 CHAPTER 18 Poor Wretch. The mother that him bear, if she had been in presence there, in his wan face and sun-burred hair, she had not known her child. Scott. It diminished in no degree the effect produced by the conversation which passed between Judge Temple and the young Hunter, that the former took the arm of his daughter and drew it through his own when he advanced from the spot whither Richard had led him to that where the youth was standing, leaning on his rifle, and contemplating the dead bird at his feet. The presence of Marmaduke did not interrupt the sports, which were resumed by loud and clamorous disputes concerning the conditions of a chance that involved the life of a bird of much inferior quality to the last. Leather stocking and Mohegan had alone drawn aside to their youthful companion, and, although in the immediate vicinity of such a throng, the following conversation was heard only by those who were interested in it. I have greatly injured you, Mr. Edwards, said the Judge, but the sudden and inexplicable start with which the person spoken to receive this unexpected address caused him to pause a moment. As no answer was given, and the strong emotion exhibited in the countenance of the youth gradually passed away, he continued. But, fortunately, it is in some measure in my power to compensate you for what I have done. My kinsman, Richard Jones, has received an appointment that will, in future, deprive me of his assistance, and leave me just now a destitute of one who might greatly aid me with his pen. Your manner, notwithstanding appearances, is a sufficient proof of your education, or will thy shoulder suffer thee to labor for some time to come. Luke insensibly relapsed into the language of the friends as he grew warm. My doors are open to thee, my young friend, for in this infant country we harbour no suspicions, little offering to tempt the acupidity of the evil disposed. Become my assistant, for at least a season, and receive such compensation as thy services will deserve. There was nothing in the manner of the offer of the Judge to justify the reluctance, amounting nearly to loathing, with which the youth listened to his speech. But, after a powerful effort for self-command, he replied, I would serve you, sir, or any other man for an honest support. For I do not effect to conceal that my necessities are very great even beyond what appearances would indicate. But I am fearful that such new duties would interfere too much with more important business, so that I must decline your offer, and depend on my rifle, as before, for subsistence. Richard here took occasion to whisper to the young lady who had shrunk a little from the foreground of the picture. This you see, cousin Bess, is the natural reluctance of a half-breed to leave the savage state. Their attachment to a wandering life is, I verily believe, unconquerable. It is a precarious life, observed Marmaduke, without hearing the sheriff's observation, and one that brings more evils with it than present suffering. Trust me, young friend, my experience is greater than thine, when I tell thee that the unsettled life of these hunters is a vast disadvantage for temporal purposes, and it totally removes one from the influence of more sacred things. No, no, Judge, interrupted the leather stocking, who was hitherto unseen or disregarded. Take him into your shanty and welcome, but tell him truth. I have lived in the woods for forty long years, and have spent five at a time without seeing the light of a clearing bigger than a window in the trees. And I should like to know where you'll find a man, in his sixty-eighth year, who can get an easier living, for all your betterments and your dear laws. And, as for honesty, are doing what's right between man and man, I'll not turn my back to the longest-winded deacon on your patent. Thou art an exception leather stocking, returned the Judge nodding good naturedly at the hunter, for thou hast a temperance unusual in thy class and a hardy hood exceeding thy years. But this youth is made of materials too precious to be wasted in the forest. I entreat thee to join my family, if it be but till thy arm is healed. My daughter here, who is mistress of my dwelling, will tell thee that thou art welcome. Only said Elizabeth, whose earnestness was a little checked by female reserve, the unfortunate would be welcome at any time, but doubly so when we feel that we have occasioned the evil ourselves. Yes, said Richard, and if you relish turkey, young man, there are plenty in the coops, and of the best kind I can assure you. Finding himself thus ably seconded, Mamadou pushed his advantage to the utmost. He entered into a detail of the duties that would attend the situation, and circumstantially mentioned the reward and all those points which are deemed of importance among men of business. The youth listened in extreme agitation. There was an evident contest in his feelings. At times he appeared to wish eagerly for the change, and then again the incomprehensible expression of disgust would cross his features, like a dark cloud obscuring a noonday sun. The Indian, in whose manner the depression of self-abasement was most powerfully exhibited, listened to the offers of the judge with an interest that increased with each syllable. Gradually he grew nier to the group, and when, with his keen glance, he detected the most marked evidence of yielding in the countenance of his young companion, he changed it once from his attitude and look of shame to the front of an Indian warrior, and moving, with great dignity, closer to the parties, he spoke. "'Listen to your father,' he said. His words are old. Let the young eagle and the great land chief eat together. Let them sleep without fear near each other. The children of Meekwan love not blood. They are just and will do right. The sun must rise and set often, before men can make one family. It is not the work of a day, but of many winters. The mingos and the Delaware's are born enemies. Their blood can never mix in the wigwam. It never will run in the same stream in the battle. What makes the brother of Meekwan and the young eagle foes? They are of the same tribe. Their fathers and mothers are one. Learn to wait, my son. You are a Delaware, and an Indian warrior knows how to be patient." This figurative address seemed to have great weight with the young man, who gradually yielded to the representations of Marmaduke and eventually consented to his proposal. It was, however, to be an experiment only. And if either of the parties thought fit to rescind the engagement, it was left at his option to do so. The remarkable and ill-concealed reluctance of the youth to accept of an offer which most men in his situation would consider as an unhoped-for elevation, occasioned no little surprise in those to whom he was a stranger. And it left a slight impression to his disadvantage, when the parties separated they very naturally made the subject the topic of a conversation which we shall relate, first commencing with the judge, his daughter, and Richard, who were slowly pursuing the way back to the mansion-house. I have surely endeavored to remember the holy man dates of our Redeemer, when he bids us love them who despitefully use you in my intercourse with this incomprehensible boy, said Marmaduke, I know not what there is in my dwelling to frighten a lad of his years, unless it may be thy presence envisage best. No, no, said Richard, with great simplicity, it is not cousin best. But when did you ever know a half-breed, Duke, who could bear civilization? For that matter, there are worse than the savages themselves. Did you notice how knock-kneed he stood, Elizabeth, and what a wild look he had in his eyes? I heeded not his eyes nor his knees, which would be all the better for a little humbling. Really, my dear sir, I think you did exercise the Christian virtue of patience to the utmost. I was disgusted with his heirs, long before he consented to make one of our family. Truly, we are much honored by the association. In what apartment is he to be placed, sir? And at what table is he to receive his nectar and ambrosia? With Benjamin and remarkable, interrupted Mr. Jones, you sorely would not make the youth eat with the blacks. He is part Indian, it is true. But the natives hold the negroes in great contempt. No, no, he would starve before he would break a crust with the negroes. I am but too happy, Dickon, to tempt him to eat with ourselves, said Marma-Duke, to think of offering even the indignity you propose. Then, sir, said Elizabeth, with an air that was slightly affected, as if submitting to her father's orders in opposition to her own will, it is your pleasure that he be a gentleman. Certainly. He is to fill the station of one, let him receive the treatment that is due to his place, until we find him unworthy of it. Well, well, Duke, cried the sheriff, you will find it no easy matter to make a gentleman of him. The old proverb says that it takes three generations to make a gentleman. There was my father, whom everybody knew my grandfather was an M.D., and his father a D.D., and his father came from England. I never could come at the truth of his origin, but he was either a great merchant in London, or a great country lawyer, or the youngest son of a bishop. Here is a true American genealogy for you, said Marma-Duke, laughing. It does very well, till you get across the water, where as everything is obscure it is certain to deal in the superlative. You are sure that your English progenitor was great, Dickon, whatever his profession might have been. To be sure I am, returned the other, I have heard my old aunt talk of him by the month. We are of a good family, Judge Temple, and have never filled any but honorable stations in life. I marvel that you should be satisfied with so scanty a provision of gentility in the olden time, Dickon. Most of the American genealogists commence their traditions like the stories for children with three brothers, taking a special care that one of the triumvirate shall be the progenitor of any of the same name who may happen to be better furnished with worldly gear than themselves. But here all are equal who know how to conduct themselves with propriety, and Oliver Edwards comes into my family on a footing with both the High Sheriff and the Judge. Well, Duke, I call this democracy not republicanism, but I say nothing. Only let him keep within the law, or I shall show him that the freedom of even this country is under wholesome restraint. But what says best to the new inmate? We must pay a deference to the ladies in this matter, after all. Oh, sir! returned Elizabeth. I believe I am much like a certain Judge Temple in this particular, not easily to be turned from my opinion. But to be serious, although I must think the introduction of a demi-savage into the family is a somewhat startling event, whomesoever you think proper to countenance may be sure of my respect. The Judge drew her arm more closely in his own and smiled, while Richard led the way through the gate of the little courtyard in the rear of the dwelling, dealing out his ambiguous warnings with his accustomed locacity. On the other hand, the Foresters, for the three hunters, not with standing their difference in character, well deserved this common name, pursued their course along the skirts of the village in silence. It was not until they had reached the lake and were moving over its frozen surface toward the foot of the mountain where the hut stood that the youth exclaimed. Who could have foreseen this a month since? I have consented to serve Mamadouk Temple, to be an inmate in the dwelling of the greatest enemy of my race. Yet what better could I do? The servitude cannot be long, and when the motive for submitting to it ceases to exist, I will shake it off like the dust from my feet. Is he a mingo that you will call him enemy, said Mohigen? The Delaware warrior sits still and waits the time of the great spirit. He is no woman to cry out like a child. Well, I'm mistrustful, John, said Leatherstocking, in whose air there had been during the whole business a strong expression of doubt and uncertainty. They say that there is new laws in the land, and I'm certain that there is new ways in the mountains. One hardly knows the lakes and streams they've altered the country so much. I must say I'm mistrustful of such smooth speakers, for I've known the whites talk fair when they wanted the Indian lands most. This I will say, though I'm a white myself, and was born Nye York, and of honest parents, too. I will submit, said the youth. I will forget who I am. Cease to remember, old Mohigen, that I am the descendant of a Delaware chief, who once was master of these noble hills, these beautiful veils, and of this water over which we tread. Yes, yes. I will become his bondsman, his slave. Is it not an honourable servitude, old man? Old man, repeated the Indian solemnly, and pausing in his walk as usual when much excited. Yes, John is old, son of my brother, if Mohigen was young, when would his rifle be still? Where would the deer hide, and he not find him? But John is old. His hand is the hand of a squaw, his tomahawk is a hatchet. Brooms and baskets are his enemies, he strikes no other. Hunger and old age come together. See Hawkeye, when young he would go days and eat nothing. But should he not put the brush on the