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Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. To renew call Telephone Center, 333-8400 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN apr 218 MAR 2 4 198 L161—O-1096 =e: THE PIONEERS. THE PIONHERS; OE, THE SOURCES OF THE SUSQUEHANNA. A DESCRIPTIVH TALE. BY J. FENIMORE COOPER. Extremes of habits, manners, time, and space, Brought close together, here stood face to face, And gave at once a contrast to the view, That other lands and ages never knew.” PAULDING. NEW YORK: De SP PLETON & COMPANY, 549 & 551 BROADWAY. 18738, Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by w. A. TOWNSEND AND COMPANY, in the Clerk’s Office ~f the District Court for the Southern District of New York. INTRODUCTION. ae As this work professes, in its titlepage, to be a de- scriptive tale, they who will take the trouble to read _it may be glad to know how much of its contents is literal fact, and how much is intended to represent a general picture. The Author is very sensible that, had he con- fined himself to the latter, always the most effective, as it is the most valuable, mode of conveying knowl- edge of this nature, he would have made a far better book. But in commencing to describe scenes, and per- haps he may add characters, that were so familiar to his own youth, there was a constant temptation to de- lineate that which he had known, rather than that which he might have imagined. This rigid adhesion to truth, an indispensable requisite in history and trav- els, destroys the charm of fiction; for all that is neces- sary to be conveyed to the mind by the latter had better be done by delineations of principles, and of characters in their classes, than by a too fastidious at- tention to originals. 745766 x INTRODUOTION. New York having but one county of Otsego, and the Susquehanna but one proper source, there can be no mistake as to the site of the tale. ‘The history of this district of country, so far as it is connected with civilized men, is soon told. Otsego, in common with most of the interior of the province of New York, was included in the county of Albany, previously to the war of the separation. It then became, in a subsequent division of territory, a part of Montgomery ; and, finally, having obtained a sufficient population of its own, it was set apart as a county by itself, shortly after the peace of 1783. It lies among those low spurs of the Alleghanies which — cover the midland counties of New York; and itisa little east of a meridional line drawn through the center of the state. As the waters of New York either flow southerly into the Atlantic or northerly into Ontario, and its outlet, Otsego Lake, being the source of the Susquehanna, is, of necessity, among its highest lands. The face of the country, the climate as it was found by the whites, and the manners of the settlers, are de- scribed with a minuteness for which the Author has no other apology than the force of his own recollections. Otsego is said to be a word compounded of Ot, a place of meeting, and Sego, or Sago, the ordinary term of salutation used by the Indians of this region. There is a tradition which says, that the neighboring tribes were accustomed to meet on the banks of the lake to make their treaties, and otherwise to strengthen their alliances, and which refers the name to this prac- tice. As the Indian agent of New York had a log INTRODUCTION. xi dwelling at the foot of the lake, however, it is not im- possible that the appellation grew out of the meetings that were held at his council fires; the war drove off the agent, in common with the other officers of the crown; and his rude dwelling was soon abandoned. The Author remembers it a few years later, reduced to the humble office of a smoke-house. In 1779, an expedition was sent against the hostile Indians, who dwelt about a hundred miles west of Otsego, on the banks of the Cayuga. The whole coun- try was then a wilderness, and it was necessary to transport the baggage of the troops by means of the rivers—a devious but practicable route. One brigade ascended the Mohawk, until it reached the point nearest to the sources of the Susquehanna; whence it cut a lane through the forest to the head of the Otsego. The boats and baggage were carried over this “ portage,” and the troops proceeded to the other extremity of the lake, where they disembarked, and encamped. The Susquehanna, a narrow though rapid stream at its source, was much filled with “flood wood,” or fallen trees; and the troops adopted a novel expedient to facilitate their passage. The Otsego is about nine miles in length, varying in breadth from half a mile to a mile and a half. The water is of great depth, limpid, and supplied from a thousand springs. At its foot, the banks are rather less than thirty feet high; the remainder of its margin being in mountains, inter- vals, and points. The outlet, or the Susquehanna, flows through a gorge in the low banks just mentioned which may have a width of two hundred feet, This xii ~ INTRODUCTION. gorge was dammed, and the waters of the lake col. lected: the Susquehanna was converted into a rill. When all was ready, the troops embarked, the dam was knocked away, the Otsego poured out its torrent, and the boats went merrily down with the current. General James Clinton, the brother of George Clin- * ton, then governor of New York, and the father of De Witt Clinton, who died governor of the same state in 1827, commanded the brigade employed on this duty. During the stay of the troops at the foot of the Otsego a soldier was shot for desertion. The grave of this unfortunate man was the first place of human inter- ment that the Author ever beheld, as the smoke-house was the first ruin! The swivel alluded to in this work was buried and abandoned by the troops on this occa- sion; and it was subsequently found in digging the cellars of the Author’s paternal residence. Soon after the close of the war, Washington, accom- panied by many distinguished men, visited the scene of this tale, it is said, with a view to examine the ‘facilities for opening a communication by water with other points of the country. He stayed but a few hours. In 1785, the Author’s father, who had an interest in _ extensive tracts of land in this wilderness, arrived with a party of surveyors. The manner in which the scene met his eye is described by Judge Temple. At the commencement of the following year the settle- ment began; and from that time to this the country has continued to flourish. It is a singular feature in American life, that, at the beginning of this century, when the proprietor of the estate had occasion for set- INTRODUOTION. xiil tlers on a new settlement, and in a remote county, he was enabled to draw them from among the increase of the former colony. Although the settlement of this part of Otsego a little preceded the birth of the Author, it was not suf- ficiently advanced to render it desirable that an event, so important to himself, should take place in the wil- derness. Perhaps his mother had a reasonable distrust of the practice of Dr. Todd, who must then have been in the novitiate of his experimental acquirements. Be that as it may, the Author was brought an infant into this valley, and all his first impressions were here ob-» ‘tained. He has inhabited it ever since, at intervals ; and he thinks he can answer for the faithfulness of the picture he has drawn. Otsego has now become one of the most populous districts of New York. It sends forth its emigrants like any other old region; and it is pregnant with in- dustry and enterprise. Its manufactures are prosper- ous; and it is worthy of remark, that one of the most ingenious machines known in European art is derived from the keen ingenuity which is exercised in this re- mote region. In order to prevent mistake, it may be well to say that the incidents of this tale are purely a fiction:-The literal facts are chiefly connected with the natural and artificial objects,.and the customs ofthe inhabitants. Thus the academy, and court-house, and jail, and inn, and most similar things, are tolerably exact. They have all, long since, given place to other buildings of amore pretending character. There is also some lib- z1V INTRODUCTION. erty taken with the truth in the description of the prin- cipal dwelling: the real building had no “ firstly ” and “lastly.” It was of bricks, and not of stone; and its roof exhibited none of the peculiar beauties of the “composite order.” It was erected in an age too prim- itive for that ambitious school of architecture. But the Author indulged his recollections freely when he had fairly entered the door. Here all is literal, even to the severed arm of Wolfe, and the urn which held the ashes of Queen Dido.* The Author has elsewhere said that the character of Leather-Stocking is a creation, rendered probable by such auxiliaries as were necessary to produce that effect. Had he drawn still more upon fancy, the lovers of fiction would not have so much cause for their objec- tions to his work. Still the picture would not have been in the least true, without some substitutes for most of the other personages. The great proprietor resident on his lands, and giving his name to, instead of receiv- ing it from his estates, as in Europe, is common over the whole of New York. The physician, with his theory, rather obtained than corrected by experiments on the human constitution; the pious, self-denying, laborious, and ill-paid missionary ; the half-educated, litigious, envious, and disreputable lawyer, with his * Though forests still crown the mountains of Otsego, the bear, the wolf, and the panther are nearly strangers to them. Even the innocent deer is rarely seen bounding beneath their arches; for the rifle, and the activity of the settlers, have driven them to other haunts. To this change (which, in some particulars, is melancholy to one who knew the country in its infancy) it may be added, that the Otsego is beginning ta be a niggard of its treasures. INTRODUCTION, »:@7 counterpoise, a brother of the profession, of better origin and of better character; the shiftless, bargain- ing, discontented seller of his “ betterments;” the plau- sible carpenter, and most of the others, are more famil- iar to all who have ever dwelt in a new country. It may be well to say here, a little more explicitly, that there was no intention to describe with particular accuracy any real characters in this book. It has been often said, and in published statements, that the hero- ine of this book was drawn after a sister of the writer, who was killed by a fall from a horse now near half a century since. So ingenious is conjecture, that a per- sonal resemblance has been discovered between the fic- titious character and the deceased relative! It is scarcely possible to describe two females of the same class in life, who would be less alike, personally, than Elizabeth Temple and the sister of the Author who met with the deplorable fate mentioned. In a word, they were as unlike in this respect, as in history, char- acter, and fortunes. — Circumstances rendered this sister singularly dear to the author. After a lapse of half a century, he is writing this paragraph with a pain that would induce him to cancel it, were it not still more painful to have it believed that one whom he regarded with a rever- ence that surpassed the love of a brother, was converted by him into the heroine of a work of fiction. From circumstances which, after this introduction, will be obvious to all, the Author has had more pleas- ure in writing “The Pioneers” than the book will, probably, ever give any of its readers. He is quite xvi INTRODUCTION. aware of its numerous faults, some of which he has endeavored to repair in this edition; but as he has —in intention, at least—done his full share in amusing the world, he trusts to its good nature for overlooking this attempt to please himself. fu THE PIONEERS, OR THE SOURCES OF THE SUSQUEHANNA. CHAPTER I. See, Winter comes, to rule the varied year, Sullen and sad, with all his rising train ; Vapors, and clouds, and storms.— THOMSON. Nzar the centre of the State of New York lies an extensive district of country, whose surface is a succession of hills and dales, or, to speak with greater deference to geographical defini- tions, of mountains and valleys. It is among these hills that the Delaware takes its rise; and flowing from the limpid lakes and thousand springs of this region, the numerous sources of the Susquehanna meander through the valleys, until, uniting their streams, they form one of the proudest rivers of the United States. The mountains are generally arable to the tops, although instances are not wanting where the sides are jutted with rocks, that aid greatly in giving to the country that romantic and picturesque character which it so eminently pos- sesses. The vales are narrow, rich, and cultivated; with a stream uniformly winding through each. Beautiful and thriving villages are found interspersed along the margins of the small lakes, or situated at those points of the streams which are favorable to manufacturing; and neat and comfortable farms, with every indication of wealth about them, are scattered profusely through the vales, and even to the mountain tops. Roads diverge in every direction, from the even and graceful 14 THE PIONEERS. bottoms of the valleys, to the most rugged and intricate passes of the hills. Academies, and minor edifices of learning, meet the eye of the stranger at every few miles, as he winds his way through this uneven territory; and places for the worship of God abound with that frequency which characterizes a moral and reflecting people, and with that variety of exterior and canonical government which flows from unfettered liberty of conscience. In short, the whole district is hourly exhibiting how much can be done, in even a rugged country, and with a severe climate, under the dominion of mild laws, and where every man feels a direct interest in the prosperity of a common- wealth, of which he knows himself to form a part. The expe- dients of the pioneers who first broke ground in the settlement of this country, are succeeded by the permanent improvements of the yeoman, who intends to leave his remains to moulder under the sod which he tills, or, perhaps, of the son, who, born in the land, piously wishes to linger around the grave of his father. Only forty years* have passed since this territory was a wilderness. Very soon after the establishment of the independence of the ‘States, by the peace of 1783, the enterprise of their citizens was - directed to a development of the natural advantages of their widely extended dominions. Before the war of the revolution the inhabited parts of the colony of New York were limited to less than a tenth of its possessions. A narrow belt of country, extending for a short distance on either side of the Hudson, with a similar occupation of fifty miles on the banks of the Mohawk, together with the islands of Nassau and Staten, and a few insulated settlements on chosen land along the margins of streams, composed the country, which was then inhabited by less than two hundred thousand souls. Within the short period we have mentioned, the population has spread itself over five degrees of latitude and seven of longitude, and has swelled to a million and a half of inhabitants,t who are maintained in ‘- * The book was written in 1823, t The population of New York is now (1831) quite 2,000,000. ; THE PIONEERS, 15 abundance, and can look forward to ages before the evil day must arrive, when their possessions shall become unequal to their wants. Our tale begins in 1793, about seven years after the com- mencement of one of the earliest of those settlements, which have conduced to effect that magical change in the power and condition of the state, to which we have alluded. It was near the setting of the sun, on a clear, cold day in December, when a sleigh was moving slowly up one of the » mountains, in the district we have described. The day had been fine for the season, and but two or three large clouds, whose color seemed brightened by the light reflected from the mass of snow that covered the earth, floated in a sky of the purest blue. The road wound along the brow of a precipice, and on one side was upheld by a foundation of logs, piled one upon the other, while a narrow excavation in the mountain, in the opposite direction, had made a passage of sufficient width for the ordinary travelling of that day. But logs, excavation, and everything that did not reach several feet above the earth, lay alike buried beneath the snow. A single track, barely wide enough to receive the sleigh,* denoted the route of the highway, and this was sunk nearly two feet below the surrounding sur- face. In the vale, which lay at a distance of several hundred feet. lower, there was what in the language of the country was called a clearing, and all the usual improvements of a new set- tlement; these even extended up the hill to the point where the road turned short and ran across the level land, which lay on the summit of the mountain; but the summit itself remained in * Sleigh is the word used in every part of the United States to denote a traineau. {1 is of local use in the west of England, whence it is most probably derived by the Americans. The latter draw a distinction between a sled, or sledge, and a sleigh ;~, the sleigh being shod with metal. Sleighs are also subdivided into two-horse and - one-horse sleighs. Of the latter, there are the cutter, with thills so arranged as to_ permit the horse to travel in the side track; the “ pung,”’ or “ tow-pung,”’ which is driven with a pole; and the “ gumper,’’ a rude construction used for temporary pur p ses, in the new countries. Many of the American sleighs are elegant, though the use of this mode of convey- ance is much lessened with the melioration of the climate, consequent on the clear- ing of the forests 16 THE PIONEERS. ; forest. There was a glittering in the atmosphere, as if it were vfilled with innumerable shining particles; and the noble bay horses that drew the sleigh were covered, in many parts, with a coat of hoar frost. The vapor from their nostrils was seen to issue like smoke ; and every object in the view, as well as every arrangement of the travellers, denoted the depth of a winter in the mountains. The harness, which was of a deep dull blaek, differing from the glossy varnishing of the present day, was orna- mented with enormous plates and buckles of brass, that shone like gold in those transient beams of the sun, which found their way obliquely through the tops of the trees. Huge saddles, studded with nails, and fitted with cloth that served as blankets to the shoulders of the cattle, supported four high, square- topped turrets, through which the stout reins led’ from the mouths of the horses to the hands of the driver, who was a negro, of apparently twenty years of age. His face, which nature had colored with a glistening black, was now mottled with the cold, and his large shining eyes filled with tears; a tri- bute to its power, that the keen frosts of those regions always extracted from one of his African origin. Still there was a ~ smiling expression of good humor in his happy countenance, that was created by the thoughts of home, and a Christmas fire-side, with its Christmas frolics. The sleigh was one of those large, comfortable, old-fashioned conveyances, which wouid admit a whole family within its bosom, but which now con- tained only two passengers besides the driver. The color of its outside was a modest green, and that of its inside a fiery red. The latter was intended to convey the idea of heat in that cold climate. Large buffalo skins, trimmed around the edges with ‘ red cloth, cut into festoons, covered the back of the sleigh, and were spread over its bottom, and drawn up around the feet of the travellers—one of whom was a man of middle age, and the - other a female, just entering upon womanhood. The former was of a large stature; but the precautions he had taken to guard against the oald, left but little of his person exposed to view. A greatcoat, that was abundantly ornamented bv a THE PIONEERS. 17 profusion of furs, enveloped the whole of his figure, excepting’ the head, which was covered with a cap of marten skins, lined with morocco, the sides of which were made to fall, if neces- | sary, and were now drawn close over the ears, and fastened | beneath his chin with a black riband. The top of the cap was © surmounted with the tail of the animal whose skin had furnished “ the rest of the materials, which fell back, not ungracefully, a few inches behind the head. From beneath this mask were to be seen part of a fine manly face, and particularly a pair of express- ive, large blue eyes, that promised extraordinary intellect, covert humor, and great benevolence. The form of his companion was literally hid beneath the garments she wore. There were | furs and silks peeping from under a large camlet cloak, with a © thick flannel lining, that, by its cut and size, was evidently intended for a masculine wearer. A huge hood of black silk, that was quilted with down, concealed the whole of her head, except at a small opening in front for breath, through which occasionally sparkled a pair of animated jet-black eyes. Both the father and daughter (for such was the connexion between the two travellers) were too much occupied with their reflections to break a stillness, that received little or no interrup- tion from the easy gliding of the sleigh, by the sound of their voices. The former was thinking of the wife that had held this their only child to her bosom, when, four years before, she had reluctantly consented to relinquish the society of her daughter, in order that the latter might enjoy the advantages of an educa- tion, which the city of New York could only offer at that period. A few months afterwards death had deprived him of the remain- ing companion of his solitude ; but still he had enough of real regard for his child, not to bring her into the comparative wilderness in which he dwelt, until the full period had expired, to'which he had limited her juvenile labors. The reflections of the daughter were less melancholy, and mingled with a pleased astonishment at the novel scenery she met at every turn in the road. The mountain on which they were journeying was covered 18 THE PIONEERS. with pines, that rose without a branch some seventy or eighty feet, and which frequently doubled that height, by the addition of the tops. Through the innumerable vistas that opened © beneath the lofty trees, the eye could penetrate, until it was met by a distant inequality in the ground, or was stopped by a view of the summit of the mountain, which lay on the opposite side of the valley to which they were hastening. The dark trunks of the trees rose from the pure white of the snow, i re- gularly formed shafts, until, at a great height, their branches shot forth horizontal limbs, that were covered with the meagre foliage of an evergreen, affording a melancholy contrast to the torpor of nature below. To the travellers, there seemed to be no wind ; but these pines waved majestically at their topmost boughs, sending forth a dull, plaintive sound, that was quite in conso- nance with the rest of the melancholy scene. The sleigh had glided for some distance along the even sur- face, and the gaze of the female was bent in inquisitive, and, perhaps, timid glances, into the recesses of the forest, when a loud and continued howling was heard, pealing under the long arches of the woods, like the ery of a numerous pack of hounds. The instant the sound reached the ears of the gentleman, he cried aloud to the black— “Hold up, Aggy; there is old Hector; I should know his bay among ten thousand! The Leather-stocking has put his hounds into the hills, this clear day, and they have started their game. There is a deer-track a few rods ahead;—and now, Bess, if thou canst muster courage enough to stand fire, I will give thee a saddle for thy Christmas dinner.” The black drew up, with a cheerful grin upon his chilled features, and began thrashing his arms together, in order to restore the circulation to his fingers, while the speaker stood erect, and, throwing aside his outer covering, stepped from the sleigh upon a bank of snow, which sustained his weight without yielding. In a few moments the speaker succeeded in extricating a double-barrelled fowling-piece from among a multitude of THE PIONEERS. 19 trunks and bandboxes. After throwing aside the thick mittens which had encased his hands, that now appeared in a pair of — leather gloves tipped with fur, he examined his priming, and was about to move forward, when the light bounding noise of an animal plunging through the woods was heard, and a fine buck darted into the path, a short distance ahead of him. The appearance of the animal was sudden, and his flight inconceivably rapid; but the traveller appeared to be too keen a sportsman to be disconcerted by either. As it came first into view he raised the fowling-piece to his shoulder, and, with a practised eye and steady hand, drew a trigger. ‘The deer dashed forward undaunted, and apparently unhurt. Without lowering his piece, the traveller turned its muzzle towards his victim, and fired again. Neither discharge, however, seemed to have taken effect. | The whole scene had passed with a rapidity that confused the female, who was unconsciously rejoicing in the escape of the buck, as he rather darted like a meteor, than ran across the road, when a sharp quick sound struck her ear, quite different from the full, round reports of her father’s gun, but. still sufficiently distinct to be known as the concussion produced by fire-arms. At the same instant that she heard this unexpected report, the buck sprang from the snow to a great height in the air, and directly a second discharge, similar in sound to the first, followed, when the animal came to the earth, falling head- long, and rolling over on the crust with its own velocity. A loud shout was given by the unseen marksman, and a couple of men instantly appeared from behind the trunks of two of the pines, where they had evidently placed themselves in expecta tion of the passage of the deer. “Ha! Natty, had I known you were in ambush, I should not have fired,” cried the traveller, moving towards the spot where the deer lay—near to which he was followed by the delighted black, with his sleigh; “ but the sound of old Hector _ was too exhilarating to be quiet; though I hardly think I struck him either.” ee eal 20 THE PIONEERS. “ No—no—Judge,” returned the hunter, with an inward chuckle, and with that look of exultation that indicates a consciousness of superior skill‘ “you burnt your powder only to warm your nose this cold evening Did ye think to stop a full grown buck, with Hector and the slut open upon him within sound, with that pop-gun in your hand? There’s plenty of pheasants among the swamps; and the snow-birds are flying round your own door, where you may feed them with crumbs, and shoot them at pleasure, any day; but if you’re for a buck, or a little bear’s meat, Judge, you'll have to take the long rifle, with a greased wadding, or you'll] waste more powder than you'll fill stomachs, I’m thinking.” As the speaker concluded, he drew his bare hand across the bottom of his nose, and again opened his enormous mouth with a kind of inward laugh. “The gun scatters well, Natty, and it has killed a deer before now,” said the traveller, smiling good-humoredly. “ One barrel was charged with buck-shot; but the other was loaded for birds only. Here are two hurts; one through the neck, and the other directly through the heart. It is by no means certain, Natty, but I gave him one of the two.” “Let who will kill him,” said the hunter, rather surlily, “I suppose the creature is to be eaten.” So saying, he drew a large knife from a leathern sheath, which was stuck through his girdle or sash, and cut the throat of the animal. “If there are two balls through the deer, I would ask if there wer’n’t two rifles fired—besides, who ever saw such a ragged hole from a smooth-bore, as this through the neck?—and you will own yourself, Judge, that the buck fell at the last shot, which was sent from a truer and a younger hand, than your’n or mine either; but for my part, although I am a poor man, I can live without the venison, but I don’t love to give up my lawful dues in a free country. Though, for the matter of that, might often makes right here, as well as in the old country, for what I can see,” An air of sullen dissatisfaction pervaded the manner of the THE PIONEERS. Q1 hunter during the whole of this speech; yet he thought. it prudent to utter the close of the sentence in such an under tone, as to leave nothing audible but the grumbling sounds of his voice. “Nay, Natty,” rejoined the traveller, with undisturbed good humor, “it is for the honor that I contend. |’ THE PIONEERS. 131 “Hiram and the major-domo brought up the rear, the latter grumbling, as he entered the building— “ Tf-so-be that the King of France had so much as a house to live in, that would lay aiong side of Paul’s, one might put up with their jaw. It’s more than flesh and blood can bear, to hear a Frenchman run down an English church in this manner Why, Squire Doolittle, ’'ve been at the whipping of two of them in one day—clean built, snug frigates, with standing- royals, and them new-fashioned cannonades on their quarters— auch as, if they had only Englishmen aboard of them, would have fout the devil.” With this ominous word in his mouth, Benjamin entered the church, bs 4 NN, iN rt) 133 _ THE PIONEERS. CHAPTER XI. And fools who came to scoff, remained to pray. GouLpsMITH. Norwitustanpine the united labors of Richard and Benya: min, the “ long-room” was but an extremely inartificial temple. Benches, made in the coarsest manner, and entirely with a view to usefulness, were arranged in rows, for the reception of the congregation; while a rough, unpainted box, was placed against the wall, in the centre of the length of the apartment, as an apology for a pulpit. Something like a reading-desk was in front of this rostrum ; and a small mahogany table, from the mansion-house, covered with a spotless damask cloth, stood a little on one side, by the way of an altar. Branches of pines - and hemlocks were stuck in each of the fissures that offered, in the unseasoned and hastily-completed wood-work, of both the building and its furniture; while festoons and hieroglyphics met the eye in vast profusion along the brown sides of the scratch- coated walls. As the room was only lighted by some ten or fifteen miserable candles, and the windows were without shutters, it would have been but a dreary, cheerless place for the solemnities of a Christmas-eve, had not the large fire that was crackling at each end of the apartment, given an air of cheerfulness to the scene, by throwing an occasional glare of light through the vistas of bushes and faces. The two sexes were separated by an area in the centre of the room immediately before the pulpit; and a few benches lined this space, that were occupied by the principal personages of the village and its vicinity. This distinction was rather a gra- tuitous concession, made by the poorer and less polished part of the population, than a right claimed by the favored few. Ono THE PIONEERS. 133 bench was occupied by the party of Judge Temple, including , his daughter ; and, with the exception of Dr. Todd, no one else appeared willing to incur the imputation of pride, by taking a seat in what was, literally, the high place of the tabernacle. Richard filled the chair that was placed behind another table, in the capacity of clerk; while Benjamin, after heaping sundry jogs on the fire, posted himself nigh by, in reserve for any movement that might require co-operation. : It would greatly exceed our limits to attempt a description of the congregation; for the dresses were as various as the indi- viduals. Some one article, of more than usual finery, and per- ‘ haps the relic of other days, was to be seen about most of the females, in connexion with the coarse attire of the woods. This wore a faded silk, that. had gone through at least three generations, over coarse, woollen black stockings; that, a shawl, whose dyes were as numerous as those of the rainbow, over an awkwardly fitting gown, of rough brown “woman’s wear.” In_ short, each one exhibited some favorite article, and all appeared in their best, both men and women; while the ground-works in dress, in either sex, were the coarse fabrics manufactured within. their own dwellings. One man appeared in the dress of a volunteer company of artillery, of which he had been a member in the “down countries,” precisely for no other reason than because it was the best suit he had. Several, particularly of the younger men, displayed pantaloons of blue, edged with red cloth down the seams, part of the equipments of the “ Templeton Light Infantry,” from a little vanity to be seen in “ boughten clothes.” There was also one man in a “rifle frock,” with its fringes and folds of spotless white, striking a chill to the heart with the idea of its coolness; although the thick coat of brown “home made,” that was concealed beneath, preserved a proper degree of warmth. There was a marked uniformity of expression in countenance, especially in that half of the congregation who did not enjoy the advantages of the polish of the village. A sallow skin, that indicated nothing but exposure. was common to all, as was an 134 THE PIONEERS. air of great decency and attention, mingled, generally, with ar expression of shrewdness, and, in the present instance, of active curiosity. Now and then a face and dress were to be seen among the congregation, that differed entirely from this descrip- tion. If pock-marked and florid, with gaitered legs, and a coat chat snugly fitted the person of the wearer, it was surely an English emigrant, who had bent his steps to this retired quarter of the globe. If hard-featured, and without coior, with high cheek bones, it was a native of Scotland, in similar circumstances. The short, black-eyed man, with a cast of the swarthy Spa- niard in his face, who rose repeatedly, to make room for the belles of the village as they entered, was a son of Erin, who had lately left off his pack, and become a stationary trader in Templeton. In short, half the nations in the north of Europe had their representatives in this assembly, though all had closely assimilated themselves to the Americans in dress and appear- ance, except the Englishman. He, indeed, not only adhered to his native customs in attire and living, but usually drove his plough, among the stumps, in the same manner as he had before done on the plains of Norfolk, until. dear-bought experience taught him the useful lesson, that a sagacious people knew what was suited to their circumstances better than a casual observer ; or a sojourner, who was, perhaps, too much prejudiced to compare, and, peradventure, too conceited to , learn. Elizabeth soon discovered that she divided the attention of the congregation with Mr. Grant. ‘Timidity, therefore, confined her observation of the appearances which we have described to stolen glances; but, as the stamping of feet was’ now becoming less frequent, and even the coughing, and other little prelimina- ries of a congregation settling themselves down into’ reverential attention, were ceasing, she felt emboldened to look around her. Gradually all noises diminished, until the suppressed cough denoted that it was necessary to avoid singularity, and the most profound stillness pervaded the apartment. The snapping of the fires, as they threw a powerful heat into the room, was THE PIONEERS. - 135 alone heard, and each face, and every eye, were turned on the divine. At this moment, a heavy stamping of feet was heard in the passage below, as if a new comer was releasing his limbs from the snow that was necessarily clinging to the legs of a pedestrian. It was succeeded by no audible tread; but directly Mohegan, followed by the Leather-stocking and the young hunter, made his appearance. Their footsteps would not have been heard, as they trod the apartment in their moccasins, but for the silence which prevailed. The Indian moved with great gravity across the floor, and, observing a vacant seat next to the Judge, he took it, in a manner that manifested his ‘sense of his own dignity. Here, drawing his blanket closely around him, so as partly to conceal his countenance, he remained, during the service, immovable, but deeply attentive. Natty passed the place that was so freely taken by his red companion, and seated himself on one end of a log that was lying near the fire, where he continued, with his rifle standing between his legs, absorbed in reflections, seemingly of no very pleasing nature. The youth found a seat among the congregation, and another silence prevailed. Mr. Grant now arose, and commenced his service, with the sublime declaration of the Hebrew prophet—‘“ The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” The example of Mr. Jones was unnecessary to teach the con- gregation to rise; the solemnity of the divine effected this as by magic. After a short pause, Mr. Grant. proceeded with the solemn and winning exhortation of his service. Nothing was heard but the deep, though affectionate, tones of the reader, as he slowly went through this exordium ; until, something unfor- tunately striking the mind of Richard as incomplete, he left his place, and walked on tip-toe from the room. When the clergyman bent his knees in prayer and confession, the congregation so far imitated his example as to resume their seats; whence no succeeding effort of the divine, during the evening, was able to remove them in a body. Some rose at 136 THE PIONEERS. times ; but by far the larger part continued unbending ; obser- vant, it is true, but it was the kind of observation that regarded the ceremony as a spectacle rather than a worship in which they were to participate. Thus deserted by his clerk, Mr. Grant continued to read; but no response was audible. The short and solemn pause that succeeded each petition was made; still no voice repeated the eloquent language of the prayer. The lips of Elizabeth moved, but they moved in vain; and, accustomed as she was to the service in the churches of the metropolis, she was beginning to feel the awkwardness of the circumstance most painfully, when a soft, low, female voice repeated after the priest, “ We have left undone those things which we ought to have done.” Startled at finding one of her own sex in that place, who could rise superior to natural timidity, Miss Temple turned her eyes in the direction of the penitent. She observed a young female on her knees, but a short distance from her, with her meek face humbly bent over her book. The appearance of this stranger, for such she was, entirely, to Elizabeth, was light and fragile. Her dress was neat and becoming; and her countenance, though pale and slightly agitated, excited deep interest by its sweet and melancholy expression. A second and third response were made by this juvenile assistant, when the manly sounds of a male voice pro- ceeded from the opposite part of the room. Miss Temple knew the tones of the young hunter instantly, and struggling to over- come her own diffidence, she added her low voice to the number. All this time Benjamin stood thumbing the leaves of a prayer-book with great industry ; but some unexpected difficul- ties prevented his finding the place. Before the divine reached the close of the confession, however, Richard reappeared at the door, and, as he moved lightly across the room, he took up the response, in a veice that betrayed no other concern than that of not being heard. In his hand he carried a small open box, with the figures “8 by 10” written in black paint on one of its sides ; which, having placed in the pulpit, apparently as a foot- stool for the divine, he returned to his station in time to say THE PIONEERS. 137 norously, “ Amen.” The eyes of the congregation, very natu- ly, were turned to the windows, as Mr. Jones entered with is singular load; and then, as if accustomed to his “ general ency,” were again bent on the priest, in close and curious tention. The long experience of Mr. Grant admirably qualified him to perform his present duty. He well understood the character of his listeners, who were mostly a primitive people in their habits ; and ‘who, being a good deal addicted to subtleties and nice distinctions in their religious opinions, viewed the introduction of any such temporal assistance as form, into their spiritual worship, not only with jealousy, but frequently with diseust. He had acquired much of his knowledge from studying the great book of human nature, as it lay open in the world; and, know- ing how dangerous it was to contend with ignorance, uniformly endeavored to avoid dictating where his better reason taught him it was the most prudent to attempt tolead. His orthodoxy had no dependence on his cassock; he could pray with fervor and with faith, if circumstances required it, without the assistance of his clerk; and he had even been known to preach a most evangelical sermon, in the winning manner of native eloquence, without the aid of a cambric handkerchief. In the present instance he yielded, in many places, to the prejudices of his congregation; and when he had ended, there there was not one of his new hearers who did not think the ceremonies less papal and offensive, and more conformant to his or her own notions of devout worship, than they had been led to expect from a service of forms. Richard found in the divine, during the evening, a most powerful co-operator in his religious _ schemes. In preaching, Mr. Grant endeavored to steer a middle course between the mystical doctrines of those sublimated creeds which daily involve their professors in the most absurd contra- dictions, and those fluent rules of moral government, which would reduce the Saviour to a level with the teacher of a school of ethics. Doctrine it was necessary to preach, for nothing less would have satisfied the disputatious people who were his 138 THE PIONEERS. listeners, and who would have interpreted silence on his 6 into a tacit acknowledgment of the superficial nature of r creed. We have already said that, among the endless vai t of religious instructors, the settlers were accustomed. to hear evea denomination urge its own distinctive precepts; and to haa found one indifferent to this interesting subject, would have bee destructive to his influence. But Mr. Grant so happily blendéd the universally received opinions of the Christian faith with ‘the dogmas of his own church, that, although none were entirely exempt from the influence of his reasons, very few took any alarm at the innovation. “ When we consider the great diversity of the ens cha- racter, influenced as it is by education, by opportunity, and by the physical and moral conditions of the creature, my dear hearers,” he earnestly concluded, “it can excite no surprise, that creeds so very different in their tendencies, should grow out of a religion, revealed, it is true, but whose revelations are obscured by the lapse of ages, and whose doctrines were, after the fashion of the countries in which they were first promulgated, frequently delivered in parables, and in a language abounding in meta- phors, and loaded with figures.. On points where the learned have, in purity of heart, been compelled to differ, the unlettered will necessarily be at variance. But, happily for us, my breth- ren, the fountain of divine love flows from a source too pure to admit of pollution in its course; it extends, to those who drink of its vivifying waters, the peace of the righteous, and life ever- lasting ; it endures through all time, and it pervades creation. If there be mystery in its workings, it is the mystery of a Divinity. With a clear knowledge of the nature, the might, and majesty of God, there might be conviction, but there could be no faith. If we are required to believe in doctrines that seem not in con- formity with the deductions of human. wisdom, let us never forget, that such is the mandate of a wisdom that is infinite. It is sufficient for us that enough is developed to point our path aright, and to direct our wandering steps to that portal which shall open on the light of an eternal day. Then, indeed, it may THE PIONEERS. 