Добавил:
ivanov666
Опубликованный материал нарушает ваши авторские права? Сообщите нам.
Вуз:
Предмет:
Файл:The Chainbearer; or, The Littlepage Manuscripts
.pdf
THE CHAINBEARER; OR, THE LITTLEPAGE MANUSCRIPTS
though Herman Mordaunt himself preferred some English
lord for his son-in-law, and – but I ought to repeat no more of
this silly tale».
«Let me hear it all, though it be the loves of my own
parents».
«I dare say it is not true; for what vulgar report of private
feelings and private acts ever is so? My tradition added that
Miss Mordaunt was, at fi rst, captivated by the brilliant qualities of the young lord, though she much preferred General
Littlepage in the end; and that her marriage has been most
happy».
«Your tradition, then, has not done my mother justice, but
is faulty in many things. Your young lord was merely a baronet’s heir; and I know from my dear grandmother that my
mother’s attachment to my father commenced when she was
a mere child, and was the consequence of his resenting an insult she received at the time from some other boy».
«I am glad of that!» exclaimed Dus, with an emphasis so
marked that I was surprised at the earnestness of her manner.
«Second attachments in woman to me always seem misplaced.
There was another vein to my tradition, which tells of a lady
who lost her betrothed the night the ‘Nest was assailed, and
who has ever since lived unmarried, true to his memory. That
is a part of the story I have ever loved».
«Was her name Wallace?» I asked, eagerly.
«It was; Mary Wallace – and I have honored the name ever
since I heard the circumstances. In my eyes, Mr. Littlepage,
there can be no picture more respectable than that of a female
291
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
remaining true to her fi rst attachments, under all circumstances; in death as well as inlife».
«Or in mine, beloved Ursula!» I cried – but I will not
make a fool of myself by attempting to record what I said next.
The fact was, that Dus had been winding herself round my
heart for the last few weeks in a way that would have defi ed any
attempts of mine to extricate it from the net into which it had
fallen, had I the wish to do so. But I had considered the matter, and saw no reason to desire freedom from the dominion of
Ursula Malbone. To me she appeared all that man could wish,
and I saw no impediment to a union in the circumstance of
her poverty. Her family and education were quite equal to my
own; and these very important considerations admitted, I had
fortune enough for both. It was material that we should have
the habits, opinions, prejudices if you will, of the same social
caste; but beyond this, worldly considerations, in my view of
the matter, ought to have no infl uence.
Under such notions, therefore, and guided by the strong
impulse of a generous and manly passion, I poured out my
whole soul to Dus. I dare say I spoke a quarter of an hour without once being interrupted. I did not wish to hear my companion’s voice; for I had the humility which is said to be the inseparable attendant of a true love, and was fearful that the answer
might not be such as I could wish to hear. I could perceive,
spite of the increasing obscurity, that Dus was strongly agitated; and will confess a lively hope was created within me by
this circumstance. Thus encouraged, it was natural to lose
my fears in the wish to be more assured; and I now pressed
for a reply. After a brief pause, I obtained it in the following
292
THE CHAINBEARER; OR, THE LITTLEPAGE MANUSCRIPTS
words, which were uttered with a tremor and sensibility that
gave them tenfold weight.
«For this unexpected, and I believe sincere declaration,
Mr. Littlepage, I thank you from the bottom of my heart»,
the precious creature commenced. «There are a frankness,
an honorable sincerity and a noble generosity in such a declaration, coming from you to me, that can never be forgotten.
But, I am not my own mistress – my faith is plighted to another – my affections are with my faith; and I cannot accept offers which, so truly generous, so truly noble, demand the most
explicit reply»
I heard no more; for, springing from the fl oor, and an attitude that was very nearly that of being on my knees, I rushed
from the hut and plunged into the forest.
CHAPTER XVI
DANS. «Ye boys who pluck the fl owers, and spoil the spring,
Beware the secret snake that shoots a sting».
– Dryden’s Eclogues.
For the fi rst half hour after I left Ursula Malbone’s hut,
I was literally unconscious of whither I was going, or of what
I was about. I can recollect nothing but having passed quite
near to the Onondago, who appeared desirous of speaking to
me, but whom I avoided by a species of instinct rather than
with any design. In fact, fatigue fi rst brought me fairly to my
senses. I had wandered miles and miles, plunging deeper and
deeper into the wilds of the forest, and this without any aim,
or any knowledge of even the direction in which I was going.