fire now, the blaze would go out. Take the son of Mekwan by the hand, and he will help you. I am not the man I was, I'll own, jingoch guk, return the leather stocking. But I can go without a meal now, on occasion. When we tracked the Iroquois through the beech woods, they drove the game before them, for I had an amortel to eat from Monday morning come Wednesday sundown. And then I shot as fat a buck on the Pennsylvania line as ever mortally dies on. It would have done your heart good to have seen the Delaware eat, for I was outscouting and scrimmaging with their tribe at the time. Lord, the Indians lad lay still, and just waited till Providence should send them their game, but I foraged about and put a deer up, and put him down too, before he had made a dozen jumps. I was too weak and too ravenous to stop for his flesh, so I took a good drink of his blood, and the Indians ate of his meat raw. John was there, and John knows, but then starvation would be apt to be too much for me now. I will own, though I'm no great eater at any time. Enough is said, my friend, cried the youth, I feel that everywhere the sacrifice is required at my hands, and it shall be made, but say no more, I entreat you, I cannot bear this subject now. His companions were silent, and they soon reached the hut, which they entered, after removing certain complicated and ingenious fastenings that were put there apparently to guard a property of but very little value. Immense piles of snow lay against the log walls of this secluded habitation on one side, while fragments of small trees and branches of oak and chestnut that had been torn from their parent's stems by the winds were thrown into a pile on the other. A small column of smoke rose through a chimney of sticks cemented with clay along the side of the rock, and had marked the snow above with its dark tinges in a wavy line from the point of emission to another, where the hill receded from the brow of a precipice and held a soil that nourished trees of a gigantic growth that overhung the little bottom beneath. The remainder of the day passed off as such days are commonly spent in a new country. The settlers thronged to the academy again to witness the second effort of Mr. Grant, and Mohegan was one of his hearers. But notwithstanding the divine fixed his eyes intently on the indium when he invited his congregation to advance to the table, the shame of last night's abasement was yet too keen in the old chief to suffer him to move. When the people were dispersing, the clouds that had been gathering all the morning were dense and dirty, and before half of the curious congregation had reached their different cabins that were placed in every glen and hollow of the mountains, or perched on the summits of the hills themselves, the rain was falling in torrents. The dark edges of the stumps began to exhibit themselves as the snow settled rapidly. The fences of logs and brush, which before had been only traced by long lines of white mounds that ran across the valley and up the mountains, peeped out from their covering, and the black stubs were momentarily becoming more distinct as large masses of snow and ice fell from their sides under the influence of the thaw. Sheltered in the warm hall of her father's comfortable mansion, Elizabeth, accompanied by Louisa Grant, looked abroad with admiration at the ever-varying face of things without. Even the village, which had just before been glittering with the color of the frozen element, reluctantly dropped its mask, and the houses exposed their dark roofs and smoked chimneys. The pines shook off the covering of snow, and everything seemed to be assuming its proper hues with a transition that bordered on the supernatural. THE CLOSE OF CHRISTMAS DAY, AD 1793, was tempestuous, but comparatively warm. When darkness had again hid the objects in the village from the gaze of Elizabeth, she turned from the window where she had remained while the least vestige of light lingered over the tops of the dark pines, with a curiosity that was rather excited than appeased by the passing glimpses of woodland scenery that she had caught during the day. With her arm locked in that of Miss Grant, the young mistress of the mansion walked slowly up and down the hall, musing on scenes that were rapidly recurring to her memory, and possibly dwelling at times in the sanctuary of her thoughts, on the strange occurrences that had led to the introduction to her father's family of one whose manners so singularly contradicted the inferences to be drawn from his situation. The expiring heat of the apartment, for its great size required a day to reduce its temperature, had given to her cheeks a bloom that exceeded their natural color, while the mild and melancholy features of Louisa were brightened with a faint tinge that, like the hectic of disease, gave a painful interest to her beauty. The eyes of the gentlemen, who were yet seated around the rich wines of Judge Temple, frequently wandered from the table that was placed at one end of the hall, to the forms that were silently moving over its length. Much mirth, and that, at times of a boisterous kind, proceeded from the mouth of Richard. But Major Hartman was not yet excited to his pitch of merriment, and Marmaduke respected the presence of his clerical guests too much to indulge in even the innocent humor that formed no small ingredient in his character. Such were, and such continued to be, the pursuits of the party, for half an hour after the shutters were closed and candles were placed in various parts of the hall, as substitutes for departing daylight. The appearance of Benjamin, staggering under the burden of an armful of wood, was the first interruption to this scene. How now, Master Pump? roared the newly appointed sheriff. Is there not warmth enough in Duke's best Madeira to keep up the animal heat through this thaw? Remember, old boy, that the judge is particular with his beach and maple, beginning to dread already a scarcity of the precious articles. Ha, ha, ha! Duke, you are a good warm heart of relation I will own, as in duty bound, but you have some queer notions about you after all. Come, let us be jolly and cast away folly. The notes gradually sank into a hum, while the major domo threw down his load, and, turning to his interrogator, with an air of earnestness, replied, Why look, you Squire Dickon, may have there's a warm latitude round about the table there, though it's not the stuff to raise the heat in my body neither. The rail jamaiki being the only thing to do that, besides good wood, or some such matter as nukosl coal. But if I know anything of the weather, do you see? It's time to be getting all snug, and for putting the ports in and stirring the fires a bit. May hap I have not followed the seas twenty-seven years, and lived another seven in these here woods for nothing, gemmin. Why does it bid fair for a change in the weather, Benjamin? inquired the master of the house? There's a shift of wind, your honor, return the steward, and when there's a shift of wind you may look for a change in this here climate. I was aboard one of Rodney's fleet, do you see, about the time we licked de gras, Munchir Lorquois countrymen there. And the wind was here at the southward and eastward, and I was below mixing a toothful of hot stuff for the captain of marines, who dined, do you see, in the cabin that they're very same day. And I suppose he wanted to put out the captain's fire with a gun room engine. And so, just as I got it to my own liking, after tasting pretty often, for the soldier was difficult to please, slap came the forcell again the mast, whiz went the ship around on her heel like a whirligig. And a lucky thing was it that our helm was down. For as she gathered Sternway, she paid off, which was more than every ship in the fleet did, or could do. But she strained herself in the trough of the sea, and she shipped a deal of water over her quarter. I never swallowed so much clear water at a time in my life as I did then, for I was looking up the after-hatch at the instant. I wonder, Benjamin, that you did not die with the dropsy, said Marmaduke. I'm not, Judge, said the old tar with a broad grin. But there was no need of the medicine-chest for a cure, for as I thought the brew was spoiled for the marines' taste, and there was no telling when another sea might come and spoil it for mine. I finished the mug on the spot. So then all hands was called to the pumps, and there we began to ply the pumps. Well, but the weather interrupted Marmaduke. What of the weather without doors? Why, here the wind has been all day at the south, and now there's a lull as if the last blast was out of the bellows, and there's a streak along the mountains to the north, that just now wasn't wider than the bigness of your hand, and then the clouds drive aforet as you'd brail a mainsail, and the stars are heaving in sight like so many lights and beacons, put there to warn us to pile on the wood. And, if so be, that I'm a judge of weather, it's getting to be time to build on a fire, or you'll have half of them there porter-bottles, and them dimmy-johns of wine in the locker here, breaking with the frost, afore the morning watch is called. Thou art a prudent sentinel, said the judge. Act thy pleasure with the forests for this night at feast. Benjamin did as he was ordered, nor had two hours elapsed before the prudence of his precautions became very visible. The south wind had, indeed, blown itself out, and it was succeeded by the calmness that usually gave warning of a serious change in the weather. Long before the family retired to rest, the cold had become cuttingly severe, and when Monsieur Lacroix sallied forth under a bright moon to seek his own abode, he was compelled to beg a blanket in which he might envelop his form, in addition to the numerous garments that his sagacity had provided for the occasion. The divine and his daughter remained as inmates of the mansion house during the night, and the excess of last night's merriment induced the gentlemen to make an early retreat to their several apartments. Long before midnight the whole family were invisible. Elizabeth and her friend had not yet lost their senses in sleep, and the howlings of the north-west wind were heard around the buildings, and brought with them that exquisite sense of comfort that is ever excited under such circumstances, in an apartment where the fire has not yet ceased to glimmer, and curtains and shutters and feathers unite to preserve the desired temperature. Once, just as her eyes had opened, apparently in the last stage of drowsiness the roaring winds brought with them a long and plaintive howl, that seemed too wild for a dog, and yet resembled the cries of that faithful animal, when night awakens his vigilance and gives sweetness and solemnity to its charms. The form of Louisa Grant instinctively pressed nearer to that of the young heiress, who, finding her companion was yet awake, said in a low tone, as if afraid to break a charm with her voice. Those distant cries are plaintive and even beautiful. Can they be the howls from the hut of leather-stocking? They are wolves who have ventured from the mountain on the lake, whispered Louisa, and who are only kept from the village by the lights. One night, since we have been here, hunger drove them to our very door. Oh, what a dreadful night it was! But the riches of Judge Temple have given him too many safeguards to leave room for fear in this house. The enterprise of Judge Temple is taming the very forests, exclaimed Elizabeth, throwing off her covering and partly rising in the bed. How rapidly is civilization treading on the foot of nature, she continued, as her eye glanced over not only the comforts but the luxuries of her apartment, and her ear again listened to the distant but often repeated howls from the lake. Finding, however, that the timidity of her companion rendered the sounds painful to her, Elizabeth resumed her place and soon forgot the changes in the country, with those in her own condition, in a deep sleep. The following morning, the noise of the female servant who entered the apartment to light the fire awoke the females. They arose, and finished the slight preparations of their toilets in a clear cold atmosphere that penetrated through all the defences of even Miss Temple's warm room. When Elizabeth was attired she approached a window and drew its curtain, and throwing open its shutters she endeavored to look abroad on the village and the lake. But a thick covering of frost on the glass, while it emitted the light shut out the view. She raised the sash, and then, indeed, a glorious scene met her delighted eye. The lake had exchanged its covering of unspotted snow for a face of dark ice that reflected the rays of the rising sun like a polished mirror. The houses clothed in a dress of the same description, but which, owing to its position, shone like bright steel. While the enormous icicles that were pendant from every roof caught the brilliant light, apparently throwing it from one to the other as each glittered on the side next to the luminary, with a golden luster that melted away, on its opposite, into the dusky shades of a background. But it was the appearance of the boundless forests that covered the hills as they rose in the distance, one over the other, that most attracted the gaze of Miss Temple. The