, was thebiggest coward among us all, and after her came your drivelling Doctor. Ah! Ishmael, you rarely attempt a regular trade but you come out theloser; and this man, I reckon, is the hardest bargain among them all!Would you think it, the fellow ordered me a blister around my mouth, because I complained of a pain in the foot?"

"It is a pity, Eester, " the husband coolly answered, "that you did nottake it; I reckon it would have done considerable good. But, boys, if itshould turn out as Ahiram thinks, that there are Indians near us, we mayhave to scamper up the rock, and lose our suppers after all; thereforewe will make sure of the game, and talk over the performances of theDoctor when we have nothing better to do. "

The hint was taken; and in a few minutes, the exposed situation in whichthe family was collected, was exchanged for the more secure elevationof the rock. Here Esther busied herself, working and scolding with equalindustry, until the repast was prepared; when she summoned her husbandto his meal in a voice as sonorous as that with which the Imam remindsthe Faithful of a more important duty. 

When each had assumed his proper and customary place around the smokingviands, the squatter set the example by beginning to partake of adelicious venison steak, prepared like the hump of the bison, with askill that rather increased than concealed its natural properties. Apainter would gladly have seized the moment, to transfer the wild andcharacteristic scene to the canvass. 

The reader will remember that the citadel of Ishmael stood insulated, lofty, ragged, and nearly inaccessible. A bright flashing fire that wasburning on the centre of its summit, and around which the busy groupwas clustered, lent it the appearance of some tall Pharos placed in thecentre of the deserts, to light such adventurers as wandered throughtheir broad wastes. The flashing flame gleamed from one sun-burntcountenance to another, exhibiting every variety of expression, from thejuvenile simplicity of the children, mingled as it was with a shade ofthe wildness peculiar to their semi-barbarous lives, to the dull andimmovable apathy that dwelt on the features of the squatter, whenunexcited. Occasionally a gust of wind would fan the embers; and, asa brighter light shot upwards, the little solitary tent was seen as itwere suspended in the gloom of the upper air. All beyond was enveloped, as usual at that hour, in an impenetrable body of darkness. 

"It is unaccountable that Asa should choose to be out of the way at sucha time as this, " Esther pettishly observed. "When all is finished andto rights, we shall have the boy coming up, grumbling for his meal, andhungry as a bear after his winter's nap. His stomach is as true as thebest clock in Kentucky, and seldom wants winding up to tell the time, whether of day or night. A desperate eater is Asa, when a-hungered by alittle work!"

Ishmael looked sternly around the circle of his silent sons, as if tosee whether any among them would presume to say aught in favour of theabsent delinquent. But now, when no exciting causes existed to arousetheir slumbering tempers, it seemed to be too great an effort to enteron the defence of their rebellious brother. Abiram, however, who, sincethe pacification, either felt, or affected to feel, a more generousinterest in his late adversary, saw fit to express an anxiety, to whichthe others were strangers--

"It will be well if the boy has escaped the Tetons!" he muttered. "Ishould be sorry to have Asa, who is one of the stoutest of our party, both in heart and hand, fall into the power of the red devils. "

"Look to yourself, Abiram; and spare your breath, if you can use it onlyto frighten the woman and her huddling girls. You have whitened the faceof Ellen Wade, already; who looks as pale as if she was staring to-dayat the very Indians you name, when I was forced to speak to her throughthe rifle, because I couldn't reach her ears with my tongue. How was it, Nell! you have never given the reason of your deafness?"

The colour of Ellen's cheek changed as suddenly as the squatter'spiece had flashed on the occasion to which he alluded, the burning glowsuffusing her features, until it even mantled her throat with its finehealthful tinge. She hung her head abashed, but did not seem to think itnecessary to reply. 

Ishmael, too sluggish to pursue the subject, or content with thepointed allusion he had just made, rose from his seat on the rock, and stretching his heavy frame, like a well-fed and fattened ox, heannounced his intention to sleep. Among a race who lived chiefly for theindulgence of the natural wants, such a declaration could not fail ofmeeting with sympathetic dispositions. One after another disappeared, each seeking his or her rude dormitory; and, before many minutes, Esther, who by this time had scolded the younger fry to sleep, foundherself, if we except the usual watchman below, in solitary possessionof the naked rock. 

Whatever less valuable fruits had been produced in this uneducated womanby her migratory habits, the great principle of female nature was toodeeply rooted ever to be entirely eradicated. Of a powerful, not tosay fierce temperament, her passions were violent and difficult tobe smothered. But, however she might and did abuse the accidentalprerogatives of her situation, love for her offspring, while it oftenslumbered, could never be said to become extinct. She liked not theprotracted absence of Asa. Too fearless herself to have hesitated aninstant on her own account about crossing the dark abyss, into which shenow sat looking with longing eyes, her busy imagination, in obedienceto this inextinguishable sentiment, began to conjure nameless evils onaccount of her son. It might be true, as Abiram had hinted, that he hadbecome a captive to some of the tribes who were hunting the buffaloein that vicinity, or even a still more dreadful calamity might havebefallen. So thought the mother, while silence and darkness lent theiraid to the secret impulses of nature. 

Agitated by these reflections, which put sleep at defiance, Esthercontinued at her post, listening with that sort of acuteness which istermed instinct in the animals a few degrees below her in the scale ofintelligence, for any of those noises which might indicate the approachof footsteps. At length, her wishes had an appearance of being realised, for the long desired sounds were distinctly audible, and presently shedistinguished the dim form of a man at the base of the rock. 

"Now, Asa, richly do you deserve to be left with an earthen bed thisblessed night!" the woman began to mutter, with a revolution in herfeelings, that will not be surprising to those who have made thecontradictions that give variety to the human character a study. "Anda hard one I've a mind it shall be! Why Abner; Abner; you Abner, do yousleep? Let me not see you dare to open the hole, till I get down. I willknow who it is that wishes to disturb a peaceable, ay, and an honestfamily too, at such a time in the night as this!"

"Woman!" exclaimed a voice, that intended to bluster, while the speakerwas manifestly a little apprehensive of the consequences; "Woman, Iforbid you on pain of the law to project any of your infernal missiles. I am a citizen, and a freeholder, and a graduate of two universities;and I stand upon my rights! Beware of malice prepense, of chance-medley, and of manslaughter. It is I--your amicus; a friend and inmate. I--Dr. Obed Battius. "

"Who?" demanded Esther, in a voice that nearly refused to convey herwords to the ears of the anxious listener beneath. "Did you say it wasnot Asa?"

"Nay, I am neither Asa, nor Absalom, nor any of the Hebrew princes, butObed, the root and stock of them all. Have I not said, woman, that youkeep one in attendance who is entitled to a peaceable as well asan honourable admission? Do you take me for an animal of the classamphibia, and that I can play with my lungs as a blacksmith does withhis bellows?"

The naturalist might have expended his breath much longer, withoutproducing any desirable result, had Esther been his only auditor. Disappointed and alarmed, the woman had already sought her pallet, andwas preparing, with a sort of desperate indifference, to compose herselfto sleep. Abner, the sentinel below, however, had been aroused froman exceedingly equivocal situation by the outcry; and as he hadnow regained sufficient consciousness to recognise the voice of thephysician, the latter was admitted with the least possible delay. Dr. Battius bustled through the narrow entrance, with an air of singularimpatience, and was already beginning to mount the difficult ascent, when catching a view of the porter, he paused, to observe with an airthat he intended should be impressively admonitory--

"Abner, there are dangerous symptoms of somnolency about thee! Itis sufficiently exhibited in the tendency to hiation, and may provedangerous not only to yourself, but to all thy father's family. "

"You never made a greater mistake, Doctor, " returned the youth, gapinglike an indolent lion; "I haven't a symptom, as you call it, about anypart of me; and as to father and the children, I reckon the small-poxand the measles have been thoroughly through the breed these many monthsago. "

Content with his brief admonition, the naturalist had surmounted halfthe difficulties of the ascent before the deliberate Abner ended hisjustification. On the summit, Obed fully expected to encounter Esther, of whose linguacious powers he had too often been furnished with themost sinister reproofs, and of which he stood in an awe too salutary tocovet a repetition of the attacks. The reader can foresee that he wasto be agreeably disappointed. Treading lightly, and looking timidlyover his shoulder, as if he apprehended a shower of something, even moreformidable than words, the Doctor proceeded to the place which had beenallotted to himself in the general disposition of the dormitories. 

Instead of sleeping, the worthy naturalist sat ruminating over what hehad both seen and heard that day, until the tossing and mutteringswhich proceeded from the cabin of Esther, who was his nearest neighbour, advertised him of the wakeful situation of its inmate. Perceiving thenecessity of doing something to disarm this female Cerberus, before hisown purpose could be accomplished, the Doctor, reluctant as he was toencounter her tongue, found himself compelled to invite a colloquialcommunication. 

"You appear not to sleep, my very kind and worthy Mrs. Bush, " he said, determined to commence his applications with a plaster that was usuallyfound to adhere; "you appear to rest badly, my excellent hostess; can Iadminister to your ailings?"

"What would you give me, man?" grumbled Esther; "a blister to make mesleep?"

"Say rather a cataplasm. But if you are in pain, here are some cordialdrops, which, taken in a glass of my own cognac, will give you rest, ifI know aught of the materia medica. "

The Doctor, as he very well knew, had assailed Esther on her weak side;and, as he doubted not of the acceptable quality of his prescription, hesat himself at work, without unnecessary delay, to prepare it. When hemade his offering, it was received in a snappish and threatening manner, but swallowed with a facility that sufficiently proclaimed how much itwas relished. The woman muttered her thanks, and her {leech} reseatedhimself in silence, to await the operation of the dose. In less thanhalf an hour the breathing of Esther became so profound, and, as theDoctor himself might have termed it, so very abstracted, that had he notknown how easy it was to ascribe this new instance of somnolency to thepowerful dose of opium with which he had garnished the brandy, he mighthave seen reason to distrust his own prescription. With the sleep of therestless woman, the stillness became profound and general. 

Then Dr. Battius saw fit to arise, with the silence and caution of themidnight robber, and to steal out of his own cabin, or rather kennel, for it deserved no better name, towards the adjoining dormitories. Herehe took time to assure himself that all his neighbours were buried indeep sleep. Once advised of this important fact, he hesitated no longer, but commenced the difficult ascent which led to the upper pinnacleof the rock. His advance, though abundantly guarded, was not entirelynoiseless; but while he was felicitating himself on having successfullyeffected his object, and he was in the very act of placing his foot onthe highest ledge a hand was laid upon the skirts of his coat, which aseffectually put an end to his advance, as if the gigantic strength ofIshmael himself had pinned him to the earth. 

"Is there sickness in the tent, " whispered a soft voice in his very ear, "that Dr. Battius is called to visit it at such an hour?"

So soon as the heart of the naturalist had returned from its hastyexpedition into his throat, as one less skilled than Dr. Battius in theformation of the animal would have been apt to have accounted forthe extraordinary sensation with which he received this unlooked-forinterruption, he found resolution to reply; using, as much in terror asin prudence, the same precaution in the indulgence of his voice. 

"My worthy Nelly! I am greatly rejoiced to find it is no other thanthee. Hist! child, hist! Should Ishmael gain a knowledge of our plans, he would not hesitate to cast us both from this rock, upon the plainbeneath. Hist! Nelly, hist!"

As the Doctor delivered his injunctions between the intervals of hisascent, by the time they were concluded, both he and his auditor hadgained the upper level. 

"And now, Dr. Battius, " the girl gravely demanded, "may I know thereason why you have run so great a risk of flying from this place, without wings, and at the certain expense of your neck?"

"Nothing shall be concealed from thee, worthy and trusty Nelly--but areyou certain that Ishmael will not awake?"

"No fear of him; he will sleep until the sun scorches his eyelids. Thedanger is from my aunt. "

"Esther sleepeth!" the Doctor sententiously replied. "Ellen, you havebeen watching on this rock, to-day?"

"I was ordered to do so. "

"And you have seen the bison, and the antelope, and the wolf, and thedeer, as usual; animals of the orders, pecora, belluae, and ferae. "

"I have seen the creatures you named in English, but I know nothing ofthe Indian languages. "

"There is still an order that I have not named, which you have alsoseen. The primates--is it not true?"

"I cannot say. I know no animal by that name. "

"Nay, Ellen, you confer with a friend. Of the genus, homo, child?"

"Whatever else I may have had in view, I have not seen the vespertiliohorribi--"

"Hush, Nelly, thy vivacity will betray us! Tell me, girl, have you notseen certain bipeds, called men, wandering about the prairies?"

"Surely. My uncle and his sons have been hunting the buffaloe, since thesun began to fall. "

"I must speak in the vernacular, to be comprehended. Ellen, I would sayof the species, Kentucky. "

Though Ellen reddened like the rose, her blushes were concealed by thedarkness. She hesitated an instant, and then summoned sufficient spiritto say, decidedly--

"If you wish to speak in parables, Doctor Battius, you must find anotherlistener. Put your questions plainly in English, and I will answer themhonestly in the same tongue. "

"I have been journeying in this desert, as thou knowest, Nelly, in questof animals that have been hidden from the eyes of science, until now. Among others, I have discovered a primates, of the genus, homo; species, Kentucky; which I term, Paul--"

"Hist, for the sake of mercy!" said Ellen; "speak lower, Doctor, or weshall be ruined. "

"Hover; by profession a collector of the apes, or bee, " continued theother. "Do I use the vernacular now, --am I understood?"

"Perfectly, perfectly, " returned the girl, breathing with difficulty, inher surprise. "But what of him? did he tell you to mount this rock?--heknows nothing, himself; for the oath I gave my uncle has shut my mouth. "

"Ay, but there is one that has taken no oath, who has revealed all. Iwould that the mantle which is wrapped around the mysteries of nature, were as effectually withdrawn from its hidden treasures! Ellen! Ellen!the man with whom I have unwittingly formed a compactum, or agreement, is sadly forgetful of the obligations of honesty! Thy uncle, child. "

"You mean Ishmael Bush, my father's brother's widow's husband, " returnedthe offended girl, a little proudly. --"Indeed, indeed, it is cruel toreproach me with a tie that chance has formed, and which I would rejoiceso much to break for ever!"

The humbled Ellen could utter no more, but sinking on a projection ofthe rock, she began to sob in a manner that rendered their situationdoubly critical. The Doctor muttered a few words, which he intendedas an apologetic explanation, but before he had time to complete hislaboured vindication, she arose and said with decision--

"I did not come here to pass my time in foolish tears, nor you to try tostop them. What then has brought you hither?"

"I must see the inmate of that tent. "

"You know what it contains?"

"I am taught to believe I do; and I bear a letter, which I must deliverwith my own hands. If the animal prove a quadruped, Ishmael is a trueman--if a biped, fledged or unfledged, I care not, he is false, and ourcompactum at an end!"

Ellen made a sign for the Doctor to remain where he was, and to besilent. She then glided into the tent, where she continued many minutes, that proved exceedingly weary and anxious to the expectant without, butthe instant she returned, she took him by the arm, and together theyentered beneath the folds of the mysterious cloth. 

CHAPTER XII

 Pray God the Duke of York excuse himself! --King Henry VI. 

The mustering of the borderers on the following morning was silent, sullen, and gloomy. The repast of that hour was wanting in theinharmonious accompaniment with which Esther ordinarily enlivenedtheir meals; for the effects of the powerful opiate the Doctor hadadministered still muddled her intellects. The young men brooded overthe absence of their elder brother, and the brows of Ishmael himselfwere knit, as he cast his scowling eyes from one to the other, like aman preparing to meet and to repel an expected assault on hisauthority. In the midst of this family distrust, Ellen and her midnightconfederate, the naturalist, took their usual places among the children, without awakening suspicion or exciting comment. The only apparentfruits of the adventure in which they had been engaged, were occasionalupliftings of the eyes, on the part of the Doctor, which were mistakenby the observers for some of his scientific contemplations of theheavens, but which, in reality, were no other than furtive glances atthe fluttering walls of the proscribed tent. 

At length the squatter, who had waited in vain for some more decidedmanifestation of the expected rising among his sons, resolved to make ademonstration of his own intentions. 

"Asa shall account to me for this undutiful conduct!" he observed. "Herehas the livelong night gone by, and he out-lying on the prairie, whenhis hand and his rifle might both have been wanted in a brush with theSiouxes, for any right he had to know the contrary. "

"Spare your breath, good man, " retorted his wife; "be saving of yourbreath; for you may have to call long enough for the boy before he willanswer!"

"It ar' a fact, that some men be so womanish, as to let the young masterthe old! But, you, old Esther, should know better than to think suchwill ever be the nature of things in the family of Ishmael Bush. "

"Ah! you are a hectorer with the boys, when need calls! I know it well, Ishmael; and one of your sons have you driven from you, by your temper;and that, too, at a time when he is most wanted. "

"Father, " said Abner, whose sluggish nature had gradually beenstimulating itself to the exertion of taking so bold a stand, "the boysand I have pretty generally concluded to go out on the search of Asa. Weare disagreeable about his camping on the prairie, instead of coming into his own bed, as we all know he would like to do. "

"Pshaw!" muttered Abiram; "the boy has killed a buck; or perhaps abuffaloe; and he is sleeping by the carcass to keep off the wolves, tillday; we shall soon see him, or hear him bawling for help to bring in hisload. "

"'Tis little help that a son of mine will call for, to shoulder a buckor to quarter your wild-beef, " returned the mother. "And you, Abiram, tosay so uncertain a thing! you, who said yourself that the red-skins hadbeen prowling around this place, no later than the yesterday--"

"I!" exclaimed her brother, hastily, as if anxious to retract an error;"I said it then, and I say it now and so you will find it to be. TheTetons are in our neighbourhood, and happy will it prove for the boy ifhe is well shut of them. "

"It seems to me, " said Dr. Battius, speaking with the sort ofdeliberation and dignity one is apt to use after having thoroughlyripened his opinions by sufficient reflection, --"it seems to me, a manbut little skilled in the signs and tokens of Indian warfare, especiallyas practised in these remote plains, but one, who I may say withoutvanity has some insight into the mysteries of nature, --it seems, then, to me, thus humbly qualified, that when doubts exist in a matter ofmoment, it would always be the wisest course to appease them. "

"No more of your doctoring for me!" cried the grum Esther; "no more ofyour quiddities in a healthy family, say I! Here was I doing well, onlya little out of sorts with over instructing the young, and you dos'dme with a drug that hangs about my tongue, like a pound weight on ahumming-bird's wing!"

"Is the medicine out?" drily demanded Ishmael: "it must be a rare dosethat gives a heavy feel to the tongue of old Eester!"

"Friend, " continued the Doctor, waving his hand for the angry wife tomaintain the peace, "that it cannot perform all that is said of it, thevery charge of good Mrs. Bush is a sufficient proof. But to speak of theabsent Asa. There is doubt as to his fate, and there is a propositionto solve it. Now, in the natural sciences truth is always a desideratum;and I confess it would seem to be equally so in the present case ofdomestic uncertainty, which may be called a vacuum where according tothe laws of physic, there should exist some pretty palpable proofs ofmateriality. "

"Don't mind him, don't mind him, " cried Esther, observing that the restof his auditors listened with an attention which might proceed, equally, from acquiescence in his proposal or ignorance of its meaning. "There isa drug in every word he utters. "

"Dr. Battius wishes to say, " Ellen modestly interposed, "that as someof us think Asa is in danger, and some think otherwise, the whole familymight pass an hour or two in looking for him. "

"Does he?" interrupted the woman; "then Dr. Battius has more sense inhim than I believed! She is right, Ishmael; and what she says, shall bedone. I will shoulder a rifle myself; and woe betide the red-skin thatcrosses my path! I have pulled a trigger before to-day; ay, and heard anIndian yell, too, to my sorrow. "

The spirit of Esther diffused itself, like the stimulus which attendsa war-cry, among her sons. They arose in a body, and declared theirdetermination to second so bold a resolution. Ishmael prudently yieldedto an impulse he could not resist, and in a few minutes the womanappeared, shouldering her arms, prepared to lead forth, in person, suchof her descendants as chose to follow. 

"Let them stay with the children that please, " she said, "and themfollow me, who ar' not chicken-hearted!"

"Abiram, it will not do to leave the huts without some guard, " Ishmaelwhispered, glancing his eye upward. 

The man whom he addressed started, and betrayed extraordinary eagernessin his reply. 

"I will tarry and watch the camp. "

A dozen voices were instantly raised in objections to this proposal. He was wanted to point out the places where the hostile tracks had beenseen, and his termagant sister openly scouted at the idea, as unworthyof his manhood. The reluctant Abiram was compelled to yield, and Ishmaelmade a new disposition for the defence of the place; which was admitted, by every one, to be all-important to their security and comfort. 

He offered the post of commandant to Dr. Battius, who, however, peremptorily and somewhat haughtily declined the doubtful honour;exchanging looks of intelligence with Ellen, as he did so. In thisdilemma the squatter was obliged to constitute the girl herselfcastellan; taking care, however, in deputing this important trust, toomit no words of caution and instruction. When this preliminary pointwas settled, the young men proceeded to arrange certain means ofdefence, and signals of alarm, that were adapted to the weakness andcharacter of the garrison. Several masses of rock were drawn to the edgeof the upper level, and so placed as to leave it at the discretion ofthe feeble Ellen and her associates, to cast them or not, as theymight choose, on the heads of any invaders, who would, of necessity, be obliged to mount the eminence by the difficult and narrow passagealready so often mentioned. In addition to this formidable obstruction, the barriers were strengthened and rendered nearly impassable. Smallermissiles, that might be hurled even by the hands of the youngerchildren, but which would prove, from the elevation of the place, exceedingly dangerous, were provided in profusion. A pile of driedleaves and splinters were placed, as a beacon, on the upper rock, andthen, even in the jealous judgment of the squatter, the post was deemedcompetent to maintain a creditable siege. 

The moment the rock was thought to be in a state of sufficient security, the party who composed what might be called the sortie, sallied forth ontheir anxious expedition. The advance was led by Esther in person, who, attired in a dress half masculine, and bearing a weapon like the rest, seemed no unfit leader for the group of wildly clad frontiermen, thatfollowed in her rear. 

"Now, Abiram;" cried the Amazon, in a voice that was cracked andharsh, for the simple reason of being used too often on a strained andunnatural key, "now, Abiram, run with your nose low; show yourself ahound of the true breed, and do some credit to your training. You it wasthat saw the prints of the Indian moccasin, and it behoves you, to letothers be as wise as yourself. Come; come to the front, man; and give usa bold lead. "

The brother, who appeared at all times to stand in awe of his sister'sauthority, complied; though it was with a reluctance so evident, asto excite sneers, even among the unobservant and indolent sons of thesquatter. Ishmael, himself, moved among his tall children, like one whoexpected nothing from the search, and who was indifferent alike toits success or failure. In this manner the party proceeded until theirdistant fortress had sunk so low, as to present an object no larger normore distinct than a hazy point, on the margin of the prairie. Hithertotheir progress had been silent and somewhat rapid, for as swell afterswell was mounted and passed, without varying, or discovering a livingobject to enliven the monotony of the view, even the tongue of Estherwas hushed in increasing anxiety. Here, however, Ishmael chose to pause, and casting the butt of his rifle from his shoulder to the ground, heobserved--

"This is enough. Buffaloe signs, and deer signs, ar' plenty; but wherear' thy Indian footsteps, Abiram?"

"Still farther west, " returned the other, pointing in the direction henamed. "This was the spot where I struck the tracks of the buck; it wasafter I took the deer, that I fell upon the Teton trail. "

"And a bloody piece of work you made of it, man, " cried the squatter, pointing tauntily to the soiled garments of his kinsman, and thendirecting the attention of the spectators to his own, by the way of atriumphant contrast. "Here have I cut the throats of two lively does, and a scampering fawn, without spot or stain; while you, blundering dogas you ar', have made as much work for Eester and her girls, as thoughbutchering was your regular calling. Come, boys; it is enough. I amtoo old not to know the signs of the frontiers; no Indian has been heresince the last fall of water. Follow me; and I will make a turn thatshall give us at least the beef of a fallow cow for our trouble. "

"Follow me!" echoed Esther, stepping undauntedly forward. "I am leaderto-day, and I will be followed. Who so proper, let me know, as a mother, to head a search for her own lost child?"

Ishmael regarded his intractable mate with a smile of indulgent pity. Observing that she had already struck out a path for herself, differentboth from that of Abiram and the one he had seen fit to choose, andbeing unwilling to draw the cord of authority too tight, just at thatmoment, he submitted to her will. But Dr. Battius, who had hitherto beena silent and thoughtful attendant on the woman, now saw fit to raise hisfeeble voice in the way of remonstrance. 

"I agree with thy partner in life, worthy and gentle Mrs. Bush, " hesaid, "in believing that some ignis fatuus of the imagination hasdeceived Abiram, in the signs or symptoms of which he has spoken. "

"Symptoms, yourself!" interrupted the termagant. "This is no time forbookish words, nor is this a place to stop and swallow medicines. Ifyou are a-leg-weary, say so, as a plain-speaking man should; then seatyourself on the prairie, like a hound that is foot-sore, and take yournatural rest. "

"I accord in the opinion, " the naturalist calmly replied, complyingliterally with the opinion of the deriding Esther, by taking his seat, very coolly, by the side of an indigenous shrub; the examination ofwhich he commenced, on the instant, in order that science might notloose any of its just and important dues. "I honour your excellentadvice, Mistress Esther, as you may perceive. Go thou in quest of thyoffspring; while I tarry here, in pursuit of that which is better; viz. An insight into the arcana of Nature's volume. "

The woman answered with a hollow, unnatural, and scornful laugh, andeven her heavy sons, as they slowly passed the seat of the alreadyabstracted naturalist, did not disdain to manifest their contempt insmiles. In a few minutes the train mounted the nearest eminence, and, as it turned the rounded acclivity, the Doctor was left to pursue hisprofitable investigations in entire solitude. 

Another half-hour passed, during which Esther continued to advance, on her seemingly fruitless search. Her pauses, however, were becomingfrequent, and her looks wandering and uncertain, when footsteps wereheard clattering through the bottom, and at the next instant a buck wasseen to bound up the ascent, and to dart from before their eyes, in thedirection of the naturalist. So sudden and unlooked for had been thepassage of the animal, and so much had he been favoured by the shape ofthe ground, that before any one of the foresters had time to bring hisrifle to his shoulder, it was already beyond the range of a bullet. 

"Look out for the wolf!" shouted Abner, shaking his head in vexation, atbeing a single moment too late. "A wolf's skin will be no bad gift in awinter's night; ay, yonder the hungry devil comes!"

"Hold!" cried Ishmael, knocking up the levelled weapon of his too eagerson. "'Tis not a wolf; but a hound of thorough blood and bottom. Ha! wehave hunters nigh: there ar' two of them!"

He was still speaking, when the animals in question came leaping on thetrack of the deer, striving with noble ardour to outdo each other. One was an aged dog, whose strength seemed to be sustained purely bygenerous emulation, and the other a pup, that gambolled even while hepressed most warmly on the chase. They both ran, however, with clean andpowerful leaps, carrying their noses high, like animals of the most keenand subtle scent. They had passed; and in another minute they would havebeen running open-mouthed with the deer in view, had not the youngerdog suddenly bounded from the course, and uttered a cry of surprise. Hisaged companion stopped also, and returned panting and exhausted to theplace, where the other was whirling around in swift, and apparently inmad evolutions, circling the spot in his own footsteps, and continuinghis outcry, in a short, snappish barking. But, when the elder hound hadreached the spot, he seated himself, and lifting his nose high into theair, he raised a long, loud, and wailing howl. 

"It must be a strong scent, " said Abner, who had been, with the rest ofthe family, an admiring observer of the movements of the dogs, "that canbreak off two such creatur's so suddenly from their trail. "

"Murder them!" cried Abiram; "I'll swear to the old hound; 'tis the dogof the trapper, whom we now know to be our mortal enemy. "

Though the brother of Esther gave so hostile advice, he appeared in noway ready to put it in execution himself. The surprise, which hadtaken possession of the whole party, exhibited itself in his own vacantwondering stare, as strongly as in any of the admiring visages by whomhe was surrounded. His denunciation, therefore, notwithstanding its direimport, was disregarded; and the dogs were left to obey the impulses oftheir mysterious instinct, without let or hinderance. 

It was long before any of the spectators broke the silence; but thesquatter, at length, so far recollected his authority, as to take onhimself the right to control the movements of his children. 

"Come away, boys; come away, and leave the hounds to sing their tunesfor their own amusement, " Ishmael said, in his coldest manner. "I scornto take the life of a beast, because its master has pitched himself toonigh my clearing; come away, boys, come away; we have enough of ourown work before us, without turning aside to do that of the wholeneighbourhood. "

"Come not away!" cried Esther, in tones that sounded like theadmonitions of some sibyl. "I say, come not away, my children. There isa meaning and a warning in this; and as I am a woman and a mother, willI know the truth of it all!"

So saying, the awakened wife brandished her weapon, with an air that wasnot without its wild and secret influence, and led the way towardsthe spot where the dogs still remained, filling the air with theirlong-drawn and piteous complaints. The whole party followed in hersteps, some too indolent to oppose, others obedient to her will, and allmore or less excited by the uncommon character of the scene. 

"Tell me, you Abner--Abiram--Ishmael!" the woman cried, standing over aspot where the earth was trampled and beaten, and plainly sprinkled withblood; "tell me, you who ar' hunters! what sort of animal has here methis death?--Speak!--Ye ar' men, and used to the signs of the plains; isit the blood of wolf or panther?"

"A buffaloe--and a noble and powerful creatur' has it been!" returnedthe squatter, who looked down calmly on the fatal signs which sostrangely affected his wife. "Here are the marks of the spot where hehas struck his hoofs into the earth, in the death-struggle; and yonderhe has plunged and torn the ground with his horns. Ay, a buffaloe bullof wonderful strength and courage has he been!"

"And who has slain him?" continued Esther; "man where are theoffals?--Wolves!--They devour not the hide! Tell me, ye men and hunters, is this the blood of a beast?"

"The creatur' has plunged over the hillock, " said Abner, who hadproceeded a short distance beyond the rest of the party. "Ah! there youwill find it, in yon swale of alders. Look! a thousand carrion birds, ar' hovering above the carcass. "

"The animal has still life in him, " returned the squatter, "or thebuzzards would settle upon their prey! By the action of the dogs itmust be something ravenous; I reckon it is the white bear from the upperfalls. They are said to cling desperately to life!"

"Let us go back, " said Abiram; "there may be danger, and there can be nogood in attacking a ravenous beast. Remember, Ishmael, 'twill be a riskyjob, and one of small profit!"

The young men smiled at this new proof of the well known pusillanimityof their uncle. The oldest even proceeded so far as to express hiscontempt, by bluntly saying--

"It will do to cage with the other animal we carry; then we may go backdouble-handed into the settlements, and set up for showmen, around thecourt-houses and gaols of Kentucky. "

The threatening frown, which gathered on the brow of his father, admonished the young man to forbear. Exchanging looks that were halfrebellious with his brethren, he saw fit to be silent. But instead ofobserving the caution recommended by Abiram, they proceeded in a body, until they again came to a halt within a few yards of the matted coverof the thicket. 

The scene had now, indeed, become wild and striking enough to haveproduced a powerful effect on minds better prepared, than those ofthe unnurtured family of the squatter, to resist the impressions of soexciting a spectacle. The heavens were, as usual at the season, coveredwith dark, driving clouds, beneath which interminable flocks of aquaticbirds were again on the wing, holding their toilsome and heavy waytowards the distant waters of the south. The wind had risen, and wasonce more sweeping over the prairie in gusts, which it was often vainto oppose; and then again the blasts would seem to mount into the upperair, as if to sport with the drifting vapour, whirling and rolling vastmasses of the dusky and ragged volumes over each other, in a terrificand yet grand disorder. Above the little brake, the flocks of birdsstill held their flight, circling with heavy wings about the spot, struggling at times against the torrent of wind, and then favoured bytheir position and height, making bold swoops upon the thicket, awayfrom which, however, they never failed to sail, screaming in terror, as if apprised, either by sight or instinct, that the hour of theirvoracious dominion had not yet fully arrived. 

Ishmael stood for many minutes, with his wife and children clusteredtogether, in an amazement, with which awe was singularly mingled, gazingin death-like stillness on the sight. The voice of Esther at lengthbroke the charm, and reminded the spectators of the necessity ofresolving their doubts in some manner more worthy of their manhood, thanby dull and inactive observation. 

"Call in the dogs!" she said; "call in the hounds, and put them into thethicket; there ar' men enough of ye, if ye have not lost the spirit withwhich I know ye were born, to tame the tempers of all the bears west ofthe big river. Call in the dogs, I say, you Enoch! Abner! Gabriel! haswonder made ye deaf?"

One of the young men complied; and having succeeded in detaching thehounds from the place, around which, until then, they had not ceased tohover, he led them down to the margin of the thicket. 

"Put them in, boy; put them in, " continued the woman; "and you, Ishmaeland Abiram, if any thing wicked or hurtful comes forth, show them theuse of your rifles, like frontier-men. If ye ar' wanting in spirit, before the eyes of my children will I put ye both to shame!"

The youths who, until now, had detained the hounds, let slip the thongsof skin, by which they had been held, and urged them to the attack bytheir voices. But, it would seem, that the elder dog was restrained bysome extraordinary sensation, or that he was much too experienced toattempt the rash adventure. After proceeding a few yards to the veryverge of the brake, he made a sudden pause, and stood trembling inall his aged limbs, apparently as unable to recede as to advance. Theencouraging calls of the young men were disregarded, or only answeredby a low and plaintive whining. For a minute the pup also was similarlyaffected; but less sage, or more easily excited, he was induced atlength to leap forward, and finally to dash into the cover. An alarmedand startling howl was heard, and, at the next minute, he broke outof the thicket, and commenced circling the spot, in the same wild andunsteady manner as before. 

"Have I a man among my children?" demanded Esther. "Give me a truerpiece than a childish shotgun, and I will show ye what the courage of afrontier-woman can do!"

"Stay, mother, " exclaimed Abner and Enoch; "if you will see thecreatur', let us drive it into view. "

This was quite as much as the youths were accustomed to utter, even onmore important occasions, but having given a pledge of their intentions, they were far from being backward in redeeming it. Preparing their armswith the utmost care, they advanced with steadiness to the brake. Nervesless often tried than those of the young borderers might have shrunkbefore the dangers of so uncertain an undertaking. As they proceeded, the howls of the dogs became more shrill and plaintive. The vultures andbuzzards settled so low as to flap the bushes with their heavy wings, and the wind came hoarsely sweeping along the naked prairie, as ifthe spirits of the air had also descended to witness the approachingdevelopment. 

There was a breathless moment, when the blood of the undaunted Estherflowed backward to her heart, as she saw her sons push aside the mattedbranches of the thicket and bury themselves in its labyrinth. A deep andsolemn pause succeeded. Then arose two loud and piercing cries, inquick succession, which were followed by a quiet, still more awful andappalling. 

"Come back, come back, my children!" cried the woman, the feelings of amother getting the ascendency. 

But her voice was hushed, and every faculty seemed frozen with horror, as at that instant the bushes once more parted, and the two adventurersre-appeared, pale, and nearly insensible themselves, and laid at herfeet the stiff and motionless body of the lost Asa, with the marks of aviolent death but too plainly stamped on every pallid lineament. 

The dogs uttered a long and closing howl, and then breaking offtogether, they disappeared on the forsaken trail of the deer. The flightof birds wheeled upward into the heavens, filling the air with theircomplaints at having been robbed of a victim which, frightful anddisgusting as it was, still bore too much of the impression of humanityto become the prey of their obscene appetites. 

CHAPTER XIII

 A pickaxe, and a spade, a spade, For, --and a shrouding sheet: O, a pit of clay for to be made For such a guest is meet. --Song in Hamlet. 

"Stand back! stand off, the whole of ye!" said Esther hoarsely to thecrowd, which pressed too closely on the corpse; "I am his mother, andmy right is better than that of ye all! Who has done this? Tell me, Ishmael, Abiram, Abner! open your mouths and your hearts, and let God'struth and no other issue from them. Who has done this bloody deed?"

Her husband made no reply, but stood, leaning on his rifle, lookingsadly, but with an unaltered eye, at the mangled remains of his son. Notso the mother, she threw herself on the earth, and receiving the coldand ghastly head into her lap, she sat contemplating those muscularfeatures, on which the death-agony was still horridly impressed, in asilence far more expressive than any language of lamentation could haveproved. 

The voice of the woman was frozen in grief. In vain Ishmael attempteda few words of rude consolation; she neither listened nor answered. Hersons gathered about her in a circle, and expressed, after their uncouthmanner, their sympathy in her sorrow, as well as their sense of theirown loss, but she motioned them away, impatiently with her hand. Attimes her fingers played in the matted hair of the dead, and at othersthey lightly attempted to smooth the painfully expressive muscles of itsghastly visage, as the hand of the mother is seen lingering fondly aboutthe features of her sleeping child. Then starting from their revoltingoffice, her hands would flutter around her, and seem to seek somefruitless remedy against the violent blow, which had thus suddenlydestroyed the child in whom she had not only placed her greatesthopes, but so much of her maternal pride. While engaged in thelatter incomprehensible manner, the lethargic Abner turned aside, andswallowing the unwonted emotions which were rising in his own throat, heobserved--

"Mother means that we should look for the signs, that we may know inwhat manner Asa has come by his end. "

"We owe it to the accursed Siouxes!" answered Ishmael: "twice havethey put me deeply in their debt! The third time, the score shall becleared!"

But, not content with this plausible explanation, and, perhaps, secretly glad to avert their eyes from a spectacle which awakened soextraordinary and unusual sensations in their sluggish bosoms, the sonsof the squatter turned away in a body from their mother and the corpse, and proceeded to make the enquiries which they fancied the former hadso repeatedly demanded. Ishmael made no objections; but, though heaccompanied his children while they proceeded in the investigation, itwas more with the appearance of complying with their wishes, at a timewhen resistance might not be seemly, than with any visible interest inthe result. As the borderers, notwithstanding their usual dulness, werewell instructed in most things connected with their habits of life, anenquiry, the success of which depended so much on signs and evidencesthat bore so strong a resemblance to a forest trail, was likely to beconducted with skill and acuteness. Accordingly, they proceeded to themelancholy task with great readiness and intelligence. 

Abner and Enoch agreed in their accounts as to the position in whichthey had found the body. It was seated nearly upright, the backsupported by a mass of matted brush, and one hand still grasping abroken twig of the alders. It was most probably owing to the formercircumstance that the body had escaped the rapacity of the carrionbirds, which had been seen hovering above the thicket, and the latterproved that life had not yet entirely abandoned the hapless victim whenhe entered the brake. The opinion now became general, that the youthhad received his death-wound in the open prairie, and had draggedhis enfeebled form into the cover of the thicket for the purpose ofconcealment. A trail through the bushes confirmed this opinion. It alsoappeared, on examination, that a desperate struggle had taken place onthe very margin of the thicket. This was sufficiently apparent by thetrodden branches, the deep impressions on the moist ground, and thelavish flow of blood. 

"He has been shot in the open ground and come here for a cover, " saidAbiram; "these marks would clearly prove it. The boy has been set uponby the savages in a body, and has fou't like a hero as he was, untilthey have mastered his strength, and then drawn him to the bushes. "

To this probable opinion there was now but one dissenting voice, that ofthe slow-minded Ishmael, who demanded that the corpse itself should beexamined in order to obtain a more accurate knowledge of its injuries. On examination, it appeared that a rifle bullet had passed directlythrough the body of the deceased, entering beneath one of his brawnyshoulders, and making its exit by the breast. It required some knowledgein gun-shot wounds to decide this delicate point, but the experience ofthe borderers was quite equal to the scrutiny; and a smile of wild, andcertainly of singular satisfaction, passed among the sons of Ishmael, when Abner confidently announced that the enemies of Asa had assailedhim in the rear. 

"It must be so, " said the gloomy but attentive squatter. "He was of toogood a stock and too well trained, knowingly to turn the weak side toman or beast! Remember, boys, that while the front of manhood is toyour enemy, let him be who or what he may, you ar' safe from cowardlysurprise. Why, Eester, woman! you ar' getting beside yourself; withpicking at the hair and the garments of the child! Little good can youdo him now, old girl. "

"See!" interrupted Enoch, extricating from the fragments of cloth themorsel of lead which had prostrated the strength of one so powerful;"here is the very bullet!"

Ishmael took it in his hand and eyed it long and closely. 

"There's no mistake, " at length he muttered through his compressedteeth. "It is from the pouch of that accursed trapper. Like many of thehunters he has a mark in his mould, in order to know the work hisrifle performs; and here you see it plainly--six little holes, laidcrossways. "

"I'll swear to it!" cried Abiram, triumphantly. "He show'd me hisprivate mark, himself, and boasted of the number of deer he had laidupon the prairies with these very bullets! Now, Ishmael, will youbelieve me when I tell you the old knave is a spy of the red-skins?"

The lead passed from the hand of one to that of another, andunfortunately for the reputation of the old man, several among themremembered also to have seen the aforesaid private bullet-marks, duringthe curious examination which all had made of his accoutrements. Inaddition to this wound, however, were many others of a less dangerousnature, all of which were supposed to confirm the supposed guilt of thetrapper. 

The traces of many different struggles were to be seen, between thespot where the first blood was spilt and the thicket to which it was nowgenerally believed Asa had retreated, as a place of refuge. These wereinterpreted into so many proofs of the weakness of the murderer, whowould have sooner despatched his victim, had not even the dying strengthof the youth rendered him formidable to the infirmities of one soold. The danger of drawing some others of the hunters to the spot, byrepeated firing, was deemed a sufficient reason for not again resortingto the rifle, after it had performed the important duty of disablingthe victim. The weapon of the dead man was not to be found, and haddoubtless, together with many other less valuable and lighter articles, that he was accustomed to carry about his person, become a prize to hisdestroyer. 

But what, in addition to the tell-tale bullet, appeared to fixthe ruthless deed with peculiar certainty on the trapper, wasthe accumulated evidence furnished by the trail; which proved, notwithstanding his deadly hurt, that the wounded man had still beenable to make a long and desperate resistance to the subsequent effortsof his murderer. Ishmael seemed to press this proof with a singularmixture of sorrow and pride: sorrow, at the loss of a son, whom in theirmoments of amity he highly valued; and pride, at the courage and powerhe had manifested to his last and weakest breath. 

"He died as a son of mine should die, " said the squatter, gleaning ahollow consolation from so unnatural an exultation: "a dread to hisenemy to the last, and without help from the law! Come, children; wehave the grave to make, and then to hunt his murderer. "

The sons of the squatter set about their melancholy office, in silenceand in sadness. An excavation was made in the hard earth, at a greatexpense of toil and time, and the body was wrapped in such sparevestments as could be collected among the labourers. When thesearrangements were completed, Ishmael approached the seeminglyunconscious Esther, and announced his intention to inter the dead. Sheheard him, and quietly relinquished her grasp of the corpse, risingin silence to follow it to its narrow resting place. Here she seatedherself again at the head of the grave, watching each movement of theyouths with eager and jealous eyes. When a sufficiency of earth was laidupon the senseless clay of Asa, to protect it from injury, Enoch andAbner entered the cavity, and trode it into a solid mass, by the weightof their huge frames, with an appearance of a strange, not to saysavage, mixture of care and indifference. This well-known precautionwas adopted to prevent the speedy exhumation of the body by some of thecarnivorous beasts of the prairie, whose instinct was sure to guide themto the spot. Even the rapacious birds appeared to comprehend the natureof the ceremony, for, mysteriously apprised that the miserable victimwas now about to be abandoned by the human race, they once more began tomake their airy circuits above the place, screaming, as if to frightenthe kinsmen from their labour of caution and love. 

Ishmael stood, with folded arms, steadily watching the manner in whichthis necessary duty was performed, and when the whole was completed, he lifted his cap to his sons, to thank them for their services, with adignity that would have become one much better nurtured. Throughout thewhole of a ceremony, which is ever solemn and admonitory, the squatterhad maintained a grave and serious deportment. His vast features werevisibly stamped with an expression of deep concern; but at no time didthey falter, until he turned his back, as he believed for ever, on thegrave of his first-born. Nature was then stirring powerfully withinhim, and the muscles of his stern visage began to work perceptibly. Hischildren fastened their eyes on his, as if to seek a direction to thestrange emotions which were moving their own heavy natures, when thestruggle in the bosom of the squatter suddenly ceased, and, taking hiswife by the arm, he raised her to her feet as if she had been an infant, saying, in a voice that was perfectly steady, though a nice observerwould have discovered that it was kinder than usual--

"Eester, we have now done all that man and woman can do. We raised theboy, and made him such as few others were like, on the frontiers ofAmerica; and we have given him a grave. Let us go our way. "

The woman turned her eyes slowly from the fresh earth, and laying herhands on the shoulders of her husband, stood, looking him anxiously inthe eyes. 

"Ishmael! Ishmael!" she said, "you parted from the boy in your wrath!"

"May the Lord pardon his sins freely as I have forgiven his worstmisdeeds!" calmly returned the squatter: "woman, go you back to the rockand read your Bible; a chapter in that book always does you good. Youcan read, Eester; which is a privilege I never did enjoy. "

"Yes, yes, " muttered the woman, yielding to his strength, and sufferingherself to be led, though with strong reluctance from the spot. "I canread; and how have I used the knowledge! But he, Ishmael, he has not thesin of wasted l'arning to answer for. We have spared him that, at least!whether it be in mercy, or in cruelty, I know not. "

Her husband made no reply, but continued steadily to lead her in thedirection of their temporary abode. When they reached the summit ofthe swell of land, which they knew was the last spot from which thesituation of the grave of Asa could be seen, they all turned, as bycommon concurrence, to take a farewell view of the place. The littlemound itself was not visible; but it was frightfully indicated by theflock of screaming birds which hovered above. In the opposite directiona low, blue hillock, in the skirts of the horizon, pointed out the placewhere Esther had left the rest of her young, and served as an attractionto draw her reluctant steps from the last abode of her eldest born. Nature quickened in the bosom of the mother at the sight; and shefinally yielded the rights of the dead, to the more urgent claims of theliving. 

The foregoing occurrences had struck a spark from the stern tempers of aset of beings so singularly moulded in the habits of their uncultivatedlives, which served to keep alive among them the dying embers of familyaffection. United to their parents by ties no stronger than those whichuse had created, there had been great danger, as Ishmael had foreseen, that the overloaded hive would swarm, and leave him saddled with thedifficulties of a young and helpless brood, unsupported by the exertionsof those, whom he had already brought to a state of maturity. The spiritof insubordination, which emanated from the unfortunate Asa, had spreadamong his juniors; and the squatter had been made painfully to rememberthe time when, in the wantonness of his youth and vigour, he had, reversing the order of the brutes, cast off his own aged and failingparents, to enter into the world unshackled and free. But the danger hadnow abated, for a time at least; and if his authority was not restoredwith all its former influence, it was admitted to exist, and to maintainits ascendency a little longer. 

It is true that his slow-minded sons, even while they submitted to theimpressions of the recent event, had glimmerings of terrible distrusts, as to the manner in which their elder brother had met with his death. There were faint and indistinct images in the minds of two or three ofthe oldest, which portrayed the father himself, as ready to imitate theexample of Abraham, without the justification of the sacred authoritywhich commanded the holy man to attempt the revolting office. But then, these images were so transient, and so much obscured in intellectualmists, as to leave no very strong impressions, and the tendency of thewhole transaction, as we have already said, was rather to strengthenthan to weaken the authority of Ishmael. 

In this disposition of mind, the party continued their route towardsthe place whence they had that morning issued on a search which had beencrowned with so melancholy a success. The long and fruitless march whichthey had made under the direction of Abiram, the discovery of the body, and its subsequent interment, had so far consumed the day, that by thetime their steps were retraced across the broad track of waste which laybetween the grave of Asa and the rock, the sun had fallen far below hismeridian altitude. The hill had gradually risen as they approached, likesome tower emerging from the bosom of the sea, and when within a mile, the minuter objects that crowned its height came dimly into view. 

"It will be a sad meeting for the girls!" said Ishmael, who, from timeto time, did not cease to utter something which he intended should beconsolatory to the bruised spirit of his partner. "Asa was much regardedby all the young; and seldom failed to bring in from his hunts somethingthat they loved. "

"He did, he did, " murmured Esther; "the boy was the pride of the family. My other children are as nothing to him!"

"Say not so, good woman, " returned the father, glancing his eye a littleproudly at the athletic train which followed, at no great distance, in the rear". Say not so, old Eester, for few fathers and mothers havegreater reason to be boastful than ourselves. "

"Thankful, thankful, " muttered the humbled woman; "ye mean thankful, Ishmael!"

"Then thankful let it be, if you like the word better, my goodgirl, --but what has become of Nelly and the young? The child hasforgotten the charge I gave her, and has not only suffered the childrento sleep, but, I warrant you, is dreaming of the fields of Tennesseeat this very moment. The mind of your niece is mainly fixed on thesettlements, I reckon. "

"Ay, she is not for us; I said it, and thought it, when I took her, because death had stripped her of all other friends. Death is a sadworker in the bosom of families, Ishmael! Asa had a kind feeling to thechild, and they might have come one day into our places, had things beenso ordered. "

"Nay, she is not gifted for a frontier wife, if this is the manner sheis to keep house while the husband is on the hunt. Abner, let off yourrifle, that they may know we ar' coming. I fear Nelly and the young ar'asleep. " The young man complied with an alacrity that manifested howgladly he would see the rounded, active figure of Ellen, enliveningthe ragged summit of the rock. But the report was succeeded by neithersignal nor answer of any sort. For a moment, the whole party stood insuspense, awaiting the result, and then a simultaneous impulse causedthe whole to let off their pieces at the same instant, producing anoise which might not fail to reach the ears of all within so short adistance. 

"Ah! there they come at last!" cried Abiram, who was usually amongthe first to seize on any circumstance which promised relief fromdisagreeable apprehensions. 

"It is a petticoat fluttering on the line, " said Esther; "I put it theremyself. "

"You ar' right; but now she comes; the jade has been taking her comfortin the tent!"

"It is not so, " said Ishmael, whose usually inflexible features werebeginning to manifest the uneasiness he felt. "It is the tent itselfblowing about loosely in the wind. They have loosened the bottom, likesilly children as they ar', and unless care is had, the whole will comedown!"

The words were scarcely uttered before a rushing blast of wind sweptby the spot where they stood, raising the dust in little eddies, in itsprogress; and then, as if guided by a master hand, it quitted theearth, and mounted to the precise spot on which all eyes were justthen riveted. The loosened linen felt its influence and tottered; butregained its poise, and, for a moment, it became tranquil. The cloud ofleaves next played in circling revolutions around the place, and thendescended with the velocity of a swooping hawk, and sailed away intothe prairie in long straight lines, like a flight of swallows restingon their expanded wings. They were followed for some distance by thesnow-white tent, which, however, soon fell behind the rock, leavingits highest peak as naked as when it lay in the entire solitude of thedesert. 

"The murderers have been here!" moaned Esther. "My babes! my babes!"

For a moment even Ishmael faltered before the weight of so unexpected ablow. But shaking himself, like an awakened lion, he sprang forward, and pushing aside the impediments of the barrier, as if they had beenfeathers, he rushed up the ascent with an impetuosity which proved howformidable a sluggish nature may become, when thoroughly aroused. 

CHAPTER XIV

 Whose party do the townsmen yet admit? --King John. 

In order to preserve an even pace between the incidents of the tale, itbecomes necessary to revert to such events as occurred during the wardof Ellen Wade. 

For the few first hours, the cares of the honest and warm-hearted girlwere confined to the simple offices of satisfying the often-repeateddemands which her younger associates made on her time and patience, under the pretences of hunger, thirst, and all the other ceaseless wantsof captious and inconsiderate childhood. She had seized a moment fromtheir importunities to steal into the tent, where she was administeringto the comforts of one far more deserving of her tenderness, when anoutcry among the children recalled her to the duties she had momentarilyforgotten. 

"See, Nelly, see!" exclaimed half a dozen eager voices; "yonder ar' men;and Phoebe says that they ar' Sioux-Indians!"

Ellen turned her eyes in the direction in which so many arms werealready extended, and, to her consternation, beheld several men, advancing manifestly and swiftly in a straight line towards the rock. She counted four, but was unable to make out any thing concerning theircharacters, except that they were not any of those who of right wereentitled to admission into the fortress. It was a fearful moment forEllen. Looking around, at the juvenile and frightened flock that pressedupon the skirts of her garments, she endeavoured to recall to herconfused faculties some one of the many tales of female heroism, withwhich the history of the western frontier abounded. In one, a stockadehad been successfully defended by a single man, supported by three orfour women, for days, against the assaults of a hundred enemies. Inanother, the women alone had been able to protect the children, andthe less valuable effects of their absent husbands; and a third was notwanting, in which a solitary female had destroyed her sleeping captorsand given liberty not only to herself, but to a brood of helpless young. This was the case most nearly assimilated to the situation in whichEllen now found herself; and, with flushing cheeks and kindling eyes, the girl began to consider, and to prepare her slender means of defence. 

She posted the larger girls at the little levers that were to cast therocks on the assailants, the smaller were to be used more for show thanany positive service they could perform, while, like any other leader, she reserved her own person, as a superintendent and encourager of thewhole. When these dispositions were made, she endeavoured to await theissue, with an air of composure, that she intended should inspire herassistants with the confidence necessary to ensure success. 

Although Ellen was vastly their superior in that spirit which emanatesfrom moral qualities, she was by no means the equal of the two eldestdaughters of Esther, in the important military property of insensibilityto danger. Reared in the hardihood of a migrating life, on the skirts ofsociety, where they had become familiarised to the sights and dangersof the wilderness, these girls promised fairly to become, at some futureday, no less distinguished than their mother for daring, and for thatsingular mixture of good and evil, which, in a wider sphere of action, would probably have enabled the wife of the squatter to enrol her nameamong the remarkable females of her time. Esther had already, on oneoccasion, made good the log tenement of Ishmael against an inroad ofsavages; and on another, she had been left for dead by her enemies, after a defence that, with a more civilised foe, would have entitled herto the honours of a liberal capitulation. These facts, and sundryothers of a similar nature, had often been recapitulated with suitableexultation in the presence of her daughters, and the bosoms of the youngAmazons were now strangely fluctuating between natural terror and theambitious wish to do something that might render them worthy of beingthe children of such a mother. It appeared that the opportunity fordistinction, of this wild character, was no longer to be denied them. 

The party of strangers was already within a hundred rods of the rock. Either consulting their usual wary method of advancing, or admonishedby the threatening attitudes of two figures, who had thrust forth thebarrels of as many old muskets from behind the stone entrenchment, thenew comers halted, under favour of an inequality in the ground, wherea growth of grass thicker than common offered the advantage ofconcealment. From this spot they reconnoitred the fortress for severalanxious, and to Ellen, interminable minutes. Then one advanced singly, and apparently more in the character of a herald than of an assailant. 

"Phoebe, do you fire, " and "no, Hetty, you, " were beginning to be heardbetween the half-frightened and yet eager daughters of the squatter, when Ellen probably saved the advancing stranger from some imminentalarm, if from no greater danger, by exclaiming--

"Lay down the muskets; it is Dr. Battius!"

Her subordinates so far complied, as to withdraw their hands from thelocks, though the threatening barrels still maintained the portentouslevels. The naturalist, who had advanced with sufficient deliberationto note the smallest hostile demonstration of the garrison, now raiseda white handkerchief on the end of his fusee, and came within speakingdistance of the fortress. Then, assuming what he intended should be animposing and dignified semblance of authority, he blustered forth, in avoice that might have been heard at a much greater distance--

"What, ho! I summon ye all, in the name of the Confederacy of the UnitedSovereign States of North America, to submit yourselves to the laws. "

"Doctor or no Doctor; he is an enemy, Nelly; hear him! hear him! hetalks of the law. "

"Stop! stay till I hear his answer!" said the nearly breathless Ellen, pushing aside the dangerous weapons which were again pointed in thedirection of the shrinking person of the herald. 

"I admonish and forewarn ye all, " continued the startled Doctor, "that Iam a peaceful citizen of the before named Confederacy, or to speak withgreater accuracy, Union, a supporter of the Social Compact, and a loverof good order and amity;" then, perceiving that the danger was, atleast, temporarily removed, he once more raised his voice to the hostilepitch, --"I charge ye all, therefore, to submit to the laws. "

"I thought you were a friend, " Ellen replied; "and that you travelledwith my uncle, in virtue of an agreement--"

"It is void! I have been deceived in the very premises, and, I herebypronounce, a certain compactum, entered into and concluded betweenIshmael Bush, squatter, and Obed Battius, M. D. , to be incontinentlynull and of non-effect. Nay, children, to be null is merely a negativeproperty, and is fraught with no evil to your worthy parent; so layaside the fire-arms, and listen to the admonitions of reason. I declareit vicious--null--abrogated. As for thee, Nelly, my feelings towardsthee are not at all given to hostility; therefore listen to that whichI have to utter, nor turn away thine ears in the wantonness of security. Thou knowest the character of the man with whom thou dwellest, youngwoman, and thou also knowest the danger of being found in evil company. Abandon, then, the trifling advantages of thy situation, and yield therock peaceably to the will of those who accompany me--a legion, youngwoman--I do assure you an invincible and powerful legion! Render, therefore, the effects of this lawless and wicked squatter, --nay, children, such disregard of human life, is frightful in those whohave so recently received the gift, in their own persons! Point thosedangerous weapons aside, I entreat of you; more for your own sakes, thanfor mine. Hetty, hast thou forgotten who appeased thine anguish whenthy auricular nerves were tortured by the colds and damps of the nakedearth! and thou, Phoebe, ungrateful and forgetful Phoebe! but for thisvery arm, which you would prostrate with an endless paralysis, thyincisores would still be giving thee pain and sorrow! Lay, then, asidethy weapons, and hearken to the advice of one who has always beenthy friend. And now, young woman, " still keeping a jealous eye on themuskets which the girl had suffered to be diverted a little from theiraim, --"and now, young woman, for the last, and therefore the most solemnasking: I demand of thee the surrender of this rock, without delay orresistance, in the joint names of power, of justice, and of the--" lawhe would have added; but recollecting that this ominous word wouldagain provoke the hostility of the squatter's children, he succeeded inswallowing it in good season, and concluded with the less dangerous andmore convertible term of "reason. "

This extraordinary summons failed, however, of producing the desiredeffect. It proved utterly unintelligible to his younger listeners, with the exception of the few offensive terms, already sufficientlydistinguished, and though Ellen better comprehended the meaning of theherald, she appeared as little moved by his rhetoric as her companions. At those passages which he intended should be tender and affecting, the intelligent girl, though tortured by painful feelings, had evenmanifested a disposition to laugh, while to the threats she turned anutterly insensible ear. 

"I know not the meaning of all you wish to say, Dr. Battius, " shequietly replied, when he had ended; "but I am sure if it would teachme to betray my trust, it is what I ought not to hear. I caution you toattempt no violence, for let my wishes be what they may, you see I amsurrounded by a force that can easily put me down, and you know, orought to know, too well the temper of this family, to trifle in sucha matter with any of its members, let them be of what sex or age theymay. "

"I am not entirely ignorant of human character, " returned thenaturalist, prudently receding a little from the position, which he had, until now, stoutly maintained at the very base of the hill. "But herecomes one who may know its secret windings still better than I. "

"Ellen! Ellen Wade, " cried Paul Hover, who had advanced to his elbow, without betraying any of that sensitiveness which had so manifestlydiscomposed the Doctor; "I didn't expect to find an enemy in you!"

"Nor shall you, when you ask that, which I can grant without treachery. You know that my uncle has trusted his family to my care, and shall Iso far betray the trust as to let in his bitterest enemies to murder hischildren, perhaps, and to rob him of the little which the Indians haveleft?"

"Am I a murderer--is this old man--this officer of the States, " pointingto the trapper and his newly discovered friend, both of whom by thistime stood at his side, "is either of these likely to do the things youname?"

"What is it then you ask of me?" said Ellen, wringing her hands, inexcessive doubt. 

"The beast! nothing more nor less than the squatter's hidden, ravenous, dangerous beast!"

"Excellent young woman, " commenced the young stranger, who had solately joined himself to the party on the prairie--but his mouthwas immediately stopped by a significant sign from the trapper, whowhispered in his ear--

"Let the lad be our spokesman. Natur' will work in the bosom of thechild, and we shall gain our object, in good time. "

"The whole truth is out, Ellen, " Paul continued, "and we have linedthe squatter into his most secret misdoings. We have come to right thewronged and to free the imprisoned; now, if you are the girl of a trueheart, as I have always believed, so far from throwing straws in ourway, you will join in the general swarming, and leave old Ishmael andhis hive to the bees of his own breed. "

"I have sworn a solemn oath--"

"A compactum which is entered into through ignorance, or in duresse, isnull in the sight of all good moralists, " cried the Doctor. 

"Hush, hush, " again the trapper whispered; "leave it all to natur' andthe lad!"

"I have sworn in the sight and by the name of Him who is the founderand ruler of all that is good, whether it be in morals or in religion, "Ellen continued, "neither to reveal the contents of that tent, nor tohelp its prisoner to escape. We are both solemnly, terribly, sworn; ourlives perhaps have been the gift we received for the promises. It istrue you are masters of the secret, but not through any means of ours;nor do I know that I can justify myself, for even being neutral, whileyou attempt to invade the dwelling of my uncle in this hostile manner. "

"I can prove beyond the power of refutation, " the naturalist eagerlyexclaimed, "by Paley, Berkeley, ay, even by the immortal Binkerschoek, that a compactum, concluded while one of the parties, be it a state orbe it an individual, is in durance--"

"You will ruffle the temper of the child, with your abusive language, "said the cautious trapper, "while the lad, if left to human feelings, will bring her down to the meekness of a fawn. Ah! you are like myself, little knowing in the natur' of hidden kindnesses!"

"Is this the only vow you have taken, Ellen?" Paul continued in a tonewhich, for the gay, light-hearted bee-hunter, sounded dolorous andreproachful. "Have you sworn only to this? are the words which thesquatter says, to be as honey in your mouth, and all other promises likeso much useless comb?"

The paleness, which had taken possession of the usually cheerfulcountenance of Ellen, was hid in a bright glow, that was plainly visibleeven at the distance at which she stood. She hesitated a moment, asif struggling to repress something very like resentment, before sheanswered with all her native spirit--

"I know not what right any one has to question me about oaths andpromises, which can only concern her who has made them, if, indeed, any of the sort you mention have ever been made at all. I shall holdno further discourse with one who thinks so much of himself, and takesadvice merely of his own feelings. "

"Now, old trapper, do you hear that!" said the unsophisticatedbee-hunter, turning abruptly to his aged friend. "The meanest insectthat skims the heavens, when it has got its load, flies straight andhonestly to its nest or hive, according to its kind; but the ways of awoman's mind are as knotty as a gnarled oak, and more crooked than thewindings of the Mississippi!"

"Nay, nay, child, " said the trapper, good-naturedly interfering inbehalf of the offending Paul, "you are to consider that youth is hasty, and not overgiven to thought. But then a promise is a promise, andnot to be thrown aside and forgotten, like the hoofs and horns of abuffaloe. "

"I thank you for reminding me of my oath, " said the still resentfulEllen, biting her pretty nether lip with vexation; "I might else haveproved forgetful!"

"Ah! female natur' is awakened in her, " said the old man, shaking hishead in a manner to show how much he was disappointed in the result;"but it manifests itself against the true spirit!"

"Ellen!" cried the young stranger, who until now had been an attentivelistener to the parley, "since Ellen is the name by which you areknown--"

"They often add to it another. I am sometimes called by the name of myfather. "

"Call her Nelly Wade at once, " muttered Paul; "it is her rightful name, and I care not if she keeps it for ever!"

"Wade, I should have added, " continued the youth. "You will acknowledgethat, though bound by no oath myself, I at least have known how torespect those of others. You are a witness yourself that I have forborneto utter a single call, while I am certain it could reach those earsit would gladden so much. Permit me then to ascend the rock, singly;I promise a perfect indemnity to your kinsman, against any injury hiseffects may sustain. "

Ellen seemed to hesitate, but catching a glimpse of Paul, who stoodleaning proudly on his rifle, whistling, with an appearance of theutmost indifference, the air of a boating song, she recovered herrecollection in time to answer, --

"I have been left the captain of the rock, while my uncle and his sonshunt, and captain will I remain till he returns to receive back thecharge. "

"This is wasting moments that will not soon return, and neglectingan opportunity that may never occur again, " the young soldier gravelyremarked. "The sun is beginning to fall already, and many minutes cannotelapse before the squatter and his savage brood will be returning totheir huts. "

Doctor Battius cast a glance behind him, and took up the discourse, bysaying--

"Perfection is always found in maturity, whether it be in the animalor in the intellectual world. Reflection is the mother of wisdom, andwisdom the parent of success. I propose that we retire to a discreetdistance from this impregnable position, and there hold a convocation, or council, to deliberate on what manner we may sit down regularlybefore the place; or, perhaps, by postponing the siege to anotherseason, gain the aid of auxiliaries from the inhabited countries, andthus secure the dignity of the laws from any danger of a repulse. "

"A storm would be better, " the soldier smilingly answered, measuring theheight and scanning all its difficulties with a deliberate eye; "'twouldbe but a broken arm or a bruised head at the worst. "

"Then have at it!" shouted the impetuous bee-hunter, making a springthat at once put him out of danger from shot, by carrying him beneaththe projecting ledge on which the garrison was posted; "now do yourworst, young devils of a wicked breed; you have but a moment to workyour mischief!"

"Paul! rash Paul!" shrieked Ellen; "another step and the rocks willcrush you! they hang by but a thread, and these girls are ready andwilling to let them fall!"

