Deerslayer (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (36 page)

“ ’Tis his gift—yes, ’tis the gift of a redskin to love finery, and he is not to be blamed. This is an extr‘ornary garment, too; and extr’ ornary things get up extr’ornary feelin’s. I think this will do, Judith, for the Indian heart is hardly to be found in all America that can withstand colors like these and glitter like that. If this coat was ever made for your father, you’ve come honestly by the taste for finery, you have.”

“That coat was never made for father,” answered the girl, quickly; “it is much too long; while father is short and square.”

“Cloth was plenty, if it was, and glitter cheap,” answered Deerslayer, with his silent, joyous laugh. “Sarpent, this garment was made for a man of your size, and I should like to see it on your shoulders.”

Chingachgook, nothing loath, submitted to the trial; throwing aside the coarse and threadbare jacket of Hutter, to deck his person in a coat that was originally intended for a gentleman. The transformation was ludicrous; but as men are seldom struck with incongruities in their own appearance any more than in their own conduct, the Delaware studied this change in a common glass, by which Hutter was in the habit of shaving, with grave interest. At that moment he thought of Hist, and we owe it to truth to say, though it may militate a little against the stem character of a warrior to own it, that he wished he could be seen by her in his present improved aspect.

“Off with it, Sarpent—off with it,” resumed the inflexible Deerslayer ; “such garments as little become you as they would become me. Your gifts are for paint, and hawk’s feathers, and blankets, and wampum; and mine are for doublets of skins, tough leggings, and sarviceable moccasins. I say moccasins, Judith, for though white, living as I do in the woods, it’s necessary to take to some of the practyces of the woods, for comfort’s sake and cheapness.”

“I see no reason, Deerslayer, why one man may not wear a scarlet coat as well as another,” returned the girl. “I wish I could see you in this handsome garment.”

“See me in a coat fit for a lord! Well, Judith, if you wait till that day, you’ll wait until you see me beyond reason and memory. No—no—gal, my gifts are my gifts, and I’ll live and die in ’em, though I never bring down another deer or spear another salmon. What have I done that you should wish to see me in such a flaunting coat, Judith?”

“Because I think, Deerslayer, that the false-tongued and falsehearted young gallants of the garrison ought not alone to appear in fine feathers; but that truth and honesty have their claims to be honored and exalted.”

“And what exaltification”—the reader will have remarked that Deerslayer had not very critically studied his dictionary—“And what exaltification would it be to me, Judith, to be bedizened and bescarleted like a Mingo chief that has just got his presents up from Quebec ? No—no—I’m well as I am; and if not, I can be no better. Lay the coat down on the blanket, Sarpent, and let us look further into the chist.”

The tempting garment, one surely that was never intended for Hutter, was laid aside, and the examination proceeded. The male attire, all of which corresponded with the coat in quality, was soon exhausted, and then succeeded female. A beautiful dress of brocade, a little the worse from negligent treatment, followed; and this time open exclamations of delight escaped the lips of Judith. Much as the girl had been addicted to dress, and favorable as had been her opportunities of seeing some little pretension in that way, among the wives of the different commandants, and other ladies of the forts, never before had she beheld a tissue, or tints to equal those that were now so unexpectedly placed before her eyes. Her rapture was almost childish! nor would she allow the inquiry to proceed until she had attired her person in a robe so unsuited to her habits and her abode. With this end, she withdrew into her own room, where, with hands practiced in such offices, she soon got rid of her own neat gown of linen, and stood forth in the gay tints of the brocade. The dress happened to fit the fine, full person of Judith, and certainly it never adorned a being better qualified by natural gifts to do credit to its really rich hues and fine texture. When she returned, both Deerslayer and Chingachgook, who had passed the brief time of her absence in taking a second look at the male garments, arose in surprise, each permitting exclamations of wonder and pleasure to escape him, in a way so unequivocal as to add new luster to the eyes of Judith, by flushing her cheeks with a glow of triumph. Affecting, however, not to notice the impression she had made, the girl seated herself with the stateliness of a queen, desiring that the chest might be looked into further.

