 CHAPTER 40 I am dumb. Were you the doctor, and I knew you not? Shakespeare. During the five or six minutes that elapsed before the youth and major reappeared, Judge Temple and the Sheriff together with most of the volunteers ascended to the terrace, where the latter began to express their conjectures of the result, and to recount their individual services in the conflict, but the sight of the peacemakers ascending the ravine shut every mouth. On a rude chair, covered with undressed deerskins, they supported a human being, whom they seated carefully and respectfully in the midst of the assembly. His head was covered by long, smooth locks of the color of snow. His dress, which was studiously neat and clean, was composed of such fabrics as none but the wealthiest classes wear, but was threadbare and patched. And on his feet were placed a pair of moccasins, ornamented in the best manner of Indian ingenuity. The outlines of his face were grave and dignified, though his vacant eye, which opened and turned slowly to the faces of those around him in unmeaning looks, too surely announced that the period had arrived when age brings the mental imbecility of childhood. Natty had followed the supporters of this unexpected object to the top of the cave, and took his station at a little distance behind him, leaning on his rifle in the midst of his pursuers, with a fearlessness that showed that heavier interests than those which affected himself were to be decided. Major Hartman placed himself beside the aged man, uncovered, with his whole soul beaming through those eyes which so commonly danced with frolic and humor. Edwards rested with one hand familiarly but affectionately on the chair, though his heart was swelling with emotions that denied him utterance. All eyes were gazing intently. But each tongue continued mute. At length the decrepit stranger turning his vacant looks from face to face made a feeble attempt to rise, while a faint smile crossed his wasted face, like an habitual effort at courtesy, as he said in a hollow, tremulous voice, Be pleased to be seated, gentlemen. The council will open immediately. Each one who loves a good and virtuous king will wish to see these colonies continue loyal. Be seated, I pray you. Be seated, gentlemen. The troops shall halt for the night. This is the wandering of insanity, said Marmaduke. Who will explain this scene? No, sir, said Edwards firmly, tis only the decay of nature. Who is answerable for its pitiful condition remains to be shown. Will the gentleman dine with us, my son? said the old stranger turning to a voice that he both knew and loved. Order every past suitable for his majesty's officers. You know we have the best of game always at command. Who is this man? asked Marmaduke in a hurried voice, in which the donnings of conjecture united with interest to put the question. This man returned Edwards calmly, his voice, however, gradually rising as he proceeded. This man, sir, whom you behold hid in caverns, and deprived of everything that can make life desirable, was once the companion and counsellor of those who ruled your country. This man, whom you see helpless and feeble, was once a warrior, so brave and fearless that even the intrepid natives gave him the name of the fire-eater. This man, whom you now see destitute of even the ordinary comfort of a cabin, in which to shelter his head, was once the owner of great riches. And, Judge Temple, he was the rightful proprietor of this very soil on which we stand. This man was the father of— This then, cried Marmaduke, with a powerful emotion, this then is the lost major Effingham. Lost indeed, said the youth, fixing a piercing eye on the other. And you, and you, continued the Judge articulating with difficulty, I am his grandson. I am in it past in profound silence. All eyes were fixed on the speakers, and even the old German appeared to wait the issue in deep anxiety. But the moment of agitation soon passed. Marmaduke raised his head from his bosom, where it had sunk, not in shame, but in devout mental thanksgivings. And as large tears fell over his fine manly face, he grasped the hand of the youth warmly, and said, Oliver, I forgive all thy harshness, all thy suspicions. I now see it all. I forgive thee everything, but suffering this aged man to dwell in such a place, when not only my habitation, but my fortune, were at his and thy command. He's true Esther Steele, shouted Major Hartman. Didn't I tell you, Lat, that Marmaduke Temple was a friend that would never fail, interdime of neat? It is true, Judge Temple, that my opinions of your conduct have been staggered by what this worthy gentleman has told me. When I found it impossible to convey my grandfather back once the enduring love of this old man brought him, without detection and exposure, I went to the Mohawk in quest of one of his former comrades, in whose justice I had dependence. He is your friend, Judge Temple. But if what he says be true, both my father and myself may have judged you harshly. You name your father, said Marmaduke tenderly. Was he indeed lost in the packet? He was. He had left me after several years of fruitless application and comparative poverty in Nova Scotia, to obtain the compensation for his losses which the British commissioners had at length awarded. After spending a year in England he was returning to Halifax on his way to a government