"Come, shall we go and kill us venison?
And yet it irks me, the poor dappled foals,-
Being native burghers of this desert city,-
Should, in their own confines, with forked heads
Have their round haunches gored."
As You Like It, II.i.21-25
Hurry Harry thought more of the beauties of Judith Hutter than of those of
the Glimmerglass and its accompanying scenery. As soon as he had taken a
sufficiently intimate survey of floating Tom's implements, therefore, he
summoned his companion to the canoe, that they might go down the lake in
quest of the family. Previously to embarking, however, Hurry carefully
examined the whole of the northern end of the water with an indifferent
ship's glass, that formed a part of Hutter's effects. In this scrutiny, no
part of the shore was overlooked; the bays and points in particular being
subjected to a closer inquiry than the rest of the wooded boundary.
T'is as I thought," said Hurry, laying aside the glass, "the old fellow is
drifting about the south end this fine weather, and has left the castle to
defend itself. Well, now we know that he is not up this-a-way, 'twill be but
a small matter to paddle down and hunt him up in his hiding-place.
'Does Master Hutter think it necessary to burrow on this lake?" inquired
Deerslayer, as he followed his companion into the canoe; 'to my eye it is
such a solitude as one might open his whole soul in, and fear no one to
disarrange his thoughts or his worship."
'You forget your friends the Mingos, and all the French savages. Is there a
spot on 'arth, Deerslayer, to which them disquiet rogues don't go? Where is
the lake, or even the deer lick, that the blackguards don't find out, and
having found out, don't, sooner or later, discolour its water with blood.'
'I hear no good character of 'em, sartainly, friend Hurry, though I've never
been called on, yet, to meet them, r any other mortal, on the warpath. I dare
to say that such a lovely spot as this, would not be likely to be overlooked
by such plunderers, for, though I've not been in the way of quarreling with
them tribes myself, the Delawares give me such an account of 'em that I've
pretty much set 'em down in my own mind, as thorough miscreants."
"You may do that with a safe conscience, or for that matter, any other savage
you may happen to meet.:
Here Deerslayer protested, and as they went paddling down the lake, a hot
discussion was maintained concerning the respective merits of the pale-faces
and the redskins. Hurry had all the prejudices and antipathies of a white
hunter, who generally regards the Indian as a sort of natural competitor, and
not unfrequently as a natural enemy. As a matter of course, he was loud,
clamorous, dogmatical and not ver argumentative. Deerslayer, on the other
hand, manifested a very different temper, proving by the moderation of his
language, the fairness of his views, and the simplicityof his distinctions,
that he possessed every disposition to hear reason, a strong, innate desire
to dojustice, and an ingenuousness that was singularly indisposed to have
recourse to sophism to maintain an argument; or to defend a prejudice. Still
he was not altogether free from the influence of the latter feeling. This
tyrant of the human mind, which ruses on it prey through a thousand avenues,
almost as soon as men begint to think and feel, and which seldom relinquishes
its iron sway until they cease to do either, had made some impression on even
the just propensities of this individual, who probably offered in these
particulars, a fair specimen of what absence from bad example, the want of
temptation to go wrong, and native good feeling can render youth.
"You will allow, Deerslayer, that a Mingo is more than half devil," cried
Hurry, following up the discussion with an animation that touched closely on
ferocity, "though you want to over-persuade me that the Delaware tribe is
pretty much made up of angels. Now, I gainsay that proposal, consarning white
men, even. All white men are not faultless, and therefore all Indians can't
be faultless. And so your argument is out at the elbow in the start. But this
is what I call reason. Here 's three colors on 'arth: white, black, and red.
White is the highest color, and therefore the best man; black comes next, and
is put to live in the neighborhood of the white man, as tolerable, and fit to
be made use of; and red comes last, which shows that those that made 'em
never expected an Indian to be accounted as more than half human."
"God made all three alike, Hurry."
"Alike! Do you call a nigger like a white man, or me like an Indian?"
