 | CHAPTER XII. The deerslayer: or, The first war-path |  |
12. CHAPTER XII.
But half thy work is done! The gates of hell
Are thronged, yet twice ten thousand spirits move,
Who, from their warm and healthful tenements,
Fear no divorce, must, ere the sun go down,
Enter the world of woe!”—
Southey.
One experienced in the signs of the heavens, would have
seen that the sun wanted but two or three minutes of the
zenith, when Deerslayer landed on the point where the Hurons
were now encamped, nearly abreast of the castle. This
spot was similar to the one already described, with the exception
that the surface of the land was less broken and
less crowded with trees. Owing to these two circumstances,
it was all the better suited to the purpose for which it had
been selected, the space beneath the branches bearing some
resemblance to a densely wooded lawn. Favoured by its position
and hunters, and the natural grasses had succeeded their
fires, leaving an appearance of sward in places, a very unusual
accompaniment of the virgin forest. Nor was the
margin of water fringed with bushes, as on so much of its
shore, but the eye penetrated the woods immediately on
reaching the strand, commanding nearly the whole area of
the projection.
If it was a point of honour with the Indian warrior to redeem
his word, when pledged to return and meet his death
at a given hour, so was it a point of characteristic pride to
show no womanish impatience, but to re-appear as nearly
as possible at the appointed moment. It was well not to
exceed the grace accorded by the generosity of the enemy,
but it was better to meet it to a minute. Something of this
dramatic effect mingles with most of the graver usages of
the American aborigines, and no doubt, like the prevalence
of a similar feeling among people more sophisticated and
refined, may be referred to a principle of nature. We all
love the wonderful, and when it comes attended by chivalrous
self-devotion and a rigid regard to honour, it presents
itself to our admiration in a shape doubly attractive. As
respects Deerslayer, though he took a pride in showing his
white blood, by often deviating from the usages of the redmen,
he frequently dropped into their customs, and oftener
into their feelings, unconsciously to himself, in consequence
of having no other arbiters to appeal to, than their judgments
and tastes. On the present occasion, he would have
abstained from betraying a feverish haste by a too speedy
return, since it would have contained a tacit admission that
the time asked for was more than had been wanted; but, on
the other hand, had the idea occurred to him, he would have
quickened his movements a little, in order to avoid the dramatic
appearance of returning at the precise instant set as
the utmost limit of his absence. Still, accident had interfered
to defeat the last intention, for when the young man
put his foot on the point, and advanced with a steady tread
towards the group of chiefs that was seated in grave array
on a fallen tree, the oldest of their number cast his eye upward
at an opening in the trees, and pointed out to his companions
the startling fact that the sun was just entering a
but low exclamation of surprise and admiration escaped
every mouth, and the grim warriors looked at each other;
some with envy and disappointment, some with astonishment,
at the precise accuracy of their victim, and others
with a more generous and liberal feeling. The American
Indian always deemed his moral victories the noblest, prizing
the groans and yielding of his victim under torture
more than the trophy of his scalp; and the trophy itself
more than his life. To slay, and not to bring off the proof
of victory, indeed, was scarcely deemed honourable; even
these rude and fierce tenants of the forest, like their more
nurtured brethren of the court and the camp, having set up
for themselves imaginary and arbitrary points of honour, to
supplant the conclusions of the right, and the decisions of
reason.
The Hurons had been divided in their opinions concerning
the probability of their captive's return. Most among
them, indeed, had not expected it possible for a pale-face to
come back voluntarily, and meet the known penalties of an
Indian torture; but a few of the seniors expected better things
from one who had already shown himself so singularly cool,
brave, and upright. The party had come to its decision,
however, less in the expectation of finding the pledge redeemed,
than in the hope of disgracing the Delawares by
casting into their teeth the delinquency of one bred in their
villages. They would have greatly preferred that Chingachgook
should be their prisoner, and prove the traitor;
but the pale-face scion of the hated stock, was no bad substitute,
for their purposes, failing in their designs against the
ancient stem. With a view to render the triumph as signal
as possible, in the event of the hour's passing without the
re-appearance of the hunter, all the warriors and scouts of
the party had been called in; and the whole band, men, women,
and children, was now assembled at this single point,
to be a witness of the expected scene. As the castle was in
plain view, and by no means distant, it was easily watched
by day-light; and it being thought that its inmates were
now limited to Hurry, the Delaware, and the two girls, no
apprehensions were felt of their being able to escape unseen.
