 CHAPTER 36 And I could weep, the Oneida chief, his descant wildly thus begun, but that I may not stain with grief the death-song of my father's son. GERTRUDE OF WYOMING It was yet early on the following morning when Elizabeth and Louisa met by appointment, and proceeded to the store of Monsieur Lecroy, in order to redeem the pledge the former had given to the leather-stocking. The people were again assembling for the business of the day, but the hour was too soon for a crowd, and the ladies found the place in possession of its polite owner, Billy Kirby, one female customer, and the boy who did the duty of helper or clerk. Monsieur Lecroy was perusing a packet of letters with manifest delight, while the woodchopper with one hand thrust in his bosom and the other in the folds of his jacket, holding an axe under his right arm, stood sympathizing in the Frenchman's pleasure with good-natured interest. The freedom of manners that prevailed in the new settlements commonly leveled all difference in rank, and with it frequently all considerations of education and intelligence. At the time the ladies entered the store, they were unseen by the owner, who was saying to Kirby, Ah ha, Monsieur Bille, this letter make me most happy of man's. Ah, ma cher France. I will see you again. I rejoice, Monsieur, at anything that contributes to your happiness, said Elizabeth, but hope we are not going to lose you entirely. The complacent shopkeeper changed the language to French and recounted rapidly to Elizabeth his hopes of being permitted to return to his own country. Habit had, however, so far altered the manners of this pliable personage that he continued to serve the woodchopper, who was in quest of some tobacco, while he related to his more gentle visitor the happy change that had taken place in the dispositions of his own countrymen. The amount of it all was that Mr. Le Quoy, who had fled from his own country more through terror than because he was offensive to the ruling powers in France, had succeeded at length in getting an assurance that his return to the West Indies would be unnoticed, and the Frenchman, who had sunk into the character of a country shopkeeper with so much grace, was about to emerge again from his obscurity into his proper level in society. We need not repeat the civil things that passed between the parties on this occasion, nor recount the endless repetitions of sorrow that the delighted Frenchman expressed at being compelled to quit the society of Miss Temple. Elizabeth took an opportunity during this expenditure of polite expressions to purchase the powder privately of the boy who bore the generic appellation of Jonathan. Before they parted, however, Mr. Le Quoy, who seemed to think that he had not said enough, solicited the honour of a private interview with the heiress, with a gravity in his air that announced the importance of the subject, after conceding the favour and appointing a more favourable time for the meeting. Elizabeth succeeded in getting out of the store into which the countrymen now began to enter, as usual, where they met with the same attention and bien-séance as formerly. Elizabeth and Louisa pursued their walk as far as the bridge in profound silence, but when they reached the place the latter stopped, and appeared anxious to utter something that her diffidence suppressed. Are you ill, Louisa? exclaimed Miss Temple. Had we not better return and seek another opportunity to meet the old man? Not ill, but terrified. Oh, I never, never can go on that hill again with you only. I am not equal to it, indeed I am not. This was an unexpected declaration to Elizabeth, who, although she experienced no idle apprehension of a danger that no longer existed, felt most sensitively all the delicacy of maiden modesty. She stood for some time deeply reflecting within herself. But sensible it was a time for action instead of reflection she struggled to shake off her hesitation, and replied firmly, Well, then it must be done by me alone. There is no other than yourself to be trusted, or poor old leather stocking will be discovered. Wait for me in the edge of these woods, that at least I may not be seen strolling in the hills by myself just now. One would not wish to create remarks, Louisa, if—if—you will wait for me, dear girl? A year inside of the village Miss Temple returned the agitated Louisa, but do not—do not ask me to go on that hill. Elizabeth found that her companion was really unable to proceed, and they completed their arrangement by posting Louisa out of the observation of the people who occasionally passed, but nigh the road, and in plain view of the whole valley. Miss Temple then proceeded alone. She ascended the road which has been so often mentioned in our narrative, with an elastic and firm step, fearful that the delay in the store of Mr. Lecroy and the time necessary for reaching the summit would prevent her being punctual to the appointment. Whenever she pressed an opening in the bushes she would pause for breath, or perhaps drawn from her pursuit by the picture at her feet, would linger a moment to gaze at the beauties of the valley. The long drought had, however, changed its coat of verdure to a hue of brown, and though the same localities were there, the view wanted the lively and sharing aspect of early summer. Even the heavens seemed to share in the dried appearance of the earth, for the sun was concealed by a haziness in the atmosphere which looked like a thin smoke without a particle of moisture, if such a thing were possible. The blue sky was scarcely to be seen, though now and then there was a faint lighting up in spots through which masses of rolling vapor could be discerned gathering around the horizon as if nature were struggling to collect her floods for the relief of man. The very atmosphere that Elizabeth inhaled was hot and dry, and by the time she reached the point where the course led her from the highway she experienced a sensation like suffocation, but disregarding her feelings she hastened to execute her mission dwelling on nothing but the disappointment, and even the helplessness the hunter would experience without her aid. On the summit of the mountain which Judge Temple had named The Vision a little spot had been cleared in order that a better view might be obtained of the village and the valley. At this point Elizabeth understood the hunter she was to meet him, and further she urged her way as expeditiously as the difficulty of the ascent and the impediment of a forest in a state of nature would admit. Numberless were the fragments of rocks, trunks of fallen trees and branches with which she had to contend, but every difficulty vanished before her resolution, and by her own watch she stood on the desired spot several minutes before the appointed hour. After resting a moment on the end of a log Miss Temple cast a glance about her in quest of her old friend, but he was evidently not in the clearing. She arose and walked around its skirts, examining every place where she thought it probable that he might deem it prudent to conceal himself. Her search was fruitless, and after exhausting not only herself, but her conjectures, in efforts to discover or imagine his situation, she ventured to trust her voice in that solitary place. Natty! Leather stocking! Old man! she called aloud in every direction. But no answer was given, accepting the reverberations of her own clear tones, as they were echoed in the parched forest. Elizabeth approached the brow of the mountain, where a faint cry like the noise produced by striking the hand against the mouth, at the same time that the breath is strongly exhaled, was heard answering to her own voice. Not doubting in the least that it was the leather stocking lying in wait for her, and who gave that signal to indicate the place where he was to be found, Elizabeth descended for near a hundred feet until she gained a little natural terrace, thinly scattered with trees that grew in the fissures of the rocks, which were covered by a scanty soil. She had advanced to the edge of this platform, and was gazing over the perpendicular precipice that formed its face, when a rustling among the dry leaves near her drew her eyes in another direction. Our heroine certainly was startled by the object that she then saw, but a moment restored her self-possession, and she advanced firmly, and was some interest in her manner to the spot. Mohegan was seated on the trunk of a fallen oak, with his tawny visage turned toward her, and his eyes fixed on her face with an expression of wildness and fire that would have terrified a less resolute female. His blanket had fallen from his shoulders and was lying in folds around him, leaving his breast, arms, and most of his body bare. The medallion of Washington reposed on his chest, a badge of distinction that Elizabeth well knew he only produced on great and solemn occasions. But the whole appearance of the aged chief was more studied than common, and in some particulars it was terrific. The long black hair was plated on his head, falling away so as to expose his high forehead and piercing eyes. In the enormous incisions of his ears were entwined ornaments of silver, beads, and porcupine's quills, mingled in a rude taste, and after the Indian fashions. A large drop, composed of similar materials, was suspended from the cartilage of his nose, and falling below his lips rested on his chin. Streaks of red paint crossed his wrinkled brow, and were traced down his cheeks with such variations in the lines as Caprice or Customs suggested. His body was also colored in the same manner. The whole exhibiting an Indian warrior prepared for some event of more than usual moment. John, how fair you were thee, John! said Elizabeth as she approached him. You have long been a stranger in the village. You promised me a willow basket, and I have long had a shirt of calico and reddiness for you. The Indian looked steadily at her for some time without answering, and then shaking his head he replied in his low, guttural tones. John's hand can make baskets no more. He wants no shirt. But if he should, he will know where to come for it, returned Miss Temple. Indeed, old John, I feel as if you had a natural right to order what you will from us. Daughter, said the Indian, listen. Six times ten hot summers have passed since John was young, tall like a pine, straight like the bullet of Hawkeye, strong as all buffalo, spry as the cat of the mountain. He was strong and a warrior like the young eagle. If his tribe wanted to track the macaws for many sons, the eye of Chingach Cook found the print of their moccasins. If the people feasted and were glad as they counted the scalps of their enemies, it was on his pole they hung. If the squaws cried because there was no meat