"You go off at half-cock, and don't hear me out. God made us all, white,
black, and red; and, no doubt, had his own wise intentions in coloring us
differently. Still, he made us, in the main, much the same in feelin's;
though I'll not deny that he gave each race its gifts. A white man s gifts
are Christianized, while a redskin's are more for the wilderness. Thus, it
would be a great offence for a white man to scalp the dead; whereas it 's a
signal vartue in an Indian. Then ag'in, a white man cannot amboosh women and
children in war, while a redskin may. 'T is cruel work, I '11 allow; but for
them it 's lawful work; while for us, it would be grievous work."
"That depends on your inimy. As for scalping, or even skinning a savage, I
look upon them pretty much the same as cutting off the ears of wolves for the
bounty, or stripping a bear of its hide. And then you 're out significantly,
as to taking the poll of a redskin in hand, seeing that the very colony has
offered a bounty for the job; all the same as it pays for wolves' ears and
crows' heads."
"Ay, and a bad business it is, Hurry. Even the Indians themselves cry shame
on it, seeing it's ag'in a white man's gifts. I do not pretend that all that
white men do, is properly Christianized, and according to the lights given
them, for then they would be what they ought to be; which we know they are
not; but I will maintain that tradition, and use, and color, and laws, make
such a difference in races as to amount to gifts. I do not deny that there
are tribes among the Indians that are nat'rally pervarse and wicked, as there
are nations among the whites. Now, I account the Mingos as belonging to the
first, and the Frenchers, in the Canadas, to the last. In a state of lawful
warfare, such as we have lately got into, it is a duty to keep down all
compassionate feelin's, so far as life goes, ag'in either; but when it comes
to scalps, it '5 a very different matter."
"Just hearken to reason, if you please, Deerslayer, and tell me if the colony
can make an onlawful law? Isn't an onlawful law more ag'in natur' than
scalpin' a savage? A law can no more be onlawful, than truth can be a lie."
"That sounds reasonable; but it has a most onreasonable bearing, Hurry. Laws
don't all come from the same quarter. God has given us his 'n, and some come
from the colony, and others come from the King and Parliament. When the
colony's laws, or even the King's laws, run ag'in the laws of God, they get
to be onlawful, and ought not to be obeyed. I hold to a white man's
respecting white laws, so long as they do not cross the track of a law comm'
from a higher authority; and for a redman to obey his own redskin usages,
under the same privilege. But, 't is useless talking, as each man will think
fir himself, and have his say agreeable to his thoughts. Let us keep a good
lookout for your friend Floating Tom, lest we pass him, as he lies hidden
under this bushy shore."
Deerslayer had not named the borders of the lake amiss. Along their whole
length, the smaller trees overhung the water, with their branches often
dipping in the transparent element The banks were steep, even from the narrow
ple, the want of temptation to go wrong, and native good feeling, can render
youth.
"You will allow, Deerslayer, that a Mingo is more than half devil," cried
Hurry, following up the discussion with an animation that touched closely on
ferocity, "though you want to over-persuade me that the Delaware tribe is
pretty much made up of angels. Now, I gainsay that proposal, consarning white
men, even. All white men are not faultless, and therefore all Indians can't
be faultless. And so your argument is out at the elbow in the start. But this
is what I call reason. Here 's three colors on 'arth: white, black, and red.
White is the highest color, and therefore the best man; black comes next, and
is put to live in the neighborhood of the white man, as tolerable, and fit to
be made use of; and red comes last, which shows that those that made 'em
never expected an Indian to be accounted as more than half human."
"God made all three alike, Hurry."
"Alike! Do you call a nigger like a white man, or me like an Indian?"
"You go off at half-cock, and don't hear me out. God made us all, white,
black, and red; and, no doubt, had his own wise intentions in coloring us
differently. Still, he made us, in the main, much the same in feelin's;
though I'll not deny that he gave each race its gifts. A white man s gifts
are Christianized, while a redskin's are more for the wilderness. Thus, it
would be a great offence for a white man to scalp the dead; whereas it 's a
signal vartue in an Indian. Then ag'in, a white man cannot amboosh women and
children in war, while a redskin may. 'T is cruel work, I '11 allow; but for
them it 's lawful work; while for us, it would be grievous work."