"Then drive the accursed swarm from the hive; for scale the rock I will, though I find it covered with hornets. "

"Let her if she dare!" tauntingly cried the eldest of the girls, brandishing a musket with a mien and resolution that would have donecredit to her Amazonian dam. "I know you, Nelly Wade; you are with thelawyers in your heart, and if you come a foot nigher, you shall havefrontier punishment. Put in another pry, girls; in with it! I shouldlike to see the man, of them all, that dare come up into the camp ofIshmael Bush, without asking leave of his children!"

"Stir not, Paul; for your life keep beneath the rock!"

Ellen was interrupted by the same bright vision, which on the precedingday had stayed another scarcely less portentous tumult, by exhibitingitself on the same giddy height, where it was now seen. 

"In the name of Him, who commandeth all, I implore you to pause--bothyou, who so madly incur the risk, and you, who so rashly offer to takethat which you never can return!" said a voice, in a slightly foreignaccent, that instantly drew all eyes upward. 

"Inez!" cried the officer, "do I again see you! mine shall you nowbe, though a million devils were posted on this rock. Push up, bravewoodsman, and give room for another!"

The sudden appearance of the figure from the tent had created amomentary stupor among the defendants of the rock, which might, withsuitable forbearance, have been happily improved; but startled by thevoice of Middleton, the surprised Phoebe discharged her musket at thefemale, scarcely knowing whether she aimed at the life of a mortal orat some being which belonged to another world. Ellen uttered a cry ofhorror, and then sprang after her alarmed or wounded friend, she knewnot which, into the tent. 

During this moment of dangerous by-play, the sounds of a serious attackwere very distinctly audible beneath. Paul had profited by the commotionover his head to change his place so far, as to make room for Middleton. The latter was followed by the naturalist, who, in a state of mentalaberration, produced by the report of the musket, had instinctivelyrushed towards the rocks for cover. The trapper remained where he waslast seen, an unmoved but close observer of the several proceedings. Though averse to enter into actual hostilities, the old man was, however, far from being useless. Favoured by his position, he wasenabled to apprise his friends of the movements of those who plottedtheir destruction above, and to advise and control their advanceaccordingly. 

In the mean time, the children of Esther were true to the spirit theyhad inherited from their redoubtable mother. The instant they foundthemselves delivered from the presence of Ellen and her unknowncompanion, they bestowed an undivided attention on their more masculineand certainly more dangerous assailants, who by this time had made acomplete lodgment among the crags of the citadel. The repeated summonsto surrender, which Paul uttered in a voice that he intended shouldstrike terror in their young bosoms, were as little heeded as were thecalls of the trapper to abandon a resistance, which might prove fatal tosome among them, without offering the smallest probability of eventualsuccess. Encouraging each other to persevere, they poised the fragmentsof rocks, prepared the lighter missiles for immediate service, andthrust forward the barrels of the muskets with a business-like air, anda coolness, that would have done credit to men practised in warfare. 

"Keep under the ledge, " said the trapper, pointing out to Paul themanner in which he should proceed; "keep in your foot more, lad--ah! yousee the warning was not amiss! had the stone struck it, the bees wouldhave had the prairies to themselves. Now, namesake of my friend; Uncas, in name and spirit! now, if you have the activity of Le Cerf Agile, youmay make a far leap to the right, and gain twenty feet, without danger. Beware the bush--beware the bush! 'twill prove a treacherous hold! Ah!he has done it; safely and bravely has he done it! Your turn comes next, friend; that follows the fruits of natur'. Push you to the left, anddivide the attention of the children. Nay, girls, fire, --my old earsare used to the whistling of lead; and little reason have I to prove adoe-heart, with fourscore years on my back. " He shook his head witha melancholy smile, but without flinching in a muscle, as the bullet, which the exasperated Hetty fired, passed innocently at no greatdistance from the spot where he stood. "It is safer keeping in yourtrack than dodging when a weak finger pulls the trigger, " he continued"but it is a solemn sight to witness how much human natur' is inclinedto evil, in one so young! Well done, my man of beasts and plants!Another such leap, and you may laugh at all the squatter's bars andwalls. The Doctor has got his temper up! I see it in his eye, andsomething good will come of him! Keep closer, man--keep closer. "

The trapper, though he was not deceived as to the state of Dr. Battius'mind, was, however, greatly in error as to the exciting cause. Whileimitating the movements of his companions, and toiling his way upwardwith the utmost caution, and not without great inward tribulation, theeye of the naturalist had caught a glimpse of an unknown plant, a fewyards above his head, and in a situation more than commonly exposed tothe missiles which the girls were unceasingly hurling in the directionof the assailants. Forgetting, in an instant, every thing but the gloryof being the first to give this jewel to the catalogues of science, hesprang upward at the prize with the avidity with which the sparrow dartsupon the butterfly. The rocks, which instantly came thundering down, announced that he was seen; and for a moment, while his form wasconcealed in the cloud of dust and fragments which followed the furiousdescent, the trapper gave him up for lost; but the next instant he wasseen safely seated in a cavity formed by some of the projecting stoneswhich had yielded to the shock, holding triumphantly in his hand thecaptured stem, which he was already devouring with delighted, andcertainly not unskilful, eyes. Paul profited by the opportunity. Turninghis course, with the quickness of thought, he sprang to the post whichObed thus securely occupied, and unceremoniously making a footstoolof his shoulder, as the latter stooped over his treasure, he boundedthrough the breach left by the fallen rock, and gained the level. Hewas followed by Middleton, who joined him in seizing and disarming thegirls. In this manner a bloodless and complete victory was obtainedover that citadel which Ishmael had vainly flattered himself might proveimpregnable. 

CHAPTER XV

 So smile the heavens upon this holy act, That after-hours with sorrow chide us not! --Shakspeare. 

It is proper that the course of the narrative should be stayed, whilewe revert to those causes, which have brought in their train ofconsequences, the singular contest just related. The interruption mustnecessarily be as brief as we hope it may prove satisfactory to thatclass of readers, who require that no gap should be left by those whoassume the office of historians, for their own fertile imaginations tofill. 

Among the troops sent by the government of the United States, to takepossession of its newly acquired territory in the west, was a detachmentled by a young soldier who has become so busy an actor in the scenes ofour legend. The mild and indolent descendants of the ancient colonistsreceived their new compatriots without distrust, well knowing thatthe transfer raised them from the condition of subjects, to the moreenviable distinction of citizens in a government of laws. The new rulersexercised their functions with discretion, and wielded their delegatedauthority without offence. In such a novel intermixture, however, ofmen born and nurtured in freedom, and the compliant minions of absolutepower, the catholic and the protestant, the active and the indolent, some little time was necessary to blend the discrepant elements ofsociety. In attaining so desirable an end, woman was made to perform heraccustomed and grateful office. The barriers of prejudice and religionwere broken through by the irresistible power of the master-passion, and family unions, ere long, began to cement the political tie which hadmade a forced conjunction, between people so opposite in their habits, their educations, and their opinions. 

Middleton was among the first, of the new possessors of the soil, whobecame captive to the charms of a Louisianian lady. In the immediatevicinity of the post he had been directed to occupy, dwelt the chiefof one of those ancient colonial families, which had been content toslumber for ages amid the ease, indolence, and wealth of the Spanishprovinces. He was an officer of the crown, and had been induced toremove from the Floridas, among the French of the adjoining province, bya rich succession of which he had become the inheritor. The name ofDon Augustin de Certavallos was scarcely known beyond the limits ofthe little town in which he resided, though he found a secret pleasurehimself in pointing it out, in large scrolls of musty documents, to anonly child, as enrolled among the former heroes and grandees of Old andof New Spain. This fact, so important to himself and of so littlemoment to any body else, was the principal reason, that while his morevivacious Gallic neighbours were not slow to open a frank communionwith their visiters, he chose to keep aloof, seemingly content with thesociety of his daughter, who was a girl just emerging from the conditionof childhood into that of a woman. 

The curiosity of the youthful Inez, however, was not so inactive. Shehad not heard the martial music of the garrison, melting on the eveningair, nor seen the strange banner, which fluttered over the heights thatrose at no great distance from her father's extensive grounds, withoutexperiencing some of those secret impulses which are thought todistinguish the sex. Natural timidity, and that retiring and perhapspeculiar lassitude, which forms the very groundwork of femalefascination, in the tropical provinces of Spain, held her in theirseemingly indissoluble bonds; and it is more than probable, that had notan accident occurred, in which Middleton was of some personal serviceto her father, so long a time would have elapsed before they met, thatanother direction might have been given to the wishes of one, who wasjust of an age to be alive to all the power of youth and beauty. 

Providence--or if that imposing word is too just to be classical, fate--had otherwise decreed. The haughty and reserved Don Augustin wasby far too observant of the forms of that station, on which he so muchvalued himself, to forget the duties of a gentleman. Gratitude, for thekindness of Middleton, induced him to open his doors to the officers ofthe garrison, and to admit of a guarded but polite intercourse. Reservegradually gave way before the propriety and candour of their spiritedyoung leader, and it was not long ere the affluent planter rejoicedas much as his daughter, whenever the well known signal, at the gate, announced one of these agreeable visits from the commander of the post. 

It is unnecessary to dwell on the impression which the charms of Inezproduced on the soldier, or to delay the tale in order to write awire-drawn account of the progressive influence that elegance ofdeportment, manly beauty, and undivided assiduity and intelligence werelikely to produce on the sensitive mind of a romantic, warm-hearted, andsecluded girl of sixteen. It is sufficient for our purpose to say thatthey loved, that the youth was not backward to declare his feelings, that he prevailed with some facility over the scruples of the maiden, and with no little difficulty over the objections of her father, and that before the province of Louisiana had been six months in thepossession of the States, the officer of the latter was the affiancedhusband of the richest heiress on the banks of the Mississippi. 

Although we have presumed the reader to be acquainted with the manner inwhich such results are commonly attained, it is not to be supposed thatthe triumph of Middleton, either over the prejudices of the father orover those of the daughter, was achieved without difficulty. Religionformed a stubborn and nearly irremovable obstacle with both. The devotedman patiently submitted to a formidable essay, father Ignatius wasdeputed to make in order to convert him to the true faith. The efforton the part of the worthy priest was systematic, vigorous, and longsustained. A dozen times (it was at those moments when glimpses of thelight, sylphlike form of Inez flitted like some fairy being past thescene of their conferences) the good father fancied he was on the eve ofa glorious triumph over infidelity; but all his hopes were frustratedby some unlooked-for opposition, on the part of the subject of his piouslabours. So long as the assault on his faith was distant and feeble, Middleton, who was no great proficient in polemics, submitted to itseffects with the patience and humility of a martyr; but the moment thegood father, who felt such concern in his future happiness, was temptedto improve his vantage ground by calling in the aid of some of thepeculiar subtilties of his own creed, the young man was too good asoldier not to make head against the hot attack. He came to the contest, it is true, with no weapons more formidable than common sense, and somelittle knowledge of the habits of his country as contrasted with thatof his adversary; but with these homebred implements he never failedto repulse the father with something of the power with which a nervouscudgel player would deal with a skilful master of the rapier, setting atnought his passados by the direct and unanswerable arguments of a brokenhead and a shivered weapon. 

Before the controversy was terminated, an inroad of Protestants had cometo aid the soldier. The reckless freedom of such among them, as thoughtonly of this life, and the consistent and tempered piety of others, caused the honest priest to look about him in concern. The influence ofexample on one hand, and the contamination of too free an intercourse onthe other, began to manifest themselves, even in that portion of his ownflock, which he had supposed to be too thoroughly folded in spiritualgovernment ever to stray. It was time to turn his thoughts from theoffensive, and to prepare his followers to resist the lawless delugeof opinion, which threatened to break down the barriers of their faith. Like a wise commander, who finds he has occupied too much ground for theamount of his force, he began to curtail his outworks. The relics wereconcealed from profane eyes; his people were admonished not to speak ofmiracles before a race that not only denied their existence, but whohad even the desperate hardihood to challenge their proofs; and eventhe Bible itself was prohibited, with terrible denunciations, for thetriumphant reason that it was liable to be misinterpreted. 

In the mean time, it became necessary to report to Don Augustin, the effects his arguments and prayers had produced on the hereticaldisposition of the young soldier. No man is prone to confess hisweakness, at the very moment when circumstances demand the utmostefforts of his strength. By a species of pious fraud, for which no doubtthe worthy priest found his absolution in the purity of his motives, hedeclared that, while no positive change was actually wrought in themind of Middleton, there was every reason to hope the entering wedge ofargument had been driven to its head, and that in consequence an openingwas left, through which, it might rationally be hoped, the blessed seedsof a religious fructification would find their way, especially if thesubject was left uninterruptedly to enjoy the advantage of catholiccommunion. 

Don Augustin himself was now seized with the desire of proselyting. Eventhe soft and amiable Inez thought it would be a glorious consummationof her wishes, to be a humble instrument of bringing her lover intothe bosom of the true church. The offers of Middleton were promptlyaccepted, and, while the father looked forward impatiently to the dayassigned for the nuptials, as to the pledge of his own success, thedaughter thought of it with feelings in which the holy emotions ofher faith were blended with the softer sensations of her years andsituation. 

The sun rose, the morning of her nuptials, on a day so bright andcloudless, that Inez hailed it as a harbinger of future happiness. Father Ignatius performed the offices of the church, in a little chapelattached to the estate of Don Augustin; and long ere the sun had begunto fall, Middleton pressed the blushing and timid young Creole to hisbosom, his acknowledged and unalienable wife. It had pleased the partiesto pass the day of the wedding in retirement, dedicating it solelyto the best and purest affections, aloof from the noisy and heartlessrejoicings of a compelled festivity. 

Middleton was returning through the grounds of Don Augustin, from avisit of duty to his encampment, at that hour in which the light ofthe sun begins to melt into the shadows of evening, when a glimpse ofa robe, similar to that in which Inez had accompanied him to the altar, caught his eye through the foliage of a retired arbour. He approachedthe spot, with a delicacy that was rather increased than diminished bythe claim she had perhaps given him to intrude on her private moments;but the sounds of her soft voice, which was offering up prayers, in which he heard himself named by the dearest of all appellations, overcame his scruples, and induced him to take a position where he mightlisten without the fear of detection. It was certainly grateful to thefeelings of a husband to be able in this manner to lay bare the spotlesssoul of his wife, and to find that his own image lay enshrined amid itspurest and holiest aspirations. His self-esteem was too much flatterednot to induce him to overlook the immediate object of the petitioner. While she prayed that she might become the humble instrument of bringinghim into the flock of the faithful, she petitioned for forgiveness, onher own behalf, if presumption or indifference to the counsel of thechurch had caused her to set too high a value on her influence, and ledher into the dangerous error of hazarding her own soul by espousing aheretic. There was so much of fervent piety, mingled with so strong aburst of natural feeling, so much of the woman blended with the angel, in her prayers, that Middleton could have forgiven her, had she termedhim a Pagan, for the sweetness and interest with which she petitioned inhis favour. 

The young man waited until his bride arose from her knees, and then hejoined her, as if entirely ignorant of what had occurred. 

"It is getting late, my Inez, " he said, "and Don Augustin would be aptto reproach you with inattention to your health, in being abroad at suchan hour. What then am I to do, who am charged with all his authority, and twice his love?"

"Be like him in every thing, " she answered, looking up in his face, withtears in her eyes, and speaking with emphasis; "in every thing. Imitatemy father, Middleton, and I can ask no more of you. "

"Nor for me, Inez? I doubt not that I should be all you can wish, wereI to become as good as the worthy and respectable Don Augustin. But youare to make some allowances for the infirmities and habits of a soldier. Now let us go and join this excellent father. "

"Not yet, " said his bride, gently extricating herself from the arm, thathe had thrown around her slight form, while he urged her from the place. "I have still another duty to perform, before I can submit so implicitlyto your orders, soldier though you are. I promised the worthy Inesella, my faithful nurse, she who, as you heard, has so long been a mother tome, Middleton--I promised her a visit at this hour. It is the last, as she thinks, that she can receive from her own child, and I cannotdisappoint her. Go you then to Don Augustin; in one short hour I willrejoin you. "

"Remember it is but an hour!"

"One hour, " repeated Inez, as she kissed her hand to him; and thenblushing, ashamed at her own boldness, she darted from the arbour, andwas seen for an instant gliding towards the cottage of her nurse, inwhich, at the next moment, she disappeared. 

Middleton returned slowly and thoughtfully to the house, often bendinghis eyes in the direction in which he had last seen his wife, as if hewould fain trace her lovely form, in the gloom of the evening, stillfloating through the vacant space. Don Augustin received him withwarmth, and for many minutes his mind was amused by relating to his newkinsman plans for the future. The exclusive old Spaniard listened tohis glowing but true account of the prosperity and happiness of thoseStates, of which he had been an ignorant neighbour half his life, partlyin wonder, and partly with that sort of incredulity with which oneattends to what he fancies are the exaggerated descriptions of a toopartial friendship. 

In this manner the hour for which Inez had conditioned passed away, muchsooner than her husband could have thought possible, in her absence. Atlength his looks began to wander to the clock, and then the minutes werecounted, as one rolled by after another and Inez did not appear. Thehand had already made half of another circuit, around the face of thedial, when Middleton arose and announced his determination to go andoffer himself, as an escort to the absentee. He found the night dark, and the heavens charged with threatening vapour, which in that climatewas the infallible forerunner of a gust. Stimulated no less by theunpropitious aspect of the skies, than by his secret uneasiness, hequickened his pace, making long and rapid strides in the directionof the cottage of Inesella. Twenty times he stopped, fancying that hecaught glimpses of the fairy form of Inez, tripping across the grounds, on her return to the mansion-house, and as often he was obliged toresume his course, in disappointment. He reached the gate of thecottage, knocked, opened the door, entered, and even stood in thepresence of the aged nurse, without meeting the person of her he sought. She had already left the place, on her return to her father's house!Believing that he must have passed her in the darkness, Middletonretraced his steps to meet with another disappointment. Inez hadnot been seen. Without communicating his intention to any one, thebridegroom proceeded with a palpitating heart to the little sequesteredarbour, where he had overheard his bride offering up those petitions forhis happiness and conversion. Here, too, he was disappointed; and thenall was afloat, in the painful incertitude of doubt and conjecture. 

For many hours, a secret distrust of the motives of his wife causedMiddleton to proceed in the search with delicacy and caution. But as daydawned, without restoring her to the arms of her father or her husband, reserve was thrown aside, and her unaccountable absence was loudlyproclaimed. The enquiries after the lost Inez were now direct and open;but they proved equally fruitless. No one had seen her, or heard of her, from the moment that she left the cottage of her nurse. 

Day succeeded day, and still no tidings rewarded the search that wasimmediately instituted, until she was finally given over, by most of herrelations and friends, as irretrievably lost. 

An event of so extraordinary a character was not likely to be soonforgotten. It excited speculation, gave rise to an infinity of rumours, and not a few inventions. The prevalent opinion, among such of thoseemigrants who were over-running the country, as had time, in themultitude of their employments, to think of any foreign concerns, wasthe simple and direct conclusion that the absent bride was no more norless than a felo de se. Father Ignatius had many doubts, and much secretcompunction of conscience; but, like a wise chief, he endeavoured toturn the sad event to some account, in the impending warfare of faith. Changing his battery, he whispered in the ears of a few of his oldestparishioners, that he had been deceived in the state of Middleton'smind, which he was now compelled to believe was completely stranded onthe quicksands of heresy. He began to show his relics again, and waseven heard to allude once more to the delicate and nearly forgottensubject of modern miracles. In consequence of these demonstrations, on the part of the venerable priest, it came to be whispered among thefaithful, and finally it was adopted, as part of the parish creed, thatInez had been translated to heaven. 

Don Augustin had all the feelings of a father, but they were smotheredin the lassitude of a Creole. Like his spiritual governor, he began tothink that they had been wrong in consigning one so pure, so young, solovely, and above all so pious, to the arms of a heretic: and he wasfain to believe that the calamity, which had befallen his age, was ajudgment on his presumption and want of adherence to established forms. It is true that, as the whispers of the congregation came to his ears, he found present consolation in their belief; but then nature was toopowerful, and had too strong a hold of the old man's heart, not to giverise to the rebellious thought, that the succession of his daughter tothe heavenly inheritance was a little premature. 

But Middleton, the lover, the husband, the bridegroom--Middleton wasnearly crushed by the weight of the unexpected and terrible blow. Educated himself under the dominion of a simple and rational faith, inwhich nothing is attempted to be concealed from the believers, he couldhave no other apprehensions for the fate of Inez than such as grew outof his knowledge of the superstitious opinions she entertained of hisown church. It is needless to dwell on the mental tortures that heendured, or all the various surmises, hopes, and disappointments, thathe was fated to experience in the first few weeks of his misery. Ajealous distrust of the motives of Inez, and a secret, lingering, hopethat he should yet find her, had tempered his enquiries, without howevercausing him to abandon them entirely. But time was beginning to deprivehim, even of the mortifying reflection that he was intentionally, thoughperhaps temporarily, deserted, and he was gradually yielding to themore painful conviction that she was dead, when his hopes were suddenlyrevived, in a new and singular manner. 

The young commander was slowly and sorrowfully returning from an eveningparade of his troops, to his own quarters, which stood at some littledistance from the place of the encampment, and on the same high bluffof land, when his vacant eyes fell on the figure of a man, who bythe regulations of the place, was not entitled to be there, at thatforbidden hour. The stranger was meanly dressed, with every appearanceabout his person and countenance, of squalid poverty and of the mostdissolute habits. Sorrow had softened the military pride of Middleton, and, as he passed the crouching form of the intruder, he said, in tonesof great mildness, or rather of kindness--

"You will be given a night in the guard-house, friend, should the patrolfind you here;--there is a dollar, --go, and get a better place to sleepin, and something to eat!"

"I swallow all my food, captain, without chewing, " returned thevagabond, with the low exultation of an accomplished villain, as heeagerly seized the silver. "Make this Mexican twenty, and I will sellyou a secret. "

"Go, go, " said the other with a little of a soldier's severity, returning to his manner. "Go, before I order the guard to seize you. "

"Well, go I will;--but if I do go, captain, I shall take my knowledgewith me; and then you may live a widower bewitched till the tattoo oflife is beat off. "

"What mean you, fellow?" exclaimed Middleton, turning quickly towardsthe wretch, who was already dragging his diseased limbs from the place. 

"I mean to have the value of this dollar in Spanish brandy, and thencome back and sell you my secret for enough to buy a barrel. "

"If you have any thing to say, speak now, " continued Middleton, restraining with difficulty the impatience that urged him to betray hisfeelings. 

"I am a-dry, and I can never talk with elegance when my throat is husky, captain. How much will you give to know what I can tell you; let it besomething handsome; such as one gentleman can offer to another. "

"I believe it would be better justice to order the drummer to pay you avisit, fellow. To what does your boasted secret relate?"

"Matrimony; a wife and no wife; a pretty face and a rich bride: do Ispeak plain, now, captain?"

"If you know any thing relating to my wife, say it at once; you need notfear for your reward. "

"Ay, captain, I have drove many a bargain in my time, and sometimes Ihave been paid in money, and sometimes I have been paid in promises; nowthe last are what I call pinching food. "

"Name your price. "

"Twenty--no, damn it, it's worth thirty dollars, if it's worth a cent!"

"Here, then, is your money: but remember, if you tell me nothing worthknowing, I have a force that can easily deprive you of it again, andpunish your insolence in the bargain. "

The fellow examined the bank-bills he received, with a jealous eye, andthen pocketed them, apparently well satisfied of their being genuine. 

"I like a northern note, " he said very coolly; "they have a characterto lose like myself. No fear of me, captain; I am a man of honour, andI shall not tell you a word more, nor a word less than I know of my ownknowledge to be true. "

"Proceed then without further delay, or I may repent, and order you tobe deprived of all your gains; the silver as well as the notes. "

"Honour, if you die for it!" returned the miscreant, holding up a handin affected horror at so treacherous a threat. "Well, captain, you mustknow that gentlemen don't all live by the same calling; some keep whatthey've got, and some get what they can. "

"You have been a thief. "

"I scorn the word. I have been a humanity hunter. Do you know whatthat means? Ay, it has many interpretations. Some people think thewoolly-heads are miserable, working on hot plantations under a broilingsun--and all such sorts of inconveniences. Well, captain, I have been, in my time, a man who has been willing to give them the pleasures ofvariety, at least, by changing the scene for them. You understand me?"

"You are, in plain language, a kidnapper. "

"Have been, my worthy captain--have been; but just now a little reduced, like a merchant who leaves off selling tobacco by the hogshead, to dealin it by the yard. I have been a soldier, too, in my day. What is saidto be the great secret of our trade, can you tell me that?"

"I know not, " said Middleton, beginning to tire of the fellow'strifling: "courage?"

"No, legs--legs to fight with, and legs to run away with--and thereinyou see my two callings agreed. My legs are none of the best just now, and without legs a kidnapper would carry on a losing trade; but thenthere are men enough left, better provided than I am. "

"Stolen!" groaned the horror-struck husband. 

"On her travels, as sure as you are standing still!"

"Villain, what reason have you for believing a thing so shocking?"

"Hands off--hands off--do you think my tongue can do its work thebetter, for a little squeezing of the throat! Have patience, and youshall know it all; but if you treat me so ungenteelly again, I shall beobliged to call in the assistance of the lawyers. "

"Say on; but if you utter a single word more or less than the truth, expect instant vengeance!"

"Are you fool enough to believe what such a scoundrel as I am tellsyou, captain, unless it has probability to back it? I know you are not:therefore I will give my facts and my opinions, and then leave you tochew on them, while I go and drink of your generosity. I know a man whois called Abiram White. --I believe the knave took that name to show hisenmity to the race of blacks! But this gentleman is now, and has beenfor years, to my certain knowledge, a regular translator of the humanbody from one State to another. I have dealt with him in my time, and acheating dog he is! No more honour in him than meat in my stomach. I sawhim here in this very town, the day of your wedding. He was in companywith his wife's brother, and pretended to be a settler on the hunt fornew land. A noble set they were, to carry on business--seven sons, eachof them as tall as your sergeant with his cap on. Well, the moment Iheard that your wife was lost, I saw at once that Abiram had laid hishands on her. "

"Do you know this--can this be true? What reason have you to fancy athing so wild?"

"Reason enough; I know Abiram White. Now, will you add a trifle just tokeep my throat from parching?"

"Go, go; you are stupified with drink already, miserable man, and knownot what you say. Go; go, and beware the drummer. "

"Experience is a good guide"--the fellow called after the retiringMiddleton; and then turning with a chuckling laugh, like one wellsatisfied with himself, he made the best of his way towards the shop ofthe suttler. 

A hundred times in the course of that night did Middleton fancy that thecommunication of the miscreant was entitled to some attention, andas often did he reject the idea as too wild and visionary for anotherthought. He was awakened early on the following morning, after passing arestless and nearly sleepless night, by his orderly, who came to reportthat a man was found dead on the parade, at no great distance from hisquarters. Throwing on his clothes he proceeded to the spot, and beheldthe individual, with whom he had held the preceding conference, in theprecise situation in which he had first been found. 

The miserable wretch had fallen a victim to his intemperance. Thisrevolting fact was sufficiently proclaimed by his obtruding eye-balls, his bloated countenance, and the nearly insufferable odours thatwere even then exhaling from his carcass. Disgusted with the odiousspectacle, the youth was turning from the sight, after ordering thecorpse to be removed, when the position of one of the dead man's handsstruck him. On examination, he found the fore-finger extended, as if inthe act of writing in the sand, with the following incomplete sentence, nearly illegible, but yet in a state to be deciphered: "Captain, it istrue, as I am a gentle--" He had either died, or fallen into a sleep, the forerunner of his death, before the latter word was finished. 

Concealing this fact from the others, Middleton repeated his orders anddeparted. The pertinacity of the deceased, and all the circumstancesunited, induced him to set on foot some secret enquiries. He found thata family answering the description which had been given him, had in factpassed the place the day of his nuptials. They were traced along themargin of the Mississippi, for some distance, until they took boat andascended the river to its confluence with the Missouri. Here they haddisappeared like hundreds of others, in pursuit of the hidden wealth ofthe interior. 

Furnished with these facts, Middleton detailed a small guard of his mosttrusty men, took leave of Don Augustin, without declaring his hopes orhis fears, and having arrived at the indicated point, he pushed into thewilderness in pursuit. It was not difficult to trace a train like thatof Ishmael, until he was well assured its object lay far beyond theusual limits of the settlements. This circumstance, in itself, quickenedhis suspicions, and gave additional force to his hopes of final success. 

After getting beyond the assistance of verbal directions, the anxioushusband had recourse to the usual signs of a trail, in order to followthe fugitives. This he also found a task of no difficulty, until hereached the hard and unyielding soil of the rolling prairies. Here, indeed, he was completely at fault. He found himself, at length, compelled to divide his followers, appointing a place of rendezvous at adistant day, and to endeavour to find the lost trail by multiplying, asmuch as possible, the number of his eyes. He had been alone a week, whenaccident brought him in contact with the trapper and the bee-hunter. Part of their interview has been related, and the reader can readilyimagine the explanations that succeeded the tale he recounted, and whichled, as has already been seen, to the recovery of his bride. 

CHAPTER XVI

 These likelihoods confirm her flight from hence, Therefore, I pray you, stay not to discourse, But mount you presently. --Shakspeare. 

An hour had slid by, in hasty and nearly incoherent questions andanswers, before Middleton, hanging over his recovered treasure with thatsort of jealous watchfulness with which a miser would regard his hoards, closed the disjointed narrative of his own proceedings by demanding--

"And you, my Inez; in what manner were you treated?"

"In every thing, but the great injustice they did in separating me soforcibly from my friends, as well perhaps as the circumstances of mycaptors would allow. I think the man, who is certainly the master here, is but a new beginner in wickedness. He quarrelled frightfully in mypresence, with the wretch who seized me, and then they made an impiousbargain, to which I was compelled to acquiesce, and to which they boundme as well as themselves by oaths. Ah! Middleton, I fear the hereticsare not so heedful of their vows as we who are nurtured in the bosom ofthe true church!"

"Believe it not; these villains are of no religion: did they forswearthemselves?"

"No, not perjured: but was it not awful to call upon the good God towitness so sinful a compact?"

"And so we think, Inez, as truly as the most virtuous cardinal of Rome. But how did they observe their oath, and what was its purport?"

"They conditioned to leave me unmolested, and free from their odiouspresence, provided I would give a pledge to make no effort to escape;and that I would not even show myself, until a time that my masters sawfit to name. "

"And that time?" demanded the impatient Middleton, who so well knew thereligious scruples of his wife--"that time?"

"It is already passed. I was sworn by my patron saint, and faithfullydid I keep the vow, until the man they call Ishmael forgot the terms byoffering violence. I then made my appearance on the rock, for the timetoo was passed; though I even think father Ignatius would have absolvedme from the vow, on account of the treachery of my keepers. "

"If he had not, " muttered the youth between his compressed teeth, "I would have absolved him for ever from his spiritual care of yourconscience!"

"You, Middleton!" returned his wife looking up into his flushed face, while a bright blush suffused her own sweet countenance; "you mayreceive my vows, but surely you can have no power to absolve me fromtheir observance!"

"No, no, no. Inez, you are right. I know but little of theseconscientious subtilties, and I am any thing but a priest: yet tell me, what has induced these monsters to play this desperate game--to triflethus with my happiness?"

"You know my ignorance of the world, and how ill I am qualified tofurnish reasons for the conduct of beings so different from any I haveever seen before. But does not love of money drive men to acts evenworse than this? I believe they thought that an aged and wealthy fathercould be tempted to pay them a rich ransom for his child; and, perhaps, "she added, stealing an enquiring glance through her tears, at theattentive Middleton, "they counted something on the fresh affections ofa bridegroom. "

"They might have extracted the blood from my heart, drop by drop!"

"Yes, " resumed his young and timid wife, instantly withdrawing thestolen look she had hazarded, and hurriedly pursuing the train of thediscourse, as if glad to make him forget the liberty she had just taken, "I have been told, there are men so base as to perjure themselves at thealtar, in order to command the gold of ignorant and confiding girls;and if love of money will lead to such baseness, we may surely expectit will hurry those, who devote themselves to gain, into acts of lesserfraud. "

"It must be so; and now, Inez, though I am here to guard you with mylife, and we are in possession of this rock, our difficulties, perhapsour dangers, are not ended. You will summon all your courage to meet thetrial and prove yourself a soldier's wife, my Inez?"

"I am ready to depart this instant. The letter you sent by thephysician, had prepared me to hope for the best, and I have every thingarranged for flight, at the shortest warning. "

"Let us then leave this place and join our friends. "

"Friends!" interrupted Inez, glancing her eyes around the little tentin quest of the form of Ellen. "I, too, have a friend who must not beforgotten, but who is pledged to pass the remainder of her life with us. She is gone!"

Middleton gently led her from the spot, as he smilingly answered--

"She may have had, like myself, her own private communications for somefavoured ear. "

The young man had not however done justice to the motives of Ellen Wade. The sensitive and intelligent girl had readily perceived how little herpresence was necessary in the interview that has just been related, and had retired with that intuitive delicacy of feeling which seemsto belong more properly to her sex. She was now to be seen seated on apoint of the rock, with her person so entirely enveloped in her dress asto conceal her features. Here she had remained for near an hour, noone approaching to address her, and as it appeared to her own quick andjealous eyes, totally unobserved. In the latter particular, however, even the vigilance of the quick-sighted Ellen was deceived. 

The first act of Paul Hover, on finding himself the master of Ishmael'scitadel, had been to sound the note of victory, after the quaint andludicrous manner that is so often practised among the borderers of theWest. Flapping his sides with his hands, as the conquering game-cock iswont to do with his wings, he raised a loud and laughable imitation ofthe exultation of this bird; a cry which might have proved a dangerouschallenge had any one of the athletic sons of the squatter been withinhearing. 

"This has been a regular knock-down and drag-out, " he cried, "and nobones broke! How now, old trapper, you have been one of your training, platoon, rank and file soldiers in your day, and have seen forts takenand batteries stormed before this--am I right?"

"Ay, ay, that have I, " answered the old man, who still maintained hispost at the foot of the rock, so little disturbed by what he had justwitnessed, as to return the grin of Paul, with a hearty indulgence inhis own silent and peculiar laughter; "you have gone through the exploitlike men!"

"Now tell me, is it not in rule, to call over the names of the living, and to bury the dead, after every bloody battle?"

"Some did and other some didn't. When Sir William push'd the German, Dieskau, thro' the defiles at the foot of the Hori--"

"Your Sir William was a drone to Sir Paul, and knew nothing ofregularity. So here begins the roll-call--by the by, old man, whatbetween bee-hunting and buffaloe humps, and certain other matters, I have been too busy to ask your name; for I intend to begin with myrear-guard, well knowing that my man in front is too busy to answer. "

"Lord, lad, I've been called in my time by as many names as there arepeople among whom I've dwelt. Now the Delawares nam'd me for my eyes, and I was called after the far-sighted hawk. Then, ag'in, the settlersin the Otsego hills christened me anew, from the fashion of my leggings;and various have been the names by which I have gone through life;but little will it matter when the time shall come, that all are to bemuster'd, face to face, by what titles a mortal has played his part!I humbly trust I shall be able to answer to any of mine, in a loud andmanly voice. "

Paul paid little or no attention to this reply, more than half of whichwas lost in the distance, but pursuing the humour of the moment, hecalled out in a stentorian voice to the naturalist to answer to hisname. Dr. Battius had not thought it necessary to push his successbeyond the comfortable niche, which accident had so opportunely formedfor his protection, and in which he now reposed from his labours, witha pleasing consciousness of security, added to great exultation at thepossession of the botanical treasure already mentioned. 

"Mount, mount, my worthy mole-catcher! come and behold the prospect ofskirting Ishmael; come and look nature boldly in the face, and not gosneaking any longer, among the prairie grass and mullein tops, like agobbler nibbling for grasshoppers. "

The mouth of the light-hearted and reckless bee-hunter was instantlyclosed, and he was rendered as mute, as he had just been boisterous andtalkative, by the appearance of Ellen Wade. When the melancholy maidentook her seat on the point of the rock as mentioned, Paul affected toemploy himself in conducting a close inspection of the household effectsof the squatter. He rummaged the drawers of Esther with no delicatehands, scattered the rustic finery of her girls on the ground, withoutthe least deference to its quality or elegance, and tossed her pots andkettles here and there, as though they had been vessels of wood insteadof iron. All this industry was, however, manifestly without an object. He reserved nothing for himself, not even appearing conscious of thenature of the articles which suffered by his familiarity. When he hadexamined the inside of every cabin, taken a fresh survey of the spotwhere he had confined the children, and where he had thoroughly securedthem with cords, and kicked one of the pails of the woman, like afoot-ball, fifty feet into the air, in sheer wantonness, he returned tothe edge of the rock, and thrusting both his hands through his wampumbelt, he began to whistle the "Kentucky Hunters" as diligently as if hehad been hired to supply his auditors with music by the hour. In thismanner passed the remainder of the time, until Middleton, as has beenrelated, led Inez forth from the tent, and gave a new direction tothe thoughts of the whole party. He summoned Paul from his flourish ofmusic, tore the Doctor from the study of his plant, and, as acknowledgedleader, gave the necessary orders for immediate departure. 

In the bustle and confusion that were likely to succeed such a mandate, there was little opportunity to indulge in complaints or reflections. As the adventurers had not come unprepared for victory, each individualemployed himself in such offices as were best adapted to his strengthand situation. The trapper had already made himself master of thepatient Asinus, who was quietly feeding at no great distance from therock, and he was now busy in fitting his back with the complicatedmachinery that Dr. Battius saw fit to term a saddle of his owninvention. The naturalist himself seized upon his portfolios, herbals, and collection of insects, which he quickly transferred from theencampment of the squatter, to certain pockets in the aforesaidingenious invention, and which the trapper as uniformly cast away themoment his back was turned. Paul showed his dexterity in removing suchlight articles as Inez and Ellen had prepared for their flight tothe foot of the citadel, while Middleton, after mingling threats andpromises, in order to induce the children to remain quietly in theirbondage, assisted the females to descend. As time began to press uponthem, and there was great danger of Ishmael's returning, these severalmovements were made with singular industry and despatch. 

The trapper bestowed such articles as he conceived were necessary to thecomfort of the weaker and more delicate members of the party, in thosepockets from which he had so unceremoniously expelled the treasures ofthe unconscious naturalist, and then gave way for Middleton to placeInez in one of those seats which he had prepared on the back of theanimal for her and her companion. 

"Go, child, " the old man said, motioning to Ellen to follow the exampleof the lady, and turning his head a little anxiously to examine thewaste behind him. "It cannot be long afore the owner of this place willbe coming to look after his household; and he is not a man to give uphis property, however obtained, without complaint!"

"It is true, " cried Middleton; "we have wasted moments that areprecious, and have the utmost need of industry. "

"Ay, ay, I thought it; and would have said it, captain; but I rememberedhow your grand'ther used to love to look upon the face of her he ledaway for a wife, in the days of his youth and his happiness. 'Tisnatur', 'tis natur', and 'tis wiser to give way a little before itsfeelings, than to try to stop a current that will have its course. "

Ellen advanced to the side of the beast, and seizing Inez by the hand, she said, with heartfelt warmth, after struggling to suppress an emotionthat nearly choked her--

"God bless you, sweet lady! I hope you will forget and forgive thewrongs you have received from my uncle--"

The humbled and sorrowful girl could say no more, her voice becomingentirely inaudible in an ungovernable burst of grief. 

"How is this?" cried Middleton; "did you not say, Inez, that thisexcellent young woman was to accompany us, and to live with us for theremainder of her life; or, at least, until she found some more agreeableresidence for herself?"

"I did; and I still hope it. She has always given me reason to believe, that after having shown so much commiseration and friendship in mymisery, she would not desert me, should happier times return. "

"I cannot--I ought not, " continued Ellen, getting the better of hermomentary weakness. "It has pleased God to cast my lot among thesepeople, and I ought not to quit them. It would be adding the appearanceof treachery to what will already seem bad enough, with one of hisopinions. He has been kind to me, an orphan, after his rough customs, and I cannot steal from him at such a moment. "

"She is just as much a relation of skirting Ishmael as I am a bishop!"said Paul, with a loud hem, as if his throat wanted clearing. "If theold fellow has done the honest thing by her, in giving her a morsel ofvenison now and then, or a spoon around his homminy dish, hasn't shepay'd him in teaching the young devils to read their Bible, or inhelping old Esther to put her finery in shape and fashion. Tell me thata drone has a sting, and I'll believe you as easily as I will that thisyoung woman is a debtor to any of the tribe of Bush!"

"It is but little matter who owes me, or where I am in debt. There arenone to care for a girl who is fatherless and motherless, and whosenearest kin are the offcasts of all honest people. No, no; go, lady, andHeaven for ever bless you! I am better here, in this desert, where thereare none to know my shame. "

"Now, old trapper, " retorted Paul, "this is what I call knowing whichway the wind blows! You ar' a man that has seen life, and you knowsomething of fashions; I put it to your judgment, plainly, isn't itin the nature of things for the hive to swarm when the young get theirgrowth, and if children will quit their parents, ought one who is of nokith or kin--"

"Hist!" interrupted the man he addressed, "Hector is discontented. Sayit out, plainly, pup; what is it dog--what is it?"

The venerable hound had risen, and was scenting the fresh breeze whichcontinued to sweep heavily over the prairie. At the words of his masterhe growled and contracted the muscles of his lips, as if half disposedto threaten with the remnants of his teeth. The younger dog, who wasresting after the chase of the morning, also made some signs thathis nose detected a taint in the air, and then the two resumed theirslumbers, as if they had done enough. 

The trapper seized the bridle of the ass, and cried, urging the beastonward--

"There is no time for words. The squatter and his brood are within amile or two of this blessed spot!"

Middleton lost all recollection of Ellen, in the danger which now soeminently beset his recovered bride; nor is it necessary to add, that Dr. Battius did not wait for a second admonition to commence hisretreat. 

Following the route indicated by the old man, they turned the rock ina body, and pursued their way as fast as possible across the prairie, under the favour of the cover it afforded. 

Paul Hover, however, remained in his tracks, sullenly leaning on hisrifle. Near a minute had elapsed before he was observed by Ellen, whohad buried her face in her hands, to conceal her fancied desolation fromherself. 

"Why do you not fly?" the weeping girl exclaimed, the instant sheperceived she was not alone. 

"I'm not used to it. "

"My uncle will soon be here! you have nothing to hope from his pity. "

"Nor from that of his niece, I reckon. Let him come; he can only knockme on the head!"

"Paul, Paul, if you love me, fly. "

"Alone!--if I do, may I be--"

"If you value your life, fly!"

"I value it not, compared to you. "

"Paul!"

"Ellen!"

She extended both her hands and burst into another and a still moreviolent flood of tears. The bee-hunter put one of his sturdy arms aroundher waist, and in another moment he was urging her over the plain, inrapid pursuit of their flying friends. 

CHAPTER XVII

 Approach the chamber, and destroy your sight With a new Gorgon--Do not bid me speak; See, and then speak yourselves. --Shakspeare. 

The little run, which supplied the family of the squatter with water, and nourished the trees and bushes that grew near the base of the rockyeminence, took its rise at no great distance from the latter, in a smallthicket of cotton-wood and vines. Hither, then, the trapper directedthe flight, as to the place affording the only available cover in sopressing an emergency. It will be remembered, that the sagacity of theold man, which, from long practice in similar scenes, amounted nearly toan instinct in all cases of sudden danger, had first induced him totake this course, as it placed the hill between them and the approachingparty. Favoured by this circumstance, he succeeded in reaching thebushes in sufficient time and Paul Hover had just hurried the breathlessEllen into the tangled bush, as Ishmael gained the summit of the rock, in the manner already described, where he stood like a man momentarilybereft of sense, gazing at the confusion which had been created amonghis chattels, or at his gagged and bound children, who had been safelybestowed, by the forethought of the bee-hunter, under the cover of abark roof, in a sort of irregular pile. A long rifle would have throwna bullet from the height, on which the squatter now stood, into thevery cover where the fugitives, who had wrought all this mischief, wereclustered. 

The trapper was the first to speak, as the man on whose intelligence andexperience they all depended for counsel, after running his eye over thedifferent individuals who gathered about him, in order to see that nonewere missing. 

"Ah! natur' is natur', and has done its work!" he said, nodding to theexulting Paul, with a smile of approbation. "I thought it would be hardfor those, who had so often met in fair and foul, by starlight and underthe clouded moon, to part at last in anger. Now is there little timeto lose in talk, and every thing to gain by industry! It cannot be longafore some of yonder brood will be nosing along the 'arth for our trail, and should they find it, as find it they surely will, and should theypush us to a stand on our courage, the dispute must be settled with therifle; which may He in heaven forbid! Captain, can you lead us tothe place where any of your warriors lie?--For the stout sons of thesquatter will make a manly brush of it, or I am but little of a judge inwarlike dispositions!"

"The place of rendezvous is many leagues from this, on the banks of LaPlatte. "

"It is bad--it is bad. If fighting is to be done, it is always wise toenter on it on equal terms. But what has one so near his time to do withill-blood and hot-blood at his heart! Listen to what a grey head andsome experience have to offer, and then if any among you can point outa wiser fashion for a retreat, we can just follow his design, and forgetthat I have spoken. This thicket stretches for near a mile as it maybe slanting from the rock, and leads towards the sunset instead of thesettlements. "

"Enough, enough, " cried Middleton, too impatient to wait until thedeliberative and perhaps loquacious old man could end his minuteexplanation. "Time is too precious for words. Let us fly. "

The trapper made a gesture of compliance, and turning in his tracks, heled Asinus across the trembling earth of the swale, and quickly emergedon the hard ground, on the side opposite to the encampment of thesquatter. 

"If old Ishmael gets a squint at that highway through the brush, " criedPaul, casting, as he left the place, a hasty glance at the broad trailthe party had made through the thicket, "he'll need no finger-boardto tell him which way his road lies. But let him follow! I know thevagabond would gladly cross his breed with a little honest blood, but ifany son of his ever gets to be the husband of--"

"Hush, Paul, hush, " said the terrified young woman, who leaned on hisarm for support; "your voice might be heard. "

The bee-hunter was silent, though he did not cease to cast ominous looksbehind him, as they flew along the edge of the run, which sufficientlybetrayed the belligerent condition of his mind. As each one was busy forhimself, but a few minutes elapsed before the party rose a swell of theprairie, and descending without a moment's delay on the opposite side, they were at once removed from every danger of being seen by the sons ofIshmael, unless the pursuers should happen to fall upon their trail. The old man now profited by the formation of the land to take anotherdirection, with a view to elude pursuit, as a vessel changes her coursein fogs and darkness, to escape from the vigilance of her enemies. 

Two hours, passed in the utmost diligence, enabled them to make a halfcircuit around the rock, and to reach a point that was exactly oppositeto the original direction of their flight. To most of the fugitivestheir situation was as entirely unknown as is that of a ship in themiddle of the ocean to the uninstructed voyager: but the old manproceeded at every turn, and through every bottom, with a decision thatinspired his followers with confidence, as it spoke favourably of hisown knowledge of the localities. His hound, stopping now and then tocatch the expression of his eye, had preceded the trapper throughoutthe whole distance, with as much certainty as though a previous andintelligible communion between them had established the route by whichthey were to proceed. But, at the expiration of the time just named, thedog suddenly came to a stand, and then seating himself on the prairie, he snuffed the air a moment, and began a low and piteous whining. 

"Ay--pup--ay. I know the spot--I know the spot, and reason there is toremember it well!" said the old man, stopping by the side of his uneasyassociate, until those who followed had time to come up. "Now, yonder, is a thicket before us, " he continued, pointing forward, "where wemay lie till tall trees grow on these naked fields, afore any of thesquatter's kin will venture to molest us. "

"This is the spot, where the body of the dead man lay!" cried Middleton, examining the place with an eye that revolted at the recollection. 

"The very same. But whether his friends have put him in the bosom of theground or not, remains to be seen. The hound knows the scent, butseems to be a little at a loss, too. It is therefore necessary that youadvance, friend bee-hunter, to examine, while I tarry to keep the dogsfrom complaining in too loud a voice. "

"I!" exclaimed Paul, thrusting his hand into his shaggy locks, like onewho thought it prudent to hesitate before he undertook so formidablean adventure; "now, heark'ee, old trapper; I've stood in my thinnestcottons in the midst of many a swarm that has lost its queen-bee, without winking, and let me tell you, the man who can do that, is notlikely to fear any living son of skirting Ishmael; but as to meddlingwith dead men's bones, why it is neither my calling nor my inclination;so, after thanking you for the favour of your choice, as they say, whenthey make a man a corporal in Kentucky, I decline serving. "

The old man turned a disappointed look towards Middleton, who was toomuch occupied in solacing Inez to observe his embarrassment, whichwas, however, suddenly relieved from a quarter, whence, from previouscircumstances, there was little reason to expect such a demonstration offortitude. 

Doctor Battius had rendered himself a little remarkable throughout thewhole of the preceding retreat, for the exceeding diligence with whichhe had laboured to effect that desirable object. So very conspicuouswas his zeal, indeed, as to have entirely gotten the better of all hisordinary predilections. The worthy naturalist belonged to that speciesof discoverers, who make the worst possible travelling companions to aman who has reason to be in a hurry. No stone, no bush, no plant is eversuffered to escape the examination of their vigilant eyes, and thundermay mutter, and rain fall, without disturbing the abstraction of theirreveries. Not so, however, with the disciple of Linnaeus, during themomentous period that it remained a mooted point at the tribunal of hisbetter judgment, whether the stout descendants of the squatter werenot likely to dispute his right to traverse the prairie in freedom. Thehighest blooded and best trained hound, with his game in view, could nothave run with an eye more riveted than that with which the Doctor hadpursued his curvilinear course. It was perhaps lucky for his fortitudethat he was ignorant of the artifice of the trapper in leading themaround the citadel of Ishmael, and that he had imbibed the soothingimpression that every inch of prairie he traversed was just so muchadded to the distance between his own person and the detested rock. Notwithstanding the momentary shock he certainly experienced, when hediscovered this error, he now boldly volunteered to enter the thicketin which there was some reason to believe the body of the murdered Asastill lay. Perhaps the naturalist was urged to show his spirit, on thisoccasion, by some secret consciousness that his excessive industry inthe retreat might be liable to misconstruction; and it is certain that, whatever might be his peculiar notions of danger from the quick, hishabits and his knowledge had placed him far above the apprehension ofsuffering harm from any communication with the dead. 

"If there is any service to be performed, which requires the perfectcommand of the nervous system, " said the man of science, with a lookthat was slightly blustering, "you have only to give a direction to hisintellectual faculties, and here stands one on whose physical powers youmay depend. "

"The man is given to speak in parables, " muttered the single-mindedtrapper; "but I conclude there is always some meaning hidden in hiswords, though it is as hard to find sense in his speeches, as todiscover three eagles on the same tree. It will be wise, friend, to makea cover, lest the sons of the squatter should be out skirting on ourtrail, and, as you well know, there is some reason to fear yonderthicket contains a sight that may horrify a woman's mind. Are you manenough to look death in the face; or shall I run the risk of the houndsraising an outcry, and go in myself? You see the pup is willing to runwith an open mouth, already. "

"Am I man enough! Venerable trapper, our communications have a recentorigin, or thy interrogatory might have a tendency to embroil usin angry disputation. Am I man enough! I claim to be of the class, mammalia; order, primates; genus, homo! Such are my physical attributes;of my moral properties, let posterity speak; it becomes me to be mute. "

"Physic may do for such as relish it; to my taste and judgment it isneither palatable nor healthy; but morals never did harm to any livingmortal, be it that he was a sojourner in the forest, or a dweller inthe midst of glazed windows and smoking chimneys. It is only a few hardwords that divide us, friend; for I am of an opinion that, with use andfreedom, we should come to understand one another, and mainly settledown into the same judgments of mankind, and of the ways of world. Quiet, Hector, quiet; what ruffles your temper, pup; is it not used tothe scent of human blood?"

The Doctor bestowed a gracious but commiserating smile on thephilosopher of nature, as he retrograded a step or two from the placewhither he had been impelled by his excess of spirit, in order to replywith less expenditure of breath, and with a greater freedom of air andattitude. 

"A homo is certainly a homo, " he said, stretching forth an arm in anargumentative manner; "so far as the animal functions extend, there arethe connecting links of harmony, order, conformity, and design, betweenthe whole genus; but there the resemblance ends. Man may be degradedto the very margin of the line which separates him from the brute, by ignorance; or he may be elevated to a communion with the greatMaster-spirit of all, by knowledge; nay, I know not, if time andopportunity were given him, but he might become the master of alllearning, and consequently equal to the great moving principle. "

The old man, who stood leaning on his rifle in a thoughtful attitude, shook his head, as he answered with a native steadiness, that entirelyeclipsed the imposing air which his antagonist had seen fit to assume--

"This is neither more nor less than mortal wickedness! Here have I beena dweller on the earth for four-score and six changes of the seasons, and all that time have I look'd at the growing and the dying trees, andyet do I not know the reasons why the bud starts under the summer sun, or the leaf falls when it is pinch'd by the frosts. Your l'arning, though it is man's boast, is folly in the eyes of Him, who sits inthe clouds, and looks down, in sorrow, at the pride and vanity of hiscreatur's. Many is the hour that I've passed, lying in the shades of thewoods, or stretch'd upon the hills of these open fields, looking up intothe blue skies, where I could fancy the Great One had taken his stand, and was solemnising on the waywardness of man and brute, below, as Imyself had often look'd at the ants tumbling over each other in theireagerness, though in a way and a fashion more suited to His mightinessand power. Knowledge! It is his plaything. Say, you who think it so easyto climb into the judgment-seat above, can you tell me any thing of thebeginning and the end? Nay, you're a dealer in ailings and cures: whatis life, and what is death? Why does the eagle live so long, and why isthe time of the butterfly so short? Tell me a simpler thing: why is thishound so uneasy, while you, who have passed your days in looking intobooks, can see no reason to be disturbed?"

The Doctor, who had been a little astounded by the dignity and energyof the old man, drew a long breath, like a sullen wrestler who is justreleased from the throttling grasp of his antagonist, and seized on theopportunity of the pause to reply--

"It is his instinct. "

"And what is the gift of instinct?"

"An inferior gradation of reason. A sort of mysterious combination ofthought and matter. "

"And what is that which you call thought?"

"Venerable venator, this is a method of reasoning which sets at noughtthe uses of definitions, and such as I do assure you is not at alltolerated in the schools. "

"Then is there more cunning in your schools than I had thought, for itis a certain method of showing them their vanity, " returned the trapper, suddenly abandoning a discussion, from which the naturalist was justbeginning to anticipate great delight, by turning to his dog, whoserestlessness he attempted to appease by playing with his ears. "This isfoolish, Hector; more like an untrained pup than a sensible hound; onewho has got his education by hard experience, and not by nosing over thetrails of other dogs, as a boy in the settlements follows on the trackof his masters, be it right or be it wrong. Well, friend; you who cando so much, are you equal to looking into the thicket? or must I go inmyself?"

The Doctor again assumed his air of resolution, and, without furtherparlance, proceeded to do as desired. The dogs were so far restrained, by the remonstrances of the old man, as to confine their noise to lowbut often-repeated whinings. When they saw the naturalist advance, thepup, however, broke through all restraint, and made a swift circuitaround his person, scenting the earth as he proceeded, and then, returning to his companion, he howled aloud. 

"The squatter and his brood have left a strong scent on the earth, "said the old man, watching as he spoke for some signal from his learnedpioneer to follow; "I hope yonder school-bred man knows enough toremember the errand on which I have sent him. "

Doctor Battius had already disappeared in the bushes and the trapper wasbeginning to betray additional evidences of impatience, when the personof the former was seen retiring from the thicket backwards, with hisface fastened on the place he had just left, as if his look was bound inthe thraldom of some charm. 

"Here is something skeery, by the wildness of the creatur'scountenance!" exclaimed the old man relinquishing his hold of Hector, and moving stoutly to the side of the totally unconscious naturalist. "How is it, friend; have you found a new leaf in your book of wisdom?"

"It is a basilisk!" muttered the Doctor, whose altered visage betrayedthe utter confusion which beset his faculties. "An animal of the order, serpens. I had thought its attributes were fabulous, but mighty natureis equal to all that man can imagine!"

"What is't? what is't? The snakes of the prairies are harmless, unlessit be now and then an angered rattler and he always gives you noticewith his tail, afore he works his mischief with his fangs. Lord, Lord, what a humbling thing is fear! Here is one who in common delivers wordstoo big for a humble mouth to hold, so much beside himself, that hisvoice is as shrill as the whistle of the whip-poor-will! Courage!--whatis it, man?--what is it?"

"A prodigy! a lusus naturae! a monster, that nature has delighted toform, in order to exhibit her power! Never before have I witnessed suchan utter confusion in her laws, or a specimen that so completely bidsdefiance to the distinctions of class and genera. Let me record itsappearance, " fumbling for his tablets with hands that trembled too muchto perform their office, "while time and opportunity are allowed--eyes, enthralling; colour, various, complex, and profound--"

"One would think the man was craz'd, with his enthralling looks andpieball'd colours!" interrupted the discontented trapper, who began togrow a little uneasy that his party was all this time neglecting to seekthe protection of some cover. "If there is a reptile in the brush, showme the creatur', and should it refuse to depart peaceably, why theremust be a quarrel for the possession of the place. "

"There!" said the Doctor, pointing into a dense mass of the thicket, to a spot within fifty feet of that where they both stood. The trapperturned his look, with perfect composure, in the required direction, butthe instant his practised glance met the object which had so utterlyupset the philosophy of the naturalist, he gave a start himself, threwhis rifle rapidly forward, and as instantly recovered it, as if a secondflash of thought convinced him he was wrong. Neither the instinctivemovement, nor the sudden recollection, was without a sufficient object. At the very margin of the thicket, and in absolute contact with theearth, lay an animate ball, that might easily, by the singularity andfierceness of its aspect, have justified the disturbed condition of thenaturalist's mind. It were difficult to describe the shape or colours ofthis extraordinary substance, except to say, in general terms, thatit was nearly spherical, and exhibited all the hues of the rainbow, intermingled without reference to harmony, and without any veryostensible design. The predominant hues were a black and a brightvermilion. With these, however, the several tints of white, yellow, andcrimson, were strangely and wildly blended. Had this been all, it wouldhave been difficult to have pronounced that the object was possessed oflife, for it lay motionless as any stone; but a pair of dark, glaring, and moving eyeballs which watched with jealousy the smallest movementof the trapper and his companion, sufficiently established the importantfact of its possessing vitality. 

"Your reptile is a scouter, or I'm no judge of Indian paints and Indiandeviltries!" muttered the old man, dropping the butt of his weapon tothe ground, and gazing with a steady eye at the frightful object, as heleaned on its barrel, in an attitude of great composure. "He wantsto face us out of sight and reason, and make us think the head of ared-skin is a stone covered with the autumn leaf; or he has some otherdevilish artifice in his mind!"

"Is the animal human?" demanded the Doctor, "of the genus homo? I hadfancied it a non-descript. "

"It's as human, and as mortal too, as a warrior of these prairies isever known to be. I have seen the time when a red-skin would have showna foolish daring to peep out of his ambushment in that fashion on ahunter I could name, but who is too old now, and too near his time, tobe any thing better than a miserable trapper. It will be well to speakto the imp, and to let him know he deals with men whose beards aregrown. Come forth from your cover, friend, " he continued, in thelanguage of the extensive tribes of the Dahcotahs; "there is room on theprairie for another warrior. "

The eyes appeared to glare more fiercely than ever, but the mass which, according to the trapper's opinion, was neither more nor less than ahuman head, shorn, as usual among the warriors of the west, of its hair, still continued without motion, or any other sign of life. 

"It is a mistake!" exclaimed the doctor. "The animal is not even of theclass, mammalia, much less a man. "

"So much for your knowledge!" returned the trapper, laughing with greatexultation. "So much for the l'arning of one who has look'd into so manybooks, that his eyes are not able to tell a moose from a wild-cat! Nowmy Hector, here, is a dog of education after his fashion, and, thoughthe meanest primmer in the settlements would puzzle his information, youcould not cheat the hound in a matter like this. As you think the objectno man, you shall see his whole formation, and then let an ignorantold trapper, who never willingly pass'd a day within reach of aspelling-book in his life, know by what name to call it. Mind, I mean noviolence; but just to start the devil from his ambushment. "

The trapper very deliberately examined the priming of his rifle, takingcare to make as great a parade as possible of his hostile intentions, ingoing through the necessary evolutions with the weapon. When he thoughtthe stranger began to apprehend some danger, he very deliberatelypresented the piece, and called aloud--

"Now, friend, I am all for peace, or all for war, as you may say. No!well it is no man, as the wiser one, here, says, and there can be noharm in just firing into a bunch of leaves. "

The muzzle of the rifle fell as he concluded, and the weapon wasgradually settling into a steady, and what would easily have proved afatal aim, when a tall Indian sprang from beneath that bed of leaves andbrush, which he had collected about his person at the approach of theparty, and stood upright, uttering the exclamation--

"Wagh!"

CHAPTER XVIII

 My visor is Philemon's roof; within the house is Jove. --Shakspeare. 

The trapper, who had meditated no violence, dropped his rifle again, and laughing at the success of his experiment, with great seemingself-complacency, he drew the astounded gaze of the naturalist from theperson of the savage to himself, by saying--

"The imps will lie for hours, like sleeping alligators, brooding theirdeviltries in dreams and other craftiness, until such time as they seesome real danger is at hand, and then they look to themselves the sameas other mortals. But this is a scouter in his war-paint! There shouldbe more of his tribe at no great distance. Let us draw the truth outof him; for an unlucky war-party may prove more dangerous to us than avisit from the whole family of the squatter. "

"It is truly a desperate and a dangerous species!" said the Doctor, relieving his amazement by a breath that seemed to exhaust his lungs ofair; "a violent race, and one that it is difficult to define or class, within the usual boundaries of definitions. Speak to him, therefore; butlet thy words be strong in amity. "

The old man cast a keen eye on every side of him, to ascertainthe important particular whether the stranger was supported by anyassociates, and then making the usual signs of peace, by exhibiting thepalm of his naked hand, he boldly advanced. In the mean time, the Indianbetrayed no evidence of uneasiness. He suffered the trapper to drawnigh, maintaining by his own mien and attitude a striking air of dignityand fearlessness. Perhaps the wary warrior also knew that, owing to thedifference in their weapons, he should be placed more on an equality, bybeing brought nearer to the strangers. 

As a description of this individual may furnish some idea of thepersonal appearance of a whole race, it may be well to detain thenarrative, in order to present it to the reader, in our hasty andimperfect manner. Would the truant eyes of Alston or Greenough turn, butfor a time, from their gaze at the models of antiquity, to contemplatethis wronged and humbled people, little would be left for such inferiorartists as ourselves to delineate. 

The Indian in question was in every particular a warrior of fine statureand admirable proportions. As he cast aside his mask, composed of suchparty-coloured leaves, as he had hurriedly collected, his countenanceappeared in all the gravity, the dignity, and, it may be added, in theterror of his profession. The outlines of his lineaments were strikinglynoble, and nearly approaching to Roman, though the secondary features ofhis face were slightly marked with the well-known traces of his Asiaticorigin. The peculiar tint of the skin, which in itself is so welldesigned to aid the effect of a martial expression, had received anadditional aspect of wild ferocity from the colours of the war-paint. But, as if he disdained the usual artifices of his people, he bore noneof those strange and horrid devices, with which the children of theforest are accustomed, like the more civilised heroes of the moustache, to back their reputation for courage, contenting himself with abroad and deep shadowing of black, that served as a sufficient and anadmirable foil to the brighter gleamings of his native swarthiness. His head was as usual shaved to the crown, where a large and gallantscalp-lock seemed to challenge the grasp of his enemies. The ornamentsthat were ordinarily pendant from the cartilages of his ears had beenremoved, on account of his present pursuit. His body, notwithstandingthe lateness of the season, was nearly naked, and the portion which wasclad bore a vestment no warmer than a light robe of the finest dresseddeer-skin, beautifully stained with the rude design of some daringexploit, and which was carelessly worn, as if more in pride than fromany unmanly regard to comfort. His leggings were of bright scarletcloth, the only evidence about his person that he had held communionwith the traders of the Pale-faces. But as if to furnish some offsetto this solitary submission to a womanish vanity, they were fearfullyfringed, from the gartered knee to the bottom of the moccasin, with thehair of human scalps. He leaned lightly with one hand on a short hickorybow, while the other rather touched than sought support, from the long, delicate handle of an ashen lance. A quiver made of the cougar skin, from which the tail of the animal depended, as a characteristicornament, was slung at his back, and a shield of hides, quaintlyemblazoned with another of his warlike deeds, was suspended from hisneck by a thong of sinews. 

As the trapper approached, this warrior maintained his calm uprightattitude, discovering neither an eagerness to ascertain the character ofthose who advanced upon him, nor the smallest wish to avoid a scrutinyin his own person. An eye, that was darker and more shining than that ofthe stag, was incessantly glancing, however, from one to another of thestranger party, seemingly never knowing rest for an instant. 

"Is my brother far from his village?" demanded the old man, in thePawnee language, after examining the paint, and those other little signsby which a practised eye knows the tribe of the warrior he encounters inthe American deserts, with the same readiness, and by the same sort ofmysterious observation, as that by which the seaman knows the distantsail. 

"It is farther to the towns of the Big-knives, " was the laconic reply. 

"Why is a Pawnee-Loup so far from the fork of his own river, without ahorse to journey on, and in a spot empty as this?"