139 be humbly hoped that the film which has been spread by the subtleties of earthly arguments, will be dissipated by the spiritual light of Heaven; and that our hour of probation, by the aid of divine grace, being once passed in triumph, will be followed by an eternity of intelligence, and endless ages of fruition. All that is now obscure shall become plain to our expanded faculties ; and what to our present senses may seem irreconcilable to our limited notions of mercy, of justice, and of love, shall stand, irradiated by the light of truth, confessedly the suggestions of Omniscience, and the acts of an All-powerful Benevolence. “What a lesson of humility, my brethren, might not each of us obtain from a review of his infant hours, and the recollection of his juvenile passions! How differently do the same acts of parental rigor appear, in the eyes of the suffering child, and of the chastened man! When the sophist would supplant, with the wild theories of his worldly wisdom, the positive mandates of inspiration, let him remember the expansion of his own feeble intellects, and pause—let him feel the wisdom of God in what is partially concealed, as well as in that which is revealed ;—in short, let him substitute humility for ieee of reason—let him have faith, and live! “The consideration of this subject is full of consolation, my hearers, and does not fail to bring with it lessons of humility and of profit, that, duly improved, would both chasten the heart and strengthen the feeble-minded man in his course. It is a blessed consolation to be able to lay the misdoubtings of our arrogant nature at the threshold of the dwelling-place of the Deity, from whence they shall be swept away, at the great opening of the portal, ike the mists of the morning before the rising sun. It teaches us a lesson of humility, by impressing us with the imperfection of human powers, and by warning us of the many weak points where we are open to the attacks of the great enemy of our race; it proves to us that we are in danger of being weak, when our vanity would fain soothe us into the belief that we are most strong; it forcibly points out to us the vain-glory of intellect, and shows us the vast difference between 140 THE PIONEERS. \ a saving faith and the corollaries of a philosophical theology ; and it teaches us to reduce our self-examination to the test of good works. By good works must be understood the fruits of repentance, the chiefest of which is charity. Not that charity only, which causes us to help the needy and comfort the suffer- ing, but that feeling of universal philanthropy, which, by teach- ing us to love, causes us to judge with lenity, all men; striking at the root of self-righteousness, and warning us to be sparing of our condemnation of others, while our own salvation is not yet secure. “The lesson of expediency, my brethren, which I would gather from the consideration of this subject, is most strongly inculcated by humility. On the leading and essential points of our faith, there is but little difference, among those classes of Christians who acknowledge the attributes of the Saviour, and depend on his mediation. But heresies have polluted every church, and schisms are the fruits of disputation. In order to arrest these dangers, and to insure the union of his followers, it would seem that Christ had established his visible church, and delegated the ministry. Wise and holy men, the fathers of our religion, have expended their labors in clearing what was revealed from the obscurities of language, and the results of their experience and researches have been embodied in the form of evangelical discipline. That this discipline must be salutary, is evident from the view of the weakness of human nature that we have already taken; and that it may be profitable to us, and all who listen to its precepts and its liturgy, may God, in his infinite wisdom, grant.—And now to,” &c. With this ingenious reference to his own forms and ministry, Mr. Grant concluded the discourse. The most profound atten- tion had been paid to the sermon during the whole of its delivery, although the prayers had not been received with so perfect a demonstration of respect. This was by no means an intended slight of that liturgy to which the divine alluded, but was the habit of a people, who owed their very existence, as a distinct nation, to the doctrinal character of their ancestors. THE PIONEERS. 141 Sundry looks of private dissatisfaction were exchanged between Hiram and one or two of the leading members of the conference, but the feeling went no further at that time; and the congrega- tion, after receiving the blessing of Mr. Grant, dispersed in silence, and with great decorum. 142 THE PIONEERS CHAPTER XII. Your creeds and dogmas of a learned church May build a fabric, fair with moral beauty ; But it would seem, that the strong hand of God Can, only, ’rase the devil from the heart. Duo. Wuttz the congregation was separating, Mr. Grant approached the place where Elizabeth and her father were seated, leading the youthful female whom we have mentioned in the preced- ing chapter, and presented her as his daughter. Her reception was as cordial and frank as the manners of the country, and the value of good society, could render it; the two young women feeling, instantly, that they were necessary to the comfort of each other. The Judge, to whom the clergyman’s daughter was also a stranger, was pleased to find one who, from habits, sex, and years, could probably contribute largely to the pleasures of his own child, during her first privations, on her removal from the associations of a city to the solitude of Templeton; while Elizabeth, who had been forcibly struck with the sweetness and devotion of the youthful suppliant, removed the slight embar- rassment of the timid stranger, by the ease of her own manners, They were at once acquainted; and, during the ten minutes that the “academy” was clearing, engagements were made between the young people, not only for the succeeding day, but they would probably have embraced in their arrangements half of the winter, had not the divine interrupted them, by saying— “Gently, gently, my dear Miss Temple, or you will make my girl too dissipated. You forget that she is my housekeeper, and that my domestic affairs must remain unattended to, should Louisa accept of half the kind offers you are so good as to make her.” | \ THE PIONEERS. 143 “And why should they not be neglected entirely, sir” interrupted Ehzabeth. “There are but two of you; and certain I am that my father’s house will not only contain you both, but will open its doors spontaneously, to receive such guests. Society is a good, not to be rejected on account of cold forms, in this wilderness, sir; and I have often heard my father say, that hospitality is not a virtue in a new country, the favor being conferred by the guest.” “The manner in which Judge Temple exercises its rites would confirm this opinion; but we must not trespass too freely. Doubt not that you will see us often, my child parti- cularly, during the frequent visits that I shall be compelled to make to the distant parts of the couutry. But to obtain an influence with such a people,” he continued, glancing his eyes towards the few who were still lingering, curious observers of the interview, “a clergyman must not awaken envy or distrust, by dwelling under so splendid a roof as that of Judge Tempie.” “ You like the roof, then, Mr. Grant,” cried Richard, who had been directing the extinguishment of the fires, and other little necessary duties, and who approached in time to hear the close of the divine’s speech,—* I am glad to find one man of taste at last. Here’s ’duke, now, pretends to call it by every abusive name he can invent; but though ’duke is a very tolerable judge, he is a very poor carpenter, let me tell him. Well, sir, well, I think we may say, without boasting, that the service was as well performed this evening as you often see; I think, quite as well as I ever knew it to be done in old Trinity,—that is, if we except the organ. But there is the schoolmaster leads the psalm with a very good air. I used to lead myself, but latterly I have sung nothing but bass. There is a good deal of science to be shown in the bass, and it affords a fine opportunity to show off a full, deep voice. Benjamin, too, sings a good bass, though he is often out in the words. Did you ever hear Ben- jamin sing the ‘ Bay of Biscay, O? ” “T believe he gave us part of it this evening,” said Marma- duke, laughing. “There was, now and then, a fearful quaver ? 144 THE PIONEERS. ~ in his voice, and it seems that Mr. Penguillian is like most others who do one thing particularly well; he knows nothing else. He has, certainly, a wonderful partiality to one tune, and he has a prodigious self-confidence in that one, for he delivers himself like a north-wester sweeping across the lake. But come, gentlemen, our way is clear, and the sleigh waits.—Good evening, Mr. Grant. Good night, young lady—remember that you dine beneath the Corinthian roof to-morrow, with Elizabeth.” The parties separated, Richard holding a close dissertation with Mr. Le Quoi, as they descended the stairs, on the subject of psalmody, which he closed by a violent eulogium on the air of the “Bay of Biscay, O,” as particularly connected with his friend Benjamin’s execution. : During the preceding dialogue, Mohegan retained his seat, with his head shrouded in his blanket, as seemingly inattentive to surrounding objects as the departing congregation was, itself, to the presence of the aged chief. Natty, also, continued on the log where he had first placed himself, with his heaa resting on one of his hands, while the other held the nfle, which was thrown carelessly across his lap. His countenance expressed uneasiness, and the occasional unquiet glances that he had thrown around him during the service, plainly indicated some unusual causes for unhappiness. His continuing seated was, however, out of respect to the Indian chief, to whom he paid the utmost deference on all occasions, although it was mingled with the rough manner of a hunter, The young companion of these two ancient inhabitants of the forest remained also, standing before the extinguished brands, probably from an unwillingness to depart without his comrades. ‘The room was now deserted by all but this group, the divine, aud his daughter. As the party from the Mansion-house dis- appeared, John arose, and dropping the blanket from his head, he shook back the mass of black hair from his face, and ap- proaching Mr. Grant, he extended his hand, and said solemnly— “Father, J thank you, The words that have been said, THE PIONEERS. 145 since the rising moon, have gone upward, and the Great Spirit is glad. What you have told your children, they will remem- ber, and be good.” He paused a moment, and then, elevating himself with the grandeur of an Indian chief, he added,——“ If Chingachgook lives to travel towards the setting sun, after his tribe, and the Great Spirit carries him over the lakes and mountains with the breath in his body, he will tell his people the good talk he has heard; and they will believe him; for who can say that Mohegan has ever lied 2” “Let him place his dependence on the goodness of Divine mercy,” said Mr. Grant, to whom the proud consciousness of the Indian sounded a little heterodox, “ and it never will desert him. When the heart is filled with love to God, there is no room for sin.—But, young man, to you I owe not only an obli- gation, in common with those you saved this evening on the mountain, but my thanks, for your respectful and pious manner in assisting in the service at a most embarrassing moment. | should be happy to see you sometimes at my dwelling, when, perhaps, my conversation may strengthen you in the path which you appear to have chosen. It is so unusual to find one of your age and appearance, in these woods, at all acquainted with our holy liturgy, that it lessens at once the distance between us, and I feel that we are no longer strangers. You seem quite at home in the service: I did not perceive that you had even a book, although good Mr. Jones had laid several in different parts of the room.” “Tt would be strange if I were ignorant of the service of our church, sir,” returned the youth modestly ; “ for I was baptized in its communion, and I have never yet attended public worship elsewhere. For me to use the forms of any other denomina- tion, would be as singular as our own have proved to the people here this evening.” “You give me great pleasure, my dear sir,” cried the divine, seizing the other by the hand, and shaking it cordially. “You will go home with me now—indeed you must—my child has yet to thank you for saving my life. I will listen to no apolo- 146 THE PIONEERS. gies. This worthy Indian, and your friend, there, will aceom- pany us.—Bless me! to think that he has arrived at manhood in this country, without entering a dissenting* meeting-house !” “ No, no,” interrupted the Leather-stocking, “I must away to the wigwam; there’s work there that mustn’t be forgotten for all your churchings and merry-makings. Let the lad go with you in welcome; he is used to keeping company with ministers, aud talking of such matters; so is old John, who was christian- ized by the Moravians about the time of the old war. But I am a plain, unlarned man, that has sarved both the king and his country, in his day, ag’in the French and savages, but never so much as looked into a book, or larnt a letter of scholarship, in my born days. I’ve never seen the use of such in-door work, though I have lived-to be partly bald, and in my time have killed two hundred beaver in a season, and that without count- ing the other game. If you mistrust what I am telling you, you can ask Chingachgook there, for I did it in the heart of the Delaware country, and the old man is knowing to the truth of every word I say.” “TI doubt not, my friend, that you have been both a valiant soldier and skilful hunter in your day,” said the divine; “but more is wanting to prepare you for that end which approaches. You may have heard the maxim, that ‘young men may die, but that old men must.’” . “Tm sure I never was so great a fool as to expect to live for ever,” said Natty, giving one of his silent laughs; “no man need do that, who trails the savages through the woods, as I have done, and lives, for the hot months, on the lake streams. T’ve a strong constitution, I must say that for myself, as is plain to be seen; for I’ve drunk the Onondaga water a hundred times, while I’ve been watching the deer-licks, when the fever- an-agy seeds was to be seen in it as plain and as plenty as you * The divines of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, commonly call other denominations Dissenters, though there never was an established church in their own country! THE PIONEERS. 14% can see the rattle-snakes on old Crumhorn. But then, I never expected to hold out for ever; though there’s them living who have seen the Garman flats a wilderness; ay! and them that’s larned, and acquainted with religion, too; though you might look a week, now, and not find even the stump of a pine oa them; and that’s a wood that lasts in the ground the better part of a hundred years after the tree is dead.” “This is but time, my good friend,” returned Mr. Grant, who began to take an interest in the welfare of his new acquaintance, “but I would have you prepare for eternity. It is incumbent on you to attend places of public worship, as I am pleased to see that you have done this evening. Would it not be heedless in you to start on a day’s toil of hard hunting, and leave your ramrod and flint behind ?” “Tt must be a young hand in the woods,” interrupted Natty, with another laugh, “that didn’t know how to dress a rod out of an ash sapling, or find a fire-stone in the mountains. No, no, I never expected to live for ever; but I see, times be altering in these mountains from what they was thirty years ago, or, for that matter, ten years. But might makes right, and the law is stronger than an old man, whether he is one that has much larning, or only one like me, that is better now at standing at the passes than in following the hounds, as I once used to could. Heigh-ho! I never know’d preaching come into a settlement but it made game scarce, and raised the price of gunpowder ; and that’s a thing that’s not as easily made as a ramrod or an Indian flint.” The divine, perceiving that he had given his opponent an argument by his own unfortunate selection of a comparison, very prudently relinquished the controversy ; although he was fully determined to resume it at a more happy moment. Repeating his request to the young hunter, with great earnest- ness, the youth and Indian consented to accompany him and his daughter to the dwelling that the care of Mr. Jones had provided for their temporary residence. Leather-stocking per- 148 THE PIONEERS. severed in his intention of returning to the hut, and at the door of the building they separated. After following the course of one of the streets of the village a short distance, Mr. Grant, who led the way, turned into a field, through a pair of open bars, and entered a footpath, of but sufficient width to admit one person to walk in it at a time. The moon had gained a height that enabled her to throw her rays perpendicularly on the valley; and the distinct shadows of the party flitted along on the banks of the silver snow, like the presence of aerial figures, gliding to their appointed place of meeting. The night still continued intensely cold, although not. a breath of wind was felt. The path was beaten so hard, that the gentle female, who made one of the party, moved with ease along’ its windings; though the frost emitted a low creak- ing at the impression of even her light footsteps. The clergyman in his dark dress of broad-cloth, with his mild, benevolent countenance, occasionally turned towards his companions, expressing that look of subdued care which was its characteristic, presented the first object in this singular group. Next to him moved the Indian, his hair falling about his face, his head uncovered, and the rest of his form concealed. beneath his blanket. As his swarthy visage, with its muscles fixed in rigid composure, was seen under the light of the moon which struck his face obliquely, he seemed a picture of resigned old age on whom the storms of winter had beaten in vain for the greater part of a century; but when, in turning his head, the rays fell directly on his dark, fiery eyes, they told a tale of passions unrestrained, and of thoughts free as air. The slight person of Miss Grant, which followed next, and which was but too thinly clad for the severity of the season, formed a marked contrast to the wild attire and uneasy glances of the Delaware chief; and more than once during their walk, the young hunter, himself no insignificant figure in the group, was led to consider the difference in the human form, as the face of Mohegan, and the gentle countenance of Miss Grant, with eyes that rivalled the THE PIONEERS 149 soft hue of the sky, met his view at the instant that each turned to throw a glance at the splendid orb which lighted their path. Their way, which led through fields that lay at some distance in the rear of the houses, was cheered by a conversation that flagged or became animated with the subject. The first to speak was the divine. ' “Really,” he said, “it is so singular a circumstance to meet with one of your age, that has not been induced by idle curiosity to visit any other church than the one in which he has been educated, that I feel a strong curiosity to know the history of a life so fortunately regulated. Your education must have been excellent ; as indeed is evident from your manners and language. Of which of the States are you a native, Mr. Edwards ? for such, I believe, was the name that you gave Judge Temple.” “ Of this.” “Of this! I was at a loss to conjecture, from your dialect, which does not partake, particularly, of the peculiarities of any country with which I am acquainted. You have, then, resided much in the cities, for no.other part of this country is so fortu- nate as to possess the constant enjoyment of our excellent liturgy.” The young hunter smiled, as he listened to the divine while he so clearly betrayed from what part of the country he had come himself; but for reasons probably connected with his present situation, he made no answer. “T am delighted to meet with you, my young friend, for I think an ingenuous mind, such as I doubt not yours must he, will exhibit all the advantages of a settled doctrine and devout liturgy. You perceive how I was compelled to bend to the humors of my hearers this evening. Good Mr. Jones wished me to read the communion, and, in fact, all the morning ser- vice ; but, happily, the canons do not require this of an evening. It would have wearied a new congregation: but to-morrow | purpose administering the sacrament. Do you commune, my young friend ?” “T believe not, sir,” returned the youth, with a little embar- 150 THE PIONEERS. rassment, that was not at all diminished by Miss Grant’s pausing involuntarily, and turning her eyes on him in surprise —‘T fear that I am not qualified ; I have never yet approached the altar; neither would I wish to do it, while I find so much of the world clinging to my heart.” “‘Kach must judge for himself,” said Mr. Grant; “though | should think that a youth who had never been blown about by the wind of false doctrines, and who has enjoyed the advan- tages of our liturgy for so many years in its purity, might safely come. Yet, sir, it is a solemn festival, which none should celebrate until there is reason to hope it is not mockery. I observed this evening, in your manner to Judge Temple, a re- sentment that bordered on one of the worst of human passions. We will cross this brook on the ice: it must bear us all, I think, in safety.—Be careful not to slip, my child.” While speaking, he descended a little bank by the path, and crossed one of the small streams that poured their waters into the lake; and, turning to see his daughter. pass, observed that the youth had advanced, and was kindly directing her footsteps. When all were safely over, he moved up the opposite bank, and continued his discourse.—“ It was wrong, my dear sir, very wrong, to suffer such feelings to rise, under any circumstances, and espe- cially in the present, where the evil was not intended.” “There is good in the talk of my father,” said Mohegan, stopping short, and causing those who were behind him to pause also; “it is the talk of Miquon. The white man may do as his fathers have told him; but the ‘Young Eagle’ has the blood of a Delaware chief in his veins: it is red, and the stain it makes can only be washed out with the blood of a Mingo.” Mr. Grant was surprised by the interruption of the Indian, and, stopping, faced the speaker. His mild features were confronted to the fierce and determined looks of the chief, and expressed the horror he felt at hearmg such sentiments from one who professed the religion of his Saviour. Raising his hands to a level with his head, he exclaimed— “John, John! is this the religion that you have learned from THE PIONEERS. 15)- the Moravians? But no—TI will not be so uncharitable as to suppose it. They are a pious, a gentle, and a mild people, and could never tolerate these passions. Listen to the language of the Redeemer—‘ But I say unto you, love your enemies ; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you ; pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you.’—This is the command of God, John, and without striving to cultivate such feelings, no man can see him.” The Indian heard the divine with attention ; the unusual fire of his eye gradually softened, and his muscles relaxed into their ordinary composure ; but, slightly shaking his head, he motioned with dignity for Mr. Grant to resume his walk, and followed himself in silence.” The agitation of the divine caused him to move with unusual rapidity along the deep path, and the Indian, without any apparent exertion, kept an equal pace; but the young hunter observed the female to linger in her steps, until a trifling distance intervened between the two former and the latter. Struck by the circumstance, and not perceiving any new impediment to retard her footsteps, the youth made a tender of his assistance. “You are fatigued, Miss Grant,” he said; “the snow yields to the foot, and you are unequal to the strides of us men. Step on the crust, I entreat you, and take the help of my arm. Yonder light is, I believe, the house of your father; but it seems. yet at some distance.” “T am quite equal to the walk,” returned a low tremulous voice; “ but I am startled by the manner of that Indian. Oh! his eye was horrid, as he turned to the moon, in speaking to my father. But I forget, sir; he is your friend, and by his language may be your relative; and yet of you I do not feel afraid.” The young man stepped on the bank of snow, which firmly sustained his weight, and by a gentle effort induced his compa- nion to follow. Drawing her arm through his own, he lifted his cap from his head, allowing the dark locks to flow in rich curls over his open brow, and walked by her side with an air of 152 THE PIONEERS. conscious pride, as if inviting an examination of his inmost thoughts. Louisa took but a furtive glance at his person, and moved quietly along, at a rate that was greatly quickened by the aid of his arm. “You are but little acquainted with this peculiar people, Miss Grant,” he said, “or you would know that revenge is a virtue with an Indian. They are taught from infancy upwards, _to believe it a duty never to allow an injury to pass unrevenged ; and nothing but the stronger claims of hospitality can guard one against their resentments, where they have power.” “ Surely, sir,” said Miss Grant, involuntarily withdrawing her arm from his, “ you have not been educated with such unholy sentiments.” “Tt might be a sufficient answer to your excellent father, to say, that I was educated in the church,” he returned ; “but to you I will add, that I have been taught deep and practical lessons of forgiveness. I believe that, on this subject, I have but little cause to reproach myself; it shall be my endeavor that there yet be less.” While speaking, he stopped, and stood with his arm again proffered to her assistance. As he ended, she quietly accepted his offer, and they resumed their walk. Mr. Grant. and Mohegan had reached the door of the former’s residence, and stood waiting near its threshold for the arrival of their young companions. The former was earnestly occupied in endeavoring to correct, ky his precepts, the evil propensities that he had discovered in the Indian during their conversation ; to which the latter listened in profound, but respectful attention. On the arrival of the young hunter and the lady, they entered the building. The house stood at some distance from the village, in the centre of a field, surrounded by stumps that were peering above the snow, bearing caps of pure white, nearly two feet in thickness. Not a tree nor a shrub was nigh it; but the house externally, exhibited that cheerless, unfinished aspect which is so common to the hastily erected dwellings of a new country, THE PIONEERS. 153 The uninviting character of its outside was, however, happily relieved by the exquisite neatness and comfortable warmth within. They entered an apartment that was fitted as a parlor, though the large fire-place, with its culinary arrangements, betrayed the domestic uses to which it was occasionally applied. The bright blaze from the hearth rendered the light that proceeded from the candle Louisa produced, unnecessary ; for the scanty furni- ture of the room was easily seen and examined by the former. The floor was covered in the centre by a carpet made of rags, | a species of manufacture that was then, and yet continues to be, much in use in the interior; while its edges, that were exposed to view, were of .unspotted cleanliness. There was a trifling air of better life in a tea-table and work-stand, as well as in an old- fashioned mahogany book-case; but the chairs, the dining-table, and the rest of the furniture, were of the plainest and cheapest construction. Against the walls were hung a few specimens of needle-work and drawing, the former executed with great neat- uess, though of somewhat.equivocal merit in their designs, while the latter were strikingly deficient in both. One of the former represented a tomb, with a youthful female weeping over it, exhibiting a church with arched windows in the back-ground. On the tomb were the names, with the dates of the births and deaths, of several individuals, all of whom bore the name of Grant. An extremely cursory glance at this record was sufficient to discover to the young hunter the domestic state of the divine. He there read, that he was a widower; and that the innocent and timid maiden, who had been his companion, was the only survivor of six children. The knowledge of ths dependence which each of these meek Christians had on tho other, for happiness, threw an additional charm around the gentle, but kind attentions, which the daughter paid to the father. ; These observations occurred while the party were seating themselves before the cheerful fire, during which time there was a suspension of discourse. But when each was comfortably 154 THE PIONEERS. arranged, and Louisa, after laying aside a thin coat of faded silk, and a gipsy hat, that was more becoming to her modest, -ingenuous countenance than appropriate to the season, had taken a chair between her father and the youth, the former resumed the conversation. “T trust, my young friend,” he said, “ that the education you have received has eradicated most of those revengeful principles which you may have inherited by descent ; for I understand from the expressions of John, that you have some of the blood of the Delaware tribe. Do not mistake me, I beg, for it is not color, nor lineage, that constitutes merit ; and I know not that he who claims affinity to the proper owners of this soil has not the best right to tread these hills with the hghtest conscience.” Mohegan turned solemnly to the speaker, and, with the pecu- liarly significant gestures of an Indian, he spoke :— | “Father, you are not yet past the summer of life; your limbs are young. Go to the highest hill, and look around you. All that you see from the rising to the setting sun, from the head waters of the great spring, to where the ‘ crooked river’* is hid by the hills, is his. He has Delaware blood, and his right is strong. But the brother of Miquon is just: he will cut the country in two parts, as the river cuts the low-lands, and will say to the ‘ Young Eagle,’ Child of the Delawares! take it —keep it—and be a chief in the land of your fathers.” “Never!” exclaimed the young hunter, with a vehemence that destroyed the rapt attention with which the divine and his daughter were listening to the Indian. “ The wolf of the forest is not more rapacious for his prey, than that man is greedy of gold; and yet his glidings into wealth are subtle as the move: ments of a serpent.” “ Forbear, forbear, my son, forbear,” interrupted Mr. Grant, “These angry passions must be subdued. The accidental injury you have received from Judge Temple has heightened * The Susquehannah means crooked river; “hannah,” or hannock, meant river,” in many of the native dialects. Thus we find Rappahannock, as far south as Virginia. THE PIONEERS. 155 the sense of your hereditary wrongs. But remember that the one was unintentional, and that the other is the effect of politi- cal changes, which have, in their course, greatly lowered the pride of kings, and swept mighty nations from the face of the earth. Where now are the Philistinés, who so often held the children of Israel in bondage? or that city of Babylon, which rioted in luxury and vice, and who styled herse!f the Queen of Nations in the drunkenness of her pride? Remember the prayer of our holy litany, where we implore the Divine Power —‘that it may please thee to forgive our-enemies, persecutors, and slanderers, and to turn their hearts.’ The sin of the wrongs which have been done to the natives is shared by Judge Temple oniy in common with a whole people, and your arm will speedily be restored to its strength.” “This arm!” repeated the youth, pacing the floor in violent agitation. “Think you, sir, that I believe the man a murderer ? —Oh, no! he is too wily, too cowardly for such a crime. But let him and his daughter riot in their wealth—a day of retribu- tion will come. No, no, no,” he continued, as he trod the floor more calmly—“ it is for Mohegan to suspect him of an intent to injure me: but the trifle is not worth a second thought.” He seated himself, and hid his face between his hands, as they rested on his knees. “It is the hereditary violence of a native’s passion, my child,” said Mr. Grant in a low tone, to his affrighted daughter, who was clinging in terror to his arm. “He is mixed with the blood of the Indians, you have heard; and neither the refine- ments of education, nor the advantages of our excellent liturgy, have been able entirely to eradicate the evil. But care and time will do much for him yet.” Although the divine spoke in a low tone, yet what he uttered was heard by the youth, who raised his head, with a smile of indefinite expression, and spoke more calmly. “Be not alarmed, Miss Grant, at either the wildness of my | manner or that of my dress. I have been carried away by passions that I should struggle to repress. I must attribute it - 156 “THE PIONEERS. with your father, to the blood in my veins, although I would not impeach my lineage willingly ; for it is ‘all that is left me to boast of. Yes! Iam proud of my descent from a Dela- ware chief, who was a warrior that ennobled human nature. Old Mohegan was his friend, and will vouch for his virtues.” Mr. Grant here took up the discourse, and, finding the young man more calm, and the aged chief attentive, he entered into a full and theological discussion of the duty of forgiveness. The conversation lasted for more than an hour, when the visitors arose, and, after exchanging good wishes with their entertainers, they departed. At the door they separated, Mohegan taking the direct route to the village, while the youth moved towards the lake. The divine stood.at the entrance of his dwelling, regarding the figure of the aged chief as it glided, at an asto- nishing gait for his years, along the deep path; his black, straight hair just visible over the bundle formed by his blanket, which was sometimes blended with the snow, under the silvery light of the moon. From the rear of the house was a window that overlooked the lake; and here Louisa was found by her father, when he entered, gazing intently on some object in the direction of the eastern mountain. He approached the spot, and saw the figure of the young hunter, at the distance of half -a mile, walking with prodigious steps across the wide fields of frozen snow that covered the ice, towards the point where he — knew the hut inhabited by the Leather-stocking was situated on the margin of the lake, under a rock that was crowned by pines and hemlocks. At the next instant, the wildly-looking form entered the shadow cast from the overhanging trees, and was lost to view. “Tt is marvellous how long the propensities of the savage continue in that remarkable race,” said the good divine; “ but if he persevere as he has commenced, his triumph shall yet be complete. Put me in mind, Louisa, to lend him the homily ‘against peril of idolatry, at his next visit.” “Surely, father, you do not think him in danger of relapsing into the worship of his ancestors |” THE PIONEERS, 157 ““No, my child,” returned the clergyman, laying his hand affectionately on her flaxen locks, and smiling; “his white blood: would prevent it; but-there is such a thing as the idolatry of our passions.” 158 THE PIONERRS. - CHAPTER XIil. And I’ll drink out of the quart pot,— Here’s a health to the barley mow. Drinking Song. On one of the corners, where the two principal streets of Templeton intersected each other, stood, as we have already mentioned, the inn called the “ Bold Dragoon.” In the origi- nal plan, it was ordained that the village should stretch along the little stream that rushed down the valley; and the street which led from the lake to the academy, was intended to be its western boundary. But convenience frequently frustrates the best regulated plans. The house of Mr., or as, in consequence of commanding the militia of that vicinity, he was called, Captain Hollister, had, at an early day, been erected directly facing the main street, and ostensibly interposed a barrier to its further progress. Horsemen, and subsequently teamsters, however, availed themselves of an opening, at the end of the, building, to shorten their passage westward, until, in time, the regular highway was laid out along this course, and houses were gradually built on either side, so as effectually to prevent any subsequent correction of the evil. . Two material consequences followed this change in, the regular plans of Marmaduke. ‘The main street, after running about half its length, was suddenly reduced to precisely that difference in its width; and the “ Bold Dragoon ” became, next to the Mansion-house, by far the most conspicuous edifice in the place. This conspicuousness, aided by the characters of the host and hostess, gave the tavern an advantage over all its future compe- ie) > titors, that no circumstances could conquer. An effort was, THE PIONEERS. 159 however, made to do so; and at the corner diagonally opposite, stood a new building that was intended, by its occupants, to look down all opposition. It was a house of wood, ornamented in the prevailing style of architecture, and about the roof and balustrades, was one of the three imitators of the Mansion-house. The upper windows were filled with rough boards secured by nails, to keep out the cold air—for the edifice was far from finished, although glass was to be seen in the lower apartments, and the light of the powerful fires within denoted that it was already inhabited. The exterior was painted white on the front, and on the end which was exposed to the street ; but in the rear, and on the side which was intended to join the neighboring house, it was coarsely smeared with Spanish brown. Before the door stood two lofty posts, connected at the top by a beam, from which was suspended an enormous sign, ornamented around its edges with certain curious carvings in pine boards, and on its faces loaded with masonic emblems. Over these mysterious figures was written, in large letters, “The Templeton Coffee- House, and Travellers’ Hotel,’ and beneath them, “By Habakkuk Foote and Joshua Knapp.” ‘This was a fearful rival to the “Bold Dragoon,” as our readers will the more readily perceive, when we add that the same sonorous names were to be seen over the door of a newly erected store in the village, a hatter’s shop, and the gates of a tan-yard. But, either because too much was attempted to be executed well, or that the “ Bold Dragoon” had established a reputation which could not be easily shaken, not only Judge Temple and his friends, but most of the villagers also, who were not in debt to the powerful firm we have named, frequented the inn of Captain Hollister, on al) occasions where such a house was necessary. On the present evening the limping veteran and his consort were hardly housed after their return from the academy, when the sounds of stamping feet at their threshold announced the approach of visitors, who were probably assembling with a view to compare opinions on the subject of the ceremonies they had witnessed. 160 THE PIONEERS. The public, or as it was called, the “ bar-room,” of the “ Bold Dragoon,” was a spacious apartment, lined on three sides with benches, and on the fourth by fire-places. Of the latter there were two of such size as to occupy, with their enormous jambs, the whole of that side of the apartment where they were placed, excepting room enough for a door or two, and a little apartment ‘in one corner, which was protected by miniature palisadoes, and profusely garnished with bottles and glasses. In the entrance to this sanctuary, Mrs. Hollister was seated, with great gravity in her air, while her husband occupied himself with stirrmg the fires, moving the logs with a large stake burnt to a point at one end. “There, Sargeant, dear,” said the landlady, after she thought the veteran had got the logs arranged in the most judicious manner, “ give over poking, for it’s no good ye’ll be doing, now that they burn so convaniently. There’s the glasses on the table there, and the mug that the Doctor was taking his cider and ginger in, before the fire here—just put them in the bar, will ye? for we'll be having the Jooge, and the Major, and Mr. Jones down the night, without reckoning Benjamin Poomp, and the lawyers: so ye’ll be fixing the room tidy; and put both flip irons in the coals; and tell Jude, the lazy black baste, that if she’s no be claneing up the kitchen I'll turn her out of the house, and she may live wid the jontlemen that kape the ‘Coffee-house,’ good luck to ’em. Och! Sargeant, sure it’s a great privilege to go to a mateing where a body can sit asy, widout joomping up and down so often, as this Mr. Grant is doing that same.” “It’s a privilege at all times, Mrs. Hollister, whether we stand or be seated ; or, as good Mr. Whitefield used to do after he had made a wearisome day’s march, get on our knees and pray, like Moses of old, with a flanker to the right and left, to lift his hands to heaven,” returned her husband, who composedly performed what she had directed to be done. “ It was a very pretty fight, Betty, that the Israelites had on that day with the Amalekites. [t seems that they fout on a plain, for Moses is mentioned as having gone on to the heights to overlook the battle, and THE PIONEERS. 