University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XIX.

I moved forward with as quick a pace as my feeble limbs
would permit. I did not allow myself to meditate. The
great object of my wishes was a dwelling where food and
repose might be procured. I looked earnestly forward, and
on each side, in search of some token of human residence;
but the spots of cultivation, the well-pole, the worm-fence,
and the hay-rick, were no where to be seen. I did not
even meet with a wild hog, or a bewildered cow. The
path was narrow, and on either side was a trackless wilderness.
On the right and left were the waving lines of mountainous
ridges which had no peculiarity enabling me to
ascertain whether I had ever before seen them.

At length I noticed that the tracks of wheels had disappeared
from the path that I was treading; that it became
more narrow, and exhibited fewer marks of being frequented.
These appearances were discouraging. I now suspected
that I had taken a wrong direction, and instead of
approaching, was receding from the habitation of men.

It was wisest, however, to proceed. The road could not
but have some origin as well as end. Some hours passed
away in this uncertainty. The sun rose, and by noonday I
seemed to be farther than ever from the end of my toils.
The path was more obscure, and the wilderness more rugged.
Thirst more incommoded me than hunger, but relief

was seasonably afforded by the brooks that flowed across
the path.

Coming to one of these, and having slaked my thirst, I
sat down upon the bank, to reflect on my situation. The
circuity of the path had frequently been noticed, and I began
to suspect that though I had travelled long, I had not moved
far from the spot where I had commenced my pilgrimage.

Turning my eyes on all sides, I noticed a sort of pool,
formed by the rivulet, at a few paces distant from the road.
In approaching and inspecting it, I observed the footsteps of
cattle, who had retired by a path that seemed much beaten;
I likewise noticed a cedar bucket, broken and old, lying on
the margin. These tokens revived my drooping spirits, and
I betook myself to this new track. It was intricate; but, at
length, led up a steep, the summit of which was of better
soil than that of which the flats consisted. A clover field,
and several apple trees, sure attendants of man, were now
discovered. From this space I entered a corn field, and at
length, to my inexpressible joy, caught a glimpse of a
house.

This dwelling was far different from that I had lately left.
It was as small and as low, but its walls consisted of boards.
A window of four panes admitted the light, and a chimney
of brick, well burnt, and neatly arranged, peeped over the
roof. As I approached I heard the voice of children, and
the hum of a spinning wheel.

I cannot make thee conceive the delight which was afforded
me by all these tokens. I now found myself, indeed,
among beings like myself, and from whom hospitable
entertainment might be confidently expected. I compassed
the house, and made my appearance at the door.

A good woman, busy at her wheel, with two children
playing on the ground before her, were the objects that now
presented themselves. The uncouthness of my garb, my
wild and weather worn appearance, my fusil and tomahawk,
could not but startle them. The woman stopt her wheel,
and gazed as if a spectre had started into view.

I was somewhat aware of these consequences, and endeavored
to elude them, by assuming an air of supplication
and humility. I told her that I was a traveller, who had unfortunately

lost his way, and had rambled in this wild till
nearly famished for want. I entreated her to give me some
food; any thing however scanty or coarse, would be acceptable.

After some pause she desired me, though not without
some marks of fear, to walk in. She placed before me
some brown bread and milk. She eyed me while I eagerly
devoured this morsel. It was, indeed, more delicious than
any I had ever tasted. At length she broke silence, and
expressed her astonishment and commiseration at my seemingly
forlorn state, adding, that perhaps I was the man whom
the men were looking after who had been there some hours
before.

My curiosity was roused by this intimation. In answer
to my interrogations, she said, that three persons had lately
stopped, to inquire if her husband had not met, within the
last three days, a person of whom their description seemed
pretty much to suit my person and dress. He was tall,
slender, wore nothing but shirt and trowsers, and was wounded
on the cheek.

What, I asked, did they state the rank or condition of the
person to be?

He lived in Solebury. He was supposed to have rambled
in the mountains, and to have lost his way, or to have
met with some mischance. It was three days since he had
disappeared, but had been seen, by some one, the last night,
at Deb's hut.

What and where was Deb's hut?

It was a hut in the wilderness, occupied by an old Indian
woman, known among her neighbors by the name of Old
Deb. Some people called her Queen Mab. Her dwelling
was eight long miles from this house.

A thousand questions were precluded, and a thousand
doubts solved by this information. Queen Mab were sounds
familiar to my ears; for they originated with myself.

This woman originally belonged to the tribe of Delawares,
or Lennilennapee. All these districts were once
comprised within the dominions of that nation. About
thirty years ago, in consequence of perpetual encroachments
of the English colonists, they abandoned their ancient seats
and retired to the banks of the Wabash and Muskingum.

