"But who in this wild wood
May credit give to either eye, or ear?
From rocky precipice or hollow cave,
'Midst the confused sound of rustling leaves;,
And creaking boughs, and cries of nightly birds,
Returning seeming answer!"Joanna Baihie, Rayner: A Tragedy, II.L3-4, 6-g.
Fear, as much as calculation, had induced Hetty to cease paddling,
when she found that her pursuers did not know in which direction
to proceed. She remained stationary until the Ark had pulled in
near the encampment, as has been related in the preceding chapter,
when she resumed the paddle and with cautious strokes made the
best of her way towards the western shore. In order to avoid her
pursuers, however, who, she rightly suspected, would soon be rowing
along that shore themselves, the head of the canoe was pointed so
far north as to bring her to land on a point that thrust itself
into the lake, at the distance of near a league from the outlet.
Nor was this altogether the result of a desire to escape, for,
feeble minded as she was, Hetty Hutter had a good deal of that
instinctive caution which so often keeps those whom God has thus
visited from harm. She was perfectly aware of the importance of
keeping the canoes from falling into the hands of the Iroquois, and
long familiarity with the lake had suggested one of the simplest
expedients, by which this great object could be rendered compatible
with her own purpose.
The point in question was the first projection that offered on that
side of the lake, where a canoe, if set adrift with a southerly
air would float clear of the land, and where it would be no great
violation of probabilities to suppose it might even hit the castle;
the latter lying above it, almost in a direct line with the wind.
Such then was Hetty's intention, and she landed on the extremity
of the gravelly point, beneath an overhanging oak, with the express
intention of shoving the canoe off from the shore, in order that
it might drift up towards her father's insulated abode. She knew,
too, from the logs that occasionally floated about the lake, that
did it miss the castle and its appendages the wind would be likely
to change before the canoe could reach the northern extremity of
the lake, and that Deerslayer might have an opportunity of regaining
it in the morning, when no doubt he would be earnestly sweeping
the surface of the water, and the whole of its wooded shores, with
glass. In all this, too, Hetty was less governed by any chain of
reasoning than by her habits, the latter often supplying the place
of mind, in human beings, as they perform the same for animals of
the inferior classes.
The girl was quite an hour finding her way to the point, the distance
and the obscurity equally detaining her, but she was no sooner on
the gravelly beach than she prepared to set the canoe adrift, in
the manner mentioned. While in the act of pushing it from her, she
heard low voices that seemed to come among the trees behind her.
Startled at this unexpected danger Hetty was on the point of
springing into the canoe in order to seek safety in flight, when
she thought she recognized the tones of Judith's melodious voice.
Bending forward so as to catch the sounds more directly, they
evidently came from the water, and then she understood that the Ark
was approaching from the south, and so close in with the western
shore, as necessarily to cause it to pass the point within twenty
yards of the spot where she stood. Here, then, was all she could
desire; the canoe was shoved off into the lake, leaving its late
occupant alone on the narrow strand.
When this act of self-devotion was performed, Hetty did not retire.
The foliage of the overhanging trees and bushes would have almost
concealed her person, had there been light, but in that obscurity it
was utterly impossible to discover any object thus shaded, at the
distance of a few feet. Flight, too, was perfectly easy, as twenty
steps would effectually bury her in the forest. She remained,
therefore, watching with intense anxiety the result of her expedient,
intending to call the attention of the others to the canoe with
her voice, should they appear to pass without observing it. The
Ark approached under its sail, again, Deerslayer standing in its
bow, with Judith near him, and the Delaware at the helm. It would
seem that in the bay below it had got too close to the shore, in
the lingering hope of intercepting Hetty, for, as it came nearer,
the latter distinctly heard the directions that the young man
forward gave to his companion aft, in order to clear the point.
"Lay her head more off the shore, Delaware," said Deerslayer for
the third time, speaking in English that his fair companion might
understand his words - "Lay her head well off shore. We have got
embayed here, and needs keep the mast clear of the trees. Judith,
there's a canoe!"