A large raft, having a breast-work of logs, had been prepared,
ark or castle, as occasion might require, so soon as the fate
of Deerslayer was determined; the seniors of the party
having come to the opinion that it was getting to be hazardous
to delay their departure for Canada, beyond the coming
night. In short, the band waited merely to dispose of this
single affair, ere it brought matters to a crisis, and prepared
to commence its retreat towards the distant waters of Ontario.
It was an imposing scene, into which Deerslayer now
found himself advancing. All the older warriors were seated
on the trunk of the fallen tree, waiting his approach with
grave decorum. On the right, stood the young men, armed,
while the left was occupied by the women and children,
In the centre was an open space of considerable extent, always
canopied by leaves, but from which the underbrush,
dead wood, and other obstacles had been carefully removed.
The more open area had probably been much used by former
parties, for this was the place where the appearance of a
sward was the most decided. The arches of the woods,
even at high noon, cast their sombre shadows,on the spot,
which the brilliant rays of the sun that struggled through
the leaves contributed to mellow, and, if such an expression
can be used, to illuminate. It was probably from a similar
scene that the mind of man first got its idea of the effects
of Gothic tracery and churchly hues; this temple of nature
producing some such effect, so far as light and shadows
were concerned, as the well-known offspring of human
invention.
As was not unusual among the tribes and wandering bands
of the aborigines, two chiefs shared, in nearly equal degrees,
the principal and primitive authority that was wielded over
these children of the forest. There were several who might
claim the distinction of being chief men, but the two in question
were so much superior to all the rest in influence, that,
when they agreed, no one disputed their mandates; and
when they were divided, the band hesitated, like men who
had lost their governing principle of action. It was also in
conformity with practice,—perhaps we might add, in conformity
with nature, that one of the chiefs was indebted to
his mind for his influence, whereas the other owed his distinction
a senior, well known for eloquence in debate, wisdom in
council, and prudence in measures; while his great competitor,
if not his rival, was a brave, distinguished in war, notorious
for ferocity, and remarkable, in the way of intellect,
for nothing but the cunning and expedients of the war-path.
The first was Rivenoak, who has already been introduced
to the reader, while the last was called le Panthère, in
the language of the Canadas; or the Panther, to resort to
the vernacular of the English colonies. The appellation of
the fighting chief was supposed to indicate the qualities of
the warrior, agreeably to a practice of the red man's nomenclature;
ferocity, cunning, and treachery, being, perhaps,
the distinctive features of his character. The title had been
received from the French, and was prized so much the more
from that circumstance, the Indian submitting profoundly to
the greater intelligence of his pale-face allies, in most things
of this nature. How well the sobriquet was merited, will
be seen in the sequel.
Rivenoak and the Panther sat side by side, awaiting the
approach of their prisoner, as Deerslayer put his moccasined
foot on the strand; nor did either move, or utter a syllable,
until the young man had advanced into the centre of the
area, and proclaimed his presence with his voice. This was
done firmly, though in the simple manner that marked the
character of the individual.
“Here I am, Mingos,” he said, in the dialect of the Delawares,
a language that most present understood; “here I
am, and there is the sun. One is not more true to the laws
of natur', than the other has proved true to his word. I am
your prisoner; do with me what you please. My business
with man and 'arth is settled; nothing remains now but to
meet the white man's God, accordin' to a white man's duties
and gifts.”
A murmur of approbation escaped even the women, at this
address, and, for an instant there was a strong and pretty
general desire to adopt into the tribe, one who owned so
brave a spirit. Still there were dissenters from this wish,
among the principal of whom might be classed the Panther,
and his sister, le Sumach, so called from the number of her
children, who was the widow of le Loup Cervier, now known
held one in subjection, while the corroding passion of revenge
prevented the other from admitting any gentler feeling
at the moment. Not so with Rivenoak. This chief arose,
stretched his arm before him, in a gesture of courtesy, and
paid his compliments with an ease and dignity that a prince
might have envied. As, in that band, his wisdom and eloquence
were confessedly without rivals, he knew that on
himself would properly fall the duty of first replying to the
speech of the pale-face.