to which he had been appointed in the West Indies, intending to go to the place where my grandfather had sojourned during and since the war, and take him with us. But thou, said Marmaduke, with powerful interest, I had thought that thou hest perished with him. A flush passed over the cheeks of the young man who gazed about him at the wondering faces of the volunteers, and continued silent. Marmaduke turned to the veteran captain who just then rejoined his command, and said, March thy soldiers back again, and dismiss them. The zeal of the sheriff has much mistaken his duty. Dr. Todd, I will thank you to attend to the injury which Hiram Doolittle has received in this untoward affair. Richard, you will oblige me by sending up the carriage to the top of the hill. Benjamin, return to your duty in my family. Unwelcome, as these orders were to most of the auditors, the suspicion that they had somewhat exceeded the wholesome restraints of the law, and the habitual respect with which all the commands of the judge were received, induced a prompt compliance. When they were gone, and the rock was left to the party's most interested in an explanation, Marmaduke, pointing to the aged Major Effingham, said to his grandson, Had we not better remove thy parent from this open place until my carriage can arrive? Pardon me, sir, the air does him good, and he has taken it whenever there was no dread of a discovery. I know not how to act, Judge Temple. Othay, can I suffer Major Effingham to become an inmate of your family? Thou shalt be thyself, the Judge, said Marmaduke. Thy father was my early friend. He entrusted his fortune to my care. When we separated he had such confidence in me that he wished no security, no evidence of the trust, even had there been time or convenience for exacting it. This thou hast heard? Most truly, sir, said Edwards, or rather Effingham, as we must now call him. We differed in politics. If the cause of this country was successful, the trust was sacred with me. For none knew of thy father's interest, if the crown still held its sway, it would be easy to restore the property of so loyal a subject as Colonel Effingham. Is not this plain? The premises are good, sir, continued the youth, with the same incredulous look as before. Listen, listen, Poi, said the German, there is not a hair, as of der Rogue enter het of her Chewge. We all know the issue of the struggle, continued Marmaduke, disregarding both. Thy grandfather was left in Connecticut, regularly supplied by thy father, with the means of such a subsistence as suited his wants. This I well knew, though I never had intercourse with him, even in our happiest days. Thy father retired with the troops to prosecute his claims on England. At all events his losses must be great, for his real estates were sold and I became the lawful purchaser. It was not unnatural to wish that he might have no bar to its just recovery. There was none but the difficulty of providing for so many claimants. But there would have been one, and an insuperable one, and I announced to the world that I held these estates, multiplied by the times in my industry a hundred fold in value, only as his trustee. Thou knowest that I supplied him with considerable sums immediately after the war. You did, until my letters were returned unopened. Thy father had much of thy own spirit, Oliver. He was sometimes hasty and rash. The judge continued in a self-condemning manner. Perhaps my fault lies the other way. I may possibly look too far ahead and calculate too deeply. It certainly was a severe trial to allow the man whom I most loved to think ill of me for seven years, in order that he might honestly apply for his just remunerations. But had he opened my last letters, thou wouldst have learned the whole truth. Those I sent him to England, by what my agent writes me, he did read. He died, Oliver, knowing all. He died my friend, and I thought thou hest died with him. Our poverty would not permit us to pay for two passages, said the youth, with the extraordinary emotion with which he ever alluded to the degraded state of his family. I was left in the province to wait for his return, and when the sad news of his loss reached me, I was nearly penniless. And what didst thou, boy? asked Mamberduke in a faltering voice. I took my passage here in search of my grandfather, for I well knew that his resources were gone, with the half-pay of my father. On reaching his abode, I learned that he had left in secret, though the reluctant hireling who had deserted him in his poverty owned to my urgent entreaties that he believed he had been carried away by an old man who had formerly been his servant. I knew it once it was Natty, for my father often was Natty a servant of thy grandfather exclaimed the judge? Of that, too, were you ignorant, said the youth in evident surprise? How should I know it? I never met the major, nor was the name of Bumpo ever mentioned to me. I knew him only as a man of the woods, and one who lived by hunting. Such men are too common to excite surprise. He was reared in the family of my grandfather, served him for many years during their campaigns at the west, where he became attached to the woods. And he was left here as a kind of locum tenons on the lands that old Mohegan, whose life my grandfather once saved, induced the Delaware's to grant to him when they admitted him as