"That depends on your inimy. As for scalping, or even skinning a savage, I
look upon them pretty much the same as cutting off the ears of wolves for the
bounty, or stripping a bear of its hide. And then you 're out significantly,
as to taking the poll of a redskin in hand, seeing that the very colony has
offered a bounty for the job; all the same as it pays for wolves' ears and
crows' heads."
"Ay, and a bad business it is, Hurry. Even the Indians themselves cry shame
on it, seeing it 's ag'in a white man's gifts. I do not pretend that all that
white men do, is properly Christianized, and according to the lights given
them, for then they would be what they ought to be; which we know they are
not; but I will maintain that tradition, and use, and color, and laws, make
such a difference in races as to amount to gifts. I do not deny that there
are tribes among the Indians that are nat'rally pervarse and wicked, as there
are nations among the whites. Now, I account the Mingos as belonging to the
first, and the Frenchers, in the Canadas, to the last. In a state of lawful
warfare, such as we have lately got into, it is a duty to keep down all
compassionate feelin's, so far as life goes, ag'in either; but when it comes
to scalps, it 's a very different matter."
"Just hearken to reason, if you please, Deerslayer, and tell me if the colony
can make an onlawful law? Isn't an onlawful law more ag'in natur' than
scalpin' a savage? A law can no more be onlawful, than truth can be a lie."
"That sounds reasonable; but it has a most onreasonable bearing, Hurry. Laws
don't all come from the same quarter. God has given us his 'n, and some come
from the colony, and others come from the King and Parliament. When the
colony's laws, or even the King's laws, run ag'in the laws of God they get to
be strand; and, as vegetation invariably struggles towards the light, the
effect was precisely that at which the lover of the picturesque would have
aimed, had the ordering of this glorious setting of forest been submitted to
his control. The points and bays, too, were sufficiently numerous to render
the outline broken and diversified. As the canoe kept close along the western
side of the lake, with a view, as Hurry had explained to his companion, of
reconnoitring for enemies, before he trusted himself too openly in sight,
the expectations of the two adventurers were kept constantly on the stretch,
as neither could foretell what the next turning of a point might reveal.
Their progress was swift, the gigantic strength of Hurry enabling him to play
with the light bark as if it had been a feather, while the skill of his
companion almost equalized their usefulness, notwithstanding the disparity
in natural means.
Each time the canoe passed a point, Hurry turned a look behind him, expecting
to see the "ark" anchored, or beached in the bay. He was fated to be
disappointed, however; and they had got within a mile of the southern end of
the lake, or a distance of quite two leagues from the "castle," which was now
hidden from view by half a dozen intervening projections of the land, when he
suddenly ceased paddling, as if uncertain in what direction next to steer.
"It is possible that the old chap has dropped into the river," said Hurry,
after looking carefully along the whole of the eastern shore, which was about
a mile distant, and open to his scrutiny for more than half its length; "for
he has taken to trapping considerable, of late, and, barring flood-wood, he
might drop down it a mile or so; though he would have a most scratching time
in getting back again I"
"Where is this outlet?" asked Deerslayer; "I see no opening in the banks or
the trees, that looks as if it would let a river like the Susquehannah run
through it."
"Ay, Deerslayer, rivers are like human mortals; having small beginnings, and
ending with broad shoulders and vide mouths. You don't see the outlet,
because it passes atween high. steep banks; and the pines, and hemlocks and
bass-woods hang over it, as a roof hangs over a house. [f old Tom is not in
the 'Rat's Cove,' he must have burrowed in the river ; we '11 look for him
first in the cove, and hen we '11 cross to the outlet."
As they proceeded, Hurry explained that there was a shallow bay, formed by a
long, low point, that had got the name of the "Rat's Cove," from the
circumstance of its being a favorite haunt of the muskrat; and which offered
so complete a cover for the "ark," that its owner was fond f lying in it,
whenever he found it convenient.
"As a man never knows who may be his visitors, in this part of the country,"
continued Hurry, "it 's a great advantage to get a good look at 'em afore
they come too near. Now it 's war, such caution is more than commonly useful,
since a Canada man or a Mingo might get into his hut afore he invited 'em.
But Hutter is a first-rate look-outer, and can pretty much scent danger, as a
hound scents the deer."
