CHAPTER XIII.
Hearest thou voices on the shore That our ears perceive no more, Deafened by the cataract's roar?
Bear, through sorrow, wrong, and ruth, In thy heart the dew of youth, On thy lips the smile of truth. --LONGFELLOW.
From all that has been stated, the reader will, probably, be prepared tolearn that Boden did not succeed in his effort to persuade Gershom,and the other Christians, to accompany him on his voyage round by LakeHuron. Corporal Flint was obdurate, and Parson Amen confiding. As forGershom, he did not like the thought of retracing his steps so soon, andthe females were obliged to remain with the husband and brother.
"You had better get out of the river while all the canoes are on thisside," said Margery, as she and le Bourdon walked toward the boats incompany, the council having ended, and everything beginning to assumethe appearance of action. "Remember you will be quite alone, and have along, long road to travel!"
"I do remember all this, Margery, and see the necessity for all of usgetting back to the settlements as fast as we can. I don't half likethis Peter; his name is a bad one in the garrisons, and it makes memiserable to think that you may be in his power."
"The missionary and the corporal, as well as my brother, seem willing totrust him--what can two females do, when their male protector has madeup his mind in such a matter?"
"One who would very gladly be your protector, pretty Margery, has notmade up his mind to the prudence of trusting Peter at all. Put yourselfunder my care, and my life shall be lost, or I will carry you safe toyour friends in Detroit."
This might be deemed tolerably explicit; yet was it not sufficiently soto satisfy female scruples, or female rights. Margery blushed, andshe looked down, while she did not look absolutely displeased. But heranswer was given firmly, and with a promptitude that showed she wasquite in earnest.
"I cannot quit Dorothy, placed as she is--and it is my duty to die withbrother," she said.
"Have you thought enough of this, Margery? may not reflection changeyour mind?"
"This is a duty on which a girl is not called to reflect; she must FEEL,in a matter of conscience."
The bee-hunter fairly sighed, and from a very resolute he became a veryirresolute sort of person. As was natural to one in his situation, helet out the secret current his thoughts had taken, in the remarks whichfollowed.
"I do not like the manner in which Peter and Pigeonswing are now talkingtogether," he said. "When an Injin is so earnest, there is generallymischief brewing. Do you see Peter's manner?"
"He seems to be telling the young warrior something that makes bothforget themselves. I never saw two men who seem so completely to forgetall the rest of the world as them two savages! What can be the meaning,Bourdon, of so much fierce earnestness?"
"I would give the world to know-possibly the Chippewa may tell me. Weunderstand each other tolerably well, and, just as you spoke, he gaveme a secret sign that I have a right to think means confidence andfriendship. That savage is either a fast friend, or a thorough villain."
"Is it safe to trust any of them, Bourdon? No--no--your best way willbe to go down the lakes, and get back to Detroit as soon as you can. Notonly your property, but your LIFE, is at risk."
"Go, and leave you here, Margery--here, with a brother whose failing youknow as well as I do, and who may, at any moment, fall back into his oldways! I should not be a man to do it!"
"But brother can get no liquor, now, for it is all emptied. When himselffor a few days, Gershom is a good protector, as well as a good provider.You must not judge brother too harshly, from what you have seen of him,Bourdon."
"I do not wish to judge him at all, Margery. We all have our failin's,and whiskey is his. I dare say mine are quite as bad, in some other way.It's enough for me, Margery, that Gershom is your brother, to cause meto try to think well of him. We must not trust to there being no moreliquor among us; for, if that so'ger is altogether without his rations,he's the first so'ger I ever met with who was!"
"But this corporal is a friend of the minister, and ministers ought notto drink!"
"Ministers are like other men, as them that live much among 'em willsoon find out. Hows'ever, if you WILL stay, Margery, there is no more tobe said. I must cache [Footnote: A Western term, obviously derived fromcacher, to conceal. Cache is much used by the Western adventurers.]my honey, and get the canoe ready to go up stream again. Where you go,Margery, I go too, unless you tell me that you do not wish my company."
This was said quietly, but in the manner of one whose mind was made up.Margery scarce knew how to take it. That she was secretly delighted,cannot be denied; while, at the same time, that she felt a generous andlively concern for the fortunes of le Bourdon, is quite as certain. AsGershom just then called to her to lend her assistance in preparing toembark, she had no leisure for expostulation, nor do we know that shenow seriously wished to divert the bee-hunter from his purpose.