an honorary member of their tribe. This, then, is thy Indian blood? I have no other, said Edward, smiling. Major Effingham was adopted as the son of Mohegan, who at that time was the greatest man in his nation, and my father, who visited those people when a boy received the name of the Eagle from them, on account of the shape of his face, as I understand. They have extended this title to me. I have no other Indian blood or breeding, though I have seen the hour, Judge Temple, when I could wish that such had been my lineage and education. Proceed with thy tale, said Mama Duke. I have but little more to say, sir. I followed to the lake where I had so often been told that Natty dwelt, and found him maintaining his old master in secret. For even he could not bear to exhibit to the world in his poverty and dotage a man whom a whole people once looked up to with respect. And what did you? What did I? I spent my last money in purchasing a rifle, clad myself in a coarse garb, and learned to be a hunter by the side of leather-stocking. You know the rest, Judge Temple. And Vervas old Fritz Hartmann, said the German reproachfully, did never hear a name as of old Fritz Hartmann from term out of their fodder, lad? I may have been mistaken, gentlemen, return the youth. But I had pride, and could not submit to such an exposure as this day even has reluctantly brought to light. I had plans that might have been visionary. But, should my parents survive till autumn, I proposed taking him with me to the city, where we have distant relatives, who must have learned to forget the Tory by this time. He decays rapidly, he continued mournfully, and must soon lie by the side of old Mohegan. The air being pure, and the day fine, the party continued conversing on the rock, until the wheels of Judge Temple's carriage were heard clattering up the side of the mountain, during which time the conversation was maintained with deep interest, each moment clearing up some doubtful action and lessening the antipathy of the youth to Mama Duke. He no longer objected to the removal of his grandfather, who displayed a childish pleasure when he found himself seated once more in a carriage. When placed in the ample hall of the mansion house, the eyes of the aged veteran turned slowly to the objects in the apartment, and a look like the dawn of intellect would for moments flit across his features, when he invariably offered some useless courtesies to those near him, wandering painfully in his subjects. The exercise and the change soon produced an exhaustion that caused them to remove him to his bed, where he lay for hours evidently sensible of the change in his comforts, and exhibiting that mortifying picture of human nature, which too plainly shows that the propensities of the animal continue, even after the nobler part of the creature appears to have vanished. Until his parent was placed comfortably in bed, with Nady seated at his side, Effingham did not quit him. He then obeyed a summons to the library of the Judge, where he found the latter, with Major Hartman, waiting for him. Read this paper, Oliver, said Marmaduke to him as he entered, and thou wilt find that so far from intending thy family wrong during life it has been my care to see the justice should be done at even a later day. The youth took the paper, which his first glance told him was the will of the Judge. Hurried and agitated as he was, he discovered that the date corresponded with the time of the unusual depression of Marmaduke. As he proceeded, his eyes began to moisten, and the hand which held the instrument shook violently. The will commenced with the usual forms, spun out by the ingenuity of Mr. Vander's school. But after this subject was fairly exhausted, the pen of Marmaduke became plainly visible. In clear, distinct, manly, and even eloquent language, he recounted his obligations to Colonel Effingham, the nature of their connection, and the circumstances in which they separated. He then proceeded to relate the motives of his silence, mentioning, however, large sums that he had forwarded to his friend, which had been returned with the letters unopened. After this, he spoke of his search for the grandfather who unaccountably disappeared, and his fears that the direct heir of the trust was buried in the ocean with his father. After, in short, recounting in a clear narrative the events which our readers must now be able to connect, he proceeded to make a fair and exact statement of the sums left in his care by Colonel Effingham. A devise of his whole estate to certain responsible trustees followed, to hold the same for the benefit and equal moieties of his daughter, on one part, and of Oliver Effingham, formerly a major in the Army of Great Britain, and of his son, Edward Effingham, and of his son, Edward Oliver Effingham, or to the survivor of them, and the descendants of such survivor forever on the other part. The trust was to endure until 1810, when, if no person appeared, or could be found, after sufficient notice to claim the moiety so devised, then a certain sum calculating the principal and interest of his debt to Colonel Effingham was to be paid to the heirs-at-law of the Effingham family, and the bulk of his estate was to be conveyed in fee to his daughter or her heirs. The tears fell from the eyes of the young man as he read this undeniable testimony of the good faith