The Prairie (Fiscle Part 3) Of 2, J Fenimore Cooper [best e reader for manga txt] 📗
- Author: J Fenimore Cooper
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Stopped Within Reach Of Him, He Stretched Forth His Arm, And Laying A
Hand Upon The Shoulder Of The Attentive Old Man, He Stood Regarding
Him, A Minute, With Eyes That Seemed Willing To Penetrate The Recesses
Of His Most Secret Thoughts.
"Is A Pale-Face Always Made With Two Tongues?" He Demanded, When He
Found That, As Usual, With The Subject Of This Examination, He Was As
Little Intimidated By His Present Frown, As Moved By Any Apprehensions
Of The Future.
"Honesty Lies Deeper Than The Skin."
"It Is So. Now Let My Father Hear Me. Mahtoree Has But One Tongue, The
Grey-Head Has Many. They May Be All Straight, And None Of Them Forked.
A Sioux Is No More Than A Sioux, But A Pale-Face Is Every Thing! He
Can Talk To The Pawnee, And The Konza, And The Omawhaw, And He Can
Talk To His Own People."
"Ay, There Are Linguists In The Settlements That Can Do Still More.
But What Profits It All? The Master Of Life Has An Ear For Every
Language!"
"The Grey-Head Has Done Wrong. He Has Said One Thing When He Meant
Another. He Has Looked Before Him With His Eyes, And Behind Him With
His Mind. He Has Ridden The Horse Of A Sioux Too Hard; He Has Been The
Friend Of A Pawnee, And The Enemy Of My People."
"Teton, I Am Your Prisoner. Though My Words Are White, They Will Not
Complain. Act Your Will."
"No. Mahtoree Will Not Make A White Hair Red. My Father Is Free. The
Prairie Is Open On Every Side Of Him. But Before The Grey-Head Turns
His Back On The Siouxes, Let Him Look Well At Them, That He May Tell
His Own Chief, How Great Is A Dahcotah!"
"I Am Not In A Hurry To Go On My Path. You See A Man With A White
Head, And No Woman, Teton; Therefore Shall I Not Run Myself Out Of
Breath, To Tell The Nations Of The Prairies What The Siouxes Are
Doing."
"It Is Good. My Father Has Smoked With The Chiefs At Many Councils,"
Returned Mahtoree, Who Now Thought Himself Sufficiently Sure Of The
Other's Favour To Go More Directly To His Object. "Mahtoree Will Speak
With The Tongue Of His Very Dear Friend And Father. A Young Pale-Face
Will Listen When An Old Man Of That Nation Opens His Mouth. Go; My
Father Will Make What A Poor Indian Says Fit For A White Ear."
Part 3 Chapter 26 Pg 87"Speak Aloud!" Said The Trapper, Who Readily Understood The
Metaphorical Manner, In Which The Teton Expressed A Desire That He
Should Become An Interpreter Of His Words Into The English Language;
"Speak, My Young Men Listen. Now, Captain, And You Too, Friend Bee-
Hunter, Prepare Yourselves To Meet The Deviltries Of This Savage, With
The Stout Hearts Of White Warriors. If You Find Yourselves Giving Way
Under His Threats, Just Turn Your Eyes On That Noble-Looking Pawnee,
Whose Time Is Measured With A Hand As Niggardly, As That With Which A
Trader In The Towns Gives Forth The Fruits Of The Lord, Inch By Inch,
In Order To Satisfy His Covetousness. A Single Look At The Boy Will
Set You Both Up In Resolution."
"My Brother Has Turned His Eyes On The Wrong Path," Interrupted
Mahtoree, With A Complacency That Betrayed How Unwilling He Was To
Offend His Intended Interpreter.
"The Dahcotah Will Speak To My Young Men?"
"After He Has Sung In The Ear Of The Flower Of The Pale-Faces."
"The Lord Forgive The Desperate Villain!" Exclaimed The Old Man In
English. "There Are None So Tender, Or So Young, Or So Innocent, As To
Escape His Ravenous. Wishes. But Hard Words And Cold Looks Will Profit
Nothing; Therefore It Will Be Wise To Speak Him Fair. Let Mahtoree
Open His Mouth."
"Would My Father Cry Out, That The Women And Children Should Hear The
Wisdom Of Chiefs! We Will Go Into The Lodge And Whisper."
As The Teton Ended, He Pointed Significantly Towards A Tent, Vividly
Emblazoned With The History Of One Of His Own Boldest And Most
Commended Exploits, And Which Stood A Little Apart From The Rest, As
If To Denote It Was The Residence Of Some Privileged Individual Of The
Band. The Shield And Quiver At Its Entrance Were Richer Than Common,
And The High Distinction Of A Fusee, Attested The Importance Of Its
Proprietor. In Every Other Particular It Was Rather Distinguished By
Signs Of Poverty Than Of Wealth. The Domestic Utensils Were Fewer In
Number And Simpler In Their Forms, Than Those To Be Seen About The
Openings Of The Meanest Lodges, Nor Was There A Single One Of Those
High-Prized Articles Of Civilised Life, Which Were Occasionally Bought
Of The Traders, In Bargains That Bore So Hard On The Ignorant Natives.
All These Had Been Bestowed, As They Had Been Acquired, By The
Generous Chief, On His Subordinates, To Purchase An Influence That
Might Render Him The Master Of Their Lives And Persons; A Species Of
Wealth That Was Certainly More Noble In Itself, And Far Dearer To His
Ambition.