"Can the women and children of a Pale-face live without the meat of thebison? There was hunger in my lodge. "

"My brother is very young to be already the master of a lodge, " returnedthe trapper, looking steadily into the unmoved countenance of theyouthful warrior; "but I dare say he is brave, and that many a chief hasoffered him his daughters for wives. But he has been mistaken, " pointingto the arrow, which was dangling from the hand that held the bow, "inbringing a loose and barbed arrow-head to kill the buffaloe. Do thePawnees wish the wounds they give their game to rankle?"

"It is good to be ready for the Sioux. Though not in sight, a bush mayhide him. "

"The man is a living proof of the truth of his words, " muttered thetrapper in English, "and a close-jointed and gallant looking lad he is;but far too young for a chief of any importance. It is wise, however, tospeak him fair, for a single arm thrown into either party, if we cometo blows with the squatter and his brood, may turn the day. You seemy children are weary, " he continued in the dialect of the prairies, pointing, as he spoke, to the rest of the party, who, by this time, werealso approaching. "We wish to camp and eat. Does my brother claim thisspot?"

"The runners from the people on the Big-river, tell us that your nationhave traded with the Tawney-faces who live beyond the salt-lake, andthat the prairies are now the hunting grounds of the Big-knives!"

"It is true, as I hear, also, from the hunters and trappers on LaPlatte. Though it is with the Frenchers, and not with the men who claimto own the Mexicos, that my people have bargained. "

"And warriors are going up the Long-river, to see that they have notbeen cheated, in what they have bought?"

"Ay, that is partly true, too, I fear; and it will not be long before anaccursed band of choppers and loggers will be following on their heels, to humble the wilderness which lies so broad and rich on the westernbanks of the Mississippi, and then the land will be a peopled desert, from the shores of the main sea to the foot of the Rocky Mountains;fill'd with all the abominations and craft of man, and stript of thecomforts and loveliness it received from the hands of the Lord!"

"And where were the chiefs of the Pawnee-Loups, when this bargain wasmade?" suddenly demanded the youthful warrior, a look of startlingfierceness gleaming, at the same instant, athwart his dark visage. "Is anation to be sold like the skin of a beaver?"

"Right enough--right enough, and where were truth and honesty, also?But might is right, according to the fashions of the 'arth; and whatthe strong choose to do, the weak must call justice. If the law ofthe Wahcondah was as much hearkened to, Pawnee, as the laws of theLong-knives, your right to the prairies would be as good as that of thegreatest chief in the settlements to the house which covers his head. "

"The skin of the traveller is white, " said the young native, laying afinger impressively on the hard and wrinkled hand of the trapper. "Doeshis heart say one thing and his tongue another?"

"The Wahcondah of a white man has ears, and he shuts them to a lie. Look at my head; it is like a frosted pine, and must soon be laid in theground. Why then should I wish to meet the Great Spirit, face to face, while his countenance is dark upon me. "

The Pawnee gracefully threw his shield over one shoulder, and placinga hand on his chest, he bent his head, in deference to the grey locksexhibited by the trapper; after which his eye became more steady, andhis countenance less fierce. Still he maintained every appearance of adistrust and watchfulness that were rather tempered and subdued, thanforgotten. When this equivocal species of amity was established betweenthe warrior of the prairies and the experienced old trapper, the latterproceeded to give his directions to Paul, concerning the arrangementsof the contemplated halt. While Inez and Ellen were dismounting, andMiddleton and the bee-hunter were attending to their comforts, thediscourse was continued, sometimes in the language of the natives, but often, as Paul and the Doctor mingled their opinions with the twoprincipal speakers, in the English tongue. There was a keen and subtletrial of skill between the Pawnee and the trapper, in which eachendeavoured to discover the objects of the other, without betrayinghis own interest in the investigation. As might be expected, when thestruggle was between adversaries so equal, the result of the encounteranswered the expectations of neither. The latter had put all theinterrogatories his ingenuity and practice could suggest, concerning thestate of the tribe of the Loups, their crops, their store of provisionsfor the ensuing winter, and their relations with their different warlikeneighbours without extorting any answer, which, in the slightest degree, elucidated the cause of his finding a solitary warrior so far from hispeople. On the other hand, while the questions of the Indian were farmore dignified and delicate, they were equally ingenious. He commentedon the state of the trade in peltries, spoke of the good or ill successof many white hunters, whom he had either encountered, or heard named, and even alluded to the steady march, which the nation of his greatfather, as he cautiously termed the government of the States, was makingtowards the hunting-grounds of his tribe. It was apparent, however, bythe singular mixture of interest, contempt, and indignation, that wereoccasionally gleaming through the reserved manner of this warrior, thathe knew the strange people, who were thus trespassing on his nativerights, much more by report than by any actual intercourse. Thispersonal ignorance of the whites was as much betrayed by the mannerin which he regarded the females, as by the brief, but energetic, expressions which occasionally escaped him. 

While speaking to the trapper he suffered his wandering glances to straytowards the intellectual and nearly infantile beauty of Inez, as onemight be supposed to gaze upon the loveliness of an ethereal being. It was very evident that he now saw, for the first time, one of thosefemales, of whom the fathers of his tribe so often spoke, and who wereconsidered of such rare excellence as to equal all that savage ingenuitycould imagine in the way of loveliness. His observation of Ellen wasless marked, but notwithstanding the warlike and chastened expressionof his eye, there was much of the homage, which man is made to pay towoman, even in the more cursory look he sometimes turned on her maturerand perhaps more animated beauty. This admiration, however, was sotempered by his habits, and so smothered in the pride of a warrior, ascompletely to elude every eye but that of the trapper, who was too wellskilled in Indian customs, and was too well instructed in the importanceof rightly conceiving, the character of the stranger, to let thesmallest trait, or the most trifling of his movements, escape him. Inthe mean time, the unconscious Ellen herself moved about the feebleand less resolute Inez, with her accustomed assiduity and tenderness, exhibiting in her frank features those changing emotions of joy andregret which occasionally beset her, as her active mind dwelt on thedecided step she had just taken, with the contending doubts and hopes, and possibly with some of the mental vacillation, that was natural toher situation and sex. 

Not so Paul; conceiving himself to have obtained the two things dearestto his heart, the possession of Ellen and a triumph over the sons ofIshmael, he now enacted his part, in the business of the moment, with asmuch coolness as though he was already leading his willing bride, fromsolemnising their nuptials before a border magistrate, to the securityof his own dwelling. He had hovered around the moving family, duringthe tedious period of their weary march, concealing himself by day, andseeking interviews with his betrothed as opportunities offered, in themanner already described, until fortune and his own intrepidityhad united to render him successful, at the very moment when he wasbeginning to despair, and he now cared neither for distance, norviolence, nor hardships. To his sanguine fancy and determined resolutionall the rest was easily to be achieved. Such were his feelings, and suchin truth they seemed to be. With his cap cast on one side, and whistlinga low air, he thrashed among the bushes, in order to make a placesuitable for the females to repose on, while, from time to time, he castan approving glance at the agile form of Ellen, as she tripped past him, engaged in her own share of the duty. 

"And so the Wolf-tribe of the Pawnees have buried the hatchet with theirneighbours, the Konzas?" said the trapper, pursuing a discourse whichhe had scarcely permitted to flag, though it had been occasionallyinterrupted by the different directions with which he occasionally sawfit to interrupt it. (The reader will remember that, while he spoke tothe native warrior in his own tongue, he necessarily addressed his whitecompanions in English. ) "The Loups and the light-fac'd Red-skins areagain friends. Doctor, that is a tribe of which I'll engage you've oftenread, and of which many a round lie has been whispered in the ears ofthe ignorant people, who live in the settlements. There was a story ofa nation of Welshers, that liv'd hereaway in the prairies, and how theycame into the land afore the uneasy minded man, who first let in theChristians to rob the heathens of their inheritance, had ever dreamtthat the sun set on a country as big as that it rose from. And how theyknew the white ways, and spoke with white tongues, and a thousand otherfollies and idle conceits. "

"Have I not heard of them?" exclaimed the naturalist, dropping a pieceof jerked bison's meat, which he was rather roughly discussing, atthe moment. "I should be greatly ignorant not to have often dweltwith delight on so beautiful a theory, and one which so triumphantlyestablishes two positions, which I have often maintained areunanswerable, even without such living testimony in their favour--viz. That this continent can claim a more remote affinity with civilisationthan the time of Columbus, and that colour is the fruit of climate andcondition, and not a regulation of nature. Propound the latter questionto this Indian gentleman, venerable hunter; he is of a reddish tinthimself, and his opinion may be said to make us masters of the two sidesof the disputed point. "

"Do you think a Pawnee is a reader of books, and a believer of printedlies, like the idlers in the towns?" retorted the old man, laughing. "But it may be as well to humour the likings of the man, which, afterall, it is quite possible are neither more nor less than his naturalgift, and therefore to be followed, although they may be pitied. Whatdoes my brother think? all whom he sees here have pale skins, but thePawnee warriors are red; does he believe that man changes with theseason, and that the son is not like his father?"

The young warrior regarded his interrogator for a moment with a steadyand deliberating eye; then raising his finger upward, he answered withdignity--

"The Wahcondah pours the rain from his clouds; when he speaks, he shakesthe lulls; and the fire, which scorches the trees, is the anger of hiseye; but he fashioned his children with care and thought. What he hasthus made, never alters!"

"Ay, 'tis in the reason of natur' that it should be so, Doctor, "continued the trapper, when he had interpreted this answer to thedisappointed naturalist. "The Pawnees are a wise and a great people, andI'll engage they abound in many a wholesome and honest tradition. Thehunters and trappers, that I sometimes see, speak of a great warrior ofyour race. "

"My tribe are not women. A brave is no stranger in my village. "

"Ay; but he, they speak of most, is a chief far beyond the renown ofcommon warriors, and one that might have done credit to that once mightybut now fallen people, the Delawares of the hills. "

"Such a warrior should have a name?"

"They call him Hard-Heart, from the stoutness of his resolution; andwell is he named, if all I have heard of his deeds be true. "

The stranger cast a glance, which seemed to read the guileless soul ofthe old man, as he demanded--

"Has the Pale-face seen the partisan of my people?"

"Never. It is not with me now, as it used to be some forty years ago, when warfare and bloodshed were my calling and my gifts!"

A loud shout from the reckless Paul interrupted his speech, and at thenext moment the bee-hunter appeared, leading an Indian war-horse fromthe side of the thicket opposite to the one occupied by the party. 

"Here is a beast for a Red-skin to straddle!" he cried, as he made theanimal go through some of its wild paces. "There's not a brigadier inall Kentucky that can call himself master of so sleek and well-jointeda nag! A Spanish saddle too, like a grandee of the Mexicos! and look atthe mane and tail, braided and platted down with little silver balls, asif it were Ellen herself getting her shining hair ready for a dance, ora husking frolic! Isn't this a real trotter, old trapper, to eat out ofthe manger of a savage?"

"Softly, lad, softly. The Loups are famous for their horses, and it isoften that you see a warrior on the prairies far better mounted, than acongress-man in the settlements. But this, indeed, is a beast that nonebut a powerful chief should ride! The saddle, as you rightly think, hasbeen sit upon in its day by a great Spanish captain, who has lost it andhis life together, in some of the battles which this people oftenfight against the southern provinces. I warrant me, I warrant me, theyoungster is the son of a great chief; may be of the mighty Hard-Hearthimself!"

During this rude interruption to the discourse, the young Pawneemanifested neither impatience nor displeasure; but when he thought hisbeast had been the subject of sufficient comment, he very coolly, andwith the air of one accustomed to have his will respected, relievedPaul of the bridle, and throwing the reins on the neck of the animal, hesprang upon his back, with the activity of a professor of the equestrianart. Nothing could be finer or firmer than the seat of the savage. Thehighly wrought and cumbrous saddle was evidently more for show than use. Indeed it impeded rather than aided the action of limbs, which disdainedto seek assistance, or admit of restraint from so womanish inventionsas stirrups. The horse, which immediately began to prance, was, likeits rider, wild and untutored in all his motions, but while there wasso little of art, there was all the freedom and grace of nature in themovements of both. The animal was probably indebted to the blood ofAraby for its excellence, through a long pedigree, that embraced thesteed of Mexico, the Spanish barb, and the Moorish charger. The rider, in obtaining his steed from the provinces of Central-America, had alsoobtained that spirit and grace in controlling him, which unite to formthe most intrepid and perhaps the most skilful horseman in the world. 

Notwithstanding this sudden occupation of his animal, the Pawneediscovered no hasty wish to depart. More at his ease, and possibly moreindependent, now he found himself secure of the means of retreat, herode back and forth, eyeing the different individuals of the party withfar greater freedom than before. But, at each extremity of his ride, just as the sagacious trapper expected to see him profit by hisadvantage and fly, he would turn his horse, and pass over the sameground, sometimes with the rapidity of the flying deer, and at othersmore slowly, and with greater dignity of mien and attitude. Anxious toascertain such facts as might have an influence on his future movements, the old man determined to invite him to a renewal of their conference. He therefore made a gesture expressive at the same time of his wish toresume the interrupted discourse, and of his own pacific intentions. Thequick eye of the stranger was not slow to note the action, but itwas not until a sufficient time had passed to allow him to debate theprudence of the measure in his own mind, that he seemed willing to trusthimself again, so near a party that was so much superior to himself inphysical power, and consequently one that was able, at any instant, tocommand his life, or control his personal liberty. When he did approachnigh enough to converse with facility, it was with a singular mixture ofhaughtiness and of distrust. 

"It is far to the village of the Loups, " he said, stretching his arm ina direction contrary to that in which, the trapper well knew, the tribedwelt, "and the road is crooked. What has the Big-knife to say?"

"Ay, crooked enough!" muttered the old man in English, "if you are toset out on your journey by that path, but not half so winding as thecunning of an Indian's mind. Say, my brother; do the chiefs of thePawnees love to see strange faces in their lodges?"

The young warrior bent his body gracefully, though but slightly, overthe saddle-bow, as he replied--

"When have my people forgotten to give food to the stranger?"

"If I lead my daughters to the doors of the Loups, will the women takethem by the hand; and will the warriors smoke with my young men?"

"The country of the Pale-faces is behind them. Why do they journey sofar towards the setting sun? Have they lost the path, or are these thewomen of the white warriors, that I hear are wading up the river of 'thetroubled waters?'"

"Neither. They, who wade the Missouri, are the warriors of my greatfather, who has sent them on his message; but we are peace-runners. Thewhite men and the red are neighbours, and they wish to be friends. --Donot the Omahaws visit the Loups, when the tomahawk is buried in the pathbetween the two nations?"

"The Omahaws are welcome. "

"And the Yanktons, and the burnt-wood Tetons, who live in the elbow ofthe river, 'with muddy water, ' do they not come into the lodges of theLoups and smoke?"

"The Tetons are liars!" exclaimed the other. "They dare not shut theireyes in the night. No; they sleep in the sun. See, " he added, pointingwith fierce triumph to the frightful ornaments of his leggings, "theirscalps are so plenty, that the Pawnees tread on them! Go; let a Siouxlive in banks of snow; the plains and buffaloes are for men!"

"Ah! the secret is out, " said the trapper to Middleton, who was anattentive, because a deeply interested, observer of what was passing. "This good-looking young Indian is scouting on the track of theSiouxes--you may see it by his arrow-heads, and his paint; ay, and byhis eye, too; for a Red-skin lets his natur' follow the business he ison, be it for peace, or be it for war, --quiet, Hector, quiet. Haveyou never scented a Pawnee afore, pup?--keep down, dog--keep down--mybrother is right. The Siouxes are thieves. Men of all colours andnations say it of them, and say it truly. But the people from the risingsun are not Siouxes, and they wish to visit the lodges of the Loups. "

"The head of my brother is white, " returned the Pawnee, throwing oneof those glances at the trapper, which were so remarkably expressive ofdistrust, intelligence, and pride, and then pointing, as he continued, towards the eastern horizon, "and his eyes have looked on manythings--can he tell me the name of what he sees yonder--is it abuffaloe?"

"It looks more like a cloud, peeping above the skirt of the plain withthe sunshine lighting its edges. It is the smoke of the heavens. "

"It is a hill of the earth, and on its top are the lodges of Pale-faces!Let the women of my brother wash their feet among the people of theirown colour. "

"The eyes of a Pawnee are good, if he can see a white-skin so far. "

The Indian turned slowly towards the speaker, and after a pause of amoment he sternly demanded--

"Can my brother hunt?"

"Alas! I claim to be no better than a miserable trapper!"

"When the plain is covered with the buffaloes, can he see them?"

"No doubt, no doubt--it is far easier to see than to take a scamperingbull. "

"And when the birds are flying from the cold, and the clouds are blackwith their feathers, can he see them too?"

"Ay, ay, it is not hard to find a duck, or a goose, when millions aredarkening the heavens. "

"When the snow falls, and covers the lodges of the Long-knives, can thestranger see flakes in the air?"

"My eyes are none of the best now, " returned the old man a littleresentfully, "but the time has been when I had a name for my sight!"

"The Red-skins find the Big-knives as easily as the strangers see thebuffaloe, or the travelling birds, or the falling snow. Your warriorsthink the Master of Life has made the whole earth white. They aremistaken. They are pale, and it is their own faces that they see. Go! aPawnee is not blind, that he need look long for your people!"

The warrior suddenly paused, and bent his face aside, like one wholistened with all his faculties absorbed in the act. Then turning thehead of his horse, he rode to the nearest angle of the thicket, andlooked intently across the bleak prairie, in a direction opposite to theside on which the party stood. Returning slowly from this unaccountable, and to his observers, startling procedure, he riveted his eyes onInez, and paced back and forth several times, with the air of one whomaintained a warm struggle on some difficult point, in the recesses ofhis own thoughts. He had drawn the reins of his impatient steed, and wasseemingly about to speak, when his head again sunk on his chest, and heresumed his former attitude of attention. Galloping like a deer, to theplace of his former observations, he rode for a moment swiftly, in shortand rapid circles, as if still uncertain of his course, and then dartedaway, like a bird that had been fluttering around its nest before ittakes a distant flight. After scouring the plain for a minute, he waslost to the eye behind a swell of the land. 

The hounds, who had also manifested great uneasiness for some time, followed him for a little distance, and then terminated their chase byseating themselves on the ground, and raising their usual low, whining, and warning howls. 

CHAPTER XIX

 How if he will not stand? --Shakspeare. 

The several movements, related in the close of the preceding chapter, had passed in so short a space of time, that the old man, while heneglected not to note the smallest incident, had no opportunity ofexpressing his opinion concerning the stranger's motives. After thePawnee had disappeared, however, he shook his head and muttered, whilehe walked slowly to the angle of the thicket that the Indian had justquitted--

"There are both scents and sounds in the air, though my miserablesenses are not good enough to hear the one, or to catch the taint of theother. "

"There is nothing to be seen, " cried Middleton, who kept close at hisside. "My eyes and my ears are good, and yet I can assure you that Ineither hear nor see any thing. "

"Your eyes are good! and you are not deaf!" returned the other with aslight air of contempt; "no, lad, no; they may be good to see across achurch, or to hear a town-bell, but afore you had passed a year in theseprairies you would find yourself taking a turkey for a buffaloe, orconceiting, fifty times, that the roar of a buffaloe bull was thethunder of the Lord! There is a deception of natur' in these nakedplains, in which the air throws up the images like water, and then it ishard to tell the prairies from a sea. But yonder is a sign that a hunternever fails to know!"

The trapper pointed to a flight of vultures, that were sailing over theplain at no great distance, and apparently in the direction in which thePawnee had riveted his eye. At first Middleton could not distinguish thesmall dark objects, that were dotting the dusky clouds, but as they cameswiftly onward, first their forms, and then their heavy waving wings, became distinctly visible. 

"Listen, " said the trapper, when he had succeeded in making Middletonsee the moving column of birds. "Now you hear the buffaloes, or bisons, as your knowing Doctor sees fit to call them, though buffaloes is theirname among all the hunters of these regions. And, I conclude, that ahunter is a better judge of a beast and of its name, " he added, winkingto the young soldier, "than any man who has turned over the leaves of abook, instead of travelling over the face of the 'arth, in order to findout the natur's of its inhabitants. "

"Of their habits, I will grant you, " cried the naturalist, who rarelymissed an opportunity to agitate any disputed point in his favouritestudies. "That is, provided always, deference is had to the proper useof definitions, and that they are contemplated with scientific eyes. "

"Eyes of a mole! as if man's eyes were not as good for names as the eyesof any other creatur'! Who named the works of His hand? can you tell methat, with your books and college wisdom? Was it not the first man inthe Garden, and is it not a plain consequence that his children inherithis gifts?"

"That is certainly the Mosaic account of the event, " said the Doctor;"though your reading is by far too literal!"

"My reading! nay, if you suppose, that I have wasted my time in schools, you do such a wrong to my knowledge, as one mortal should never lay tothe door of another without sufficient reason. If I have ever craved theart of reading, it has been that I might better know the sayings of thebook you name, for it is a book which speaks, in every line, accordingto human feelings, and therein according to reason. "

"And do you then believe, " said the Doctor a little provoked bythe dogmatism of his stubborn adversary, and perhaps, secretly, tooconfident in his own more liberal, though scarcely as profitable, attainments, --"do you then believe that all these beasts were literallycollected in a garden, to be enrolled in the nomenclature of the firstman?"

"Why not? I understand your meaning; for it is not needful to live intowns to hear all the devilish devices, that the conceit of man caninvent to upset his own happiness. What does it prove, except indeed itmay be said to prove that the garden He made was not after the miserablefashions of our times, thereby directly giving the lie to what the worldcalls its civilising? No, no, the garden of the Lord was the forestthen, and is the forest now, where the fruits do grow, and the birdsdo sing, according to his own wise ordering. Now, lady, you may seethe mystery of the vultures! There come the buffaloes themselves, and anoble herd it is! I warrant me, that Pawnee has a troop of his people insome of the hollows, nigh by; and as he has gone scampering afterthem, you are about to see a glorious chase. It will serve to keep thesquatter and his brood under cover, and for ourselves there is littlereason to fear. A Pawnee is not apt to be a malicious savage. "

Every eye was now drawn to the striking spectacle that succeeded. Eventhe timid Inez hastened to the side of Middleton to gaze at the sight, and Paul summoned Ellen from her culinary labours, to become a witnessof the lively scene. 

Throughout the whole of those moving events, which it has been our dutyto record, the prairies had lain in the majesty of perfect solitude. Theheavens had been blackened with the passage of the migratory birds, itis true, but the dogs of the party, and the ass of the doctor, werethe only quadrupeds that had enlivened the broad surface of the wastebeneath. There was now a sudden exhibition of animal life, which changedthe scene, as it were, by magic, to the very opposite extreme. 

A few enormous bison bulls were first observed, scouring along the mostdistant roll of the prairie, and then succeeded long files of singlebeasts, which, in their turns, were followed by a dark mass of bodies, until the dun-coloured herbage of the plain was entirely lost, in thedeeper hue of their shaggy coats. The herd, as the column spread andthickened, was like the endless flocks of the smaller birds, whoseextended flanks are so often seen to heave up out of the abyss of theheavens, until they appear as countless as the leaves in those forests, over which they wing their endless flight. Clouds of dust shot up inlittle columns from the centre of the mass, as some animal, more furiousthan the rest, ploughed the plain with his horns, and, from time totime, a deep hollow bellowing was borne along on the wind, as if athousand throats vented their plaints in a discordant murmuring. 

A long and musing silence reigned in the party, as they gazed on thisspectacle of wild and peculiar grandeur. It was at length broken by thetrapper, who, having been long accustomed to similar sights, felt lessof its influence, or, rather, felt it in a less thrilling and absorbingmanner, than those to whom the scene was more novel. 

"There go ten thousand oxen in one drove, without keeper or master, except Him who made them, and gave them these open plains for theirpasture! Ay, it is here that man may see the proofs of his wantonnessand folly! Can the proudest governor in all the States go into hisfields, and slaughter a nobler bullock than is here offered to themeanest hand; and when he has gotten his sirloin, or his steak, canhe eat it with as good a relish as he who has sweetened his foodwith wholesome toil, and earned it according to the law of natur', byhonestly mastering that which the Lord hath put before him?"

"If the prairie platter is smoking with a buffaloe's hump, I answer, No, " interrupted the luxurious bee-hunter. 

"Ay, boy, you have tasted, and you feel the genuine reasoning of thething! But the herd is heading a little this-a-way, and it behoves us tomake ready for their visit. If we hide ourselves, altogether, the hornedbrutes will break through the place and trample us beneath their feet, like so many creeping worms; so we will just put the weak ones apart, and take post, as becomes men and hunters, in the van. "

As there was but little time to make the necessary arrangements, thewhole party set about them in good earnest. Inez and Ellen were placedin the edge of the thicket on the side farthest from the approachingherd. Asinus was posted in the centre, in consideration of his nerves, and then the old man, with his three male companions, divided themselvesin such a manner as they thought would enable them to turn the headof the rushing column, should it chance to approach too nigh theirposition. By the vacillating movements of some fifty or a hundred bulls, that led the advance, it remained questionable, for many moments, whatcourse they intended to pursue. But a tremendous and painful roar, whichcame from behind the cloud of dust that rose in the centre of the herd, and which was horridly answered by the screams of the carrion birds, that were greedily sailing directly above the flying drove, appeared togive a new impulse to their flight, and at once to remove every symptomof indecision. As if glad to seek the smallest signs of the forest, thewhole of the affrighted herd became steady in its direction, rushingin a straight line toward the little cover of bushes, which has alreadybeen so often named. 

The appearance of danger was now, in reality, of a character to try thestoutest nerves. The flanks of the dark, moving mass, were advanced insuch a manner as to make a concave line of the front, and every fierceeye, that was glaring from the shaggy wilderness of hair in which theentire heads of the males were enveloped, was riveted with mad anxietyon the thicket. It seemed as if each beast strove to outstrip hisneighbour, in gaining this desired cover; and as thousands in therear pressed blindly on those in front, there was the appearance of animminent risk that the leaders of the herd would be precipitated on theconcealed party, in which case the destruction of every one of them wascertain. Each of our adventurers felt the danger of his situation in amanner peculiar to his individual character and circumstances. 

Middleton wavered. At times he felt inclined to rush through the bushes, and, seizing Inez, attempt to fly. Then recollecting the impossibilityof outstripping the furious speed of an alarmed bison, he felt for hisarms, determined to make head against the countless drove. The facultiesof Dr. Battius were quickly wrought up to the very summit of mentaldelusion. The dark forms of the herd lost their distinctness, and thenthe naturalist began to fancy he beheld a wild collection of all thecreatures of the world, rushing upon him in a body, as if to revenge thevarious injuries, which in the course of a life of indefatigable labourin behalf of the natural sciences, he had inflicted on their severalgenera. The paralysis it occasioned in his system, was like the effectof the incubus. Equally unable to fly or to advance, he stood rivetedto the spot, until the infatuation became so complete, that theworthy naturalist was beginning, by a desperate effort of scientificresolution, even to class the different specimens. On the other hand, Paul shouted, and called on Ellen to come and assist him in shouting, but his voice was lost in the bellowings and trampling of the herd. Furious, and yet strangely excited by the obstinacy of the brutes andthe wildness of the sight, and nearly maddened by sympathy and aspecies of unconscious apprehension, in which the claims of nature weresingularly mingled with concern for his mistress, he nearly split histhroat in exhorting his aged friend to interfere. 

"Come forth, old trapper, " he shouted, "with your prairie inventions! orwe shall be all smothered under a mountain of buffaloe humps!"

The old man, who had stood all this while leaning on his rifle, andregarding the movements of the herd with a steady eye, now deemed ittime to strike his blow. Levelling his piece at the foremost bull, with an agility that would have done credit to his youth, he fired. Theanimal received the bullet on the matted hair between his horns, andfell to his knees: but shaking his head he instantly arose, the veryshock seeming to increase his exertions. There was now no longer time tohesitate. Throwing down his rifle, the trapper stretched forth hisarms, and advanced from the cover with naked hands, directly towards therushing column of the beasts. 

The figure of a man, when sustained by the firmness and steadiness thatintellect can only impart, rarely fails of commanding respect from allthe inferior animals of the creation. The leading bulls recoiled, andfor a single instant there was a sudden stop to their speed, a densemass of bodies rolling up in front, until hundreds were seen flounderingand tumbling on the plain. Then came another of those hollow bellowingsfrom the rear, and set the herd again in motion. The head of the column, however, divided. The immovable form of the trapper, cutting it, as itwere, into two gliding streams of life. Middleton and Paul instantlyprofited by his example, and extended the feeble barrier by a similarexhibition of their own persons. 

For a few moments, the new impulse given to the animals in front, servedto protect the thicket. But, as the body of the herd pressed more andmore upon the open line of its defenders, and the dust thickened, so asto obscure their persons, there was, at each instant, a renewed dangerof the beasts breaking through. It became necessary for the trapperand his companions to become still more and more alert; and they weregradually yielding before the headlong multitude, when a furious bulldarted by Middleton, so near as to brush his person, and, at the nextinstant, swept through the thicket with the velocity of the wind. 

"Close, and die for the ground, " shouted the old man, "or a thousand ofthe devils will be at his heels!"

All their efforts would have proved fruitless, however, against theliving torrent, had not Asinus, whose domains had just been so rudelyentered, lifted his voice, in the midst of the uproar. The most sturdyand furious of the bulls trembled at the alarming and unknown cry, and then each individual brute was seen madly pressing from that verythicket, which, the moment before, he had endeavoured to reach, with theeagerness with which the murderer seeks the sanctuary. 

As the stream divided, the place became clear; the two dark columnsmoving obliquely from the copse, to unite again at the distance ofa mile, on its opposite side. The instant the old man saw the suddeneffect which the voice of Asinus had produced, he coolly commencedreloading his rifle, indulging at the same time in a heartfelt fit ofhis silent and peculiar merriment. 

"There they go, like dogs with so many half-filled shot-pouches danglingat their tails, and no fear of their breaking their order; for what thebrutes in the rear didn't hear with their own ears, they'll conceit theydid: besides, if they change their minds, it may be no hard matter toget the Jack to sing the rest of his tune!"

"The ass has spoken, but Balaam is silent!" cried the bee-hunter, catching his breath after a repeated burst of noisy mirth, that mightpossibly have added to the panic of the buffaloes by its vociferation. "The man is as completely dumb-founded, as if a swarm of young bees hadsettled on the end of his tongue, and he not willing to speak, for fearof their answer. "

"How now, friend, " continued the trapper, addressing the stillmotionless and entranced naturalist; "how now, friend; are you, who makeyour livelihood by booking the names and natur's of the beasts of thefields and the fowls of the air, frightened at a herd of scamperingbuffaloes? Though, perhaps, you are ready to dispute my right to callthem by a word, that is in the mouth of every hunter and trader on thefrontier!"

The old man was however mistaken, in supposing he could excite thebenumbed faculties of the Doctor, by provoking a discussion. From thattime, henceforth, he was never known, except on one occasion, to utter aword that indicated either the species, or the genus, of the animal. Heobstinately refused the nutritious food of the whole ox family, and evento the present hour, now that he is established in all the scientificdignity and security of a savant in one of the maritime towns, he turnshis back with a shudder on those delicious and unrivalled viands, thatare so often seen at the suppers of the craft, and which are unequalledby any thing, that is served under the same name, at the boastedchop-houses of London, or at the most renowned of the Parisianrestaurants. In short, the distaste of the worthy naturalist for beefwas not unlike that which the shepherd sometimes produces, by firstmuzzling and fettering his delinquent dog, and then leaving him as astepping stone for the whole flock to use in its transit over a wall, orthrough the opening of a sheep-fold; a process which is said to producein the culprit a species of surfeit, on the subject of mutton, for everafter. By the time Paul and the trapper saw fit to terminate the freshbursts of merriment, which the continued abstraction of their learnedcompanion did not fail to excite, he commenced breathing again, as ifthe suspended action of his lungs had been renewed by the applicationof a pair of artificial bellows, and was heard to make use of the everafterwards proscribed term, on that solitary occasion, to which we havejust alluded. 

"Boves Americani horridi!" exclaimed the Doctor, laying great stress onthe latter word; after which he continued mute, like one who pondered onstrange and unaccountable events. 

"Ay, horrid eyes enough, I will willingly allow, " returned the trapper;"and altogether the creatur' has a frightful look, to one unused to thesights and bustle of a natural life; but then the courage of the beastis in no way equal to its countenance. Lord, man, if you should once getfairly beset by a brood of grizzly bears, as happened to Hector and I, at the great falls of the Miss--Ah, here comes the tail of the herd, andyonder goes a pack of hungry wolves, ready to pick up the sick, or suchas get a disjointed neck by a tumble. Ha! there are mounted men on theirtrail, or I'm no sinner! here, lad; you may see them here-away, justwhere the dust is scattering afore the wind. They are hovering around awounded buffaloe, making an end of the surly devil with their arrows!"

Middleton and Paul soon caught a glimpse of the dark group, that thequick eye of the old man had so readily detected. Some fifteen or twentyhorsemen were, in truth, to be seen riding, in quick circuits, abouta noble bull, which stood at bay, too grievously hurt to fly, and yetseeming to disdain to fall, notwithstanding his hardy body had alreadybeen the target for a hundred arrows. A thrust from the lance of apowerful Indian, however, completed his conquest, and the brute gave uphis obstinate hold of life with a roar, that passed bellowing overthe place where our adventurers stood, and, reaching the ears of theaffrighted herd, added a new impulse to their flight. 

"How well the Pawnee knew the philosophy of a buffaloe hunt!" saidthe old man, after he had stood regarding the animated scene for a fewmoments, with evident satisfaction. "You saw how he went off like thewind before the drove. It was in order that he might not taint the air, and that he might turn the flank, and join--Ha! how is this! yonderRed-skins are no Pawnees! The feathers in their heads are from the wingsand tails of owls. --Ah! as I am but a miserable, half-sighted, trapper, it is a band of the accursed Siouxes! To cover, lads, to cover. A singlecast of an eye this-a-way, would strip us of every rag of clothes, assurely as the lightning scorches the bush, and it might be that our verylives would be far from safe. "

Middleton had already turned from the spectacle, to seek that whichpleased him better; the sight of his young and beautiful bride. Paulseized the Doctor by the arm; and, as the trapper followed with thesmallest possible delay, the whole party was quickly collected withinthe cover of the thicket. After a few short explanations concerning thecharacter of this new danger, the old man, on whom the whole dutyof directing their movements was devolved, in deference to his greatexperience, continued his discourse as follows--

"This is a region, as you must all know, where a strong arm is farbetter than the right, and where the white law is as little known asneeded. Therefore does every thing, now, depend on judgment andpower. If, " he continued, laying his finger on his cheek, like one whoconsidered deeply all sides of the embarrassing situation in which hefound himself, --"if an invention could be framed, which would set theseSiouxes and the brood of the squatter by the ears, then might we comein, like the buzzards after a fight atween the beasts, and pick up thegleanings of the ground--there are Pawnees nigh us, too! It is a certainmatter, for yonder lad is not so far from his village without an errand. Here are therefore four parties within sound of a cannon, not one ofwhom can trust the other. All which makes movement a little difficult, in a district where covers are far from plenty. But we are threewell-armed, and I think I may see three stout-hearted men--"

"Four, " interrupted Paul. 

"Anan, " said the old man, looking up simply at his companion. 

"Four, " repeated the bee-hunter, pointing to the naturalist. 

"Every army has its hangers-on and idlers, " rejoined the bluntborder-man. "Friend, it will be necessary to slaughter this ass. "

"To slay Asinus! such a deed would be an act of supererogatory cruelty. "

"I know nothing of your words, which hide their meaning in sound; butthat is cruel which sacrifices a Christian to a brute. This is what Icall the reason of mercy. It would be just as safe to blow a trumpet, as to let the animal raise his voice again, inasmuch as it would prove amanifest challenge to the Siouxes. "

"I will answer for the discretion of Asinus, who seldom speaks without areason. "

"They say a man can be known by the company he keeps, " retorted the oldman, "and why not a brute? I once made a forced march, and went througha great deal of jeopardy, with a companion who never opened his mouthbut to sing; and trouble enough and great concern of mind did the fellowgive me. It was in that very business with your grand'ther, captain. But then he had a human throat, and well did he know how to use it, onoccasion, though he didn't always stop to regard the time and seasonsfit for such outcries. Ah's me! if I was now, as I was then, it wouldn'tbe a band of thieving Siouxes that should easily drive me from such alodgment as this! But what signifies boasting, when sight and strengthare both failing. The warrior, that the Delawares once saw fit to callafter the Hawk, for the goodness of his eyes, would now be better termedthe Mole! In my judgment, therefore, it will be well to slay the brute. "

"There's argument and good logic in it, " said Paul; "music is music, and it's always noisy, whether it comes from a fiddle or a jackass. Therefore I agree with the old man, and say, Kill the beast. "

"Friends, " said the naturalist, looking with a sorrowful eye from one toanother of his bloodily disposed companions, "slay not Asinus; he isa specimen of his kind, of whom much good and little evil can be said. Hardy and docile for his genus; abstemious and patient, even for hishumble species. We have journeyed much together, and his death wouldgrieve me. How would it trouble thy spirit, venerable venator, toseparate, in such an untimely manner, from your faithful hound?"

"The animal shall not die, " said the old man, suddenly clearing histhroat, in a manner that proved he felt the force of the appeal; "buthis voice must be smothered. Bind his jaws with the halter, and then Ithink we may trust the rest to Providence. "

With this double security for the discretion of Asinus, for Paulinstantly bound the muzzle of the ass in the manner required, thetrapper seemed content. After which he proceeded to the margin of thethicket to reconnoitre. 

The uproar, which attended the passage of the herd, was now gone, orrather it was heard rolling along the prairie, at the distance of amile. The clouds of dust were already blown away by the wind, and aclear range was left to the eye, in that place where ten minutes beforethere existed a scene of so much wildness and confusion. 

The Siouxes had completed their conquest, and, apparently satisfied withthis addition to the numerous previous captures they had made, they nowseemed content to let the remainder of the herd escape. A dozen remainedaround the carcass, over which a few buzzards were balancing themselveswith steady wings and greedy eyes, while the rest were riding about, inquest of such further booty as might come in their way, on the trail ofso vast a drove. The trapper measured the proportions, and scannedthe equipments of such individuals as drew nearer to the side of thethicket, with careful eyes. At length he pointed out one among them, toMiddleton, as Weucha. 

"Now, know we not only who they are, but their errand, " the old mancontinued, deliberately shaking his head. "They have lost the trail ofthe squatter, and are on its hunt. These buffaloes have crossed theirpath, and in chasing the animals, bad luck has led them in open sightof the hill on which the brood of Ishmael have harboured. Do you see yonbirds watching for the offals of the beast they have killed? Therein isa moral, which teaches the manner of a prairie life. A band of Pawneesare outlying for these very Siouxes, as you see the buzzards lookingdown for their food, and it behoves us, as Christian men who have somuch at stake, to look down upon them both. Ha! what brings yonder twoskirting reptiles to a stand? As you live, they have found the placewhere the miserable son of the squatter met his death!"

The old man was not mistaken. Weucha, and a savage who accompanied him, had reached that spot, which has already been mentioned as furnishingthe frightful evidences of violence and bloodshed. There they sat ontheir horses, examining the well-known signs, with the intelligencethat distinguishes the habits of Indians. Their scrutiny was long, andapparently not without distrust. At length they raised a cry, thatwas scarcely less piteous and startling than that which the hounds hadbefore made over the same fatal signs, and which did not fail to drawthe whole band immediately around them, as the fell bark of the jackalis said to gather his comrades to the chase. 

CHAPTER XX

 Welcome, ancient Pistol. --Shakspeare. 

It was not long before the trapper pointed out the commanding person ofMahtoree, as the leader of the Siouxes. This chief, who had been amongthe last to obey the vociferous summons of Weucha, no sooner reached thespot where his whole party was now gathered, than he threw himselffrom his horse, and proceeded to examine the marks of the extraordinarytrail, with that degree of dignity and attention which became his highand responsible station. The warriors, for it was but too evident thatthey were to a man of that fearless and ruthless class, awaited theresult of his investigation with patient reserve; none but a few of theprincipal braves, presuming even to speak, while their leader wasthus gravely occupied. It was several minutes before Mahtoree seemedsatisfied. He then directed his eyes along the ground to those severalplaces where Ishmael had found the same revolting evidences of thepassage of some bloody struggle, and motioned to his people to follow. 

The whole band advanced in a body towards the thicket, until they cameto a halt, within a few yards of the precise spot, where Esther hadstimulated her sluggish sons to break into the cover. The reader willreadily imagine that the trapper and his companions were not indifferentobservers of so threatening a movement. The old man summoned allwho were capable of bearing arms to his side, and demanded, in veryunequivocal terms, though in a voice that was suitably lowered, in orderto escape the ears of their dangerous neighbours, whether they weredisposed to make battle for their liberty, or whether they should trythe milder expedient of conciliation. As it was a subject in which allhad an equal interest, he put the question as to a council of war, andnot without some slight exhibition of the lingering vestiges of a nearlyextinct military pride. Paul and the Doctor were diametrically opposedto each other in opinion; the former declaring for an immediate appealto arms, and the latter was warmly espousing the policy of pacificmeasures. Middleton, who saw that there was great danger of a hot verbaldispute between two men, who were governed by feelings so diametricallyopposed, saw fit to assume the office of arbiter; or rather to decidethe question, his situation making him a sort of umpire. He also leanedto the side of peace, for he evidently saw that, in consequence of thevast superiority of their enemies, violence would irretrievably lead totheir destruction. 

The trapper listened to the reasons of the young soldier with greatattention; and, as they were given with the steadiness of one who didnot suffer apprehension to blind his judgment, they did not fail toproduce a suitable impression. 

"It is rational, " rejoined the trapper, when the other had deliveredhis reasons; "it is very rational, for what man cannot move with hisstrength he must circumvent with his wits. It is reason that makes himstronger than the buffaloe, and swifter than the moose. Now stay youhere, and keep yourselves close. My life and my traps are but of littlevalue, when the welfare of so many human souls are concerned; and, moreover, I may say that I know the windings of Indian cunning. Therefore will I go alone upon the prairie. It may so happen, that I canyet draw the eyes of a Sioux from this spot and give you time and roomto fly. "

As if resolved to listen to no remonstrance, the old man quietlyshouldered his rifle, and moving leisurely through the thicket, heissued on the plain, at a point whence he might first appear before theeyes of the Siouxes, without exciting their suspicions that he came fromits cover. 

The instant that the figure of a man dressed in the garb of a hunter, and bearing the well known and much dreaded rifle, appeared before theeyes of the Siouxes, there was a sensible, though a suppressed sensationin the band. The artifice of the trapper had so far succeeded, as torender it extremely doubtful whether he came from some point on the openprairie, or from the thicket; though the Indians still continued to castfrequent and suspicious glances at the cover. They had made theirhalt at the distance of an arrow-flight from the bushes; but when thestranger came sufficiently nigh to show that the deep coating of red andbrown, which time and exposure had given to his features, was laid uponthe original colour of a Pale-face, they slowly receded from the spot, until they reached a distance that might defeat the aim of fire-arms. 

In the mean time the old man continued to advance, until he had got nighenough to make himself heard without difficulty. Here he stopped, and dropping his rifle to the earth, he raised his hand with the palmoutward, in token of peace. After uttering a few words of reproachto his hound, who watched the savage group with eyes that seemed torecognise them, he spoke in the Sioux tongue--

"My brothers are welcome, " he said, cunningly constituting himself themaster of the region in which they had met, and assuming the officesof hospitality. "They are far from their villages, and are hungry. Willthey follow to my lodge, to eat and sleep?"

No sooner was his voice heard, than the yell of pleasure, which burstfrom a dozen mouths, convinced the sagacious trapper, that he also wasrecognised. Feeling that it was too late to retreat, he profited by theconfusion which prevailed among them, while Weucha was explaininghis character, to advance, until he was again face to face with theredoubtable Mahtoree. The second interview between these two men, eachof whom was extraordinary in his way, was marked by the usual cautionof the frontiers. They stood, for nearly a minute, examining each otherwithout speaking. 

"Where are your young men?" sternly demanded the Teton chieftain, afterhe found that the immovable features of the trapper refused to betrayany of their master's secrets, under his intimidating look. 

"The Long-knives do not come in bands to trap the beaver? I am alone. "

"Your head is white, but you have a forked tongue. Mahtoree has been inyour camp. He knows that you are not alone. Where is your young wife, and the warrior that I found upon the prairie?"

"I have no wife. I have told my brother that the woman and her friendwere strangers. The words of a grey head should be heard, and notforgotten. The Dahcotahs found travellers asleep, and they thought theyhad no need of horses. The women and children of a Pale-face are notused to go far on foot. Let them be sought where you left them. "

The eyes of the Teton flashed fire as he answered--

"They are gone: but Mahtoree is a wise chief, and his eyes can see agreat distance!"

"Does the partisan of the Tetons see men on these naked fields?"retorted the trapper, with great steadiness of mien. "I am very old, and my eyes grow dim. Where do they stand?" The chief remained silent amoment, as if he disdained to contest any further the truth of a fact, concerning which he was already satisfied. Then pointing to the traceson the earth, he said, with a sudden transition to mildness, in his eyeand manner--

"My father has learnt wisdom, in many winters; can he tell me whosemoccasin has left this trail?"

"There have been wolves and buffaloes on the prairies; and there mayhave been cougars too. "

Mahtoree glanced his eye at the thicket, as if he thought the lattersuggestion not impossible. Pointing to the place, he ordered his youngmen to reconnoitre it more closely, cautioning them, at the same time, with a stern look at the trapper, to beware of treachery from theBig-knives. Three or four half-naked, eager-looking youths lashed theirhorses at the word, and darted away to obey the mandate. The oldman trembled a little for the discretion of Paul, when he saw thisdemonstration. The Tetons encircled the place two or three times, approaching nigher and nigher at each circuit, and then galloped back totheir leader to report that the copse seemed empty. Notwithstanding thetrapper watched the eye of Mahtoree, to detect the inward movementsof his mind, and if possible to anticipate, in order to direct hissuspicions, the utmost sagacity of one so long accustomed to study thecold habits of the Indian race, could however detect no symptom, or expression, that denoted how far he credited or distrusted thisintelligence. Instead of replying to the information of his scouts, he spoke kindly to his horse, and motioning to a youth to receive thebridle, or rather halter, by which he governed the animal, he took thetrapper by the arm, and led him a little apart from the rest of theband. 

"Has my brother been a warrior?" said the wily Teton, in a tone that heintended should be conciliating. 

"Do the leaves cover the trees in the season of fruits? Go. TheDahcotahs have not seen as many warriors living as I have looked onin their blood! But what signifies idle remembrancing, " he added inEnglish, "when limbs grow stiff, and sight is failing!"

The chief regarded him a moment with a severe look, as if he would laybare the falsehood he had heard; but meeting in the calm eye and steadymien of the trapper a confirmation of the truth of what he said, he tookthe hand of the old man and laid it gently on his head, in token of therespect that was due to the other's years and experience. 

"Why then do the Big-knives tell their red brethren to bury thetomahawk, " he said, "when their own young men never forget that they arebraves, and meet each other so often with bloody hands?"

"My nation is more numerous than the buffaloes on the prairies, or thepigeons in the air. Their quarrels are frequent; yet their warriorsare few. None go out on the war-path but they who are gifted with thequalities of a brave, and therefore such see many battles. "

"It is not so--my father is mistaken, " returned Mahtoree, indulging ina smile of exulting penetration, at the very instant he corrected theforce of his denial, in deference to the years and services of one soaged. "The Big-knives are very wise, and they are men; all of them wouldbe warriors. They would leave the Red-skins to dig roots and hoe thecorn. But a Dahcotah is not born to live like a woman; he must strikethe Pawnee and the Omahaw, or he will lose the name of his fathers. "

"The Master of Life looks with an open eye on his children, who die ina battle that is fought for the right; but he is blind, and his ears areshut to the cries of an Indian, who is killed when plundering, or doingevil to his neighbour. "

"My father is old, " said Mahtoree, looking at his aged companion, withan expression of irony, that sufficiently denoted he was one of thosewho overstep the trammels of education, and who are perhaps a littlegiven to abuse the mental liberty they thus obtain. "He is very old: hashe made a journey to the far country; and has he been at the trouble tocome back, to tell the young men what he has seen?"

"Teton, " returned the trapper, throwing the breach of his rifle to theearth with startling vehemence, and regarding his companion with steadyserenity, "I have heard that there are men, among my people, who studytheir great medicines until they believe themselves to be gods, and wholaugh at all faith except in their own vanities. It may be true. It istrue; for I have seen them. When man is shut up in towns and schools, with his own follies, it may be easy to believe himself greater than theMaster of Life; but a warrior, who lives in a house with the clouds forits roof, where he can at any moment look both at the heavens and at theearth, and who daily sees the power of the Great Spirit, should be morehumble. A Dahcotah chieftain ought to be too wise to laugh at justice. "

The crafty Mahtoree, who saw that his free-thinking was not likely toproduce a favourable impression on the old man, instantly changed hisground, by alluding to the more immediate subject of their interview. Laying his hand gently on the shoulder of the trapper, he led himforward, until they both stood within fifty feet of the margin of thethicket. Here he fastened his penetrating eyes on the other's honestcountenance, and continued the discourse--

"If my father has hid his young men in the bush, let him tell them tocome forth. You see that a Dahcotah is not afraid. Mahtoree is a greatchief! A warrior, whose head is white, and who is about to go to theLand of Spirits, cannot have a tongue with two ends, like a serpent. "

"Dahcotah, I have told no lie. Since the Great Spirit made me a man, Ihave lived in the wilderness, or on these naked plains, without lodge orfamily. I am a hunter and go on my path alone. "

"My father has a good carabine. Let him point it in the bush and fire. "

The old man hesitated a moment, and then slowly prepared himself to givethis delicate assurance of the truth of what he said, without which heplainly perceived the suspicions of his crafty companion could not belulled. As he lowered his rifle, his eye, although greatly dimmed andweakened by age, ran over the confused collection of objects, thatlay embedded amid the party-coloured foliage of the thicket, until itsucceeded in catching a glimpse of the brown covering of the stem of asmall tree. With this object in view, he raised the piece to a leveland fired. The bullet had no sooner glided from the barrel than a tremorseized the hands of the trapper, which, had it occurred a moment sooner, would have utterly disqualified him for so hazardous an experiment. Afrightful silence succeeded the report, during which he expected to hearthe shrieks of the females, and then, as the smoke whirled away in thewind, he caught a view of the fluttering bark, and felt assured that allhis former skill was not entirely departed from him. Dropping the pieceto the earth, he turned again to his companion with an air of the utmostcomposure, and demanded--

"Is my brother satisfied?"

"Mahtoree is a chief of the Dahcotahs, " returned the cunning Teton, laying his hand on his chest, in acknowledgment of the other'ssincerity. "He knows that a warrior, who has smoked at so manycouncil-fires, until his head has grown white, would not be found inwicked company. But did not my father once ride on a horse, like a richchief of the Pale-faces, instead of travelling on foot like a hungryKonza?"

"Never! The Wahcondah has given me legs, and he has given me resolutionto use them. For sixty summers and winters did I journey in the woodsof America, and ten tiresome years have I dwelt on these open fields, without finding need to call often upon the gifts of the other creatur'sof the Lord to carry me from place to place. "

"If my father has so long lived in the shade, why has he come upon theprairies? The sun will scorch him. "

The old man looked sorrowfully about for a moment, and then turning witha confidential air to the other, he replied--

"I passed the spring, summer, and autumn of life among the trees. Thewinter of my days had come, and found me where I loved to be, in thequiet--ay, and in the honesty of the woods! Teton, then I slept happily, where my eyes could look up through the branches of the pines and thebeeches, to the very dwelling of the Good Spirit of my people. If Ihad need to open my heart to him, while his fires were burning above myhead, the door was open and before my eyes. But the axes of the choppersawoke me. For a long time my ears heard nothing but the uproar ofclearings. I bore it like a warrior and a man; there was a reason thatI should bear it: but when that reason was ended, I bethought me toget beyond the accursed sounds. It was trying to the courage and tothe habits, but I had heard of these vast and naked fields, and I camehither to escape the wasteful temper of my people. Tell me, Dahcotah, have I not done well?"

The trapper laid his long lean finger on the naked shoulder of theIndian as he ended, and seemed to demand his felicitations on hisingenuity and success, with a ghastly smile, in which triumph wassingularly blended with regret. His companion listened intently, andreplied to the question by saying, in the sententious manner of hisrace--

"The head of my father is very grey; he has always lived with men, andhe has seen everything. What he does is good; what he speaks is wise. Now let him say, is he sure that he is a stranger to the Big-knives, whoare looking for their beasts on every side of the prairies and cannotfind them?"

"Dahcotah, what I have said is true. I live alone, and never do I minglewith men whose skins are white, if--"

His mouth was suddenly closed by an interruption that was as mortifyingas it was unexpected. The words were still on his tongue, when thebushes on the side of the thicket where they stood, opened, and thewhole of the party whom he had just left, and in whose behalf hewas endeavouring to reconcile his love of truth to the necessity ofprevaricating, came openly into view. A pause of mute astonishmentsucceeded this unlooked-for spectacle. Then Mahtoree, who did notsuffer a muscle or a joint to betray the wonder and surprise he actuallyexperienced, motioned towards the advancing friends of the trapper withan air of assumed civility, and a smile, that lighted his fierce, dark, visage, as the glare of the setting sun reveals the volume and loadof the cloud, that is charged to bursting with the electric fluid. He however disdained to speak, or to give any other evidence of hisintentions than by calling to his side the distant band, who sprangforward at his beck, with the alacrity of willing subordinates. 

In the mean time the friends of the old man continued to advance. Middleton himself was foremost, supporting the light and aerial lookingfigure of Inez, on whose anxious countenance he cast such occasionalglances of tender interest as, in similar circumstances, a father wouldhave given to his child. Paul led Ellen, close in their rear. But whilethe eye of the bee-hunter did not neglect his blooming companion, itscowled angrily, resembling more the aspect of the sullen and retreatingbear than the soft intelligence of a favoured suitor. Obed and Asinuscame last, the former leading his companion with a degree of fondnessthat could hardly be said to be exceeded by any other of the party. Theapproach of the naturalist was far less rapid than that of those whopreceded him. His feet seemed equally reluctant to advance, or to remainstationary; his position bearing a great analogy to that of Mahomet'scoffin, with the exception that the quality of repulsion rather thanthat of attraction held him in a state of rest. The repulsive power inhis rear however appeared to predominate, and by a singular exception, as he would have said himself, to all philosophical principles, itrather increased than diminished by distance. As the eyes of thenaturalist steadily maintained a position that was the opposite of hisroute, they served to give a direction to those of the observers of allthese movements, and at once furnished a sufficient clue by which tounravel the mystery of so sudden a debouchement from the cover. 

Another cluster of stout and armed men was seen at no great distance, just rounding a point of the thicket, and moving directly thoughcautiously towards the place where the band of the Siouxes was posted, as a squadron of cruisers is often seen to steer across the waste ofwaters, towards the rich but well-protected convoy. In short, the familyof the squatter, or at least such among them as were capable ofbearing arms, appeared in view, on the broad prairie, evidently bent onrevenging their wrongs. 

Mahtoree and his party slowly retired from the thicket, the momentthey caught a view of the strangers, until they halted on a swell thatcommanded a wide and unobstructed view of the naked fields on which theystood. Here the Dahcotah appeared disposed to make his stand, and tobring matters to an issue. Notwithstanding this retreat, in which hecompelled the trapper to accompany him, Middleton still advanced, untilhe too halted on the same elevation, and within speaking distance of thewarlike Siouxes. The borderers in their turn took a favourable position, though at a much greater distance. The three groups now resembled somany fleets at sea, lying with their topsails to the masts, with thecommendable precaution of reconnoitring, before each could ascertain whoamong the strangers might be considered as friends, and who as foes. 

During this moment of suspense, the dark, threatening, eye of Mahtoreerolled from one of the strange parties to the other, in keen and hastyexamination, and then it turned its withering look on the old man, asthe chief said, in a tone of high and bitter scorn--

"The Big-knives are fools! It is easier to catch the cougar asleep, thanto find a blind Dahcotah. Did the white head think to ride on the horseof a Sioux?"

The trapper, who had found time to collect his perplexed faculties, sawat once that Middleton, having perceived Ishmael on the trail by whichthey had fled, preferred trusting to the hospitality of the savages, than to the treatment he would be likely to receive from the hands ofthe squatter. He therefore disposed himself to clear the way for thefavourable reception of his friends, since he found that the unnaturalcoalition became necessary to secure the liberty, if not the lives, ofthe party. 

"Did my brother ever go on a war-path to strike my people?" he calmlydemanded of the indignant chief, who still awaited his reply. 

The lowering aspect of the Teton warrior so far lost its severity, asto suffer a gleam of pleasure and triumph to lighten its ferocity, assweeping his arm in an entire circle around his person he answered--

"What tribe or nation has not felt the blows of the Dahcotahs? Mahtoreeis their partisan. "

"And has he found the Big-knives women, or has he found them men?"

A multitude of fierce passions were struggling in the tawny countenanceof the Indian. For a moment inextinguishable hatred seemed to hold themastery, and then a nobler expression, and one that better became thecharacter of a brave, got possession of his features, and maintaineditself until, first throwing aside his light robe of pictured deer-skin, and pointing to the scar of a bayonet in his breast, he replied--

"It was given, as it was taken, face to face. "

"It is enough. My brother is a brave chief, and he should be wise. Lethim look: is that a warrior of the Pale-faces? Was it one such as thatwho gave the great Dahcotah his hurt?"

The eyes of Mahtoree followed the direction of the old man's extendedarm, until they rested on the drooping form of Inez. The look of theTeton was long, riveted, and admiring. Like that of the young Pawnee, it resembled more the gaze of a mortal on some heavenly image, than theadmiration with which man is wont to contemplate even the lovelinessof woman. Starting, as if suddenly self-convicted of forgetfulness, thechief next turned his eyes on Ellen, where they lingered an instantwith a much more intelligible expression of admiration, and then pursuedtheir course until they had taken another glance at each individual ofthe party. 

"My brother sees that my tongue is not forked, " continued thetrapper, watching the emotions the other betrayed, with a readinessof comprehension little inferior to that of the Teton himself. "TheBig-knives do not send their women to war. I know that the Dahcotahswill smoke with the strangers. "

"Mahtoree is a great chief! The Big-knives are welcome, " said the Teton, laying his hand on his breast, with an air of lofty politeness thatwould have done credit to any state of society. "The arrows of my youngmen are in their quivers. "

The trapper motioned to Middleton to approach, and in a few momentsthe two parties were blended in one, each of the males having exchangedfriendly greetings, after the fashions of the prairie warriors. But, even while engaged in this hospitable manner, the Dahcotah did not failto keep a strict watch on the more distant party of white men, as ifhe still distrusted an artifice, or sought further explanation. The oldman, in his turn, perceived the necessity of being more explicit, andof securing the slight and equivocal advantage he had already obtained. While affecting to examine the group, which still lingered at the spotwhere it had first halted, as if to discover the characters of thosewho composed it, he plainly saw that Ishmael contemplated immediatehostilities. The result of a conflict on the open prairie, betweena dozen resolute border men, and the half-armed natives, even thoughseconded by their white allies, was in his experienced judgment a pointof great uncertainty, and though far from reluctant to engage in thestruggle on account of himself, the aged trapper thought it far moreworthy of his years, and his character, to avoid than to court thecontest. His feelings were, for obvious reasons, in accordance withthose of Paul and Middleton, who had lives still more precious thantheir own to watch over and protect. In this dilemma the three consultedon the means of escaping the frightful consequences which mightimmediately follow a single act of hostility on the part of theborderers; the old man taking care that their communication should, inthe eyes of those who noted the expression of their countenances withjealous watchfulness, bear the appearance of explanations as to thereason why such a party of travellers was met so far in the deserts. 

"I know that the Dahcotahs are a wise and great people, " at length thetrapper commenced, again addressing himself to the chief; "but does nottheir partisan know a single brother who is base?"

The eye of Mahtoree wandered proudly around his band, but rested amoment reluctantly on Weucha, as he answered--

"The Master of Life has made chiefs, and warriors, and women;"conceiving that he thus embraced all the gradations of human excellencefrom the highest to the lowest. 

"And he has also made Pale-faces, who are wicked. Such are they whom mybrother sees yonder. "

"Do they go on foot to do wrong?" demanded the Teton, with a wild gleamfrom his eyes, that sufficiently betrayed how well he knew the reasonwhy they were reduced to so humble an expedient. 

"Their beasts are gone. But their powder, and their lead, and theirblankets remain. "

"Do they carry their riches in their hands, like miserable Konzas? orare they brave, and leave them with the women, as men should do, whoknow where to find what they lose?"

"My brother sees the spot of blue across the prairie; look, the sun hastouched it for the last time to-day. "

"Mahtoree is not a mole. "

"It is a rock; on it are the goods of the Big-knives. "

An expression of savage joy shot into the dark countenance of the Tetonas he listened; turning to the old man he seemed to read his soul, asif to assure himself he was not deceived. Then he bent his look on theparty of Ishmael, and counted its number. 

"One warrior is wanting, " he said. 

"Does my brother see the buzzards? there is his grave. Did he find bloodon the prairie? It was his. "

"Enough! Mahtoree is a wise chief. Put your women on the horses of theDahcotahs: we shall see, for our eyes are open very wide. "

The trapper wasted no unnecessary words in explanation. Familiar withthe brevity and promptitude of the natives, he immediately communicatedthe result to his companions. Paul was mounted in an instant, with Ellenat his back. A few more moments were necessary to assure Middletonof the security and ease of Inez. While he was thus engaged, Mahtoreeadvanced to the side of the beast he had allotted to this service, whichwas his own, and manifested an intention to occupy his customary placeon its back. The young soldier seized the reins of the animal, andglances of sudden anger and lofty pride were exchanged between them. 

"No man takes this seat but myself, " said Middleton, sternly, inEnglish. 

"Mahtoree is a great chief!" retorted the savage; neither comprehendingthe meaning of the other's words. 

"The Dahcotah will be too late, " whispered the old man at his elbow;"see; the Big-knives are afraid, and they will soon run. "

The Teton chief instantly abandoned his claim, and threw himself onanother horse, directing one of his young men to furnish a similaraccommodation for the trapper. The warriors who were dismounted, got upbehind as many of their companions. Doctor Battius bestrode Asinus; and, notwithstanding the brief interruption, in half the time we have takento relate it, the whole party was prepared to move. 

When he saw that all were ready, Mahtoree gave the signal to advance. A few of the best mounted of the warriors, the chief himself included, moved a little in front, and made a threatening demonstration, as ifthey intended to attack the strangers. The squatter, who was in truthslowly retiring, instantly halted his party, and showed a willing front. Instead, however, of coming within reach of the dangerous aim of thewestern rifle, the subtle savages kept wheeling about the strangers, until they had made a half circuit, keeping the latter in constantexpectation of an assault. Then, perfectly secure of their object, theTetons raised a loud shout, and darted across the prairie in a line forthe distant rock, with the directness and nearly with the velocity ofthe arrow, that has just been shot from its bow. 

CHAPTER XXI

 Dally not with the gods, but get thee gone. --Shakspeare. 

Mahtoree had scarcely given the first intimation of his real design, before a general discharge from the borderers proved how well theyunderstood it. The distance, and the rapidity of the flight, however, rendered the fire harmless. As a proof how little he regarded thehostility of their party, the Dahcotah chieftain answered the reportwith a yell; and, flourishing his carabine above his head, he made acircuit on the plain, followed by his chosen warriors, in scorn of theimpotent attempt of his enemies. As the main body continued the directcourse, this little band of the elite, in returning from its wildexhibition of savage contempt, took its place in the rear, with adexterity and a concert of action that showed the manoeuvre had beencontemplated. 

Volley swiftly succeeded volley, until the enraged squatter wasreluctantly compelled to abandon the idea of injuring his enemies bymeans so feeble. Relinquishing his fruitless attempt, he commenced arapid pursuit, occasionally discharging a rifle in order to give thealarm to the garrison, which he had prudently left under the command ofthe redoubtable Esther herself. In this manner the chase was continuedfor many minutes, the horsemen gradually gaining on their pursuers, whomaintained the race, however, with an incredible power of foot. 

As the little speck of blue rose against the heavens, like an islandissuing from the deep, the savages occasionally raised a yell oftriumph. But the mists of evening were already gathering along the wholeof the eastern margin of the prairie, and before the band had made halfof the necessary distance, the dim outline of the rock had melted intothe haze of the back ground. Indifferent to this circumstance, whichrather favoured than disconcerted his plans, Mahtoree, who had againridden in front, held on his course with the accuracy of a hound of thetruest scent, merely slackening his speed a little, as the horses of hisparty were by this time thoroughly blown. It was at this stage of theenterprise, that the old man rode up to the side of Middleton, andaddressed him as follows in English--

"Here is likely to be a thieving business, and one in which I must say Ihave but little wish to be a partner. "

"What would you do? It would be fatal to trust ourselves in the hands ofthe miscreants in our rear. "

"Tut, for miscreants, be they red or be they white. Look ahead, lad, as if ye were talking of our medicines, or perhaps praising the Tetonbeasts. For the knaves love to hear their horses commended, the same asa foolish mother in the settlements is fond of hearing the praises ofher wilful child. So; pat the animal and lay your hand on the gewgaws, with which the Red-skins have ornamented his mane, giving your eye asit were to one thing, and your mind to another. Listen; if matters aremanaged with judgment, we may leave these Tetons as the night sets in. "

"A blessed thought!" exclaimed Middleton, who retained a painfulremembrance of the look of admiration, with which Mahtoree hadcontemplated the loveliness of Inez, as well as of his subsequentpresumption in daring to wish to take the office of her protector onhimself. 

