The Pioneers (41 page)

“That will do, John,” said Natty, raising his prize by one of his fingers and exhibiting it before the torch; “I shall not strike another blow tonight.”

The Indian again waved his hand, and replied with the simple and energetic monosyllable of:

“Good.”

Elizabeth was awakened from the trance created by this scene, and by gazing in that unusual manner at the bottom of the lake, by the hoarse sounds of Benjamin's voice, and the dashing of oars, as the heavier boat of the seine drawers approached the spot where the canoe lay, dragging after it the folds of the net.

“Haul off, haul off, Master Bumppo,” cried Benjamin; “your top light frightens the fish, who see the net and sheer off soundings. A fish knows as much as a horse, or, for that matter, more, seeing that it's brought up on the water. Haul off, Master Bumppo, haul off, I say, and give a wide berth to the seine.”

Mohegan guided their little canoe to a point where the movements of the fishermen could be observed, without interruption to the business, and then suffered it to lie quietly, on the water, looking like an imaginary vessel floating in air. There appeared to be much ill-humor among the party in the bateau, for the directions of Benjamin were not only frequent, but issued in a voice that partook largely of dissatisfaction.

“Pull larboard oar, will ye, Master Kirby?” cried the old seaman. “Pull larboard best. It would puzzle the oldest admiral in the British fleet to cast this here net fair, with a wake like a corkscrew. Pull starboard, boy, pull starboard oar, with a will.”

“Harkee, Mister Pump,” said Kirby, ceasing to row, and speaking with some spirit; “I'm a man that likes civil language and decent treatment, such as is right 'twixt man and man. If you want us to go hoy, say so, and hoy I'll go, for the benefit of the company; but I'm not used to being ordered about like dumb cattle.”

“Who's dumb cattle?” echoed Benjamin fiercely, turning his forbidding face to the glare of light from the canoe, and exhibiting every feature teeming with the expression of disgust. “If you want to come aft and cund the boat round, come and be damned, and pretty steerage you'll make of it. There's but another heave of the net in the stern sheets, and we're clear of the thing. Give way, will ye? And shoot her ahead for a fathom or two, and if you catch me afloat again with such a horse marine as yourself, why rate me a ship's jackass, that's all.”

Probably encouraged by the prospect of a speedy termination to his labor, the wood chopper resumed his oar, and, under strong excitement, gave a stroke, that not only cleared the boat of the net, but of the steward, at the same instant. Benjamin had stood on the little platform that held the seine, in the stern of the boat, and the violent whirl occasioned by the vigor of the wood chopper's arm completely destroyed his balance. The position of the lights rendered objects in the bateau distinguishable, both from the canoe and the shore; and the heavy fall on the water drew all eyes to the steward, as he lay struggling, for a moment, in sight.

A loud burst of merriment, to which the lungs of Kirby contributed no small part, broke out like a chorus of laughter and rang along the eastern mountain, in echoes, until it died away in distant, mocking mirth, among the rocks and woods. The body of the steward was seen slowly to disappear, as was expected; but when the light waves, which had been raised by his fall, began to sink in calmness, and the water finally closed over his head, unbroken and still, a very different feeling pervaded the spectators.

“How fare you, Benjamin?” shouted Richard from the shore.

“The dumb devil can't swim a stroke!” exclaimed Kirby, rising, and beginning to throw aside his clothes.

“Paddle up, Mohegan,” cried young Edwards, “the light will show us where he lies, and I will dive for the body.”

“Oh! save him! For God's sake, save him!” exclaimed Elizabeth, bowing her head on the side of the canoe in horror.

A powerful and dexterous sweep of Mohegan's paddle sent the canoe directly over the spot where the steward had fallen, and a loud shout from the Leatherstocking announced that he saw the body.

“Steady the boat while I dive,” again cried Edwards.

“Gently, lad, gently,” said Natty; “I'll spear the creater up in half the time, and no risk to anybody.”

The form of Benjamin was lying, about halfway to the bottom, grasping with both hands some broken rushes. The blood of Elizabeth curdled to her heart, as she saw the figure of a fellow creature thus extended under an immense sheet of water, apparently in motion, by the undulations of the dying waves, with its face and hands, viewed by that light, and through the medium of the fluid, already colored with hues like death.

