The Prairie (Fiscle Part 3) Of 2, J Fenimore Cooper [best e reader for manga txt] 📗
- Author: J Fenimore Cooper
Book online «The Prairie (Fiscle Part 3) Of 2, J Fenimore Cooper [best e reader for manga txt] 📗». Author J Fenimore Cooper
Sort Of Magical Ring Of Spears, Shields, Lances And Arrows, All Of
Which Had In Their Time Done Good Service, Was Suspended The
Mysterious And Sacred Medicine-Bag. It Was Highly-Wrought In Wampum,
And Profusely Ornamented With Beads And Porcupine's Quills, After The
Most Cunning Devices Of Indian Ingenuity. The Peculiar Freedom Of
Mahtoree's Religious Creed Has Been More Than Once Intimated, And By A
Singular Species Of Contradiction, He Appeared To Have Lavished His
Attentions On This Emblem Of A Supernatural Agency, In A Degree That
Was Precisely Inverse To His Faith. It Was Merely The Manner In Which
The Sioux Imitated The Well-Known Expedient Of The Pharisees, "In
Order That They Might Be Seen Of Men."
The Tent Had Not, However, Been Entered By Its Owner Since His Return
From The Recent Expedition. As The Reader Has Already Anticipated, It
Had Been Made The Prison Of Inez And Ellen. The Bride Of Middleton Was
Seated On A Simple Couch Of Sweet-Scented Herbs Covered With Skins.
She Had Already Suffered So Much, And Witnessed So Many Wild And
Unlooked-For Events, Within The Short Space Of Her Captivity. That
Every Additional Misfortune Fell With A Diminished Force On Her
Seemingly Devoted Head. Her Cheeks Were Bloodless, Her Dark And
Usually Animated Eye Was Contracted In An Expression Of Settled
Concern, And Her Form Appeared Shrinking And Sensitive, Nearly To
Extinction. But In The Midst Of These Evidences Of Natural Weakness,
There Were At Times Such An Air Of Pious Resignation, Such Gleams Of
Meek But Holy Hope Lighting Her Countenance, As Might Well Have
Rendered It A Question Whether The Hapless Captive Was Most A Subject
Part 3 Chapter 26 Pg 90Of Pity, Or Of Admiration. All The Precepts Of Father Ignatius Were
Riveted In Her Faithful Memory, And Not A Few Of His Pious Visions
Were Floating Before Her Imagination. Sustained By So Sacred
Resolutions, The Mild, The Patient And The Confiding Girl Was Bowing
Her Head To This New Stroke Of Providence, With The Same Sort Of
Meekness As She Would Have Submitted To Any Other Prescribed Penitence
For Her Sins, Though Nature, At Moments, Warred Powerfully, With So
Compelled A Humility.
On The Other Hand, Ellen Had Exhibited Far More Of The Woman, And
Consequently Of The Passions Of The World. She Had Wept Until Her Eyes
Were Swollen And Red. Her Cheeks Were Flushed And Angry, And Her Whole
Mien Was Distinguished By An Air Of Spirit And Resentment, That Was
Not A Little, However, Qualified By Apprehensions For The Future. In
Short, There Was That About The Eye And Step Of The Betrothed Of Paul,
Which Gave A Warranty That Should Happier Times Arrive, And The
Constancy Of The Bee-Hunter Finally Meet With Its Reward, He Would
Possess A Partner Every Way Worthy To Cope With His Own Thoughtless
And Buoyant Temperament.