"Lord, Lord! what a weak creatur' is man, when the gifts of natur' aresmothered in bookish knowledge, and womanly manners! Such another startwould tell these imps at our elbows that we were plotting against them, just as plainly as if it were whispered in their ears by a Sioux tongue. Ay, ay, I know the devils; they look as innocent as so many friskyfawns, but there is not one among them all that has not an eye on oursmallest motions. Therefore, what is to be done is to be done in wisdom, in order to circumvent their cunning. That is right; pat his neck andsmile, as if you praised the horse, and keep the ear on my side opento my words. Be careful not to worry your beast, for though but littleskilled in horses, reason teaches that breath is needful in a hard push, and that a weary leg makes a dull race. Be ready to mind the signal, when you hear a whine from old Hector. The first will be to makeready; the second, to edge out of the crowd; and the third, to go--am Iunderstood?"

"Perfectly, perfectly, " said Middleton, trembling in his excessiveeagerness to put the plan in instant execution, and pressing thelittle arm, which encircled his body, to his heart. "Perfectly. Hasten, hasten. "

"Ay, the beast is no sloth, " continued the trapper in the Tetonlanguage, as if he continued the discourse, edging cautiously throughthe dusky throng at the same time, until he found himself riding at theside of Paul. He communicated his intentions in the same guarded manneras before. The high-spirited and fearless bee-hunter received theintelligence with delight, declaring his readiness to engage the wholeof the savage band, should it become necessary to effect their object. When the old man drew off from the side of this pair also, he cast hiseyes about him to discover the situation occupied by the naturalist. 

The Doctor, with infinite labour to himself and Asinus, had maintained aposition in the very centre of the Siouxes, so long as there existed thesmallest reason for believing that any of the missiles of Ishmael mightarrive in contact with his person. After this danger had diminished, orrather disappeared entirely, his own courage revived, while that of hissteed began to droop. To this mutual but very material change was owingthe fact, that the rider and the ass were now to be sought among thatportion of the band who formed a sort of rear-guard. Hither, then, thetrapper contrived to turn his steed, without exciting the suspicions ofany of his subtle companions. 

"Friend, " commenced the old man, when he found himself in a situationfavourable to discourse, "should you like to pass a dozen years amongthe savages with a shaved head, and a painted countenance, with, perhaps, a couple of wives and five or six children of the half breed, to call you father?"

"Impossible!" exclaimed the startled naturalist. "I am indisposedto matrimony in general, and more especially to all admixture of thevarieties of species, which only tend to tarnish the beauty and tointerrupt the harmony of nature. Moreover, it is a painful innovation onthe order of all nomenclatures. "

"Ay, ay, you have reason enough for your distaste to such a life; butshould these Siouxes get you fairly into their village, such would beyour luck, as certain as that the sun rises and sets at the pleasure ofthe Lord. "

"Marry me to a woman who is not adorned with the comeliness of thespecies!" responded the Doctor. "Of what crime have I been guilty, that so grievous a punishment should await the offence? To marry a managainst the movements of his will, is to do a violence to human nature!"

"Now, that you speak of natur', I have hopes that the gift of reason hasnot altogether deserted your brain, " returned the old man, with a covertexpression playing about the angles of his deep set eyes, which betrayedhe was not entirely destitute of humour. "Nay, they may conceive you aremarkable subject for their kindness, and for that matter marry youto five or six. I have known, in my days, favoured chiefs who hadnumberless wives. "

"But why should they meditate this vengeance?" demanded the Doctor, whose hair began to rise, as if each fibre was possessed of sensibility;"what evil have I done?"

"It is the fashion of their kindness. When they come to learn that youare a great medicine, they will adopt you in the tribe, and some mightychief will give you his name, and perhaps his daughter, or it may be awife or two of his own, who have dwelt long in his lodge, and of whosevalue he is a judge by experience. "

"The Governor and Founder of natural harmony protect me!" ejaculated theDoctor. "I have no affinity to a single consort, much less to duplicatesand triplicates of the class! I shall certainly essay a flight fromtheir abodes before I mingle in so violent a conjunction. "

"There is reason in your words; but why not attempt the race you speakof now?"

The naturalist looked fearfully around, as if he had an inclination tomake an instant exhibition of his desperate intention; but the duskyfigures, who were riding on every side of him, seemed suddenly tripledin number, and the darkness, that was already thickening on the prairie, appeared in his eyes to possess the glare of high noon. 

"It would be premature, and reason forbids it, " he answered. "Leave me, venerable venator, to the council of my own thoughts, and when my plansare properly classed, I will advise you of my resolutions. "

"Resolutions!" repeated the old man, shaking his head a littlecontemptuously as he gave the rein to his horse, and allowed him tomingle with the steeds of the savages. "Resolution is a word that istalked of in the settlements, and felt on the borders. Does my brotherknow the beast on which the Pale-face rides?" he continued, addressinga gloomy looking warrior in his own tongue, and making a motion with hisarm that at the same time directed his attention to the naturalist andthe meek Asinus. 

The Teton turned his eyes for a minute on the animal, but disdained tomanifest the smallest portion of that wonder he had felt, in common withall his companions, on first viewing so rare a quadruped. The trapperwas not ignorant, that while asses and mules were beginning to be knownto those tribes who dwelt nearest the Mexicos, they were not usuallyencountered so far north as the waters of La Platte. He thereforemanaged to read the mute astonishment, that lay so deeply concealed inthe tawny visage of the savage, and took his measures accordingly. 

"Does my brother think that the rider is a warrior of the Pale-faces?"he demanded, when he believed that sufficient time had elapsed, for afull examination of the pacific mien of the naturalist. 

The flash of scorn, which shot across the features of the Teton, wasvisible, even by the dim light of the stars. 

"Is a Dahcotah a fool?" was the answer. 

"They are a wise nation, whose eyes are never shut; much do I wonder, that they have not seen the great medicine of the Big-knives!"

"Wagh!" exclaimed his companion, suffering the whole of his amazement toburst out of his dark rigid countenance at the surprise, like a flash oflightning illuminating the gloom of midnight. 

"The Dahcotah knows that my tongue is not forked. Let him open his eyeswider. Does he not see a very great medicine?"

The light was not necessary to recall to the savage each feature in thereally remarkable costume and equipage of Dr. Battius. In common withthe rest of the band, and in conformity with the universal practiceof the Indians, this warrior, while he had suffered no gaze ofidle curiosity to disgrace his manhood, had not permitted a singledistinctive mark, which might characterise any one of the strangers, toescape his vigilance. He knew the air, the stature, the dress, and thefeatures, even to the colour of the eyes and of the hair, of every oneof the Big-knives, whom he had thus strangely encountered, and deeplyhad he ruminated on the causes, which could have led a party, sosingularly constituted, into the haunts of the rude inhabitants of hisnative wastes. He had already considered the several physical powersof the whole party, and had duly compared their abilities with what hesupposed might have been their intentions. Warriors they were not, forthe Big-knives, like the Siouxes, left their women in their villageswhen they went out on the bloody path. The same objections applied tothem as hunters, and even as traders, the two characters under which thewhite men commonly appeared in their villages. He had heard of agreat council, at which the Menahashah, or Long-knives, and theWashsheomantiqua, or Spaniards, had smoked together, when the latterhad sold to the former their incomprehensible rights over those vastregions, through which his nation had roamed, in freedom, for so manyages. His simple mind had not been able to embrace the reasons why onepeople should thus assume a superiority over the possessions of another, and it will readily be perceived, that at the hint just received fromthe trapper, he was not indisposed to fancy that some of the hiddensubtilty of that magical influence, of which he was so firm a believer, was about to be practised by the unsuspecting subject of theirconversation, in furtherance of these mysterious claims. Abandoning, therefore, all the reserve and dignity of his manner, under theconscious helplessness of ignorance, he turned to the old man, andstretching forth his arms, as if to denote how much he lay at his mercy, he said--

"Let my father look at me. I am a wild man of the prairies; my bodyis naked; my hands empty; my skin red. I have struck the Pawnees, theKonzas, the Omahaws, the Osages, and even the Long-knives. I am a manamid warriors, but a woman among the conjurors. Let my father speak: theears of the Teton are open. He listens like a deer to the step of thecougar. "

"Such are the wise and uns'archable ways of One who alone knows goodfrom evil!" exclaimed the trapper, in English. "To some He grantscunning, and on others He bestows the gift of manhood! It is humbling, and it is afflicting to see so noble a creatur' as this, who has fou'tin many a bloody fray, truckling before his superstition like a beggarasking for the bones you would throw to the dogs. The Lord will forgiveme for playing with the ignorance of the savage, for He knows I do it inno mockery of his state, or in idle vaunting of my own; but in order tosave mortal life, and to give justice to the wronged, while I defeat thedeviltries of the wicked! Teton, " speaking again in the language of thelistener, "I ask you, is not that a wonderful medicine? If the Dahcotahsare wise, they will not breathe the air he breathes, nor touch hisrobes. They know, that the Wahconshecheh (bad spirit) loves his ownchildren, and will not turn his back on him that does them harm. "

The old man delivered this opinion in an ominous and sententious manner, and then rode apart as if he had said enough. The result justified hisexpectations. The warrior, to whom he had addressed himself, wasnot slow to communicate his important knowledge to the rest of therear-guard, and, in a very few moments, the naturalist was the object ofgeneral observation and reverence. The trapper, who understood that thenatives often worshipped, with a view to propitiate, the evil spirit, awaited the workings of his artifice, with the coolness of one who hadnot the smallest interest in its effects. It was not long before he sawone dark figure after another, lashing his horse and galloping aheadinto the centre of the band, until Weucha alone remained nigh thepersons of himself and Obed. The very dulness of this grovelling-mindedsavage, who continued gazing at the supposed conjuror with a sort ofstupid admiration, opposed now the only obstacle to the complete successof his artifice. 

Thoroughly understanding the character of this Indian, the old man lostno time in getting rid of him also. Riding to his side he said, in anaffected whisper--

"Has Weucha drunk of the milk of the Big-knives, to-day?"

"Hugh!" exclaimed the savage, every dull thought instantly recalled fromheaven to earth by the question. 

"Because the great captain of my people, who rides in front, has a cowthat is never empty. I know it will not be long before he will say, Areany of my red brethren dry?"

The words were scarcely uttered, before Weucha, in his turn, quickenedthe gait of his beast, and was soon blended with the rest of the darkgroup, who were riding, at a more moderate pace, a few rods in advance. The trapper, who knew how fickle and sudden were the changes of a savagemind, did not lose a moment in profiting by this advantage. He loosenedthe reins of his own impatient steed, and in an instant he was again atthe side of Obed. 

"Do you see the twinkling star, that is, may be, the length of fourrifles above the prairie; hereaway, to the North I mean?"

"Ay, it is of the constellation---"

"A tut for your constellations, man; do you see the star I mean? Tellme, in the English of the land, yes or no. "

"Yes. "

"The moment my back is turned, pull upon the rein of your ass, until youlose sight of the savages. Then take the Lord for your dependence, andyonder star for your guide. Turn neither to the right hand, nor to theleft, but make diligent use of your time, for your beast is not quickof foot, and every inch of prairie you gain, is a day added to yourliberty, or to your life. "

Without waiting to listen to the queries, which the naturalist was aboutto put, the old man again loosened the reins of his horse, and presentlyhe too was blended with the group in front. 

Obed was now alone. Asinus willingly obeyed the hint which hismaster soon gave, rather in desperation than with any very collectedunderstanding of the orders he had received, and checked his paceaccordingly. As the Tetons however rode at a hand-gallop, but a momentof time was necessary, after the ass began to walk, to remove themeffectually from before the vision of his rider. Without plan, expectation, or hope of any sort, except that of escaping from hisdangerous neighbours, the Doctor first feeling, to assure himself thatthe package, which contained the miserable remnants of his specimensand notes was safe at his crupper, turned the head of the beast in therequired direction, and kicking him with a species of fury, he soonsucceeded in exciting the speed of the patient animal into a smart run. He had barely time to descend into a hollow and ascend the adjoiningswell of the prairie, before he heard, or fancied he heard, his nameshouted, in good English, from the throats of twenty Tetons. Thedelusion gave a new impulse to his ardour; and no professor of thesaltant art ever applied himself with greater industry, than thenaturalist now used his heels on the ribs of Asinus. The conflictendured for several minutes without interruption, and to all appearancesit might have continued to the present moment, had not the meek temperof the beast become unduly excited. Borrowing an idea from the mannerin which his master exhibited his agitation, Asinus so far changed theapplication of his own heels, as to raise them simultaneously witha certain indignant flourish into the air, a measure that instantlydecided the controversy in his favour. Obed took leave of his seat, asof a position no longer tenable, continuing, however, the directionof his flight, while the ass, like a conqueror, took possession of thefield of battle, beginning to crop the dry herbage, as the fruits ofvictory. 

When Doctor Battius had recovered his feet, and rallied his faculties, which were in a good deal of disorder from the hurried manner in whichhe had abandoned his former situation, he returned in quest of hisspecimens and of his ass. Asinus displayed enough of magnanimity torender the interview amicable, and thenceforth the naturalist continuedthe required route with very commendable industry, but with a much moretempered discretion. 

In the mean time, the old trapper had not lost sight of the importantmovements that he had undertaken to control. Obed had not beenmistaken in supposing that he was already missed and sought, thoughhis imagination had corrupted certain savage cries into the well-knownsounds that composed his own latinized name. The truth was simply this. The warriors of the rearguard had not failed to apprise those in frontof the mysterious character, with which it had pleased the trapper toinvest the unsuspecting naturalist. The same untutored admiration, whichon the receipt of this intelligence had driven those in the rear to thefront, now drove many of the front to the rear. The Doctor was of courseabsent, and the outcry was no more than the wild yells, which wereraised in the first burst of savage disappointment. 

But the authority of Mahtoree was prompt to aid the ingenuity of thetrapper, in suppressing these dangerous sounds. When order was restored, and the former was made acquainted with the reason why his young men hadbetrayed so strong a mark of indiscretion, the old man, who had takena post at his elbow, saw, with alarm, the gleam of keen distrust thatflashed in his swarthy visage. 

"Where is your conjuror?" demanded the chief, turning suddenly to thetrapper, as if he meant to make him responsible for the re-appearance ofObed. 

"Can I tell my brother the number of the stars? The ways of a greatmedicine are not like the ways of other men. "

"Listen to me, grey-head, and count my words, " continued the other, bending on his rude saddle-bow, like some chevalier of a more civilisedrace, and speaking in the haughty tones of absolute power; "theDahcotahs have not chosen a woman for their chief; when Mahtoree feelsthe power of a great medicine, he will tremble; until then he will lookwith his own eyes, without borrowing sight from a Pale-face. If yourconjuror is not with his friends in the morning, my young men shall lookfor him. Your ears are open. Enough. "

The trapper was not sorry to find that so long a respite was granted. Hehad before found reason to believe, that the Teton partisan was one ofthose bold spirits, who overstep the limits which use and educationfix to the opinions of man, in every state of society, and he now sawplainly that he must adopt some artifice to deceive him, differentfrom that which had succeeded so well with his followers. The suddenappearance of the rock, however, which hove up, a bleak and ragged mass, out of the darkness ahead, put an end for the present to the discourse, Mahtoree giving all his thoughts to the execution of his designs on therest of the squatter's movables. A murmur ran through the band, as eachdark warrior caught a glimpse of the desired haven, after which thenicest ear might have listened in vain, to catch a sound louder than therustling of feet among the tall grass of the prairie. 

But the vigilance of Esther was not easily deceived. She had longlistened anxiously to the suspicious sounds, which approached the rockacross the naked waste, nor had the sudden outcry been unheard by theunwearied sentinels of the rock. The savages, who had dismounted at somelittle distance, had not time to draw around the base of the hill intheir customary silent and insidious manner, before the voice of theAmazon was raised, demanding--

"Who is beneath? Answer, for your lives! Siouxes or devils, I fear yenot!"

No answer was given to this challenge, every warrior halting where hestood, confident that his dusky form was blended with the shadows of theplain. It was at this moment that the trapper determined to escape. Hehad been left with the rest of his friends, under the surveillance ofthose who were assigned to the duty of watching the horses, and as theyall continued mounted, the moment appeared favourable to his project. The attention of the guards was drawn to the rock, and a heavy clouddriving above them at that instant, obscured even the feeble lightwhich fell from the stars. Leaning on the neck of his horse, the old manmuttered--

"Where is my pup? Where is it--Hector--where is it, dog?"

The hound caught the well-known sounds, and answered by a whine offriendship, which threatened to break out into one of his piercinghowls. The trapper was in the act of raising himself from thissuccessful exploit, when he felt the hand of Weucha grasping his throat, as if determined to suppress his voice by the very unequivocal processof strangulation. Profiting by the circumstance, he raised anotherlow sound, as in the natural effort of breathing, which drew a secondresponsive cry from the faithful hound. Weucha instantly abandoned hishold of the master in order to wreak his vengeance on the dog. But thevoice of Esther was again heard, and every other design was abandoned inorder to listen. 

"Ay, whine and deform your throats as you may, ye imps of darkness, " shesaid, with a cracked but scornful laugh; "I know ye; tarry, and ye shallhave light for your misdeeds. Put in the coal, Phoebe; put in the coal;your father and the boys shall see that they are wanted at home, towelcome their guests. "

As she spoke, a strong light, like that of a brilliant star, was seenon the very pinnacle of the rock; then followed a forked flame, whichcurled for a moment amid the windings of an enormous pile of brush, and flashing upward in an united sheet, it wavered to and fro, inthe passing air, shedding a bright glare on every object within itsinfluence. A taunting laugh was heard from the height, in which thevoices of all ages mingled, as though they triumphed at having sosuccessfully exposed the treacherous intentions of the Tetons. 

The trapper looked about him to ascertain in what situations he mightfind his friends. True to the signals, Middleton and Paul had drawna little apart, and now stood ready, by every appearance, to commencetheir flight at the third repetition of the cry. Hector had escaped hissavage pursuer, and was again crouching at the heels of his master'shorse. But the broad circle of light was gradually increasing in extentand power, and the old man, whose eye and judgment so rarely failed him, patiently awaited a more propitious moment for his enterprise. 

"Now, Ishmael, my man, if sight and hand ar' true as ever, now is thetime to work upon these Redskins, who claim to own all your property, even to wife and children! Now, my good man, prove both breed andcharacter!"

A distant shout was heard in the direction of the approaching partyof the squatter, assuring the female garrison that succour was not fardistant. Esther answered to the grateful sounds by a cracked cry of herown, lifting her form, in the first burst of exultation, above the rockin a manner to be visible to all below. Not content with this dangerousexposure of her person, she was in the act of tossing her arms intriumph, when the dark figure of Mahtoree shot into the light andpinioned them to her side. The forms of three other warriors glidedacross the top of the rock, looking like naked demons flitting among theclouds. The air was filled with the brands of the beacon, and a heavydarkness succeeded, not unlike that of the appalling instant, when thelast rays of the sun are excluded by the intervening mass of the moon. A yell of triumph burst from the savages in their turn, and was ratheraccompanied than followed by a long, loud whine from Hector. 

In an instant the old man was between the horses of Middleton and Paul, extending a hand to the bridle of each, in order to check the impatienceof their riders. 

"Softly, softly, " he whispered, "their eyes are as marvellously shut forthe minute, as if the Lord had stricken them blind; but their ears areopen. Softly, softly; for fifty rods, at least, we must move no fasterthan a walk. "

The five minutes of doubt that succeeded appeared like an age to all butthe trapper. As their sight was gradually restored, it seemed to eachthat the momentary gloom, which followed the extinction of the beacon, was to be replaced by as broad a light as that of noon-day. Graduallythe old man, however, suffered the animals to quicken their steps, untilthey had gained the centre of one of the prairie bottoms. Then laughingin his quiet manner he released the reins and said--

"Now, let them give play to their legs; but keep on the old fog todeaden the sounds. "

It is needless to say how cheerfully he was obeyed. In a few moreminutes they ascended and crossed a swell of the land, after which theflight was continued at the top of their horses' speed, keeping theindicated star in view, as the labouring bark steers for the light whichpoints the way to a haven and security. 

CHAPTER XXII

 The clouds and sunbeams o'er his eye, That once their shades and glories threw, Have left, in yonder silent sky, No vestige where they flew. --Montgomery. 

A stillness, as deep as that which marked the gloomy wastes in theirfront, was observed by the fugitives to distinguish the spot they hadjust abandoned. Even the trapper lent his practised faculties, invain, to detect any of the well-known signs, which might establishthe important fact that hostilities had actually commenced between theparties of Mahtoree and Ishmael; but their horses carried them out ofthe reach of sounds, without the occurrence of the smallest evidence ofthe sort. The old man, from time to time, muttered his discontent, butmanifested the uneasiness he actually entertained in no other manner, unless it might be in exhibiting a growing anxiety to urge the animalsto increase their speed. He pointed out in passing, the deserted swale, where the family of the squatter had encamped, the night they wereintroduced to the reader, and afterwards he maintained an ominoussilence; ominous, because his companions had already seen enough ofhis character, to be convinced that the circumstances must be criticalindeed, which possessed the power to disturb the well regulatedtranquillity of the old man's mind. 

"Have we not done enough, " Middleton demanded, in tenderness to theinability of Inez and Ellen to endure so much fatigue, at the end ofsome hours; "we have ridden hard, and have crossed a wide tract ofplain. It is time to seek a place of rest. "

"You must seek it then in Heaven, if you find yourselves unequal toa longer march, " murmured the old trapper. "Had the Tetons and thesquatter come to blows, as any one might see in the natur' of thingsthey were bound to do, there would be time to look about us, and tocalculate not only the chances but the comforts of the journey; but asthe case actually is, I should consider it certain death, or endlesscaptivity, to trust our eyes with sleep, until our heads are fairly hidin some uncommon cover. "

"I know not, " returned the youth, who reflected more on the sufferingsof the fragile being he supported, than on the experience of hiscompanion; "I know not; we have ridden leagues, and I can see noextraordinary signs of danger:--if you fear for yourself, my goodfriend, believe me you are wrong, for--"

"Your grand'ther, were he living and here, " interrupted the old man, stretching forth a hand, and laying a finger impressively on the arm ofMiddleton, "would have spared those words. He had some reason to thinkthat, in the prime of my days, when my eye was quicker than the hawk's, and my limbs were as active as the legs of the fallow-deer, I neverclung too eagerly and fondly to life: then why should I now feel such achildish affection for a thing that I know to be vain, and the companionof pain and sorrow. Let the Tetons do their worst; they will not finda miserable and worn out trapper the loudest in his complaints, or hisprayers. "

"Pardon me, my worthy, my inestimable friend, " exclaimed the repentantyoung man, warmly grasping the hand, which the other was in the act ofwithdrawing; "I knew not what I said--or rather I thought only of thosewhose tenderness we are most bound to consider. "

"Enough. It is natur', and it is right. Therein your grand'ther wouldhave done the very same. Ah's me! what a number of seasons, hot andcold, wet and dry, have rolled over my poor head, since the time weworried it out together, among the Red Hurons of the Lakes, back inthose rugged mountains of Old York! and many a noble buck has since thatday fallen by my hand; ay, and many a thieving Mingo, too! Tell me, lad, did the general, for general I know he got to be, did he ever tell youof the deer we took, that night the outlyers of the accursed tribedrove us to the caves, on the island, and how we feasted and drunk insecurity?"

"I have often heard him mention the smallest circumstance of the nightyou mean; but--"

"And the singer; and his open throat; and his shoutings in the fights!"continued the old man, laughing joyously at the strength of his ownrecollections. 

"All--all--he forgot nothing, even to the most trifling incident. Do younot--"

"What! did he tell you of the imp behind the log and of the miserabledevil who went over the fall--or of the wretch in the tree?"

"Of each and all, with every thing that concerned them. [*] I shouldthink--"

 [*] They who have read the preceding books, in which, the trapper appears as a hunter and a scout, will readily understand the allusions. 

"Ay, " continued the old man, in a voice, which betrayed how powerfullyhis own faculties retained the impression of the spectacle, "I havebeen a dweller in forests, and in the wilderness for three-score and tenyears, and if any can pretend to know the world, or to have seen scarysights, it is myself! But never, before nor since, have I seen humanman in such a state of mortal despair as that very savage; and yet hescorned to speak, or to cry out, or to own his forlorn condition! It istheir gift, and nobly did he maintain it!"

"Harkee, old trapper, " interrupted Paul, who, content with the knowledgethat his waist was grasped by one of the arms of Ellen, had hithertoridden in unusual silence; "my eyes are as true and as delicate as ahumming-bird's in the day; but they are nothing worth boasting of bystarlight. Is that a sick buffaloe, crawling along in the bottom, there, or is it one of the stray cattle of the savages?"

The whole party drew up, in order to examine the object, which Paulhad pointed out. During most of the time, they had ridden in the littlevales in order to seek the protection of the shadows, but just at thatmoment, they had ascended a roll of the prairie in order to cross intothe very bottom where this unknown animal was now seen. 

"Let us descend, " said Middleton; "be it beast or man, we are too strongto have any cause of fear. "

"Now, if the thing was not morally impossible, " cried the trapper, whothe reader must have already discovered was not always exact in the useof qualifying words, "if the thing was not morally impossible, I shouldsay, that was the man, who journeys in search of reptiles and insects:our fellow-traveller the Doctor. "

"Why impossible? did you not direct him to pursue this course, in orderto rejoin us?"

"Ay, but I did not tell him to make an ass outdo the speed of ahorse:--you are right--you are right, " said the trapper, interruptinghimself, as by gradually lessening the distance between them, his eyesassured him it was Obed and Asinus, whom he saw; "you are right, ascertainly as the thing is a miracle. Lord, what a thing is fear! Hownow, friend; you have been industrious to have got so far ahead in soshort a time. I marvel at the speed of the ass!"

"Asinus is overcome, " returned the naturalist, mournfully. "The animalhas certainly not been idle since we separated, but he declines all myadmonitions and invitations to proceed. I hope there is no instant fearfrom the savages?"

"I cannot say that; I cannot say that; matters are not as they shouldbe, atween the squatter and the Tetons, nor will I answer as yet for thesafety of any scalp among us. The beast is broken down! you have urgedhim beyond his natural gifts, and he is like a worried hound. There ispity and discretion in all things, even though a man be riding for hislife. "

"You indicated the star, " returned the Doctor, "and I deemed itexpedient to use great diligence in pursuing the direction. "

"Did you expect to reach it, by such haste? Go, go; you talk boldly ofthe creatur's of the Lord, though I plainly see you are but a child inmatters that concern their gifts and instincts. What a plight wouldyou now be in, if there was need for a long and a quick push with ourheels?"

"The fault exists in the formation of the quadruped, " said Obed, whoseplacid temper began to revolt under so many scandalous imputations. "Hadthere been rotary levers for two of the members, a moiety of the fatiguewould have been saved, for one item--"

"That, for your moiety's and rotaries, and items, man; a jaded ass isa jaded ass, and he who denies it is but a brother of the beast itself. Now, captain, are we driven to choose one of two evils. We must eitherabandon this man, who has been too much with us through good and bad tobe easily cast away, or we must seek a cover to let the animal rest. "

"Venerable venator!" exclaimed the alarmed Obed; "I conjure you by allthe secret sympathies of our common nature, by all the hidden--"

"Ah, fear has brought him to talk a little rational sense! It is notnatur', truly, to abandon a brother in distress; and the Lord He knowsthat I have never yet done the shameful deed. You are right, friend, youare right; we must all be hidden, and that speedily. But what to do withthe ass! Friend Doctor, do you truly value the life of the creatur'?"

"He is an ancient and faithful servant, " returned the disconsolateObed, "and with pain should I see him come to any harm. Fetter his lowerlimbs, and leave him to repose in this bed of herbage. I will engage heshall be found where he is left, in the morning. "

"And the Siouxes? What would become of the beast should any of thered imps catch a peep at his ears, growing up out of the grass like tomullein-tops?" cried the bee-hunter. "They would stick him as full ofarrows, as a woman's cushion is full of pins, and then believe theyhad done the job for the father of all rabbits! My word for it out theywould find out their blunder at the first mouthful!"

Middleton, who began to grow impatient under the protracted discussion, interposed, and, as a good deal of deference was paid to his rank, hequickly prevailed in his efforts to effect a sort of compromise. Thehumble Asinus, too meek and too weary to make any resistance, was soontethered and deposited in his bed of dying grass, where he was left witha perfect confidence on the part of his master of finding him, again, atthe expiration of a few hours. The old man strongly remonstrated againstthis arrangement, and more than once hinted that the knife was much morecertain than the tether, but the petitions of Obed, aided perhaps by thesecret reluctance of the trapper to destroy the beast, were the meansof saving its life. When Asinus was thus secured, and as his masterbelieved secreted, the whole party proceeded to find some place wherethey might rest themselves, during the time required for the repose ofthe animal. 

According to the calculations of the trapper, they had ridden twentymiles since the commencement of their flight. The delicate frame of Inezbegan to droop under the excessive fatigue, nor was the more robust, butstill feminine person of Ellen, insensible to the extraordinary effortshe had made. Middleton himself was not sorry to repose, nor did thevigorous and high-spirited Paul hesitate to confess that he should beall the better for a little rest. The old man alone seemed indifferentto the usual claims of nature. Although but little accustomed to theunusual description of exercise he had just been taking, he appearedto bid defiance to all the usual attacks of human infirmities. Thoughevidently so near its dissolution, his attenuated frame still stood likethe shaft of seasoned oak, dry, naked, and tempest-driven, but unbendingand apparently indurated to the consistency of stone. On the presentoccasion he conducted the search for a resting-place, which wasimmediately commenced, with all the energy of youth, tempered by thediscretion and experience of his great age. 

The bed of grass, in which the Doctor had been met, and in which his asshad just been left, was followed a little distance until it was foundthat the rolling swells of the prairie were melting away into one vastlevel plain, that was covered, for miles on miles, with the same speciesof herbage. 

"Ah, this may do, this may do, " said the old man, when they arrived onthe borders of this sea of withered grass. "I know the spot, and oftenhave I lain in its secret holes, for days at a time, while the savageshave been hunting the buffaloes on the open ground. We must enter itwith great care, for a broad trail might be seen, and Indian curiosityis a dangerous neighbour. "

Leading the way himself, he selected a spot where the tall coarseherbage stood most erect, growing not unlike a bed of reeds, both inheight and density. Here he entered, singly, directing the others tofollow as nearly as possible in his own footsteps. When they had pausedfor some hundred or two feet into the wilderness of weeds, he gave hisdirections to Paul and Middleton, who continued a direct route deeperinto the place, while he dismounted and returned on his tracks to themargin of the meadow. Here he passed many minutes in replacing thetrodden grass, and in effacing, as far as possible, every evidence oftheir passage. 

In the mean time the rest of the party continued their progress, notwithout toil, and consequently at a very moderate gait, until they hadpenetrated a mile into the place. Here they found a spot suited to theircircumstances, and, dismounting, they began to make their dispositionsto pass the remainder of the night. By this time the trapperhad rejoined the party, and again resumed the direction of theirproceedings. 

The weeds and grass were soon plucked and cut from an area of sufficientextent, and a bed for Inez and Ellen was speedily made, a little apart, which for sweetness and ease might have rivalled one of down. Theexhausted females, after receiving some light refreshments from theprovident stores of Paul and the old man, now sought their repose, leaving their more stout companions at liberty to provide for their ownnecessities. Middleton and Paul were not long in following the exampleof their betrothed, leaving the trapper and the naturalist still seatedaround a savoury dish of bison's meat, which had been cooked at aprevious halt, and which was, as usual, eaten cold. 

A certain lingering sensation, which had so long been uppermost in themind of Obed, temporarily banished sleep; and as for the old man, hiswants were rendered, by habit and necessity, as seemingly subject to hiswill as if they altogether depended on the pleasure of the moment. Likehis companion he chose therefore to watch, instead of sleeping. 

"If the children of ease and security knew the hardships and dangers thestudents of nature encounter in their behalf, " said Obed, after a momentof silence, when Middleton took his leave for the night, "pillarsof silver, and statues of brass would be reared as the everlastingmonuments of their glory!"

"I know not, I know not, " returned his companion; "silver is far fromplenty, at least in the wilderness, and your brazen idols are forbiddenin the commandments of the Lord. "

"Such indeed was the opinion of the great lawgiver of the Jews, but theEgyptians, and the Chaldeans, the Greeks, and the Romans, were wont tomanifest their gratitude, in these types of the human form. Indeed manyof the illustrious masters of antiquity, have by the aid of scienceand skill, even outdone the works of nature, and exhibited a beautyand perfection in the human form that are difficult to be found in therarest living specimens of any of the species; genus, homo. "

"Can your idols walk or speak, or have they the glorious gift ofreason?" demanded the trapper, with some indignation in his voice;"though but little given to run into the noise and chatter of thesettlements, yet have I been into the towns in my day, to barter thepeltry for lead and powder, and often have I seen your waxen dolls, withtheir tawdry clothes and glass eyes--"

"Waxen dolls!" interrupted Obed; "it is profanation, in the view of thearts, to liken the miserable handy-work of the dealers in wax to thepure models of antiquity!"

"It is profanation in the eyes of the Lord, " retorted the old man, "toliken the works of his creatur's, to the power of his own hand. "

"Venerable venator, " resumed the naturalist, clearing his throat, likeone who was much in earnest, "let us discuss understandingly and inamity. You speak of the dross of ignorance, whereas my memory dwellson those precious jewels, which it was my happy fortune, formerly, towitness, among the treasured glories of the Old World. "

"Old World!" retorted the trapper, "that is the miserable cry of all thehalf-starved miscreants that have come into this blessed land, since thedays of my boyhood! They tell you of the Old World; as if the Lord hadnot the power and the will to create the universe in a day, or as if hehad not bestowed his gifts with an equal hand, though not with an equalmind, or equal wisdom, have they been received and used. Were they tosay a worn out, and an abused, and a sacrilegious world, they might notbe so far from the truth!"

Doctor Battius, who found it quite as arduous a task to maintain anyof his favourite positions with so irregular an antagonist, as he wouldhave found it difficult to keep his feet within the hug of a westernwrestler, hemmed aloud, and profited by the new opening the trapper hadmade, to shift the grounds of the discussion--

"By Old and New World, my excellent associate, " he said, "it is not tobe understood that the hills, and the valleys, the rocks and the riversof our own moiety of the earth do not, physically speaking, bear a dateas ancient as the spot on which the bricks of Babylon are found; itmerely signifies that its moral existence is not co-equal with itsphysical, or geological formation. "

"Anan!" said the old man, looking up enquiringly into the face of thephilosopher. 

"Merely that it has not been so long known in morals, as the othercountries of Christendom. "

"So much the better, so much the better. I am no great admirator of yourold morals, as you call them, for I have ever found, and I have liv'dlong as it were in the very heart of natur', that your old morals arenone of the best. Mankind twist and turn the rules of the Lord, to suittheir own wickedness, when their devilish cunning has had too much timeto trifle with His commands. "

"Nay, venerable hunter, still am I not comprehended. By morals I donot mean the limited and literal signification of the term, such asis conveyed in its synonyme, morality, but the practices of men, asconnected with their daily intercourse, their institutions, and theirlaws. "

"And such I call barefaced and downright wantonness and waste, "interrupted his sturdy disputant. 

"Well, be it so, " returned the Doctor, abandoning the explanation indespair. "Perhaps I have conceded too much, " he then instantly added, fancying that he still saw the glimmerings of an argument throughanother chink in the discourse. "Perhaps I have conceded too much, insaying that this hemisphere is literally as old in its formation, asthat which embraces the venerable quarters of Europe, Asia, and Africa. "

"It is easy to say a pine is not so tall as an alder, but it would behard to prove. Can you give a reason for such a belief?"

"The reasons are numerous and powerful, " returned the Doctor, delightedby this encouraging opening. "Look into the plains of Egypt and Arabia;their sandy deserts teem with the monuments of their antiquity; and thenwe have also recorded documents of their glory; doubling the proofs oftheir former greatness, now that they lie stripped of their fertility;while we look in vain for similar evidences that man has ever reachedthe summit of civilisation on this continent, or search, without ourreward, for the path by which he has made the downward journey to hispresent condition of second childhood. "

"And what see you in all this?" demanded the trapper, who, though alittle confused by the terms of his companion, seized the thread of hisideas. 

"A demonstration of my problem, that nature did not make so vast aregion to lie an uninhabited waste so many ages. This is merely themoral view of the subject; as to the more exact and geological--"

"Your morals are exact enough for me, " returned the old man, "for Ithink I see in them the very pride of folly. I am but little gifted inthe fables of what you call the Old World, seeing that my time has beenmainly passed looking natur' steadily in the face, and in reasoning onwhat I've seen, rather than on what I've heard in traditions. But I havenever shut my ears to the words of the good book, and many is the longwinter evening that I have passed in the wigwams of the Delawares, listening to the good Moravians, as they dealt forth the history anddoctrines of the elder times, to the people of the Lenape! It waspleasant to hearken to such wisdom after a weary hunt! Right pleasantdid I find it, and often have I talked the matter over with the GreatSerpent of the Delawares, in the more peaceful hours of our out-lyings, whether it might be on the trail of a war-party of the Mingoes, or onthe watch for a York deer. I remember to have heard it, then and there, said, that the Blessed Land was once fertile as the bottoms of theMississippi, and groaning with its stores of grain and fruits; butthat the judgment has since fallen upon it, and that it is now moreremarkable for its barrenness than any qualities to boast of. "

"It is true; but Egypt--nay much of Africa furnishes still more strikingproofs of this exhaustion of nature. "

"Tell me, " interrupted the old man, "is it a certain truth thatbuildings are still standing in that land of Pharaoh, which may belikened, in their stature, to the hills of the 'arth?"

"It is as true as that nature never refuses to bestow her incisores onthe animals, mammalia; genus, homo--"

"It is very marvellous! and it proves how great He must be, when Hismiserable creatur's can accomplish such wonders! Many men must have beenneeded to finish such an edifice; ay, and men gifted with strength andskill too! Does the land abound with such a race to this hour?"

"Far from it. Most of the country is a desert, and but for a mightyriver all would be so. "

"Yes; rivers are rare gifts to such as till the ground, as any one maysee who journeys far atween the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi. Buthow do you account for these changes on the face of the 'arth itself, and for this downfall of nations, you men of the schools?"

"It is to be ascribed to moral cau--"

"You're right--it is their morals; their wickedness and their pride, and chiefly their waste that has done it all! Now listen to what theexperience of an old man teaches him. I have lived long, as these greyhairs and wrinkled hands will show, even though my tongue should failin the wisdom of my years. And I have seen much of the folly of man; forhis natur' is the same, be he born in the wilderness, or be he born inthe towns. To my weak judgment it hath ever seemed that his gifts arenot equal to his wishes. That he would mount into the heavens, withall his deformities about him, if he only knew the road, no one willgainsay, that witnesses his bitter strivings upon 'arth. If his poweris not equal to his will, it is because the wisdom of the Lord hath setbounds to his evil workings. "

"It is much too certain that certain facts will warrant a theory, whichteaches the natural depravity of the genus; but if science couldbe fairly brought to bear on a whole species at once, for instance, education might eradicate the evil principle. "

"That, for your education! The time has been when I have thought itpossible to make a companion of a beast. Many are the cubs, and many arethe speckled fawns that I have reared with these old hands, until I haveeven fancied them rational and altered beings--but what did it amountto? the bear would bite, and the deer would run, notwithstanding mywicked conceit in fancying I could change a temper that the Lord himselfhad seen fit to bestow. Now if man is so blinded in his folly as togo on, ages on ages, doing harm chiefly to himself, there is the samereason to think that he has wrought his evil here as in the countriesyou call so old. Look about you, man; where are the multitudes that oncepeopled these prairies; the kings and the palaces; the riches and themightinesses of this desert?"

"Where are the monuments that would prove the truth of so vague atheory?"

"I know not what you call a monument. "

"The works of man! The glories of Thebes and Balbec--columns, catacombs, and pyramids! standing amid the sands of the East, like wrecks on arocky shore, to testify to the storms of ages!"

"They are gone. Time has lasted too long for them. For why? Time wasmade by the Lord, and they were made by man. This very spot of reedsand grass, on which you now sit, may once have been the garden of somemighty king. It is the fate of all things to ripen, and then to decay. The tree blossoms, and bears its fruit, which falls, rots, withers, and even the seed is lost! Go, count the rings of the oak and of thesycamore; they lie in circles, one about another, until the eye isblinded in striving to make out their numbers; and yet a full change ofthe seasons comes round while the stem is winding one of these littlelines about itself, like the buffaloe changing his coat, or the buck hishorns; and what does it all amount to? There does the noble tree fillits place in the forest, loftier, and grander, and richer, and moredifficult to imitate, than any of your pitiful pillars, for a thousandyears, until the time which the Lord hath given it is full. Then comethe winds, that you cannot see, to rive its bark; and the waters fromthe heavens, to soften its pores; and the rot, which all can feel andnone can understand, to humble its pride and bring it to the ground. From that moment its beauty begins to perish. It lies another hundredyears, a mouldering log, and then a mound of moss and 'arth; a sadeffigy of a human grave. This is one of your genuine monuments, thoughmade by a very different power than such as belongs to your chiselingmasonry! and after all, the cunningest scout of the whole Dahcotahnation might pass his life in searching for the spot where it fell, andbe no wiser when his eyes grew dim, than when they were first opened. Asif that was not enough to convince man of his ignorance; and as thoughit were put there in mockery of his conceit, a pine shoots up from theroots of the oak, just as barrenness comes after fertility, or as thesewastes have been spread, where a garden may have been created. Tell menot of your worlds that are old! it is blasphemous to set bounds andseasons, in this manner, to the works of the Almighty, like a womancounting the ages of her young. "

"Friend hunter, or trapper, " returned the naturalist, clearing histhroat in some intellectual confusion at the vigorous attack of hiscompanion, "your deductions, if admitted by the world, would sadlycircumscribe the efforts of reason, and much abridge the boundaries ofknowledge. "

"So much the better--so much the better; for I have always found that aconceited man never knows content. All things prove it. Why have wenot the wings of the pigeon, the eyes of the eagle, and the legs ofthe moose, if it had been intended that man should be equal to all hiswishes?"

"There are certain physical defects, venerable trapper, in which I amalways ready to admit great and happy alterations might be suggested. For example, in my own order of Phalangacru--"

"Cruel enough would be the order, that should come from miserablehands like thine! A touch from such a finger would destroy the mockingdeformity of a monkey! Go, go; human folly is not needed to fill up thegreat design of God. There is no stature, no beauty, no proportions, nor any colours in which man himself can well be fashioned, that is notalready done to his hands. "

"That is touching another great and much disputed question, " exclaimedthe Doctor, who seized upon every distinct idea that the ardent andsomewhat dogmatic old man left exposed to his mental grasp, with thevain hope of inducing a logical discussion, in which he might bring hisbattery of syllogisms to annihilate the unscientific defences of hisantagonist. 

It is, however, unnecessary to our narrative to relate the erraticdiscourse that ensued. The old man eluded the annihilating blows of hisadversary, as the light armed soldier is wont to escape the efforts ofthe more regular warrior, even while he annoys him most, and an hourpassed away without bringing any of the numerous subjects, on which theytouched, to a satisfactory conclusion. The arguments acted, however, onthe nervous system of the Doctor, like so many soothing soporifics, andby the time his aged companion was disposed to lay his head on his pack, Obed, refreshed by his recent mental joust, was in a condition to seekhis natural rest, without enduring the torments of the incubus, in theshapes of Teton warriors and bloody tomahawks. 

CHAPTER XXIII

 --Save you, sir. --Shakspeare. 

The sleep of the fugitives lasted for several hours. The trapper was thefirst to shake off its influence, as he had been the last to court itsrefreshment. Rising, just as the grey light of day began to brightenthat portion of the studded vault which rested on the eastern margin ofthe plain, he summoned his companions from their warm lairs, and pointedout the necessity of their being once more on the alert. While Middletonattended to the arrangements necessary to the comforts of Inez andEllen, in the long and painful journey which lay before them, the oldman and Paul prepared the meal, which the former had advised them totake before they proceeded to horse. These several dispositions werenot long in making, and the little group was soon seated about arepast which, though it might want the elegancies to which the bride ofMiddleton had been accustomed, was not deficient in the more importantrequisites of savour and nutriment. 

"When we get lower into the hunting-grounds of the Pawnees, " said thetrapper, laying a morsel of delicate venison before Inez, on a littletrencher neatly made of horn, and expressly for his own use, "we shallfind the buffaloes fatter and sweeter, the deer in more abundance, andall the gifts of the Lord abounding to satisfy our wants. Perhaps we mayeven strike a beaver, and get a morsel from his tail[*] by way of a raremouthful. "

 [*] The American hunters consider the tail of the beaver the most nourishing of all food. 

"What course do you mean to pursue, when you have once thrown thesebloodhounds from the chase?" demanded Middleton. 

"If I might advise, " said Paul, "it would be to strike a water-course, and get upon its downward current, as soon as may be. Give me acotton-wood, and I will turn you out a canoe that shall carry us all, the jackass excepted, in perhaps the work of a day and a night. Ellen, here, is a lively girl enough, but then she is no great race-rider; andit would be far more comfortable to boat six or eight hundred miles, than to go loping along like so many elks measuring the prairies;besides, water leaves no trail. "

"I will not swear to that, " returned the trapper; "I have often thoughtthe eyes of a Red-skin would find a trail in air. "

"See, Middleton, " exclaimed Inez, in a sudden burst of youthfulpleasure, that caused her for a moment to forget her situation, "howlovely is that sky; surely it contains a promise of happier times!"

"It is glorious!" returned her husband. "Glorious and heavenly is thatstreak of vivid red, and here is a still brighter crimson; rarely have Iseen a richer rising of the sun. 

"Rising of the sun!" slowly repeated the old man, lifting his tallperson from its seat with a deliberate and abstracted air, while hekept his eye riveted on the changing, and certainly beautiful tints, that were garnishing the vault of Heaven. "Rising of the sun! I like notsuch risings of the sun. Ah's me! the imps have circumvented us with avengeance. The prairie is on fire!"

"God in Heaven protect us!" cried Middleton, catching Inez to his bosom, under the instant impression of the imminence of their danger. "There isno time to lose, old man; each instant is a day; let us fly. "

"Whither?" demanded the trapper, motioning him, with calmness anddignity, to arrest his steps. "In this wilderness of grass and reeds, you are like a vessel in the broad lakes without a compass. A singlestep on the wrong course might prove the destruction of us all. It isseldom danger is so pressing, that there is not time enough for reasonto do its work, young officer; therefore let us await its biddings. "

"For my own part, " said Paul Hover, looking about him with no equivocalexpression of concern, "I acknowledge, that should this dry bed of weedsget fairly in a flame, a bee would have to make a flight higher thancommon to prevent his wings from scorching. Therefore, old trapper, Iagree with the captain, and say mount and run. "

"Ye are wrong--ye are wrong; man is not a beast to follow the gift ofinstinct, and to snuff up his knowledge by a taint in the air, or arumbling in the sound; but he must see and reason, and then conclude. So follow me a little to the left, where there is a rise in the ground, whence we may make our reconnoitrings. "

The old man waved his hand with authority, and led the way withoutfurther parlance to the spot he had indicated, followed by the whole ofhis alarmed companions. An eye less practised than that of the trappermight have failed in discovering the gentle elevation to which healluded, and which looked on the surface of the meadow like a growtha little taller than common. When they reached the place, however, thestinted grass itself announced the absence of that moisture, which hadfed the rank weeds of most of the plain, and furnished a clue to theevidence by which he had judged of the formation of the ground hiddenbeneath. Here a few minutes were lost in breaking down the tops ofthe surrounding herbage, which, notwithstanding the advantage of theirposition, rose even above the heads of Middleton and Paul, and inobtaining a look-out that might command a view of the surrounding sea offire. 

The frightful prospect added nothing to the hopes of those who had sofearful a stake in the result. Although the day was beginning to dawn, the vivid colours of the sky continued to deepen, as if the fierceelement were bent on an impious rivalry of the light of the sun. Brightflashes of flame shot up here and there, along the margin of the waste, like the nimble coruscations of the North, but far more angry andthreatening in their colour and changes. The anxiety on the rigidfeatures of the trapper sensibly deepened, as he leisurely traced theseevidences of a conflagration, which spread in a broad belt about theirplace of refuge, until he had encircled the whole horizon. 

Shaking his head, as he again turned his face to the point where thedanger seemed nighest and most rapidly approaching, the old man said--

"Now have we been cheating ourselves with the belief, that we had thrownthese Tetons from our trail, while here is proof enough that they notonly know where we lie, but that they intend to smoke us out, like somany skulking beasts of prey. See; they have lighted the fire around thewhole bottom at the same moment, and we are as completely hemmed in bythe devils as an island by its waters. "

"Let us mount and ride, " cried Middleton; "is life not worth astruggle?"

"Whither would ye go? Is a Teton horse a salamander that he can walkamid fiery flames unhurt, or do you think the Lord will show his mightin your behalf, as in the days of old, and carry you harmless throughsuch a furnace as you may see glowing beneath yonder red sky? There areSiouxes, too, hemming the fire with their arrows and knives on everyside of us, or I am no judge of their murderous deviltries. "

"We will ride into the centre of the whole tribe, " returned the youthfiercely, "and put their manhood to the test. "

"Ay, it's well in words, but what would it prove in deeds? Here is adealer in bees, who can teach you wisdom in a matter like this. "

"Now for that matter, old trapper, " said Paul, stretching his athleticform like a mastiff conscious of his strength, "I am on the side of thecaptain, and am clearly for a race against the fire, though it line meinto a Teton wigwam. Here is Ellen, who will--"

"Of what use, of what use are your stout hearts, when the element of theLord is to be conquered as well as human men. Look about you, friends;the wreath of smoke, that is rising from the bottoms, plainly says thatthere is no outlet from this spot, without crossing a belt of fire. Lookfor yourselves, my men; look for yourselves; if you can find a singleopening, I will engage to follow. "

The examination, which his companions so instantly and so intentlymade, rather served to assure them of their desperate situation, thanto appease their fears. Huge columns of smoke were rolling up from theplain, and thickening in gloomy masses around the horizon. The red glow, which gleamed upon their enormous folds, now lighting their volumes withthe glare of the conflagration, and now flashing to another point, asthe flame beneath glided ahead, leaving all behind enveloped in awfuldarkness, and proclaiming louder than words the character of theimminent and approaching danger. 

"This is terrible!" exclaimed Middleton, folding the trembling Inez tohis heart. "At such a time as this, and in such a manner!"

"The gates of Heaven are open to all who truly believe, " murmured thepious devotee in his bosom. 

"This resignation is maddening! But we are men, and will make a strugglefor our lives! how now, my brave and spirited friend, shall we yet mountand push across the flames, or shall we stand here, and see those wemost love perish in this frightful manner, without an effort?"

"I am for a swarming time, and a flight before the hive is too hot tohold us, " said the bee-hunter, to whom it will be at once seen thatMiddleton addressed himself. "Come, old trapper, you must acknowledgethis is but a slow way of getting out of danger. If we tarry here muchlonger, it will be in the fashion that the bees lie around the strawafter the hive has been smoked for its honey. You may hear the firebegin to roar already, and I know by experience, that when the flameonce gets fairly into the prairie grass, it is no sloth that can outrunit. "

"Think you, " returned the old man, pointing scornfully at the mazes ofthe dry and matted grass which environed them, "that mortal feet canoutstrip the speed of fire, on such a path! If I only knew now on whichside these miscreants lay!"

"What say you, friend Doctor, " cried the bewildered Paul, turning tothe naturalist with that sort of helplessness with which the strong areoften apt to seek aid of the weak, when human power is baffled by thehand of a mightier being, "what say you; have you no advice to giveaway, in a case of life and death?"

The naturalist stood, tablets in hand, looking at the awful spectaclewith as much composure as if the conflagration had been lighted in orderto solve the difficulties of some scientific problem. Aroused bythe question of his companion, he turned to his equally calm thoughdifferently occupied associate, the trapper, demanding, with the mostprovoking insensibility to the urgent nature of their situation--

"Venerable hunter, you have often witnessed similar prismaticexperiments--"

He was rudely interrupted by Paul, who struck the tablets from hishands, with a violence that betrayed the utter intellectual confusionwhich had overset the equanimity of his mind. Before time was allowedfor remonstrance, the old man, who had continued during the whole scenelike one much at a loss how to proceed, though also like one who wasrather perplexed than alarmed, suddenly assumed a decided air, as if heno longer doubted on the course it was most advisable to pursue. 

"It is time to be doing, " he said, interrupting the controversy that wasabout to ensue between the naturalist and the bee-hunter; "it is time toleave off books and moanings, and to be doing. "

"You have come to your recollections too late, miserable old man, " criedMiddleton; "the flames are within a quarter of a mile of us, and thewind is bringing them down in this quarter with dreadful rapidity. "

"Anan! the flames! I care but little for the flames. If I only knew howto circumvent the cunning of the Tetons, as I know how to cheat the fireof its prey, there would be nothing needed but thanks to the Lord forour deliverance. Do you call this a fire? If you had seen what I havewitnessed in the Eastern hills, when mighty mountains were like thefurnace of smith, you would have known what it was to fear the flames, and to be thankful that you were spared! Come, lads, come; 'tis time tobe doing now, and to cease talking; for yonder curling flame is trulycoming on like a trotting moose. Put hands upon this short and witheredgrass where we stand, and lay bare the 'arth. "

"Would you think to deprive the fire of its victims in this childishmanner?" exclaimed Middleton. 

A faint but solemn smile passed over the features of the old man, as heanswered--

"Your grand'ther would have said, that when the enemy was nigh, asoldier could do no better than to obey. "

The captain felt the reproof, and instantly began to imitate theindustry of Paul, who was tearing the decayed herbage from the ground ina sort of desperate compliance with the trapper's direction. Even Ellenlent her hands to the labour, nor was it long before Inez was seensimilarly employed, though none amongst them knew why or wherefore. When life is thought to be the reward of labour, men are wont to beindustrious. A very few moments sufficed to lay bare a spot of sometwenty feet in diameter. Into one edge of this little area the trapperbrought the females, directing Middleton and Paul to cover their lightand inflammable dresses with the blankets of the party. So soon as thisprecaution was observed, the old man approached the opposite margin ofthe grass, which still environed them in a tall and dangerous circle, and selecting a handful of the driest of the herbage he placed it overthe pan of his rifle. The light combustible kindled at the flash. Thenhe placed the little flame in a bed of the standing fog, and withdrawingfrom the spot to the centre of the ring, he patiently awaited theresult. 

The subtle element seized with avidity upon its new fuel, and in amoment forked flames were gliding among the grass, as the tongues ofruminating animals are seen rolling among their food, apparently inquest of its sweetest portions. 

"Now, " said the old man, holding up a finger, and laughing in hispeculiarly silent manner, "you shall see fire fight fire! Ah's me! manyis the time I have burnt a smooty path, from wanton laziness to pick myway across a tangled bottom. "

"But is this not fatal?" cried the amazed Middleton; "are you notbringing the enemy nigher to us instead of avoiding it?"

"Do you scorch so easily? your grand'ther had a tougher skin. But weshall live to see; we shall all live to see. "

The experience of the trapper was in the right. As the fire gainedstrength and heat, it began to spread on three sides, dying of itself onthe fourth, for want of aliment. As it increased, and the sullen roaringannounced its power, it cleared every thing before it, leaving the blackand smoking soil far more naked than if the scythe had swept the place. The situation of the fugitives would have still been hazardous had notthe area enlarged as the flame encircled them. But by advancing to thespot where the trapper had kindled the grass, they avoided the heat, and in a very few moments the flames began to recede in every quarter, leaving them enveloped in a cloud of smoke, but perfectly safe from thetorrent of fire that was still furiously rolling onward. 

The spectators regarded the simple expedient of the trapper with thatspecies of wonder, with which the courtiers of Ferdinand are said tohave viewed the manner in which Columbus made his egg stand on its end, though with feelings that were filled with gratitude instead of envy. 

"Most wonderful!" said Middleton, when he saw the complete successof the means by which they had been rescued from a danger that he hadconceived to be unavoidable. "The thought was a gift from Heaven, andthe hand that executed it should be immortal!"

"Old trapper, " cried Paul, thrusting his fingers through his shaggylocks, "I have lined many a loaded bee into his hole, and know somethingof the nature of the woods, but this is robbing a hornet of his stingwithout touching the insect!"

"It will do--it will do, " returned the old man, who after the firstmoment of his success seemed to think no more of the exploit; "now getthe horses in readiness. Let the flames do their work for a short halfhour, and then we will mount. That time is needed to cool the meadow, for these unshod Teton beasts are as tender on the hoof as a barefootedgirl. "

Middleton and Paul, who considered this unlooked-for escape as a speciesof resurrection, patiently awaited the time the trapper mentioned withrenewed confidence in the infallibility of his judgment. The Doctorregained his tablets, a little the worse from having fallen amongthe grass which had been subject to the action of the flames, andwas consoling himself for this slight misfortune by recordinguninterruptedly such different vacillations in light and shadow as hechose to consider phenomena. 

In the mean time the veteran, on whose experience they all so implicitlyrelied for protection, employed himself in reconnoitring objects in thedistance, through the openings which the air occasionally made in theimmense bodies of smoke, that by this time lay in enormous piles onevery part of the plain. 

"Look you here, lads, " the trapper said, after a long and anxiousexamination, "your eyes are young and may prove better than my worthlesssight--though the time has been, when a wise and brave people saw reasonto think me quick on a look-out; but those times are gone, and many atrue and tried friend has passed away with them. Ah's me! if I couldchoose a change in the orderings of Providence--which I cannot, andwhich it would be blasphemy to attempt, seeing that all things aregoverned by a wiser mind than belongs to mortal weakness--but if I wereto choose a change, it would be to say, that such as they who have livedlong together in friendship and kindness, and who have proved theirfitness to go in company, by many acts of suffering and daring in eachother's behalf, should be permitted to give up life at such times, aswhen the death of one leaves the other but little reason to wish tolive. "

"Is it an Indian, that you see?" demanded the impatient Middleton. 

"Red-skin or White-skin it is much the same. Friendship and use can tiemen as strongly together in the woods as in the towns--ay, and for thatmatter, stronger. Here are the young warriors of the prairies. --Oftendo they sort themselves in pairs, and set apart their lives for deedsof friendship; and well and truly do they act up to their promises. The death-blow to one is commonly mortal to the other! I have been asolitary man much of my time, if he can be called solitary, who haslived for seventy years in the very bosom of natur', and where he couldat any instant open his heart to God, without having to strip it of thecares and wickednesses of the settlements--but making that allowance, have I been a solitary man; and yet have I always found that intercoursewith my kind was pleasant, and painful to break off, provided that thecompanion was brave and honest. Brave, because a skeary comrade in thewoods, " suffering his eyes inadvertently to rest a moment on the personof the abstracted naturalist, "is apt to make a short path long; andhonest, inasmuch as craftiness is rather an instinct of the brutes, thana gift becoming the reason of a human man. "

"But the object, that you saw--was it a Sioux?"

"What the world of America is coming to, and where the machinations andinventions of its people are to have an end, the Lord, he only knows. Ihave seen, in my day, the chief who, in his time, had beheld the firstChristian that placed his wicked foot in the regions of York! How muchhas the beauty of the wilderness been deformed in two short lives! Myown eyes were first opened on the shores of the Eastern sea, and welldo I remember, that I tried the virtues of the first rifle I ever bore, after such a march, from the door of my father to the forest, as astripling could make between sun and sun; and that without offence tothe rights, or prejudices, of any man who set himself up to be the ownerof the beasts of the fields. Natur' then lay in its glory along thewhole coast, giving a narrow stripe, between the woods and the ocean, tothe greediness of the settlers. And where am I now? Had I the wingsof an eagle, they would tire before a tenth of the distance, whichseparates me from that sea, could be passed; and towns, and villages, farms, and highways, churches, and schools, in short, all the inventionsand deviltries of man, are spread across the region. I have known thetime when a few Red-skins, shouting along the borders, could set theprovinces in a fever; and men were to be armed; and troops were to becalled to aid from a distant land; and prayers were said, and the womenfrighted, and few slept in quiet, because the Iroquois were on thewar-path, or the accursed Mingo had the tomahawk in hand. How is it now?The country sends out her ships to foreign lands, to wage their battles;cannon are plentier than the rifle used to be, and trained soldiers arenever wanting, in tens of thousands, when need calls for their services. Such is the difference atween a province and a state, my men; and I, miserable and worn out as I seem, have lived to see it all!"

"That you must have seen many a chopper skimming the cream from the faceof the earth, and many a settler getting the very honey of nature, oldtrapper, " said Paul, "no reasonable man can, or, for that matter, shalldoubt. But here is Ellen getting uneasy about the Siouxes, and now youhave opened your mind, so freely, concerning these matters, if youwill just put us on the line of our flight, the swarm will make anothermove. "

"Anan!"

"I say that Ellen is getting uneasy, and as the smoke is lifting fromthe plain, it may be prudent to take another flight. "

"The boy is reasonable. I had forgotten we were in the midst of a ragingfire, and that Siouxes were round about us, like hungry wolves watchinga drove of buffaloes. But when memory is at work in my old brain, ontimes long past, it is apt to overlook the matters of the day. You sayright, my children; it is time to be moving, and now comes the realnicety of our case. It is easy to outwit a furnace, for it is nothingbut a raging element; and it is not always difficult to throw a grizzlybear from his scent, for the creatur' is both enlightened and blindedby his instinct; but to shut the eyes of a waking Teton is a matter ofgreater judgment, inasmuch as his deviltry is backed by reason. "

Notwithstanding the old man appeared so conscious of the difficulty ofthe undertaking, he set about its achievement with great steadiness andalacrity. After completing the examination, which had been interruptedby the melancholy wanderings of his mind, he gave the signal to hiscompanions to mount. The horses, which had continued passive andtrembling amid the raging of the fire, received their burdens with asatisfaction so very evident, as to furnish a favourable augury of theirfuture industry. The trapper invited the Doctor to take his own steed, declaring his intention to proceed on foot. 

"I am but little used to journeying with the feet of others, " he added, as a reason for the measure, "and my legs are a weary of doing nothing. Besides, should we light suddenly on an ambushment, which is a thing farfrom impossible, the horse will be in a better condition for a hardrun with one man on his back than with two. As for me, what matters itwhether my time is to be a day shorter or a day longer! Let the Tetonstake my scalp, if it be God's pleasure: they will find it coveredwith grey hairs; and it is beyond the craft of man to cheat me of theknowledge and experience by which they have been whitened. "

As no one among the impatient listeners seemed disposed to disputethe arrangement, it was acceded to in silence. The Doctor, though hemuttered a few mourning exclamations on behalf of the lost Asinus, was by far too well pleased in finding that his speed was likely to besustained by four legs instead of two, to be long in complying: and, consequently, in a very few moments the bee-hunter, who was never lastto speak on such occasions, vociferously announced that they were readyto proceed. 

"Now look off yonder to the East, " said the old man, as he began to leadthe way across the murky and still smoking plain; "little fear of coldfeet in journeying such a path as this: but look you off to the East, and if you see a sheet of shining white, glistening like a plate ofbeaten silver through the openings of the smoke, why that is water. Anoble stream is running thereaway, and I thought I got a glimpse of ita while since; but other thoughts came, and I lost it. It is a broadand swift river, such as the Lord has made many of its fellows in thisdesert. For here may natur' be seen in all its richness, trees aloneexcepted. Trees, which are to the 'arth, as fruits are to a garden;without them nothing can be pleasant, or thoroughly useful. Now watchall of you, with open eyes, for that stripe of glittering water: weshall not be safe until it is flowing between our trail and these sharpsighted Tetons. "

The latter declaration was enough to ensure a vigilant look out for thedesired stream, on the part of all the trapper's followers. With thisobject in view, the party proceeded in profound silence, the old manhaving admonished them of the necessity of caution, as they entered theclouds of smoke, which were rolling like masses of fog along the plain, more particularly over those spots where the fire had encounteredoccasional pools of stagnant water. 

They travelled near a league in this manner, without obtaining thedesired glimpse of the river. The fire was still raging in the distance, and as the air swept away the first vapour of the conflagration, freshvolumes rolled along the place, limiting the view. At length the oldman, who had begun to betray some little uneasiness, which caused hisfollowers to apprehend that even his acute faculties were beginningto be confused, in the mazes of the smoke, made a sudden pause, anddropping his rifle to the ground, he stood, apparently musing over someobject at his feet. Middleton and the rest rode up to his side, anddemanded the reason of the halt. 

"Look ye, here, " returned the trapper, pointing to the mutilated carcassof a horse, that lay more than half consumed in a little hollow of theground; "here may you see the power of a prairie conflagration. The'arth is moist, hereaway, and the grass has been taller than usual. This miserable beast has been caught in his bed. You see the bones; thecrackling and scorched hide, and the grinning teeth. A thousand winterscould not wither an animal so thoroughly, as the element has done it ina minute. "

"And this might have been our fate, " said Middleton, "had the flamescome upon us, in our sleep!"

"Nay, I do not say that, I do not say that. Not but that man will burnas well as tinder; but, that being more reasoning than a horse, he wouldbetter know how to avoid the danger. "

"Perhaps this then has been but the carcass of an animal, or he toowould have fled?"

"See you these marks in the damp soil? Here have been his hoofs, --andthere is a moccasin print, as I'm a sinner! The owner of the beast hastried hard to move him from the place, but it is in the instinct of thecreatur' to be faint-hearted and obstinate in a fire. "

"It is a well-known fact. But if the animal has had a rider, where ishe?"

