The Pathfinder; Or, The Inland Sea Read online

  CHAPTER IV

  Art, stryving to compare With nature, did an arber greene dispred, Fram'd of wanton yvie flowing fayre, Through which the fragrant eglantines did spred. SPENSER.

  The Oswego, below the falls, is a more rapid, unequal stream than itis above them. There are places where the river flows in the quietstillness of deep water, but many shoals and rapids occur; and at thatdistant day, when everything was in its natural state, some of thepasses were not altogether without hazard. Very little exertion wasrequired on the part of those who managed the canoes, except in thoseplaces where the swiftness of the current and the presence of the rocksrequired care; then, indeed, not only vigilance, but great coolness,readiness, and strength of arm became necessary, in order to avoidthe dangers. Of all this the Mohican was aware, and he had judiciouslyselected a spot where the river flowed tranquilly to intercept thecanoes, in order to make his communication without hazard to those hewished to speak.

  The Pathfinder had no sooner recognized the form of his red friend,than, with a strong sweep of his paddle, he threw the head of his owncanoe towards the shore, motioning for Jasper to follow. In a minuteboth boats were silently drifting down the stream, within reach of thebushes that overhung the water, all observing a profound silence; somefrom alarm, and others from habitual caution. As the travellers drewnearer the Indian, he made a sign for them to stop; and then he andPathfinder had a short but earnest conference.

  "The Chief is not apt to see enemies in a dead log," observed the whiteman to his red associate; "why does he tell us to stop?"

  "Mingos are in the woods."

  "That we have believed these two days: does the chief know it?"

  The Mohican quietly held up the head of a pipe formed of stone.

  "It lay on a fresh trail that led towards the garrison,"--for so itwas the usage of that frontier to term a military work, whether it wasoccupied or not.

  "That may be the bowl of a pipe belonging to a soldier. Many use thered-skin pipes."

  "See," said the Big Serpent, again holding the thing he had found up tothe view of his friend.

  The bowl of the pipe was of soap-stone, and was carved with great careand with a very respectable degree of skill; in its centre was a smallLatin cross, made with an accuracy which permitted no doubt of itsmeaning.

  "That does foretell devilry and wickedness," said the Pathfinder, whohad all the provincial horror of the holy symbol in question whichthen pervaded the country, and which became so incorporated with itsprejudices, by confounding men with things, as to have left its tracesstrong enough on the moral feeling of the community to be discoveredeven at the present hour; "no Indian who had not been parvarted by thecunning priests of the Canadas would dream of carving a thing like thaton his pipe. I'll warrant ye, the knave prays to the image every time hewishes to sarcumvent the innocent, and work his fearful wickedness. Itlooks fresh, too, Chingachgook?"

  "The tobacco was burning when I found it."

  "That is close work, chief. Where was the trail?"

  The Mohican pointed to a spot not a hundred yards from that where theystood.

  The matter now began to look very serious, and the two principal guidesconferred apart for several minutes, when both ascended the bank,approached the indicated spot, and examined the trail with the utmostcare. After this investigation had lasted a quarter of an hour, thewhite man returned alone, his red friend having disappeared in theforest.

  The ordinary expression of the countenance of the Pathfinder was that ofsimplicity, integrity, and sincerity, blended in an air of self-reliancewhich usually gave great confidence to those who found themselves underhis care; but now a look of concern cast a shade over his honest face,that struck the whole party.

  "What cheer, Master Pathfinder?" demanded Cap, permitting a voice thatwas usually deep, loud, and confident to sink into the cautious tonesthat better suited the dangers of the wilderness. "Has the enemy gotbetween us and our port?"

  "Anan?"

  "Have any of these painted scaramouches anchored off the harbor towardswhich we are running, with the hope of cutting us off in entering?"

  "It may be all as you say, friend Cap, but I am none the wiser for yourwords; and in ticklish times the plainer a man makes his English theeasier he is understood. I know nothing of ports and anchors; but thereis a direful Mingo trail within a hundred yards of this very spot, andas fresh as venison without salt. If one of the fiery devils has passed,so have a dozen; and, what is worse, they have gone down towards thegarrison, and not a soul crosses the clearing around it that someof their piercing eyes will not discover, when sartain bullets willfollow."