There Was Still Another And A Third Figure In That Little Knot Of
Females. It Was The Youngest, The Most Highly Gifted, And, Until Now,
The Most Favoured Of The Wives Of The Teton. Her Charms Had Not Been
Without The Most Powerful Attraction In The Eyes Of Her Husband, Until
They Had So Unexpectedly Opened On The Surpassing Loveliness Of A
Woman Of The Pale-Faces. From That Hapless Moment The Graces, The
Attachment, The Fidelity Of The Young Indian, Had Lost Their Power To
Please. Still The Complexion Of Tachechana, Though Less Dazzling Than
That Of Her Rival, Was, For Her Race, Clear And Healthy. Her Hazel Eye
Had The Sweetness And Playfulness Of The Antelope's; Her Voice Was
Soft And Joyous As The Song Of The Wren, And Her Happy Laugh Was The
Very Melody Of The Forest. Of All The Sioux Girls, Tachechana (Or The
Fawn) Was The Lightest-Hearted And The Most Envied. Her Father Had
Been A Distinguished Brave, And Her Brothers Had Already Left Their
Bones On A Distant And Dreary War-Path. Numberless Were The Warriors,
Who Had Sent Presents To The Lodge Of Her Parents, But None Of Them
Were Listened To Until A Messenger From The Great Mahtoree Had Come.
She Was His Third Wife, It Is True, But She Was Confessedly The Most
Favoured Of Them All. Their Union Had Existed But Two Short Seasons,
And Its Fruits Now Lay Sleeping At Her Feet, Wrapped In The Customary
Ligatures Of Skin And Bark, Which Form The Swaddlings Of An Indian
Infant.
At The Moment, When Mahtoree And The Trapper Arrived At The Opening Of
The Lodge, The Young Sioux Wife Was Seated On A Simple Stool, Turning
Her Soft Eyes, With Looks That Varied, Like Her Emotions, With Love
And Wonder, From The Unconscious Child To Those Rare Beings, Who Had
Filled Her Youthful And Uninstructed Mind With So Much Admiration And
Astonishment. Though Inez And Ellen Had Passed An Entire Day In Her
Sight, It Seemed As If The Longings Of Her Curiosity Were Increasing
With Each New Gaze. She Regarded Them As Beings Of An Entirely
Different Nature And Condition From The Females Of The Prairie. Even
The Mystery Of Their Complicated Attire Had Its Secret Influence On
Her Simple Mind, Though It Was The Grace And Charms Of Sex, To Which
Part 3 Chapter 26 Pg 91Nature Has Made Every People So Sensible, That Most Attracted Her
Admiration. But While Her Ingenuous Disposition Freely Admitted The
Superiority Of The Strangers Over The Less Brilliant Attractions Of
The Dahcotah Maidens, She Had Seen No Reason To Deprecate Their
Advantages. The Visit That She Was Now About To Receive, Was The First
Which Her Husband Had Made To The Tent Since His Return From The
Recent Inroad, And He Was Ever Present To Her Thoughts, As A
Successful Warrior, Who Was Not Ashamed, In The Moments Of Inaction,
To Admit The Softer Feelings Of A Father And A Husband.
We Have Every Where Endeavoured To Show That While Mahtoree Was In All
Essentials A Warrior Of The Prairies, He Was Much In Advance Of His
People In Those Acquirements Which Announce The Dawnings Of
Civilisation. He Had Held Frequent Communion With The Traders And
Troops Of The Canadas, And The Intercourse Had Unsettled Many Of Those
Wild Opinions Which Were His Birthright, Without Perhaps Substituting
Any Others Of A Nature Sufficiently Definite To Be Profitable. His
Reasoning Was Rather Subtle Than True, And His Philosophy Far More
Audacious Than Profound. Like Thousands Of More Enlightened Beings,
Who Fancy They Are Able To Go Through The Trials Of Human Existence
Without Any Other Support Than Their Own Resolutions, His Morals Were
Accommodating And His Motive Selfish. These Several Characteristics
Will Be Understood Always With Reference To The Situation Of The
Indian, Though Little Apology Is Needed For Finding Resemblances
Between Men, Who Essentially Possess The Same Nature, However It May
Be Modified By Circumstances.
