Take
good care of her Majesty's ship, I pray thee, for she has neither
a more beautiful nor a faster.
good care of her Majesty's ship, I pray thee, for she has neither
a more beautiful nor a faster.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v07 - Cic to Cuv
"
"We have other pages," resumed Tiller, "but our affairs drag
for want of attending to them. One may read much good matter
## p. 3997 (#367) ###########################################
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
3997
in the book of the sorceress, when there is leisure and oppor-
tunity. I often take occasion, in the calms, to look into her
volume; and it is rare to find the same moral twice told, as these
brave seamen can swear. "
If the exterior of the brigantine was so graceful in form and
so singular in arrangement, the interior was still more worthy of
observation. There were two small cabins beneath the main
deck, one on each side of, and immediately adjoining, the limited
space that was destined to receive her light but valuable cargoes.
It was into one of these that Tiller had descended like a man
who freely entered into his own apartment; but partly above and
nearer to the stern was a suite of little rooms that were fitted
and finished in a style altogether different. The equipments were
those of a yacht, rather than those which might be supposed
suited to the pleasures of even the most successful dealer in
contraband.
The principal deck had been sunk several feet, commencing
at the aftermost bulkhead of the cabins of the subordinate offi-
cers, in a manner to give the necessary height, without inter-
fering with the line of the brigantine's shear. The arrangement
was consequently not to be seen by an observer who was not
admitted into the vessel itself. A descent of a step or two,
however, brought the visitors to the level of the cabin floor,
and into an ante-room that was evidently fitted for the conven-
ience of the domestic. A small silver hand-bell lay on a table,
and Tiller rang it lightly, like one whose ordinary manner was
restrained by respect. It was answered by the appearance of a
boy, whose years could not exceed ten, and whose attire was so
whimsical as to merit description.
The material of the dress of this young servitor of Neptune
was a light rose-colored silk, cut in a fashion to resemble the
habits formerly worn by pages of the great. His body was
belted by a band of gold, a collar of fine thread lace floated on
his neck and shoulders, and even his feet were clad in a sort
of buskins, that were ornamented with fringes of real lace and
tassels of bullion. The form and features of the child were
delicate, and his air as unlike as possible to the coarse and
brusque manner of a vulgar ship-boy.
"Waste and prodigality! " muttered the alderman, when this
extraordinary little usher presented himself in answer to the
summons of Tiller. "This is the very wantonness of cheap
## p. 3998 (#368) ###########################################
3998
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
goods and an unfettered commerce! There is enough of Mech-
lin, patroon, on the shoulders of that urchin, to deck the
stomacher of the Queen. 'Fore George, goods were cheap in the
market when the young scoundrel had his livery! "
The surprise was not confined, however, to the observant and
frugal burgher. Ludlow and Van Staats of Kinderhook mani-
fested equal amazement, though their wonder was exhibited in a
less characteristic manner. The former turned short to demand
the meaning of this masquerade, when he perceived that the hero
of the India shawl had disappeared. They were then alone with
the fantastic page, and it became necessary to trust to his
intelligence for directions how to proceed.
"Who art thou, child? and who has sent thee hither? "
demanded Ludlow. The boy raised a cap of the same rose-
colored silk, and pointed to an image of a female, with a swarthy
face and a malign smile, painted with exceeding art
front.
on its
-
"I serve the sea-green lady, with the others of the brigan-
tine. "
"And who is this lady of the color of shallow water, and
whence come you in particular? »
"This is her likeness: if you would speak with her, she
stands on the cutwater, and rarely refuses an answer. "
"Tis odd that a form of wood should have the gift of
speech! »
"Dost think her, then, of wood? " returned the child, looking
timidly and yet curiously up into the face of Ludlow. "Others
have said the same; but those who know best, deny it. She
does not answer with a tongue, but the book has always some-
thing to say. "
"Here is a grievous deception practiced on the superstition
of this boy: I have read the book, and can make but little of its
meaning. "
"Then read again. "Tis by many reaches that the leeward
vessel gains upon the wind. My master has bid me bring you
in-
"Hold-thou hast both master and mistress? You have told
us the latter, but we would know something of the former. Who
is thy master? »
The boy smiled and looked aside, as if he hesitated to
answer.
## p. 3999 (#369) ###########################################
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
3999
"Nay, refuse not to reply. I come with the authority of the
Queen. »
"He tells us that the sea-green lady is our queen, and that
we have no other. "
"Rashness and rebellion! " muttered Myndert; "but this fool-
hardiness will one day bring as pretty a brigantine as ever sailed
in the narrow seas to condemnation; and then will there be ru-
mors abroad, and characters cracked, till every lover of gossip
in the Americas shall be tired of defamation. "
"It is a bold subject that dares say this! " rejoined Ludlow,
who heeded not the by-play of the alderman: "your master has
a name? »
"We never hear it. When Neptune boards us, under the
tropics, he always hails the Skimmer of the Seas, and then they
answer. The old god knows us well, for we pass his latitude
oftener than other ships, they say. "
"You are then a cruiser of some service in the brigantine?
no doubt you have trod many distant shores, belonging to so
swift a craft? "
“I! — I never was on the land! " returned the boy, thought-
fully. "It must be droll to be there: they say one can hardly
walk, it is so steady! I put a question to the sea-green lady
before we came to the narrow inlet, to know when I was to go
ashore. "
"And she answered? "
"It was some time first. Two watches were passed before a
word was to be seen; at last I got the lines. I believe she
mocked me, though I have never dared show it to my master,
that he might say. "
"Hast the words here? -perhaps we might assist thee, as
there are some among us who know most of the sea paths. "
The boy looked timidly and suspiciously round; then thrust-
ing a hand hurriedly into a pocket, he drew forth two bits of
paper, each of which contained a scrawl, and both of which had
evidently been much thumbed and studied.
"Here," he said, in a voice that was suppressed nearly to a
whisper. "This was on the first page. I was so frightened lest
the lady should be angry, that I did not look again till the next
watch; and then," turning the leaf, "I found this. "
Ludlow took the bit of paper first offered, and read, written
in a child's hand, the following extract:-
## p. 4000 (#370) ###########################################
4000
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
"I pray thee
Remember, I have done thee worthy service;
Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, served
Without or grudge or grumblings. "
"I thought that 'twas in mockery," continued the boy, when
he saw by the eye of the young captain that he had read the
quotation; "for 'twas very like, though more prettily worded
than that which I had said myself! "
"And what was the second answer? >>>
"This was found in the first morning watch," the child re-
turned, reading the second extract himself: —
"Thou think'st
It much to tread the ooze of the salt deep,
And run upon the sharp wind of the north! '
"I never dared to ask again. But what matters that? They
say the ground is rough and difficult to walk on; that earth-
quakes shake it, and make holes to swallow cities; that men slay
each other on the highways for money, and that the houses I
see on the hills must always remain in the same spot. It must
be very melancholy to live always in the same spot; but then it
must be odd never to feel a motion! "
(( Except the occasional rocking of an earthquake. Thou art
better afloat, child- but thy master, the Skimmer of the Seas-"
"Hist! " whispered the boy, raising a finger for silence.
"He has come up into the great cabin. In a moment we shall
have his signal to enter. "
A few light touches on the strings of a guitar followed, and
then a symphony was rapidly and beautifully executed by one
in the adjoining apartment.
«<
"Alida herself is not more nimble-fingered," whispered the
alderman; and I never heard the girl touch the Dutch lute
that cost a hundred Holland guilders, with a livelier move-
ment! "
Ludlow signed for silence. A fine manly voice, of great
richness and depth, was soon heard, singing to an accompani-
ment on the same instrument. The air was grave, and alto-
gether unusual for the social character
the ocean, being chiefly in recitation.
might be distinguished, ran as follows:-
of one who dwelt upon
The words, as near as
## p. 4001 (#371) ###########################################
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
4001
"My brigantine!
Just in thy mold and beauteous in thy form,
Gentle in roll and buoyant on the surge,
Light as the sea-fowl rocking in the storm,
In breeze and gale thy onward course we urge-
My water-queen!
"Lady of mine!
More light and swift than thou none thread the sea,
With surer keel, or steadier on its path;
We brave each waste of ocean mystery,
And laugh to hear the howling tempest's wrath! -
For we are thine!
"My brigantine!
Trust to the mystic power that points thy way,
Trust to the eye that pierces from afar,
Trust the red meteors that around thee play,
And fearless trust the sea-green lady's star-
Thou bark divine! "
"He often sings thus," whispered the boy, when the song
was ended: "they say the sea-green lady loves music that tells
of the ocean and of her power. - Hark! he has bid me enter. "
"He did but touch the strings of the guitar again, boy. "
Tis his signal when the weather is fair. When we have
the whistlings of the wind and the roar of the water, then he
has a louder call. "
Ludlow would have gladly listened longer; but the boy
opened a door, and pointing the way to those he conducted, he
silently vanished himself behind a curtain.
The visitors, more particularly the young commander of the
Coquette, found new subjects of admiration and wonder on
entering the main cabin of the brigantine. The apartment, con-
sidering the size of the vessel, was spacious and high. It
received light from a couple of windows in the stern, and it
was evident that two smaller rooms, one on each of the quar-
ters, shared with it in this advantage. The space between these
state-rooms, as they are called in nautical language, necessarily
formed a deep alcove, which might be separated from the outer
portion of the cabin by a curtain of crimson damask that now
hung in festoons from a beam fashioned into a gilded cornice.
A luxurious-looking pile of cushions, covered with red morocco,
VII-251
## p. 4002 (#372) ###########################################
4002
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
lay along the transom, in the manner of an Eastern divan; and
against the bulkhead of each state-room stood an agrippina of
mahogany, that was lined with the same material. Neat and
tasteful cases for books were suspended here and there, and
the guitar which had so lately been used lay on a small table
of some precious wood, that occupied the centre of the alcove.