At the same instant, she saw the shining tines of Natty's spear approaching the head of the sufferer, and entwining themselves rapidly and dexterously in the hairs of his queue and the cape of his coat. The body was now raised slowly, looking ghastly and grim, as its features turned upwards to the light, and approached the surface. The arrival of the nostrils of Benjamin into their own atmosphere was announced by a breathing that would have done credit to a porpoise. For a moment, Natty held the steward suspended, with his head just above the water, while his eyes slowly opened, and stared about him, as if he thought that he had reached a new and unexplored country.

As all the parties acted and spoke together, much less time was consumed in the occurrence of these events than in their narration. To bring the bateau to the end of the spear, and to raise the form of Benjamin into the boat, and for the whole party to gain the shore, required but a minute. Kirby, aided by Richard, whose anxiety induced him to run into the water to meet his favorite assistant, carried the motionless steward up the bank and seated him before the fire, while the Sheriff proceeded to order the most approved measures then in use, for the resuscitation of the drowned.

“Run, Billy,” he cried, “to the village, and bring up the rum hogshead that lies before the door, in which I am making vinegar, and be quick, boy, don't stay to empty the vinegar; and stop at Mr. Le Quoi's, and buy a paper of tobacco and half a dozen pipes; and ask Remarkable for some salt, and one of her flannel petticoats; and ask Dr. Todd to send his lancet, and to come himself; and——ha! Duke, what are you about? Would you strangle a man who is full of water, by giving him rum! Help me to open his hand, that I may pat it.”

All this time Benjamin sat, with his muscles fixed, his mouth shut, and his hands clenching the rushes, which he had seized in the confusion of the moment, and which, as he held fast, like a true seaman, had been the means of preventing his body from rising again to the surface. His eyes, however, were open, and stared wildly on the group about the fire, while his lungs were playing like a blacksmith's bellows, as if to compensate themselves for the minute of inaction to which they had been subjected. As he kept his lips compressed, with a most inveterate determination, the air was compelled to pass through his nostrils, and he rather snorted than breathed, and in such a manner that nothing but the excessive agitation of the Sheriff could at all justify his precipitous orders.

The bottle, applied to the steward's lips by Marmaduke, acted like a charm. His mouth opened instinctively; his hands dropped the rushes and seized the glass; his eyes raised from their horizontal stare to the heavens; and the whole man was lost, for a moment, in a new sensation. Unhappily for the propensity of the steward, breath was as necessary after one of these draughts as after his submersion, and the time at length arrived when he was compelled to let go the bottle.

“Why, Benjamin!” roared the Sheriff; “you amaze me! For a man of your experience in drownings to act so foolishly! Just now, you were half-full of water, and now you are——”

“Full of grog,” interrupted the steward, his features settling down, with amazing flexibility, into their natural economy. “But, d'ye see, Squire, I kept my hatches close, and it is but little water that ever gets into my scuttle butt. Harkee, Master Kirby! I've followed the salt water for the better part of a man's life, and have seen some navigation on the fresh; but this here matter I will say in your favor, and that is, that you're the awk'ardest green'un that ever straddled a boat's thwart. Them that likes you for a shipmate may sail with you and no thanks; but dam'me if I even walk on the lake shore in your company. For why? You'd as lief drown a man as one of them there fish; not to throw a Christian creature so much as a rope's end, when he was adrift, and no life buoy in sight!—Natty Bumppo, give us your fist. There's them that says you're an Indian, and a scalper, but you've served me a good turn, and you may set me down for a friend; tho'f it would have been more shipshape to lower the bight of a rope, or running bowline, below me, than to seize an old seaman by his head lanyard; but I suppose you are used to taking men by the hair, and seeing you did me good instead of harm thereby, why, it's the same thing, d'ye see.”

Marmaduke prevented any reply, and assumimg the direction of matters with a dignity and discretion that at once silenced all opposition from his cousin, Benjamin was dispatched to the village by land, and the net was hauled to shore in such a manner that the fish for once escaped its meshes with impunity.

The division of the spoils was made in the ordinary manner, by placing one of the party with his back to the game, who named the owner of each pile. Billy Kirby stretched his large frame on the grass by the side of the fire, as sentinel until morning, over net and fish; and the remainder of the party embarked in the bateau, to return to the village.

