William Shakespeare - "King Richard the Second"

Thomas de Quincey - "Theological Essays and Other Papers v1"

John Payne - "Tales from the Arabic Volume 2"

Franklin Pierce - "State of the Union Addresses of Franklin Pierce"

The Prairie

J >> J Fenimore Cooper >> The Prairie




It would seem that his search was fruitless; for after a few moments
of indolent and listless examination, he suffered his huge frame to
descend the gentle declivity, in the same sluggish manner that an over
fatted beast would have yielded to the downward pressure.

His example was silently followed by those who succeeded him, though
not until the young men had manifested much more of interest, if not
of concern in the brief enquiry, which each, in his turn, made on
gaining the same look-out. It was now evident, by the tardy movements
both of beasts and men, that the time of necessary rest was not far
distant. The matted grass of the lower land, presented obstacles which
fatigue began to render formidable, and the whip was becoming
necessary to urge the lingering teams to their labour. At this moment,
when, with the exception of the principal individual, a general
lassitude was getting the mastery of the travellers, and every eye was
cast, by a sort of common impulse, wistfully forward, the whole party
was brought to a halt, by a spectacle, as sudden as it was unexpected.

The sun had fallen below the crest of the nearest wave of the prairie,
leaving the usual rich and glowing train on its track. In the centre
of this flood of fiery light, a human form appeared, drawn against the
gilded background, as distinctly, and seemingly as palpable, as though
it would come within the grasp of any extended hand. The figure was
colossal; the attitude musing and melancholy, and the situation
directly in the route of the travellers. But imbedded, as it was, in
its setting of garish light, it was impossible to distinguish its just
proportions or true character.

The effect of such a spectacle was instantaneous and powerful. The man
in front of the emigrants came to a stand, and remained gazing at the
mysterious object, with a dull interest, that soon quickened into
superstitious awe. His sons, so soon as the first emotions of surprise
had a little abated, drew slowly around him, and, as they who governed
the teams gradually followed their example, the whole party was soon
condensed in one, silent, and wondering group. Notwithstanding the
impression of a supernatural agency was very general among the
travellers, the ticking of gun-locks was heard, and one or two of the
bolder youths cast their rifles forward, in readiness for service.

"Send the boys off to the right," exclaimed the resolute wife and
mother, in a sharp, dissonant voice; "I warrant me, Asa, or Abner will
give some account of the creature!"

"It may be well enough, to try the rifle," muttered a dull looking
man, whose features, both in outline and expression, bore no small
resemblance to the first speaker, and who loosened the stock of his
piece and brought it dexterously to the front, while delivering this
opinion; "the Pawnee Loups are said to be hunting by hundreds in the
plains; if so, they'll never miss a single man from their tribe."

"Stay!" exclaimed a soft toned, but alarmed female voice, which was
easily to be traced to the trembling lips of the younger of the two
women; "we are not altogether; it may be a friend!"

"Who is scouting, now?" demanded the father, scanning, at the same
time, the cluster of his stout sons, with a displeased and sullen eye.
"Put by the piece, put by the piece;" he continued, diverting the
other's aim, with the finger of a giant, and with the air of one it
might be dangerous to deny. "My job is not yet ended; let us finish
the little that remains, in peace."

The man, who had manifested so hostile an intention, appeared to
understand the other's allusion, and suffered himself to be diverted
from his object. The sons turned their inquiring looks on the girl,
who had so eagerly spoken, to require an explanation; but, as if
content with the respite she had obtained for the stranger, she sunk
back, in her seat, and chose to affect a maidenly silence.

In the mean time, the hues of the heavens had often changed. In place
of the brightness, which had dazzled the eye, a gray and more sober
light had succeeded, and as the setting lost its brilliancy, the
proportions of the fanciful form became less exaggerated, and finally
distinct. Ashamed to hesitate, now that the truth was no longer
doubtful, the leader of the party resumed his journey, using the
precaution, as he ascended the slight acclivity, to release his own
rifle from the strap, and to cast it into a situation more convenient
for sudden use.

There was little apparent necessity, however, for such watchfulness.
From the moment when it had thus unaccountably appeared, as it were,
between the heavens and the earth, the stranger's figure had neither
moved nor given the smallest evidence of hostility. Had he harboured
any such evil intention, the individual who now came plainly into
view, seemed but little qualified to execute them.