The last words were uttered with great earnestness, and Deerslayer's
hand was on his rifle ere they were fairly out of his mouth. But
the truth flashed on the mind of the quick-witted girl, and she
instantly told her companion that the boat must be that in which
her sister had fled.
"Keep the scow straight, Delaware; steer as straight as your bullet
flies when sent ag'in a buck; there - I have it."
The canoe was seized, and immediately secured again to the side of
the Ark. At the next moment the sail was lowered, and the motion
of the Ark arrested by means of the oars.
"Hetty!" called out Judith, concern, even affection betraying
itself in her tones. "Are you within hearing, sister - for God's
sake answer, and let me hear the sound of your voice, again! Hetty!
- dear Hetty."
"I'm here, Judith - here on the shore, where it will be useless to
follow me, as I will hide in the woods."
"Oh! Hetty what is't you do! Remember 'tis drawing near midnight,
and that the woods are filled with savages and wild beasts!"
"Neither will harm a poor half-witted girl, Judith. God is as
much with me, here, as he would be in the Ark or in the hut. I am
going to help my father, and poor Hurry Harry, who will be tortured
and slain unless some one cares for them."
"We all care for them, and intend to-morrow to send them a flag of
truce, to buy their ransom. Come back then, sister; trust to us,
who have better heads than you, and who will do all we can for
father."
"I know your head is better than mine, Judith, for mine is very
weak, to be sure; but I must go to father and poor Hurry. Do you
and Deerslayer keep the castle, sister; leave me in the hands of
God."
"God is with us all, Hetty - in the castle, or on the shore -father
as well as ourselves, and it is sinful not to trust to his goodness.
You can do nothing in the dark; will lose your way in the forest,
and perish for want of food."
"God will not let that happen to a poor child that goes to serve
her father, sister. I must try and find the savages."
"Come back for this night only; in the morning, we will put you
ashore, and leave you to do as you may think right."
"You say so, Judith, and you think so; but you would not. Your
heart would soften, and you'd see tomahawks and scalping knives in
the air. Besides, I've got a thing to tell the Indian chief that
will answer all our wishes, and I'm afraid I may forget it, if I
don't tell it to him at once. You'll see that he will let father
go, as soon as he hears it!"
"Poor Hetty! What can you say to a ferocious savage that will be
likely to change his bloody purpose!"
"That which will frighten him, and make him let father go -" returned
the simple-minded girl, positively. "You'll see, sister; you'll
see, how soon it will bring him to, like a gentle child!"
"Will you tell me, Hetty, what you intend to say?" asked Deerslayer.
"I know the savages well, and can form some idee how far fair words
will be likely, or not, to work on their bloody natur's. If it's
not suited to the gifts of a red-skin, 'twill be of no use; for
reason goes by gifts, as well as conduct."
"Well, then," answered Hetty, dropping her voice to a low,
confidential, tone, for the stillness of the night, and the nearness
of the Ark, permitted her to do this and still to be heard - "Well,
then, Deerslayer, as you seem a good and honest young man I will
tell you. I mean not to say a word to any of the savages until I
get face to face with their head chief, let them plague me with as
many questions as they please I'll answer none of them, unless it
be to tell them to lead me to their wisest man - Then, Deerslayer,
I'll tell him that God will not forgive murder, and thefts; and
that if father and Hurry did go after the scalps of the Iroquois,
he must return good for evil, for so the Bible commands, else he
will go into everlasting punishment. When he hears this, and feels
it to be true, as feel it he must, how long will it be before he
sends father, and Hurry, and me to the shore, opposite the castle,
telling us all three to go our way in peace?"
The last question was put in a triumphant manner, and then the
simple-minded girl laughed at the impression she never doubted that
her project had made on her auditors. Deerslayer was dumb-founded
at this proof of guileless feebleness of mind, but Judith had
suddenly bethought her of a means of counteracting this wild project,
by acting on the very feelings that had given it birth. Without
adverting to the closing question, or the laugh, therefore, she
hurriedly called to her sister by name, as one suddenly impressed
with the importance of what she had to say. But no answer was
given to the call.