It was soon understood by every one that the river was to be crossed,in order that Gershom might get his household effects, previously toascending the Kalamazoo. This set all at--work but the Chippewa, whoappeared to le Bourdon to be watchful and full of distrust. As thelatter had a job before him, that would be likely to consume a coupleof hours, the others were ready for a start long before he had his holedug. It was therefore arranged that the bee-hunter should completehis task, while the others crossed the stream, and went in quest ofGershom's scanty stock of household goods. Pigeonswing, however, wasnot to be found, when the canoes were ready, and Peter proceeded withouthim. Nor did le Bourdon see anything of his friend until the adventurerswere fairly on the north shore, when he rejoined le Bourdon, sittingon a log, a curious spectator of the latter's devices to concealhis property, but not offering to aid him in a single movement. Thebee-hunter too well understood an Indian warrior's aversion to labor ofall sorts, unless it be connected with his military achievements, to besurprised at his companion's indifference to his own toil. As the workwent on, a friendly dialogue was kept up between the parties.
"I didn't know, Pigeonswing, but you had started for the openings,before us," observed le Bourdon. "That tribeless old Injin madesomething of a fuss about your being out of the way; I dare say hewanted you to help back the furniture down to the canoes."
"Got squaw--what he want--better to do dat?"
"So you would put that pretty piece of work on such persons as Margeryand Dolly!"
"Why not, no? Bot' squaw-bot know how. Dere business to work forwarrior."
"Did you keep out of the way, then, lest old Peter should get you at ajob that is onsuitable to your manhood?"
"Keep out of way of Pottawattamie," returned the Chippewa; "no want tolose scalp-radder take his'n."
"But Peter says the Pottawattamies are all gone, and that we have nolonger any reason to fear them; and this medicine-priest tells us, thatwhat Peter says we can depend on for truth."
"Dat good medicine-man, eh? T'ink he know a great deal, eh?"
"That is more than I can tell you, Pigeonswing; for though I've beena medicine-man myself, so lately, it is in a different line altogetherfrom that of Parson Amen's."
As the bee-hunter uttered this answer, he was putting the last of hishoney-kegs into the cache, and as he rose from completing the operation,he laughed heartily, like one who saw images in the occurrences of thepast night, that tended to divert himself, if they had not the sameeffect on the other spectators.
"If you medicine-man, can tell who Peter be? Winnebagoe, Sioux, Fox,Ojebway, Six Nations all say don't know him. Medicine-man ought toknow--who he be, eh?"
"I am not enough of a medicine-man to answer your question, Pigeonswing.Set me at finding a whiskey-spring, or any little job of that sort,and I'll turn my back to no other whiskey-spring finder on the wholefrontier; but, as for Peter, he goes beyond my calculations, quite. Whyis he called Scalping Peter in the garrisons, if he be so good an Injin,Chippewa?"
"You ask quest
ion--you answer. Don't know, 'less he take a good manyscalps. Hear he do take all he can find--den hear he don't."
"But you take all you can find, Pigeonswing; and that which is good inyou, cannot be so bad in Peter."
"Don't take scalp from friend. When you hear Pigeonswing scalp FRIEND,eh?"
"I never did hear it; and hope I never shall. But when did you hear thatPeter is so wicked?"
"S'pose he don't, 'cause he got no friend among pale-face. Bes' takecare of dat man?"
"I'm of your way of thinking, myself, Chippewa; though the corporal andthe priest think him all in all. When I asked Parson Amen how he came tobe the associate of one who went by a scalping name, even he told me itwas all name; that Peter hadn't touched a hair of a human head, in theway of scalping, since his youth, and that most of his notions and wayswere quite Jewish, The parson has almost as much faith in Peter, as hehas in his religion; I'm not quite sure he has not even more."
"No matter. Bes' always for pale-face to trust pale-face, and Injin totrust Injin. Dat most likely to be right."
"Nevertheless, I trust YOU Pigeonswing; and, hitherto, you have notdeceived me!"
The Chippewa cast a glance of so much meaning on the bee-hunter, thatthe last was troubled by it. For many a day did le Bourdon remember thatlook; and painful were the apprehensions to which it gave birth. Untilthat morning, the intercourse between the two had been of the mostconfidential character; but something like a fierce hatred was blendedin that look. Could it be that the feelings of the Chippewa werechanged? and was it possible that Peter was in any way connected withthis alteration in looks and sentiments? All these suspicions passedthrough le Bourdon's mind, as he finished his cache; and sufficientlydisagreeable did he find it to entertain them. The circumstances,however, did not admit of any change of plan; and, in a few minutes, thetwo were in the canoe, and on their way to join their companions.
