The Prairie (Fiscle Part 3) Of 2, J Fenimore Cooper [best e reader for manga txt] 📗
- Author: J Fenimore Cooper
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Sufficiently Striking Point Of View. In Short, The Family Of Ishmael
Appeared Now To Be In The Plenitude Of An Enjoyment, Which Depended On
Inactivity, But Which Was Not Entirely Free From Certain Confused
Glimmerings Of A Perspective, In Which Their Security Stood In Some
Little Danger Of A Rude Interruption From Teton Treachery. Abiram,
Alone, Formed A Solitary Exception To This State Of Equivocal Repose.
After A Life Passed In The Commission Of A Thousand Mean And
Insignificant Villanies, The Mind Of The Kidnapper Had Become Hardy
Enough To Attempt The Desperate Adventure, Which Has Been Laid Before
The Reader, In The Course Of The Narrative. His Influence Over The
Bolder, But Less Active, Spirit Of Ishmael Was Far From Great, And Had
Not The Latter Been Suddenly Expelled From A Fertile Bottom, Of Which
He Had Taken Possession, With Intent To Keep It, Without Much
Deference To The Forms Of Law, He Would Never Have Succeeded In
Enlisting The Husband Of His Sister In An Enterprise That Required So
Part 3 Chapter 25 Pg 80Much Decision And Forethought. Their Original Success And Subsequent
Disappointment Have Been Seen; And Abiram Now Sat Apart, Plotting The
Means, By Which He Might Secure To Himself The Advantages Of His
Undertaking, Which He Perceived Were Each Moment Becoming More
Uncertain, Through The Open Admiration Of Mahtoree For The Innocent
Subject Of His Villany. We Shall Leave Him To His Vacillating And
Confused Expedients, In Order To Pass To The Description Of Certain
Other Personages In The Drama.
There Was Still Another Corner Of The Picture That Was Occupied. On A
Little Bank, At The Extreme Right Of The Encampment, Lay The Forms Of
Middleton And Paul. Their Limbs Were Painfully Bound With Thongs, Cut
From The Skin Of A Bison, While, By A Sort Of Refinement In Cruelty,
They Were So Placed, That Each Could See A Reflection Of His Own
Misery In The Case Of His Neighbour. Within A Dozen Yards Of Them A
Post Was Set Firmly In The Ground, And Against It Was Bound The Light
And Apollo-Like Person Of Hard-Heart. Between The Two Stood The
Trapper, Deprived Of His Rifle, His Pouch And His Horn, But Otherwise
Left In A Sort Of Contemptuous Liberty. Some Five Or Six Young
Warriors, However, With Quivers At Their Backs, And Long Tough Bows
Dangling From Their Shoulders, Who Stood With Grave Watchfulness At No
Great Distance From The Spot, Sufficiently Proclaimed How Fruitless
Any Attempt To Escape, On The Part Of One So Aged And So Feeble, Might
Prove. Unlike The Other Spectators Of The Important Conference, These
Individuals Were Engaged In A Discourse That For Them Contained An
Interest Of Its Own.
"Captain," Said The Bee-Hunter With An Expression Of Comical Concern,
That No Misfortune Could Depress In One Of His Buoyant Feelings, "Do
You Really Find That Accursed Strap Of Untanned Leather Cutting Into
Your Shoulder, Or Is It Only The Tickling In My Own Arm That I Feel?"
"When The Spirit Suffers So Deeply, The Body Is Insensible To Pain,"
Returned The More Refined, Though Scarcely So Spirited Middleton;
"Would To Heaven That Some Of My Trusty Artillerists Might Fall Upon
This Accursed Encampment!"
"You Might As Well Wish That These Teton Lodges Were So Many Hives Of
Hornets, And That The Insects Would Come Forth And Battle With Yonder
Tribe Of Half Naked Savages." Then, Chuckling With His Own Conceit,
The Bee-Hunter Turned Away From His Companion, And Sought A Momentary
Relief From His Misery, By Imagining That So Wild An Idea Might Be
Realised, And Fancying The Manner, In Which The Attack Would Upset
Even The Well Established Patience Of An Indian.
Middleton Was Glad To Be Silent; But The Old Man, Who Had Listened To
Their Words, Drew A Little Nigher, And Continued The Discourse.
"Here Is Likely To Be A Merciless And A Hellish Business!" He Said,
Shaking His Head In A Manner To Prove That Even His Experience Was At
A Loss For A Remedy In So Trying A Dilemma. "Our Pawnee Friend Is
Already Staked For The Torture, And I Well Know, By The Eye And The
Countenance Of The Great Sioux, That He Is Leading On The Temper Of
His People To Further Enormities."
Part 3 Chapter 25 Pg 81
"Harkee, Old Trapper," Said Paul, Writhing In His Bonds To Catch A
Glimpse Of The Other's Melancholy Face; "You Ar' Skilled In Indian
Tongues, And Know Somewhat Of Indian Deviltries. Go You To The
Council, And Tell Their Chiefs In My Name, That Is To Say, In The Name
Of Paul Hover, Of The State Of Kentucky, That Provided They Will
Guarantee The Safe Return Of One Ellen Wade Into The States, They Are
Welcome To Take His Scalp When And In Such Manner As Best Suits Their
Amusements; Or, If-So-Be They Will Not Trade On These Conditions, You
May Throw In An Hour Or Two Of Torture Before Hand, In Order To
Sweeten The Bargain To Their Damnable Appetites."