“I don’t know a better way to treat with the Mingos, gal,” cried Deerslayer, “than to send you ashore as you be, and to tell ‘em that a queen has arrived among ’em! They’ll give up old Hutter and Harry, and Hetty too, at such a spectacle!”
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“I thought your tongue too honest to flatter, Deerslayer,” returned the girl, gratified at this admiration more than she would have cared to own. “One of the chief reasons of my respect for you was your love for truth.”

“And ’tis truth and solemn truth, Judith, and nothing else. Never did eyes of mine gaze on as glorious a lookin’ creatur’ as you be yourself, at this very moment. I’ve seen beauties in my time, too, both white and red; and them that was renowned and talked of far and near; but never have I beheld one that could hold any comparison with what you are at this blessed instant, Judith—never.”

The glance of delight which the girl bestowed on the frank-speaking hunter in no degree lessened the effect of her charms; and as the humid eyes blended with it a look of sensibility, perhaps Judith never appeared more truly lovely than at what the young man had called that “blessed instant.” He shook his head, held it suspended a moment over the open chest like one in doubt, and then proceeded with the examination.

Several of the minor articles of female dress came next, all of a quality to correspond with the gown. These were laid at Judith’s feet, in silence, as if she had a natural claim to their possession. One or two, such as gloves and laces, the girl caught up and appended to her already rich attire, in affected playfulness, but with the real design of decorating her person as far as circumstances would allow. When these two remarkable suits, male and female they might be termed, were removed, another canvas covering separated the remainder of the articles from the part of the chest which they had occupied. As soon as Deerslayer perceived this arrangement, he paused, doubtful of the propriety of proceeding any further.

“Every man has his secrets, I suppose,” he said, “and all men have a right to their enj’yment; we’ve got low enough in this chist, in my judgment, to answer our wants, and it seems to me we should do well by going no further; and by letting Master Hutter have to himself and his own feelin’s all that’s beneath this cover.”

“Do you mean, Deerslayer, to offer these clothes to the Iroquois as ransom?” demanded Judith, quickly.

“Sartain. What are we prying into another man’s chist for, but to sarve its owner in the best way we can? This coat, alone, would be very apt to gain over the head chief of the riptyles; and if his wife or darter should happen to be out with him, that there gownd would soften the heart of any woman that is to be found atween Albany and Montreal. I do not see that we want a larger stock in trade than them two articles.”

“To you it may seem so, Deerslayer,” returned the disappointed girl; “but of what use could a dress like this be to any Indian woman? She could not wear it among the branches of the trees; the dirt and smoke of the wigwam would soon soil it; and how would a pair of red arms appear thrust through these short, laced sleeves!”

“All very true, gal; and you might go on and say, it is altogether out of time, and place, and season, in this region at all. What is it to us how the finery is treated, so long as it answers our wishes? I do not see that your father can make any use of such clothes; and it’s lucky he has things that are of no valie to himself that will bear a high price with others. We can make no better trade for him than to offer these duds for his liberty We’ll throw in the light frivol’ties, and get Hurry off in the bargain!”

“Then you think, Deerslayer, that Thomas Hutter has no one in his family—no child—no daughter, to whom this dress may be thought becoming, and whom you could wish to see in it once and a while, even though it should be at long intervals, and only in playfulness?”

“I understand you, Judith—yes, I now understand your meaning ; and I think I can say, your wishes. That you are as glorious in that dress as the sun when it rises or sets in a soft October day, I’m ready to allow; and that you greatly become it is a good deal more sartain than that it becomes you. There’s gifts in clothes as well as in other things. Now I do not think that a warrior on his first path ought to lay on the same awful paints as a chief that has had his vartue tried, and knows from exper’ence he will not disgrace his pretensions. So it is with all of us, red or white. You are Thomas Hutter’s darter, and that gownd was made for the child of some governor, or a lady of high station; and it was intended to be worn among fine furniture and in rich company In my eyes, Judith, a modest maiden never looks more becoming than when becomingly clad, and nothing is suitable that is out of character. Besides, gal, if there’s a creatur’ in the colony that can afford to do without finery, and to trust to her own good looks and sweet countenance, it’s yourself.”