Peter had dealt fairly enough with those who accompanied him. ThePottawattamies were nowhere to be seen, and Gershom led the corporalto the place where his household goods had been secreted, in so muchconfidence, that both the men left their arms behind them. Such was thestate of things when le Bourdon reached the north shore. The young manwas startled, when his eyes fell on the rifles; but, on looking around,there did not really appear to be any sufficient reason why they mightnot be laid aside for a few minutes.
The bee-hunter, having disposed of all his honey, had now a nearly emptycanoe; accordingly, he received a portion of Gershom's effects; all ofwhich were safely transported from their place of concealment to thewater side. Their owner was slowly recovering the use of his body andmind, though still a little dull, from his recent debauch. The femalessupplied his place, however, in many respects; and two hours after theparty had landed, it was ready again to proceed on its journey into theinterior. The last article was stowed in one of the canoes, and Gershomannounced his willingness to depart.
At this moment, Peter led the bee-hunter aside, telling his friends thathe would speedily rejoin them. Our hero followed his savage leader alongthe foot of the declivity, in the rear of the hut, until the formerstopped at the place where the first, and principal fire of the pastnight, had been lighted. Here Peter made a sweeping gesture of his hand,as if to invite his companion to survey the different objects around. Asthis characteristic gesture was made, the Indian spoke.
"My brother is a medicine-man," he said. "He knows where whiskeygrows--let him tell Peter where to find the spring."
The recollection of the scene of the previous night came so freshand vividly over the imagination of the bee-hunter, that, instead ofanswering the question of the chief, he burst into a hearty fit oflaughter. Then, fearful of giving offence, he was about to apologizefor a mirth so ill-timed, when the Indian smiled, with a gleam ofintelligence on his swarthy face, that seemed to say, "I understand itall," and continued--
"Good--the chief with three eyes"--in allusion to the spy--glass thatle Bourdon always carried suspended from his neck--"is a very greatmedicine-man; he knows when to laugh, and when to look sad. ThePottawattamies were dry, and he wanted to find them some whiskey todrink, but could not--our brother, in the canoe, had drunk it all.Good."
Again the bee-hunter laughed; and though Peter did not join in hismirth, it was quite plain that he understood its cause. With thisgood-natured sort of intelligence between them, the two returned to thecanoes; the bee-hunter always supposing that the Indian had obtainedhis object, in receiving his indirect admission, that the scene of theprevious night had been merely a piece of ingenious jugglery. So much ofa courtier, however, was Peter, and so entire his self-command, thaton no occasion, afterward, did he ever make any further allusion to thesubject.
The ascent of the river was now commenced. It was not a difficult matterfor le Bourdon to persuade Margery, that her brother's canoe would betoo heavily loaded for such a passage, unless she consented to quitit for his own. Pigeonswing took the girl's place, and was of materialassistance in forcing the light, but steady craft, up stream. The threeothers continued in the canoe in which they had entered the river. Withthis arrangement, therefore, our adventurers commenced this new journey.
Every reader will easily understand, that ascending such a stream as theKalamazoo was a very difficult thing from descending it. The progresswas slow, and at many points laborious. At several of the "rifts," itbecame necessary to "track" the canoes up; and places occurred at whichthe only safe way of proceeding was to unload them altogether, andtransport boats, cargoes, and all, on the shoulders of the men,across what are called, in the language of the country, "portages," or"carrying-places." In such toil as this, the corporal was found to bevery serviceable; but neither of the Indians declined to lend theirassistance, in work of this manly character. By this time, moreover,Gershom had come round, and was an able-bodied, vigorous assistant, oncemore. If the corporal was the master of any alcohol, he judiciously keptit a secret; for not a drop passed any one's lips during the whole ofthat toilsome journey.