There were also other implements, like those which occupy the
leisure of a cultivated but perhaps an effeminate rather than a
vigorous mind, scattered around; some evidently long neglected,
and others appearing to have been more recently in favor.
The outer portion of the cabin was furnished in a similar
style, though it contained many more of the articles that ordi-
narily belong to domestic economy. It had its agrippina, its
piles of cushions, its chairs of beautiful wood, its cases for books,
and its neglected instruments, intermixed with fixtures of more
solid and permanent appearance, which were arranged to meet
the violent motion that was often unavoidable in so small a
bark. There was a slight hanging of crimson damask around
the whole apartment; and here and there a small mirror was
let into the bulkheads and ceilings. All the other parts were
of a rich mahogany, relieved by panels of rosewood, that gave
an appearance of exquisite finish to the cabin. The floor was
covered with a mat of the finest texture, and of a fragrance
that announced both its freshness and the fact that the grass
had been the growth of a warm and luxuriant climate. The
place, as was indeed the whole vessel, so far as the keen eye of
Ludlow could detect, was entirely destitute of arms; not even a
pistol or a sword being suspended in those places where weapons.
of that description are usually seen, in all vessels employed either
in war or in a trade that might oblige those who sail them to
deal in violence.
In the centre of the alcove stood the youthful-looking and
extraordinary person who, in so unceremonious a manner, had vis-
ited La Cour des Fées the preceding night. His dress was much
the same, in fashion and material, as when last seen: still it
had been changed; for on the breast of the silken frock was
painted an image of the sea-green lady, done with exquisite
skill, and in a manner to preserve the whole of the wild and
unearthly character of the expression. The wearer of this sin-
gular ornament leaned lightly against the little table, and as he
bowed with entire self-possession to his guests, his face was
## p. 4003 (#373) ###########################################
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
4003
lighted with a smile that seemed to betray melancholy no less
than courtesy. At the same time he raised his cap, and stood in
the rich jet-black locks with which nature had so exuberantly
shaded his forehead.
The manner of the visitors was less easy. The deep anxiety
with which both Ludlow and the patroon had undertaken to
board the notorious smuggler had given place to an amazement
and a curiosity that caused them nearly to forget their errand;
while Alderman Van Beverout appeared shy and suspicious, man-
ifestly thinking less of his niece than of the consequences of so
remarkable an interview. They all returned the salutation of
their host, though each waited for him to speak.
THE BRIGANTINE'S ESCAPE THROUGH HELL-GATE
From The Water-Witch
A
T SUCH moments of intense anxiety, the human mind is wont
to seek support in the opinions of others. Notwithstanding
the increasing velocity and the critical condition of his own
vessel, Ludlow cast a glance in order to ascertain the determina-
tion of the "Skimmer of the Seas. " Blackwell's was already
behind them, and as the two currents were again united, the
brigantine had luffed up into the entrance of the dangerous pas-
sage, and now followed within two hundred feet of the Coquette,
directly in her wake. The bold and manly-looking mariner who
controlled her stood between the knight-heads, just above the
image of his pretended mistress, where he examined the foaming
reefs, the whirling eddies, and the varying currents, with folded
arms and a riveted eye. A glance was exchanged between the
two officers, and the free-trader raised his sea-cap. Ludlow was
too courteous not to return the salutation; then all his senses
were engrossed by the care of his ship. A rock lay before them,
over which the water broke in a loud and unceasing roar. For
an instant it seemed that the vessel could not avoid the danger;
then it was already past.
"Brace up! " said Ludlow, in the calm tones that denote a
forced tranquillity.
"Luff! " called out the Skimmer, so quickly as to show that
he took the movements of the cruiser for his guide. The ship
## p. 4004 (#374) ###########################################
4004
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
came closer to the wind, but the sudden bend in the stream no
longer permitted her to steer in a direct line with its course.
Though drifting to windward with vast rapidity, her way through
the water, which was greatly increased by the contrary actions
of the wind and tide, caused the cruiser to shoot across the cur-
rent; while a reef, over which the water madly tumbled, lay
immediately in her course. The danger seemed too imminent
for the observances of nautical etiquette, and Trysail called aloud
that the ship must be thrown aback, or she was lost.
"Hard-a-lee! " shouted Ludlow, in the strong voice
authority. "Up with everything-tacks and sheets! -main-top-
sail haul! "
of
The ship seemed as conscious of her danger as any on her
decks. The bows whirled away from the foaming reef, and as
the sails caught the breeze on their opposite surfaces, they aided
in bringing her head in the contrary direction. A minute had
scarcely passed ere she was aback, and in the next she was about
and full again. The intensity of the brief exertion kept Trysail
fully employed; but no sooner had he leisure to look ahead than
he again called aloud: -
"Here is another roarer under her bows. Luff, sir, luff, or
we are upon it! "
"Hard down your helm! " once again came in deep tones
from Ludlow. "Let fly your sheets-throw all aback, forward
and aft-away with the yards, with a will, men! "
There was need for all of these precautions. Though the
ship had so happily escaped the dangers of the first reef, a tur-
bulent and roaring caldron in the water which as representing
the element in ebullition is called "the Pot," lay so directly
before her as to render the danger apparently inevitable. But
the power of the canvas was not lost on this trying occasion.
The forward motion of the ship diminished, and as the current
still swept her swiftly to windward, her bows did not enter the
rolling waters until the hidden rocks which caused the commo-
tion had been passed. The yielding vessel rose and fell in the
agitated water, as if in homage to the whirlpool; but the deep
keel was unharmed.
"If the ship shoot ahead twice her length more, her bows
will touch the eddy," exclaimed the vigilant master.
Ludlow looked around him for a single moment in indecision.
The waters were whirling and roaring on every side, and the
1
## p. 4005 (#375) ###########################################
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
4005
sails began to lose their power as the ship drew near the bluff
which forms the second angle in this critical pass.
He saw by
objects on the land that he still approached the shore, and he
had recourse to the seaman's last expedient.
"Let go both anchors! " was the final order.
The fall of the massive iron into the water was succeeded by
the rumbling of the cable. The first effort to check the progress
of the vessel appeared to threaten dissolution to the whole fab-
ric, which trembled under the shock from its mastheads to the
keel. But the enormous rope again yielded, and smoke was
seen rising round the wood which held it. The ship whirled
with the sudden check, and sheered wildly in toward the shore.
Met by the helm, and again checked by the efforts of the crew,
she threatened to defy restraint. There was an instant when all
on board expected to hear the cable snap; but the upper sails
filled, and as the wind was now brought over the taffrail, the
force of the current was in a great degree met by that of the
breeze.
The ship answered her helm and became stationary, while
the water foamed against her cutwater as if she were driven
ahead with the power of a brisk breeze.
The time from the moment when the Coquette entered the
Gate to that when she anchored below "the Pot," though the
distance was nearly a mile, seemed but a minute. Certain how-
ever that his ship was now checked, the thoughts of Ludlow
returned to their other duties with the quickness of lightning.
"Clear away the grapnels," he eagerly cried; "stand by to
heave, and haul in! - heave! "
But that the reader may better comprehend the motive of
this sudden order, he must consent to return to the entrance of
the dangerous passage, and accompany the Water-Witch also in
her hazardous experiment to get through without a pilot.
The abortive attempt of the brigantine to stem the tide at the
western end of Blackwell's will be remembered. It had no other
effect than to place her pursuer more in advance, and to con-
vince her own commander that he had now no other resource
than to continue his course; for had he anchored, boats would
have insured his capture. When the two vessels appeared off
the eastern end of the island, the Coquette was ahead -
a fact
that the experienced free-trader did not at all regret. He prof-
ited by the circumstance to follow her movements, and to make a
-
## p. 4006 (#376) ###########################################
4006
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
favorable entrance into the uncertain currents. To him, Hell-
Gate was known only by its fearful reputation among mariners;
and unless he might avail himself of the presence of the cruiser,
he had no other guide than his own general knowledge of the
power of the element.
When the Coquette had tacked, the calm and observant Skim-
mer was satisfied with throwing his head-sails flat to the mast.
From that instant the brigantine lay floating in the current,
neither advancing nor receding a foot, and always keeping her
position at a safe distance from the ship, that was so adroitly
made to answer the purposes of a beacon. The sails were
watched with the closest care; and so nicely was the delicate
machine tended, that it would have been at any moment in her
people's power to have lessened her way by turning to the
stream. The Coquette was followed till she anchored, and the
call on board the cruiser to heave the grapnels had been given,
because the brigantine was apparently floating directly down on
her broadside.
When the grapnels were hove from the royal cruiser, the free-
trader stood on the low poop of his little vessel, within fifty feet
of him who had issued the order. There was a smile of indiffer-
ence on his firm mouth, while he silently waved a hand to his
own crew. The signal was obeyed by bracing round their yards,
and suffering all the canvas to fill. The brigantine shot quickly
ahead, and the useless irons fell heavily into the water.
"Many thanks for your pilotage, Captain Ludlow! " cried the
daring and successful mariner of the shawl, as his vessel, borne
on by wind and current, receded rapidly from the cruiser.
"You will find me off Montauk; for affairs still keep us on the
coast. Our lady has however put on the blue mantle, and ere
many settings of the sun we shall look for deep water.