A frame that had endured the hardships of more than eighty seasons,
was not qualified to awaken apprehension, in the breast of one as
powerful as the emigrant. Notwithstanding his years, and his look of
emaciation, if not of suffering, there was that about this solitary
being, however, which said that time, and not disease, had laid his
hand heavily on him. His form had withered, but it was not wasted. The
sinews and muscles, which had once denoted great strength, though
shrunken, were still visible; and his whole figure had attained an
appearance of induration, which, if it were not for the well known
frailty of humanity, would have seemed to bid defiance to the further
approaches of decay. His dress was chiefly of skins, worn with the
hair to the weather; a pouch and horn were suspended from his
shoulders; and he leaned on a rifle of uncommon length, but which,
like its owner, exhibited the wear of long and hard service.

As the party drew nigher to this solitary being, and came within a
distance to be heard, a low growl issued from the grass at his feet,
and then, a tall, gaunt, toothless, hound, arose lazily from his lair,
and shaking himself, made some show of resisting the nearer approach
of the travellers.

"Down, Hector, down," said his master, in a voice, that was a little
tremulous and hollow with age. "What have ye to do, pup, with men who
journey on their lawful callings?"

"Stranger, if you ar' much acquainted in this country," said the
leader of the emigrants, "can you tell a traveller where he may find
necessaries for the night?"

"Is the land filled on the other side of the Big River?" demanded the
old man, solemnly, and without appearing to hearken to the other's
question; "or why do I see a sight, I had never thought to behold
again?"

"Why, there is country left, it is true, for such as have money, and
ar' not particular in the choice," returned the emigrant; "but to my
taste, it is getting crowdy. What may a man call the distance, from
this place to the nighest point on the main river?"

"A hunted deer could not cool his sides, in the Mississippi, without
travelling a weary five hundred miles."

"And what may you name the district, hereaway?"

"By what name," returned the old man, pointing significantly upward,
"would you call the spot, where you see yonder cloud?"

The emigrant looked at the other, like one who did not comprehend his
meaning, and who half suspected he was trifled with, but he contented
himself by saying--

"You ar' but a new inhabitant, like myself, I reckon, stranger,
otherwise you would not be backward in helping a traveller to some
advice; words cost but little, and sometimes lead to friendships."

"Advice is not a gift, but a debt that the old owe to the young. What
would you wish to know?"

"Where I may camp for the night. I'm no great difficulty maker, as to
bed and board; but, all old journeyers, like myself, know the virtue
of sweet water, and a good browse for the cattle."

"Come then with me, and you shall be master of both; and little more
is it that I can offer on this hungry prairie."

As the old man was speaking, he raised his heavy rifle to his
shoulder, with a facility a little remarkable for his years and
appearance, and without further words led the way over the acclivity
to the adjacent bottom.



CHAPTER II

Up with my tent: here will I lie to-night,
But where, to-morrow?--Well, all's one for that
--Richard the Third.

The travellers soon discovered the usual and unerring evidences that
the several articles necessary to their situation were not far
distant. A clear and gurgling spring burst out of the side of the
declivity, and joining its waters to those of other similar little
fountains in its vicinity, their united contributions formed a run,
which was easily to be traced, for miles along the prairie, by the
scattering foliage and verdure which occasionally grew within the
influence of its moisture. Hither, then, the stranger held his way,
eagerly followed by the willing teams, whose instinct gave them a
prescience of refreshment and rest.

On reaching what he deemed a suitable spot, the old man halted, and
with an enquiring look, he seemed to demand if it possessed the needed
conveniences. The leader of the emigrants cast his eyes,
understandingly, about him, and examined the place with the keenness
of one competent to judge of so nice a question, though in that
dilatory and heavy manner, which rarely permitted him to betray
precipitation.

"Ay, this may do," he said, satisfied with his scrutiny; "boys, you
have seen the last of the sun; be stirring."

The young men manifested a characteristic obedience. The order, for
such in tone and manner it was, in truth, was received with respect;
but the utmost movement was the falling of an axe or two from the
shoulder to the ground, while their owners continued to regard the
place with listless and incurious eyes. In the mean time, the elder
traveller, as if familiar with the nature of the impulses by which his
children were governed, disencumbered himself of his pack and rifle,
and, assisted by the man already mentioned as disposed to appeal so
promptly to the rifle, he quietly proceeded to release the cattle from
the gears.