  "Cannot this said fort deliver a broadside, and clear everything withinthe sweep of its hawse?"

  "Nay, the forts this-a-way are not like forts in the settlements, andtwo or three light cannon are all they have down at the mouth of theriver; and then, broadsides fired at a dozen outlying Mingoes, lyingbehind logs and in a forest, would be powder spent in vain. We have butone course, and that is a very nice one. We are judgmatically placedhere, both canoes being hid by the high bank and the bushes, from alleyes, except those of any lurker directly opposite. Here, then, we maystay without much present fear; but how to get the bloodthirsty devilsup the stream again? Ha! I have it, I have it! if it does no good, itcan do no harm. Do you see the wide-topped chestnut here, Jasper, at thelast turn in the river--on our own side of the stream, I mean?"

  "That near the fallen pine?"

  "The very same. Take the flint and tinderbox, creep along the bank, andlight a fire at that spot; maybe the smoke will draw them above us. Inthe meanwhile, we will drop the canoes carefully down beyond the pointbelow, and find another shelter. Bushes are plenty, and covers areeasily to be had in this region, as witness the many ambushments."

  "I will do it, Pathfinder," said Jasper, springing to the shore. "In tenminutes the fire shall be lighted."

  "And, Eau-douce, use plenty of damp wood this time," half whispered theother, laughing heartily, in his own peculiar manner; "when smoke iswanted, water helps to thicken it."

  The young man was soon off, making his way rapidly towards the desiredpoint. A slight attempt of Mabel to object to the risk was disregarded,and the party immediately prepared to change its position, as it couldbe seen from the place where Jasper intended to light his fire. Themovement did not require haste, and it was made leisurely and with care.The canoes were got clear of the bushes, then suffered to drop down withthe stream until they reached the spot where the chestnut, at the footof which Jasper was to light the fire, was almost shut out from view,when they stopped, and every eye was turned in the direction of theadventurer.

  "There goes the smoke!" exclaimed the Pathfinder, as a current of airwhirled a little column of the vapor from the land, allowing it torise spirally above the bed of the river. "A good flint, a small bitof steel, and plenty of dry leaves makes a quick fire. I hope Eau-doucewill have the wit to bethink him of the damp wood now when it may serveus all a good turn."

  "Too much smoke--too much cunning," said Arrowhead sententiously.

  "That is gospel truth, Tuscarora, if the Mingoes didn't know that theyare near soldiers; but soldiers commonly think more of their dinner ata halt than of their wisdom and danger. No, no; let the boy pile on hislogs, and smoke them well too; it will all be laid to the stupidity ofsome Scotch or Irish blunderer, who is thinking more of his oatmeal orhis potatoes than of Indian sarcumventions or Indian rifles."

  "And yet I should think, from all we have heard in the towns, that thesoldiers on this frontier are used to the artifices of their enemies,"said Mabel, "and become almost as wily as the red men themselves."

  "Not they. Experience makes them but little wiser; and they wheel, andplatoon, and battalion it about, here in the forest, just as they didin their parks at home, of which they are all so fond of talking. Onered-skin has more cunning in his natur' than a whole regiment from theother side of the water; that is, what I call cunning of the
woods. Butthere is smoke enough, of all conscience, and we had better drop intoanother cover. The lad has thrown the river on his fire, and there isdanger that the Mingoes will believe a whole regiment is out."

  While speaking, the Pathfinder permitted his canoe to drift away fromthe bush by which it had been retained, and in a couple of minutes thebend in the river concealed the smoke and the tree. Fortunately a smallindentation in the shore presented itself, within a few yards of thepoint they had just passed; and the two canoes glided into it, under theimpulsion of the paddles.

  A better spot could not have been found for the purpose. The busheswere thick, and overhung the water, forming a complete canopy of leaves.There was a small gravelly strand at the bottom of the little bay, wheremost of the party landed to be more at their ease, and the only positionfrom which they could possibly be seen was a point on the river directlyopposite. There was little danger, however, of discovery from thatquarter, as the thicket there was even denser than common, and the landbeyond it was so wet and marshy as to render it difficult to be trodden.