By the snapping of twigs, and the rustling of leaves, Hetty had
evidently quitted the shore, and was already burying herself in the
forest. To follow would have been fruitless, since the darkness,
as well as the dense cover that the woods everywhere offered, would
have rendered her capture next to impossible, and there was also
the never ceasing danger of falling into the hands of their enemies.
After a short and melancholy discussion, therefore, the sail was
again set, and the Ark pursued its course towards its habitual
moorings, Deerslayer silently felicitating himself on the recovery
of the canoe, and brooding over his plans for the morrow. The
wind rose as the party quitted the point, and in less than an hour
they reached the castle. Here all was found as it had been left,
and the reverse of the ceremonies had to be taken in entering the
building, that had been used on quitting it. Judith occupied a
solitary bed that night bedewing the pillow with her tears, as she
thought of the innocent and hitherto neglected creature, who had
been her companion from childhood, and bitter regrets came over her
mind, from more causes than one, as the weary hours passed away,
making it nearly morning before she lost her recollection in sleep.
Deerslayer and the Delaware took their rest in the Ark, where we
shall leave them enjoying the deep sleep of the honest, the healthful
and fearless, to return to the girl we have last seen in the midst
of the forest.
When Hetty left the shore, she took her way unhesitatingly into
the woods, with a nervous apprehension of being followed. Luckily,
this course was the best she could have hit on to effect her own
purpose, since it was the only one that led her from the point. The
night was so intensely dark, beneath the branches of the trees, that
her progress was very slow, and the direction she went altogether
a matter of chance, after the first few yards. The formation of
the ground, however, did not permit her to deviate far from the line
in which she desired to proceed. On one hand it was soon bounded
by the acclivity of the hill, while the lake, on the other, served
as a guide. For two hours did this single-hearted and simple-minded
girl toil through the mazes of the forest, sometimes finding herself
on the brow of the bank that bounded the water, and at others
struggling up an ascent that warned her to go no farther in that
direction, since it necessarily ran at right angles to the course
on which she wished to proceed. Her feet often slid from beneath
her, and she got many falls, though none to do her injury; but, by
the end of the period mentioned, she had become so weary as to want
strength to go any farther. Rest was indispensable, and she set
about preparing a bed, with the readiness and coolness of one to
whom the wilderness presented no unnecessary terrors. She knew
that wild beasts roamed through all the adjacent forest, but animals
that preyed on the human species were rare, and of dangerous serpents
there were literally none. These facts had been taught her by her
father, and whatever her feeble mind received at all, it received
so confidingly as to leave her no uneasiness from any doubts,
or scepticism. To her the sublimity of the solitude in which she
was placed, was soothing, rather than appalling, and she gathered
a bed of leaves, with as much indifference to the circumstances that
would have driven the thoughts of sleep entirely from the minds of
most of her sex, as if she had been preparing her place of nightly
rest beneath the paternal roof. As soon as Hetty had collected a
sufficient number of the dried leaves to protect her person from
the damps of the ground, she kneeled beside the humble pile, clasped
her raised hands in an attitude of deep devotion, and in a soft,
low, but audible voice repeated the Lord's Prayer. This was followed
by those simple and devout verses, so familiar to children, in
which she recommended her soul to God, should it be called away to
another state of existence, ere the return of morning. This duty
done, she lay down and disposed herself to sleep. The attire of
the girl, though suited to the season, was sufficiently warm for
all ordinary purposes, but the forest is ever cool, and the nights
of that elevated region of country, have always a freshness about
them, that renders clothing more necessary than is commonly the
case in the summers of a low latitude. This had been foreseen by
Hetty, who had brought with her a coarse heavy mantle, which, when
laid over her body, answered all the useful purposes of a blanket
Thus protected, she dropped asleep in a few minutes, as tranquilly
as if watched over by the guardian care of that mother, who had so
recently been taken from her forever, affording in this particular
a most striking contrast between her own humble couch, and the
sleepless pillow of her sister.