for their children, he was the first in the chase. His bullet was swifter than the deer. Daughter, then, Chingach Cook struck his tomahawk into the trees. It was to tell the lazy ones where to find him in the mingos. But he made no baskets. Those times had gone by, old warrior, returned Elizabeth. Since then your people have disappeared, and in place of chasing your enemies you have learned to fear God and to live at peace. Stand here, daughter, where you can see the great spring, the wigwams of your father, and the land on the Crooked River. John was young when his tribe gave away the country, in council, from where the Blue Mountain stands above the water, to where the Susquehanna is hid by the trees. All this and all that grew in it and all that walked over it and all that fed there they gave to the fire-eater. For they loved him. He was strong and they were women, and he helped them. No Delaware would kill a deer that ran in his woods nor stop a bird that flew over his land. For it was his. Has John lived in peace? Daughter, since John was young he has seen the white man from frontenac come down on his white brothers at Albany and fight. Did they fear God? He has seen his English and his American fathers burying their tomahawks in each other's brains, for this very land. Did they fear God and live in peace? He has seen the land pass away from the fire-eater and his children and the child of his child and a new chief set over the country. Did they live in peace who did this? Did they fear God, such as the custom of the whites, John? Do not the Delaware's fight and exchange their lands for powder and blankets and merchandise? The Indian turned his dark eyes on his companion and kept them there with a scrutiny that alarmed her a little. Where are the blankets and merchandise that bought the right of the fire-eater? He replied in a more animated voice. Are they with him in his wigwam? Did they say to him, Brother, sell us your land and take this gold, this silver, these blankets, these rifles, or even this rum? No. They tore it from him, as a scalp is torn from an enemy. And they that did it looked not behind them to see whether he lived or died. Do such men live in peace and fear the Great Spirit? But you hardly understand the circumstances, said Elizabeth, more embarrassed than she would own even to herself. If you knew our laws and customs better, you would judge differently of our acts. Do not believe evil of my father, O Mohegan, for he is just and good. The brother of Meekwan is good, and he will do right. I have set it to Hawkeye. I have set it to the young eagle that the brother of Meekwan would do justice. Whom call you the young eagle? said Elizabeth, averting her face from the gaze of the Indian as she asked the question. Since comes he, and what are his rights? Has my daughter lived so long with him to ask this question, returned the Indian warily? Old age freezes up the blood, as the frosts cover the great spring and winter. But youth keeps the streams of the blood open like a sun in the time of blossoms. The young eagle has eyes. Had he no tongue? The loveliness to which the old warrior alluded was in no degree diminished by his allegorical speech. For the blushes of the maiden who listened covered her burning cheeks till her dark eyes seemed to glow with their reflection. But after struggling a moment with shame, she laughed, as if unwilling to understand him seriously, and replied in pleasantry, Not to make me the mistress of his secret, he is too much of a Delaware to tell his secret thoughts to a woman. Daughter, the great spirit made your father with a white skin, and he made mine with a red, but he colored both their hearts with blood. When young it is swift and warm, but when old it is still and cold. Is there difference below the skin? No. Once John had a woman. She was the mother of so many sons. He raised his hand with three fingers elevated, and she had daughters that would have made the young Delaware's happy. She was kind, daughter. And what I said she did. You have different fashions. But do you think John did not love the wife of his youth, the mother of his children? And what has become of your family, John? Your wife and your children, asked Elizabeth, touched by the Indians' manner. Where is the ice that covered the great spring? It is melted, and gone with the waters. John has lived till all his people have left him for the land of spirits. His time has come, and he is ready. Mohegan dropped his head in his blanket and sat in silence. Miss Temple knew not what to say. She wished to draw the thoughts of the old warrior from his gloomy recollections. But there was a dignity in his sorrow, and in his fortitude, that repressed her efforts to speak. After a long pause, however, she renewed the discourse by asking, Where is the leather stocking, John? I have brought this canister of powder at his request, but he has nowhere to be seen. Will you take charge of it, and see it delivered? The Indian raised his head slowly and looked earnestly at the gift which she put into his hand. This is the great enemy of my nation. Without this one could the white man drive the Delaware's. Daughter, the great spirit gave your fathers to know how to make guns and powder. That they might sweep the Indians from the land. There will soon be no red skin in the country. When John has gone, the last will leave these hills, and his family will be dead. The aged warrior stretched his body forward, leaning an elbow on his knee, and appeared to be taking a parting look at the objects of the veil, which were still visible through the misty atmosphere. Though the air seemed to thicken at each moment around Miss Temple, who became conscious of an increased difficulty of respiration, the I of Mohegan changed gradually from its sorrowful expression to a look of wildness that might be supposed to border on the inspiration of a prophet as he continued. But he will go on to the country where his fathers have met. The game shall be plenty as the ash in the lakes. No woman shall cry for meat. No mingle can ever come. The chase shall be for children, and all just red men shall live together as brothers. John, this is not the heaven of a Christian, cried Miss Temple. You deal now in the superstition of your forefathers. Fathers, sons, said Mohegan with firmness, all gone, all gone. I have no son but the young eagle, and he has the blood of a white man. Tell me, John, said Elizabeth, willing to draw his thoughts to other subjects, and at the same time yielding to her own powerful interest in the youth, who is this, Mr. Edwards? Why are you so fond of him, and whence does he come? The Indians started at the question which evidently recalled his recollection to earth. Taking her hand he drew Miss Temple to a seat beside him, and pointed to the country beneath them. See, daughter, he said, directing her looks toward the north, as far as your young eyes can see it was the land of his. But immense volumes of smoke at that moment rolled over their heath, and whirling in the eddies formed by the mountains interposed a barrier to their sight while he was speaking. Startled by this circumstance Miss Temple sprang to her feet, and turning her eyes toward the summit of the mountain she beheld it covered by a similar canopy, while a roaring sound was heard in the forest above her like the rushing of winds. What means it, John, she exclaimed, we are enveloped in smoke, and I feel a heat like the glow of a furnace. Before the Indian could reply a voice was heard crying in the woods. John, where are you, old Mohegan? The woods are on fire, and you have but a minute for escape. The chief put his hand before his mouth, and making it lay on his lips produced the kind of noise that had attracted Elizabeth to the place. When a quick and hurried step was heard dashing through the dried underbrush and bushes, and presently Edwards rushed to his side, with horror on every feature. CHAPTER 37 LOVE RULES THE COURT, THE CAMP, THE GROVE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTRAL It would have been sad indeed to lose you in such a manner, my old friend, said Oliver, catching his breath for utterance. Up and away, even now we may be too late. The flames are circling round the point of the rock below, and unless we can pass there our only chance must be over the precipice. Away, away, shake off your apathy, John, now is the time of need. Mohegan pointed toward Elizabeth, who, forgetting her danger, had sunk back to a projection of the rock as soon as she recognized the sounds of Edwards' voice, and said with something like awakened animation, save her, leave John to die. Her, whom mean you, cried the youth, turning quickly to the place the other indicated, but when he saw the figure of Elizabeth bending toward him in an attitude that powerfully spoke terror, blended with reluctance to meet him in such a place, the shock deprived him of speech. Miss Temple, he cried when he found words, you here, is such a death reserved for you? No, no, no, no death, I hope, for any of us, Mr. Edwards, she replied, endeavouring to speak calmly. There is smoke, but no fire to harm us, let us endeavour to retire. Take my arm, said Edwards. There must be an opening in some direction for your retreat. Are you equal to the effort? Certainly. You surely magnify the danger, Mr. Edwards. Leave me out the way you came. I will, I will, cried the youth, with a kind of hysterical utterance. No, no, there is no danger. I have alarmed you unnecessarily. But shall we leave the Indian? Can we leave him, as he says, to die? An expression of painful emotion crossed the face of the young man. He stopped and cast a longing look at Mohegan, but dragging his companion after him, even against her will, he pursued his way with enormous strides toward the pass by which he had just entered the circle of flames. Do not regard him, he said, in those tones that denote a desperate calmness. He is used to the woods and such scenes, and he will escape up the mountain, over the rock, or he can remain where he is in safety. You thought not so this moment, Edwards? Do not leave him there to meet with such a death, cried Elizabeth, fixing a look on the countenance of her conductor that seemed to distrust his sanity. An Indian born, whoever heard of an Indian dying by fire, an Indian cannot burn, the idea is ridiculous. Hason, hasten, Miss Temple, or the smoke may incommodate you. Edwards, your look, your eye terrifies me. Tell me the danger. Is it greater than it seems? I am equal to any trial. If we reach the point of Yon Rock before that sheet of fire we are safe, Miss Temple, exclaimed the young man in a voice that burst without the bounds of his forced composure. Fly! The struggle is for life. The place of the interview