"I should think the castle so open, that it would be sartain to draw
inimies, if any happened to find the lake; a thing onlikely enough, I will
allow, as it 's off the trail of the forts and settlements."
"Why, Deerslayer, I'ye got to believe that a man meets with inimies easier
than he meets with fri'nds. It 's skearful to think for how many causes one
gets to be your inimy, and for how few your fri'nd. Some take up the hatchet
because you don't think just as they think; other some because you run ahead
of 'em in the same idees; and I once know'd a vagabond that quarrelled with a
fri'nd because he did n't think him handsome. Now, you 're no monument in the
way of beauty, yourself, Deerslayer, and yet you would n't be so onreasonable
as to become my inimy for just saying so."
"I'm as the Lord made me; and I wish to be accounted no better, nor any
worse. Good looks I may not have; that is to say, to a degree that the light-
minded and vain crave; but I hope I 'm not altogether without some ricommend
in the way of good conduct. There '5 few nobler looking men to be seen than
yourself, Hurry; and I know that I am not to expect any to turn their eyes on
me, when such a one as you can be gazed on; but I do not know that a hunter
is less expart with the rifle, or less to be relied on for food, because he
does n't wish to stop at every shining spring he may meet, to study his own
countenance in the water."
Here Hurry burst into a fit of loud laughter; for while he was too reckless
to care much about his own manifest physical superiority, he was well aware
of it, and, like most men who derive an advantage from the accidents of birth
or nature, he was apt to think complacently on the subject, whenever it
happened to cross his mind.
"No, no, Deerslayer, you 're no beauty, as you will own yourself, if you '11
look over the side of the canoe," he cried; "Jude will say that to your face,
if you start her, for a parter tongue is n't to be found in any gal's head,
in or out of the settlements, if you provoke her to use it. My advice to you
is, never to aggravate Judith; though you may tell anything to Hetty, and
she'll take it as meek as a lamb. No, Jude will be just as like as not to
tell you her opinion consarning your looks."
"And if she does, Hurry, she will tell me no more than you have said already-
"
"You're not thick'ning up about a small remark, I hope, Deerslayer, when no
harm is meant. You are not a beauty, as you must know, and why should n't
fri'nds tell each other these little trifles? If you was handsome, or ever
like to be, I 'd be one of the first to tell you of it; and that ought to
content you. Now, if Jude was to tell me that I 'm as ugly as a sinner, I 'd
take it as a sort of obligation, and try not to believe her."
"It's easy for them that natur' has favored, to jest about such matters,
Hurry, though it is sometimes hard for others. I 11 not deny but I 've had my
cravings towards good looks; yes, I have; but then I 've always been able to
get them down by considering how many I 've known with fair outsides, who
have had nothing to boast of inwardly. I '11 not deny, Hurry, that I often
wish I 'd been created more comely to the eye, and more like such a one as
yourself in
them particulars; but then I get the feelin' under by remembering how much
better off I am, in a great many respects, than some fellow-mortals. I might
have been born lame, and onfit even for a squirrel-hunt, or blind, which
would have made me a burden on myself as well as on my fri'nds; or without
hearing, which would have totally onqualified me for ever campaigning or
scouting; which I look forward to as part of a man's duty in troublesome
times. Yes, yes; it 's not pleasant, I will allow, to see them that 's more
comely, and more sought a'ter, and honored than yourself; but it may all be
borne, if a man looks the evil in the face, and don't mistake his gifts and
his obligations."
Hurry, in the main, was a good-hearted as well as good-natured fellow; and
the self-abasement of his companion completely got the better of the passing
feeling of personal vanity. He regretted the allusion he had made to the
other's appearance, and endeavored to express as much, though it was done in
the uncouth manner that belonged to the habits and opinions of the frontier.
