The Pilgrims of New England - Mrs. J. B. Webb
Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28
Along this difficult path the Nausett warriors and their families were
now slowly winding their way, many of them on horseback, followed by
their squaws and their children on foot; and others, less barbarous,
leading the steeds on which the women and infants were placed on the
summit of a pile of baggage, and carrying their own bows and quivers,
and long and slender spears.
It was a picturesque scene: and the low chanting song of the distant
Indians--to which their march kept time--sounded sweetly, though
mournfully, as it rose on the breeze to the elevated position occupied
by Oriana and her two companions. The latter seemed fully occupied--the
one in pointing out, and the other in observing the route of the
travelers. But the eye of Henrich was not unobservant of the beauties
of the prospect; and that of Coubitant was restlessly roving to and fro
with quick and furtive glances, that seemed to indicate some secret
purpose, and to be watching for the moment to effect it.
Some of the Nausetts in the path below looked upwards; and, observing
their young Sachem and his companions, they raised a shout of
recognition, that caused the rocks to echo, and also made the brows of
Coubitant to contract. He saw that he must delay his purpose until the
travelers were out of sight: and this chafed his spirit: but he
controlled it, and proposed to Henrich and Oriana to seat themselves on
the verge of the precipice, and watch the course of the travelers,
while he went to reconnoiter the steep path by which he designed to
join them. They did so, and the hushes that grew to the edge of the
steep declivity shaded the spot, and hid them from the retreating form
of Coubitant.
For some time they sat together, admiring the beauty of the scene
before them, and watching the long procession in the defile below, as
it wound, 'in Indian file,' between the rocks and tangled bushes that
cumbered the vale, until it was almost out of sight. Rudolph lay
beside them, apparently asleep; but the slumber of a faithful watch-dog
is always light, and Rodolph was one of the most vigilant of his race.
Why did he now utter a low uneasy moan, as if he dreamt of danger? It
was so low that, if Henrich heard it, he did not pay any heed to it,
and continued talking to Oriana of their approaching journey, and of
their plans for the future, in perfect security.
But their conversation was suddenly and painfully interrupted. A
fierce bark from Rodolph, as he sprang on some one in the bush close
beside Henrich, and the grasp of a powerful hand upon his shoulder at
the same instant, caused the young Sachem to glance round. He found
himself held to the ground by Coubitant, who was endeavoring to force
him over the precipice; and would, from the suddenness and strength of
the attack, have undoubtedly succeeded, but for the timely aid of
Rodolph, who had seized on his left arm, and held it back in his
powerful jaws. He was, however, unable to displace the savage, or
release his master from the perilous situation in which he was placed;
and, owing to the manner in which Henrich had seated himself on the
extreme verge of the rock that overhung the precipice, it was out of
his power to spring to his feet, or offer any effectual resistance. The
slender but not feeble arm of Oriana, as she clung frantically to her
husband, and strove to draw him back to safety, was, apparently, the
only human power that now preserved him from instant destruction. Not
a sound was uttered by one of the struggling group; scarcely a breath
was drawn--so intense was the mental emotion, and the muscular effort
that nerved every fiber during these awfully protracted moments.
But help was nigh! He, in whose hands are the lives of His creatures,
sent aid when aid was so needful. A loud cry was heard in the thicket;
and, as Coubitant made one more desperate effort to hurl his detested
rival from the rock, and almost succeeded in flinging the whole group
together into the depths below--he felt himself encircled by arms as
muscular as his own, and suddenly dragged backwards.
Henrich sprang on the firm ground, and beheld his faithful friend
Jyanough in fierce conflict with the treacherous Coubitant, and
powerfully assisted by Rodolph, who had loosed the murderer's arm, but
continued to assail and wound him as he struggled to draw his new
antagonist to the brink, and seemed resolved to have one victim, even
if he shared the same dreadful fate himself. Henrich flew to the aid of
his friend, leaving Oriana motionless, and almost breathless, on the
spot where she had endured such agony of mind, and such violent bodily
exertion. For once, her strength and spirit failed her; for the trial
had been too great, and faintness overcame her as she saw her husband
again approach his deadly and now undisguised foe.