between Miss Temple and the Indian has already been described as one of those platforms of rock, which form a sort of terrace in the mountains of that country, and the face of it, we have said, was both high and perpendicular. Its shape was nearly a natural arc, the ends of which blended with the mountain at points where its sides were less abrupt in their descent. It was round one of these terminations of the sweep of the rock that Edwards had ascended, and it was toward the same place that he urged Elizabeth to a desperate exertion of speed. Immense clouds of white smoke had been pouring over the summit of the mountain, and it concealed the approach and ravages of the summit. But a crackling sound drew the eyes of Miss Temple as she flew over the ground supported by the young man toward the outline of smoke where she already perceived the waving flames shooting forward from the vapor, now flaring high in the air, and then bending to the earth, seeming to light into combustion every stick and shrub on which they breathed. The sight aroused them to redoubled efforts, but unfortunately a collection of the tops of trees old and dried lay directly across their course, and at the very moment when both had thought their safety ensured, the warm current of the air swept a forked tongue of flame across the pile, which lighted at the touch, and when they reached the spot the flying pair were opposed by the surly roaring of a body of fire as if a furnace were glowing in their path. They recoiled from the heat and stood on a point of the rock gazing in a stupor at the flames which were spreading rapidly down the mountain, whose side too became a sheet of living fire. It was dangerous for one clad in the light and airy dress of Elizabeth to approach even the vicinity of the raging element, and those flowing robes that gave such softness and grace to her form seemed now to be formed for the instruments of her destruction. The villagers were accustomed to resort to that hill in quest of timber and fuel, in procuring which it was their usage to take only the bodies of the trees leaving the tops and branches to decay under the operations of the weather. Much of the hill was consequently covered with such light fuel, which, having been scorched under the sun for the last two months, was ignited with a touch. Indeed in some cases there did not appear to be any contact between the fire and these piles, but the flames seemed to dart from heap to heap, as the fabulous fire of the temple is represented to re-illumin its neglected lamp. There was beauty as well as terror in the site, and Edwards and Elizabeth stood viewing the progress of the desolation with a strange mixture of horror and interest. The former, however, shortly roused himself to new exertions, and drawing his companion after him they skirted the edge of the smoke, the young man penetrating frequently into its dense volumes in search of a passage, but in every instance without success. In this manner they proceeded in a semi-circle around the upper part of the terrace, until arriving at the verge of the precipice opposite to the point where Edwards had ascended, the horrid conviction burst on both, at the same instant, that they were completely encircled by fire. So long as a single pass up or down the mountain was unexplored there was hope, but one retreat seemed to be absolutely impracticable. The horror of their situation broke upon Elizabeth as powerfully as if she had hitherto considered the danger light. "'This mountain is doomed to be fatal to me,' she whispered. "'We shall find our graves on it. Say not so, Miss Temple. There is yet hope,' returned the youth in the same tone, while the vacant expression of his eye contradicted his words. "'Let us return to the point of the rock. There is—there must be—some place about it where we can descend.' "'Leave me there,' exclaimed Elizabeth. Let us leave no effort untried. She did not wait for his compliance, but turning retraced her steps to the brow of the precipice, murmuring to herself in suppressed hysterical sobs. My father—my poor, my distracted father—Edwards was by her side in an instant, and with aching eyes he examined every fissure in the crags in quest of some opening that might offer facilities for flight. But the smooth even surface of the rocks afforded hardly a resting place for a foot, much less those continued projections which would have been necessary for a descent of nearly a hundred feet. Elizabeth was not slow in feeling the conviction that this hope was also futile, and with a kind of feverish despair that still urged him to action he turned to some new expedient. "'There is nothing left, Miss Temple,' he said, but to lower you from this place to the rock beneath. If Natty were here, or even that Indian could be roused, their ingenuity and long practice would easily devise methods to do it. But I am a child at this moment in everything but daring. Where shall I find means? This dress of mine is so light, and there is so little of it. Then the blanket of Mohegan. We must try. We must try. Anything is better than to see you a victim to such a doubt." "'And what will become of you?' said Elizabeth. Indeed, indeed, neither you nor John must be sacrificed to my safety.' He heard or not, for he was already by the side of Mohegan, who yielded his blanket without a question, retaining his seat with Indian dignity and composure, though his own situation was even more critical than that of the others. The blanket was cut into shreds, and the fragments fastened together. The loose linen jacket of the youth and the light muslin shawl of Elizabeth were attached to them, and the hole thrown over the rocks with the rapidity of lightning. But the united pieces did not reach half-way to the bottom. "'It will not do! It will not do!' cried Elizabeth. "'For me there is no hope. The fire comes slowly, but certainly. See, it destroys the very earth before it. Had the flames spread on that rock with half the quickness with which they leaped from bush to tree in other parts of the mountain, our painful task would have soon ended, for they would have consumed already the captives they enclosed. But the peculiarity of their situation afforded Elizabeth and her companion the respite of which they had availed themselves to make the efforts we have recorded. The thin covering of earth on the rock supported but a scanty and faded herbage, and most of the trees that had found root in the fissures had already died, during the intense heats of preceding summers. Those which still retained the appearance of life bore a few dry and withered leaves, while the others were merely the wrecks of pines, oaks, and maples. No better materials to feed the fire could be found had there been a communication with the flames. But the ground was destitute of the brush that led the destructive element, like a torrent, over the remainder of the hill. As auxiliary to this scarcity of fuel, one of the large springs which abound in that country gushed out of the side of the ascent above. And after creeping sluggishly along the level and, saturating the mossy covering of the rock with moisture, it swept around the base of the little cone that formed the pinnacle of the mountain. And, entering the canopy of smoke near one of the terminations of the terrace, found its way to the lake, not by dashing from rock to rock, but by the secret channels of the earth. It would rise to the surface here and there in the wet seasons, but in the droughts of summer it was to be traced only by the bogs and moss that announced the proximity of water. When the fire reached this barrier it was compelled to pause until a concentration of its heat could overcome the moisture, like an army awaiting the operations of a battering train to open its way to desolation. That fatal moment seemed now to have arrived, for the hissing steams of the spring appeared to be nearly exhausted, and the moss of the rocks was already curling under the intense heat, while fragments of bark that yet clung to the dead trees began to separate from their trunks and fall to the ground in crumbling masses. The air seemed quivering with rays of heat, which might be seen playing along the parched stems of the trees. There were moments when dark clouds of smoke would sweep along the little terrace, and as the eye lost its power the other senses contributed to give effect to the fearful horror of the scene. At such moments the roaring of the flames, the crackling of the furious element, with the tearing of falling branches, and occasionally the thundering echoes of some falling tree, united to alarm the victims. Of the three, however, the youth appeared much the most agitated. Elizabeth, having relinquished entirely the idea of escape, was fast obtaining that resigned composure with which the most delicate of her sex are sometimes known to meet unavoidable evils, while Mohegan, who was much nearer to the danger maintained his seat with the invincible resignation of an Indian warrior. Once or twice the eye of the aged chief, which was ordinarily fixed in the direction of the distant hills, turned toward the young pair, who seemed doomed to so early a death with a slight indication of pity crossing his composed features, but it would immediately revert again to its former gaze, as if already looking into the womb of futurity, much of the time he was chanting a kind of low dirge in the Delaware tongue, using the deep and remarkable guttural tones of his people. At such a moment, Mr. Edward's all earthly distinctions end, whispered Elizabeth. Persuade John to move nearer to us. Let us die together. I cannot. He will not stir, returned the youth, in the same horridly still tones. He considers this as the happiest moment of his life. He is past seventy, and has been decaying rapidly for some time. He received some injury in chasing that unlucky deer, too, on the lake. Oh, Miss Temple, that was an unlucky chase indeed. It has led, I fear, to this awful scene. The smile of Elizabeth was celestial. Why name such a trifle now? At this moment the heart is dead to all earthly emotions. If anything could reconcile a man to this death, cried the youth, it would be to meet it in such company. Talk not so, Edwards. Talk not so, Interrupted Miss Temple. I am unworthy of it, and it is unjust to yourself. We must die. Yes. We must die. It is the will of God, and let us endeavor to submit like his own children. Die! the youth rather shrieked, then exclaimed, No, no, no. There must yet be hope. You, at least, must not, shall not die. In what way can we escape? asked Elizabeth, pointing with a look of heavenly composure toward the fire. Observe! The flame is crossing the barrier of wet ground. It comes slowly, Edwards, but surely. Ah, see! The