Hour passed after hour, in a tranquility as undisturbed and a rest
as sweet as if angels, expressly commissioned for that object,
watched around the bed of Hetty Hutter. Not once did her soft eyes
open, until the grey of the dawn came struggling through the tops
of the trees, falling on their lids, and, united to the freshness
of a summer's morning, giving the usual summons to awake. Ordinarily,
Hetty was up ere the rays of the sun tipped the summits of the
mountains, but on this occasion her fatigue had been so great, and
her rest was so profound, that the customary warnings failed of
their effect. The girl murmured in her sleep, threw an arm forward,
smiled as gently as an infant in its cradle, but still slumbered.
In making this unconscious gesture, her hand fell on some object that
was warm, and in the half unconscious state in which she lay, she
connected the circumstance with her habits. At the next moment,
a rude attack was made on her side, as if a rooting animal were
thrusting its snout beneath, with a desire to force her position,
and then, uttering the name of "Judith" she awoke. As the startled
girl arose to a sitting attitude she perceived that some dark object
sprang from her, scattering the leaves and snapping the fallen
twigs in its haste. Opening her eyes, and recovering from the
first confusion and astonishment of her situation, Hetty perceived
a cub, of the common American brown bear, balancing itself on its
hinder legs, and still looking towards her, as if doubtful whether
it would be safe to trust itself near her person again. The first
impulse of Hetty, who had been mistress of several of these cubs,
was to run and seize the little creature as a prize, but a loud
growl warned her of the danger of such a procedure. Recoiling a
few steps, the girl looked hurriedly round, and perceived the dam,
watching her movements with fiery eyes at no great distance. A
hollow tree, that once been the home of bees, having recently
fallen, the mother with two more cubs was feasting on the dainty
food that this accident had placed within her reach; while the
first kept a jealous eye on the situation of its truant and reckless
young.
It would exceed all the means of human knowledge to presume to
analyze the influences that govern the acts of the lower animals.
On this occasion, the dam, though proverbially fierce when its young
is thought to be in danger, manifested no intention to attack the
girl. It quitted the honey, and advanced to a place within twenty
feet of her, where it raised itself on its hind legs and balanced
its body in a sort of angry, growling discontent, but approached
no nearer. Happily, Hetty did not fly. On the contrary, though
not without terror, she knelt with her face towards the animal,
and with clasped hands and uplifted eyes, repeated the prayer of
the previous night. This act of devotion was not the result of
alarm, but it was a duty she never neglected to perform ere she slept,
and when the return of consciousness awoke her to the business of
the day. As the girl arose from her knees, the bear dropped on
its feet again, and collecting its cubs around her, permitted them
to draw their natural sustenance. Hetty was delighted with this
proof of tenderness in an animal that has but a very indifferent
reputation for the gentler feelings, and as a cub would quit its
mother to frisk and leap about in wantonness, she felt a strong
desire again to catch it up in her arms, and play with it. But
admonished by the growl, she had self-command sufficient not to put
this dangerous project in execution, and recollecting her errand
among the hills, she tore herself away from the group, and proceeded
on her course along the margin of the lake, of which she now caught
glimpses again through the trees. To her surprise, though not to
her alarm, the family of bears arose and followed her steps, keeping
a short distance behind her; apparently watching every movement as
if they had a near interest in all she did.
In this manner, escorted by the dam and cubs, the girl proceeded
nearly a mile, thrice the distance she had been able to achieve in
the darkness, during the same period of time. She then reached a
brook that had dug a channel for itself into the earth, and went
brawling into the lake, between steep and high banks, covered with
trees. Here Hetty performed her ablutions; then drinking of the
pure mountain water, she went her way, refreshed and lighter of
heart, still attended by her singular companions. Her course now
lay along a broad and nearly level terrace, which stretched from
the top of the bank that bounded the water, to a low acclivity
that rose to a second and irregular platform above. This was at a
part of the valley where the mountains ran obliquely, forming the
commencement of a plain that spread between the hills, southward
of the sheet of water. Hetty knew, by this circumstance, that
she was getting near to the encampment, and had she not, the bears
would have given her warning of the vicinity of human beings.
Snuffing the air, the dam refused to follow any further, though
the girl looked back and invited her to come by childish signs, and
even by direct appeals made in her own sweet voice. It was while
making her way slowly through some bushes, in this manner, with
averted face and eyes riveted on the immovable animals, that the
girl suddenly found her steps arrested by a human hand, that was
laid lightly on her shoulder.