Coubitant saw her sink to the ground, and, with a mighty effort, he
shook off the grasp of Jyanough, and darted towards Oriana. He had
thought to carry her off, a living prize, after the murder of her
husband; but now his only hope was vengeance and her destruction would
be vengeance, indeed, on Henrich.
But love is stronger even than hate. The arms of Henrich snatched his
unconscious wife from the threatened peril; and, as he bore her away
from the scene of conflict, Jyanough again closed on the villain, and
the deadly struggle was resumed. It was brief, but awful. The
strength of Coubitant was becoming exhausted--his grasp began to
loosen, and his foot to falter.
'Spare him!' cried Henrich, as he saw the combatants on the verge of
the craggy platform, and feared they would fall together on the rocks
beneath. 'Spare him; and secure him for the judgement of Tisquantum.'
And again he laid Oriana on the ground, and rushed to save alike his
friend and foe.
'He dies!' exclaimed Jyanough. 'Let him meet the fate he merits!' And
springing backwards himself, he dashed his antagonist over the rock.
One moment Henrich saw his falling form, and met the still fiery glance
of that matchless eye--the next, he heard the crash of breaking
branches, and listened for the last fatal sound of the expiring body on
the rocks below. But the depth was too great: an awful stillness
followed; and, though Henrich strove to look downwards, and ascertain
the fate of his departed foe, the boughs and creepers that clothed the
perpendicular face of the rock, entirely prevented his doing so.
'He is gone!' he exclaimed; and not in a voice of either joy or
triumph, for his soul was moved within him at the appalling fate of
such a man as Coubitant and at such a moment! 'He is gone to his last
account: and O! what fearful passions were in his heart! Thank God, he
did not drag you with him to death, my faithful Jyanough! But tell me,'
he added--as they returned together to where Oriana lay, still
unconscious of the dreadful tragedy that had just been enacted so near
her--' tell me, my friend, how it was that you were so near at hand,
when danger, which I could not repel, hung over me, and your hand was
interposed to save me?'
'My mind misgave me that some treachery was intended,' replied
Jyanough, 'when I saw that wily serpent leading you to the mountain's
brow; and my suspicions were confirmed by his evident reluctance to my
joining the party. Rodolph's expressive countenance told me, too, that
there was danger to be feared; and no red man can excel Rodolph in
sagacity. So I resolved to be at hand if succor should be needed; and,
having waited till you were all fairly out of sight and hearing, I
followed slowly and stealthily, and reached the verge of the thicket
just in time to hear the warning cry of your noble dog, and see that
dastardly villain spring upon you from the bush. The rest you know: and
now you will believe me, when I own my conviction that your destruction
has been his object since the time I joined your camp: and that, to
accomplish it, and obtain possession of Oriana, he returned to
Tisquantum's tribe, and has worn the mask of friendship for so many
months. My soul is relieved of a burden by his death; and forgive me,
Henrich, if I own that I glory in having executed on him the vengeance
he deserved, and having devoted him to the fate he designed for you.'
Henrich could not regret the death, however dreadful, of one who seemed
to have been so bent on the destruction of his happiness and his life;
but the thought of all the guilt that lay on Coubitant's soul,
unrepented of and unatoned, saddened and solemnized his spirit; and he
only replied to Jyanough's exulting words by a kindly pressure of his
friend's hand, as they approached Oriana.
Her senses bad returned, and, with them, a painful sense of danger and
of dread, and she looked anxiously, and almost wildly, around her, as
Henrich knelt beside her, and gently raised her from the ground.
'Where is he?' she exclaimed. 'Where is that fearful form, and those
eyes of unearthly fire that glared on me just now? You are safe, my
Henrich,' she added; and, as she looked up in his face, tears of joy
and gratitude burst from her large expressive eyes, and relieved her
bursting heart. You are safe, my Henrich: and oh that that dark form of
dread and evil might never, never, cross my path again!'