161 wrestle in prayer; and if I should judge, with my little larning, the Israelites depended mainly on their horse, for it is written that Joshua cut up the enemy with the edge of the sword; from which I infer, not only that they were horse, but well disciplyn’d troops. Indeed, it says as much as that they were chosen men; quite likely volunteers ; for raw dragoons seldom strike with the edge of their swords, particularly if the weapon be any way crooked.” “ Pshaw! why do ye bother yourself wid taxts, man, about so small a matter,” interrupted the landlady ; “sure, it was the Lord who was with ’em; for he always sided wid the Jews, before they fell away ; and it’s but little matter what kind of men Joshua commanded, so that he was doing the night bidding. Aven them cursed millaishy, the Lord forgive me for swearing, that was the death of him, wid their cowardice, would have carried the day in old times. There’s no rason to be thinking that the soldiers were used to the drill.” “T must say, Mrs. Hollister, that I have not. often seen raw troops fight better than the left flank of the militia, at the time you mention. They rallied handsomely, and that without beat of drum, which is no easy thing to do under fire, and were very steady till he fell. But the Scriptures contain no unnecessary words; and I will maintain that horse, who know how to strike with the edge of the sword, must be well disciplyn’d. Many a good sarmon has been preached about smaller matters than that one word! If the text was not meant to be particular, why wasn’t it written with the sword, and not with the edge? Now, a back-handed stroke, on the edge, takes long practice. Goodness! what an argument would Mr. Whitefield make of that word edge! As to the Captain, if he had only called up the guard of dragoons when he rallied the foot, they would have shown the inimy what the edge of a sword was; for, although there was no commissioned officer with them, yet I think I may say,” the veteran continued, stiffening his cravat about the throat, and raising himself up, 16? THE PIONEERS. with the air of a drill-sergeant, “they were led by a man who know’d how to bring them on, in spite of the ravine.” “Ts it lade on ye would,” cried the landlady, “when ye know yourself, Mr. Hollister, that the baste he rode was but little able to joomp from one rock to another, and the animal was as spry as a squirrel? Och! but it’s useless to talk, for ‘ he’s gone this many a year. I would that he had lived to see the true light; but there’s mercy for a brave sowl, that died in the saddle, fighting for the liberty. It is a poor tombstone they have given him, any way, and many a good one that died like himself; but the sign is very like, and I will be kapeing it up, while the blacksmith can make a hook for it to swing on, for all the ‘ coffee-houses’ betwane this and Albany.” There is no saying where this desultory conversation would have led the worthy couple, had not the men, who were stamping the snow off their feet, on the little platform before the door, suddenly ceased their occupation, and entered the bar-room. For ten or fifteen minutes, the different individuals, who intended either to bestow or receive edification, before the fires of the “ Bold Dragoon,” on that evening, were collecting, until the benches were nearly filled with men of different occupa- tions. Dr. Todd and a slovenly-looking, shabby-genteel young man, who took tobacco profusely, wore a coat of imported cloth, cut with something like a fashionable air, frequently exhibited a large French silver watch, with a chain of woven hair and a silver key, and who, altogether, seemed as much above the artisans around him as he was himself inferior to the real gentleman, occupied a high-back wooden settee, in the most comfortable corner in the apartment. Sundry brown mugs, containing cider or beer, were placed between the heavy andirons, and little groups were formed ~ among the guests, as subjects arose, or the liquor was passed from one to the other. No man was seen to drink by himself, nor in any instance was more than one vessel considered necessary for the same beverage; but the glass, or the mug, THE PIONEERS. 163 was passed from hand to hand, until a chasm in the line, or a regard to the rights of ownership, would regularly restore the dregs of the potation to him who defrayed the cost. Toasts were uniformly drunk; and, occasionally, some one, who conceived himself peculiarly endowed by nature to shine in the way of wit, would attempt some such sentiment as “hoping that he” who treated, “might make a better man than his father ;” or, “live till all his*friends wished him dead ;” while the more humble pot-companion contented himself by saying, with a most imposing gravity in his air, “come, here’s luck,” or by expressing some other equally comprehensive desire. In every instance, the veteran landlord was requested _ to imitate the custom of the cupbearers to kings, and taste the liquor he presented, by the invitation of “ after you is manners,” with which request he ordinarily complied, by wetting his lips, first expressing the wish of “ here’s hoping,” leaving it to the imagination of the hearers to fill the vacuum by whatever good each thought most desirable. During these movements, the landlady was busily oceupied with mixing the various compounds required by her customers, with her own hands, and occasionally exchanging greetings and inquiries concerning the conditions of their respective families, with such of the villagers as approached the bar. At length the common thirst being in some measure assuaged, conversation of a more general nature became the order of the hour. The physician, and his companion, who was one of the two lawyers of the village, being considered the best qualified to maintain a public discourse with credit, were the principal speakers, though a remark was hazarded, now and then, by Mr. Doolittle, who was thought to be their inferior only in the enviable point of education. A general silence was produced on all but the two speakers, by the following observation from the practitioner of the law :— “So, Dr. Todd, I understand that you have been performing an important operation, this evening, by cutting a charge of buckshot from the shoulder of the son of Leather-stocking ?” 164 THE PIONEERS. “ Yes, sir,” returned the other, elevating his little head with p2) alr of importance. “T had a small job up at the Judge’s in that way ; it was, however, but a trifle to what it might have ~ been, had it gone through the body. The shoulder is not a very vital part; and I think the young man will soon be well. But I did not know that the patient was a son of Leatker-stocking: it is news to me to hear that Natty had a wife.” “It is by no means a necessary consequence,” returned the other, winking, with a shrewd look around the bar-room; “ there is such a thing, I suppose you know, in law, as a ‘ filius nullius.’” “Spake it out, man,” exclaimed the landlady; “spake it out in king’s English; what for should ye be talking Indian in a room full of Christian folks, though it is about a poor hunter, who is but a little better in his ways than the wild savages themselves? Och! it’s to be hoped that the missionaries will, in his own time, make a convarsion of the poor divils; and then it will matter little of what color is the skin, or wedder there be wool or hair on the head.” “Oh! it is Latin, not Indian, Miss Hollister,” returned the lawyer, repeating his winks and shrewd looks; “and Dr. Todd understands Latin, or how would he read the labels on his “gallipots and drawers? No, no, Miss Hollister, the Doctor understands me; don’t you, Doctor ?” “Ffem,—why I guess I am not far out of the way,” returned Elnathar, endeavoring to imitate the expression of the other’s countenance, by looking jocular. “ Latin is a queer language, gentlemen ; now I rather guess there is no one in the room except Squire Lippet, who can believe that ‘ Far. Ay.’ means oatmeal, in English.” Tue lawyer in his turn was a good deal embarrassed by this display of learning; for, although he actually had taken his first degree at one of the eastern universities, he was somewhat puzzled with the terms used by his companion. It was. dangerous, however, to appear to be outdone in Jearning in a THE PIONEERS. 165 public bar-room, and before so many of his clients; he therefore put the best face on the matter, and laughed knowingly, as if there were a good joke concealed under it, that was understood only by the physician and himself. All this was attentively abserved by the listeners, who exchanged looks of approbation ; and the expressions of “tonguey man,” and “I guess Squire Lippet knows, if anybody doos,” were heard in different parts of the room, as vouchers for the admiration of his auditors. Thus encouraged, the lawyer rose from his chair, and turning his back to the fire, and facing the company, he continued: — “The son of Natty, or the son of nobody, I hope the young man is not going to let the matter drop. This is a country of laws; and I should like to see it fairly tried, whether a man who owns, or says he owns, a hundred thousand acres of land, has any more right to shoot a body than another. What do you think of it, Dr. Todd?” “Oh! sir, Iam of opinion that the gentleman will soon be well, as I said before; the wound isn’t in a vital part; and as the ball was extracted so soon, and the shoulder was what | eall well attended to, I do not think there is as much danger as there might have been.” “Tsay, Squire Doolittle,” continued the attorney, raising his voice, “ you are a magistrate, and know what is law, and what is not law. I ask you, sir, if shooting a man is a thing that is to be settled so very easily? Suppose, sir, that the young man had a wife and family; and suppose that he was a mechanic like yourself, sir; and suppose that his family depended on him for bread; and suppose that the ball, instead of merely going through the flesh, had broken the shoulder-blade, and erippled him for ever; I ask you all, gentlemen, supposing this to be the case, whether a jury wouldn’t give what I call handsome damages ?” As the close of this supposititious case was pldesscedl to the company generally, Hiram did not, at first, consider himself called on for a reply ; but finding the eyes of the listeners bent on him in expectation, he remembered his character for judicial 166 THE PIONEERS. ¢ discrimination, and spoke, observing a due degree of deliberation and dignity. “Why, if a man should shoot another,” he said, “and it he should do it on purpose, and if the law took notice on’t, and if a jury should find him guilty, it would be likely to turn out a state-prison matter.” “Tt would so, sir,” returned the attorney. “The law, gentlemen, is no respecter of persons in a free country. It is one of the great blessings that has been handed down to us from our ancestors, that all men are equal in the eye of the law as they are by nater. Though some may get property, no one knows how, yet they are not privileged to transgress the laws any more than the poorest citizen in the state. ‘This is my notion, gentlemen; and I think that if a man had a mind to bring this matter up, something might be made out of it that would help pay for the salve—ha! Doctor ?” “Why, sir,” returned the physician, who appeared a little uneasy at the turn the conversation was taking, “I have the promise of Judge Temple before men—not but what I would take his word as soon as his note of hand—but it was before men. Let me see—there was Mounshier Ler Quow, and Squire Jones, and Major Hartmann, and Miss Pettibone, and one or two of the blacks by, when he said that his pocket would amply reward me for what I did.” “Was the promise made before or after the service was per- formed?” asked the attorney. “It might have been both,” returned the discreet physician ; “though 1’m certain he said so before I undertook the dressing.” “ But it seems that he said his pocket should reward you, Doctor,” observed Hiram. “Now I don’t know that the law vill hold a man to such a promise; he might give you his pocket with sixpence in’t, and tell you to take your pay out on’t.” “That would. not be a reward in the eye of the law,” inter- rupted the attorney—“ not what is called a ‘quid pro quo; nor is the pocket to be considered as an agent, but as part of a man’s own person, that is, in this particular. I am of opinion THE PIONEERS. 167 that an action would lie on that promise, and I will undertake to hear him out, free of costs, if he don’t recover.” To this proposition the physician made no reply ; but he was observed to cast his eyes around him, as if to enumerate the witnesses, in order to substantiate this promise also, at a future day, should it prove necessary. A subject so momentous as that of suing Judge Temple was not very palatable to the present company in so public a place; and a short silence ensued, that was only interrupted by the opening of the door, and the entrance of Natty himself. The old hunter carried in his hand his never failing compa- nion, the rifle; and although all of the company were uncovered excepting the lawyer, who wore his hat on one side, with a cer- tain dam’me air, Natty moved to the front of one of the fires, _ without in the least altering any part of his dress or appearance. Several questions were addressed to him, on the subject of the game he had killed, which he answered readily, and with some little interest; and the landlord, between whom and Natty there existed much cordiality, on account of their both having been soldiers in youth, offered him a glass of a liquid, which, if we might judge from its reception, was no unwelcome guest. When the forester had got his potation also, he quietly took his seat on the end of one of the logs that lay nigh the fires, and the slight interruption produced by his entrance seemed to be forgotten. “The testimony of the blacks could not be taken, sir,” conti- nued the lawyer, “ for they are all the property of Mr. Jones, who owns their time. But there is a way by which Judge Temple, or any other man, might be made to pay for shooting another, and for the cure in the bargain——There is a way, I say, and that without going into the ‘court of errors, too.” “ And a mighty big error ye would make of it, Mister Todd,” eried the landlady, “should ye be putting the matter into the law at all, with Joodge Temple, who has a purse as long as one of them pines on the hill, and who is an asy man to dale wid, if yees but mind the humor of him. He’s a good man is 168 THE PIONEERS, Joodge Temple, and a kind one, and one who will be no the likelier . to do the pratty thing, becase ye would wish to tarrify him wid the law. I know of but one objaction to the same, which is an over carelessness about his sowl. It’s neither a Methodie, nor a Papish, nor Prasbetyrian, that he is, but just nothing at all; and it’s hard to think that he, ‘who will not fight the good fight, under the banners of a rig’lar church, in this world, will be mustered among the chosen in heaven,’ as my husband, the captain there, as ye call him, says—though there is but one captain that I know, who desaarves the name. I hopes Lather- stocking, ye’ll no be foolish, and putting the boy up to try the law in the matter; for ’twill be an evil day to ye both, when ye first turn the skin of so paceable an animal as a sheep into a bone of contention. The lad is wilcome to his drink for nothing, until his shoulther will bear the rifle ag’in.” “Well, that’s gin’rous,” was heard from several mouths at once, for this was a company in which a liberal offer was not thrown away; while the hunter, instead of expressing any of that indignation which he might be supposed to feel, at hearing the hurt of his young companion alluded to, opened his mouth, with the silent laugh for which he wasso remarkable; and after he had indulged his humor, made this reply :— “T know’d the Judge would do nothing with his smooth-bore when he got out of his sleigh. I never saw but one smooth- bore that would carry at all, and that was a French-ducking piece, upon the big lakes: it had a barrel half as long ag’in as my rifle, and would throw fine shot into a goose, at 100 yards ; but it made dreadful work with the game, and you wanted a boat to carry it about in. When I went with Sir William ag’in the French, at Fort Niagara, all the rangers used the rifle; and a dreadful weapon it is, in the hands of one who knows how to charge it, and keep a steady aim. The Captain knows, for he says he was a soldier in Shirley’s; and though they were no- thing but baggonet-men, he must know how we cut up the French and Jroquois in the skrimmages in that war. Chingachgook, which means ‘ Big Sarpent’ in English, old John Mohegan, who THE PIONEERS. 169 lives up at the hut with me, was a great warrior then, and was — | out with us; he can tell all about it, too; though he was overhand for the tomahawk, never firing more than once or twice, before he was running in for the scalps. Ah! times is dreadfully altered since then. Why, Doctor, there was nothing but a footpath, or at the most a track for pack-horses, along the Mohawk, from the Jarman Flats up to the forts. Now, they say, they talk of running one of them wide roads with gates on it along the river; first making a road, and then fencing it up! I hunted one season back of the Kaatskills, nigh-hand to the settlements, and the dogs often lost the scent, when they came to them highways, there was so much travel on them; though I can’t say that the brutes was of a very good breed. Old Hector will wind a deer in the fall of the year, across the broadest place in the Otsego, and that is a mile and a half, for I paced it myself on the ice, when the tract was first surveyed, under the Indian grant.” “Tt sames to me, Natty, but a sorry compliment, to call your comrad after the evil one,” said the landlady; “and it’s no much like a snake that old John is looking now. _ Nimrod would bea more besameing name for the lad, and a more Christian, too, seeing that it comesfrom the Bible. The sargeant read me the chapter about him, the night before my christening, and a mighty asement it was, to listen to anything from the book.” “Old John and Chingachgook were very different men to look on,” returned the hunter, shaking his head at his melan- choly: recollections.—“ In ‘the ‘ fifty-eighth war’ he was in the middle of manhood, and taller than now by three inches. If you had seen him, as I did, the morning we beat Dieskau, from behind our log walls, you would have called him as comely a red-skin as ye ever set eyeson. He was naked all to his breech- cloth and leggins ; and you never seed a creater so handsomely painted. One side of his face was red, and the other black. His head was shaved clean, all to a few hairs on the crown, where he wore a tuft of eagle’s feathers, as bright as if they had come from a peacock’s tail. He had colored his sides so that 8 . 170 THE PIONEERS. they looked like an atomy, ribs and all; for Chingachgook had a great taste in such things ;. so that, what with his bold, fiery countenance, his knife, and his tomahawk, I have never seen a fiercer warrior on the ground. He played his part, too, like a man ; for I saw him next day, with thirteen scalps on his pole. And I will say this for the ‘Big Snake,’ that he always dealt fair, and never scalped any that he didn’t kill with his own hands.” “Well, well,” cried the landlady; “ fighting is fighting, any- way, and there is different fashions in the thing; though I can’t say that I relish mangling a body after the breath is out of it; neither do I think it can be uphild by doctrine. I hope, sargeant, ye niver was helping in sich evil worrek.” “Tt was my duty to keep my ranks, and to stand or fall by the baggonet or lead,” returned the veteran. “I was then in the fort, and seldom leaving my place, saw but little of the savages, who kept on the flanks or in front, skrimmaging. I remember, howsomever, to have heard mention made of the ‘Great Snake,’ as he was called, for he was a chief of renown; but little did I ever expect to see him enlisted in the cause of Christianity, and civilized like old John.” “Oh! he was Christianized by the Moravians, who were always over intimate with the Delawares,” said Leather- ' stocking. “It’s my opinion that, had they been left to them- selves, there would be no such doings now, about the head © waters of the two rivers, and that these hills mought have been kept as good hunting-ground by their right owner, who is not too old to carry a rifle, and whose sight is as. true as a fish-hawk hovering 3 He was interrupted by more stamping at the door, and preséntly the party from the Mansion-house entered, followed by the Indian himself. THE PIONEERS, 171 CHAPTER XIV. “There's quart-pot, pint-pot, half-pint, Gill-pot, half-gill, nipperkin, And the brown bowl — Here’s a health to the barley mow, My brave boys, Here’s a health to the barley mow.”’ DRINKING Sona, Some little commotion was produced by the appearance of the new guests, during which the lawyer slunk from the room. | Most of the men approached Marmaduke, and shook his offered hand, hoping “ that the Judge was well ;” while Major Hartmann, having laid aside his hat and wig, and substituted for the latter a warm, peaked woollen night-cap, took his seat very quietly on + one end of the settee, which was relinquished by its former occupants. His tobacco-box was next produced, and a clean pipe was handed him by the landlord. When he had succeeded in raising a smoke, the Major gave a long whiff, and turning his head towards the bar, he said— “Petty, pring in ter toddy.” In the meantime the Judge had exchanged his salutations with most of the company, and taken a place by the side of the Major, and Richard had bustled himself into the most com- fortable seat in the room. Mr. Le Quoi was the last seated, nor did he venture to place his chair finally, until by frequent removals, he had ascertained that he could not possibly intercept a ray of heat from any individual present. Mohegan found a place on an end of one of the benches, and somewhat approxi- mated to the bar. When these movements had subsided, the Judge remarked pleasantly — “ Well, Betty, I find you retain your popularity through all 172 THE PIONEERS. weathers, against all rivals, and among all religions. How liked you the sermon 2” “Ts it the sarmon ?” exclaimed the landlady. “Ican’t say but it was rasonable; but the prayers is mighty unasy. It’s no small a matter for a body in their fifty-nint’ year, to be moving so much in church. Mr. Grant sames a godly man, any way, and his garrel is a hoomble one, and a devout.—Here, John, is a mug of cider, laced with whiskey. An Indian will drink cider, though he niver be athirst.” “T must say,” observed Hiram, with due deliberation, “that it was a tonguey thing; and I rather guess that it gave consi- derable satisfaction. There was one part, though, which might have been left out, or something else put in; but then I s’pose that, as it was a written discourse, itis not so easily altered as where a minister preaches without notes.” “ Ay! there’s the rub, Jooge,” cried the landlady. “ How can aman stand up and be praching his word, when all that he is saying is written down, and he is as much tied to it as iver a thaving dragoon was to the pickets ?” “Well, well,” cried Marmaduke, waving his hand for silence, _ “there is enough said; as Mr. Grant told us, there are different sentiments on such subjects, and in my opinion he spoke most sensibly.—So, Jotham, I am told you have sold your better- | ments to a new settler, and have moved into the village, and opened a school. Was it cash or dicker ?” The man who was thus addressed occupied a seat immediately behind Marmaduke ; and one who was ignorant of the extent of the Judge’s observation, might have thought he would have escaped notice. He was of a thin, shapeless figure, with a discontented expression of countenance, and with semething extremely shiftless in his whole air. Thus spoken to, after turn- ing and twisting a little, by way of preparation, he made a reply. “ Why, part cash, and part dicker. Isold out toa Pumfret- man who was so’thin forehanded. He was to give me ten dollars an acre for the clearin, and one dollar an acre over the THE PIONEERS, 178 first cost, on the woodland ; and we agreed to leave the buildins to men. So I tuck Asa Montagu, and he tuck Absalom Bement, and they two tuck old Squire Napthali Green. And so they had a meetin, and made out a vardict of eighty dollars for the buildins. There was twelve acres of clearin, at ten dollars, and eighty-eight at one, and the whull came to two hundred and eighty-six dollars and a half, after paying the men.” “Hum,” said Marmaduke: “what did you give for the place 2” “Why, besides what’s comin’ to the Judge, I gi’n my © brother Tim a hundred dollars for his bargain; but then there’s a new house on’t, that cost me sixty more, and I paid Moses a hundred dollars, for choppin’, and loggin’, and sowin’; so that the whull stood me in about two hundred and sixty dollars. But then I had a great crop off on’t, and as I got twenty-six dollars and a half more than it cost, I conclude I made a pretty good trade on’t.” “Yes, but you forgot that the crop was yours without the trade, and you have turned yourself out of doors for twenty-six dollars.” “Oh! the Judge is clean out,” said the man, with a look of sagacious calculation ; “he turned out a span of horses, that is wuth a hundred and fifty dollars of any man’s money, with a bran new wagon ; fifty dollars in cash; and a good note for eighty more; and a sidesaddle that was valued at seven and a half—so there was jist twelve shillings betwixt us. I wanted him to turn out a set of harness, and take the cow and the sap troughs. He wouldn’t—but I saw through it; he thought I should have to buy the tacklin’ afore I could use the wagon and horses ; but I know’d a thing or two myself; I should like to know of what use is the tacklin’ to him! I offered him to trade back ag’in, for one hundred and fifty-five. But my woman said she wanted a churn, so I tuck a churn for the change.” “ And what do you mean to do with your time this winter you must remember that time is money.” 174 THE PIONEERS. “Why, as the master is gone down country, to see his mother, who, they say, is going to make a die on’t, I agreed to take the school in hand till he comes back. If times doosn’t get worse in the spring, I’ve some notion of going into trade, or maybe I may move off to the Genesee; they say they are carryin’ on a great stroke of business that-a-way. If the wust comes to the wust, I can but work at my trade, for 1 was brought up in a shoe manufactory.” It would seem that Marmaduke did not think his society of sufficient value to attempt inducing him to remain where he was; for he addressed no further discourse to the man, but turned his attention to other subjects. After a short pause, Hiram ventured a question :— “What news does the Judge bring us from the Legislature ? it’s not likely that Congress has done much this session: or maybe the French hayen’t fit any more battles lately ?” “The French, since they have beheaded their king, have done nothing but fight,” returned the Judge. “ The character of the nation seems changed. I knew many French gentlemen, during our war, and they all appeared to me to be men of great humanity and goodness of heart; but these Jacobins are as bloodthirsty as bull-dogs.” “There was one Roshambow wid us, down at Yorrektown,” » eried the landlady; “a mighty pratty man he was, too; and their horse was the very same. It was there that the sargeant got the hurt in the leg, from the English batteries, bad luck to fem.” “Ah! mon pauvre Roi!” murmured Monsieur Le Quoi. “The Legislature have been passing laws,” continued Mar- maduke, “that the country much required. Among others, there is an act prohibiting the drawing of seines, at any other than proper seasons, in certain of our streams and small lakes ; and another, to prohibit the killing of deer in the teeming months. These are laws that were loudly called for, by judicious men; no: do I despair of getting an act to make the unlawful felling of timber a criminal offence.” THE PIONEERS. 175 ~ The hunter listened to this detail with breathless attention, and when the Judge had ended, he laughed in open derision. “You may make your laws, Judge,” he cried, “but who will you find to watch the mountains through the long summer days, or the lakes at night? Game is game, and he who finds | may kill; that has been the law in these mountains for forty years, to my sartain knowledge; and I think one old law is worth two new ones. None but a green-one would wish to kill a doe with a fa’n by its side, unless his moccasins were getting old, or his leggins ragged, for the flesh is lean and coarse. But a rifle rings among the rocks along the lake shore, sometimes, as if fifty pieces were fired at once :—it would be hard to tell where the man stood who pulled the trigger.” “ Armed with the dignity of the law, Mr. Bumppo,” returned the Judge, gravely, “a vigilant magistrate can prevent much of the evil that has hitherto prevailed, and which is already render- ing the game scarce. I hope to live to see the day when a man’s rights in his game shall be as much respected as his title to his farm.” “ Your titles and your farms are all new together,” cried Natty ; “but laws should be equal, and not more for one than another. I shot a deer, last Wednesday was a fortnight, and it floundered through the snow banks till it got over a brush fence ; I catch’d the lock of my rifle in the twigs in following, and was kept back, until finally the creater got off. NowI want to know who is to pay me for that deer; anda fine buck it was. If there hadn’t been a fence I should have gotten another shot into it; and I never draw’d upon anything that hadn’t wings three rimes running, in my born days.—No, no, Judge, it’s the farmers that makes the game scarce, and not the hunters.” “Ter teer is not so plenty as in ter old war, Pumppo,” said the Major, who had been an attentive listener, amidst clouds of smoke; “put ter lant is not mate as for ter teer to live on, put for Christians.” “Why, Major, I believe you’re a friend to justice and the right, though you go so often to the grand house; but it’s a 176 THE PIONEERS. hard case to a man to have his honest calling for a livelihood stopped by laws, and that too when, if right was done, he mought hunt or fish on any day in the week, or on the best flat in the Patent, if he was so minded.” “T unstertant you, Letter-stockint,” returned the Major, fixmg his black eyes, with a look of peculiar meaning, on the hunter ; “put you didn’t use to be so prutent, as to look ahet mit so much care.” “Maybe there wasn’t so much occasion,” said the hunter, a little sulkily ; when he sank into a silence from which he was not roused for some time. “The Judge was saying so’thin about the French,” Hiram observed, when the pause in the conversation had continued a decent time. “Yes, sir,” returned Marmaduke, “the Jacobins of France seem rushing from one act of licentiousness to another. They con- tinue those murders which are dignified by the name of executions. You have heard that they HON added the death of their Queen to the long list of their crimes.” “Les Monstres !” again murmured Monsieur Le Quoi, fra himself suddenly in his chair, with a convulsive start. “The province of La Vendée is laid waste by the troops of the republic, and hundreds of its inhabitants, who are royalists in their sentiments, are shot at a time. La Vendée is a district in the south-west of France that continues yet much attached to the family of the Bourbons; doubtless Monsieur Le Quoi is acquainted with it, and can daiuthd it more faithfully.” “Non, non, non, mon cher ami,” returned the Frenchman, ip a suppressed voice, but speaking rapidly, and gesticulating with his right hand, as if for mercy, while with his left he concealed his eyes. “There have been many battles fought lately,” continued Marmaduke, “and the infuriated republicans are too often victo- rious. I cannot say, however, that I am sorry they have captured Toulon from the English, for it is a place to which they have a just right.” == > THE PIONEERS. WPF “ Ah—ha!” exclaimed Monsieur Le Quoi, springing sn his feet, and flourishing both arms with great animation; “ ces Anglais !” The Frenchman continued to move about the room with great alacrity for a few minutes, repeating his exclamations to himself; when, overcome by the contradictory nature of his emotions, he suddenly burst out of the house, and was seen wading through the snow towards his little shop, waving his arms on high, as if to pluck down honor from the moon. His departure excited but little surprise, for the villagers were used to his manner; but Major Hartmann laughed outright, for the first time during his visit, as he lifted the mug, and observed— “Ter Frenchman is mat—put he is goot as for notting to trink; he is trunk mit joy.” ; “The French are good soldiers,” said Captain Hollister ; “they stood us in hand a good turn, down at Yorktown ; nor do I think, although I am an ignorant man about the great movements of the army, that his Excellency would have been able to march against Cornwallis, without their reinforcements.” “Ye spake the trut’, sargeant,” interrupted his wife, “and I would iver have ye be doing the same. It’s varry pratty men is the French; and jist when I stopt the cart, the time when ye was pushing on in front it was, to kape the rig’lers in, a rigi- ment of the jontlemen marched by, and so I dealt them out to their liking. Was it pay I got? sure did I, and in good solid crowns : the divil a bit of continental could they muster among them all, for love nor money. Och! the Lord forgive me for swearing and spakeing of such vanities: but this I will say for the French, that they paid in good silver; and one glass would go a great way wid ’em, for they gin’rally handed it back wid a drop in the cup; and that’s a brisk trade, Joodge, where the pay is good, and the men not over partic’lar.” “A thriving trade, Mrs. Hollister,” said Marmaduke. “ But what has become of Richard? he jumped up as soon as seated, and has been absent so long that I am fearful he has frozen.” “No fear of that, cousin duke,” cried the gentleman himself; 178 THE PIONEERS. “business will sometimes keep a man warm the coldest night that ever snapt in the mountains. Betty, your husband told me, as we came out of church, that your hogs were getting mangy, so I have been out to take a look at them, and found it true. I stepped across, Doctor, and got your boy to weigh me out a pound of salts, and have been mixing it with their swill. I'll bet a saddle of venison against a grey squirrel, that they are better in a week. And now, Mrs. Hollister, ?’m ready for a hissing mug of flip.” it pie I know’d yee’d be wanting that same,” said the land- lady ; “it’s mixt and ready to the boiling. Sargeant, dear, be kde up the iron, will ye ?—no, the one in the far fire, it’s black, yeewill see. Ah! you’ve the thing now; look if it’s not as red as a cherry.” The beverage was heated, and Richard took that kind of draught which men are apt to indulge in, who think that they have just executed a clever thing, especially when they like the liquor. “Oh! you es a hand, Betty, that was formed to mix flip,” cried Richard, when he paused for breath. “The very iron has a flavor in it. Here, John, drink, man, drink. J and you and Dr. Todd, have done a good thing with the shoulder of that lad this very night. ’Duke, I made a song while you were gone— one day when I had nothing to do; so I’ll sing you a verse or two, though I haven't really determined on the tune yet :— What is life but a scene of care, Where each one must toil in his way ? Then let us be jolly, and prove that we are A set of good fellows, who seem very rare, And can laugh and sing all the day. Then let us be jolly, And cast away folly, For grief turns a black head to grey. There, "duke, what do you think of that? There 1s another verse of it, all but the last line. I haven’t got a rhyme for the last line yet. Well, old John, what do you think of the music? as good as one of your war songs, ha ?” THE PIONEERS. 179 “ Good!” said Mohegan, who had been sharing deeply in the potations of the landlady, besides paying a proper respect to the _ passing mugs of the Major and Marmaduke. “ Pravo! pravo! Richart,” cried the Major, whose black eyes were beginning to swim in moisture; “ pravissimo ! it is a goot song; put Natty Pumppo hast a petter. Letter-stockint, vilt sing ? say, olt poy, vilt sing ter song, as apout ter woots ?” “ No, no, Major,” returned the hunter, with a melanchely shake of the head, “I have lived to see what I thought eyes could never behold in these hills, and I have no heart left for singing. If he, that has a right to be master and ruler here, is forced to squinch his thirst, when a-dry, with snow-water, it ill becomes them that have lived by his bounty to be making merry, as if there was nothing in the world but sunshine and summer.” When he had spoken, Leather-stocking again dropped his head on his knees, and concealed his hard and wrinkled features with his hands. The change from the excessive cold without, to the heat of the bar-room, coupled with the depth and fre- quency of Richard’s draughts, had already levelled whatever inequality there might have existed between him and the other guests, on the score of spirits; and he now held out a pair of swimming mugs of foaming flip towards the hunter, as he cried— “Merry! ay! merry Christmas to you, old boy! Sunshine and summer! no! you are blind, Leather-stocking, ’tis moon- shine and wiuter ;—take these spectacles, and open your eyes— So let us be jolly, And cast away folly, For grief turns a black head to grey. “ Hear how old John turns his quavers. What damned dull music an Indian song is, after all, Major! I wonder if they ever sing by note.” While Richard was singing and talking, Mohegan was uttering dull, monotonous tones, keeping time by a gentle motion of his head and body. He made use of but few words, and such as 180 THE PIONEERS. he did utter were fa his native language, and consequently only understood by himself and Natty. Without heeding Richard, he continued to sing a kind of wild, melancholy air, that rose, at times, in sudden and quite elevated notes, and then fell again into the low, quavering sounds that seemed to compose the character of his music. The attention of the company was now much divided, the men in the rear having formed themselves into little groups, where they were discussing various matters; among the princi- pal of which were, the treatment of mangy hogs, and Parson Grant’s preaching ; while Dr. Todd was endeavoring to explain to Marmaduke the nature of the hurt received by the young hunter. Mohegan continued to sing, while his countenance was becoming vacant, though, coupled with his thick bushy hair, it was assuming an expression very much like brutal - ferocity. His notes were gradually growing louder, and soon rose to a height that caused a general cessation in the discourse. The - hunter now raised his head again, and addressed the old warrior, ‘warmly, in the Delaware language, which, for the benefit of our readers, we shall render freely into English. “Why do you sing of your battles, Chingachgook, and of the warriors ‘you have slain, when the worst enemy of all is near you, and keeps the Young Eagle from his rights? I have fought in as many battles as any warrior in your tribe, but cannot boast of my deeds at such a time as this.” “ Hawk-eye,” said the Indian, tottering with a doubtful step from his place, “I am the Great Snake of the Delawares; I can track the Mingoes like an adder that is stealing on the whip- poor-will’s eggs, and strike them like the rattlesnake, dead at a blow. The white man made the tomahawk of Chingachgook bright as the waters of Otsego, when the last sun is shining; but it is red with the blood of the Maquas.” “ And why have you slain the Mingo warriors?. Was it not to keep these hunting grounds and lakes to your father’s children ? and were they not given in solemn council to the Fire-eater ? and does not the blood of a warrior run in the veins THE PIONEERS. 181 of a young chief, who should speak aloud, where his voice is now too low to be heard ?” (~The appeal of the hunter seemed in some measure to recall the confused faculties of the Indian, who turned his face towards the listeners and gazed intently on the Judge. He shook his head, throwing his hair back from his countenance, and exposed eyes that were glaring with an expression of wild resentment. But the man was not himself. His hand seemed to make a fruitless effort to release his tomahawk, which was confined by its handle to his belt, while his eyes gradually became vacant. Richard at that instant thrusting a mug before him, his features changed to the grin of idiocy, and seizing the vessel with both hands, he sank backward on the bench and drank until satiated, when he made an effort to lay aside the mug with the helpless- ness of total inebriety. ¥ “Shed not blood!” exclaimed the hunter, as he watched the countenance of the Indian in its moment of ferocity ; “but he is drunk, and can do no harm. This is the way with all the savages; give them liquor, and they make dogs of themselves. Well, well—the time will come when right will be done; and we must have patience.”, Natty still spoke in the Delaware language, and of course was not understood. He had hardly concluded, before Richard cried— “Well, old John is soon sowed up. Give him a berth, Captain, in the barn, and I will pay for it. Iam rich to-night, ten times richer than ’duke, with all his lands, and military .ots, and funded debts, and bonds, and mortgages. 4 Come let us be jolly, And cast away folly, For grief—— Drink, King Hiram—drink, Mr. Doo-nothing—drink, sir, I say. This is a Christmas eve, which comes, you know, but once a year.” “Tie! he! he! the squire is quite moosica] to-night,’ sard 182 THE PIONEERS. Hiram, whose visage began to give marvellous signs of relaxation. “TI rather guess we shall make a church on’t yet. Squire ?” “A church, Mr. Doolittle! we will make a cathedral of it! bishops, priests, deacons, wardens, vestry, and choir: organ, organist, and bellows! By the Lord Harry, as Benjamin says, we will clap a steeple on the other end of it, and make two churehes of it. What say you, duke, will you pay? ha! my — cousin Judge, wil’t pay !” “Thou makest such a noise, Dickon,” returned Marmaduke, it 1s impossible that I can hear what Dr. Todd is saying,—lI think thou observed’st, it is probable the wound will fester, so as td occasion danger to the limb in this cold weather ?” “ Out of nater, sir, quite out of nater,” said Elnathan, attempt- ing to expectorate, but succeeding only in throwing a light, frothy substance, like a flake of snow, into the fire— quite oui of nater, that a wound so well dressed, and with the ball in my pocket, should fester. I s’pose, as the Judge talks of taking the young man into his house, it will be most convenient if I make but one charge on’t.” “T should think one would do,” returned Marmaduke, with that arch smile that so often beamed on his face; leaving the beholder in doubt whether he most enjoyed the character of his companion, or his own covert humor. The landlord had succeeded in placing the Indian on some straw in one of his out- buildings, where, covered with his own blanket, John continued . for the remainder of the night. In the meantime, Major Hartmann began to grow noisy and jocular ; glass succeeded glass, and mug after mug was introduced, until the carousal had run deep into the night, or rather morning; when the veteran German expressed an inclination to return to the Mansion-house. Most of the party had already retired, but Marmaduke knew the habits of his friend too well to suggest an earlier adjournment. So soon, however, as the proposal was made, the Judge eagerly availed himself of it, and the trio prepared to depart. Mrs. Hollister > THE-PIONEERS. 183 attended them to the door in person, cautioning her guests as to the safest manner of leaving her premises. “Lane on Mister Jones, Major,” said she, “ he’s young, and will be a support to ye. Well, it’s a charming sight to see ye, any way, at the Bould Dragoon; and sure it’s no harm to be kaping a Christmas-eve wid a light heart, for it’s no telling when we may have sorrow come upon us. So good night, Joodge, and a merry Christmas to ye all, to morrow morning.” The gentlemen made their adieus as well as they could, and taking the middle of the road, which was a fine, wide, and well- beaten path, they did tolerably well until they reached the gate of the Mansion-house: but on entering the Judge’s domains, they encountered some slight difficulties. We shall not stop to relate them, but will just mention that, in the morning, sundry diverging paths were to be seen in the snow; and that once during their progress to the door, Marmaduke, missing his companions, was enabled to trace them, by one of these paths, to a spot where he discovered them with nothing visible but their heads: Richard singing in a most vivacious strain, “Come, iet us be jolly, And cast away folly, For grief turns a black head to grey.” 184 THE PIONEERS. CHAPTER XV. “ As she lay, on that day, in the Bay of Biscay, 0!” Previousty to the occurrence of the scene at the “Bold Dragoon,” Elizabeth had been safely reconducted to the Mansion- house, where she was left as its mistress, either to amuse or employ herself during the evening, as best suited her own inclinations. Most of the lights were extinguished; but as Benjamin adjusted, with great care and regularity, four large candles, in as many massive candlesticks of brass, in a row on the sideboard, the hall possessed a peculiar air of comfort and warmth, contrasted with the cheerless aspect of the room she had left in the academy. _ Remarkable had been one of the listeners to Mr. Grant, and ‘returned with her resentment, which had been not a little excited by the language of the Judge, somewhat softened by reflection and the worship. She recollected the youth of Elizabeth, and thought it no difficult task, under present appearances, to exercise that power indirectly, which hitherto | she had enjoyed undisputed. The idea of being governed, or of being compelled to pay the deference of servitude, was abso- lutely intolerable; and she had already determined within herself, some half dozen times, to make an effort, that should at once bring to an issue the delicate point of her domestic condition. But as often as she met the dark, proud eye of Elizabeth, who was walking up and down the apartment, musing on the scenes of her youth, and the change in her condition, and perhaps the events of the day, the housekeeper experienced an awe that she would not own to herself could be excited by anything mortal. It, however, checked her advances, and for THE PIONEERS. 