"Where go? -" said a soft female voice, speaking hurriedly, and
in concern. -"Indian - red man savage - wicked warrior- thataway."
This unexpected salutation alarmed the girl no more than the presence
of the fierce inhabitants of the woods. It took her a little by
surprise, it is true, but she was in a measure prepared for some
such meeting, and the creature who stopped her was as little likely
to excite terror as any who ever appeared in the guise of an Indian.
It was a girl, not much older than herself, whose smile was sunny
as Judith's in her brightest moments, whose voice was melody itself,
and whose accents and manner had all the rebuked gentleness that
characterizes the sex among a people who habitually treat their
women as the attendants and servitors of the warriors. Beauty among
the women of the aboriginal Americans, before they have become
exposed to the hardships of wives and mothers, is by no means
uncommon. In this particular, the original owners of the country
were not unlike their more civilized successors, nature appearing
to have bestowed that delicacy of mien and outline that forms
so great a charm in the youthful female, but of which they are so
early deprived; and that, too, as much by the habits of domestic
life as from any other cause.
The girl who had so suddenly arrested the steps of Hetty was dressed
in a calico mantle that effectually protected all the upper part of
her person, while a short petticoat of blue cloth edged with gold
lace, that fell no lower than her knees, leggings of the same, and
moccasins of deer-skin, completed her attire. Her hair fell in
long dark braids down her shoulders and back, and was parted above
a low smooth forehead, in a way to soften the expression of eyes
that were full of archness and natural feeling. Her face was oval,
with delicate features, the teeth were even and white, while the
mouth expressed a melancholy tenderness, as if it wore this peculiar
meaning in intuitive perception of the fate of a being who was doomed
from birth to endure a woman's sufferings, relieved by a woman's
affections. Her voice, as has been already intimated, was soft
as the sighing of the night air, a characteristic of the females
of her race, but which was so conspicuous in herself as to have
produced for her the name of Wah-ta-Wah; which rendered into English
means Hist-oh-Hist.
In a word, this was the betrothed of Chingachgook, who - having
succeeded in lulling their suspicions, was permitted to wander around
the encampment of her captors. This indulgence was in accordance
with the general policy of the red man, who well knew, moreover,
that her trail could have been easily followed in the event of
flight. It will also be remembered that the Iroquois, or Hurons,
as it would be better to call them, were entirely ignorant of
the proximity of her lover, a fact, indeed, that she did not know
herself.
It is not easy to say which manifested the most self-possession
at this unexpected meeting; the pale-face, or the red girl. But,
though a little surprised, Wah-ta-Wah was the most willing to
speak, and far the readier in foreseeing consequences, as well as
in devising means to avert them. Her father, during her childhood,
had been much employed as a warrior by the authorities of the
Colony, and dwelling for several years near the forts, she had
caught a knowledge of the English tongue, which she spoke in the
usual, abbreviated manner of an Indian, but fluently, and without
any of the ordinary reluctance of her people.
"Where go? -" repeated Wah-ta-Wah, returning the smile of Hetty,
in her own gentle, winning, manner - "wicked warrior that-a-way -
good warrior, far off."
"What's your name?" asked Hetty, with the simplicity of a child.
"Wah-ta-Wah. I no Mingo - good Delaware - Yengeese friend. Mingo
cruel, and love scalp, for blood - Delaware love him, for honor.
Come here, where no eyes."
Wah-ta-Wah now led her companion towards the lake, descending the
bank so as to place its overhanging trees and bushes between them
and any probable observers. Nor did she stop until they were both
seated, side by side, on a fallen log, one end of which actually
lay buried in the water.
"Why you come for?" the young Indian eagerly inquired - "Where you
come for?" Hetty told her tale in her own simple and truth-loving
manner. She explained the situation of her father, and stated her
desire to serve him, and if possible to procure his release.
"Why your father come to Mingo camp in night?" asked the Indian
girl, with a directness, which if not borrowed from the other,
partook largely of its sincerity. "He know it war-time, and he no
boy - he no want beard - no want to be told Iroquois carry tomahawk,
and knife, and rifle. Why he come night time, seize me by hair,
and try to scalp Delaware girl?"
