University of Virginia Library

1. THE PIONEERS;
OR THE
SOURCES OF THE SUSQUEHANNA.

1. CHAPTER I.

Near the centre of the great State of New-York
lies an extensive district of country, whose
surface is a succession of hills and dales, or, to
speak with greater deference to geographical definitions,
of mountains and valleys. It is among
these hills that the Delaware takes its rise; and
flowing from the limpid lakes and thousand springs
of this country, the numerous sources of the
mighty Susquehanna meander through the valleys,
until, uniting, they form one of the proudest
streams of which the old United States could boast.
The mountains are generally arable to the top,
although instances are not wanting, where their
sides are jutted with rocks, that aid greatly in
giving that romantic character to the country,
which it so eminently possesses. The vales are
narrow, rich, and cultivated; with a stream uniformly
winding through each, now gliding peacefully
under the brow of one of the hills, and then
suddenly shooting across the plain, to wash the

feet of its opposite rival. Beautiful and thriving
villages are found interspersed along the margins
of the small lakes, or situated at those points of the
streams which are favourable to manufacturing;
and neat and comfortable farms, with every indication
of wealth about them, are scattered profusely
through the vales, and even to the mountain tops.
Roads diverge in every direction, from the even
and graceful bottoms of the valleys, to the most
rugged and intricate passes of the hills Academies,
and minor edifices for the encouragement
of learning, meet the eye of the stranger, at every
few miles, as he winds his way through this uneven
territory; and places for the public worship of
God abound with that frequency which characterizes
a moral and reflecting people, and with that
variety of exterior and canonical government
which flows from unfettered liberty of conscience.
In short, the whole district is hourly exhibiting
how much can be done, in even a rugged country,
and with a severe climate, under the dominion
of mild laws, and where every man feels a direct
interest in the prosperity of a commonwealth, of
which he knows himself to form a distinct and independent
part. The expedients of the pioneers
who first broke ground in the settlement of this
country, are succeeded by the permanent improvements
of the yeoman, who intends to leave
his remains to moulder under the sod which he
tills, or, perhaps, of the son, who, born in the land,
piously wishes to linger around the grave of his
father. Only forty years have passed since this
whole territory was a wilderness.

Very soon after the establishment of the independence
of the States by the peace of 1783, the
enterprise of their citizens was directed to a development
of the natural advantages of their
widely extended dominions. Before the war of

the revolution the inhabited parts of the colony
of New-York were limited to less than a tenth
of her possessions. A narrow belt of country,
extending for a short distance on either side of the
Hudson, with a similar occupation of fifty miles
on the banks of the Mohawk, together with the
islands of Nassau and Staten, and a few insulated
settlements on chosen land along the margins of
streams, composed the country that was then inhabited
by less than two hundred thousand souls.
Within the short period we have mentioned, her
population has spread itself over five degrees of
latitude and seven of longitude, and has swelled
to the powerful number of nearly a million and
a half, who are maintained in abundance, and can
look forward to ages before the evil day must arrive,
when their possessions will become unequal
to their wants.

Our tale begins in 1793, about seven years
after the commencement of one of the earliest of
those settlements, which have conduced to effect
that magical change in the power and condition
of the state, to which we have alluded.

It was near the setting of the sun, on a clear,
cold day in December of that year, when a sleigh
was moving slowly up one of the mountains in
the district which we have described. The day
had been fine for the season, and but two or three
large clouds, whose colour seemed brightened by
the light reflected from the mass of snow that
covered the earth, floated in a sky of the purest
blue. The road wound along the brow of a precipice,
and on one side was upheld by a foundation
of logs, piled for many feet, one upon the other,
while a narrow excavation in the mountain, in the
opposite direction, had made a passage of sufficient
width for the ordinary travelling of that day But
logs, excavation, and every thing that did not reach