Although the difficult places in the river were sufficiently numerous,most of the reaches were places having steady, but not swift currentstoward the lake. In these reaches the paddles, and those not veryvigorously applied, enabled the travellers to advance as fast as wasdesirable; and such tranquil waters were a sort of resting-placesto those who managed the canoes. It was while ascending these easychannels, that conversation most occurred; each speaker yielding, aswas natural, to the impulses of the thoughts uppermost in his mind. Themissionary talked much of the Jews; and, as the canoes came near eachother, he entered at large, with their different occupants, into thereasons he had for believing that the red men of America were thelost tribes of Israel. "The very use of the word 'tribes,'" would thissimple-minded, and not very profound expounder of the word of God, say,"is one proof of the truth of what I tell you. Now, no one thinks ofdividing the white men of America into 'tribes.' Who ever heard of the'tribe' of New England, or of the 'tribe' of Virginia, or of the'tribe' of the Middle States? [Footnote: The reader is not to infer anyexaggeration in this picture. There is no end to the ignorance and follyof sects and parties, when religious or political zeal runs high. Thewriter well remembers to have heard a Universalist, of more zealthan learning, adduce, as an argument in favor of his doctrine, thetwenty-fifth chapter and forty-sixth verse of St. Matthew, where we aretold that the wicked "shall go away into ever-lasting punishment; butthe righteous into Vis eternal"; by drawing a distinction between theadjectives, and this so much the more, because the Old Testament speaksof "everlasting hills," and "everlasting valleys "; thus proving, fromthe Bible, a substantial difference between "everlasting" and "eternal."Now, every Sophomore knows that the word used in Matthew is the samein both cases, being "aionion," or "existing forever."] Even among theblacks, there are no tribes. There is a very remarkable passage in thesixty-eighth Psalm, that has greatly struck me, since my mind has turnedto this subject; 'God shall wound the head his enemies.' saith thePsalmist, 'and the hairy scalp of su
ch a one as goeth on still in hiswickedness.' Here is a very obvious allusion to a well-known, and whatwe think, a barbarous practice of the red men; but, rely on it, friends,nothing that is permitted on earth is permitted in vain. The attentivereader of the inspired book, by gleaning here and there, can collectmuch authority for this new opinion about the lost tribes; and the daywill come, I do not doubt, when men will marvel that the truth hathbeen so long hidden from them. I can scarcely open a chapter, in the OldTestament, that some passage does not strike me as going to provethis identity, between the red men and the Hebrews; and, were they allcollected together, and published in a book, mankind would be astonishedat their lucidity and weight. As for scalping, it is a horrid thing inour eyes, but it is honorable with the red men; and I have quoted to youthe words of the Psalmist, in order to show the manner in which divinewisdom inflicts penalties on sin. Here is plain justification ofthe practice, provided always that the sufferer be in the bondage oftransgression, and obnoxious to divine censure. Let no man, therefore,in the pride of his learning, and, perhaps, of his prosperity, disdainto believe things that are so manifestly taught and foretold; but let usall bow in humble submission to the will of a Being who, to our finiteunderstanding, is so perfectly incomprehensible."
We trust that no one of our readers will be disposed to deride ParsonAmen's speculations on this interesting subject, although this mayhappen to be the first occasion on which he has ever heard the practiceof taking scalps justified by Scripture. Viewed in a proper spirit, theyought merely to convey a lesson of humility, by rendering apparentthe wisdom, nay the necessity, of men's keeping them-selves withinthe limits of the sphere of knowledge they were designed to fill, andconvey, when rightly considered, as much of a lesson to the Puseyite,with abstractions that are quite as unintelligible to himself as theyare to others; to the high-wrought and dogmatical Calvinist, who in themidst of his fiery zeal, forgets that love is the very essence of therelation between God and man; to the Quaker, who seems to think the cutof a coat essential to salvation; to the descendant of the Puritan, whowhether he be Socinian, Calvinist, Universalist, or any other "1st,"appears to believe that the "rock" on which Christ declared he wouldfound his church was the "Rock of Plymouth"; and to the unbeliever,who, in deriding all creeds, does not know where to turn to find oneto substitute in their stead. Humility, in matters of this sort, is thegreat lesson that all should teach and learn; for it opens the way tocharity, and eventually to faith, and through both of these to hope;finally, through all of these, to heaven.
