The Prairie (Fiscle Part 3) Of 2, J Fenimore Cooper [best e reader for manga txt] 📗
- Author: J Fenimore Cooper
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Knife Would Be Of More Service, Just Now, Than The Longest Speech That
Was Ever Made In A Kentucky Court-House."
"Ay, Court-Houses Are The 'Happy Hunting-Grounds,' As A Red-Skin Would
Say, For Them That Are Born With Gifts No Better Than Such As Lie In
The Tongue. I Was Carried Into One Of The Lawless Holes Myself Once,
And It Was All About A Thing Of No More Value Than The Skin Of A Deer.
The Lord Forgive Them!--The Lord Forgive Them!--They Knew No Better,
And They Did According To Their Weak Judgments, And Therefore The More
Are They To Be Pitied; And Yet It Was A Solemn Sight To See An Aged
Man, Who Had Always Lived In The Air, Laid Neck And Heels By The Law,
And Held Up As A Spectacle For The Women And Boys Of A Wasteful
Settlement To Point Their Fingers At!"
"If Such Be Your Opinions Of Confinement, Honest Friend, You Had
Better Manifest The Same, By Putting Us At Liberty With As Little
Delay As Possible," Said Middleton, Who, Like His Companion, Began To
Find The Tardiness Of His Often-Tried Companion Quite As Extraordinary
As It Was Disagreeable.
"I Should Greatly Like To Do The Same; Especially In Your Behalf,
Captain, Who, Being A Soldier, Might Find Not Only Pleasure But Profit
In Examining, More At Your Ease, Into The Circumventions And Cunning
Of An Indian Fight. As To Our Friend, Here, It Is Of But Little
Matter, How Much Of This Affair He Examines, Or How Little, Seeing
That A Bee Is Not To Be Overcome In The Same Manner As An Indian."
"Old Man, This Trifling With Our Misery Is Inconsiderate, To Give It A
Name No Harsher--"
"Ay, Your Grand'ther Was Of A Hot And Hurrying Mind, And One Must Not
Expect, That The Young Of A Panther Will Crawl The 'Arth Like The
Litter Of A Porcupine. Now Keep You Both Silent, And What I Say Shall
Have The Appearance Of Being Spoken Concerning The Movements That Are
Going On In The Bottom; All Of Which Will Serve To Put Jealousy To
Sleep, And To Shut The Eyes Of Such As Rarely Close Them On Wickedness
And Cruelty. In The First Place, Then, You Must Know That I Have
Reason To Think Yonder Treacherous Teton Has Left An Order To Put Us
All To Death, So Soon As He Thinks The Deed May Be Done Secretly, And
Without Tumult."
"Great Heaven! Will You Suffer Us To Be Butchered Like Unresisting
Sheep?"
"Hist, Captain, Hist; A Hot Temper Is None Of The Best, When Cunning
Is More Needed Than Blows. Ah, The Pawnee Is A Noble Boy! It Would Do
Your Heart Good To See How He Draws Off From The River, In Order To
Invite His Enemies To Cross; And Yet, According To My Failing Sight,
They Count Two Warriors To His One! But As I Was Saying, Little Good
Part 3 Chapter 29 Pg 124Comes Of Haste And Thoughtlessness. The Facts Are So Plain That Any
Child May See Into Their Wisdom. The Savages Are Of Many Minds As To
The Manner Of Our Treatment. Some Fear Us For Colour, And Would Gladly
Let Us Go, And Other Some Would Show Us The Mercy That The Doe
Receives From The Hungry Wolf. When Opposition Gets Fairly Into The
Councils Of A Tribe, It Is Rarely That Humanity Is The Gainer. Now See
You These Wrinkled And Cruel-Minded Squaws--No, You Cannot See Them As
You Lie, But Nevertheless They Are Here, Ready And Willing, Like So
Many Raging She-Bears, To Work Their Will Upon Us So Soon As The
Proper Time Shall Come."
"Harkee, Old Gentleman Trapper," Interrupted Paul, With A Little
Bitterness In His Manner; "Do You Tell Us These Matters For Our
Amusement, Or For Your Own? If For Ours, You May Keep Your Breath For
The Next Race You Run, As I Am Tickled Nearly To Suffocation, Already,
With My Part Of The Fun."
"Hist"--Said The Trapper, Cutting With Great Dexterity And Rapidity
The Thong, Which Bound One Of The Arms Of Paul To His Body, And
Dropping His Knife At The Same Time Within Reach Of The Liberated
Hand. "Hist, Boy, Hist; That Was A Lucky Moment! The Yell From The
Bottom Drew The Eyes Of These Blood-Suckers In Another Quarter, And So
Far We Are Safe. Now Make A Proper Use Of Your Advantages; But Be
Careful, That What You Do, Is Done Without Being Seen."
"Thank You For This Small Favour, Old Deliberation," Muttered The Bee-
Hunter, "Though It Comes Like A Snow In May, Somewhat Out Of Season."