huge branches of the pines and hemlocks bent with the weight of the ice they supported, while their summits rose above the swelling tops of the oaks, beaches, and maples, like spires of burnished silver issuing from domes of the same material. The limits of the view in the west were marked by an undulating outline of bright light, as if reversing the order of nature. Numberless suns might momentarily be expected to heave above the horizon. In the foreground of the picture, along the shores of the lake and near to the village, each tree seemed studded with diamonds. Even the sides of the mountains where the rays of the sun could not yet fall were decorated with a glassy coat that presented every gradation of brillancy, from the first touch of the luminary to the dark foliage of the hemlock, glistening through its coat of crystal. In short, the whole view was one scene of quivering radiancy, as lake, mountains, village, and woods each emitted a portion of light tinged with its peculiar hue, and varied by its position and its magnitude. See, cried Elizabeth, see, Louisa, hasten to the window and observe the miraculous change. Miss Grant complied, and after bending for a moment in silence from the opening, she observed in a low tone as if afraid to trust the sound of her voice. The change is indeed wonderful. I am surprised that he should be able to affect it so soon. Elizabeth turned in amazement to hear so skeptical a sentiment from one educated like her companion, but was surprised to find that, instead of looking at the view, the mild blue eyes of Miss Grant were dwelling on the form of a well-dressed young man who was standing before the door of the building in earnest conversation with her father. A second look was necessary before she was able to recognize the person of the young hunter in a plain but assuredly the ordinary garb of a gentleman. Everything in this magical country seems to border on the marvelous, said Elizabeth. And among all the changes this is certainly not the least wonderful. The actors are as unique as the scenery. Miss Grant colored and drew in her head. I am a simple country girl, Miss Temple, and I am afraid you will find me but a poor companion, she said. I am not sure that I understand all you say, but I really thought that you wished me to notice the alteration of Mr. Edwards. Is it not more wonderful when we recollect his origin? They say he is part Indian. He is a gentile savage. But let us go down, and give the sake of his tea, for I suppose he is a descendant of King Philip, if not a grandson of Pocahontas. The ladies were met in the hall by Judge Temple, who took his daughter aside to apprise her of that alteration in the appearance of their new inmate, with which she was already acquainted. He appears reluctant to converse on his former situation, continued Marmaduke, but I gathered from his discourse, as is apparent from his manner, that he has seen better days, and I am really inclining to the opinion of Richard as to his origin, for it was no unusual thing for the Indian agents to rear their children in a laudable manner, and— Very well, my dear sir, interrupted his daughter, laughing and averting her eyes. It is all well enough, I dare say, but as I do not understand a word of the Mohawk language he must be content to speak English, and as for his behavior I trust to your discernment to control it. I— But Bess, cried the judge, detaining her gently by the hand, nothing must be said to him of his past life. This he has begged particularly of me as a favour. He is, perhaps, a little sour just now with his wounded arm. The injury seems very light, at another time he may be more communicative. Oh, I am not much troubled, sir, with that laudable thirst after knowledge that is called curiosity. I shall believe him to be the child of corn-stock or corn-planter or some other renowned chieftain, possibly of the big snake himself, and shall treat him as such until he sees fit to shave his good-looking head, borrow some half-dozen pair of my best earrings, shoulder his rifle again, and disappear as suddenly as he made his entrance. So come, my dear sir, and let us not forget the rites of hospitality, for the short time he is to remain with us. Judge Temple smiled at the playfulness of his child, and taking her arm they entered the breakfast parlour, where the young hunter was seated with an heir that showed his determination to domesticate himself in the family with as little parade as possible. Such were the incidents that led to this extraordinary increase in the family of Judge Temple, where, having once established the youth, the subject of our tale requires us to leave him for a time, to pursue with diligence and intelligence the employments that were assigned him by Marmaduke. Major Hartmann made his customary visit, and took his leave of the party for the next three months. Mr. Grant was compelled to be absent most of his time in remote parts of the country, and his daughter became almost a constant visitor at the mansion house. Richard entered with his constitutional eagerness on the duties of his new office, and as Marmaduke was much employed with the constant applications of adventures for farms, the winter passed swiftly away. The lake was the principal scene for the amusements of the young people, where the ladies in their one-horse cutter, driven by Richard and attended when the snow would admit of it by young Edwards on his skates, spent many hours taking the benefit of exercise in the clear air of the hills. The reserve of the youth gradually gave way to time and his situation, though it was still evident to a close observer that he had frequent moments of bitter and intense feeling. Elizabeth saw many large openings appear in the sides of the mountains during the three succeeding months, where different settlers had in the language of the country made their pitch, while the numberless slays that passed through the village loaded with wheat and barrels of potashes afforded a clear demonstration that all these labors were not undertaken in vain. In short, the whole country was exhibiting the bustle of a thriving settlement, where the highways were thronged with slays bearing piles of rough household furniture studded here and there with the smiling faces of women and children, happy in the excitement of novelty, or with loads of produce hastening to the common market at Albany, that served as so many snares to induce the emigrants to enter into those wild mountains in search of competence and happiness. The village was alive with business, the artisans increasing in wealth with the prosperity of the country, and each day witnessing some nearer approach to the manners and usages of an old settled town. The man who carried the mail, or the post as he was called, talked much of running a stage, and once or twice during the winter he was seen taking a single passenger in his cutter through the snow banks toward the Mohawk, along which a regular vehicle glided semi-weekly with a velocity of lightning, and under the direction of a knowing whip from the downed countries. Towards spring diverse families who had been into the old states to see their relatives returned in time to save the snow, frequently bringing with them whole neighborhoods, who were tempted by their representations to leave the farms of Connecticut and Massachusetts to make a trial of fortune in the woods. During all this time Oliver Edwards, whose sudden elevation excited no surprise in that changeful country, was earnestly engaged in the service of Marmaduke during the days, but his nights were often spent in the hut of leather stocking. The intercourse between the three hunters was maintained with a certain air of mystery. It is true, but with much zeal and apparent interest to all the parties. Even Mohigans seldom came to the mansion house, and Natty never, but Edwards sought every leisure moment to visit his former abode from which he would often return in the gloomy hours of night through the snow, or if detained beyond the time at which the family retired to rest with the morning sun. These visits certainly excited much speculation in those to whom they were known, but no comments were made, excepting occasionally in whispers from Richard, who would say, It is not at all remarkable. A half-breed can never be weaned from the savage ways, and for one of his lineage the boy is much nearer civilisation than could in reason be expected. CHAPTER XX. OF THE PIONEERS. OR THE SOURCES OF THE SASSQUAHANA. A DESCRIPTIVE TALE. by James Fenimore Cooper. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. CHAPTER XX. AWAY. Nor let me loiter in my song, for we have many a mountain path to tread. Byron. As the spring gradually approached, the immense piles of snow that, by alternate thaws and frosts, and repeated storms, had obtained a firmness which threatened a tiresome durability began to yield to the influence of milder breezes and a warmer sun. The gates of heaven at times seemed to open, and a bland air diffused itself over the earth, when animate and inanimate nature would awaken, and for a few hours the gaiety of spring shone in every eye and smiled on every field. But the shivering blasts from the north would carry their chill influence over the scene again, and the dark and gloomy clouds that intercepted the rays of the sun were not more cold and dreary than the reaction. These struggles between the seasons became daily more frequent, while the earth, like a victim to contention, slowly lost the animated brilliancy of winter without obtaining the aspect of spring. Several weeks were consumed in this cheerless manner during which the inhabitants of the country gradually changed their pursuits from the social and bustling movements of the time of snow to the laborious and domestic engagements of the coming season. The village was no longer thronged with visitors. The trade that had enlivened the shops for several months began to disappear. The highways lost their shining coats of beaten snow and impassable slews, and were deserted by the gay and noisy travelers who, in sleighs, had, during the winter, glided along their windings. And in short, everything seemed indicative of a mighty change, not only in the earth, but in those who derived their sources of comfort and happiness from its bosom. The younger members of the family in the mansion house, of which Louisa Grant was now habitually one, were by no means indifferent observers of these fluctuating and tardy changes. While the snow rendered the roads passable, they had partaken largely in the amusements of the winter, which included not only daily rides over the mountains and through every valley within twenty miles of them, but diverse in genius and varied sources of pleasure on the bosom of their frozen lake. There had been excursions in the equipage of Richard, when with his four horses he had outstripped the winds as it flew over the glassy ice which invariably succeeded a thaw. Then the exciting and dangerous whirligig would be suffered to possess its moment of notice. Cutters, drawn by a single horse and hand sleds, impelled by the gentlemen on skates, would each in turn be used. And in short, every source of relief against the tediousness of a winter in the mountains was resorted to by the family. Elizabeth was compelled to acknowledge to her father that the season, with the aid of his library, was much less irksome than she had anticipated. As exercise in the open air was in some degree necessary to the habits of the family, when the constant recurrence of frosts and thaws rendered the roads which were dangerous at the most favourable times, utterly impassable for wheels, saddle horses were used as substitutes for other conveyances. Mounted on small and sure-footed beasts the ladies would again attempt the passages of the mountains and penetrate into every retired glen where the enterprise of a settler had induced him to establish himself. In these excursions they were attended by some one or all of the gentlemen of the family, as their different pursuits admitted. Young Edwards was hourly becoming more familiarized to his situation and not infrequently mingled in the parties with an unconcern and gaiety that for a short time would expel all unpleasant recollections from his mind. Habit and the buoyancy of youth seemed to be getting the ascendancy over the secret causes of his uneasiness, though there were moments when the same remarkable expression of disgust would cross his intercourse with Mamadouk that had distinguished their conversations in the first days of their acquaintance. It was at the close of the month of March that the sheriff succeeded in persuading his cousin and her young friend to accompany him on a ride to a hill that was said to overhang the lake in a manner peculiar to itself. Besides, cousin Bess continued the indefatigable, Richard, we will stop and see the sugar-bush of Billy Kirby. He is on the east end of the ransom lot, making sugar for Jared Ransom. There is not a better hand over a kettle in the county than that same Kirby. You remember Duke that I had him his first season in our camp, and it is not a wonder that he knows something of his trade. He's a good chopper, is Billy, observed Benjamin, who held the bridle of the horse while the sheriff mounted. And he handles an axe much the same as a forkle-someone