LEATHERSTOCKING TALES – Complete Collection. Джеймс Фенимор Купер

this language come from one of the garrison gallants, I should deride it, Deerslayer, but coming from you, I know it can be depended on,” returned Judith, deeply gratified by his unmeditated and characteristic compliments. “It is too soon, however, to ask my answer; the Great Serpent has not yet spoken.”

      “The Sarpent! Lord; I could carry back his speech without hearing a word of it! I didn’t think of putting the question to him at all, I will allow; though ‘twould be hardly right either, seeing that truth is truth, and I’m bound to tell these Mingos the fact and nothing else. So, Chingachgook, let us hear your mind on this matter — are you inclined to strike across the hills towards your village, to give up Hist to a Huron, and to tell the chiefs at home that, if they’re actyve and successful, they may possibly get on the end of the Iroquois trail some two or three days a’ter the inimy has got off of it?”

      Like his betrothed, the young chief arose, that his answer might be given with due distinctness and dignity. Hist had spoken with her hands crossed upon her bosom, as if to suppress the emotions within, but the warrior stretched an arm before him with a calm energy that aided in giving emphasis to his expressions. “Wampum should be sent for wampum,” he said; “a message must be answered by a message. Hear what the Great Serpent of the Delawares has to say to the pretended wolves from the great lakes, that are howling through our woods. They are no wolves; they are dogs that have come to get their tails and ears cropped by the hands of the Delawares. They are good at stealing young women; bad at keeping them. Chingachgook takes his own where he finds it; he asks leave of no cur from the Canadas. If he has a tender feeling in his heart, it is no business of the Hurons. He tells it to her who most likes to know it; he will not bellow it in the forest, for the ears of those that only understand yells of terror. What passes in his lodge is not for the chiefs of his own people to know; still less for Mingo rogues —”

      “Call ’em vagabonds, Sarpent —” interrupted Deerslayer, unable to restrain his delight —“yes, just call ’em up-and-down vagabonds, which is a word easily intarpreted, and the most hateful of all to their ears, it’s so true. Never fear me; I’ll give em your message, syllable for syllable, sneer for sneer, idee for idee, scorn for scorn, and they desarve no better at your hands — only call ’em vagabonds, once or twice, and that will set the sap mounting in ’em, from their lowest roots to the uppermost branches!”

      “Still less for Mingo vagabonds,” resumed Chingachgook, quite willingly complying with his friend’s request. “Tell the Huron dogs to howl louder, if they wish a Delaware to find them in the woods, where they burrow like foxes, instead of hunting like warriors. When they had a Delaware maiden in their camp, there was a reason for hunting them up; now they will be forgotten unless they make a noise. Chingachgook don’t like the trouble of going to his villages for more warriors; he can strike their run-a-way trail; unless they hide it under ground, he will follow it to Canada alone. He will keep Wah-ta-Wah with him to cook his game; they two will be Delawares enough to scare all the Hurons back to their own country.”

      “That’s a grand despatch, as the officers call them things!” cried Deerslayer; “’twill set all the Huron blood in motion; most particularily that part where he tells ’em Hist, too, will keep on their heels ‘til they’re fairly driven out of the country. Ahs! me; big words ain’t always big deeds, notwithstanding! The Lord send that we be able to be only one half as good as we promise to be! And now, Judith, it’s your turn to speak, for them miscreants will expect an answer from each person, poor Hetty, perhaps, excepted.”

      “And why not Hetty, Deerslayer? She often speaks to the purpose; the Indians may respect her words, for they feel for people in her condition.”

      “That is true, Judith, and quick-thoughted in you. The red-skins do respect misfortunes of all kinds, and Hetty’s in particular. So, Hetty, if you have any thing to say, I’ll carry it to the Hurons as faithfully as if it was spoken by a schoolmaster, or a missionary.”

      The girl hesitated a moment, and then she answered in her own gentle, soft tones, as earnestly as any who had preceded her.

      “The Hurons can’t understand the difference between white people and themselves,” she said, “or they wouldn’t ask Judith and me to go and live in their villages. God has given one country to the red men and another to us. He meant us to live apart. Then mother always said that we should never dwell with any but Christians, if possible, and that is a reason why we can’t go. This lake is ours, and we won’t leave it. Father and mother’s graves are in it, and even the worst Indians love to stay near the graves of their fathers. I will come and see them again, if they wish me to, and read more out of the Bible to them, but I can’t quit father’s and mother’s graves.”

      “That will do — that will do, Hetty, just as well as if you sent them a message twice as long,” interrupted the hunter. “I’ll tell ’em all you’ve said, and all you mean, and I’ll answer for it that they’ll be easily satisfied. Now, Judith, your turn comes next, and then this part of my ar’n’d will be tarminated for the night.”

      Judith manifested a reluctance to give her reply, that had awakened a little curiosity in the messenger. Judging from her known spirit, he had never supposed the girl would be less true her feelings and principles than Hist, or Hetty, and yet there was a visible wavering of purpose that rendered him slightly uneasy. Even now when directly required to speak, she seemed to hesitate, nor did she open her lips until the profound silence told her how anxiously her words were expected. Then, indeed, she spoke, but it was doubtingly and with reluctance.

      “Tell me, first — tell us, first, Deerslayer,” she commenced, repeating the words merely to change the emphasis —“what effect will our answers have on your fate? If you are to be the sacrifice of our spirit, it would have been better had we all been more wary as to the language we use. What, then, are likely to be the consequences to yourself?”

      “Lord, Judith, you might as well ask me which way the wind will blow next week, or what will be the age of the next deer that will be shot! I can only say that their faces look a little dark upon me, but it doesn’t thunder every time a black cloud rises, nor does every puff of wind blow up rain. That’s a question, therefore, much more easily put than answered.”

      “So is this message of the Iroquois to me,” answered Judith rising, as if she had determined on her own course for the present. “My answer shall be given, Deerslayer, after you and I have talked together alone, when the others have laid themselves down for the night.”

      There was a decision in the manner of the girl that disposed Deerslayer to comply, and this he did the more readily as the delay could produce no material consequences one way or the other. The meeting now broke up, Hurry announcing his resolution to leave them speedily. During the hour that was suffered to intervene, in order that the darkness might deepen before the frontierman took his departure, the different individuals occupied themselves in their customary modes, the hunter, in particular, passing most of the time in making further enquiries into the perfection of the rifle already mentioned.

      The hour of nine soon arrived, however, and then it had been determined that Hurry should commence his journey. Instead of making his adieus frankly, and in a generous spirit, the little he thought it necessary to say was uttered sullenly and in coldness. Resentment at what he considered Judith’s obstinacy was blended with mortification at the career he had since reaching the lake, and, as is usual with the vulgar and narrow-minded, he was more disposed to reproach others with his failures than to censure himself. Judith gave him her hand, but it was quite as much in gladness as with regret, while the two Delawares were not sorry to find he was leaving them. Of the whole party, Hetty alone betrayed any real feeling. Bashfulness, and the timidity of her sex and character, kept even her aloof, so that Hurry entered the canoe, where Deerslayer was already waiting for him, before she ventured near enough to be observed. Then, indeed, the girl came into the Ark and approached its end, just as the little bark was turning from it, with a movement so light and steady as to be almost imperceptible. An impulse of feeling now overcame her timidity, and Hetty spoke.

      “Goodbye Hurry —” she called out, in her sweet voice —“goodbye, dear Hurry. Take care of yourself in the woods, and don’t stop once,