CHAPTER XI.
The return of Lord H---- without his guide and companion, CaptainBrooks, caused some surprise in Mr. Prevost and his daughter, who hadnot expected to see any of the party before a late hour of thefollowing evening.
Not choosing to explain, in the presence of Edith, the cause of hisparting so suddenly from the hunter, the young nobleman merely saidthat circumstances had led him to conclude that it would be advisableto send Woodchuck in the boat with Walter to Albany; and his wordswere uttered in so natural and easy a tone, that Edith, unconsciousthat her presence put any restraint upon his communication with herfather, remained seated in their pleasant little parlour till the hourfor the evening meal.
"Well, my lord," said Mr. Prevost, after the few first words ofexplanation had passed, "did you meet with any fresh specimen of theIndian in your short expedition?"
The question might have been a somewhat puzzling one for a man who didnot want to enter into any particulars; but Lord H---- replied witheasy readiness--
"Only one. Him we saw but for a moment, and he did not speak with us."
"They are a very curious race," observed Mr. Prevost, "and albeit notvery much given to ethnological studies, I have often puzzled myselfas to whence they sprang, and how they made their way over to thiscontinent."
Lord H---- smiled.
"I fear I cannot help you," he said. "My profession, you know, my dearsir, leads one much more to look at things as they are than to inquirehow they came about. It strikes me at once, however, that in merecorporeal characteristics the Indian is very different from any race Iever beheld, if I may judge by the few individuals I have seen. Thefeatures are very different from those of any European or Asiaticpeople that I know of, and the frame seems formed for a combination ofgrace and power almost perfect. Our friend the Black Eagle, forinstance; compare him with a Yorkshire or Somersetshire farmer, andwhat a contrast you would find! Habits could not have produced thedifference, at least if they sprang from an Eastern stock, for thetribes of the desert are as free and unrestrained, as much used toconstant exercise and activity; but I should be inclined to fancy thatclimate may have something to do with the matter, for it has struck methat many of the people I have seen in the provinces have what I maycall a tendency toward the Indian formation. There is a length andsuppleness of limb, which to my eyes has something Indian about it."
"Bating the grace and dignity," said Edith, gaily, "I do think thatwhat my father would call the finest specimens of the human animal areto be found among the Indians. Look at our dear little Otaitsa, forinstance, can anything be more beautiful, more graceful, more perfect,than her whole face and form?"
Lord H---- smiled, and slightly bowed his head, saying,--
"Now, many a fair lady, Miss Prevost, would naturally expect a verygallant reply; and I might make another without a compliment in goodcool blood, and upon calm, mature consideration. I am very poorlyversed, however, in civil speeches, and therefore I will only say thatI think I have seen white ladies as beautiful, as graceful, and asperfect, as your fair young friend, together with the advantage of abetter complexion. But, at the same time, I will admit that she isexceedingly beautiful, and not only that, but very charming, and veryinteresting too. Hers is not exactly the style of beauty I admire themost; but certainly it is perfect in its kind, and my young friendWalter seems to think so too."
A slight flush passed over Edith's cheek, and her eyes instantlyturned towards her father. But Mr. Prevost only laughed, saying,--
"If they were not so young, I should be afraid that my son would marrythe Sachem's daughter, and, perhaps, in the end, take to the tomahawkand the scalping-knife. But, joking apart, Otaitsa is a very singularlittle creature. I never can bring myself to feel that she is anIndian--a savage, in short. When I hear her low, melodious voice, withits peculiar song-like intonation, and see the grace and dignitywith which she moves, and the ease and propriety with which sheadapts herself to every European custom, I have to look at herbead-embroidered petticoat, and her leggins, and her moccassins,before I can carry it home to my mind that she is not some veryhigh-bred lady of the court of France or England. Then she is so fair,too; but that is probably from care, and the lack of that exposure tothe sun which may, at first, have given and then perpetuated theIndian tint. To use an old homely expression, she is the apple of herfather's eye, and he is as careful of her as of a jewel, after hisown particular fashion."
"She is a dear creature," said Edith, warmly; "all soul, and heart,and feeling. Thank God, too, she is a Christian, and you cannot fancy,my lord, what marvellous stores of information the little creaturehas. She knows that England is an island in the middle of the saltsea; and she can write and read our tongue nearly as well as shespeaks it. She has a holy hatred of the French, however; and wouldnot, for the world, speak a word of their language; for all herinformation, and a good share of her ideas, come from our friend, Mr.Gore, who has carried John Bull completely into the heart of thewilderness, and kept him there perfect in a sort of crystallizedstate. Had we but a few more men such as himself amongst the Indiantribes, there would be no fear of any wavering in the friendship ofthe Five Nations. There goes an Indian now past the window. We shallhave him in here in a moment, for they stand upon no ceremony--and heis speaking to Antony, the negro boy. How curiously he peeps abouthim! He must be looking for somebody he does not find."