does his marling-spike, or a tailor his goose. They say he'll lift a pot-hash kettle off the arch alone, though I can't say that I've ever seen him do it with my own eyes. But that is to say. And I've seen sugar of his making, which maybe wasn't as white as an old top-gallon sale, but which my friend Mistress Pettibone's, within there, said, had the true molasses smacked to it. And you are not the one, Squire Dickens, to be told that Mistress Remarkable has a remarkable tooth for sweet things in her nut grinder. The loud laugh that succeeded the wit of Benjamin and in which he participated with no very harmonious sounds himself, very fully illustrated the congenial temper which existed between the pair. Most of its point was, however, lost on the rest of the party, who were either mounting their horses or assisting the ladies at the moment. When all were safely in their saddles, they moved through the village in great order. They paused for a moment before the door of Monsieur Le Quoi, until he could be stride his steed, and then issuing from the little cluster of houses they took one of the principle of those highways that centered in the village. As each night brought with it a severe frost, which the heat of the succeeding day served to dissipate, the equestrians were compelled to proceed singly along the margin of the road, where the turf and firmness of the ground gave the horses a secure footing. Very trifling indications of vegetation were to be seen, the surface of the earth presenting a cold, wet, and cheerless aspect that chilled the blood. The snow yet lay scattered over most of those distant clearings that were visible in different parts of the mountains, though here and there an opening might be seen where, as the white covering yielded to the season, the bright and lively green of the wheat served to encindle the hopes of the husbandmen. Nothing could be more marked than the contrast between the earth and the heavens, for, while the former presented the dreary view that we have described, a warm and invigorating sun was dispensing his heats from a sky that contained but a solitary cloud, and through an atmosphere that softened the colors of the sensible horizon until it shone like a sea of blue. Richard led the way on this, as on all other occasions that did not require the exercise of unusual abilities, and as he moved along he assayed to enliven the party with the sounds of his experienced voice. This is your true sugar weather, Duke, he cried, a frosty night and a sunshiney day. I warrant me that the sap runs like a mill-tail up the maples this warm morning. It is a pity, Judge, that you do not introduce a little more science into the manufacturing of sugar among your tenants. It might be done, sir, without knowing as much as Dr. Franklin. It might be done, Judge Temple. The first object of my solicitude, friend Jones, returned Marma Duke, is to protect the sources of this great mine of comfort and wealth from the extravagance of the people themselves. When this important point shall be achieved, it will be in season to turn our attention to an improvement in the manufacture of the article. But thou knowest, Richard, that I have already subjected our sugar to the process of the refiner, and that the result has produced loaves as white as the snow on yon fields, and possessing the saccharine quality in its utmost purity. Saccharine or turpentine, or any other iron, Judge Temple, you have never made a loaf larger than a good-sized sugar-plum. Returned the Sheriff. Now, sir, I assert that no experiment is fairly tried, until it be reduced to practical purposes. If, sir, I owned a hundred, or for that matter, two hundred thousand acres of land, as you do, I would build a sugar-house in the village. I would invite learned men to an investigation of the subject. And such are easily to be found, sir. Yes, sir, they are not difficult to find. Men who unite theory with practice. And I would select a wood of young and thrifty trees, and instead of making loaves of the size of a lump of candy, damn me, Duke, but I'd have them as big as a haycock. And purchase the cargo of one of those ships that they say are going to China, cried Elizabeth. Turn your potash kettles into tea cups, the scows on the lake into saucers, bake your cake in yonder lime kiln, and invite the county to a tea-party. How wonderful are the projects of genius. Really, sir, the world is of opinion that Judge Temple has tried the experiment fairly, though he did not cause his loaves to be cast in molds of the magnitude that would suit your magnificent conceptions. You may laugh, Cousin Elizabeth. You may laugh, Madame, retorted Richard, turning himself so much in his saddle as to face the party, and making dignified gestures with his whip. But I appeal to common sense, good sense, or what is of more importance than either to the sense of taste, which is one of the five natural senses. Whether a big loaf of sugar is not likely to contain a better illustration of a proposition than such a lump as one of your Dutch women puts under her tongue when she drinks her tea. There are two ways of doing everything, the right way and the wrong way. You make sugar now, I will admit, and you may possibly make loaf sugar. But I take the question to be whether you make the best possible sugar and in the best possible loaves. Thou art very right, Richard, observed Mammerduke with a gravity in his air that proved how much he was interested in the subject. It is very true that we manufacture sugar, and the inquiry is quite useful. How much, and in what manner. I hope to live to see the day when farms and plantations shall be devoted to this branch of business, little is known concerning the properties of the tree itself, the source of all this wealth, how much it may be improved by cultivation, by the use of the hoe and plow. Ho and plow, word the sheriff, would you set a man hoeing around the root of a maple like this, pointing to one of the noble trees that occur so frequently in that part of the country? Hoeing trees, are you mad, Duke? This is next to hunting for coal. Po, po, my dear cousin, hear reason, and leave the management of the sugar-bush to me. Here is Mr. Lequoy. He has been in the West Indies, and has seen sugar made. Let him give an account of how it is made there, and you will hear the philosophy of the thing. Well, monsieur, how is it that you make sugar in the West Indies? Anything in Judge Temple's fashion? The gentleman to whom this quarry was put was mounted on a small horse of no very fiery temperament, and was riding with his stirrups so short as to bring his knees, while the animal rose a small ascent in the woodpath they were now traveling, into a somewhat hazardous vicinity to his chin. There was no room for gesticulation or grace in the delivery of his reply, for the mountain was steep and slippery, and although the Frenchman had an eye of uncommon magnitude on either side of his face, they did not seem to be half competent to forewarn him of the impediments of bushes, twigs, and fallen trees that were momentarily crossing his path. With one hand employed in averting these dangers, and the other grasping his bridle to check an untoward speed that his horse was assuming, the native of France responded as follows. Sucre. They do make sucre in martinique, mais, mais, ce n'est pas one-tree, ah, ah, that you call, je vous dois qu'est-ce que je me pense au diable, but you call, stique pour la promenade? Cain, said Elisabeth, smiling at the imprecation which the wary Frenchman supposed was understood only by himself. We, Mamzell, Cain. Yes, yes, cried Richard. Cain is the vulgar name for it, but the real term is sacram aficinarum, and what we call the sugar, or hard maple, is acer sacranum. These are the learned names, monsieur, and are such as doubtless you well understand. Is this Greek or Latin, Mr. Edwards, whispered Elisabeth to the youth, who was opening a passage for herself and her companions through the bushes? Or perhaps it is a still more learned language, for an interpretation of which we must look to you. The dark eye of the young man glanced toward the speaker, but its resentful expression changed in a moment. I shall remember your doubts, Miss Temple, when next I visit my old friend Mohegan, and either his skill or that of leather stocking shall solve them. And are you then really ignorant of their language? Not absolutely, but the deep learning of Mr. Jones is more familiar to me, or even the polite masquerade of Mr. Lecroy. Do you speak French, said the lady, with quickness? It is a common language with the Iroquois, and through the Canada's, he answered, smiling. Ah, but they are mingos, and your enemies. It will be well for me if I have no worse, said the youth dashing ahead with his horse and putting an end to the evasive dialogue. The discourse, however, was maintained with great vigor by Richard until they reached an open wood on the summit of the mountain, where the hemlocks and pines totally disappeared, and a grove of the very trees that formed the subject of debate covered the earth with their tall, straight trunks and spreading branches in stately pride. The underwood had been entirely removed from this grove, or bush, as in conjunction with the simple arrangements for boiling it was called, and a wide space of many acres was cleared which might be likened to the dome of a mighty temple, to which the maples formed the columns, their tops composing the capitals and the heavens the arch. A deep and careless incision had been made into each tree near its root into which little spouts formed of the bark of the alder or of the sumac were fastened, and a trough, roughly dug out of the linden or basswood was lying at the root of each tree to catch the sap that flowed from this extremely wasteful and inartificial arrangement. The party paused a moment on gaining the flat to breathe their horses, and as the seam was entirely new to several of their number to view the manner of collecting the fluid, a fine, powerful voice aroused them from their momentary silence as it rang under the branches of the trees, singing the following words of that inimitable doggerel, whose verses, if extended, would reach from the caters of the Connecticut to the shores of Ontario. The tune was, of course, a familiar air, which, although it is said to have been first applied to this nation in derision, circumstances have since rendered so glorious that no American ever hears its jingling cadence without feeling a thrill at his heart. The eastern states be full of men, the western full of wood, sir, the hill be like a cattle pen, the roads be full of goods, sir, then flow away my sweety sap, and I will make you boyly. Nor catch a woodman's hasty nap, for fear you should get royally. The maple tree's a precious one, tis few will food and timber, and when your stiff day's work is done, its juice will make you limber. Then flow away my sweety sap, and I will make you boyly. Nor catch a woodman's hasty nap, for fear you should get royally. And what's a man without his glass, his wife without her tea, sir? But neither cup nor mug will pass without his honey bee, sir. Then flow away my sweety sap, and I will make you boyly. Nor catch a woodman's hasty nap, for fear you should get royally. During the execution of this sonorous doggerel, Richard kept time with his whip on the mane of his charger, accompanying the gestures with a corresponding movement of his head and body. Toward the close of the song he was overheard humming the chorus, and at its last repetition to strike in at sweety sap, and carry a second through with a prodigious addition to the effect of the noise if not to that of the harmony. Well done us, roared the sheriff on the same key with the tune. A very good song, Billy Kirby, and very well sung. Where got you the words, lad? Is there more of it, and can you furnish me with a copy? The sugar-boiler, who was busy in his camp at a short distance from the equestrians, turned his head with great indifference and surveyed the party, as they approached, with admirable coolness. To each individual as he or she rode close by him he gave a nod that was extremely good-natured and affable, but which part took largely of the virtue of equality, for not even to the ladies did he in the least vary his mode of salutation, by touching the apology for a hat that he wore, or by any other motion than the one we have mentioned. How goes it, how goes it, Sheriff? said the woodchaper. What's the good word in the village? Why, much as usual, Billy, returned Richard. But how is this? Where are your four kettles, and your troughs, and your iron coolers? Do you make sugar in this slovenly way? I thought you were one of the best sugar-boilers in the county. I'm all that, Squire Jones, said Kirby, who continued his occupation. I'll turn my back to no man in the Atsiko hills for chopping and logging, for boiling down the maple sap, for tending brick kiln, splitting out rails, making potash, and parling, too, or hoeing corn, though I keep myself pretty much to the first business, seeing that the axe comes most natural to me. You be von Jack all trade, Mr. Bill, said Mr. Likwai. How, said Kirby, looking up with the simplicity which coupled with his gigantic frame and manly face was a little ridiculous. If you be for trade, Monshure, here is some as good