Take
good care of her Majesty's ship, I pray thee, for she has neither
a more beautiful nor a faster. "
One thought succeeded another with the tumult of a torrent
in the mind of Ludlow. As the brigantine lay directly under
his broadside, the first impulse was to use his guns; at the next
moment he was conscious that before they could be cleared,
distance would render them useless. His lips had nearly parted
with intent to order the cables cut, but he remembered the
speed of the brigantine, and hesitated. A sudden freshening
of the breeze decided his course. Finding that the ship was
## p. 4007 (#377) ###########################################
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
4007
enabled to keep her station, he ordered the crew to thrust the
whole of the enormous ropes through the hawse-holes; and freed
from the restraint, he abandoned the anchors until an oppor-
tunity to reclaim them should offer.
The operation of slipping the cables consumed several min-
utes; and when the Coquette, with everything set, was again
steering in pursuit, the Water-Witch was already beyond the
reach of her guns.
Both vessels however held on their way,
keeping as near as possible to the centre of the stream, and
trusting more to fortune than to any knowledge of the channel
for safety.
When passing the two small islands that lie at no great dis-
tance from the Gate, a boat was seen moving toward the royal
cruiser. A man in it pointed to the signal, which was still
flying, and offered his services.
"Tell me," demanded Ludlow eagerly, "has yonder brigan-
tine taken a pilot? "
"By her movements, I judge not. She brushed the sunken
rock off the mouth of Flushing Bay; and as she passed, I heard
the song of the lead. I should have gone on board myself, but
the fellow rather flies than sails; and as for signals, he seems
to mind none but his own! "
"Bring us up with him, and fifty guineas is thy reward! "
The slow-moving pilot, who in truth had just awakened from
a refreshing sleep, opened his eyes, and seemed to gather a new
impulse from the promise. When his questions were asked and
answered, he began deliberately to count on his fingers all the
chances that still existed of a vessel, whose crew was ignorant of
the navigation, falling into their hands.
"Admitting that by keeping mid-channel she goes clear of
White Stone and Frogs," he said, giving to Throgmorton's its
vulgar name, "he must be a wizard to know that the Stepping-
Stones lie directly across his course, and that a vessel must steer
away northerly or bring up on rocks that will as surely hold
him as if he were built there. Then he runs his chance for the
Executioners, which are as prettily placed as needs be to make
our trade flourish; besides the Middle Ground farther
east,
though I count but little on that, having often tried to find it
myself, without success. Courage, noble captain! if the fellow
be the man you say, we shall get a nearer look at him before
the sun sets; for certainly he who has run the Gate without a
## p. 4008 (#378) ###########################################
4908
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
pilot in safety, has had as much good luck as can fall to his
share in one day. "
The opinion of the East River Branch proved erroneous.
Notwithstanding the hidden perils by which she was environed,
the Water-Witch continued her course, with a speed that in-
creased as the wind rose with the sun, and with an impunity
from harm that amazed all who were in the secret of her situa-
tion. Off Throgmorton's there was, in truth, a danger that
might even have baffled the sagacity of the followers of the mys-
terious. lady, had they not been aided by accident. This is the
point where the straitened arm of the sea expands into the basin
of the sound. A broad and inviting passage lies directly before
the navigator, while, like the flattering prospects of life, number-
less hidden obstacles are in wait to arrest the unheeding and
ignorant.
The "Skimmer of the Seas" was deeply practiced in all the
intricacies and dangers of shoals and rocks. Most of his life had
been passed in threading the one or in avoiding the other. So
keen and quick had his eye become in detecting the presence of
any of those signs which forewarn the mariner of danger, that a
ripple on the surface, or a deeper shade in the color of the
water, rarely escaped his vigilance. Seated on the topsail-yard
of his brigantine, he had overlooked the passage from the moment
they were through the Gate, and issued his mandates to those
below with a precision and promptitude that were not surpassed
by the trained conductor of the Coquette himself. But when his
sight embraced the wide reach of water that lay in front, as his
little vessel swept round the headland of Throgmorton, he
believed there no longer existed a reason for so much care. Still
there was a motive for hesitation. A heavily molded and dull-
sailing coaster was going eastward not a league ahead of the
brigantine, while one of the light sloops of those waters was
coming westward still farther in the distance. Notwithstanding
the wind was favorable to each alike, both vessels had deviated
from the direct line and were steering toward a common centre,
near an island that was placed more than a mile to the north-
ward of the straight course. A mariner like him of the India
shawl could not overlook so obvious an intimation of a change
in the channel. The Water-Witch was kept away, and her
lighter sails were lowered, in order to allow the royal cruiser,
whose lofty canvas was plainly visible above the land, to draw
## p. 4009 (#379) ###########################################
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
4009
near. When the Coquette was seen also to diverge, there no
longer remained a doubt of the direction necessary to be taken;
and everything was quickly set upon the brigantine, even to her
studding-sails. Long ere she reached the island the two coasters.
had met, and each again changed its course, reversing that on
which the other had just been sailing. There was in these
movements as plain an explanation as a seaman could desire,
that the pursued were right. On reaching the island, therefore,
they again luffed into the wake of the schooner; and having
nearly crossed the sheet of water, they passed the coaster, receiv-
ing an assurance in words that all was now plain sailing before
them.
Such was the famous passage of the "Skimmer of the Seas »
through the multiplied and hidden dangers of the eastern chan-
nel. To those who have thus accompanied him, step by step,
through its intricacies and alarms, there may seem nothing ex-
traordinary in the event; but coupled as it was with the charac-
ter previously earned by that bold mariner, and occurring as it
did in the age when men were more disposed than at present to
put faith in the marvelous, the reader will not be surprised to
learn that it greatly increased his reputation for daring, and had
no small influence on an opinion which was by no means un-
common, that the dealers in contraband were singularly favored
by a power which greatly exceeded that of Queen Anne and all
her servants.
THE DOOM OF ABIRAM WHITE
From The Prairie›
Α
BIRAM gave his downcast partner a glance of his eye, and
withdrew towards a distant roll of the land which bounded
the view towards the east. The meeting of the pair in
this naked spot was like an interview held above the grave of
their murdered son. Ishmael signed to his wife to take a seat
beside him on a fragment of rock, and then followed a space dur-
ing which neither seemed disposed to speak.
"We have journeyed together long, through good and bad,"
Ishmael at length commenced: "much have we had to try us,
and some bitter cups have we been made to swallow, my
## p. 4010 (#380) ###########################################
4010
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
woman; but nothing like this has ever before lain in my
path. "
"It is a heavy cross for a poor, misguided, and sinful woman
to bear! " returned Esther, bowing her head to her knees, and
partly concealing her face in her dress. "A heavy and a bur-
densome weight is this to be laid upon the shoulders of a sister
and a mother! "
"Ay; therein lies the hardship of the case. I had brought
my mind to the punishment of that houseless trapper with no
great strivings, for the man had done me few favors, and God
forgive me if I suspected him wrongfully of much evil! This
is, however, bringing shame in at one door of my cabin in order
to drive it out at the other. But shall a son of mine be mur-
dered, and he who did it go at large? -the boy would never
rest! »
"Oh, Ishmael, we pushed the matter far! Had little been
said, who would have been the wiser? Our consciences might
then have been quiet. "
"Esther," said the husband, turning on her a reproachful but
still a dull regard, "the hour has been, my woman, when you
thought another hand had done this wickedness. "
"I did, I did! the Lord gave me the feeling as a punishment
for my sins! but his mercy was not slow in lifting the veil; I
looked into the Book, Ishmael, and there I found the words of
comfort. "
"Have you that book at hand, woman? it may happen to
advise in such a dreary business. "
Esther fumbled in her pocket, and was not long in producing
the fragment of a Bible which had been thumbed and smoke-
dried till the print was nearly illegible. It was the only article
in the nature of a book that was to be found among the chattels
of the squatter, and it had been preserved by his wife as a melan-
choly relic of more prosperous, and possibly of more innocent
days. She had long been in the habit of resorting to it under
the pressure of such circumstances as were palpably beyond
human redress, though her spirit and resolution rarely needed
support under those that admitted of reparation through any of
the ordinary means of reprisal. In this manner Esther had
made a sort of convenient ally of the Word of God; rarely
troubling it for counsel, however, except when her own incom.
petency to avert an evil was too apparent to be disputed. We
## p. 4011 (#381) ###########################################
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
4011
shall leave casuists to determine how far she resembled any other
believers in this particular, and proceed directly with the matter
before us.
"There are many awful passages in these pages, Ishmael,"
she said, when the volume was opened and the leaves were
slowly turning under her finger, "and some there ar' that teach
the rules of punishment. "
Her husband made a gesture for her to find one of those
brief rules of conduct which have been received among all
Christian nations as the direct mandates of the Creator, and
which have been found so just that even they who deny their
high authority admit their wisdom. Ishmael listened with grave
attention as his companion read all those verses which her
memory suggested, and which were thought applicable to the
situation in which they found themselves. He made her show
him the words, which he regarded with a sort of strange rever-
ence. A resolution once taken was usually irrevocable in one
who was moved with so much difficulty. He put his
and upon
the book and closed the pages himself, as much as to apprise
his wife that he was satisfied. Esther, who so well knew his
character, trembled at the action, and casting a glance at his
steady eye, she said:-
"And yet, Ishmael, my blood and the blood of my children
is in his veins! Cannot mercy be shown? "
"Woman," he answered, sternly, "when we believed that
miserable old trapper had done this deed, nothing was said of
mercy! "
Esther made no reply, but folding her arms upon her breast
she sat silent and thoughtful for many minutes. Then she once
more turned her anxious gaze upon the countenance of her hus-
band, where she found all passion and care apparently buried in
the coldest apathy. Satisfied now that the fate of her brother
was sealed, and possibly conscious how well he merited the pun-
ishment that was meditated, she no longer thought of mediation.