  "This is a safe cover," said the Pathfinder, after he had taken ascrutinizing survey of his position "but it may be necessary to make itsafer. Master Cap, I ask nothing of you but silence, and a quieting ofsuch gifts as you may have got at sea, while the Tuscarora and I makeprovision for the evil hour."

  The guide then went a short distance into the bushes, accompanied bythe Indian, where the two cut off the larger stems of several aldersand other bushes, using the utmost care not to make a noise. The ends ofthese little trees were forced into the mud, outside of the canoes, thedepth of the water being very trifling; and in the course of ten minutesa very effectual screen was interposed between them and the principalpoint of danger. Much ingenuity and readiness were manifested in makingthis simple arrangement, in which the two workmen were essentiallyfavored by the natural formation of the bank, the indentation in theshore, the shallowness of the water, and the manner in which the tangledbushes dipped into the stream. The Pathfinder had the address to lookfor bushes which had curved stems, things easily found in such a place;and by cutting them some distance beneath the bend, and permitting thelatter to touch the water, the artificial little thicket had not theappearance of growing in the stream, which might have excited suspicionbut one passing it would have thought that the bushes shot outhorizontally from the bank before they inclined upwards towards thelight. In short, none but an unusually distrustful eye would have beenturned for an instant towards the spot in quest of a hiding-place.

  "This is the best cover I ever yet got into," said the Pathfinder, withhis quiet laugh, after having been on the outside to reconnoitre; "theleaves of our new trees fairly touch those of the bushes over our heads.Hist!--yonder comes Eau-douce, wading, like a sensible boy, as he is, toleave his trail in the water; and we shall soon see whether our cover isgood for anything or not."

  Jasper had indeed returned from his duty above; and missing the canoes,he at once inferred that they had dropped round the next bend in theriver, in order to get out of sight of the fire. His habits of cautionimmediately suggested the expediency of stepping into the water, inorder that there might exist no visible communication between the marksleft on the shore by the party and the place where he believed them tohave taken refuge below. Should the Canadian Indians return on their owntrail, and discover that made by the Pathfinder and the Serpent in theirascent from and descent to the river, the clue to their movements wouldcease at the shore, water leaving no prints of footsteps. The young manhad therefore waded, knee-deep, as far as the point, and was now seenmaking his way slowly down the margin of the stream, searching curiouslyfor the spot in which the canoes were hid.

  It was in the power of those behind the bushes, by placing their eyesnear the leaves, to find many places to look through while one at alittle distance lost this advantage. To those who watched his motionsfrom behind their cover, and they were all in the canoes, it was evidentthat Jasper was totally at a loss to imagine where the Pathfinder hadsecreted himself. When fairly round the curvature in the shore, and outof sight of the fire he had lighted above, the young man stopped andbegan examining the bank deliberately and with great care. Occasionallyhe advanced eight or ten paces, and then halted again, to renew thesearch. The water being much shallower than common, he stepped aside,in order to walk with greater ease to himself and came so near theartificial plantation that he might have touched it with his hand. Stillhe detected nothing, and was actually passing the spot when Pathfindermade an opening beneath the branches, and called to him in a low voiceto enter.

  "This is pretty well," said the Pathfinder, laughing; "though pale-faceeyes and red-skin eyes are as different as human spy-glasses. I wouldwager, with the Sergeant's daughter here, a horn of powder against awampum-belt for her girdle, that her father's rijiment should march bythis embankment of ours and never find out the fraud! But if the Mingoesactually get down into the bed of the river where Jasper passed, Ishould tremble for the plantation. It will do for their eyes, evenacross the stream, however, and will not be without its use."

  "Don't you think, Master Pathfinder, that it would be wisest, afterall," said Cap, "to get under way at once, and carry sail hard downstream, as soon as we are satisfied that these rascals are fairly asternof us? We seamen call a stern chase a long chase."

  "I wouldn't move from this spot until we hear from the Sarpent with theSergeant's pretty daughter here in our company, for all the powder inthe magazine of the fort below. Sartain captivity or sartain death wouldfollow. If a tender fa'n, such as the maiden we have in charge, couldthread the forest like old deer, it might, indeed, do to quit thecanoes; for by making a circuit we could reach the garrison beforemorning."