"You!" said Hetty, almost sickening with horror - "Did he seize
you - did he try to scalp you?"
"Why no? Delaware scalp sell for much as Mingo scalp. Governor
no tell difference. Wicked t'ing for pale-face to scalp. No his
gifts, as the good Deerslayer always tell me."
"And do you know the Deerslayer?" said Hetty, coloring with delight
and surprise; forgetting her regrets, at the moment, in the influence
of this new feeling. "I know him, too. He is now in the Ark,
with Judith and a Delaware who is called the Big Serpent. A bold
and handsome warrior is this Serpent, too!"
Spite of the rich deep colour that nature had bestowed on the
Indian beauty, the tell-tale blood deepened on her cheeks, until
the blush gave new animation and intelligence to her jet-black eyes.
Raising a finger in an attitude of warning, she dropped her voice,
already so soft and sweet, nearly to a whisper, as she continued
the discourse.
"Chingachgook!" returned the Delaware girl, sighing out the harsh
name, in sounds so softly guttural, as to cause it to reach the
ear in melody - "His father, Uncas - great chief of the Mahicanni
- next to old Tamenund! - More as warrior, not so much gray hair,
and less at Council Fire. You know Serpent?"
"He joined us last evening, and was in the Ark with me, for two
or three hours before I left it. I'm afraid, Hist -" Hetty could
not pronounce the Indian name of her new friend, but having heard
Deerslayer give her this familiar appellation, she used it without
any of the ceremony of civilized life - "I'm afraid Hist, he has
come after scalps, as well as my poor father and Hurry Harry."
"Why he shouldn't - ha? Chingachgook red warrior - very red -scalp
make his honor - Be sure he take him."
"Then," said Hetty, earnestly, "he will be as wicked as any other.
God will not pardon in a red man, what he will not pardon in a
white man.
"No true -" returned the Delaware girl, with a warmth that nearly
amounted to passion. "No true, I tell you! The Manitou smile
and pleased when he see young warrior come back from the war path,
with two, ten, hundred scalp on a pole! Chingachgook father take
scalp - grandfather take scalp - all old chief take scalp, and
Chingachgook take as many scalp as he can carry, himself"
"Then, Hist, his sleep of nights must be terrible to think of. No
one can be cruel, and hope to be forgiven."
"No cruel - plenty forgiven -" returned Wah-ta-Wah, stamping her
little foot on the stony strand, and shaking her head in a way to
show how completely feminine feeling, in one of its aspects, had
gotten the better of feminine feeling in another. "I tell you,
Serpent brave; he go home, this time, with four, - yes - two scalp."
"And is that his errand, here? - Did he really come all this
distance, across mountain, and valley, rivers and lakes, to torment
his fellow creatures, and do so wicked a thing?"
This question at once appeased the growing ire of the half-offended
Indian beauty. It completely got the better of the prejudices
of education, and turned all her thoughts to a gentler and more
feminine channel. At first, she looked around her, suspiciously,
as if distrusting eavesdroppers; then she gazed wistfully into the
face of her attentive companion; after which this exhibition of
girlish coquetry and womanly feeling, terminated by her covering
her face with both her hands, and laughing in a strain that might
well be termed the melody of the woods. Dread of discovery, however,
soon put a stop to this naive exhibition of feeling, and removing
her hands, this creature of impulses gazed again wistfully into
the face of her companion, as if inquiring how far she might trust
a stranger with her secret. Although Hetty had no claims to her
sister's extraordinary beauty, many thought her countenance the most
winning of the two. It expressed all the undisguised sincerity of
her character, and it was totally free from any of the unpleasant
physical accompaniments that so frequently attend mental imbecility.
It is true that one accustomed to closer observations than common,
might have detected the proofs of her feebleness of intellect
in the language of her sometimes vacant eyes, but they were signs
that attracted sympathy by their total want of guile, rather than
by any other feeling. The effect on Hist, to use the English and
more familiar translation of the name, was favorable, and yielding
to an impulse of tenderness, she threw her arms around Hetty, and
embraced her with an outpouring emotion, so natural that it was
only equaled by its warmth.