“Pale-face, you are honest,” said the Huron orator. “My
people are happy in having captured a man, and not a skulking
fox. We now know you; we shall treat you like a
brave. If you have slain one of our warriors, and helped
to kill others, you have a life of your own ready to give
away in return. Some of my young men thought that the
blood of a pale-face was too thin; that it would refuse to
run under the Huron knife. You will show them it is not
so; your heart is stout as well as your body. It is a
pleasure to make such a prisoner; should my warriors say
that the death of le Loup Cervier ought not to be forgotten,
and that he cannot travel towards the land of spirits alone,
that his enemy must be sent to overtake him, they will
remember that he fell by the hand of a brave, and send you
after him with such signs of our friendship as shall not make
him ashamed to keep your company. I have spoken; you
know what I have said.”
“True enough, Mingo, all true as the gospel,” returned
the simple-minded hunter; “you have spoken, and I do
know not only what you have said, but, what is still more
important, what you mean. I dare to say your warrior
the Lynx, was a stout-hearted brave, and worthy of your
fri'ndship and respect, but I do not feel unworthy to keep
his company, without any passport from your hands. Nevertheless,
here I am, ready to receive judgment from your
council, if, indeed, the matter was not detarmined among
you, afore I got back.”
“My old men would not sit in council over a pale-face
until they saw him among them,” answered Rivenoak, looking
around him a little ironically; “they said it would be
like sitting in council over the winds; they go where they
There was one voice that spoke in your favour, Deerslayer,
but it was alone, like the song of the wren whose mate has
been struck by the hawk.”
“I thank that voice whosever it may have been, Mingo,
and will say it was as true a voice, as the rest were lying
voices. A furlough is as binding on a pale-face, if he be
honest, as it is on a red-skin; and was it not so, I would
never bring disgrace on the Delawares, among whom I may
be said to have received my edication. But words are useless,
and lead to braggin' feelin's; here I am; act your will
on me.”
Rivenoak made a sign of acquiescence, and then a short
conference was privately held among the chiefs. As soon as
the latter ended, three or four young men fell back from
among the armed group, and disappeared. Then it was
signified to the prisoner that he was at liberty to go at large
on the point, until a council was held concerning his fate.
There was more of seeming, than of real confidence, however,
in this apparent liberality, inasmuch as the young men
mentioned, already formed a line of sentinels across the
breadth of the point, inland, and escape from any other part
was out of the question. Even the canoe was removed beyond
this line of sentinels, to a spot where it was considered
safe from any sudden attempt. These precautions did not
proceed from a failure of confidence, but from the circumstance
that the prisoner had now complied with all the required
conditions of his parole, and it would have been considered
a commendable and honourable exploit to escape
from his foes. So nice, indeed, were the distinctions drawn
by the savages, in cases of this nature, that they often gave
their victims a chance to evade the torture, deeming it as
creditable to the captors to overtake, or to out-wit a fugitive,
when his exertions were supposed to be quickened by the
extreme jeopardy of his situation, as it was for him to get
clear from so much extraordinary vigilance.
Nor was Deerslayer unconscious of, or forgetful of, his
rights, and of his opportunities. Could he now have seen
any probable opening for an escape, the attempt would not
have been delayed a minute. But the case seemed desperate.
He was aware of the line of sentinels, and felt the
no advantages, as the canoe would have given his foes
the greatest facilities for overtaking him; else would he have
found it no difficult task to swim as far as the castle. As
he walked about the point, he even examined the spot to
ascertain if it offered no place of concealment; but its openness,
its size, and the hundred watchful glances that were
turned towards him, even while those who made them affected
not to see him, prevented any such expedient from
succeeding. The dread and disgrace of failure had no influence
on Deerslayer, who deemed it ever a point of honour
to reason and feel like a white man, rather than as an Indian,
and who felt it a sort of duty to do all he could, that did not
involve a dereliction from principle, in order to save his life.
Still he hesitated about making the effort, for he also felt
that he ought to see the chance of success before he committed
himself.