for several feet above the earth, lay promiscuously
buried under the snow. A single track, barely
wide enough to receive the sleigh, denoted the
route of the highway, and this was sunken near
two feet below the surrounding surface. In the
vale, which lay at a distance of several hundred
feet beneath them, there was what in the language
of the country was called a clearing, and
all the usual improvements of a new settlement;
these even extended up the hill to the point
where the road turned short and ran across the
level land, which lay on the summit of the mountain;
but the summit itself yet remained a forest.
There was a glittering in the atmosphere,
as if it were filled with innumerable shining
particles, and the noble bay horses that drew the
sleigh were covered, in many parts, with a
coat of frost. The vapour from their nostrils was
seen to issue like smoke; and every object in the
view, as well as every arrangement of the travellers,
denoted the depth of a winter in the mountains.
The harness, which was of a deep dull black, differing
from the glossy varnishing of the present day,
was ornamented with enormous plates and buckles
of brass, that shone like gold in the transient beams
of the sun, which found their way obliquely through
the tops of the trees. Huge saddles, studded with
nails of the same material, and fitted with cloths
that admirably served as blankets to the shoulders
of the animals, supported four high, square-topped
turrets, through which the stout reins led from
the mouths of the horses to the hands of the driver,
who was a negro, of apparently twenty years of
age. His face, which nature had coloured with
a glistening black, was now mottled with the cold,
and his large shining eyes were moistened with a
liquid that flowed from the same cause; still
there was a smiling expression of good humour
in his happy countenance, that was created by
the thoughts of his home, and a Christmas fireside,
with its Christmas frolics. The sleigh was
one of those large, comfortable, old-fashioned
conveyances, which would admit a whole family
within its bosom, but which now contained only
two passengers besides the driver. Its outside
was of a modest green, and its inside of a fiery red,
that was intended to convey the idea of heat in
that cold climate. Large buffalo skins, trimmed
around the edges with red cloth, cut into festoons,
covered the back of the sleigh, and were spread
over its bottom, and drawn up around the feet of
the travellers—one of whom was a man of middle
age, and the other a female, just entering
upon womanhood. The former was of a large stature;
but the precautions he had taken to guard
against the cold, left but little of his person exposed
to view. A great-coat, that was abundantly
ornamented, if it were not made more
comfortable, by a profusion of furs, enveloped
the whole of his figure, excepting the head, which
was covered with a cap of martin skins, lined
with morocco, the sides of which were made to fall,
if necessary, and were now drawn close over the
ears, and were fastened beneath his chin with a
black riband; its top was surmounted with the tail
of the animal whose skin had furnished the materials
for the cap, which fell back not ungracefully,
a few inches behind the head. From beneath this
masque were to be seen part of a fine manly face,
and particularly a pair of expressive, large blue
eyes, that promised extraordinary intellect, covert
humour, and great benevolence. The form of his
companion was literally hid beneath the multitude
and variety of garments which she wore. There
were furs and silks peeping from under a large
camblet cloak, with a thick flannel lining, that,
by its cut and size, was evidently intended for a
masculine wearer. A huge hood of black silk,
that was quilted with down, concealed the whole
of her head, except at a small opening in front
for breath, through which occasionally sparkled a
pair of animated eyes of the deepest black.

Both the father and daughter (for such was the
connexion between the travellers) were too much
occupied with their different reflections to break
the stillness, that received little or no interruption
from the easy gliding of the sleigh, by the sound
of their voices. The former was thinking of the
wife that had held this their only child fondly to
her bosom, when, four years before, she had reluctantly
consented to relinquish the society of
her daughter, in order that the latter might enjoy
the advantages which the city could afford to her
education. A few months afterwards death had
deprived him of the remaining companion of his
solitude; but still he had enough of real regard for
his child, not to bring her into the comparative wilderness
in which he dwelt, until the full period had
expired, to which he had limited her juvenile
labours. The reflections of the daughter were
less melancholy, and mingled with a pleased astonishment
at the novel scenery that she met at every
turn in the road.