At length the eldest of the sons stepped heavily forward, and, without
any apparent effort, he buried his axe to the eye, in the soft body of
a cotton-wood tree. He stood, a moment, regarding the effect of the
blow, with that sort of contempt with which a giant might be supposed
to contemplate the puny resistance of a dwarf, and then flourishing
the implement above his head, with the grace and dexterity with which
a master of the art of offence would wield his nobler though less
useful weapon, he quickly severed the trunk of the tree, bringing its
tall top crashing to the earth in submission to his prowess. His
companions regarded the operation with indolent curiosity, until they
saw the prostrate trunk stretched on the ground, when, as if a signal
for a general attack had been given, they advanced in a body to the
work, and in a space of time, and with a neatness of execution that
would have astonished an ignorant spectator, they stripped a small but
suitable spot of its burden of forest, as effectually, and almost as
promptly, as if a whirlwind had passed along the place.

The stranger had been a silent but attentive observer of their
progress. As tree after tree came whistling down, he cast his eyes
upward at the vacancies they left in the heavens, with a melancholy
gaze, and finally turned away, muttering to himself with a bitter
smile, like one who disdained giving a more audible utterance to his
discontent. Pressing through the group of active and busy children,
who had already lighted a cheerful fire, the attention of the old man
became next fixed on the movements of the leader of the emigrants and
of his savage looking assistant.

These two had, already, liberated the cattle, which were eagerly
browsing the grateful and nutritious extremities of the fallen trees,
and were now employed about the wagon, which has been described as
having its contents concealed with so much apparent care.
Notwithstanding this particular conveyance appeared to be as silent,
and as tenantless as the rest of the vehicles, the men applied their
strength to its wheels, and rolled it apart from the others, to a dry
and elevated spot, near the edge of the thicket. Here they brought
certain poles, which had, seemingly, been long employed in such a
service, and fastening their larger ends firmly in the ground, the
smaller were attached to the hoops that supported the covering of the
wagon. Large folds of cloth were next drawn out of the vehicle, and
after being spread around the whole, were pegged to the earth in such
a manner as to form a tolerably capacious and an exceedingly
convenient tent. After surveying their work with inquisitive, and
perhaps jealous eyes, arranging a fold here, and driving a peg more
firmly there, the men once more applied their strength to the wagon,
pulling it, by its projecting tongue, from the centre of the canopy,
until it appeared in the open air, deprived of its covering, and
destitute of any other freight, than a few light articles of
furniture. The latter were immediately removed, by the traveller, into
the tent with his own hands, as though to enter it, were a privilege,
to which even his bosom companion was not entitled.

Curiosity is a passion that is rather quickened than destroyed by
seclusion, and the old inhabitant of the prairies did not view these
precautionary and mysterious movements, without experiencing some of
its impulses. He approached the tent, and was about to sever two of
its folds, with the very obvious intention of examining, more closely,
into the nature of its contents, when the man who had once already
placed his life in jeopardy, seized him by the arm, and with a rude
exercise of his strength threw him from the spot he had selected as
the one most convenient for his object.

"It's an honest regulation, friend," the fellow, drily observed,
though with an eye that threatened volumes, "and sometimes it is a
safe one, which says, mind your own business."

"Men seldom bring any thing to be concealed into these deserts,"
returned the old man, as if willing, and yet a little ignorant how to
apologize for the liberty he had been about to take, "and I had hoped
no offence, in examining your comforts."

"They seldom bring themselves, I reckon; though this has the look of
an old country, to my eye it seems not to be overly peopled."

"The land is as aged as the rest of the works of the Lord, I believe;
but you say true, concerning its inhabitants. Many months have passed
since I have laid eyes on a face of my own colour, before your own. I
say again, friend, I meant no harm; I did not know, but there was
something behind the cloth, that might bring former days to my mind."

As the stranger ended his simple explanation, he walked meekly away,
like one who felt the deepest sense of the right which every man has
to the quiet enjoyment of his own, without any troublesome
interference on the part of his neighbour; a wholesome and just
principle that he had, also, most probably imbibed from the habits of
his secluded life. As he passed towards the little encampment of the
emigrants, for such the place had now become, he heard the voice of
the leader calling aloud, in its hoarse tones, the name of--

"Ellen Wade."