No more words passed between them. Their eyes met for an
instant, and then both arose and walked in profound silence
towards the encampment.
The squatter found his children expecting his return in the
usual listless manner with which they awaited all coming events.
The cattle were already herded, and the horses in their gears
in readiness to proceed, so soon as he should indicate that such
## p. 4012 (#382) ###########################################
4012
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
was his pleasure. The children were already in their proper
vehicle, and in short, nothing delayed the departure but the
absence of the parents of the wild brood.
"Abner," said the father, with the deliberation with which all
his proceedings were characterized, "take the brother of your
mother from the wagon, and let him stand on the 'arth. "
Abiram issued from his place of concealment, trembling, it is
true, but far from destitute of hopes as to his final success in
appeasing the just resentment of his kinsman. After throwing a
glance around him with the vain wish of finding a single coun-
tenance in which he might detect a solitary gleam of sympathy,
he endeavored to smother those apprehensions that were by this
time reviving in their original violence, by forcing a sort of
friendly communication between himself and the squatter:-
"The beasts are getting jaded, brother," he said; "and as we
have made so good a march already, is it not time to camp?
To my eye you may go far before a better place than this is
found to pass the night in. "
'Tis well you like it. Your tarry here ar' likely to be long.
My sons, draw nigh and listen. Abiram White," he added, lift-
ing his cap, and speaking with a solemnity and steadiness that
rendered even his dull mien imposing, "you have slain my first-
born, and according to the laws of God and man must you die! ”
The kidnapper started at this terrible and sudden sentence,
with the terror that one would exhibit who unexpectedly found
himself in the grasp of a monster from whose power there was
no retreat. Although filled with the most serious forebodings of
what might be his lot, his courage had not been equal to look
his danger in the face, and with the deceitful consolation with
which timid tempers are apt to conceal their desperate condition
from themselves, he had rather courted a treacherous relief in
his cunning, than prepared himself for the worst.
"Die! " he repeated, in a voice that scarcely issued from his
chest; "a man is surely safe among his kinsmen ? "
"So thought my boy," returned the squatter, motioning for
the team that contained his wife and the girls to proceed, as he
very coolly examined the priming of his piece. "By the rifle
did you destroy my son; it is fit and just that you meet your
end by the same weapon. "
Abiram stared about him with a gaze that bespoke an unset-
tled reason. He even laughed, as if he would not only persuade
## p. 4013 (#383) ###########################################
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
4013
himself but others that what he heard was some pleasantry
intended to try his nerves. But nowhere did his frightful merri-
ment meet with an answering echo. All around was solemn and
still. The visages of his nephews were excited, but cold towards
him, and that of his former confederate frightfully determined.
This very steadiness of mien was a thousand times more alarm-
ing and hopeless than any violence could have proved. The
latter might possibly have touched his spirit and awakened
resistance, but the former threw him entirely on the feeble
resources of himself.
"Brother," he said, in a hurried unnatural whisper, “did I
hear you? "
"My words are plain, Abiram White: thou hast done murder,
and for the same must thou die! "
"Esther! sister, sister! will you leave me? O sister! do you
hear my call ? »
་
"I hear one speak from the grave! " returned the husky tones
of Esther, as the wagon passed the spot where the criminal
stood. "It is the voice of my first-born calling aloud for just-
ice! God have mercy, God have mercy on your soul! "
The team slowly pursued its route, and the deserted Abiram
now found himself deprived of the smallest vestige of hope.
Still he could not summon fortitude to meet his death, and had
not his limbs refused to aid him he would yet have attempted to
fly. Then by a sudden revolution from hope to utter despair
he fell upon his knees and commenced a prayer, in which cries
for mercy to God and to his kinsman were wildly and blasphe-
mously mingled. The sons of Ishmael turned away in horror at
the disgusting spectacle, and even the stern nature of the squat-
ter began to bend before so abject misery.
"May that which you ask of him be granted," he said; "but
a father can never forget a murdered child. "
He was answered by the most humble appeals for time. A
week, a day, an hour, were each implored with an earnestness
commensurate to the value they receive when a whole life is
compressed into their short duration. The squatter was troubled,
and at length he yielded in part to the petitions of the criminal.
His final purpose was not altered, though he changed the means.
"Abner," he said, "mount the rock and look on every side that
we may be sure none are nigh. "
While his nephew was obeying this order, gleams of reviving
hope were seen shooting across the quivering features of the kid-
## p. 4014 (#384) ###########################################
4014
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
napper. The report was favorable; nothing having life, the retir-
ing teams excepted, was to be seen. A messenger was however
coming from the latter in great apparent haste. Ishmael awaited
its arrival. He received from the hands of one of his wondering
and frighted girls a fragment of that Book which Esther had
preserved with so much care. The squatter beckoned his child
away, and placed the leaves in the hands of the criminal.
"Esther has sent you this," he said, "that in your last mo-
ments you may remember God. "
"Bless her, bless her! a good and kind sister has she been to
me! But time must be given that I may read; time, my brother,
time! "
"Time shall not be wanting. You shall be your own exe-
cutioner, and this miserable office shall pass away from my
hands. "
Ishmael proceeded to put his new resolution in force. The
immediate apprehensions of the kidnapper were quieted by an
assurance that he might yet live for days, though his punishment
was inevitable. A reprieve to one abject and wretched as
Abiram temporarily produced the same effects as a pardon. He
was even foremost in assisting in the appalling arrangements;
and of all the actors in that solemn tragedy, his voice alone was
facetious and jocular.
A thin shelf of the rock projected beneath one of the ragged
arms of the willow. It was many feet from the ground, and
admirably adapted to the purpose which in fact its appearance
had suggested. On this little platform the criminal was placed,
his arms bound at the elbows behind his back, beyond the possi
bility of liberation, with a proper cord leading from his neck to-
the limb of the tree. The latter was so placed that when sus-
pended the body could find no foot-hold. The fragment of the
Bible was placed in his hands, and he was left to seek his con-
solation as he might from its pages.
"And now, Abiram White," said the squatter, when his sons
had descended from completing this arrangement, "I give you
a last and solemn asking. Death is before you in two shapes.
With this rifle can your misery be cut short, or by that cord,
sooner or later, must you meet your end. "
"Let me yet live! O Ishmael, you know not how sweet life
is when the last moment draws so nigh! "
((
'Tis done," said the squatter, motioning for his assistants to
follow the herds and teams. "And now, miserable man, that it
## p. 4015 (#385) ###########################################
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
4015
may prove a consolation to your end, I forgive you my wrongs
and leave you to your God. "
Ishmael turned and pursued his way across the plain at his
ordinary sluggish and ponderous gait. Though his head was
bent a little towards the earth, his inactive mind did not prompt
him to cast a look behind. Once indeed he thought he heard
his name called in tones that were a little smothered, but they
failed to make him pause.
At the spot where he and Esther had conferred he reached the
boundary of the visible horizon from the rock. Here he stopped,
and ventured a glance in the direction of the place he had just
quitted. The sun was near dipping into the plains beyond, and
its last rays lighted the naked branches of the willow. He saw
the ragged outline of the whole drawn against the glowing
heavens, and he even traced the still upright form of the being
he had left to his misery. Turning the roll of the swell, he pro-
ceeded with the feelings of one who had been suddenly and vio-
lently separated from a recent confederate forever.
Within a mile the squatter overtook his teams. His sons had
found a place suited to the encampment for the night, and
merely awaited his approach to confirm their choice. Few words
were necessary to express his acquiescence. Everything passed
in a silence more general and remarkable than ever. The
chidings of Esther were not heard among her young, or if
heard, they were more in the tones of softened admonition than
in her usual upbraiding key.
No questions nor explanations passed between the and
and his wife. It was only as the latter was about to withdraw
among her children for the night, that the former saw her taking
a furtive look at the pan of his rifle. Ishmael bade his sons seek
their rest, announcing his intention to look to the safety of the
camp in person. When all was still, he walked out upon the
prairie with a sort of sensation that he found his breathing
among the tents too straitened. The night was well adapted to
heighten the feelings which had been created by the events of
the day.
The wind had risen with the moon, and it was occasionally
sweeping over the plain in a manner that made it not difficult
for the sentinel to imagine strange and unearthly sounds were
mingling in the blasts. Yielding to the extraordinary impulses
of which he was the subject, he cast a glance around to see that
## p. 4016 (#386) ###########################################
4016
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
all were slumbering in security, and then he strayed towards the
swell of land already mentioned. Here the squatter found him-
self at a point that commanded a view to the east and to the
west. Light fleecy clouds were driving before the moon, which
was cold and watery, though there were moments when its
placid rays were shed from clear blue fields, seeming to soften
objects to its own mild loveliness.
For the first time, in a life of so much wild adventure, Ish-
mael felt a keen sense of solitude. The naked prairies began to
assume the forms of illimitable and dreary wastes, and the rush-
ing of the wind sounded like the whisperings of the dead. It
was not long before he thought a shriek was borne past him on
a blast.
It did not sound like a call from earth, but it swept
frightfully through the upper air, mingled with the hoarse accom-
paniment of the wind. The teeth of the squatter were com-
pressed and his huge hand grasped the rifle, as if it would crush
the metal. Then came a lull, a fresher blast, and a cry of hor-
ror that seemed to have been uttered at the very portals of his
ears. A sort of echo burst involuntarily from his own lips, as
men shout under unnatural excitement, and throwing his rifle
across his shoulder, he proceeded towards the rock with the
strides. of a giant.
It was not often that the blood of Ishmael moved at the rate
with which the fluid circulates in the veins of ordinary men; but
now he felt it ready to gush from every pore in his body. The
animal was aroused, in his most latent energies. Ever as he
advanced he heard those shrieks, which sometimes seemed
ringing among the clouds, and sometimes passed so nigh as to
appear to brush the earth.