of Mamadouk, and his bewildered gaze was fastened on the paper when a voice that thrilled on every nerve spoke near him, saying, Do you yet doubt us, Oliver? I have never doubted you, cried the youth, recovering his recollection and his voice, as he sprang to seize the hand of Elizabeth. No, not one moment has my faith in you wavered. And my father? God bless him. I thank thee, my son, said the judge, exchanging a warm pressure of the hand with the youth. But we are both heared. Thou hast been too hasty, and I have been too slow. One half of my estate shall be thine as soon as they can be conveyed to thee, and if what my suspicions tell me be true, I suppose the other must follow speedily. He took the hand which he held, and united it with that of his daughter, and motioned toward the door to the major. I tellt Jan Vett, gal, said the old German good, humoredly, If I was as I was when I serve admit his grandfather under lakes, ter lazy tog shouldn't vent their prizes for nothing. Come, come, old Fritsch, said the judge, you are seventeen, not seventeen. Richard waits for you with a bowl of eggnog in the hall. Richard, de devel, exclaimed the other, hastening out of the room. He makes de nagas for de horse, build shorter sheriffs mit my own hands. De devel, I believe he sweetens mit der yankee molasses. Mamadouks smiled and nodded affectionately at the young couple, and closed the door after them. If any of our readers expect that we are going to open it again for their gratification, they are mistaken. The tet-a-tet continued for a very unreasonable time. How long we shall not say. But it was ended by six o'clock in the evening, for that hour Monsieur Lecroy made his appearance agreeably to the appointment of the preceding day, and claimed the ear of Miss Temple. He was admitted. When he made an offer of his hand with much suavity, together with his ami spig and lit, his ber, his mer, and his sucre-bush. Elizabeth might possibly have previously entered into some embarrassing and binding engagements with Oliver, for she declined the tender of all, in terms as polite, though perhaps a little more decided, than those in which they were made. The Frenchman soon joined the German and the Sheriff in the hall, who compelled him to take a seat with them at the table, where, by the aid of punch, wine, and eggnog, they soon extracted from the complacent Monsieur Lecroy the nature of his visit. It was evident that he had made the offer as a duty, which a well-bred man owed to a lady in such a retired place, before he had left the country, and that his feelings were but very little, if at all interested in the matter. After a few potations, the waggish pair persuaded the exhilarated Frenchman that there was an inexcusable partiality in offering to one lady, and not extending a similar courtesy to another. Consequently, about nine, Monsieur Lecroy sellied forth to the rectory on a similar mission to Miss Grant, which proved as succesful as his first effort in love. When he returned to the mansion-house at ten, Richard and the major were still seated at the table. They attempted to persuade the gall, as the sheriff called him, that he should next try remarkable pettibone. But, though stimulated by mental excitement and wine, two hours of abstruse logic were thrown away on this subject, for he declined their advice with a pertinacity truly astonishing in so polite a man. When Benjamin lighted Monsieur Lecroy from the door, he said at parting, If so be mature. You'd run alongside Monsieur's pettibones as the squire Dickens was bidding you, till my notion you'd have been grappled, in which case do you see you might have been troubled in swinging clear again in a handsome manner. For though if Miss Lizzie and the Parsons young men be tidy little vessels that shoot by a body on a wind, Monsieur's remarkable is summit of a galley at fashion. When you once take him in tow, they doesn't like to be cast off again. END OF CHAPTER XIV Yes, sweep ye on. We will not leave. For them who triumph those who grieve. Would that armada gay be laughter loud and jock and shout? But with that skill abides the minstrel tale. Lord of the Isles The events of our tale carry us through the summer, and after making nearly the circle of the year we must conclude our labours in the delightful month of October. Many important incidents had, however, occurred in the intervening period, a few of which it may be necessary to recount. The two principal were the marriage of Oliver and Elizabeth, and the death of Major Effingham. They both took place early in September, and the former preceded the latter only a few days. The old man passed away like the last glimmering of a taper, and though his death cast a melancholy over the family, grief could not follow such an end. One of the chief concerns of Marmaduke was to reconcile the even conduct of a magistrate with the course that his feelings dictated to the criminals. The day succeeding the discovery at the cave, however, Natty and Benjamin re-entered the jail peaceably, where they continued well-fed and comfortable until the return of an express to Albany, who brought the governor's pardon to the leather stocking. In the meantime proper means were employed to satisfy Hiram for the assaults on his person. And on the same day the two comrades issued together into society again, with their characters not at