In the mean time the business of the camp appeared to
proceed in its regular train. The chiefs consulted apart,
admitting no one but the Sumach to their councils; for she,
the widow of the fallen warrior, had an exclusive right to
be heard on such an occasion. The young men strolled
about in indolent listlessness, awaiting the result with Indian
patience, while the females prepared the feast that was to
celebrate the termination of the affair, whether it proved fortunate,
or otherwise, for our hero. No one betrayed feeling;
and an indifferent observer, beyond the extreme watchfulness
of the sentinels, would have detected no extraordinary
movement or sensation to denote the real state of things.
Two or three old women put their heads together, and, it
appeared, unfavourably to the prospect of Deerslayer, by
their scowling looks and angry gestures; but a group of Indian
girls were evidently animated by a different impulse,
as was apparent by stolen glances that expressed pity and
regret. In this condition of the camp, an hour soon glided
away.
Suspense is, perhaps, the feeling, of all others, that is
most difficult to be supported. When Deerslayer landed, he
fully, in the course of a few minutes, expected to undergo the
tortures of an Indian revenge, and he was prepared to meet
than the nearer approach of suffering, and the intended victim
began seriously to meditate some desperate effort at escape,
as it might be from sheer anxiety to terminate the
scene, when he was suddenly summoned to appear, once
more, in front of his judges, who had already arranged the
band in its former order, in readiness to receive him.
“Killer of the Deer,” commenced Rivenoak, as soon as
his captive stood before him, “my aged men have listened
to wise words; they are ready to speak. You are a man
whose fathers came from beyond the rising sun; we are
children of the setting sun; we turn our faces towards the
Great Sweet Lakes, when we look towards our villages. It
may be a wise country and full of riches, towards the morning;
but it is very pleasant towards the evening. We love
most to look in that direction. When we gaze at the east,
we feel afraid, canoe after canoe bringing more and more of
your people in the track of the sun, as if their land was so full
as to run over. The red men are few already; they have
need of help. One of our best lodges has lately been emptied
by the death of its master: it will be a long time
before his son can grow big enough to sit in his place.
There is his widow; she will want venison to feed her and
her children, for her sons are yet like the young of the
robin before they quit the nest. By your hand has this
great calamity befallen her. She has two duties; one to
le Loup Cervier, and one to his children. Scalp for scalp,
life for life, blood for blood, is one law; to feed her young,
another. We know you, Killer of the Deer. You are honest;
when you say a thing, it is so. You have but one
tongue, and that is not forked, like a snake's. Your head
is never hid in the grass; all can see it. What you say,
that will you do. You are just. When you have done
wrong, it is your wish to do right, again, as soon as you
can. Here is the Sumach; she is alone in her wigwam,
with children crying around her for food; yonder is a rifle;
it is loaded and ready to be fired. Take the gun; go
forth and shoot a deer; bring the venison and lay it before
the widow of le Loup Cervier; feed her children; call yourself
her husband. After which, your heart will no longer
the cries of her children; my people will count the proper
number of warriors.”
“I fear'd this, Rivenoak,” answered Deerslayer, when
the other had ceased speaking: “yes, I did dread that it
would come to this. Howsever, the truth is soon told, and
that will put an end to all expectations on this head.
Mingo, I'm white, and Christian-born; 't would ill become
me to take a wife, under red-skin forms, from among heathen.
That which I wouldn't do in peaceable times, and
under a bright sun, still less would I do behind clouds, in
order to save my life. I may never marry; most likely
Providence, in putting me up here in the woods, has intended
I should live single, and without a lodge of my own: but
should such a thing come to pass, none but a woman of my
own colour and gifts shall darken the door of my wigwam.
As for feeding the young of your dead warrior, I would do
that cheerfully, could it be done without discredit; but it
cannot, seeing that I can never live in a Huron village.
Your own young men must find the Sumach in venison, and
the next time she marries, let her take a husband whose legs
are not long enough to overrun territory that don't belong
to him. We fou't a fair battle, and he fell; in this there is
nothin' but what a brave expects, and should be ready to
meet. As for getting a Mingo heart, as well might you expect
to see grey hairs on a boy, or the blackberry growing
on the pine. No, no, Huron; my gifts are white, so far as
wives are consarned; it is Delaware in all things touchin'
Indians.”
These words were scarcely out of the mouth of Deerslayer,
before a common murmur betrayed the dissatisfaction
with which they had been heard. The aged women, in
particular, were loud in their expressions of disgust; and the
gentle Sumach, herself, a woman quite old enough to be our
hero's mother, was not the least pacific in her denunciations.