sugar as you'll find the season through. It's as clear from dirt as the jammin' flats is free from stumps, and it has the rail, maple flavor. Such stuff would sell in York for candy. The Frenchman approached the place where Kirby had deposited his cake of sugar under the cover of a bark roof, and commenced the examination of the article with the eye of one who well understood its value. Marmaduke had dismounted, and was viewing the works and the trees very closely, and not without frequent expressions of dissatisfaction at the careless manner in which the manufacture was conducted. You have much experience in these things, Kirby, he said. What course do you pursue in making your sugar? I see you have but two kettles. Two is as good as two thousand, Judge. I'm none of your polite sugar-makers that boils for the great folks. But if the rail, sweet maple is wanted, I can answer your turn. First I choose, and then I tap my trees. Say along about the last of February, or in these mountains maybe not before the middle of March. But anyway, just as the sap begins to cleverly run. Well, in this choice, interrupted Marmaduke, are you governed by any outward signs that prove the quality of the tree? Why, there's judgment in all things, said Kirby, stirring the liquor in his kettles briskly. There's something in knowing when and how to stir the pot. It's a thing that must be learned. Rome wasn't built in a day, nor for that matter Templeton either, though it may be said to be a quick growing place. I never put my axe into a stunty tree, or one that hasn't a good, fresh-looking bark, for trees have disorders like creatures. And where's the policy of taking a tree that's sickly any more than you'd choose a founded horse to ride post, or an overheated ox to do your logging? All that is true. But what are the signs of illness? How do you distinguish a tree that is well from one that is diseased? How does the doctor tell who has fever and who colds, interrupted Richard, by examining the skin and feeling the pulse to be sure? Sarton, continued Billy, the squire ain't far out of the way. It's by the look of the thing, sure enough. Well, when the sap begins to get a free run I hang over the kettles and set up the bush. My first boiling I push pretty smartly till I get the virtue of the sap. But when it begins to grow of a molasses nature, like this one in the kettle, one mustn't drive the fires too hard or you'll burn the sugar. And burning sugar is bad to the taste, let it be never so sweet. So you ladle out from one kettle into the other till it gets so. When you put the stirring stick into it, then it will draw into a thread, when it takes a careful hand to manage it. There is a way to drain it off after it has grained, by putting clay into the pans. But it isn't always practiced. Some do's and some do'sn't. Well, moon sure, be we likely to make a trade? I will give you, Mr. Ethel, for a one pound. De-su. No, I expect cash for it. I never dicker my sugar. But seeing that it's human sure, said Billy with a coaxing smile, I'll agree to receive a gallon of rum and cloth enough for two shirts if you'll take the molasses in the bargain. It's real good. I wouldn't deceive you or any man, and to my drinking it's about the best molasses that come out of a sugar-bush. Mr. Lecroy has offered you ten pence, said young Edwards. The manufacturer stared at the speaker with an air of great freedom, but made no reply. We, said the Frenchman, ten penny. Je vais r'en assis, monsieur, à, mon anglois, je l'oublie toujours. The woodchopper looked from one to the other with some displeasure, and evidently imbibed the opinion that they were amusing themselves at his expense. He seized the enormous ladle, which was lying on one of his kettles, and began to stir the boiling liquid with great diligence. After a moment passed in dipping the ladle full, and then raising it on high, as the thick, rich fluid fell back into the kettle, he suddenly gave it a whirl, as if to cool what yet remained, and offered the bowl to Mr. Lecroy, saying, Taste that, monsieur, and you will say it is worth more than you offer. The molasses itself would fetch the money. The complacent Frenchman, after several timid efforts to trust his lips in contact with the bowl of the ladle, got a good swallow of the scalding liquid. He clapped his hands on his breast, and looked most piteously at the ladies for a single instant, and then to use the language of Billy when he afterward recounted the tale, No drumsticks ever went faster on the skin of a sheep than the Frenchman's legs for a round or two. And then such swearing and spitting in French you never saw. But it's a knowing one from the old countries that thinks to get his jokes smoothly over a woodchapper. The air of innocence with which Kirby resumed the occupation of stirring the contents of his kettles would have completely deceived the spectators as to his agency in the temporary sufferings of Mr. Lecroy. Had not the reckless fellow thrust his tongue into his cheek, and cast his eyes over the party with the simplicity of expression that was too exquisite to be natural. Mr. Lecroy soon recovered his presence of mind and his decorum. And he briefly apologized to the ladies for one or two very intemperate expressions that had escaped him in a moment of extraordinary excitement, and remounting his horse he continued in the background during the remainder of the visit, the wit of Kirby putting a violent termination at once to all negotiations on the subject of trade. During all this time Marmaduke had been wandering about the Grove, making observations on his favorite trees, and the wasteful manner in which the woodchapper conducted his manufacture. It grieves me to witness the extravagance that pervades this country, said the judge, where the settlers trifle with the blessings they might enjoy with the prodigality of successful adventurers. You are not exempt from the censure yourself, Kirby, for you make dreadful wounds in these trees where a small incision would effect the same object. I earnestly beg you will remember that they are the growth of centuries, and when once gone, none living will see their loss remedied. Why, I don't know, Judge, return the man, he addressed. It seems to me, if there's plenty of anything in this mountainous country, it's the trees. If there's any sin in chopping them, I have a pretty heavy account to settle, for I've chopped over the best half of a thousand acres with my own hands, counting both Vermont and York States, and I hope to live to finish the wool. Before I lay up my axe, chopping comes quite natural to me, and I wish no other employment. But Jared Ransom said that he thought the sugar was likely to be scarce this season, seeing that so many folks was coming into the settlement, and so I concluded to take the bush on shears for this one spring. What's the best news, Judge, concerning ashes? Do pots hold so that a man can live by them still? I suppose they will, if they keep on fighting across the water. Thou reasonous with judgment, William, returned Mamadouk, so long as the old worm is to be convulsed with wars, so long with the harvest of America continue. Well, it's an ill-win, Judge, that blows nobody any good. I'm sure the country is in a thriving way, and though I know you calculate greatly on the trees, setting as much store by them as some men would by their children, yet to my eyes they are a source site any time unless I'm privileged to work my will on them. In which case I can't say but they are more to my liking. I have heard the settlers from the old country say that their rich men keep great oaks and elms that would make a barrel of pots to the tree, standing round their doors in homesteads and scattered over their farms just to look at. Now I call no country much improved that is pretty well covered with trees. Stumps are a different thing, for they don't shade the land, and besides you dig them they make a fence that will turn anything bigger than a hog, being grand for breechy cattle. Opinions on such subjects very much in different countries, said Marmaduke, but it is not as ornaments that I value the noble trees of this country. It is for their usefulness. We are stripping the forests, as if a single year would replace what we destroy. But the hour approaches when the laws will take notice of not only the woods but the game they contain also. With this consoling reflection Marmaduke remounted, and the equestrians passed the sugar camp on their way to the promised landscape of Richard. The woodchopper was left alone in the bosom of the forest to pursue his labors. Elizabeth turned her head when they reached the point where they were to descend the mountain, and thought that the slow fires that were glimmering under his enormous kettles, his little brush shelter covered with pieces of hemlock bark, his gigantic size as he wielded his ladle with a steady and knowing air, aided by the background of stately trees with their spouts and troughs, formed, altogether, no unreal picture of human life in its first stages of civilization. Perhaps whatever the scene possessed of a romantic character was not injured by the powerful tones of Kirby's voice ringing through the woods as he again awoke his strains to another tune, which was but little more scientific than the former. All that she understood of the words were, and when the proud forest is falling, to my oxen cheerfully calling, for morn until night I am bawling, woe back there, and haw and gee, till our labor is mutually ended, by my strength and cattle befriended, and against the mosquitoes defended by the bark of the walnut trees. Away, then you lads who would buy land. Choose the oak that grows on the high land, or the silvery pine on the dry land, it matters but little to me. CHAPTER XXI SPEED, MALIZ, SPEED! Such cause of haste, thine act of sinews never braced! Scott. The roads of Otsigo, if we accept the principal highways, were at the early day of our tale, but little better than wood paths. The high trees that were growing on the very verge of the wheel tracks excluded the sun's rays, unless at Meridian. And the slowness of the evaporation, united with the rich mold of vegetable decomposition that covered the whole country to the depth of several inches, occasioned but an indifferent foundation for the footing of travelers. Added to these were the inequalities of a natural surface, and the constant recurrence of enormous and slippery roots that were laid bare by the removal of the light soil, together with stumps of trees, to make a passage not only difficult, but dangerous. Yet the riders among these numerous obstructions which were such as would terrify an unpracticed eye, gave no demonstrations of uneasiness as their horses toiled through the slews, or trotted with uncertain paces along the dark route. In many places the marks on the trees were the only indications of a road, with perhaps an occasional remnant of a pine that, by being cut close to the earth, so as to leave nothing visible but its base of roots, spreading for twenty feet in every direction, was apparently placed there, as a beacon to warn the traveler that it was the center of a highway. Into one of these roads the active sheriff led the way, first striking out of the footpath by which they had descended from the sugar bush across a little bridge, formed of round logs laid loosely on sleepers of pine, in which large openings of a formidable width frequent. The nag of Richard, when it reached one of these gaps, laid its nose along the logs and stepped across the difficult passage with the sagacity of a man. But the blooded filly which Miss Temple rode disdained so humble a movement. She made a step or two with an unusual caution, and then, on reaching the broadest opening, obedient to the curt and whip of her fearless mistress, she bounded across the dangerous pass with the activity of a squirrel. Gently, gently my child, said Mamadouk, who was following in the manner of Richard. This is not a country for equestrian feats. Much prudence is requisite to journey through our rough paths with safety, thou mayest practice thy skill in horsemanship on the plains of New Jersey with safety, but in the hills of Otsego they may be suspended for a time. I may as well then relinquish my saddle at once, dear sir, returned his daughter, for if it is to be laid aside until this wild country be improved, old age will overtake me, and put an end to what you term my equestrian feats. Say not so, my child, returned her father, but if thou venturist again as in crossing this bridge, old age will never overtake thee, but I shall be left to mourn thee, cut off in thy prime, my Elizabeth. If thou hast seen this district of country as I did when it lay in the sleep of nature, and had witnessed its rapid changes as it awoke to supply the wants of man, thou wouldst curb thy impatience for a little time, though thou shouldst not check thy steed. I recollect hearing you speak of your first visit to these woods, but the impression is faint, and blended with the confused images of childhood. Wild and unsettled as it may yet seem, it must have been a thousand times more dreary then. Will you repeat, dear sir, what you then thought of your enterprise, and what you felt? During this speech of Elizabeth which was uttered with the fervor of affection, young Edwards rode