"Foolish Boy!" Reproachfully Exclaimed The Other, Who Had Moved To A
Little Distance From His Friends, And Appeared To Be Attentively
Regarding The Movements Of The Hostile Parties, "Will You Never Learn
To Know The Wisdom Of Patience? And You, Too, Captain; Though A Man
Myself, That Seldom Ruffles His Temper By Vain Feelings, I See That
You Are Silent, Because You Scorn To Ask Favours Any Longer From One
You Think Too Slow To Grant Them. No Doubt, Ye Are Both Young, And
Filled With The Pride Of Your Strength And Manhood, And I Dare Say You
Thought It Only Needful To Cut The Thongs, To Leave You Masters Of The
Ground. But He, That Has Seen Much, Is Apt To Think Much. Had I Run
Like A Bustling Woman To Have Given You Freedom, These Hags Of The
Siouxes Would Have Seen The Same, And Then Where Would You Both Have
Found Yourselves? Under The Tomahawk And The Knife, Like Helpless And
Outcrying Children, Though Gifted With The Size And Beards Of Men. Ask
Our Friend, The Bee-Hunter, In What Condition He Finds Himself To
Struggle With A Teton Boy, After So Many Hours Of Bondage; Much Less
With A Dozen Merciless And Bloodthirsty Squaws!"
"Truly, Old Trapper," Returned Paul, Stretching His Limbs, Which Were
By This Time Entirely Released, And Endeavouring To Restore The
Suspended Circulation, "You Have Some Judgmatical Notions In These
Matters. Now Here Am I, Paul Hover, A Man Who Will Give In To Few At
Wrestle Or Race, Nearly As Helpless As The Day I Paid My First Visit
To The House Of Old Paul, Who Is Dead And Gone,--The Lord Forgive Him
Any Little Blunders He May Have Made While He Tarried In Kentucky! Now
There Is My Foot On The Ground, So Far As Eye-Sight Has Any Virtue,
Part 3 Chapter 29 Pg 125And Yet It Would Take No Great Temptation To Make Me Swear It Didn't
Touch The Earth By Six Inches. I Say, Honest Friend, Since You Have
Done So Much, Have The Goodness To Keep These Damnable Squaws, Of Whom
You Say So Many Interesting Things, At A Little Distance, Till I Have
Got The Blood Of This Arm In Motion, And Am Ready To Receive Them."
The Trapper Made A Sign That He Perfectly Understood The Case; And He
Walked Towards The Superannuated Savage, Who Began To Manifest An
Intention Of Commencing His Assigned Task, Leaving The Bee-Hunter To
Recover The Use Of His Limbs As Well As He Could, And To Put Middleton
In A Similar Situation To Defend Himself.
Mahtoree Had Not Mistaken His Man, In Selecting The One He Did To
Execute His Bloody Purpose. He Had Chosen One Of Those Ruthless
Savages, More Or Less Of Whom Are To Be Found In Every Tribe, Who Had
Purchased A Certain Share Of Military Reputation, By The Exhibition Of
A Hardihood That Found Its Impulses In An Innate Love Of Cruelty.
Contrary To The High And Chivalrous Sentiment, Which Among The Indians
Of The Prairies Renders It A Deed Of Even Greater Merit To Bear Off
The Trophy Of Victory From A Fallen Foe, Than To Slay Him, He Had Been
Remarkable For Preferring The Pleasure Of Destroying Life, To The
Glory Of Striking The Dead. While The More Self-Devoted And Ambitious
Braves Were Intent On Personal Honour, He Had Always Been Seen,
Established Behind Some Favourable Cover, Depriving The Wounded Of
Hope, By Finishing That Which A More Gallant Warrior Had Begun. In All
The Cruelties Of The Tribe He Had Ever Been Foremost; And No Sioux Was
So Uniformly Found On The Side Of Merciless Councils.
He Had Awaited, With An Impatience Which His Long Practised Restraint
Could With Difficulty Subdue, For The Moment To Arrive When He Might
Proceed To Execute The Wishes Of The Great Chief, Without Whose
Approbation And Powerful Protection He Would Not Have Dared To
Undertake A Step, That Had So Many Opposers In The Nation. But Events
Had Been Hastening To An Issue, Between The Hostile Parties; And The
Time Had Now Arrived, Greatly To His Secret And Malignant Joy, When He
Was Free To Act His Will.
The Trapper Found Him Distributing Knives To The Ferocious Hags, Who
Received The Presents Chanting A Low Monotonous Song, That Recalled
The Losses Of Their People, In Various Conflicts With The Whites, And
Which Extolled The Pleasures And Glory Of Revenge. The Appearance Of
Such A Group Was Enough Of Itself To Have Deterred One, Less
Accustomed To Such Sights Than The Old Man, From Trusting Himself
Within The Circle Of Their Wild And Repulsive Rites.
Each Of The Crones, As She Received The Weapon, Commenced A Slow And
Measured, But Ungainly, Step, Around The Savage, Until The Whole Were
Circling Him In A Sort Of Magic Dance. The Movements Were Timed, In
Some Degree, By The Words Of Their Songs, As Were Their Gestures By
The Ideas. When They Spoke Of Their Own Losses, They Tossed Their Long
Straight Locks Of Grey Into The Air, Or Suffered Them To Fall In
Confusion Upon Their Withered Necks; But As The Sweetness Of Returning
Blow For Blow Was Touched Upon, By Any Among Them, It Was Answered By
A Common Howl, As Well As By Gestures, That Were Sufficiently
Part 3 Chapter 29 Pg 126Expressive Of The Manner In Which They Were Exciting Themselves To The
Necessary State Of Fury.
Into The Very Centre Of This Ring Of Seeming Demons, The Trapper Now
Stalked, With The Same Calmness And Observation As He Would Have
Walked Into A Village Church. No Other Change Was Made By His
Appearance, Than A Renewal Of The Threatening Gestures, With, If
Possible, A Still Less Equivocal Display Of Their Remorseless
Intentions. Making A Sign For Them To Cease, The Old Man Demanded--
"Why Do The Mothers Of The Tetons Sing With Bitter Tongues? The Pawnee
Prisoners Are Not Yet In Their Village;
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