But all the other manifestations of disappointment and discontent
were thrown into the back-ground, by the fierce resentment
of the Panther. This grim chief had thought it a
degradation to permit his sister to become the wife of a pale-face
of the Yengeese, at all, and had only given a reluctant
consent to the arrangement—one by no means unusual
the bereaved widow; and it goaded him to the quick, to find
his condescension slighted, the honour he had with so much
regret been persuaded to accord, contemned. The animal
from which he got his name, does not glare on his intended
prey, with more frightful ferocity, than his eyes gleamed on
the captive; nor was his arm backward in seconding the
fierce resentment that almost consumed his breast.
“Dog of the pale-faces!” he exclaimed, in Iroquois, “go
yell among the curs of your own evil hunting-grounds!”
The denunciation was accompanied by an appropriate
action. Even while speaking, his arm was lifted, and the
tomahawk hurled. Luckily the loud tones of the speaker
had drawn the eye of Deerslayer towards him, else would
that moment have probably closed his career. So great was
the dexterity with which this dangerous weapon was thrown,
and so deadly the intent, that it would have riven the skull
of the prisoner, had he not stretched forth an arm, and
caught the handle in one of its turns, with a readiness quite
as remarkable, as the skill with which the missile had been
hurled. The projectile force was so great, notwithstanding,
that when Deerslayer's arm was arrested, his hand was
raised above and behind his own head, and in the very attitude
necessary to return the attack. It is not certain whether
the circumstance of finding himself unexpectedly in this
menacing posture and armed, tempted the young man to retaliate,
or whether sudden resentment overcame his forbearance
and prudence. His eye kindled, however, and a small
red spot appeared on each cheek, while he cast all his energy
in the effort of his arm, and threw back the weapon at his
assailant. The unexpectedness of this blow contributed to
its success; the Panther neither raising an arm, nor bending
his head to avoid it. The keen little axe struck the victim
in a perpendicular line with the nose, directly between the
eyes, literally braining him on the spot. Sallying forward,
as the serpent darts at its enemy even while receiving its
own death-wound, this man of powerful frame, fell his length
into the open area formed by the circle, quivering in death.
A common rush to his relief, left the captive, for a single instant,
quite without the crowd; and, willing to make one desperate
effort for life he bounded off, with the activity of a
band, old and young, women and children, abandoning the
lifeless body of the Panther, where it lay, raised the yell of
alarm, and followed in pursuit.
Sudden as had been the event which induced Deerslayer
to make this desperate trial of speed, his mind was not wholly
unprepared for the fearful emergency. In the course of the
past hour, he had pondered well on the chances of such an
experiment, and had shrewdly calculated all the details of
success and failure. At the first leap, therefore, his body
was completely under the direction of an intelligence that
turned all its efforts to the best account, and prevented every
thing like hesitation or indecision, at the important instant of
the start. To this alone was he indebted for the first great advantage,
that of getting through the line of sentinels unharmed.
The manner in which this was done, though sufficiently
simple, merits a description.
Although the shores of the point were not fringed with
bushes, as was the case with most of the others on the lake,
it was owing altogether to the circumstance that the spot
had been so much used by hunters and fishermen. This
fringe commenced on what might be termed the main land,
and was as dense as usual, extending in long lines both north
and south. In the latter direction, then, Deerslayer held his
way; and, as the sentinels were a little without the commencement
of this thicket, before the alarm was clearly
communicated to them, the fugitive had gained its cover.
To run among the bushes, however, was out of the question,
and Deerslayer held his way for some forty or fifty
yards, in the water which was barely knee keep, offering as
great an obstacle to the speed of his pursuers, as it did to
his own. As soon as a favourable spot presented, he darted
through the line of bushes, and issued into the open woods.
Several rifles were discharged at Deerslayer while in the
water, and more followed as he came out into the comparative
exposure of the clear forest. But the direction of his
line of flight, which partially crossed that of the fire, the
haste with which the weapons had been aimed, and the general
confusion that prevailed in the camp, prevented any
harm from being done. Bullets whistled past him, and
many cut twigs from the branches at his side, but not one
attempts was of great service to the fugitive, who had
gained more than a hundred yards on even the leading men
of the Hurons, ere something like concert and order had entered
into the chase. To think of following with rifle in
hand was out of the question; and after emptying their
pieces in vague hopes of wounding their captive, the best
runners of the Indians threw them aside, calling out to the
women and boys to recover and load them again, as soon as
possible.