"I meant no harm, Deerslayer," he answered, in a deprecating manner, "and
hope you '11 forget what I 've said. If you 're not downright handsome, you
've a sartain look that says, plainer than any words, that all 's right
within. Then you set no valie by looks, and will the sooner forgive any
little slight to your appearance. I will not say that Jude will greatly
admire you, for that might raise hopes that would only breed disapp' intment;
but there! s Hetty, now, would be just as likely to find satisfaction in
looking at you, as in looking at any other man. Then you 're altogether too
grave and considerate-like, to care much about Judith; for, though the gal is
oncommon, she is so general in her admiration, that a man need not be exalted
because she happens to smile. I sometimes think the hussy loves herself
better than she does anything else breathin'
"If she did, Hurry, she'd do no more, I'm afeard, than most queens on their
thrones, and ladies in the towns, answered Deerslayer, smiling, and turning
back towards his companion with every trace of feeling banished from
his honest-looking and frank countenance. "I never yet know' d even a
Delaware of whom you might not say that much. But here is the end of the long
p'int you men tioned, and the 'Rat's Cove' can't be far off."
This point, instead of thrusting itself forward, like all the others, ran in
a line with the main shore of the lake, which here swept within it, in a deep
and retired bay, circling round south again, at the distance of a quarter of
a mile, and crossed the valley, forming the southern termination of the
water. In this bay Hurry felt almost certain of finding the ark, since,
anchored behind the trees that covered the narrow strip of the point, it
might have lain concealed from prying eyes an entire summer. So complete,
indeed, was the cover, in this spot, that a boat hauled close to the beach,
within the point, and near the bottom of the bay, could by any possibility be
seen from only one direction; and that was from a densely wooded shore within
the sweep of the water, where strangers would be little apt to go.
"We shall soon see the ark," said Hurry, as the canoe glided round the
extremity of the point, where the water was so deep as actually to appear
black; " he loves to burrow up among the rushes, and we shall be in his nest
in five minutes, although the old fellow may be off among the traps himself."
March proved a false prophet. The canoe completely doubled the point, so as
to enable the two travellers to command a view of the whole cove or bay, for
it was more properly the last, and no object, but those that nature had
placed there, became visible. The placid water swept round in a graceful
curve, the rushes bent gently towards its surface, and the trees overhung it
as usual; but all lay in the soothing and sublime solitude of a wilderness.
The scene was such as a poet or an artist would have delighted in, but it had
no charm for Hurry Harry, who was burning with impatience to get a sight of
his light-minded beauty.
The motion of the canoe had been attended with little or no noise, the
frontiermen habitually getting accustomed to caution in most of their
movements, and it now lay on the glassy water appearing to float in air,
partaking of the breathing stillness that seemed to pervade the entire scene.
At this instant a dry stick was heard cracking on the narrow strip of land
that concealed the bay from the open lake. Both the adventurers started, and
each extended a hand towards his rifle, the weapon never being out of reach
of the arm.
"'Twas too heavy for any light creatur'," whispered Hurry, "and it sounded
like the tread of a man!"
"Not so-not so," returned Deerslayer; "'t was, as you say, too heavy for one,
but it was too light for the other. Put your paddle in the water, and send
the canoe in, to that log; I 'll land and cut off the creatur's retreat up
the p'int, be it a Mingo, or be it a muskrat."
As Hurry complied, Deerslayer was soon on the shore, advancing into the
thicket with a moccasined foot, and a caution that prevented the least noise.
In a minute he was in the centre of the narrow strip of land, and moving
slowly down towards its end, the bushes rendering extreme watchfulness
necessary. Just as be reached the centre of the thicket the dried twigs
cracked again, and the noise was repeated at short intervals, as if some
creature having life walked slowly towards the point. Hurry heard these
sounds also, and pushing the canoe off into the bay, he seized his rifle to
watch the result. A breathless minute succeeded, after which a noble buck
walked out of the thicket, proceeded with a stately step to the sandy
extremity of the point, and began to slake his thirst from the water of the
lake. Hurry hesitated an instant; then raising his rifle hastily to his
shoulder, he took sight and fired. The effect of this sudden interruption of
the solemn stillness of such a scene was not its least striking peculiarity.
The report of the weapon had the usual sharp, short sound of the rifle: but
when a few moments of silence had succeeded the sudden crack, during which
the noise was floating in air across the water, it reached the rocks of the
opposite mountain, where the vibrations accumulated, and were rolled from
cavity to cavity for miles along the hills, seeming to awaken the sleeping
thunders of the woods. The buck merely shook his head at the report of the
rifle and the whistling of the bullet, for never before had he come in
contact with man; but the echoes of the hills awakened his distrust, and
leaping forward, with his four legs drawn under his body, he fell at once
into deep water, and began to swim towards the foot of the lake. Hurry
shouted and dashed forward in chase, and for one or two minutes the water
foamed around the pursuer and the pursued. The former was dashing past the
point, when Deerslayer appeared on the sand and signed to him to return.