The journey up the Kalamazoo lasted many days, the ascent being oftenso painful, and no one seeming in a hurry. Peter waited for the time setfor his council to approach, and was as well content to remain in hiscanoe, as to "camp out" in the openings. Gershom never was in haste,while the bee-hunter would have been satisfied to pass the summer in sopleasant a manner, Margery being seated most of the time in hiscanoe. In his ordinary excursions, le Bourdon carried the mastiff as acompanion; but, now that his place was so much better filled, Hive wassuffered to roam the woods that lined most of the river-banks, joininghis master from time to time at the portages or landings. As for themissionary and the corporal, impatience formed no part of their presentdisposition. The first had been led, by the artful Peter, to expectgreat results to his theory from the assembly of chiefs which was tomeet in the "openings"; and the credulous parson was, in one sense,going as blindly on the path of destruction, as any sinner it had everbeen his duty to warn of his fate, was proceeding in the same directionin another. The corporal, too, was the dupe of Peter's artifices.This man had heard so many stories to the Indian's prejudice, at thedifferent posts where he had been stationed, as at first to render himexceedingly averse to making the present journey in his company. Thenecessity of the case, as connected with the preservation of his ownlife after the massacre of Fort Dearborn, and the influence of themissionary, had induced him to overlook his ancient prejudices, and toforget opinions that, it now occurred to him, had been founded in error.Once fairly within the influence of Peter's wiles, a simple-mindedsoldier like the corporal, was soon completely made the Indian's dupe.By the time the canoe reached the mouth of the Kalamazoo, as has beenrelated, each of these men placed the most implicit reliance on the goodfaith and friendly feelings of the very being whose entire life, bothsleeping and waking thoughts, were devoted, not only to his destruction,but to that of the whole white race on the American continent. So blandwas the manner of this terrible savage, when it comported with hisviews to conceal his ruthless designs, that persons more practised andobservant than either of his two companions might have been its dupes,not to say its victims. While the missionary was completely mystifiedby his own headlong desire to establish a theory, and to announce to thereligious world where the lost tribes were to be found, the corporal hadaided in deceiving himself, also, by another process. With him, Peterhad privately conversed of war, and had insinuated that he was secretlylaboring in behalf of his great father at Washington, and against theother great father down at Montreal. As between the two, Peter professedto lean to the interests of the first; though, had he laid bare hisin-most soul, a fiery hatred of each would have been found to be itspredominant feeling. But Corporal Flint fondly fancied he was makinga concealed march with an ally, while he thus accompanied one of thefiercest enemies of his race.
Peter is not to be judged too harshly. It is always respectable todefend the fireside, and the land of one's nativity, although the causeconnected with it may be sometimes wrong. This Indian knew nothing ofthe principles of colonization, and had no conception that anyother than its original owners--original so far as his traditionsreached--could have a right to his own hunting-grounds. Of the slow butcertain steps by which an overruling Providence is extending a knowledgeof the true God, and of the great atonement through the death of hisblessed Son, Peter had no conception; nor would it probably have seemedright to his contracted mind, had he even seen and understood thisgeneral tendency of things. To him, the pale-face appeared only asa rapacious invader, and not a creature obeying the great law of hisdestiny, the end of which is doubtless to help knowledge to abound,until it shall "cover the whole earth as the waters cover the sea."Hatred, inextinguishable and active hatred, appeared to be the lawof this man's being; and he devoted all the means, aided by allthe intelligence he possessed, to the furtherance of his narrow andshort-sighted means of vengeance and redress. In all this, he acted incommon with Tecumseh and his brother, though his consummate art kept himbehind a veil, while the others were known and recognized as open andactive foes. No publication speaks of this Peter, nor does any oratorenumerate his qualities, while the other two chiefs have been thesubjects of every species of descriptive talent, from that of the poetto that of the painter.
As day passed after day, the feeling of distrust in the bosom of thebee-hunter grew weaker and weaker, and Peter succeeded in graduallyworming himself into his confidence also. This was done, moreover,without any apparent effort. The Indian made no professions offriendship, laid himself out for no particular attention, nor everseemed to care how his companions regarded his deportment. His secretpurposes he kept carefully smothered in his own breast, it is true; but,beyond that, no other sign of duplicity could have been discovered evenby one who knew his objects and schemes. So profound was his art, thatit had the aspect of nature. Pigeonswing alone was alive to thedanger of this man's company; and he knew it only by means of certainsemi-confidential communications received in his character of a red man.It was no part of Peter's true policy to become an ally to either of thegreat belligerents of the day. On the contrary, his ardent wish was tosee them destroy each other, and it was the sudden occurrence ofthe present war that had given a new impulse to his hopes, and a newstimulus to his efforts, as a time most propitious to his purposes. Hewas perfectly aware of the state of the Chippewa's feelings, and he knewthat this man was hostile to the Pottawattamies, as well as to mostof the tribes of Michigan; but this made no difference with him. IfPigeonswi
ng took the scalp of a white man, he cared not whether it grewon an English or an American head; in either case it was the destructionof his enemy. With such a policy constantly in view, it cannot be matterof surprise that Peter continued on just as good terms with Pigeonswingas with Crowsfeather. But one precaution was observed in his intercoursewith the first. To Crowsfeather, then on the war-path in quest ofYankee scalps, he had freely communicated his designs on his own whitecompanions, while he did not dare to confide to the Chippewa thisparticular secret, since that Indian's relations with the bee-hunterwere so amicable as to be visible to every observer. Peter felt thenecessity of especial caution in his communication with this savage,therefore; and this was the reason why the Chippewa was in so muchpainful uncertainty as to the other's intentions. He had learned enoughto be distrustful, but not enough to act with decision.