'Fear not, Oriana,' replied Jyanough, 'he never more will darken your
way through life. He has met the death he designed for Henrich, and let
us think of him no more. It is time to return to the camp; and your
husband and I will support you down the hill.'
'I am well, quite well, now !' cried Oriana, and she rose from the
ground, and clung to Henrich's arm, as if to assure herself of his
presence and safety. 'I could walk through the world thus supported,
and thus guarded, too,' she added, as she stroked the head of the
joyous Rodolph, who now bounded round her and Henrich with all his
wonted spirit. 'I owe much to my two trusty friends; for, but for
their care and watchfulness, what would now have been my dreadful fate!
Let us leave this spot--so beautiful, but now so full of fearful
images!'
CHAPTER XVII.
'Hither and thither; hither and thither!
Madly they fly!
Whither, O, whither! Whither, O, whither? -
'Tis but to die!
Fire is behind them: fire is, around them:
Black is the sky?
Horror pursues them; anguish has found them:
Destruction is nigh!
And where is refuge? where is safety now?
Father of mercy! None can Save but Thou?' ANON.
'What is that distant cloud, Henrich?' inquired Oriana, as they rode by
Tisquantum's side on the evening of the day of their journey towards the
Missouri. 'It seems like the smoke of an encampment, as I see it over
the tall waving grass: but it must be too near to be the camp of our
people; unless, indeed, they have tarried there, waiting the arrival of
Coubitant, who never will rejoin them more.'
'I see the cloud you speak of, Oriana; and I have been watching it with
some anxiety for several minutes. It cannot be what you suggest, for
you know your father received a message from the trusty Salon--next in
command to Coubitant--to tell him that their leader not having joined
the party as he promised, a search had been made, and his mangled body
found at the foot of the rock, where, it was supposed, he must have
fallen in attempting the sleep descent. Salon's messenger further
stated that, having buried the corpse where it lay, he had led the
people on, and should pursue the path pointed out by Coubitant, and
hasten to prepare the necessary huts for our reception. I dispatched
the messenger again with further directions to Salon; and ere this, no
doubt, the encampment is formed on the shores of the great river to
which we are journeying. 'Father,' he added, as he turned towards
Tisquantum, 'your eye is dim, but your sagacity is as keen as ever.
Can you discern that rising smoke, and tell us its cause?'
The aged Sachem had been riding silently and abstractedly along. The
tall dry grass--now ripe, and shedding its seeds on every side--rose
frequently above his head; for he was mounted on a low strong horse,
and he had not observed the cloud that had attracted the attention of
the younger travelers. He now paused, and looked earnestly to the
south, in which direction the smoke appeared right before the advancing
party, and from whence a strong and sultry wind was blowing. As the
prairie grass rose and fell in undulating waves, the old man obtained a
distinct view of the smoke, which now seemed to have spread
considerably to the right and left, and also to be approaching towards
the travelers.
The narrow, zigzag track of the deer and the buffaloes was the only
beaten path through the prairie; and this could only be traveled by two
or three horsemen abreast. The old Sachem, and Henrich, and Oriana, led
the party; and Jyanough, and Mailah, and young Lincoya, all well
mounted, rode immediately in the rear. The attendants of the two
families, and a few experienced warriors, some on foot and some on
horseback, followed in the winding path.
On the halt of the foremost rank, the rest rode up, and were
immediately made aware of the ominous signs which hitherto they had not
noticed. Instantly terror was depicted in every countenance; and the
deep low voice of Tisquantum sank into every heart, as he exclaimed,
'The prairie is on fire!'
'Turn!' cried Henrich, 'and fly! Let each horseman take one of those on
foot behind, and fly for your lives. Cast the baggage on the ground--
stay for nothing, but our people's lives.'
He was obeyed: men and women were all mounted; and Henrich snatched his
boy from the arms of the woman who carried him, and, giving the child
to Oriana, took up the terrified attendant on his own powerful steed.