The girl who has been already introduced to the reader, and who was
occupied with the others of her sex around the fires, sprang willingly
forward at this summons; and, passing the stranger with the activity
of a young antelope, she was instantly lost behind the forbidden folds
of the tent. Neither her sudden disappearance, nor any of the
arrangements we have mentioned, seemed, however, to excite the
smallest surprise among the remainder of the party. The young men, who
had already completed their tasks with the axe, were all engaged after
their lounging and listless manner; some in bestowing equitable
portions of the fodder among the different animals; others in plying
the heavy pestle of a moveable homminy-mortar[*]; and one or two in
wheeling the remainder of the wagons aside, and arranging them in such
a manner as to form a sort of outwork for their otherwise defenceless
bivouac.

[*] Homminy, is a dish composed chiefly of cracked corn, or maize.

These several duties were soon performed, and, as darkness now began
to conceal the objects on the surrounding prairie, the shrill-toned
termagant, whose voice since the halt had been diligently exercised
among her idle and drowsy offspring, announced, in tones that might
have been heard at a dangerous distance, that the evening meal waited
only for the approach of those who were to consume it. Whatever may be
the other qualities of a border man, he is seldom deficient in the
virtue of hospitality. The emigrant no sooner heard the sharp call of
his wife, than he cast his eyes about him in quest of the stranger, in
order to offer him the place of distinction, in the rude entertainment
to which they were so unceremoniously summoned.

"I thank you, friend," the old man replied to the rough invitation to
take a seat nigh the smoking kettle; "you have my hearty thanks; but I
have eaten for the day, and am not one of them, who dig their graves
with their teeth. Well; as you wish it, I will take a place, for it is
long sin' I have seen people of my colour, eating their daily bread."

"You ar' an old settler, in these districts, then?" the emigrant
rather remarked than enquired, with a mouth filled nearly to
overflowing with the delicious homminy, prepared by his skilful,
though repulsive spouse. "They told us below, we should find settlers
something thinnish, hereaway, and I must say, the report was mainly
true; for, unless, we count the Canada traders on the big river, you
ar' the first white face I have met, in a good five hundred miles;
that is calculating according to your own reckoning."

"Though I have spent some years, in this quarter, I can hardly be
called a settler, seeing that I have no regular abode, and seldom pass
more than a month, at a time, on the same range."

"A hunter, I reckon?" the other continued, glancing his eyes aside, as
if to examine the equipments of his new acquaintance; "your fixen seem
none of the best, for such a calling."

"They are old, and nearly ready to be laid aside, like their master,"
said the old man, regarding his rifle, with a look in which affection
and regret were singularly blended; "and I may say they are but little
needed, too. You are mistaken, friend, in calling me a hunter; I am
nothing better than a trapper."[*]

[*] It is scarcely necessary to say, that this American word means one
who takes his game in a trap. It is of general use on the
frontiers. The beaver, an animal too sagacious to be easily
killed, is oftener taken in this way than in any other.

"If you ar' much of the one, I'm bold to say you ar' something of the
other; for the two callings, go mainly together, in these districts."

"To the shame of the man who is able to follow the first be it so
said!" returned the trapper, whom in future we shall choose to
designate by his pursuit; "for more than fifty years did I carry my
rifle in the wilderness, without so much as setting a snare for even a
bird that flies the heavens;--much less, a beast that has nothing but
legs, for its gifts."

"I see but little difference whether a man gets his peltry by the
rifle or by the trap," said the ill-looking companion of the emigrant,
in his rough manner. "The 'arth was made for our comfort; and, for
that matter, so ar' its creatur's."

"You seem to have but little plunder,[*] stranger, for one who is far
abroad," bluntly interrupted the emigrant, as if he had a reason for
wishing to change the conversation. "I hope you ar' better off for
skins."

[*] The cant word for luggage in the western states of America is
"plunder." The term might easily mislead one as to the character
of the people, who, notwithstanding their pleasant use of so
expressive a word, are, like the inhabitants of all new
settlements, hospitable and honest. Knavery of the description
conveyed by "plunder," is chiefly found in regions more civilised.

"I make but little use of either," the trapper quietly replied. "At my
time of life, food and clothing be all that is needed; and I have
little occasion for what you call plunder, unless it may be, now and
then, to barter for a horn of powder, or a bar of lead."