185 some time held her tongue-tied. At length she determined to commence the discourse, by entering on a subject that was apt to level all human distinctions, and in which she might display her own abilities. “Tt was quite a wordy sarmon that Parson Grant gave us to-night,” said Remarkable. “'The Church ministers be com- monly smart sarmonizers; but they write down their idees, which is a great privilege. I don’t think that by nater, they are as tonguey speakers, for an off-hand discourse, as the standing- order ministers.” ; “ And what denomination do you distinguish as the standing- order ?” inquired Miss Temple, with some surprise. “Why, the Presbyter’ans and Congregationals, and Baptists, _ too, for-ti’now ; and all sitch as don’t go on their knees to prayer.” “ By that rule, then, you would call those who belong to the persuasion of my father, the sitting order,” observed Elizabeth. “Tm sure Tye never heard ’em spoken of by any other name than Quakers, so called,” returned Remarkable, betraying a slight uneasiness: “TI should be the last to call them otherwise, for I never in my life used a disparaging tarm of the Judge, or any of his family. I’ve always set store by the Quakers, they are so pretty-spoken, clever people; and it’s a wonderment to me, how your father come to marry into a church family ; for they are as contrary in religion as can be. One sits still, and for the most part, says nothing, while the church folks practyse all kinds of ways, so that I sometimes think it quite moosical to see them; for I went to a church-meeting once before, down country.” “You have found an excellence in the church liturgy that "has hitherto escaped me. I will thank you to inquire whether the fire in my room burns: I feel fatigued with my journey, and will retire.” Remarkable felt a wonderful inclination to tell the young ynistress of the mansion, that by opening a door she might see for herself; but prudence got the better of resentment, and 186 THE PIONEERS. after pausing some little time, as a salvo to her dignity, she did as desired. The report was favorable, and the young lady, wishing Benjamin, who was filling the stove with wood, and the housekeeper, each a good night, withdrew. The instant the door closed on Miss Temple, Remarkable commenced a sort of mysterious, ambiguous discourse, that was neither abusive nor commendatory of the qualities of the absent personage; but which seemed to be drawing nigh, by regular degrees, to a most dissatisfied description. The major-domo made no reply, but continued his oécupation with great industry, which being happily completed, he took a look at the thermome- ter, and then, opening a drawer of the sideboard, he produced a supply of stimulants that would have served to keep the warmth in his system, without the aid of the enormous fire he had been building. A small stand was drawn up near the stove, and the bottles and the glasses necessary for convenience, were quietly arranged. Two chairs were placed by the side of — this comfortable situation, when Benjamin, for the first time, appeared to observe his companion. “Come,” he cried, “come, Mistress Remarkable, bring your- self to an anchor in this chair. It’s a peeler without, I can tell you, good woman; but what cares 1? blow high or blow low, d’ye see, it’s all the same thing to Ben. The niggers are snug: stowed below before a fire that would roast an ox whole. The thermometer stands now at fifty-five, but if there’s any vartue in good maple wood, I'll weather upon it, before one glass, as much as ten points more, so that the Squire, when he comes home from Betty Hollister’s warm room, will feel as hot as a hand that has given the rigging a lick with bad tar. Come, mistress, bring up in this here chair, and tell me how you like our new heiress.” “Why, to my notion, Mr. Penguillum—— “Pump, Pump,” interrupted Benjamin ; “ it’s Christmas-eve, Mistress Remarkable, and so, d’ye see, you had better call me Pump. It’s a shorter name, and as I mean to pump this here pecanter till it sucks, why you may as well call me Pump.” THE PIONEERS. ea 187 “Did you ever !” cried Remarkable, with a laugh that seemed to unhinge every joint in her body. “Yowre a moosical creater, Benjamin, when the notion takes you. But as I was saying, I rather guess that times will be altered now in this house.” “ Altered !” exclaimed the major-domo, eyeing the bottle that was assuming the clear aspect of cut glass with astonishing rapidity ; “it don’t matter much, Mistress Remarkable, so long as I keep the keys of the lockers in my pocket.” “T can’t say,” continued the housekeeper, “ but there’s good eatables and drinkables enough in the house for a body’s content— a little more sugar, Benjamin, in the glass—for Squire Jones is an excellent provider. But new lords, new laws; and I shouldn't wonder if you and I had an unsartain time on’t in footer.” “Life is as unsartain as the wind that blows,” said Benjamin, with a moralizing air ;——‘‘ and nothing is more vari’ble than the wind, Mistress Remarkable, unless you happen to fall in with the trades, d’ye see, and then you may run for the matter of a month at a time, with studding-sails on both sides, alow and aloft, and with the cabin-boy at the wheel.” “T know that life is disp’ut unsartain,” said Remarkable, com- pressing her features to the: humor of her companion; “ but I expect there will be great changes made in the house to rights ; and that you will find a young man put over your head, as there is one that wants to be over mine; and after having been settled as long as you have, Benjamin, I should judge that to be hard.” “Promotion should go according to length of sarvice,” said the major-domo ; “and if-so-be that they ship a hand for my berth, or place a new steward aft, I shall throw up my commis- sion in less time than you can put a pilot-boat in stays. Thof Squire Dickens ”—this was a common misnomer with Benja- min—“ is a nice gentleman, and as good a man to sail with as heart could wish, yet I shall tell the Squire, d’ye see, in plain English, and that’s my native tongue, that ifso-be he is thinking of putting any Johnny Raw over my head, why I shall resign. 188 THE PIONEERS. I began forrard, Mistress Prettybones, and worked my way aft, like aman. I was six months aboard a Garnsey lugger, hauling in the slack of the lee-sheet, and coiling up rigging. From that I went a few trips in a fore-and-after, in the same trade, which, after all, was but a blind kind of sailing in the dark, where a man larns but little, excepting how to steer by the stars. Well, then, d’ye see, I larnt how a topmast should be slushed, and how a top-gallant-sail was to be becketted; and then I did small jobs in the cabin, such as mixing the skipper’s grog. “T'was there I got my taste, which, you must have often seen, is excellent. Well, here’s better acquaintance to us.” Remarkable nodded a return to the compliment, and took a sip of the beverage before her; for, provided it was well sweetened, she had no objection to a small potation now and then. After this observance of courtesy between the worthy couple, the dialogue proceeded. : “You have had great experiences in life, Benjamin 3 for, as the Scripter says, ‘ They that go down to the sea in ‘ships see the works of the Lord.” “ Ay! for that matter, they in brigs and schooners too; and it mought say, the works of the devil. The sea, Mistress Re- markable, is a great advantage to a man, in the way of knowledge, for he sees the fashions of nations, and the shape of’ a country. Now, I suppose, for myself here, who is but an unlarned man to some that follows the seas, I suppose that, taking the coast from Cape Ler Hogue, as low down as Cape Finish-there, there isn’t so much as a headland, or an island, that I don’t know either the name of it, or something more or . jess about it. Take enough, woman, to color the water. Here’s sugar. It’s a sweet tooth, that fellow that you hold on upon yet, Mistress Prettybones. But, as I was saying, take the whole coast along I know it as well as the way from here to the Bold Dragoon; and a devil of an acquaintance is that Bay of Biscay. Whew! I wish you could but hear the wind blow there. It sometimes takes two to hold one man’s hair on his head. Scudding through the Bay is pretty much the same thing as THE PIONEERS. 189 travelling the roads in this country, up one side of a mountain, and down the other.” “ Do tell!” exclaimed Remarkable ; “and does the sea run as high as mountains, Benjamin ?” “Well, I will tell ; but first let’s taste the grog. Hem! it’s the right kind of stuff, I must say, that you keep in this country, but then you’re so close aboard the West Indies, you make but asmallrun of it. By the lord Harry, woman, if Garnsey only lay somewhere between Cape Hatteras and the Bite of Logann, but you’d see rum cheap! As to the seas, they runs more in uppers in the Bay of Biscay, unless it may be in a sow-wester, when they tumble about quite handsomely ;,thof it’s notin the narrow sea that you are to look for a swell; just go off the Western Islands, in a westerly blow, keeping the land on your Jarboard hand, with the ship’s head to the south’ard, and bring to, under a close-reef’d topsail; or, mayhap, a reef’d foresail, with a fore-topmast-staysail, and mizen-staysail, to keep her up to the sea, if she will bear it; and lay there for the matter of two watches, if you want to see mountains. Why, good woman, I’ve been off there in the Boadishey frigate, when you could see nothing but some such matter as a piece of sky, mayhap, as big as the mainsail; and then again, there was a hole under your lee-quarter big enough to hold the whole British navy.” “Oh! for massy’s sake! and wan’t you afeard, Benjamin? and how did you get off?” “ Afeard ! who the devil do you think was to be frightened at a little salt water tumbling about his head? As for getting off, when we had enough of it, and had washed our decks down pretty well, we called all hands, for, d’ye see, the watch below was in their hammocks, all the same as if they were in one of your best bed-rooms ; and so we watched for a smooth time ; clapt her heim hard a weather, let fall the foresail, and got the tack aboard; and so, when we got her afore it, I ask you, Mistress Prettybones, if she didn’t walk? didn’t she? I’mno liar, good woman, when I say that I saw that ship jump from 190 THE PIONEERS. the top of one sea to another, just like one of these squirrels, that can fly, jumps from tree to tree.” “ What, clean out of the water!” exclaimed Remarkable, lift- ing her two lank arms, with their bony hands spread in asto- nishment. “Tt was no such easy matter to get out of the water, good woman ; for the spray flew so that you couldn’t tell which was sea and which was cloud. So there we kept her afore it for the matter of two glasses. The first lieutenant he cun’d the ship himself, and there was four quarter-masters at the wheel, besides the master with six forecastle men in the gun-room, at the relieving tackles. But then she behaved herself so well! Oh! she was a sweet ship, mistress! That one frigate was well worth more, to live in, than the best house in the island. If I was king of England, ’'d have her hauled up above Lon’on bridge, and fit her up for a palace; because why? if anybody ean afford to live comfortably, his majesty can.” “Well! but, Benjamin,” cried the listener, who was in an ecstasy of astonishment, at this relation+of the steward’s dangers, “ what dzd you do ?” “Do! why we did our duty like hearty fellows. Now if the countrymen of Mounsheer Ler Quaw had been aboard of her, they would have just struck her ashore on some of them small islands; but we run along the land, until we found her dead to leeward off the mountains of Pico, and dam’me if I know to this day how we got there ; whether we jumped over the island, or hauled round it;—but there we was, and there we lay, under easy sail, fore-reaching first upon one tack and then upon t’other, so as to poke her nose out now and then, and take a look to wind’ard, till the gale blow’d its pipe out.” “T wonder now!” exclaimed Remarkable, to whom most of — the terms used by Benjamin were perfectly unintelligible, but who had got a confused idea of a raging tempest. “It must be an awful life, that going to sea! and I don’t feel astonish- ment that you are so affronted with the thoughts of being forced to quit a comfortable home like this. Not that a body THE PIONEERS. 19] cares rouch for’t, as there’s more houses than one to live in, Why, when the Judge agreed with me to come and live with kim, ?'d no more notion of stopping any time than anything. I happened in, just to see how the family did, about a week after Miss Temple died, thinking to be back home agin night ; but the family was in sitch a distressed way, that I couldn’t but stop awhile, and help ’em on. I thought the situation a good one, seeing that I] was an unmarried body, and they were so much in want of help; so I tarried.” “ And a long time have you left your anchors down in the same place, mistress. I think you must find that the ship rides easy.” e “ How you talk, Benjamin! there’s no believing a word you say. I must say that the Judge and Squire Jones have both acted quite clever, so long; but I see that now we shail have a specimen to the contrary. I heer’n say that the Judge was gone a great ’broad, and that he meant to bring his darter hum, but I didn’t calculate on sitch carrins on. To my notion, Benjamin, she’s likely to turn out a desput ugly gal.” “Ugly!” echoed the major-domo, opening eyes, that were beginning to close in a very suspicious sleepiness, in wide amaze- ment. ‘“ By the lord Harry, woman, I should as soon think of calling the Boadishey a clumsy frigate. What the devil would you have? arn’t her eyes as bright as the morning and eve- ning stars? and isn’t her hair as black and glistening as rigging that has just had a lick of tar? doesn’t she move as stately as a first rate in smooth water, on a bow-line?) Why, woman, the figure-head of the Boadishey was a fool to her, and that, as Tve often heard the captain say, was an image of a great queen; and arnt queens always comely, woman? for who do you think would be a king, and not choose a handsome bedfellow ?” “Talk decent, Benjamin,” said the housekeeper, “ or I won’t keep your company. I don’t gainsay her being comely to look on, but I will maintain that she’s likely to show poor conduct. She seems to think herself too good to talk toa body. From 192 THE PIONEERS. _ what Squire Jones had tell’d me, I some expected to be quite captivated by her company. Now, to my reckoning, Lowizy Grant is much more pritty behaved than Betsey Temple. She wouldn’t so much as hold discourse with me, when I wanted to ask her how she felt, on coming home and missing her mammy.” “Perhaps she didn’t understand you, woman; you are none of the best linguister; and then Miss Lizzy has been exercising the King’s English under a great Lon’on lady, and, for that matter, can talk the language almost as well as myself, or any native born British subject. You’ve forgot your schooling, and the voung mistress is a great scollard.” “Mistress !” cried Remarkable, “ don’t make one out to be a nigger, Benjamin. She’s no mistress of mine, and never will be. And as to speech, I hold myself as second to nobody out of New England. I was born and raised in Essex county; and [ve always heer’n say that the Bay State was provarbal for pronounsation !” “Tye often heard of that Bay of State,” said Benjamin, “but can’t say that Pve ever been in it, nor do I know exactly whereaway it is that it lays; but I suppose there is good anchorage in it, and that it’s no bad place for the taking of ling; but for size, it can’t be so much as a yawl to a sloop of war, compared with the Bay of Biscay, or, mayhap, Torbay. And as for language, if you want to hear the dictionary overhauled, like a long-line in a blow, you must go to Wapping, and listen to the Lon’oners, as they deal out their lingo. Howsomever, I see no such mighty matter that Miss Lizzy has been doing to you, good woman, so take another drop of your brew, and forgive and forget, like an honest soul.” “No, indeed! and I shan’t do sitch a thing, Benjamin. This treatment is a newity to me, and what I won’t put up with. I have a hundred and fifty dollars at use, besides a bed and twenty sheep, to good; and I don’t crave to live in a house where a body mustn’t call a young woman by her given name to her face. I wel? call her Betsey as much as T please: THE PIONEERS. 193 it’s a free country, and no one can stop me. I did intend to | stop while summer, but I shall quit to-morrow morning ; and I will talk just as I please.” “For that matter, Mistress Remarkable,” said Benjamin, “there’s none here who will contradict you; for ’'m of opinion that it would be as easy to stop a hurricane with a Barcelony handkerchy, as to bring up your tongue when the stopper is off. I say, good woman, do they grow many monkeys along the shores of that Bay of State ?” “Youre a monkey yourself, Mr. Penguillum,” cried the enraged housekeeper, “or a bear! a black, beastly bear! and an’t fit for a decent woman to stay with. Ill never keep your company agin, sir, if I should live thirty years with the Judge. Sitch talk is more befitting the kitchen than the keeping-room of a house of one who is well to do in the world.” “Took you, Mistress Pitty—Patty—Prettybones, mayhap I'm some such matter as a bear, as they will find who come to grapple with me; but dam’me if I’m a monkey—a thing that chatters without knowing a word of what it says—a parrot; that will hold a dialogue, for what an honest man knows, in a dozen languages ; mayhap in the Bay of State lingo; mayhap in Greek or High Dutch. ' But dost it know what it means itself? canst answer me that,good woman? Your midshipman can sing out, and pass the word, when the captain gives the order, but just set him adrift by himself, and let him work the ship of his own head, and stop my grog, if you don’t find all the Johnny Raws laughing at him.” “Stop your grog, indeed!” said Remarkable, rising with great indignation, and seizing a candle; “you're groggy now, Benjamin, and I'll quit the room before I hear any misbecom- ing words from you.” The housekeeper retired, with a manner but little less digni fied, as she thought, than the air of the heiress, muttering, as she drew the door after her, with a noise like the report of a musket, the opprobrious terms of “ drunkard,” “sot,” and “ beast.” 9 194 THE PIONEERS. “"Who’s that you say is drunk?” cried Benjamin, fiercely, rising and making a movement towards Remarkable. “You talk of mustering yourself with a lady! you're just. fit to grumble and find fault. Where the devil should you larn behaviour and dictionary? in your damned Bay of State, ha?” Benjamin here fell back in his chair, and soon gave vent to certain ominous sounds, which resembled not a little the growl- ing of his favorite animal, the bear itself. Before, however, he was quite locked—to use the language that would suit the Della-cruscan humor of certain refined minds of the present day—“ in the arms of Morpheus,” he spoke aloud, observing due pauses between his epithets, the impressive terms of “ monkey,” “ parrot,” “ pic-nic,” “ tar-pot,” and “ linguisters.” We shall not.attempt to explain his meaning, nor connect his sentences ; and our readers must be satisfied with our informing them that they were expressed. with all that coolness of con- tempt that a man might well be supposed to feel for a monkey. Nearly two hours passed in this sleep before the major-domo was awakened by the noisy entrance of Richard, Major Hartmann, and the master of the mansion. Benjamin so far rallied his con- - fused faculties, as to shape the course of the two former to their respective apartments, when he disappeared himself, leaving the task of securing the house to him who was most interested ia its safety. Locks and bars were but little attended toin the early day of that settlement; and so soon as Marmaduke had given an eye to the enormous fires of his dwelling, he retired. With this act of prudence closes the first night of our tale. THE PIONEERS. 195 CHAPTER XVI. ‘* Watch. (aside) Some treason, masters — Yet stand close. Mucu Apo apout Noraine. Iv was fortunate for more than one of the bacchanalians who left the “Bold Dragoon” late in the evening, that the severe cold of the season was becoming rapidly less dangerous, as they threaded the different mazes through the snow-banks that led to their respective dwellings. Thin, driving clouds began, towards morning, to flit across the heavens, and the moon set behind a volume of vapor that was impelled furiously towards the north, carrying with it the softer atmosphere from the distant ocean. ‘The rising sun was obscured by denser and increasing columns of clouds, while the southerly wind that rushed up the valley, brought the never-failing symptoms of a thaw. It was quite late in the morning before Elizabeth, observing the faint glow which appeared on the eastern mountain, long after the light of the sun had struck the opposite hills, ventured from the house, with a view to gratify her curiosity with a glance by daylight, at the surrounding objects, before the tardy revellers of the Christmas-eve should make their appearance at the breakfast-table. While she was drawing the folds of her pelisse * more closely around her form, to guard against a cold that was yet great, though rapidly yielding, in the small inclosure that opened in the rear of the house on a little thicket of low pines, that were springing up where trees of a mightier growth had lately stood, she was surprised at the voice of Mr. Jones. “Merry Christmas, merry Christmas to you, cousin Bess,” he. shouted. ‘“ Ah, ha! an early riser, I see; but I knew I should steal a march on you. I never was in a house yet, where I 196 THE PIONEERSB, didn’t get the first Christmas greeting on every soul in it, man, woman, and child; great and small; black, white, and yellow. But stop a minute, till I can just slip on my coat; you are about to look at the improvements, I see, which no one can explain so well as I, who planned them all. It will be an hour before "duke and the Major can sleep off Mrs. Hollister’s confounded distillations, and so I'll come down and go with you.” Elizabeth turned, and observed her cousin in his night-cap, with his head out of his bed-room window, where his zeal for pre-eminence, in defiance of the weather, had impelled him to thrust it. She laughed, and promising to wait for his company, re-entered the house, making her appearance again, holding in her hand a packet that was secured by several large and important seals, just in time to meet the gentleman. “Come, Bessy, come,” he cried, drawing one of her arms through his own; “the snow begins to give, but it will bear us yet. Don’t you snuff old Pennsylvania in the very air? This is a vile climate, girl; now at sunset, last evening, it was cold enough to freeze a man’s zeal, and that, I can tell you, takes a thermometer near zero for me; then about nine or ten it began to moderate; at twelve it was quite mild, and here all the rest of the night I have been so hot, as not to bear a blanket on the bed.—Holla! Aggy,—merry Christmas, Aggy—lI say, do you hear me, you black dog! there’s a dollar for you; and if the gentlemen get up before I come back, do you come out and let me know. I wouldn’t have ’duke get the start of me for the _ worth of your head.” The black caught the money from the snow, and promising a due degree of watchfulness, he gave the dollar a whirl of twenty feet in the air, and catching it as it fell, in the palm of his hand, he withdrew to the kitchen, to exhibit his present, with a heart as light as his face was happy in its expression. “Oh, rest easy, my dear coz,” said the young lady; “I took a look in at my father, who is likely to sleep an hour; and, by using due vigilance, you will secure all the honors of the season.” “Why, ’duke is your father, Elizabeth; but duke is a man THE PIONEERS. | 197 who likes to be foremost, even in trifles. Now, as for myself, I eare for no such things, except in the way of competition ; for a thing which is of no moment in itself, may be made of importance in the way of competition. So it is with your father—he loves to be first ; but I only struggle with him as a competitor.” “ Tt’s all very clear, sir,” said Elizabeth ; “ you would not care a fig for distinction if there were no one in the world but your- self; but as there happen to be a great many others, why you must struggle with them all—in the way of competition.” “Exactly so; I see you are a clever girl, Bess, and one who does credit to her masters. It was my plan to send you to that school; for when your father first mentioned the thing, I wrote a private letter for advice to a judicious friend in the city, who recommended the very school you went to. *Duke was a little obstinate at first, as usual, but when he heard the truth, he was obliged to send you.” “ Well, a truce to ’duke’s foibles, sir; he is my father; and if you knew what he has been doing for you while we were in Albany, you would deal more tenderly with his character.” “For me!” cried Richard, pausing a moment in his walk to reflect. “Ob! he got the plans of the new Dutch meeting- house for me, I suppose’; but I care very little about it, for a man of a certain kind of talent is seldom aided by any foreign suggestions: his own brain is the best architect.” “No such thing,” said Elizabeth, looking provokingly know- ing. 7 “No! let me see—perhaps he had my name put in the bill for the new turnpike, as a director.” “ He might possibly ; but it is not to such an appointment that I allude.” “ Such an appointment !” repeated Mr. Jones, who began to fidget with curiosity ; “then it is an appointment. If it is in the militia, I wont take it.” - — “ No, no, it is not in the militia,” cried Elizabeth, showing | the packet in her hand, and then drawing it back with a coquettish air; “it is an office of both honor and emolument.” 198 THE PIONEERS. “ Honor and emolument!” echoed Richard, in painful sus- pense; “show me the paper, girl. Say, is it an office where there is anything to do ?” “You have hit it, cousin Dickon ; it is the executive office of the county ; at least so said my father, when he gave me this packet to offer you as a Christmas-box.—‘ Surely if any- thing will please Dickon,’ he said, ‘ it will be to fill the execu- tive chair of the county.’” “ Executive chair! what nonsense!” cried the impatient gentleman, snatching the packet from her hand; “there is no such office in the county. Eh! what! it is, I declare, a com- mission, appointing Richard Jones, Esquire, sheriff of the county. Well, this is kind in ’duke, positively. I must say ’duke has a warm heart, and never forgets his friends. Sheriff! High Sheriff of ! It sounds well, Bess, but it shall execute better. ’Duke is a judicious man after all, and knows human nature thoroughly. I’m much obliged to him,” continued Richard, using the skirt of his coat unconsciously, to wipe his. eyes; “though I would do as much for him any day, as he shall see, if I have an opportunity to perform any of the duties of my office on him. It shall be done, cousin*Bess—it shall be done, I say—How this cursed south wind makes one’s eyes water !” “Now, Richard,” said the laughing maiden, “now I think you will find something to do. I have often heard you com- plain of old, that there was nothing to do in this new country, while to my eyes it seemed as if everything remained to be done.” “Do!” echoed Richard, who blew his nose, raised his little form to its greatest elevation, and looked serious. -“ Everything ‘depends on system, girl. I shall sit down this afternoon, and systematize the county. I must have deputies, you know. J will divide the county into districts, over which I will place my deputies ; and I will have one for the village, which I will call my home department. Let me see—oh! Benjamin! yes, Benjamin will make a good deputy; he has been naturalized, THE PIONEERS. 199 and would answer admirably, if he could only ride on horse- back.” “Yes, Mr. Sheriff,” said his companion; “and as he under- stands ropes so well, he would be very expert, should occasion happen for his services, in another way.” “ No,” interrupted the other, “I flatter myself that no man could hang a man better than—that is—ha—oh ! yes, Benjamin would do extremely well, in such an unfortunate dilemma, if he could be persuaded to attempt it. But I should despair of the thing. I never could induce him to hang, or teach him to ride on horseback. J must seek another deputy.” “Well, sir, as you have abundant leisure for all these import- ant affairs, I beg that you will forget that you are High Sheriff, and devote some little of your time to gallantry. Where are the beauties and improvements which you were to show me 2” “Where? why everywhere. Here I have laid out some new streets; and when they are opened, and the trees felled, and they are all built up, will they not make a fine town? Well, ’duke is a liberal hearted fellow, with all his stubborn- ness.—Yes, yes, | must have at least four deputies, besides a jailor.” “T see no streets in the direction of our walk,” said Elizabeth, “unless you call the short avenues through these pine bushes by that name. Surely you do not contemplate building houses, very soon, in that forest before us, and in those swamps.” “ We must run our streets by the compass, coz, and disregard trees, hills, ponds, stumps, or, in fact, anything but posterity. Such is the will of your father, and your father, you know cad “Had you made Sheriff, Mr. Jones,” interrupted the lady, with a tone that said very plainly to the gentleman, that he was touching a forbidden subject. “T know it, I know it,” cried Richard; “ and if it were in my power, I’d make "duke a king. He is a noble hearted fellow, and would make an excellent king; that is, if he had a good | prime minister.—But who have we here ? voices in the bushes ;— 200 TIE PICNEERS. = a combination about mischief, ’ll wager my commission. Let us draw near, and examine a little into the matter.” During this dialogue, as the parties had kept in motion, Richard and his cousin advanced some distance from the house, into the open space in the rear of the village, where, as may be gathered from the conversation, streets were planned, and future dwellings contemplated ; but where, in truth, the only mark of improvement that was to be seen, was a neglected clearing along the skirt of a dark forest of mighty pines, over which the bushes or sprouts of the same tree had sprung up, to a height that interspersed the fields of snow with little thickets of ever- green. The rushing of the wind, as it whistled through the tops of these mimic trees, prevented the footsteps of the pair from being heard, while the branches concealed their persons. Thus aided, the listeners drew nigh to a spot where the young hunter, Leather-stocking, and the Indian chief, were collected in an earnest consultation. The former was urgent in his man- ner, and seemed to think the subject of deep importance, while Natty appeared to listen with more than his usual attention, to what ‘the other was saying. Mohegan stood a little on one side, with his head sunken on his chest, his hair falling forward, so as to conceal most of his features, and his whole attitude expressive of deep dejection, if not of shame. “Let us withdraw,” whispered Elizabeth; “we are intruders, and can have no right to listen to the secrets of these men.” “No right!” returned Richard, a little impatiently, in the same tone, and drawing her arm so forcibly through his own as to prevent her retreat; “ you forget, cousin, that it is my duty to preserve the peace of the county, and see the laws executed. These wanderers frequently commit depredations; though I do not think John would do anything secretly. Poor fellow! he . was quite boozy last night, and hardly seems to be over it yet. Let us draw nigher, and hear what they say.” Notwithstanding the lady’s reluctance, Richard, stimulated doubtless by his nice sense of duty, prevailed ; and they were soon so near as distinctly to hear sounds. THE PIONEERS. 201 “The bird must be had,” said Natty, “by fair means or foul. Heigho! Ive known the time, lad, when the wild turkeys wasn’t over scarce in the country ; though you must go into the Virginy gaps, if you want them now. ‘To be sure, there is a different taste to a partridge, and a well-fatted turkey; though, to my eating, beaver’s tail and bear’s hams makes the best of food. But then every one has his own appetite. I gave the last farthing, all to that shilling, to the French trader, this very morning, as I came through the town, for powder; so, as you have nothing, we can have but one shot for it. I know that Billy Kirby is out, and means to have a pull of the trigger at that very turkey. John has a true eye for a single fire, and somehow, my hand shakes so whenever I have to do anything extrawnary, that I often lose my aim. Now, when I killed the she-bear this fall, with her cubs, though they were so mighty ravenous, I knocked them over one at a shot, and loaded while I dodged the trees in the bargain; but this is a very different thing, Mr. Oliver.” “This,” cried the young man with an accent that sounded as if he took a bitter pleasure in his poverty, while he held a shillmg up before his eyes—‘“this is all the treasure that I possess—this and my rifle! Now, indeed, I have become a man of the woods, and must place my sole dependence on the chase. Come, Natty, let us stake the last penny for the bird; with your aim, it cannot fail to be successful.” “TY would rather it should be John, lad; my heart jumps into my mouth, because you set your mind so much on’t; and I’m sartain that I shall miss the bird. Them Indians can shoot one time as well as another; nothing ever troubles them. I say, John, here’s a shilling; take my rifle, and get a shot at the big turkey they’ve put up at the stump. Mr. Oliver is over anxious for the creater, and [’m sure to do nothing when I have over anxiety about it.” The Indian turned his head gloomily, and, after looking keenly for a moment, in profound silence, at his companions, he replied — 202 THE PIONEERS. “When John was young, eyesight was not straighter than his bullet. The Mingo squaws cried out at the sound of his rifle. The Mingo warriors were made squaws. When did he ever shoot twice! The eagle went above the clouds, when he passed the wigwam of Chingachgook ; his feathers were plenty with the women. But see,” he said, raising his voice from the low, mournful tones in which he had spoken, to a pitch of keen excitement, and stretching forth both hands—“ they shake like a deer at the wolf’s howl. Is John old? When was a Mohican a squaw, with seventy winters! No! the white man brings old age with him—rum is his tomahawk !” “Why then do you use it, old man?” exclaimed the young hunter; “why will one, so noble by nature, aid the devices of the devil, by making himself a beast !” “ Beast! is John a beast ?” replied the Indian, slowly ; “ yes; you say no lie, child of the Fire-eater! John is a beast. The smokes were once few in these hills. The deer would lick the hand of a white man, and the birds rest on his head. They were strangers to him. My fathers came from the shores of the salt lake. They fled before rum. They came to their grand- father, and they lived in peace; or, when they did raise the hatchet, it was to strike it into the brain of a Mingo. They gathered around the council-fire, and what they said was done. Then John was the man. But warriors and traders with light eyes followed them. One brought the long knife, and one brought rum. They were more than the pines on the moun- tains; and they broke up the councils, and took the lands. The evil spirit was in their jugs, and they let him loose. Yes, yes—you say no lie, Young Eagle; John is a Christian beast.” “Forgive me, old warrior,” cried the youth, grasping his - hand; “I should be the last to reproach you. The curses of heaven light on the cupidity that has destroyed such a race. Remember, John, that I am of your family, and it is now my greatest pride.” The muscles of Mohegan relaxed a little, and he said, more mildly — THE PIONEERS. 203 “ You are a Delaware, my son; your words are not heard— John cannot shoot.” “JT thought that lad had Indian blood in him,” whispered Richard, “by the awkward way he handled my horses last night. You see, coz, they never use harness. But the poor fellow shall have two shots at the turkey, if he wants it, for Pll give him another shilling myself; though, perhaps, I had better offer to shoot for him. They have got up their Christmas sports, I find, in the bushes yonder, where you hear the laughter ;—though it is a queer taste this chap has for turkey ; not but what it is good eating too.” “ Hold, cousin Richard,” exclaimed Elizabeth, clinging to his arm, ‘‘would it be delicate to offer a shilling to that gentleman ?” . ‘Butlohitan again! do you think a half-breed, like him, will refuse money? No, no, girl, he will take the shilling; ay ! and even rum too, notwithstanding he moralizes so much about it. But I'll give the lad a chance for his turkey, for that Billy Kirby is one of the best marksmen in the country ; that is, if we except the—the gentleman.” “Then,” said Elizabeth, who found her strength unequal to her will, “then, sir, I will speak.” She advanced, with an air of determination, in front of her cousin, and entered the little circle of bushes that surrounded the trio of hunters. Her appearance startled the youth, who at first made an unequivocal motion towards retiring, but, recollecting himself, bowed, by lifting his cap, and resumed his attitude of leaning on his rifle. Neither Natty nor Mohegan betrayed any emotion, though the appearance of Elizabeth was so entirely unexpected. “T find,” she said, “ that the old Christmas sport of shooting the turkey is yet in use among you. I feel inclined to try my chance for a bird. Which of you will take this money, and, after paying my fee, give me the aid of his rifle ?” “Ts this a sport for a lady ?” exclaimed the young hunter, with an emphasis that could not well be mistaken, and with a .— rapidity that showed he spoke without consulting anything but feeling. ¥ 204 THE PIONEEBS, “Why not, sir? If it be inhuman, the sin is not confined to one sex only. But I have my humor as well as others. I ask not your assistance; but”—turning to Natty, and dropping a dollar in his hand—* this old veteran of the forest will not be so ungallant as to refuse one fire for a lady.” Leather-stocking dropped the meney into his pouch, and throwing up the end of his rifle, he freshened his priming ; and, first laughing in his usual manner, he threw the piece over his shoulder, and said— “Tf Billy Kirby don’t get the bird before me, and the Frenchman’s powder don’t hang fire this damp morning, you'll see as fine a turkey dead, in a few minutes, as ever was eaten in the Judge’s shanty. I have know’d the Dutch women, on the Mohawk and Schoharie, count greatly on coming to the merry- makings; and so, lad, you shouldn’t be short with the lady. Come, let us go forward, for if we wait, the finest bird will be gone.” “But I have a right before you, Natty, and shall try my own luck first. You will excuse me, Miss Temple; I have much reason to wish that bird, and may seem ungallant, but 1 must claim my privileges.” “Claim anything that is justly your own, sir,” returned the lady ; “we are both adventurers; and this is my knight. [I trust my fortune to his hand and eye. Lead on, Sir Leather- stocking, and we will follow.” Natty, who seemed pleased with the frank address of the voung and beauteous Elizabeth, who had so singularly intrusted him with such a commission, returned the bright smile with which she had addressed him, by his own peculiar mark of mirth, and moved across the snow, towards the spot whence the sounds of boisterous mirth proceeded, with the long strides of a hunter. His companions followed in silence, the youth casting frequent and uneasy glances towards Elizabeth, who was detained by a motion from Richard. “T should think, Miss Temple,” he said, so soon as the others were out of hearing, “ that if you really wished a turkey, you THE PrIONEFR®, 2058 would not have taken a stranger for the office, and such a one as Leather-stocking. But I can hardly believe that you are serious, for I have fifty at this moment shut up in the coops, in every stage of fat, so that you might choose any quality you pleased. There are six that Iam trying an experiment on, by giving them brick-bats with is “Enough, cousin Dickon,” interrupted the lady; “I do wish the bird, and it is because I so wish, that I commissioned this Mr. Leather-stocking.” “Did you ever hear of the great shot that I made at the wolf, cousin Elizabeth, who was carrying off your father’s sheep?” said Richard, drawing himself up into an air of dis- pleasure. “He had the sheep on his back; and had the head of the wolf been on the other side, I should have killed him dead; as it was Ay “ You killed the sheep,—I know it all, dear coz. But would it have been decorous for the High Sheriff of such sports as these ?” 3 “Surely you did not think that I intended actually to fire with my own hands?” said Mr. Jones. “ But let us follow, and see the shooting. There is no fear of anything unpleasant to mingle in oceurring to a female in this new country, especially to your father’s daughter, and in my presence.” “ My father’s daughter fears nothing, sir, more especially when escorted by the highest executive officer in the county.” She took his arm, and he led her through the mazes of the bushes to the spot where most of the young men of the village, were collected for the sports of shooting a Christmas match, and whither Natty and his companions had already preceded them. 206 THE PIONEERS. CHAPTER XVII. I guess, by all this quaint array, The burghers hold their sports to-day, Scorr. Tue ancient amusement of shooting the Christmas turkey is one of the few sports that the settlers of a new country seldom or never neglect to observe. It was connected with the daily practices of a people who often laid aside the axe or the scythe to seize the rifle, as the deer glided through the forests they were felling, or the bear entered their rough meadows to scent the air of a clearing, and to scan, with a look of sagacity, the progress of the invader. On the present occasion, the. usual amusement of the day had been a little hastened, in order to allow a fair opportunity to Mr. Grant, whose exhibition was not less a treat to the young sportsmen, than the one which engaged their present attention. The owner of the birds was a free black, who had prepared for, the occasion a collection of game that was admirably qualified to inflame the appetite of an epicure, and was well adapted to the means and skill of the different competitors, who were of all ages. He had offered to the younger and more humble marks- men divers birds of an inferior quality, and some shooting had already taken place, much to the pecuniary advantage of the sable owner of the game. The order of the sports was extremely simple, and well understood. The bird was fastened by a string to the stump of a large pine, the side of which, .owards the point where the marksmen were placed, had been flattened with an axe, in order that it might serve the purpose of a target by which the merit of each individual might be ascertained. The» distance between the stump and shooting- — THE PIONEERS. 