  "Then let it be done," said Mabel, springing to her feet under thesudden impulse of awakened energy. "I am young, active, used toexercise, and could easily out-walk my dear uncle. Let no one think mea hindrance. I cannot bear that all your lives should be exposed on myaccount."

  "No, no, pretty one; we think you anything but a hindrance or anythingthat is unbecoming, and would willingly run twice this risk to do youand the honest Sergeant a service. Do I not speak your mind, Eau-douce?"

  "To do _her_ a service!" said Jasper with emphasis. "Nothing shall temptme to desert Mabel Dunham until she is safe in her father's arms."

  "Well said, lad; bravely and honestly said, too; and I join in it, heartand hand. No, no! you are not the first of your sex I have ledthrough the wilderness, and never but once did any harm befall anyof them:--that was a sad day, certainly, but its like may never comeagain."

  Mabel looked from one of her protectors to the other, and her fine eyesswam in tears. Frankly placing a hand in that of each, she answeredthem, though at first her voice was choked, "I have no right to exposeyou on my account. My dear father will thank you, I thank you, God willreward you; but let there be no unnecessary risk. I can walk far, andhave often gone miles on some girlish fancy; why not now exert myselffor my life?--nay, for your precious lives?"

  "She is a true dove, Jasper" said the Pathfinder, neither relinquishingthe hand he held until the girl herself, in native modesty, saw fit towithdraw it, "and wonderfully winning! We get to be rough, and sometimeseven hard-hearted, in the woods, Mabel; but the sight of one like youbrings us back again to our young feelings, and does us good for theremainder of our days. I daresay Jasper here will tell you the same;for, like me in the forest, the lad sees but few such as yourself onOntario, to soften his heart and remind him of love for his kind. Speakout now, Jasper, and say if it is not so?"

  "I question if many like Mabel Dunham are to be found anywhere,"returned the young man gallantly, an honest sincerity glowing in hisface that spoke more eloquently than his tongue; "you need not mentionthe woods and lakes to challenge her equals, but I would go intosettlements and towns."

  "We had better leave the canoes," Mabel hurriedly rejoined; "for I feelit is no longer safe to be here."

  "You can never do it; you can ne
ver do it. It would be a march of morethan twenty miles, and that, too, of tramping over brush and roots, andthrough swamps, in the dark; the trail of such a party would be wide,and we might have to fight our way into the garrison after all. We willwait for the Mohican."

  Such appearing to be the decision of him to whom all, in their presentstrait, looked up for counsel, no more was said on the subject. Thewhole party now broke up into groups: Arrowhead and his wife sittingapart under the bushes, conversing in a low tone, though the man spokesternly, and the woman answered with the subdued mildness that marks thedegraded condition of a savage's wife. Pathfinder and Cap occupied onecanoe, chatting of their different adventures by sea and land; whileJasper and Mabel sat in the other, making greater progress in intimacyin a single hour than might have been effected under other circumstancesin a twelvemonth. Notwithstanding their situation as regards the enemy,the time flew by swiftly, and the young people, in particular, wereastonished when Cap informed them how long they had been thus occupied.

  "If one could smoke, Master Pathfinder," observed the old sailor, "thisberth would be snug enough; for, to give the devil his due, you have gotthe canoes handsomely landlocked, and into moorings that would defy amonsoon. The only hardship is the denial of the pipe."

  "The scent of the tobacco would betray us; and where is the use oftaking all these precautions against the Mingo's eyes, if we are to tellhim where the cover is to be found through the nose? No, no; deny yourappetites; and learn one virtue from a red-skin, who will pass a weekwithout eating even, to get a single scalp. Did you hear nothing,Jasper?"

  "The Serpent is coming."

  "Then let us see if Mohican eyes are better than them of a lad whofollows the water."

  The Mohican had indeed made his appearance in the same direction as thatby which Jasper had rejoined his friends. Instead of coming directly on,however, no sooner did he pass the bend, where he was concealed from anywho might be higher up stream, than he moved close under the bank; and,using the utmost caution, got a position where he could look back, withhis person sufficiently concealed by the bushes to prevent its beingseen by any in that quarter.

