The Prairie (Fiscle Part 3) Of 2, J Fenimore Cooper [best e reader for manga txt] 📗
- Author: J Fenimore Cooper
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Knows. I Have Seen, In My Day, The Chief Who, In His Time, Had Beheld
The First Christian That Placed His Wicked Foot In The Regions Of
York! How Much Has The Beauty Of The Wilderness Been Deformed In Two
Short Lives! My Own Eyes Were First Opened On The Shores Of The
Eastern Sea, And Well Do I Remember, That I Tried The Virtues Of The
First Rifle I Ever Bore, After Such A March, From The Door Of My
Father To The Forest, As A Stripling Could Make Between Sun And Sun;
And That Without Offence To The Rights, Or Prejudices, Of Any Man Who
Set Himself Up To Be The Owner Of The Beasts Of The Fields. Natur'
Then Lay In Its Glory Along The Whole Coast, Giving A Narrow Stripe,
Between The Woods And The Ocean, To The Greediness Of The Settlers.
And Where Am I Now? Had I The Wings Of An Eagle, They Would Tire
Before A Tenth Of The Distance, Which Separates Me From That Sea,
Could Be Passed; And Towns, And Villages, Farms, And Highways,
Churches, And Schools, In Short, All The Inventions And Deviltries Of
Man, Are Spread Across The Region. I Have Known The Time When A Few
Red-Skins, Shouting Along The Borders, Could Set The Provinces In A
Fever; And Men Were To Be Armed; And Troops Were To Be Called To Aid
From A Distant Land; And Prayers Were Said, And The Women Frighted,
And Few Slept In Quiet, Because The Iroquois Were On The War-Path, Or
The Accursed Mingo Had The Tomahawk In Hand. How Is It Now? The
Country Sends Out Her Ships To Foreign Lands, To Wage Their Battles;
Cannon Are Plentier Than The Rifle Used To Be, And Trained Soldiers
Are Never Wanting, In Tens Of Thousands, When Need Calls For Their
Services. Such Is The Difference Atween A Province And A State, My
Men; And I, Miserable And Worn Out As I Seem, Have Lived To See It
All!"
"That You Must Have Seen Many A Chopper Skimming The Cream From The
Face Of The Earth, And Many A Settler Getting The Very Honey Of
Nature, Old Trapper," Said Paul, "No Reasonable Man Can, Or, For That
Matter, Shall Doubt. But Here Is Ellen Getting Uneasy About The
Siouxes, And Now You Have Opened Your Mind, So Freely, Concerning
These Matters, If You Will Just Put Us On The Line Of Our Flight, The
Swarm Will Make Another Move."
"Anan!"
"I Say That Ellen Is Getting Uneasy, And As The Smoke Is Lifting From
The Plain, It May Be Prudent To Take Another Flight."
"The Boy Is Reasonable. I Had Forgotten We Were In The Midst Of A
Raging Fire, And That Siouxes Were Round About Us, Like Hungry Wolves
Watching A Drove Of Buffaloes. But When Memory Is At Work In My Old
Brain, On Times Long Past, It Is Apt To Overlook The Matters Of The
Day. You Say Right, My Children; It Is Time To Be Moving, And Now
Comes The Real Nicety Of Our Case. It Is Easy To Outwit A Furnace, For
It Is Nothing But A Raging Element; And It Is Not Always Difficult To
Throw A Grizzly Bear From His Scent, For The Creatur' Is Both
Enlightened And Blinded By His Instinct; But To Shut The Eyes Of A
Waking Teton Is A Matter Of Greater Judgment, Inasmuch As His Deviltry
Part 3 Chapter 23 Pg 61Is Backed By Reason."
Notwithstanding The Old Man Appeared So Conscious Of The Difficulty Of
The Undertaking, He Set About Its Achievement With Great Steadiness
And Alacrity. After Completing The Examination, Which Had Been
Interrupted By The Melancholy Wanderings Of His Mind, He Gave The
Signal To His Companions To Mount. The Horses, Which Had Continued
Passive And Trembling Amid The Raging Of The Fire, Received Their
Burdens With A Satisfaction So Very Evident, As To Furnish A
Favourable Augury Of Their Future Industry. The Trapper Invited The
Doctor To Take His Own Steed, Declaring His Intention To Proceed On
Foot.
"I Am But Little Used To Journeying With The Feet Of Others," He
Added, As A Reason For The Measure, "And My Legs Are A Weary Of Doing
Nothing. Besides, Should We Light Suddenly On An Ambushment, Which Is
A Thing Far From Impossible, The Horse Will Be In A Better Condition
For A Hard Run With One Man On His Back Than With Two. As For Me, What
Matters It Whether My Time Is To Be A Day Shorter Or A Day Longer! Let
The Tetons Take My Scalp, If It Be God's Pleasure: They Will Find It
Covered With Grey Hairs; And It Is Beyond The Craft Of Man To Cheat Me
Of The Knowledge And Experience By Which They Have Been Whitened."
As No One Among The Impatient Listeners Seemed Disposed To Dispute The
Arrangement, It Was Acceded To In Silence. The Doctor, Though He
Muttered A Few Mourning Exclamations On Behalf Of The Lost Asinus, Was
By Far Too Well Pleased In Finding That His Speed Was Likely To Be
Sustained By Four Legs Instead Of Two, To Be Long In Complying: And,
Consequently, In A Very Few Moments The Bee-Hunter, Who Was Never Last
To Speak On Such Occasions, Vociferously Announced That They Were
Ready To Proceed.