"'Twas inconsiderate to pull a trigger, afore we had re conn'itred the shore,
and made sartain that no inimies harbored near it," said the latter, as his
companion slowly and reluctantly complied. "This much I have l'arned from the
Delawares, in the way of schooling and traditions, even though I've never yet
been on a war-path. And, moreover, venison can hardly be called in season
now, and we do not want for food. They call me Deerslayer, I'll own, and
perhaps I desarve the name, in the way of understanding the creatur's habits,
as well as for some sartainty in the aim, but they can't accuse me of killing
an animal when there is no occasion for the meat, or the skin. I may be a
slayer, it's true, but I'm no slaughterer."
"'Twas an awful mistake to miss that buck!" exclaimed Hurry, doffing his cap
and running his fingers through his handsome but matted curls, as if he would
loosen his tangled ideas by the process. "I've not done so onhandy a thing
since I was fifteen."
"Never lament it, as the creatur's death could have done neither of us any
good, and might have done us harm. Them echoes are more awful in my ears,
than your mistake, Hurry, for they sound like the voice of natur' calling out
ag'in a wasteful and onthinking action."
"You'll hear plenty of such calls, if you tarry long in this quarter of the
world, lad," returned the other laughing. "The echoes repeat pretty much all
that is said or done on the Glimmerglass, in this calm summer weather. If a
paddle falls
you hear of it sometimes, ag'in and ag'in, as if the hills were mocking your
clumsiness, and a laugh, or a whistle, comes out of them pines, when they're
in the humour to speak, in a way to make you believe they can r'ally
convarse."
"So much the more reason for being prudent and silent. I do not think the
inimy can have found their way into these hills yet, for I do'nt know what
they are to gain by it, but all the Delawares tell me that, as courage is a
warrior's first varme, so is prudence his second. One such call from the moun
tains, is enough to let a whole tribe into the secret of our arrival."
"If it does no other good, it will warn old Tom to put the pot over, and let
him know visiters are at hand. Come, lad; get into the canoe, and we will
hunt the ark up, while there is yet day."
Deerslayer complied, and the canoe left the spot. Its head was turned
diagonally across the lake, pointing towards the south-eastern curvature of
the sheet. In that direction, the dis tance to the shore, or to the
termination of the lake, on the course the two were now steering, was not
quite a mile, and, their progress being always swift, it was fast lessening
under the skilful, but easy sweeps of the paddles. When about half way
across, a slight noise drew the eyes of the men towards the nearest land, and
they saw that the buck was just emerg ing from the lake and wading towards
the beach. In a minute, the noble animal shook the water from his flanks,
gazed up ward at the covering of trees, and, bounding against the bank,
plunged into the forest.
"That creatur' goes off with gratitude in his heart," said Deerslayer, "for
natur' tells him he has escaped a great dan ger. You ought to have some of
the same feelin's, Hurry, to think your eye was'n't true, or that your hand
was onsteady, when no good could come of a shot that was intended on
meaningly rather than in reason."
"I deny the eye and the hand," cried March with some heat. "You've got a
little character, down among the Delawares, there, for quickness and
sartainty, at a deer, but I should like to see you behind one of them pines,
and a full painted Mingo behind another, each with a cock'd rifle and
astriving for the chance! Them's the situations, Nathaniel, to try the sight
and the hand, for they begin with trying the narves. I never look upon
killing a creatur' as an explite; but killing a savage is. The time will come
to try your hand, now we've got to blows ag'in, and we shall soon know what a
ven'son reputation can do in the field. I deny that either hand or eye was
onsteady; it was all a miscalculation of the buck, which stood still when he
ought to have kept in motion, and so I shot ahead of him."
"Have it your own way, Hurry; all I contend for is, that it 's lucky. I dare
say I shall not pull upon a human mortal as steadily or with as light a
heart, as I pull upon a deer."