tree! The tree is already lighted. Her words were too true. The heat of the conflagration had at length overcome the resistance of the spring, and the fire was slowly stealing along the half-dried moss, while a dead pine kindled with the touch of a forked flame that for a moment reathed around the stem of the tree as it whined in one of its evolutions under the influence of the air. The effect was instantaneous. The flames danced along the parched trunk of the pine, like lightning quivering on a chain, and immediately a column of living fire was raging on the terrace. It soon spread from tree to tree, and the scene was evidently drawing to a close. The log in which Mohigam was seated lighted at its further end, and the Indian appeared to be surrounded by fire. Still he was unmoved. As his body was unprotected, his sufferings must have been great, but his fortitude was superior to all. His voice could yet be heard even in the midst of these horrors. Elizabeth turned her head from the site, and faced the valley. Furious eddies of wind were created by the heat, and just at the moment the canopy of fiery smoke that overhung the valley was cleared away, leaving a distinct view of the peaceful village beneath them. "'My father! My father!' shrieked Elizabeth. "'Oh, this—surely might have been spared me.' But I submit. The distance was not so great, but the figure of Judge Temple could be seen, standing in his own grounds, and apparently contemplating, in perfect unconsciousness of the danger of his child, the mountain inflames. This site was still more painful than the approaching danger, and Elizabeth again faced the hill. "'My intemperate warmth has done this,' cried Edwards, in the accents of despair. "'If I had possessed but a moiety of your heavenly resignation, Miss Temple, all might yet have been well.' "'Name it not, name it not,' she said. "'It is now of no avail. We must die, Edwards. We must die. Let us do so as Christians. But—' "'No, you may yet escape, perhaps. Your dress is not so fatal as mine. Fly! Leave me! An opening may yet be found for you, possibly. Certainly it is worth the effort. Fly! Leave me! But stay! You will see my father, my poor, my bereaved father. Say to him then, Edwards, say to him, all that can appease his anguish, tell him that I died happy and collected, that I have gone to my beloved mother, that the hours of this life are nothing when balanced in the scales of eternity. Say how we shall meet again, and say she continued dropping her voice that had risen with her feelings as if conscious of her worldly weakness. How dear! How very dear was my love for him! That it was near, too near, to my love for God.' The youth listened to her touching accents, but moved not. In a moment he found utterance and replied, "'And it is me that you command to leave you. To leave you on the edge of the grave?' "'Oh, Miss Temple, how little have you known me,' he cried, dropping on his knees at her feet, and gathering her flowing robe in his arms as if to shield her from the flames. I have been driven to the woods in despair, but your society is tamed to the lion within me. If I have wasted my time in degradation, it was you that charmed me to it. If I have forgotten my name and family, your form supplied the place of memory. If I have forgotten my wrongs, it was you that taught me charity. No, no, dearest Elizabeth, I may die with you, but I can never leave you.' Elizabeth moved not, nor answered. It was plain that her thoughts had been raised from the earth. The recollection of her father and her regrets at their separation had been mellowed by a holy sentiment that lifted her above the level of earthly things, and she was fast losing the weakness of her sex in the near view of eternity. But as she listened to those words she became once more woman, she struggled against these feelings and smiled as she thought she was shaking off the last lingering feeling of nature when the world and all its seductions rushed again to her heart, with the sounds of a human voice crying in piercing tones. GAL! Where be you GAL? Glad in the heart of an old man if you yet belong to earth. HIST! said Elizabeth. Tis the leather-stocking. He seeks me. TIS NADDY! shouted Edwards, and we may yet be saved. A wide and circling flame glared on their eyes for a moment even above the fire of the woods, and a loud report followed. TIS THE CANISTER! TIS THE POWDER! cried the same voice, evidently approaching them. TIS THE CANISTER! AND THE PRECIOUS CHILD IS LOST. At the next instant Nady rushed through the steams of the spring and appeared on the terrace, without his deerskin cap, his hair burnt to his head, his shirt of country check, black and filled with holes, and his red features of a deeper color than ever by the heat he had encountered. END OF CHAPTER XXXVII. OF THE PIONEERS Or the sources of the Susquehanna, a descriptive tale by James Fenimore Cooper. CHAPTER XXXVIII. Even from the land of shadows now my father's awful ghost appears. Gertrude of Wyoming. For an hour after Louisa Grant was left by Miss Temple, in the situation already mentioned, she continued in feverish anxiety, awaiting the return of her friend. But as the time passed by, without the reappearance of Elizabeth, the terror of Louisa gradually increased until her alarmed fancy had conjured every species of danger that appertained to the woods, accepting the one that really existed. The heavens had become obscured by degrees, and vast volumes of smoke were pouring over the valley, but the thoughts of Louisa were still recurring to beasts, without dreaming of the real cause for apprehension. She was stationed in the edge of the low pines and chestnuts that succeed the first or large growth of the forest, and directly above the angle where the highway turned from the straight course to the village, and ascended the mountain laterally. Consequently, she commanded a view not only of the valley, but of the road beneath her. The few travelers that passed she observed were engaged in earnest conversation, and frequently raised their eyes to the hill, and at length she saw the people leaving the courthouse, and gazing upward also. While under the influence of the alarm, excited by such unusual movements, reluctant to go, and yet fearful to remain, Louisa was startled by the low cracking but cautious treads of someone approaching through the bushes. She was on the eve of flight, when Natty emerged from the cover, and stood at her side. The old man laughed as he shook her kindly by a hand that was passive with fear. "'I am glad to meet you here, child,' he said. "'For the back of the mountain is a fire, and it would be dangerous to go up it now, till it has been burnt over once, and the dead wood is gone. There's a foolish man, the comrade of that barment, who has given me all this trouble digging for ore on the east side. I told him that the careless fellows who thought to catch a practised hunter in the woods after dark had thrown the lighted pine-knots in the brush, and that would kindle like tow, and warned him to leave the hill, but he was set upon his business, and nothing short of providence could move him. If he isn't burnt and buried in a grave of his own digging, he's made of salamanders. Why what ails the child? You look as scurry as if you'd seeded more painters. I wish there were more to be found. They'd count up faster than the beaver. But where's the good child with a bad father? Did she forget her promise to the old man? "'The hill! The hill!' shrieked Louisa. She seeks you on the hill with the powder.' Natty recoiled several feet at this unexpected intelligence. The Lord of heaven had mercy on her. She's on the vision. And that's a sheet of fire again this. Child, if you'll love the dear one, and hope to find a friend when you need it most. To the village, and give the alarm. The men are used to fighting fire, and there may be a chance left. Fly! I bid ye, fly! Nor stop even for breath.' The leather stocking had no sooner uttered this injunction than he disappeared in the bushes, and when last seen by Louisa was rushing up the mountain with a speed that none but those who were accustomed to the toil could attain. "'Have I found ye?' the old man exclaimed. When he burst out of the smoke, God be praised that I have found ye, but follow, there's no time for talking.' "'My dress,' said Elizabeth, it would be fatal to trust myself nearer to the flames in it.' "'I bethought me of your flimsy things,' cried Natty, throwing loose the folds of a covering buck's skin, that he carried on his arm, and wrapping her form in it in such a manner as to envelop her whole person. Now, follow, for it's a matter of life and death to us all.' "'But, John, what will become of John?' cried Edwards. "'Can we leave the old warrior here to perish?' The eyes of Natty followed the direction of Edwards' finger, where he beheld the Indians still seated as before, with the very earth under his feet consuming with fire. Without delay the hunter approached the spot, and spoke in Delaware. "'Up and away, Chingach Kuk, will you stay here to burn like a mingo at the stake? The Moravians have teach'd you better, I hope. The Lord preserve me, if the powder hasn't flashed between his legs, and the skin of his back is roasting. Will you come, I say? Will you follow me?' "'Why should Mohegan go?' returned the Indian gloomily. "'He has seen the days of an eagle, and his eye grows dim. He looks on the valley, he looks on the water, he looks in the hunting grounds, but he sees no Delaware's. Everyone has a white skin. My fathers say, from the far off land, come. My women, my young warriors, my tribes say, come. The great spirit says, come. Let Mohegan die.' "'But you forget your friend,' cried Edwards. "'Tis useless to talk to an Indian with the death-fit on him, lad,' interrupted Natty, who seized the strips of the blanket and with wonderful dexterity strapped the passive chieftain to his own back. When he turned, and with a strength that seemed to bid defiance not only to his years but to his load, he led the way to the point whence he had issued. As they crossed the little terrace of rock, one of the dead trees that had been tottering for several minutes fell on the spot where they had stood, and filled the air with its cinders. Such an event quickened the steps of the party, who followed the leather stocking with the urgency required by the occasion. "'Tread on the soft ground,' he cried, when they were in a gloom where sight availed them but little, and keep in the white smoke, keep the skin close on her, lad, she's a precious one, another will be hard to be found. Obedient to the hunter's directions they followed his steps and advice implicitly, and although the narrow passage along the winding of the spring led amid