The Prairie (Fiscle Part 3) Of 2, J Fenimore Cooper [best e reader for manga txt] 📗
- Author: J Fenimore Cooper
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Far Exceeding Any That Could Be Found In Fifty Teton Scalps. Let That
Be As It Might, Hard-Heart Had No Sooner Received The Brief
Congratulations Of His Band, And Communicated To The Chiefs Such Facts
As Were Important To Be Known, Than He Prepared Himself To Act Such A
Part In The Coming Conflict, As Would At Once Maintain His Well-Earned
Reputation, And Gratify His Secret Wishes. A Led Horse, One That Had
Been Long Trained In The Hunts, Had Been Brought To Receive His
Master, With But Little Hope That His Services Would Ever Be Needed
Again In This Life. With A Delicacy And Consideration, That Proved How
Much The Generous Qualities Of The Youth Had Touched The Feelings Of
His People, A Bow, A Lance, And A Quiver, Were Thrown Across The
Animal, Which It Had Been Intended To Immolate On The Grave Of The
Young Brave; A Species Of Care That Would Have Superseded The
Necessity For The Pious Duty That The Trapper Had Pledged Himself To
Perform.
Though Hard-Heart Was Sensible Of The Kindness Of His Warriors, And
Believed That A Chief, Furnished With Such Appointments, Might Depart
With Credit For The Distant Hunting-Grounds Of The Master Of Life, He
Seemed Equally Disposed To Think That They Might Be Rendered Quite As
Useful, In The Actual State Of Things. His Countenance Lighted With
Stern Pleasure, As He Tried The Elasticity Of The Bow, And Poised The
Well-Balanced Spear. The Glance He Bestowed On The Shield Was More
Cursory And Indifferent; But The Exultation With Which He Threw
Himself On The Back Of His Favoured War-Horse Was So Great, As To
Break Through The Forms Of Indian Reserve. He Rode To And Fro Among
His Scarcely Less Delighted Warriors, Managing The Animal With A Grace
And Address That No Artificial Rules Can Ever Supply; At Times
Flourishing His Lance, As If To Assure Himself Of His Seat, And At
Others Examining Critically Into The Condition Of The Fusee, With
Which He Had Also Been Furnished, With The Fondness Of One, Who Was
Miraculously Restored To The Possession Of Treasures, That Constituted
His Pride And His Happiness.
At This Particular Moment Mahtoree, Having Completed The Necessary
Arrangements, Prepared To Make A More Decisive Movement. The Teton Had
Found No Little Embarrassment In Disposing Of His Captives. The Tents
Of The Squatter Were Still In Sight, And His Wary Cunning Did Not Fail
To Apprise Him, That It Was Quite As Necessary To Guard Against An
Attack From That Quarter As To Watch The Motions Of His More Open And
More Active Foes. His First Impulse Had Been To Make The Tomahawk
Suffice For The Men, And To Trust The Females Under The Same
Protection As The Women Of His Band; But The Manner, In Which Many Of
His Braves Continued To Regard The Imaginary Medicine Of The Long-
Knives, Forewarned Him Of The Danger Of So Hazardous An Experiment On
The Eve Of A Battle. It Might Be Deemed The Omen Of Defeat. In This
Dilemma He Motioned To A Superannuated Warrior, To Whom He Had
Confided The Charge Of The Non-Combatants, And Leading Him Apart, He
Placed A Finger Significantly On His Shoulder, As He Said, In A Tone,
In Which Authority Was Tempered By Confidence--
"When My Young Men Are Striking The Pawnees, Give The Women Knives.
Part 3 Chapter 29 Pg 121Enough; My Father Is Very Old; He Does Not Want To Hear Wisdom From A
Boy."
The Grim Old Savage Returned A Look Of Ferocious Assent, And Then The
Mind Of The Chief Appeared To Be At Rest On This Important Subject.
From That Moment He Bestowed All His Care On The Achievement Of His
Revenge, And The Maintenance Of His Martial Character. Throwing
Himself On His Horse, He Made A Sign, With The Air Of A Prince To His
Followers, To Imitate His Example, Interrupting, Without Ceremony, The
War Songs And Solemn Rites By Which Many Among Them Were Stimulating
Their Spirits To Deeds Of Daring. When All Were In Order, The Whole
Moved With Great Steadiness And Silence Towards The Margin Of The
River.
The Hostile Bands Were Now Separated By The Water. The Width Of The
Stream Was Too Great To Admit Of The Use Of The Ordinary Indian
Missiles, But A Few Useless Shots Were Exchanged From The Fusees Of
The Chiefs, More In Bravado Than With Any Expectation Of Doing
Execution. As Some Time Was Suffered To Elapse, In Demonstrations And
Abortive Efforts, We Shall Leave Them, For That Period, To Return To
Such Of Our Characters As Remained In The Hands Of The Savages.
