The Deerslayer (Barnes & Noble Classics) - James Fenimore Cooper [153]
“My old father and my young brother, the Big Pine”—for so the Delaware had named March—“want to see Huron scalps at their belts,” said Chingachgook to his friend. “There is room for some on the girdle of the Serpent, and his people will look for them when he goes back to his village. Their eyes must not be left long in a fog, but they must see what they look for. I know that my brother has a white hand; he will not strike even the dead. He will wait for us; when we come back he will not hide his face from shame for his friend. The great Serpent of the Mohicans must be worthy to go on the warpath with Hawkeye.”
“Ay, ay, Sarpent, I see how it is; that name’s to stick, and in time, I shall get to be known by it instead of Deerslayer; well, if such honors will come, the humblest of us all must be willing to abide by ‘em. As for you looking for scalps, it belongs to your gifts, and I see no harm in it. Be marciful, Sarpent, howsever; be marciful, I beseech of you. It surely can do no harm to a redskin’s honor to show a little marcy As for the old man, the father of two women, who might ripen better feelin’s in his heart, and Harry March here, who, pine as he is, might better bear the fruit of a more Christianized tree, as for them two, I leave them in the hands of the white man’s God. Wasn’t it for the bloody sticks, no man should go ag’in the Mingos this night, seein’ that it would dishonor our faith and characters; but them that crave blood can’t complain if blood is shed at their call. Still, Sarpent, you can be marciful. Don’t begin your career with the wails of women and the cries of children. Bear yourself so that Hist will smile, and not weep, when she meets you. Go, then; and the Manitou presarve you!”
“My brother will stay here with the scow. Wah will soon be standing on the shore waiting, and Chingachgook must hasten.”
The Indian then joined his two coadventurers, and first lowering the sail, they all three entered the canoe, and left the side of the ark. Neither Hutter nor March spoke to Deerslayer concerning their object, or the probable length of their absence. All this had been confided to the Indian, who had acquitted himself of the trust with characteristic brevity. As soon as the canoe was out of sight, and that occurred ere the paddles had given a dozen strokes, Deerslayer made the best dispositions he could to keep the ark as nearly stationary as possible; and then he sat down in the end of the scow, to chew the cud of his own bitter reflections. It was not long, however, before he was joined by Judith, who sought every occasion to be near him, managing her attack on his affections with the address that was suggested by native coquetry, aided by no little practice, but which received much of its most dangerous power from the touch of feeling that threw around her manner, voice, accents, thoughts, and acts, the indescribable witchery of natural tenderness. Leaving the young hunter exposed to these dangerous assailants, it has become our more immediate business to follow the party in the canoe to the shore.
The controlling influence that led Hutter and Hurry to repeat their experiment against the camp was precisely that which had induced the first attempt, a little heightened, perhaps, by the desire of revenge. But neither of these two rude beings, so ruthless in all things that touched the rights and interests of the redman, though possessing veins of human feeling on other matters, was much actuated by any other desire than a heartless longing for profit. Hurry had felt angered at his sufferings, when first liberated, it is true, but that emotion soon disappeared in the habitual love of gold, which he sought with the reckless