The Old Man Well Knew This To Be The Lodge Of Mahtoree, And, In
Obedience To The Sign Of The Chief, He Held His Way Towards It With
Slow And Reluctant Steps. But There Were Others Present, Who Were
Equally Interested In The Approaching Conference, Whose Apprehensions
Were Not To Be So Easily Suppressed. The Watchful Eye And Jealous Ears
Of Middleton Had Taught Him Enough To Fill His Soul With Horrible
Part 3 Chapter 26 Pg 88Forebodings. With An Incredible Effort He Succeeded In Gaining His
Feet, And Called Aloud To The Retiring Trapper--
"I Conjure You, Old Man, If The Love You Bore My Parents Was More Than
Words, Or If The Love You Bear Your God Is That Of A Christian Man,
Utter Not A Syllable That May Wound The Ear Of That Innocent--"
Exhausted In Spirit And Fettered In Limbs, He Then Fell, Like An
Inanimate Log, To The Earth, Where He Lay Like One Dead.
Paul Had However Caught The Clue And Completed The Exhortation, In His
Peculiar Manner.
"Harkee, Old Trapper," He Shouted, Vainly Endeavouring At The Same
Time To Make A Gesture Of Defiance With His Hand; "If You Ar' About To
Play The Interpreter, Speak Such Words To The Ears Of That Damnable
Savage, As Becomes A White Man To Use, And A Heathen To Hear. Tell
Him, From Me, That If He Does Or Says The Thing That Is Uncivil To The
Girl, Called Nelly Wade, That I'll Curse Him With My Dying Breath;
That I'll Pray For All Good Christians In Kentucky To Curse Him;
Sitting And Standing; Eating And Drinking, Fighting, Praying, Or At
Horse-Races; In-Doors And Outdoors; In Summer Or Winter, Or In The
Month Of March In Short I'll--Ay, It Ar' A Fact, Morally True--I'll
Haunt Him, If The Ghost Of A Pale-Face Can Contrive To Lift Itself
From A Grave Made By The Hands Of A Red-Skin!"
Having Thus Ventured The Most Terrible Denunciation He Could Devise,
And The One Which, In The Eyes Of The Honest Bee-Hunter, There Seemed
The Greatest Likelihood Of His Being Able To Put In Execution, He Was
Obliged To Await The Fruits Of His Threat, With That Resignation Which
Would Be Apt To Govern A Western Border-Man Who, In Addition To The
Prospects Just Named, Had The Advantage Of Contemplating Them In
Fetters And Bondage. We Shall Not Detain The Narrative, To Relate The
Quaint Morals With Which He Next Endeavoured To Cheer The Drooping
Spirits Of His More Sensitive Companion, Or The Occasional Pithy And
Peculiar Benedictions That He Pronounced, On All The Bands Of The
Dahcotahs, Commencing With Those Whom He Accused Of Stealing Or
Murdering, On The Banks Of The Distant Mississippi, And Concluding, In
Terms Of Suitable Energy, With The Teton Tribe. The Latter More Than
Once Received From His Lips Curses As Sententious And As Complicated
As That Celebrated Anathema Of The Church, For A Knowledge Of Which
Most Unlettered Protestants Are Indebted To The Pious Researches Of
The Worthy Tristram Shandy. But As Middleton Recovered From His
Exhaustion He Was Fain To Appease The Boisterous Temper Of His
Associate, By Admonishing Him Of The Uselessness Of Such
Denunciations, And Of The Possibility Of Their Hastening The Very Evil
He Deprecated, By Irritating The Resentments Of A Race, Who Were
Sufficiently Fierce And Lawless, Even In Their Most Pacific Moods.
In The Mean Time The Trapper And The Sioux Chief Pursued Their Way To
The Lodge. The Former Had Watched With Painful Interest The Expression
Of Mahtoree's Eye, While The Words Of Middleton And Paul Were Pursuing
Their Footsteps, But The Mien Of The Indian Was Far Too Much
Restrained And Self-Guarded, To Permit The Smallest Of His Emotions To
Part 3 Chapter 26 Pg 89Escape Through Any Of Those Ordinary Outlets, By Which The Condition
Of The Human Volcano Is Commonly Betrayed. His Look Was Fastened On
The Little Habitation They Approached; And, For The Moment, His
Thoughts Appeared To Brood Alone On The Purposes Of This Extraordinary
Visit.
The Appearance Of The Interior Of The Lodge Corresponded With Its
Exterior. It Was Larger Than Most Of The Others, More Finished In Its
Form, And Finer In Its Materials; But There Its Superiority Ceased.
Nothing Could Be More Simple And Republican Than The Form Of Living
That The Ambitious And Powerful Teton Chose To Exhibit To The Eyes Of
His People. A Choice Collection Of Weapons For The Chase, Some Three
Or Four Medals, Bestowed By The Traders And Political Agents Of The
Canadas As A Homage To, Or Rather As An Acknowledgment Of, His Rank,
With A Few Of The Most Indispensable Articles Of Personal
Accommodation, Composed Its Furniture. It Abounded In Neither Venison,
Nor The Wild-Beef Of The Prairies; Its Crafty Owner Having Well
Understood That The Liberality Of A Single Individual Would Be
Abundantly Rewarded By The Daily Contributions Of A Band. Although As
Pre-Eminent In The Chase As In War, A Deer Or A Buffaloe Was Never
Seen To Enter Whole Into His Lodge. In Return, An Animal Was Rarely
Brought Into The Encampment, That Did Not Contribute To Support The
Family Of Mahtoree. But The Policy Of The Chief Seldom Permitted More
To Remain Than Sufficed For The Wants Of The Day, Perfectly Assured
That All Must Suffer Before Hunger, The Bane Of Savage Life, Could Lay
Its Fell Fangs On So Important A Victim.
Immediately Beneath The Favourite Bow Of The Chief, And Encircled
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