The mountain on which they were journeying
was covered with pines, that rose without a branch
seventy or eighty feet, and which frequently tower
ed to an additional height, that more than equalled
that elevation. Through the innumerable vistas
that opened beneath the lofty trees the eye could
penetrate, until it was met by a distant inequality
in the ground, or was stopped by a view of the
summit of the mountain which lay on the opposite
side of the valley to which they were hastening.
The dark trunks of the trees, rose from the pure

white of the snow, in regularly formed shafts, until,
at a great height, their branches shot forth their
horizontal limbs, that were covered with the meager
foliage of an evergreen, affording a melancholy
contrast to the torpor of nature below. To the
travellers there seemed to be no wind; but these
pines waved majestically at their topmost boughs,
sending forth a dull, sighing sound, that was quite
in consonance with the scene.

The sleigh had glided for some distance along
the even surface, and the gaze of the female was
bent in inquisitive, and, perhaps, timid glances,
into the recesses of the forest, which were lighted
by the unsullied covering of the earth, when a
loud and continued howling was heard, pealing
under the long arches of the woods, like the cry
of a numerous pack of hounds. The instant the
sounds reached the ears of the gentleman, whatever
might have been the subject of his meditations,
he forgot it; for he cried aloud to the
black—

“Hold up, Aggy; there is old Hector; I should
know his bay among ten thousand. The Leather-stocking
has put his hounds into the hills this clear
day, and they have started their game, you hear.
There is a deer-track a few rods ahead;—and
now, Bess, if thou canst muster courage enough to
stand fire, I will give thee a saddle for thy Christmas
dinner.”

The black drew up, with a cheerful grin upon
his chilled features, and began thrashing his arms
together, in order to restore the circulation to
his fingers, while the speaker stood erect, and,
throwing aside his outer covering, stept from the
sleigh upon a bank of snow, which sustained his
weight without yielding more than an inch or two.
A storm of sleet had fallen and frozen upon the
surface a few days before, and but a slight snow had

occurred since to purify, without weakening its
covering.

In a few moments the speaker succeeded in extricating
a double-barrelled fowling-piece from
amongst a multitude of trunks and bandboxes.
After throwing aside the thick mittens which had
encased his hands, that now appeared in a pair of
leather gloves tipped with fur, he examined his
priming, and was about to move forward, when the
light bounding noise of an animal plunging through
the woods was heard, and directly a fine buck darted
into the path, a short distance ahead of him. The
appearance of the animal was sudden, and his
flight inconceivably rapid; but the traveller appeared
to be too keen a sportsman to be disconcerted
by either. As it came first into view he
raised the fowling-piece to his shoulder, and, with
a practised eye and steady hand, drew a trigger;
but the deer dashed forward undaunted, and apparently
unhurt. Without lowering his piece, the
traveller turned its muzzle towards his intended
victim, and fired again. Neither discharge, however,
seemed to have taken effect.

The whole scene had passed with a rapidity that
confused the female, who was unconsciously rejoicing
in the escape of the buck, as he rather darted
like a meteor, than ran across the road before her,
when a sharp, quick sound struck her ear, quite
different from the full, round reports of her father's
gun, but still sufficiently distinct to be
known as the concussion produced by fire-arms.
At the same instant that she heard this unexpected
report, the buck sprang from the snow, to a great
height in the air, and directly a second discharge,
similar in sound to the first, followed, when the
animal came to the earth, falling headlong, and
rolling over on the crust once or twice with its
own velocity. A loud shout was given by the unseen

marksman, as triumphing in his better aim;
and a couple of men instantly appeared from behind
the trunks of two of the pines, where they had
evidently placed themselves in expectation of the
passage of the deer.

“Ha! Natty, had I known you were in ambush,
I would not have fired,” cried the traveller, moving
towards the spot where the deer lay—near to
which he was followed by the delighted black,
with the sleigh; “but the sound of old Hector was
too exhilirating to let me be quiet; though I hardly
think I struck him either.”

“No—no—Judge,” returned the hunter, with
an inward chuckle, and with that look of exultation,
that indicates a consciousness of superior
skill; “you burnt your powder, only to warm
your nose this cold evening. Did ye think to stop
a full grown buck, with Hector and the slut open
upon him, within sound, with that robin pop-gun
in your hand? There's plenty of pheasants
amongst the swamps; and the snow birds are flying
round your own door, where you may feed
them with crumbs, and shoot enough for a potpie,
any day; but if you're for a buck, or a little
bear's meat, Judge, you'll have to take the long
rifle, with a greased wadding, or you'll waste
more powder than you'll fill stomachs, I'm thinking.”