all affected by the imprisonment. Mr. Doolittle began to discover that neither architecture nor his law was quite suitable to the growing wealth and intelligence of the settlement. And after exacting the last scent that was attainable in his compromise, to use the language of the country he pulled up stakes, and proceeded farther west, scattering his professional science and legal learning through the land, vestiges of both of which are to be discovered there even to the present hour. Poor Jotham, whose life paid the forfeiture of his folly, acknowledged before he died that his reasons for believing in a mine were extracted from the lips of a civil, who by looking in a magic glass was unable to discover the hidden treasures of the earth. Such superstition was frequent in the new settlements. And after the first surprise was over, the better part of the community forgot the subject. But at the same time that it removed from the breast of Richard a lingering suspicion of the acts of the three hunters, it conveyed a mortifying lesson to him, which brought many quiet hours in future to his cousin Marmaduke. It may be remembered that the sheriff confidently pronounced this to be no visionary scheme, and that word was enough to shut his lips at any time within the next ten years. Monsieur Le Quoi, who has been introduced to our readers because no picture of that country would be faithful without some such character, found the island of Martinique and his sucre-bouche in possession of the English, but Marmaduke and his family were much gratified in soon hearing that he had returned to his bureau in Paris, where he afterward issued yearly bulletins of his happiness and of his gratitude to his friends in America. With this brief explanation we must return to our narrative. Let the American reader imagine one of our mildest October mornings, when the sun seems a ball of silvery fire and the elasticity of the air is felt while it is inhaled, imparting vigor and life to the whole system. The weather, neither too warm nor too cold, but of that happy temperature which stirs the blood without bringing the lassitude of spring. It was on such a morning about the middle of the month that Oliver entered the hall where Elizabeth was issuing her usual orders for the day and requesting her to join him in a short excursion to the lakeside. The tender melancholy in the manner of her husband caught the attention of Elizabeth, who instantly abandoned her concerns through a light shawl across her shoulders, and concealing her raven hair under a gypsy hat, took his arm and submitted herself without a question to his guidance. They crossed the bridge and had turned from the highway along the margin of the lake before a word was exchanged. Elizabeth well knew by the direction the object of the walk and respected the feelings of her companion too much to indulge in untimely conversation. But when they gained the open fields and her eye roamed over the placid lake covered with wild fowl, already journeying from the great northern waters to seek a warmer sun, but lingering to play in the limpid sheet of the atsego and to the sides of the mountain, which were gay with the thousand dyes of autumn, as if to grace their bridle, the swelling heart of the young wife burst out in speech. This is not a time for silence, Oliver, she said, clinging more fondly to his arm. Everything in nature seems to speak the praises of the creator. Why should we, who have so much to be grateful for, be silent? Speak on, said her husband, smiling. I love the sounds of your voice. You must anticipate our errand hither. I have told you my plans. How do you like them? I must first see them, returned his wife. But I have had my plans too. It is time I should begin to divulge them. You! It is something for the comfort of my old friend, Natty, I know. Certainly of Natty. But we have other friends besides the leather stocking to serve. Do you forget Louisa and her father? No, surely. Have I not given one of the best farms in the county to the good divine? As for Louisa, I should wish you to keep her always near us. You do, said Elizabeth, slightly compressing her lips. But poor Louisa may have other views for herself. She may wish to follow my example, and marry. I don't think it, said Effingham, using a moment. I really don't know any one hereabouts good enough for her. Perhaps not her. But there are other places besides Templeton, and other churches besides New St. Paul's. Churches, Elizabeth, you would not wish to lose Mr. Grant surely. Though simple, he is an excellent man, I shall never find another who has half the veneration for my orthodoxy. You would humble me from a saint to a very common sinner. It must be done, sir, return the lady with a half-concealed smile, though it degrades you from an angel to a man. But you forget the farm? He can lease it, as others do. Besides, would you have a clergyman toil in the fields? Where can he go? You forget Louisa. No, I do not forget Louisa, said Elizabeth, again compressing her beautiful lips. You know, Effingham, that my father has told you that I ruled him, and that I should rule you. I am now about to exert my power. Anything, anything, dear Elizabeth, but not at the expense of us all, not at the expense of your friend. How do you know, sir, that it will be so much at the expense of my friend, said the lady, fixing