"I cannot do that," replied Lord H----, "for I promised to be back at your father's house by to-morrow night, and matters of much importance may have to be decided. But I can easily land at the point, as you say--whatever point you may mean--and find my way back. As for myself, I have no fears. There seem to be but a few scattered parties of Indians of different tribes roaming about, and I trust that anything like general hostility is at an end for this year at least."
"In Indian warfare the danger is the greatest, I have heard, when it seems the least," replied Walter Prevost; "but from the point to the house, some fourteen or sixteen miles, the road is perfectly safe, for it is the only one on which large numbers of persons are passing to and from Albany."
"It will be safe enough," said Woodchuck; "that way is always quiet; and besides, a wise man and a powerful one could travel at any time from one end of the Long House to the other without risk--unless there were special cause. It is bad shooting we have had to-day, Walter, but still I should have liked to have the skin of that panther. He seemed to me an unextinguishable fine crittur."
"He was a fine creature, and that I know, for I shot him, Woodchuck," said Walter Prevost, with some pride in the achievement. "I wanted to send the skin to Otaitsa--but it cannot be helped."
"Let us go and get it now!" cried Woodchuck, with the ruling passion strong in death. "'Tis but a step back. Darn those Ingians! Why should I care?"
But both his companions urged him forward, and they continued their way through woods skirting the river for somewhat more than two miles, first rising gently to a spot where the roar of the waters was heard distinctly, and then, after descending, rising again to a rocky point midway between the highest ground and the water level, where a small congregation of huts had been gathered together, principally inhabited by boatmen, and surrounded by a stout palisade.
The scene at the hamlet itself had nothing very remarkable in it. Here were women sitting at the door, knitting and sewing, men lounging about or mending nets or making lines, children playing in the dirt, as usual, both inside and outside of the palisade. The traces of more than one nation could be discovered in the features as well as in the tongues of the inhabitants, and it was not difficult to perceive that here had been congregated, by the force of circumstances into which it is not necessary to inquire, sundry fragments of Dutch, English, Indian, and even French--races all bound together by a community of object and pursuit.
The approach of the three strangers did not in any degree startle the good people from their idleness or their occupations. The carrying trade was then a very good one, especially in remote places where traveling was difficult, and these people could always make a very tolerable livelihood without any very great or continuous exertion. The result of such a state of things is always very detrimental to activity of mind or body, and the boatmen, though they sauntered up round Lord H---- and his companions, divining that some profitable piece of work was before them, showed amazing indifference as to whether they would undertake it or not. But that which astonished Lord H---- the most was to see the deliberate coolness with which Woodchuck set about making his bargain for the conveyance of himself and Walter to Albany. He sat down upon a large stone within the enclosure, took a knife from his pocket and a piece of wood from the ground, and began cutting the latter with the former with as tranquil and careless an air as if there were no heavy thought upon his mind--no dark memory behind him--no terrible fate dogging him at the heels. But Woodchuck and Walter were both well known to the boatmen, and though they might probably have attempted to impose upon the inexperience of the lad, they knew they had met their match in the shrewdness of his companion, and were not aware that any circumstance rendered speed more valuable to him than money. The bargaining, then, was soon concluded, but Captain Brooks was not contented till he had bargained also for the services of two men in guiding Lord H---- back to the house of Mr. Prevost. This was undertaken for a dollar apiece, however, and then the whole party proceeded to the bank of the river, where a boat was soon unmoored, and Walter and his companion set forth upon their journey, not, however, till Lord H---- had shaken the latter warmly by the hand, and said a few words in the ear of Captain Brooks, adding: "Walter will tell you more, and how to communicate with me."
"Thank you, thank you," replied the hunter, wringing his hand hard. "A friend in need is a friend indeed. I do not want it, but I thank you as much as if I did; but you shall hear if I do, for somehow I guess you are not the man to say what you don't mean."
After seeing his two companions row down the stream a few yards, the young nobleman turned to the boatmen who accompanied him, saying: "Now, my lads, I want to make a change of our arrangements, and to go back the short way by which we came. I did not interrupt our good friend Woodchuck, because he was anxious about my safety. There are some Indians in the forest, and he feared I might get scalped. However, we shot a panther there which we could not stay to skin, as their business in Albany was pressing. Now I want the skin, and am not afraid of the Indians--are you?"
The men laughed, and replied in the negative, saying that there were none of the redmen there but four or five Oneidas and Mohawks, but adding that the way, though shorter, was much more difficult and bushy, and therefore they must have more pay. Lord H----, however, was less difficult to deal with than Captain Brooks, and yielded readily to their demands.
Each of the men then armed himself with a rifle and took a bag of parched corn with him, and the three set out.
Lord H---- undertook to guide them to the spot where the panther lay, and not a little did they wonder at the accuracy and precision with which his military habits of observation enabled him to direct them step by step. He took great care not to let them approach the spot where the dead Indian had been slain, but turning about a quarter of a mile to the south, led them across the thicket to within a very few yards of the object of his search. It was soon found, when they came near the place, and about half an hour was employed in taking off the skin and packing it up for carriage.
"Now," said Lord H----, "will you two undertake to have this skin properly cured and dispatched by the first trader going west to the Oneida village?"
The men readily agreed to do so if well paid for it, but, of course, required further directions, saying there were a dozen or more Oneida villages.
"It will be sure to reach its destination," said Lord H----, "if you tell the bearer to deliver it to Otaitsa, which, I believe, means the Blossom, the daughter of Black Eagle, the sachem. Say that it comes from Walter Prevost."
"Oh, aye," answered the boatmen, "it shall be done; but we shall have to pay the man who carries it."
The arrangement in regard to payment was soon made, though it was somewhat exorbitant; but to insure that the commission was faithfully executed, Lord H---- reserved a portion of the money, to be given when he heard that the skin had been delivered.
The rest of the journey was passed without interruption or difficulty, and at an early hour of the evening the young nobleman stood once more at the door of his fellow countryman's house.
CHAPTER VI
The return of Lord H---- without his guide and companion, Captain Brooks, caused some surprise in Mr. Prevost and his daughter, who had not expected to see any of the party before a late hour of the following evening. Not choosing to explain, in the presence of Edith, the cause of his parting so suddenly from the hunter, the young nobleman merely said that circumstances had led him to conclude it would be advisable to send Woodchuck in the boat with Walter, to Albany, and his words were uttered in so natural and easy a tone that Edith, unconscious that her presence put any restraint upon his communication with her father, remained seated in their pleasant little parlor till the hour for the evening meal.
"Well, my lord," said Mr. Prevost, after the few first words of explanation had passed, "did you meet with any fresh specimens of the Indian in your short expedition?"
The question might have been a somewhat puzzling