This emigration was concerted in a general council of the
tribe, and obtained the concurrence of all but one female.
Her birth, talents, and age, gave her much consideration
and authority among her countrymen; and all her zeal and
eloquence were exerted to induce them to lay aside their
scheme. In this, however, she could not succeed. Finding
them refractory, she declared her resolution to remain
behind and maintain possession of the land which her countrymen
should impiously abandon.

The village inhabited by this clan was built upon ground
which now constitutes my uncle's barn yard and orchard.
On the departure of her countrymen, this female burnt the
empty wigwams and retired into the fastnesses of Norwalk.
She selected a spot suitable for an Indian dwelling and a
small plantation of maize, and in which she was seldom
liable to interruption and intrusion.

Her only companions were three dogs, of the Indian or
wolf species. These animals differed in nothing from their
kinsmen of the forest, but in their attachment and obedience
to their mistress. She governed them with absolute sway.
They were her servants and protectors, and attended her
person or guarded her threshold, agreeable to her directions.
She fed them with corn and they supplied her and
themselves with meat, by hunting squirrels, raccoons, and
rabbits.

To the rest of mankind they were aliens or enemies.
They never left the desert but in company with their mistress,
and when she entered a farm-house, waited her return
at a distance. They would suffer none to approach them,
but attacked no one who did not imprudently crave their
acquaintance, or who kept at a respectful distance from their
wigwam. That sacred asylum they would not suffer to be
violated, and no stranger could enter it but at the imminent
hazard of his life, unless accompanied and protected by
their dame.

The chief employment of this woman, when at home, besides
plucking the weeds from among her corn; bruising the
grain between two stones, and setting her snares, for rabbits
and opossums, was to talk. Though in solitude, her tongue
was never at rest but when she was asleep; but her conversation
was merely addressed to her dogs. Her voice was

sharp and shrill, and her gesticulations were vehement and
grotesque. A hearer would naturally imagine that she was
scolding; but, in truth, she was merely giving them directions.
Having no other object of contemplation or subject
of discourse, she always found, in their postures and looks,
occasion for praise, or blame, or command. The readiness
with which they understood, and the docility with which
they obeyed her movements and words, were truly wonderful.

If a stranger chanced to wander near her hut, and overhear
her jargon, incessant as it was, and shrill, he might
speculate in vain on the reason of these sounds. If he
waited in expectation of hearing some reply, he waited in
vain. The strain, always voluble and sharp, was never
intermitted for a moment, and would continue for hours at
a time.

She seldom left the hut but to visit the neighboring inhabitants,
and demand from them food and clothing, or
whatever her necessities required. These were exacted as
her due; to have her wants supplied was her prerogative,
and to withhold what she claimed was rebellion. She conceived
that by remaining behind her countrymen she succeeded
to the government, and retained the possession of
all this region. The English were aliens and sojourners,
who occupied the land merely by her connivance and permission,
and whom she allowed to remain on no terms but
those of supplying her wants.

Being a woman aged and harmless, her demands being
limited to that of which she really stood in need, and which
her own industry could not procure, her pretensions were a
subject of mirth and good humor, and her injunctions obeyed
with seeming deference and gravity. To me she early became
an object of curiosity and speculation. I delighted
to observe her habits and humor her prejudices. She frequently
came to my uncle's house, and I sometimes visited
her; insensibly she seemed to contract an affection for me,
and regarded me with more complacency and condescension
than any other received.

She always disdained to speak English, and custom had
rendered her intelligible to most in her native language,
with regard to a few simple questions. I had taken some

pains to study her jargon, and could make out to discourse
with her on the few ideas which she possessed. This circumstance,
likewise, wonderfully prepossessed her in my
favor.

The name by which she was formerly known was Deb;
but her pretensions to royalty, the wildness of her aspect
and garb, her shrivelled and diminutive form, a constitution
that seemed to defy the ravages of time and the influence of
the elements; her age, which some did not scruple to affirm
exceeded a hundred years, her romantic solitude and
mountainous haunts, suggested to my fancy the appellation
of Queen Mab. There appeared to me some rude analogy
between this personage and her whom the poets of old time
have delighted to celebrate; thou perhaps wilt discover
nothing but incongruities between them, but, be that as it
may, Old Deb and Queen Mab soon came into indiscriminate
and general use.

