 | CHAPTER XX. The King of the Hurons |  |
20. CHAPTER XX.
Thalaba went his way,
Cautious he trod, and felt
The dangerous ground before him with his bow.
The adder in her haunts disturbed,
Lanced at the intruding staff her arrowy tongue.”
—Southey.
The time which had been lost to the voyagers by the accident
last related was more than ordinarily precious. Every breath was
removing their unconscious friends farther from them, and diminishing
the chances of a junction of the parties; for it could scarcely be
doubted that Carlton would travel without stopping during the
night which had commenced. The Huron, however, seemed never
without resource: he proposed, if his friends would spare him for
the night, to follow the count by land, seeming confident, not only
that he could overtake the boats, but that, having done so, he could
communicate with the Algonquin from the shore, by a signal which
the latter could not fail to comprehend.
The proposition seemed plausible, and after a little discussion was
generally approved. The safety of the party, depending at all
times more upon vigilance and the means of flight, than upon any
power of resistance, was not materially diminished by the temporary
withdrawal of the Indian, and a greater risk might properly have
been encountered for the vast advantage which it promised. The
twilight had entirely departed, but the moon, now several days old,
with a thousand glimmering stars, afforded a light, which the Lynx
promising to return before sunrise he set out on his lonely journey.
“He's a fool, dat Lynch is,” said Harry, making his appearance
from a covert of bushes, which served as his kitchen, soon after the
Indian's departure—“why he no wait for supper, fore he go trampoosing
'bout de country all night? dare's de little bass a-most done,
and part o' de oder; I clean 'em dreadful nice; ony smell;” and the
grateful odor that came from the bushes fully justified the negro's
raptures.
“Are you sure, Harry,” asked Henrich, “that your fire cannot be
seen from the outside?”
“Oh, yes, massa Henrich, de bush is mighty tick all around—
more fear de Injuns smell 'em, golly!” he said, taking another
relishing sniff.
Wearied and hungry, the travellers, indeed, were not backward
in doing justice to their forest cheer, and Harry Bolt, although
pertinaciously diligent in serving until Henrich and the ladies had
supped, acquitted himself afterwards at his meal as if he thought
the absence of the Lynx imposed upon him a double duty.
Count Carlton, in the meanwhile, was steadily pursuing his way,
congratulating himself on the heroic manner in which he had beaten
off a canoe-load of armed Iroquois, and anticipating the glowing
colors in which the achievement would shine, if he were fortunate
enough ever again to set foot in Castle Montaigne. Four hours after
his victory, he pressed unremittingly forward, not failing to remind
his men that if he left the enemy in possession of the battle-ground,
it was not of necessity, but quite as a matter of policy.
“It was doubtless a chief who fell, Mallory,” he said, insinuatingly,
to the man who had fired, “judging by his dress and air, you
know?”
“Yes,—certainly,—there cannot be a doubt,” replied the man,
speaking, as his officer had addressed him, in French—“and I think
up, you know.”
“Certainly, and then they flew so quickly to cover, which they
would not have done if it had been only a common man that was
killed—ah, yes, it was a chief.”
But if Carlton triumphed, he was far from being at ease, for he
feared he should have a full fleet of boats upon him before he could
extricate himself from so dreadfully hostile a region. Some rest,
however brief, was absolutely necessary to his men, who had toiled
for many hours, and at about midnight he encamped upon an islet,
not greatly larger than his canoes, situated about a third of a mile
from the eastern shore. In this defensible position, he allotted two
hours to repose, and the Algonquin, who had not shared in the
brilliant engagement of the evening, was his sentinel.
Scarcely an hour later, the Lynx, rapidly threading the mazes of
the forest, arrived at a point on the main land about opposite to the
camp, whence he discovered the island and saw its adaptation to the
very purpose for which it had been used. Knowing, however, the
count's timidity, he scarcely indulged the hope that the latter had
stopped, and it was almost without checking his own progress, that
he placed his hands beside his mouth, and sent across the water a
long shrill cry, peculiar to a bird of the northern forest. The
Algonquin, like his friend, was awake to every sight and sound that
reached his senses, while journeying through a hostile land, but more
especially now, when he had reason to hope that his deserted
brother was following his lost companions, and seeking to rejoin
them. There was nothing preconcerted in the signal, but Anak did
not fail to recognise the sound as one which, familiar in his own
forests, he had not heard elsewhere since leaving home; he leaped,
therefore, to the conclusion that his friend was at hand, and immediately
returned the call by one precisely similar. Delighted at this
unexpected result, the Lynx, to avoid any mistake, repeated the cry,
like an echo from the island.