burning logs and falling branches they happily achieved it in safety. No one but a man long accustomed to the woods could have traced his route through the smoke, in which respiration was difficult and sight nearly useless, but the experience of natty conducted them to an opening through the rocks where, with a little difficulty, they soon descended to another terrace, and emerged at once into a tolerably clear atmosphere. The feelings of Edwards and Elizabeth at reaching this spot may be imagined, though not easily described. No one seemed to exult more than their guide, who turned with Mohegan still lashed to his back, and laughing in his own manner said, "'I knowed, twas the Frenchman's powder gal. It went so altogether. Your coarse grain will squibb for a minute. The Iroquois had none of the best powder when I went again the Canada tribes under Sir William. Did I ever tell you the story, lad, concerning the scrimmage with—for God's sake, tell me nothing now, natty, until we are entirely safe. Where shall we go next? Why, on the platform of rock over the cave, to be sure, you will be safe enough there, or we'll go into it if you be so minded.' The young man started, and appeared agitated, but looking around him with an anxious eye said quickly, "'Shall we be safe on the rock? Can't the fire reach us there, too?' "'Can't the boys see?' said natty, with the coolness of one accustomed to the kind of danger he had just encountered. Had you stayed in the place above ten minutes longer, you would both have been in ashes, but here you may stay for ever, and no fire can touch you, until they burn the rocks as well as the woods.' With this assurance, which was obviously true, they proceeded to the spot, and natty deposited his load, placing the Indian on the ground with his back against a fragment of the rocks. Elizabeth sank on the ground and buried her face in her hands, while her heart was swelling with a variety of conflicting emotions. "'Let me urge you to take a restorative, Miss Temple,' said Edwards respectfully. "'Your frame will sink, else.' "'Leave me, leave me,' she said, raising her beaming eyes for a moment to his. I feel too much for words. I am grateful, Oliver, for this miraculous escape, and next to my God, to you.' Edwards withdrew to the edge of the rock, and shouted, "'Benjamin, where are you, Benjamin?' A hoarse voice replied, as if from the bowels of the earth. "'Here, away, master. Stowed in this here bit of a hole, which is all the time as hot as the cook's cuppers. I'm tired of my birth, do you see? And if so be that leather-stocking has got much overhauling to do before he sails after them,' said Beaver, "'I'll go into dock again, and write out my quarantine, till I can get practic from the law, and so hold on upon the rest of my Spaniolas.' "'Bring up a glass of water from the spring,' continued Edwards, and threw a little wine in it. Hason, I entreat you.' "'I knows but little of your small drink, Master Oliver,' returned the steward, his voice issuing out of the cave into the open air, and the Jamaicae held out no longer than to take a parting kiss with Billy Kirby, when he anchored me alongside the highway last night, where you run me down in the chase. But here's summit of a red color that may suit a weak stomach, may hap. That Master Kirby is no first rate in a boat, but he'll tack a cart among the stumps, all the same as a London pilot will back and fill through the coyors in the pool.' As the steward ascended while talking, by the time he had ended his speech he appeared on the rock with the desired restoratives, exhibiting the worn-out and bloated features of a man who had run deep in a debauch—and that, lately. Elizabeth took from the hands of Edwards the liquor which he offered, and then motioned to be left again to herself. The youth turned at her bidding, and observed Natty kindly assiduous around the person of Mohegan. When their eyes met, the hunter said sorrowfully, "'His time has come, lad. See it in his eyes. When an Indian fixes his eye, he means to go but to one place. And what the willful creatures put their minds on, they're sure to do.' A quick tread prevented the reply, and in a few moments to the amazement of the whole party, Mr. Grant was seen clinging to the side of the mountain, and striving to reach the place where they stood. Oliver sprang to his assistance, and by their united efforts the worthy divine was soon placed safely among them. "'How came you added to our number?' cried Edwards. "'Is the hill alive with people at a time like this?' The hasty but pious thanksgivings of the clergyman were soon ejaculated, and when he succeeded in collecting his bewildered senses, he replied, "'I heard that my child was seen coming to the mountain, and when the fire broke over its summit my uneasiness drew me up the road where I found Louisa in terror from his temple. It was to seek her that I came into this dangerous place. And I think but for God's mercy, through the dogs of Natty, I should have perished in the flames myself.' "'I, follow the hounds, and if there's an opening they'll centre it out,' said Natty. Their noses be given them the same as man's reason.' "'I did so, and they led me into this place, but praise be to God that I see you all safe and well.' "'No, no,' returned the hunter. "'Safe we be, but as for well, John can't be called in a good way, unless you'll say that for a man that's taking his last look at earth.' "'He speaks the truth,' said the divine, with the holy awe with which he ever approached the dying. "'I have been by too many deathbeds not to see that the hand of the tyrant is laid on this old warrior. Oh, how consoling it is to know that he has not rejected the offered mercy in the hour of his strength and of worldly temptations. The offspring of a race of heathens he has in truth been as a brand plucked from the burning.' "'No, no,' returned Natty, who alone stood with him by the side of the dying warrior. It is no burning that ails him, though his Indian feelings made him scorn to move unless it be the burning of man's wicked thoughts for near forescore years, but it's nature giving out in a chasm that's run too long. "'Down with you, Hector, down,' I say. Plesh is an iron that a man can live forever and see his kith and kin driven to a far country, and he left to mourn, with none to keep him company. "'John,' said the divine tenderly, do you hear me? Do you wish the prayers appointed by the church at this trying moment?' The Indian turned his ghastly face toward the speaker and fastened his dark eyes on him steadily but vacantly. No sign of recognition was made, and in a moment he moved his head again slowly toward the veil and began to sing using his own language in those low guttural tones that have been so often mentioned, his notes rising with his theme till they swelled so loud as to be distinct. "'I will come. I will come. To the land of the just I will come. The makwas I have slain. I have slain the makwas, and the great spirit calls to his son. I will come. I will come to the land of the just. I will come.' What says he, leather-stocking, inquired the priest with tender interest, sings he the Redeemer's praise? No, no, it is his own praise that he speaks now, said Natty, turning in a melancholy manner from the sight of his dying friend. And a good right he has to say it all, for I know every word to be true. May heaven avert such self-righteousness from his heart. Humility and penitence are the seals of Christianity, and without feeling them deeply seated in the soul all hope is delusive, and leads to vain expectations. Praise himself when his whole soul and body should unite to praise his maker. John, you have enjoyed the blessings of a gospel ministry, and have been called from out a multitude of sinners and pagans, and I trust for a wise and gracious purpose. Do you now feel what it is to be justified by our Savior's death, and reject all weak and idle dependence on good works that spring from man's pride and vain glory? The Indian did not regard his interrogator, but he raised his head again, and said in a low, distinct voice, Who can say that the Makkas know the back of the Mohigan? What enemy that trusted in him did not see the morning? What mingle that he chased ever sang the Song of Triumph? Did Mohigan ever he? No, the truth lived in him, and none else could come out of him. In his youth he was a warrior, and his Makkasans left the stain of blood. In his age he was wise, his words that the council fire did not blow away with the winds. Ah, he has abandoned that vain relic of paganism, his songs, cried the Divine. What says he now? Is he sensible of his lost state? Lord, man, said Natty, he knows his end is at hand as well as you are I. But so far from thinking at a loss he believes it to be a great gain. He is old and stiff, and you have made the game so scarce and shy that better shots than him find it hard to get a livelihood. Now he thinks he shall travel where it will always be good hunting, where no wicked or unjust Indians can go, and where he shall meet all his tribe together again. There is not much loss in that, to a man whose hands are hardly fit for basket-making. Loss! If there be any lost will be to me. I am sure after he is gone there will be but little left for me but to follow. His example and end which I humbly trust shall yet be made glorious, returned Mr. Grant, should lead your mind to dwell on the things of another life. But I feel it to be my duty to smooth the way for the parting spirit. This is the moment, John, when the reflection that you did not reject the mediation of the Redeemer will bring balm to your soul. Trust not to any act of former days, but lay the burden of your sins at his feet, and you have his own blessed assurance that he will not desert you. Though all you say be true and you have scripture gospels for it too, said Natty, you will make nothing of the Indian. He hasn't seen a Moravian since the war, and it's hard to keep them from going back to their native ways. I should think it would be as well to let the old man pass in peace. He's happy now. I know it by his eye. And that's more than I would say for the chiefs in the time the Delaware's broke up from the headwaters of their river and went west. As me, does a grievous long time that, and many dark days have we seen together, Synod? Hawkeye, said Mohegan, rousing with the last glimmering of life. Hawkeye, listen to the words of your brother. Yes, John, said the hunter in English, strongly affected by the appeal, and drawing to his side. We had been brothers, and more so than it means in the Indian tongue. What would you have with me, Chincuch Cook? Hawkeye, my fathers call me to the happy hunting grounds. The path is clear, and the eyes of Mohegan grow