207 stand was one hundred measured yards: a foot more or a foot less being thought an invasion of the right of one of the parties. The negro affixed his own price to every bird, and the terms of the chance; but when these were once established, he was obliged by the strict principles of public justice that prevailed in the country, to admit any adventurer who might offer. The throng consisted of some twenty or thirty young men, most of whom had rifles, and a collection of all the boys in the village. The little urchins, clad in coarse but warm garments, stood gathered around the more distinguished marksmen, with their hands stuck under their waistbands, listening eagerly to the boastful stories of skill that had been exhibited on former occasions, and were already emulating in their hearts these wonderful deeds in gunnery. {The chief speaker was the man who had been mentioned by Natty as Billy Kirby. This fellow, whose occupation when he did labor, was that of clearing lands, or chopping jobs, was of great stature, and carried, in his very air, the index of his character. He was a. noisy, boisterous, reckless lad, whose good-natured eye contradicted the bluntness and bullying tenor of his speech. For weeks he would lounge around the taverns of thggrourty, in a state of perfect idleness, or doing small jobs roeiouos and his meals, and cavilling with applicants about the prices of his labor: frequently preferring idleness to an abatement of a tittle of his independence, or a cent in his wages. But when these embarrassing points were satisfactorily arranged, he would shoulder his axe and his rifle, slip his arms through the straps of his pack, and enter the woods with the tread of a Hercules, | His first object was to léarn his limits, round which he would pace, occasionally freshening, with a blow of his axe, the marks on the boundary trees; and then he would proceed with an air of great deliberation, to the centre of his premises, and, throwing aside his superfluous garments, measure, with a knowing eye, one or two of the nearest trees that were towering apparently into the very clouds as he gazed upwards. 208 THE PIONEERS. Commonly selecting one of the most noble for the first trial of his power, he would approach it with a listless air, whistling a Jow tune; and wielding his axe with a certain flourish, not unlike the salutes of a fencing master, he would strike a light blow into the bark, and measure his distance. The pause that followed was ominous of the fall of the forest which had flou- rished there for centuries. The heavy and brisk blows that he struck were soon succeeded by the thundering report of the trea, as it came, first cracking and threatening, with the separa- tion of its own last ligaments, then threshing and tearing with its branches the tops of its surrounding brethren, and finally meeting the ground with a shock but little inferior to an earthquake. From that moment the sounds of the axe were ceaseless, while the falling of the trees was like a distant cannonading ; and the daylight broke into the depths of the woods with the suddenness of a winter morning. For days, weeks, nay months, Billy Kirby would toil with an ardor that evinced his native spirit, and with an effect that seemed magical, until, his chopping being ended, his stentorian lungs could be heard emitting sounds, as he called to his patient oxen, which rang through the hills like the cries of an alarm. He had been often heard, on a mild summer's evening, a long mile across the vale of Templeton; when the echoes from the mountains would take up his cries, until they died away in feeble sounds from the distant rocks that overhung the lake. His piles, or to use the language of the country, his logging, ended, with a despatch that could only accompany his dexterity and Herculean strength, the jobber would collect together his implements of labor, light the heaps of timber, and march away under the blaze of the prostrate forest, like the conqueror of some city, who, having first prevailed over his adversary, applies the torch as the finishing blow to his conquest, For a long time Billy Kirby would then be seen, sauntering around the taverns, the rider of scrub-races, the bully of cock- fights, and not unfrequently the hero of such sports as the one in hand. THE PIONEERS, 209 Between him and the Leather-stocking, .there had long existed a jealous rivalry on the point of skill with the rifle. Notwithstanding the long practice of Natty, it was commonly supposed that the steady nerves and quick eye of the wood- chopper rendered him his equal. The competition had, how- ever, been confined hitherto to boastings, and comparisons made from their success in various hunting excursions; but this was the first time that they had ever come in open collision. A good deal of higgling about the price of the choicest bird had taken place between Billy Kirby and its owner before Natty and his companions rejoined the sportsmen. It had, however, been settled at one shilling* a shot, which was the highest sum ever exacted, the black taking care to protect himself from losses as much as possible, by the conditions of the sport. The turkey was already fastened at the “mark,” but its body was entirely hid by the surrounding snow, nothing being visible but its red swelling head and its long neck. If the bird was injured by any bullet that struck below the snow, it was to continue the property of its present owner ; but if a feather was touched in a visible part, the animal became the prize of the successful adventurer. These terms were loudly proclaimed by the negro, who was seated in the snow, in a somewhat hazardous vicinity to his favorite bird, when Elizabeth and her cousin approached the noisy sportsmen. The sounds of mirth and contention sensibly lowered at this unexpected visit; but, after a moment’s pause, the curious interest exhibited in the face of the young lady, together with her smiling air, restored the freedom of the morning ; though it was somewhat chastened, both in language and vehemence, by the presence of such a spectator. “Stand out of the way there, boys !” cried the wood-chopper, * Before the revolution, each province had its own money of account, though neither coined any but copper pieces. In New York the Spanish dollar was divided into eight shillings, each of the value of a fraction more than sixpence sterling. At present the Union has provided a deciinal system, with coins to tepresent it. 210 THE PIONEERS. who was placing himself at the shooting point—“ stand out of the way, you little rascals, or I will shoot through you. Now Brom, take leave of your turkey.” “Stop !” cried the young hunter; “I am a candidate for a chance. Here is my shilling, Brom; I wish a shot too.” “You may wish it in welcome,” cried Kirby, “ but if I ruffle the gobbler’s feathers, how are you to get it? Is money so plenty in your deer-skin pocket, that you pay for a chance that you may never have ?” “How know you, sir, how plenty money is in my pocket ?” said the youth fiercely. ‘Here is my shilling, Brom, and I claim a right to shoot.” ‘Don’t be crabbed, my boy,” said the other, who was very coolly fixing his flint.’ “They say you have a hole in your left shoulder, yourself: so I think Brom may give you a fire for half price. It will take a keen one to ‘hit that bird, I can tell you, my lad, even if I give you a chance, which is what | have no mind to do.” “Don’t be boasting, Billy Kirby,” said Natty, throwing the breech of his rifle into the snow, and leaning on its barrel; “you'll get but one shot at the creater, for if the lad misses his aim, which wouldn’t be a wonder if he did, with his arm so stiff and sore, you'll find a good piece and an old eye coming a’ter | you. Maybe it’s true that I can’t shoot as I used to could, but a hundred yards is a short distance for a long rifle.” “ What, old Leather-stocking, are you out this morning?” eried his reckless opponent. “ Well, fair play’s a jewel. I’ve the lead of you, old fellow; so here goes for a dry throat or a good dinner.” The countenance of the negro evinced not only all the interest which his pecuniary adventure might occasion, but also the keen excitement that the sport produced in the others, though with a very different wish as to the result. While the wood-chopper was slowly and steadily raising his rifle, he bawled— “ Fair play, Billy Kirby—stand back—make ’em ated back, : \ THE PIONEERS. 211 boys—gib a nigger fair play—poss-up, gobbler; shake a head, fool; don’t you see ’em taking aim 2” These cries, which were intended as much to distract the attention of the marksman as for anything else, were fruitless. The nerves of the wood-chopper were not so easily shaken, and he took his aim with the utmost deliberation. Stillness prevailed for a moment, and he fired. The head of the turkey _ was seen to dash on one side, and its wings were spread in momentary fluttering; but it settled itself down calmly into its bed of snow, and glanced its eyes uneasily around. For a time long enough to draw a deep breath, not a sound was heard. The silence was then broken by the noise of the negro, who laughed, and shook his body, with all kinds of antics, rolling over in the snow in the excess of delight. “Well done a gobbler,” he cried, jumping up and affecting to embrace his bird; “I tell ’em to poss-up, and you see ’em dodge. Gib anoder shillin, Billy, and hab anoder shot.” “No—the shot is mine,” said the young hunter; “ you have my money already. Leave the mark, and let me try my luck.” “ Ah! it’s but money thrown away, lad,” said Leather-stocking. “ A turkey’s head and neck is but a small mark for a new hand and a lame shoulder. You'd best let me take the fire, and maybe we can make some settlement with the lady about the bird.” “The chance is mine,” said the young hunter. “Clear the ground, that I may take it.” The discussions and disputes concerning the last shot were now abating, it having been determined that if the turkey’s head had been anywhere but just where it was at the moment, the bird must certainly have been killed. There was not much excitement produced by the preparations of the youth, who proceeded in a hurried manner to take his aim, and was in the act of pulling the trigger, when he was stopped by Natty. “Your hand shakes, lad,” he said, “and you seem over eager. Bullet wounds are apt to weaken flesh, and to my judgment, youll not shoot so well asin common. If you will fire, you 212 THE PIONEERS. should shoot quick, before there is time to shake off the aim.” “Fair play,” again shouted the negro; “fair play—gib a nig- ger fair play. What right a Nat-Bumppo advise a young man? Let ’em shoot—clear a ground.” ~The youth fired with great rapidity, but no motion was made by the turkey; and when the examiners for the ball returned from the “mark,” they declared that he had missed the stump. Elizabeth observed the change in his countenance, and could not help feeling surprise, that one so evidently superior to his companions should feel a trifling loss so sensibly. But her own champion was now preparing to enter the lists. The mirth of Brom, which had been again excited, though in a much smaller degree than before, by the failure of the second adventurer, vanished the instant Natty took his stand. His skin became mottled with large brown spots, that fearfully sullied the lustre of his native ebony, while his enormous lips gradually compressed around two rows of ivory that had hitherto been shining in his visage, like pearls set in jet. His nostrils, at all times the most conspicuous features of his face, dilated, until they covered the greater part of the diameter of his countenance ; while his brown and bony hands unconsciously grasped the’ snow-crust near him, the excitement of the moment completely overcoming his native dread of cold. While these indications of apprehension were exhibited in the sable owner of the turkey, the man who gave rise to this extra- ordinary emotion was as calm and collected as if there was not to be a single spectator of his skill. “TI was down in the Dutch settlements on the Schoharie,” said Natty, carefully removing the leather guard from the lock of his rifle, “just before the breaking out of the last war, and there was a shooting match among the boys; so I took a hand. I think I opened a good many Dutch eyes that day; for I won the powder-horn, three bars of lead, and a pound of as good powder as ever flashed in pan. Lord! how they did swear in THE PIONEERS, DA os! Jarman! They did tell me of one drunken Dutchman who said - he’d have the life of me before I got back to the lake ag’in. But if he had put his rifle to his shoulder with evil intent God would have punished him for it; and even if the Lord didn’t, and he had missed his aim, I know one that would have given him as good as he sent, and better too, if good shooting could come into the ’count.” By this time the old hunter was ready for his business, and throwing his right leg far behind him, and stretching his left arm along the barrel of his piece, he raised it towards the bird. Every eye glanced rapidly from the marksman to the mark; but at the moment when each ear was expecting the report of the rifle, they were disappointed by the ticking sound of the flint. “A snap, a snap!” shouted the negro, springing from his crouching posture like a madman, before his bird. “A snap good as fire—Natty Bumppo gun he snap—Natty Bumppo miss a turkey !” “Natty Bumppo hit a nigger,” said the indignant old hunter, “if you don’t get out of the way, Brom. It’s contrary to the reason of the thing, boy, that a snap should count for a fire, when one is nothing more than a fire-stone striking a steel pan, and the other is sudden death; so get out of my way, boy, and let me show Billy Kirby how to shoot a Christmas turkey.” “Gib a nigger fair play!” cried the black, who continued resolutely to maintain his post, and making that appeal to the justice of his auditors, which the degraded condition of his caste so naturally suggested. “ Ebery body know dat snap as good as fire. Leab it to Massa Jone—leab it to lady.” “ Sartain,” said the wood-chopper; “it’s the law of the game in this part of the country, Leather-stocking. If you fire ag’in you must pay up the other shilling. I b’heve I'll try luck once more myself; so Brom, here’s my money, and I take the next fire.” - “Tt’s likely you know the laws of the woods better than | do, Billy Kirby,” returned Natty. “You come in with the settlers, with an ox-goad in your hand, and I come in with moc- 214 THE PIONEERS. easins on my feet, and with a good rifle on my shoulder , so long back as afore the old war. Which is likely to know the best I say no man need tell me that snapping is as good as firing when J pull the trigger.” “ Leab it to Massa Jone,” said the alarmed negro ; “he know ebery ting.” This appeal to the knowledge of Richard was too flattering to be unheeded. He therefore advanced a little from the spot whither the delicacy of Elizabeth had induced her to withdraw, and gave the following opinion, with the gravity that the subject and his own rank demanded :— “There seems to be a difference in opinion,” he said, “on the subject of Nathaniel Bumppo’s right to shoot at Abraham Freeborn’s turkey, without the said Nathaniel paying one shilling for the privilege.” This fact was too evident to be denied, and after pausing a moment, that the audience might. digest his premises, Richard proceeded. “It seems proper that I should decide this question, as 1 am bound to preserve the peace of the county ; and men with deadly weapons in their hands should not be heedlessly left to contention, and their own malignant passions. It appears that there was no agreement, either in writing or in words, on the disputed point; therefore we must reason from analogy, which is, as it were, comparing one thing with another. Now, in duels, where both parties shoot, it is generally the rule that a snap is a fire; and if such is the rule, where the party has a right to fire back again, it seems to me unreasonable to say, that a man may stand snapping at a defenceless turkey all day. I therefore am of opinion that Nathaniel Bumppo has lost his chance, and must pay another shilling before he renews his right.” As this opinion came from so high a quarter, and was delivered with effect, it. silenced all murmurs,—for the whole of the spectators had begun to take sides with great warmth,— except from the Leather-stocking himself. “YT ‘think Miss Elizabeth’s thoughts should be taken,” said Natty. “T’ve known the squaws give very good counsel when THE PIONEERS. . 2B» the Irdians have been dumbfoundered. If she says that I ought to lose, I agree to give it up.” “Then I adjudge you to be a loser for this time,” said Miss Temple ; “but pay your money and renew your chance; unless Brom will sell me the bird for a dollar. I will give him the money, and save the life of the poor victim.” This proposition was evidently but little relished by any of the listeners, even the negro feeling the evil excitement of the chances. In the meanwhile, as Billy Kirby was preparing him- self for another shot, Natty left the stand, with an extremely dissatisfied manner, muttering— “ There hasn’t been such a thing as a good flint sold at the foot of the lake since the Indian traders used to come into the country ; and if a body should go into the flats along the streams in the hills to hunt for such a thing, it’s ten to one but they will be all covered up with the plough. Heigho! it seems to me that just as the game grows scarce, and a body wants the best ammunition to get a livelihood, everything that’s bad falls on him, like a judgment. But I'll change the stone, for Billy Kirby hasn’t the eye for such a mark, I know.” The wood-chopper seemed now entirely sensible that. his reputation depended on his care; nor did he neglect any means to insure success. He drew up his rifle, and renewed his aim again and again, still appearing reluctant to fire. No sound was heard from even Brom, during these portentous movements, until Kirby discharged his piece, with the same want of success as before. Then, indeed, the shouts of the negro rang through the bushes, and sounded among the trees of the neighboring forest like the outcries of a tribe of Indians. He laughed, rolling his head first on one side, then on the other, until nature seemed exhausted with mirth. He danced until his legs were wearied with motion, in the snow; and, in short, he exhibited all that violence of joy that characterizes the mirth of a thought- less negro. The wood-chopper had exerted all his art, and felt a propor- tionate degree of disappointment at the failure. He first 216 THE PIONEERS. examined the bird with the utmost attention, and more thar once suggested that he had touched its feathers; but the voice of the multitude was against him, for it felt disposed to listen te the often repeated cries of the black, to “ gib a nigger fair play.” Finding it impossible to make out a title to the bird, Kirby turned fiercely to the black, and said— “Shut your oven, you crow! Where is the man that can hit a turkey’s head at a hundred yards? I was a fool for try- ing. You needn’t make an uproar, like a falling pine-tree, about it. Show me the man who can do it.” “Look this a-way, Billy Kirby,” said Leather-stocking, “and let them clear the mark, and I'll show you a man who’s made better shots afore now, and that when he’s been hard pressed by the savages and wild beasts.” “Perhaps there is one whose rights come before ours, Leather-stocking,” said Miss Temple ; “if so, we will waive our privilege.” “Tf it be me that you have reference to,” said the young hunter, “I shall decline another chance. My shoulder is yet weak, I find.” Elizabeth regarded his manner, and thought that she could discern a tinge on his cheek that spoke the shame of conscious poverty. She said no more, but suffered her own champion to make a trial. Although Natty Bumppo had certainly made hundreds of more momentous shots at his enemies or his game, yet he never exerted himself more to excel. He raised his piece three several times; once to get his range; once to calculate his distance; and once because the bird, alarmed by the death-like stillness, turned its head quickly to examine its foes. But the fourth time he fired. The smoke, the report, and the momentary shock, prevented most of the spectators from instantly knowing the result; but Elizabeth, when she saw her champion drop the end of his rifle in the snow and open his mouth in one of its silent laughs, and then proceed very coolly to recharge his piece, knew that he had been successful. The THE PIONEERS. 212 boys rushed to the mark, and lifted the turkey on high, lifeless, and with nothing but the remnant of a head. “Bring in the creater,” said Leather-stocking, “and put it at the feet of the lady. I was her deputy in the matter, and the bird is her property.” “And a good deputy you have proved yourself,” returned Elizabeth,—* so good, cousin Richard, that I would advise you to remember his qualities.” She paused, and the gaiety that beamed on her face gave place to a more serious earnestness. She even blushed a little as she turned to the young hunter, and, with the charm of a woman’s manner, added—“ But it was only to see an exhibition of the far-famed skill of Leather-stock- ing, that I tried my fortunes. Will you, sir, accept the bird as a small peace-offering for the hurt that prevented your own success 2” The expression with which the youth received this present was indescribable. He appeared to yield to the blandishment of her air, in opposition to a strong inward impulse to the con- trary. He bowed, and raised the victim silently from her feet, but continued silent. Elizabeth handed the black a piece of silver as a remuneration for his loss, which had ,some effect in again unbending his muscles, and then expressed to her companion her readiness to return homeward. “Wait a minute, cousin Bess,” cried Richard; “there is an uncertainty about the rules of this sport that it is proper I should remove. If you will appoint a committee, gentlemen, to wait on me this morning, I will draw up in writing a set of regula- tions ” He stopped, with some indignation, for at that instant a hand was laid familiarly on the shoulder of the High Sheriff of : “A merry Christmas to you, cousin Dickon,” said Judge Temple, who had approached the party unperceived: “I must have a vigilant eye to my daughter, sir, if you are to be seized daily with these gallant fits. I admire the taste which would introduce a lady to such scenes !” 10 ~ 218 THE PIONEERS. “Tt is her own perversity, duke,” cried the disappointed Sheriff, who felt the loss of the first salutation as grievously as many a man would a much greater misfortune; “and I must say that she comes honestly by it. I led her out to show her the improvements, but away she scampered, through the snow, at the first sound of fire-arms, the same as if she had been brought up in a camp, instead of a first-rate boarding-school. I do think, Judge Temple, that such dangerous amusements should be suppressed by statute; nay, I doubt whether they are not already indictable at common law.” “Well, sir, as you are Sheriff of the county, it becomes your duty to examine into the matter,” returned the smiling Marma- duke. “I perceive that Bess has executed her commission, and I hope it met with a favorable reception.” Richard glanced his eye at the packet which he held in his hand, and the slight anger produced by disappointment vanished instantly. “Ah! *duke, my dear cousin,” he said, “step a little on one side; I have something I would say to you.” Marmaduke complied, and the Sheriff led him to a little distance in the bushes, and continued—“ First, ’duke, let me thank you for your friendly interest with the Council and the Governor, without which, I am confident that the greatest merit would avail but little. But we are sisters’ children—we are sisters’ children ; and you may use me like one of your horses; ride me or drive me, ’duke, I am wholly yours. But in my humble opinion, this young companion of Leather-stocking requires looking after. He has a very dangerous propensity for turkey.” “Leave him to my management, Dickon,” said the Judge, “and I will cure his appetite by indulgence. It is with him that I would speak. Let us rejoin the sportsmen.” \ \ 7 THE PIONEERS, «19 CHAPTER XVUI. Poor wretch! the mother that him bare, If she had been in presence there, In his wan face, and sunburnt hair, She had not known her child. Scorr. Ir diminished, in no degree, the effect produced by the con versation which passed between Judge Temple and the. young hunter, that the former took the arm of his daughter and drew it through his own, when he advanced from the spot whither Richard had led him to that where the youth was standing, lean- ing on his rifle, and contemplating the dead bird at his feet. The presence of Marmaduke did not interrupt the sports, which were resumed, by loud and clamorous disputes concerning the con- ditions of a chance, that involved the life of a bird of much inferior quality to the last. Leather-stocking and Mohegan had alone drawn aside to their youthful companion ; and, although in the immediate vicinity of such a throng, the following con- versation was heard only by those who were interested in it. “T have greatly injured you, Mr. Edwards,” said the Judge; but the sudden and inexplicable start, with which the person spoken to received this unexpected address, caused him to pause a moment. As no answer was given, and the strong emotion exhibited in the countenance of the youth gradually passed away, he continued—* But, fortunately, it is in some measure in my power to compensate you for what I have done. My kinsman, Richard Jones, has received an appointment that will, in future, deprive me of his assistance, and leaves me, just now, destitute of one who might greatly aid me with his pen. Your manner, notwithstanding appearances, is a sufficient proof of your education, nor will thy shoulder suffer thee to labor, for ys 2218 THE PIONEERS. some time to come.” (Marmaduke insensibly relapsed into the language of the Friends as he grew warm.) “ My doors are open to thee, my young friend, for in this infant country we harbor no suspicions: little offering to tempt the capidity of the evil disposed. Become my assistant, for at least a season, and receive such compensation as tly services will deserve.” There was nothing in the manner or the offer of the Judge to justify the reluctance, amounting nearly to loathing, with which the youth listened to his speech: but after a powerful effort for self-command, he replied— “T would serve you, sir, or any other man, for an honest support, for I do not affect to conceal that my necessities are very great, even beyond what appearances would indicate; but I am fearful that such new duties would interfere too much with more important business: so that I must decline your offer, and depend on my rifle, as before, for subsistence.” Richard here took occasion to whisper to the young lady, who had shrunk a little from the foreground of the picture— “This, you see, cousin Bess, is the natural reluctance of a half-breed to leave the savage state. Their attachment toa wandering life is, I verily believe, unconquerable.” “It isa precarious life,” observed Marmaduke, without hearing the Sheriff’s observation, “and one that brings more evils with it than present suffering. Trust me, young friend, my expe- rience is greater than thine, when I tell thee, that the unsettled life of these hunters is of vast disadvantage for temporal pur- poses, and it totally removes one from the influence of more sacred things.” “No, no, Judge,” interrupted the Leather-stocking, who was hitherto unseen, or disregarded; “take him into your shanty in welcome, but tell him truth. I have lived in the woods for forty long years, and have spent five at a time without seeing the light of a clearing bigger than a wind-row in the trees; and [ should like to know where you'll find a man, in his sixty- eighth year, who can get an easier living, for all your better- ments and your deer-laws: and, as for honesty, or doing THE PIONEERS. 221 what’s right between man and man, I'll not turn my back to the longest winded deacon on your Patent.” “Thou art an exception, Leather-stocking,” returned the Judge, nodding good-naturedly at the hunter; “for thou hast a temperance unusual in thy class, and a hardihood exceeding thy years. But this youth is made of materials too precious to be wasted in the forest. I entreat thee to join my family, if it be but till thy arm be healed. My daughter here, who is mistress of my dwelling, will tell thee that thou art welcome.” “Certainly,” said Elizabeth, whose earnestness was a little checked by female reserve. “The unfortunate would be wel- come at any time, but doubly so when we feel that we have occasioned the evil ourselves.” . “Yes,” said Richard, “and if you relish turkey, young man, there are ose in the coops, and of the best kind, I can assure you.” Finding himself thus ably seconded, Marmaduke Fst his advantage to the utmost. He entered into a detail of the duties that would attend the situation, and circumstantially mentioned the reward, and all those points which are deemed of impor- tance among men of business. The youth listened in extreme agitation. There was an evident contest in his feelings; at times he appeared to wish eagerly for the change, and then again the incomprehensible expression of disgust would cross his features, like a dark cloud obscuring a noonday sun. The Indian, in whose manner the depression of self-abasement was most powerfully exhibited, listened to the offers of the Judge with an interest that increased with each syllable. Gra- dually he drew nigher to the group; and when, with his keen glance, he detected the most marked evidence of yielding in the countenance of his young companion, he changed at once from his attitude and look of shame to the front of an Indian warrior, and moving, with great dignity, closer to the parties, he spoke— “Listen to your Father,” he said; “his words are old. Let the Young Eagle and the Great Land Chief eat together ; let them sleep, without fear, near each other. The children of Zoe THE PIONEERS. Miquon love not blood; they are just, and will doright. The sun must rise and set often, before men can make one family ; it is not the work of a day, but of many winters. The Mingoes and the Delawares are born enemies; their blood can never mix in the wigwam: it never will run in the same stream in the battle. What makes the brother of Miquon and the Young Eagle foes? They are of the same tribe: their fathers and mothers are one. Learn to wait, my son: you are a Delaware, and an Indian warrior knows how to be patient.” This figurative address: seemed to have great weight with the young man, who gradually yielded to the representations of Marmaduke, and eventually consented to his proposal. It was, however, to be an experiment only; and if either of the parties thought fit to rescind the engagement, it was left at his option ‘go todo. The remarkable and ill-concealed reluctance of the youth to accept of an offer, which most men in his situation would consider as.an unhoped-for elevation, occasioned. no little surprise in those to whom he was a stranger; and it left a slight impression to his disadvantage. When the parties sepa- rated, they very naturally made the subject the topic of a conver- sation, which we shall relate ; first commencing with the Judge, his daughter, and Richard, who were slowly pursuing the way back to the Mansion-house. “T have surely endeavored to remember the holy mandates of our Redeemer, when he bids us ‘love them who despitefully use you,’ in my intercourse with this incomprehensible boy,” said Marmaduke. “I know not what there is in my dwelling to frighten a lad of his years, unless it may be thy presence and visage, Bess.” | “No, no,” said Richard, with great simplicity; “it is not cousin Bess. But when did you ever know a half-breed, ’duke, who could bear civilization? For that matter, they are worse than the savages themselves? Did you notice how knock- kneed he stood, Elizabeth, and what a wild look he had in his eyes 2” . “I heeded not his eyes, nor his knees, which would be all THE PIONEERS. 223 the better for a little humbling. Really, my dear sir, I think you did exercise the Christian virtue of patience to the utmost. I was disgusted with his airs, long before he consented to make one of our family. Truly, we are much honored by the associ- ation! In what apartment is he to be placed, sir; and at what table is he to receive his nectar and ambrosia 2” “With Benjamin and Remarkable,” interrupted Mr. Jones ; “you surely would not make the youth eat with the blacks! He is part Indian, it is true; but the natives hold the negroes in great contempt. No, no; he would starve before he would break a crust with the negroes.” “T am but too happy, Dickon, to tempt him to eat with oug-. sclves,” said Marmaduke, “to think of offering even the indig- nity you propose.” “Then, sir,” said Elizabeth, with an air that was slightly | affected, as if submitting to her father’s orders in opposition to. her own will, “it is your pleasure that he be a gentleman.” : “Certainly; he is to fill the station of one. Let him receive \ _ the treatment that is due to his place, until we find him ~~ unworthy of it.” 3 “Well, well, duke,” cried the Sheriff, “ you will find it no easy matter to make a gentleman of him. The old proverb says ‘that it takes three generations to make a gentleman.’ There was my father, whom everybody knew; my grandfather was an M.D., and his father a D.D.; and his father came from England. I never could come at the truth of his origin; but he was either a great merchant in London, or a great country lawyer, or the youngest son of a bishop.” “Here is a true American genealogy for you,” said Marmaduke, laughing. “It does very well till you get across the water, where, as everything is obscure, it is certain to deal in the superlative. You are sure that your English progenitor was great, Dickon, whatever his profession might have been 2” “To be sure I am,” returned the other. “I have heard my old aunt talk of him bv the month. We are of a good family, 224 : THE PIONEERS. Judge Temple, and have never filled any but honorable stations in life.” “T marvel that you should be satisfied with so scanty a provision of gentility in the olden time, Dickon. Most of the American genealogists commence their traditions, like the stories for children, with three brothers, taking especial care that one of the triumvirate shall be the progenitor of any of the same name who may happen to be better furnished with worldly gear than themselves. But, here all are equai who know how to conduct themselves with propriety; and Oliver Edwards comes into my family on a footing with both the High Slaeriff and the Judge.” “Well, ’duke, I call this democracy, not republicanism ; but I say nothing; only let him keep within the law, or I shall show him that the freedom of even this country is under wholesome restraint.” “Surely, Dickon, you will not execute till I condemn! But what says Bess to the new inmate? We must pay a deference to the ladies in this matter, after all.” “Oh, sir!” returned Elizabeth, “I believe I am much like a certain Judge Temple in this particular—not easily to be turned from my opinion. But, to be serious, although I must think the introduction of a demi-savage into the family a somewhat startling event, whomsoever you think proper to countenance may be sure of my respect.” The Judge drew her arm more closely in his own and smiled, while Richard led the way through the gate of the little court-yard in the rear of the dwelling, dealing out his ambiguous warnings with his accustomed loquacity. On the other hand, the foresters—for the three hunters, notwithstanding their difference in character, well deserved this common name—pursued their course along the skirts of the village in silence. It was not until they had reached the lake, and were moving over its frozen surface towards the foot of the mountain, where the hut stood, that the youth exclaimed— “Who could have foreseen this a month since! I have THE PIONEERS. 225 consented to serve Marmaduke Temple,—to be an inmate in the dwelling of the greatest enemy of my race; yet what better could Ido? The servitude cannot be long; and when the motive for submitting to it ceases to exist, I will shake it off, like the dust from my feet.” “Is he a Mingo, that you will call him enemy?” said Mohegan. “The Delaware warrior sits still, and waits the time of the Great Spirit. He is no woman, to cry out like a child.” “Well, I’m mistrustful, John,” said Leather-stocking, in whose air there had been, during the whole business, a strong expression of doubt and uncertainty. “They say that there’s new laws in the land, and I am sartain that there’s new ways in the mountains. One hardly knows the lakes: and streams, they’ve altered the country so much. I must say I’m mistrustful of such smooth speakers ; for ve known the whites talk fair when they wanted the Indian lands most. This I will say, though I’m white myself, and was born nigh York, and of honest parents, too.” “TJ will submit,” said the youth; “I will forget who I am. Cease to remember, old Mohegan, that Iam the descendant of a Delaware chief, who once was master of these noble hills, these beautiful vales, and of this water over which we tread. Yes, yes; [ will become his bondsman—his slave. Is it not an honorable servitude, old man 2?” “Old man!” repeated the Indian, solemnly, and pausing in his walk, as usual, when much excited: “ yes; John is old. Son of my brother! if Mohegan was young, when would his rifle be still? Where would the deer hide, and he not find him? But John is old; his hand is the hand of a squaw; his tomahawk is a hatchet; brooms and baskets are his enemies— he strikes no other. Hunger and old age come together. See, Hawk-eye! when young, he would go days and eat nothing; but should he not put the brush on the fire now, the blaze would go out. Take the son of Miquon by the hand. and he will help you.” 996 THE PIONEERS. “T’m not the man I was, I’ll own, Chingachgook,” returned the Leather-stocking ; “bui I can go without a meal now, on occasion. When we tracked the Iroquois through the ‘ Beech woods,’ they drove the game afore them, for I hadn’t a morsel to eat from Monday morning come Wednesday sundown; and then I shot as fat a buck, on the Pennsylvany line, as ever mortal laid eyes on. It would have done your heart good to have seen the Delaware eat; for I was out scouting and skrimmaging with their tribe at the time. Lord! the Indians, lad, lay still, and just waited till Providence should send them their game; but I foraged about, and put a deer up, and put him down too, afore he had made a dozen jumps. I was too weak and too ravenous to stop for his flesh; so I took a good drink of his blood, and the Indians ate of his meat raw. John was there, and John knows. But then starvation would be apt to be too much for me now, I will own, though I’m no great eater at any time.” “ Enough is said, my somata cried the youth. “I feel that everywhere the sacrifice is required at my hands, and it shall be made; but say no more, I entreat you; I cannot bear this subject now.” His companions were silent; and they soon reached the hut, which they entered, after removing certain complicated and ingenious fastenings, that were put there apparently to guard a property of but very little value. Immense piles of snow lay against the log walls of this secluded habitation, on one side; while fragments of small trees, and branches of oak and chestnut, that had been torn from their parent stems by the winds, were thrown into a pile, on the other. A small column of smoke rose through a chimney of sticks, cemented with clay, along the side of the rock; and had marked the snow above with its dark tinges, in a wavy line, from the point of emission to another, where the hill receded from the brow of a precipice, and. held a soil that nourished trees of a gigantic growth, that overhung the little bottom beneath. The remainder of the day passed off as such days are THE PIONEERS. 227 commonly spent in a new country. The settlers thronged to the academy again, to witness the second effort of Mr. Grant; and Mohegan was one of his hearers. But, notwithstanding the Divine fixed his eyes intently on the Indian, when he invited his congregation to advance to the table, the shame of last night’s abasement was yet too keen in the old chief te suffer him to move. ‘When the people were dispersing, the clouds that had been gathering all the morning, were dense and dirty; and before. half of the curious congregation had reached their different cabins, that were placed in every glen and. hollow of the mountains, or perched on the summits of the hills themselves, the rain was falling in torrents. The dark edges of the stumps began to exhibit themselves, as the snow settled rapidly ; the fences of logs and brush, which before had been only traced by long lines of white mounds, that ran across the valley and up the mountains, peeped out from their covering, and the black stubs were momentarily becoming more distinct, as large masses of snow and ice fell from their sides, under the influence of the thaw. rin Sheltered in the warm hall of her father’s comfortable mansion, Elizabeth, accompanied by Louisa Grant, looked abroad with admiration at the ever-varying face of things without. Even the village, which had just before been glittering with the color of the frozen element, reluctantly dropped its mask, and the houses exposed their dark roofs and smoked chimneys. The pines shook off the covering of snow, and everything seemed to be assuming its proper hue, with a transition that bordered on the supernatural. ~ 228 THE PIONEERS. CHAPTER XIX. And yet, poor Edwin was no vulgar boy, BEATTIE. Tue close of Christmas day, A. D. 1793, was tempestuous, but comparatively warm. When darkness had again hid the objects in the village from the gaze of Elizabeth, she turned from the window, where she had remained while the least vestige of light lingered over the tops of the dark pines, with a curiosity that was rather excited than appeased by the passing glimpses of woodland scenery that she had caught during the day. With her arm locked in that of Miss Grant, the young mistress of the mansion walked slowly up and down the hall, musing on scenes that were rapidly recurring to her memory, and possibly dwelling, at times, in the sanctuary of her thoughts, on the strange occurrences that had led to the intro- duction to her father’s family, of one, whose manners so singularly contradicted the inferences to be drawn from his situation. The expiring heat of the apartment,—for its great size required a day to reduce its temperature,—had given to her cheeks a bloom that exceeded their natural color, while the mild and melancholy features of Louisa were brightened with a faint tinge, that, like the hectic of disease, gave a painful interest to her beauty. The eyes of the gentlemen, who were yet seated around the rich wines of Judge Temple, frequently wandered from the table, that was placed at one end of the hall, to the forms that were silently moving over its length. Much mirth, and that, at times, of a boisterous kind, proceeded from the mouth of THE PIONEERS. 