LEATHERSTOCKING TALES – Complete Collection. Джеймс Фенимор Купер

get to be that — though far from being parfect sartainty, he is respectable, and is coming on. Nevertheless, he is my fri’nd, and all the better fri’nd, perhaps, because there never can be any hard feelin’s atween us, touchin’ our gifts, his’n bein’ red, and mine bein’ altogether white. Now, I should like to leave Killdeer to the Sarpent, should any thing happen to keep me from doing credit and honor to your precious gift, Judith.”

      “Leave it to whom you please, Deerslayer. The rifle is your own, to do with as you please. Chingachgook shall have it, should you never return to claim it, if that be your wish.”

      “Has Hetty been consulted in this matter? Property goes from the parent to the children, and not to one child, in partic’lar!”

      “If you place your right on that of the law, Deerslayer, I fear none of us can claim to be the owner. Thomas Hutter was no more the father of Esther, than he was the father of Judith. Judith and Esther we are truly, having no other name!”

      “There may be law in that, but there’s no great reason, gal. Accordin’ to the custom of families, the goods are your’n, and there’s no one here to gainsay it. If Hetty would only say that she is willing, my mind would be quite at ease in the matter. It’s true, Judith, that your sister has neither your beauty, nor your wit; but we should be the tenderest of the rights and welfare of the most weak-minded.”

      The girl made no answer but placing herself at a window, she summoned her sister to her side. When the question was put to Hetty, that simple-minded and affectionate creature cheerfully assented to the proposal to confer on Deerslayer a full right of ownership to the much-coveted rifle. The latter now seemed perfectly happy, for the time being at least, and after again examining and re-examining his prize, he expressed a determination to put its merits to a practical test, before he left the spot. No boy could have been more eager to exhibit the qualities of his trumpet, or his crossbow, than this simple forester was to prove those of his rifle. Returning to the platform, he first took the Delaware aside, and informed him that this celebrated piece was to become his property, in the event of any thing serious befalling himself.

      “This is a new reason why you should be wary, Sarpent, and not run into any oncalculated danger,” the hunter added, “for, it will be a victory of itself to a tribe to own such a piece as this! The Mingos will turn green with envy, and, what is more, they will not ventur’ heedlessly near a village where it is known to be kept. So, look well to it, Delaware, and remember that you’ve now to watch over a thing that has all the valie of a creatur’, without its failin’s. Hist may be, and should be precious to you, but Killdeer will have the love and veneration of your whole people.”

      “One rifle like another, Deerslayer,” returned the Indian, in English, the language used by the other, a little hurt at his friend’s lowering his betrothed to the level of a gun. “All kill; all wood and iron. Wife dear to heart; rifle good to shoot.”

      “And what is a man in the woods without something to shoot with?-a miserable trapper, or a forlorn broom and basket maker, at the best. Such a man may hoe corn, and keep soul and body together, but he can never know the savory morsels of venison, or tell a bear’s ham from a hog’s. Come, my fri’nd, such another occasion may never offer ag’in, and I feel a strong craving for a trial with this celebrated piece. You shall bring out your own rifle, and I will just sight Killdeer in a careless way, in order that we may know a few of its secret vartues.”

      As this proposition served to relieve the thoughts of the whole party, by giving them a new direction, while it was likely to produce no unpleasant results, every one was willing to enter into it; the girls bringing forth the firearms with an alacrity bordering on cheerfulness. Hutter’s armory was well supplied, possessing several rifles, all of which were habitually kept loaded in readiness to meet any sudden demand for their use. On the present occasion it only remained to freshen the primings, and each piece was in a state for service. This was soon done, as all assisted in it, the females being as expert in this part of the system of defence as their male companions.

      “Now, Sarpent, we’ll begin in a humble way, using Old Tom’s commoners first, and coming to your we’pon and Killdeer as the winding up observations,” said Deerslayer, delighted to be again, weapon in hand, ready to display his skill. “Here’s birds in abundance, some in, and some over the lake, and they keep at just a good range, hovering round the hut. Speak your mind, Delaware, and p’int out the creatur’ you wish to alarm. Here’s a diver nearest in, off to the eastward, and that’s a creatur’ that buries itself at the flash, and will be like enough to try both piece and powder.”

      Chingachgook was a man of few words. No sooner was the bird pointed out to him than he took his aim and fired. The duck dove at the flash, as had been expected, and the bullet skipped harmlessly along the surface of the lake, first striking the water within a few inches of the spot where the bird had so lately swam. Deerslayer laughed, cordially and naturally, but at the same time he threw himself into an attitude of preparation and stood keenly watching the sheet of placid water. Presently a dark spot appeared, and then the duck arose to breathe, and shook its wings. While in this act, a bullet passed directly through its breast, actually turning it over lifeless on its back. At the next moment, Deerslayer stood with the breech of his rifle on the platform, as tranquil as if nothing had happened, though laughing in his own peculiar manner.

      “There’s no great trial of the pieces in that!” he said, as if anxious to prevent a false impression of his own merit. “No, that proof’s neither for nor ag’in the rifles, seeing it was all quickness of hand and eye. I took the bird at a disadvantage, or he might have got under, again, afore the bullet reached him. But the Sarpent is too wise to mind such tricks, having long been used to them. Do you remember the time, chief, when you thought yourself sartain of the wild-goose, and I took him out of your very eyes, as it might be with a little smoke! Howsever, such things pass for nothing atween fri’nds, and young folk will have their fun, Judith. Ay; here’s just the bird we want, for it’s as good for the fire, as it is for the aim, and nothing should be lost that can be turned to just account. There, further north, Delaware.”

      The latter looked in the required direction, and he soon saw a large black duck floating in stately repose on the water. At that distant day, when so few men were present to derange the harmony of the wilderness, all the smaller lakes with which the interior of New York so abounds were places of resort for the migratory aquatic birds, and this sheet like the others had once been much frequented by all the varieties of the duck, by the goose, the gull, and the loon. On the appearance of Hutter, the spot was comparatively deserted for other sheets, more retired and remote, though some of each species continued to resort thither, as indeed they do to the present hour. At that instant, a hundred birds were visible from the castle, sleeping on the water or laying their feathers in the limpid element, though no other offered so favorable a mark as that Deerslayer had just pointed out to his friend. Chingachgook, as usual, spared his words, and proceeded to execution. This time his aim was more careful than before, and his success in proportion. The bird had a wing crippled, and fluttered along the water screaming, materially increasing its distance from its enemies.

      “That bird must be put out of pain,” exclaimed Deerslayer, the moment the animal endeavored to rise on the wing, “and this is the rifle and the eye to do it.”

      The duck was still floundering along, when the fatal bullet overtook it, severing the head from the neck as neatly as if it had been done with an axe. Hist had indulged in a low cry of delight at the success of the young Indian, but now she affected to frown and resent the greater skill of his friend. The chief, on the contrary, uttered the usual exclamation of pleasure, and his smile proved how much he admired, and how little he envied.

      “Never mind the gal, Sarpent, never mind Hist’s feelin’s, which will neither choke, nor drown, slay nor beautify,” said Deerslayer, laughing. “’Tis nat’ral for women to enter into their husband’s victories and defeats, and you are as good as man and wife, so far as prejudyce and fri’ndship go. Here is a bird over head that will put the pieces to the proof. I challenge you to an upward aim, with a flying target. That’s a ra’al proof, and one that needs sartain rifles, as well as sartain eyes.”

      The species of