Once, and once only, during their slow passage up the Kalamazoo, didthe bee-hunter observe something about Peter to awaken his originalapprehensions. The fourth day after leaving the mouth of the river,and when the whole party were resting after the toil of passing a"carrying-place," our hero had observed the eyes of that tribelesssavage roaming from one white face to another, with an expression inthem so very fiendish, as actually to cause his heart to beat quickerthan common. The look was such a one as le Bourdon could not remember tohave ever before beheld in a human countenance. In point of fact, he hadseen Peter in one of those moments when the pent fires of the volcano,that ceaselessly raged within his bosom, were becoming difficult tosuppress; and when memory was busiest in recalling to his imaginationscenes of oppression and wrong, that the white man is only too apt toforget amid the ease of his civilization, and the security of his power.But the look, and the impression produced by it on le Bourdon, soonpassed away, and were forgotten by him to whom it might otherwise haveproved to be a most useful warning.
It was a little remarkable that Margery actually grew to be attached toPeter, often manifesting toward the chief attentions and feelings suchas a daughter is apt to exhibit toward a father. This arose from thehigh and courteous bearing of this extraordinary savage. At all times,an Indian warrior is apt to maintain the dignified and courteous bearingthat has so often been remarked in the race, but it is very seldom thathe goes out of his way to manifest attention to the squaws. Doubtlessthese men have the feelings of humanity, and love their wives andoffspring like others; but it is so essential a part of their trainingto suppress the exhibition of such emotions, that it is seldom the merelooker-on has occasion to note them. Peter, however, had neither wifenor child; or if they existed, no one knew where either was to be found.The same mystery shrouded this part of his history as veiled all therest. In his hunts, various opportunities occurred for exhibiting to thefemales manly attentions, by offering to them the choicest pieces ofhis game, and pointing out the most approved Indian modes of cooking themeats, so as to preserve their savory properties. This he did sparinglyat first, and as a part of a system of profound deception; but day byday, and hour after hour, most especially with Margery, did his mannerbecome sensibly less distant, and more natural. The artlessness, thegentle qualities, blended with feminine spirit as they were, and theinnocent gayety of the girl, appeared to win on this nearly remorselesssavage, in spite of his efforts to resist her influence. Perhaps thebeauty of Margery contributed its share in exciting these novel emotionsin the breast of one so stern. We do not mean that Peter yielded tofeelings akin-to love; of this, he was in a manner incapable; but a mancan submit to a gentle regard for woman that shall be totally free frompassion. This sort of regard Peter certainly began to entertain forMargery; and like begetting like, as money produces money, it is notsurprising that the confidence of the girl herself, as well as hersympathies, should continue to increase in the favor of this terribleIndian.
But the changes of feeling, and the various little incidents to which wehave alluded, did not occur in a single moment of time. Day passed afterday, and still the canoes were working their way up the winding channelsof the Kalamazoo, placing at each setting sun longer and longer reachesof its sinuous stream between the travellers and the broad sheet ofMichigan. As le Bourdon had been up and down the river often, in hisvarious excursions, he acted as the pilot of the navigation; though allworked, even to the missionary and the Chippewa. On such an expedition,toil was not deemed to be discreditable to a warrior, and Pigeonswingused the paddle and the pole as willingly, and with as much dexterity,as any of the party.
It was only on the eleventh day after quitting the mouth of the river,that the canoes came to in the little bay where le Bourdon was in thehabit of securing his light bark, when in the openings. Castle Meal wasin full view, standing peacefully in its sweet solitude; and Hive, who,as he came within the range of his old hunts, had started off, and gotto the spot the previous evening, now stood on the bank of the riverto welcome his master and his friends to the chiente. It wanted a fewminutes of sunset as the travellers landed, and the parting rays of thegreat luminary of our system were glancing through the various glades ofthe openings, imparting a mellow softness to the herbage and flowers.So far as the bee-hunter could perceive, not even a bear had visitedthe place in his absence. On ascending to his abode and examining thefastenings, and on entering the hut, storehouse, etc., le Bourdon becamesatisfied that all the property he had left behind was safe, and thatthe foot of man--he almost thought of beast too--had not visited thespot at all during the last fortnight.