"You good -" whispered the young Indian - "you good, I know; it so
long since Wah-ta-Wah have a friend - a sister - any body to speak
her heart to! You Hist friend; don't I say trut'?"
"I never had a friend," answered Hetty returning the warm embrace
with unfeigned earnestness. "I've a sister, but no friend. Judith
loves me, and I love Judith; but that's natural, and as we are
taught in the Bible - but I should like to have a friend! I'll
be your friend, with all my heart, for I like your voice and your
smile, and your way of thinking in every thing, except about the
scalps -"
"No t'ink more of him - no say more of scalp -" interrupted Hist,
soothingly -"You pale-face, I red-skin; we bring up different fashion.
Deerslayer and Chingachgook great friend, and no the same colour,
Hist and - what your name, pretty pale-face?"
"I am called Hetty, though when they spell the name in the bible,
they always spell it Esther."
"What that make? - no good, no harm. No need to spell name at
all -Moravian try to make Wah-ta-Wah spell, but no won't let him.
No good for Delaware girl to know too much- know more than warrior
some time; that great shame. My name Wah-ta-Wah that say Hist in
your tongue; you call him, Hist - I call him, Hetty."
These preliminaries settled to their mutual satisfaction, the two
girls began to discourse of their several hopes and projects. Hetty
made her new friend more fully acquainted with her intentions in
behalf of her father, and, to one in the least addicted to prying
into the affairs, Hist would have betrayed her own feelings and
expectations in connection with the young warrior of her own tribe.
Enough was revealed on both sides, however, to let each party get
a tolerable insight into the views of the other, though enough
still remained in mental reservation, to give rise to the following
questions and answers, with which the interview in effect closed.
As the quickest witted, Hist was the first with her interrogatories.
Folding an arm about the waist of Hetty, she bent her head so as
to look up playfully into the face of the other, and, laughing, as
if her meaning were to be extracted from her looks, she spoke more
plainly.
"Hetty got broder, as well as fader? -" she said - "Why no talk
of broder, as well as fader?"
"I have no brother, Hist. I had one once, they say, but he is dead
many a year, and lies buried in the lake, by the side of my mother."
"No got broder - got a young warrior - Love him, almost as much as
fader, eh? Very handsome, and brave-looking; fit to be chief, if
he good as he seem to be."
"It's wicked to love any man as well as I love my father, and so I
strive not to do it, Hist," returned the conscientious Hetty, who
knew not how to conceal an emotion, by an approach to an untruth
as venial as an evasion, though powerfully tempted by female shame
to err, "though I sometimes think wickedness will get the better
of me, if Hurry comes so often to the lake. I must tell you the
truth, dear Hist, because you ask me, but I should fall down and
die in the woods, if he knew it!"
"Why he no ask you, himself? - Brave looking - why not bold
speaking? Young warrior ought to ask young girl, no make young
girl speak first. Mingo girls too shame for that."
This was said indignantly, and with the generous warmth a young female
of spirit would be apt to feel, at what she deemed an invasion of
her sex's most valued privilege. It had little influence on the
simple-minded, but also just-minded Hetty, who, though inherently
feminine in all her impulses, was much more alive to the workings
of her own heart, than to any of the usages with which convention
has protected the sensitiveness of her sex.
"Ask me what?' the startled girl demanded, with a suddenness that
proved how completely her fears had been aroused. 'Ask me, if I
like him as well as I do my own father! Oh! I hope he will never
put such a question to me, for I should have to answer, and that
would kill me!"
"No - no - no kill, quite - almost," returned the other, laughing
in spite of herself. "Make blush come - make shame come too; but
he no stay great while; then feel happier than ever. Young warrior
must tell young girl he want to make wife, else never can live in
his wigwam."
"Hurry don't want to marry me - nobody will ever want to marry me,
Hist."
"How you can know? P'raps every body want to marry you, and
by-and-bye, tongue say what heart feel. Why nobody want to marry
you?"