As the speaker concluded, be drew his bare hand
across the bottom of his nose, and again opened
his enormous mouth with a kind of inward laugh.

“The gun scatters well, Natty, and has killed
a deer before now,” said the traveller, smiling
good humouredly. “One barrel was charged
with buck shot; but the other was loaded for birds
only.—Here are two hurts that he has received;
one through his neck, and the other directly

through his heart. It is by no means certain,
Natty, but I gave him one of the two”

“Let who will kill him,” said the hunter, rather
surlily, “I suppose the cretur is to be eaten.”
So saying, he drew a large knife from a leathern
sheath, which was stuck through his girdle or sash,
and cut the throat of the animal. “If there is two
balls through the deer, I want to know if there
wasn't two rifles fired—besides, who ever saw
such a ragged hole from a smooth-bore, as this is
through the neck?—and you will own yourself,
Judge, that the buck fell at the last shot, which
was sent from a truer and a younger hand than
your'n or mine 'ither; but for my part, although
I am a poor man, I can live without the venison,
but I don't love to give up my lawful dues in a free
country. Though, for the matter of that, might
often makes right here, as well as in the old country,
for what I can see.”

An air of sullen dissatisfaction pervaded the
manner of the nunter during the whole of this
speech; yet he thought it prudent to utter the
close of the sentence in such an under tone, as to
leave nothing audible but the grumbling sounds of
his voice.

“Nay, Natty,” rejoined the traveller, with undisturbed
good humour, “it is for the honour that
I contend. A few dollars will pay for the venison;
but what will requite me for the lost honour
of a buck's tail in my cap? Think, Natty, how
I should triumph over that quizzing dog, Dick
Jones, who has failed seven times this season already
and has only brought in one wood-chuck
and a few gray squirrels.”

“Ah! the game is becoming hard to find, indeed,
Judge, with your clearings and betterments,”
said the old hunter, with a kind of disdainful resignation.
“The time has been, when I have

shot thirteen deer, without counting the fa'ns,
standing in the door of my own hut;—and for
bear's meat, if one wanted a ham or so from the
cretur, he had only to watch a-nights, and he
could shoot one by moonlight, through the cracks
of the logs; no fear of his over-sleeping himself,
n'ither, for the howling of the wolves was sartin
to keep his eyes open. There's old Hector,”—
patting with affection a tall hound, of black and
yellow spots, with white belly and legs, that just
then came in on the scent, accompanied by the
slut he had mentioned; “see where the wolves bit
his throat, the night I druve them from the venison
I was smoking on the chimbly top—that dog is
more to be trusted nor many a Christian man; for
he never forgets a friend, and loves the hand that
gives him bread.”

There was a peculiarity in the manner of the
hunter, that struck the notice of the young female,
who had been a close and interested observer of
his appearance and equipments, from the moment
he first came into view. He was tall, and so meagre
as to make him seem above even the six feet
that he actually stood in his stockings. On his
head, which was thinly covered with lank, sandy
hair, he wore a cap made of fox-skin, resembling
in shape the one we have already described, although
much inferior in finish and ornaments. His
face was skinny, and thin almost to emaciation;
but yet bore no signs of disease;—on the contrary,
it had every indication of the most robust and
enduring health. The cold and the exposure had,
together, given it a colour of uniform red; his
gray eyes were glancing under a pair of shaggy
brow, that overhung them in long hairs of gray
mingled with their natural hue; his scraggy neck
was bare, and burnt to the same tint with his face;
though a small part of a shirt collar, made of