She dwelt in Norwalk upwards of twenty years. She
was not forgotten by her countrymen, and generally received
from her brothers and sons an autumual visit; but no solicitations
or entreaties could prevail on her to return with
them. Two years ago, some suspicion or disgust induced
her to forsake her ancient habitation, and to seek a new one.
Happily she found a more convenient habitation twenty
miles to the westward, and in a spot abundantly sterile and
rude.

This dwelling was of logs, and had been erected by a
Scottish emigrant, who, not being rich enough to purchase
land, and entertaining a passion for solitude and independence,
cleared a field in the unappropriated wilderness, and
subsisted on its produce. After some time he disappeared.
Various conjectures were formed as to the cause of his absence.
None of them were satisfactory; but that which
obtained most credit was, that he had been murdered by the
Indians, who, about the same period, paid their annual visit
to the Queen. This conjecture acquired some force, by
observing that the old woman shortly after took possession
of his hut, his implements of tillage, and his corn-field.

She was not molested in her new abode, and her life
passed in the same quiet tenor as before. Her periodical
rambles, her regal claims, her guardian wolves, and her uncouth

volubility, were equally remarkable, but her circuits
were new. Her distance made her visits to Solebury more
rare, and had prevented me from ever extending my pedestrian
excursions to her present abode.

These recollections were now suddenly called up by the
information of my hostess. The hut where I had sought
shelter and relief was, it seems, the residence of Queen
Mab. Some fortunate occurrence had called her away
during my visit. Had she and her dogs been at home, I
should have been set upon by these ferocious sentinels, and,
before their dame could have interfered, have been, together
with my helpless companion, mangled or killed. These animals
never barked, I should have entered unaware of my
danger, and my fate could scarcely have been averted by my
fusil.

Her absence at this unseasonable hour was mysterious.
It was now the time of year when her countrymen were accustomed
to renew their visit. Was there a league between
her and the plunderers whom I had encountered?

But who were they by whom my footsteps were so industriously
traced? Those whom I had seen at Deb's hut
were strangers to me, but the wound upon my face was
known only to them. To this circumstance was now added
my place of residence and name. I supposed them impressed
with the belief that I was dead; but this mistake
must have speedily been rectified. Revisiting the spot,
finding me gone, and obtaining some intelligence of my former
condition, they had instituted a search after me.

But what tidings were these? I was supposed to have
been bewildered in the mountains, and three days were said
to have passed since my disappearance. Twelve hours had
scarcely elapsed since I emerged from the cavern. Had two
days and a half been consumed in my subterranean prison?

These reflections were quickly supplanted by others. I
now gained a sufficient acquaintance with the region that
was spread around me. I was in the midst of a vale, included
between ridges that gradually approached each other,
and when joined, were broken up into hollows and steeps,
and spreading themselves over a circular space, assumed
the appellation of Norwalk. This vale gradually widened

as it tended to the westward, and was, in this place ten or
twelve miles in breadth. My devious footsteps had brought
me to the foot of the southern barrier. The outer basis of
this was laved by the river, but, as it tended eastward, the
mountain and river receded from each other, and one of the
cultivable districts lying between them was Solebury, my
natal township. Hither it was now my duty to return with
the utmost expedition.

There were two ways before me. One lay along the interior
base of the hill, over a sterile and trackless space, and
exposed to the encounter of savages, some of whom might
possibly be lurking here. The other was the well frequented
road, on the outside and along the river, and which was to
be gained by passing over this hill. The practicability of
the passage was to be ascertained by inquiries made to my
hostess. She pointed out a path that led to the rocky summit
and down to the river's brink. The path was not easy
to be kept in view or to be trodden, but it was undoubtedly
to be preferred to any other.

A route, somewhat circuitous, would terminate in the
river road. Thenceforward the way to Solebury was level
and direct; but the whole space which I had to traverse
was not less than thirty miles. In six hours it would be
night, and, to perform the journey in that time would demand
the agile boundings of a leopard and the indefatigable
sinews of an elk.

My frame was in miserable plight. My strength had
been assailed by anguish, and fear, and watchfulness; by
toil, and abstinence, and wounds. Still, however, some
remnant was left; would it not enable me to reach my home
by night fall? I had delighted, from my childhood, in feats
of agility and perseverance. In roving through the maze
of thickets and precipices, I had put my energies, both moral
and physical, frequently to the test. Greater achievements
than this had been performed, and I disdained to be outdone
in perspicacity by the lynx, in his sure-footed instinct
by the roe, or in patience under hardship, and contention
with fatigue, by the Mohawk. I have ever aspired to transcend
the rest of animals in all that is common to the
rational and brute, as well as in all by which they are distinguished
from each other.