Deerslayer knew too well the desperate nature of the
struggle in which he was engaged, to lose one of the precious
moments. He also knew that his only hope was to
run in a straight line, for as soon as he began to turn, or
double, the greater number of his pursuers would put escape
out of the question. He held his way, therefore, in a diagonal
direction up the acclivity, which was neither very high
nor very steep, in this part of the mountain, but which was
sufficiently toilsome for one contending for life, to render it
painfully oppressive. There, however, he slackened his
speed, to recover breath, proceeding even at a quick walk, or
a slow trot, along the more difficult parts of the way. The
Hurons were whooping and leaping behind him; but this
he disregarded, well knowing they must overcome the difficulties
he had surmounted, ere they could reach the elevation
to which he had attained. The summit of the first hill
was now quite near him, and he saw, by the formation of
the land, that a deep glen intervened, before the base of a
second hill could be reached. Walking deliberately to the
summit, he glanced eagerly about him, in every direction,
in quest of a cover. None offered in the ground; but a
fallen tree lay near him, and desperate circumstances require
desperate remedies. This tree lay in a line parallel
to the glen, at the brow of the hill; to leap on it, and then
to force his person as close as possible under its lower side,
took but a moment. Previously to disappearing from his
pursuers, however, Deerslayer stood on the height, and gave
a cry of triumph, as if exulting at the sight of the descent
that lay before him.—In the next instant he was stretched
beneath the tree.
No sooner was this expedient adopted, than the young
the violence of the pulsations in his frame. He could hear
his heart beat, and his breathing was like the action of a
bellows in quick motion. Breath was gained, however, and
the heart soon ceased to throb, as if about to break through
its confinement. The footsteps of those who toiled up the
opposite side of the acclivity were now audible, and presently
voices and treads announced the arrival of the pursuers.
The foremost shouted as they reached the height;
then, fearful that their enemy would escape under favour
of the descent, each leaped upon the fallen tree, and
plunged into the ravine, trusting to get a sight of the pursued,
ere he reached the bottom. In this manner, Huron followed
Huron, until Natty began to hope the whole had passed.
Others succeeded, however, until quite forty had leaped
over the tree; and then he counted them, as the surest mode
of ascertaining how many could be behind. Presently all
were in the bottom of the glen, quite a hundred feet below
him, and some had even ascended part of the opposite hill,
when it became evident an inquiry was making, as to the
direction he had taken. This was the critical moment; and
one of nerves less steady, or of a training that had been neglected,
would have seized it to rise, and fly. Not so with
Deerslayer. He still lay quiet, watching with jealous vigilance
every movement below, and fast regaining his breath.
The Hurons now resembled a pack of hounds, at fault.
Little was said, but each man ran about, examining the
dead leaves, as the hound hunts for the lost scent. The
great number of moccasins that had passed made the examination
difficult, though the in-toe of an Indian was easily
to be distinguished from the freer and wider step of a
white man. Believing that no more pursuers remained behind,
and hoping to steal away unseen, Deerslayer suddenly
threw himself over the tree, and fell on the upper
side. This achievement appeared to be effected successfully,
and hope beat high in the bosom of the fugitive.
Rising to his hands and feet, after a moment lost in listening
to the sounds in the glen, in order to ascertain if he had
been seen, the young man next scrambled to the top of the
hill, a distance of only ten yards, in the expectation of getting
its brow between him and his pursuers, and himself so
his feet, walking swiftly but steadily along the summit, in a
direction opposite to that in which he had first fled. The
nature of the calls in the glen, however, soon made him uneasy,
and he sprang upon the summit, again, in order to
reconnoitre. No sooner did he reach the height than he
was seen, and the chase renewed. As it was better footing
on the level ground, Deerslayer now avoided the side-hill,
holding his flight along the ridge; while the Hurons, judging
from the general formation of the land, saw that the
ridge would soon melt into the hollow, and kept to the latter,
as the easiest mode of heading the fugitive. A few, at
the same time, turned south, with a view to prevent his escaping
in that direction; while some crossed his trail towards
the water, in order to prevent his retreat by the lake, running
southerly.