The overjoyed sentinel hastened to communicate his discovery to
the count, who both astonished and gratified, at once despatched a
boat to the shore to bring off his ally, and in a short time the Huron
was in the camp, receiving the heartiest congratulations of his
friends. His story was soon told, to the inexpressible amazement of
his hearers, for although his words were addressed to the count, his
delighted companions, listening and questioning, had thronged,
unreproved, around him.
Carlton's dominant feeling was joy at the arrival of Miss
Montaigne, and in this emotion was merged, for the time, every
sense of shame and mortification which his own pusillanimity, in
contrast with the heroism of her real defenders, seemed calculated to
inspire. To return successful to Castle Montaigne, was the great
object of his ambition; this being done, he felt himself fully competent
to guard his reputation, and appropriate to himself the principal
credit of the achievement. Success, he knew, would cancel all
errors, for no one would look critically into an affair which had
terminated with éclat. His report to the baron, too, while it vindicated
his own valor, and with ingenious coloring made cowardice pass
for prudence, he resolved should flatter his few followers by encomiums
on themselves into the fullest acquiescence with his story. Half of
them indeed, cajoled by his arts, might already be said both to see
and hear rather with the senses of their leader than with their own;
and if the Indians should prove more impracticable, they at least
were men of few words, who would be little apt to thwart his views.
As to the ladies, when did a Frenchman ever distrust his power to
fascinate and control the mind of Beauty; here, at least, his triumph
would be complete in every respect.
Such were the thoughts of Count Carlton, as, with rapid flight,
they embraced, even while the Lynx was speaking, the leading features
had not entered into his calculations, because he had not fully comprehended
the Huron's story, and that was the presence of a young
American gentleman among the escort of the ladies.
“You say there are a couple of negroes with you, sachem, eh?”
he said, “one of whom we have been unfortunate enough to shoot:
he is not mortally wounded, I hope?”
The Lynx explained with some difficulty, yet failed to convey to
Carlton's mind any distinct idea of his companion, or of the nature
of his connexion with the party.
“They will, doubtless, want our escort as far as Fort Albany,” he
continued, “when they shall be remunerated and dismissed; from
there they will easily find their way home.”
No time was now lost in embarking, and seeking out, under the
guidance of the Huron, the retreat of his late companions. The
sun, indeed, was not risen when Henrich, who was the sentinel of
his party, perceived the returning canoes with emotions which he
did not care to analyze, but in which joy did not certainly preponderate.
He immediately communicated the intelligence to the
ladies, in whose extreme delight he found additional cause for discontent;
and when next he proceeded to the beach, to receive the
approaching party, it was only with a strong effort that he overcame
his feelings sufficiently to admit of his usual frank and open deportment.
Nothing could be more striking than the contrast in the appearance
of Carlton and Huntington, as the first, seated in the leading
canoe, approached the shore, and the latter, standing at the water's
edge, with one hand resting lightly on his gun, waited to meet him.
The count was a man of about twenty-eight years, less in stature
than Henrich, but in figure equally faultless. His countenance,
dark, but not unhandsome, was marred by a sinister expression,
which, to a ready reader of the human visage, was as legible as
print, but which, softened by an attractive smile, was easily overlooked.
of themselves, no other expression than that of acuteness and
cunning, while his forehead, large enough for beauty, yet not for
intellect, was shaded by clustering hair of the same raven hue.
There was an abiding air of conceit, not only in his face, but in
every movement of his person; and this it was, perhaps, more than
anything else, that constituted the repulsive part of his appearance,
and negatived, in a great degree, all his personal advantages.
Henrich's countenance approached to some of the nobler models of
Grecian manly beauty; and if it had a fault, it was the almost
feminine whiteness and texture of his skin. His expression was
placid and gentle, but there was a latent fire in his large blue eyes,
which kindled his countenance, at times, with a strange animation,
and gave token of unrevealed energies of character.
The eyes of the young men were riveted upon each other as the
boat drew near to land; surprise being plainly depicted upon Carlton's
countenance, accompanied by a supercilious and authoritative
air, while on Henrich's a slight disturbance of his natural expression
scarcely hinted at the anxious feelings which had taken possession of
his breast. The count had not yet landed when he addressed
Huntington in a sharp, quick voice, with the inquiry whether he
spoke the French language, to which the latter, greatly to the
astonishment of the other, replied in the affirmative, giving at the
same time the best proof of his assertion, by the fluency and well-modulated
accent of his words. He next demanded, whether the
ladies who were in his charge were safe, and where they were to be
found; and without further heed of Henrich, after receiving his
reply, stepped upon the shore and passed to their presence.
