The Prairie (64 page)

"Part!" was echoed from every mouth, among those who had so recently
shared his dangers, and profited by his care.

"What the devil, old trapper, do you mean to foot it to the settlements,
when here is a boat that will float the distance in half the time,
that the jackass, the Doctor has given the Pawnee, could trot along the
same."

"Settlements, boy! It is long sin' I took my leave of the waste and
wickedness of the settlements and the villages. If I live in a clearing,
here, it is one of the Lord's making, and I have no hard thoughts on the
matter; but never again shall I be seen running wilfully into the danger
of immoralities."

"I had not thought of parting," answered Middleton, endeavouring to
seek some relief from the uneasiness he felt, by turning his eyes on the
sympathising countenances of his friends; "on the contrary, I had hoped
and believed that you would have accompanied us below, where I give
you a sacred pledge, nothing shall be wanting to make your days
comfortable."

"Yes, lad, yes; you would do your endeavours; but what are the strivings
of man against the working of the devil! Ay, if kind offers and good
wishes could have done the thing, I might have been a congress man, or
perhaps a governor, years agone. Your grand'ther wished the same, and
there are them still lying in the Otsego mountains, as I hope, who
would gladly have given me a palace for my dwelling. But what are riches
without content! My time must now be short, at any rate, and I hope
it's no mighty sin for one, who has acted his part honestly near ninety
winters and summers, to wish to pass the few hours that remain in
comfort. If you think I have done wrong in coming thus far to quit
you again, Captain, I will own the reason of the act, without shame or
backwardness. Though I have seen so much of the wilderness, it is not
to be gainsayed, that my feelings, as well as my skin, are white. Now it
would not be a fitting spectacle, that yonder Pawnee Loups should look
upon the weakness of an old warrior, if weakness he should happen to
show in parting for ever from those he has reason to love, though he
may not set his heart so strongly on them, as to wish to go into the
settlements in their company."

"Harkee, old trapper," said Paul, clearing his throat with a desperate
effort, as if determined to give his voice a clear exit; "I have just
one bargain to make, since you talk of trading, which is neither more or
less than this. I offer you, as my side of the business, one half of my
shanty, nor do I much care if it be the biggest half; the sweetest and
the purest honey that can be made of the wild locust; always enough to
eat, with now and then a mouthful of venison, or, for that matter, a
morsel of buffaloe's hump, seeing that I intend to push my acquaintance
with the animal, and as good and as tidy cooking as can come from
the hands of one like Ellen Wade, here, who will shortly be Nelly
somebody-else, and altogether such general treatment as a decent man
might be supposed to pay to his best friend, or for that matter, to his
own father; in return for the same, you ar' to give us at odd moments
some of your ancient traditions, perhaps a little wholesome advice on
occasions, in small quantities at a time, and as much of your agreeable
company as you please."

"It is well—it is well, boy," returned the old man, fumbling at his
wallet; "honestly offered, and not unthankfully declined—but it cannot
be; no, it can never be."

"Venerable venator," said Dr. Battius; "there are obligations, which
every man owes to society and to human nature. It is time that you
should return to your countrymen, to deliver up some of those stores
of experimental knowledge that you have doubtless obtained by so long
a sojourn in the wilds, which, however they may be corrupted by
preconceived opinions, will prove acceptable bequests to those whom, as
you say, you must shortly leave for ever."

"Friend physicianer," returned the trapper, looking the other steadily
in the face, "as it would be no easy matter to judge of the temper of
the rattler by considering the fashions of the moose, so it would be
hard to speak of the usefulness of one man by thinking too much of the
deeds of another. You have your gifts like others, I suppose, and little
do I wish to disturb them. But as to me, the Lord has made me for a doer
and not a talker, and therefore do I consider it no harm to shut my ears
to your invitation."

"It is enough," interrupted Middleton, "I have seen and heard so much of
this extraordinary man, as to know that persuasions will not change his
purpose. First we will hear your request, my friend, and then we will
consider what may be best done for your advantage."