  "The Sarpent sees the knaves!" whispered Pathfinder. "As I'm a Christianwhite man, they have bit at the bait, and have ambushed the smoke!"

  Here a hearty but silent laugh interrupted his words, and nudgingCap with his elbow, they all continued to watch the movements ofChingachgook in profound stillness. The Mohican remained stationary asthe rock on which he stood full ten minutes; and then it was apparentthat something of interest had occurred within his view, for he drewback with a hurried manner, looked anxiously and keenly along the marginof the stream, and moved quickly down it, taking care to lose his trailin the shallow water. He was evidently in a hurry and concerned, nowlooking behind him, and then casting eager glances towards every spot onthe shore where he thought a canoe might be concealed.

  "Call him in," whispered Jasper, scarcely able to restrain hisimpatience,--"call him in, or it will be too late! See! he is actuallypassing us."

  "Not so, not so, lad; nothing presses, depend on it;" returned hiscompanion, "or the Sarpent would begin to creep. The Lord help us andteach us wisdom! I _do_ believe even Chingachgook, whose sight is asfaithful as the hound's scent, overlooks us, and will not find out theambushment we have made!"

  This exultation was untimely; for the words were no sooner spoken thanthe Indian, who had actually got several feet lower down the stream thanthe artificial cover, suddenly stopped; fastened a keen-riveted glanceamong the transplanted bushes; made a few hasty steps backward; and,bending his body and carefully separating the branches, he appearedamong them.

  "The accursed Mingos!" said Pathfinder, as soon as his friend was nearenough to be addressed with prudence.

  "Iroquois," returned the sententious Indian.

  "No matter, no matter; Iroquois, devil, Mingo, Mengwes, or furies--allare pretty much the same. I call all rascals Mingos. Come hither, chief,and let us convarse rationally."

  When their private communication was over, Pathfinder rejoined the rest,and made them acquainted with all he had learned.

  The Mohican had followed the trail of their enemies some distancetowards the fort, until the latter caught a sight of the smoke ofJasper's fire, when they instantly retraced their steps. It now becamenecessary for Chingachgook, who ran the greatest risk of detection, tofind a cover where he could secrete himself until the party might pass.It was perhaps fortunate for him that the savages were so intent on thisrecent discovery, that they did not bestow the ordinary attention on thesigns of the forest. At all events, they passed him swiftly, fifteen innumber, treading lightly in each other's footsteps; and he was enabledagain to get into their rear. After proceeding to the place where thefootsteps of Pathfinder and the Mohican had joined the principal trail,the Iroquois had struck off to the river, which they reached just asJasper had disappeared behind the bend below. The smoke being nowin plain view, the savages plunged into the woods and endeavored toapproach the fire unseen. Chingachgook profited by this occasion todescend to the water, and to gain the bend in the river also, whichhe thought had been effected undiscovered. Here he paused, as has beenstated, until he saw his enemies at the fire, where their stay, however,was very short.

  Of the motives of the Iroquois the Mohican could judge only by theiracts. He thought they had detected the artifice of the fire, and wereaware that it had been kindled with a view to mislead them; for, aftera hasty examination of the spot, they had separated, some plunging againinto the woods, while six or eight had followed the footsteps of Jasperalong the shore, and come down the stream towards the place where thecanoes had landed. What course they might take on reaching that spot wasonly to be conjectured; for the Serpent had felt the emergency to betoo pressing to delay looking for his friends any longer. From someindications that were to be gathered from their gestures, however, hethought it probable that their enemies might follow down in the marginof the stream, but could not be certain.

  As the Pathfinder related these facts to his companions, theprofessional feelings of the two other white men came uppermost, andboth naturally reverted to their habits, in quest of the means ofescape.

  "Let us run out the canoes at once," said Jasper eagerly; "the currentis strong, and by using the paddles vigorously we shall soon be beyondthe reach of these scoundrels!"

  "And this poor flower, that first blossomed in the clearings--shall itwither in the forest?" objected his friend, with a poetry which he hadunconsciously imbibed by his long association with the Delawares.

  "We must all die first," answered the youth, a generous color mountingto his temples; "Mabel and Arrowhead's wife may lie down in the canoes,while we do our duty, like men, on our feet."