"Ay, therein lies the mystery, " returned the trapper, stooping toexamine the signs in the ground with a closer eye. "Yes, yes, it isplain there has been a long struggle atween the two. The master hastried hard to save his beast, and the flames must have been very greedy, or he would have had better success. "

"Harkee, old trapper, " interrupted Paul, pointing to a little distance, where the ground was drier, and the herbage had, in consequence, beenless luxuriant; "just call them two horses. Yonder lies another. "

"The boy is right! can it be, that the Tetons have been caught intheir own snares? Such things do happen; and here is an example to allevil-doers. Ay, look you here, this is iron; there have been some whiteinventions about the trappings of the beast--it must be so--it mustbe so--a party of the knaves have been skirting in the grass afterus, while their friends have fired the prairie, and look you at theconsequences; they have lost their beasts, and happy have they been iftheir own souls are not now skirting along the path, which leads to theIndian heaven. "

"They had the same expedient at command as yourself, " rejoinedMiddleton, as the party slowly proceeded, approaching the other carcass, which lay directly on their route. 

"I know not that. It is not every savage that carries his steel andflint, or as good a rifle-pan as this old friend of mine. It is slowmaking a fire with two sticks, and little time was given to consider, orinvent, just at this spot, as you may see by yon streak of flame, whichis flashing along afore the wind, as if it were on a trail of powder. Itis not many minutes since the fire has passed here away, and it maybe well to look at our primings, not that I would willingly combat theTetons, God forbid! but if a fight needs be, it is always wise to getthe first shot. "

"This has been a strange beast, old man, " said Paul, who had pulled thebridle, or rather halter of his steed, over the second carcass, whilethe rest of the party were already passing, in their eagerness toproceed; "a strange horse do I call it; it had neither head nor hoofs!"

"The fire has not been idle, " returned the trapper, keeping his eyevigilantly employed in profiting by those glimpses of the horizon, whichthe whirling smoke offered to his examination. "It would soon bake you abuffaloe whole, or for that matter powder his hoofs and horns into whiteashes. Shame, shame, old Hector: as for the captain's pup, it is to beexpected that he would show his want of years, and I may say, I hopewithout offence, his want of education too; but for a hound, like you, who have lived so long in the forest afore you came into these plains, it is very disgraceful, Hector, to be showing your teeth, and growlingat the carcass of a roasted horse, the same as if you were telling yourmaster that you had found the trail of a grizzly bear. "

"I tell you, old trapper, this is no horse; neither in hoofs, head, norhide. "

"Anan! Not a horse? Your eyes are good for the bees and for the hollowtrees, my lad, but--bless me, the boy is right! That I should mistakethe hide of a buffaloe, scorched and crimpled as it is, for the carcassof a horse! Ah's me! The time has been, my men, when I would tell youthe name of a beast, as far as eye could reach, and that too with mostof the particulars of colour, age, and sex. "

"An inestimable advantage have you then enjoyed, venerable venator!"observed the attentive naturalist. "The man who can make thesedistinctions in a desert, is saved the pain of many a weary walk, andoften of an enquiry that in its result proves useless. Pray tell me, didyour exceeding excellence of vision extend so far as to enable you todecide on their order, or genus?"

"I know not what you mean by your orders of genius. "

"No!" interrupted the bee-hunter, a little disdainfully for him, whenspeaking to his aged friend; "now, old trapper, that is admitting yourignorance of the English language, in a way I should not expect from aman of your experience and understanding. By order, our comrade meanswhether they go in promiscuous droves, like a swarm that is followingits queen-bee, or in single file, as you often see the buffaloestrailing each other through a prairie. And as for genius, I'm surethat is a word well understood, and in every body's mouth. There is thecongress-man in our district, and that tonguey little fellow, whoputs out the paper in our county, they are both so called, for theirsmartness; which is what the Doctor means, as I take it, seeing that heseldom speaks without some considerable meaning. "

When Paul finished this very clever explanation he looked behind himwith an expression, which, rightly interpreted, would have said--"Yousee, though I don't often trouble myself in these matters, I am nofool. "

Ellen admired Paul for anything but his learning. There was enough inhis frank, fearless, and manly character, backed as it was by greatpersonal attraction, to awaken her sympathies, without the necessity ofprying into his mental attainments. The poor girl reddened like a rose, her pretty fingers played with the belt, by which she sustained herselfon the horse, and she hurriedly observed, as if anxious to direct theattentions of the other listeners from a weakness, on which her ownthoughts could not bear to dwell--

"And this is not a horse, after all?"

"It is nothing more, nor less, than the hide of a buffaloe, " continuedthe trapper, who had been no less puzzled by the explanation of Paul, than by the language of the Doctor; "the hair is beneath; the fire hasrun over it as you see; for being fresh, the flames could take no hold. The beast has not been long killed, and it may be that some of the beefis still hereaway. "

"Lift the corner of the skin, old trapper, " said Paul, with the tone ofone, who felt, as if he had now proved his right to mingle his voicein any council; "if there is a morsel of the hump left, it must be wellcooked, and it shall be welcome. "

The old man laughed, heartily, at the conceit of his companion. Thrusting his foot beneath the skin, it moved. Then it was suddenly castaside, and an Indian warrior sprang from its cover, to his feet, with anagility, that bespoke how urgent he deemed the occasion. 

CHAPTER XXIV

 I would it were bed-time, Hal, and all well. --Shakspeare. 

A second glance sufficed to convince the whole of the startled party, that the young Pawnee, whom they had already encountered, again stoodbefore them. Surprise kept both sides mute, and more than a minute waspassed in surveying each other, with eyes of astonishment, if notof distrust. The wonder of the young warrior was, however, much moretempered and dignified than that of his Christian acquaintances. WhileMiddleton and Paul felt the tremor, which shook the persons of theirdependant companions, thrilling through their own quickened blood, theglowing eye of the Indian rolled from one to another, as if it couldnever quail before the rudest assaults. His gaze, after making thecircuit of every wondering countenance, finally settled in a steady lookon the equally immovable features of the trapper. The silence was firstbroken by Dr. Battius, in the ejaculation of--"Order, primates; genus, homo; species, prairie!"

"Ay--ay--the secret is out, " said the old trapper, shaking his head, like one who congratulated himself on having mastered the mystery ofsome knotty difficulty. "The lad has been in the grass for a cover; thefire has come upon him in his sleep, and having lost his horse, he hasbeen driven to save himself under that fresh hide of a buffaloe. Nobad invention, when powder and flint were wanting to kindle a ring. Iwarrant me, now, this is a clever youth, and one that it would be safeto journey with! I will speak to him kindly, for anger can at leastserve no turn of ours. My brother is welcome again, " using the language, which the other understood; "the Tetons have been smoking him, as theywould a racoon. "

The young Pawnee rolled his eye over the place, as if he were examiningthe terrific danger from which he had just escaped, but he disdained tobetray the smallest emotion, at its imminency. His brow contracted, ashe answered to the remark of the trapper by saying--

"A Teton is a dog. When the Pawnee war-whoop is in their ears, the wholenation howls. "

"It is true. The imps are on our trail, and I am glad to meet a warrior, with the tomahawk in his hand, who does not love them. Will my brotherlead my children to his village? If the Siouxes follow on our path, myyoung men shall help him to strike them. "

The young Pawnee turned his eyes from one to another of the strangers, in a keen scrutiny, before he saw fit to answer so important aninterrogatory. His examination of the males was short, and apparentlysatisfactory. But his gaze was fastened long and admiringly, as in theirformer interview, on the surpassing and unwonted beauty of a being sofair and so unknown as Inez. Though his glance wandered, for moments, from her countenance to the more intelligible and yet extraordinarycharms of Ellen, it did not fail to return promptly to the study ofa creature who, in the view of his unpractised eye and untutoredimagination, was formed with all that perfection, with which theyouthful poet is apt to endow the glowing images of his brain. Nothingso fair, so ideal, so every way worthy to reward the courage andself-devotion of a warrior, had ever before been encountered on theprairies, and the young brave appeared to be deeply and intuitivelysensible to the influence of so rare a model of the loveliness of thesex. Perceiving, however, that his gaze gave uneasiness to thesubject of his admiration, he withdrew his eyes, and laying his handimpressively on his chest, he, modestly, answered--

"My father shall be welcome. The young men of my nation shall hunt withhis sons; the chiefs shall smoke with the grey-head. The Pawnee girlswill sing in the ears of his daughters. "

"And if we meet the Tetons?" demanded the trapper, who wished tounderstand, thoroughly, the more important conditions of this newalliance. 

"The enemy of the Big-knives shall feel the blow of the Pawnee. "

"It is well. Now let my brother and I meet in council, that we may notgo on a crooked path, but that our road to his village may be like theflight of the pigeons. "

The young Pawnee made a significant gesture of assent and followedthe other a little apart, in order to be removed from all danger ofinterruption from the reckless Paul, or the abstracted naturalist. Theirconference was short, but, as it was conducted in the sententious mannerof the natives, it served to make each of the parties acquainted withall the necessary information of the other. When they rejoined theirassociates, the old man saw fit to explain a portion of what had passedbetween them, as follows--

"Ay, I was not mistaken, " he said; "this good-looking young warrior--forgood-looking and noble-looking he is, though a little horrified perhapswith paint--this good-looking youth, then, tells me he is out on thescout for these very Tetons. His party was not strong enough to strikethe devils, who are down from their towns in great numbers to hunt thebuffaloe, and runners have gone to the Pawnee villages for aid. It wouldseem that this lad is a fearless boy, for he has been hanging on theirskirts alone, until, like ourselves, he was driven to the grass for acover. But he tells me more, my men, and what I am mainly sorry to hear, which is, that the cunning Mahtoree instead of going to blows with thesquatter, has become his friend, and that both broods, red and white, are on our heels, and outlying around this very burning plain tocircumvent us to our destruction. "

"How knows he all this to be true?" demanded Middleton. 

"Anan?"

"In what manner does he know, that these things are so?"

"In what manner! Do you think newspapers and town criers are needed totell a scout what is doing on the prairies, as they are in the bosomof the States? No gossiping woman, who hurries from house to house tospread evil of her neighbour, can carry tidings with her tongue, so fastas these people will spread their meaning, by signs and warnings, thatthey alone understand. 'Tis their l'arning, and what is better, it isgot in the open air, and not within the walls of a school. I tell you, captain, that what he says is true. "

"For that matter, " said Paul, "I'm ready to swear to it. It isreasonable, and therefore it must be true. "

"And well you might, lad; well you might. He furthermore declares, thatmy old eyes for once were true to me, and that the river lies, hereaway, at about the distance of half a league. You see the fire has done mostof its work in that quarter, and our path is clouded in smoke. He alsoagrees that it is needful to wash our trail in water. Yes, we must putthat river atween us and the Sioux eyes, and then, by the favour of theLord, not forgetting our own industry, we may gain the village of theLoups. "

"Words will not forward us a foot, " said Middleton; "let us move. "

The old man assented, and the party once more prepared to renew itsroute. The Pawnee threw the skin of the buffaloe over his shoulderand led the advance, casting many a stolen glance behind him as heproceeded, in order to fix his gaze on the extraordinary and, to him, unaccountable loveliness of the unconscious Inez. 

An hour sufficed to bring the fugitives to the bank of the stream, whichwas one of the hundred rivers that serve to conduct, through the mightyarteries of the Missouri and Mississippi, the waters of that vast andstill uninhabited region to the Ocean. The river was not deep, but itscurrent was troubled and rapid. The flames had scorched the earth to itsvery margin, and as the warm streams of the fluid mingled, in the coolerair of the morning, with the smoke of the raging conflagration, mostof its surface was wrapped in a mantle of moving vapour. The trapperpointed out the circumstance with pleasure, saying, as he assisted Inezto dismount on the margin of the watercourse--

"The knaves have outwitted themselves! I am far from certain that Ishould not have fired the prairie, to have got the benefit of this verysmoke to hide our movements, had not the heartless imps saved us thetrouble. I've known such things done in my day, and done with success. Come, lady, put your tender foot upon the ground--for a fearful time hasit been to one of your breeding and skeary qualities. Ah's me! whathave I not known the young, and the delicate, and the virtuous, andthe modest, to undergo, in my time, among the horrifications andcircumventions of Indian warfare! Come, it is a short quarter of a mileto the other bank, and then our trail, at least, will be broken. "

Paul had by this time assisted Ellen to dismount, and he now stoodlooking, with rueful eyes, at the naked banks of the river. Neither treenor shrub grew along its borders, with the exception of here and there asolitary thicket of low bushes, from among which it would not have beenan easy matter to have found a dozen stems of a size sufficient to makean ordinary walking-stick. 

"Harkee, old trapper, " the moody-looking bee-hunter exclaimed; "it isvery well to talk of the other side of this ripple of a river, or brook, or whatever you may call it, but in my judgment it would be a smartrifle that would throw its lead across it--that is, to any detriment toIndian, or deer. "

"That it would--that it would; though I carry a piece, here, that hasdone its work in time of need, at as great a distance. "

"And do you mean to shoot Ellen and the captain's lady across; or do youintend them to go, trout fashion, with their mouths under water?"

"Is this river too deep to be forded?" asked Middleton, who, like Paul, began to consider the impossibility of transporting her, whose safety hevalued more than his own, to the opposite shore. 

"When the mountains above feed it with their torrents, it is, as yousee, a swift and powerful stream. Yet have I crossed its sandy bed, inmy time, without wetting a knee. But we have the Sioux horses; I warrantme, that the kicking imps will swim like so many deer. "

"Old trapper, " said Paul, thrusting his fingers into his mop of a head, as was usual with him, when any difficulty confounded his philosophy, "I have swam like a fish in my day, and I can do it again, when there isneed; nor do I much regard the weather; but I question if you get Nellyto sit a horse, with this water whirling like a mill-race before hereyes; besides, it is manifest the thing is not to be done dry shod. "

"Ah, the lad is right. We must to our inventions, therefore, or theriver cannot be crossed. " Then, cutting the discourse short, he turnedto the Pawnee, and explained to him the difficulty which existed inrelation to the women. The young warrior listened gravely, and throwingthe buffaloe-skin from his shoulder he immediately commenced, assistedby the occasional aid of the understanding old man, the preparationsnecessary to effect this desirable object. 

The hide was soon drawn into the shape of an umbrella top, or aninverted parachute, by thongs of deer-skin, with which both thelabourers were well provided. A few light sticks served to keep theparts from collapsing, or falling in. When this simple and naturalexpedient was arranged, it was placed on the water, the Indian makinga sign that it was ready to receive its freight. Both Inez and Ellenhesitated to trust themselves in a bark of so frail a construction, norwould Middleton or Paul consent that they should do so, until each hadassured himself, by actual experiment, that the vessel was capable ofsustaining a load much heavier than it was destined to receive. Then, indeed, their scruples were reluctantly overcome, and the skin was madeto receive its precious burden. 

"Now leave the Pawnee to be the pilot, " said the trapper; "my hand isnot so steady as it used to be; but he has limbs like toughened hickory. Leave all to the wisdom of the Pawnee. "

The husband and lover could not well do otherwise, and they were fainto become deeply interested, it is true, but passive spectators ofthis primitive species of ferrying. The Pawnee selected the beast ofMahtoree, from among the three horses, with a readiness that proved hewas far from being ignorant of the properties of that noble animal, andthrowing himself upon its back, he rode into the margin of the river. Thrusting an end of his lance into the hide, he bore the light vesselup against the stream, and giving his steed the rein, they pushed boldlyinto the current. Middleton and Paul followed, pressing as nigh the barkas prudence would at all warrant. In this manner the young warrior borehis precious cargo to the opposite bank in perfect safety, without theslightest inconvenience to the passengers, and with a steadiness andcelerity which proved that both horse and rider were not unused to theoperation. When the shore was gained, the young Indian undid his work, threw the skin over his shoulder, placed the sticks under his arm, andreturned, without speaking, to transfer the remainder of the party, in asimilar manner, to what was very justly considered the safer side of theriver. 

"Now, friend Doctor, " said the old man, when he saw the Indian plunginginto the river a second time, "do I know there is faith in yonderRed-skin. He is a good-looking, ay, and an honest-looking youth, butthe winds of Heaven are not more deceitful than these savages, when thedevil has fairly beset them. Had the Pawnee been a Teton, or one of themheartless Mingoes, that used to be prowling through the woods of York, atime back, that is, some sixty years agone, we should have seen his backand not his face turned towards us. My heart had its misgivings when Isaw the lad choose the better horse, for it would be as easy to leave uswith that beast, as it would for a nimble pigeon to part company from aflock of noisy and heavy winged crows. But you see that truth is in theboy, and make a Red-skin once your friend, he is yours so long as youdeal honestly by him. "

"What may be the distance to the sources of this stream?" demandedDoctor Battius, whose eyes were rolling over the whirling eddies of thecurrent, with a very portentous expression of doubt. "At what distancemay its secret springs be found?"

"That may be as the weather proves. I warrant me your legs would bea-weary before you had followed its bed into the Rocky Mountains; butthen there are seasons when it might be done without wetting a foot. "

"And in what particular divisions of the year do these periodicalseasons occur?"

"He that passes this spot a few months from this time, will find thatfoaming water-course a desert of drifting sand. "

The naturalist pondered deeply. Like most others, who are not endowedwith a superfluity of physical fortitude, the worthy man had found thedanger of passing the river, in so simple a manner, magnifying itselfin his eyes so rapidly, as the moment of adventure approached, that heactually contemplated the desperate effort of going round the river, inorder to escape the hazard of crossing it. It may not be necessary todwell on the incredible ingenuity, with which terror will at any timeprop a tottering argument. The worthy Obed had gone over the wholesubject, with commendable diligence, and had just arrived at theconsoling conclusion, that there was nearly as much glory in discerningthe hidden sources of so considerable a stream, as in adding a plant, or an insect, to the lists of the learned, when the Pawnee reached theshore for the second time. The old man took his seat, with the utmostdeliberation, in the vessel of skin (so soon as it had been dulyarranged for his reception), and having carefully disposed of Hectorbetween his legs, he beckoned to his companion to occupy the thirdplace. 

The naturalist placed a foot in the frail vessel, as an elephant willtry a bridge, or a horse is often seen to make a similar experiment, before he will trust the whole of his corporeal treasure on the dreadedflat, and then withdrew, just as the old man believed he was about toseat himself. 

"Venerable venator, " he said, mournfully, "this is a most unscientificbark. There is an inward monitor which bids me distrust its security!"

"Anan?" said the old man, who was pinching the ears of the hound, as afather would play with the same member in a favourite child. 

"I incline not to this irregular mode of experimenting on fluids. Thevessel has neither form, nor proportions. "

"It is not as handsomely turned as I have seen a canoe in birchen bark, but comfort may be taken in a wigwam as well as in a palace. "

"It is impossible that any vessel constructed on principles so repugnantto science can be safe. This tub, venerable hunter, will never reach theopposite shore in safety. "

"You are a witness of what it has done. "

"Ay; but it was an anomaly in prosperity. If exceptions were to be takenas rules, in the government of things, the human race would speedily beplunged in the abysses of ignorance. Venerable trapper, this expedient, in which you would repose your safety, is, in the annals of regularinventions, what a lusus naturae may be termed in the lists of naturalhistory--a monster!"

How much longer Doctor Battius might have felt disposed to prolongthe discourse, it is difficult to say, for in addition to the powerfulpersonal considerations, which induced him to procrastinate anexperiment which was certainly not without its dangers, the pride ofreason was beginning to sustain him in the discussion. But, fortunatelyfor the credit of the old man's forbearance, when the naturalist reachedthe word, with which he terminated his last speech, a sound arose inthe air that seemed a sort of supernatural echo to the idea itself. Theyoung Pawnee, who had awaited the termination of the incomprehensiblediscussion, with grave and characteristic patience, raised his head, andlistened to the unknown cry, like a stag, whose mysterious faculties haddetected the footsteps of the distant hounds in the gale. The trapperand the Doctor were not, however, entirely so uninstructed as to thenature of the extraordinary sounds. The latter recognised in them thewell-known voice of his own beast, and he was about to rush up thelittle bank, which confined the current, with all the longings of strongaffection, when Asinus himself galloped into view, at no great distance, urged to the unnatural gait by the impatient and brutal Weucha, whobestrode him. 

The eyes of the Teton, and those of the fugitives met. The former raiseda long, loud, and piercing yell, in which the notes of exultationwere fearfully blended with those of warning. The signal served for afinishing blow to the discussion on the merits of the bark, the Doctorstepping as promptly to the side of the old man, as if a mental mist hadbeen miraculously removed from his eyes. In another instant the steed ofthe young Pawnee was struggling with the torrent. 

The utmost strength of the horse was needed to urge the fugitives, beyond the flight of arrows that came sailing through the air, at thenext moment. The cry of Weucha had brought fifty of his comrades tothe shore, but fortunately among them all, there was not one of a ranksufficient to entitle him to the privilege of bearing a fusee. One halfthe stream, however, was not passed, before the form of Mahtoree himselfwas seen on its bank, and an ineffectual discharge of firearms announcedthe rage and disappointment of the chief. More than once the trapper hadraised his rifle, as if about to try its power on his enemies, but he asoften lowered it, without firing. The eyes of the Pawnee warrior glaredlike those of the cougar, at the sight of so many of the hostile tribe, and he answered the impotent effort of their chief, by tossing a handinto the air in contempt, and raising the war-cry of his nation. Thechallenge was too taunting to be endured. The Tetons dashed into thestream in a body, and the river became dotted with the dark forms ofbeasts and riders. 

There was now a fearful struggle for the friendly bank. As the Dahcotahsadvanced with beasts, which had not, like that of the Pawnee, expendedtheir strength in former efforts, and as they moved unincumbered by anything but their riders, the speed of the pursuers greatly outstrippedthat of the fugitives. The trapper, who clearly comprehended the wholedanger of their situation, calmly turned his eyes from the Tetons to hisyoung Indian associate, in order to examine whether the resolution ofthe latter began to falter, as the former lessened the distance betweenthem. Instead of betraying fear, however, or any of that concern whichmight so readily have been excited by the peculiarity of his risk, thebrow of the young warrior contracted to a look which indicated high anddeadly hostility. 

"Do you greatly value life, friend Doctor?" demanded the old man, with asort of philosophical calmness, which made the question doubly appallingto his companion. 

"Not for itself, " returned the naturalist, sipping some of the waterof the river from the hollow of his hand, in order to clear his huskythroat. "Not for itself, but exceedingly, inasmuch as natural historyhas so deep a stake in my existence. Therefore--"

"Ay!" resumed the other, who mused too deeply to dissect the ideasof the Doctor with his usual sagacity, "'tis in truth the history ofnatur', and a base and craven feeling it is! Now is life as precious tothis young Pawnee, as to any governor in the States, and he might saveit, or at least stand some chance of saving it, by letting us go downthe stream; and yet you see he keeps his faith manfully, and like anIndian warrior. For myself, I am old, and willing to take the fortunethat the Lord may see fit to give, nor do I conceit that you are of muchbenefit to mankind; and it is a crying shame, if not a sin, that so finea youth as this should lose his scalp for two beings so worthlessas ourselves. I am therefore disposed, provided that it shall proveagreeable to you, to tell the lad to make the best of his way, and toleave us to the mercy of the Tetons. "

"I repel the proposition, as repugnant to nature, and as treason toscience!" exclaimed the alarmed naturalist. "Our progress is miraculous;and as this admirable invention moves with so wonderful a facility, afew more minutes will serve to bring us to land. "

The old man regarded him intently for an instant, and shaking his headhe said--

"Lord, what a thing is fear! it transforms the creatur's of the worldand the craft of man, making that which is ugly, seemly in our eyes, andthat which is beautiful, unsightly! Lord, Lord, what a thing is fear!"

A termination was, however, put to the discussion, by the increasinginterest of the chase. The horses of the Dahcotahs had, by this time, gained the middle of the current, and their riders were already fillingthe air with yells of triumph. At this moment Middleton and Paul who hadled the females to a little thicket, appeared again on the margin of thestream, menacing their enemies with the rifle. 

"Mount, mount, " shouted the trapper, the instant he beheld them; "mountand fly, if you value those who lean on you for help. Mount, and leaveus in the hands of the Lord. "

"Stoop your head, old trapper, " returned the voice of Paul, "down withye both into your nest. The Teton devil is in your line; down with yourheads and make way for a Kentucky bullet. "

The old man turned his head, and saw that the eager Mahtoree, whopreceded his party some distance, had brought himself nearly in a linewith the bark and the bee-hunter, who stood perfectly ready to executehis hostile threat. Bending his body low, the rifle was discharged, andthe swift lead whizzed harmlessly past him, on its more distant errand. But the eye of the Teton chief was not less quick and certain than thatof his enemy. He threw himself from his horse the moment precedingthe report, and sunk into the water. The beast snorted with terror andanguish, throwing half his form out of the river in a desperate plunge. Then he was seen drifting away in the torrent, and dyeing the turbidwaters with his blood. 

The Teton chief soon re-appeared on the surface, and understanding thenature of his loss, he swam with vigorous strokes to the nearest ofthe young men, who relinquished his steed, as a matter of course, to sorenowned a warrior. The incident, however, created a confusion in thewhole of the Dahcotah band, who appeared to await the intention of theirleader, before they renewed their efforts to reach the shore. In themean time the vessel of skin had reached the land, and the fugitiveswere once more united on the margin of the river. 

The savages were now swimming about in indecision, as a flock of pigeonsis often seen to hover in confusion after receiving a heavy dischargeinto its leading column, apparently hesitating on the risk of storming abank so formidably defended. The well-known precaution of Indian warfareprevailed, and Mahtoree, admonished by his recent adventure, led hiswarriors back to the shore from which they had come, in order to relievetheir beasts, which were already becoming unruly. 

"Now mount you, with the tender ones, and ride for yonder hillock, " saidthe trapper; "beyond it, you will find another stream, into which youmust enter, and turning to the sun, follow its bed for a mile, untilyou reach a high and sandy plain; there will I meet you. Go; mount;this Pawnee youth and I, and my stout friend the physician, who is adesperate warrior, are men enough to keep the bank, seeing that show andnot use is all that is needed. "

Middleton and Paul saw no use in wasting their breath in remonstrancesagainst this proposal. Glad to know that their rear was to be covered, even in this imperfect manner, they hastily got their horses in motion, and soon disappeared on the required route. Some twenty or thirtyminutes succeeded this movement before the Tetons on the opposite shoreseemed inclined to enter on any new enterprise. Mahtoree was distinctlyvisible, in the midst of his warriors, issuing his mandates andbetraying his desire for vengeance, by occasionally shaking an arm inthe direction of the fugitives; but no step was taken, which appeared tothreaten any further act of immediate hostility. At length a yell aroseamong the savages, which announced the occurrence of some fresh event. Then Ishmael and his sluggish sons were seen in the distance, and soonthe whole of the united force moved down to the very limits of thestream. The squatter proceeded to examine the position of his enemies, with his usual coolness, and, as if to try the power of his rifle, hesent a bullet among them, with a force sufficient to do execution, evenat the distance at which he stood. 

"Now let us depart!" exclaimed Obed, endeavouring to catch a furtiveglimpse of the lead, which he fancied was whizzing at his very ear; "wehave maintained the bank in a gallant manner, for a sufficient length oftime; quite as much military skill is to be displayed in a retreat, asin an advance. "

The old man cast a look behind him, and seeing that the equestrians hadreached the cover of the hill, he made no objections to the proposal. The remaining horse was given to the Doctor, with instructions to pursuethe course just taken by Middleton and Paul. When the naturalist wasmounted and in full retreat, the trapper and the young Pawnee stole fromthe spot in such a manner as to leave their enemies some time in doubtas to their movements. Instead, however, of proceeding across the plaintowards the hill, a route on which they must have been in open view, they took a shorter path, covered by the formation of the ground, andintersected the little water-course at the point where Middleton hadbeen directed to leave it, and just in season to join his party. TheDoctor had used so much diligence in the retreat, as to have alreadyovertaken his friends, and of course all the fugitives were againassembled. 

The trapper now looked about him for some convenient spot, where thewhole party might halt, as he expressed it, for some five or six hours. 

"Halt!" exclaimed the Doctor, when the alarming proposal reached hisears; "venerable hunter, it would seem, that on the contrary, many daysshould be passed in industrious flight. "

Middleton and Paul were both of this opinion, and each in his particularmanner expressed as much. 

The old man heard them with patience, but shook his head like one whowas unconvinced, and then answered all their arguments, in one generaland positive reply. 

"Why should we fly?" he asked. "Can the legs of mortal men outstrip thespeed of horses? Do you think the Tetons will lie down and sleep; orwill they cross the water and nose for our trail? Thanks be to the Lord, we have washed it well in this stream, and if we leave the place withdiscretion and wisdom, we may yet throw them off its track. But aprairie is not a wood. There a man may journey long, caring for nothingbut the prints his moccasin leaves, whereas in these open plains arunner, placed on yonder hill, for instance, could see far on every sideof him, like a hovering hawk looking down on his prey. No, no; nightmust come, and darkness be upon us, afore we leave this spot. But listento the words of the Pawnee; he is a lad of spirit, and I warrant me manyis the hard race that he has run with the Sioux bands. Does my brotherthink our trail is long enough?" he demanded in the Indian tongue. 

"Is a Teton a fish, that he can see it in the river?"

"But my young men think we should stretch it, until it reaches acrossthe prairie. "

"Mahtoree has eyes; he will see it. "

"What does my brother counsel?"

The young warrior studied the heavens a moment, and appeared tohesitate. He mused some time with himself, and then he replied, like onewhose opinion was fixed--

"The Dahcotahs are not asleep, " he said; "we must lie in the grass. "

"Ah! the lad is of my mind, " said the old man, briefly explaining theopinion of his companion to his white friends. Middleton was obligedto acquiesce, and, as it was confessedly dangerous to remain upon theirfeet, each one set about assisting in the means to be adopted for theirsecurity. Inez and Ellen were quickly bestowed beneath the warm andnot uncomfortable shelter of the buffaloe skins, which formed a thickcovering, and tall grass was drawn over the place, in such a manner asto evade any examination from a common eye. Paul and the Pawnee fetteredthe beasts and cast them to the earth, where, after supplying them withfood, they were also left concealed in the fog of the prairie. No timewas lost when these several arrangements were completed, before each ofthe others sought a place of rest and concealment, and then the plainappeared again deserted to its solitude. 

The old man had advised his companions of the absolute necessity oftheir continuing for hours in this concealment. All their hopes ofescape depended on the success of the artifice. If they might elude thecunning of their pursuers, by this simple and therefore less suspectedexpedient, they could renew their flight as the evening approached, and, by changing their course, the chance of final success would be greatlyincreased. Influenced by these momentous considerations the whole partylay, musing on their situation, until thoughts grew weary, and sleepfinally settled on them all, one after another. 

The deepest silence had prevailed for hours, when the quick ears of thetrapper and the Pawnee were startled by a faint cry of surprise fromInez. Springing to their feet, like men, who were about to struggle fortheir lives, they found the vast plain, the rolling swells, the littlehillock, and the scattered thickets, covered alike in one, white, dazzling sheet of snow. 

"The Lord have mercy on ye all!" exclaimed the old man, regarding theprospect with a rueful eye; "now, Pawnee, do I know the reason why youstudied the clouds so closely; but it is too late; it is too late! Asquirrel would leave his trail on this light coating of the 'arth. Ha!there come the imps to a certainty. Down with ye all, down with ye; yourchance is but small, and yet it must not be wilfully cast away. "

The whole party was instantly concealed again, though many an anxiousand stolen glance was directed through the tops of the grass, on themovements of their enemies. At the distance of half a mile, the Tetonband was seen riding in a circuit, which was gradually contractingitself, and evidently closing upon the very spot where the fugitiveslay. There was but little difficulty in solving the mystery of thismovement. The snow had fallen in time to assure them that thosethey sought were in their rear, and they were now employed, with theunwearied perseverance and patience of Indian warriors, in circling thecertain boundaries of their place of concealment. 

Each minute added to the jeopardy of the fugitives. Paul and Middletondeliberately prepared their rifles, and as the occupied Mahtoree came, at length, within fifty feet of them, keeping his eyes riveted on thegrass through which he rode, they levelled them together and pulled thetriggers. The effort was answered by the mere snapping of the locks. 

"Enough, " said the old man, rising with dignity; "I have cast away thepriming; for certain death would follow your rashness. Now let us meetour fates like men. Cringing and complaining find no favour in Indianeyes. "

His appearance was greeted by a yell, that spread far and wide over theplain, and in a moment a hundred savages were seen riding madly to thespot. Mahtoree received his prisoners with great self-restraint, thougha single gleam of fierce joy broke through his clouded brow, and theheart of Middleton grew cold as he caught the expression of that eye, which the chief turned on the nearly insensible but still lovely Inez. 

The exultation of receiving the white captives was so great, as fora time to throw the dark and immovable form of their young Indiancompanion entirely out of view. He stood apart, disdaining to turn aneye on his enemies, as motionless as if he were frozen in that attitudeof dignity and composure. But when a little time had passed, even thissecondary object attracted the attention of the Tetons. Then it was thatthe trapper first learned, by the shout of triumph and the long drawnyell of delight, which burst at once from a hundred throats, as well asby the terrible name, which filled the air, that his youthful friendwas no other than that redoubtable and hitherto invincible warrior, Hard-Heart. 

CHAPTER XXV

 What, are ancient Pistol and you friends, yet? --Shakspeare. 

The curtain of our imperfect drama must fall, to rise upon anotherscene. The time is advanced several days, during which very materialchanges had occurred in the situation of the actors. The hour is noon, and the place an elevated plain, that rose, at no great distance fromthe water, somewhat abruptly from a fertile bottom, which stretchedalong the margin of one of the numberless water-courses of that region. The river took its rise near the base of the Rocky Mountains, and, after washing a vast extent of plain, it mingled its waters with astill larger stream, to become finally lost in the turbid current of theMissouri. 

The landscape was changed materially for the better; though the hand, which had impressed so much of the desert on the surrounding region, hadlaid a portion of its power on this spot. The appearance of vegetationwas, however, less discouraging than in the more sterile wastes of therolling prairies. Clusters of trees were scattered in greater profusion, and a long outline of ragged forest marked the northern boundary of theview. Here and there, on the bottom, were to be seen the evidences of ahasty and imperfect culture of such indigenous vegetables as were of aquick growth, and which were known to flourish, without the aid of art, in deep and alluvial soils. On the very edge of what might be calledthe table-land, were pitched the hundred lodges of a horde of wanderingSiouxes. Their light tenements were arranged without the least attentionto order. Proximity to the water seemed to be the only considerationwhich had been consulted in their disposition, nor had even thisimportant convenience been always regarded. While most of the lodgesstood along the brow of the plain, many were to be seen at greaterdistances, occupying such places as had first pleased the capriciouseyes of their untutored owners. The encampment was not military, norin the slightest degree protected from surprise by its position ordefences. It was open on every side, and on every side as accessibleas any other point in those wastes, if the imperfect and naturalobstruction offered by the river be excepted. In short, the place borethe appearance of having been tenanted longer than its occupants hadoriginally intended, while it was not wanting in the signs of readinessfor a hasty, or even a compelled departure. 

This was the temporary encampment of that portion of his people, whohad long been hunting under the direction of Mahtoree, on those groundswhich separated the stationary abodes of his nation, from those of thewarlike tribes of the Pawnees. The lodges were tents of skin, high, conical, and of the most simple and primitive construction. The shield, the quiver, the lance and the bow of its master, were to be seensuspended from a light post before the opening, or door, of eachhabitation. The different domestic implements of his one, two, or threewives, as the brave was of greater or lesser renown, were carelesslythrown at its side, and here and there the round, full, patientcountenance of an infant might be found peeping from its comfortlesswrappers of bark, as, suspended by a deer-skin thong from the same post, it rocked in the passing air. Children of a larger growth were tumblingover each other in piles, the males, even at that early age, makingthemselves distinguished for that species of domination which, in afterlife, was to mark the vast distinction between the sexes. Youths were inthe bottom, essaying their juvenile powers in curbing the wild steedsof their fathers, while here and there a truant girl was to be seen, stealing from her labours to admire their fierce and impatient daring. 

Thus far the picture was the daily exhibition of an encampment confidentin its security. But immediately in front of the lodges was a gathering, that seemed to forbode some movements of more than usual interest. Afew of the withered and remorseless crones of the band were clusteringtogether, in readiness to lend their fell voices, if needed, to aid inexciting their descendants to an exhibition, which their depraved tastescoveted, as the luxurious Roman dame witnessed the struggles and theagony of the gladiator. The men were subdivided into groups, assortedaccording to the deeds and reputations of the several individuals ofwhom they were composed. 

They, who were of that equivocal age which admitted them to the hunts, while their discretion was still too doubtful to permit them to betrusted on the war-path, hung around the skirts of the whole, catching, from the fierce models before them, that gravity of demeanour andrestraint of manner, which in time was to become so deeply ingrafted intheir own characters. A few of the still older class, and who had heardthe whoop in anger, were a little more presuming, pressing nigher tothe chiefs, though far from presuming to mingle in their councils, sufficiently distinguished by being permitted to catch the wisdom whichfell from lips so venerated. The ordinary warriors of the band werestill less diffident, not hesitating to mingle among the chiefsof lesser note, though far from assuming the right to dispute thesentiments of any established brave, or to call in question the prudenceof measures, that were recommended by the more gifted counsellors of thenation. 

Among the chiefs themselves there was a singular compound of exterior. They were divided into two classes; those who were mainly indebted fortheir influence to physical causes, and to deeds in arms, and those whohad become distinguished rather for their wisdom than for their servicesin the field. The former was by far the most numerous and the mostimportant class. They were men of stature and mien, whose sterncountenances were often rendered doubly imposing by those evidences oftheir valour, which had been roughly traced on their lineaments by thehands of their enemies. That class, which had gained its influence bya moral ascendency was extremely limited. They were uniformly to bedistinguished by the quick and lively expression of their eyes, by theair of distrust that marked their movements, and occasionally by thevehemence of their utterance in those sudden outbreakings of themind, by which their present consultations were, from time to time, distinguished. 

In the very centre of a ring, formed by these chosen counsellors, wasto be seen the person of the disquieted, but seemingly calm, Mahtoree. There was a conjunction of all the several qualities of the others inhis person and character. Mind as well as matter had contributed toestablish his authority. His scars were as numerous and deep as those ofthe whitest head in his nation; his limbs were in their greatest vigour;his courage at its fullest height. Endowed with this rare combination ofmoral and physical influence, the keenest eye in all that assembly waswont to lower before his threatening glance. Courage and cunning hadestablished his ascendency, and it had been rendered, in some degree, sacred by time. He knew so well how to unite the powers of reason andforce, that in a state of society, which admitted of a greater displayof his energies, the Teton would in all probability have been both aconqueror and a despot. 

A little apart from the gathering of the band, was to be seen a set ofbeings of an entirely different origin. Taller and far more muscular intheir persons, the lingering vestiges of their Saxon and Norman ancestrywere yet to be found beneath the swarthy complexions, which had beenbestowed by an American sun. It would have been a curious investigation, for one skilled in such an enquiry, to have traced those points ofdifference, by which the offspring of the most western European wasstill to be distinguished from the descendant of the most remoteAsiatic, now that the two, in the revolutions of the world, wereapproximating in their habits, their residence, and not a little intheir characters. The group, of whom we write, was composed of thefamily of the squatter. They stood indolent, lounging, and inert, asusual when no immediate demand was made on their dormant energies, clustered in front of some four or five habitations of skin, for whichthey were indebted to the hospitality of their Teton allies. The termsof their unexpected confederation were sufficiently explained, by thepresence of the horses and domestic cattle that were quietly grazing onthe bottom beneath, under the jealous eyes of the spirited Hetty. Theirwagons were drawn about the lodges, in a sort of irregular barrier, which at once manifested that their confidence was not entirelyrestored, while, on the other hand, their policy or indolence preventedany very positive exhibition of distrust. There was a singular unionof passive enjoyment and of dull curiosity slumbering in every dullcountenance, as each of the party stood leaning on his rifle, regardingthe movements of the Sioux conference. Still no sign of expectation orinterest escaped from the youngest among them, the whole appearing toemulate the most phlegmatic of their savage allies, in an exhibition ofpatience. They rarely spoke; and when they did it was in some short andcontemptuous remark, which served to put the physical superiority of awhite man, and that of an Indian, in a sufficiently striking pointof view. In short, the family of Ishmael appeared now to be in theplenitude of an enjoyment, which depended on inactivity, but which wasnot entirely free from certain confused glimmerings of a perspective, inwhich their security stood in some little danger of a rude interruptionfrom Teton treachery. Abiram, alone, formed a solitary exception to thisstate of equivocal repose. 

After a life passed in the commission of a thousand mean andinsignificant villanies, the mind of the kidnapper had become hardyenough to attempt the desperate adventure, which has been laid beforethe reader, in the course of the narrative. His influence over thebolder, but less active, spirit of Ishmael was far from great, and hadnot the latter been suddenly expelled from a fertile bottom, of which hehad taken possession, with intent to keep it, without much deference tothe forms of law, he would never have succeeded in enlisting the husbandof his sister in an enterprise that required so much decision andforethought. Their original success and subsequent disappointment havebeen seen; and Abiram now sat apart, plotting the means, by which hemight secure to himself the advantages of his undertaking, which heperceived were each moment becoming more uncertain, through the openadmiration of Mahtoree for the innocent subject of his villany. We shallleave him to his vacillating and confused expedients, in order to passto the description of certain other personages in the drama. 

There was still another corner of the picture that was occupied. On alittle bank, at the extreme right of the encampment, lay the forms ofMiddleton and Paul. Their limbs were painfully bound with thongs, cutfrom the skin of a bison, while, by a sort of refinement in cruelty, they were so placed, that each could see a reflection of his own miseryin the case of his neighbour. Within a dozen yards of them a postwas set firmly in the ground, and against it was bound the light andApollo-like person of Hard-Heart. Between the two stood the trapper, deprived of his rifle, his pouch and his horn, but otherwise left in asort of contemptuous liberty. Some five or six young warriors, however, with quivers at their backs, and long tough bows dangling from theirshoulders, who stood with grave watchfulness at no great distance fromthe spot, sufficiently proclaimed how fruitless any attempt to escape, on the part of one so aged and so feeble, might prove. Unlike the otherspectators of the important conference, these individuals were engagedin a discourse that for them contained an interest of its own. 

"Captain, " said the bee-hunter with an expression of comical concern, that no misfortune could depress in one of his buoyant feelings, "do youreally find that accursed strap of untanned leather cutting into yourshoulder, or is it only the tickling in my own arm that I feel?"

"When the spirit suffers so deeply, the body is insensible to pain, "returned the more refined, though scarcely so spirited Middleton; "wouldto Heaven that some of my trusty artillerists might fall upon thisaccursed encampment!"

"You might as well wish that these Teton lodges were so many hives ofhornets, and that the insects would come forth and battle with yondertribe of half naked savages. " Then, chuckling with his own conceit, thebee-hunter turned away from his companion, and sought a momentary relieffrom his misery, by imagining that so wild an idea might be realised, and fancying the manner, in which the attack would upset even the wellestablished patience of an Indian. 

Middleton was glad to be silent; but the old man, who had listened totheir words, drew a little nigher, and continued the discourse. 

"Here is likely to be a merciless and a hellish business!" he said, shaking his head in a manner to prove that even his experience was at aloss for a remedy in so trying a dilemma. "Our Pawnee friend is alreadystaked for the torture, and I well know, by the eye and the countenanceof the great Sioux, that he is leading on the temper of his people tofurther enormities. "

"Harkee, old trapper, " said Paul, writhing in his bonds to catch aglimpse of the other's melancholy face; "you ar' skilled in Indiantongues, and know somewhat of Indian deviltries. Go you to the council, and tell their chiefs in my name, that is to say, in the name of PaulHover, of the state of Kentucky, that provided they will guarantee thesafe return of one Ellen Wade into the States, they are welcome to takehis scalp when and in such manner as best suits their amusements; or, if-so-be they will not trade on these conditions, you may throw in anhour or two of torture before hand, in order to sweeten the bargain totheir damnable appetites. "

"Ah! lad, it is little they would hearken to such an offer, knowing, asthey do, that you are already like a bear in a trap, as little able tofight as to fly. But be not down-hearted, for the colour of a white manis sometimes his death-warrant among these far tribes of savages, andsometimes his shield. Though they love us not, cunning often ties theirhands. Could the red nations work their will, trees would shortly begrowing again on the ploughed fields of America, and woods would bewhitened with Christian bones. No one can doubt that, who knows thequality of the love which a Red-skin bears a Pale-face; but they havecounted our numbers until their memories fail them, and they are notwithout their policy. Therefore is our fate unsettled; but I fear methere is small hope left for the Pawnee!"

As the old man concluded, he walked slowly towards the subject of hislatter observation, taking his post at no great distance from hisside. Here he stood, observing such a silence and mien as became himto manifest, to a chief so renowned and so situated as his captiveassociate. But the eye of Hard-Heart was fastened on the distance, andhis whole air was that of one whose thoughts were entirely removed fromthe present scene. 

"The Siouxes are in council on my brother, " the trapper at lengthobserved, when he found he could only attract the other's attention byspeaking. 

The young partisan turned his head with a calm smile as he answered"They are counting the scalps over the lodge of Hard-Heart!"

"No doubt, no doubt; their tempers begin to mount, as they remember thenumber of Tetons you have struck, and better would it be for you now, had more of your days been spent in chasing the deer, and fewer on thewar-path. Then some childless mother of this tribe might take you in theplace of her lost son, and your time would be filled in peace. "

"Does my father think that a warrior can ever die? The Master of Lifedoes not open his hand to take away his gifts again. When He wantsHis young men He calls them, and they go. But the Red-skin He has oncebreathed on lives for ever. "

"Ay, this is a more comfortable and a more humble faith than that whichyonder heartless Teton harbours. There is something in these Loups whichopens my inmost heart to them; they seem to have the courage, ay, andthe honesty, too, of the Delawares of the hills. And this lad--it iswonderful, it is very wonderful; but the age, and the eye, and the limbsare as if they might have been brothers! Tell me, Pawnee, have you everin your traditions heard of a mighty people who once lived on the shoresof the Salt-lake, hard by the rising sun?"

"The earth is white, by people of the colour of my father. "

"Nay, nay, I speak not now of any strollers, who have crept into theland to rob the lawful owners of their birth-right, but of a people whoare, or rather were, what with nature and what with paint, red as theberry on the bush. "

"I have heard the old men say, that there were bands, who hid themselvesin the woods under the rising sun, because they dared not come upon theopen prairies to fight with men. "

"Do not your traditions tell you of the greatest, the bravest, and thewisest nation of Red-skins that the Wahcondah has ever breathed upon?"

Hard-Heart raised his head, with a loftiness and dignity that even hisbonds could not repress, as he answered--

"Has age blinded my father; or does he see so many Siouxes, that hebelieves there are no longer any Pawnees?"

"Ah! such is mortal vanity and pride!" exclaimed the disappointed oldman, in English. "Natur' is as strong in a Red-skin, as in the bosom ofa man of white gifts. Now would a Delaware conceit himself far mightierthan a Pawnee, just as a Pawnee boasts himself to be of the princes ofthe 'arth. And so it was atween the Frenchers of the Canadas and thered-coated English, that the king did use to send into the States, whenStates they were not, but outcrying and petitioning provinces, theyfou't and they fou't, and what marvellous boastings did they give forthto the world of their own valour and victories, while both partiesforgot to name the humble soldier of the land, who did the real service, but who, as he was not privileged then to smoke at the great councilfire of his nation, seldom heard of his deeds, after they were oncebravely done. "

When the old man had thus given vent to the nearly dormant, but far fromextinct, military pride, that had so unconsciously led him into the veryerror he deprecated, his eye, which had begun to quicken and glimmerwith some of the ardour of his youth, softened and turned its anxiouslook on the devoted captive, whose countenance was also restored to itsformer cold look of abstraction and thought. 

"Young warrior, " he continued in a voice that was growing tremulous, "Ihave never been father, or brother. The Wahcondah made me to live alone. He never tied my heart to house or field, by the cords with which themen of my race are bound to their lodges; if he had, I should not havejourneyed so far, and seen so much. But I have tarried long among apeople, who lived in those woods you mention, and much reason did I findto imitate their courage and love their honesty. The Master of Life hasmade us all, Pawnee, with a feeling for our kind. I never was a father, but well do I know what is the love of one. You are like a lad I valued, and I had even begun to fancy that some of his blood might be in yourveins. But what matters that? You are a true man, as I know by theway in which you keep your faith; and honesty is a gift too rare to beforgotten. My heart yearns to you, boy, and gladly would I do you good. "

The youthful warrior listened to the words, which came from the lips ofthe other with a force and simplicity that established their truth, andhe bowed his head on his naked bosom, in testimony of the respect withwhich he met the proffer. Then lifting his dark eye to the level of theview, he seemed to be again considering of things removed from everypersonal consideration. The trapper, who well knew how high the prideof a warrior would sustain him, in those moments he believed to be hislast, awaited the pleasure of his young friend, with a meekness andpatience that he had acquired by his association with that remarkablerace. At length the gaze of the Pawnee began to waver; and then quick, flashing glances were turned from the countenance of the old man to theair, and from the air to his deeply marked lineaments again, as if thespirit, which governed their movements, was beginning to be troubled. 

"Father, " the young brave finally answered in a voice of confidence andkindness, "I have heard your words. They have gone in at my ears, and are now within me. The white-headed Long-knife has no son; theHard-Heart of the Pawnees is young, but he is already the oldest of hisfamily. He found the bones of his father on the hunting ground of theOsages, and he has sent them to the prairies of the Good Spirits. Nodoubt the great chief, his father, has seen them, and knows what is partof himself. But the Wahcondah will soon call to us both; you, becauseyou have seen all that is to be seen in this country; and Hard-Heart, because he has need of a warrior, who is young. There is no time for thePawnee to show the Pale-face the duty, that a son owes to his father. "

"Old as I am, and miserable and helpless as I now stand, to what Ionce was, I may live to see the sun go down in the prairie. Does my sonexpect to do as much?"

"The Tetons are counting the scalps on my lodge!" returned the youngchief, with a smile whose melancholy was singularly illuminated by agleam of triumph. 

"And they find them many. Too many for the safety of its owner, while heis in their revengeful hands. My son is not a woman, and he looks on thepath he is about to travel with a steady eye. Has he nothing to whisperin the ears of his people, before he starts? These legs are old, butthey may yet carry me to the forks of the Loup river. "

"Tell them that Hard-Heart has tied a knot in his wampum for everyTeton, " burst from the lips of the captive, with that vehemencewith which sudden passion is known to break through the barriers ofartificial restraint "if he meets one of them all, in the prairies ofthe Master of Life, his heart will become Sioux!"

"Ah that feeling would be a dangerous companion for a man with whitegifts to start with on so solemn a journey, " muttered the old man inEnglish. "This is not what the good Moravians said to the councils ofthe Delawares, nor what is so often preached, to the White-skins in thesettlements, though, to the shame of the colour be it said, it is solittle heeded. Pawnee, I love you; but being a Christian man, I cannotbe the runner to bear such a message. "

"If my father is afraid the Tetons will hear him, let him whisper itsoftly to our old men. "

"As for fear, young warrior, it is no more the shame of a Pale-face thanof a Red-skin. The Wahcondah teaches us to love the life he gives; butit is as men love their hunts, and their dogs, and their carabines, andnot with the doting that a mother looks upon her infant. The Master ofLife will not have to speak aloud twice when he calls my name. I am asready to answer to it now, as I shall be to-morrow, or at any timeit may please his mighty will. But what is a warrior without histraditions? Mine forbid me to carry your words. "

The chief made a dignified motion of assent, and here there was greatdanger that those feelings of confidence, which had been so singularlyawakened, would as suddenly subside. But the heart of the old manhad been too sensibly touched, through long dormant but still livingrecollections, to break off the communication so rudely. He pondered fora minute, and then bending his look wistfully on his young associate, again continued--

"Each warrior must be judged by his gifts. I have told my son what Icannot, but let him open his ears to what I can do. An elk shall notmeasure the prairie much swifter than these old legs, if the Pawnee willgive me a message that a white man may bear. "

"Let the Pale-face listen, " returned the other, after hesitatinga single instant longer, under a lingering sensation of his formerdisappointment. "He will stay here till the Siouxes have done countingthe scalps of their dead warriors. He will wait until they have tried tocover the heads of eighteen Tetons with the skin of one Pawnee; he willopen his eyes wide, that he may see the place where they bury the bonesof a warrior. "

"All this will I, and may I, do, noble boy. "

"He will mark the spot, that he may know it. "

"No fear, no fear that I shall forget the place, " interrupted the other, whose fortitude began to give way under so trying an exhibition ofcalmness and resignation. 

"Then I know that my father will go to my people. His head is grey, and his words will not be blown away with the smoke. Let him get on mylodge, and call the name of Hard-Heart aloud. No Pawnee will be deaf. Then let my father ask for the colt, that has never been ridden, butwhich is sleeker than the buck, and swifter than the elk. "

"I understand you, boy, I understand you, " interrupted the attentive oldman; "and what you say shall be done, ay, and well done too, or I'm butlittle skilled in the wishes of a dying Indian. "

"And when my young men have given my father the halter of that colt, hewill lead him by a crooked path to the grave of Hard-Heart?"

"Will I! ay, that I will, brave youth, though the winter covers theseplains in banks of snow, and the sun is hidden as much by day as bynight. To the head of the holy spot will I lead the beast, and place himwith his eyes looking towards the setting sun. "

"And my father will speak to him, and tell him, that the master, who hasfed him since he was foaled, has now need of him. "

"That, too, will I do; though the Lord he knows that I shall holddiscourse with a horse, not with any vain conceit that my words willbe understood, but only to satisfy the cravings of Indian superstition. Hector, my pup, what think you, dog, of talking to a horse?"

"Let the grey-beard speak to him with the tongue of a Pawnee, "interrupted the young victim, perceiving that his companion had used anunknown language for the preceding speech. 

"My son's will shall be done. And with these old hands, which I hadhoped had nearly done with bloodshed, whether it be of man or beast, will I slay the animal on your grave!"

"It is good, " returned the other, a gleam of satisfaction flittingacross his features. "Hard-Heart will ride his horse to the blessedprairies, and he will come before the Master of Life like a chief!"

The sudden and striking change, which instantly occurred in thecountenance of the Indian, caused the trapper to look aside, whenhe perceived that the conference of the Siouxes had ended, and thatMahtoree, attended by one or two of the principal warriors, wasdeliberately approaching his intended victim. 

CHAPTER XXVI

 I am not prone to weeping, as our sex Commonly are. --But I have that honourable Grief lodged here, which burns worse than Tears drown --Shakspeare. 

When within twenty feet of the prisoners, the Tetons stopped, and theirleader made a sign to the old man to draw nigh. The trapper obeyed, quitting the young Pawnee with a significant look, which was received, as it was meant, for an additional pledge that he would never forgethis promise. So soon as Mahtoree found that the other had stopped withinreach of him, he stretched forth his arm, and laying a hand upon theshoulder of the attentive old man, he stood regarding him, a minute, with eyes that seemed willing to penetrate the recesses of his mostsecret thoughts. 

"Is a Pale-face always made with two tongues?" he demanded, when hefound that, as usual, with the subject of this examination, he was aslittle intimidated by his present frown, as moved by any apprehensionsof the future. 

"Honesty lies deeper than the skin. "

"It is so. Now let my father hear me. Mahtoree has but one tongue, thegrey-head has many. They may be all straight, and none of them forked. A Sioux is no more than a Sioux, but a Pale-face is every thing! He cantalk to the Pawnee, and the Konza, and the Omawhaw, and he can talk tohis own people. "

"Ay, there are linguists in the settlements that can do still more. Butwhat profits it all? The Master of Life has an ear for every language!"

"The grey-head has done wrong. He has said one thing when he meantanother. He has looked before him with his eyes, and behind him withhis mind. He has ridden the horse of a Sioux too hard; he has been thefriend of a Pawnee, and the enemy of my people. "

"Teton, I am your prisoner. Though my words are white, they will notcomplain. Act your will. "

"No. Mahtoree will not make a white hair red. My father is free. Theprairie is open on every side of him. But before the grey-head turns hisback on the Siouxes, let him look well at them, that he may tell his ownchief, how great is a Dahcotah!"

"I am not in a hurry to go on my path. You see a man with a white head, and no woman, Teton; therefore shall I not run myself out of breath, totell the nations of the prairies what the Siouxes are doing. "

"It is good. My father has smoked with the chiefs at many councils, "returned Mahtoree, who now thought himself sufficiently sure of theother's favour to go more directly to his object. "Mahtoree will speakwith the tongue of his very dear friend and father. A young Pale-facewill listen when an old man of that nation opens his mouth. Go; myfather will make what a poor Indian says fit for a white ear. "

"Speak aloud!" said the trapper, who readily understood the metaphoricalmanner, in which the Teton expressed a desire that he should become aninterpreter of his words into the English language; "speak, my young menlisten. Now, captain, and you too, friend bee-hunter, prepare yourselvesto meet the deviltries of this savage, with the stout hearts of whitewarriors. If you find yourselves giving way under his threats, just turnyour eyes on that noble-looking Pawnee, whose time is measured with ahand as niggardly, as that with which a trader in the towns givesforth the fruits of the Lord, inch by inch, in order to satisfyhis covetousness. A single look at the boy will set you both up inresolution. "

"My brother has turned his eyes on the wrong path, " interruptedMahtoree, with a complacency that betrayed how unwilling he was tooffend his intended interpreter. 

"The Dahcotah will speak to my young men?"

"After he has sung in the ear of the flower of the Pale-faces. "

"The Lord forgive the desperate villain!" exclaimed the old man inEnglish. "There are none so tender, or so young, or so innocent, as toescape his ravenous wishes. But hard words and cold looks will profitnothing; therefore it will be wise to speak him fair. Let Mahtoree openhis mouth. "

"Would my father cry out, that the women and children should hear thewisdom of chiefs! We will go into the lodge and whisper. "

As the Teton ended, he pointed significantly towards a tent, vividlyemblazoned with the history of one of his own boldest and most commendedexploits, and which stood a little apart from the rest, as if to denoteit was the residence of some privileged individual of the band. Theshield and quiver at its entrance were richer than common, and the highdistinction of a fusee, attested the importance of its proprietor. Inevery other particular it was rather distinguished by signs of povertythan of wealth. The domestic utensils were fewer in number and simplerin their forms, than those to be seen about the openings of the meanestlodges, nor was there a single one of those high-prized articles ofcivilised life, which were occasionally bought of the traders, inbargains that bore so hard on the ignorant natives. All these had beenbestowed, as they had been acquired, by the generous chief, on hissubordinates, to purchase an influence that might render him the masterof their lives and persons; a species of wealth that was certainly morenoble in itself, and far dearer to his ambition. 

The old man well knew this to be the lodge of Mahtoree, and, inobedience to the sign of the chief, he held his way towards it with slowand reluctant steps. But there were others present, who were equallyinterested in the approaching conference, whose apprehensions werenot to be so easily suppressed. The watchful eye and jealous earsof Middleton had taught him enough to fill his soul with horribleforebodings. With an incredible effort he succeeded in gaining his feet, and called aloud to the retiring trapper--

"I conjure you, old man, if the love you bore my parents was more thanwords, or if the love you bear your God is that of a Christian man, utter not a syllable that may wound the ear of that innocent--"

Exhausted in spirit and fettered in limbs, he then fell, like aninanimate log, to the earth, where he lay like one dead. 

Paul had however caught the clue and completed the exhortation, in hispeculiar manner. 

"Harkee, old trapper, " he shouted, vainly endeavouring at the same timeto make a gesture of defiance with his hand; "if you ar' about to playthe interpreter, speak such words to the ears of that damnable savage, as becomes a white man to use, and a heathen to hear. Tell him, from me, that if he does or says the thing that is uncivil to the girl, calledNelly Wade, that I'll curse him with my dying breath; that I'll prayfor all good Christians in Kentucky to curse him; sitting and standing;eating and drinking, fighting, praying, or at horse-races; in-doorsand outdoors; in summer or winter, or in the month of March in shortI'll--ay, it ar' a fact, morally true--I'll haunt him, if the ghost of aPale-face can contrive to lift itself from a grave made by the hands ofa Red-skin!"

Having thus ventured the most terrible denunciation he could devise, andthe one which, in the eyes of the honest bee-hunter, there seemedthe greatest likelihood of his being able to put in execution, he wasobliged to await the fruits of his threat, with that resignation whichwould be apt to govern a western border-man who, in addition to theprospects just named, had the advantage of contemplating them in fettersand bondage. We shall not detain the narrative, to relate the quaintmorals with which he next endeavoured to cheer the drooping spiritsof his more sensitive companion, or the occasional pithy and peculiarbenedictions that he pronounced, on all the bands of the Dahcotahs, commencing with those whom he accused of stealing or murdering, on thebanks of the distant Mississippi, and concluding, in terms of suitableenergy, with the Teton tribe. The latter more than once received fromhis lips curses as sententious and as complicated as that celebratedanathema of the church, for a knowledge of which most unletteredProtestants are indebted to the pious researches of the worthy TristramShandy. But as Middleton recovered from his exhaustion he was fain toappease the boisterous temper of his associate, by admonishing him ofthe uselessness of such denunciations, and of the possibility of theirhastening the very evil he deprecated, by irritating the resentmentsof a race, who were sufficiently fierce and lawless, even in their mostpacific moods. 

In the mean time the trapper and the Sioux chief pursued their way tothe lodge. The former had watched with painful interest the expressionof Mahtoree's eye, while the words of Middleton and Paul were pursuingtheir footsteps, but the mien of the Indian was far too much restrainedand self-guarded, to permit the smallest of his emotions to escapethrough any of those ordinary outlets, by which the condition of thehuman volcano is commonly betrayed. His look was fastened on the littlehabitation they approached; and, for the moment, his thoughts appearedto brood alone on the purposes of this extraordinary visit. 

The appearance of the interior of the lodge corresponded with itsexterior. It was larger than most of the others, more finished in itsform, and finer in its materials; but there its superiority ceased. Nothing could be more simple and republican than the form of living thatthe ambitious and powerful Teton chose to exhibit to the eyes of hispeople. A choice collection of weapons for the chase, some three or fourmedals, bestowed by the traders and political agents of the Canadas asa homage to, or rather as an acknowledgment of, his rank, with a few ofthe most indispensable articles of personal accommodation, composedits furniture. It abounded in neither venison, nor the wild-beef of theprairies; its crafty owner having well understood that the liberalityof a single individual would be abundantly rewarded by the dailycontributions of a band. Although as pre-eminent in the chase as in war, a deer or a buffaloe was never seen to enter whole into his lodge. Inreturn, an animal was rarely brought into the encampment, that did notcontribute to support the family of Mahtoree. But the policy of thechief seldom permitted more to remain than sufficed for the wants of theday, perfectly assured that all must suffer before hunger, the bane ofsavage life, could lay its fell fangs on so important a victim. 

Immediately beneath the favourite bow of the chief, and encircled in asort of magical ring of spears, shields, lances and arrows, all of whichhad in their time done good service, was suspended the mysterious andsacred medicine-bag. It was highly-wrought in wampum, and profuselyornamented with beads and porcupine's quills, after the most cunningdevices of Indian ingenuity. The peculiar freedom of Mahtoree'sreligious creed has been more than once intimated, and by a singularspecies of contradiction, he appeared to have lavished his attentionson this emblem of a supernatural agency, in a degree that was preciselyinverse to his faith. It was merely the manner in which the Siouximitated the well-known expedient of the Pharisees, "in order that theymight be seen of men. "

The tent had not, however, been entered by its owner since his returnfrom the recent expedition. As the reader has already anticipated, ithad been made the prison of Inez and Ellen. The bride of Middleton wasseated on a simple couch of sweet-scented herbs covered with skins. She had already suffered so much, and witnessed so many wild andunlooked-for events, within the short space of her captivity, that everyadditional misfortune fell with a diminished force on her seeminglydevoted head. Her cheeks were bloodless, her dark and usually animatedeye was contracted in an expression of settled concern, and her formappeared shrinking and sensitive, nearly to extinction. But in the midstof these evidences of natural weakness, there were at times such an airof pious resignation, such gleams of meek but holy hope lighting hercountenance, as might well have rendered it a question whether thehapless captive was most a subject of pity, or of admiration. All theprecepts of father Ignatius were riveted in her faithful memory, andnot a few of his pious visions were floating before her imagination. Sustained by so sacred resolutions, the mild, the patient and theconfiding girl was bowing her head to this new stroke of Providence, with the same sort of meekness as she would have submitted to any otherprescribed penitence for her sins, though nature, at moments, warredpowerfully, with so compelled a humility. 

On the other hand, Ellen had exhibited far more of the woman, andconsequently of the passions of the world. She had wept until her eyeswere swollen and red. Her cheeks were flushed and angry, and her wholemien was distinguished by an air of spirit and resentment, that was nota little, however, qualified by apprehensions for the future. In short, there was that about the eye and step of the betrothed of Paul, whichgave a warranty that should happier times arrive, and the constancy ofthe bee-hunter finally meet with its reward, he would possess apartner every way worthy to cope with his own thoughtless and buoyanttemperament. 

There was still another and a third figure in that little knot offemales. It was the youngest, the most highly gifted, and, until now, the most favoured of the wives of the Teton. Her charms had not beenwithout the most powerful attraction in the eyes of her husband, untilthey had so unexpectedly opened on the surpassing loveliness of a womanof the Pale-faces. From that hapless moment the graces, the attachment, the fidelity of the young Indian, had lost their power to please. Stillthe complexion of Tachechana, though less dazzling than that of herrival, was, for her race, clear and healthy. Her hazel eye had thesweetness and playfulness of the antelope's; her voice was soft andjoyous as the song of the wren, and her happy laugh was the very melodyof the forest. Of all the Sioux girls, Tachechana (or the Fawn) wasthe lightest-hearted and the most envied. Her father had been adistinguished brave, and her brothers had already left their bones on adistant and dreary war-path. Numberless were the warriors, who had sentpresents to the lodge of her parents, but none of them were listened tountil a messenger from the great Mahtoree had come. She was his thirdwife, it is true, but she was confessedly the most favoured of them all. Their union had existed but two short seasons, and its fruits now laysleeping at her feet, wrapped in the customary ligatures of skin andbark, which form the swaddlings of an Indian infant. 