We Have Shed Much Ink In Vain, And Wasted Quires, That Might Possibly
Have Been Better Employed, If It Be Necessary Now To Tell The Reader
That Few Of The Foregoing Movements Escaped The Observation Of The
Experienced Trapper. He Had Been, In Common With The Rest, Astonished
At The Sudden Act Of Hard-Heart; And There Was A Single Moment When A
Feeling Of Regret And Mortification Got The Better Of His Longings To
Save The Life Of The Youth. The Simple And Well-Intentioned Old Man
Would Have Felt, At Witnessing Any Failure Of Firmness On The Part Of
A Warrior, Who Had So Strongly Excited His Sympathies, The Same
Species Of Sorrow That A Christian Parent Would Suffer In Hanging Over
The Dying Moments Of An Impious Child. But When, Instead Of An
Impotent And Unmanly Struggle For Existence, He Found That His Friend
Had Forborne, With The Customary And Dignified Submission Of An Indian
Warrior, Until An Opportunity Had Offered To Escape, And That He Had
Then Manifested The Spirit And Decision Of The Most Gifted Brave, His
Gratification Became Nearly Too Powerful To Be Concealed. In The Midst
Of The Wailing And Commotion, Which Succeeded The Death Of Weucha And
The Escape Of The Captive, He Placed Himself Nigh The Persons Of His
White Associates, With A Determination Of Interfering, At Every
Hazard, Should The Fury Of The Savages Take That Direction. The
Appearance Of The Hostile Band Spared Him, However, So Desperate And
Probably So Fruitless An Effort, And Left Him To Pursue His
Observations, And To Mature His Plans More At Leisure.
He Particularly Remarked That, While By Far The Greater Part Of The
Women, And All The Children, Together With The Effects Of The Party,
Were Hurried To The Rear, Probably With An Order To Secrete Themselves
In Some Of The Adjacent Woods, The Tent Of Mahtoree Himself Was Left
Standing, And Its Contents Undisturbed. Two Chosen Horses, However,
Stood Near By, Held By A Couple Of Youths, Who Were Too Young To Go
Into The Conflict, And Yet Of An Age To Understand The Management Of
Part 3 Chapter 29 Pg 122The Beasts. The Trapper Perceived In This Arrangement The Reluctance
Of Mahtoree To Trust His Newly-Found Flowers Beyond The Reach Of His
Eye; And, At The Same Time, His Forethought In Providing Against A
Reverse Of Fortune. Neither Had The Manner Of The Teton, In Giving His
Commission To The Old Savage, Nor The Fierce Pleasure With Which The
Latter Had Received The Bloody Charge, Escaped His Observation. From
All These Mysterious Movements, The Old Man Was Aware That A Crisis
Was At Hand, And He Summoned The Utmost Knowledge He Had Acquired, In
So Long A Life, To Aid Him In The Desperate Conjuncture. While Musing
On The Means To Be Employed, The Doctor Again Attracted His Attention
To Himself, By A Piteous Appeal For Assistance.
"Venerable Trapper, Or, As I May Now Say, Liberator," Commenced The
Dolorous Obed, "It Would Seem, That A Fitting Time Has At Length
Arrived To Dissever The Unnatural And Altogether Irregular Connection,
Which Exists Between My Inferior Members And The Body Of Asinus.
Perhaps If Such A Portion Of My Limbs Were Released As Might Leave Me
Master Of The Remainder, And This Favourable Opportunity Were Suitably
Improved, By Making A Forced March Towards The Settlements, All Hopes
Of Preserving The Treasures Of Knowledge, Of Which I Am The Unworthy
Receptacle, Would Not Be Lost. The Importance Of The Results Is Surely
Worth The Hazard Of The Experiment."
"I Know Not, I Know Not," Returned The Deliberate Old Man; "The Vermin
And Reptiles, Which You Bear About You, Were Intended By The Lord For
The Prairies, And I See No Good In Sending Them Into Regions That May
Not Suit Their Natur's. And, Moreover, You May Be Of Great And
Particular Use As You Now Sit On The Ass, Though It Creates No Wonder
In My Mind To Perceive That You Are Ignorant Of It, Seeing That
Usefulness Is Altogether A New Calling To So Bookish A Man."
"Of What Service Can I Be In This Painful Thraldom, In Which The
Animal Functions Are In A Manner Suspended, And The Spiritual, Or
Intellectual, Blinded By The Secret Sympathy That Unites Mind To
Matter? There Is Likely To Be Blood Spilt Between Yonder Adverse Hosts
Of Heathens; And, Though But Little Desiring The Office, It Would Be
Better That I Should Employ Myself In Surgical Experiments, Than In
Thus Wasting The Precious Moments, Mortifying Both Soul And Body."
"It Is Little That A Red-Skin Would Care To Have A Physician At His
Hurts, While The Whoop Is Ringing In His Ears. Patience Is A Virtue In
An Indian, And Can Be No Shame To A Christian White Man. Look At These
Hags Of Squaws, Friend Doctor; I Have No Judgment In Savage Tempers,
If They Are Not Bloody Minded, And Ready To Work Their Accursed
Pleasures On Us All. Now, So Long As You Keep Upon The Ass, And
Maintain The Fierce Look Which Is Far From Being Your Natural Gift,
Fear Of So Great A Medicine May Serve To Keep Down Their Courage. I Am
Placed Here, Like A General At The Opening Of The Battle, And It Has
Become My Duty To Make Such Use Of All My Force As, In My Judgment,
Each Is Best Fitted To Perform. If I Know These Niceties, You Will Be
More Serviceable For Your Countenance Just Now Than In Any More
Stirring Exploits."
"Harkee, Old Trapper," Shouted Paul, Whose Patience Could No Longer
Part 3 Chapter 29 Pg 123Maintain Itself Under The Calculating And Prolix Explanations Of The
Other, "Suppose You Cut Two Things I Can Name, Short Off. That Is To
Say, Your Conversation, Which Is Agreeable Enough Over A Well Baked
Buffaloe's Hump, And These Damnable Thongs Of Hide, Which, According
To My Experience, Can Be Pleasant Nowhere. A Single Stroke Of
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