The Pioneers (51 page)

Natty entered the hut and soon reappeared bringing with him the desired testimonial; and the wood chopper departed, as thoroughly reconciled to the hunter as if nothing had happened. As he paced along the margin of the lake he would burst into frequent fits of laughter while he recollected the somersault of Hiram; and, on the whole, he thought the affair a very capital joke.

Long before Billy reached the village, however, the news of his danger, and of Natty's disrespect of the law, and of Hiram's discomfiture were in circulation. A good deal was said about sending for the Sheriff; some hints were given about calling out the
posse comitatus
to avenge the insulted laws; and many of the citizens were collected, deliberating how to proceed. The arrival of Billy with the skin, by removing all grounds for a search, changed the complexion of things materially. Nothing now remained but to collect the fine and assert the dignity of the people; all of which, it was unanimously agreed, could be done as well on the succeeding Monday as on Saturday night—a time kept sacred by a large portion of the settlers. Accordingly, all further proceedings were suspended for six-and-thirty hours.

MARMION

 

THE commotion was just subsiding, and the inhabitants of the village had begun to disperse from the little groups they had formed, each retiring to his own home and closing his door after him with the grave air of a man who consulted public feeling in his exterior deportment, when Oliver Edwards, on his return from the dwelling of Mr. Grant, encountered the young lawyer, who is known to the reader as Mr. Lippet. There was very little similarity in the manners or opinions of the two; but as they both belonged to the more intelligent class of a very small community, they were, of course, known to each other, and as their meeting was at a point where silence would have been rudeness, the following conversation was the result of their interview:

“A fine evening, Mr. Edwards,” commenced the lawyer, whose disinclination to the dialogue was, to say the least, very doubtful; “we want rain sadly; that's the worst of this climate of ours, it's either a drought or a deluge. It's likely you've been used to a more equal temperature?”

“I am a native of this state,” returned Edwards, coldly.

“Well, I've often heard that point disputed; but it's so easy to get a man naturalized that it's of little consequence where he was born. I wonder what course the Judge means to take in this business of Natty Bumppo!”

“Of Natty Bumppo!” echoed Edwards. “To what do you allude, sir?”

“Haven't you heard!” exclaimed the other with a look of surprise so naturally assumed as completely to deceive his auditor. “It may turn out an ugly business. It seems that the old man has been out in the hills, and has shot a buck this morning, and that, you know, is a criminal matter in the eyes of Judge Temple.”

“O! he has, has he?” said Edwards, averting his face to conceal the color that collected in his sunburned cheek. “Well, if that be all, he must even pay the fine.”

“It's five pounds currency,” said the lawyer. “Could Natty muster so much money at once?”

“Could he!” cried the youth. “I am not rich, Mr. Lippet; far from it—I am poor, and I have been hoarding my salary for a purpose that lies near my heart; but before that old man should lie one hour in a jail, I would spend the last cent to prevent it. Besides, he has killed two panthers, and the bounty will discharge the fine many times over.”

“Yes, yes,” said the lawyer, rubbing his hands together, with an expression of pleasure that had no artifice about it; “we shall make it out; I see plainly we shall make it out.”

“Make what out, sir? I must beg an explanation.”

“Why, killing the buck is but a small matter compared to what took place this afternoon,” continued Mr. Lippet, with a confidential and friendly air that insensibly won upon the youth, little as he liked the man. “It seems that a complaint was made of the fact, and a suspicion that there was venison in the hut was sworn to, all which is provided for in the statute, when Judge Temple granted a search warrant——”

“A search warrant!” echoed Edwards, in a voice of horror, and with a face that should have been again averted to conceal its paleness. “And how much did they discover? What did they see?”

“They saw old Bumppo's rifle; and that is a sight which will quiet most men's curiosity in the woods.”

“Did they! Did they!” shouted Edwards, bursting into a convulsive laugh. “So the old hero beat them back! He beat them back! Did he?”

