University of Virginia Library

19. CHAPTER XVIII.
Additional Traits of the civilized Savage.

When Captain Pipe had saved money enough
for the purpose, he one day went to Albany, and
bought him a handsome musket to shoot ducks with,
as he said. From this time his industry flagged
not a little, and he passed much of his time in the
woods along the river, and sometimes nobody knew
where he was gone or what was his object. His
object, his sole object was revenge. He hated
Colonel Vancour, because he himself had forfeited
his protection by his base ingratitude; he hated Sybrandt,
for having wounded and conquered him; and,
above all, he hated Catalina, for having robbed him
of one of the sweetest moments of revenge, by cautioning
Sybrandt against his wiles, and furnishing
him with a weapon to defeat them. Finally, he
knew that he could consummate his revenge on all
three, by taking the life of Catalina. This he purposed
to do the first safe opportunity, and then flee
into Canada to the remnant of his tribe. For this
purpose, the moment he had got the musket, which
was safer than his knife, by enabling him to commit
the crime unseen, he set about his purpose with
the patience, and cunning, and perseverance which
savages are known to exercise in the prosecution
of their revenge. But still, whatever may be the
intensity of the Indian desire for vengeance, it is in

some measure a point of honour to achieve it at the
least possible risk to himself. In all their undertakings,
the savages never wantonly or unnecessarily
trifle with their own safety. They die bravely
but they seldom seek death.

Wherever Catalina went he kept her in his eye,
hovering and lounging at a distance, apparently
taking no notice of her, but intent on his game. In
the daytime he was prowling about the deep glen
we have described as once a favourite resort of
Sybrandt, in hopes the young lady might chance to
pay it a visit; and at night he was on the watch
about the mansion-house, like a hungry wolf thirsting
for the blood of his victim. The barking of the
dogs often excited the notice of the household, who
believed it was occasioned by the maraudings of
wild beasts, which at that time were no uncommon
visiters. On one or two occasions a watch was set;
but nothing was discovered, for a more watchful,
wary enemy was watching them.

One dark, cloudy night, in the sultry month
of August, Catalina was sitting at her window,
which opened towards a copse of bushes and vines
that had been suffered to grow up in a state of
wild luxuriance, for the purpose of sheltering a hundred
little birds, that sung and built their nests, and
raised their young in safety among the tangled
branches. It had rained early in the evening, leaving
a dark, heavy sky, loaded with vapours, and a
sweltering heat in the air, that disposed both mind
and body to indolent relaxation. Swarms of little
fireflies flitted gayly among the grass and foliage,
illuminating the dark obscurity; and at far distance,
the lazy lightnings flashed dimly at intervals upon
the bosom of the dun, moveless clouds. Finding

the light in her room attracted a vast variety of the
wandering insects of the night, Catalina removed
it into a little closet adjoining, and seating herself
again at the window, indulged a long glance at
the past, a long and anxious look into the future.

For some time past the hearts of Sybrandt and
Catalina had been quietly and imperceptibly drawing
nearer to each other. As they were more together,
the former gradually overcame his shy
awkwardness, and that propensity to create mortifications
to himself which had been the bane of his
early life. Having no one to excite jealousy, and
no fear of ridicule before his eyes, his heart and his
intellects gradually budded, blossomed, and expanded
into full maturity. The riches of knowledge
which had hitherto lain buried amid the rubbish of
awkward rusticity, the sprightly good-humour and
spirit which had been repressed by Sybrandt's great
talents for inflicting self-torment, now began to come
forth in rich profusion, exhibiting a brighter polish
every day in the soft collision with the purer metal
of a sprightly, cultivated female mind. He was
fast becoming what nature had intended him, an
object of interest and consideration to all around
him; and the star of woman was gradually leading
him to the haven of happiness as well as distinction.
“How much my cousin Sybrandt improves every
day,” thought Catalina, as she sat at the open window,
and sighed to the silence of night and darkness.

The family, all but her, had now retired to repose,
when suddenly a loud growling of the dogs awoke
her from her revery. At the same instant she
thought she distinguished something or somebody
crouching about the little copsewood. In another
instant she distinctly heard something like the shutting

of a penknife, and saw a number of sparks of fire
flash in the obscurity whence the sound seemed
to proceed. The young lady started, and was reflecting
a moment what this could mean, when the
same sound, the same flashing of sparks of fire occurred,
followed by a hissing sound, and a blue
flame rising apparently out of the earth. The dogs
now began to bark most furiously, and Catalina, shutting
her window, soon reposed her chaste and lovely
limbs between the snowy virgin sheets, not more
white and innocent than herself. She pondered for
a while on the odd things she had witnessed; but
soon the vision of a tall, dark-eyed youth, with teeth
whiter than her own fair bosom, or all Afric's ivory,
flitted before her half-sleeping, half-waking fancy,
and closing her bright blue eye with gentle pressure,
prompted her innocent sleep with a thousand glowing
visions of future happiness.

Some little discussion took place at breakfast concerning
the uproar among the dogs, and Catalina
mentioned what she had seen. The general opinion
was that the noise was imaginary or accidental
—the sparks nothing more than fireflies, and the
blue flame a will-o'-the-wisp. In a little while the
whole was forgotten, nor would it ever have been recalled
to their recollection but for a circumstance
which took place not long afterward.