"Now Look Off Yonder To The East," Said The Old Man, As He Began To
Lead The Way Across The Murky And Still Smoking Plain; "Little Fear Of
Cold Feet In Journeying Such A Path As This: But Look You Off To The
East, And If You See A Sheet Of Shining White, Glistening Like A Plate
Of Beaten Silver Through The Openings Of The Smoke, Why That Is Water.
A Noble Stream Is Running Thereaway, And I Thought I Got A Glimpse Of
It A While Since; But Other Thoughts Came, And I Lost It. It Is A
Broad And Swift River, Such As The Lord Has Made Many Of Its Fellows
In This Desert. For Here May Natur' Be Seen In All Its Richness, Trees
Alone Excepted. Trees, Which Are To The 'Arth, As Fruits Are To A
Garden; Without Them Nothing Can Be Pleasant, Or Thoroughly Useful.
Now Watch All Of You, With Open Eyes, For That Stripe Of Glittering
Water: We Shall Not Be Safe Until It Is Flowing Between Our Trail And
These Sharp Sighted Tetons."
The Latter Declaration Was Enough To Ensure A Vigilant Look Out For
The Desired Stream, On The Part Of All The Trapper's Followers. With
This Object In View, The Party Proceeded In Profound Silence, The Old
Man Having Admonished Them Of The Necessity Of Caution, As They
Entered The Clouds Of Smoke, Which Were Rolling Like Masses Of Fog
Along The Plain, More Particularly Over Those Spots Where The Fire Had
Encountered Occasional Pools Of Stagnant Water.
Part 3 Chapter 23 Pg 62
They Travelled Near A League In This Manner, Without Obtaining The
Desired Glimpse Of The River. The Fire Was Still Raging In The
Distance, And As The Air Swept Away The First Vapour Of The
Conflagration, Fresh Volumes Rolled Along The Place, Limiting The
View. At Length The Old Man, Who Had Begun To Betray Some Little
Uneasiness, Which Caused His Followers To Apprehend That Even His
Acute Faculties Were Beginning To Be Confused, In The Mazes Of The
Smoke, Made A Sudden Pause, And Dropping His Rifle To The Ground, He
Stood, Apparently Musing Over Some Object At His Feet. Middleton And
The Rest Rode Up To His Side, And Demanded The Reason Of The Halt.
"Look Ye, Here," Returned The Trapper, Pointing To The Mutilated
Carcass Of A Horse, That Lay More Than Half Consumed In A Little
Hollow Of The Ground; "Here May You See The Power Of A Prairie
Conflagration. The 'Arth Is Moist, Hereaway, And The Grass Has Been
Taller Than Usual. This Miserable Beast Has Been Caught In His Bed.
You See The Bones; The Crackling And Scorched Hide, And The Grinning
Teeth. A Thousand Winters Could Not Wither An Animal So Thoroughly, As
The Element Has Done It In A Minute."
"And This Might Have Been Our Fate," Said Middleton, "Had The Flames
Come Upon Us, In Our Sleep!"
"Nay, I Do Not Say That, I Do Not Say That. Not But That Man Will Burn
As Well As Tinder; But, That Being More Reasoning Than A Horse, He
Would Better Know How To Avoid The Danger."
"Perhaps This Then Has Been But The Carcass Of An Animal, Or He Too
Would Have Fled?"
"See You These Marks In The Damp Soil? Here Have Been His Hoofs,--And
There Is A Moccasin Print, As I'm A Sinner! The Owner Of The Beast Has
Tried Hard To Move Him From The Place, But It Is In The Instinct Of
The Creatur' To Be Faint-Hearted And Obstinate In A Fire."
"It Is A Well-Known Fact. But If The Animal Has Had A Rider, Where Is
He?"
"Ay, Therein Lies The Mystery," Returned The Trapper, Stooping To
Examine The Signs In The Ground With A Closer Eye. "Yes, Yes, It Is
Plain There Has Been A Long Struggle Atween The Two. The Master Has
Tried Hard To Save His Beast, And The Flames Must Have Been Very
Greedy, Or He Would Have Had Better Success."
"Harkee, Old Trapper," Interrupted Paul, Pointing To A Little
Distance, Where The Ground Was Drier, And The Herbage Had, In
Consequence, Been Less Luxuriant; "Just Call Them Two Horses. Yonder
Lies Another."
"The Boy Is Right! Can It Be, That The Tetons Have Been Caught In
Their Own Snares? Such Things Do Happen; And Here Is An Example To All
Evil-Doers. Ay, Look You Here, This Is Iron; There Have Been Some
White Inventions About The Trappings Of The Beast--It Must Be So--It
Part 3 Chapter 23 Pg 63Must Be So--A Party Of The Knaves Have Been Skirting In The Grass
After Us, While Their Friends Have Fired The Prairie, And Look You At
The Consequences; They Have Lost Their Beasts, And Happy Have They
Been If Their Own Souls Are Not Now Skirting Along The Path, Which
Leads To The Indian Heaven."
"They Had The Same Expedient At Command As Yourself," Rejoined
Middleton, As The Party Slowly Proceeded, Approaching The Other
Carcass, Which Lay Directly On Their Route.
"I Know Not That. It Is Not Every Savage That Carries His Steel And
Flint, Or As Good A Rifle-Pan As This Old Friend Of Mine. It Is Slow
Making A Fire With Two Sticks, And Little Time
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