229 Richard ; but Major Hartmann was not yet excited to his pitch of merriment, and Marmaduke respected the presence of his clerical guest too much, to indulge in even the innocent humor that formed no small ingredient in his character. Such were, and such continued to be, the pursuits of the party, for half an hour after the shutters were closed, and eandles were placed in various parts of the hall, as substitutes for the departing daylight. The appearance of Benjamin, staggering under the burden of an armful of wood, was the first interruption to the scene. “How now, Master Pump!” roared the newly appointed sheriff; “is there not warmth enough in ’duke’s best Madeira to keep up the animal heat through this thaw? Remember, old boy, that the Judge is particular with his beech and maple, beginning to dread already a scarcity of the precious articles. Ha! ha! ha! ’duke, you are a good, warm-hearted relation, I will own, as in duty bound, but you have some queer notions about you, after all. ‘Come let us be jolly, and cast away folly.’ ” | The notes gradually sank into a hum, while the major-domo threw down his load, and turning to his interrogator with an air of earnestness, replied— q | “Why, look you, Squire Dickens, mayhap there’s a warm latitude round about the table there, thof it’s not the stuff to raise the heat in my body, neither; the raal Jamaiky being the only thing to do that, besides good wood, or some such matter as Newcastle coal. But, if I know anything of weather, d’ye see, it’s time to be getting all snug, and for putting the ports in, and stirring the fires a bit. Mayhap I’ve not followed the seas twenty-seven years, and lived another seven in these here woods, for nothing, gemmen.” “Why, does it bid fair for a change in the weather, Benja- min?” inquired the master of the house. “ There’s a shift of wind, your honor,” returned the steward ; “and when there’s a shift of wind, you may look for a change in this here climate. I was aboard of one of Rodney’s fleet. 230 THE PION NEERS. d’ye see, about the time we licked De Grasse, Mounsheer Ler Quaw’s countryman, there; and the wind was here at the south’ard and east’ard; and I was below, mixing a toothful of hot stuff for the captain of marines, who dined, d’ye see, in the cabin, that there very same day; and I suppose he wanted to put out the Captain’s fire with a gunroom ingyne: and so, just as I got it to my own liking, after tasting pretty often, for the ‘soldier was difficult to please, slap came the foresail ag’in the mast, whiz went the ship round on her heel, like a whirlgig. And a lucky thing was it that our helm was down; for as she gathered starnway she paid off, which was more than every ship in the fleet did, or could do. But she strained herself in the trough of the sea, and she shipped a deal of water over her quarter. J never swallowed so much clear water at a time in my life, as I did then, for I was looking up the after-hatch at the instant.” “‘T wonder, Benjamin, that you did not die with a dropsy !” said Marmaduke. “T mought, Judge,” said the old tar, with a broad grin; “ but there was no need of the med’cine chest for a cure; for, as I thought the brew was spoilt for the marine’s taste, and there was no telling when another sea might come and spoil it for mine, I finished the mug on the spot. So then all hands was called to the pumps, and there we began to ply the 9 pumps “Well, but the weather?” interrupted Marmaduke; “ what of the weather without doors?” “Why, here the wind has been all day at the south, and now there’s a lull, as if the last blast was out of the bellows ; and there’s a streak along the mountains,-to the north’ard, that, just now, wasn’t wider than the bigness of your hand; and then the clouds drive afore it as you'd brail a mainsail, and the stars are heaving in sight, like so many lights and beacons, put there to warn us to pile on the wood; and, if-so-be that I’m a judge of weather, it’s getting to be time to build on a fire; or you'll have half of them there porter bottles, and them dimmy- THE PIONEERS. 231 \ johns of wine, in the locker here, breaking with the frost, afore the morning watch is called.” “Thou art a prudent sentinel,” said the Judge. “ Act thy pleasure with the forests, for this night at least.” Benjamin did as he was ordered ; nor had two hours elapsed, before the prudence of his precautions became very visible. The south wind had, indeed, blown itself out, and it was succeeded by the calmness that usually gave warning of a serious change in the weather. Long before the family retired to rest, the cold had become cuttingly severe; and when Monsieur Le Quoi sallied forth, under a bright moon, to seek his own abode, he was compelled to beg a blanket, in which he might envelop his form, in addition to the numerous garments that his sagacity had provided for the occasion. The divine and his daughter remained as inmates of the Mansion-house during the night, and the excess of last night’s merriment induced the gentlemen to make an early retreat to their several apartments. Long before midnight, the whole family were invisible. Elizabeth and her friend had not yet lost their senses in sleep, when the howlings of the north-west wind were heard around the buildings, and brought with them that exquisite sense of com- fort that is ever excited under such circumstances, in an apartment where. the fire has not yet ceased to glimmer; and curtains, and shutters, and feathers, unite to preserve the desired temperature. Once, just as her eyes had opened, apparently in the last stage of drowsiness, the roaring winds brought with them a long and plaintive howl, that seemed too wild for a dog, and yet resembled the cries of that faithful animal, when night awakens his vigilance, and gives sweetness and solemnity to his alarms. The form of Louisa Grant instinctively pressed nearer to that of the young heiress, who, finding her companion was yet awake, said, in a low tone, as if afraid to break a charm with her voice— J “Those distant cries are plaintive, and even beautiful. Can they be the hounds from the hut of Leather-stocking ?” “They are wolves, who have ventured from the mountain, on 232 THE PIONEERS. the lake,” whispered Louisa, “and who are only kept from the village by the lights. One night, since we have been here, hunger drove them to our very door. Oh, what a dreadful night it was! But the riches of Judge Temple have given him too many safeguards, to leave room for fear in this house.” “The enterprise of Judge Temple is taming the very forests!” exclaimed Elizabeth, ‘throwing off the covering, and partly rising in the bed. “ How rapidly is civilization treading on the footsteps of nature!” she continued, as her eye glanced over, not only the comforts, but the luxuries of her apartment, and her ear again listened to the distant, but often repeated howls from the lake. Finding, however, that the timidity of her companion rendered the sounds painful to her, Elizabeth resumed her place, and soon forgot the changes in the country, with those in her own condition, in a deep sleep. The following morning, the noise of the female servant, who entered the apartment to light the fire, awoke the females. They arose, and finished the slight preparations of their toilets in a clear, cold atmosphere, that penetrated through all the defences of even Miss Temple’s warm room. When Elizabeth was attired, she approached a window and drew its curtain, and throwing open its shutters, she endeavored to look abroad on the village and the lake. But a thick covering of frost, on the glass, while it admitted the light, shut out. the view. She raised the sash, and then, indeed, a glorious scene met her delighted eye. The lake had exchanged its covering of unspotted snow for a face of dark ice, that reflected the rays of the rising sun, like a polished mirror. The houses were clothed in a dress of the same description, but which, owing to its position, shone like bright steel ; while the enormous icicles, that were pendent from every roof, caught the brilliant light, apparently throwing it from one to the other, as each glittered, on the side next the luminary, with a golden lustre, that melted away, on its opposite, into the dusky shades of a background. But it was the appearance THE PIONEERS. 233 of the boundless forests that covered the hills as they rose, in the distance, one over the other, that most attracted the gaze of Miss Temple. The huge branches of the pines and hemlocks bent with the weight of the ice they supported, while their summits rose above the swelling tops of the oaks, beeches, and maples, like spires of burnished silver issuing from domes of the same material. The limits of the view, in the west, were marked by an undulating outline of bright light, as if, reversing the order of nature, numberless suns might momentarily be expected to heave above the horizon. In the foreground of the picture, along the shores of the lake, and near to the village, each tree seemed studded with diamonds. Even the sides of the moun- tains where the rays of the sun could not yet fall, were decorated with a glassy coat, that presented every gradation of brilliancy, from the first touch of the luminary to the dark foliage of the hem- lock, glistening through its coat of crystal. In short, the whole view was one scene of quivering radiancy, as lake, mountains, village, and woods, each emitted a portion of light, tinged with - its peculiar hue, and varied by its position and its magnitude. “See !” cried Elizabeth—* see, Louisa: hasten to the window, and observe the miraculous change !” Miss Grant complied ;' and, after bending for a moment in silence, from the opening, she observed, in a low tone, as if afraid to trust the sound of her voice— “The change is indeed wonderful! I am surprised that he should be able to effect it so soon.” Elizabeth turned in amazement, to hear so sceptical a senti- ment from one educated like her companion ; but was surprised to find that, instead of looking at the view, the mild blue eyes of Miss Grant were dwelling on the form of a well-dressed young man, who was standing before the door of the building, in earnest conversation with her father. A second look was necessary, before she was able to recognise the person of the young hunter, in a plain, but assuredly, the ordinary, garb of a gentleman. “Everything in this magical country seems to border on the marvellous,” said Elizabeth ; “and among all the changes, this 234 THE PIONEERS. is certainly not the least wonderful. The actors are as unique as the scenery.” Miss Grant colored, and drew in her head. “Tam a simple country girl, Miss Temple, and I am afraid you will find me but a poor companion,” she said. “I—I am not sure that I understand all you say. But I really thought that you wished me to notice the alteration in Mr. Edwards. Is it not more wonderful when we recollect his origin? They say he is part Indian.” “ He is a genteel savage: but let us go down, and give the Sachem his tea;—for I suppose he is a descendant of King Philip, if not a grandson of Pocahontas.” The ladies were met in the hall by Judge Temple, who took his daughter aside to apprise her of that alteration in the appearance of their new inmate, with which she was already acquainted. : “He appears reluctant to converse on his former situation,” continued Marmaduke; “but I gather from his discourse, as is apparent from his manner, that he has seen better days; and I really am inclining to the opinion of Richard, as to his origin ; for it was no unusual thing for the Indian agents to rear their children in a laudable manner, and ” “ Very well, my dear sir,” interrupted his ‘indies laughing and averting her eyes ; “ it is all well enough, I dare say; but as I do not understand a word of the Mohawk language, he must be content to speak English; and as for his behavior, I trust to your discernment to control it.” “Ay! but, Bess,” said the Judge, detaining her gently with his hand, “ nothing must be said to him of his past life. This he has begged particularly of me, as a favor. He is, perhaps, a little soured, just now, with his wounded arm; the injury seems very light, and another time he may be more communicative.” “Oh! I am not much troubled, sir, with that laudable thirst after knowledge, that is called curiosity. I shall believe him to be the child of Corn-stalk, or Corn-planter, or some other renowned chieftain ; possibly of the Big Snake himself; and. THE PIONEERS. 235 shall treat him as such until he sees fit to shave his good-looking head, borrow some half-dozen pair of my best ear-rings, shoulder his rifle again, and disappear as suddenly as he made his entrance. So come, my dear sir, and let us not forget the nites of hospitality, for the short time he is to remain with us.” Judge Temple smiled at the playfulness of his child, and taking her arm, they entered the breakfast parlor, where the _ young hunter was seated, with an air that showed his determi- nation to domesticate himself in the family with as little parade as possible. . _ Such were the incidents that led to this extraordinary increase in the family of Judge Temple, where, having once established the youth, the subject of our tale requires us to leave him, for a time, to pursue with diligence and intelligence the employments that were assigned him by Marmaduke. Major Hartmann made his customary visit, and took his leave of the party for the next three months. Mr. Grant was com- pelled to be absent much of his time, in remote parts of the country, and his daughter became almost a constant visitor at the Mansion-house. Richard entered, with his constitutional eagerness, on the duties of his new office; and, as Marmaduke was much employed with, the constant applications of adven- turers for farms, the winter passed swiftly away. The lake was a principal scene for the amusements of the young people; where the ladies, in their one-horse cutter, driven by Richard, and attended, when the snow would admit of it, by young Edwards, on his skates, spent many hours, taking the benefit of exercise in the clear air of the hills. The reserve of the youth gradually gave way to time and his situation, though it was still evident, to a close observer, that he had frequent moments of bitter and intense feeling. Elizabeth saw many large openings appear in the sides of the mountains during the three succeeding months, where different settlers had, in the language of the country, “ made their pitch ;” while the numberless sleighs that passed through the village, ioaded with wheat and barrels of pot-ashes, afforded a clear 236 $ THE PIONEERS. demonstration that all these labors were not undertaken in vain. In short, the whole country was exhibiting the bustle of a thriving settlement, where the highways were thronged with sleighs, bearing piles of rough household furniture; studded, here and there, with the smiling faces of women and children, happy in the excitement of novelty; or with loads of produce, hastening to the common market at Albany, that served as so many snares to induce the emigrants to enter into those wild mountains in search of competence and happiness. The village was alive with business; the artisans increasing in wealth with the prosperity of the country, and each day witnessing some nearer approach to the manners and usages of an old-settled town. ‘The man who carried the mail, or “the post,” as he was called, talked much of running a stage, and, once or twice during the winter, he was seen taking a single passenger, in his cutter, through the snow-banks, towards the Mohawk, along which a regular vehicle glided, semi-weekly, with the velocity of lightning, and under the direction of a knowing whip from the “down countries.” Towards spring, divers families, who had been into the “ old states,” to see their relatives, returned, in time to save the snow, frequently bringing with them whole neighborhoods, who were tempted by their representations to leave the farms of Connecticut and Massacnu- setts, to make a trial of fortune in the woods. During all this time, Oliver Edwards, whose sudden elevation excited no surprise in that changeful country, was earnestly engaged in the service of Marmaduke, during the days; but his nights were often spent in the hut of Leather-stocking. The intercourse between the three hunters was maintained with a certain air of mystery, it is true, but with much zeal and apparent interest to all the parties. Even Mohegan seldom came to the Mansion-house, and Natty, never; but Edwards sought every leisure moment to visit his former abode, from which he would often return in the gloomy hours of night, through the snow, or, if detained beyond the time at which the family retired to rest, with the morning sun. These visits cer- - THE PIONEERS. 9939 tainly excited much speculation in those to whom they were known, but no comments were made, excepting occasionally, in whispers from Richard, who would say— “Tt is not at all remarkable ;—a half-breed can never be weaned from the savage ways—and for one of his lineage, the boy is much nearer civlization than could, in reason, be ’ expected” %38 THE PIONEERS, CHAPTER XX. Away ! nor let me loiter in my song, For we have many a mountain path to tread. Byron. As the spring gradually approached, the immense piles of — snow, that by alternate thaws and frosts, and repeated storms, had obtained a firmness which threatened a tiresome durability, began to yield to the influence of milder breezes and a warmer sun. The gates of Heaven at times seemed to open, and a bland air diffused itself over the earth, when animate and inani- mate nature would awaken, and, for a few hours, the gaiety of spring shone in every eye, and smiled on every field. But the shivering blasts from the north would carry their chill influence over the scene again, and the dark and gloomy clouds that inter- cepted the rays of the sun were not more cold and dreary than the reaction. These struggles between the seasons became daily more frequent, while the earth, lke a victim to conten- tion, slowly lost the animated brilliancy of winter, without ob- taining the aspect of spring. Several weeks were consumed in this cheerless manner, during which the inhabitants of the country gradually changed their pursuits from the social and bustling movements of the time of snow, to the laborious and domestic engagements of the coming season. The village was no longer thronged with visitors; the trade, that had enlivened the shops for several months, began to disappear; the highways lost their shining coats of beaten snow in impassable sloughs, and were deserted by the gay and noisy travellers who, in sleighs, had, during the winter, glided along their windings; and, in short, everything . seemed indicative of a mighty change, not only in the earth, but -_. -& = :* i “ THE PIONEERS. 239 in those who derived their sources of comfort and happiness from its bosom. The younger members of the family in the Mansion-house, of which Louisa Grant was now habitually one, were by no means indifferent observers of these fluctuating and tardy changes. While the snow rendered the roads passable, they had partaken largely in the amusements of the winter, which included not only daily rides over the mountains, and through every valley within twenty miles of them, but divers ingenious and varied sources of pleasure, on the bosom of their frozen lake. There had been excursions in the equipage of Richard, when, with his four horses, he had outstripped the winds, as it flew over the glassy ice which invariably succeeded a thaw. Then the excit- ing and dangerous “ whirlgig” would be suffered to possess its moment of notice. Cutters, drawn by a single horse, and hand- sleds, impelled by the gentlemen, on skates, would each in turn be used ; and, in short, every source of relief against the tedi- ousness of a winter in the mountains was resorted to by the family. Elizabeth was compelled to acknowledge to her father, that the season, with the aid of his library, was much less irk- some than she had anticipated. 3 As exercise in the open air was in some degree necessary to the habits of the family, when the constant recurrence of frosts and thaws rendered the roads, which were dangerous at the most favorable times, utterly impassable for wheels, saddle horses were used as substitutes for other conveyances. Mounted on small and sure-footed beasts, the ladies would again attempt the passages of the mountains, and penetrate into every retired glen, where the enterprise of a settler had induced him to esta- rlish himself. In these excursions they were attended by some one or all of the gentlemen of the family, as their different pur- suits admitted. Young Edwards was hourly becoming more familiarized to his situation, and not unfrequently mingled in the parties with an unconcern and gaiety, that for a short time would expel all unpleasant recollections from his mind. Habit, and the buoyancy of youth, seemed to be getting the ascend- 240 — THE PIONEERS. ency over the secret causes of his uneasiness ; though there were moments, when the same remarkable expression of disgust would cross his intercourse with Marmaduke, that had distin- guished their conversations in the first days of their acquaint- ance. It was at the close of the month of March, that the Sheriff succeeded in persuading his cousin and her young friend to accompany him in a ride to a hill that was said to overhang the lake in a manner peculiar to itself. “ Besides, cousin Bess,” continued the indefatigable Richard, “we will stop and see the ‘sugar bush’ of Billy Kirby: he is on the east end of the Ransom lot, making sugar for Jared Ransom. ‘There is not a better hand over a kettle in the county than that same Kirby. You remember, ’duke, that I had him his first season, in our own camp; and it is not a wonder that he knows something of his trade.” “He’s a good chopper, is Billy,” observed Benjamin, who held the bridle of the horse while the Sheriff mounted; “and he handles an axe much the same as a forecastle-man does his marling-spike, or a tailor his goose. They say he'll lift a pot- ash kettle off the arch alone, tho’ I can’t say that I’ve ever seen him do it with my own eyes; but that is the say. And I’ve seen sugar of his making, which, maybe, wasn’t as white as an ~ old top-gallant sail, but which my friend Mistress Prettybones, within there, said had the true molasses smack to it; and you are not the one, Squire Dickens, to be told that Mistress Remarkable has a remarkable tooth for sweet things, in her nut erinder.” The loud laugh that succeeded the wit of Benjamin, and in which he participated, with no very harmonious sounds, him self, very fully illustrated the congenial temper which existed between the pair. Most of its point was, however, lost on the rest of the party, who were either mounting their horses or assisting the ladies at the moment. When all were safely in their saddles, they moved through the village in great order. They paused for a moment before the door of Monsieur Le THE PIONEERS. 241 Quoi, until he could bestride his steed, and then issuing from the little cluster of houses, they took one of the principal of those highways that centred in the village. As each night brought with it a severe frost, which the heat of the succeeding day served to dissipate, the equestrians were compelled to proceed singly along the margin of the road, where the turf, and firmness of the ground, gave the horses a secure footing. Very trifling indications of vegetation were to be seen, the surface of the earth presenting a cold, wet, and cheerless aspect that chilled the blood. The snow yet lay scattered over most of those distant clearings that were visible in different parts of the mountains; though here and there an opening might be seen, where, as the white covering yielded to the season, the bright and lively green of the wheat served to enkindle the hopes of the husbandman. Nothing could be more marked than the contrast between the earth and the heavens ; for, while the former presented the dreary view that we have described, a warm and invigorating sun was dispensing his heats from a sky that contained but a solitary cloud, and through an atmosphere that softened the colors of the sensible horizon until it shone like a sea of blue. Richard led the way,'on this, as on all other occasions, that did not require the exercise of unusual abilities; and as he moved along, he essayed to enliven the party with the sounds of his experienced voice. “This is your true sugar weather, ’duke,” he cried; “a frosty night and asunshiny day. I warrant me that the sap runs like a mill-tail up the maples this warm morning. It is a pity, Judge, that you do not introduce a little more science into the manufactory of sugar among your tenants. It might be done, sir, without knowing as much as Doctor Franklin—it might be done, Judge Temple.” “The first object of my solicitude, friend Tene ” returned Marmaduke, “is to protect the sources of this gréat mine of comfort and wealth from the extravagance of the people them- selves. When this important point shall be achieved, it will - 11 242 THE PIONEERS. be in season to turn our attention to an improvement in the manufacture of the article. But thou knowest, Richard, that I have already subjected our sugar to the process of the refiner, and that the result has produced loaves as white as the snow on yon fields, and possessing the saccharine quality in its utmost purity.” “ Saccharine, or turpentine, or any other ine, Judge Temple, you have never made a loaf larger than a good sized sugar- plum,” returned the Sheriff. ‘“ Now, sir, I assert that no experi- ment is fairly tried, until it be reduced to practical purposes. If, sir, | owned a hundred, or, for that matter, two hundred thousand acres of land, as you do, I would build a sugar-house in the village ; I would invite learned men to an investigation of the subject,—and such are easily to be found, sir; yes, sir, they are not difficult to find,—men who unite theory with prac- tice; and I would select a wood of young and thrifty trees; and instead of making loaves of the size of a lump of candy, dam’me, "duke, but I'd have them as big as a haycock.” “And purchase the cargo of one of those ships that they say are going to China,” cried Elizabeth; “turn your potash- kettles into tea-cups, the scows on the lake into saucers; bake your cake in yonder-lime kiln, and invite the county to a tea- party. How wonderful are the projects of genius! Really,’ sir, the world is of opinion that Judge Temple has tried the experiment fairly, though he did not cause his loaves to be cast in moulds of the magnitude that would suit your magnificent conceptions.” “ You may laugh, cousin Elizabeth—you may laugh, madam,” retorted Richard, turning himself so much in his saddle as to face the party, and making dignified gestures with his whip ; “but I appeal to common sense, good sense, or, what is of more importance than either, to the sense of taste, which is one of the five natural senses, whether a big loaf of sugar is not likely to contain a better illustration of a proposition than such a lump as one of your Dutch women puts under her tongue when she drinks her tea. There are two ways of doing every- THE PIONEERS. 243 thing; the right way, and the wrong way. You make sugar now, I will admit, and you may, possibly, make loaf-sugar; but I take the question to be, whether you make the best possible sugar, and in the best possible loaves.” “Thou art very right, Richard,” observed Marmaduke, with a gravity in his air that proved how much he was interested in the subject. “It is very true that we manufacture sugar, and the inquiry is quite useful, how much? and in what manner } I hope to live to see the day, when farms and plantations shall be devoted to this branch of business. Little:is known con- cerning the properties of the tree itself, the source of all this wealth ; how much it may be improved by cultivation, by the use of the hoe and plough.” “Hoe and plough !” roared the Sheriff ;—“ would you set a man hoeing round the root of a maple like this ?”—pointing to one of the noble trees that occur so frequently in that part of the country Hoeing trees! are you mad, ’duke? This is next to hunting for coal! Poh! poh! my dear cousin, hear reason, and leave the management of the sugar-bush to me. Here is Mr. Le Quoi, he has been in the West Indies, and has seen sugar made. Let him give an account of how it is made there, and you will hear ithe philosophy of the thing.—Well, Monsieur, how is it that you make sugar in the West Indies; — anything in Judge Temple’s fashion ?” The gentleman to whom this query was put was mounted on a small horse, of no very fiery temperament, and was riding with his stirrups so short, as to bring his knees, while the animal rose a small ascent in the wood-path they were now travelling, into a somewhat hazardous vicinity to his chin. There was no room for gesticulation or grace in the delivery of his reply, for the mountain was steep and slippery; and although the Frenchman had an eye of uncommon magnitude on either side of his face, they did not seem to be half compe- tent to forewarn him of the impediments of bushes, twigs, and fallen trees, that were momentarily crossing his path. With one hand employed in averting these dangers, and the other 244 THE PIONEERS. grasping’ his bridle, to check an untoward speed that his horse was assuming, the native of France responded as follows— | “Sucre! dey do make sucre in Martinique: mais—mais ce n’est pas one tree ;—ah—ah—vat you call—Je voudrois que ees chemins fussent au diable—vat you call—steeck pour le promenade.” “Cane,” said Elizabeth, smiling at the imprecation which the wary Frenchman supposed was understood only by himself. “Oui, mam’selle, cane.” “Yes, yes,” cried Richard, “ cane is the vulgar name for it, but the real term is saccharum officinarum ; and what we call the sugar, or hard maple, is acer saccharinum. These are the learned names, Monsieur, and are such as, doubtless, you well understand.” “Ts this Greek or Latin, Mr. Edwards ?” whispered Elizabeth to the youth who was opening a passage for herself and her companions through the bushes—“ or perhaps it is a still more learned language, for an interpretation of which we must look to you.” The dark eye of the young man glanced towards the speaker, but its resentful expression changed in a moment. “T shall remember your doubts, Miss Temple, when next . I visit my old friend Mohegan, and either his skill, or that of Leather-stocking, shall solve them.” “ And are you, then, really ignorant of their language ?” “Not absolutely ; but the deep learning of Mr. Jones is more familiar to me, or even the polite masquerade of Monsieur Le Quoi.” “ Do you speak French ?” said the lady, with quickness. “Tt is acommon language with the Iroquois, and through the Canadas,” he answered, smiling. “Ah! but they are Mingoes, and your enemies.” “Tt will be well for me if I have no worse,” said the youth, dashing ahead with his horse, and putting an end to the evasive dialogue. The discourse, however, was maintained with great vigor by THE PIONEERS. 2465 Richard, until they reached an open wood on the summit of the mountain, where the hemlocks and pines totally disappeared, and a grove of the very trees that formed the subject of debate covered the earth with their tall, straight trunks and spreading branches, in stately pride. The underwood had been entirely removed from this grove, or bush, as in conjunction with the simple arrangements for boiling, it was called, and a wide space of many acres was cleared, which might be likened to the dome of a mighty temple, to which the maples formed the columns, their tops composing the capitals, and the heavens the arch. A deep and careless incision had been made into each tree, near its root, into which little sprouts, formed of the bark of the alder, or of the sumach, were fastened; and a trough, roughly dug out of the linden, or basswood, was lying at the root of each tree, to catch the sap that flowed from this extremely wasteful and inartificial arrangement. The party paused a moment, on gaining the flat, to breathe their horses, and, as the scene was entirely new to several of their number, to view the manner of collecting the fluid. A> fine powerful voice aroused them from their momentary silence, as it rang under the branches of the trees, singing the following words of that inimitable doggrel, whose verses, if extended, would reach from the waters of the Connecticut to the shores of Ontario. The tune was, of course, that familiar air, which, although it is said to have been first applied to his nation in derision, circumstances have since rendered so glorious, that ne American ever hears its jingling cadence without feeling a thn] at his heart. “The Eastern States be full of men, The Western full of woods, sir, The hills be-like a cattle pen, The roads be full of goods, sir! Then flow away, my sweety sap, And I will make you boily ; Nor catch a woodman’s hasty nap. For fear you should get roily. “The maple tree’s a precious one, "Tis fuel, food, and timber * 246 THE PLONEERS. And when your stiff day’s work is donc, Its juice will make you limber, Then flow away, &c. “ And what's a man without his glass, His wife without her tea, sir ? But neither cup nor mug will pass, Without this honey-bee, sir! Then flow away,” &c. During the execution of this sonorous doggrel, Richard kept time with his whip on the mane of his charger, accompanying the gestures with a corresponding movement of his head and body. ‘Towards the close of the song, he was overheard hum- ming the chorus, and at its last repetition, to strike in at “sweety sap,” and carry a second through, with a prodigious addition to the “effect” of the noise, if not to that of the harmony. “Well done us!” roared the Sheriff, on the same key with the tune; “a very good song, Billy Kirby, and very well sung.- Where got you the words, lad? is there more of it, and can you furnish me with a copy 2?” The sugar-boiler, who was busy in his “camp,” at a short distance from the equestrians, turned his head with great indif- ference, and surveyed the party, as they approached, with admirable coolness. To each individual, as he or she rode close by him, he gave a nod that was extremely good-natured and affable, but which partook largely of the virtue of equality, for not even to the ladies did he in the least vary his mode of salutation, by touching the apology for a hat that he wore, or by any other motion than the one we have mentioned. “ How goes it, how goes it, Sheriff?” said the wood-chopper ; 4 “what’s the good word in the village ?” “Why, much as usual, Billy,” returned Richard. “But how is this? where are your four kettles, and your troughs, and your iron coolers? Do you make sugar in this slovenly way? I thought you were one of the best sugar-boilers in the county.” “Tm all that, Squire Jones,” said Kirby, who continued his occupation ; “T’ll turn my back to no man in the Otsego hills, THE PIONEERS. 247 for chopping and logging, for boiling down the maple sap, for tending brick-kiln, splitting out rails, making potash, and parl- ing too, or hoeing corn; though I keep myself pretty much to the first business, seeing that the axe comes most natnral to me.” “You be von Jack All-trade, Mister Beel,” said Monsieur Le Quoi. “How ?” said Kirby, looking up, with a simplicity which, coupled with his gigantic frame and: manly face, was a little ridiculous, “if you be for trade, Mounshere, here is some as good sugar as you'll find the season through. It’s as clear from dirt as the Jarman Flats is free from stumps, and it has the raal maple flavor. Such stuff would sell in York for candy.” The Frenchman approached the place where Kirby had _ deposited his cakes of sugar, under the cover of a bark roof, and commenced the examination of the article, with the eye of one who well understood its value. Marmaduke had dismounted, and was viewing the works and the trees very closely, and not without frequent expressions of dissatisfaction at the careless manner in which the manufacture was conducted. “You have much experience in these things, Kirby,” he said; “what course do you pursue in making your sugar? I see you have but two kettles.” “Two is as good as two thousand, Judge. I’mnone of your polite sugar-makers, that boils for the great folks; but if the raal sweet maple is wanted, I can answer your turn. First, I choose, and then I tap my trees; say along about the last of February, or in these mountains may be not afore the middle of March; but any way, just as the sap begins to cleverly run “4 “Well, in this choice,” interrupted Marmaduke, “are you governed by any outward signs that prove the quality of the tree ?” “Why, there’s judgment in all things,” said Kirby, stirring the liquor in his kettles briskly. “ There’s something in know- ing when and how much to stir the pot. It’s a thing that must 248 THE PIONEERS. be larnt. Rome wasn’t built in a day, nor for that matter Templetown either, though it may be said to be a quick-growing- _ place. I never put my axe into astunty tree, or one that hasn't a good, fresh looking bark ; for trees have disorders, like creaters; and where’s the policy of taking a tree that’s sickly, any more than you’d choose a foundered horse to ride post, or an over- heated ox to do your logging.” “ All this is true. But what are the signs of illness ? how do you distinguish a tree that is well from one that is diseased 2” “How does the doctor tell who has fever, and who colds ?” interrupted Richard. “ By examining the skin, and feeling the pulse, to be sure.” “Sartain,” continued Billy ; “the Squire an’t far out of the way. It’s by the look of the thing, sure enough.— Well, when the sap begins to get a free run, I hang over the kettles, and set up the bush. My first boiling I’ push pretty smartly, till I get the virtue of the sap; but when it begins to grow of a molasses nater, like this in the kettle, one mustn’t drive the fires too hard, or you'll burn the sugar; and burny sugar is bad to the taste, let it be never so sweet. So you ladle out from one kettle into the other till it gets so, when you put the stirring stick into it, that it will draw into a thread—when it takes a kerful hand to manage it—There is a way to drain it off, after it has grained, by putting clay into the pans; butitisn’t always practised : some doos, and some doosn’t. Well, Mounsher, be we likely to make a trade ?” “TI will give you, Mister Beel, for von pound, dix sous.” “No, I expect cash for’t: I never dicker my sugar.—But, sceing that it’s you, Mounsher,” said Billy, with a coaxing smile, “Tl agree to receive a gallon of rum, and cloth enough for two shirts, if you will take the molasses in the bargain. It’s raal good. I wouldn’t deceive you or any man; and to my drinking it’s about the best molasses that come out of a sugar-bush.” “ Mr. Le Quoi has offered you ten pence,” said young Edwards, The manufacturer stared at the speaker with an air of great freedom, but made no reply. THE PIONEERS. 249 “Oui,” said the Frenchman, “ten penny. Je vous remercie, Monsieur: ah! mon Anglois! je loublie toujours.” The wood-chopper looked from one to the other with some displeasure ; and evidently imbibed the opinion that they were amusing themselves at his expense. He seized the enormous ladle, which was lying in one of his kettles, and began to stir the boiling liquid with great diligence. After a moment passed in dipping the ladle full, and then raising it on high, as the thick rich fluid fell back into the kettle, he suddenly gave it a whirl, as if to cool what yet remained, and offered the bowl to Mr. Le Quoi, saying— “Taste that, Mounsher, and you will say it is worth more than you offer. The molasses itself would fetch the money.” The complaisant Frenchman, after several timid efforts to trust his lips in contact with the bowl of the ladle, got a good swallow of the scalding liquid. He clapped his hand on his breast, and looked most piteously at the ladies, for a single instant; and then, to use the language of Billy, when he afterwards recount- ed the tale, “no drumsticks ever went faster on the skin of a sheep, than the Frenchman’s legs, for a round or two: and then such swearing and spitting in French you never saw. But it’s a knowing one, from the old countries, that thinks to get his jokes smoothly over a wood-chopper.” The air of innocence with which Kirby resumed the occupa- tion of stirring the contents of his kettle would have completely deceived the spectators as to his agency in the temporary suffer- ing of Mr. Le Quoi, had not the reckless fellow thrust his tonzue into his cheek, and cast his eyes over the party, with a simpl'- city of expression that was too exquisite to be natural. Mr. Le Quoi soon recovered his presence of mind, and his decorum; he briefly apologized to the ladies for one or two very intemperate expressions that had escaped him in a moment of extraordinary excitement, and remounting his horse, he continued in the back- ground during the remainder of the visit, the wit of Kirby putting a violent termination, at once, to all negotiations on the subject of trade. During all this time, Marmaduke had been 250 THE PIONEERS. wandering about the grove, making observations on his favorite trees, and the wasteful manner in which the wood-chopper con- ducted his manufacture. “Tt grieves me to witness the extravagance that pervades this country,” said the Judge, “ where the settlers trifle with the blessings they might enjoy, with the prodigality of successful adventurers. You are not exempt from the censure yourself, Kirby, for you make dreadful wounds in these trees where a small incision would effect the same object. I earnestly beg you will remember, that they are the growth of centuries, and when once gone, none living will see their loss remedied.” “Why, I don’t know, Judge,” returned the man he addressed : “it seems to me, if there’s a plenty of anything in this moun- taynious country, it’s the trees. If there’s any sin in chopping them, I’ve a pretty heavy account to settle; for I’ve chopped over the best half of a thousand acres, with my own hands, counting both Varmount and York states; and I hope to live to finish the whull, before I lay up my axe. Chopping comes quite natural to me, and I wish no other employment; but Jared Ransom said that he thought the sugar was likely to be scurce this season, seeing that so many folks was coming into the settlement, and so I concluded to take the ‘bush’ on sheares, for this one spring. What’s the best news, Judge, consarning ashes? do pots hold so that a man can live by them still? I s’pose they will, if they keep on fighting across the water.” “Thou reasonest with judgment, William,” returned Marma- duke, “So long as the old world is to be convulsed with wars, . 50 long will the harvest of America continue.” “Well, it’s an ill wind, Judge, that blows nobody any good. I’m sure the country is in a thriving way; and, though I know you calkilate greatly on the trees, setting as much store by them as some men would by their children, yet to my eyes they are a sore sight at any time, unless I’m privileged to work my will on them; in which case I can’t say but they are more to my liking. I have heard the settlers from the old countries THE PIONEERS. 