At the moment, when Mahtoree and the trapper arrived at the opening ofthe lodge, the young Sioux wife was seated on a simple stool, turningher soft eyes, with looks that varied, like her emotions, with love andwonder, from the unconscious child to those rare beings, who hadfilled her youthful and uninstructed mind with so much admiration andastonishment. Though Inez and Ellen had passed an entire day in hersight, it seemed as if the longings of her curiosity were increasingwith each new gaze. She regarded them as beings of an entirely differentnature and condition from the females of the prairie. Even the mysteryof their complicated attire had its secret influence on her simple mind, though it was the grace and charms of sex, to which nature has madeevery people so sensible, that most attracted her admiration. Butwhile her ingenuous disposition freely admitted the superiority of thestrangers over the less brilliant attractions of the Dahcotah maidens, she had seen no reason to deprecate their advantages. The visit that shewas now about to receive, was the first which her husband had madeto the tent since his return from the recent inroad, and he was everpresent to her thoughts, as a successful warrior, who was not ashamed, in the moments of inaction, to admit the softer feelings of a father anda husband. 

We have every where endeavoured to show that while Mahtoree was in allessentials a warrior of the prairies, he was much in advance ofhis people in those acquirements which announce the dawnings ofcivilisation. He had held frequent communion with the traders and troopsof the Canadas, and the intercourse had unsettled many of those wildopinions which were his birthright, without perhaps substituting anyothers of a nature sufficiently definite to be profitable. His reasoningwas rather subtle than true, and his philosophy far more audacious thanprofound. Like thousands of more enlightened beings, who fancy theyare able to go through the trials of human existence without any othersupport than their own resolutions, his morals were accommodating andhis motive selfish. These several characteristics will be understoodalways with reference to the situation of the Indian, though littleapology is needed for finding resemblances between men, who essentiallypossess the same nature, however it may be modified by circumstances. 

Notwithstanding the presence of Inez and Ellen, the entrance of theTeton warrior into the lodge of his favourite wife, was made with thetread and mien of a master. The step of his moccasin was noiseless, but the rattling of his bracelets, and of the silver ornaments of hisleggings, sufficed to announce his approach, as he pushed aside the skincovering of the opening of the tent, and stood in the presence of itsinmates. A faint cry of pleasure burst from the lips of Tachechana inthe suddenness of her surprise, but the emotion was instantly suppressedin that subdued demeanour which should characterise a matron of hertribe. Instead of returning the stolen glance of his youthful andsecretly rejoicing wife, Mahtoree moved to the couch, occupied by hisprisoners, and placed himself in the haughty, upright attitude of anIndian chief, before their eyes. The old man had glided past him, andalready taken a position suited to the office he had been commanded tofill. 

Surprise kept the females silent and nearly breathless. Thoughaccustomed to the sight of savage warriors, in the horrid panoply oftheir terrible profession, there was something so startling in theentrance, and so audacious in the inexplicable look of their conqueror, that the eyes of both sunk to the earth, under a feeling of terror andembarrassment. Then Inez recovered herself, and addressing the trapper, she demanded, with the dignity of an offended gentlewoman, though withher accustomed grace, to what circumstance they owed this extraordinaryand unexpected visit. The old man hesitated; but clearing his throat, like one who was about to make an effort to which he was little used, heventured on the following reply--

"Lady, " he said, "a savage is a savage, and you are not to look for theuses and formalities of the settlements on a bleak and windy prairie. As these Indians would say, fashions and courtesies are things so light, that they would blow away. As for myself, though a man of the forest, Ihave seen the ways of the great, in my time, and I am not to learn thatthey differ from the ways of the lowly. I was long a serving-man in myyouth, not one of your beck-and-nod runners about a household, but a manthat went through the servitude of the forest with his officer, and welldo I know in what manner to approach the wife of a captain. Now, had Ithe ordering of this visit, I would first have hemmed aloud at the door, in order that you might hear that strangers were coming, and then I--"

"The manner is indifferent, " interrupted Inez, too anxious to await theprolix explanations of the old man; "why is the visit made?"

"Therein shall the savage speak for himself. The daughters of thePale-faces wish to know why the Great Teton has come into his lodge?"

Mahtoree regarded his interrogator with a surprise, which showed howextraordinary he deemed the question. Then placing himself in a postureof condescension, after a moment's delay, he answered--

"Sing in the ears of the dark-eye. Tell her the lodge of Mahtoree isvery large, and that it is not full. She shall find room in it, and noneshall be greater than she. Tell the light-hair, that she too may stay inthe lodge of a brave, and eat of his venison. Mahtoree is a great chief. His hand is never shut. "

"Teton, " returned the trapper, shaking his head in evidence of thestrong disapprobation with which he heard this language, "the tongue ofa Red-skin must be coloured white, before it can make music in the earsof a Pale-face. Should your words be spoken, my daughters would shuttheir ears, and Mahtoree would seem a trader to their eyes. Now listento what comes from a grey-head, and then speak accordingly. My peopleis a mighty people. The sun rises on their eastern and sets on theirwestern border. The land is filled with bright-eyed and laughing girls, like these you see--ay, Teton, I tell no lie, " observing his auditor tostart with an air of distrust--"bright-eyed and pleasant to behold, asthese before you. "

"Has my father a hundred wives!" interrupted the savage, laying hisfinger on the shoulder of the trapper, with a look of curious interestin the reply. 

"No, Dahcotah. The Master of Life has said to me, Live alone; your lodgeshall be the forest; the roof of your wigwam, the clouds. But, thoughnever bound in the secret faith which, in my nation, ties one man to onewoman, often have I seen the workings of that kindness which bringsthe two together. Go into the regions of my people; you will see thedaughters of the land, fluttering through the towns like many-colouredand joyful birds in the season of blossoms. You will meet them, singingand rejoicing, along the great paths of the country, and you willhear the woods ringing with their laughter. They are very excellent tobehold, and the young men find pleasure in looking at them. "

"Hugh, " ejaculated the attentive Mahtoree. 

"Ay, well may you put faith in what you hear, for it is no lie. But whena youth has found a maiden to please him, he speaks to her in a voiceso soft, that none else can hear. He does not say, My lodge is empty andthere is room for another; but shall I build, and will the virgin showme near what spring she would dwell? His voice is sweeter than honeyfrom the locust, and goes into the ear thrilling like the song of awren. Therefore, if my brother wishes his words to be heard, he mustspeak with a white tongue. "

Mahtoree pondered deeply, and in a wonder that he did not attempt toconceal. It was reversing all the order of society, and, according tohis established opinions, endangering the dignity of a chief, for awarrior thus to humble himself before a woman. But as Inez sat beforehim, reserved and imposing in air, utterly unconscious of his object, and least of all suspecting the true purport of so extraordinarya visit, the savage felt the influence of a manner to which he wasunaccustomed. Bowing his head, in acknowledgment of his error, hestepped a little back, and placing himself in an attitude of easydignity, he began to speak with the confidence of one who had been noless distinguished for eloquence, than for deeds in arms. Keeping hiseyes riveted on the unconscious bride of Middleton, he proceeded in thefollowing words--

"I am a man with a red skin, but my eyes are dark. They have been opensince many snows. They have seen many things--they know a brave from acoward. When a boy, I saw nothing but the bison and the deer. I went tothe hunts, and I saw the cougar and the bear. This made Mahtoree a man. He talked with his mother no more. His ears were open to the wisdom ofthe old men. They told him every thing--they told him of the Big-knives. He went on the war-path. He was then the last; now, he is the first. What Dahcotah dare say he will go before Mahtoree into the huntinggrounds of the Pawnees? The chiefs met him at their doors, and theysaid, My son is without a home. They gave him their lodges, they gavehim their riches, and they gave him their daughters. Then Mahtoreebecame a chief, as his fathers had been. He struck the warriors ofall the nations, and he could have chosen wives from the Pawnees, theOmawhaws, and the Konzas; but he looked at the hunting grounds, and notat his village. He thought a horse was pleasanter than a Dahcotah girl. But he found a flower on the prairies, and he plucked it, and brought itinto his lodge. He forgets that he is the master of a single horse. Hegives them all to the stranger, for Mahtoree is not a thief; he willonly keep the flower he found on the prairie. Her feet are very tender. She cannot walk to the door of her father; she will stay, in the lodgeof a valiant warrior for ever. "

When he had finished this extraordinary address, the Teton awaited tohave it translated, with the air of a suitor who entertained no verydisheartening doubts of his success. The trapper had not lost a syllableof the speech, and he now prepared himself to render it into English insuch a manner as should leave its principal idea even more obscure thanin the original. But as his reluctant lips were in the act of parting, Ellen lifted a finger, and with a keen glance from her quick eye, at thestill attentive Inez, she interrupted him. 

"Spare your breath, " she said, "all that a savage says is not to berepeated before a Christian lady. "

Inez started, blushed, and bowed with an air of reserve, as she coldlythanked the old man for his intentions, and observed that she could nowwish to be alone. 

"My daughters have no need of ears to understand what a great Dahcotahsays, " returned the trapper, addressing himself to the expectingMahtoree. "The look he has given, and the signs he has made, are enough. They understand him; they wish to think of his words; for the childrenof great braves, such as their fathers are, do nothing with out muchthought. "

With this explanation, so flattering to the energy of his eloquence, andso promising to his future hopes, the Teton was every way content. He made the customary ejaculation of assent, and prepared to retire. Saluting the females, in the cold but dignified manner of his people, he drew his robe about him, and moved from the spot where he had stood, with an air of ill-concealed triumph. 

But there had been a stricken, though a motionless and unobservedauditor of the foregoing scene. Not a syllable had fallen from the lipsof the long and anxiously expected husband, that had not gone directlyto the heart of his unoffending wife. In this manner had he wooed herfrom the lodge of her father, and it was to listen to similar picturesof the renown and deeds of the greatest brave in her tribe, that she hadshut her ears to the tender tales of so many of the Sioux youths. 

As the Teton turned to leave his lodge, in the manner just mentioned, hefound this unexpected and half-forgotten object before him. She stood, in the humble guise and with the shrinking air of an Indian girl, holding the pledge of their former love in her arms, directly in hispath. Starting, the chief regained the marble-like indifferenceof countenance, which distinguished in so remarkable a degree therestrained or more artificial expression of his features, and signed toher, with an air of authority to give place. 

"Is not Tachechana the daughter of a chief?" demanded a subdued voice, in which pride struggled with anguish: "were not her brothers braves?"

"Go; the men are calling their partisan. He has no ears for a woman. "

"No, " replied the supplicant; "it is not the voice of Tachechana thatyou hear, but this boy, speaking with the tongue of his mother. Heis the son of a chief, and his words will go up to his father's ears. Listen to what he says. When was Mahtoree hungry and Tachechana hadnot food for him? When did he go on the path of the Pawnees and find itempty, that my mother did not weep? When did he come back with the marksof their blows, that she did not sing? What Sioux girl has given a bravea son like me? Look at me well, that you may know me. My eyes are theeagle's. I look at the sun and laugh. In a little time the Dahcotahswill follow me to the hunts and on the war-path. Why does my father turnhis eyes from the woman that gives me milk? Why has he so soon forgottenthe daughter of a mighty Sioux?"

There was a single instant, as the exulting father suffered his cold eyeto wander to the face of the laughing boy, that the stern nature of theTeton seemed touched. But shaking off the grateful sentiment, like onewho would gladly be rid of any painful, because reproachful, emotion, he laid his hand calmly on the arm of his wife, and led her directly infront of Inez. Pointing to the sweet countenance that was beaming on herown, with a look of tenderness and commiseration, he paused, to allowhis wife to contemplate a loveliness, which was quite as excellent toher ingenuous mind as it had proved dangerous to the character of herfaithless husband. When he thought abundant time had passed to make thecontrast sufficiently striking, he suddenly raised a small mirror, thatdangled at her breast, an ornament he had himself bestowed, in an hourof fondness, as a compliment to her beauty, and placed her own darkimage in its place. Wrapping his robe again about him, the Tetonmotioned to the trapper to follow, and stalked haughtily from the lodge, muttering, as he went--

"Mahtoree is very wise! What nation has so great a chief as theDahcotahs?"

Tachechana stood frozen into a statue of humility. Her mild and usuallyjoyous countenance worked, as if the struggle within was about todissolve the connection between her soul and that more material part, whose deformity was becoming so loathsome. Inez and Ellen were utterlyignorant of the nature of her interview with her husband, though thequick and sharpened wits of the latter led her to suspect a truth, towhich the entire innocence of the former furnished no clue. They wereboth, however, about to tender those sympathies, which are so naturalto, and so graceful in the sex, when their necessity seemed suddenly tocease. The convulsions in the features of the young Sioux disappeared, and her countenance became cold and rigid, like chiselled stone. Asingle expression of subdued anguish, which had made its impression ona brow that had rarely before contracted with sorrow, alone remained. Itwas never removed, in all the changes of seasons, fortunes, and years, which, in the vicissitudes of a suffering, female, savage life, she wassubsequently doomed to endure. As in the case of a premature blight, letthe plant quicken and revive as it may, the effects of that witheringtouch were always present. 

Tachechana first stripped her person of every vestige of those rude buthighly prized ornaments, which the liberality of her husband had beenwont to lavish on her, and she tendered them meekly, and without amurmur, as an offering to the superiority of Inez. The braceletswere forced from her wrists, the complicated mazes of beads from herleggings, and the broad silver band from her brow. Then she paused, long and painfully. But it would seem, that the resolution, she hadonce adopted, was not to be conquered by the lingering emotions of anyaffection, however natural. The boy himself was next laid at the feetof her supposed rival, and well might the self-abased wife of the Tetonbelieve that the burden of her sacrifice was now full. 

While Inez and Ellen stood regarding these several strange movementswith eyes of wonder, a low soft musical voice was heard saying in alanguage, that to them was unintelligible--

"A strange tongue will tell my boy the manner to become a man. He willhear sounds that are new, but he will learn them, and forget the voiceof his mother. It is the will of the Wahcondah, and a Sioux girl shouldnot complain. Speak to him softly, for his ears are very little; when heis big, your words may be louder. Let him not be a girl, for very sad isthe life of a woman. Teach him to keep his eyes on the men. Show himhow to strike them that do him wrong, and let him never forget to returnblow for blow. When he goes to hunt, the flower of the Pale-faces, " sheconcluded, using in bitterness the metaphor which had been supplied bythe imagination of her truant husband, "will whisper softly in his earsthat the skin of his mother was red, and that she was once the Fawn ofthe Dahcotahs. "

Tachechana pressed a kiss on the lips of her son, and withdrew to thefarther side of the lodge. Here she drew her light calico robe over herhead, and took her seat, in token of humility, on the naked earth. Allefforts, to attract her attention, were fruitless. She neither heardremonstrances, nor felt the touch. Once or twice her voice rose, in asort of wailing song, from beneath her quivering mantle, but it nevermounted into the wildness of savage music. In this manner she remainedunseen for hours, while events were occurring without the lodge, whichnot only materially changed the complexion of her own fortunes, but lefta lasting and deep impression on the future movements of the wanderingSioux. 

CHAPTER XXVII

 I'll no swaggerers: I am in good name and fame with the very best: --shut the door;--there come no swaggerers here: I have not lived all this while, to have swaggering now: shut the door, I pray you. --Shakspeare. 

Mahtoree encountered, at the door of his lodge, Ishmael, Abiram, and Esther. The first glance of his eye, at the countenance of theheavy-moulded squatter, served to tell the cunning Teton, that thetreacherous truce he had made, with these dupes of his superiorsagacity, was in some danger of a violent termination. 

"Look you here, old grey-beard, " said Ishmael, seizing the trapper, andwhirling him round as if he had been a top; "that I am tired of carryingon a discourse with fingers and thumbs, instead of a tongue, ar' anatural fact; so you'll play linguister and put my words into Indian, without much caring whether they suit the stomach of a Red-skin or not. "

"Say on, friend, " calmly returned the trapper; "they shall be given asplainly as you send them. "

"Friend!" repeated the squatter, eyeing the other for an instant, withan expression of indefinable meaning. "But it is no more than a word, and sounds break no bones, and survey no farms. Tell this thievingSioux, then, that I come to claim the conditions of our solemn bargain, made at the foot of the rock. "

When the trapper had rendered his meaning into the Sioux language, Mahtoree demanded, with an air of surprise--

"Is my brother cold? buffaloe skins are plenty. Is he hungry? Let myyoung men carry venison into his lodges. "

The squatter elevated his clenched fist in a menacing manner, and struckit with violence on the palm of his open hand, by way of confirming hisdetermination, as he answered--

"Tell the deceitful liar, I have not come like a beggar to pick hisbones, but like a freeman asking for his own; and have it I will. And, moreover, tell him I claim that you, too, miserable sinner as you ar', should be given up to justice. There's no mistake. My prisoner, myniece, and you. I demand the three at his hands, according to a swornagreement. "

The immovable old man smiled, with an expression of singularintelligence, as he answered--

"Friend squatter, you ask what few men would be willing to grant. Youwould first cut the tongue from mouth of the Teton, and then the heartfrom his bosom. "

"It is little that Ishmael Bush regards, who or what is damaged inclaiming his own. But put you the questions in straight-going Indian, and when you speak of yourself, make such a sign as a white man willunderstand, in order that I may know there is no foul play. "

The trapper laughed in his silent fashion, and muttered a few words tohimself before he addressed the chief--

"Let the Dahcotah open his ears very wide, " he said 'that big words mayhave room to enter. His friend the Big-knife comes with an empty hand, and he says that the Teton must fill it. "

"Wagh! Mahtoree is a rich chief. He is master of the prairies. "

"He must give the dark-hair. "

The brow of the chief contracted in an ominous frown, that threatenedinstant destruction to the audacious squatter; but as suddenlyrecollecting his policy, he craftily replied--

"A girl is too light for the hand of such a brave. I will fill it withbuffaloes. "

"He says he has need of the light-hair, too; who has his blood in herveins. "

"She shall be the wife of Mahtoree; then the Long-knife will be thefather of a chief. "

"And me, " continued the trapper, making one of those expressive signs, by which the natives communicate, with nearly the same facility as withtheir tongues, and turning to the squatter at the same time, in orderthat the latter might see he dealt fairly by him; "he asks for amiserable and worn-out trapper. "

The Dahcotah threw his arm over the shoulder of the old man, with an airof great affection, before he replied to this third and last demand. 

"My friend is old, " he said, "and cannot travel far. He will stay withthe Tetons, that they may learn wisdom from his words. What Sioux has atongue like my father? No; let his words be very soft, but let them bevery clear. Mahtoree will give skins and buffaloes. He will give theyoung men of the Pale-faces wives, but he cannot give away any who livein his own lodge. "

Perfectly satisfied, himself, with this laconic reply, the chief wasmoving towards his expecting counsellors, when suddenly returning, heinterrupted the translation of the trapper by adding--

"Tell the Great Buffaloe" (a name by which the Tetons had alreadychristened Ishmael), "that Mahtoree has a hand which is always open. See, " he added, pointing to the hard and wrinkled visage of theattentive Esther, "his wife is too old, for so great a chief. Let himput her out of his lodge. Mahtoree loves him as a brother. He is hisbrother. He shall have the youngest wife of the Teton. Tachechana, thepride of the Sioux girls, shall cook his venison, and many braves willlook at him with longing minds. Go, a Dahcotah is generous. "

The singular coolness, with which the Teton concluded this audaciousproposal, confounded even the practised trapper. He stared after theretiring form of the Indian, with an astonishment he did not care toconceal, nor did he renew his attempt at interpretation until theperson of Mahtoree was blended with the cluster of warriors, who had solong, and with so characteristic patience, awaited his return. 

"The Teton chief has spoken very plainly, " the old man continued; "hewill not give you the lady, to whom the Lord in heaven knows you have noclaim, unless it be such as the wolf has to the lamb. He will not giveyou the child, you call your niece; and therein I acknowledge that Iam far from certain he has the same justice on his side. Moreover, neighbour squatter, he flatly denies your demand for me, miserable andworthless as I am; nor do I think he has been unwise in so doing, seeingthat I should have many reasons against journeying far in your company. But he makes you an offer, which it is right and convenient you shouldknow. The Teton says through me, who am no more than a mouthpiece, andtherein not answerable for the sin of his words, but he says, as thisgood woman is getting past the comely age, it is reasonable for youto tire of such a wife. He therefore tells you to turn her out of yourlodge, and when it is empty, he will send his own favourite, or rathershe that was his favourite, the 'Skipping Fawn, ' as the Siouxes callher, to fill her place. You see, neighbour, though the Red-skin isminded to keep your property, he is willing to give you wherewithal tomake yourself some return!"

Ishmael listened to these replies, to his several demands, with thatspecies of gathering indignation, with which the dullest tempers mountinto the most violent paroxysms of rage. He even affected to laugh atthe conceit of exchanging his long-tried partner for the more flexiblesupport of the youthful Tachechana, though his voice was hollow andunnatural in the effort. But Esther was far from giving the proposal sofacetious a reception. Lifting her voice to its most audible key, shebroke forth, after catching her breath like one who had been in someimminent danger of strangulation, as follows--

"Hoity-toity; who set an Indian up for a maker and breaker of the rightsof wedded wives! Does he think a woman is a beast of the prairie, thatshe is to be chased from a village, by dog and gun. Let the bravestsquaw of them all come forth and boast of her doings; can she show sucha brood as mine? A wicked tyrant is that thieving Red-skin, and a boldrogue I warrant me. He would be captain in-doors, as well as out!An honest woman is no better in his eyes than one of your broomstickjumpers. And you, Ishmael Bush, the father of seven sons and so manycomely daughters, to open your sinful mouth, except to curse him! Wouldye disgrace colour, and family, and nation, by mixing white blood withred, and would ye be the parent of a race of mules! The devil has oftentempted you, my man, but never before has he set so cunning a snare asthis. Go back among your children, friend; go, and remember that you arenot a prowling bear, but a Christian man, and thank God that you ar' alawful husband!"

The clamour of Esther was anticipated by the judicious trapper. He hadeasily foreseen that her meek temper would overflow at so scandalous aproposal as repudiation, and he now profited by the tempest, to retireto a place where he was at least safe from any immediate violence on thepart of her less excited, but certainly more dangerous husband. Ishmael, who had made his demands with a stout determination to enforce them, wasdiverted by the windy torrent, like many a more obstinate husband, fromhis purpose, and in order to appease a jealousy that resembled the furywith which the bear defends her cubs, was fain to retire to a distancefrom the lodge, that was known to contain the unoffending object of thesudden uproar. 

"Let your copper-coloured minx come forth, and show her tawney beautybefore the face of a woman who has heard more than one church bell, andseen a power of real quality, " cried Esther, flourishing her hand intriumph, as she drove Ishmael and Abiram before her, like two truantboys, towards their own encampment. "I warrant me, I warrant me, here isone who would shortly talk her down! Never think to tarry here, my men;never think to shut an eye in a camp, through which the devil walks asopenly as if he were a gentleman, and sure of his welcome. Here, youAbner, Enoch, Jesse, where ar' ye gotten to? Put to, put to; if thatweak-minded, soft-feeling man, your father, eats or drinks again inthis neighbourhood, we shall see him poisoned with the craft of theRed-skins. Not that I care, I, who comes into my place, when it is oncelawfully empty; but, Ishmael, I never thought that you, who have had onewoman with a white skin, would find pleasure in looking on a brazen--ay, that she is copper ar' a fact; you can't deny it, and I warrant me, brazen enough is she too!"

Against this ebullition of wounded female pride, the experienced husbandmade no other head, than by an occasional exclamation, which he intendedto be precursor of a simple asseveration of his own innocence. The furyof the woman would not be appeased. She listened to nothing but her ownvoice, and consequently nothing was heard but her mandates to depart. 

The squatter had collected his beasts and loaded his wagons, asa measure of precaution, before proceeding to the extremity hecontemplated. Esther consequently found every thing favourable toher wishes. The young men stared at each other, as they witnessed theextraordinary excitement of their mother, but took little interest inan event which, in the course of their experience, had found so manyparallels. By command of their father, the tents were thrown into thevehicles, as a sort of reprisal for the want of faith in their lateally, and then the train left the spot, in its usual listless andsluggish order. 

As a formidable division of well-armed borderers protected the rear ofthe retiring party, the Siouxes saw it depart without manifesting thesmallest evidence of surprise or resentment. The savage, like the tiger, rarely makes his attack on an enemy who expects him; and if the warriorsof the Tetons meditated any hostility, it was in the still and patientmanner with which the feline beasts watch for the incautious moment, inorder to ensure the blow. The counsels of Mahtoree, however, on whom somuch of the policy of his people depended, lay deep in the depository ofhis own thoughts. Perhaps he rejoiced at so easy a manner of getting ridof claims so troublesome; perhaps he awaited a fitting time to exhibithis power; or it even might be, that matters of so much greaterimportance were pressing on his mind, that it had not leisure to devoteany of its faculties to an event of so much indifference. 

But it would seem that while Ishmael made such a concession to theawakened feelings of Esther, he was far from abandoning his originalintentions. His train followed the course of the river for a mile, andthen it came to a halt on the brow of the elevated land, and in a placewhich afforded the necessary facilities. Here he again pitched histents, unharnessed his teams, sent his cattle on the bottom, and, inshort, made all the customary preparations to pass the night, with thesame coolness and deliberation as if he had not hurled an irritatingdefiance into the teeth of his dangerous neighbours. 

In the mean time the Tetons proceeded to the more regular business ofthe hour. A fierce and savage joy had existed in the camp, from theinstant when it had been announced that their own chief was returningwith the long-dreaded and hated partisan of their enemies. For manyhours the crones of the tribe had been going from lodge to lodge, inorder to stimulate the tempers of the warriors to such a pass, as mightleave but little room for mercy. To one they spoke of a son, whose scalpwas drying in the smoke of a Pawnee lodge. To another, they enumeratedhis own scars, his disgraces, and defeats; with a third, they dwelt onhis losses of skins and horses; and a fourth was reminded of vengeanceby a significant question, concerning some flagrant adventure, in whichhe was known to have been a sufferer. 

By these means the men had been so far excited as to have assembled, inthe manner already related, though it still remained a matter of doubthow far they intended to carry their revenge. A variety of opinionsprevailed on the policy of executing their prisoners; and Mahtoree hadsuspended the discussions, in order to ascertain how far the measuremight propitiate, or retard, his own particular views. Hitherto theconsultations had merely been preliminary, with a design that each chiefmight discover the number of supporters his particular views would belikely to obtain, when the important subject should come before a moresolemn council of the tribe. The moment for the latter had now arrived, and the preparations were made with a dignity and solemnity suited tothe momentous interests of the occasion. 

With a refinement in cruelty, that none but an Indian would haveimagined, the place, selected for this grave deliberation, wasimmediately about the post to which the most important of its subjectswas attached. Middleton and Paul were brought in their bonds, and laidat the feet of the Pawnee; then the men began to take their places, according to their several claims to distinction. As warrior afterwarrior approached, he seated himself in the wide circle, with a mien ascomposed and thoughtful, as if his mind were actually in a condition todeal out justice, tempered, as it should be, with the heavenly qualityof mercy. A place was reserved for three or four of the principalchiefs, and a few of the oldest of the women, as withered, as age, exposure, hardships, and lives of savage passions could make them, thrust themselves into the foremost circle, with a temerity, to whichthey were impelled by their insatiable desire for cruelty, and whichnothing, but their years and their long tried fidelity to the nation, would have excused. 

All, but the chiefs already named, were now in their places. These haddelayed their appearance, in the vain hope that their own unanimitymight smooth the way to that of their respective factions; for, notwithstanding the superior influence of Mahtoree, his power was to bemaintained only by constant appeals to the opinions of his inferiors. Asthese important personages at length entered the circle in a body, their sullen looks and clouded brows, notwithstanding the time given toconsultation, sufficiently proclaimed the discontent which reigned amongthem. The eye of Mahtoree was varying in its expression, from suddengleams, that seemed to kindle with the burning impulses of his soul, tothat cold and guarded steadiness, which was thought more peculiarly tobecome a chief in council. He took his seat, with the studied simplicityof a demagogue; though the keen and flashing glance, that he immediatelythrew around the silent assembly, betrayed the more predominant temperof a tyrant. 

When all were present, an aged warrior lighted the great pipe of hispeople, and blew the smoke towards the four quarters of the heavens. Sosoon as this propitiatory offering was made, he tendered it to Mahtoree, who, in affected humility, passed it to a grey-headed chief by his side. After the influence of the soothing weed had been courted by all, agrave silence succeeded, as if each was not only qualified to, butactually did, think more deeply on the matters before them. Then an oldIndian arose, and spoke as follows:--

"The eagle, at the falls of the endless river, was in its egg, manysnows after my hand had struck a Pawnee. What my tongue says, my eyeshave seen. Bohrecheena is very old. The hills have stood longer in theirplaces, than he has been in his tribe, and the rivers were full andempty, before he was born; but where is the Sioux that knows it besideshimself? What he says, they will hear. If any of his words fall to theground, they will pick them up and hold them to their ears. If any blowaway in the wind, my young men, who are very nimble, will catch them. Now listen. Since water ran and trees grew, the Sioux has found thePawnee on his war-path. As the cougar loves the antelope, the Dahcotahloves his enemy. When the wolf finds the fawn, does he lie down andsleep? When the panther sees the doe at the spring, does he shut hiseyes? You know that he does not. He drinks too; but it is of blood! ASioux is a leaping panther, a Pawnee a trembling deer. Let my childrenhear me. They will find my words good. I have spoken. "

A deep guttural exclamation of assent broke from the lips of all thepartisans of Mahtoree, as they listened to this sanguinary advice fromone, who was certainly among the most aged men of the nation. Thatdeeply seated love of vengeance, which formed so prominent a feature intheir characters, was gratified by his metaphorical allusions, and thechief himself augured favourably of the success of his own schemes, bythe number of supporters, who manifested themselves to be in favour ofthe counsels of his friend. But still unanimity was far from prevailing. A long and decorous pause was suffered to succeed the words of the firstspeaker, in order that all might duly deliberate on their wisdom, beforeanother chief took on himself the office of refutation. The secondorator, though past the prime of his days, was far less aged than theone who had preceded him. He felt the disadvantage of this circumstance, and endeavoured to counteract it, as far as possible, by the excess ofhis humility. 

"I am but an infant, " he commenced, looking furtively around him, inorder to detect how far his well-established character for prudence andcourage contradicted his assertion. "I have lived with the women, sincemy father has been a man. If my head is getting grey, it is not becauseI am old. Some of the snow, which fell on it while I have been sleepingon the war-paths, has frozen there, and the hot sun, near the Osagevillages, has not been strong enough to melt it. " A low murmur washeard, expressive of admiration of the services to which he thusartfully alluded. The orator modestly awaited for the feeling to subsidea little, and then he continued, with increasing energy, encouraged bytheir commendations. "But the eyes of a young brave are good. He can seevery far. He is a lynx. Look at me well. I will turn my back, that youmay see both sides of me. Now do you know I am your friend, for you lookon a part that a Pawnee never yet saw. Now look at my face; not in thisseam, for there your eyes can never see into my spirit. It is a hole cutby a Konza. But here is an opening made by the Wahcondah, through whichyou may look into the soul. What am I? A Dahcotah, within and without. You know it. Therefore hear me. The blood of every creature on theprairie is red. Who can tell the spot where a Pawnee was struck, fromthe place where my young men took a bison? It is of the same colour. TheMaster of Life made them for each other. He made them alike. But willthe grass grow green where a Pale-face is killed? My young men must notthink that nation so numerous, that it will not miss a warrior. Theycall them over often, and say, Where are my sons? If they miss one, theywill send into the prairies to look for him. If they cannot find him, they will tell their runners to ask for him, among the Siouxes. Mybrethren, the Big-knives are not fools. There is a mighty medicine oftheir nation now among us; who can tell how loud is his voice, or howlong is his arm?--"

The speech of the orator, who was beginning to enter into his subjectwith warmth, was cut short by the impatient Mahtoree, who suddenly aroseand exclaimed, in a voice in which authority was mingled with contempt, and at the close with a keen tone of irony, also--

"Let my young men lead the evil spirit of the Palefaces to the council. My brother shall see his medicine, face to face!"

A death-like and solemn stillness succeeded this extraordinaryinterruption. It not only involved a deep offence against the sacredcourtesy of debate, but the mandate was likely to brave the unknownpower of one of those incomprehensible beings, whom few Indians wereenlightened enough, at that day, to regard without reverence, or fewhardy enough to oppose. The subordinates, however, obeyed, and Obed wasled forth from the lodge, mounted on Asinus, with a ceremony and statewhich was certainly intended for derision, but which nevertheless wasgreatly enhanced by fear. As they entered the ring, Mahtoree, who hadforeseen and had endeavoured to anticipate the influence of the Doctor, by bringing him into contempt, cast an eye around the assembly, inorder to gather his success in the various dark visages by which he wasencircled. 

Truly, nature and art had combined to produce such an effect from theair and appointments of the naturalist, as might have made him thesubject of wonder in any place. His head had been industriously shaved, after the most approved fashion of Sioux taste. A gallant scalp-lock, which would probably not have been spared had the Doctor himself beenconsulted in the matter, was all that remained of an exuberant, and atthat particular season of the year, far from uncomfortable head ofhair. Thick coats of paint had been laid on the naked poll, and certainfanciful designs, in the same material, had even been extended into theneighbourhood of the eyes and mouth, lending to the keen expressionof the former a look of twinkling cunning, and to the dogmatism ofthe latter, not a little of the grimness of necromancy. He had beendespoiled of his upper garments, and, in their stead, his body wassufficiently protected from the cold, by a fantastically painted robe ofdressed deer-skin. As if in mockery of his pursuit, sundry toads, frogs, lizards, butterflies, &c. , all duly prepared to take their placesat some future day, in his own private cabinet, were attached to thesolitary lock on his head, to his ears, and to various other conspicuousparts of his person. If, in addition to the effect produced by thesequaint auxiliaries to his costume, we add the portentous and troubledgleamings of doubt, which rendered his visage doubly austere, andproclaimed the misgivings of the worthy Obed's mind, as he beheld hispersonal dignity thus prostrated, and what was of far greater moment inhis eyes, himself led forth, as he firmly believed, to be the victim ofsome heathenish sacrifice, the reader will find no difficulty in givingcredit to the sensation of awe, that was excited by his appearance in aband already more than half-prepared to worship him, as a powerful agentof the evil spirit. 

Weucha led Asinus directly into the centre of the circle, and leavingthem together, (for the legs of the naturalist were attached to thebeast in such a manner, that the two animals might be said to beincorporated, and to form a new order, ) he withdrew to his proper place, gazing at the conjuror, as he retired, with a wonder and admiration, that were natural to the groveling dulness of his mind. 

The astonishment seemed mutual, between the spectators and the subjectof this strange exhibition. If the Tetons contemplated the mysteriousattributes of the medicine, with awe and fear, the Doctor gazed on everyside of him, with a mixture of quite as many extraordinary emotions, in which the latter sensation, however, formed no inconsiderableingredient. Every where his eyes, which just at that moment possessed asecret magnifying quality, seemed to rest on several dark, savage, andobdurate countenances at once, from none of which could he extract asolitary gleam of sympathy or commiseration. At length his wanderinggaze fell on the grave and decent features of the trapper, who, withHector at his feet, stood in the edge of the circle, leaning on thatrifle which he had been permitted, as an acknowledged friend, to resume, and apparently musing on the events that were likely to succeed acouncil, marked by so many and such striking ceremonies. 

"Venerable venator, or hunter, or trapper, " said the disconsolate Obed, "I rejoice greatly in meeting thee again. I fear that the precious time, which had been allotted me, in order to complete a mighty labour, isdrawing to a premature close, and I would gladly unburden my mind to onewho, if not a pupil of science, has at least some of the knowledge whichcivilisation imparts to its meanest subjects. Doubtless many and earnestenquiries will be made after my fate, by the learned societies of theworld, and perhaps expeditions will be sent into these regions to removeany doubts, which may arise on so important a subject. I esteem myselfhappy that a man, who speaks the vernacular, is present, to preservethe record of my end. You will say that after a well-spent and gloriouslife, I died a martyr to science, and a victim to mental darkness. As Iexpect to be particularly calm and abstracted in my last moments, if youadd a few details, concerning the fortitude and scholastic dignity withwhich I met my death, it may serve to encourage future aspirants forsimilar honours, and assuredly give offence to no one. And now, friendtrapper, as a duty I owe to human nature, I will conclude by demandingif all hope has deserted me, or if any means still exist by which somuch valuable information may be rescued from the grasp of ignorance, and preserved to the pages of natural history. "

The old man lent an attentive ear to this melancholy appeal, andapparently he reflected on every side of the important question, beforehe would presume to answer. 

"I take it, friend physicianer, " he at length gravely replied, "that thechances of life and death, in your particular case, depend altogether onthe will of Providence, as it may be pleased to manifest it, throughthe accursed windings of Indian cunning. For my own part, I see no greatdifference in the main end to be gained, inasmuch as it can matter noone greatly, yourself excepted, whether you live or die. "

"Would you account the fall of a corner-stone, from the foundations ofthe edifice of learning, a matter of indifference to contemporariesor to posterity?" interrupted Obed. "Besides, my aged associate, " hereproachfully added, "the interest, that a man has in his own existence, is by no means trifling, however it may be eclipsed by his devotion tomore general and philanthropic feelings. "

"What I would say is this, " resumed the trapper, who was far fromunderstanding all the subtle distinctions with which his more learnedcompanion so often saw fit to embellish his discourse; "there is but onebirth and one death to all things, be it hound, or be it deer; be itred skin, or be it white. Both are in the hands of the Lord, it being asunlawful for man to strive to hasten the one, as impossible to preventthe other. But I will not say that something may not be done to put thelast moment aside, for a while at least, and therefore it is a question, that any one has a right to put to his own wisdom, how far he will go, and how much pain he will suffer, to lengthen out a time that may havebeen too long already. Many a dreary winter and scorching summer hasgone by since I have turned, to the right hand or to the left, to add anhour to a life that has already stretched beyond fourscore years. I keepmyself as ready to answer to my name as a soldier at evening roll-call. In my judgment, if your cases are left to Indian tempers, the policy ofthe Great Sioux will lead his people to sacrifice you all; nor do Iput much dependence on his seeming love for me; therefore it becomes aquestion whether you are ready for such a journey; and if, being ready, whether this is not as good a time to start as another. Should myopinion be asked, thus far will I give it in your favour; that is tosay, it is my belief your life has been innocent enough, touching anygreat offences that you may have committed, though honesty compels me toadd, that I think all you can lay claim to, on the score of activity indeeds, will not amount to any thing worth naming in the great account. "

Obed turned a rueful eye on the calm, philosophic countenance of theother, as he answered with so discouraging a statement of his case, clearing his throat, as he did so, in order to conceal the desperateconcern which began to beset his faculties, with a vestige of thatpride, which rarely deserts poor human nature, even in the greatestemergencies. 

"I believe, venerable hunter, " he replied, "considering the question inall its bearings, and assuming that your theory is just, it will be thesafest to conclude that I am not prepared to make so hasty a departure, and that measures of precaution should be, forthwith, resorted to. "

"Being in that mind, " returned the deliberate trapper, "I will act foryou as I would for myself; though as time has begun to roll down thehill with you, I will just advise that you look to your case speedily, for it may so happen that your name will be heard, when quite as littleprepared to answer to it as now. "

With this amicable understanding, the old man drew back again into thering, where he stood musing on the course he should now adopt, with thesingular mixture of decision and resignation that proceeded from hishabits and his humility, and which united to form a character, inwhich excessive energy, and the most meek submission to the will ofProvidence, were oddly enough combined. 

CHAPTER XXVIII

 The witch, in Smithfield, shall be burned to ashes, And you three shall be strangled on the gallows. --Shakspeare. 

The Siouxes had awaited the issue of the foregoing dialogue withcommendable patience. Most of the band were restrained, by the secretawe with which they regarded the mysterious character of Obed; while afew of the more intelligent chiefs gladly profited by the opportunity, to arrange their thoughts for the struggle that was plainly foreseen. Mahtoree, influenced by neither of these feelings, was content to showthe trapper how much he conceded to his pleasure; and when the old mandiscontinued the discourse, he received from the chief a glance, thatwas intended to remind him of the patience, with which he had awaitedhis movements. A profound and motionless silence succeeded the shortinterruption. Then Mahtoree arose, evidently prepared to speak. Firstplacing himself in an attitude of dignity, he turned a steady and severelook on the whole assembly. The expression of his eye, however, changedas it glanced across the different countenances of his supporters andof his opponents. To the former the look, though stern, was notthreatening, while it seemed to tell the latter all the hazards theyincurred, in daring to brave the resentment of one so powerful. 

Still, in the midst of so much hauteur and confidence, the sagacityand cunning of the Teton did not desert him. When he had thrown thegauntlet, as it were, to the whole tribe, and sufficiently assertedhis claim to superiority, his mien became more affable and his eyeless angry. Then it was that he raised his voice, in the midst of adeath-like stillness, varying its tones to suit the changing characterof his images, and of his eloquence. 

"What is a Sioux?" the chief sagaciously began; "he is ruler of theprairies, and master of its beasts. The fishes in the 'river of troubledwaters' know him, and come at his call. He is a fox in counsel; an eaglein sight; a grizzly bear in combat. A Dahcotah is a man!" After waitingfor the low murmur of approbation, which followed this flatteringportrait of his people, to subside, the Teton continued--"What is aPawnee? A thief, who only steals from women; a Red-skin, who is notbrave; a hunter, that begs for his venison. In counsel he is a squirrel, hopping from place to place; he is an owl, that goes on the prairiesat night; in battle he is an elk, whose legs are long. A Pawnee is awoman. " Another pause succeeded, during which a yell of delight brokefrom several mouths, and a demand was made, that the taunting wordsshould be translated to the unconscious subject of their bitingcontempt. The old man took his cue from the eyes of Mahtoree, andcomplied. Hard-Heart listened gravely, and then, as if apprized that histime to speak had not arrived, he once more bent his look on thevacant air. The orator watched his countenance, with an expression thatmanifested how inextinguishable was the hatred he felt for the onlychief, far and near, whose fame might advantageously be compared withhis own. Though disappointed in not having touched the pride of onewhom he regarded as a boy, he proceeded, what he considered as far moreimportant, to quicken the tempers of the men of his own tribe, in orderthat they might be prepared to work his savage purposes. "If the earthwas covered with rats, which are good for nothing, " he said, "therewould be no room for buffaloes, which give food and clothes to anIndian. If the prairies were covered with Pawnees, there would beno room for the foot of a Dahcotah. A Loup is a rat, a Sioux a heavybuffaloe; let the buffaloes tread upon the rats and make room forthemselves. 

"My brothers, a little child has spoken to you. He tells you, his hairis not grey, but frozen--that the grass will not grow where a Pale-facehas died. Does he know the colour of the blood of a Big-knife? No! Iknow he does not; he has never seen it. What Dahcotah, besides Mahtoree, has ever struck a Pale-face? Not one. But Mahtoree must be silent. EveryTeton will shut his ears when he speaks. The scalps over his lodge weretaken by the women. They were taken by Mahtoree, and he is a woman. Hismouth is shut; he waits for the feasts to sing among the girls!"

Notwithstanding the exclamations of regret and resentment, whichfollowed so abasing a declaration, the chief took his seat, as ifdetermined to speak no more. But the murmurs grew louder and moregeneral, and there were threatening symptoms that the council woulddissolve itself in confusion; and he arose and resumed his speech, bychanging his manner to the fierce and hurried enunciation of a warriorbent on revenge. 

"Let my young men go look for Tetao!" he cried; "they will find hisscalp drying in Pawnee smoke. Where is the son of Bohrecheena? His bonesare whiter than the faces of his murderers. Is Mahhah asleep in hislodge? You know it is many moons since he started for the blessedprairies; would he were here, that he might say of what colour was thehand that took his scalp!"

In this strain the artful chief continued for many minutes, callingthose warriors by name, who were known to have met their deaths inbattle with the Pawnees, or in some of those lawless frays which sooften occurred between the Sioux bands and a class of white men, whowere but little removed from them in the qualities of civilisation. Timewas not given to reflect on the merits, or rather the demerits, of mostof the different individuals to whom he alluded, in consequence of therapid manner in which he ran over their names; but so cunningly did hetime his events, and so thrillingly did he make his appeals, aided asthey were by the power of his deep-toned and stirring voice, that eachof them struck an answering chord in the breast of some one of hisauditors. 

It was in the midst of one of his highest flights of eloquence, that aman, so aged as to walk with the greatest difficulty, entered thevery centre of the circle, and took his stand directly in front of thespeaker. An ear of great acuteness might possibly have detected that thetones of the orator faltered a little, as his flashing look first fellon this unexpected object, though the change was so trifling, that none, but such as thoroughly knew the parties, would have suspected it. Thestranger had once been as distinguished for his beauty and proportions, as had been his eagle eye for its irresistible and terrible glance. Buthis skin was now wrinkled, and his features furrowed with so many scars, as to have obtained for him, half a century before, from the French ofthe Canadas, a title which has been borne by so many of the heroes ofFrance, and which had now been adopted into the language of the wildhorde of whom we are writing, as the one most expressive of the deeds oftheir own brave. The murmur of Le Balafre, that ran through the assemblywhen he appeared, announced not only his name and the high estimationof his character, but how extraordinary his visit was considered. Ashe neither spoke nor moved, however, the sensation created by hisappearance soon subsided, and then every eye was again turned uponthe speaker, and every ear once more drunk in the intoxication of hismaddening appeals. 

It would have been easy to have traced the triumph of Mahtoree, in thereflecting countenances of his auditors. It was not long before a lookof ferocity and of revenge was to be seen seated on the grim visages ofmost of the warriors, and each new and crafty allusion to the policy ofextinguishing their enemies, was followed by fresh and less restrainedbursts of approbation. In the height of this success the Teton closedhis speech, by a rapid appeal to the pride and hardihood of his nativeband, and suddenly took his seat. 

In the midst of the murmurs of applause, which succeeded so remarkablean effort of eloquence, a low, feeble and hollow voice was heard risingon the ear, as if it rolled from the inmost cavities of the human chest, and gathered strength and energy as it issued into the air. A solemnstillness followed the sounds, and then the lips of the aged man werefirst seen to move. 

"The day of Le Balafre is near its end, " were the first words that weredistinctly audible. "He is like a buffaloe, on whom the hair will growno longer. He will soon be ready to leave his lodge, to go in search ofanother, that is far from the villages of the Siouxes; therefore, whathe has to say concerns not him, but those he leaves behind him. Hiswords are like the fruit on the tree, ripe and fit to be given tochiefs. 

"Many snows have fallen since Le Balafre has been found on the war-path. His blood has been very hot, but it has had time to cool. The Wahcondahgives him dreams of war no longer; he sees that it is better to live inpeace. 

"My brothers, one foot is turned to the happy hunting-grounds, the otherwill soon follow, and then an old chief will be seen looking for theprints of his father's moccasins, that he may make no mistake, but besure to come before the Master of Life, by the same path, as so manygood Indians have already travelled. But who will follow? Le Balafre hasno son. His oldest has ridden too many Pawnee horses; the bones of theyoungest have been gnawed by Konza dogs! Le Balafre has come to look fora young arm, on which he may lean, and to find a son, that when he isgone his lodge may not be empty. Tachechana, the skipping fawn of theTetons, is too weak, to prop a warrior, who is old. She looks before herand not backwards. Her mind is in the lodge of her husband. "

The enunciation of the veteran warrior had been calm, but distinct, anddecided. His declaration was received in silence; and though several ofthe chiefs, who were in the counsels of Mahtoree, turned their eyes ontheir leader, none presumed to oppose so aged and so venerated a brave, in a resolution that was strictly in conformity to the usages of thenation. The Teton himself was content to await the result with seemingcomposure, though the gleams of ferocity, that played about his eye, occasionally betrayed the nature of those feelings, with which hewitnessed a procedure, that was likely to rob him of that one of all hisintended victims whom he most hated. 

In the mean time Le Balafre moved with a slow and painful step towardsthe captives. He stopped before the person of Hard-Heart, whosefaultless form, unchanging eye, and lofty mien, he contemplated long, with high and evident satisfaction. Then making a gesture of authority, he awaited, until his order had been obeyed, and the youth was releasedfrom the post and his bonds, by the same blow of the knife. When theyoung warrior was led nearer to his dimmed and failing sight, theexamination was renewed, with strictness of scrutiny, and thatadmiration, which physical excellence is so apt to excite in the breastof a savage. 

"It is good, " the wary veteran murmured, when he found that all hisskill in the requisites of a brave could detect no blemish; "this is aleaping panther! Does my son speak with the tongue of a Teton?"

The intelligence, which lighted the eyes of the captive, betrayed howwell he understood the question, but still he was far too haughty tocommunicate his ideas through the medium of a language that belonged toa hostile people. Some of the surrounding warriors explained to the oldchief, that the captive was a Pawnee-Loup. 

"My son opened his eyes on the 'waters of the wolves, '" said Le Balafre, in the language of that nation, "but he will shut them in the bend ofthe 'river with a troubled stream. ' He was born a Pawnee, but he willdie a Dahcotah. Look at me. I am a sycamore, that once covered many withmy shadow. The leaves are fallen, and the branches begin to drop. Buta single sucker is springing from my roots; it is a little vine, and itwinds itself about a tree that is green. I have long looked for onefit to grow by my side. Now have I found him. Le Balafre is no longerwithout a son; his name will not be forgotten when he is gone! Men ofthe Tetons, I take this youth into my lodge. "

No one was bold enough to dispute a right, that had so often beenexercised by warriors far inferior to the present speaker, and theadoption was listened to, in grave and respectful silence. Le Balafretook his intended son by the arm, and leading him into the very centreof the circle, he stepped aside with an air of triumph, in orderthat the spectators might approve of his choice. Mahtoree betrayed noevidence of his intentions, but rather seemed to await a moment bettersuited to the crafty policy of his character. The more experiencedand sagacious chiefs distinctly foresaw the utter impossibility of twopartisans so renowned, so hostile, and who had so long been rivals infame, as their prisoner and their native leader, existing amicably inthe same tribe. Still the character of Le Balafre was so imposing, andthe custom to which he had resorted so sacred, that none dared to lifta voice in opposition to the measure. They watched the result withincreasing interest, but with a coldness of demeanour that concealed thenature of their inquietude. From this state of embarrassment, and as itmight readily have proved of disorganisation, the tribe was unexpectedlyrelieved by the decision of the one most interested in the success ofthe aged chief's designs. 

During the whole of the foregoing scene, it would have been difficult tohave traced a single distinct emotion in the lineaments of the captive. He had heard his release proclaimed, with the same indifference as theorder to bind him to the stake. But now, that the moment had arrivedwhen it became necessary to make his election, he spoke in a way toprove that the fortitude, which had bought him so distinguished a name, had in no degree deserted him. 

"My father is very old, but he has not yet looked upon every thing, "said Hard-Heart, in a voice so clear as to be heard by all in presence. "He has never seen a buffaloe change to a bat. He will never see aPawnee become a Sioux!"

There was a suddenness, and yet a calmness in the manner of deliveringthis decision, which assured most of the auditors that it wasunalterable. The heart of Le Balafre, however, was yearning towards theyouth, and the fondness of age was not so readily repulsed. Reprovingthe burst of admiration and triumph, to which the boldness of thedeclaration, and the freshened hopes of revenge had given rise, byturning his gleaming eye around the band, the veteran again addressedhis adopted child, as if his purpose was not to be denied. 

"It is well, " he said; "such are the words a brave should use, thatthe warriors may see his heart. The day has been when the voice of LeBalafre was loudest among the lodges of the Konzas. But the root of awhite hair is wisdom. My child will show the Tetons that he is brave, bystriking their enemies. Men of the Dahcotahs, this is my son!"

The Pawnee hesitated a moment, and then stepping in front of the chief, he took his hard and wrinkled hand, and laid it with reverence on hishead, as if to acknowledge the extent of his obligation. Then recoilinga step, he raised his person to its greatest elevation, and looked uponthe hostile band, by whom he was environed, with an air of loftiness anddisdain, as he spoke aloud, in the language of the Siouxes--

"Hard-Heart has looked at himself, within and without. He has thoughtof all he has done in the hunts and in the wars. Every where he is thesame. There is no change. He is in all things a Pawnee. He has struckso many Tetons that he could never eat in their lodges. His arrows wouldfly backwards; the point of his lance would be on the wrong end; theirfriends would weep at every whoop he gave; their enemies would laugh. Dothe Tetons know a Loup? Let them look at him again. His head is painted;his arm is flesh; his heart is rock. When the Tetons see the sun comefrom the Rocky Mountains, and move towards the land of the Pale-faces, the mind of Hard-Heart will soften, and his spirit will become Sioux. Until that day, he will live and die a Pawnee. "

A yell of delight, in which admiration and ferocity were strangelymingled, interrupted the speaker, and but too clearly announced thecharacter of his fate. The captive awaited a moment, for the commotionto subside, and then turning again to Le Balafre, he continued, in tonesconciliating and kind, as if he felt the propriety of softening hisrefusal, in a manner not to wound the pride of one who would so gladlybe his benefactor--

"Let my father lean heavier on the fawn of the Dahcotahs, " he said: "sheis weak now, but as her lodge fills with young, she will be stronger. See, " he added, directing the eyes of the other to the earnestcountenance of the attentive trapper; "Hard-Heart is not without agrey-head to show him the path to the blessed prairies. If he ever hasanother father, it shall be that just warrior. "

Le Balafre turned away in disappointment from the youth, and approachedthe stranger, who had thus anticipated his design. The examinationbetween these two aged men was long, mutual, and curious. It was noteasy to detect the real character of the trapper, through the mask whichthe hardships of so many years had laid upon his features, especiallywhen aided by his wild and peculiar attire. Some moments elapsed beforethe Teton spoke, and then it was in doubt whether he addressed one likehimself, or some wanderer of that race who, he had heard, were spreadingthemselves, like hungry locusts, throughout the land. 

"The head of my brother is very white, " he said; "but the eye of LeBalafre is no longer like the eagle's. Of what colour is his skin?"

"The Wahcondah made me like these you see waiting for a Dahcotahjudgment; but fair and foul has coloured me darker than the skin of afox. What of that! Though the bark is ragged and riven, the heart of thetree is sound. "

"My brother is a Big-knife! Let him turn his face towards the settingsun, and open his eyes. Does he see the salt lake beyond the mountains?"

"The time has been, Teton, when few could see the white on the eagle'shead farther than I; but the glare of fourscore and seven winters hasdimmed my eyes, and but little can I boast of sight in my latter days. Does the Sioux think a Pale-face is a god, that he can look throughhills?"

"Then let my brother look at me. I am nigh him, and he can see that Iam a foolish Red-man. Why cannot his people see every thing, since theycrave all?"

"I understand you, chief; nor will I gainsay the justice of your words, seeing that they are too much founded in truth. But though born of therace you love so little, my worst enemy, not even a lying Mingo, woulddare to say that I ever laid hands on the goods of another, except suchas were taken in manful warfare; or that I ever coveted more ground thanthe Lord has intended each man to fill. "

"And yet my brother has come among the Red-skins to find a son?"

The trapper laid a finger on the naked shoulder of Le Balafre, andlooked into his scarred countenance with a wistful and confidentialexpression, as he answered--

"Ay; but it was only that I might do good to the boy. If you think, Dahcotah, that I adopted the youth in order to prop my age, you doas much injustice to my goodwill, as you seem to know little of themerciless intentions of your own people. I have made him my son, thathe may know that one is left behind him. Peace, Hector, peace! Is thisdecent, pup, when greyheads are counselling together, to break in upontheir discourse with the whinings of a hound! The dog is old, Teton;and though well taught in respect of behaviour, he is getting, likeourselves, I fancy, something forgetful of the fashions of his youth. "

Further discourse, between these veterans, was interrupted by adiscordant yell, which burst at that moment from the lips of the dozenwithered crones, who have already been mentioned as having forcedthemselves into a conspicuous part of the circle. The outcry was excitedby a sudden change in the air of Hard-Heart. When the old men turnedtowards the youth, they saw him standing in the very centre of the ring, with his head erect, his eye fixed on vacancy, one leg advanced and anarm a little raised, as if all his faculties were absorbed in the actof listening. A smile lighted his countenance, for a single moment, and then the whole man sunk again into his former look of dignity andcoldness, suddenly recalled to self-possession. The movement had beenconstrued into contempt, and even the tempers of the chiefs began to beexcited. Unable to restrain their fury, the women broke into the circlein a body, and commenced their attack by loading the captive with themost bitter revilings. They boasted of the various exploits, which theirsons had achieved at the expense of the different tribes of the Pawnees. They undervalued his own reputation, and told him to look at Mahtoree, if he had never yet seen a warrior. They accused him of having beensuckled by a doe, and of having drunk in cowardice with his mother'smilk. In short, they lavished upon their unmoved captive a torrent ofthat vindictive abuse, in which the women of the savages are so wellknown to excel, but which has been too often described to need arepetition here. 

The effect of this outbreaking was inevitable. Le Balafre turned awaydisappointed, and hid himself in the crowd, while the trapper, whosehonest features were working with inward emotion, pressed nigher to hisyoung friend, as those who are linked to the criminal, by ties so strongas to brave the opinions of men, are often seen to stand about the placeof execution to support his dying moments. The excitement soon spreadamong the inferior warriors, though the chiefs still forbore to makethe signal, which committed the victim to their mercy. Mahtoree, whohad awaited such a movement among his fellows, with the wary design ofconcealing his own jealous hatred, soon grew weary of delay, and, by aglance of his eye, encouraged the tormentors to proceed. 

Weucha, who, eager for this sanction, had long stood watching thecountenance of the chief, bounded forward at the signal like ablood-hound loosened from the leash. Forcing his way into the centreof the hags, who were already proceeding from abuse to violence, hereproved their impatience, and bade them wait, until a warrior had begunto torment, and then they should see their victim shed tears like awoman. 

The heartless savage commenced his efforts, by flourishing his tomahawkabout the head of the captive, in such a manner as to give reason tosuppose, that each blow would bury the weapon in the flesh, while itwas so governed as not to touch the skin. To this customary expedientHard-Heart was perfectly insensible. His eye kept the same steady, riveted look on the air, though the glittering axe described, in itsevolutions, a bright circle of light before his countenance. Frustratedin this attempt, the callous Sioux laid the cold edge on the naked headof his victim, and began to describe the different manners, in whicha prisoner might be flayed. The women kept time to his cruelties withtheir taunts, and endeavoured to force some expression of the lingeringsof nature from the insensible features of the Pawnee. But he evidentlyreserved himself for the chiefs, and for those moments of extremeanguish, when the loftiness of his spirit might evince itself in amanner better becoming his high and untarnished reputation. 

The eyes of the trapper, followed every movement of the tomahawk, withthe interest of a real father, until at length, unable to command hisindignation, he exclaimed--

"My son has forgotten his cunning. This is a low-minded Indian, andone easily hurried into folly. I cannot do the thing myself, for mytraditions forbid a dying warrior to revile his persecutors, but thegifts of a Red-skin are different. Let the Pawnee say the bitter wordsand purchase an easy death. I will answer for his success, provided hespeaks before the grave men set their wisdom to back the folly of thisfool. "

The savage Sioux, who heard his words without comprehending theirmeaning, turned to the speaker and menaced him with death, for histemerity. 

"Ay, work your will, " said the unflinching old man; "I am as ready nowas I shall be to-morrow. Though it would be a death that an honest manmight not wish to die. Look at that noble Pawnee, Teton, and see what aRed-skin may become, who fears the Master of Life, and follows hislaws. How many of your people has he sent to the distant prairies?"he continued in a sort of pious fraud, thinking, that while the dangermenaced himself, there could surely be no sin in extolling the merits ofanother; "how many howling Siouxes has he struck, like a warrior in opencombat, while arrows were sailing in the air plentier than flakes offalling snow! Go! will Weucha speak the name of one enemy he has everstruck?"

"Hard-Heart!" shouted the Sioux, turning in his fury, and aiming adeadly blow at the head of his victim. His arm fell into the hollow ofthe captive's hand. For a single moment the two stood, as if entrancedin that attitude, the one paralysed by so unexpected a resistance, andthe other bending his head, not to meet his death, but in the act ofthe most intense attention. The women screamed with triumph, for theythought the nerves of the captive had at length failed him. The trappertrembled for the honour of his friend; and Hector, as if conscious ofwhat was passing, raised his nose into the air, and uttered a piteoushowl. 

But the Pawnee hesitated, only for that moment. Raising the other hand, like lightning, the tomahawk flashed in the air, and Weucha sunk to hisfeet, brained to the eye. Then cutting a way with the bloody weapon, hedarted through the opening, left by the frightened women, and seemed todescend the declivity at a single bound. 

Had a bolt from Heaven fallen in the midst of the Teton band it wouldnot have occasioned greater consternation, than this act of desperatehardihood. A shrill plaintive cry burst from the lips of all the women, and there was a moment, that even the oldest warriors appeared to havelost their faculties. This stupor endured only for the instant. It wassucceeded by a yell of revenge, that burst from a hundred throats, whileas many warriors started forward at the cry, bent on the most bloodyretribution. But a powerful and authoritative call from Mahtoreearrested every foot. The chief, in whose countenance disappointmentand rage were struggling with the affected composure of his station, extended an arm towards the river, and the whole mystery was explained. 

Hard-Heart had already crossed half the bottom, which lay between theacclivity and the water. At this precise moment a band of armed andmounted Pawnees turned a swell, and galloped to the margin of thestream, into which the plunge of the fugitive was distinctly heard. Afew minutes sufficed for his vigorous arm to conquer the passage, andthen the shout from the opposite shore told the humbled Tetons the wholeextent of the triumph of their adversaries. 

CHAPTER XXIX

 If that shepherd be not in hand-fast, let him fly; the curses he shall have, the tortures he shall feel, will break the back of man, the heart of monster. --Shakspeare. 

It will readily be seen that the event just related was attended by anextraordinary sensation among the Siouxes. In leading the hunters ofthe band back to the encampment, their chief had neglected none of thecustomary precautions of Indian prudence, in order that his trail mightescape the eyes of his enemies. It would seem, however, that the Pawneeshad not only made the dangerous discovery, but had managed with greatart to draw nigh the place, by the only side on which it was thoughtunnecessary to guard the approaches with the usual line of sentinels. The latter, who were scattered along the different little eminences, which lay in the rear of the lodges, were among the last to be apprizedof the danger. 

In such a crisis there was little time for deliberation. It was byexhibiting the force of his character in scenes of similar difficulty, that Mahtoree had obtained and strengthened his ascendency among hispeople, nor did he seem likely to lose it by the manifestation of anyindecision on the present occasion. In the midst of the screams of theyoung, the shrieks of the women, and the wild howlings of the crones, which were sufficient of themselves to have created a chaos in thethoughts of one less accustomed to act in emergencies, he promptlyasserted his authority, issuing his orders with the coolness of aveteran. 

While the warriors were arming, the boys were despatched to the bottomfor the horses. The tents were hastily struck by the women, and disposedof on such of the beasts are were not deemed fit to be trusted incombat. The infants were cast upon the backs of their mothers, and thosechildren, who were of a size to march, were driven to the rear, like aherd of less reasoning animals. Though these several movements were madeamid outcries, and a clamour, that likened the place to another Babel, they were executed with incredible alacrity and intelligence. 

In the mean time, Mahtoree neglected no duty that belonged to hisresponsible station. From the elevation, on which he stood, he couldcommand a perfect view of the force and evolutions of the hostileparty. A grim smile lighted his visage, when he found that, in pointof numbers, his own band was greatly the superior. Notwithstanding thisadvantage, however, there were other points of inequality, which wouldprobably have a tendency to render his success, in the approachingconflict, exceedingly doubtful. His people were the inhabitants of amore northern and less hospitable region than their enemies, and werefar from being rich in that species of property, horses and arms, whichconstitutes the most highly prized wealth of a western Indian. The bandin view was mounted to a man; and as it had come so far to rescue, orto revenge, their greatest partisan, he had no reason to doubt its beingcomposed entirely of braves. On the other hand, many of his followerswere far better in a hunt than in a combat; men who might serve todivert the attention of his foes, but from whom he could expect littledesperate service. Still, his flashing eye glanced over a body ofwarriors on whom he had often relied, and who had never deceived him;and though, in the precise position in which he found himself, he feltno disposition to precipitate the conflict, he certainly would have hadno intention to avoid it, had not the presence of his women and childrenplaced the option altogether in the power of his adversaries. 

On the other hand, the Pawnees, so unexpectedly successful in theirfirst and greatest object, manifested no intention to drive matters toan issue. The river was a dangerous barrier to pass, in the face of adetermined foe, and it would now have been in perfect accordance withtheir cautious policy, to have retired for a season, in order that theironset might be made in the hours of darkness, and of seeming security. But there was a spirit in their chief that elevated him, for the moment, above the ordinary expedients of savage warfare. His bosom burned withthe desire to wipe out that disgrace of which he had been the subject;and it is possible, that he believed the retiring camp of the Siouxescontained a prize, that began to have a value in his eyes, far exceedingany that could be found in fifty Teton scalps. Let that be as it might, Hard-Heart had no sooner received the brief congratulations of his band, and communicated to the chiefs such facts as were important to be known, than he prepared himself to act such a part in the coming conflict, as would at once maintain his well-earned reputation, and gratify hissecret wishes. A led horse, one that had been long trained in the hunts, had been brought to receive his master, with but little hope that hisservices would ever be needed again in this life. With a delicacy andconsideration, that proved how much the generous qualities of the youthhad touched the feelings of his people, a bow, a lance, and a quiver, were thrown across the animal, which it had been intended to immolateon the grave of the young brave; a species of care that would havesuperseded the necessity for the pious duty that the trapper had pledgedhimself to perform. 

