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THE DEERSLAYER
By JAMES FENIMORE COOPER W HEN the young white hunters, Deer-slayer and Hurry Harry, reached the Lake Glimmerglass, the Hurons were on the warpath. Floating Tom Hutter, the only settler on the lake, knew the red men's ways and had built his house on piles, a quarter of a mile from shore. With him lived his daughters, Judith, handsome and flirtatious, and Hetty, a young woman with the mind of a child. Hurry Harry, a handsome giant of the woods, had been one of Judith's many wooers. Floating Tom had another home, the Ark, a crude houseboat propelled by sweeps and a sail. Here the hunters found him. As the Ark passed an overhanging sapling, warriors, bedaubed by wax-paint, leaped for the roof. They fell into the lake, but yells and pat- tering bullets from shore told that they were out in force. Rutter was a hardy fighter, Hurry had the strength of ten ordinary men, and Natty Bumppo had won his name of Deerslayer because of his unerring aim with the rifle. They might have withstood a siege of weeks. But Rutter and Hurry, tempted by the bounty for scalps, determined to raid the Indian encampment, where they expected to find only squaws and children. Deerslayer refused to join this cowardly warfare. But warriors were in the tents and the raiders were captured. Deerslayer, now the sole reliance of the girls in Nutter's lake-girdled house, could not attempt their rescue. His simple honesty and his modesty made a profound impression upon Judith, who had hitherto listened too willingly to the honeyed words of English officers. Her arts were forgotten in the presence of this naive woodsman who was blind to feminine wiles. Although the Indians had no canoes, Deerslayer knew that they could quickly make rafts, and he was glad enough that he had agreed to meet at the lake that night his dearest friend, the young Delaware warrior, Big Serpent. At sunset he ma- neuvered the Ark near the rendezvous and Big Serpent leaped aboard. The bank re-sounded with exultant yells, and a score of savages splashed into the water. Deer-slayer and Big Serpent bent to the sweeps and foiled them. Big Serpent's hatred of the Hurons was white hot, for they were carrying into captivity his betrothed, the lissome Hist-oh-Hist. It was simple-minded Hetty who first went to the rescue of Hutter and Hurry. She believed that reading her Bible to these savages would soften their hearts. She was allowed to converse freely with the captives, for the Indians had a superstitious belief that the gods spoke through those whose wits were weak. Her pleading words, however, fell upon deaf ears. Deerslayer, with keener knowledge of Indian character, ransomed Hutter and Hurry with some ivory chessmen that the red men deemed idols. While the released captives slept and the girls watched, Deerslayer and Big Serpent paddled away to rescue Hist-oh-Hist, who had sent word by Hetty that she would be on a conspicuous point of land when a bright star came out over a hilltop. The star came out, but Hist did not appear. The Delaware and his paleface comrade crept noiselessly to a ridge where they could overlook the encampment. Big Serpent chirruped like a squirrel, and Hist, guarded by an old hag, was so suddenly silent that they knew she understood. At last the two women passed them. Big Serpent dragged his beloved toward the canoe; Deerslayer clutched the old woman, but her screams alarmed the camp. He ran for the canoe, but as he pushed it off an Indian landed squarely upon his back. Deer-slayer thought not of himself, but gave the canoe so powerful a shove that it glided a hundred feet away. He tumbled into the lake, arose with his assailant, and they floundered in breast-high water. He was quickly surrounded, so he surrendered quietly. Morning came and the Ark was swept toward the house. The keen eyes of Hist detected a moccasin floating against a pile and Big Serpent was sure the Hurons were within. Hurry and Hutter laughed at him and clambered inside through a trap-door. Hardly were they within before there was a heavy fall. To the sharp ears of Big Serpent, the whole house seemed alive. Now and then an Indian yell sounded or a deep bellow from Hurry. Big Serpent dared not desert the three girls. Suddenly the door burst open and Hurry came raging forth upon the small platform. He stood panting, eying his enemies. Then he seized one brave by the waist and flung him far into the