The situation of Deerslayer was now more critical than
it ever had been. He was virtually surrounded on three
sides, having the lake on the fourth. But he had pondered
well on all the chances, and took his measures with coolness,
even while at the top of his speed. As is generally
the case with the vigorous border-men, he could outrun any
single Indian among his pursuers, who were principally
formidable to him on account of their numbers, and the advantages
they possessed in position; and he would not have
hesitated to break off, in a straight line, at any spot, could
he have got the whole band again fairly behind him. But
no such chance did, or indeed could now offer; and when
he found that he was descending towards the glen, by the
melting away of the ridge, he turned short, at right angles
to his previous course, and went down the declivity with
tremendous velocity, holding his way towards the shore.
Some of his pursuers came panting up the hill, in direct
chase, while most still kept on, in the ravine, intending to
head him at its termination.
Deerslayer had now a different, though a desperate project
in view. Abandoning all thoughts of escape by the
woods, he made the best of his way towards the canoe.
He knew where it lay: could it be reached, he had only to
run the gauntlet of a few rifles, and success would be certain.
None of the warriors had kept their weapons, which
either from the uncertain hands of the women, or from
those of some well-grown boy; though most of the latter
were already out in hot pursuit. Every thing seemed propitious
to the execution of this plan, and the course being
a continued descent, the young man went over the ground
at a rate that promised a speedy termination to his toil.
As Deerslayer approached the point, several women and
children were passed, but, though the former endeavoured
to cast dried branches between his legs, the terror inspired
by his bold retaliation on the redoubted Panther, was so
great, that none dared come near enough seriously to molest
him. He went by all triumphantly, and reached the
fringe of bushes. Plunging through these, our hero found
himself once more in the lake, and within fifty feet of the
canoe. Here he ceased to run, for he well understood that
his breath was now all-important to him. He even stooped,
as he advanced, and cooled his parched mouth, by scooping
up water in his hand, to drink. Still the moments pressed, and
he soon stood at the side of the canoe. The first glance told
him that the paddles had been removed! This was a sore
disappointment, after all his efforts, and, for a single moment,
he thought of turning, and of facing his foes by walking
with dignity into the centre of the camp, again. But an
infernal yell, such as the American savage alone can raise,
proclaimed the quick approach of the nearest of his pursuers,
and the instinct of life triumphed. Preparing himself
duly, and giving a right direction to its bows, he ran off into
the water bearing the canoe before him, threw all his
strength and skill into a last effort, and cast himself forward
so as to fall into the bottom of the light craft, without materially
impeding its way. Here he remained on his back,
both to regain his breath, and to cover his person from the
deadly rifle. The lightness, which was such an advantage
in paddling the canoes, now operated unfavourably. The
material was so like a feather, that the boat had no momentum;
else would the impulse in that smooth and placid sheet
have impelled it to a distance from the shore, that would
have rendered paddling with the hands safe. Could such a
point once be reached, Deerslayer thought he might get far
enough out to attract the attention of Chingachgook and Judith,
a circumstance that promised every thing. As the young
man lay in the bottom of the canoe, he watched its movements,
by studying the tops of the trees on the mountain-side,
and judged of his distance by the time and the motion.
Voices on the shore were now numerous, and he heard
something said about manning the raft, which, fortunately
for the fugitive, lay at a considerable distance, on the other
side of the point.
Perhaps the situation of Deerslayer had not been more
critical that day, than it was at this moment. It certainly
had not been one half as tantalizing. He lay perfectly
quiet, for two or three minutes, trusting to the single sense
of hearing, confident that the noise in the lake would reach
his ears, did any one venture to approach by swimming.