more closely to the side of the judge, and bent his dark eyes on his countenance, with an expression that seemed to read his thoughts. Thou wast then young, my child, but must remember when I left thee and thy mother to take my first survey of these uninhabited mountains, said Mama Duke. But thou dost not feel all the secret motives that can urge a man to endure privations in order to accumulate wealth. In my case they have not been trifling, and God has been pleased to smile on my efforts. If I have encountered pain, famine, and disease in accomplishing the settlement of this rough territory, I have not the misery of failure to add to the grievances. Famine, echoed Elizabeth, I thought this was the land of abundance. Had you famine to contend with? Even so, my child, said her father. Those who look around them now and see the loads of produce that issue out of every wild path in these mountains during the season of traveling, will hardly credit that no more than five years have elapsed since the tenants of these woods were compelled to eat the scanty fruits of the forest to sustain life, and with their unpracticed skill to hunt the beasts as food for their starving families. I cried Richard, who happened to overhear the last of this speech between the notes of the woodchoppers' song, which he was endeavouring to breathe aloud. That was the starving time, cousin Bass. Author's insertion. The author has no better apology for interrupting the interest of a work of fiction by these desultory dialogues than that they have reference to facts. In reviewing his work, after so many years, he has compelled to confess it is injured by too many allusions to incidents that are not at all suited to satisfy the just expectations of the general reader. One of these events is slightly touched on in the commencement of this chapter. End. Author's insertion. I grew as lank as a weasel that fall, and my face was as pale as one of your fever and ague visages. Monsieur Lecroy there fell away like a pumpkin and drying, nor do I think you have got fairly over it yet, monsieur. Benjamin, I thought, bore it with a worse grace than any of the family, for he swore it was harder to endure than a short allowance in the calm latitudes. Benjamin is a sad fellow to swear if you starve him ever so little. I had half a mind to quit you then, Duke, and to go into Pennsylvania to fatten. But damn it thinks I, we are sisters' children, and I will live or die with him after all. More than thirty years since a very near and dear relative of the writer, an elder sister and a second mother, was killed by a fall from a horse in a ride among the very mountains mentioned in this tale. Few of her sex and years were more extensively known or more universally beloved than the admirable woman who thus fell a victim to the chances of the wilderness. I do not forget thy kindness, said Marmer Duke, nor that we are of one blood. But my dear father cried the wondering Elizabeth, was there actual suffering? Where were the beautiful and fertile veils of the Mohawk? Could they not furnish food for your wants? It was a season of scarcity. The necessities of life commanded a high price in Europe, and were greedily sought after by the speculators. The immigrants from the east to the west invariably passed along the valley of the Mohawk, and swept away the means of subsistence like a swarm of locusts, nor were the people on the flats in a much better condition. They were in want themselves, but they spared the little excess of provisions that nature did not absolutely require, with the justice of the German character. There was no grinding of the poor. The word speculator was then unknown to them. I have seen many a stout man bending out of the load of the bag of meal which he was carrying from the mills of the Mohawk through the rugged passes of these mountains to feed his half famished children, with a heart so light as he approached his hut that the thirty miles he had passed seemed nothing. Remember, my child, it was in our very infancy. We had neither mills, nor grain, nor roads, nor often clearings. We had nothing of increase but the miles that were to be fed. For even at that inauspicious moment the restless spirit of emigration was not idle. Nay, the general scarcity which extended to the east, tended to increase the number of adventurers. And how, dearest father, didst thou encounter this dreadful evil? said Elizabeth, unconsciously adopting the dialect of her parent in the warmth of her sympathy, upon thee must have fallen the responsibility if not the suffering. It did, Elizabeth, returned the judge, pausing for a single moment as if musing on his former feelings. I had hundreds at that dreadful time daily looking up to me for bread. The sufferings of their families and the gloomy prospect before them had paralyzed the enterprise and efforts of my settlers. Hunger drove them to the woods for food, but despair sent them at night and feebled in one to a sleepless pillow. It was not a moment for inaction. I purchased cargos of wheat from the granaries of Pennsylvania. They were landed at Albany and brought up the Mohawk in boats. From thence it was transported on pack horses into the wilderness and distributed among my people. Sains were made, and the lakes and rivers were dragged for fish. Something like a miracle was wrought in our favor, for enormous shoals of herrings were discovered to have wandered five hundred miles through the windings of the impetuous Susquehanna. And the lake was alive with their numbers. These were at length caught and dealt out to the people with proper portions of salt, and from that moment we again began to prosper. Author's Insertion. All this was literally true. End Author's Insertion. Yes, cried Richard. And I was the man who served out the fish and salt. When the poor devils came to receive their rations, Benjamin, who was my deputy, was obliged to keep them off by stretching ropes around me, for they smelt so of garlic from eating nothing but the wild onion, that the fumes put me out often in my measurement. You were a child then, Bess, and knew nothing of the matter, for great care was observed to keep both you and your mother from suffering. That year put me back dreadfully, both in the breed of my hogs and of my turkeys. No, Bess, cried the judge in a more cheerful tone, disregarding the interruption of his cousin. He who hears the settlement of a country knows but little of the toil and suffering by which it is accomplished. Unimproved and wild as this district now seems to your eyes, what was it when I first entered the hills? I left my party, the morning of my arrival near the farms of the Cherry Valley, and following a deer path, rode to the summit of the mountain that I have since called Mount Vision. For the sight that there met my eye seemed to me as the deceptions of a dream. The fire had run over the pinnacle, and in a great measure laid open the view. The leaves were fallen, and I mounted a tree and sat for an hour looking on the silent wilderness. Not an opening was to be seen in the boundless forest except where the lake lay, like a mirror of glass. The water was covered by myriads of the wildfowl that migrate with the changes in the season. And while in my situation on the branch of the beach, I saw a bear with their cubs descend to the shore to drink. I had met many deer gliding through the woods in my journey, but not the vestige of a man could I trace during my progress, nor from my elevated observatory. No clearing, no hot, none of the winding roads that are now to be seen were there. Nothing but mountains rising behind mountains, and the valley with its surface of branches and livened here and there with the faded foliage of some tree that pouted from its leaves with more than ordinary reluctance. Even the Susquehanna was then hid by the height and density of the forest. And were you alone, asked Elizabeth, past you the night in that solitary state? Not so much, child. Returned the father. After musing on the scene for an hour with a mingled feeling of pleasure and desolation, I left my perch and descended the mountain. My horse was left to browse on the twigs that grew within his reach while I explored the shores of the lake and the spot where Templeton stands. A pine of more than ordinary growth stood where my dwelling is now placed. A windrow had been opened through the trees from fence to the lake, and my view was but little impeded. Under the branches of that tree I made my solitary dinner. I had just finished my repast, as I saw smoke curling from under the mountain, near the eastern bank of the lake. It was the only indication of the vicinity of man that I had then seen. After much toil I made my way to the spot, and found a rough cabin of logs, built against the foot of a rock, and bearing the marks of a tenet, though I found no one within it. It was the hut of leather stocking, said Edwards quickly. It was, though I at first supposed it to be a habitation of Indians, but while I was lingering around the spot, Natty made his appearance, staggering under the carcass of a buck that he had slain. Our acquaintance commenced at that time. Before I had never heard that such a being teneted the woods. He launched his bark canoe and set me across the foot of the lake to the place where I had fastened my horse, and pointed out a spot where he might get a scanty browsing until the morning, when I returned and passed the night in the cabin of the hunter. Miss Temple was so much struck by the deep attention of young Edwards during this speech that she forgot to resume her interrogations, but the youth himself continued the discourse by asking, And how did the leather stocking discharge the duties of a host, sir? Why, simply but kindly, until late in the evening, when he discovered my name and object, and the cordiality of his manner very sensibly diminished, or I might better say, disappeared. He considered the introduction of the settlers as an innovation on his rights. I believe for he expressed much dissatisfaction at the measure, though it was in his confused and ambiguous manner. I hardly understood his objections myself, but suppose they referred chiefly to an interruption of the hunting. Had you then purchased the estate, or were you examining it with an intent to buy? asked Edwards a little abruptly. It had been mine for several years. It was with a view to people the land that I visited the lake. Natty treated me hospitably, but coldly, I thought, after he learned the nature of my journey. I slept on his own bare skin, however, and in the morning joined my surveyors again. Said he nothing of the Indian rights, sir? The leather stocking is much given to impeach the justice of the tenure by which the Whites hold the country. I remember that he spoke of them, but I did not nearly comprehend him, and may have forgotten what he said. For the Indian title was extinguished so far back as the close of the old war, and if it had not been at all, I hold under the patents of the royal governors confirmed by an act of our own state legislature, and no court in the country can affect my title. Doubtless, sir, your title is both legal and equitable, returned the youth coldly, reigning his horseback, and remaining silent till the subject was changed. It was seldom Mr. Jones suffered any conversation to continue for a great length of time without his participation. It seems that he was of the party the Judge Temple had designated as his surveyors, and he embraced the opportunity of the pause that succeeded the retreat of young Edwards to take up the discourse and with a narration of their further proceedings after his own manner. As it wanted, however, the interests that had accompanied the description of the Judge, we must decline the task of committing his sentences to paper. They soon reached the point where the promised view was to be seen. It was one of those picturesque and peculiar scenes that belonged to the atsigo, but which required the absence of the ice and the softness of a summer's landscape to be enjoyed in all its beauty. Marmaduke had early forewarned his daughter of the season, and of its effect on the prospect, and after casting a cursory glance at its capabilities, the party returned homeward, perfectly satisfied that its beauties would repay them for the toil of a second ride at a more propitious season. The spring is the gloomy time of the American year, said the Judge, and it is more peculiarly the case in these mountains. The winter seems to retreat to the fastnesses of the hills, as to the citadel of its dominion, and is only expelled after a tedious siege, in which either party, at times, would seem to be gaining the victory. A very just and apposite figure, Judge Tempel, observed the sheriff, and the garrison under the command of Jack Frost make formidable sorties. You understand what I mean by sorties, monsieur, sallies in English, and sometimes drive General Spring and his troops back again into the Low Countries. Yes, sir, returned the Frenchman, whose prominent eyes were watching the precarious footsteps of the beasty road, as it picked its dangerous way among the roots of trees, holes, log-bridges, and slews that formed the aggregate of the highway. Je vous entends. De l'eau country is freeze up for half-day year. The error of Mr. Lacouais was not noticed by the sheriff, and the