"We have other pages," resumed Tiller, "but our affairs drag
for want of attending to them. One may read much good matter
## p. 3997 (#367) ###########################################
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
3997
in the book of the sorceress, when there is leisure and oppor-
tunity. I often take occasion, in the calms, to look into her
volume; and it is rare to find the same moral twice told, as these
brave seamen can swear. "
If the exterior of the brigantine was so graceful in form and
so singular in arrangement, the interior was still more worthy of
observation. There were two small cabins beneath the main
deck, one on each side of, and immediately adjoining, the limited
space that was destined to receive her light but valuable cargoes.
It was into one of these that Tiller had descended like a man
who freely entered into his own apartment; but partly above and
nearer to the stern was a suite of little rooms that were fitted
and finished in a style altogether different. The equipments were
those of a yacht, rather than those which might be supposed
suited to the pleasures of even the most successful dealer in
contraband.
The principal deck had been sunk several feet, commencing
at the aftermost bulkhead of the cabins of the subordinate offi-
cers, in a manner to give the necessary height, without inter-
fering with the line of the brigantine's shear. The arrangement
was consequently not to be seen by an observer who was not
admitted into the vessel itself. A descent of a step or two,
however, brought the visitors to the level of the cabin floor,
and into an ante-room that was evidently fitted for the conven-
ience of the domestic. A small silver hand-bell lay on a table,
and Tiller rang it lightly, like one whose ordinary manner was
restrained by respect. It was answered by the appearance of a
boy, whose years could not exceed ten, and whose attire was so
whimsical as to merit description.
The material of the dress of this young servitor of Neptune
was a light rose-colored silk, cut in a fashion to resemble the
habits formerly worn by pages of the great. His body was
belted by a band of gold, a collar of fine thread lace floated on
his neck and shoulders, and even his feet were clad in a sort
of buskins, that were ornamented with fringes of real lace and
tassels of bullion. The form and features of the child were
delicate, and his air as unlike as possible to the coarse and
brusque manner of a vulgar ship-boy.
"Waste and prodigality! " muttered the alderman, when this
extraordinary little usher presented himself in answer to the
summons of Tiller. "This is the very wantonness of cheap
## p. 3998 (#368) ###########################################
3998
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
goods and an unfettered commerce! There is enough of Mech-
lin, patroon, on the shoulders of that urchin, to deck the
stomacher of the Queen. 'Fore George, goods were cheap in the
market when the young scoundrel had his livery! "
The surprise was not confined, however, to the observant and
frugal burgher. Ludlow and Van Staats of Kinderhook mani-
fested equal amazement, though their wonder was exhibited in a
less characteristic manner. The former turned short to demand
the meaning of this masquerade, when he perceived that the hero
of the India shawl had disappeared. They were then alone with
the fantastic page, and it became necessary to trust to his
intelligence for directions how to proceed.
"Who art thou, child? and who has sent thee hither? "
demanded Ludlow. The boy raised a cap of the same rose-
colored silk, and pointed to an image of a female, with a swarthy
face and a malign smile, painted with exceeding art
front.
on its
-
"I serve the sea-green lady, with the others of the brigan-
tine. "
"And who is this lady of the color of shallow water, and
whence come you in particular? »
"This is her likeness: if you would speak with her, she
stands on the cutwater, and rarely refuses an answer. "
"Tis odd that a form of wood should have the gift of
speech! »
"Dost think her, then, of wood? " returned the child, looking
timidly and yet curiously up into the face of Ludlow. "Others
have said the same; but those who know best, deny it. She
does not answer with a tongue, but the book has always some-
thing to say. "
"Here is a grievous deception practiced on the superstition
of this boy: I have read the book, and can make but little of its
meaning. "
"Then read again. "Tis by many reaches that the leeward
vessel gains upon the wind. My master has bid me bring you
in-
"Hold-thou hast both master and mistress? You have told
us the latter, but we would know something of the former. Who
is thy master? »
The boy smiled and looked aside, as if he hesitated to
answer.
## p. 3999 (#369) ###########################################
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
3999
"Nay, refuse not to reply. I come with the authority of the
Queen. »
"He tells us that the sea-green lady is our queen, and that
we have no other. "
"Rashness and rebellion! " muttered Myndert; "but this fool-
hardiness will one day bring as pretty a brigantine as ever sailed
in the narrow seas to condemnation; and then will there be ru-
mors abroad, and characters cracked, till every lover of gossip
in the Americas shall be tired of defamation. "
"It is a bold subject that dares say this! " rejoined Ludlow,
who heeded not the by-play of the alderman: "your master has
a name? »
"We never hear it. When Neptune boards us, under the
tropics, he always hails the Skimmer of the Seas, and then they
answer. The old god knows us well, for we pass his latitude
oftener than other ships, they say. "
"You are then a cruiser of some service in the brigantine?
no doubt you have trod many distant shores, belonging to so
swift a craft? "
“I! — I never was on the land! " returned the boy, thought-
fully. "It must be droll to be there: they say one can hardly
walk, it is so steady! I put a question to the sea-green lady
before we came to the narrow inlet, to know when I was to go
ashore. "
"And she answered? "
"It was some time first. Two watches were passed before a
word was to be seen; at last I got the lines. I believe she
mocked me, though I have never dared show it to my master,
that he might say. "
"Hast the words here? -perhaps we might assist thee, as
there are some among us who know most of the sea paths. "
The boy looked timidly and suspiciously round; then thrust-
ing a hand hurriedly into a pocket, he drew forth two bits of
paper, each of which contained a scrawl, and both of which had
evidently been much thumbed and studied.
"Here," he said, in a voice that was suppressed nearly to a
whisper. "This was on the first page. I was so frightened lest
the lady should be angry, that I did not look again till the next
watch; and then," turning the leaf, "I found this. "
Ludlow took the bit of paper first offered, and read, written
in a child's hand, the following extract:-
## p. 4000 (#370) ###########################################
4000
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
"I pray thee
Remember, I have done thee worthy service;
Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, served
Without or grudge or grumblings. "
"I thought that 'twas in mockery," continued the boy, when
he saw by the eye of the young captain that he had read the
quotation; "for 'twas very like, though more prettily worded
than that which I had said myself! "
"And what was the second answer? >>>
"This was found in the first morning watch," the child re-
turned, reading the second extract himself: —
"Thou think'st
It much to tread the ooze of the salt deep,
And run upon the sharp wind of the north! '
"I never dared to ask again. But what matters that? They
say the ground is rough and difficult to walk on; that earth-
quakes shake it, and make holes to swallow cities; that men slay
each other on the highways for money, and that the houses I
see on the hills must always remain in the same spot. It must
be very melancholy to live always in the same spot; but then it
must be odd never to feel a motion! "
(( Except the occasional rocking of an earthquake. Thou art
better afloat, child- but thy master, the Skimmer of the Seas-"
"Hist! " whispered the boy, raising a finger for silence.
"He has come up into the great cabin. In a moment we shall
have his signal to enter. "
A few light touches on the strings of a guitar followed, and
then a symphony was rapidly and beautifully executed by one
in the adjoining apartment.
«<
"Alida herself is not more nimble-fingered," whispered the
alderman; and I never heard the girl touch the Dutch lute
that cost a hundred Holland guilders, with a livelier move-
ment! "
Ludlow signed for silence. A fine manly voice, of great
richness and depth, was soon heard, singing to an accompani-
ment on the same instrument. The air was grave, and alto-
gether unusual for the social character
the ocean, being chiefly in recitation.
might be distinguished, ran as follows:-
of one who dwelt upon
The words, as near as
## p. 4001 (#371) ###########################################
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
4001
"My brigantine!
Just in thy mold and beauteous in thy form,
Gentle in roll and buoyant on the surge,
Light as the sea-fowl rocking in the storm,
In breeze and gale thy onward course we urge-
My water-queen!
"Lady of mine!
More light and swift than thou none thread the sea,
With surer keel, or steadier on its path;
We brave each waste of ocean mystery,
And laugh to hear the howling tempest's wrath! -
For we are thine!
"My brigantine!
Trust to the mystic power that points thy way,
Trust to the eye that pierces from afar,
Trust the red meteors that around thee play,
And fearless trust the sea-green lady's star-
Thou bark divine! "
"He often sings thus," whispered the boy, when the song
was ended: "they say the sea-green lady loves music that tells
of the ocean and of her power. - Hark! he has bid me enter. "
"He did but touch the strings of the guitar again, boy. "
Tis his signal when the weather is fair. When we have
the whistlings of the wind and the roar of the water, then he
has a louder call. "
Ludlow would have gladly listened longer; but the boy
opened a door, and pointing the way to those he conducted, he
silently vanished himself behind a curtain.
The visitors, more particularly the young commander of the
Coquette, found new subjects of admiration and wonder on
entering the main cabin of the brigantine. The apartment, con-
sidering the size of the vessel, was spacious and high. It
received light from a couple of windows in the stern, and it
was evident that two smaller rooms, one on each of the quar-
ters, shared with it in this advantage. The space between these
state-rooms, as they are called in nautical language, necessarily
formed a deep alcove, which might be separated from the outer
portion of the cabin by a curtain of crimson damask that now
hung in festoons from a beam fashioned into a gilded cornice.
A luxurious-looking pile of cushions, covered with red morocco,
VII-251
## p. 4002 (#372) ###########################################
4002
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
lay along the transom, in the manner of an Eastern divan; and
against the bulkhead of each state-room stood an agrippina of
mahogany, that was lined with the same material. Neat and
tasteful cases for books were suspended here and there, and
the guitar which had so lately been used lay on a small table
of some precious wood, that occupied the centre of the alcove.