"It is a small matter, Captain," returned the old man, succeeding at
length in opening his bundle. "A small and trifling matter is it, to
what I once used to offer in the way of bargain; but then it is the
best I have, and therein not to be despised. Here are the skins of four
beavers, that I took, it might be a month afore we met, and here is
another from a racoon, that is of no great matter to be sure, but which
may serve to make weight atween us."

"And what do you propose to do with them?"

"I offer them in lawful barter. Them knaves the Siouxes, the Lord
forgive me for ever believing it was the Konzas! have stolen the best of
my traps, and driven me altogether to make-shift inventions, which might
foretell a dreary winter for me, should my time stretch into another
season. I wish you therefore to take the skins, and to offer them to
some of the trappers you will not fail to meet below in exchange for a
few traps, and to send the same into the Pawnee village in my name. Be
careful to have my mark painted on them; a letter N, with a hound's ear,
and the lock of a rifle. There is no Red-skin who will then dispute my
right. For all which trouble I have little more to offer than my thanks,
unless my friend, the bee-hunter here, will accept of the racoon, and
take on himself the special charge of the whole matter."

"If I do, may I b—!" The mouth of Paul was stopped by the hand of
Ellen, and he was obliged to swallow the rest of the sentence, which
he did with a species of emotion that bore no slight resemblance to the
process of strangulation.

"Well, well," returned the old man, meekly; "I hope there is no heavy
offence in the offer. I know that the skin of a racoon is of small
price, but then it was no mighty labour that I asked in return."

"You entirely mistake the meaning of our friend," interrupted Middleton,
who observed, that the bee-hunter was looking in every direction but the
right one, and that he was utterly unable to make his own vindication.
"He did not mean to say that he declined the charge, but merely that
he refused all compensation. It is unnecessary, however, to say more
of this; it shall be my office to see that the debt we owe, is properly
discharged, and that all your necessities shall be anticipated."

"Anan!" said the old man, looking up enquiringly into the other's face,
as if to ask an explanation.

"It shall all be as you wish. Lay the skins with my baggage. We will
bargain for you as for ourselves."

"Thankee, thankee, Captain; you grand'ther was of a free and generous
mind. So much so, in truth, that those just people, the Delawares,
called him the 'Openhand.' I wish, now, I was as I used to be, in order
that I might send in the lady a few delicate martens for her tippets
and overcoats, just to show you that I know how to give courtesy
for courtesy. But do not expect the same, for I am too old to give a
promise! It will all be just as the Lord shall see fit. I can offer you
nothing else, for I haven't liv'd so long in the wilderness, not to know
the scrupulous ways of a gentleman."

"Harkee, old trapper," cried the bee-hunter, striking his own hand into
the open palm which the other had extended, with a report but little
below the crack of a rifle, "I have just two things to say—Firstly,
that the Captain has told you my meaning better than I can myself; and,
secondly, if you want a skin, either for your private use or to send
abroad, I have it at your service, and that is the skin of one Paul
Hover."

The old man returned the grasp he received, and opened his mouth to the
utmost, in his extraordinary, silent, laugh.

"You couldn't have given such a squeeze, boy, when the Teton squaws
were about you with their knives! Ah! you are in your prime, and in your
vigour and happiness, if honesty lies in your path." Then the expression
of his rugged features suddenly changed to a look of seriousness and
thought. "Come hither, lad," he said, leading the bee-hunter by a button
to the land, and speaking apart in a tone of admonition and confidence;
"much has passed atween us on the pleasures and respectableness of a
life in the woods, or on the borders. I do not now mean to say that all
you have heard is not true, but different tempers call for different
employments. You have taken to your bosom, there, a good and kind child,
and it has become your duty to consider her, as well as yourself,
in setting forth in life. You are a little given to skirting the
settlements but, to my poor judgment, the girl would be more like a
flourishing flower in the sun of a clearing, than in the winds of a
prairie. Therefore forget any thing you may have heard from me, which is
nevertheless true, and turn your mind on the ways of the inner country."