“I’ll take off the rubbish this instant, Deerslayer,” cried the girl, springing up to leave the room; “and never do I wish to see it on any human being again.”

“So it is with ‘em all, Sarpent,” said the other, turning to his friend and laughing, as soon as the beauty had disappeared. “They like finery, but they like their natyve charms most of all. I’m glad the gal has consented to lay aside her furbelows, howsever, for it’s ag’in reason for one of her class to wear em; and then she is handsome enough, as I call it, to go alone. Hist would show oncommon likely, too, in such a gownd, Delaware!”

“Wah-ta-Wah is a redskin girl, Deerslayer,” returned the Indian; “like the young of the pigeon she is to be known by her own feathers. I should pass by without knowing her, were she dressed in such a skin. It’s wisest always to be so clad that our friends need not ask us for our name. The Wild Rose is very pleasant, but she is no sweeter for so many colors.”

“That’s it!—that’s natur‘, and the true foundation for love and protection. When a man stops to pick a wild strawberry, he does not expect to find a melon; and when he wishes to gather a melon, he’s disapp’inted if it proves to be a squash; though squashes be often brighter to the eye than melons. That’s it, and it means, stick to your gifts and your gifts will stick to you.”

The two men had now a little discussion together, touching the propriety of penetrating any further into the chest of Hutter, when Judith reappeared, divested of her robes, and in her own simple linen frock again.

“Thank you, Judith,” said Deerslayer, taking her kindly by the hand; “for I know it went a little ag‘in the nat’ral cravings of woman to lay aside so much finery as it might be in a lump. But you’re more pleasing to the eye as you stand, you be, than if you had a crown on your head, and jewels dangling from your hair. The question now is, whether to lift this covering to see what will be ra’ally the best bargain we can make for Master Hutter; for we must do as we think he would be willing to do, did he stand here in our places.”

Judith looked very happy. Accustomed as she was to adulation, the humble homage of Deerslayer had given her more true satisfaction than she had ever yet received from the tongue of man. It was not the terms in which this admiration had been expressed, for they were simple enough, that produced so strong an impression; nor yet their novelty, or their warmth of manner, nor any of those peculiarities that usually give value to praise; but the unflinching truth of the speaker, that carried his words so directly to the heart of the listener. This is one of the great advantages of plain dealing and frankness. The habitual and wily flatterer may succeed until his practices recoil on himself, and, like other sweets, his ailment cloys by its excess; but he who deals honestly, though he often necessarily offend, possesses a power of praising that no quality but sincerity can bestow; since his words go directly to the heart, finding their support in the understanding. Thus it was with Deerslayer and Judith; so soon and so deeply did this simple hunter impress those who knew him with a conviction of his unbending honesty, that all he uttered in commendation was as certain to please, as all he uttered in the way of rebuke was as certain to rankle and excite enmity where his character had not awakened a respect and affection, that in another sense rendered it painful. In after life, when the career of this untutored being brought him in contact with officers of rank, and others intrusted with the care of the interests of the state, this same influence was exerted on a wider field; even generals listening to his commendations with a glow of pleasure that it was not always in the power of their official superiors to awaken. Perhaps Judith was the first individual of his own color who fairly submitted to this natural consequence of truth and fair-dealing, on the part of Deerslayer. She had actually pined for his praise, and she had now received it; and that in the form which was most agreeable to her weaknesses and habits of thought. The result will appear in the course of the narrative.

“If we knew all that chest holds, Deerslayer,” returned the girl, when she had a little recovered from the immediate effect produced by his commendations of her personal appearance, “we could better determine on the course we ought to take.”

“That’s not onreasonable, gal, though it’s more a paleface than a redskin gift, to be prying into other people’s secrets.”

“Curiosity is natural, and it is expected that all human beings should have human failings. Whenever I’ve been at the garrisons, I’ve found that most, in and about them, had a longing to learn their neighbor’s secrets.”