young. I look, but I see no white skins. There are none to be seen but just and brave Indians. Farewell, Hawkeye. You shall go with the fire-eater and the young eagle to the white man's heaven, but I go after my fathers. Let the bow and tomahawk and pipe and the wampum of Mohegan be laid in his grave, for when he starts will be in the night, like a warrior, on a war-party, and he cannot stop to seek them. What says he, Nathaniel? cried Mr. Grant earnestly and with obvious anxiety. Does he recall the promises of the mediation, and trust his salvation to the rock of ages? Although the faith of the hunter was by no means clear, yet the fruits of early instruction had not entirely fallen in the wilderness. He believed in one God and one Heaven, and when the strong feeling excited by the leave-taking of his old companion, which was exhibited by the powerful working of every muscle in his weather-beaten face, suffered him to speak, he replied, No, no. He trusts only to the great spirit of the savages and to his own good deeds. He thinks, like all his people, that he is to be young again, and to hunt, and be happy to the end of eternity. It's pretty much the same with all colors, parson. I could never bring myself to think that I shall meet with these hounds, or my peace, in another world, though the thought of leaving them forever sometimes brings hard feelings over me, and makes me cling to life with a greater craving than besiems three score and ten. The Lord in his mercy avert such a death from one who has been sealed with the sign of the cross, cried the minister, in holy fervour. John. He paused for the elements. During the period occupied by the events which we have related, the dark clouds in the horizon had continued to increase in numbers and multitude, and the awful stillness that now pervaded the air announced a crisis in the state of the atmosphere. The flames which yet continued to rage along the sides of the mountains no longer whirled in uncertain currents of their own eddies, but blazed high and steadily toward the heavens. There was even a quietude in the ravages of the destructive element as if it foresaw that a hand greater than even its own desolating power was about to stay its progress. The piles of smoke which lay above the valley began to rise and were dispelling rapidly, and streaks of livid lightning were dancing through the masses of clouds that impended over the western hills. While Mr. Grant was speaking a flash, which sent its quivering light through the gloom, laying bare the whole opposite horizon was followed by a loud crash of thunder that rolled away among the hills, seeming to shake the foundations of the earth to their center. Mohegan raised himself as if in obedience to a signal for his departure, and stretched his wasted arm toward the west, his dark face lighted with a look of joy, which, with all other expressions, gradually disappeared, the muscles stiffening as they retreated to a state of rest. A slight convulsion played for a single instant about his lips, and his arms slowly dropped by his side, leaving the frame of the dead warrior reposing against the rock with its glassy eyes open, and fixed on the distant hills as if the deserted shell were tracing the flight of the spirit to its new abode. All this Mr. Grant witnessed in silent awe. But when the last echoes of the thunder died away he clasped his hands together with pious energy and repeated in the full rich tones of assured faith. Lord, how unsearchable are thy judgments, and thy ways past finding out! I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another. As the divine closed this burst of devotion, he bowed his head meekly to his bosom, and looked all the dependence and humility that the inspired language expressed. When Mr. Grant retired from the body, the hunter approached and taking the rigid hand of his friend, looked him wistfully in the face for some time without speaking, when he gave vent to his feelings by saying in the mournful voice of one who felt deeply, Red skin or white? It's all over now. He's to be judged by a righteous judge, and by no laws that's made to suit times and new ways. While there's only one more death, and the world will be left to me in the hounds, as me. A man must wait the time of God's pleasure, but I begin to weary of life. There is scarcely a tree standing that I know, and it's hard to find a face that I was acquainted with in my younger days. Large drops of rain now began to fall, and diffuse themselves over the dry rock, while the approach of the thundershower was rapid and certain. The body of the indium was hastily removed into the cave beneath, followed by the whining hounds who missed and moaned for the look of intelligence that had always met their salutations to the chief. Edwards made some hasty and confused excuse for not taking Elizabeth into the same place, which was now completely closed in front with logs and bark, saying something that she hardly understood about its darkness, and the unpleasantness of being with the dead body. Miss Temple, however, found a sufficient shelter against the torrent of rain that fell under the projection of a rock which overhung them, but long before the shower was over the sounds of voices were heard below them crying aloud for Elizabeth, and men soon appeared beating the dying embers of the bushes as they worked their way cautiously among the young extinguished brands. At the first short cessation in the rain Oliver conducted Elizabeth to the road, where he left her. Before parting, however, he found time to say in a fervent manner that his companion was now at no loss to interpret. The moment of concealment is over, Miss Temple. By this time to-morrow I shall remove a veil that perhaps it has been weakness to keep around me and my alias so long. But I have had romantic and foolish wishes and weakness. And who is not that is young and torn by conflicting passions? God bless you. I hear your father's voice, he is coming up the road, and I would not just now subject myself to detention. Thank heaven you are safe again. That alone removes the weight of a world from my spirit. He waited for no answer, but sprang into the woods. Elizabeth, notwithstanding, she heard the cries of her father as he called upon her name, paused until he was concealed among the smoking trees, when she turned and in a moment rushed into the arms of her half-distracted parent. A carriage had been provided into which Miss Temple hastily entered, when the cry was passed along the hill that the lost one was found, and the people returned to the village wet and dirty, but elated with the thought that the daughter of their landlord had escaped from so horrid and untimely an end. Author's Insertion The probability of a fire in the woods similar to that here described has been questioned. The writer can only say that he once witnessed a fire in another part of New York that compelled a man to desert his wagon at horses in the highway, and in which the latter were destroyed. In order to estimate the probability of such an event, it is necessary to remember the effects of a long drought in that climate and the abundance of dead wood which is found in a forest like that described. The fires in the American forests frequently raged to such an extent as to produce a sensible effect on the atmosphere at a distance of fifty miles. Houses, barns, and fences are quite commonly swept away in their course. End of Chapter 38 Recording by Bill Borst Chapter 39 Of The Pioneers or the Sources of the Susquehanna 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 39 Select our unsheathed than our chief's scimitar Timburgy, thy Laram gives promise of war, ye mountains that see us descend to the shore, shall view us as victors, or view us no more. Byron The heavy showers that prevailed during the remainder of the day completely stopped the progress of the flames. Though glimmering fires were observed during the night on different parts of the hill, wherever there was a collection of fuel to feed the element. The next day the woods for many miles were black and smoking, and were stripped of every vestige of brush and dead wood, but the pines and hemlocks still reared their heads proudly among the hills, and even the smaller trees of the forest retained a feeble appearance of life and vegetation. The many tongues of rumour were busy in exaggerating the miraculous escape of Elizabeth, and a report was generally credited that Mohegan had actually perished in the flames. This belief became confirmed, and was indeed rendered probable, when the direful intelligence reached the village, that Jotham Redell, the miner, was found in his hole nearly dead with suffocation and burnt to such a degree that no hopes were entertained of his life. The public attention became much alive to the events of the last few days, and just at this crisis the convicted counterfeiters took the hint from Natty, and on the night succeeding the fire found means to cut through their log-prison also, and to escape unpunished. When this news began to circulate through the village blended with the fate of Jotham, and the exaggerated and tortured reports of the events on the hill, the popular opinion was freely expressed as to the propriety of seizing such of the fugitives as remained within reach. Men talked of the cave as a secret receptacle of guilt, and as the rumour of ores and metals found its way into the confused medley of conjectures, counterfeiting, and everything else that was wicked and dangerous to the peace of society suggested themselves to the busy fancies of the populace. While the public mind was in this feverish state, it was hinted that the wood had been set on fire by Edwards and the leather stocking, and that consequently they alone were responsible for the damages. This opinion soon gained ground being most circulated by those who, by their own heedlessness, had caused the evil, and there was one irresistible burst of the common sentiment that an attempt should be made to punish the offenders. Richard was by no means deaf to this appeal, and by noon he set about in earnest to see the laws executed. Several stout young men were selected, and taken apart with an appearance of secrecy where they received some important charge from the sheriff immediately under the eyes but far removed from the ears of all in the village. Possessed of a knowledge of their duty, these youths hurried into the hills with a bustling manner as if the fate of the world depended on their diligence, and at the same time with an Arab mystery as great as if they were engaged on secret matters of the state. At twelve precisely a drum beat the long roll before the bold dragoon, and Richard appeared accompanied by Captain Hollister, who was clad in