There were also other implements, like those which occupy the
leisure of a cultivated but perhaps an effeminate rather than a
vigorous mind, scattered around; some evidently long neglected,
and others appearing to have been more recently in favor.
The outer portion of the cabin was furnished in a similar
style, though it contained many more of the articles that ordi-
narily belong to domestic economy. It had its agrippina, its
piles of cushions, its chairs of beautiful wood, its cases for books,
and its neglected instruments, intermixed with fixtures of more
solid and permanent appearance, which were arranged to meet
the violent motion that was often unavoidable in so small a
bark. There was a slight hanging of crimson damask around
the whole apartment; and here and there a small mirror was
let into the bulkheads and ceilings. All the other parts were
of a rich mahogany, relieved by panels of rosewood, that gave
an appearance of exquisite finish to the cabin. The floor was
covered with a mat of the finest texture, and of a fragrance
that announced both its freshness and the fact that the grass
had been the growth of a warm and luxuriant climate. The
place, as was indeed the whole vessel, so far as the keen eye of
Ludlow could detect, was entirely destitute of arms; not even a
pistol or a sword being suspended in those places where weapons.
of that description are usually seen, in all vessels employed either
in war or in a trade that might oblige those who sail them to
deal in violence.
In the centre of the alcove stood the youthful-looking and
extraordinary person who, in so unceremonious a manner, had vis-
ited La Cour des Fées the preceding night. His dress was much
the same, in fashion and material, as when last seen: still it
had been changed; for on the breast of the silken frock was
painted an image of the sea-green lady, done with exquisite
skill, and in a manner to preserve the whole of the wild and
unearthly character of the expression. The wearer of this sin-
gular ornament leaned lightly against the little table, and as he
bowed with entire self-possession to his guests, his face was
## p. 4003 (#373) ###########################################
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
4003
lighted with a smile that seemed to betray melancholy no less
than courtesy. At the same time he raised his cap, and stood in
the rich jet-black locks with which nature had so exuberantly
shaded his forehead.
The manner of the visitors was less easy. The deep anxiety
with which both Ludlow and the patroon had undertaken to
board the notorious smuggler had given place to an amazement
and a curiosity that caused them nearly to forget their errand;
while Alderman Van Beverout appeared shy and suspicious, man-
ifestly thinking less of his niece than of the consequences of so
remarkable an interview. They all returned the salutation of
their host, though each waited for him to speak.
THE BRIGANTINE'S ESCAPE THROUGH HELL-GATE
From The Water-Witch
A
T SUCH moments of intense anxiety, the human mind is wont
to seek support in the opinions of others. Notwithstanding
the increasing velocity and the critical condition of his own
vessel, Ludlow cast a glance in order to ascertain the determina-
tion of the "Skimmer of the Seas. " Blackwell's was already
behind them, and as the two currents were again united, the
brigantine had luffed up into the entrance of the dangerous pas-
sage, and now followed within two hundred feet of the Coquette,
directly in her wake. The bold and manly-looking mariner who
controlled her stood between the knight-heads, just above the
image of his pretended mistress, where he examined the foaming
reefs, the whirling eddies, and the varying currents, with folded
arms and a riveted eye. A glance was exchanged between the
two officers, and the free-trader raised his sea-cap. Ludlow was
too courteous not to return the salutation; then all his senses
were engrossed by the care of his ship. A rock lay before them,
over which the water broke in a loud and unceasing roar. For
an instant it seemed that the vessel could not avoid the danger;
then it was already past.
"Brace up! " said Ludlow, in the calm tones that denote a
forced tranquillity.
"Luff! " called out the Skimmer, so quickly as to show that
he took the movements of the cruiser for his guide. The ship
## p. 4004 (#374) ###########################################
4004
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
came closer to the wind, but the sudden bend in the stream no
longer permitted her to steer in a direct line with its course.
Though drifting to windward with vast rapidity, her way through
the water, which was greatly increased by the contrary actions
of the wind and tide, caused the cruiser to shoot across the cur-
rent; while a reef, over which the water madly tumbled, lay
immediately in her course. The danger seemed too imminent
for the observances of nautical etiquette, and Trysail called aloud
that the ship must be thrown aback, or she was lost.
"Hard-a-lee! " shouted Ludlow, in the strong voice
authority. "Up with everything-tacks and sheets! -main-top-
sail haul! "
of
The ship seemed as conscious of her danger as any on her
decks. The bows whirled away from the foaming reef, and as
the sails caught the breeze on their opposite surfaces, they aided
in bringing her head in the contrary direction. A minute had
scarcely passed ere she was aback, and in the next she was about
and full again. The intensity of the brief exertion kept Trysail
fully employed; but no sooner had he leisure to look ahead than
he again called aloud: -
"Here is another roarer under her bows. Luff, sir, luff, or
we are upon it! "
"Hard down your helm! " once again came in deep tones
from Ludlow. "Let fly your sheets-throw all aback, forward
and aft-away with the yards, with a will, men! "
There was need for all of these precautions. Though the
ship had so happily escaped the dangers of the first reef, a tur-
bulent and roaring caldron in the water which as representing
the element in ebullition is called "the Pot," lay so directly
before her as to render the danger apparently inevitable. But
the power of the canvas was not lost on this trying occasion.
The forward motion of the ship diminished, and as the current
still swept her swiftly to windward, her bows did not enter the
rolling waters until the hidden rocks which caused the commo-
tion had been passed. The yielding vessel rose and fell in the
agitated water, as if in homage to the whirlpool; but the deep
keel was unharmed.
"If the ship shoot ahead twice her length more, her bows
will touch the eddy," exclaimed the vigilant master.
Ludlow looked around him for a single moment in indecision.
The waters were whirling and roaring on every side, and the
1
## p. 4005 (#375) ###########################################
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
4005
sails began to lose their power as the ship drew near the bluff
which forms the second angle in this critical pass.
He saw by
objects on the land that he still approached the shore, and he
had recourse to the seaman's last expedient.
"Let go both anchors! " was the final order.
The fall of the massive iron into the water was succeeded by
the rumbling of the cable. The first effort to check the progress
of the vessel appeared to threaten dissolution to the whole fab-
ric, which trembled under the shock from its mastheads to the
keel. But the enormous rope again yielded, and smoke was
seen rising round the wood which held it. The ship whirled
with the sudden check, and sheered wildly in toward the shore.
Met by the helm, and again checked by the efforts of the crew,
she threatened to defy restraint. There was an instant when all
on board expected to hear the cable snap; but the upper sails
filled, and as the wind was now brought over the taffrail, the
force of the current was in a great degree met by that of the
breeze.
The ship answered her helm and became stationary, while
the water foamed against her cutwater as if she were driven
ahead with the power of a brisk breeze.
The time from the moment when the Coquette entered the
Gate to that when she anchored below "the Pot," though the
distance was nearly a mile, seemed but a minute. Certain how-
ever that his ship was now checked, the thoughts of Ludlow
returned to their other duties with the quickness of lightning.
"Clear away the grapnels," he eagerly cried; "stand by to
heave, and haul in! - heave! "
But that the reader may better comprehend the motive of
this sudden order, he must consent to return to the entrance of
the dangerous passage, and accompany the Water-Witch also in
her hazardous experiment to get through without a pilot.
The abortive attempt of the brigantine to stem the tide at the
western end of Blackwell's will be remembered. It had no other
effect than to place her pursuer more in advance, and to con-
vince her own commander that he had now no other resource
than to continue his course; for had he anchored, boats would
have insured his capture. When the two vessels appeared off
the eastern end of the island, the Coquette was ahead -
a fact
that the experienced free-trader did not at all regret. He prof-
ited by the circumstance to follow her movements, and to make a
-
## p. 4006 (#376) ###########################################
4006
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
favorable entrance into the uncertain currents. To him, Hell-
Gate was known only by its fearful reputation among mariners;
and unless he might avail himself of the presence of the cruiser,
he had no other guide than his own general knowledge of the
power of the element.
When the Coquette had tacked, the calm and observant Skim-
mer was satisfied with throwing his head-sails flat to the mast.
From that instant the brigantine lay floating in the current,
neither advancing nor receding a foot, and always keeping her
position at a safe distance from the ship, that was so adroitly
made to answer the purposes of a beacon. The sails were
watched with the closest care; and so nicely was the delicate
machine tended, that it would have been at any moment in her
people's power to have lessened her way by turning to the
stream. The Coquette was followed till she anchored, and the
call on board the cruiser to heave the grapnels had been given,
because the brigantine was apparently floating directly down on
her broadside.
When the grapnels were hove from the royal cruiser, the free-
trader stood on the low poop of his little vessel, within fifty feet
of him who had issued the order. There was a smile of indiffer-
ence on his firm mouth, while he silently waved a hand to his
own crew. The signal was obeyed by bracing round their yards,
and suffering all the canvas to fill. The brigantine shot quickly
ahead, and the useless irons fell heavily into the water.
"Many thanks for your pilotage, Captain Ludlow! " cried the
daring and successful mariner of the shawl, as his vessel, borne
on by wind and current, receded rapidly from the cruiser.
"You will find me off Montauk; for affairs still keep us on the
coast. Our lady has however put on the blue mantle, and ere
many settings of the sun we shall look for deep water.