The lawyer fastened his eyes in astonishment on the youth, but as his wonder gave way to the thoughts that were commonly uppermost in his mind, he replied:

“It's no laughing matter, let me tell you, sir; the forty dollars of bounty, and your six months of salary, will be much reduced before you can get the matter fairly settled. Assaulting a magistrate in the execution of his duty and menacing a constable with firearms at the same time is a pretty serious affair, and is punishable with both fine and imprisonment.”

“Imprisonment!” repeated Oliver. “Imprison the Leatherstocking! No, no, sir; it would bring the old man to his grave. They shall never imprison the Leatherstocking.”

“Well, Mr. Edwards,” said Lippet, dropping all reserve from his manner, “you are called a curious man; but if you can tell me how a jury is to be prevented from finding a verdict of guilty, if this case comes fairly before them, and the proof is clear, I shall acknowledge that you know more law than I do, who have had a license in my pocket for three years.”

By this time the reason of Edwards was getting the ascendency of his feelings, and as he began to see the real difficulties of the case, he listened more readily to the conversation of the lawyer. The ungovernable emotion that escaped the youth in the first moments of his surprise entirely passed away; and although it was still evident that he continued to be much agitated by what he had heard, he succeeded in yielding forced attention to the advice which the other uttered.

Notwithstanding the confused state of his mind, Oliver soon discovered that most of the expedients of the lawyer were grounded in cunning and plans that required a time to execute them that neither suited his disposition nor his necessities. After, however, giving Mr. Lippet to understand that he retained him in the event of a trial, an assurance that at once satisfied the lawyer, they parted, one taking his course, with a deliberate tread, in the direction of the little building that had a wooden sign over its door with “Chester Lippet, Attorney at Law,” painted on it; and the other pacing over the ground with enormous strides towards the mansion house. We shall take leave of the attorney for the present, and direct the attention of the reader to his client.

When Edwards entered the hall, whose enormous doors were opened to the passage of the air of a mild evening, he found Benjamin engaged in some of his domestic avocations, and in a hurried voice inquired where Judge Temple was to be found.

“Why, the Judge has stept into his office, with that master carpenter, Mister Doolittle; but Miss Lizzy is in that there parlor. I say, Master Oliver, we'd like to have had a bad job of that panther, or painter's work—some calls it one, and some calls it t'other—but I know little of the beast, seeing that it is not of British growth. I said as much as that it was in the hills the last winter; for I heard it moaning on the lake shore one evening in the fall, when I was pulling down from the fishing point in the skiff. Had the animal come into open water, where a man could see where and how to work his vessel, I would have engaged the thing myself; but looking aloft among the trees is all the same to me as standing on the deck of one ship and looking at another vessel's tops. I never can tell one rope from another——”

“Well, well,” interrupted Edwards; “I must see Miss Temple.”

“And you shall see her, sir,” said the steward; “she's in this here room. Lord, Master Edwards, what a loss she'd have been to the Judge! Dam'me if I know where he would have gotten such another daughter; that is, full grown, d'ye see. I say, sir, this Master Bumppo is a worthy man, and seems to have a handy way with him, with firearms and boat hooks. I'm his friend, Master Oliver, and he and you may both set me down as the same.”

“We may want your friendship, my worthy fellow,” cried Edwards, squeezing his hand convulsively. “We may want your friendship, in which case you shall know it.”

Without waiting to hear the earnest reply that Benjamin meditated, the youth extricated himself from the vigorous grasp of the steward and entered the parlor.

Elizabeth was alone, and still reclining on the sofa, where we last left her. A hand, which exceeded all that the ingenuity of art could model, in shape and color, veiled her eyes; and the maiden was sitting as if in deep communion with herself. Struck by the attitude and loveliness of the form that met his eye, the young man checked his impatience and approached her with respect and caution.

“Miss Temple—Miss Temple,” he said, “I hope I do not intrude; but I am anxious for an interview, if it be only for a moment.”

