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northward, and the sail soon swept the scow so far up the lake, as to render
the dark outlines of the trees that clothed the point, dimly visible. Floating
Tom steered, and he sailed along as near the land, as the depth of the water,
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and the overhanging branches would allow. It was impossible to distinguish any
thing that stood within the shadows of the shore; but the forms of the sail
and of the hut, were discerned by the young sentinel on the beach, who has
already been mentioned. In the moment of sudden surprise, a deep Indian
exclamation escaped him. In that spirit of recklessness and ferocity that
formed the essence of Hurry s character, this man dropped his rifle and fired.
The ball was sped by accident, or by that overruling Providence which decides
the fates of all, and the girl fell. Then followed the scene with the torches,
which has just been described.
At the precise moment when Hurry committed this act of unthinking cruelty,
the canoe of Judith was within a hundred feet of the spot from which the ark
had so lately moved. Her own course has been described, and it has now become
our office to follow that of her father and his companions. The shriek
announced the effects of the random shot of March, and it also proclaimed that
the victim was a woman. Hurry himself was startled at these unlooked-for
consequences; and for a moment he was sorely disturbed by conflicting
sensations. At first he laughed, in reckless and rude-minded exultation; and
then conscience, that monitor planted in our breasts by God, and which
receives its more general growth from the training bestowed in the tillage of
childhood, shot a pang to his heart. For a minute, the mind of this creature
equally of civilization and barbarism, was a sort of chaos as to feeling, not
knowing what to think of its own act; and then the obstinacy and pride of one
of his habits, interposed to assert their usual ascendency. He struck the butt
of his rifle on the bottom of the scow, with a species of defiance, and began
to whistle a low air, with an affectation of indifference. All this time, the
ark was in motion, and it was already opening the bay above the point, and was
consequently quitting the land.
Hurry s companions did not view his conduct with the same indulgence, as that
with which he appeared disposed to regard it himself. Hutter growled out his
dissatisfaction, for the act led to no advantage, while it threatened to
render the warfare more vindictive than ever; and none censure motiveless
departures from the right, more severely than the mercenary and unprincipled.
Still he commanded himself, the captivity of Deerslayer rendering the arm of
the offender of double consequence to him at that moment. Chingachgook arose,
and for a single instant the ancient animosity of tribes was forgotten, in a
feeling of colour; but he recollected himself in season to prevent any of the
fierce consequences that for a passing moment, he certainly meditated. Not so
with Hist. Rushing through the hut, or cabin, the girl stood at the side of
Hurry, almost as soon as his rifle touched the bottom of the scow; and with a
fearlessness that did credit to her heart, she poured out her reproaches with
the generous warmth of a woman.
 What for you shoot? she said.  What Huron gal do, dat you kill him? What
you t ink Manitousay? What you t ink Manitoufeel? What Iroquoisdo? No get
honour --no get camp--no get prisoner--no get battle--no get scalp--no get
not ing at all. Blood come after blood! How you feel, your wife killed? Who
pity you, when tear come for moder, or sister? You big as great pine-- Huron
gal little slender birch--why you fall on her and crush her! You t ink Huron
forget it? No; red-skin never forget! Never forget friend; never forget enemy.
Red man Manitou indat . Why you so wicked, great pale-face?
Hurry had never been so daunted, as by this close and warm attack of the
Indian girl. It is true that she had a powerful ally in his conscience; and
while she spoke earnestly, it was in tones so feminine as to deprive him of
any pretext for unmanly anger. The softness of her voice added to the weight
of her remonstrance, by lending to the latter an air of purity and truth. Like
most vulgar-minded men, he had only regarded the Indians through the medium of
their coarser and fiercer characteristics. It had never struck him that the
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affections are human; that even high principles-- modified by habits and
prejudices, but not the less elevated within their circle--can exist in the
savage state; and that the warrior who is most ruthless in the field, can
submit to the softest and gentlest influences, in the moments of domestic
quiet. In a word, it was the habit of his mind to regard all Indians as beings [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]