The wood chopper was seen broiling his supper on the coals as they lost sight of the fire; and when the boat approached the shore, the torch of Mohegan's canoe was shining again under the gloom of the eastern mountain. Its motion ceased suddenly; a scattering of brands was in the air, and then all remained dark as the conjunction of night, forest, and mountain could render the scene.

The thoughts of Elizabeth wandered from the youth, who was holding a canopy of shawls over herself and Louisa, hunter and the Indian warrior; and she felt an awakening curiosity to visit a hut, where men of such different habits and temperament were drawn together as by common impulse.

DUO

 

MR. JONES arose on the following morning with the sun, and ordering his own and Marmaduke's steeds to be saddled, he proceeded, with a countenance big with some business of unusual moment, to the apartment of the Judge. The door was unfastened, and Richard entered with the freedom that characterized not only the intercourse between the cousins, but the ordinary manners of the Sheriff.

“Well, 'duke, to horse,” he cried, “and I will explain to you my meaning in the allusions I made last night. David says, in the Psalms—no, it was Solomon, but it was all in the family—Solomon said there was a time for all things; and in my humble opinion, a fishing party is not the moment for discussing important subjects. Ha! why, what the devil ails you, Marmaduke? An't you well? Let me feel your pulse: my grandfather, you know——”

“Quite well in the body, Richard,” interrupted the Judge, repulsing his cousin, who was about to assume the functions that properly belonged to Dr. Todd; “but ill at heart. I received letters by the post of last night, after we returned from the point, and this among the number.”

The Sheriff took the letter, but without turning his eyes on the writing, for he was examining the appearance of the other with astonishment. From the face of his cousin the gaze of Richard wandered to the table, which was covered with letters, packets and newspapers; then to the apartment and all that it contained. On the bed there was the impression that had been made by a human form, but the coverings were unmoved, and everything indicated that the occupant of the room had passed a sleepless night. The candles had burned to the sockets and had evidently extinguished themselves in their own fragments. Marmaduke had drawn his curtains and opened both the shutters and the sashes to admit the balmy air of a spring morning; but his pale cheek, his quivering lip, and his sunken eye presented altogether so very different an appearance from the usual calm, manly, and cheerful aspect of the Judge, that the Sheriff grew each moment more and more bewildered with astonishment. At length Richard found time to cast his eyes on the direction of the letter, which he still held unopened, crumbling it in his hand.

“What! a ship letter!” he exclaimed: “and from England! Ha! 'duke, there must be news of importance indeed!”

“Read it,” said Marmaduke, pacing the floor in excessive agitation.

Richard, who commonly thought aloud, was unable to read a letter without suffering part of its contents to escape him in audible sounds. So much of the epistle as was divulged in that manner, we shall lay before the reader, accompanied by the passing remarks of the Sheriff:

“ ‘London, February 12th, 1793.' What a devil of a passage she had! But the wind has been northwest for six weeks, until within the last fortnight.

“ ‘Sir, your favors of August 10th, September 23d, and of December 1st, were received in due season, and the first answered by return of packet. Since the receipt of the last, I' ”—Here a long passage was rendered indistinct, by a kind of humming noise made by the Sheriff. “ ‘I grieve to say that'—hum, hum, bad enough to be sure—‘but trust that a merciful Providence has seen fit'—hum, hum, hum; seems to be a good pious sort of a man, 'duke; belongs to the established church, I dare say; hum, hum—‘vessel sailed from Falmouth on or about the 1st September of last year, and'—hum, hum, hum. ‘If anything should transpire on this afflicting subject shall not fail'—hum, hum; really a good-hearted man, for a lawyer—‘but can communicate nothing further at present'—hum, hum—‘The national convention'—hum, hum—‘unfortunate Louis'—hum, hum—‘example of your Washington'—a very sensible man, I declare, and none of your crazy democrats. Hum, hum—‘our gallant navy'—hum, hum—‘under our most excellent monarch'—ay, a good man enough, that King George, but bad advisers; hum, hum—‘I beg to conclude with assurances of my perfect respect'—hum, hum—‘ANDREW HOLT.'—Andrew Holt—a very sensible, feeling man, this Mr. Andrew Holt—but the writer of evil tidings. What will you do next, cousin Marmaduke?”