rest of the party were yielding to the influence of the changeful season, which was already teaching the equestrians that a continuance of its mildness was not to be expected for any length of time. Silence and thoughtfulness succeeded the gaiety and conversation that had prevailed during the commencement of the ride, as clouds began to gather about the heavens, apparently collecting from every quarter, in quick motion, without the agency of a breath of air. While riding over one of the clear eminences that occurred in their route, the watchful eye of Judge Temple pointed out to his daughter the approach of a tempest. Flurries of snow already obscured the mountain that formed the northern boundary of the lake, and the genial sensation which had quickened the blood through their veins was already succeeded by the deadening influence of an approaching northwester. All of the party were now busily engaged in making the best of their way to the village, though the badness of the roads frequently compelled them to check the impatience of their animals, which often carried them over places that would not admit of any gait faster than a walk. Richard continued in advance, followed by Mr. Laquoy, next to whom wrote Elizabeth, who seemed to have imbibed the distance which pervaded the manner of young Edwards since the termination of the discourse between the latter and her father. Marmaduke followed his daughter, giving her frequent and tender warnings as to the management of her horse. It was possibly the evident dependence that Louisa Grant placed on his assistance, which induced the youth to continue by her side as they pursued their way through a dreary and dark wood, where the rays of the sun could but rarely penetrate, and where even the daylight was obscured and rendered gloomy by the deep forests that surrounded them. No wind had yet reached the spot where the equestrians were in motion, but that dead silence that often precedes a storm contributed to render their situation more irksome than if they were already subject to the fury of the tempest. Suddenly the voice of young Edwards was heard shouting in those appalling tones that carry alarm to the very soul, and which curdled the blood of those that hear them. A tree, a tree, whip spur for your lives, a tree, a tree, a tree, a tree, echoed Richard, giving his horse a blow that caused the alarmed beast to jump nearly a ride, throwing the mud and water into the air like a hurricane. Vantrie, Vantrie, shouted the Frenchman, bending his body on the neck of his charger, shutting his eyes, and playing on the ribs of his beast with his heels at a rate that caused him to be conveyed on the crupper of the sheriff with a marvelous speed. Elizabeth checked her filly and looked up with an unconscious but alarmed air at the very cause of their danger, while she listened to the crackling sounds that awoke the stillness of the forest. But the next instant her ridlet was seized by her father who cried, God protect my child! and she felt herself hurried onward, impelled by the vigor of his nervous arm. Each one of the party bowed to his saddle-bows as the tearing of the branches was exceeded by a sound like the rushing of the winds, which was followed by a thundering report, and a shock that caused the very earth to tremble as one of the noblest ruins of the forest fell directly across their path. One glance was enough to assure Judge Temple that his daughter and those in front of him were safe, and he turned his eyes in dreadful anxiety to learn the fate of the others. Young Edwards was on the opposite side of the tree, his form thrown back in his saddle to its utmost distance, his left hand drawing up his bridle with its greatest force, while the right grasped that of misgranted so as to draw the head of her horse under its body. Both the animals stood shaking in every joint with terror, and snorting fearfully. Luisa herself had relinquished her reins, and with her hands pressed on her face sat bending forward in her saddle in an attitude of despair mingled strangely with resignation. Are you safe? cried the Judge, first breaking the awful silence of the moment. By God's blessing! returned the youth. But if there had been branches to the tree we must have been lost. He was interrupted by the figure of Luisa slowly yielding in her saddle, and but for his arm she would have sunk to the earth. Terror, however, was the only injury that the clergyman's daughter had sustained, and with the aid of Elizabeth she was soon restored to her senses. After some little time was lost in recovering her strength, the young lady was replaced in her saddle, and supported on either side by Judge Temple and Mr. Edwards she was unable to follow the party in their slow progress. The sudden fallings of the trees, said Marmaduke, are the most dangerous accidents in the forest, for they are not to be foreseen, being impelled by no winds, nor any extraneous or visible cause against which we can guard. Their reason for their falling, Judge Temple, is very obvious, said the sheriff. The tree is old and decayed, and it is gradually weakened by the frosts until a line drawn from the center of gravity falls without its base, and then the tree comes of a certainty. And I should like to know what greater compulsion there can be for anything than a mathematical certainty. I studied math very true, Richard, interrupted Marmaduke. Thy reasoning is true, and if my memory be not over treacherous, was furnished by myself on a former occasion. But how is one to guard against the danger? Canst thou go through the forests, measuring the bases, and calculating the centers of the oaks? Answer me that, friend Jones, and I will say thou wilt do the country a service. Answer thee that, friend, Temple, returned Richard. A well-educated man can answer thee anything, sir. Do any trees fall in this manner but such as are decayed? Take care not to approach the roots of a rotten tree, and you will be safe enough. That would be excluding us entirely from the forests, said Marmaduke. But happily the winds usually force down most of these dangerous ruins, as their currents are admitted into the woods by the surrounding clearings, and such a fall as this has been is very rare. Louisa by this time had recovered so much strength as to allow the party to proceed at a quicker pace. But long before they were safely housed they were overtaken by the storm, and when they dismounted at the door of the mansion house the black plumes of Miss Temple's hat were drooping with the weight of a load of damp snow, and the coats of the gentlemen were powdered with the same material. While Edwards was assisting Louisa from her horse, the warm-hearted girl caught his hand with fervor and whispered, Now, Mr. Edwards, both father and daughter owe their lives to you. A driving northwesterly storm succeeded, and before the sun was set every vestige of spring had vanished, the lake, the mountains, the village, and the fields being again hidden under one dazzling coat of snow. CHAPTER XXII Men, boys, and girls desert the unpeopled village, and wild crowds spread o'er the plain by the sweet frenzy driven. SUMMERVILLE From this time to the close of April the weather continued to be a succession of neat and rapid changes. One day the soft airs of spring seemed to be stealing along the valley, and in unison with an invigorating sun attempting covertly to rouse the dormant powers of the vegetable world, while on the next the surly blasts from the north would sweep across the lake and erase every impression left by their gentle adversaries. The snow, however, finally disappeared, and the green wheat fields were seen in every direction, spotted with the dark and charred stumps that had, the preceding season supported some of the proudest trees of the forest. Plows were in motion, wherever those useful implements could be used, and the smokes of the sugar camps were no longer seen issuing from the woods of Maple. The lake had lost the beauty of a field of ice, but still a dark and gloomy covering concealed its waters, for the absence of currents left them yet hidden under a porous crust, which, saturated with the fluid, barely retained enough strength to preserve the continuity of its parts. Large flocks of wild geese were seen passing over the country, which hovered for a time around the hidden sheet of water, apparently searching for a resting place, and then, on finding themselves excluded by the chill covering, would soar away to the north, filling the air with discordant screams, as if venting their complaints at the tardy operations of nature. For a week the dark covering of the outseagull was left to the undisturbed possession of two eagles, who were lighted on the center of its field and sat eyeing their undisputed territory. During the presence of these monarchs of the air, the flocks of migrating birds avoided crossing the plain of ice by turning into the hills, apparently seeking the protection of the forests, while the white and bald heads of the tenets of the lake were turned upward, with a look of contempt. But the time had come when even these kings of birds were to be dispossessed. An opening had been gradually increasing at the lower extremity of the lake, and around the dark spot where the current of the river prevented the formation of ice during even the coldest weather. And the fresh southerly winds that now breathed freely upon the valley made an impression on the waters. Mimic waves began to curl over the margin of the frozen field, which exhibited an outline of crystallizations that slowly receded toward the north. At each step the power of the winds and the waves increased, until after a struggle of a few hours the turbulent little billows succeeded in setting the whole field in motion, when it was driven beyond the reach of the eye, with a rapidity that was as magical as the change produced in the scene by this expulsion of the lingering remnant of winter. Just as the last sheet of agitated ice was disappearing in the distance the eagles rose and soared with a wide sweep above the clouds, while the waves tossed their little caps of snow in the air as if rioting in their release from a thralldom of five minutes duration. The following morning Elizabeth was awakened by the exhilarating sounds of the Martins, who were quarreling and chattering around the little boxes suspended above her windows, and the cries of Richard, who was calling in tones animating as signs of the season itself. Awake, awake, my fair lady! The gulls are hovering over the lake already, and the heavens are alive with pigeons. You may look an hour before you can find a hole through which to get a peep at the sun. Awake, awake, lazy ones! Benjamin is overhauling the ammunition, and we only wait for our breakfasts and a way for the mountains and pigeon-shooting. There was no resisting this animated appeal, and in a few minutes Miss Temple and her friend descended to the parlor. The doors of the hall were thrown open, and the mild balmy air of a clear spring morning was ventilating the apartment, where the vigilance of the ex-steward had been so long maintaining an artificial heat with such unremitted diligence. The gentlemen were impatiently waiting for their mornings repast, each equipped in the garb of a sportsman. Mr. Jones made many visits to the Southern Door, and would cry, See, cousin best, see! Duke, the pigeon roosts of the South have broken up. They are growing more thick every instant. Here is a flock that the eye cannot see the end of. There is food enough in it to keep the army of Xerxes for a month, and feathers enough to make beds for the whole country. Xerxes, Mr. Edwards, was a Grecian king who, no, he was a Turk, or a Persian, who wanted to conquer Greece, just the same as these rascals will overrun our wheat fields when they come back in the fall. Away, away, best, I long to pepper them. In this wish both Mamadouk and young Edwards seemed equally to participate, for the sight was exhilarating to a sportsman, and the ladies soon dismissed the party after a hasty breakfast. If the heavens were alive with pigeons, the whole village seemed equally in motion with men, women, and children. Every species of firearm, from the French ducking gun, with a barrel near six feet in length, to the common horseman's pistol, was to be seen in the hands of the men and boys. While bows and arrows, some made of the simple stick of walnut sapling and others in a rude imitation of the ancient crossbows, were carried by many of the latter. The houses and the signs of life apparent in the village drove the alarmed birds from the direct line of their flight toward the mountains, along the sides and near the bases of which they were glancing in dense masses, equally wonderful by the rapidity of their motion and their incredible numbers. We have already said that across the inclined plain which fell from the steep ascent of the mountain to the banks of the Susquehanna ran the highway on either side of which a clearing of many acres have been made at a very early day. Over those clearings, and up the eastern mountain, and along the dangerous path that was cut into its side, the different individuals posted themselves, and in a few moments the attack commenced. Among the sportsmen was the tall gaunt form of leather stocking, walking over the field, with his rifle hanging on his