her eyes with a searching look on his countenance, where they met only the unsuspecting expression of manly regret? How do I know it? Why, it is natural that she should regret us. It is our duty to struggle with our natural feelings, returned the lady, and there is but little cause to fear that such a spirit as Louisa's will not affect it. But what is your plan? Listen, and you shall know. My father has procured a call from Mr. Grant to one of the towns on the Hudson, where he can live more at his ease than in journeying through these woods, where he can spend the evening of his life in comfort and quiet, and where his daughter may meet with such society and form such a connection as may be proper for one of her years in character. Best, you amaze me. I did not think you had been such a manager. Oh, I manage more deeply than you imagine, sir, said the wife, archly smiling again. But it is thy will, and it is your duty to submit. For a time, at least. Effingham laughed. But as they approached the end of their walk the subject was changed by common consent. The place at which they arrived was the little spot of level ground where the cabin of the leather stocking had so long stood. Elizabeth found it entirely cleared of rubbish, and beautifully laid down in turf by the removal of sods, which, in common with the surrounding country, had grown gay under the influence of profuse showers, as if a second spring had passed over the land. This little place was surrounded by a circle of mason work. And they entered by a small gate, near which, to the surprise of both, the rifle of Natty was leaning against the wall. Hector on the slot reposed on the grass by its side, as if conscious that, however altered, they were lying on the ground and were surrounded by objects with which they were familiar. The hunter himself was stretched on the earth, before a headstone of white marble, pushing aside, with his fingers, the long grass that had already sprung up from the luxuriant soil around its base. Apparently to lay bare the inscription. By the side of this stone, which was a simple slab at the head of a grave, stood a rich monument, decorated with an urn and ornamented with the chisel. Oliver and Elizabeth approached the graves with a light tread, unheard by the old hunter, whose sunburned face was working and whose eyes twinkled as if something impeded their vision. After some little time Natty raised himself slowly from the ground and said aloud, Well, well, I'm bold to say it's all right. There's something that I suppose is reading, but I can't make anything of it, though the pipe in the tomahawk and the moccasins be pretty well, pretty well for a man that I dares to say never cede either of the things. As me. There they lie, side by side, happy enough. Who will there be to put me in the earth when my time comes? When that unfortunate hour arrives, Natty, friends shall not be wanting to perform the last offices for you, said Oliver, a little touched at the hunter's soliloquy. The old man turned, without manifesting surprise, for he had got the Indian habits in this particular, and running his hand under the bottom of his nose seemed to wipe away his sorrow with the action. You've come out to see the graves, children, have you, he said. Well, well, they're wholesome sights too young as well as old. I hope they are fitted to your liking, said Effingham. No one has a better right than yourself to be consulted in the matter. Why, seeing that I ain't used to fine graves, returned the old man, it is but little matter concerning my taste. You laid the major's head to the west, and Mohegan's to the east, did you, lad? At your request it was done. It's so best, said the hunter, they thought they had to journey different ways, children, though there is one greater than all who will bring the just together at his own time, and who will whiten the skin of a black amour and place him on a footing with princes. There is but little reason to doubt that, said Elizabeth, whose decided tones were changed to a soft melancholy voice, I trust we shall all meet again and be happy together. Shall we, child? Shall we? exclaimed the hunter with unusual fervor. There's comfort in that thought, too, but before I go I should like to know what tis you tell these people that be flocking into the country like pigeons in the spring, of the old Delaware, and of the bravest white man that ever trod the hills. Effingham and Elizabeth were surprised at the manner of the leather stocking, which was unusually impressive and solemn, but attributing it to the scene the young man turned to the monument and read aloud. Sacred to the memory of Oliver Effingham. Esquire, formerly a major in his B. Majesty's 60th foot, a soldier of tried valor, a subject of chivalrous loyalty and a man of honesty. To these values he added the graces of a Christian. The morning of his life was spent in honor, wealth, and power, but its evening was obscured by poverty, neglect, and disease, which were alleviated only by the tender care of his old faithful and upright friend and attendant, Nathaniel Bumple. His descendants rest this stone to the virtues of the master, and to the enduring gratitude of the servant. The leather stocking started at the sound of his own name, and a smile of joy illuminated his wrinkled features, as he said, And did you say it, lad? Have you then got