"I am not full witted, they say. Father often tells me this; and
so does Judith, sometimes, when she is vexed; but I shouldn't so
much mind them, as I did mother. She said so once and then she
cried as if her heart would break; and, so, I know I'm not full
witted."
Hist gazed at the gentle, simple girl, for quite a minute without
speaking, and then the truth appeared to flash all at once on the
mind of the young Indian maid. Pity, reverence and tenderness
seemed struggling together in her breast, and then rising suddenly,
she indicated a wish to her companion that she would accompany
her to the camp, which was situated at no great distance. This
unexpected change from the precautions that Hist had previously
manifested a desire to use, in order to prevent being seen, to an
open exposure of the person of her friend, arose from the perfect
conviction that no Indian would harm a being whom the Great Spirit
had disarmed, by depriving it of its strongest defence, reason.
In this respect, nearly all unsophisticated nations resemble each
other, appearing to offer spontaneously, by a feeling creditable to
human nature, that protection by their own forbearance, which has
been withheld by the inscrutable wisdom of Providence. Wah-ta-Wah,
indeed, knew that in many tribes the mentally imbecile and the
mad were held in a species of religious reverence, receiving from
these untutored inhabitants of the forest respect and honors,
instead of the contumely and neglect that it is their fortune to
meet with among the more pretending and sophisticated.
Hetty accompanied her new friend without apprehension or reluctance.
It was her wish to reach the camp, and, sustained by her motives, she
felt no more concern for the consequences than did her companion
herself, now the latter was apprised of the character of the
protection that the pale-face maiden carried with her. Still, as
they proceeded slowly along a shore that was tangled with overhanging
bushes, Hetty continued the discourse, assuming the office of
interrogating which the other had instantly dropped, as soon as
she ascertained the character of the mind to which her questions
had been addressed.
"But you are not half-witted," said Hetty, "and there's no reason
why the Serpent should not marry you."
"Hist prisoner, and Mingo got big ear. No speak of Chingachgook
when they by. Promise Hist that, good Hetty."
"I know - I know -" returned Hetty, half-whispering, in her eagerness
to let the other see she understood the necessity of caution. "I
know - Deerslayer and the Serpent mean to get you away from the
Iroquois, and you wish me not to tell the secret."
"How you know?" said Hist, hastily, vexed at the moment that the
other was not even more feeble minded than was actually the case.
"How you know? Better not talk of any but fader and Hurry - Mingo
understand dat; he no understand t'udder. Promise you no talk
about what you no understand."
"But I do understand this, Hist, and so I must talk about it.
Deerslayer as good as told father all about it, in my presence,
and as nobody told me not to listen, I overheard it all, as I did
Hurry and father's discourse about the scalps."
"Very bad for pale-faces to talk about scalps, and very bad for
young woman to hear! Now you love Hist, I know, Hetty, and so,
among Injins, when love hardest never talk most."
"That's not the way among white people, who talk most about them
they love best. I suppose it's because I'm only half-witted that I
don't see the reason why it should be so different among red people."
"That what Deerslayer call gift. One gift to talk; t'udder gift
to hold tongue. Hold tongue your gift, among Mingos. If Sarpent
want to see Hist, so Hetty want to see Hurry. Good girl never tell
secret of friend."
Hetty understood this appeal, and she promised the Delaware girl
not to make any allusion to the presence of Chingachgook, or to
the motive of his visit to the lake.
"Maybe he get off Hurry and fader, as well as Hist, if let him have
his way," whispered Wah-ta-Wah to her companion, in a confiding
flattering way, just as they got near enough to the encampment to
hear the voices of several of their own sex, who were apparently
occupied in the usual toils of women of their class. "Tink of dat,
Hetty, and put two, twenty finger on mouth. No get friend free
without Sarpent do it."
A better expedient could not have been adopted, to secure the silence
and discretion of Hetty, than that which was now presented to her
mind. As the liberation of her father and the young frontier man
was the great object of her adventure, she felt the connection
between it and the services of the Delaware, and with an innocent
laugh, she nodded her head, and in the same suppressed manner,
promised a due attention to the wishes of her friend. Thus assured,
Hist tarried no longer, but immediately and openly led the way into
the encampment of her captors.