Take
good care of her Majesty's ship, I pray thee, for she has neither
a more beautiful nor a faster. "
One thought succeeded another with the tumult of a torrent
in the mind of Ludlow. As the brigantine lay directly under
his broadside, the first impulse was to use his guns; at the next
moment he was conscious that before they could be cleared,
distance would render them useless. His lips had nearly parted
with intent to order the cables cut, but he remembered the
speed of the brigantine, and hesitated. A sudden freshening
of the breeze decided his course. Finding that the ship was
## p. 4007 (#377) ###########################################
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
4007
enabled to keep her station, he ordered the crew to thrust the
whole of the enormous ropes through the hawse-holes; and freed
from the restraint, he abandoned the anchors until an oppor-
tunity to reclaim them should offer.
The operation of slipping the cables consumed several min-
utes; and when the Coquette, with everything set, was again
steering in pursuit, the Water-Witch was already beyond the
reach of her guns.
Both vessels however held on their way,
keeping as near as possible to the centre of the stream, and
trusting more to fortune than to any knowledge of the channel
for safety.
When passing the two small islands that lie at no great dis-
tance from the Gate, a boat was seen moving toward the royal
cruiser. A man in it pointed to the signal, which was still
flying, and offered his services.
"Tell me," demanded Ludlow eagerly, "has yonder brigan-
tine taken a pilot? "
"By her movements, I judge not. She brushed the sunken
rock off the mouth of Flushing Bay; and as she passed, I heard
the song of the lead. I should have gone on board myself, but
the fellow rather flies than sails; and as for signals, he seems
to mind none but his own! "
"Bring us up with him, and fifty guineas is thy reward! "
The slow-moving pilot, who in truth had just awakened from
a refreshing sleep, opened his eyes, and seemed to gather a new
impulse from the promise. When his questions were asked and
answered, he began deliberately to count on his fingers all the
chances that still existed of a vessel, whose crew was ignorant of
the navigation, falling into their hands.
"Admitting that by keeping mid-channel she goes clear of
White Stone and Frogs," he said, giving to Throgmorton's its
vulgar name, "he must be a wizard to know that the Stepping-
Stones lie directly across his course, and that a vessel must steer
away northerly or bring up on rocks that will as surely hold
him as if he were built there. Then he runs his chance for the
Executioners, which are as prettily placed as needs be to make
our trade flourish; besides the Middle Ground farther
east,
though I count but little on that, having often tried to find it
myself, without success. Courage, noble captain! if the fellow
be the man you say, we shall get a nearer look at him before
the sun sets; for certainly he who has run the Gate without a
## p. 4008 (#378) ###########################################
4908
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
pilot in safety, has had as much good luck as can fall to his
share in one day. "
The opinion of the East River Branch proved erroneous.
Notwithstanding the hidden perils by which she was environed,
the Water-Witch continued her course, with a speed that in-
creased as the wind rose with the sun, and with an impunity
from harm that amazed all who were in the secret of her situa-
tion. Off Throgmorton's there was, in truth, a danger that
might even have baffled the sagacity of the followers of the mys-
terious. lady, had they not been aided by accident. This is the
point where the straitened arm of the sea expands into the basin
of the sound. A broad and inviting passage lies directly before
the navigator, while, like the flattering prospects of life, number-
less hidden obstacles are in wait to arrest the unheeding and
ignorant.
The "Skimmer of the Seas" was deeply practiced in all the
intricacies and dangers of shoals and rocks. Most of his life had
been passed in threading the one or in avoiding the other. So
keen and quick had his eye become in detecting the presence of
any of those signs which forewarn the mariner of danger, that a
ripple on the surface, or a deeper shade in the color of the
water, rarely escaped his vigilance. Seated on the topsail-yard
of his brigantine, he had overlooked the passage from the moment
they were through the Gate, and issued his mandates to those
below with a precision and promptitude that were not surpassed
by the trained conductor of the Coquette himself. But when his
sight embraced the wide reach of water that lay in front, as his
little vessel swept round the headland of Throgmorton, he
believed there no longer existed a reason for so much care. Still
there was a motive for hesitation. A heavily molded and dull-
sailing coaster was going eastward not a league ahead of the
brigantine, while one of the light sloops of those waters was
coming westward still farther in the distance. Notwithstanding
the wind was favorable to each alike, both vessels had deviated
from the direct line and were steering toward a common centre,
near an island that was placed more than a mile to the north-
ward of the straight course. A mariner like him of the India
shawl could not overlook so obvious an intimation of a change
in the channel. The Water-Witch was kept away, and her
lighter sails were lowered, in order to allow the royal cruiser,
whose lofty canvas was plainly visible above the land, to draw
## p. 4009 (#379) ###########################################
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
4009
near. When the Coquette was seen also to diverge, there no
longer remained a doubt of the direction necessary to be taken;
and everything was quickly set upon the brigantine, even to her
studding-sails. Long ere she reached the island the two coasters.
had met, and each again changed its course, reversing that on
which the other had just been sailing. There was in these
movements as plain an explanation as a seaman could desire,
that the pursued were right. On reaching the island, therefore,
they again luffed into the wake of the schooner; and having
nearly crossed the sheet of water, they passed the coaster, receiv-
ing an assurance in words that all was now plain sailing before
them.
Such was the famous passage of the "Skimmer of the Seas »
through the multiplied and hidden dangers of the eastern chan-
nel. To those who have thus accompanied him, step by step,
through its intricacies and alarms, there may seem nothing ex-
traordinary in the event; but coupled as it was with the charac-
ter previously earned by that bold mariner, and occurring as it
did in the age when men were more disposed than at present to
put faith in the marvelous, the reader will not be surprised to
learn that it greatly increased his reputation for daring, and had
no small influence on an opinion which was by no means un-
common, that the dealers in contraband were singularly favored
by a power which greatly exceeded that of Queen Anne and all
her servants.
THE DOOM OF ABIRAM WHITE
From The Prairie›
Α
BIRAM gave his downcast partner a glance of his eye, and
withdrew towards a distant roll of the land which bounded
the view towards the east. The meeting of the pair in
this naked spot was like an interview held above the grave of
their murdered son. Ishmael signed to his wife to take a seat
beside him on a fragment of rock, and then followed a space dur-
ing which neither seemed disposed to speak.
"We have journeyed together long, through good and bad,"
Ishmael at length commenced: "much have we had to try us,
and some bitter cups have we been made to swallow, my
## p. 4010 (#380) ###########################################
4010
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
woman; but nothing like this has ever before lain in my
path. "
"It is a heavy cross for a poor, misguided, and sinful woman
to bear! " returned Esther, bowing her head to her knees, and
partly concealing her face in her dress. "A heavy and a bur-
densome weight is this to be laid upon the shoulders of a sister
and a mother! "
"Ay; therein lies the hardship of the case. I had brought
my mind to the punishment of that houseless trapper with no
great strivings, for the man had done me few favors, and God
forgive me if I suspected him wrongfully of much evil! This
is, however, bringing shame in at one door of my cabin in order
to drive it out at the other. But shall a son of mine be mur-
dered, and he who did it go at large? -the boy would never
rest! »
"Oh, Ishmael, we pushed the matter far! Had little been
said, who would have been the wiser? Our consciences might
then have been quiet. "
"Esther," said the husband, turning on her a reproachful but
still a dull regard, "the hour has been, my woman, when you
thought another hand had done this wickedness. "
"I did, I did! the Lord gave me the feeling as a punishment
for my sins! but his mercy was not slow in lifting the veil; I
looked into the Book, Ishmael, and there I found the words of
comfort. "
"Have you that book at hand, woman? it may happen to
advise in such a dreary business. "
Esther fumbled in her pocket, and was not long in producing
the fragment of a Bible which had been thumbed and smoke-
dried till the print was nearly illegible. It was the only article
in the nature of a book that was to be found among the chattels
of the squatter, and it had been preserved by his wife as a melan-
choly relic of more prosperous, and possibly of more innocent
days. She had long been in the habit of resorting to it under
the pressure of such circumstances as were palpably beyond
human redress, though her spirit and resolution rarely needed
support under those that admitted of reparation through any of
the ordinary means of reprisal. In this manner Esther had
made a sort of convenient ally of the Word of God; rarely
troubling it for counsel, however, except when her own incom.
petency to avert an evil was too apparent to be disputed. We
## p. 4011 (#381) ###########################################
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
4011
shall leave casuists to determine how far she resembled any other
believers in this particular, and proceed directly with the matter
before us.
"There are many awful passages in these pages, Ishmael,"
she said, when the volume was opened and the leaves were
slowly turning under her finger, "and some there ar' that teach
the rules of punishment. "
Her husband made a gesture for her to find one of those
brief rules of conduct which have been received among all
Christian nations as the direct mandates of the Creator, and
which have been found so just that even they who deny their
high authority admit their wisdom. Ishmael listened with grave
attention as his companion read all those verses which her
memory suggested, and which were thought applicable to the
situation in which they found themselves. He made her show
him the words, which he regarded with a sort of strange rever-
ence. A resolution once taken was usually irrevocable in one
who was moved with so much difficulty. He put his
and upon
the book and closed the pages himself, as much as to apprise
his wife that he was satisfied. Esther, who so well knew his
character, trembled at the action, and casting a glance at his
steady eye, she said:-
"And yet, Ishmael, my blood and the blood of my children
is in his veins! Cannot mercy be shown? "
"Woman," he answered, sternly, "when we believed that
miserable old trapper had done this deed, nothing was said of
mercy! "
Esther made no reply, but folding her arms upon her breast
she sat silent and thoughtful for many minutes. Then she once
more turned her anxious gaze upon the countenance of her hus-
band, where she found all passion and care apparently buried in
the coldest apathy. Satisfied now that the fate of her brother
was sealed, and possibly conscious how well he merited the pun-
ishment that was meditated, she no longer thought of mediation.
No more words passed between them. Their eyes met for an
instant, and then both arose and walked in profound silence
towards the encampment.
The squatter found his children expecting his return in the
usual listless manner with which they awaited all coming events.