251 say that their rich men keep great oaks and elms, that would make a barrel of pots to the tree, standing round their doors | and humsteads, and scattered over their farms, just to look at. Now, I call no country much improved, that is pretty well covered with trees. Stumps are a different thing, for they don’t shade the land; and besides, if you dig them, they make a fence that will turn anything bigger than a hog, being grand for breachy cattle.” “Opinions on such subjects vary much in different countries,” said Marmaduke ; “ but it is not as ornaments that I value the noble trees of this country ; it is for their usefulness. We are stripping the forests, as if a single year would replace what we destroy. But the hour approaches when the laws will take notice of not only the woods, but the game they contain also.” With this consoling reflection, Marmaduke remounted, and the equestrians passed the sugar-camp, on their way to the pro- mised landscape of Richard. The wood-chopper was left alone, in the bosom of the forest, to pursue his labors. Elizabeth turned her head, when they reached the point where they were to descend the mountain, and thought that the slow fires that were glimmering under his enormous kettles, his little brush shelter, covered with pieces of hemlock bark, his gigantic size, as he wielded his ladle with a steady and knowing air, aided by the background of stately trees, with their spouts and troughs, formed, altogether, no unreal picture of human life in its first stages of civilization. Perhaps whatever the scene possessed of a romantic character was not injured by the powerful tones of Kirby’s voice ringing through the woods, as he again awoke his strains to another tune, which was but little more scientific than the former. All that she understood of the words were— “ And when the proud forest is falling, To my oxen cheerfully calling. From morn until night I am bawling, Woe, back there, and hoy and gee; Till our labor is mutually ended THE PIONEERS. 252 By my strength and cattle befriended, And against the musquitoes defended, By the bark of the walnut-tree. “ Away! then, you lads who would buy land, Choose the oak that grows on the high land, Or the silvery pine on the dry land, It matters but little to me ”’ THE PIONEERS. CHAPTER XXI. Speed! Malise, speed! such cause of haste Thine active sinews never braced. Scott. Taz roads of Otsego, if we except the principal highways, were, at the early day of our tale, but little better than wood- paths. The high trees that were growing on the very verge of the wheel-tracks excluded the sun’s rays, unless at meridian; and the slowness of the evaporation, united with the rich mould of vegetable decomposition that covered the whole country to the depth of several inches, occasioned but an indifferent foun- dation for the footing of travellers. Added to these were the inequalities of a natural surface, and the constant recurrence of enormous and slippery roots that were laid bare by the removal of the light soil, together with stumps of trees, to make a passage not only difficult but dangerous. Yet the riders, among these numerous obstructions, which were such as would terrify an unpractised eye, gave no demonstrations of uneasiness, as their horses toiled through the sloughs, or trotted with uncer- tain paces along the dark route. In many places, the marks on the trees were the only indications of a road, with perhaps an occasional remnant of a pine, that, by being cut close to the earth, so as to leave nothing visible but its base of roots, spreading for twenty feet in every direction, was apparently placed there as a beacon to warn the traveller that it was the centre of a highway. Into one of these roads the active sheriff led the way, first striking out of the footpath, by which they had descended from the sugar-bush, across a little bridge, formed of round logs laid loosely on sleepers of pine, in which large openings of a 252 THE PIONEERS. = -ormidable width were frequent. The nag of Richard, when it reached one of these gaps, laid its nose along the logs, and stepped across the difficult passage with the sagacity of a man; but the blooded filly which Miss Temple rode disdained so humble a movement. She made a step or two with an unusual caution, and then on reaching the broadest opening, obedient to the curb and whip. of her fearless mistress, she bounded across the dangerous pass with the activity of a squirrel. “Gently, gently, my child,” said Marmaduke, who was fol- lowing in the manner of Richard, “this is not a country for equestrian feats. Much prudence is requisite to journey through ° our rough paths with safety. Thou mayst practise thy skill in horsemanship on the plains of New Jersey with safety ; but in the hills of Otsego they may be suspended for a time.” “JT may as well then relinquish my saddle at once, dear sir,” returned his daughter; “ for if it is to be laid aside until this wild country be improved, old age will overtake me, and put an end to what you term my equestrian feats.” “Say not so, my child,” returned her father; “but if thou venturest again, as in crossing this bridge, old age will never overtake thee, but I shall be left to mourn thee, cut off in thy pride, my Elizabeth. -If thou hadst seen this district of country, as I did, when it lay in the sleep of nature, and had witnessed its rapid changes, as it awoke to supply the wants of man, thou wouldst curb thy impatience for a little time, though thou shouldst not check thy steed.” “T recollect hearing you speak of your first visit to these woods, but the impression is faint, and blended with the con- fused images of childhood. Wild and unsettled as it may yet seem, it must have been a thousand times more dreary then. Will you repeat, dear sir, what you then thought of your enter- prise, and what you felt ?” During this speech of Elizabeth, which was uttered with the fervor of affection, young Edwards rode more closely to the side of the Judge, and bent his dark eyes on his countenance with an expression that seemed to read his thoughts. THE PIONEERS. 255 “ Thou wast then young, my child, but must remember when I left thee and thy mother, to take my first survey of these unin- habited mountains,” said Marmaduke. “ But thou dost not feel all the secret motives that can urge a man to endure privations in order to accumulate wealth. In my case they have not been trifling, and God has been pleased to smile on my efforts. If I have encountered pain, famine, and disease, in accomplishing the settlement of this rough territory, I have not the misery of failure to add to the grievances.” “Famine !” echoed Elizabeth ; “I thought this was the land of abundance! had you famine to contend with ?” “Even so, my child,” said her father. “Those who look around them now, and see the loads of produce that issue out of every wild path in these mountains, during the season of tra- velling, will hardly credit that no more than five years have elapsed, since the tenants of these woods were compelled to eat the scanty fruits of the forest to sustain life, and, with their unpractised skill, to hunt the beasts as food for their starving families.” “ Ay !” cried Richard, who happened to overhear the last of this speech, between the notes of the wood-chopper’s song, which he was endeavoring to breathe aloud; “that was the starving time,* cousin Bess. I grew as lank as a weasel that fall, and my face was as pale as one of your fever-and-ague visages. Monsieur Le Quoi, there, fell away like a pumpkin in drying ; nor do I think you have got fairly over it yet, Monsieur. Benjamin, I thought, bore it with a worse grace than any of the * The author has no better apology for interrupting the interest of a work of fiction by these desultory dialogues, than that they have reference to facts. In reviewing his work, after so many years, he is compelled to confess it is injured by too many allusions to incidents that are not at all suited to satisfy the just expecta- tions of the general reader. One of these events is slightly touched on, in the com- mencement of this chapter. More than thirty years since, a very near and dear relative of the writer, an elder sister and a second mother, was killed by a fall from a horse, in a ride among the very mountains mentioned in this tale. Few of hersex and years were more exten- sively known, or more universally beloved, than the admirable woman who thus fell a victim to the chances of the wilderness. 256 THE PIONEERS. family ; for he swore it was harder to endure than a short allowance in the calm latitudes. Benjamin is a sad fellow to swear, if you starve him ever so little. I had half a mind to quit you then, "duke, and to go into Pennsylvania to fatten ; but, damn it, thinks J, we are sisters’ children, and I will live or die with him, after all.” “T do not forget thy kindness,” said Marmaduke, “ nor that we are of one blood.” “But, my dear father,” cried the wondering Elizabeth, “ was ‘there actual suffering? where were the beautiful and fertile vales of the Mohawk? could they not furnish food for your wants ?” “Tt was a season of scarcity; the necessities of life com- manded a high price in Europe, and were greedily sought after by the speculators. The emigrants, from the east to the west, invariably passed along the valley of the Mohawk, and swept away the means of subsistence, like a swarm of locusts. Nor were the people on the Flats in a much better condition: They were in want themselves, but they spared the little excess of provisions that nature did not absolutely require, with the justice of the German character. There was no grinding of the poor. The word speculator was then unknown to them. I have seen many a stout man, bending under the load of the bag of meal, which he was carrying from the Mills of the Mohawk, through the rugged passes of these mountains, to feed his half-famished children, with a heart so light, as he approached his hut, that the thirty miles he had passed seemed nothing. Remember, my child, it was in our very infancy ; we had neither mills, nor grain, nor roads, nor often clearings; we had nothing of increase, but the mouths that were to be fed; for, even at that inauspicious moment, the rest- less spirit of emigration was not idle; nay, the general scarcity which extended to the east, tended to increase the number of adventurers.” “ And how, dearest father, didst thou encounter this dreadful evil ?” said Elizabeth. unconsciously adopting the dialect of her THE PIONEERS. 957 parent in the warmth of her sympathy. “Upon thee must have fallen the responsibility, if not the suffering.” “Tt did, Elizabeth,” returned the Judge, pausing for a single moment, as if musing on his former feelings. “I had hundreds, ‘at that dreadful time, daily looking up to me for bread. © The sufferings of their families, and the gloomy prospect before _ them, had paralysed the enterprise and efforts of my settlers ; hunger drove them to the woods for food, but despair sent them at night, enfeebled and wan, to a sleepless pillow. It was not a moment for inaction. I purchased cargoes of wheat from the granaries of Pennsylvania; they were landed at Albany, and brought up the Mohawk in boats; from thence it was transported on pack-horses into the wilderness, and distributed among my people. . Seines were made, and the lakes and rivers were dragged for fish. Something like a miracle was wrought in our favor, for enormous shoals of herrings were discovered to have wandered five hundred miles, through the windings of the impetuous Susquehanna, and the lake was alive with their numbers. These were at length caught, and dealt out to the people, with proper portions of salt ; and from that moment we ~ again began to prosper.”* “ Yes,” cried Richard, “and I was the man who served out the fish and the salt. When the poor devils came to receive their rations, Benjamin, who was my deputy, was obliged to keep them off by stretching ropes around me, for they smelt so of garlic, from eating nothing but the wild onion, that the fumes put me out often in my measurement. You were a child then, Bess, and knew nothing of the matter, for great care was observed to keep both you and your mother from suffering. That year put me back dreadfully, both in the breed of my hogs and of my turkeys.” “ No, Bess,” cried the Judge, in a more cheerful tone, disre- garding the interruption of his cousin, “he who hears of the settlement of a country knows but little of the toil and suffering * All this was literally true. 258 THE PIONEERS. by which it is accomplished. Unimproved and wild as this district now seems to your eyes, what was it when I first entered the hills! I left my party, the morning of my arrival, near the ‘farms of the Cherry Valley, and, following a deer-path, rode to the summit of the mountain that I have since called Mount Vision ; for the sight that there met my eyes seemed to me as ~ the deceptions of a dream. The fire had run over the pinnacle, and, in a great measure, laid open the view. The leaves were fallen, and I mounted a tree, and sat for an hour looking on the silent wilderness. Not an opening was to be seen in the bound- less forest, except where the lake lay, like a mirror of glass. The water was covered by myriads of the wild-fowl that migrate with the changes in the season ; and, while in my situation on the branch of the beech, I saw a bear, with her cubs, descend to the shore to drink. J had met many deer, gliding through the woods, in my journey; but not the vestige of a man could I. trace during my progress, nor from my elevated observatory. No clearing, no hut, none of the winding roads that are now to be seen, were there; nothing but mountains rising behind mountains ; and the valley, with its surface of branches, enli- vened here and there with the faded foliage of some tree, that parted from its leaves with more than ordinary reluctance. Even the Susquehanna was then hid, by the height and density of the forest.” “ And were you alone?” asked Habel “passed you the night in that solitary state ?” “ Not so, my child,” returned her father. “ After musing on the scene for an hour, with a mingled feeling of pleasure and desolation, I left my perch and descended the mountain. My horse was left to browse on the twigs that grew within his reach, while I explored the shores of the lake, and the spot where Templeton stands. A pine of more than ordinary growth stood where my dwelling is now placed! a wind-row had been opened through the trees from thence to the lake, and my view was but little impeded. Under the branches of that tree I made my solitary dinner; I had just finished my repast as I g THE PIONEERS.) 259 saw a smoke curling from under the mountain, near the eastern bank of the lake. . It was the only indication of the vicinity of man that I had then seen. After much toil I made my way to the spot, and found a rough cabin of logs, built against the foot of a rock, and bearing the marks of a tenant, though I found no “one within it a “Tt was the hut of Leather-stocking,” said Edwards, quickly. “Tt was; though I at first supposed it to be a habitation of the Indians. But while I was lingering around the spot, Natty made his appearance, staggering under the carcase of a buck that he had slain. Our acquaintance commenced at that time ; before, I had never heard that such a being tenanted the woods. He launched his bark canoe, and set me across the foot of the lake, to the place where I had fastened my horse, and pointed out a spot where he might get a scanty browsing until the morning ; when I returned and passed the night in the cabin of » the hunter.” 3 Miss Temple was so much struck by the deep attention of young Edwards, during this speech, that she forgot to resume her interrogatories; but the youth himself continued the discourse, by asking— ) “And how did the Leather-stocking discharge the duties of a host, sir 2” “Why, simply but kindly, until late in the evening, when he discovered my name and object, and the cordiality of. his man- ner very sensibly diminished, or, I might better say, disappeared. He considered the introduction of the settlers as an innovation » on his rights, I believe ; for he expressed much dissatisfaction at the measure, though it was in his confused and ambiguous manner. I hardly understood his objections myself, but supposed ‘they referred chiefly to an interruption of the hunting.” “ Had you then purchased the estate, or were you examining it with an intent to buy ?” asked Edwards, a little abruptly. “Tt had been mine for several years. It was with a view to people the land that I visited the lake. Natty treated me 260 THE PIONEERS. hospitably, but coldly, I thought, after he learned the nature of my journey. I slept on his own bear-skin, however, and in the morning joined my surveyors again.” “Said he nothing of the Indian rights, sir? The Leather- stocking is much given to impeach the justice of the tenure by which the whites hold the country.” “TI remember that he spoke of them, but I did not clearly comprehend him, and may have forgotten what he said; for the Indian title was extinguished so far back as the close of the old war; and if it had not been at all, I hold under the patents of the Royal Governors, confirmed by an act of our own State Legislature, and no court in the country can affect my title.” “Doubtless, sir, your title is both legal and equitable,” returned the youth, coldly, reining his horse back, and remaining silent till the subject was changed. It was seldom Mr. Jones suffered any conversation to continue for a great length of time without his participation. It seems that he was of the party that Judge Temple had designated as his surveyors; and he embraced the opportunity of the pause that succeeded the retreat of young Edwards, to take up the discourse, and with it a narration of their further proceedings, after his own manner. As it wanted, however, the interest that had accompanied the description of the Judge, we must decline the task of committing his sentences to paper. They soon reached the point where the promised view was to be seen. It was one of those picturesque and peculiar scenes that belong to the Otsego, but which required the absence of the ice, and the softness of a summer’s landscape, to be enjoyed in all its beauty. Marmaduke had early forewarned his daughter of the season, and of its effect on the prospect; and after casting a cursory glance at its capabilities, the party returned homeward, perfectly satisfied that its beauties would repay them — for the toil of a second ride, at a more propitious season. “ The spring is the gloomy time of the American year,” said the Judge; “and it is more peculiarly the case in these moun- tains. The winter seems to retreat to the fastnesses of the hills, THE PIONEERS. 261 as to the citadel of its dominion, and is only expelled after a tedious siege, in which either party, at times, would seem to be gaining the victory.” | “A very just and apposite figure, Judge Temple,” observed the Sheriff; “and the garrison under the command of Jack Frost make formidable sorties—you understand what I mean by sorties, Monsieur; sallies in English—and sometimes drive General Spring and his troops back again into the low coun- tries.” “Yes, sair,” returned the Frenchman, whose prominent eyes were watching the precarious footsteps of the beast he rode, as it picked its dangerous way among the roots of trees, holes, log- bridges, and sloughs, that formed the aggregate of the highway. “Je vous entend ; de low countrie is freeze up for half de year.” The error of Mr. Le Quoi was not noticed by the Sheriff; and the rest of the party were yielding to the influence of the changeful season, which was already teaching the equestrians that a continuance of its mildness was not to be expected for any length of time. Silence and thoughtfulness succeeded the gaiety and conversation that had prevailed during the com- mencement of the ride, as clouds began to gather about the heavens, apparently collecting from every quarter, in quick motion, without the agency of a breath of air. While riding over one of the cleared eminences that occurred in their route, the watchful eye of Judge Temple pointed out to his daughter the approach of a tempest. Flurries of snow already obscured the mountain that formed the northern bound- ary of the lake, and the genial sensation which had quickened the blood through their veins, was already succeeded by the deadening influence of an approaching north-wesier. All of the party were now busily engaged in making the best of their way to the village, though the badness of the roads frequently compelled them to check the impatience of their animals, which often carried them over places that would not admit of any gait faster than a walk. Richard continued in advance, followed by Mr. Le Quoi; 962 THE PIONEERS. next to whom rode Elizabeth, who seemed to have imbibed the distance which pervaded the manner of young Edwards, since the termination of the discourse between the latter and her father. Marmaduke followed his daughter, giving her frequent and tender warnings as to the management of her horse. It was, possibly, the evident dependence that Louisa Grant placed on his assistance, which induced the youth to continue by her side, as they pursued their way through a dreary and dark wood, where the rays of the sun could but rarely penetrate, and where even the daylight was obscured and rendered gloomy by the deep forests that surrounded them. No wind had yet reached the spot where the equestrians were in motion, but that dead stillness that often precedes a storm contributed to render their situation more irksome than if they were already subject to the fury of the tempest. Suddenly the voice of young Edwards was heard shouting in those appalling tones that carry alarm to the very soul, and which curdle the blood of those that hear them— ; “A tree! atree! whip—spur for your lives! a tree! a tree !” “ A tree! a tree!” echoed Richard, giving his horse a blow that caused the alarmed beast to jump nearly a rod, throwing the mud and water into the air like a hurricane. “Von tree! von tree!” shouted the Frenchman, bending his body on the neck of his charger, shutting his eyes, and playing on the ribs of his beast with his heels at a rate that caused him to be conveyed on the crupper of the Sheriff with a marvellous speed. Elizabeth checked her filly, and looked up with an uncon- scious but alarmed air, at the very cause of their danger, while she listened to the crackling sounds that awoke the stillness of the forest; but the next instant her bridle was seized by her father, who cried— “ God protect my child!” and she felt herself hurried onward, impelled by the vigor of his nervous arm. Each one of the party bowed to his saddle-bows, as the THE PIONEERS. 263 fearing of branches was succeeded by a sound like the rushing of the winds, which was followed by a thundering report, and a shock that caused the very earth to tremble, as one of the noblest ruins of the forest fell directly across their path. One glance was enough to assure Judge Temple that his daughter, and those in front of him, were safe, and he turned his eyes, in dreadful anxiety, to learn the fate of the others. Young Edwards was on the opposite side of the tree, his form thrown back in his saddle to its utmost distance, his left hand drawing up his bridle with its greatest force, while the right grasped that of Miss Grant, so as to draw the head of her horse under its body. Both the animals stood shaking in every joint with terror, and snorting fearfully. Louisa herself had relinquished her reins, and with her hands pressed on her face, sat. bending forward in her saddle, in an attitude of despair, mingled strangely with resignation. “Are you safe?” cried the Judge, first breaking the awful silence of the moment. “ By God’s blessing,” returned the youth; “ but if there had been branches to the tree we must have been lost 4 He was interrupted by the figure of Louisa slowly yielding in her saddle; and but for his arm she would have sunk to the earth. Terror, however, was the only injury that the clergy- man’s daughter had sustained, and with the aid of Elizabeth, she was soon restored to her senses. After some little time was lost in recovering her strength, the young lady was replaced in her saddle, and supported on either side by Judge Temple and Mr, Edwards, she was enabled to follow the party in their slow progress. “ The sudden fallings of the trees,” said Marmaduke, “ are the most dangerous accidents in the forest, for they are not to be foreseen, being impelled by no winds, nor any extraneous or visi- ble cause against which we can guard.” “The reason of their falling, Judge Temple, is very obvious,” said the Sheriff. “The tree is old and decayed, and it is gra- dually weakened by the frosts, until a line drawn from the centie 264 THE PIONEERS. of gravity falls without its base, and then the tree comes of a certainty; and I should like to know what greater compulsion there can be for anything than a mathematical certainty. I studied mathe _ “Very true, Richard,” interrupted Marmaduke ; “ thy reason- ing is true, and if my memory be not over treacherous, was furnished by myself on a former occasion. But how is one to guard against the danger? canst thou go through the forests, measuring the bases, and calculating the centres of the oaks ? answer me that, friend Jones, and I will say thou wilt do the country a service.” “ Answer thee that, friend Temple!” returned Richard; “a well educated man can answer thee anything, sir. Do any trees fall in this manner but such as are decayed? Take care not to approach the roots of a rotten tree, and you will be safe enough.” “That would be excluding us entirely from the forests,” said Marmaduke. “But, happily, the winds usually force down most of these dangerous ruins, as their currents are admitted into the woods by the surrounding clearings, and such a fall as this has been is very rare.” Louisa, by this time, had recovered so much strength as to allow the party to proceed at a quicker pace, but long before they were safely housed, they were overtaken by the storm ; and when they dismounted at the door of the Mansion-house, the black plumes of Miss Temple’s hat were drooping with the weight of a load of damp snow, and the coats of the gentlemen _ were powdered with the same material. While Edwards was assisting Louisa from her horse, the warm-hearted girl caught his hand with fervor, and whispered— “Now, Mr. Edwards, both father and daughter owe their lives to you.” A driving north westerly storm succeeded, and before the sun was set every vestige of spring had vanished ; the lake, the mountains, the village, and the fields, being again hidden under one dazzling coat of snow. THE PIONEERS. 265 — CHAPTER XXII. Men, boys, and girls, Nesert th’ unpecpled village ; and wild crowds Spread o’er the plain, by the sweet phrensy driven. SOMERVILLE, From this time to the close of April the weather continued to be a succession of great and rapid changes. One day, the soft airs of spring seemed to be stealing along the valley, and in unison with an invigorating sun, attempting covertly to rouse the dormant powers of the vegetable world; while on the next, the surly blasts from the north would sweep across the lake, and erase every impression left by their gentle adversaries. The snow, however, finally disappeared, and the green wheat- fields were seen in every direction, spotted with the dark and charred stumps that had, the preceding season, supported some of the proudest trees of the forest. Ploughs were in motion, wherever those useful implements could be used, and the smokes of the sugar-camps were no longer seen issuing from the woods of maple. The lake had lost the beauty of a field of ice, but still a dark and gloomy. covering concealed its waters, for the absence of currents left them yet hidden under a porous crust, which, saturated with the fluid, barely retained enough strength to preserve the contiguity of its parts. Large flocks of wild geese were seen passing over the country, which hovered, for a time, around the hidden sheet of water, appa- rently searching for a resting-place; and then, on finding them- selves excluded by the chill covering, would soar away to the north, filling the air with discordant screams, as if venting their complaints at the tardy operations of nature. For a week, the dark covering of the Otsego was left to the 12 266 THE PIONEERS. undisturbed possession of two eagles, who alighted on the centre of its field, and sat eyeing their undisputed territory. During the presence of these monarchs of the air, the flocks of migrating birds avoided crossing the plain of ice, by turning into the hills, apparently seeking the protection of the forests, while the white and bald heads of the tenants of the lake were turned upwards, with a look of contempt. But the time had come, when even these kings of birds were to be dispossessed. An opening had been gradually increasing at the lower extre- mity of the lake, and around the dark spot where the current of the river prevented the formation of ice, during even the coldest. weather; and the fresh southerly winds, that now breathed freely upon the valley, made an impression on the waters.. Mimic waves began to curl over the margin of the frozen field, which exhibited an outline of crystallizations that slowly receded towards the north. At each step the power of the winds and the waves increased, until, after a struggle of a few hours, the turbulent little billows succeeded in setting the whole field in motion, when it was driven beyond the reach of the eye, with a rapidity that was as magical as the change pro- duced in the scene by this expulsion of the lingering remnant of winter. Just as the last sheet of agitated ice was disap- pearing in the distance, the eagles rose, and soared with a wide sweep above the clouds, while the waves tossed their little caps of snow into the air, as if rioting in their release from a thraldom of five months’ duration. The following morning Elizabeth was awakened by the exhilarating sounds of the martins, who were quarrelling and chattering around the little boxes suspended above her windows, and the cries of Richard, who was calling in tones animating as the signs of the season itself— “ Awake! awake! my fair lady ! the gulls are hovering over the lake already, and the heavens are alive with pigeons. You may look an hour before you ean find a hole through which to get a peep at the sun. Awake! awake! lazy ones! Benjamin is overhauling the ammunition, and we only wait for our THE PIONEERS. 267 breakfasts, and away for the mountains and pigeon shoot- ing.” There was no resisting this animated appeal, and in a few minutes Miss Temple and her friend descended to the parlor. The doors of the hall were thrown open, and the mild, balmy air of a clear spring morning was ventilating the apartment, where the vigilance of the ex-steward had been so long main- taining an artificial heat with such unremitted diligence. The gentlemen were impatiently waiting for their morning’s repast, each equipped in the garb of a sportsman. Mr. Jones made many visits to the southern door, and would cry— “See, cousin Bess! see, ’duke, the pigeon-roosts of the south have broken up! They are growing more thick every instant. Here is a flock that the eye cannot see the end of. There is food enough in it to keep the army of Xerxes for a month, and feathers enough to make beds for the whole country. Xerxes, Mr. Edwards, was a Grecian king, who—no, he was a Turk, or a Persian, who wanted to conquer Greece, just the same as these rascals will overrun our wheat fields, when they come back in the fall. Away! away! Bess; I long to pepper them.” In this wish both Marmaduke and young Edwards seemed equally to participate, for the sight was exhilarating to a sports- man; and the ladies soon dismissed the party after a hasty breakfast. If the heavens were alive with pigeons, the whole village seemed equally in motion, with men, women, and children. Every species of fire-arms, from the French ducking-gun with a barrel near six feet in length, to the common horseman’s pistol, was to be seen in the hands of the men and boys; while | bows and arrows, some made of the simple stick of a walnut sapling, and others in a rude imitation of the ancient cross-bows, were carried by many of the latter. R The houses and the signs of life apparent in the village, drove the alarmed birds from the dircct line of their flight, towards the mountains, along the sides and near the bases of 268 THE PIONEERS. which they were glancing in dense masses, equally wonderful by the rapidity of their motion, and their incredible numbers. We have already said, that across the inclined plane which fell from the steep ascent of the mountain to the banks of the Susquehanna, ran the highway, on either side of which a clearing of many acres had been made at a very early day. Over those clearings, and up the eastern mountain, and along the dangerous path that was cut into its side, the different individuals posted themselves, and in a few moments the attack commenced. Among the sportsmen was the tall, gaunt form of Leather- stocking, walking over the field, with his rifle hanging on his arm, his dogs at his heels; the latter now scenting the dead or wounded birds, that were beginning to tumble from the flocks, and then crouching under the legs of their master, as if they participated in his feelings at this wasteful and unsports- manlike execution. The reports of the fire-arms became rapid, whole volleys rising from the plain, as flocks of more than ordinary numbers darted over the opening, shadowing the field like a cloud; and then the light smoke of a single piece would issue ror among the leafless bushes on the mountain, as death was hurled on the retreat of the affrighted birds, who were rising from a volley, in a vain effort to escape. Arrows, and missiles of every kind, were in the midst of the flocks; and so numerous were © the birds, and so low did they take their flight, that even long poles, in the hands of those on the sides of the Bese were used to strike them to the earth, During all this time, Mr. Jones, who disdained the humble and ordinary means of destruction used by his companions, was busily occupied, aided by Benjamin, in making’ arrange- ments for an assault of more than ordinarily fatal character. Among the relics of the old military excursions, that occasion- ally are discovered throughout the different districts of the western part of New York, there had been found in Templeton, at its settlement, a small swivel, which would carry a ball ofa THE PIONEERS. 269 pound weight. It was thought to have been deserted by a war party of the whites, in one of their inroads into the Indian settlements, when, perhaps, convenience or their necessity induced them to leave such an incumbrance behind them in the woods. This miniature cannon had been released from the rust, and being mounted on little wheels, was now in a state for actual service. For several years, it was the sole organ for extraordinary rejoicings used in ‘those mountains. On the mornings of the Fourths of July, it would be heard ringing among the hills; and even Captain Hollister, who was the high- est authority.in that: part of the country on all such occasions, affirmed that, considering its dimensions, it was no despicable gun for a salute. | It was somewhat the worse for the service it had performed, it is true, there being but a trifling difference in size between the touch-hole and the muzzle. ‘Still, the grand conceptions of Richard had suggested the importance of such an instrument in hurling death at his nimble enemies. The swivel was dragged by a horse into a part of the open space that the Sheriff thought most eligible for planting a battery of the kind, and Mr. Pump proceeded to load it. Several ‘handfuls of duck-shot were placed on top of the powder, and the major- domo announced that his piece was ready for service. The sight of such an implement collected all the idle specta- tors to the spot, who, being mostly boys, filled the air with cries of exultation and delight. The gun was pointed high, and Richard, holding a coal of fire in a pair of tongs, patiently took his seat on a stump, awaiting the appearance of a flock worthy of his notice. _ So prodigious was the number of the birds, that the scattering fire of the guns, with: the hurling of missiles, and the cries of the boys, had no other effect than to break off small flocks from the immense masses that continued to dart along the valley, as if the whole of the feathered: tribe were pouring through that one pass. None pretended to collect the game, which lay scattered over the fields in such profusion as to cover the very ground with the fluttering victims. 27U ; THE PIONEERS. Leather-stocking was a silent, but uneasy spectator of all these proceedings, but was able to keep his sentiments to him- self until he saw the introduction of the swivel into the sports. “This comes of settling a country!” he said; “here have I known the pigeons to fly for forty long years, and, till you made your clearings, there was nobody to skear or to hurt them, I loved to see them come into the woods, for they were company to a body; hurting nothing; being, as it was, as harmless as a garter-snake. But now it gives me sore thoughts when I hear the frighty things whizzing through the air, for I know it’s only a motion to bring out all the brats in the village. Well! the Lord won’t see the waste of his creatures for nothing, and right will be done to the pigeons, as well as others, by and by. There’s Mr. Oliver, as bad as the rest of them, firing into the flocks, as if he was shooting down nothing but Mingo warriors.” Among the sportsmen was Billy Kirby, who, armed with an old musket, was loading, and without even looking into the air, was firing and shouting as his victims fell even on his own person. He heard the speech of Natty, and took upon himself to reply — “What! old Leather-stocking,” he cried, “ grumbling at the loss of a few pigeons! If you had to sow your wheat twice, and three times, as I have done, you wouldn’t be so massyfully feeling towards the divils—Hurrah, boys! scatter the feathers ! This is better than shooting at a turkey’s head and neck, old fellow.” “It’s better for you, maybe, Billy Kirby,” replied the indig- nant old hunter, “and all them that don’t know how to put a ball down a mifle barrel, or‘how to bring it up again with a true aim; but it’s wicked to be shooting into flocks in this wasty manner ; and none do it, who know how to knock over a single bird. If a body has a craving for pigeon’s flesh, why, it’s | made the same as all other creatures, for man’s.eating;—-but-not— to kill twenty and eat one. When I want such a thing I go into the woods till I find one to my liking, and then,I shoot him off the branches, without touching the feather of another, THE PIONEERS. OTT though there might be a hundred on the same tree. You couldn’t do such a thing, Billy Kirby—you couldn’t do it, if you tried.” “What's that, old corn-stalk! you sapless stub!” cried the wood-chopper. ‘“ You have grown wordy, since the affair of the turkey; but if you are for a single shot, here goes at that bird which comes on by himself.” The fire from the distant part of the field had driven a single pigeon below the flock to which it belonged, and, frightened with the constant reports of the muskets, it was approaching the spot where the disputants stood, darting first from one side and then to the other, cutting the air with the swiftness of lightning, and making a noise with its wings, not unlike the rushing of a bullet. Unfortunately for the wood-chopper, notwithstanding | his vaunt, he did not see this bird until it was too late to fire as it approached, and he pulled his trigger at the unlucky moment when it was darting immediately over his head. The bird continued its course with the usual velocity. Natty lowered the rifle from his arm when the challenge was made, and waiting a moment, until the terrified victim had got in a line with his eye, and had dropped néar the bank of the lake, he raised it again with uncommon rapidity, and fired. It might have been chance, or it might have been skill, that pro- duced the result; it was probably a union of both; but the pigeon whirled over in the air, and fell into the lake, with a broken wing. At the sound of his rifle, both his dogs started from his feet, and in a few minutes the “slut” brought out the bird, still alive. The wonderful exploit of Leather-stocking was noised through the field with great rapidity, and the sportsmen gathered in, to learn the truth of the report. “What!” said young Edwards, “have you really killed a — pigeon on the wing, Natty, with a single ball ?” “Haven't I killed loons before now, lad, that dive at the flash?” returned the hunter. “It’s much better to kill only such as you want, without wasting your powder and lead, than 272 THE PIONEERS. to be firing into God’s creatures in this wicked manner. But 1 came out for a bird, and you know the reason why I like small game, Mr. Oliver, and now I have got one I will go home, for I don’t relish to see these wasty ways that you are all practysing, as if the least thing wasn’t made for use, and not to destroy.” “Thou sayest well, Leather-stocking,” cried Marmaduke, “and I begin to think it time to put an end to this work of destruction.” “Put an ind, Judge, to your clearings. An’t the woods his work as well as the pigeons? Use, but don’t waste. Wasn’t the woods made for the beasts and ‘birds to harbor in? and when man wanted their flesh, their skins, or their feathers there’s the place to seek them. But I'll go to the hut with my own game, for I wouldn’t touch one of the harmless things that cover the ground here, looking up with their eyes on me, as if they only wanted tongues to say their thoughts.” With this sentiment in his mouth, Leather-stocking threw his rifle over his arm, and followed by his dogs, stepped across the clearing with great caution, taking care not to tread on one of the wounded birds in his path. He soon entered the bushes on the margin of the lake, and was hid from view. _ Whatever impression the morality of Natty made on the Judge, it was utterly lost on Richard. He availed himself of the gathering of the sportsmen, to lay a plan for one “ fell swoop” of destruction. The musket men were drawn up in battle array, in a line extending on each side of -his artillery, with orders to await the signal of firmg from himself. “Stand by, my lads,” said Benjamin, who acted as an aide- de-camp on this occasion, “stand by, my hearties, and when Squire Dickens heaves out the signal to begin firmg, d’ye see, you may open upon them in a broadside. Take care and fire low, boys, and you'll be sure to hull the flock.” | “Fire low!” shouted Kirby :—“ hear the old fool! If we fire low, we may hit the stumps, but not ruffle a pigeon.” “ How should you know, you lubber?” cried Benjamin, with a very unbecoming heat for an officer on the eve of battle— THE PIONEERS. 