"Who 's talking of mortals, or of human beings at all, Deerslayer? I put the
matter to you on the supposition of an Injin. I dare say any man would have
his feelin's when it got to be life or death, ag'in another human mortal; but
there would be no such scruples in regard to an Inj in; nothing but the
chance of his hitting you, or the chance of your hitting him."
"I look upon the redmen to be quite as human as we are ourselves, Hurry. They
have their gifts, and their religion, it's true; but that makes no difference
in the end, when each will be judged according to his deeds, and not
according to his skin."
"That 's downright missionary, and will find little favor up in this part of
the country, where the Moravians don't congregate. Now, skin makes the man.
This is reason; else how are people to judge of each other. The skin is put
on, over all, in order when a creatur', or a mortal, is fairly seen, you may
know at once what to make of him. You know a bear from a hog, by his skin,
and a gray squirrel from a black."
"True, Hurry," said the other looking back and smiling, "nevertheless, they
are both squirrels."
"Who denies it? But you '11 not say that a redman and a white man are both
Injins?"
" but I do say they are both men. Men of different races and colors, and
having different gifts and traditions, but, in the main, with the same
natur'. Both have souls; and both will be held accountable for their deeds in
this life."
Hurry was one of those theorists who believed in the inferiority of all the
human race who were not white. His notions on the subject were not very
clear, nor were his definitions at all well settled; but his opinions were
none the less dogmatical or fierce. His conscience accused him of sundry
lawless acts against the Indians, and he had found it an exceedingly easy
mode of quieting it, by putting the whole family of redmen, incontinently,
without the category of human rights. Nothing angered him sooner than to deny
his proposition, more especially if the denial were accompanied by a show of
plausible argument; and he did not listen to his companion's remarks with
much composure of either manner or feeling.
"You're a boy, Deerslayer, misled and misconsaited by Delaware arts, and
missionary ignorance," he exclaimed, with his usual indifference to the forms
of speech, when excited. " You may account yourself as a redskin's brother,
but I hold 'em all to be animals; with nothing human about 'em but cunning.
That they have, I '11 allow:but so has a fox, or even a bear. I 'm older than
you, and have lived longer in the woods-or, for that matter, have lived
always there, and am not to be told what an Injin is or what he is not. If
you wish to be considered a savage, you 've only to say so, and I '11 name
you as such to Judith and the old man, and then we '11 see how you '11 like
your welcome."
Here Hurry's imagination did his temper some service, since, by conjuring up
the reception his semi-aquatic acquaintance would be likely to bestow on one
thus introduced, he burst into a hearty fit of laughter. Deerslayer too well
knew the uselessness of attempting to convince such a being of anything
against his prejudices, to feel a desire to undertake the task; and he was
not sorry that the approach of the canoe to the southeastern curve of the
lake gave a new direction to his ideas. They were now, indeed. quite near the
place that March had pointed out for the position of the outlet, and both
began to look for it with,a curiosity that was increased by the expectation
of the ark.
It may strike the reader as a little singular, that the place where a stream
of any size passed through banks that had an elevation of some twenty feet,
should be a matter of doubt with men who could not now have been more than
two hundred yards distant from the precise spot. It will be recollected,
however, that the trees and bushes here, as elsewhere, fairly overhung the
water, making such a fringe to the lake, as to conceal any little variations
from its genera] outline.
"I've not been down at this end of the lake these two summers," said Hurry,
standing up in the canoe, the better to look about him. "Ay, there 's the
rock, showing its chin above the water, and I know that the river begins in
its neighborhood."
The men now plied the paddles again, and they were presently within a few
yards of the rock, floating towards it, though their efforts were suspended.
This rock was not large, being merely some five or six feet high, only half
of which elevation rose above the lake. The incessant washing of the water
for centuries had so rounded its summit, that it resembled a large beehive in
shape, its form being more than usually regular and even. Hurry remarked, as
they floated slowly past, that this rock was well known to all the Indians in
that part of the country, and that they were in the practice of using it as a
mark to designate the place of meeting, when separated by their hunts and
marches.
"And here is the river, Deerslayer," he continued, "though so shut in by
trees and bushes as to look more like an and-bush, than the outlet of such a
sheet as the Glimmerglass."