arm, his dogs at his heels. The latter now senting the dead or wounded birds that were beginning to tumble from the flocks, and then crouching under the legs of their master, as if they participated in his feelings at this wasteful and unsportsmanlike execution. The reports of the firearms became rapid, whole volleys rising from the plain, as flocks of more than ordinary numbers darted over the opening, shadowing the field like a cloud, and then the light smoke of a single piece would issue from among the leafless bushes on the mountain, as death was hurled on the retreat of the affrighted birds, who were rising from a volley in a vain effort to escape. Arrows and missiles of every kind were in the midst of the flocks, and so numerous were the birds, and so low did they take their flight, that even long poles in the hands of those on the sides of the mountain were used to strike them to the earth. During all this time Mr. Jones, who disdained the humble and ordinary means of destruction used by his companions, was busily occupied aided by Benjamin in making arrangements for an assault of more than ordinarily fatal character. Among the relics of the old military excursions that occasionally are discovered throughout the different districts of the western part of New York, there had been found in Templeton, at its settlement, a small swivel, which would carry a ball of a pound weight. It was thought to have been deserted by a war-party of the Whites in one of their inroads into the Indian settlements, when perhaps convenience or their necessity induced them to leave such an encumbrance behind them in the woods. This miniature cannon had been released from the rust, and being mounted on little wheels was now in a state for actual service. For several years it was the sole organ for extraordinary rejoicings used in those mountains. On the mornings of the Fourth of July it would be heard ringing among the hills. And even Captain Hollister, who was the highest authority in that part of the country on all such occasions, affirmed that, considering its dimensions, it was no despicable gun for a salute. It was somewhat the worst for the service it had performed, it is true, there being but a trifling difference in size between the touch-hole and the muzzle. Still, the grand conceptions of Richard had suggested the importance of such an instrument in hurling death at his nimble enemies. The swivel was dragged by a horse into a part of the open space that the sheriff thought most eligible for planning a battery of the kind. And Mr. Pump proceeded to load it. Several handfuls of duck-shot were placed on top of the powder, and the Major Domo announced that his peace was ready for service. The sight of such an implement collected all the idle spectators to the spot, who being mostly boys filled the air with cries of exaltation and delight. The gun was pointed high, and Richard, holding a coal of fire in a pair of tongs, patiently took his seat on a stump, awaiting the appearance of a flock worthy of his notice. So prodigious was the number of the birds that the scattering fire of the guns with the hurling of missiles and the cries of the boys had no other effect than to break off small flocks from the immense masses that continued to dart along the valley, as if the whole of the feathered tribe were pouring through that one pass. None pretended to collect the game, which lay scattered over the fields in such profusion as to cover the very ground with fluttering victims. Leather stocking was a silent but uneasy spectator of all these proceedings, but was able to keep his sentiments to himself until he saw the introduction of the swivel into the sports. This comes of settling a country, he said. Here I have known the pigeon to fly for forty long years, and till you made your clearings, there was nobody to skirter to hurt them. I loved to see them come into the woods, for they were company to a body, hurting nothing, being as it was as harmless as a garter snake, but now it gives me sore thoughts when I hear the fruity things whizzing through the air, for I know it's only a motion to bring out all the brats of the village. Well, the Lord won't see the waste of his creatures for nothing, and right will be done to the pigeons as well as others by and by. There's Mr. Oliver as bad as the rest of them, firing into the flocks as if he was shooting down nothing but mingo warriors. Among the sportsmen was Billy Kirby, who armed with an old musket was loading and, without even looking into the air, was firing and shouting as his victims fell even on his own person. He heard the speech of Natty, and took upon himself to reply. What? Old Leather stocking, he cried, grumbling at the loss of a few pigeons? If you had to sew your wheat twice and three times as I have done you wouldn't be so massively feeling toward the devils. Hurrah, boys! Scatter the feathers! This is better than shooting at a turkey's head and neck, old fellow. It's better for you, maybe, Billy Kirby, replied the indignant old hunter, and all then that don't know how to put a ball down a rifle barrel, or how to bring it up again with a true aim. But it's wicked to be shooting into flocks in this wastey manner, and none to do it who know how to knock over a single bird. If a body has a craving for pigeons' flesh, why, it's made the same as all other creatures for man's eating, but not to kill twenty and eat one. When I want such a thing I go into the woods till I find one to my liking, and then I shoot him off the branches without touching the feather of another, though there might be a hundred on the same tree. You couldn't do such a thing, Billy Kirby. You couldn't do it if you tried. What's that old corn stalk you sapless stub, cried the woodchopper? You have grown wordy since the affair of the turkey, but if you are for a single shot, here goes that bird which comes on by himself. The fire from the distant part of the field had driven a single pigeon below the flock to which it belonged, and frightened, with the constant reports of the muskets, it was approaching the spot where the disputants stood, darting first from one side and then to the other, cutting the air with the swiftness of lightning and making a noise with its wings not unlike the rushing of a bullet. Unfortunately for the woodchopper, notwithstanding his vaunt, he did not see this bird until it was too late to fire as it approached, and he pulled the trigger at the unlucky moment when it was darting immediately over his head. The bird continued its course with the usual velocity. Natty lowered his rifle from his arm when the challenge was made, and waiting a moment until the terrified victim had got in a line with his eye and had dropped near the bank of the lake, he raised it again with uncommon rapidity and fired. It might have been chance or it might have been skill that produced the result. It was probably a union of both, but the pigeon whirled over in the air and fell into the lake with a broken wing. At the sound of his rifle both his dogs started from his feet, and in a few minutes the slut brought out the bird still alive. The wonderful exploit of leather stocking was noised through the field with great rapidity, and the sportsmen gathered in to learn the truth of the report. What, said young Edwards, have you really killed a pigeon on the wing Natty with a single ball? Haven't I killed loons before now, lad, that dive at the flash? Returned the hunter. It's much better to kill only such as you want without wasting your powder and lead than to be firing into God's creatures in this wicked manner. But I came out for a bird, and you know the reason why I like small game, Mr. Oliver. And now I have got one, twill go home, for I don't relish to see these wastey ways that you are all practicing. As if the least thing wasn't made for use, and not to destroy. Thou sayest well, leather stocking, cried Mammerdook, and I begin to think at time to put an end to this work of destruction. Put an end, Judge, to your clearings. Ain't the woods his work as well as the pigeons? Use but don't waste. Wasn't the woods made for the beasts and birds to harbour in? And when man wanted their flesh, their skins, or their feathers, theirs the place to seek them. But I'll go to the hut with my own game, for I wouldn't touch one of the harmless things that cover the ground here. Looking up with their eyes on me, as if they only wanted tongues to say their thoughts, with this sentiment in his mouth. Leather stocking threw his rifle over his arm, and followed by his dog, stepped across the clearing with great caution, taking care not to tread on one of the wounded birds in his path. He soon entered the bushes on the margin of the lake and was hid from view. Whatever impression the morality of Natty made on the Judge, it was utterly lost on Richard. He availed himself of the gathering of the sportsmen to lay a plan for one fell swoop of destruction. The musket men were drawn up in battle array, and a line extending on each side of his artillery, with orders to await the signal of firing from himself. Stand by, my lads, said Benjamin, who acted as an aid to camp on this occasion. Stand by, my hearties, and when Squire Dickens heaves out the signal to begin firing, do you see, you may open upon them in a broadside. Take care and fire low, boys, and you'll be sure to hold the flock. Fire low, shouted Kirby. Hear the old fool. If we fire low, we may hit the stumps, but not ruffle a pigeon. How should you know, you lubber, cried Benjamin, with a very unbecoming heat for an officer on the eve of battle? How should you know, you grampus? Haven't I sailed aboard of the Bodache for five years, and wasn't it a standing order to fire low and to hull your enemy? Keep silence at your guns, boys, and mind the order that is passed. The loud laughs of the musket men were silenced by the more authoritative voice of Richard, who called for attention and obedience to his signals. Some millions of pigeons were supposed to have already passed that morning over the valley of Templeton, but nothing like the flock that was now approaching had been seen before. It extended from mountain to mountain in one solid blue mass, and the eye looked in vain over the southern hills to find its termination. The front of this living column was distinctly marked by a line, but very slightly indented, so regular and even was the flight. Even Marmaduke forgot the morality of leather stocking as it approached, and in common with the rest brought his musket to a poise. Fire! cried the sheriff, clapping a cold to the priming of the cannon. As half a Benjamin's charge escaped through the touch hole, the whole valley of the musket tree preceded the report of the swivel. On receiving this united discharge of small arms, the front of the flock darted upward while at the same instant myriads of those in the rear rushed with amazing rapidity into their places, so that when the column of white smoke gushed from the mouth of the little cannon, an accumulated mass of objects was gliding over its point of direction. The roar of the gun echoed along the mountains and died away to the north like distant thunder. While the whole flock of alarmed birds seemed for a moment thrown into one disorderly and agitated mass, the air was filled with their irregular flight, layer rising above layer, far above the tops of the highest pines, none daring to advance beyond the dangerous pass, when suddenly some of the headers of the feathered tribes shot across the valley taking their flight directly over the village, and hundreds of thousands in their rear followed the example, deserting the eastern side of the plain to their persecutors and the slain. Victory! shouted Richard. Victory! We have driven the enemy from the field. Not so, Dickon, said Marmaduke, the field is covered with them. And like the leather stocking, I see nothing but eyes in every direction as the innocent sufferers turn their heads in terror. Full one half of those that have fallen are yet alive. And I think it is time to end the sport, if sport it be. Sport, cried the sheriff, it is princely sport. There are some thousands of the blue-coated boys on the ground so that every old woman in the village may have a pot-pie for the asking. Well, we have happily frightened the birds from this side of the valley, said Marmaduke, and the carnage must of necessity end for the present. Boys, I will give you six pence a hundred for the pigeons' heads only, so go to work and bring them into the village. This expedient produced the desired effect for every urchin on the ground when industriously to work to ring the necks of the wounded birds. Judge Temple retired toward his dwelling with that kind of feeling that many a man has experienced before him, who discovers, after the excitement of the moment has passed, that he has purchased pleasure at the price of misery to others. Horses were loaded with the dead, and after this first burst of sporting the shooting of pigeons became a business, with a few idlers for the remainder of the season. Richard, however, boasted for many a year of his shot with the cricket, and Benjamin gravely asserted that he thought they had killed nearly as many pigeons on that day as there were Frenchmen destroyed on the memorable occasion of Rodney's victory. End of Chapter 22 Recording by Bill Borscht