Miss Montaigne's education in her father's language had, of
course, not been neglected, and she was able to converse in it, not
only with facility, but with elegance, while even Emily had taken
pains to acquire some knowledge of a dialect, which would be so
necessary in her future abode. The count, therefore, found no
grace; and relating the commission bestowed upon him by Baron
Montaigne, inquired, with needless ceremony, whether the ladies
were willing to put themselves under his charge. To this Blanche,
of course, replied affirmatively, briefly explaining the causes which
had induced her to set out under a different escort, and not forgetting
to bespeak the count's favor for Mr. Huntington, a young gentleman
to whose good offices, as she pointedly remarked, she was indebted
for her rescue, and probably for the preservation of her life. Gall
and wormwood are usually considered somewhat bitter commodities,
but they would have been sweet to the Frenchman's taste, compared
with these first words from the beautiful lips of his expected bride.
He replied, however, with perfect complaisance; and on being more
directly introduced to Henrich by Miss Montaigne, extended his
hand to that young man with a condescending air, which seemed to
imply a sense of having fully remunerated, by such an act of grace,
all the services of the other.
A morning meal was now prepared from the ample stores of the
count, in which even the luxuries of fruit and wine were not wanting;
and after another hour devoted to the repose of the men, the whole
party prepared to re-embark. The larger of Carlton's canoes had
been fitted up with some attempt at elegance, for the accommodation
of its expected guests, and to this vessel he gave the more pretending
name of barge, a word common to the English and French languages.
It was, of course, to this boat that Blanche and Emily
were conducted by their new friend; and whatever reluctance the
former might have experienced at any seeming slight being thus
offered to Huntington, there seemed no means compatible with
maidenly delicacy of avoiding it. She could neither ask to continue
in Henrich's canoe, nor request his presence in the count's; but it
was enough for her generous friend that her eye met his with an
apologetic glance as she stepped into the barge, and that, unless
tinged, at the same moment, her beautiful cheeks.
There was food for hope, in these gentle tokens so unwittingly
bestowed, and Henrich took fresh courage under circumstances
which seemed far from favorable. “She is at least grateful and
noble-hearted,” he thought, as he turned to his deserted boat, “she
cannot but know my aspirations, and she does not utterly discourage
them! What can she more? it is enough—if she loves me, she
may yet be mine, despite this haughty count.”
Two of the soldiers propelled the barge, making its occupants,
five in number; a third was with the Indians in the Lynx's boat,
and the fourth, at the Huron's request, too openly made to admit of
its being refused, was permitted to assist in conducting Henrich's
canoe. Thus they proceeded on their way, with some vicissitudes
and alarms, but with no serious molestation, until about noon, when
the Indians having given notice that they were within a few leagues
of Fort Albany, they encamped in a dense wood to wait for the
night.
Admitted once more to the society of his friends, after his seemingly
long exile, Henrich recovered his natural buoyant spirits which
imparted themselves by contagion to Blanche and Emily, who
passed from the ceremonious politeness which had marked their
deportment to the count, to the opposite extreme of unreserve and
hilarity. The dislike with which Carlton already regarded Huntington
grew rapidly under such fostering influences into positive hatred;
and although the very excess of his hauteur prevented him from
manifesting his displeasure, he could not keep from his countenance
the shadows of those malign clouds which were passing across his
heart. This new offence was not, indeed, needed to produce a result
already predetermined by the count, but it gave zest to his contemplated
act, and caused it, perhaps, to be invested with some added
aggravations.
It was with surprise, though without suspicion, when the time for
re-embarking arrived, that Henrich beheld some singular changes in
the order of departure. The barge was despatched first, and was already
well under way before either of the other boats was permitted to
start; the Lynx's canoe was shoved from her moorings, and lay with
extended oars awaiting the signal to move, while, strangest of all,
the Lynx had taken the count's station in the barge, and the
latter stood alone upon the beach. He did not stand long, but
having watched the foremost vessel for some minutes, turned and
walked rapidly towards Henrich, whom he addressed with elaborate
politeness.
“We shall pass Fort Albany, Mr. Huntington, before we again
halt; where you will be enabled to join your countrymen in safety; you
have my thanks and those of the ladies for your services and good
conduct, which shall be represented to General Montaigne. Whatever
wages your man will accept, I shall be happy in behalf of the
baron to pay, having done which, I shall have the honor to bid you
farewell.”