273 “how should you know, you grampus? Haven't I sailed aboard of the Boadishy for five years ? and wasn’t it a standing order to fire low, and to hull your enemy? Keep silence at your guns, boys, and mind the order that is passed.” The loud laughs of the musket men were silenced by the more authoritative voice of Richard, who called for attention and obedience to his signals. Some millions of pigeons were supposed to have already passed, that morning, over the valley of Templeton; but nothing like the flock that was now approaching had been seen before. It extended from mountain to mountain in one solid blue mass, and the eye looked in vain, over the southern hills, to find its termination. The front of this living column was distinctly marked by a line but very slightly indented, so regular and even was the flight. Even Marmaduke forgot the morality of Leather-stocking as it approached, and, in common with the rest, brought his musket to a poise. “Fire !” cried the Sheriff, clapping a coal to the priming of the cannon. As half of Benjamin’s charge escaped through the touch-hole, the whole volley of the musketry preceded the report of the swivel. On receiving this united discharge of small-arms, the front of the flock darted upwards, while, at the same instant, myriads of those in the rear rushed with amazing rapidity into their places, so that when the column of white smoke gushed from the mouth of the little cannon, an accumulated mass of objects was gliding over its point of direction. The roar of the gun echoed along the mountains, and died away to the north, like distant thunder, while the whole flock of alarmed birds seemed, for a moment, thrown into one disorderly and agitated mass. The air was filled with their irregular flight, layer rising above layer, far above the tops of the highest pines, none daring to advance beyond the dangerous pass; when, suddenly, some of the leaders of the feathered tribe shot across the valley, taking their flight directly over the village, and hundreds of thousands in their rear followed the example, deserting the eastern side of the plain to their persecutors and the slain, 974 THE PIONEERS. “Victory !” shouted Richard, “ ree we have driven the enemy from the field.” “ Not so, Dickon,” said Marmaduke: “ the field is covered with them; and, like the Leather-stocking, I see nothing but eyes, in every direction, as the innocent sufferers turn their heads in terror. Full one half of those that have fallen are yet alive; and I think it is time to end the sport, if sport it be.” “Sport!” cried the Sheriff; “it is princely sport! There are some thousands of the blue-coated boys on the ground, so that every old woman in the village may have a pot-pie for the asking.” “Well, we have happily frightened the birds from this side of the valley,” said Marmaduke, “and the carnage must of necessity end, for the present. Boys, I will give you sixpence a hundred for the pigeons’ heads only: so go to work, and bring them into the village.” This expedient produced the desired effect, for every urchin on the ground went industriously to work to wring the necks of the wounded birds. Judge Temple retired towards his dwelling with that kind of feeling that many a man has experi- enced before him, who discovers, after the excitement of the moment has passed, that he has purchased pleasure at the price of misery to others. Horses were loaded with the dead; and, after this first burst of sporting, the shooting of pigeons became a business, with a few idlers, for the remainder of the season. Richard, however, boasted for many a year, of his shot with the “cricket ;” and Benjamin gravely asserted, that he thought they killed nearly as many pigeons on that day, as there were French- men destroyed on the memorable occasion of Rodney’s victory. - THE PIONEERS. 275 CHAPTER XXIII. Help, masters, help; here’s a fish hangs in the net, like a poor man’s right {n the law. PERICLES or TYRE. Tux advance of the season now became as rapid as its first approach had been tedious and lingering. The days were uniformly mild, while the nights, though cool, were no longer chilled by frosts. The whip-poor-will was heard whistling his melancholy notes along the margin of the lake, and the ponds and meadows were sending forth the music of their thousand tenants. The leaf of the native poplar was seen quivering in the woods ; the sides of the mountains began to lose their hue of brown, as the lively green of the different members of the forest blended their shades with the permanent colors of the pine and hemlock; and even the buds of the tardy oak were swelling with the promise of the coming summer. The gay and fluttering blue-bird, the social robin, and the industrious little wren, were all to be seen enlivening the fields with their pre- ' sence and their songs ; while the soaring fish-hawk was already hovering over the waters of the Otsego, watching, with native voracity, for the appearance of his prey. The tenants of the lake were far-famed for both their quanti- ties and their quality, and the ice had hardly disappeared, before numberless little boats were launched from the shores, and the lines of the fishermen were dropped into the mmost recesses of its deepest caverns, tempting the unwary animals with every variety of bait that the ingenuity or the art of man had invented. But the slow, though certain adventures with hook and line were ill suited to the profusion and impatience of the settlers. More destructive means were resorted to; and, 276 THE PIONEERS, as the season had now arrived when the bass-fisheries were allowed by the provisions of the law that Judge Temple had procured, the Sheriff declared his intention, by availing himself of the first dark night, to enjoy the sport in person. “ And you shall be present, cousin Bess,” he added, when he announced this design, “and Miss Grant, and Mr. Edwards ; and I will show you what I call fishing—not nibble, nibble, nibble, as ’duke does when he goes after the salmon-trout. There he will sit for hours, in a broiling sun, or, perhaps, over | a hole in the ice, in the coldest days in winter, under the lee of a few bushes, and not a fish will he catch, after all this mortifi- cation of the flesh. No, no—give me a good seine that’s fifty or sixty fathoms in length, with a jolly parcel of boatmen to crack their jokes the while, with Benjamin to steer, and let us haul them in by thousands; I call that fishing.” “ Ah! Dickon,” cried Marmaduke, “ thou knowest but: little of the pleasure there is in playing with the hook and line, or thou wouldst be more saving of the game. I have known thee to leave fragments enough behind thee, when thou hast headed a night-party on the lake, to feed a dozen famishing families.” : . { “T shall not dispute the matter, Judge Temple: this night will I go; and I invite the company to attend, and then let . them decide between us.” Richard was busy, durmg most of the afternoon, making his preparations for the important occasion. Just as the light of the setting sun had disappeared, and a new moon had begun to throw its shadows on the earth, the fishermen’ took their departure in a boat, for a point: that was situated on the western shore of the lake, at the distance of rather more than half a mile from the village. The ground had become settled, and the walking was good ‘and dry. Marmaduke, with his daughter, her friend, and young Edwards, continued on the high grassy banks at the outlet of the placid sheet of water, watching the dark object that was moving across the lake, until it entered the shade of the western hills, and was lost to the eye. The THE PIONEERS. 277 distance round by land to the point of destination was a mile, and he observed— “Tt is time for us.to be moving: the moon will be down ere we reach the point, and then the miraculous hauls of Dickon will commence.” The evening was warm, and, after the long and dreary win- ter from which they had just escaped, delightfully invigorating. Inspirited by the scene and their anticipated amusement, the youthful companions of the Judge followed his steps, as he led them along the shores of the Otsego, and through the skirts of the village. “See !’ said young Edwards, “they are building their fire already ; it glimmers for a moment, and dies again like the light of a fire-fly.” “Now it blazes,” cried Elizabeth : “ you can perceive figures moving around the light. Oh! I would bet my jewels against the gold beads of Remarkable, that my impatient cousin Dickon had an agency in raising that bright flame ;—and see ; it fades again, like most of his brilliant schemes.” : “Thou hast guessed the truth, Bess,” said her father; “he has thrown an armful of brush on the pile, which has burnt out as soon as lighted. But it has enabled them to find a better fuel, for their fire begins to blaze with a more steady flame. It is the true fisherman’s beacon now; observe how beautifully it throws its little circle of light on the water !” The appearance of the fire urged the pedestrians on, for even the ladies had become eager to witness the miraculous draught. By the time they reached the bank, which rose above the low point where the fishermen had landed, the moon had sunk behind the tops of the western pines, and, as most of the stars were obscured by clouds, there was but little other light than that which proceeded from the fire. At the suggestion of Mar- maduke, his companions paused to listen to the conversation of those below them, and examine the party for a moment before they descended to the shore. The whole group were seated around the fire, with the excep- ? 278 ; THE PIONEERS, tion of Richard and Benjamin; the former of whom occupied the root of a decayed stump, that had been drawn to the spot as part of their fuel, and the latter was standing, with his arms a-kimbo, so near to the flame, that the smoke occasionally obscured his solemn visage, as it waved around the pile, in obe dience to the night airs that swept gently over the water. “Why, look you, Squire,” said the major-domo, “ you may call a lake-fish that will weigh twenty or thirty pounds a serious matter; but to a man who has hauled in a shovel-nosed shirk, d’ye see, it’s but a poor kind of fishing after all.” “T don’t know, Benjamin,” returned the Sheriff: “a haul of one thousand Otsego bass, without counting pike, pickerel, perch, bull-pouts, Salmon-trouts, and suckers, is no bad fishing, let me tell you. There may be sport in sticking a shark, but what is he good for after you have got him? Now, any one of the fish that I have named is fit to set before a king.” “ Well, Squire,” returned Benjamin, “ just listen to the philo- sophy of the thing. Would it stand to reason, that such fish should live and be catched in this here little pond of water, where it’s hardly deep enough to drown a man, as you'll find in the wide ocean, where, as everybody knows, that is, every- body that has followed the seas, whales and grampuses are to be seen, that are as long as one of the pine trees on yonder mountain ?” “ Softly, softly, Benjamin,” said the Sheriff, as if he wished to save the credit of his favorite; “why some of the pines will measure two hundred feet, and even more.” “Two hundred or two thousand, it’s all the same thing,” cried Benjamin, with an air which manifested that he was not easily to be bullied out of his opinion, on a subject like the pre- sent. “ Haven’t I been there, and haven’t I seen? I have said that you fall in with whales as long as one of them there pines; and what I have once said I'll stand to !” During this dialogue, which was evidently but the close of a much longer discussion, the huge frame of Billy Kirby was seen extended on one side of the fire, where,he was picking his teeth THE PIONEERS. 279 with splinters of the chips near him, and occasionally shaking his head with distrust of Benjamin’s assertions. “T’ve a notion,” said the wood-chopper, “that there’s water in this lake to swim the biggest whale that ever was invented ; and, as to the pines, I think I ought to know so’thing consarning them; I have chopped many a one that was sixty times the length of my helve, without counting the eye: and I believe, Benny, that if the old pine that stands in the hollow of the Vision Mountain, just over the village—you may see the tree itself by looking up, for the moon is on its top yet :—well, now I believe, if that same tree was planted out in the deepest part of the lake, there would be water enough for the biggest ship that ever was built to float over it, without touching its upper branches, I do.” | “ Did’ee ever see a ship, Master Kirby ?” roared the steward —“did’ee ever see a ship, man? or any craft bigger than a lime-scow, or a wood-boat, on this here small bit of fresh water 2” “ Yes, I have,” said the wood-chopper, stoutly ; “I can say that I have, and tell no he.” “ Did’ee ever see a British ship, Master Kirby? an English line-of-battle ship, boy? Where away did’ee ever fall in with a regular built vessel, with starn-post and cut-water, garboard streak and plank-shear, gangways, and hatchways, and water- ways, quarter-deck and forecastle, ay, and flush-deck ?—tell me that, man, if you can; where away did’ee ever fall in with a full rigged, regular built, decked vessel 2” The whole company were a good deal astounded with this — overwhelming question, and even Richard afterwards remarked, that it “ was a thousand pities that Benjamin could not read, or he must have made a valuable officer to the British marine. It is no wonder that they overcame the French so easily on the water, when even the lowest sailor so well understood the dif- ferent parts of a vessel.” But Billy Kirby was a fearless wight, and had great jealousy of foreign dictation ; he had arisen on his feet, and turned his back to the fire, during the voluble delivery 280 THE PIONEERS. of this interrogatory ; and when the steward ended, contrary to all expectation, he gave the following spirited reply :— “Where! why on the North River, and maybe on Cham- plain. There’s sloops on the river, boy, that would give a hard time on’t to the stoutest vessel King George owns. They carry masts of ninety feet in the clear of good solid pine, for ve been at the chopping of many a one in Varmount state. I wish I was captain in one of them, and you was in that Board-dish that you talk so much about ; and we'd soon see what good Yankee stuff is made on, and whether a Varmounter’s hide an’t as thick as an Englishman’s.” The echoes from the opposite hills, which were more than half a mile from the fishing point, sent back the discordant laugh that Benjamin gave forth at this challenge; and the woods that covered their sides seemed, by tne noise that issued from their shades, to be full of mocking demons. | “Let us descend to the shore,” whispered Marmaduke, “ or there will soon be ill-blood between them. Benjamin is a fear- less boaster ; and Kirby, though good-natured, is a careless son of the forest, who thinks one American more than a match for six Englishmen. I marvel that Dickon is silent, where there is such a trial of skill in the superlative !” The appearance of Judge Temple and the ladies produced, if not a pacification, at least a cessation of hostilities. Obedient to the directions of Mr. Jones, the fishermen prepared to launch their boat, which had been seen in the background of the view, with the net carefully disposed on a little platform in its stern, ready for service. Richard gave vent to his reproaches at the tardiness of the pedestrians, when all the turbulent passions of the party were succeeded by a calm, as mild and as placid as that which prevailed over the beautiful sheet of water that they _ were about to rifle of its best treasures. The night had now become so dark as to render siejects, without the reach of the light of the fire, not only indistinct, but in most cases invisible. For a little distance the water was dis cernible, glistening, as the glare from the fire danced over its ee THE PIONEERS. | 281 surface, touching it here and there with red quivering streaks ° but at a hundred feet from the shore, there lay a boundary of impenetrable gloom. One or two stars were shining through the openings of the clouds, and the lights were seen in the village, glimmering faintly, as if at an immeasurable distance. At times as the fire lowered, or as the horizon cleared, the out- line of the mountain, on the other side of the lake, might be traced by its undulations; but its shadow was cast, wide and dense, on the bosom of the water, rendering the darkness in that direction trebly deep. Benjamin Pump was invariably the cockswain and net-caster of Richard’s boat, unless the Sheriff saw fit to preside in person ; and, on the present occasion, Billy Kirby, and a youth of about half his strength, were assigned to the oars. ‘The remainder of - the assistants were stationed at the drag ropes. The arrange ments were speedily made, and Richard gave the signal te “shove off.” Elizabeth watched the motion of the batteau as it pulled from the shore, letting loose its rope as it went, but it soon dis- appeared in the darkness, when the ear was her only guide to its evolutions. There was great affectation of stillness during all these manceuvres, in order, as Richard assured them, “not to frighten the bass, who were running into the shoal waters, and who would approach the light if not disturbed by the sounds from the fishermen.” The hoarse voice of Benjamin was alone heard issuing out of the gloom, as he uttered, in authoritative tones, “ pull larboard oar,” “pull starboard,” “give way together, boys,” and such other dictative mandates as were necessary for the right dispo- sition of his seine. A long time was passed in this necessary part of the process, for Benjamin prided himself greatly on his skill in throwing the net, and, in fact, most of the success of the sport depended on its being done with judgment. At length a loud splash in the water, as he threw away the “staff,” or “stretcher,” with a hoarse call from the steward, of “ clear,” announced that the boat was returning ; when Richard seized a 282 THE PIONEERS. brand from the fire, and ran to a point, as far above the centre of the fishing ground, as the one from which the batteau had started was below it. “Stick her in dead for the Squire, boys,” said the steward, “and we'll have a look at what grows in this here pond.” In place of the falling net were now to be heard the quick strokes of the oars, and the noise of the rope running out of the boat. Presently the batteau shot into the circle of light, and in an instant she was pulled to shore. Several eager hands were extended to receive the line, and both ropes being equally well manned, the fishermen commenced hauling in with slow and steady drags, Richard standing in the centre, giving orders, first to one party, and then to the other, to increase or slacken their efforts, as occasion required. The visitors were posted near him, and enjoyed a fair view of the whole operation, which was slowly advancing to an end. Opinions as to the result of their adventure were now freely hazarded by all the men, some declaring that the net came in as light as a feather, and others affirming that it seemed to be full of logs. As the ropes were many hundred feet in length, these opposing sentiments were thought to be of little moment by the Sheriff, who would go first to one line and then to the other, giving each a small pull, in order to enable him to form | an opinion for himself. “ Why, Benjamin,” he cried, as he made his first effort in this way, “you did not throw the net clear. J can move it with my little finger. The rope slackens in my hand.” “ Did you ever see a whale, Squire ?” responded the steward : “T say that if that there net is foul, the devil isin the lake in the shape of a fish, for I cast it as fair“as ever rigging was rove over the quarter-deck of a flag-ship.” But Richard discovered his mistake, when he saw Billy Kirby hefore him, standing with his feet in the water, at an angle of forty-five degrees, inclining shorewards, and expending his gigantic strength in sustaining himself in that posture. He ceased his remonstrances, and proceeded to the party at the other line, THE PIONEERS. — 983 “T see the ‘staffs,’ ” shouted Mr. Jones ;—“ gather in, boys, and away with it; to shore with her !—to shore with her !” At this cheerful sound, Elizabeth strained her eyes and saw the ends of the two sticks on the seine emerging from the dark- ness, while the men closed near to each other, and formed a deep bag of their net. The exertions of the fishermen sensibly increased, and ‘the voice of Richard was heard encouraging them to make their greatest efforts at the present moment. “Now’s the time, my lads,” he cried; “let us get the ends to land, and all we have will be our own—away with her !” “ Away with her, it is,” echoed Benjamin !—“ hurrah ! ho-a- hoy, ho-a-hoy, ho-a !” “In with her,” shouted Kirby, exerting himself in a manner that left nothing for those in his rear to do, but to gather up the slack of the rope which passed through his hands. “ Staff, ho !” shouted the steward. “ Staff, ho !” echoed Kirby, from the other rope. The men rushed to the water’s edge, some seizing the upper rope, and some the lower, or lead-rope, and began to haul with great activity and zeal. A deep semicircular sweep of the little balls that supported the seine in its perpendicular position, was plainly visible to the spectators, and, as it rapidly lessened in size, the bag of the net appeared, while an occasional flutter on the water announced the uneasiness of the prisoners it contained. j “ Haul in, my lads,” shouted Richard—“I can see the dogs kicking to get free. Haul in, and here’s a cast that will pay for the labor.” Fishes of various sorts were now to be seen, entangled in the meshes of the net, as it was passed through the hands of the laborers ; and the water, at a little distance from the shore, was alive with the movements of the alarmed victims. Hundreds of white sides were glancing up to the surface of the water, and glistening in the fire-light, when, frightened at the uproar and the change, the fish would again dart to the bottom, in fruitless efforts for freedom. 284 THE PIONEERS. “Hurrah!” shouted Richard; “one or two more heavy drags, boys, and we are safe.” Pee E “ Cheerily, boys, cheerily!” cried Benjamin; “I see a sal- mon-trout that is big enough for a chowder.” “ Away with you, you varmint!” said: Billy Kirby, plucking a bull-pout from the meshes, and casting the animal back into the lake with contempt. “Pull, boys, pull; here’s all kinds, and the Lord condemn me for a liar, if there an’t a thousand bass !” | Inflamed beyond the bounds of discretion at the sight, and forgetful of the season, the wood-chopper rushed to his middle into the water, and began to drive the reluctant animals before him from their native element. “Pull heartily, boys,” cried. Marmaduke, yielding to the excitement of the moment, and laying his hands to the net, with no trifling addition to.the force. Edwards had preceded him ; for the sight of the immense piles of fish, that were slowly rolling over on the gravelly beach, had impelled him also to leave the ladies, and join the fishermen. Great care was observed in bringing the net to land, and, after much toil, the whole shoal of victims was safely deposited in a hollow of the bank, where they were left to flutter away their brief existence in the new and fatal element. Even Elizabeth and Louisa were greatly excited and highly gratified by seeing two thousand captives thus drawn from the bosom of the lake, and laid prisoners at their feet. But when the feelings of the moment were passing away, Marmaduke took in his hands a bass, that might have weighed two pounds, and after viewing it a moment, in melancholy musing, he turned to his daughter, and observed— “ This is a fearful expenditure of the choicest gifts of Providence. These fish, Bess, which thou seest lying in such piles before thee, and which by to-morrow evening will be rejected food on the meanest table in Templeton, are of a quality and flavor that, in other countries, would make them esteemed a luxury on the tables of princes or epicures. The world has no better fish than THE PIONEERS. 285 the bass of Otsego : it unites’ the richness of the shad * to the firmness of the salmon.” “ But surely, dear sir,” cried Elizabeth, “ they must prove a great blessing to the country, and a powerful friend to the - poor.” “The poor are always prodigal, my child, where there is plenty, and seldom think of a provision. against the morrow. But if there can be any excuse for destroying animals in this manner, it is in taking the bass.. During the winter, you know, they are entirely protected from our assaults by the ice, for they refuse the hook ; and during the hot months they are not seen. It is supposed they retreat to the deep and cool waters of the lake, at that season; and it is only in the spring and autumn, that, for a few days, they are to be found around the points where they are within the reach of a seine. But, like all the other treasures of the wilderness, they already begin to disappear before the wasteful extravagance of man.” “ Disappear, duke! disappear!” exclaimed the Sheriff; “if you don’t call this appearing, I know not what you will. Here are a good thousand of the shiners, some hundreds of suckers, and a powerful quantity of other fry. Lut this is always the way with you, Marmaduke; first it’s the trees, then it’s the deer, after that it’s the maple sugar, and so on to the end of the chapter. One day you talk of canals through a country where there’s a river or a lake every half-mile, just because the water won’t run the way you wish it to go; and the next, you say something about mines of coal, though any man who has good eyes like myself—I say with good eyes—can see more wood than would keep the city of London in fuel for fifty years ; wouldn’t it, Benjamin ?” “Why, for that, Squire,” said the steward, “ Lon’on is no small place. If it was stretched an end, all the same as a town on one side of a river, it would cover some such matter as this here lake. Tho’f I dar’st to say, that the wood in sight might * Of all the fish the writer has ever tasted, he thinks the one in question the best. 286 THE PIONEERS. sarve them a good turn, seeing that the Lon’oners mainly burn coal.” “Now we are on the subject of coal, Judge Temple,” inter- rupted the Sheriff, “I have a thing of much importance to communicate to you; but I will defer it until to-morrow. I know that you intend riding into the eastern part of the Patent, and I will accompany you, and conduct you to a spot where some of your projects may be realized. We will say no more now, for there are listeners; but a secret has this evening been revealed to me, ’duke, that is of more consequence to your welfare than all your estate united.” Marmaduke laughed at the important intelligence, to which in a variety of shapes he was accustomed, and the Sheriff, with an air of great dignity, as if pitying his want of faith proceeded in the business more immediately before them. As the labor of drawing the net had been very great, he directed one party of his men to commence throwing the fish into piles, preparatory to the usual division, while another, under the superintendence of Benjamin, prepared the seine for a second haul. .s THE PIONEERS, 287 CHAPTER XXIV. ~ While from its margin, terrible to tell! Three sailors with their gallant boatswain’ fell. FALCONER. Wuite the fishermen were employed in making the prepa- rations for an equitable division of the spoil, Elizabeth and her friend strolled a short distance from the group, along the shore of the lake. After reaching a point, to which even the brightest of the occasional gleams of the fire did not extend, they turned, and paused a moment, in contemplation of the busy and lively party they had left, and of the obscurity, which, like the gloom of oblivion, seemed to envelope the rest of the creation. “This is indeed a subject for the pencil !” exclaimed Eliza- beth. “Observe the countenance of that wood-chopper, while he exults in presenting a larger fish than common to my cousin Sheriff; and see, Louisa, how handsome and considerate my dear father looks, by the light of that fire, where he stands viewing the havoc of the game. He seems melancholy, as if he actually thought that a day of retribution was to follow this hour of abundance and prodigality! Would they not make a picture, Louisa ?” “ You know that I am ignorant of all such accomplishments, Miss Temple.” “Call me by my Christian name,” interrupted Elizabeth ; “this is not a place, neither is this a scene, for forms.” “Well, then, if I may venture an opinion,” said Louisa, - timidiy, * I should think it might indeed make a picture. The selfish earnestness of that Karby over his fish would contrast finely with the—the—expression of Mr. Edwards’s face. I hardly know what to call it; but it is—a-—is—you know what I would say, dear Elizabeth.” 288 THE PIONEERS, “You do me too much credit, Miss Grant,” said the oo ; “T am no diviner of thoughts, or interpreter of expressions.” ; There was certainly nothing harsh, or even cold, in the manner of the speaker, but still it repressed the conversation, and they continued to stroll still further from the party, retain- ing each other’s arm, but observing a profound silence. Eliza- beth, perhaps, conscious of the improper phraseology of her last speech, or perhaps excited by the new object that met her gaze, was the first to break the awkward cessation in the discourse, by exclaiming— “ Look, Louisa! we are not alone; there are fishermen light- ing a fire on the other side of the lake, immediately opposite to us; it must be in front of the cabin of Leather-stocking !” Through the obscurity, which prevailed most immediately under the eastern mountain, a small and uncertain light was plainly to be seen, though, as it was occasionally lost to the eye, it seemed struggling for existence. They observed it to move, and sensibly to lower, as if carried down the descent of the bank to the shore. Here, in a very short time, its flame gradually expanded, and grew brighter, until it became of the size of a man’s head, when it continued to shine a steady ball of fire. Such an object, lighted as it were by magic, under the brow of the mountain, and in that retired and unfrequented place, gave double interest to the beauty and singularity of its appear- -ance. It did not at all resemble the large and unsteady light of their own fire, being much more clear and bright, and retain- ing its size and shape with perfect uniformity. “There are moments when the best regulated minds are more or less subjected to the injurious impressions which few haye escaped in infancy ; and Elizabeth smiled at her own weakness, while she remembered the idle tales which were circulated through the village, at the expense ‘of the Leather-stocking. The same ideas seized her companion, and at the same instant, for Louisa pressed nearer to her friend, as she said in a low voice, stealing a timid glance towards the bushes and trees that overhung the bank near them: THE PIONEERS. 289 “Did you ever hear the singular ways of this Natty spoken of, Miss Temple? They say that, in his youth, he was an Indian warrior; or, what is the same thing, a white man leagued with the savages; and it is thought he has been con- cerned in many of their inroads, in the old wars.” “The thing is not at all improbable,” returned Elizabeth ; “he is not alone in that particular.” “No, surely ; but is it not strange that he is so cautious with his hut? He never leaves it, without fastening it in a remarka- ble manner; and _in several instances, when the children, or even the men of the village, have wished to seek a shelter there from the storms, he has been known to drive them from his door with rudeness and threats. That, surely, is singular in this country !” “Tt is certainly not very hospitable; but we must remember his aversion to the customs of civilized life. You heard my father say, a few days since, how kindly he was treated by him on his first visit to this place.” Elizabeth paused, and smiled, with an expression of peculiar archness, though the darkness hid its meaning from her companion, as she continued—“ Besides, he certainly admits the visits of Mr. Edwards, whom we both know to be far from a savage.” ‘lo this speech Louisa made no reply; but continued gazing on the object which had elicited her remarks. In addition to the bright and circular flame, was now to be seen a fainter, though a vivid light, of an equal diameter to the other at the upper end; but which, after extending downwards for many feet, gradually tapered to a point at its lower extremity. A dark space was plainly visible between the two; and the new illumi- nation was placed beneath the other; the whole forming an appearance not unlike an inverted note of admiration. It was soon evident that the latter was nothing but the reflection, from the water, of the former; and that the object, whatever it might be, was advancing across, or rather over, the lake, for 3 seemed to be several feet above its surface, in a direct line with themselves. Its motion was amazingly rapid, the ladies having 13 290 THE PIONEERS. hardly discovered that it was moving at all, before the waving light of a flame was discerned, losing its regular shape, while it increased in size, as it approached. “Tt appears to be supernatural !” whispered Louisa, begin- ning to retrace her steps towards the party. “Tt is beautiful !” exclaimed Elizabeth. A brilliant, though waving flame, was now plainly visible, gracefully gliding over the lake, and throwing its light on the water in such a manner as to tinge it slightly ; though in the air, so strong was the contrast, the darkness seemed to have the distinctness of material substances, as if the fire were imbedded in a setting of ebony. This appearance, however, gradually wore off; and the rays from the torch struck out, and enlight- ened the atmosphere in front of it, leaving the background in a darkness that was more impenetrable than ever. “Ho! Natty, is that you?” shouted the Sheriff. “ Paddle in, old boy, and es give you a mess of fish that is fit to te before the Governor.” The light suddenly changed its direction, and a long and slightly-built boat hove up out of the gloom, while the red glare fell on the weather-beaten features of the Leather-stocking, whose tall person was seen erect in the frail vessel, wielding, with the grace of an experienced boatman, a long fishing-spear, which he held by its centre, first dropping one end and then the other into the water, to aid in propelling the little canoe of bark, we will not say through, but over, the water. At the fur- ther end of the vessel a form was faintly seen, guiding its motions, and using a paddle with the ease of one who felt there was no necessity for exertion. The Leather-stocking struck his spear lightly against the short staff which upheld, on a rude grating framed of old hoops of iron, the knots of pine that com- posed the fuel, and the light, which glared high, for an instant fell on the swarthy features, and dark, glancing eyes of Mohe- gan. The boat glided along the shore until it arrived opposite the fishing-ground, when it again changed its direction, and moved THE PIONEERS. 291 on to the land, with a motion so graceful, and yet so rapid, that it seemed to possess the power of regulating its own progress. The water in front of the canoe was hardly ruffled by its passage, and no sound betrayed the collision, when the light fabric shot on the gravelly beach for nearly half its length, Natty receding a step or two from its bow, in order to facilitate the landing. | “ Approach, Mohegan,” said Marmaduke; “approach, Lea- ther-stocking, and load your canoe with bass. It would be a shame to assail the animals with the spear, when such multi- tudes of victims lie here, that will be lost as food for the want of mouths to consume them.” “No, no, Judge,” returned Natty, his tall figure stalking over the narrow beach, and ascending to the little grassy bottom where the fish were laid in piles: “I eat of no man’s wasty ways. Istrike my spear into the eels or the trout, when I crave the creaters ; but I wouldn’t be helping to such a sinful kind of fishing for the best rifle that was ever brought out from the old countries. Ifthey had fur, like a beaver, or you could tan their hides, like a buck, something might be said in favor of taking them by the thousands with your nets; but as God made them for man’s food, and for no other disarnable reason, I call it sinful and wasty to catch more than can be eat.” “ Your reasoning is mine: for once, old hunter, we agree in opinion; and I heartily wish we could make a convert of the Sheriff. A net of half the size of this would supply the whole village with fish for a week at one haul.” The Leather-stocking did not relish this alliance in senti- ment; and he shook his head doubtingly, as he answered— “No, no; we are not much of one mind, Judge, or you'd never turn good hunting grounds into stumpy pastures. And you fish and hunt out of rule; but, to me, the flesh is sweeter where the creater has some chance for its life: for that reason, I always use a single ball, even if it be at a bird or a squirrel. Besides, it saves lead; for, when a body knows how to shoot, one piece of lead is enough for all, except hard-lived animals,” 292 THE PIONEERS. The Sheriff heard these opinions with great indignation ; and when he completed the last arrangement for the division, by carrying, with his own hands, a trout of a large size, and placing it on four different piles in succession, as his vacillating ideas of justice required, he gave vent to his spleen. “A very pretty confederacy, indeed! Judge Temple, the landlord and owner of a township, with Nathaniel Bumppo, a lawless squatter, and professed deer-killer, in order to preserve the game of the county! But, ’duke, when I fish I fish; s0, away, boys, for another haul, and we'll send out wagons and carts in the morning, to bring in our prizes.” Marmaduke appeared to understand that all opposition to the will of the Sheriff would be useless ; and he strolled from the fire to the place where the canoe of the hunters lay, whither the ladies and Oliver Edwards had already preceded him. Curiosity induced the females to approach this spot; but it was a different motive that led the youth thither. Elizabeth examined the light ashen timbers and thin bark covering of the canoe, in admiration of its neat but simple execution, and with wonder that any human being could be so daring as to trust his life in so frail a vessel. But the youth explained to her the buoyant properties of the boat, and its perfect safety when under proper management; adding, in such glowing terms, a description of the manner in which the fish were struck with the spear, that she changed suddenly, from an apprehension of the danger of the excursion, to a desire to participate in its pleasures. She even ventured a proposition to that effect to her father, laughing at the same time at her own wish, and accusing herself of acting under a woman’s caprice. “Say not so, Bess,” returned the Judge: “I would have you above the idle fears of a silly girl. These canoes are the safest kind of boats to those who have skill and steady nerves. I have crossed the broadest part of the Oneida in one much smaller than this.” “And I the Ontary,” interrupted the Leather-stocking ; “and that with squaws in the canoe, too. But the Delaware women THE PIONEERS. 293 are used to the paddle, and are good hands in a boat of this nater. If the young lady would like to see an old man strike a trout for his breakfast, she is welcome to a seat. John will say the same, seeing that he built the canoe, which was only launched yesterday ; for ’m not over curous at such small work as brooms, and basket making, and other like Indian trades.” Natty gave Elizabeth one of his significant laughs, with a kind nod of the head, when he concluded his invitation: but Mohegan, with the native grace of an Indian, approached, and taking her soft white hand into his own swarthy and wrinkled palm, said— “Come, grand-daughter of Miquon, and John will be glad. Trust the Indian; his head is old, though his hand is not steady. The young Eagle will go, and see that no harm hurts his sister.” “Mr. Edwards,” said Elizabeth, blushing slightly, “ your friend Mohegan has given a promise for you. Do you redeem the pledge %” | “ With my life, if necessary, Miss Temple,” cried the youth, with fervor. “The sight is worth some little apprehension ; for of real danger there isnone. I will go with youand Miss Grant, however, to save appearances.” “With me!” exclaimed Louisa. “No, not with me, Mr. Edwards ; nor, surely, do you mean to trust yourself in that slight canoe.” “ But I shall; for I have no apprehensions any longer,” said Elizabeth, stepping into the boat, and taking a seat where the Indian directed. “Mr. Edwards, you may remain, as three do seem to be enough for such an egg-shell.” “Tt shall hold a fourth,” cried the young man, springing to her side, with a violence that nearly shook the weak fabric otf the vessel asunder. ‘“ Pardon me, Miss Temple, that I do not permit these venerable Charons to take you to the shades unat- tended by your genius.” “Ts it a good or evil spirit ?” asked Elizabeth. “Good to you.” / 294 THE PIONEERS. “ And mine,” added the mador with an air that strangely | blended pique with satisfaction. But the motion of the canoe gave rise to new ideas, and fortunately afforded a good excuse to the young man to change the discourse. It appeared to Elizabeth that they glided over the water by magic, so easy and graceful was the manner in which Mohegan guided his little bark. A slight gesture with his spear indicated the way in which the Leather-stocking wished to go, and a pro- found silence was preserved by the whole party, as a precaution necessary to the success of their fishery. At that point of the lake, the water shoaled regularly, differing in this particular, altogether, from those parts where the mountains rose, nearly in perpendicular precipices, from the beach. There, the largest vessels could have lain, with their yards interlocked with the pines; while here a scanty growth of rushes lifted their tops above the lake, gently curling the waters, as their bending heads waved with the passing breath of the night air. It was at the - shallow points, only, that the bass could be found, or the net cast with success. Elizabeth saw thousands of these fish swimming in shoals along the shallow and warm waters of the shore ; for the flaring light of their torch laid bare the mysteries of the lake, as plainly as if the limpid sheet of the Otsego was but another atmo- sphere. Every instant she expected to see the impending spear of Leather-stocking darting into the thronging hosts that were rushing beneath her, where it would seem that a blow could not go amiss; and where, as her father had already said, the prize that would be obtained was worthy any epicure. But Natty had his peculiar habits, and, it would seem, his peculiar tastes also. His tall stature, and his erect posture, enabled him to see much further than those who were seated in the bottom cf the canoe; and he turned his head warily in every direction, fre- quently bending his body forward, and straining his vision, as if desirous of penetrating the water that surrounded their boun- dary of light. At length his anxious scrutiny was rewarded THE PIONEERS. 295 with success, and, waving his spear from the shore, he said in a cautious tone— “Send her outside the bass, John; I see a laker there, that has run out of the school. It’s seldom one finds such a creater in shallow water, where a spear can touch it.” Mohegan gave a wave of assent with his hand, and in the next instant the canoe was without the “run of the bass,” and in water nearly twenty feet in depth. A few additional knots were laid on the grating, and the light penetrated to the bottom. Elizabeth then saw a fish of unusual size floating above small pieces of logs and sticks. The animal was only distinguishable, at that distance, by a slight, but almost im perceptible motion of its fins and tail. The curiosity excited by this unusual exposure of the secrets of the lake seemed to be mutual between the heiress of the land and the lord of these waters, for the “salmon-trout” soon announced his interest by raising his head and body for a few degrees above a horizontal line, and then dropping them again into a horizontal position. | “ Whist ! whist!” said Natty, in a low voice, on hearing a slight sound made by Elizabeth in bending over the side of the canoe in curiosity ;—“ ’tis a skeary animal, and it’s a far stroke for a spear. My handle, is but fourteen foot, and the creater lies a good eighteen from the top of the water; but I'll try him, for he’s a ten-pounder.” While speaking, the Leather-stocking was poising and direct- ing his weapon. Elizabeth saw the bright, polished tines, as they slowly and silently entered the water, where the refraction pointed them many degrees from the true direction of the fish ; and she thought that the intended victim saw them also, as he seemed to increase the play of his tail and fins, though without moving his station. At the next instant the tall body of Natty bent to the water’s edge, and the handle of his spear disap- peared in the lake. The long, dark streak of the gliding weapon, and the little bubbling vortex which followed its rapid flight, were easily to be seen; but it was not until the handle shot again into the air by its own reaction, and its master 296 : THE PIONEERS. catching it in his hand, threw its tines uppermost, that Eliza beth was acquainted with the success of the blow.