Night soon came to cast its shadows on the earth, and my uncertain course was held amid the gloom of the hour, united to
those of the woods. I had wearied myself by rapid walking over
the uneven surface of the forest, and fi nally threw myself on
the trunk of a fallen tree, willing to take some repose.
At fi rst, I thought of nothing, felt for nothing but the unwelcome circumstance that the faith of Dus was plighted to
another. Had I fallen in love with Priscilla Bayard, such an an-
294
THE CHAINBEARER; OR, THE LITTLEPAGE MANUSCRIPTS
nouncement could not have occasioned the same surprise;
for she lived in the world, met with men of suitable educations,
conditions, and opinions, and might be supposed to have been
brought within the infl uence of the attentions and sympathies
that are wont to awaken tenderness in the female breast. With
Dus, it had been very different; she had gone from the forest to
the school, and returned from the school to the forest. It was
true, that her brother, while a soldier, might have had some
friend who admired Ursula, and whose admiration awakened
her youthful sympathies, but this was only a remote probability, and I was left burdened with a load of doubt as respected
even the character and position of my rival.
«At any rate, he must be poor», I said to myself, the moment I was capable of refl ecting coolly on the subject, «or he
would never have left Dus in that hut, to pass her youth amid
chainbearers and the other rude beings of a frontier. If I cannot obtain her love, I may at least contribute to her happiness by using those means which a kind Providence has bestowed, and enabling her to marry at once». For a little while
I fancied my own misery would be lessened, could I only see
Dus married and happy. This feeling did not last long, however; though I trust the desire to see her happy remained after
I became keenly conscious it would require much time to enable me to look on such a spectacle with composure. Nevertheless, the fi rst tranquil moment, the fi rst relieving sensation
I experienced, was from the conviction I felt that Providence
had placed it in my power to cause Ursula and the man of her
choice to be united. This recollection gave me even a positive
pleasure for a little while, and I ruminated on the means of
295
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
effecting it, literally for hours. I was still thinking of it, indeed,
when I threw myself on the fallen tree, where weariness caused
me to fall into a troubled sleep, that lasted, with more or less of
forgetfulness, several hours. The place I had chosen on the tree
was among its branches, on which the leaves were still hanging, and it was not without its conveniences.
When I awoke, it was daylight; or, such a daylight as penetrates the forest ere the sun has risen. At fi rst I felt stiff and
sore from the hardness of my bed; but, on changing my attitude and sitting up, these sensations soon wore off, leaving
me refreshed and calm. To my great surprise, however, I found
that a small, light blanket, such as woodmen use in summer,
had been thrown over me, to the genial warmth of which I was
probably indebted more than I then knew myself. This circumstance alarmed me at fi rst, since it was obvious the blanket could not have come there without hands; though a moment’s refl ection satisfi ed me that the throwing it over me,
under the circumstances, must have been the act of a friend.
I arose, however, to my feet, walked along the trunk of the tree
until clear of its branches, and looked about me with a lively
desire to ascertain who this secret friend might be.
The place was like any other in the solitude of the forest. There was the usual array of the trunks of stately trees,
the leafy canopy, the dark shadows, the long vistas, the brown
and broken surface of the earth, and the damp coolness of
the boundless woods. A fi ne spring broke out of a hill-side
quite near me, and looking further, with the intention to approach and use its water, the mystery of the blanket was at
once explained. I saw the form of the Onondago, motionless
296
THE CHAINBEARER; OR, THE LITTLEPAGE MANUSCRIPTS
as one of the trees which grew around him, leaning on his rifl e, and seemingly gazing at some object that lay at his feet. In
a minute I was at his side, when I discovered that he was standing over a human skeleton! This was a strange and startling
object to meet in the depth of the woods! Man was of so little
account, was so seldom seen in the virgin wilds of America,
that one naturally felt more shocked at fi nding such a memorial of his presence in a place like that, than would have been
the case had he stumbled on it amid peopled districts. As for
the Indian, he gazed at the bones so intently that he either did
not hear, or he totally disregarded my approach. I touched him
with a fi nger before he even looked up. Glad of any excuse to
avoid explanation of my own conduct, I eagerly seized the occasion offered by a sight so unusual, to speak of other things.
«This has been a violent death, Surefl int», I said; «else
the body would not have been left unburied. The man has
been killed in some quarrel of the red warriors».
«Was bury», answered the Indian, without manifesting
the least surprise at my touch, or at the sound of my voice.
«Dere, see grave? ‘Arth wash away, and bones come out. Nuttin’ else. Know he bury, for help bury, myself».
«Do you, then, know anything of this unhappy man, and of
the cause of his death?»