Notwithstanding The Presence Of Inez And Ellen, The Entrance Of The
Teton Warrior Into The Lodge Of His Favourite Wife, Was Made With The
Tread And Mien Of A Master. The Step Of His Moccasin Was Noiseless,
But The Rattling Of His Bracelets, And Of The Silver Ornaments Of His
Leggings, Sufficed To Announce His Approach, As He Pushed Aside The
Skin Covering Of The Opening Of The Tent, And Stood In The Presence Of
Its Inmates. A Faint Cry Of Pleasure Burst From The Lips Of Tachechana
In The Suddenness Of Her Surprise, But The Emotion Was Instantly
Suppressed In That Subdued Demeanour Which Should Characterise A
Matron Of Her Tribe. Instead Of Returning The Stolen Glance Of His
Youthful And Secretly Rejoicing Wife, Mahtoree Moved To The Couch,
Occupied By His Prisoners, And Placed Himself In The Haughty, Upright
Attitude Of An Indian Chief, Before Their Eyes. The Old Man Had Glided
Past Him, And Already Taken A Position Suited To The Office He Had
Been Commanded To Fill.
Surprise Kept The Females Silent And Nearly Breathless. Though
Accustomed To The Sight Of Savage Warriors, In The Horrid Panoply Of
Their Terrible Profession, There Was Something So Startling In The
Entrance, And So Audacious In The Inexplicable Look Of Their
Conqueror, That The Eyes Of Both Sunk To The Earth, Under A Feeling Of
Terror And Embarrassment. Then Inez Recovered Herself, And Addressing
The Trapper, She Demanded, With The Dignity Of An Offended
Gentlewoman, Though With Her Accustomed Grace, To What Circumstance
They Owed This Extraordinary And Unexpected Visit. The Old Man
Hesitated; But Clearing His Throat, Like One Who Was About To Make An
Effort To Which He Was Little Used, He Ventured On The Following
Part 3 Chapter 26 Pg 92Reply--
"Lady," He Said, "A Savage Is A Savage, And You Are Not To Look For
The Uses And Formalities Of The Settlements On A Bleak And Windy
Prairie. As These Indians Would Say, Fashions And Courtesies Are
Things So Light, That They Would Blow Away. As For Myself, Though A
Man Of The Forest, I Have Seen The Ways Of The Great, In My Time, And
I Am Not To Learn That They Differ From The Ways Of The Lowly. I Was
Long A Serving-Man In My Youth, Not One Of Your Beck-And-Nod Runners
About A Household, But A Man That Went Through The Servitude Of The
Forest With His Officer, And Well Do I Know In What Manner To Approach
The Wife Of A Captain. Now, Had I The Ordering Of This Visit, I Would
First Have Hemmed Aloud At The Door, In Order That You Might Hear That
Strangers Were Coming, And Then I--"
"The Manner Is Indifferent," Interrupted Inez, Too Anxious To Await
The Prolix Explanations Of The Old Man; "Why Is The Visit Made?"
"Therein Shall The Savage Speak For Himself. The Daughters Of The
Pale-Faces Wish To Know Why The Great Teton Has Come Into His Lodge?"
Mahtoree Regarded His Interrogator With A Surprise, Which Showed How
Extraordinary He Deemed The Question. Then Placing Himself In A
Posture Of Condescension, After A Moment's Delay, He Answered--
"Sing In The Ears Of The Dark-Eye. Tell Her The Lodge Of Mahtoree Is
Very Large, And That It Is Not Full. She Shall Find Room In It, And
None Shall Be Greater Than She. Tell The Light-Hair, That She Too May
Stay In The Lodge Of A Brave, And Eat Of His Venison. Mahtoree Is A
Great Chief. His Hand Is Never Shut."
"Teton," Returned The Trapper, Shaking His Head In Evidence Of The
Strong Disapprobation With Which He Heard This Language, "The Tongue
Of A Red-Skin Must Be Coloured White, Before It Can Make Music In The
Ears Of A Pale-Face. Should Your Words Be Spoken, My Daughters Would
Shut Their Ears, And Mahtoree
Comments (0)