  "Ay, you are active at the paddle and the oar, Eau-douce, I will allow,but an accursed Mingo is more active at his mischief; the canoes areswift, but a rifle bullet is swifter."

  "It is the business of men, engaged as we have been by a confidingfather, to run this risk--"

  "But it is not their business to overlook prudence."

  "Prudence! a man may carry his prudence so far as to forget hiscourage."

  The group was standing on the narrow strand, the Pathfinder leaning onhis rifle, the butt of which rested on the gravelly beach, while bothhis hands clasped the barrel at the height of his own shoulders. AsJasper threw out this severe and unmerited imputation, the deep red ofhis comrade's face maintained its hue unchanged, though the young manperceived that the fingers grasped the iron of the gun with the tenacityof a vice. Here all betrayal of emotion ceased.

  "You are young and hot-headed," returned Pathfinder, with a dignity thatimpressed his listeners with a keen sense of his moral superiority; "butmy life has been passed among dangers of this sort, and my experienceand gifts are not to be mastered by the impatience of a boy. As forcourage, Jasper, I will not send back an angry and unmeaning word tomeet an angry and an unmeaning word; for I know that you are true inyour station and a
ccording to your knowledge; but take the advice of onewho faced the Mingos when you were a child, and know that their cunningis easier sarcumvented by prudence than outwitted by foolishness."

  "I ask your pardon, Pathfinder," said the repentant Jasper, eagerlygrasping the hand that the other permitted him to seize; "I ask yourpardon, humbly and sincerely. 'Twas a foolish, as well as wicked thingto hint of a man whose heart, in a good cause, is known to be as firm asthe rocks on the lake shore."

  For the first time the color deepened on the cheek of the Pathfinder,and the solemn dignity which he had assumed, under a purely naturalimpulse, disappeared in the expression of the earnest simplicityinherent in all his feelings. He met the grasp of his young friendwith a squeeze as cordial as if no chord had jarred between them, and aslight sternness that had gathered about his eye disappeared in a lookof natural kindness.

  "'Tis well, Jasper," he answered, laughing; "I bear no ill-will, norshall any one on my behalf. My natur' is that of a white man, and thatis to bear no malice. It might have been ticklish work to have said halfas much to the Sarpent here, though he is a Delaware, for color willhave its way--"

  A touch on his shoulder caused the speaker to cease. Mabel was standingerect in the canoe, her light, but swelling form bent forward in anattitude of graceful earnestness, her finger on her lips, her headaverted, her spirited eyes riveted on an opening in the bushes, andone arm extended with a fishing-rod, the end of which had touched thePathfinder. The latter bowed his head to a level with a look-out nearwhich he had intentionally kept himself and then whispered to Jasper,--

  "The accursed Mingos! Stand to your arms, my men, but lay quiet as thecorpses of dead trees!"

  Jasper advanced rapidly, but noiselessly, to the canoe, and with agentle violence induced Mabel to place herself in such an attitude asconcealed her entire body, though it would have probably exceeded hismeans to induce the girl so far to lower her head that she could notkeep her gaze fastened on their enemies. He then took his own post nearher, with his rifle cocked and poised, in readiness to fire. Arrowheadand Chingachgook crawled to the cover, and lay in wait like snakes, withtheir arms prepared for service, while the wife of the former bowed herhead between her knees, covered it with her calico robe, and remainedpassive and immovable. Cap loosened both his pistols in their belt, butseemed quite at a loss what course to pursue. The Pathfinder did notstir. He had originally got a position where he might aim with deadlyeffect through the leaves, and where he could watch the movements ofhis enemies; and he was far too steady to be disconcerted at a moment socritical.

  It was truly an alarming instant. Just as Mabel touched the shoulder ofher guide, three of the Iroquois had appeared in the water, at the bendof the river, within a hundred yards of the cover, and halted toexamine the stream below. They were all naked to the waist, armed foran expedition against their foes, and in their warpaint. It was apparentthat they were undecided as to the course they ought to pursue in orderto find the fugitives. One pointed down the river, a second up thestream, and the third towards the opposite bank. They evidently doubted.