the country check, was to be seen above the
over-dress he wore. A kind of coat, made of
dressed deer-skin, with the hair on, was belted
close to his lank body, by a girdle of coloured
worsted. On his feet were deer-skin moccasins,
ornamented with porcupines' quills, after the manner
of the Indians, and his limbs were guarded
with long leggings of the same material as the
moccasins, which, gartering over the knees of his
tarnished buck-skin breeches, had obtained for
him, among the settlers, the nick-name of Leather-stocking,
notwithstanding his legs were protected
beneath, in winter, by thick garments of woollen,
duly made of good blue yarn. Over his left
shoulder was slung a belt of deer-skin, from which
depended an enormous ox horn, so thinly scraped,
as to discover the dark powder that it contained.
The larger end was fitted ingeniously and securely
with a wooden bottom, and the other was stopped
tight by a little plug. A leathern pouch hung
before him, from which, as he concluded his last
speech, he took a small measure, and, filling it
accurately with powder, he commenced reloading
the rifle, which, as its butt rested on the snow
before him, reached nearly to the top of his fox-skin
cap.

The traveller had been closely examining the
wounds during these movements, and now, without
heeding the ill humour of the hunter's manner,
exclaimed—

“I would fain establish a right, Natty, to the
honour of this capture; and surely if the hit in the
neck be mine, it is enough; for the shot in the
heart was unnecessary—what we call an act of
supererogation, Leather-stocking.”

“You may call it by what larned name you
please, Judge,” said the hunter, throwing his rifle
across his left arm, and knocking up a brass lid

in the breech, from which he took a small piece of
greased leather, and wrapping a ball in it forced
them down by main strength on the powder,
where he continued to pound them while speaking.
“It's far easier to call names, than to shoot
a buck on the spring; but the cretur come by his
end from a younger hand than 'ither your'n or
mine, as I said before.”

“What say you, my friend,” cried the traveller,
turning pleasantly to Natty's companion; “shall
we toss up this dollar for the honour, and you
keep the silver if you lose -what say you, friend?”

“That I killed the deer,” answered the young
man, with a little haughtiness, as he leaned on
another long rifle. similar to that of Natty's.

“Here are two to one, indeed,” replied the
Judge, with a smile; “I am out-voted—overruled,
as we say on the bench. There is Aggy,
he can't vote. being a slave; and Bess is a minor
—so I must even make the best of it. But you'll
sell me the venison; and the deuse is in it, but I
make a good story about its death.”

“The meat is none of mine to sell,” said Leather-stocking,
adopting a little of his companion's
hauteur; “for my part, I have known animals travel
days with shots in the neck, and I'm none of
them who'll rob a man of his rightful dues.”

“You are tenacious of your rights, this cold
evening, Natty,” returned the Judge, with unconquerable
good nature; “but what say you, young
man, will three dollars pay you for the buck?”

“First let us determine the question of right to
the satisfaction of us both,” said the youth, firmly
but respectfully, and with a pronunciation and
language vastly superior to his appearance; “with
how many shot did you load your gun?”

“With five, sir,” said the Judge, gravely, a

little struck with the other's manner; “are they
not enough to slay a buck like this?”

“One would do it; but,” moving to the tree
from behind which he had appeared, “you know,
sir, you fired in this direction—here are four of
the bullets in the tree.”

The Judge examined the fresh marks in the
rough bark of the pine, and, shaking his head,
said with a laugh—

“You are making out the case against yourself,
my young advocate—where is the fifth?”

“Here,” said the youth, throwing aside the
rough over-coat that he wore, and exhibiting a
hole in his under garment, through which large
drops of blood were oozing.

“Good God!” exclaimed the Judge, with horror;
“have I been trifling here about an empty
distinction, and a fellow-creature suffering from
my hands without a murmur? But hasten—quick
—get into my sleigh—it is but a mile to the village,
where surgical aid can be obtained;—all
shall be done at my expense, and thou shalt live
with me until thy wound is healed—ay, and for
ever afterwards, too.”

“I thank you, sir, for your good intentions, but
must decline your offer. I have a friend who would
be uneasy were he to hear that I am hurt and
away from him. The injury is but slight, and the
bullet has missed the bones; but I believe, sir,
you will now admit my title to the veuison.”

“Admit it!” repeated the agitated Judge; “I
here give thee a right to shoot deer, or bears, or
any thing thou pleasest in my woods, for ever.
Leather-stocking is the only other man that I
have granted the same privilege to; and the time
is coming when it will be of value. But I buy
your deer—here, this bill will pay thee, both for
thy shot and my own.”