Paul could only answer with a squeeze, that would have brought tears
from the eyes of most men, but which produced no other effect on the
indurated muscles of the other, than to make him laugh and nod, as if
he received the same as a pledge that the bee-hunter would remember his
advice. The trapper then turned away from his rough but warm-hearted
companion; and, having called Hector from the boat, he seemed anxious
still to utter a few words more.

"Captain," he at length resumed, "I know when a poor man talks of
credit, he deals in a delicate word, according to the fashions of the
world; and when an old man talks of life, he speaks of that which he may
never see; nevertheless there is one thing I will say, and that is not
so much on my own behalf as on that of another person. Here is Hector,
a good and faithful pup, that has long outlived the time of a dog; and,
like his master, he looks more to comfort now, than to any deeds in
running. But the creatur' has his feelings as well as a Christian. He
has consorted latterly with his kinsman, there, in such a sort as to
find great pleasure in his company, and I will acknowledge that it
touches my feelings to part the pair so soon. If you will set a value
on your hound, I will endeavour to send it to you in the spring, more
especially should them same traps come safe to hand; or, if you dislike
parting with the animal altogether, I will just ask you for his loan
through the winter. I think I can see my pup will not last beyond that
time, for I have judgment in these matters, since many is the friend,
both hound and Red-skin, that I have seen depart in my day, though the
Lord hath not yet seen fit to order his angels to sound forth my name."

"Take him, take him," cried Middleton; "take all, or any thing!"

The old man whistled the younger dog to the land; and then he proceeded
to the final adieus. Little was said on either side. The trapper took
each person solemnly by the hand, and uttered something friendly and
kind to all. Middleton was perfectly speechless, and was driven to
affect busying himself among the baggage. Paul whistled with all
his might, and even Obed took his leave with an effort that bore the
appearance of desperate philosophical resolution. When he had made the
circuit of the whole, the old man, with his own hands, shoved the boat
into the current, wishing God to speed them. Not a word was spoken, nor
a stroke of the oar given, until the travellers bad floated past a knoll
that hid the trapper from their view. He was last seen standing on the
low point, leaning on his rifle, with Hector crouched at his feet, and
the younger dog frisking along the sands, in the playfulness of youth
and vigour.

—Methought, I heard a voice.
—Shakespeare.

The water-courses were at their height, and the boat went down the swift
current like a bird. The passage proved prosperous and speedy. In less
than a third of the time, that would have been necessary for the same
journey by land, it was accomplished by the favour of those rapid
rivers. Issuing from one stream into another, as the veins of the human
body communicate with the larger channels of life, they soon entered the
grand artery of the western waters, and landed safely at the very door
of the father of Inez.

The joy of Don Augustin, and the embarrassment of the worthy father
Ignatius, may be imagined. The former wept and returned thanks
to Heaven; the latter returned thanks, and did not weep. The mild
provincials were too happy to raise any questions on the character of so
joyful a restoration; and, by a sort of general consent, it soon came to
be an admitted opinion that the bride of Middleton had been kidnapped
by a villain, and that she was restored to her friends by human agency.
There were, as respects this belief, certainly a few sceptics, but then
they enjoyed their doubts in private, with that species of sublimated
and solitary gratification that a miser finds in gazing at his growing,
but useless, hoards.

In order to give the worthy priest something to employ his mind,
Middleton made him the instrument of uniting Paul and Ellen. The former
consented to the ceremony, because he found that all his friends laid
great stress on the matter; but shortly after he led his bride into
the plains of Kentucky, under the pretence of paying certain customary
visits to sundry members of the family of Hover. While there, he took
occasion to have the marriage properly solemnised, by a justice of the
peace of his acquaintance, in whose ability to forge the nuptial chain
he had much more faith than in that of all the gownsmen within the
pale of Rome. Ellen, who appeared conscious that some extraordinary
preventives might prove necessary to keep one of so erratic a temper
as her partner, within the proper matrimonial boundaries, raised no
objections to these double knots, and all parties were content.