the old man's name cut in the stone by the side of his masters? God bless you, children. It was a kind thought, and kindness goes to the heart as life shortens. Elizabeth turned her back to the speakers. Effingham made a fruitless effort before he succeeded in saying, It is there cut in plain marble, but it should have been written in letters of gold. Show me the name, boy, said Natty, with simple eagerness. Let me see my own name placed in such honor. It is a generous gift to a man who leaves none of his name and family behind him in a country where he has tarried so long. Effingham guided his finger to the spot, and Natty followed the windings of the letters to the end with deep interest, when he raised himself from the tomb and said, I suppose it's all right, and it's kindly thought and kindly done. But what have you put over the red skin? You shall hear. This stone is raised to the memory of an Indian chief of the Delaware tribe, who was known by the several names of John Mohican, Mohican, Mohican lad, they call themselves Hican, Mohican, and Chinggakuk. Gatch, boy, Gatch Guk, Chinggatch Guk, which interpreted means big serpent. The name should be set down right for an Indian's name has always some meaning in it. I will see it altered. He was the last of his people who continued to inhabit this country, and it may be said of him that his faults were those of an Indian and his virtues those of a man. You never said true a word, Mr. Oliver, Osmy, if you had known him as I did in his prime, in that very battle where the old gentleman who sleeps by his side saved his life, when them thieves the Iroquois had him at the stake, you'd have said all that and more, too. I cut the thongs with this very hand, and gave him my own tomahawk and knife, seeing that the rifle was always my favorite weapon. He did lay about him like a man. I met him as I was coming home from the trail, with eleven mingle scalps on his pole. You needn't shudder, madame Effingham, for they was all from shaved heads and warriors. When I look about me at these hills, where I used to could count sometimes twenty smokes, curling over the treetops, from the Delaware camps, it raises mournful thoughts to think that not a red skin is left of them all, unless it be a drunken vagabond from the Oneidas, or them Yankee Indians who they say be moving up from the seashore, and who belong to none of God's creatures to my seeming, being as it were neither fish nor flesh, neither white men nor savage. Well, well, the time has come at last, and I must go. Go! echoed Edwards, whether do you go? The leather stocking who had imbibed unconsciously many of the Indian qualities, though he always thought of himself as a civilized being, compared with even the Delaware's, averted his face to conceal the workings of his muscles, as he stooped to lift a large pack from behind the tomb, which he placed deliberately on his shoulders. Go! exclaimed Elizabeth, approaching him with a hurried step. You should not venture so far in the woods alone at your time of life, Natty. Indeed, it is imprudent. He has bent Effingham on some distant hunting. What Mrs. Effingham tells you is true, leather stocking, said Edwards, there can be no necessity for your submitting to such hardships now. So throw aside your pack and confine your hunt to the mountains near us, if you will go. Tis a pleasure, children, and the greatest that has left me on this side of the grave. No, no, you shall not go to such a distance, cried Elizabeth, laying her white hand on his dear skin-pack. I am right. I feel his camp-cattle and a canister of powder. He must not be suffered to wander so far from us, Oliver. Remember how suddenly Mohegan dropped away. I knowed the parting would come hard, children. I knowed it would, said Natty. And so I got aside to look at the graves by myself, and thought if I left yet the keepsake which the major gave me when we first parted in the woods, you wouldn't take it unkind, but would know that, let the old man's body go where it might, his feeling stayed behind him. This means something more than common, exclaimed the youth. Where is it, Natty, that you purposed going? The hunter drew nigh him with a confident, reasoning air as if what he had to say would silence all objections, and replied, Why, lad, they tell me that on the big lakes there's the best of hunting, and a great range without a white man on it unless it be one like myself. I'm weary of living in clearings, and where the hammer is sounding in my ears from sunrise to sundown, and though I much bound to you both, children, I wouldn't say it if it was not true. I crave to go into the woods again. I do. Woods, echoed Elizabeth, trembling with her feelings, do you not call these endless forests woods? Ah, child, these be nothing to a man that's used to the wilderness. I have took but little comforts in your father come on with his settlers, but I wouldn't go far while the life was in the body that lies under the sod there. But now he's gone, and Ching Guch Cook is gone, and you be both young and happy. Yes, the big house has rung with merriment this month past, and now I thought was the time to get a little comfort in the clothes of my days. Woods, indeed, I doesn't call these woods, madam Effingham, where I lose myself every day of my life in the clearings. If there be anything wanting to your comfort, name