The old hunter gathered his tall person up into
an air of pride, during this dialogue, and now
muttered in an under tone—

“There's them living who say, that Nathaniel
Bumppo's right to shoot in these hills, is of older
date than Marmaduke Temple's right to forbid
him. But if there's a law about it at all, though
who ever heard tell of a law, that a man should'nt
kill deer where he pleased!—but if there is a law
at all, it should be to keep people from the use of
them smooth-bores. A body never knows where
his lead will fly, when he pulls the trigger of one
of them fancified fire-arms.”

Without attending to the soliloquy of Natty,
the youth bowed his head silently to the offer of
the bank note, and replied—

“Excuse me, sir, I have need of the venison.”

“But this will buy you many deer,” said the
judge; “take it, I entreat you,” and lowering his
voice to nearly a whisper, he added—“it is for a
hundred dollars.”

For an instant only, the youth seemed to hesitate,
and then, blushing even through the high colour
that the cold had given to his cheeks, as if
with inward shame at his own weakness, he again
proudly declined the offer.

During this scene the female arose, and, regardless
of the cold air, she threw back the hood which
concealed her features, and now spoke, with great
earnestness—

“Surely, surely—young man—sir—you would
not pain my father so much, as to have him think
that he leaves a fellow-creature in this wilderness,
whom his own hand has injured. I entreat you
will go with us, and receive medical aid for your
hurts.”

Whether his wound became more painful, or
there was something irresistible in the voice and

manner of the fair pleader for her father's feelings,
we know not, but the haughty distance of
the young man's manner was sensibly softened by
this appeal, and he stood, in apparent doubt, as
if reluctant to comply with, and yet unwilling to
refuse her request. The judge, for such being
his office, must, in future, be his title, watched,
with no little interest, the display of this singular
contention in the feelings of the youth, and advancing,
kindly took his hand, and, as he pulled him
gently towards the sleigh, urged him to enter it.

“There is no human aid nearer than Templeton,”
he said; “and the hut of Natty is full three
miles from this;—come—come, my young friend,
go with us, and let the new doctor look to this
shoulder of thine. Here is Natty will take the
tidings of thy welfare to thy friend; and should'st
thou require it, thou shalt be returned to thy
home in the morning.”

The young man succeeded in extricating his
hand from the warm grasp of the judge, but continued
to gaze on the face of the female, who, regardless
of the cold was still standing with her
fine features exposed, which expressed feelings
that eloquently seconded the request of her father.
Leather-stocking stood, in the mean time, leaning
upon his long rifle, with his head turned a little
to one side, as if engaged in deep and sagacious
musing; when, having apparently satisfied
his doubts, by revolving the subject in his mind,
he broke silence—

“It may be best to go, lad, after all; for if the
shot hangs under the skin, my hand is getting too
old to be cutting into human flesh, as I once used
to could. Though some thirty years agone, in the
old war, when I was out under Sir William, I travelled
seventy miles alone in the howling wilderness,
with a rifle bullet in my thigh, and then cut it out

with my own jack-knife. Old Indian John knows
the time well. I met him with a party of the
Delawares, on the trail of the Iroquois, who had
been down and taken five scalps on the Schoharie.
But I made a mark on the red-skin that I'll warrant
he carried to his grave. I took him on his posteerum,
saving the lady's presence, as he got up from
the amboosh, and rattled three buck shot into his
naked hide, so close, that you might have laid a
broad joe upon them all—” here Natty stretched
out his long neck, and straightened his body, as
he opened his mouth, which exposed a single tusk
of yellow bone, while his eyes, his face, even his
whole frame, seemed to laugh, although no sound
was emitted, except a kind of thick hissing, as he
inhaled his breath in quavers. “I had lost my
bullet mould in crossing the Oneida outlet, and so
had to make shift with the buck shot; but the rifle
was true, and did'nt scatter like your two-legged
thing there, Judge, which don't do, I find, to hunt
in company with.”