Though Hard-Heart was sensible of the kindness of his warriors, andbelieved that a chief, furnished with such appointments, might departwith credit for the distant hunting-grounds of the Master of Life, heseemed equally disposed to think that they might be rendered quite asuseful, in the actual state of things. His countenance lighted withstern pleasure, as he tried the elasticity of the bow, and poised thewell-balanced spear. The glance he bestowed on the shield was morecursory and indifferent; but the exultation with which he threw himselfon the back of his favoured war-horse was so great, as to break throughthe forms of Indian reserve. He rode to and fro among his scarcely lessdelighted warriors, managing the animal with a grace and address that noartificial rules can ever supply; at times flourishing his lance, as ifto assure himself of his seat, and at others examining critically intothe condition of the fusee, with which he had also been furnished, withthe fondness of one, who was miraculously restored to the possession oftreasures, that constituted his pride and his happiness. 

At this particular moment Mahtoree, having completed the necessaryarrangements, prepared to make a more decisive movement. The Teton hadfound no little embarrassment in disposing of his captives. The tents ofthe squatter were still in sight, and his wary cunning did not fail toapprise him, that it was quite as necessary to guard against an attackfrom that quarter as to watch the motions of his more open and moreactive foes. His first impulse had been to make the tomahawk suffice forthe men, and to trust the females under the same protection as the womenof his band; but the manner, in which many of his braves continued toregard the imaginary medicine of the Long-knives, forewarned him of thedanger of so hazardous an experiment on the eve of a battle. It mightbe deemed the omen of defeat. In this dilemma he motioned to asuperannuated warrior, to whom he had confided the charge of thenon-combatants, and leading him apart, he placed a finger significantlyon his shoulder, as he said, in a tone, in which authority was temperedby confidence--

"When my young men are striking the Pawnees, give the women knives. Enough; my father is very old; he does not want to hear wisdom from aboy. "

The grim old savage returned a look of ferocious assent, and then themind of the chief appeared to be at rest on this important subject. Fromthat moment he bestowed all his care on the achievement of his revenge, and the maintenance of his martial character. Throwing himself on hishorse, he made a sign, with the air of a prince to his followers, toimitate his example, interrupting, without ceremony, the war songs andsolemn rites by which many among them were stimulating their spiritsto deeds of daring. When all were in order, the whole moved with greatsteadiness and silence towards the margin of the river. 

The hostile bands were now separated by the water. The width ofthe stream was too great to admit of the use of the ordinary Indianmissiles, but a few useless shots were exchanged from the fusees of thechiefs, more in bravado than with any expectation of doing execution. As some time was suffered to elapse, in demonstrations and abortiveefforts, we shall leave them, for that period, to return to such of ourcharacters as remained in the hands of the savages. 

We have shed much ink in vain, and wasted quires, that might possiblyhave been better employed, if it be necessary now to tell the readerthat few of the foregoing movements escaped the observation of theexperienced trapper. He had been, in common with the rest, astonishedat the sudden act of Hard-Heart; and there was a single moment when afeeling of regret and mortification got the better of his longings tosave the life of the youth. The simple and well-intentioned old manwould have felt, at witnessing any failure of firmness on the part of awarrior, who had so strongly excited his sympathies, the same speciesof sorrow that a Christian parent would suffer in hanging over thedying moments of an impious child. But when, instead of an impotent andunmanly struggle for existence, he found that his friend had forborne, with the customary and dignified submission of an Indian warrior, untilan opportunity had offered to escape, and that he had then manifestedthe spirit and decision of the most gifted brave, his gratificationbecame nearly too powerful to be concealed. In the midst of the wailingand commotion, which succeeded the death of Weucha and the escape ofthe captive, he placed himself nigh the persons of his white associates, with a determination of interfering, at every hazard, should the furyof the savages take that direction. The appearance of the hostile bandspared him, however, so desperate and probably so fruitless an effort, and left him to pursue his observations, and to mature his plans more atleisure. 

He particularly remarked that, while by far the greater part of thewomen, and all the children, together with the effects of the party, were hurried to the rear, probably with an order to secrete themselvesin some of the adjacent woods, the tent of Mahtoree himself was leftstanding, and its contents undisturbed. Two chosen horses, however, stood near by, held by a couple of youths, who were too young to gointo the conflict, and yet of an age to understand the management ofthe beasts. The trapper perceived in this arrangement the reluctance ofMahtoree to trust his newly-found flowers beyond the reach of his eye;and, at the same time, his forethought in providing against a reverse offortune. Neither had the manner of the Teton, in giving his commissionto the old savage, nor the fierce pleasure with which the latter hadreceived the bloody charge, escaped his observation. From all thesemysterious movements, the old man was aware that a crisis was at hand, and he summoned the utmost knowledge he had acquired, in so long a life, to aid him in the desperate conjuncture. While musing on the means tobe employed, the Doctor again attracted his attention to himself, by apiteous appeal for assistance. 

"Venerable trapper, or, as I may now say, liberator, " commenced thedolorous Obed, "it would seem, that a fitting time has at length arrivedto dissever the unnatural and altogether irregular connection, whichexists between my inferior members and the body of Asinus. Perhaps ifsuch a portion of my limbs were released as might leave me master of theremainder, and this favourable opportunity were suitably improved, bymaking a forced march towards the settlements, all hopes of preservingthe treasures of knowledge, of which I am the unworthy receptacle, wouldnot be lost. The importance of the results is surely worth the hazard ofthe experiment. "

"I know not, I know not, " returned the deliberate old man; "the verminand reptiles, which you bear about you, were intended by the Lord forthe prairies, and I see no good in sending them into regions thatmay not suit their natur's. And, moreover, you may be of great andparticular use as you now sit on the ass, though it creates no wonder inmy mind to perceive that you are ignorant of it, seeing that usefulnessis altogether a new calling to so bookish a man. "

"Of what service can I be in this painful thraldom, in which the animalfunctions are in a manner suspended, and the spiritual, or intellectual, blinded by the secret sympathy that unites mind to matter? There islikely to be blood spilt between yonder adverse hosts of heathens; and, though but little desiring the office, it would be better that I shouldemploy myself in surgical experiments, than in thus wasting the preciousmoments, mortifying both soul and body. "

"It is little that a Red-skin would care to have a physician at hishurts, while the whoop is ringing in his ears. Patience is a virtue inan Indian, and can be no shame to a Christian white man. Look at thesehags of squaws, friend Doctor; I have no judgment in savage tempers, ifthey are not bloody minded, and ready to work their accursed pleasureson us all. Now, so long as you keep upon the ass, and maintain thefierce look which is far from being your natural gift, fear of so greata medicine may serve to keep down their courage. I am placed here, likea general at the opening of the battle, and it has become my duty tomake such use of all my force as, in my judgment, each is best fitted toperform. If I know these niceties, you will be more serviceable for yourcountenance just now than in any more stirring exploits. "

"Harkee, old trapper, " shouted Paul, whose patience could no longermaintain itself under the calculating and prolix explanations of theother, "suppose you cut two things I can name, short off. That is tosay, your conversation, which is agreeable enough over a well bakedbuffaloe's hump, and these damnable thongs of hide, which, according tomy experience, can be pleasant nowhere. A single stroke of your knifewould be of more service, just now, than the longest speech that wasever made in a Kentucky court-house. "

"Ay, court-houses are the 'happy hunting-grounds, ' as a Red-skin wouldsay, for them that are born with gifts no better than such as lie in thetongue. I was carried into one of the lawless holes myself once, and itwas all about a thing of no more value than the skin of a deer. The Lordforgive them!--the Lord forgive them!--they knew no better, and they didaccording to their weak judgments, and therefore the more are they to bepitied; and yet it was a solemn sight to see an aged man, who had alwayslived in the air, laid neck and heels by the law, and held up as aspectacle for the women and boys of a wasteful settlement to point theirfingers at!"

"If such be your opinions of confinement, honest friend, you had bettermanifest the same, by putting us at liberty with as little delay aspossible, " said Middleton, who, like his companion, began to find thetardiness of his often-tried companion quite as extraordinary as it wasdisagreeable. 

"I should greatly like to do the same; especially in your behalf, Captain, who, being a soldier, might find not only pleasure but profitin examining, more at your ease, into the circumventions and cunning ofan Indian fight. As to our friend, here, it is of but little matter, howmuch of this affair he examines, or how little, seeing that a bee is notto be overcome in the same manner as an Indian. "

"Old man, this trifling with our misery is inconsiderate, to give it aname no harsher--"

"Ay, your grand'ther was of a hot and hurrying mind, and one must notexpect, that the young of a panther will crawl the 'arth like the litterof a porcupine. Now keep you both silent, and what I say shall have theappearance of being spoken concerning the movements that are going onin the bottom; all of which will serve to put jealousy to sleep, and toshut the eyes of such as rarely close them on wickedness and cruelty. Inthe first place, then, you must know that I have reason to think yondertreacherous Teton has left an order to put us all to death, so soon ashe thinks the deed may be done secretly, and without tumult. "

"Great Heaven! will you suffer us to be butchered like unresistingsheep?"

"Hist, Captain, hist; a hot temper is none of the best, when cunning ismore needed than blows. Ah, the Pawnee is a noble boy! it would do yourheart good to see how he draws off from the river, in order to invitehis enemies to cross; and yet, according to my failing sight, they counttwo warriors to his one! But as I was saying, little good comes of hasteand thoughtlessness. The facts are so plain that any child may see intotheir wisdom. The savages are of many minds as to the manner of ourtreatment. Some fear us for colour, and would gladly let us go, andother some would show us the mercy that the doe receives from the hungrywolf. When opposition gets fairly into the councils of a tribe, itis rarely that humanity is the gainer. Now see you these wrinkledand cruel-minded squaws--No, you cannot see them as you lie, butnevertheless they are here, ready and willing, like so many ragingshe-bears, to work their will upon us so soon as the proper time shallcome. "

"Harkee, old gentleman trapper, " interrupted Paul, with a littlebitterness in his manner; "do you tell us these matters for ouramusement, or for your own? If for ours, you may keep your breath forthe next race you run, as I am tickled nearly to suffocation, already, with my part of the fun. "

"Hist"--said the trapper, cutting with great dexterity and rapidity thethong, which bound one of the arms of Paul to his body, and dropping hisknife at the same time within reach of the liberated hand. "Hist, boy, hist; that was a lucky moment! The yell from the bottom drew the eyes ofthese blood-suckers in another quarter, and so far we are safe. Now makea proper use of your advantages; but be careful, that what you do, isdone without being seen. "

"Thank you for this small favour, old deliberation, " muttered thebee-hunter, "though it comes like a snow in May, somewhat out ofseason. "

"Foolish boy!" reproachfully exclaimed the other, who had moved toa little distance from his friends, and appeared to be attentivelyregarding the movements of the hostile parties, "will you never learn toknow the wisdom of patience? And you, too, Captain; though a man myself, that seldom ruffles his temper by vain feelings, I see that you aresilent, because you scorn to ask favours any longer from one you thinktoo slow to grant them. No doubt, ye are both young, and filled with thepride of your strength and manhood, and I dare say you thought it onlyneedful to cut the thongs, to leave you masters of the ground. But he, that has seen much, is apt to think much. Had I run like a bustlingwoman to have given you freedom, these hags of the Siouxes would haveseen the same, and then where would you both have found yourselves?Under the tomahawk and the knife, like helpless and outcrying children, though gifted with the size and beards of men. Ask our friend, thebee-hunter, in what condition he finds himself to struggle with a Tetonboy, after so many hours of bondage; much less with a dozen mercilessand bloodthirsty squaws!"

"Truly, old trapper, " returned Paul, stretching his limbs, which were bythis time entirely released, and endeavouring to restore the suspendedcirculation, "you have some judgmatical notions in these matters. Nowhere am I, Paul Hover, a man who will give in to few at wrestle or race, nearly as helpless as the day I paid my first visit to the house of oldPaul, who is dead and gone, --the Lord forgive him any little blunders hemay have made while he tarried in Kentucky! Now there is my foot on theground, so far as eye-sight has any virtue, and yet it would take nogreat temptation to make me swear it didn't touch the earth by sixinches. I say, honest friend, since you have done so much, havethe goodness to keep these damnable squaws, of whom you say so manyinteresting things, at a little distance, till I have got the blood ofthis arm in motion, and am ready to receive them. "

The trapper made a sign that he perfectly understood the case; andhe walked towards the superannuated savage, who began to manifest anintention of commencing his assigned task, leaving the bee-hunter torecover the use of his limbs as well as he could, and to put Middletonin a similar situation to defend himself. 

Mahtoree had not mistaken his man, in selecting the one he did toexecute his bloody purpose. He had chosen one of those ruthless savages, more or less of whom are to be found in every tribe, who had purchaseda certain share of military reputation, by the exhibition of a hardihoodthat found its impulses in an innate love of cruelty. Contrary to thehigh and chivalrous sentiment, which among the Indians of the prairiesrenders it a deed of even greater merit to bear off the trophy ofvictory from a fallen foe, than to slay him, he had been remarkable forpreferring the pleasure of destroying life, to the glory of striking thedead. While the more self-devoted and ambitious braves were intenton personal honour, he had always been seen, established behind somefavourable cover, depriving the wounded of hope, by finishing that whicha more gallant warrior had begun. In all the cruelties of the tribe hehad ever been foremost; and no Sioux was so uniformly found on the sideof merciless councils. 

He had awaited, with an impatience which his long practised restraintcould with difficulty subdue, for the moment to arrive when he mightproceed to execute the wishes of the great chief, without whoseapprobation and powerful protection he would not have dared to undertakea step, that had so many opposers in the nation. But events had beenhastening to an issue, between the hostile parties; and the time had nowarrived, greatly to his secret and malignant joy, when he was free toact his will. 

The trapper found him distributing knives to the ferocious hags, whoreceived the presents chanting a low monotonous song, that recalled thelosses of their people, in various conflicts with the whites, and whichextolled the pleasures and glory of revenge. The appearance of such agroup was enough of itself to have deterred one, less accustomed tosuch sights than the old man, from trusting himself within the circle oftheir wild and repulsive rites. 

Each of the crones, as she received the weapon, commenced a slow andmeasured, but ungainly, step, around the savage, until the whole werecircling him in a sort of magic dance. The movements were timed, insome degree, by the words of their songs, as were their gestures bythe ideas. When they spoke of their own losses, they tossed theirlong straight locks of grey into the air, or suffered them to fall inconfusion upon their withered necks; but as the sweetness of returningblow for blow was touched upon, by any among them, it was answered by acommon howl, as well as by gestures, that were sufficiently expressiveof the manner in which they were exciting themselves to the necessarystate of fury. 

Into the very centre of this ring of seeming demons, the trapper nowstalked, with the same calmness and observation as he would have walkedinto a village church. No other change was made by his appearance, thana renewal of the threatening gestures, with, if possible, a still lessequivocal display of their remorseless intentions. Making a sign forthem to cease, the old man demanded--

"Why do the mothers of the Tetons sing with bitter tongues? The Pawneeprisoners are not yet in their village; their young men have not comeback loaded with scalps!"

He was answered by a general howl, and a few of the boldest of thefuries even ventured to approach him, flourishing their knives within adangerous proximity of his own steady eye-balls. 

"It is a warrior you see, and no runner of the Long-knives, whose facegrows paler at the sight of a tomahawk, " returned the trapper, withoutmoving a muscle. "Let the Sioux women think; if one White-skin dies, ahundred spring up where he falls. "

Still the hags made no other answer, than by increasing their speedin the circle, and occasionally raising the threatening expressions oftheir chant, into louder and more intelligible strains. Suddenly, one ofthe oldest, and the most ferocious of them all, broke out of the ring, and skirred away in the direction of her victims, like a rapacious bird, that having wheeled on poised wings, for the time necessary to ensureits object, makes the final dart upon its prey. The others followed, adisorderly and screaming flock, fearful of being too late to reap theirportion of the sanguinary pleasure. 

"Mighty medicine of my people!" shouted the old man, in the Tetontongue; "lift your voice and speak, that the Sioux nation may hear. "

Whether Asinus had acquired so much knowledge, by his recent experience, as to know the value of his sonorous properties, or the strangespectacle of a dozen hags flitting past him, filling the air withsuch sounds as were even grating to the ears of an ass, most moved histemper, it is certain that the animal did that which Obed was requestedto do, and probably with far greater effect than if the naturalist hadstrove with his mightiest effort to be heard. It was the first timethe strange beast had spoken, since his arrival in the encampment. Admonished by so terrible a warning, the hags scattered themselves, like vultures frightened from their prey, still screaming, and but halfdiverted from their purpose. 

In the mean time the sudden appearance, and the imminency of the danger, quickened the blood in the veins of Paul and Middleton, more than alltheir laborious frictions, and physical expedients. The former hadactually risen to his feet, and assumed an attitude which perhapsthreatened more than the worthy bee-hunter was able to perform, and eventhe latter had mounted to his knees, and shown a disposition to do goodservice for his life. The unaccountable release of the captives fromtheir bonds was attributed, by the hags, to the incantations of themedicine; and the mistake was probably of as much service, as themiraculous and timely interposition of Asinus in their favour. 

"Now is the time to come out of our ambushment, " exclaimed the old man, hastening to join his friends, "and to make open and manful war. Itwould have been policy to have kept back the struggle, until the Captainwas in better condition to join, but as we have unmasked our battery, why, we must maintain the ground--"

He was interrupted by feeling a gigantic hand on his shoulder. Turning, under a sort of confused impression that necromancy was actually abroadin the place, he found that he was in the hands of a sorcerer no lessdangerous and powerful than Ishmael Bush. The file of the squatter'swell-armed sons, that was seen issuing from behind the still standingtent of Mahtoree, explained at once, not only the manner in whichtheir rear had been turned, while their attention had been so earnestlybestowed on matters in front, but the utter impossibility of resistance. 

Neither Ishmael, nor his sons deemed it necessary to enter into prolixexplanations. Middleton and Paul were bound again, with extraordinarysilence and despatch, and this time not even the aged trapper was exemptfrom a similar fortune. The tent was struck, the females placed upon thehorses, and the whole were on the way towards the squatter's encampment, with a celerity that might well have served to keep alive the idea ofmagic. 

During this summary and brief disposition of things, the disappointedagent of Mahtoree and his callous associates were seen flying across theplain, in the direction of the retiring families; and when Ishmael leftthe spot with his prisoners and his booty, the ground, which had solately been alive with the bustle and life of an extensive Indianencampment, was as still and empty as any other spot in those extensivewastes. 

CHAPTER XXX

 Is this proceeding just and honourable? --Shakspeare. 

During the occurrence of these events on the upland plain, the warriorson the bottom had not been idle. We left the adverse bands watching oneanother on the opposite banks of the stream, each endeavouring to exciteits enemy to some act of indiscretion, by the most reproachful tauntsand revilings. But the Pawnee chief was not slow to discover that hiscrafty antagonist had no objection to waste the time so idly, and, asthey mutually proved, in expedients that were so entirely useless. Hechanged his plans, accordingly, and withdrew from the bank, as has beenalready explained through the mouth of the trapper, in order to invitethe more numerous host of the Siouxes to cross. The challenge was notaccepted, and the Loups were compelled to frame some other method toattain their end. 

Instead of any longer throwing away the precious moments, in fruitlessendeavours to induce his foe to cross the stream, the young partisanof the Pawnees led his troops, at a swift gallop, along its margin, inquest of some favourable spot, where by a sudden push he might throw hisown band without loss to the opposite shore. The instant his objectwas discovered, each mounted Teton received a footman behind him, andMahtoree was still enabled to concentrate his whole force against theeffort. Perceiving that his design was anticipated, and unwilling toblow his horses by a race that would disqualify them for service, evenafter they had succeeded in outstripping the more heavily-burdenedcattle of the Siouxes, Hard-Heart drew up, and came to a dead halt onthe very margin of the water-course. 

As the country was too open for any of the usual devices of savagewarfare, and time was so pressing, the chivalrous Pawnee resolved tobring on the result by one of those acts of personal daring, for whichthe Indian braves are so remarkable, and by which they often purchasetheir highest and dearest renown. The spot he had selected wasfavourable to such a project. The river, which throughout most of itscourse was deep and rapid, had expanded there to more than twice itscustomary width, and the rippling of its waters proved that it flowedover a shallow bottom. In the centre of the current there was anextensive and naked bed of sand, but a little raised above the levelof the stream and of a colour and consistency which warranted, to apractised eye, that it afforded a firm and safe foundation for the foot. To this spot the partisan now turned his wistful gaze, nor was he longin making his decision. First speaking to his warriors, and apprisingthem of his intentions, he dashed into the current, and partly byswimming, and more by the use of his horse's feet, he reached the islandin safety. 

The experience of Hard-Heart had not deceived him. When his snortingsteed issued from the water, he found himself on a tremendous but dampand compact bed of sand, that was admirably adapted to the exhibitionof the finest powers of the animal. The horse seemed conscious of theadvantage, and bore his warlike rider, with an elasticity of step anda loftiness of air, that would have done no discredit to the highesttrained and most generous charger. The blood of the chief himselfquickened with the excitement of his situation. He sat the beast asif conscious that the eyes of two tribes were on his movements; and asnothing could be more acceptable and grateful to his own band, than thisdisplay of native grace and courage, so nothing could be more tauntingand humiliating to their enemies. 

The sudden appearance of the Pawnee on the sands was announced among theTetons, by a general yell of savage anger. A rush was made to the shore, followed by a discharge of fifty arrows and a few fusees, and, on thepart of several braves, there was a plain manifestation of a desire toplunge into the water, in order to punish the temerity of their insolentfoe. But a call and a mandate, from Mahtoree, checked the rising, andnearly ungovernable, temper of his band. So far from allowing a singlefoot to be wet, or a repetition of the fruitless efforts of his peopleto drive away their foe with missiles, the whole of the party wascommanded to retire from the shore, while he himself communicated hisintentions to one or two of his most favoured followers. 

When the Pawnees observed the rush of their enemies, twenty warriorsrode into the stream; but so soon as they perceived that the Tetonshad withdrawn, they fell back to a man, leaving the young chief to thesupport of his own often-tried skill and well-established courage. Theinstructions of Hard-Heart, on quitting his band, had been worthy of theself-devotion and daring of his character. So long as single warriorscame against him, he was to be left to the keeping of the Wahcondah andhis own arm; but should the Siouxes attack him in numbers, he was tobe sustained, man for man, even to the extent of his whole force. Thesegenerous orders were strictly obeyed; and though so many hearts in thetroop panted to share in the glory and danger of their partisan, not awarrior was found, among them all, who did not know how to conceal hisimpatience under the usual mask of Indian self-restraint. They watchedthe issue with quick and jealous eyes, nor did a single exclamation ofsurprise escape them, when they saw, as will soon be apparent, that theexperiment of their chief was as likely to conduce to peace as to war. 

Mahtoree was not long in communicating his plans to his confidants, whomhe as quickly dismissed to join their fellows in the rear. The Tetonentered a short distance into the stream and halted. Here he raised hishand several times, with the palm outwards, and made several of thoseother signs, which are construed into a pledge of amicable intentionsamong the inhabitants of those regions. Then, as if to confirm thesincerity of his faith, he cast his fusee to the shore, and entereddeeper into the water, where he again came to a stand, in order to seein what manner the Pawnee would receive his pledges of peace. 

The crafty Sioux had not made his calculations on the noble and honestnature of his more youthful rival in vain. Hard-Heart had continuedgalloping across the sands, during the discharge of missiles and theappearance of a general onset, with the same proud and confident mien, as that with which he had first braved the danger. When he saw thewell-known person of the Teton partisan enter the river, he waved hishand in triumph, and flourishing his lance, he raised the thrillingwar-cry of his people, as a challenge for him to come on. But when hesaw the signs of a truce, though deeply practised in the treachery ofsavage combats, he disdained to show a less manly reliance on himself, than that which his enemy had seen fit to exhibit. Riding to thefarthest extremity of the sands, he cast his own fusee from him, andreturned to the point whence he had started. 

The two chiefs were now armed alike. Each had his spear, his bow, hisquiver, his little battle-axe, and his knife; and each had, also, ashield of hides, which might serve as a means of defence against asurprise from any of these weapons. The Sioux no longer hesitated, but advanced deeper into the stream, and soon landed on a point of theisland which his courteous adversary had left free for that purpose. Hadone been there to watch the countenance of Mahtoree, as he crossed thewater that separated him from the most formidable and the most hated ofall his rivals, he might have fancied that he could trace the gleamingsof a secret joy, breaking through the cloud which deep cunning andheartless treachery had drawn before his swarthy visage; and yet therewould have been moments, when he might have believed that the flashingsof the Teton's eye and the expansion of his nostrils, had their originin a nobler sentiment, and one more worthy of an Indian chief. 

The Pawnee awaited the time of his enemy with calmness and dignity. TheTeton made a short run or two, to curb the impatience of his steed, andto recover his seat after the effort of crossing, and then he rode intothe centre of the place, and invited the other, by a courteous gesture, to approach. Hard-Heart drew nigh, until he found himself at a distanceequally suited to advance or to retreat, and, in his turn, he came to astand, keeping his glowing eye riveted on that of his enemy. A longand grave pause succeeded this movement, during which these twodistinguished braves, who were now, for the first time, confronted, witharms in their hands, sat regarding each other, like warriors who knewhow to value the merits of a gallant foe, however hated. But the mien ofMahtoree was far less stern and warlike than that of the partisan ofthe Loups. Throwing his shield over his shoulder, as if to invite theconfidence of the other, he made a gesture of salutation and was thefirst to speak. 

"Let the Pawnees go upon the hills, " he said, "and look from the morningto the evening sun, from the country of snows to the land of manyflowers, and they will see that the earth is very large. Why cannot theRed-men find room on it for all their villages?"

"Has the Teton ever known a warrior of the Loups come to his towns tobeg a place for his lodge?" returned the young brave, with a look inwhich pride and contempt were not attempted to be concealed, "whenthe Pawnees hunt, do they send runners to ask Mahtoree if there are noSiouxes on the prairies?"

"When there is hunger in the lodge of a warrior, he looks for thebuffaloe, which is given him for food, " the Teton continued, strugglingto keep down the ire excited by the other's scorn. "The Wahcondahhas made more of them than he has made Indians. He has not said, Thisbuffaloe shall be for a Pawnee, and that for a Dahcotah; this beaver forKonza, and that for an Omawhaw. No; he said, There are enough. I lovemy red children, and I have given them great riches. The swiftest horseshall not go from the village of the Tetons to the village of the Loupsin many suns. It is far from the towns of the Pawnees to the river ofthe Osages. There is room for all that I love. Why then should a Red-manstrike his brother?"

Hard-Heart dropped one end of his lance to the earth, and having alsocast his shield across his shoulder, he sat leaning lightly on theweapon, as he answered with a smile of no doubtful expression--

"Are the Tetons weary of the hunts, and of the warpath? Do they wishto cook the venison, and not to kill it. Do they intend to let the haircover their heads, that their enemies shall not know where to find theirscalps? Go; a Pawnee warrior will never come among such Sioux squaws fora wife!"

A frightful gleam of ferocity broke out of the restraint of theDahcotah's countenance, as he listened to this biting insult; but he wasquick in subduing the tell-tale feeling, in an expression much bettersuited to his present purpose. 

"This is the way a young chief should talk of war, " he answered withsingular composure; "but Mahtoree has seen the misery of more wintersthan his brother. When the nights have been long, and darkness has beenin his lodge, while the young men slept, he has thought of the hardshipsof his people. He has said to himself, Teton, count the scalps in yoursmoke. They are all red but two! Does the wolf destroy the wolf, or therattler strike his brother? You know they do not; therefore, Teton, areyou wrong to go on a path that leads to the village of a Red-skin, witha tomahawk in your hand. "

"The Sioux would rob the warrior of his fame? He would say to hisyoung men, Go, dig roots in the prairies, and find holes to bury yourtomahawks in; you are no longer braves!"

"If the tongue of Mahtoree ever says thus, " returned the crafty chief, with an appearance of strong indignation, "let his women cut it out, andburn it with the offals of the buffaloe. No, " he added, advancing afew feet nigher to the immovable Hard-Heart, as if in the sincerity ofconfidence; "the Red-man can never want an enemy: they are plentier thanthe leaves on the trees, the birds in the heavens, or the buffaloes onthe prairies. Let my brother open his eyes wide: does he no where see anenemy he would strike?"

"How long is it since the Teton counted the scalps of his warriors, thatwere drying in the smoke of a Pawnee lodge? The hand that took them ishere, and ready to make eighteen, twenty. "

"Now, let not the mind of my brother go on a crooked path. If a Red-skinstrikes a Red-skin for ever, who will be masters of the prairies, whenno warriors are left to say, 'They are mine?' Hear the voices of the oldmen. They tell us that in their days many Indians have come out of thewoods under the rising sun, and that they have filled the prairies withtheir complaints of the robberies of the Long-knives. Where a Pale-facecomes, a Red-man cannot stay. The land is too small. They are alwayshungry. See, they are here already!"

As the Teton spoke, he pointed towards the tents of Ishmael, which werein plain sight, and then he paused, to await the effect of his words onthe mind of his ingenuous foe. Hard-Heart listened like one in whom atrain of novel ideas had been excited by the reasoning of the other. Hemused for a minute before he demanded--

"What do the wise chiefs of the Sioux say must be done?"

"They think that the moccasin of every Pale-face should be followed, like the track of the bear. That the Long-knife, who comes upon theprairie, should never go back. That the path shall be open to those whocome, and shut to those who go. Yonder are many. They have horses andguns. They are rich, but we are poor. Will the Pawnees meet the Tetonsin council? and when the sun is gone behind the Rocky Mountains, theywill say, This is for a Loup and this for a Sioux. "

"Teton--no! Hard-Heart has never struck the stranger. They come intohis lodge and eat, and they go out in safety. A mighty chief is theirfriend! When my people call the young men to go on the war-path, themoccasin of Hard-Heart is the last. But his village is no sooner hid bythe trees, than it is the first. No, Teton; his arm will never be liftedagainst the stranger. "

"Fool; die, with empty hands!" Mahtoree exclaimed, setting an arrow tohis bow, and sending it, with a sudden and deadly aim, full at the nakedbosom of his generous and confiding enemy. 

The action of the treacherous Teton was too quick, and too well matured, to admit of any of the ordinary means of defence on the part of thePawnee. His shield was hanging at his shoulder, and even the arrow hadbeen suffered to fall from its place, and lay in the hollow of the handwhich grasped his bow. But the quick eye of the brave had time to seethe movement, and his ready thoughts did not desert him. Pulling hardand with a jerk upon the rein, his steed reared his forward legs intothe air, and, as the rider bent his body low, the horse served fora shield against the danger. So true, however, was the aim, and sopowerful the force by which it was sent, that the arrow entered the neckof the animal, and broke the skin on the opposite side. 

Quicker than thought Hard-Heart sent back an answering arrow. The shieldof the Teton was transfixed, but his person was untouched. For a fewmoments the twang of the bow and the glancing of arrows were incessant, notwithstanding the combatants were compelled to give so large a portionof their care to the means of defence. The quivers were soon exhausted;and though blood had been drawn, it was not in sufficient quantities toimpair the energy of the combat. 

A series of masterly and rapid evolutions with the horses now commenced. The wheelings, the charges, the advances, and the circuitous retreats, were like the flights of circling swallows. Blows were struck with thelance, the sand was scattered in the air, and the shocks often seemed tobe unavoidably fatal; but still each party kept his seat, and still eachrein was managed with a steady hand. At length the Teton was driven tothe necessity of throwing himself from his horse, to escape a thrustthat would otherwise have proved fatal. The Pawnee passed his lancethrough the beast, uttering a shout of triumph as he galloped by. Turning in his tracks, he was about to push the advantage, when his ownmettled steed staggered and fell, under a burden that he could no longersustain. Mahtoree answered his premature cry of victory, and rushedupon the entangled youth, with knife and tomahawk. The utmost agilityof Hard-Heart had not sufficed to extricate himself in season from thefallen beast. He saw that his case was desperate. Feeling for his knife, he took the blade between a finger and thumb, and cast it with admirablecoolness at his advancing foe. The keen weapon whirled a few times inthe air, and its point meeting the naked breast of the impetuous Sioux, the blade was buried to the buck-horn haft. 

Mahtoree laid his hand on the weapon, and seemed to hesitate whether towithdraw it or not. For a moment his countenance darkened with themost inextinguishable hatred and ferocity, and then, as if inwardlyadmonished how little time he had to lose, he staggered to the edgeof the sands, and halted with his feet in the water. The cunning andduplicity, which had so long obscured the brighter and nobler traits ofhis character, were lost in the never dying sentiment of pride, which hehad imbibed in youth. 

"Boy of the Loups!" he said with a smile of grim satisfaction, "thescalp of a mighty Dahcotah shall never dry in Pawnee smoke!"

Drawing the knife from the wound, he hurled it towards the enemyin disdain. Then shaking his arm at his successful foe, his swarthycountenance appearing to struggle with volumes of scorn and hatred, thathe could not utter with the tongue, he cast himself headlong into oneof the most rapid veins of the current, his hand still waving in triumphabove the fluid, even after his body had sunk into the tide for ever. Hard-Heart was by this time free. The silence, which had hithertoreigned in the bands, was suddenly broken by general and tumultuousshouts. Fifty of the adverse warriors were already in the river, hastening to destroy or to defend the conqueror, and the combat wasrather on the eve of its commencement than near its termination. But toall these signs of danger and need, the young victor was insensible. Hesprang for the knife, and bounded with the foot of an antelope along thesands, looking for the receding fluid which concealed his prize. A dark, bloody spot indicated the place, and, armed with the knife, he plungedinto the stream, resolute to die in the flood, or to return with histrophy. 

In the mean time, the sands became a scene of bloodshed and violence. Better mounted and perhaps more ardent, the Pawnees had, however, reached the spot in sufficient numbers to force their enemies to retire. The victors pushed their success to the opposite shore, and gained thesolid ground in the melee of the fight. Here they were met by all theunmounted Tetons, and, in their turn, they were forced to give way. 

The combat now became more characteristic and circumspect. As thehot impulses, which had driven both parties to mingle in so deadlya struggle, began to cool, the chiefs were enabled to exercise theirinfluence, and to temper the assaults with prudence. In consequence ofthe admonitions of their leaders, the Siouxes sought such covers as thegrass afforded, or here and there some bush or slight inequality of theground, and the charges of the Pawnee warriors necessarily became morewary, and of course less fatal. 

In this manner the contest continued with a varied success, and withoutmuch loss. The Siouxes had succeeded in forcing themselves into a thickgrowth of rank grass, where the horses of their enemies could notenter, or where, when entered, they were worse than useless. It becamenecessary to dislodge the Tetons from this cover, or the object of thecombat must be abandoned. Several desperate efforts had been repulsed, and the disheartened Pawnees were beginning to think of a retreat, whenthe well-known war-cry of Hard-Heart was heard at hand, and at the nextinstant the chief appeared in their centre, flourishing the scalp of theGreat Sioux, as a banner that would lead to victory. 

He was greeted by a shout of delight, and followed into the cover, withan impetuosity that, for the moment, drove all before it. But thebloody trophy in the hand of the partisan served as an incentive to theattacked, as well as to the assailants. Mahtoree had left many a daringbrave behind him in his band, and the orator, who in the debates ofthat day had manifested such pacific thoughts, now exhibited the mostgenerous self-devotion, in order to wrest the memorial of a man he hadnever loved, from the hands of the avowed enemies of his people. 

The result was in favour of numbers. After a severe struggle, in whichthe finest displays of personal intrepidity were exhibited by all thechiefs, the Pawnees were compelled to retire upon the open bottom, closely pressed by the Siouxes, who failed not to seize each foot ofground ceded by their enemies. Had the Tetons stayed their efforts onthe margin of the grass, it is probable that the honour of the daywould have been theirs, notwithstanding the irretrievable loss they hadsustained in the death of Mahtoree. But the more reckless braves of theband were guilty of an indiscretion, that entirely changed thefortunes of the fight, and suddenly stripped them of their hard-earnedadvantages. 

A Pawnee chief had sunk under the numerous wounds he had received, andhe fell, a target for a dozen arrows, in the very last group of hisretiring party. Regardless alike of inflicting further injury on theirfoes, and of the temerity of the act, the Sioux braves bounded forwardwith a whoop, each man burning with the wish to reap the high renown ofstriking the body of the dead. They were met by Hard-Heart and a chosenknot of warriors, all of whom were just as stoutly bent on saving thehonour of their nation, from so foul a stain. The struggle was hand tohand, and blood began to flow more freely. As the Pawnees retired withthe body, the Siouxes pressed upon their footsteps, and at length thewhole of the latter broke out of the cover with a common yell, andthreatened to bear down all opposition by sheer physical superiority. 

The fate of Hard-Heart and his companions, all of whom would have diedrather than relinquish their object, would have been quickly sealed, butfor a powerful and unlooked-for interposition in their favour. A shoutwas heard from a little brake on the left, and a volley from the fatalwestern rifle immediately succeeded. Some five or six Siouxes leapedforward in the death agony, and every arm among them was as suddenlysuspended, as if the lightning had flashed from the clouds to aid thecause of the Loups. Then came Ishmael and his stout sons in open view, bearing down upon their late treacherous allies, with looks and voicesthat proclaimed the character of the succour. 

The shock was too much for the fortitude of the Tetons. Several oftheir bravest chiefs had already fallen, and those that remained wereinstantly abandoned by the whole of the inferior herd. A few of the mostdesperate braves still lingered nigh the fatal symbol of their honour, and there nobly met their deaths, under the blows of the re-encouragedPawnees. A second discharge from the rifles of the squatter and hisparty completed the victory. 

The Siouxes were now to be seen flying to more distant covers, with thesame eagerness and desperation as, a few moments before, they had beenplunging into the fight. The triumphant Pawnees bounded forward inchase, like so many high-blooded and well-trained hounds. On every sidewere heard the cries of victory, or the yell of revenge. A few of thefugitives endeavoured to bear away the bodies of their fallen warriors, but the hot pursuit quickly compelled them to abandon the slain, inorder to preserve the living. Among all the struggles, which were madeon that occasion, to guard the honour of the Siouxes from the stainwhich their peculiar opinions attached to the possession of the scalp ofa fallen brave, but one solitary instance of success occurred. 

The opposition of a particular chief to the hostile proceedings in thecouncils of that morning has been already seen. But, after having raisedhis voice in vain, in support of peace, his arm was not backward indoing its duty in the war. His prowess has been mentioned; and it waschiefly by his courage and example, that the Tetons sustained themselvesin the heroic manner they did, when the death of Mahtoree was known. This warrior, who, in the figurative language of his people, was called"the Swooping Eagle, " had been the last to abandon the hopes of victory. When he found that the support of the dreaded rifle had robbed his bandof the hard-earned advantages, he sullenly retired amid a shower ofmissiles, to the secret spot where he had hid his horse, in the mazesof the highest grass. Here he found a new and an entirely unexpectedcompetitor, ready to dispute with him for the possession of the beast. It was Bohrecheena, the aged friend of Mahtoree; he whose voice had beengiven in opposition to his own wiser opinions, transfixed with an arrow, and evidently suffering under the pangs of approaching death. 

"I have been on my last war-path, " said the grim old warrior, when hefound that the real owner of the animal had come to claim his property;"shall a Pawnee carry the white hairs of a Sioux into his village, to bea scorn to his women and children?"

The other grasped his hand, answering to the appeal with the sternlook of inflexible resolution. With this silent pledge, he assisted thewounded man to mount. So soon as he had led the horse to the margin ofthe cover, he threw himself also on its back, and securing his companionto his belt, he issued on the open plain, trusting entirely to thewell-known speed of the beast for their mutual safety. The Pawnees werenot long in catching a view of these new objects, and several turnedtheir steeds to pursue. The race continued for a mile without a murmurfrom the sufferer, though in addition to the agony of his body, he hadthe pain of seeing his enemies approach at every leap of their horses. 

"Stop, " he said, raising a feeble arm to check the speed of hiscompanion; "the Eagle of my tribe must spread his wings wider. Let himcarry the white hairs of an old warrior into the burnt-wood village!"

Few words were necessary, between men who were governed by the samefeelings of glory, and who were so well trained in the principles oftheir romantic honour. The Swooping Eagle threw himself from the backof the horse, and assisted the other to alight. The old man raised histottering frame to its knees, and first casting a glance upward at thecountenance of his countryman, as if to bid him adieu, he stretched outhis neck to the blow he himself invited. A few strokes of the tomahawk, with a circling gash of the knife, sufficed to sever the head from theless valued trunk. The Teton mounted again, just in season to escape aflight of arrows which came from his eager and disappointed pursuers. Flourishing the grim and bloody visage, he darted away from the spotwith a shout of triumph, and was seen scouring the plains, as if hewere actually borne along on the wings of the powerful bird from whosequalities he had received his flattering name. The Swooping Eaglereached his village in safety. He was one of the few Siouxes who escapedfrom the massacre of that fatal day; and for a long time he alone of thesaved was able to lift his voice, in the councils of his nation, withundiminished confidence. 

The knife and the lance cut short the retreat of the larger portion ofthe vanquished. Even the retiring party of the women and childrenwere scattered by the conquerors; and the sun had long sunk behind therolling outline of the western horizon, before the fell business of thatdisastrous defeat was entirely ended. 

CHAPTER XXXI

 Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew? --Shakspeare. 

The day dawned, the following morning, on a more, tranquil scene. Thework of blood had entirely ceased; and as the sun arose, its light wasshed on a broad expanse of quiet and solitude. The tents of Ishmael werestill standing, where they had been last seen, but not another vestigeof human existence could be traced in any other part of the waste. Hereand there little flocks of ravenous birds were sailing and screamingabove those spots where some heavy-footed Teton had met his death, butevery other sign of the recent combat had passed away. The river was tobe traced far through the endless meadows, by its serpentine and smokingbed; and the little silvery clouds of vapour, which hung above the poolsand springs, were beginning to melt in air, as they felt the quickeningwarmth, which, pouring from the glowing sky, shed its bland and subtleinfluence on every object of the vast and unshadowed region. The prairiewas like the heavens after the passage of the gust, soft, calm, andsoothing. 

It was in the midst of such a scene that the family of the squatterassembled to make their final decision, concerning the severalindividuals who had been thrown into their power, by the fluctuatingchances of the incidents related. Every being possessing life andliberty had been afoot, since the first streak of grey had lighted theeast; and even the youngest of the erratic brood seemed conscious thatthe moment had arrived, when circumstances were about to transpirethat might leave a lasting impression on the wild fortunes of theirsemi-barbarous condition. 

Ishmael moved through his little encampment, with the seriousness of onewho had been unexpectedly charged with matters of a gravity, exceedingany of the ordinary occurrences of his irregular existence. His sonshowever, who had so often found occasions to prove the inexorableseverity of their father's character, saw, in his sullen mien and coldeye, rather a determination to adhere to his resolutions, which usuallywere as obstinately enforced as they were harshly conceived, than anyevidences of wavering or doubt. Even Esther was sensibly affected bythe important matters that pressed so heavily on the interests of herfamily. While she neglected none of those domestic offices, which wouldprobably have proceeded under any conceivable circumstances, just asthe world turns round with earthquakes rending its crust and volcanoesconsuming its vitals, yet her voice was pitched to a lower and moreforeboding key than common, and the still frequent chidings of herchildren were tempered by something like the milder dignity of parentalauthority. 

Abiram, as usual, seemed the one most given to solicitude and doubt. There were certain misgivings, in the frequent glances that he turnedon the unyielding countenance of Ishmael, which might have betrayed howlittle of their former confidence and good understanding existed betweenthem. His looks appeared to be vacillating between hope and fear. Attimes, his countenance lighted with the gleamings of a sordid joy, ashe bent his look on the tent which contained his recovered prisoner, and then, again, the impression seemed unaccountably chased away by theshadows of intense apprehension. When under the influence of thelatter feeling, his eye never failed to seek the visage of his dull andimpenetrable kinsman. But there he rather found reason for alarm thangrounds of encouragement, for the whole character of the squatter'scountenance expressed the fearful truth, that he had redeemed his dullfaculties from the influence of the kidnapper, and that his thoughtswere now brooding only on the achievement of his own stubbornintentions. 

It was in this state of things that the sons of Ishmael, in obedienceto an order from their father, conducted the several subjects of hiscontemplated decisions, from their places of confinement into the openair. No one was exempted from this arrangement. Middleton and Inez, Pauland Ellen, Obed and the trapper, were all brought forth and placed insituations that were deemed suitable to receive the sentence of theirarbitrary judge. The younger children gathered around the spot, inmomentary but engrossing curiosity, and even Esther quitted her culinarylabours, and drew nigh to listen. 

Hard-Heart alone, of all his band, was present to witness the novel andfar from unimposing spectacle. He stood leaning, gravely, on his lance, while the smoking steed, that grazed nigh, showed that he had ridden farand hard to be a spectator, on the occasion. 

Ishmael had received his new ally with a coldness that showed his entireinsensibility to that delicacy, which had induced the young chief tocome alone, in order that the presence of his warriors might not createuneasiness, or distrust. He neither courted their assistance, nordreaded their enmity, and he now proceeded to the business of the hourwith as much composure, as if the species of patriarchal power, hewielded, was universally recognised. 

There is something elevating in the possession of authority, however itmay be abused. The mind is apt to make some efforts to prove the fitnessbetween its qualities and the condition of its owner, though it mayoften fail, and render that ridiculous which was only hated before. Butthe effect on Ishmael Bush was not so disheartening. Grave in exterior, saturnine by temperament, formidable by his physical means, anddangerous from his lawless obstinacy, his self-constituted tribunalexcited a degree of awe, to which even the intelligent Middleton couldnot bring himself to be entirely insensible. Little time, however, wasgiven to arrange his thoughts; for the squatter, though unaccustomed tohaste, having previously made up his mind, was not disposed to waste themoments in delay. When he saw that all were in their places, he cast adull look over his prisoners, and addressed himself to the Captain, asthe principal man among the imaginary delinquents. 

"I am called upon this day, to fill the office which in the settlementsyou give unto judges, who are set apart to decide on matters that arisebetween man and man. I have but little knowledge of the ways of thecourts, though there is a rule that is known unto all, and whichteaches, that an 'eye must be returned for an eye, ' and a 'tooth fora tooth. ' I am no troubler of countyhouses, and least of all do I likeliving on a plantation that the sheriff has surveyed; yet there isa reason in such a law, that makes it a safe rule to journey by, andtherefore it ar' a solemn fact that this day shall I abide by it, andgive unto all and each that which is his due and no more. "

When Ishmael had delivered his mind thus far, he paused and lookedabout him, as if he would trace the effects in the countenances of hishearers. When his eye met that of Middleton, he was answered by thelatter--

"If the evil-doer is to be punished, and he that has offended none tobe left to go at large, you must change situations with me, and become aprisoner instead of a judge. "

"You mean to say that I have done you wrong, in taking the lady from herfather's house, and leading her so far against her will into these wilddistricts, " returned the unmoved squatter, who manifested as littleresentment as he betrayed compunction at the charge. "I shall not putthe lie on the back of an evil deed, and deny your words. Since thingshave come to this pass between us, I have found time to think the matterover at my leisure, and though none of your swift thinkers, who can see, or who pretend to see, into the nature of all things, by a turn of theeye, yet am I a man open to reason, and give me my time, one who is notgiven to deny the truth. Therefore have I mainly concluded, that itwas a mistake to take a child from its parent, and the lady shall bereturned whence she has been brought, as tenderly and as safely as mancan do it. "

"Ay, ay, " added Esther, "the man is right. Poverty and labour bore hardupon him, especially as county officers were getting troublesome, andin a weak moment he did the wicked act; but he has listened to my words, and his mind has got round again into its honest corner. An awful and adangerous thing it is to be bringing the daughters of other people intoa peaceable and well-governed family!"

"And who will thank you for the same, after what has been alreadydone?" muttered Abiram, with a grin of disappointed cupidity, in whichmalignity and terror were disgustingly united; "when the devil has oncemade out his account, you may look for your receipt in full only at hishands. "

"Peace!" said Ishmael, stretching his heavy hand towards his kinsman, in a manner that instantly silenced the speaker. "Your voice is like araven's in my ears. If you had never spoken, I should have been sparedthis shame. "

"Since then you are beginning to lose sight of your errors, and tosee the truth, " said Middleton, "do not things by halves, but, bythe generosity of your conduct, purchase friends who may be of use inwarding off any future danger from the law--"

"Young man, " interrupted the squatter, with a dark frown, "you, too, have said enough. If fear of the law had come over me, you would not behere to witness the manner in which Ishmael Bush deals out justice. "

"Smother not your good intentions; and remember, if you contemplateviolence to any among us, that the arm of that law you affect todespise, reaches far, and that though its movements are sometimes slow, they are not the less certain!"

"Yes, there is too much truth in his words, squatter, " said the trapper, whose attentive ears rarely suffered a syllable to be utterly unheededin his presence. "A busy and a troublesome arm it often proves to behere, in this land of America; where, as they say, man is left greatlyto the following of his own wishes, compared to other countries;and happier, ay, and more manly and more honest, too, is he for theprivilege! Why do you know, my men, that there are regions where the lawis so busy as to say, In this fashion shall you live, in that fashionshall you die, and in such another fashion shall you take leave of theworld, to be sent before the judgment-seat of the Lord! A wicked and atroublesome meddling is that, with the business of One who has not madeHis creatures to be herded, like oxen, and driven from field to field, as their stupid and selfish keepers may judge of their need and wants. A miserable land must that be, where they fetter the mind as well as thebody, and where the creatures of God, being born children, are keptso by the wicked inventions of men who would take upon themselves theoffice of the great Governor of all!"

During the delivery of this pertinent opinion, Ishmael was content to besilent, though the look, with which he regarded the speaker, manifestedany other feeling than that of amity. When the old man was done, heturned to Middleton, and continued the subject which the other hadinterrupted. 

"As to ourselves, young Captain, there has been wrong on both sides. IfI have borne hard upon your feelings, in taking away your wife with anhonest intention of giving her back to you, when the plans of that devilincarnate were answered, so have you broken into my encampment, aiding and abetting, as they have called many an honester bargain, indestroying my property. "

"But what I did was to liberate--"

"The matter is settled between us, " interrupted Ishmael, with the air ofone who, having made up his own opinion on the merits of the question, cared very little for those of other people; "you and your wife arefree to go and come, when and how you please. Abner, set the Captain atliberty; and now, if you will tarry until I am ready to draw nigher tothe settlements, you shall both have the benefit of carriage; if not, never say that you did not get a friendly offer. "

"Now, may the strong oppress me, and my sins be visited harshly on myown head, if I forget your honesty, however slow it has been in showingitself, " cried Middleton, hastening to the side of the weeping Inez, the instant he was released; "and, friend, I pledge you the honour ofa soldier, that your own part of this transaction shall be forgotten, whatever I may deem fit to have done, when I reach a place where the armof government can make itself felt. "

The dull smile, with which the squatter answered to this assurance, proved how little he valued the pledge that the youth, in the firstrevulsion of his feelings, was so free to make. 

"Neither fear nor favour, but what I call justice, has brought me tothis judgment, " he said, "do you that which may seem right in your eyes, and believe that the world is wide enough to hold us both, without ourcrossing each other's path again! If you ar' content, well; if you ar'not content, seek to ease your feelings in your own fashion. I shallnot ask to be let up, when you once put me fairly down. And now, Doctor, have I come to your leaf in my accounts. It is time to foot up the smallreckoning, that has been running on, for some time, atwixt us. With you, I entered into open and manly faith; in what manner have you kept it?"

The singular felicity, with which Ishmael had contrived to shift theresponsibility of all that had passed, from his own shoulders to thoseof his prisoners, backed as it was by circumstances that hardly admittedof a very philosophical examination of any mooted point in ethics, was sufficiently embarrassing to the several individuals, who wereso unexpectedly required to answer for a conduct which, in theirsimplicity, they had deemed so meritorious. The life of Obed had been sopurely theoretic, that his amazement was not the least embarrassing ata state of things which might not have proved so very remarkable hadhe been a little more practised in the ways of the world. The worthynaturalist was not the first by many, who found himself, at the precisemoment when he was expecting praise, suddenly arraigned, to answer forthe very conduct on which he rested all his claims to commendation. Though not a little scandalised, at the unexpected turn of thetransaction, he was fain to make the best of circumstances, and to bringforth such matter in justification, as first presented itself to hisdisordered faculties. 

"That there did exist a certain compactum, or agreement, between ObedBatt, M. D. , and Ishmael Bush, viator, or erratic husbandman, " hesaid, endeavouring to avoid all offence in the use of terms, "I amnot disposed to deny. I will admit that it was therein conditioned, orstipulated, that a certain journey should be performed conjointly, or incompany, until so many days had been numbered. But as the said time hasfully expired, I presume it fair to infer that the bargain may now besaid to be obsolete. "

"Ishmael!" interrupted the impatient Esther, "make no words with a manwho can break your bones as easily as set them, and let the poisoningdevil go! He's a cheat, from box to phial. Give him half the prairie, and take the other half yourself. He an acclimator! I will engage toget the brats acclimated to a fever-and-ague bottom in a week, and nota word shall be uttered harder to pronounce than the bark of acherry-tree, with perhaps a drop or two of western comfort. One thingar' a fact, Ishmael; I like no fellow-travellers who can give a heavyfeel to an honest woman's tongue, I--and that without caring whether herhousehold is in order, or out of order. "

The air of settled gloom, which had taken possession of the squatter'scountenance, lighted for an instant with a look of dull drollery, as heanswered--

"Different people might judge differently, Esther, of the virtue of theman's art. But sin' it is your wish to let him depart, I will not ploughthe prairie to make the walking rough. Friend, you are at liberty to gointo the settlements, and there I would advise you to tarry, as men likeme who make but few contracts, do not relish the custom of breaking themso easily. "

"And now, Ishmael, " resumed his conquering wife, "in order to keep aquiet family and to smother all heart-burnings between us, show yonderRed-skin and his daughter, " pointing to the aged Le Balafre and thewidowed Tachechana, "the way to their village, and let us say tothem--God bless you, and farewell, in the same breath!"

"They are the captives of the Pawnee, according to the rules of Indianwarfare, and I cannot meddle with his rights. "

"Beware the devil, my man! He's a cheat and a tempter, and none cansay they ar' safe with his awful delusions before their eyes! Take theadvice of one who has the honour of your name at heart, and send thetawny Jezebel away. "

The squatter laid his broad hand on her shoulder, and looking hersteadily in the eye, he answered, in tones that were both stern andsolemn--

"Woman, we have that before us which calls our thoughts to other mattersthan the follies you mean. Remember what is to come, and put your sillyjealousy to sleep. "

"It is true, it is true, " murmured his wife, moving back among herdaughters; "God forgive me, that I should forget it!"

"And now, young man; you, who have so often come into my clearing, underthe pretence of lining the bee into his hole, " resumed Ishmael, after amomentary pause, as if to recover the equilibrium of his mind, "with youthere is a heavier account to settle. Not satisfied with rummagingmy camp, you have stolen a girl who is akin to my wife, and who I hadcalculated to make one day a daughter of my own. "

A stronger sensation was produced by this, than by any of the precedinginterrogations. All the young men bent their curious eyes on Paul andEllen, the former of whom seemed in no small mental confusion, while thelatter bent her face on her bosom in shame. 

"Harkee, friend Ishmael Bush, " returned the bee-hunter, who found thathe was expected to answer to the charge of burglary, as well as to thatof abduction; "that I did not give the most civil treatment to your potsand pails, I am not going to gainsay. If you will name the price youput upon the articles, it is possible the damage may be quietly settledbetween us, and all hard feelings forgotten. I was not in a church-goinghumour when we got upon your rock, and it is more than probable therewas quite as much kicking as preaching among your wares; but a hole inthe best man's coat can be mended by money. As to the matter of EllenWade, here, it may not be got over so easily. Different people havedifferent opinions on the subject of matrimony. Some think it is enoughto say yes and no, to the questions of the magistrate, or of the parson, if one happens to be handy, in order to make a quiet house; but I thinkthat where a young woman's mind is fairly bent on going in a certaindirection, it will be quite as prudent to let her body follow. Notthat I mean to say Ellen was not altogether forced to what she did, andtherefore she is just as innocent, in this matter, as yonder jackass, who was made to carry her, and greatly against his will, too, as I amready to swear he would say himself, if he could speak as loud as he canbray. "

"Nelly, " resumed the squatter, who paid very little attention to whatPaul considered a highly creditable and ingenious vindication, "Nelly, this is a wide and a wicked world, on which you have been in such ahurry to cast yourself. You have fed and you have slept in my camp fora year, and I did hope that you had found the free air of the borders, enough to your mind to wish to remain among us. "

"Let the girl have her will, " muttered Esther, from the rear; "he, whomight have persuaded her to stay, is sleeping in the cold and nakedprairie, and little hope is left of changing her humour; besides, a woman's mind is a wilful thing, and not easily turned from itswaywardness, as you know yourself, my man, or I should not be here themother of your sons and daughters. "

The squatter seemed reluctant to abandon his views of the abashed girl, so easily; and before he answered to the suggestion of his wife, heturned his usual dull look along the line of the curious countenances ofhis boys, as if to see whether there was not one among them fit to fillthe place of the deceased. Paul was not slow to observe the expression, and hitting nigher than usual on the secret thoughts of the other, he believed he had fallen on an expedient which might remove everydifficulty. 

"It is quite plain, friend Bush, " he said, "that there are two opinionsin this matter; yours for your sons, and mine for myself. I see but oneamicable way of settling this dispute, which is as follows:--do you makea choice among your boys of any you will, and let us walk off togetherfor the matter of a few miles into the prairies; the one who staysbehind, can never trouble any man's house or his fixen, and the one whocomes back may make the best of his way he can, in the good wishes ofthe young woman. "

"Paul!" exclaimed the reproachful, but smothered voice of Ellen. 

"Never fear, Nelly, " whispered the literal bee-hunter, whosestraight-going mind suggested no other motive of uneasiness, on the partof his mistress, than concern for himself; "I have taken the measure ofthem all, and you may trust an eye that has seen to line many a bee intohis hole!"

"I am not about to set myself up as a ruler of inclinations, " observedthe squatter. "If the heart of the child is truly in the settlements, let her declare it; she shall have no let or hinderance from me. Speak, Nelly, and let what you say come from your wishes, without fear orfavour. Would you leave us to go with this young man into the settledcountries, or will you tarry and share the little we have to give, butwhich to you we give so freely?"

Thus called upon to decide, Ellen could no longer hesitate. The glanceof her eye was at first timid and furtive. But as the colour flushed herfeatures, and her breathing became quick and excited, it was apparentthat the native spirit of the girl was gaining the ascendency over thebashfulness of sex. 

"You took me a fatherless, impoverished, and friendless orphan, " shesaid, struggling to command her voice, "when others, who live in whatmay be called affluence compared to your state, chose to forget me; andmay Heaven in its goodness bless you for it! The little I have done, will never pay you for that one act of kindness. I like not your mannerof life; it is different from the ways of my childhood, and it isdifferent from my wishes; still, had you not led this sweet andunoffending lady from her friends, I should never have quitted you, until you yourself had said, Go, and the blessing of God go with you!'"

"The act was not wise, but it is repented of; and so far as it canbe done, in safety, it shall be repaired. Now, speak freely, will youtarry, or will you go?"

"I have promised the lady, " said Ellen, dropping her eyes again to theearth, "not to leave her; and after she has received so much wrong fromour hands, she may have a right to claim that I keep my word. "

"Take the cords from the young man, " said Ishmael. When the order wasobeyed, he motioned for all his sons to advance, and he placed them ina row before the eyes of Ellen. "Now let there be no trifling, but openyour heart. Here ar' all I have to offer, besides a hearty welcome. "

The distressed girl turned her abashed look from the countenance of oneof the young men to that of another, until her eye met the troubled andworking features of Paul. Then nature got the better of forms. She threwherself into the arms of the bee-hunter, and sufficiently proclaimed herchoice by sobbing aloud. Ishmael signed to his sons to fall back, andevidently mortified, though perhaps not disappointed by the result, heno longer hesitated. 

"Take her, " he said, "and deal honestly and kindly by her. The girl hasthat in her which should make her welcome, in any man's house, and Ishould be loth to hear she ever came to harm. And now I have settledwith you all, on terms that I hope you will not find hard, but, on thecontrary, just and manly. I have only another question to ask, and thatis of the Captain; do you choose to profit by my teams in going into thesettlements, or not?"

"I hear, that some soldiers of my party are looking for me near thevillages of the Pawnees, " said Middleton, "and I intend to accompanythis chief, in order to join my men. "

"Then the sooner we part the better. Horses are plenty on the bottom. Go; make your choice, and leave us in peace. "

"That is impossible, while the old man, who has been a friend of myfamily near half a century, is left a prisoner. What has he done, thathe too is not released?

"Ask no questions that may lead to deceitful answers, " sullenly returnedthe squatter; "I have dealings of my own with that trapper, that it maynot befit an officer of the States to meddle with. Go, while your roadis open. "

"The man may be giving you honest counsel, and that which it concernsyou all to hearken to, " observed the old captive, who seemed in nouneasiness at the extraordinary condition in which he found himself. "The Siouxes are a numberless and bloody-minded race, and no one cansay how long it may be, afore they will be out again on the scent ofrevenge. Therefore I say to you, go, also; and take especial heed, incrossing the bottoms, that you get not entangled again in the fires, forthe honest hunters often burn the grass at this season, in order thatthe buffaloes may find a sweeter and a greener pasturage in the spring. "

"I should forget not only my gratitude, but my duty to the laws, were Ito leave this prisoner in your hands, even by his own consent, withoutknowing the nature of his crime, in which we may have all been hisinnocent accessaries. "

"Will it satisfy you to know, that he merits all he will receive?"

"It will at least change my opinion of his character. "

"Look then at this, " said Ishmael, placing before the eyes of theCaptain the bullet that had been found about the person of the dead Asa;"with this morsel of lead did he lay low as fine a boy as ever gave joyto a parent's eyes!"

"I cannot believe that he has done this deed, unless in self-defence, oron some justifiable provocation. That he knew of the death of your son, I confess, for he pointed out the brake in which the body lay, but thathe has wrongfully taken his life, nothing but his own acknowledgmentshall persuade me to believe. "

"I have lived long, " commenced the trapper, who found, by the generalpause, that he was expected to vindicate himself from the heavyimputation, "and much evil have I seen in my day. Many are the prowlingbears and leaping panthers that I have met, fighting for the morselwhich has been thrown in their way; and many are the reasoning men, thatI have looked on striving against each other unto death, in order thathuman madness might also have its hour. For myself, I hope, there is noboasting in saying, that though my hand has been needed in putting downwickedness and oppression, it has never struck a blow of which its ownerwill be ashamed to hear, at a reckoning that shall be far mightier thanthis. "

"If my father has taken life from one of his tribe, " said the youngPawnee, whose quick eye had read the meaning of what was passing, in thebullet and in the countenances of the others, "let him give himselfup to the friends of the dead, like a warrior. He is too just to needthongs to lead him to judgment. "

"Boy, I hope you do me justice. If I had done the foul deed, with whichthey charge me, I should have manhood enough to come and offer my headto the blow of punishment, as all good and honest Red-men do the same. "Then giving his anxious Indian friend a look, to re-assure him ofhis innocence, he turned to the rest of his attentive and interestedlisteners, as he continued in English, "I have a short story to tell, and he that believes it will believe the truth, and he that disbelievesit will only lead himself astray, and perhaps his neighbour too. We wereall out-lying about your camp, friend squatter, as by this time youmay begin to suspect, when we found that it contained a wronged andimprisoned lady, with intentions neither more honest nor dishonest thanto set her free, as in nature and justice she had a right to be. Seeingthat I was more skilled in scouting than the others, while they layback in the cover, I was sent upon the plain, on the business of thereconnoitrings. You little thought that one was so nigh, who saw intoall the circumventions of your hunt; but there was I, sometimes flatbehind a bush or a tuft of grass, sometimes rolling down a hill into abottom, and little did you dream that your motions were watched, as thepanther watches the drinking deer. Lord, squatter, when I was a man inthe pride and strength of my days, I have looked in at the tent door ofthe enemy, and they sleeping, ay, and dreaming too, of being at home andin peace! I wish there was time to give you the partic--"

"Proceed with your explanation, " interrupted Middleton. 

"Ah! and a bloody and wicked sight it was. There I lay in a low bed ofgrass, as two of the hunters came nigh each other. Their meeting was notcordial, nor such as men, who meet in a desert, should give each other;but I thought they would have parted in peace, until I saw one put hisrifle to the other's back, and do what I call a treacherous and sinfulmurder. It was a noble and a manly youth, that boy--Though the powderburnt his coat, he stood the shock for more than a minute, before hefell. Then was he brought to his knees, and a desperate and manful fighthe made to the brake, like a wounded bear seeking a cover!"

"And why, in the name of heavenly justice, did you conceal this?" criedMiddleton. 

"What! think you, Captain, that a man, who has spent more thanthreescore years in the wilderness, has not learned the virtue ofdiscretion. What red warrior runs to tell the sights he has seen, untila fitting time? I took the Doctor to the place, in order to see whetherhis skill might not come in use; and our friend, the bee-hunter, beingin company, was knowing to the fact that the bushes held the body. "

"Ay; it ar' true, " said Paul; "but not knowing what private reasonsmight make the old trapper wish to hush the matter up, I said as littleabout the thing as possible, which was just nothing at all. "

"And who was the perpetrator of this deed?" demanded Middleton. 