lake; two others quickly followed. Four were left. They were without arms and had little desire to close with this demon. He kicked one into the water, he doubled up another by a prodigious blow. The bigger of the two remaining closed with his white foe. They wrestled fiercely upon the narrow platform. Then Hurry raised the red man high above his head, hurled him down, and fell heavily upon him. But at that moment of conquest his arms were bound from behind. The Indians whom he had flung into the lake had scrambled out in time to pinion him. As the Ark drifted past, Hist cried out to Hurry to roll off. He obeyed and fell with a great splash into the water. Hist threw him a rope, which he clutched with hands and teeth, the bullets of the outwitted Indians fell short, and Big Serpent pulled the exhausted giant on hoard. The Hurons left the house, and when Judith reached it her father was dying. He had been scalped while still alive. The two men were soon rejoined by Deer-slayer, who had accepted a furlough, promising to return at noon the next day if Hist and Judith refused to become Huron squaws. To Hurry's disgust, Deerslayer announced that he intended to keep his pledge. It meant death by torture, and Hurry could. not understand how honor could drive a man insane. The giant left the lake stealthily that night, but promised to guide back a company of soldiers. Judith, having dismissed Hurry forever, tried to tell Deerslayer that she loved him. But the hunter was so humble and Judith so beautiful, that he would not understand. He knew, moreover, that Judith had not al-ways resisted the caresses of an English officer. The sun was directly overhead when Deerslayer strode back into the Huron encampment. He haughtily refused to save his life by wedding the widow of a warrior he had shot, whereupon her brother hurled a tomahawk at the captive. Deerslayer's hand shot up and caught the weapon as it flew. An instant later it drove back and struck his foe between the eyes. It gave him his opportunity to escape. As the Indians ran to the dead man's side he burst away with the speed of a deer. Behind him he heard the savage yells of his pursuers. Bullets whistled past, but he ran on untouched. At the edge of a gully, he leaped upon a fallen tree, shouted as if gloating over a free trail ahead, and then crept beneath the tree. His foes jumped upon it as they bounded along, but one after one they raced into the gully. Deerslayer doubled back, reached the lake, and threw himself into the canoe. The paddles were gone and he had to drift, lying flat in the bottom. Bullets cut the sides, making peep-holes. Just as he thought himself safely away, the fickle wind changed and he was driven back, again a prisoner. The Hurons were now enraged. They bound him, and the young warriors flung tomahawks at him, trying to see how close they could come. This was but preparatory to the tortures. Then Judith, desperate in her love, stalked out of the trees to save him. Her impassioned words had no effect and the fires were kindled at his feet. Hetty leaped forward and stamped out the flames. Then Big Serpent bounded forth and with a rapid thrust cut Deerslayer loose. In his hands were two rifles, and for a moment the Hurons were dismayed. The warricr who had hoped to wed Hist hurled his knife at his rival, but Hist struck up his hand and he fell, Big Serpent's knife quivering' in his breast. The red men scattered for their guns, but now a tramping was heard. Redcoats appeared among the trees, led by Hurry. Deerslayer's rifle crackled and two Hurons fell. The rest, cut off from escape, were butchered or made prisoners. Hetty was mortally wounded, but none of the others were hurt. Judith flung away her reserve as they were leaving this scene of bloodshed and implored Deerslayer to marry her. But he remembered her past, and her beauty could not move him. She turned away and walked on with the soldiers. The captain had been her ardent wooer of the past, and rumors came later to America that on his great English estate lived a lady of rare beauty who did not bear his name. Whether or not it was Judith, Deerslayer never knew. He trod another trail, with Big Serpent and Hist, back to the Delawares. The Hurons long knew his wrath, but fifteen years passed before he saw Glimmerglass again. His heart beat faster as he looked upon the ruined house and Ark, upon that silent sheet of lovely water fringed by deep woods and green hills. |