investments as commander of the Templeton Light Infantry, when the former demanded of the latter the aid of the Pasi Kometatus, enforcing the laws of the country. We have not room to record the speeches of the two gentlemen on this occasion, but they are preserved in the columns of the little blue newspaper which is yet to be found on the file, and are said to be highly creditable to the legal formula of one of the parties, and to the military precision of the other. Everything had been previously arranged, and as the red-coated drummer continued to roll out his clattering notes some five and twenty privates appeared in the ranks and arranged themselves in the order of battle. As this corps was composed of volunteers, and was commanded by a man who had passed the first five and thirty years of his life in camps and garrisons, it was the non-parallel of military science in that country, and was confidently pronounced by the judicious part of the Templeton community to be equal in skill and appearance to any troops in the known world. In physical endowments they were certainly much superior. To this assertion there were but three dissenting voices and one dissenting opinion. The opinion belonged to Marmaduke, who, however, saw no necessity for its promulgation. Of the voices one, and that a pretty loud one, came from the spouse of the commander himself, who frequently reproached her husband for condescending to lead such an irregular band of warriors after he had filled the honorable station of Sergeant Major to a dashing corps of Virginia cavalry through much of the recent war. Another of these skeptical sentiments was invariably expressed by Mr. Pump, whenever the company paraded generally in some such terms as these, which were uttered with that sort of meekness that a native of the island of our forefathers is apt to assume when he condescends to praise the customs or character of her truant progeny. It's may hap that they know's summit about loading and firing, you see, but as for working ship, why a corporal's guard of the bodice's marines would back and fill on their quarters in such a manner as to surround and captivate them all in half a glass. As there was no one to deny this assertion the marines of the bodice were held in a corresponding degree of estimation. The third unbeliever was Mr. Le Quoy, who merely whispered to the sheriff that the corps was one of the finest he had ever seen, second only to the musketeers of Le Bois, Louis. However, as Mrs. Hollister thought there was something like actual service in the present appearances, and was in consequence too busily engaged with certain preparations of her own to make her comments, as Benjamin was absent and Mr. Le Quoy too happy to find fault with anything, the corps escaped criticism and comparison altogether on this momentous day, when they certainly had greater need of self-confidence than on any other previous occasion. Marmaduke was said to be again closeted with Mr. Vander School, and no interruption was offered to the movements of the troops. At two o'clock precisely the corps shouldered arms, beginning on the right wing, next to the veteran, and carrying the motion through to the left with great regularity. When each musket was quietly fixed in its proper situation, the order was given to wheel to the left and march. As this was bringing raw troops at once to face their enemy, it is not to be supposed that the maneuver was executed with their usual accuracy. But as the music struck up the inspiring air of Yankee Doodle, and Richard, accompanied by Mr. Doolittle, preceeded the troops boldly down the street. Captain Hollister let on, with his head elevated to forty-five degrees, with a little low-cocked hat perched on his crown carrying a tremendous ragoon sabre at a poise, and trailing at his heels a huge steel scabbard that had war in its very clattering. There was a good deal of difficulty in getting all the platoons, there were six, to look the same way, but by the time they reached the defile of the bridge the troops were in sufficiently compact order. In this manner they marched up the hill to the summit of the mountain, no other alteration taking place in the disposition of the forces, accepting that a mutual complaint was made by the sheriff and the magistrate of a failure in wind which gradually brought these gentlemen to the rear. It will be unnecessary to detail the minute movements that succeeded. We shall briefly say that the scouts came in and reported that, so far from retreating, as had been anticipated, the fugitives had evidently gained a knowledge of the attack and were fortifying for a desperate resistance. This intelligence certainly made a material change, not only in the plans of the leaders, but in the countenances of the soldiery also. The men looked at one another with serious faces, and Hiram and Richard began to consult together, apart. At this conjuncture they were joined by Billy Kirby, who came along the highway with his acts under his arm, as much in advance of his team as Captain Hollister had been of his troops in the ascent. The woodchopper was amazed at the military array, but the sheriff eagerly availed himself of this powerful reinforcement and commanded his assistance in putting the laws in force. Billy held Mr. Jones in too much deference to object, and it was finally arranged that he should be the bearer of a summons to the garrison to surrender before they proceeded to extremities. The troops now divided one party being led by the captain over the vision, and were brought in on the left of the cave, while the remainder advanced upon its right under the orders of the Lieutenant. Mr. Jones and Dr. Todd, for the surgeon was in attendance also, appeared on the platform of rock immediately over the heads of the garrison, though out of their sight. Hiram thought this approaching too near, and he therefore accompanied Kirby along the side of the hill to within a safe distance of the fortifications where he took shelter behind a tree. Most of the men discovered great accuracy of eye in bringing some object in range between them and their enemy, and the only two of the besiegers, who were left in plain sight of the besieged, were Captain Hollister on one side and the Woodchopper on the other. The veteran stood up boldly to the front, supporting his heavy sword in one undeviating position, with his eye fixed firmly on his enemy, while the huge form of Billy was placed in that kind of quiet repose with either hand thrust into his bosom, bearing his axe under his right arm, which permitted him, like his own oxen, to rest standing. So far not a word had been exchanged between the belligerents. The besieged had drawn together a pile of black logs and branches of trees, which they had formed into a chevro de frieze, making a little circular abitus in front of the entrance to the cave. As the ground was steep and slippery in every direction around the place, and Benjamin appeared behind the works on one side, and Natty on the other, the arrangement was by no means contemptible, especially as the front was sufficiently guarded by the difficulty of the approach. By this time Kirby had received his orders, and he advanced coolly along the mountain, picking his way with the same indifference as if he were pursuing his ordinary business. When he was within a hundred feet of the works, the long and much-dreaded rifle of the leather stocking was seen issuing from the parapet, and his voice cried aloud, Keep off, Billy Kirby. Keep off. I wish you no harm, but if a man of ye all comes a stepnire, there'll be blood spilt that wicks us. God forgive the one that draws it first, but so it must be. Come, old chap, said Billy, good-naturedly. Don't be crabbed, but hear what a man has got to say. I'm no concern in the business only to see right-twixed man and man, and I don't care the valley of a beetle-ring, which gets the better. But there's Squire Dolittle, yonder, behind the beach sapling. He has invited me to come in and ask you to give up to the law. That's all. I see the varmint. I see his clothes. cried the indignant Natty. And if he'll only show so much flesh as will bury a rifle bullet, thirty to the pound, I'll make him feel me. Go away, Billy. I bid ye. You know my aim, and I bear you no malice. You over-calculate your aim, Natty. said the other, as he stepped behind a pine that stood near him. If you think to shoot a man through a tree with a three-foot butt, I can lay this tree right across you in ten minutes by any man's watch, and in less time, too. So be civil. I want no more than what's right. There was a simple seriousness in the countenance of Natty that showed he was much in earnest, but it was also evident that he was reluctant to shed human blood. He answered the taunt of the woodchapper by saying, I know you drop a tree where you will, Billy Kirby, but if you show a hand or an arm in doing it, there'll be bones to be set and blood to staunch. If it's only to get into the cave that you want, wait till a two-hour sun, and you may enter it in welcome. But come in now, you shall not. There's one dead body already lying on the cold rocks, and there's another in which the life can hardly be said to stay. If you will come in, there'll be dead without as well as within. The woodchapper stepped out fearlessly from his cover and cried, That's fair, and what's fair is right. He wants you to stop till it's two hours to sundown, and I see reason in the thing. A man can give up when he's wrong if you don't crowd him too hard, but you crowd a man, and he gets to be like a stubborn ox. The more you beat, the worse he kicks. The sturdy notions of independence maintained by Billy neither suited the emergency nor the impatience of Mr. Jones, who was burning with a desire to examine the hidden mysteries of the cave. He therefore interrupted this amicable dialogue with his own voice. I command you, Nathaniel Bumple, by my authority, to surrender your person to the law. He cried. And I command you, gentlemen, to aid me in performing my duty. Benjamin Penguin, I arrest you and order you to follow me to the jail of the county, by virtue of this warrant. I'd follow you, Squire Dickens, said Benjamin, removing the pipe from his mouth, for during the whole scene the ex-major domo had been very composedly smoking. I'd sail in your wake to the end of the world, if so be that there was such a place, where there isn't, seeing that it's round. Now may Hepmaster Hollister, having lived all your life on shore, you isn't acquainted with that world, do you see? Surrender, interrupted the veteran in a voice that startled his hearers, and which actually caused his own forces to recoil several paces. Surrender, Benjamin Penguin, or expect no quarter. Damn your quarter, said