The cattle were already herded, and the horses in their gears
in readiness to proceed, so soon as he should indicate that such
## p. 4012 (#382) ###########################################
4012
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
was his pleasure. The children were already in their proper
vehicle, and in short, nothing delayed the departure but the
absence of the parents of the wild brood.
"Abner," said the father, with the deliberation with which all
his proceedings were characterized, "take the brother of your
mother from the wagon, and let him stand on the 'arth. "
Abiram issued from his place of concealment, trembling, it is
true, but far from destitute of hopes as to his final success in
appeasing the just resentment of his kinsman. After throwing a
glance around him with the vain wish of finding a single coun-
tenance in which he might detect a solitary gleam of sympathy,
he endeavored to smother those apprehensions that were by this
time reviving in their original violence, by forcing a sort of
friendly communication between himself and the squatter:-
"The beasts are getting jaded, brother," he said; "and as we
have made so good a march already, is it not time to camp?
To my eye you may go far before a better place than this is
found to pass the night in. "
'Tis well you like it. Your tarry here ar' likely to be long.
My sons, draw nigh and listen. Abiram White," he added, lift-
ing his cap, and speaking with a solemnity and steadiness that
rendered even his dull mien imposing, "you have slain my first-
born, and according to the laws of God and man must you die! ”
The kidnapper started at this terrible and sudden sentence,
with the terror that one would exhibit who unexpectedly found
himself in the grasp of a monster from whose power there was
no retreat. Although filled with the most serious forebodings of
what might be his lot, his courage had not been equal to look
his danger in the face, and with the deceitful consolation with
which timid tempers are apt to conceal their desperate condition
from themselves, he had rather courted a treacherous relief in
his cunning, than prepared himself for the worst.
"Die! " he repeated, in a voice that scarcely issued from his
chest; "a man is surely safe among his kinsmen ? "
"So thought my boy," returned the squatter, motioning for
the team that contained his wife and the girls to proceed, as he
very coolly examined the priming of his piece. "By the rifle
did you destroy my son; it is fit and just that you meet your
end by the same weapon. "
Abiram stared about him with a gaze that bespoke an unset-
tled reason. He even laughed, as if he would not only persuade
## p. 4013 (#383) ###########################################
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
4013
himself but others that what he heard was some pleasantry
intended to try his nerves. But nowhere did his frightful merri-
ment meet with an answering echo. All around was solemn and
still. The visages of his nephews were excited, but cold towards
him, and that of his former confederate frightfully determined.
This very steadiness of mien was a thousand times more alarm-
ing and hopeless than any violence could have proved. The
latter might possibly have touched his spirit and awakened
resistance, but the former threw him entirely on the feeble
resources of himself.
"Brother," he said, in a hurried unnatural whisper, “did I
hear you? "
"My words are plain, Abiram White: thou hast done murder,
and for the same must thou die! "
"Esther! sister, sister! will you leave me? O sister! do you
hear my call ? »
་
"I hear one speak from the grave! " returned the husky tones
of Esther, as the wagon passed the spot where the criminal
stood. "It is the voice of my first-born calling aloud for just-
ice! God have mercy, God have mercy on your soul! "
The team slowly pursued its route, and the deserted Abiram
now found himself deprived of the smallest vestige of hope.
Still he could not summon fortitude to meet his death, and had
not his limbs refused to aid him he would yet have attempted to
fly. Then by a sudden revolution from hope to utter despair
he fell upon his knees and commenced a prayer, in which cries
for mercy to God and to his kinsman were wildly and blasphe-
mously mingled. The sons of Ishmael turned away in horror at
the disgusting spectacle, and even the stern nature of the squat-
ter began to bend before so abject misery.
"May that which you ask of him be granted," he said; "but
a father can never forget a murdered child. "
He was answered by the most humble appeals for time. A
week, a day, an hour, were each implored with an earnestness
commensurate to the value they receive when a whole life is
compressed into their short duration. The squatter was troubled,
and at length he yielded in part to the petitions of the criminal.
His final purpose was not altered, though he changed the means.
"Abner," he said, "mount the rock and look on every side that
we may be sure none are nigh. "
While his nephew was obeying this order, gleams of reviving
hope were seen shooting across the quivering features of the kid-
## p. 4014 (#384) ###########################################
4014
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
napper. The report was favorable; nothing having life, the retir-
ing teams excepted, was to be seen. A messenger was however
coming from the latter in great apparent haste. Ishmael awaited
its arrival. He received from the hands of one of his wondering
and frighted girls a fragment of that Book which Esther had
preserved with so much care. The squatter beckoned his child
away, and placed the leaves in the hands of the criminal.
"Esther has sent you this," he said, "that in your last mo-
ments you may remember God. "
"Bless her, bless her! a good and kind sister has she been to
me! But time must be given that I may read; time, my brother,
time! "
"Time shall not be wanting. You shall be your own exe-
cutioner, and this miserable office shall pass away from my
hands. "
Ishmael proceeded to put his new resolution in force. The
immediate apprehensions of the kidnapper were quieted by an
assurance that he might yet live for days, though his punishment
was inevitable. A reprieve to one abject and wretched as
Abiram temporarily produced the same effects as a pardon. He
was even foremost in assisting in the appalling arrangements;
and of all the actors in that solemn tragedy, his voice alone was
facetious and jocular.
A thin shelf of the rock projected beneath one of the ragged
arms of the willow. It was many feet from the ground, and
admirably adapted to the purpose which in fact its appearance
had suggested. On this little platform the criminal was placed,
his arms bound at the elbows behind his back, beyond the possi
bility of liberation, with a proper cord leading from his neck to-
the limb of the tree. The latter was so placed that when sus-
pended the body could find no foot-hold. The fragment of the
Bible was placed in his hands, and he was left to seek his con-
solation as he might from its pages.
"And now, Abiram White," said the squatter, when his sons
had descended from completing this arrangement, "I give you
a last and solemn asking. Death is before you in two shapes.
With this rifle can your misery be cut short, or by that cord,
sooner or later, must you meet your end. "
"Let me yet live! O Ishmael, you know not how sweet life
is when the last moment draws so nigh! "
((
'Tis done," said the squatter, motioning for his assistants to
follow the herds and teams. "And now, miserable man, that it
## p. 4015 (#385) ###########################################
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
4015
may prove a consolation to your end, I forgive you my wrongs
and leave you to your God. "
Ishmael turned and pursued his way across the plain at his
ordinary sluggish and ponderous gait. Though his head was
bent a little towards the earth, his inactive mind did not prompt
him to cast a look behind. Once indeed he thought he heard
his name called in tones that were a little smothered, but they
failed to make him pause.
At the spot where he and Esther had conferred he reached the
boundary of the visible horizon from the rock. Here he stopped,
and ventured a glance in the direction of the place he had just
quitted. The sun was near dipping into the plains beyond, and
its last rays lighted the naked branches of the willow. He saw
the ragged outline of the whole drawn against the glowing
heavens, and he even traced the still upright form of the being
he had left to his misery. Turning the roll of the swell, he pro-
ceeded with the feelings of one who had been suddenly and vio-
lently separated from a recent confederate forever.
Within a mile the squatter overtook his teams. His sons had
found a place suited to the encampment for the night, and
merely awaited his approach to confirm their choice. Few words
were necessary to express his acquiescence. Everything passed
in a silence more general and remarkable than ever. The
chidings of Esther were not heard among her young, or if
heard, they were more in the tones of softened admonition than
in her usual upbraiding key.
No questions nor explanations passed between the and
and his wife. It was only as the latter was about to withdraw
among her children for the night, that the former saw her taking
a furtive look at the pan of his rifle. Ishmael bade his sons seek
their rest, announcing his intention to look to the safety of the
camp in person. When all was still, he walked out upon the
prairie with a sort of sensation that he found his breathing
among the tents too straitened. The night was well adapted to
heighten the feelings which had been created by the events of
the day.
The wind had risen with the moon, and it was occasionally
sweeping over the plain in a manner that made it not difficult
for the sentinel to imagine strange and unearthly sounds were
mingling in the blasts. Yielding to the extraordinary impulses
of which he was the subject, he cast a glance around to see that
## p. 4016 (#386) ###########################################
4016
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
all were slumbering in security, and then he strayed towards the
swell of land already mentioned. Here the squatter found him-
self at a point that commanded a view to the east and to the
west. Light fleecy clouds were driving before the moon, which
was cold and watery, though there were moments when its
placid rays were shed from clear blue fields, seeming to soften
objects to its own mild loveliness.
For the first time, in a life of so much wild adventure, Ish-
mael felt a keen sense of solitude. The naked prairies began to
assume the forms of illimitable and dreary wastes, and the rush-
ing of the wind sounded like the whisperings of the dead. It
was not long before he thought a shriek was borne past him on
a blast.
It did not sound like a call from earth, but it swept
frightfully through the upper air, mingled with the hoarse accom-
paniment of the wind. The teeth of the squatter were com-
pressed and his huge hand grasped the rifle, as if it would crush
the metal. Then came a lull, a fresher blast, and a cry of hor-
ror that seemed to have been uttered at the very portals of his
ears. A sort of echo burst involuntarily from his own lips, as
men shout under unnatural excitement, and throwing his rifle
across his shoulder, he proceeded towards the rock with the
strides. of a giant.
It was not often that the blood of Ishmael moved at the rate
with which the fluid circulates in the veins of ordinary men; but
now he felt it ready to gush from every pore in his body. The
animal was aroused, in his most latent energies. Ever as he
advanced he heard those shrieks, which sometimes seemed
ringing among the clouds, and sometimes passed so nigh as to
appear to brush the earth.