Henrich listened to these words with the utmost astonishment,
but he remembered some ominous looks of his companion, which he
had encountered during the afternoon, and suspected, without seeming
to do so, the deeper meaning involved.
“Count Carlton will excuse me,” he said; “I have no design of
withdrawing from Miss Montaigne's escort, or of ceasing to be one of
her defenders until she reaches Castle Montaigne; it was with this
intention that I left home.”
“If such is your desire,” replied the Frenchman, “I regret
extremely that I shall not be able to gratify it; I have no authority
to introduce strangers into Castle Montaigne, or its precincts,
especially from an enemy's borders.”
“You shall not have that responsibility, Sir Count,” answered
Henrich promptly; “I shall venture upon the French domains at
Baron Montaigne's hospitality.”
“Mr. Huntington has certainly the right to invade his most
Christian Majesty's dominions, single-handed, if he desires,” replied
Carlton, somewhat tartly, “but he must not expect me to be accessary
to such an enterprise. To be brief, sir, for time presses, you
will cease to be connected with my party, on reaching Fort
Albany.”
“I shall not cease to accompany it, sir,” said Henrich, haughtily,
“while Miss Montaigne forms one of its members, unless at her
bidding; I do not resign my charge so lightly.”
The Frenchman's voice trembled with suppressed passion, when
he again spoke, but the remembrance that he was in the midst of
a hostile country, and that he was acting in direct contravention of
Miss Montaigne's wishes, tempered his language.
“I am sorry to say,” he responded, “that you will even cease to
accompany it. The present number of my men and boats was fixed
after mature deliberation, as the one best calculated for the success
of my mission; to increase the number of the vessels one half, and
of men, by the addition of two, would be a wide departure from my
instructions, and I repeat it, cannot be permitted; you, yourself,
must perceive the additional risk it would cause of drawing an
enemy upon us.”
“Count Carlton,” answered Henrich, “if these objections have
really any weight, they can be obviated: I will dismiss my man
and boat opposite the fort, and will proceed in the Lynx's canoe;
otherwise—the river is a broad one, and I know of no one who has
the right to forbid my navigating it. For myself, I am confident
that the presence of myself and my man, even in a third boat, will
add to the safety of the ladies; and my continuing of your party
will, therefore, become a question of speed.”
“It may become a question of strength, young man,” answered
Carlton in a low threatening voice.
“It may, indeed,” said Henrich, dauntlessly, and with irrepressible
wrath; “we are but two to seven, and you may possibly succeed in
adding our murder to your already brilliant achievements; but we
are two to seven, and, believe me, we will not fall alone.”
Goaded to madness by treatment at once so unjust and despicable,
Henrich's whole soul breathed a spirit of the most perfect defiance;
he stood in the faint moonlight, proudly erect, with eyes that
flashed like meteors, unable for the moment to restrain the ebullitions
of his rage. Yet the folly of his threatened defence
became apparent to him, even as he ceased speaking; for the safety
of Blanche was the paramount object of his consideration, and he
could, of course, engage in no actual contest with her defenders.
The threat, however, was not without its effect; the count, unused
to such an exhibition of feeling, stood for a moment awed by the
furious spirit which he had evoked; he looked hastily over his
shoulder to make sure that his men were within call, and then
turned to reply; the subdued tone of his voice and the mildness of
his language giving no token of the malevolence which now boiled
within his breast.
“You are hasty, Mr. Huntington,” he said,—“unnecessarily so,
I think: if you desire a seat in the Lynx's boat, you are entirely
welcome to it; but let us waste no more time, the barge is already
well advanced, and we must hasten to overtake her.”
“You grant all that I require,” returned Henrich, now also speaking
mildly, and fearing that he had exhibited an unwarranted
passion; while he hesitated, ingenuously considering whether any
retraction or explanation was proper in return for the concession of
the count, the latter again reminded him of the necessity of haste.
He accordingly explained the new state of affairs to Harry, whom
he furnished with money and instructed to proceed at once to
Albany, and remain there until some descending sloop should afford
him the means of returning in safety to New York. He also
enjoined upon the negro the strictest secresy in regard to everything
kindly messages to the venerable Jacobus, bade him a cordial farewell.
Huntington's gun and portmanteau were then quickly
transferred to the other canoe, which immediately started, followed
at some distance by the boat of the solitary African.
| CHAPTER XX. The King of the Hurons | |