it, leather stocking. If it be attainable, it is yours. You mean all for the best, lad. I know. And so does madam, too. But your ways isn't my ways. Tis like the dead there who thought when the breath was in them that one went east and one went west to find their heavens. But they'll meet at last, and so shall we, children. Yes, and as you've begun and we shall meet in the land of the just at last. This is so new, so unexpected, said Elizabeth, in almost breathless excitement. I had thought you meant to live with us and die with us, natty. Words are of no avail, exclaimed her husband. The habits of forty years are not to be dispossessed by the ties of a day. I know you too well to urge you further, natty, unless you will let me build you a hut on one of the distant hills where we can sometimes see you and know that you are comfortable. Don't fear for the leather stocking, children. God will see that his days be provided for, and his end happy. I know you mean all for the best, but our ways doesn't agree. I love the woods, and ye relish the face of man. I eat what hungry, and drink when a dry. And ye keep stated hours and rules. Nay, nay, you even overfeed the dogs, lad, from pure kindness. And hounds should be gaunty to run well. The meanest of God's creatures be made for some use. And I am formed for the wilderness. If you love me, let me go where my soul craves to be again. The appeal was decisive. And not another word of entreaty for him to remain was then uttered. But Elizabeth Benther had to her bosom and wept, while her husband dashed away the tears from his eyes. And with hands that almost refused to perform their office, he procured his pocketbook and extended a parcel of banknotes to the hunter. Take these, he said. At least take these. Secure them about your person, and in the hour of need they will do you good service. The old man took the notes and examined them with curious eye. This, then, is some of the new-fashioned money that they've been making at Albany, out of paper. It can't be worth much to they that hasn't learning. No, no, lad, take back this stuff. It will do me no service. I took care to get all the Frenchman's powder before he broke up. And they say lead grows where I'm going. It isn't even fit for wads seeing that I use none but leather. Madam Effingham, let the old man kiss your hand, and wish God's choices, blessings on you and your own. Once more let me beseech you, stay, cried Elizabeth. Do not, leather-stocking, leave me to grieve for the man who has twice rescued me from death. And who has served those I love so faithfully. For my sake, if not for your own, stay. I shall see you in those frightful dreams that still haunt my nights, dying in poverty and age by the sight of those terrific beasts you slew. There will be no evil that sickness, want, and solitude can inflict that my fancy will not conjure as your fate. Stay with us, old man, if not for your own sake, at least for ours. Such thoughts and bitter dreams, Madam Effingham, return the hunter solemnly, will never haunt an innocent person long. They'll pass away with God's pleasure. And if the catamounts be yet brought to your eyes in sleep, does not for my sake, but to show you the power of him that led me there to save you. Trust in God, Madam, and your honorable husband, and the thoughts for an old man like me can never be long nor bitter. I pray that the Lord will keep you in mind, the Lord that lives in clearings as well as in the wilderness, and bless you, and all that belong to you from this time to the great day when the whites shall meet the redskins in judgment, and justice shall be the law and not power. Elizabeth raised her head and offered her colorless cheek to his salute. When he lifted his cap and touched it respectfully, his hand was grasped with convulsive fervor by the youth who continued silent. The hunter prepared himself for his journey, drawing his belt tighter and wasting his moments in the little reluctant movements of a sorrowful departure. Once or twice he essayed to speak, but a rising in his throat prevented it. At length he shouldered his rifle and cried with a clear huntsman's call that echoed through the woods. Here, here, pups! Away, dogs, away! You'll be foot-sorrow before you see the end of the journey. The hounds leaped from the earth at this cry and senting around the grave and silent pair as if conscious of their own destination, they followed humbly at the heels of their master. A short pause succeeded during which even the youth concealed his face on his grandfather's tomb. When the pride of manhood, however, had suppressed the feelings of nature, he turned to renew his entreaties, but saw that the cemetery was occupied only by himself and his wife. He is gone! cried Effingham. Elizabeth raised her face and saw the old hunter standing looking back for a moment on the verge of the wood. As he caught their glances, he drew his hard hand hastily across his eyes again, waved it on high for an adieu, and uttering a forced cry to his dogs, who were crouching at his feet, he entered the forest. This was the last they ever saw of the leather stocking, whose rapid movements preceded the pursuit, which judged Temple both ordered and conducted. He had gone far toward the setting sun, the foremost in that band of pioneers who are opening the way for the march of the nation across the continent.