3. III.
“Night, in the meanwhile, came on; and the
long howl of the wolf, as he looked down from
the crag, and waited for the thick darkness in
which to descend the valley, came freezingly to
the ear of Nagoochie. `Surely,' he said to himself,
`the girl of Occony will come back. She
has too sweet a voice not to keep her word. She
will certainly come back.' While he doubted,
he believed. Indeed, though still a very young
maiden, the eyes of Jocassée had in them a great
deal that was good for little beside, than to persuade,
and force conviction; and the belief in
them was pretty extensive in the circle of her rustic
acquaintance. All people love to believe in
fine eyes, and nothing more natural than for lovers
to swear by them. Nagoochie did not swear by
those of Jocassée, but he did most religiously believe
in them; and though the night gathered
fast, and the long howl of the wolf came close
from his crag, down into the valley, the young
hunter of the green bird did not despair of the
return of the maiden.
“She did return, and the warrior was insensible.
But the motion stirred him; the lights gleamed
upon him from many torches; he opened his eyes,
and when they rested upon Jocassée, they forgot
to close again. She had brought aid enough, for
her voice was powerful as well as musical; and,
taking due care that the totem of the green bird
should be carefully concealed by the bearskin,
with which her own hands covered his bosom, she
had him lifted upon a litter, constructed of several
young saplings, which, interlaced with withes,
binding it closely together, and strewn thickly with
leaves, made a couch as soft as the wounded man
could desire. In a few hours, and the form of
Nagoochie rested beneath the roof of Attakulla,
the sire of Jocassée. She sat beside the young
hunter, and it was her hand that placed the pure
balm upon his lips, and poured into his wounds
and bruises the strong and efficacious balsam of
Indian pharmacy.
“Never was nurse more careful of her charge.
Day and night she watched by him, and few were
the hours which she then required for her own pleasure
or repose. Yet why was Jocassée so devoted
to the stranger? She never asked herself so
unnecessary a question; but as she was never so
well satisfied, seemingly, as when near him, the
probability is she found pleasure in her tendance.
It was fortunate for him and for her, that her father
was not rancorous towards the people of the
Green Bird, like the rest of the Occonies. It
might have fared hard with Nagoochie otherwise.
But Attakulla was a wise old man, and a good;
and when they brought the wounded stranger to
his lodge, he freely yielded him shelter, and went
forth himself to Chinabee, the wise medicine of
the Occonies. The eyes of Nagoochie were turned
upon the old chief, and when he heard his
name, and began to consider where he was, he
was unwilling to task the hospitality of one who
might be disposed to regard him, when known,
in an unfavorable or hostile light. Throwing
aside, therefore, the habit of circumspection, which
usually distinguishes the Indian warrior, he uncovered
his bosom, and bade the old man look upon
the totem of his people, precisely as he had done
when his eye first met that of Jocassée.
“`Thy name? What do the people of the
Green Bird call the young hunter?' asked Attakulla.
“`They name Nagoochie among the braves of
the Estato: they will call him a chief of the Cherokee,
like Toxaway,' was the proud reply.
“This reference was to a sore subject with the
Occonies, and perhaps it was quite as imprudent
as it certainly was in improper taste for him to
make it. But knowing where he was, excited by
fever, and having — to say much in little — but
an unfavorable opinion of Occony magnanimity,
he was more rash than reasonable. At that moment,
too, Jocassée had made her appearance,
and the spirit of the young warrior, desiring to
look big in her eyes, had prompted him to a fierce
speech not altogether necessary. He knew not
the generous nature of Attakulla; and when the
old man took him by the hand, spoke well of the
Green Bird, and called him his `son,' the pride of
Nagoochie was something humbled, while his
heart grew gentler than ever. His `son!' that
was the pleasant part; and as the thoughts grew
more and more active in his fevered brain, he
looked to Jocassée with such a passionate admiration
that she sunk back with a happy smile from
the flame-glance which he set upon her. And day
after day she tended him, until the fever passed
off, and the broken limb was set and had reknitted,
and the bruises were all healed upon him.
Yet he lingered. He did not think himself quite
well, and she always agreed with him in opinion.
Once and again did he set off, determined not to
return, but his limb pained him, and he felt the
fever come back, whenever he thought of Jocasée;
and so the evening found him again at the
lodge, while the fever-balm, carefully bruised in
milk, was in as great demand as ever for the invalid.
But the spirit of the warrior at length
grew ashamed of these weaknesses; and, with a
desperate effort, for which he gave himself no little
credit, he completed his determination to depart
with the coming of the new moon. But even this
decision was only effected by compromise. Love
settled the affair with conscience, after his own fashion,
and under his direction, following the dusky
maiden into the little grove that stood beside the
cottage, Nagoochie claimed her to fill the lodge
of a young warrior of the Green Bird. She
broke the wand which he presented her, and seizing
upon the torch which she carried, he buried it
in the bosom of a neighboring brook, and thus,
after their simple forest ceremonial, Jocassée became
the betrothed of Nagoochie.