Hurry had not badly described the place, which did truly seem to be a stream
lying in ambush. The high banks might have been a hundred feet asunder; but,
on the western side, a small bit of low land extended so far forward as to
diminish the breadth of the stream to half that width
As the bushes hung in the water beneath, and pines that had the stature of
church-steeples, rose in tall columns above, all inclining towards the light,
until their branches intermingled, the eye, at a little distance, could not
easily detect any opening in the shore, to mark the egress of the water. In
the forest above, no traces of this outlet were to be seen from the lake, the
whole presenting the same connected and seemingly interminable carpet of
leaves. As the canoe slowly advanced, sucked in by the current, it entered
beneath an arch of trees, through which the light from the heavens struggled
by casual openings, faintly relieving the gloom beneath.
"This is a nat'ral and-bush," half whispered Hurry, as if he felt that the
place was devoted to secresy and watchfulness; "depend on it, old Tom has
burrowed with the ark somewhere in this quarter. We will drop down with the
current a short distance, and ferret him out."
"This seems no place for a vessel of any size," returned the other; "it
appears to me that we shall have hardly room enough for the canoe."
Hurry laughed at the suggestion, and, as it soon appeared, with reason; for
the fringe of bushes immediately on the shore of the lake was no sooner
passed, than the adventurers found themselves in a narrow stream, of a
sufficient depth of limpid water, with a strong current, and a canopy of
leaves upheld by arches composed of the limbs of hoary trees. Bushes lined
the shores, as usual, but they left sufficient space between them to admit
the passage of anything that did not exceed twenty feet in width, and to
allow of a perspective ahead of eight or ten times that distance.
Neither of our two adventurers used his paddle, except to keep the light bark
in the centre of the current, but both watched each turning of the stream, of
which there were two or three within the first hundred yards, with jealous
vigilance. Turn after turn, however, was passed, and the canoe had dropped
down with the current some little distance, when Hurry caught a bush, and
arrested its move~ ment so suddenly and silently as to denote some unusual
motive for the act. Deerslayer laid his hand on the stock of his rifle as
soon as he noted this proceeding, but it was quite as much with a hunter's
habit as from any feeling of alarm.
"There the old fellow is!" whispered Hurry, pointing with a finger, and
laughing heartily, though he carefully avoided making a noise, "ratting it
away, just as I supposed; up to his knees in the mud and water, looking to
the traps and the bait. But for the life of me I can see nothing of the ark;
though I '11 bet every skin I take this season, Jude is n't trusting her
pretty little feet in the neighborhood of that black mud. The gal's more
likely to be braiding her hair by the side of some spring, where she can see
her own good looks, and collect scornful feelings ag'in us men."
"You over-judge young women-yes, you do, Hurry- who as often bethink them of
their failings as they do of their perfections. I dare to say this Judith,
now, is no such admirer of herself, and no such scorner of our sex as you
seem to. think; and that she is quite as likely to be sarving her father in
the house, wherever that may be, as he is to be sarving her among the traps."
"It's a pleasure to hear truth from a man's tongue, if it be only once in a
girl's life," cried a pleasant, rich, and yet soft female voice, so near the
canoe as to make both the listeners start. "As for you, Master Hurry, fair
words are so apt to choke you, that I no longer expect to hear them from your
mouth; the last you uttered sticking in your throat, and coming near to
death. But I 'm glad to see you keep better society than formerly, and that
they who know how to esteem and treat women are not ashamed to journey in
your company."
As this was said, a singularly handsome and youthful female face was thrust
through an opening in the leaves, within reach of Deerslayer's paddle. Its
owner smiled graciously on the young man; and the frown that she cast on
Hurry, though simulated and pettish, had the effect to render her beauty more
striking, by exhibiting the play of an expressive but capricious countenance;
one that seemed to change from the soft to the severe, the mirthful to the
reproving, with facility and indifference.
A second look explained the nature of the surprise. Unwittingly, the men had
dropped alongside of the ark, which had been purposely concealed in bushes
cut and arranged for the purpose; and Judith Hutter had merely pushed aside
the leaves that lay before a window, in order to show her face, and speak to
them.
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