Elizabeth raised her face and exhibited her dark eyes swimming in moisture.

“Is it you, Edwards?” she said, with a sweetness in her voice, and a softness in her air, that she often used to her father, but which, from its novelty to himself, thrilled on every nerve of the youth. “How left you our poor Louisa?”

“She is with her father, happy and grateful,” said Oliver. “I never witnessed more feeling than she manifested when I ventured to express my pleasure at her escape. Miss Temple, when I first heard of your horrid situation, my feelings were too powerful for utterance; and I did not properly find my tongue until the walk to Mr. Grant's had given me time to collect myself. I believe—I do believe, I acquitted myself better there, for Miss Grant even wept at my silly speeches.”

For a moment Elizabeth did not reply, but again veiled her eyes with her hand. The feeling that caused the action, however, soon passed away, and, raising her face again to his gaze, she continued, with a smile:

“Your friend, the Leatherstocking, has now become my friend, Edwards; I have been thinking how I can best serve him; perhaps you, who know his habits and his wants so well, can tell me——”

“I can,” cried the youth, with an impetuosity that startled his companion—“I can, and may Heaven reward you for the wish. Natty has been so imprudent as to forget the law, and has this day killed a deer. Nay, I believe I must share in the crime and the penalty, for I was an accomplice throughout. A complaint has been made to your father, and he has granted a search——”

“I know it all,” interrupted Elizabeth; “I know it all. The forms of the law must be complied with, however; the search must be made, the deer found, and the penalty paid. But I must retort your own question. Have you lived so long in our family not to know us? Look at me, Oliver Edwards. Do I appear like one who would permit the man that has just saved her life to linger in a jail for so small a sum as this fine? No, no, sir; my father is a judge, but he is a man and a Christian. It is all understood, and no harm shall follow.”

“What a load of apprehension do your declarations remove!” exclaimed Edwards. “He shall not be disturbed again! Your father will protect him! I have your assurance, Miss Temple, that he will, and I must believe it.”

“You may have his own, Mr. Edwards,” returned Elizabeth, “for here he comes to make it.”

But the appearance of Marmaduke, who entered the apartment, contradicted the flattering anticipations of his daughter. His brow was contracted, and his manner disturbed. Neither Elizabeth nor the youth spoke; but the Judge was allowed to pace once or twice across the room without interruption, when he cried:

“Our plans are defeated, girl; the obstinacy of the Leatherstocking has brought down the indignation of the law on his head, and it is now out of my power to avert it.”

“How? In what manner?” cried Elizabeth. “The fine is nothing; surely——”

“I did not—I could not anticipate that an old, a friendless man like him, would dare to oppose the officers of justice,” interrupted the Judge. “I supposed that he would submit to the search, when the fine could have been paid, and the law would have been appeased; but now he will have to meet its rigor.”

“And what must the punishment be, sir?” asked Edwards, struggling to speak with firmness.

Marmaduke turned quickly to the spot where the youth had withdrawn, and exclaimed:

“You here! I did not observe you. I know not what it will be, sir; it is not usual for a judge to decide until he has heard the testimony, and the jury have convicted. Of one thing, however, you may be assured, Mr. Edwards; it shall be whatever the law demands, notwithstanding any momentary weakness I may have exhibited because the luckless man has been of such eminent service to my daughter.”

“No one, I believe, doubts the sense of justice which Judge Temple entertains!” returned Edwards bitterly. “But let us converse calmly, sir. Will not the years, the habits, nay, the ignorance of my old friend, avail him anything against this charge?”

“Ought they? They may extenuate, but can they acquit? Would any society be tolerable, young man, where the ministers of justice are to be opposed by men armed with rifles? Is it for this that I have tamed the wilderness?”

“Had you tamed the beasts that so lately threatened the life of Miss Temple, sir, your arguments would apply better.”

“Edwards!” exclaimed Elizabeth.