"You ar' not, then, of these parts by natur', friend," the emigrant
continued, having in his mind the exception which the other had taken
to the very equivocal word, which he himself, according to the custom
of the country, had used for "baggage," or "effects."

"I was born on the sea-shore, though most of my life has been passed
in the woods."

The whole party now looked up at him, as men are apt to turn their
eyes on some unexpected object of general interest. One or two of the
young men repeated the words "sea-shore" and the woman tendered him
one of those civilities with which, uncouth as they were, she was
little accustomed to grace her hospitality, as if in deference to the
travelled dignity of her guest. After a long, and, seemingly, a
meditating silence, the emigrant, who had, however, seen no apparent
necessity to suspend the functions of his masticating powers, resumed
the discourse.

"It is a long road, as I have heard, from the waters of the west to
the shores of the main sea?"

"It is a weary path, indeed, friend; and much have I seen, and
something have I suffered, in journeying over it."

"A man would see a good deal of hard travel in going its length!"

"Seventy and five years have I been upon the road; and there are not
half that number of leagues in the whole distance, after you leave the
Hudson, on which I have not tasted venison of my own killing. But this
is vain boasting. Of what use are former deeds, when time draws to an
end?"

"I once met a man that had boated on the river he names," observed the
eldest son, speaking in a low tone of voice, like one who distrusted
his knowledge, and deemed it prudent to assume a becoming diffidence
in the presence of a man who had seen so much: "from his tell, it must
be a considerable stream, and deep enough for a keel-boat, from top to
bottom."

"It is a wide and deep water-course, and many sightly towns are there
growing on its banks," returned the trapper; "and yet it is but a
brook to the waters of the endless river."

"I call nothing a stream that a man can travel round," exclaimed the
ill-looking associate of the emigrant: "a real river must be crossed;
not headed, like a bear in a county hunt."[*]

[*] There is a practice, in the new countries, to assemble the men of
a large district, sometimes of an entire county, to exterminate
the beasts of prey. They form themselves into a circle of several
miles in extent, and gradually draw nearer, killing all before
them. The allusion is to this custom, in which the hunted beast is
turned from one to another.

"Have you been far towards the sun-down, friend?" interrupted the
emigrant, as if he desired to keep his rough companion as much as
possible out of the discourse. "I find it is a wide tract of clearing,
this, into which I have fallen."

"You may travel weeks, and you will see it the same. I often think the
Lord has placed this barren belt of prairie behind the States, to warn
men to what their folly may yet bring the land! Ay, weeks, if not
months, may you journey in these open fields, in which there is
neither dwelling nor habitation for man or beast. Even the savage
animals travel miles on miles to seek their dens; and yet the wind
seldom blows from the east, but I conceit the sound of axes, and the
crash of falling trees, are in my ears."

As the old man spoke with the seriousness and dignity that age seldom
fails to communicate even to less striking sentiments, his auditors
were deeply attentive, and as silent as the grave. Indeed, the trapper
was left to renew the dialogue himself, which he soon did by asking a
question, in the indirect manner so much in use by the border
inhabitants.

"You found it no easy matter to ford the water-courses, and to make
your way so deep into the prairies, friend, with teams of horses and
herds of horned beasts?"

"I kept the left bank of the main river," the emigrant replied, "until
I found the stream leading too much to the north, when we rafted
ourselves across without any great suffering. The women lost a fleece
or two from the next year's shearing, and the girls have one cow less
to their dairy. Since then, we have done bravely, by bridging a creek
every day or two."

"It is likely you will continue west, until you come to land more
suitable for a settlement?"

"Until I see reason to stop, or to turn ag'in," the emigrant bluntly
answered, rising at the same time, and cutting short the dialogue by
the suddenness of the movement. His example was followed by the
trapper, as well as the rest of the party; and then, without much
deference to the presence of their guest, the travellers proceeded to
make their dispositions to pass the night. Several little bowers, or
rather huts, had already been formed of the tops of trees, blankets of
coarse country manufacture, and the skins of buffaloes, united without
much reference to any other object than temporary comfort. Into these
covers the children, with their mother, soon drew themselves, and
where, it is more than possible, they were all speedily lost in the
oblivion of sleep. Before the men, however, could seek their rest,
they had sundry little duties to perform; such as completing their
works of defence, carefully concealing the fires, replenishing the
fodder of their cattle, and setting the watch that was to protect the
party, in the approaching hours of night.

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