Natty's apology to the delicacy of the young lady
was unnecessary, for, while he was speaking, she
was too much employed in helping her father to
remove certain articles of their baggage to hear
him. Unable to resist the kind urgency of the
travellers any longer, the youth, though still with
an unaccountable reluctance expressed in his manner,
suffered himself to be persuaded to enter the
sleigh. The black with the aid of his master threw
the buck across the baggage, and entering the
vehicle themselves, the judge invited the hunter to
do so likewise.

“No—no—” said the old man, shaking his
head; “I have work to do at home this Christmas
eve—drive on with the boy, and let your doctor
look to the shoulder; though if he will only cut out
the shot, I have yarbs that will heal the wound

quicker nor all his foreign 'intments.” He turned
and was about to move off, when, suddenly recollecting
himself, he again faced the party, and added—“If
you see any thing of Indian John about
the foot of the lake, you had better take him with
you, and let him lend the doctor a hand; for old
as he is, he is curous at cuts and bruises, and it's
likelier than not he'll be in with brooms to sweep
your Christmas ha'arths.”

“Stop—stop,” cried the youth, catching the
arm of the black as he prepared to urge his horses
forward; “Natty—you need say nothing of the
shot, nor of where I am going—remember, Natty,
as you love me.”

“Trust old Leather-stocking,” returned the
hunter, significantly; “he has'nt lived forty years
in the wilderness, and not larnt from the savages
how to hold his tongue—trust to me, lad; and remember
old Indian John.”

“And, Natty,” said the youth eagerly, still
holding the black by the arm, “I will just get the
shot extracted, and bring you up, to-night, a quarter
of the buck, for the Christmas dinner.”

He was interrupted by the hunter, who held
up his finger with an expressive gesture for silence,
and moved softly along the margin of the road,
keeping his eyes steadfastly fixed on the branches
of a pine near him. When he had obtained such
a position as he wished, he stopped, and cocking
his rifle, threw one leg far behind him, and stretching
his left arm to its utmost extent along the barrel
of his piece, he began slowly to raise its muzzle
in a line with the straight trunk of the tree. The
eyes of the group in the sleigh naturally preceded
the movement of the rifle, and they soon discovered
the object of Natty's aim. On a small dead
branch of the pine, which, at the distance of seventy
feet from the ground, shot out horizontally, immediately

beneath the living members of the tree,
sat a bird, that in the vulgar language of the
country, was indiscriminately called a pheasant
or a partridge. In size, it was but little smaller
than a common barn-yard fowl. The baying of
the dogs, and the conversation that had passed near
the root of the tree on which it was perched, had
alarmed the bird, which was now drawn up near,
the body of the pine, with a head and neck erect,
that formed nearly a straight line with its legs.
So soon as the rifle bore on the victim, Natty drew
his trigger, and the partridge fell from its height
with a force that buried it in the snow.

“Lie down, you old villain,” exclaimed Leather-stocking,
shaking his ramrod at Hector as
he bounded towards the foot of the tree, “lie
down, I say.” The dog obeyed, and Natty proceeded
with great rapidity, though with the nicest
accuracy, to re-load his piece. When this was
ended, he took up his game, and showing it to the
party without a head, he cried—“Here is a nice
tit-bit for an old man's Christmas—never mind
the venison, boy, and remember Indian John;
his yarbs are better nor all the foreign 'intments.
Here, Judge,” holding up the bird again, “do
you think a smooth-bore would pick game off their
roost, and not ruffle a feather?” The old man
gave another of his remarkable laughs, which partook
so largely of exultation, mirth, and irony,
and shaking his head, he turned, with his rifle at
a trail, and moved into the forest with short and
quick steps, that were between a walk and a trot.
At each movement that he made his body lowered
several inches, his knees yielding with an inclination
inward; but as the sleigh turned at a bend in
the road, the youth cast his eyes in quest of his old
companion, and he saw that he was already nearly
concealed by the trunks of the trees, while his dogs

were following quietly in his footsteps, occasionally
scenting the deer track, that they seemed to
know instinctively was now of no farther use to
them. Another jerk was given to the sleigh, and
Leather-stocking was hidden from view.