«Sartain; know all ‘bout him. Kill in ole French war. Fader
here; and Colonel Follock; Jaap, too. Huron kill ‘em all; afterward we fl og Huron. Yes, dat ole story now!»
«I have heard something of this! This must have been
the spot, then, where one Traverse, a surveyor, was set upon by
the enemy, and was slain, with his chainbearers and axe-men.
297
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
My father and his friends did fi nd the bodies and bury them,
after a fashion».
«Sartain; just so; poor bury, d’ough, else he nebber come
out of groun’. Dese bones of surveyor; know ‘em well: hab one
leg broke, once. Dere; you see mark».
«Shall we dig a new grave, Susquesus, and bury the remains
again?»
«Best not, now, Chainbearer mean do dat. Be here by-’mbye. Got somet’ing else t’ink of now. You own all land ‘bout
here, so no need be in hurry».
«I suppose that my father and Colonel Follock do. These
men were slain on the estate, while running out its great lots.
I think I have heard they had not near fi nished their work in
this quarter of the patent, which was abandoned on account of
the troubles of that day».
«Just so; who own mill, here, den?»
«There is no mill near us, Susquesus; can be no mill, as not
an acre of the Ridge property has ever been sold or leased».
«May be so – mill d’ough – not far off, needer. Know mill
when hear him. Saw talk loud».
«You surely do not hear the saw of a mill now, my friend.
I can hear nothing like one».
«No hear, now; dat true. But hear him in night. Ear good in
night – hear great way off».
«You are right enough there, Susquesus. And you fancied
you heard the stroke of a saw, from this place, during the quiet
and heavy air of the past night?»
«Sartain – know well; hear him plain enough. Isn’t mile
off. Out here; fi nd him dere».
298
THE CHAINBEARER; OR, THE LITTLEPAGE MANUSCRIPTS
This was still more startling than the discovery of
the skeleton. I had a rough, general map of the patent in my
pocket; and on examination, I found a mill-stream was laid
down on it, quite near the spot where we stood. The appearance of the woods, and the formation of the land, moreover,
favored the idea of the proximity of a mill. Pine was plenty,
and the hills were beginning to swell into something resembling mountains.
Fasting, and the exercise I had taken, had given me a keen
appetite; and in one sense at least, I was not sorry to believe that
human habitations were near. Did any persons dwell in that
forest, they were squatters, but I did not feel much personal
apprehension in encountering such men; especially when my
only present object was to ask for food. The erecting of a mill
denoted a decided demonstration, it is true, and a little refl ection might have told me that its occupants would not be delighted by a sudden visit from the representative of the owners of the soil. On the other hand, however, the huts were long
miles away, and neither Surefl int nor I had the smallest article of food about us. Both were hungry, though the Onondago
professed indifference to the feeling, an unconcern I could
not share with him, owing to habits of greater self-indulgence.
Then I had a strong wish to solve this mystery of the mill, in
addition to a feverish desire to awaken within me some new
excitement, as a counterpoise to that I still keenly felt in behalf of my disappointed love.
Did I not so well understand the character of my companion, and the great accuracy of Indian senses, I might have hesitated about going on what seemed to be a fool’s errand. But
299
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
circumstances, that were then of recent origin, existed to give
some countenance to the conjecture of Surefl int, if conjecture
his precise knowledge could be called. Originally, New York
claimed the Connecticut for a part of its eastern boundary,
but large bodies of settlers had crossed that stream coming
mainly from the adjacent colony of New Hampshire, and
these persons had become formidable by their positions and
numbers, some time anterior to the revolution. During that
struggle, these hardy mountaineers had manifested a spirit
favorable to the colonies, in the main, though every indication of an intention to settle their claims was met by a disposition to declare themselves neutral. In a word, they were
suffi ciently patriotic, if left to do as they pleased in the matter of their possessions, but not suffi ciently so to submit to
the regular administration of the law. About the close of
the war, the leaders of this self-created colony were more
than suspected of coquetting with the English authorities; not
that they preferred the government of the crown, or any other
control, to their own, but because the times were favorable to
playing off their neutrality, in this manner, as a means of securing themselves in the possession of lands to which their
titles, in the ordinary way, admitted of a good deal of dispute, to say the least. The diffi culty was by no means disposed
of by the peace of ‘83; but the counties that were then equally
known by the name of Vermont and that of the Hampshire
Grants, were existing, in one sense, as a people apart, not yet
acknowledging the power of the confederacy; nor did they
come into the Union, under the constitution of 1789, until all
300
Соседние файлы в предмете [НЕСОРТИРОВАННОЕ]