Lord H---- rose and went to the window, and, in a minute or two after,the Indian stalked quietly away, and disappeared in the forest.
"What could he want?" said Edith. "It is strange he did not come in. Iwill ask Antony what he sought here."
And, going to the door, she called the gardener boy up, and questionedhim.
"He want Captain Woodchuck, missy," replied the lad. "He ask if he notlodge here last night. I tell him yes; but Woodchuck go away earlythis morning, and not come back since. He 'quire very much about him,and who went with him. I tell him Massa Walter and de strangegentleman, but both leave him soon--Massa Walter go straight toAlbany, strange gentleman come back here."
"Did he speak English?" asked Edith.
"Few word," replied the negro. "I speak few word Indian. So patch 'emtogether make many, missy."
And he laughed with that peculiar unmeaning laugh with which his raceare accustomed to distinguish anything they consider witty.
The whole conversation was heard by the two gentlemen within. On Mr.Prevost it had no effect, but to call a sort of cynical smile upon hislips; but the case was different with Lord H----. He saw that the deedwhich had been done in the forest was known to the Indians; that itsdoer had been recognized, and that the hunt was up; and he rejoiced tothink that poor Woodchuck was already far beyond pursuit.
Anxious, however, to gain a fuller insight into the character andhabits of a people of whom he had as yet obtained only a glimpse, hecontinued to converse with Mr. Prevost in regard to the aboriginalraces; and learned several facts which by no means tended to decreasethe uneasiness which the events of the morning; had produced.
"The Indians," said his host, in answer to a leading question, "are,as you say, a very revengeful people; but not more so than many otherbarbarous nations. Indeed, in many of their feelings and habits theygreatly resemble a people I have heard of in central Asia, calledAffghans. Both, in common with almost all barbarians, look uponrevenge as a duty imperative upon every family and every tribe. Theymodify their ideas, indeed, in case of war; although it is verydifficult to bring about peace after war has commenced; but if anyindividual of a tribe is killed by another in time of peace, nothingbut the blood of the murderer can satisfy the family or the tribe, ifhe can be caught. They will pursue him for weeks and months, andemploy every stratagem which their fertile brains can suggest toentrap him, till they feel quite certain that he is entirely beyondtheir reach. This perseverance proceeds from a religious feeling; forthey believe that the spirit of their dead relation can never enterthe happy hunting-grounds till his blood has been atoned by that ofthe sla
yer."
"But if they cannot catch the slayer," asked Lord H----, "what do theydo then?"
"I used a wrong expression," replied Mr. Prevost. "I should have saidthe blood of some other victim. It is their duty, according to theirideas, to sacrifice the slayer. If satisfied that he is perfectlybeyond their power, they strive to get hold of his nearest relation.If they cannot do that, they take a man of his tribe or nation, andsacrifice him. It is all done very formally, and with all sorts ofconsideration and consultation; for in these bloody rites they are themost deliberate people in the world, and the most persevering also."
Lord H---- mused gravely for some moments without reply, and thenturned the conversation in another direction. It certainly was notgay; but it was, to all appearance, cheerful enough on his side; forthis world is a strange teacher of hypocrisy in all its variousshades, from that which is the meanest and most detestable of vices tothat which is dignified by its motives and its conduct almost to avirtue. God forbid that I should ever, for a moment, support the falseand foul axiom that the end can justify the means. But it is with allevil things as with deadly poisons. There are occasions when, in smallportions, they may, for certain diseased circumstances, becomeprecious antidotes. Had man remained pure, perfect, and upright, as hecame from the bands of his Creator--had he never doubted God's word,disobeyed his commandments, tasted of that which was forbidden--haddisobedience never brought pain and death--had blood never stained theface of earth, and pain in all its shapes followed in the footsteps ofsin--there would, indeed, have never been any occasion or anycircumstances in which it would have been needful, honourable, or kindfor man to hide one feeling of his heart from his fellow-beings. Butin this dark, corrupted world, where sickness and sorrow, care,distress, and death surround, not only ourselves, but those who aredearest to us, and hem us in on every side, how often is it needful tohide from those, even, whom we love the best and trust the most, theanxieties which imagination suggests, or to which reason andexperience give birth; to conceal, for a time, even the sad andpainful facts of which we are cognizant; to shut up our sorrow and ourdread in our own bosom, till we have armed and steeled the hearts ofthose we love better than ourselves, to resist or to endure the evilwhich is preying on our own.