Benjamin, rising from the log on which he was seated, and taking a squint along the barrel of the swivel which had been brought on the hill during the night, and now formed the means of defense on his side of the works. Look, you master or captain, though I questions if you know the name of a rope, except the one that's to hang you. There's no need of singing out as if you was hailing a deaf man on a top-gallant yard. May Hep you think you've got my true name in your sheepskin, but what British sailor finds it worthwhile to sail in these seas without a sham on his stern, in case of need do you see? If you call me penguin, you calls me by the name of the man on whose hand, do you see, I hove into daylight, and he was a gentleman. And that's more than my worst enemy will say of any of the family of Benjamin Stubbs. Send the warrant round to me, and I'll put in an alias, cried Hiram, from behind his cover. Put in a jackass, and you'll put in yourself, Mr. Dubeut Little. Shouted Benjamin, who kept squinting along his little iron tube with great steadiness. I give you but one moment to yield, cried Richard. Benjamin. Benjamin, this is not the gratitude I expected from you. I tell you, Richard Jones, said Natty, who dreaded the sheriff's influence over his comrade. Though the canister the gal brought be lost, there's powder enough in the cave to lift the rock you stand on. I'll take off my roof if you don't hold your peace. I think of beneath the dignity of my office to parley further with the prisoners. The sheriff observed to his companion, while they both retired with a precipitancy that Captain Hollister mistook for the signal to advance. Charge bayonet! Shouted the veteran. March! Although this signal was certainly expected, it took the assailed a little by surprise, and the veteran approached the works crying, Courage, my brave lads! Give them no quarter unless they surrender, and struck a furious blow upward with his sabre that would have divided the steward into moieties by subjecting him to the process of decapitation, but for the fortunate interference of the muzzle of the swivel. As it was, the gun was dismounted at the critical moment that Benjamin was applying his pipe to the priming, and, in consequence, some five or six dozen of rifle bullets were projected into the air in nearly a perpendicular line. Philosophy teaches us that the atmosphere will not retain lead, and two pounds of the metal molded into bullets of thirty to the pound after describing an ellipsis in their journey returned to the earth rattling among the branches of the trees directly over the heads of the troops stationed in the rear of their captain. Much of the success of an attack, made by irregular soldiers, depends on the direction in which they are first got in motion. In the present instance it was retrograde, and in less than a minute after the bellowing report of the swivel among the rocks and caverns, the whole weight of the attack from the left rested on the prowess of the single arm of the veteran. Benjamin received a severe contusion from the recoil of his gun, which produced a short stupor during which period the X steward was prostrate on the ground. Captain Hollister availed himself of this circumstance to scramble over the breastwork and obtain a footing in the bastion, for such was the nature of the fortress as connected with the cave. The moment the veteran found himself within the works of his enemy he rushed to the edge of the fortification and waving his saber over his head, shouted, Victory! Come on, my brave boys! The work's our own! All this was perfectly military, and was such an example as a gallant officer was in some measure bound to exhibit to his men, but the outcry was the unlucky cause of turning the tide of success. Natty, who had been keeping a vigilant eye on the woodchapper and the enemy immediately before him, wheeled at this alarm and was appalled at beholding his comrade on the ground and the veteran standing on his own bulwark giving forth a cry of victory. The muzzle of the long rifle was turned instantly toward the captain. There was a moment when the life of the old soldier was in great jeopardy, but the object to shoot at was both too large and too near for the leather stocking, who, instead of pulling his trigger, applied the gun to the rear of his enemy, and by a powerful shove sent him outside of the works with much greater rapidity than he had entered them. The spot on which Captain Hollister alighted was directly in front, where, as his feet touched the ground so steep and slippery was the side of the mountain, it seemed to recede from under them. His motion was swift and so irregular as utterly to confuse the faculties of the old soldier. During its continuance he supposed himself to be mounted and charging through the ranks of his enemy. At every tree he made a blow, of course, as at a foot soldier, and just as he was making the cut St. George at a half-burnt sapling he landed in the highway and to his utter amazement at the feet of his own spouse. When Mrs. Hollister, who was toiling up the hill, followed by at least twenty curious boys, leaning with one hand on the staff with which she ordinarily walked, and bearing in the other an empty bag, witnessed this exploit of her husband, indignation immediately got the better, not only of her religion, but of her philosophy. Why, Sergeant, is it flying ye are? she cried. That I should live to see a husband of mine turn his back to an enemy, and such a one. Here I have been telling the boys, as we come along, all about the sage of Yorktown, and how ye was hurted, and how ye'd be acting the same again the day. And I met ye retreating, just as the first gun is fired. Ock! I may throw away the bag, for if there's plunder, it will not be the wife of sitches yourself that will be privileged to be getting the same. They do say, too, there is a power of gold and silver in the place. The Lord forgive me for setting my heart on worldly things, but what falls in the battle, there's scripture for believing, is just the property of the victor. Retreating! exclaimed the amazed veteran. Where's my horse? He has been shot under me. I— Is the man mad? interrupted his wife. Devil the horse, do ye own, Sergeant? And ye're nothing but a shabby captain of Maleshy. Oh, if the rail-captain was here, tis the other way ye'd be ridin', dear, or ye would not follow ye later. While this worthy couple were thus discussing events, the battle began to rage more violently than ever above them. When Leatherstocking saw his enemy fairly underheadway, as Benjamin would express it, he gave his attention to the right wing of the assailants. It would have been easy for Kirby with his powerful frame to have seized the moment to scale the bastion, and with his great strength to have sent both of its defenders in pursuit of the veteran. But hostility appeared to be the passion that the woodchaper indulged the least in at that moment, for in a voice that was heard by the retreating left wing he shouted, Hurrah! Well done, Captain! Keep it up! How he handles his bush-hook! He makes nothing of a sapling! And such other encouraging exclamations to the flying veteran, until overcome by Merth the good-natured fellow seated himself on the ground, kicking the earth with delight, and giving vent to peel after peel of laughter. Nanti stood all this time in a menacing attitude, with his rifle pointed over the breastwork, watching with a quick and cautious eye the least movement of the assailants. The outcry unfortunately tempted the ungovernable curiosity of Hiram to take a peep from behind his cover at the state of the battle. Though this evolution was performed with great caution, in protecting his front he left like many a better commander his rear exposed to the attacks of his enemy. Mr. Doolittle belonged physically to a class of his countrymen to whom nature has denied, in their formation, the use of curved lines. Everything about him was either straight or angular. But his tailor was a woman who worked like a regimental contractor by a set of rules that gave the same configuration to the whole human species. Consequently, when Mr. Doolittle leaned forward in the manner described a loose drapery appeared behind the tree at which the rifle of Nanti was pointed with the quickness of lightning. A less experienced man would have aimed at the flowing robe, which hung like a festoon half way to the earth. But the leather stocking knew both the man and his female tailor better. And when the smart report of the rifle was heard, Kirby, who watched the whole maneuver in breathless expectation, saw the bark fly from the beach and the cloth at some distance above the loose folds wave at the same instant. No battery was ever unmasked with more promptitude than Hiram advanced from behind the tree at this summons. He made two or three steps with great precision to the front, and placing one hand on the afflicted part, stretched forth the other with a menacing air toward Nanti, and cried aloud, God, Danya, this shan't be settled so easy. I'll follow it up from the commons, please, to the Court of Errors. Such a shocking implication from the mouth of so orderly a man as Squire Doolittle, with the fearless manner in which he exposed himself, together with perhaps the knowledge that Nanti's rifle was unloaded, encouraged the troops in the rear, who gave a loud shout, and fired a volley into the tree tops, after the contents of the swivel. Animated by their own noise, the men now rushed on in earnest, and Billy Kirby, who thought the joke good as it was, had gone far enough, was in the act of scaling the works when Judge Temple appeared on the opposite side, exclaiming, Silence and peace! Why do I see murder and bloodshed attempted? Is not the law sufficient to protect itself? That armed vans must be gathered, as in rebellion and war, to see justice performed? Tis the posse comatatus, shouted the sheriff, from a distant rock, Who say, rather a posse of demons, I command the peace! Hold, shed not blood! cried a voice from the top of the vision. Hold, for the sake of heaven, fire no more! All shall be yielded! You shall enter the cave! Amazement produced the desired effect. Nanti, who had reloaded his peace, quietly seated himself on the logs, and rested his head on his hands, while the light infantry ceased their military movements and waited the issue in suspense. In less than a minute, Edwards came rushing down the hill, followed by Major Hartman, with a velocity that was surprising for his years. They reached the terrace in an instant, from which the youth led the way, by the hollow in the rock, to the mouth of the cave, into which they both entered, leaving all without silent, and gazing after them with astonishment. END OF CHAPTER 39