Once or twice, he fancied that the element was stirred by
the cautions movement of an arm, and then he perceived it
was the wash of the water on the pebbles of the strand; for,
in mimicry of the ocean, it is seldom that those little lakes
are so totally tranquil, as not to possess a slight heaving and
setting on their shores. Suddenly all the voices ceased, and
a death-like stillness pervaded the spot; a quietness as profound
as if all lay in the repose of inanimate life. By this
time, the canoe had drifted so far as to render nothing visible
to Deerslayer, as he lay on his back, except the blue
void of space, and a few of those brighter rays that proceed
from the effulgence of the sun, marking his proximity. It
was not possible to endure this uncertainty long. The young
man well knew that the profound stillness foreboded evil, the
savages never being so silent, as when about to strike a
blow; resembling the stealthy foot of the panther ere he
takes his leap. He took out a knife, and was about to cut
a hole through the bark, in order to get a view of the shore,
when he paused from a dread of being seen in the operation,
which would direct the enemy where to aim their bullets.
At this instant a rifle was fired, and the ball pierced both
sides of the canoe, within eighteen inches of the spot where
his head lay. This was close work, but our hero had too
lately gone through that which was closer, to be appalled.
He lay still half a minute longer, and then he saw the summit
of an oak coming slowly within his narrow horizon.
Unable to account for this change, Deerslayer could restrain
his impatience no longer. Hitching his body along,
with the utmost caution, he got his eye at the bullet-hole,
and fortunately commanded a very tolerable view of the
point. The canoe, by one of those imperceptible impulses
that so often decide the fate of men as well as the course
of things, had inclined southerly, and was slowly drifting
down the lake. It was lucky that Deerslayer had given it
a shove sufficiently vigorous to send it past the end of
the point ere it took this inclination, or it must have gone
ashore again. As it was, it drifted so near it as to bring
the tops of two or three trees within the range of the young
man's view, as has been mentioned, and, indeed, to come in
quite as close proximity with the extremity of the point as
was at all safe. The distance could not much have exceeded
a hundred feet, though fortunately a light current of air,
from the south-west, began to set it slowly off shore.
Deerslayer now felt the urgent necessity of resorting to
some expedient to get farther from his foes, and, if possible,
to apprise his friends of his situation. The distance rendered
the last difficult, while the proximity to the point rendered
the first indispensable. As was usual in such craft,
a large, round, smooth stone was in each end of the canoe,
for the double purposes of seats and ballast; one of these
was within reach of his feet. This stone he contrived to
get so far between his legs as to reach it with his hands,
and then he managed to roll it to the side of its fellow in
the bows, where the two served to keep the trim of the light
boat, while he worked his own body as far aft as possible.
Before quitting the shore, and as soon as he perceived that
the paddles were gone, Deerslayer had thrown a bit of dead
branch into the canoe, and this was within reach of his arm.
Removing the cap he wore, he put it on the end of this
stick, and just let it appear over the edge of the canoe, as
far as possible from his own person. This ruse was scarcely
adopted, before the young man had a proof how much
he had underrated the intelligence of his enemies. In contempt
of an artifice so shallow and common-place, a bullet
was fired directly through another part of the canoe,
which actually razed his skin. He dropped the cap, and
instantly raised it immediately over his head, as a safeguard.
was more probable, the Hurons feeling certain of recovering
their captive, wished to take him alive.
Deerslayer lay passive a few minutes longer, his eye at
the bullet-hole, however, and much did he rejoice at seeing
that he was drifting, gradually, farther and farther from the
shore. When he looked upward, the tree-tops had disappeared,
but he soon found that the canoe was slowly turning,
so as to prevent his getting a view of any thing at his
peep-hole but of the two extremities of the lake. He now
bethought him of the stick, which was crooked, and offered
some facilities for rowing, without the necessity of rising.
The experiment succeeded, on trial, better even than
he had hoped, though his great embarrassment was to keep
the canoe straight. That his present manœuvre was seen,
soon became apparent by the clamour on the shore, and a
bullet entering the stern of the canoe, traversed its length,
whistling between the arms of our hero, and passed out at the
head. This satisfied the fugitive that he was getting away
with tolerable speed, and induced him to increase his efforts.
He was making a stronger push than common, when another
messenger from the point broke the stick out-board,
and at once deprived him of his oar. As the sound of
voices seemed to grow more and more distant, however,
Deerslayer determined to leave all to the drift until he
believed himself beyond the reach of bullets. This was
nervous work, but it was the wisest of all the expedients
that offered; and the young man was encouraged to persevere
in it, by the circumstance that he felt his face fanned
by the air, a proof that there was a little more wind.
| CHAPTER XII. The deerslayer: or, The first war-path | |