"Ah! Lad, It Is Little They Would Hearken To Such An Offer, Knowing,
As They Do, That You Are Already Like A Bear In A Trap, As Little Able
To Fight As To Fly. But Be Not Down-Hearted, For The Colour Of A White
Man Is Sometimes His Death-Warrant Among These Far Tribes Of Savages,
And Sometimes His Shield. Though They Love Us Not, Cunning Often Ties
Their Hands. Could The Red Nations Work Their Will, Trees Would
Shortly Be Growing Again On The Ploughed Fields Of America, And Woods
Would Be Whitened With Christian Bones. No One Can Doubt That, Who
Knows The Quality Of The Love Which A Red-Skin Bears A Pale-Face; But
They Have Counted Our Numbers Until Their Memories Fail Them, And They
Are Not Without Their Policy. Therefore Is Our Fate Unsettled; But I
Fear Me There Is Small Hope Left For The Pawnee!"
As The Old Man Concluded, He Walked Slowly Towards The Subject Of His
Latter Observation, Taking His Post At No Great Distance From His
Side. Here He Stood, Observing Such A Silence And Mien As Became Him
To Manifest, To A Chief So Renowned And So Situated As His Captive
Associate. But The Eye Of Hard-Heart Was Fastened On The Distance, And
His Whole Air Was That Of One Whose Thoughts Were Entirely Removed
From The Present Scene.
"The Siouxes Are In Council On My Brother," The Trapper At Length
Observed, When He Found He Could Only Attract The Other's Attention By
Speaking.
The Young Partisan Turned His Head With A Calm Smile As He Answered
"They Are Counting The Scalps Over The Lodge Of Hard-Heart!"
"No Doubt, No Doubt; Their Tempers Begin To Mount, As They Remember
The Number Of Tetons You Have Struck, And Better Would It Be For You
Now, Had More Of Your Days Been Spent In Chasing The Deer, And Fewer
On The War-Path. Then Some Childless Mother Of This Tribe Might Take
You In The Place Of Her Lost Son, And Your Time Would Be Filled In
Peace."
"Does My Father Think That A Warrior Can Ever Die? The Master Of Life
Does Not Open His Hand To Take Away His Gifts Again. When He Wants His
Young Men He Calls Them, And They Go. But The Red-Skin He Has Once
Breathed On Lives For Ever."
"Ay, This Is A More Comfortable And A More Humble Faith Than That
Which Yonder Heartless Teton Harbours. There Is Something In These
Part 3 Chapter 25 Pg 82Loups Which Opens My Inmost Heart To Them; They Seem To Have The
Courage, Ay, And The Honesty, Too, Of The Delawares Of The Hills. And
This Lad--It Is Wonderful, It Is Very Wonderful; But The Age, And The
Eye, And The Limbs Are As If They Might Have Been Brothers! Tell Me,
Pawnee, Have You Ever In Your Traditions Heard Of A Mighty People Who
Once Lived On The Shores Of The Salt-Lake, Hard By The Rising Sun?"
"The Earth Is White, By People Of The Colour Of My Father."
"Nay, Nay, I Speak Not Now Of Any Strollers, Who Have Crept Into The
Land To Rob The Lawful Owners Of Their Birth-Right, But Of A People
Who Are, Or Rather Were, What With Nature And What With Paint, Red As
The Berry On The Bush."
"I Have Heard The Old Men Say, That There Were Bands, Who Hid
Themselves In The Woods Under The Rising Sun, Because They Dared Not
Come Upon The Open Prairies To Fight With Men."
"Do Not Your Traditions Tell You Of The Greatest, The Bravest, And The
Wisest Nation Of Red-Skins That The Wahcondah Has Ever Breathed Upon?"
Hard-Heart Raised His Head, With A Loftiness And Dignity That Even His
Bonds Could Not Repress, As He Answered--
"Has Age Blinded My Father; Or Does He See So Many Siouxes, That He
Believes There Are No Longer Any Pawnees?"
"Ah! Such Is Mortal Vanity And Pride!" Exclaimed The Disappointed Old
Man, In English. "Natur' Is As Strong In A Red-Skin, As In The Bosom
Of A Man Of White Gifts. Now Would A Delaware Conceit Himself Far
Mightier Than A Pawnee, Just As A Pawnee Boasts Himself To Be Of The
Princes Of The 'Arth. And So It Was Atween The Frenchers Of The
Canadas And The Red-Coated English, That The King Did Use To Send Into
The States, When States They Were Not, But Outcrying And Petitioning
Provinces, They Fou't And They Fou't, And What Marvellous Boastings
Did They Give Forth To The World Of Their Own Valour And Victories,
While Both Parties Forgot To Name The Humble Soldier Of The Land, Who
Did The Real Service, But Who, As He Was Not Privileged Then To Smoke
At The Great Council Fire Of His Nation, Seldom Heard Of His Deeds,
After They Were Once Bravely Done."
When The Old Man Had Thus Given Vent To The Nearly Dormant, But Far
From Extinct, Military Pride, That Had So Unconsciously Led Him Into
The Very Error He Deprecated, His Eye, Which Had Begun To Quicken And
Glimmer With Some Of The Ardour Of His Youth, Softened And Turned Its
Anxious Look On The Devoted Captive, Whose Countenance Was Also
Restored To Its Former Cold Look Of Abstraction And Thought.
"Young Warrior," He Continued In A Voice That Was Growing Tremulous,
"I Have Never Been Father, Or Brother. The Wahcondah Made Me To Live
Alone. He Never Tied My Heart To House Or Field, By The Cords With
Which The Men Of My Race Are Bound
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