A few days earlier, Lord H---- might plainly and openly have told allthe occurrences of the morning in the ears of Edith Prevost; butsensations had been springing up in his breast, which made him moretender of her feelings, more careful of creating alarm and anxiety;and he kept his painful secret well till after the evening meal wasover, and she had retired to her chamber. Then, however, he stoppedMr. Prevost just as that gentleman was raising a light to hand to hisguest, and said--
"I am afraid, my good friend, we cannot go to bed just yet. I havesomething to tell you, which, from all I have heard since it occurred,appears to me of much greater importance than at first. Whetheranything can be done to avert the evil consequences or not, I cannottell; but, at all events, it is as well that you and I should talk thematter over."
He then related to Mr. Prevost all the events of the morning, and wassorry to perceive that gentleman's face assuming a deeper and deepergloom as he proceeded.
"This is most unfortunate indeed," said Mr. Prevost at length. "Iquite acquit our poor friend Brooks of any evil intent; but to slay anIndian at all so near our house, and especially an Oneida, was mostunlucky. That tribe, or nation, as they call themselves, has, from thestrong personal regard, I suppose, which has grown up accidentallybetween their chief and myself, always shown the greatest kindness andfriendship towards myself and my family. Before this event, I shouldhave felt myself, in any of their villages, as much at home as by myown fireside, and I am sure that each man felt himself as secure onany part of the lands granted to me as if he were in his own lodge.But now their blood has stained my very mat, as they will call it, andthe consequences no one can foresee. Woodchuck has himself escaped. Hehas no relations or friends on whom they can wreak their vengeance."
"Surely," exclaimed Lord H----, "they will never visit his offence onyou or yours."
"I trust not," replied Mr. Prevost, after a moment's thought; "yet Icannot feel exactly sure. They will take a white man for theirvictim--an Englishman--one of the same nation as the offender.Probably it may not matter much to them who it is; and theaffectionate regard which they entertain towards us may turn the evilaside. But these Indians have a sort of fanaticism in their religion,as well as we have in ours; the station and the dignity of the victimwhich they offer up enters into their consideration--they like to makea worthy and an honourable sacrifice, as they consider it; and, justas this spirit moves them or not, they may think that any one will dofor their purpose, or that they are required by their god of vengeanceto immolate some one dear to themselves, in order to dignify thesacrifice."
"This is, indeed, a very sad view of the affair, and one which hadnever struck me," replied Lord H----. "It may be well to consider, mydear sir, what is the best and safest course. I must now tell you oneof the objects which made me engage your son to carry my despatches toAlbany. It seemed to me, from all I have learned during my shortresidence with you, especially during my conference with Sir WilliamJohnson, that the unprotected state of this part of the country leftAlbany itself, and the settlements round it, unpleasantly exposed. Weknow that on a late occasion it was Dieskau's intention, if he hadsucceeded in defeating Sir William and capturing Fort George, to makea dash at the capital of the province. He was defeated; but there isreason to believe that Montcalm--a man much his superior both inenergy and skill--entertained the same views, although we know notwhat induced him to retreat so hastily after his black and bloodytriumph at Fort William Henry. He may seize some other opportunity;and I can perceive nothing whatsoever to oppose his progress, or delayhim for an hour, if he can make himself master of the few scatteredforts which lie between Carrillon or Ticonderoga. In thesecircumstances, I have strongly urged that a small force should bethrown forward to a commanding point on the river Hudson, not manymiles from this place, which I examined as I came hither--with anadvanced post or two, still nearer to your house. My own regiment Ihave pointed out as better fitted for the service than any other; andI believe that if my suggestions are adopted, as I doubt not they willbe, we can give you efficient protection. Still I think," continuedthe nobleman, speaking more slowly and emphatically, "that, with twoyoung people so justly dear to you--with a daughter so beautiful, andevery way so charming; and so gallant and noble a lad as Walter, whosehigh spirit and adventurous character will expose him continually toany snare that may be set for him, it will be much better for you toretire with them both to Albany; at least till such time as you knowthat the spirit of Indian vengeance has been satisfied, and that thereal peril has passed."
Mr. Prevost mused for several minutes, and then replied:--
"The motives you suggest are certainly very strong, my lord; but Ihave strange ways of viewing such subjects, and I must have time toconsider whether it is fair and right to my fellow-countrymen,scattered over this district, to withdraw from my share of the perilwhich all who remain would have to encounter. Do not argue with meupon the subject to-night. I will think over it well; and doubt notthat I shall view the plan you have suggested with all the favour thatpaternal love can afford. I will also keep my mind free to receive anyfurther reasons you may have to produce. But I must first considerquietly and alone. There is no need of immediate decision; for thesepeople, according to their own code, are bound to make themselvesperfectly sure that they cannot get possession of the actual slayerbefore they choose another victim. It is clear from what the Indiansaid to the negro boy, that they know the hand that did the deed, andthey must search for poor Brooks first, and practise every device toallure him back before they immolate another. Let us both think overthe matter well, and confer to-morrow."
Thus saying, he shook hands with Lord H----, and they retired to theirseveral chambers with very gloomy and apprehensive thoughts.