"If by perpetrator you mean him who did the act, yonder stands the man;and a shame, and a disgrace is it to our race, that he is of the bloodand family of the dead. "

"He lies! he lies!" shrieked Abiram. "I did no murder; I gave but blowfor blow. "

The voice of Ishmael was deep, and even awful, as he answered--

"It is enough. Let the old man go. Boys, put the brother of your motherin his place. "

"Touch me not!" cried Abiram. "I'll call on God to curse you if youtouch me!"

The wild and disordered gleam of his eye, at first induced the young mento arrest their steps; but when Abner, older and more resolute thanthe rest, advanced full upon him, with a countenance that bespoke thehostile state of his mind, the affrighted criminal turned, and, makingan abortive effort to fly, fell with his face to the earth, to allappearance perfectly dead. Amid the low exclamations of horror whichsucceeded, Ishmael made a gesture which commanded his sons to bear thebody into the tent. 

"Now, " he said, turning to those who were strangers in his camp, "nothing is left to be done, but for each to go his own road. I wish youall well; and to you, Ellen, though you may not prize the gift, I say, God bless you!"

Middleton, awe-struck by what he believed a manifest judgment of Heaven, made no further resistance, but prepared to depart. The arrangementswere brief, and soon completed. When they were all ready, they tooka short and silent leave of the squatter and his family; and then thewhole of the singularly constituted party were seen slowly and silentlyfollowing the victorious Pawnee towards his distant villages. 

CHAPTER XXXII

 And I beseech you, Wrest once the law, to your authority: To do a great right, do a little wrong. --Shakspeare. 

Ishmael awaited long and patiently for the motley train of Hard-Heartto disappear. When his scout reported that the last straggler of theIndians, who had joined their chief so soon as he was at such a distancefrom the encampment as to excite no jealousy by their numbers, had gonebehind the most distant swell of the prairie, he gave forth the order tostrike his tents. The cattle were already in the gears, and the movableswere soon transferred to their usual places in the different vehicles. When all these arrangements were completed, the little wagon, which hadso long been the tenement of Inez, was drawn before the tent, into whichthe insensible body of the kidnapper had been borne, and preparationswere evidently made for the reception of another prisoner. Then it was, as Abiram appeared, pale, terrified, and tottering beneath a loadof detected guilt, that the younger members of the family were firstapprised that he still belonged to the class of the living. A generaland superstitious impression had spread among them, that his crime hadbeen visited by a terrible retribution from Heaven; and they now gazedat him, as at a being who belonged rather to another world, than as amortal, who, like themselves, had still to endure the last agony beforethe great link of human existence could be broken. The criminal himselfappeared to be in a state, in which the most sensitive and startlingterror was singularly combined with total physical apathy. Thetruth was, that while his person had been numbed by the shock, hissusceptibility to apprehension kept his agitated mind in unrelieveddistress. When he found himself in the open air, he looked about him, in order to gather, if possible, some evidences of his future fate, fromthe countenances of those gathered round. Seeing every where grave butcomposed features, and meeting in no eye any expression that threatenedimmediate violence, the miserable man began to revive; and, by the timehe was seated in the wagon, his artful faculties were beginning to plotthe expedients of parrying the just resentment of his kinsmen, or, ifthese should fail him, the means of escaping from a punishment that hisforebodings told him would be terrible. 

Throughout the whole of these preparations Ishmael rarely spoke. Agesture, or a glance of the eye, served to indicate his pleasure tohis sons, and with these simple methods of communication, all partiesappeared content. When the signal was made to proceed, the squatterthrew his rifle into the hollow of his arm, and his axe across hisshoulder, taking the lead as usual. Esther buried herself in the wagonwhich contained her daughters; the young men took their customary placesamong the cattle, or nigh the teams, and the whole proceeded, at theirordinary, dull, but unremitted gait. 

For the first time, in many a day, the squatter turned his back towardsthe setting sun. The route he held was in the direction of the settledcountry, and the manner in which he moved sufficed to tell his children, who had learned to read their father's determinations in his mien, thattheir journey on the prairie was shortly to have an end. Still nothingelse transpired for hours, that might denote the existence of anysudden, or violent, revolution in the purposes or feelings of Ishmael. During all that time he marched alone, keeping a few hundred rods infront of his teams, seldom giving any sign of extraordinary excitement. Once or twice, indeed, his huge figure was seen standing on the summitof some distant swell, with the head bent towards the earth, as heleaned on his rifle; but then these moments of intense thought wererare, and of short continuance. The train had long thrown its shadowstowards the east, before any material alteration was made in thedisposition of their march. Water-courses were waded, plains werepassed, and rolling ascents risen and descended, without producing thesmallest change. Long practised in the difficulties of that peculiarspecies of travelling in which he was engaged, the squatter avoidedthe more impracticable obstacles of their route by a sort of instinct, invariably inclining to the right or left in season, as the formation ofthe land, the presence of trees, or the signs of rivers forewarned himof the necessity of such movements. 

At length the hour arrived when charity to man and beast required atemporary suspension of labour. Ishmael chose the required spot with hiscustomary sagacity. The regular formation of the country, such as ithas been described in the earlier pages of our book, had long beeninterrupted by a more unequal and broken surface. There were, it istrue, in general, the same wide and empty wastes, the same rich andextensive bottoms, and that wild and singular combination of swellingfields and of nakedness, which gives that region the appearance ofan ancient country, incomprehensibly stripped of its people and theirdwellings. But these distinguishing features of the rolling prairies hadlong been interrupted by irregular hillocks, occasional masses of rock, and broad belts of forest. 

Ishmael chose a spring, that broke out of the base of a rock some fortyor fifty feet in elevation, as a place well suited to the wants of hisherds. The water moistened a small swale that lay beneath the spot, which yielded, in return for the fecund gift, a scanty growth of grass. A solitary willow had taken root in the alluvion, and profiting by itsexclusive possession of the soil, the tree had sent up its stem farabove the crest of the adjacent rock, whose peaked summit had oncebeen shadowed by its branches. But its loveliness had gone with themysterious principle of life. As if in mockery of the meagre show ofverdure that the spot exhibited, it remained a noble and solemn monumentof former fertility. The larger, ragged, and fantastic branches stillobtruded themselves abroad, while the white and hoary trunk stood nakedand tempest-riven. Not a leaf, nor a sign of vegetation, was to be seenabout it. In all things it proclaimed the frailty of existence, and thefulfilment of time. 

Here Ishmael, after making the customary signal for the train toapproach, threw his vast frame upon the earth, and seemed to muse on thedeep responsibility of his present situation. His sons were not long inarriving; for the cattle no sooner scented the food and water than theyquickened their pace, and then succeeded the usual bustle and avocationsof a halt. 

The impression made by the scene of that morning was not so deep, orlasting, on the children of Ishmael and Esther, as to induce them toforget the wants of nature. But while the sons were searching amongtheir stores, for something substantial to appease their hunger, and theyounger fry were wrangling about their simple dishes, the parents of theunnurtured family were differently employed. 

When the squatter saw that all, even to the reviving Abiram, were busyin administering to their appetites, he gave his downcast partner aglance of his eye, and withdrew towards a distant roll of the land, which bounded the view towards the east. The meeting of the pair, inthis naked spot, was like an interview held above the grave of theirmurdered son. Ishmael signed to his wife to take a seat beside him on afragment of rock, and then followed a space, during which neither seemeddisposed to speak. 

"We have journeyed together long, through good and bad, " Ishmael atlength commenced: "much have we had to try us, and some bitter cups havewe been made to swallow, my woman; but nothing like this has ever beforelain in my path. "

"It is a heavy cross for a poor, misguided, and sinful woman to bear!"returned Esther, bowing her head to her knees, and partly concealing herface in her dress. "A heavy and a burdensome weight is this to be laidupon the shoulders of a sister and a mother!"

"Ay; therein lies the hardship of the case. I had brought my mind to thepunishment of that houseless trapper, with no great strivings, forthe man had done me few favours, and God forgive me if I suspected himwrongfully of much evil! This is, however, bringing shame in at one doorof my cabin, in order to drive it out at the other. But shall a son ofmine be murdered, and he who did it go at large?--the boy would neverrest!"

"Oh, Ishmael, we pushed the matter far. Had little been said, who wouldhave been the wiser? Our consciences might then have been quiet. "

"Eest'er, " said the husband, turning on her a reproachful but still adull regard, "the hour has been, my woman, when you thought another handhad done this wickedness. "

"I did, I did the Lord gave me the feeling, as a punishment for my sins!but his mercy was not slow in lifting the veil; I looked into the book, Ishmael, and there I found the words of comfort. "

"Have you that book at hand, woman; it may happen to advise in such adreary business. "

Esther fumbled in her pocket, and was not long in producing the fragmentof a Bible, which had been thumbed and smoke-dried till the print wasnearly illegible. It was the only article, in the nature of a book, that was to be found among the chattels of the squatter, and it had beenpreserved by his wife, as a melancholy relic of more prosperous, andpossibly of more innocent, days. She had long been in the habit ofresorting to it, under the pressure of such circumstances as werepalpably beyond human redress, though her spirit and resolution rarelyneeded support under those that admitted of reparation through any ofthe ordinary means of reprisal. In this manner Esther had made a sortof convenient ally of the word of God; rarely troubling it for counsel, however, except when her own incompetency to avert an evil was tooapparent to be disputed. We shall leave casuists to determine howfar she resembled any other believers in this particular, and proceeddirectly with the matter before us. 

"There are many awful passages in these pages, Ishmael, " she said, whenthe volume was opened, and the leaves were slowly turning under herfinger, "and some there ar' that teach the rules of punishment. "

Her husband made a gesture for her to find one of those brief rules ofconduct, which have been received among all Christian nations as thedirect mandates of the Creator, and which have been found so just, thateven they, who deny their high authority, admit their wisdom. Ishmaellistened with grave attention, as his companion read all those verses, which her memory suggested, and which were thought applicable to thesituation in which they found themselves. He made her show him thewords, which he regarded with a sort of strange reverence. A resolutiononce taken was usually irrevocable, in one who was moved with so muchdifficulty. He put his hand upon the book, and closed the pages himself, as much as to apprise his wife that he was satisfied. Esther, who sowell knew his character, trembled at the action, and casting a glance athis steady eye, she said--

"And yet, Ishmael, my blood, and the blood of my children, is in hisveins, cannot mercy be shown?"

"Woman, " he answered sternly, "when we believed that miserable oldtrapper had done this deed, nothing was said of mercy!"

Esther made no reply, but folding her arms upon her breast, she satsilent and thoughtful for many minutes. Then she once more turned heranxious gaze upon the countenance of her husband, where she found allpassion and care apparently buried in the coldest apathy. Satisfied now, that the fate of her brother was sealed, and possibly conscious how wellhe merited the punishment that was meditated, she no longer thoughtof mediation. No more words passed between them. Their eyes met for aninstant, and then both arose and walked in profound silence towards theencampment. 

The squatter found his children expecting his return in the usuallistless manner with which they awaited all coming events. The cattlewere already herded, and the horses in their gears, in readiness toproceed, so soon as he should indicate that such was his pleasure. Thechildren were already in their proper vehicle, and, in short, nothingdelayed the departure but the absence of the parents of the wild brood. 

"Abner, " said the father, with the deliberation with which all hisproceedings were characterised, "take the brother of your mother fromthe wagon, and let him stand on the 'arth. "

Abiram issued from his place of concealment, trembling, it is true, butfar from destitute of hopes, as to his final success in appeasing thejust resentment of his kinsman. After throwing a glance around him, withthe vain wish of finding a single countenance in which he might detecta solitary gleam of sympathy, he endeavoured to smother thoseapprehensions, that were by this time reviving in their originalviolence, by forcing a sort of friendly communication between himselfand the squatter--

"The beasts are getting jaded, brother, " he said, "and as we have madeso good a march already, is it not time to camp. To my eye you may gofar, before a better place than this is found to pass the night in. "

"Tis well you like it. Your tarry here ar' likely to be long. My sons, draw nigh and listen. Abiram White, " he added, lifting his cap, andspeaking with a solemnity and steadiness, that rendered even his dullmien imposing, "you have slain my first-born, and according to the lawsof God and man must you die!"

The kidnapper started at this terrible and sudden sentence, with theterror that one would exhibit who unexpectedly found himself in thegrasp of a monster, from whose power there was no retreat. Althoughfilled with the most serious forebodings of what might be his lot, hiscourage had not been equal to look his danger in the face, and with thedeceitful consolation, with which timid tempers are apt to conceal theirdesperate condition from themselves, he had rather courted a treacherousrelief in his cunning, than prepared himself for the worst. 

"Die!" he repeated, in a voice that scarcely issued from his chest; "aman is surely safe among his kinsmen!"

"So thought my boy, " returned the squatter, motioning for the team, thatcontained his wife and the girls, to proceed, as he very coolly examinedthe priming of his piece. "By the rifle did you destroy my son; it isfit and just that you meet your end by the same weapon. "

Abiram stared about him with a gaze that bespoke an unsettled reason. Heeven laughed, as if he would not only persuade himself but others thatwhat he heard was some pleasantry, intended to try his nerves. Butnowhere did his frightful merriment meet with an answering echo. Allaround was solemn and still. The visages of his nephews were excited, but cold towards him, and that of his former confederate frightfullydetermined. This very steadiness of mien was a thousand times morealarming and hopeless than any violence could have proved. The lattermight possibly have touched his spirit and awakened resistance, but theformer threw him entirely on the feeble resources of himself. 

"Brother, " he said, in a hurried, unnatural whisper, "did I hear you?"

"My words are plain, Abiram White: thou hast done murder, and for thesame must thou die!"

"Esther! sister, sister, will you leave me! Oh sister! do you hear mycall?"

"I hear one speak from the grave!" returned the husky tones of Esther, as the wagon passed the spot where the criminal stood. "It is the voiceof my firstborn, calling aloud for justice! God have mercy, God havemercy, on your soul!"

The team slowly pursued its route, and the deserted Abiram now foundhimself deprived of the smallest vestige of hope. Still he could notsummon fortitude to meet his death, and had not his limbs refused to aidhim, he would yet have attempted to fly. Then, by a sudden revolutionfrom hope to utter despair, he fell upon his knees, and commenced aprayer, in which cries for mercy to God and to his kinsman were wildlyand blasphemously mingled. The sons of Ishmael turned away in horrorat the disgusting spectacle, and even the stern nature of the squatterbegan to bend before so abject misery. 

"May that, which you ask of Him, be granted, " he said; "but a father cannever forget a murdered child. "

He was answered by the most humble appeals for time. A week, a day, anhour, were each implored, with an earnestness commensurate to the valuethey receive, when a whole life is compressed into their short duration. The squatter was troubled, and at length he yielded in part to thepetitions of the criminal. His final purpose was not altered, though hechanged the means. "Abner, " he said, "mount the rock, and look on everyside, that we may be sure none are nigh. "

While his nephew was obeying this order, gleams of reviving hope wereseen shooting across the quivering features of the kidnapper. The reportwas favourable, nothing having life, the retiring teams excepted, wasto be seen. A messenger was, however, coming from the latter, in greatapparent haste. Ishmael awaited its arrival. He received from the handsof one of his wondering and frighted girls a fragment of that book, which Esther had preserved with so much care. The squatter beckoned thechild away, and placed the leaves in the hands of the criminal. 

"Eest'er has sent you this, " he said, "that, in your last moments, youmay remember God. "

"Bless her, bless her! a good and kind sister has she been to me. Buttime must be given, that I may read; time, my brother, time!"

"Time shall not be wanting. You shall be your own executioner, and thismiserable office shall pass away from my hands. "

Ishmael proceeded to put his new resolution in force. The immediateapprehensions of the kidnapper were quieted, by an assurance thathe might yet live for days, though his punishment was inevitable. Areprieve, to one abject and wretched as Abiram, temporarily producedthe same effects as a pardon. He was even foremost in assisting in theappalling arrangements, and of all the actors, in that solemn tragedy, his voice alone was facetious and jocular. 

A thin shelf of the rock projected beneath one of the ragged arms of thewillow. It was many feet from the ground, and admirably adapted to thepurpose which, in fact, its appearance had suggested. On this littleplatform the criminal was placed, his arms bound at the elbows behindhis back, beyond the possibility of liberation, with a proper cordleading from his neck to the limb of the tree. The latter was so placed, that when suspended the body could find no foot-hold. The fragmentof the Bible was placed in his hands, and he was left to seek hisconsolation as he might from its pages. 

"And now, Abiram White, " said the squatter, when his sons had descendedfrom completing this arrangement, "I give you a last and solemn asking. Death is before you in two shapes. With this rifle can your misery becut short, or by that cord, sooner or later, must you meet your end. "

"Let me yet live! Oh, Ishmael, you know not how sweet life is, when thelast moment draws so nigh!"

"'Tis done, " said the squatter, motioning for his assistants to followthe herds and teams. "And now, miserable man, that it may prove aconsolation to your end, I forgive you my wrongs, and leave you to yourGod. "

Ishmael turned and pursued his way across the plain, at his ordinarysluggish and ponderous gait. Though his head was bent a little towardsthe earth, his inactive mind did not prompt him to cast a look behind. Once, indeed, he thought he heard his name called, in tones that were alittle smothered, but they failed to make him pause. 

At the spot where he and Esther had conferred, he reached the boundaryof the visible horizon from the rock. Here he stopped, and ventured aglance in the direction of the place he had just quitted. The sun wasnear dipping into the plains beyond, and its last rays lighted the nakedbranches of the willow. He saw the ragged outline of the whole drawnagainst the glowing heavens, and he even traced the still upright formof the being he had left to his misery. Turning the roll of the swell, he proceeded with the feelings of one, who had been suddenly andviolently separated from a recent confederate, for ever. 

Within a mile, the squatter overtook his teams. His sons had found aplace suited to the encampment for the night, and merely awaited hisapproach to confirm their choice. Few words were necessary to expresshis acquiescence. Every thing passed in a silence more general andremarkable than ever. The chidings of Esther were not heard among heryoung, or if heard, they were more in the tones of softened admonition, than in her usual, upbraiding, key. 

No questions nor explanations passed between the husband and his wife. It was only as the latter was about to withdraw among her children, forthe night, that the former saw her taking a furtive look at the panof his rifle. Ishmael bade his sons seek their rest, announcing hisintention to look to the safety of the camp in person. When all wasstill, he walked out upon the prairie, with a sort of sensation that hefound his breathing among the tents too straitened. The night was welladapted to heighten the feelings, which had been created by the eventsof the day. 

The wind had risen with the moon, and it was occasionally sweeping overthe plain, in a manner that made it not difficult for the sentinelto imagine strange and unearthly sounds were mingling in the blasts. Yielding to the extraordinary impulses of which he was the subject, hecast a glance around, to see that all were slumbering in security, andthen he strayed towards the swell of land already mentioned. Here thesquatter found himself at a point that commanded a view to the east andto the west. Light fleecy clouds were driving before the moon, whichwas cold and watery though there were moments, when its placid rays wereshed from clear blue fields, seeming to soften objects to its own mildloveliness. 

For the first time, in a life of so much wild adventure, Ishmael felt akeen sense of solitude. The naked prairies began to assume the forms ofillimitable and dreary wastes and the rushing of the wind sounded likethe whisperings of the dead. It was not long before he thought a shriekwas borne past him on a blast. It did not sound like a call from earthbut it swept frightfully through the upper air mingled with the hoarseaccompaniment of the wind. The teeth of the squatter were compressed, and his huge hand grasped the rifle, as if it would crush the metal. Then came a lull, a fresher blast, and a cry of horror that seemed tohave been uttered at the very portals of his ears. A sort of echoburst involuntarily from his own lips, as men shout under unnaturalexcitement, and throwing his rifle across his shoulder he proceededtowards the rock with the strides of a giant. 

It was not often that the blood of Ishmael moved at the rate with whichthe fluid circulates in the veins of ordinary men; but now he felt itready to gush from every pore in his body. The animal was aroused, inhis most latent energies. Ever as he advanced he heard those shrieks, which sometimes seemed ringing among the clouds, and sometimes passedso nigh, as to appear to brush the earth. At length there came a cry, inwhich there could be no delusion, or to which the imagination could lendno horror. It appeared to fill each cranny of the air, as the visiblehorizon is often charged to fulness by one dazzling flash of theelectric fluid. The name of God was distinctly audible, but it wasawfully and blasphemously blended with sounds that may not be repeated. The squatter stopped, and for a moment he covered his ears with hishands. When he withdrew the latter, a low and husky voice at his elbowasked in smothered tones--

"Ishmael, my man, heard ye nothing?"

"Hist, " returned the husband, laying a powerful arm on Esther, withoutmanifesting the smallest surprise at the unlooked-for presence of hiswife. "Hist, woman! if you have the fear of Heaven, be still!"

A profound silence succeeded. Though the wind rose and fell as before, its rushing was no longer mingled with those fearful cries. The soundswere imposing and solemn, but it was the solemnity and majesty ofnature. 

"Let us go on, " said Esther; "all is hushed. "

"Woman, what has brought you here?" demanded her husband, whose bloodhad returned into its former channels, and whose thoughts had alreadylost a portion of their excitement. 

"Ishmael, he murdered our first-born; but it is not meet that the son ofmy mother should lie upon the ground, like the carrion of a dog!"

"Follow, " returned the squatter, again grasping his rifle, and stridingtowards the rock. The distance was still considerable; and theirapproach, as they drew nigh the place of execution, was moderated byawe. Many minutes had passed, before they reached a spot where theymight distinguish the outlines of the dusky objects. 

"Where have you put the body?" whispered Esther. "See, here are pick andspade, that a brother of mine may sleep in the bosom of the earth!"

The moon broke from behind a mass of clouds, and the eye of the womanwas enabled to follow the finger of Ishmael. It pointed to a human formswinging in the wind, beneath the ragged and shining arm of the willow. Esther bent her head and veiled her eyes from the sight. But Ishmaeldrew nigher, and long contemplated his work in awe, though not incompunction. The leaves of the sacred book were scattered on the ground, and even a fragment of the shelf had been displaced by the kidnapperin his agony. But all was now in the stillness of death. The grim andconvulsed countenance of the victim was at times brought full into thelight of the moon, and again as the wind lulled, the fatal rope drew adark line across its bright disk. The squatter raised his rifle, withextreme care, and fired. The cord was cut and the body came lumbering tothe earth a heavy and insensible mass. 

Until now Esther had not moved nor spoken. But her hand was not slowto assist in the labour of the hour. The grave was soon dug. It wasinstantly made to receive its miserable tenant. As the lifeless formdescended, Esther, who sustained the head, looked up into the face ofher husband with an expression of anguish, and said--

"Ishmael, my man, it is very terrible! I cannot kiss the corpse of myfather's child!"

The squatter laid his broad hand on the bosom of the dead, and said--

"Abiram White, we all have need of mercy; from my soul do I forgive you!May God in Heaven have pity on your sins!"

The woman bowed her face and imprinted her lips long and fervently onthe pallid forehead of her brother. After this came the falling clodsand all the solemn sounds of filling a grave. Esther lingered on herknees, and Ishmael stood uncovered while the woman muttered a prayer. All was then finished. 

On the following morning the teams and herds of the squatter were seenpursuing their course towards the settlements. As they approached theconfines of society the train was blended among a thousand others. Though some of the numerous descendants of this peculiar pair werereclaimed from their lawless and semi-barbarous lives, the principals ofthe family, themselves, were never heard of more. 

CHAPTER XXXIII

 --No leave take I; for I will ride As far as land will let me, by your side. --Shakspeare. 

The passage of the Pawnee to his village was interrupted by no scene ofviolence. His vengeance had been as complete as it was summary. Not evena solitary scout of the Siouxes was left on the hunting grounds he wasobliged to traverse, and of course the journey of Middleton's partywas as peaceful as if made in the bosom of the States. The marches weretimed to meet the weakness of the females. In short, the victors seemedto have lost every trace of ferocity with their success, and appeareddisposed to consult the most trifling of the wants of that engrossingpeople, who were daily encroaching on their rights, and reducing theRed-men of the west, from their state of proud independence to thecondition of fugitives and wanderers. 

Our limits will not permit a detail of the triumphal entry of theconquerors. The exultation of the tribe was proportioned to its previousdespondency. Mothers boasted of the honourable deaths of their sons;wives proclaimed the honour and pointed to the scars of their husbands, and Indian girls rewarded the young braves with songs of triumph. Thetrophies of their fallen enemies were exhibited, as conquered standardsare displayed in more civilised regions. The deeds of former warriorswere recounted by the aged men, and declared to be eclipsed by the gloryof this victory. While Hard-Heart himself, so distinguished for hisexploits from boyhood to that hour, was unanimously proclaimed andre-proclaimed the worthiest chief and the stoutest brave that theWahcondah had ever bestowed on his most favoured children, the Pawneesof the Loup. 

Notwithstanding the comparative security in which Middleton found hisrecovered treasure, he was not sorry to see his faithful and sturdyartillerists standing among the throng, as he entered in the wild train, and lifting their voices, in a martial shout, to greet his return. The presence of this force, small as it was, removed every shadow ofuneasiness from his mind. It made him master of his movements, gave himdignity and importance in the eyes of his new friends, and would enablehim to overcome the difficulties of the wide region which still laybetween the village of the Pawnees and the nearest fortress of hiscountrymen. A lodge was yielded to the exclusive possession of Inez andEllen; and even Paul, when he saw an armed sentinel in the uniform ofthe States, pacing before its entrance, was content to stray among thedwellings of the "Red-skins, " prying with but little reserve into theirdomestic economy, commenting sometimes jocularly, sometimes gravely, andalways freely, on their different expedients, or endeavouring to makethe wondering housewives comprehend his quaint explanations of what heconceived to be the better customs of the whites. 

This enquiring and troublesome spirit found no imitators among theIndians. The delicacy and reserve of Hard-Heart were communicated to hispeople. When every attention, that could be suggested by their simplemanners and narrow wants, had been fulfilled, no intrusive foot presumedto approach the cabins devoted to the service of the strangers. Theywere left to seek their repose in the manner which most comported withtheir habits and inclinations. The songs and rejoicings of the tribe, however, ran far into the night, during the deepest hours of which, thevoice of more than one warrior was heard, recounting from the top of hislodge, the deeds of his people and the glory of their triumphs. 

Every thing having life, notwithstanding the excesses of the night, wasabroad with the appearance of the sun. The expression of exultation, which had so lately been seen on every countenance, was now changed toone better suited to the feeling of the moment. It was understood byall, that the Pale-faces, who had befriended their chief were aboutto take their final leave of the tribe. The soldiers of Middleton, inanticipation of his arrival, had bargained with an unsuccessful traderfor the use of his boat, which lay in the stream ready to receive itscargo, and nothing remained to complete the arrangements for the longjourney. 

Middleton did not see this moment arrive entirely without distrust. The admiration with which Hard-Heart regarded Inez, had not escaped hisjealous eye, any more than had the lawless wishes of Mahtoree. He knewthe consummate manner in which a savage could conceal his designs, andhe felt that it would be a culpable weakness to be unprepared for theworst. Secret instructions were therefore given to his men, while thepreparations they made were properly masked behind the show of militaryparade, with which it was intended to signalise their departure. 

The conscience of the young soldier reproached him, when he saw thewhole tribe accompanying his party to the margin of the stream, withunarmed hands and sorrowful countenances. They gathered in a circlearound the strangers and their chief, and became not only peaceful, buthighly interested observers of what was passing. As it was evident thatHard-Heart intended to speak, the former stopped, and manifested theirreadiness to listen, the trapper performing the office of interpreter. Then the young chief addressed his people, in the usual metaphoricallanguage of an Indian. He commenced by alluding to the antiquity andrenown of his own nation. He spoke of their successes in the hunts andon the war-path; of the manner in which they had always known how todefend their rights and to chastise their enemies. After he had saidenough to manifest his respect for the greatness of the Loups, and tosatisfy the pride of the listeners, he made a sudden transition to therace of whom the strangers were members. He compared their countlessnumbers to the flights of migratory birds in the season of blossoms, orin the fall of the year. With a delicacy, that none know better howto practise than an Indian warrior, he made no direct mention of therapacious temper, that so many of them had betrayed, in their dealingswith the Red-men. Feeling that the sentiment of distrust was stronglyengrafted in the tempers of his tribe, he rather endeavoured to sootheany just resentment they might entertain, by indirect excuses andapologies. He reminded the listeners that even the Pawnee Loups hadbeen obliged to chase many unworthy individuals from their villages. TheWahcondah sometimes veiled his countenance from a Red-man. No doubt theGreat Spirit of the Pale-faces often looked darkly on his children. Such as were abandoned to the worker of evil could never be brave orvirtuous, let the colour of the skin be what it might. He bade his youngmen look at the hands of the Big-knives. They were not empty, like thoseof hungry beggars. Neither were they filled with goods, like those ofknavish traders. They were, like themselves, warriors, and they carriedarms which they knew well how to use--they were worthy to be calledbrothers!

Then he directed the attention of all to the chief of the strangers. Hewas a son of their great white father. He had not come upon the prairiesto frighten the buffaloes from their pastures, or to seek the game ofthe Indians. Wicked men had robbed him of one of his wives; no doubt shewas the most obedient, the meekest, the loveliest of them all. They hadonly to open their eyes to see that his words must be true. Now, thatthe white chief had found his wife, he was about to return to his ownpeople in peace. He would tell them that the Pawnees were just, andthere would be a line of wampum between the two nations. Let all hispeople wish the strangers a safe return to their towns. The warriors ofthe Loups knew both how to receive their enemies, and how to clear thebriars from the path of their friends. 

The heart of Middleton beat quick, as the young partisan[*] alluded tothe charms of Inez, and for an instant he cast an impatient glance athis little line of artillerists; but the chief from that moment appearedto forget he had ever seen so fair a being. His feelings, if he had anyon the subject, were veiled behind the cold mask of Indian self-denial. He took each warrior by the hand, not forgetting the meanest soldier, but his cold and collected eye never wandered, for an instant, towardseither of the females. Arrangements had been made for their comfort, with a prodigality and care that had not failed to excite some surprisein his young men, but in no other particular did he shock their manlypride, by betraying any solicitude in behalf of the weaker sex. 

 [*] The Americans and the Indians have adopted several words, which each believe peculiar to the language of the others. Thus "squaw, " "papoose, " or child, wigwam, &c. &c. , though it is doubtful whether they belonged at all to any Indian dialect, are much used by both white and red men in their Intercourse. Many words are derived from the French, in this species of prairie nomaic. Partisan, brave, &c. Are of the number. 

The leave-taking was general and imposing. Each male Pawnee was sedulousto omit no one of the strange warriors in his attentions, and of coursethe ceremony occupied some time. The only exception, and that was notgeneral, was in the case of Dr. Battius. Not a few of the young men, it is true, were indifferent about lavishing civilities on one of sodoubtful a profession, but the worthy naturalist found some consolationin the more matured politeness of the old men, who had inferred, thatthough not of much use in war, the medicine of the Big-knives mightpossibly be made serviceable in peace. 

When all of Middleton's party had embarked, the trapper lifted a smallbundle, which had lain at his feet during the previous proceedings, and whistling Hector to his side, he was the last to take his seat. Theartillerists gave the usual cheers, which were answered by a shout fromthe tribe, and then the boat was shoved into the current, and began toglide swiftly down its stream. 

A long and a musing, if not a melancholy, silence succeeded thisdeparture. It was first broken by the trapper, whose regret was not theleast visible in his dejected and sorrowful eye--

"They are a valiant and an honest tribe, " he said; "that will I sayboldly in their favour; and second only do I take them to be to thatonce mighty but now scattered people, the Delawares of the Hills. Ah'sme, Captain, if you had seen as much good and evil as I have seen inthese nations of Red-skins, you would know of how much value was a braveand simple-minded warrior. I know that some are to be found, who boththink and say that an Indian is but little better than the beasts ofthese naked plains. But it is needful to be honest in one's self, to bea fitting judge of honesty in others. No doubt, no doubt they know theirenemies, and little do they care to show to such any great confidence, or love. "

"It is the way of man, " returned the Captain; "and it is probable theyare not wanting in any of his natural qualities. "

"No, no; it is little that they want, that natur' has had to give. Butas little does he know of the temper of a Red-skin, who has seen but oneIndian, or one tribe, as he knows of the colour of feathers who has onlylooked upon a crow. Now, friend steersman, just give the boat a sheertowards yonder, low, sandy point, and a favour will be granted at ashort asking. "

"For what?" demanded Middleton; "we are now in the swiftest of thecurrent, and by drawing to the shore we shall lose the force of thestream. "

"Your tarry will not be long, " returned the old man, applying his ownhand to the execution of that which he had requested. The oarsmen hadseen enough of his influence, with their leader, not to dispute hiswishes, and before time was given for further discussion on the subject, the bow of the boat had touched the land. 

"Captain, " resumed the other, untying his little wallet with greatdeliberation, and even in a manner to show he found satisfaction in thedelay, "I wish to offer you a small matter of trade. No great bargain, mayhap; but still the best that one, of whose hand the skill of therifle has taken leave, and who has become no better than a miserabletrapper, can offer before we part. "

"Part!" was echoed from every mouth, among those who had so recentlyshared his dangers, and profited by his care. 

"What the devil, old trapper, do you mean to foot it to the settlements, when here is a boat that will float the distance in half the time, that the jackass, the Doctor has given the Pawnee, could trot along thesame. "

"Settlements, boy! It is long sin' I took my leave of the waste andwickedness of the settlements and the villages. If I live in a clearing, here, it is one of the Lord's making, and I have no hard thoughts on thematter; but never again shall I be seen running wilfully into the dangerof immoralities. "

"I had not thought of parting, " answered Middleton, endeavouring toseek some relief from the uneasiness he felt, by turning his eyes on thesympathising countenances of his friends; "on the contrary, I had hopedand believed that you would have accompanied us below, where I giveyou a sacred pledge, nothing shall be wanting to make your dayscomfortable. "

"Yes, lad, yes; you would do your endeavours; but what are the strivingsof man against the working of the devil! Ay, if kind offers and goodwishes could have done the thing, I might have been a congress man, orperhaps a governor, years agone. Your grand'ther wished the same, andthere are them still lying in the Otsego mountains, as I hope, whowould gladly have given me a palace for my dwelling. But what are richeswithout content! My time must now be short, at any rate, and I hopeit's no mighty sin for one, who has acted his part honestly near ninetywinters and summers, to wish to pass the few hours that remain incomfort. If you think I have done wrong in coming thus far to quityou again, Captain, I will own the reason of the act, without shame orbackwardness. Though I have seen so much of the wilderness, it is notto be gainsayed, that my feelings, as well as my skin, are white. Now itwould not be a fitting spectacle, that yonder Pawnee Loups should lookupon the weakness of an old warrior, if weakness he should happen toshow in parting for ever from those he has reason to love, though hemay not set his heart so strongly on them, as to wish to go into thesettlements in their company. "

"Harkee, old trapper, " said Paul, clearing his throat with a desperateeffort, as if determined to give his voice a clear exit; "I have justone bargain to make, since you talk of trading, which is neither more orless than this. I offer you, as my side of the business, one half of myshanty, nor do I much care if it be the biggest half; the sweetest andthe purest honey that can be made of the wild locust; always enough toeat, with now and then a mouthful of venison, or, for that matter, amorsel of buffaloe's hump, seeing that I intend to push my acquaintancewith the animal, and as good and as tidy cooking as can come fromthe hands of one like Ellen Wade, here, who will shortly be Nellysomebody-else, and altogether such general treatment as a decent manmight be supposed to pay to his best friend, or for that matter, to hisown father; in return for the same, you ar' to give us at odd momentssome of your ancient traditions, perhaps a little wholesome advice onoccasions, in small quantities at a time, and as much of your agreeablecompany as you please. "

"It is well--it is well, boy, " returned the old man, fumbling at hiswallet; "honestly offered, and not unthankfully declined--but it cannotbe; no, it can never be. "

"Venerable venator, " said Dr. Battius; "there are obligations, whichevery man owes to society and to human nature. It is time that youshould return to your countrymen, to deliver up some of those storesof experimental knowledge that you have doubtless obtained by so longa sojourn in the wilds, which, however they may be corrupted bypreconceived opinions, will prove acceptable bequests to those whom, asyou say, you must shortly leave for ever. "

"Friend physicianer, " returned the trapper, looking the other steadilyin the face, "as it would be no easy matter to judge of the temper ofthe rattler by considering the fashions of the moose, so it would behard to speak of the usefulness of one man by thinking too much of thedeeds of another. You have your gifts like others, I suppose, and littledo I wish to disturb them. But as to me, the Lord has made me for a doerand not a talker, and therefore do I consider it no harm to shut my earsto your invitation. "

"It is enough, " interrupted Middleton, "I have seen and heard so much ofthis extraordinary man, as to know that persuasions will not change hispurpose. First we will hear your request, my friend, and then we willconsider what may be best done for your advantage. "

"It is a small matter, Captain, " returned the old man, succeeding atlength in opening his bundle. "A small and trifling matter is it, towhat I once used to offer in the way of bargain; but then it is thebest I have, and therein not to be despised. Here are the skins of fourbeavers, that I took, it might be a month afore we met, and here isanother from a racoon, that is of no great matter to be sure, but whichmay serve to make weight atween us. "

"And what do you propose to do with them?"

"I offer them in lawful barter. Them knaves the Siouxes, the Lordforgive me for ever believing it was the Konzas! have stolen the best ofmy traps, and driven me altogether to make-shift inventions, which mightforetell a dreary winter for me, should my time stretch into anotherseason. I wish you therefore to take the skins, and to offer them tosome of the trappers you will not fail to meet below in exchange for afew traps, and to send the same into the Pawnee village in my name. Becareful to have my mark painted on them; a letter N, with a hound's ear, and the lock of a rifle. There is no Red-skin who will then dispute myright. For all which trouble I have little more to offer than my thanks, unless my friend, the bee-hunter here, will accept of the racoon, andtake on himself the special charge of the whole matter. "

"If I do, may I b--!" The mouth of Paul was stopped by the hand ofEllen, and he was obliged to swallow the rest of the sentence, whichhe did with a species of emotion that bore no slight resemblance to theprocess of strangulation. 

"Well, well, " returned the old man, meekly; "I hope there is no heavyoffence in the offer. I know that the skin of a racoon is of smallprice, but then it was no mighty labour that I asked in return. "

"You entirely mistake the meaning of our friend, " interrupted Middleton, who observed, that the bee-hunter was looking in every direction but theright one, and that he was utterly unable to make his own vindication. "He did not mean to say that he declined the charge, but merely thathe refused all compensation. It is unnecessary, however, to say moreof this; it shall be my office to see that the debt we owe, is properlydischarged, and that all your necessities shall be anticipated. "

"Anan!" said the old man, looking up enquiringly into the other's face, as if to ask an explanation. 

"It shall all be as you wish. Lay the skins with my baggage. We willbargain for you as for ourselves. "

"Thankee, thankee, Captain; you grand'ther was of a free and generousmind. So much so, in truth, that those just people, the Delawares, called him the 'Openhand. ' I wish, now, I was as I used to be, in orderthat I might send in the lady a few delicate martens for her tippetsand overcoats, just to show you that I know how to give courtesyfor courtesy. But do not expect the same, for I am too old to give apromise! It will all be just as the Lord shall see fit. I can offer younothing else, for I haven't liv'd so long in the wilderness, not to knowthe scrupulous ways of a gentleman. "

"Harkee, old trapper, " cried the bee-hunter, striking his own hand intothe open palm which the other had extended, with a report but littlebelow the crack of a rifle, "I have just two things to say--Firstly, that the Captain has told you my meaning better than I can myself; and, secondly, if you want a skin, either for your private use or to sendabroad, I have it at your service, and that is the skin of one PaulHover. "

The old man returned the grasp he received, and opened his mouth to theutmost, in his extraordinary, silent, laugh. 

"You couldn't have given such a squeeze, boy, when the Teton squawswere about you with their knives! Ah! you are in your prime, and in yourvigour and happiness, if honesty lies in your path. " Then the expressionof his rugged features suddenly changed to a look of seriousness andthought. "Come hither, lad, " he said, leading the bee-hunter by a buttonto the land, and speaking apart in a tone of admonition and confidence;"much has passed atween us on the pleasures and respectableness of alife in the woods, or on the borders. I do not now mean to say that allyou have heard is not true, but different tempers call for differentemployments. You have taken to your bosom, there, a good and kind child, and it has become your duty to consider her, as well as yourself, in setting forth in life. You are a little given to skirting thesettlements but, to my poor judgment, the girl would be more like aflourishing flower in the sun of a clearing, than in the winds of aprairie. Therefore forget any thing you may have heard from me, which isnevertheless true, and turn your mind on the ways of the inner country. "

Paul could only answer with a squeeze, that would have brought tearsfrom the eyes of most men, but which produced no other effect on theindurated muscles of the other, than to make him laugh and nod, as ifhe received the same as a pledge that the bee-hunter would remember hisadvice. The trapper then turned away from his rough but warm-heartedcompanion; and, having called Hector from the boat, he seemed anxiousstill to utter a few words more. 

"Captain, " he at length resumed, "I know when a poor man talks ofcredit, he deals in a delicate word, according to the fashions of theworld; and when an old man talks of life, he speaks of that which he maynever see; nevertheless there is one thing I will say, and that is notso much on my own behalf as on that of another person. Here is Hector, a good and faithful pup, that has long outlived the time of a dog; and, like his master, he looks more to comfort now, than to any deeds inrunning. But the creatur' has his feelings as well as a Christian. Hehas consorted latterly with his kinsman, there, in such a sort as tofind great pleasure in his company, and I will acknowledge that ittouches my feelings to part the pair so soon. If you will set a valueon your hound, I will endeavour to send it to you in the spring, moreespecially should them same traps come safe to hand; or, if you dislikeparting with the animal altogether, I will just ask you for his loanthrough the winter. I think I can see my pup will not last beyond thattime, for I have judgment in these matters, since many is the friend, both hound and Red-skin, that I have seen depart in my day, though theLord hath not yet seen fit to order his angels to sound forth my name. "

"Take him, take him, " cried Middleton; "take all, or any thing!"

The old man whistled the younger dog to the land; and then he proceededto the final adieus. Little was said on either side. The trapper tookeach person solemnly by the hand, and uttered something friendly andkind to all. Middleton was perfectly speechless, and was driven toaffect busying himself among the baggage. Paul whistled with allhis might, and even Obed took his leave with an effort that bore theappearance of desperate philosophical resolution. When he had made thecircuit of the whole, the old man, with his own hands, shoved the boatinto the current, wishing God to speed them. Not a word was spoken, nora stroke of the oar given, until the travellers bad floated past a knollthat hid the trapper from their view. He was last seen standing on thelow point, leaning on his rifle, with Hector crouched at his feet, andthe younger dog frisking along the sands, in the playfulness of youthand vigour. 

CHAPTER XXXIV

 --Methought, I heard a voice. --Shakspeare. 

The water-courses were at their height, and the boat went down the swiftcurrent like a bird. The passage proved prosperous and speedy. In lessthan a third of the time, that would have been necessary for the samejourney by land, it was accomplished by the favour of those rapidrivers. Issuing from one stream into another, as the veins of the humanbody communicate with the larger channels of life, they soon entered thegrand artery of the western waters, and landed safely at the very doorof the father of Inez. 

The joy of Don Augustin, and the embarrassment of the worthy fatherIgnatius, may be imagined. The former wept and returned thanksto Heaven; the latter returned thanks, and did not weep. The mildprovincials were too happy to raise any questions on the character of sojoyful a restoration; and, by a sort of general consent, it soon came tobe an admitted opinion that the bride of Middleton had been kidnappedby a villain, and that she was restored to her friends by human agency. There were, as respects this belief, certainly a few sceptics, but thenthey enjoyed their doubts in private, with that species of sublimatedand solitary gratification that a miser finds in gazing at his growing, but useless, hoards. 

In order to give the worthy priest something to employ his mind, Middleton made him the instrument of uniting Paul and Ellen. The formerconsented to the ceremony, because he found that all his friends laidgreat stress on the matter; but shortly after he led his bride intothe plains of Kentucky, under the pretence of paying certain customaryvisits to sundry members of the family of Hover. While there, he tookoccasion to have the marriage properly solemnised, by a justice of thepeace of his acquaintance, in whose ability to forge the nuptial chainhe had much more faith than in that of all the gownsmen within thepale of Rome. Ellen, who appeared conscious that some extraordinarypreventives might prove necessary to keep one of so erratic a temperas her partner, within the proper matrimonial boundaries, raised noobjections to these double knots, and all parties were content. 

The local importance Middleton had acquired, by his union with thedaughter of so affluent a proprietor as Don Augustin, united to hispersonal merit, attracted the attention of the government. He was soonemployed in various situations of responsibility and confidence, whichboth served to elevate his character in the public estimation, and toafford the means of patronage. The bee-hunter was among the first ofthose to whom he saw fit to extend his favour. It was far from difficultto find situations suited to the abilities of Paul, in the state ofsociety that existed three-and-twenty years ago in those regions. Theefforts of Middleton and Inez, in behalf of her husband, were warmly andsagaciously seconded by Ellen, and they succeeded, in process of time, in working a great and beneficial change in his character. He soonbecame a land-holder, then a prosperous cultivator of the soil, andshortly after a town-officer. By that progressive change in fortune, which in the republic is often seen to be so singularly accompanied bya corresponding improvement in knowledge and self-respect, he went on, from step to step, until his wife enjoyed the maternal delight of seeingher children placed far beyond the danger of returning to that statefrom which both their parents had issued. Paul is actually at thismoment a member of the lower branch of the legislature of the Statewhere he has long resided; and he is even notorious for making speechesthat have a tendency to put that deliberative body in good humour, andwhich, as they are based on great practical knowledge suited to thecondition of the country, possess a merit that is much wanted in manymore subtle and fine-spun theories, that are daily heard in similarassemblies, to issue from the lips of certain instinctive politicians. But all these happy fruits were the results of much care, and of a longperiod of time. Middleton, who fills, with a credit better suited tothe difference in their educations, a seat in a far higher branch oflegislative authority, is the source from which we have derived most ofthe intelligence necessary to compose our legend. In addition to what hehas related of Paul, and of his own continued happiness, he has addeda short narrative of what took place in a subsequent visit to theprairies, with which, as we conceive it a suitable termination to whathas gone before, we shall judge it wise to conclude our labours. 

In the autumn of the year, that succeeded the season, in which thepreceding events occurred, the young man, still in the military service, found himself on the waters of the Missouri, at a point not far remotefrom the Pawnee towns. Released from any immediate calls of duty, and strongly urged to the measure by Paul, who was in his company, hedetermined to take horse, and cross the country to visit the partisan, and to enquire into the fate of his friend the trapper. As his trainwas suited to his functions and rank, the journey was effected, with theprivations and hardships that are the accompaniments of all travellingin a wild, but without any of those dangers and alarms that marked hisformer passage through the same regions. When within a proper distance, he despatched an Indian runner, belonging to a friendly tribe, toannounce the approach of himself and party, continuing his route at adeliberate pace, in order that the intelligence might, as was customary, precede his arrival. To the surprise of the travellers their message wasunanswered. Hour succeeded hour, and mile after mile was passed, withoutbringing either the signs of an honourable reception, or the more simpleassurances of a friendly welcome. At length the cavalcade, at whose headrode Middleton and Paul, descended from the elevated plain, on whichthey had long been journeying, to a luxuriant bottom, that brought themto the level of the village of the Loups. The sun was beginning to fall, and a sheet of golden light was spread over the placid plain, lendingto its even surface those glorious tints and hues, that, the humanimagination is apt to conceive, forms the embellishment of still moreimposing scenes. The verdure of the year yet remained, and herds ofhorses and mules were grazing peacefully in the vast natural pasture, under the keeping of vigilant Pawnee boys. Paul pointed out amongthem, the well-known form of Asinus, sleek, fat, and luxuriating in thefulness of content, as he stood with reclining ears and closed eye-lids, seemingly musing on the exquisite nature of his present indolentenjoyment. 

The route of the party led them at no great distance from one of thosewatchful youths, who was charged with a trust heavy as the principalwealth of his tribe. He heard the trampling of the horses, and casthis eye aside, but instead of manifesting curiosity or alarm, his lookinstantly returned whence it had been withdrawn, to the spot where thevillage was known to stand. 

"There is something remarkable in all this, " muttered Middleton, halfoffended at what he conceived to be not only a slight to his rank, butoffensive to himself, personally; "yonder boy has heard of our approach, or he would not fail to notify his tribe; and yet he scarcely deigns tofavour us with a glance. Look to your arms, men; it may be necessary tolet these savages feel our strength. "

"Therein, Captain, I think you're in an error, " returned Paul, "ifhonesty is to be met on the prairies at all, you will find it in our oldfriend Hard-Heart; neither is an Indian to be judged of by the rules ofa white. See! we are not altogether slighted, for here comes a party atlast to meet us, though it is a little pitiful as to show and numbers. "

Paul was right in both particulars. A group of horsemen were at lengthseen wheeling round a little copse, and advancing across the plaindirectly towards them. The advance of this party was slow and dignified. As it drew nigh, the partisan of the Loups was seen at its head, followed by a dozen younger warriors of his tribe. They were allunarmed, nor did they even wear any of those ornaments or feathers, which are considered testimonials of respect to the guest an Indianreceives, as well as evidence of his own importance. 

The meeting was friendly, though a little restrained on both sides. Middleton, jealous of his own consideration no less than of theauthority of his government, suspected some undue influence on the partof the agents of the Canadas; and, as he was determined to maintainthe authority of which he was the representative, he felt himselfconstrained to manifest a hauteur, that he was far from feeling. It wasnot so easy to penetrate the motives of the Pawnees. Calm, dignified, and yet far from repulsive, they set an example of courtesy, blendedwith reserve, that many a diplomatist of the most polished court mighthave strove in vain to imitate. 

In this manner the two parties continued their course to the town. Middleton had time, during the remainder of the ride, to revolve in hismind, all the probable reasons which his ingenuity could suggestfor this strange reception. Although he was accompanied by a regularinterpreter, the chiefs made their salutations in a manner thatdispensed with his services. Twenty times the Captain turned his glanceon his former friend, endeavouring to read the expression of his rigidfeatures. But every effort and all conjectures proved equally futile. The eye of Hard-Heart was fixed, composed, and a little anxious; butas to every other emotion, impenetrable. He neither spoke himself, norseemed willing to invite discourse in his visiters; it was thereforenecessary for Middleton to adopt the patient manners of his companions, and to await the issue for the explanation. 

When they entered the town, its inhabitants were seen collected in anopen space, where they were arranged with the customary deference to ageand rank. The whole formed a large circle, in the centre of which, wereperhaps a dozen of the principal chiefs. Hard-Heart waved his hand as heapproached, and, as the mass of bodies opened, he rode through, followedby his companions. Here they dismounted; and as the beasts were ledapart, the strangers found themselves environed by a thousand, grave, composed, but solicitous faces. 

Middleton gazed about him, in growing concern, for no cry, no song, noshout welcomed him among a people, from whom he had so lately partedwith regret. His uneasiness, not to say apprehensions, was shared by allhis followers. Determination and stern resolution began to assume theplace of anxiety in every eye, as each man silently felt for his arms, and assured himself, that his several weapons were in a state forservice. But there was no answering symptom of hostility on the partof their hosts. Hard-Heart beckoned for Middleton and Paul to follow, leading the way towards the cluster of forms, that occupied the centreof the circle. Here the visiters found a solution of all the movements, which had given them so much reason for apprehension. 

The trapper was placed on a rude seat, which had been made, with studiedcare, to support his frame in an upright and easy attitude. The firstglance of the eye told his former friends, that the old man was atlength called upon to pay the last tribute of nature. His eye wasglazed, and apparently as devoid of sight as of expression. His featureswere a little more sunken and strongly marked than formerly; but there, all change, so far as exterior was concerned, might be said to haveceased. His approaching end was not to be ascribed to any positivedisease, but had been a gradual and mild decay of the physical powers. Life, it is true, still lingered in his system; but it was as if attimes entirely ready to depart, and then it would appear to re-animatethe sinking form, reluctant to give up the possession of a tenement, that had never been corrupted by vice, or undermined by disease. Itwould have been no violent fancy to have imagined, that the spiritfluttered about the placid lips of the old woodsman, reluctant to departfrom a shell, that had so long given it an honest and an honourableshelter. 

His body was placed so as to let the light of the setting sun fall fullupon the solemn features. His head was bare, the long, thin, locks ofgrey fluttering lightly in the evening breeze. His rifle lay upon hisknee, and the other accoutrements of the chase were placed at his side, within reach of his hand. Between his feet lay the figure of a hound, with its head crouching to the earth as if it slumbered; and soperfectly easy and natural was its position, that a second glance wasnecessary to tell Middleton, he saw only the skin of Hector, stuffedby Indian tenderness and ingenuity in a manner to represent the livinganimal. His own dog was playing at a distance, with the child ofTachechana and Mahtoree. The mother herself stood at hand, holding inher arms a second offspring, that might boast of a parentage no lesshonourable, than that which belonged to the son of Hard-Heart. LeBalafre was seated nigh the dying trapper, with every mark about hisperson, that the hour of his own departure was not far distant. The restof those immediately in the centre were aged men, who had apparentlydrawn near, in order to observe the manner, in which a just and fearlesswarrior would depart on the greatest of his journeys. 

The old man was reaping the rewards of a life remarkable for temperanceand activity, in a tranquil and placid death. His vigour in a mannerendured to the very last. Decay, when it did occur, was rapid, butfree from pain. He had hunted with the tribe in the spring, and eventhroughout most of the summer, when his limbs suddenly refused toperform their customary offices. A sympathising weakness took possessionof all his faculties; and the Pawnees believed, that they were going tolose, in this unexpected manner, a sage and counsellor, whom theyhad begun both to love and respect. But as we have already said, theimmortal occupant seemed unwilling to desert its tenement. The lamp oflife flickered without becoming extinguished. On the morning of the day, on which Middleton arrived, there was a general reviving of the powersof the whole man. His tongue was again heard in wholesome maxims, andhis eye from time to time recognised the persons of his friends. Itmerely proved to be a brief and final intercourse with the world on thepart of one, who had already been considered, as to mental communion, tohave taken his leave of it for ever. 

When he had placed his guests in front of the dying man, Hard-Heart, after a pause, that proceeded as much from sorrow as decorum, leaned alittle forward and demanded--

"Does my father hear the words of his son?"

"Speak, " returned the trapper, in tones that issued from his chest, butwhich were rendered awfully distinct by the stillness that reigned inthe place. "I am about to depart from the village of the Loups, andshortly shall be beyond the reach of your voice. "

"Let the wise chief have no cares for his journey, " continued Hard-Heartwith an earnest solicitude, that led him to forget, for the moment, that others were waiting to address his adopted parent; "a hundred Loupsshall clear his path from briars. "

"Pawnee, I die as I have lived, a Christian man, " resumed the trapperwith a force of voice that had the same startling effect upon hishearers, as is produced by the trumpet, when its blast rises suddenlyand freely on the air, after its obstructed sounds have been heardstruggling in the distance: "as I came into life so will I leave it. Horses and arms are not needed to stand in the presence of the GreatSpirit of my people. He knows my colour, and according to my gifts willhe judge my deeds. "

"My father will tell my young men, how many Mingoes he has struck, andwhat acts of valour and justice he has done, that they may know how toimitate him. "

"A boastful tongue is not heard in the heaven of a white man, " solemnlyreturned the old man. "What I have done, He has seen. His eyes arealways open. That, which has been well done, will He remember; whereinI have been wrong will He not forget to chastise, though He will do thesame in mercy. No, my son; a Pale-face may not sing his own praises, andhope to have them acceptable before his God. "

A little disappointed, the young partisan stepped modestly back, makingway for the recent comers to approach. Middleton took one of the meagrehands of the trapper, and struggling to command his voice, he succeededin announcing his presence. The old man listened like one whose thoughtswere dwelling on a very different subject, but when the other hadsucceeded in making him understand, that he was present, an expressionof joyful recognition passed over his faded features--"I hope you havenot so soon forgotten those, whom you so materially served!" Middletonconcluded. "It would pain me to think my hold on your memory was solight. "

"Little that I have ever seen is forgotten, " returned the trapper: "Iam at the close of many weary days, but there is not one among them all, that I could wish to overlook. I remember you with the whole of yourcompany; ay, and your grand'ther, that went before you. I am glad, thatyou have come back upon these plains, for I had need of one, who speaksthe English, since little faith can be put in the traders of theseregions. Will you do a favour to an old and dying man?"

"Name it, " said Middleton; "it shall be done. "

"It is a far journey to send such trifles, " resumed the old man, whospoke at short intervals, as strength and breath permitted; "a far andweary journey is the same; but kindnesses and friendships are things notto be forgotten. There is a settlement among the Otsego hills--"

"I know the place, " interrupted Middleton, observing that he spoke withincreasing difficulty; "proceed to tell me, what you would have done. "

"Take this rifle, and pouch, and horn, and send them to the person, whose name is graven on the plates of the stock, --a trader cut theletters with his knife, --for it is long, that I have intended to sendhim such a token of my love. "

"It shall be so. Is there more that you could wish?"

"Little else have I to bestow. My traps I give to my Indian son; forhonestly and kindly has he kept his faith. Let him stand before me. "

Middleton explained to the chief what the trapper had said andrelinquished his own place to the other. 

"Pawnee, " continued the old man, always changing his language to suitthe person he addressed, and not unfrequently according to the ideashe expressed, "it is a custom of my people for the father to leave hisblessing with the son, before he shuts his eves for ever. This blessingI give to you; take it, for the prayers of a Christian man will nevermake the path of a just warrior, to the blessed prairies, either longer, or more tangled. May the God of a white man look on your deeds withfriendly eyes, and may you never commit an act, that shall cause Him todarken His face. I know not whether we shall ever meet again. There aremany traditions concerning the place of Good Spirits. It is not for onelike me, old and experienced though I am, to set up my opinions againsta nation's. You believe in the blessed prairies, and I have faith in thesayings of my fathers. If both are true, our parting will be final; butif it should prove, that the same meaning is hid under different words, we shall yet stand together, Pawnee, before the face of your Wahcondah, who will then be no other than my God. There is much to be said infavour of both religions, for each seems suited to its own people, andno doubt it was so intended. I fear, I have not altogether followed thegifts of my colour, inasmuch as I find it a little painful to give upfor ever the use of the rifle, and the comforts of the chase. But thenthe fault has been my own, seeing that it could not have been His. Ay, Hector, " he continued, leaning forward a little, and feeling for theears of the hound, "our parting has come at last, dog, and it will bea long hunt. You have been an honest, and a bold, and a faithful hound. Pawnee, you cannot slay the pup on my grave, for where a Christian dogfalls, there he lies for ever; but you can be kind to him, after I amgone, for the love you bear his master. "

"The words of my father are in my ears, " returned the young partisan, making a grave and respectful gesture of assent. 

"Do you hear, what the chief has promised, dog?" demanded the trapper, making an effort to attract the notice of the insensible effigy of hishound. Receiving no answering look, nor hearing any friendly whine, theold man felt for the mouth and endeavoured to force his hand betweenthe cold lips. The truth then flashed upon him, although he was far fromperceiving the whole extent of the deception. Falling back in his seat, he hung his head, like one who felt a severe and unexpected shock. Profiting by this momentary forgetfulness, two young Indians removed theskin with the same delicacy of feeling, that had induced them to attemptthe pious fraud. 

"The dog is dead!" muttered the trapper, after a pause of many minutes;"a hound has his time as well as a man and well has he filled his days!Captain, " he added, making an effort to wave his hand for Middleton, "Iam glad you have come; for though kind, and well meaning according tothe gifts of their colour, these Indians are not the men, to lay thehead of a white man in his grave. I have been thinking too, of this dogat my feet; it will not do to set forth the opinion, that a Christiancan expect to meet his hound again; still there can be little harm inplacing what is left of so faithful a servant nigh the bones of hismaster. "

"It shall be as you desire. "

"I'm glad, you think with me in this matter. In order then to savelabour, lay the pup at my feet, or for that matter put him, side byside. A hunter need never be ashamed to be found in company with hisdog!"

"I charge myself with your wish. "

The old man made a long, and apparently a musing pause. At times heraised his eyes wistfully, as if he would again address Middleton, butsome innate feeling appeared always to suppress his words. The other, who observed his hesitation, enquired in a way most likely to encouragehim to proceed, whether there was aught else that he could wish to havedone. 

"I am without kith or kin in the wide world!" the trapper answered:"when I am gone, there will be an end of my race. We have never beenchiefs; but honest and useful in our way, I hope it cannot be denied, we have always proved ourselves. My father lies buried near the sea, andthe bones of his son will whiten on the prairies--"

"Name the spot, and your remains shall be placed by the side of yourfather, " interrupted Middleton. 

"Not so, not so, Captain. Let me sleep, where I have lived, beyond thedin of the settlements! Still I see no need, why the grave of an honestman should be hid, like a Red-skin in his ambushment. I paid a manin the settlements to make and put a graven stone at the head of myfather's resting place. It was of the value of twelve beaver-skins, andcunningly and curiously was it carved! Then it told to all comers thatthe body of such a Christian lay beneath; and it spoke of his mannerof life, of his years, and of his honesty. When we had done with theFrenchers in the old war, I made a journey to the spot, in order to seethat all was rightly performed, and glad I am to say, the workman hadnot forgotten his faith. "

"And such a stone you would have at your grave?"

"I! no, no, I have no son, but Hard-Heart, and it is little that anIndian knows of White fashions and usages. Besides I am his debtor, already, seeing it is so little I have done, since I have lived in histribe. The rifle might bring the value of such a thing--but then I know, it will give the boy pleasure to hang the piece in his hall, for many isthe deer and the bird that he has seen it destroy. No, no, the gun mustbe sent to him, whose name is graven on the lock!"

"But there is one, who would gladly prove his affection in the wayyou wish; he, who owes you not only his own deliverance from so manydangers, but who inherits a heavy debt of gratitude from his ancestors. The stone shall be put at the head of your grave. "

The old man extended his emaciated hand, and gave the other a squeeze ofthanks. 

"I thought, you might be willing to do it, but I was backward inasking the favour, " he said, "seeing that you are not of my kin. Put noboastful words on the same, but just the name, the age, and the time ofthe death, with something from the holy book; no more no more. My namewill then not be altogether lost on 'arth; I need no more. "

Middleton intimated his assent, and then followed a pause, that was onlybroken by distant and broken sentences from the dying man. He appearednow to have closed his accounts with the world, and to await merely forthe final summons to quit it. Middleton and Hard-Heart placed themselveson the opposite sides of his seat, and watched with melancholysolicitude, the variations of his countenance. For two hours there wasno very sensible alteration. The expression of his faded and time-wornfeatures was that of a calm and dignified repose. From time to time hespoke, uttering some brief sentence in the way of advice, or askingsome simple questions concerning those in whose fortunes he still tooka friendly interest. During the whole of that solemn and anxious periodeach individual of the tribe kept his place, in the most self-restrainedpatience. When the old man spoke, all bent their heads to listen; andwhen his words were uttered, they seemed to ponder on their wisdom andusefulness. 

As the flame drew nigher to the socket, his voice was hushed, and therewere moments, when his attendants doubted whether he still belongedto the living. Middleton, who watched each wavering expression of hisweather-beaten visage, with the interest of a keen observer of humannature, softened by the tenderness of personal regard, fancied he couldread the workings of the old man's soul in the strong lineaments of hiscountenance. Perhaps what the enlightened soldier took for the delusionof mistaken opinion did actually occur, for who has returned from thatunknown world to explain by what forms, and in what manner, he wasintroduced into its awful precincts? Without pretending to explain whatmust ever be a mystery to the quick, we shall simply relate facts asthey occurred. 

The trapper had remained nearly motionless for an hour. His eyes, alone, had occasionally opened and shut. When opened, his gaze seemed fastenedon the clouds, which hung around the western horizon, reflecting thebright colours, and giving form and loveliness to the glorious tintsof an American sunset. The hour--the calm beauty of the season--theoccasion, all conspired to fill the spectators with solemn awe. Suddenly, while musing on the remarkable position, in which he wasplaced, Middleton felt the hand, which he held, grasp his own withincredible power, and the old man, supported on either side by hisfriends, rose upright to his feet. For a moment, he looked about him, asif to invite all in presence to listen (the lingering remnant of humanfrailty), and then, with a fine military elevation of the head, and witha voice, that might be heard in every part of that numerous assembly theword--

"Here!"

A movement so entirely unexpected, and the air of grandeur and humility, which were so remarkably united in the mien of the trapper, togetherwith the clear and uncommon force of his utterance, produced a shortperiod of confusion in the faculties of all present. When Middleton andHard-Heart, each of whom had involuntarily extended a hand to supportthe form of the old man, turned to him again, they found, that thesubject of their interest was removed for ever beyond the necessity oftheir care. They mournfully placed the body in its seat, and Le Balafrearose to announce the termination of the scene, to the tribe. The voiceof the old Indian seemed a sort of echo from that invisible world, towhich the meek spirit of the trapper had just departed. 

"A valiant, a just, and a wise warrior has gone on the path, which willlead him to the blessed grounds of his people!" he said. "When the voiceof the Wahcondah called him, he was ready to answer. Go, my children;remember the just chief of the Pale-faces, and clear your own tracksfrom briars. "

The grave was made beneath the shade of some noble oaks. It has beencarefully watched to the present hour by the Pawnees of the Loop, andis often shown to the traveller and the trader as a spot where a justWhiteman sleeps. In due time the stone was placed at its head, with thesimple inscription, which the trapper had himself requested. The onlyliberty, taken by Middleton, was to add--"May no wanton hand everdisturb his remains!"