The wind rose higher: and now the roar of the pursuing flames came
fearfully on the fugitives, growing louder and louder, while volumes of
dense smoke were driven over their heads, and darkened the sky that had
so lately shone in all its summer brightness.
Headlong the party dashed along the winding path, and sometimes the
terrified horses leaped into the tall grass, seeking a straighter
course, or eager to pass by those who had fled before them. But this
was a vain attempt. The wild pea-vines, and other creeping plants that
stretched among the grass, offered such impediments to rapid flight, as
forced them again into the path.
And now the wild inhabitants of the broad savanna came rushing on, and
joined the furious flight, adding difficulty and confusion to the
horror of the scene. Buffaloes, elks, and antelopes, tore madly through
the grass, jostling the horses and their riders, and leaving them far
in the rear. The screaming eagle rode high above among the clouds of
smoke, and many smaller birds fell suffocated to the ground; while all
the insect tribe took wing, and everything that had life strove to
escape the dread pursuer.
It was a desperate race! The strength of the fugitives began to fail,
and no refuge, no hope, seemed near. Alas! to some the race was lost.
The blinding effect of the dense smoke that filled the atmosphere, the
suffocating smell of the burning mass of vegetable matter, and the
lurid glare of the red flames that came on so rapidly, overpowered
alike the horses and their riders: while the roaring of the fire--which
sounded like a mighty rushing cataract--and the oppressive heat, seemed
to confuse the senses, and destroy the vital powers of the more feeble
and ill-mounted of the fugitives. Several of the horses fell, and
their devoted riders sank to the ground, unable any longer to sustain
the effort for life; and Henrich had the agony of passing by the
wretched victims, and leaving them to their fate, for he knew that he
had no power to save them.
Many miles were traversed--and still the unbroken level of the prairie
spread out before them--and still the roaring and destructive flames
came borne on the mighty winds behind them. A few scattered trees were
the only objects that broke the monotony of the plains; and the hills,
at the foot of which they had traveled that morning, and where alone
they could lock for safety, were still at a great distance. At length,
the aged Tisquantum's powers of endurance began to give way. The reins
almost fell from his hands; and, in trembling accents, he declared his
total inability to proceed any further.
Leave me, my children!' he exclaimed, 'to perish here; for my strength
is gone; and what matters it where the old Tisquantum breathes his
last. Mahneto is here, even in this awful hour, to receive my spirit;
and I shall but lose a few short months or years of age and infirmity.'
'Never, my father!' cried H enrich, as he caught the reins of the
Sachem's horse; and while he still urged his own overloaded steed to
fresh exertions, endeavored also to support the failing form of his
father-in-law. 'Never will we leave you to die alone in this fiery
desert. Hold on, my father! hold on yet a little longer till we gain
the defile, where the flames cannot follow as, and all will yet be
well!'
'I cannot, my son!' replied the old man. 'Farewell, my dear, my noble
boy!--farewell, my Oriana!' And his head sank down upon the neck of his
horse.
He would have fallen to the ground but for Henrich, who now checked the
panting steeds, and sprang down to his feet in time to receive him in
his arms.
Fly, Oriana!' he exclaimed, as his wife also drew the bridle of her
foaming horse by his side. 'Fly, Oriana, my beloved! save your own
life, and that of our child! If possible, I will preserve your father--
but if not, farewell! and God be with you!'
One moment Oriana urged her horse again to its swiftest pace, as if in
obedience to her husband's command--the next, she was at Mailah's side,
holding her infant in one arm, white with the other she guided and
controlled the terrified animal on which she rode.
'Here, Mailah!' she cried--and she clasped the child to her breast, and
imprinted one passionate kiss on its cheek--' Take my Ludovico, and
save his life, and I will return to my husband and father. If we follow
you, well. If not, be a mother to my child, and may the blessing of God
be on you!'
She almost flung the infant into the extended arms of Mailah; and then,
having with difficulty turned her horse, and forced him to retrace his
steps, she again rejoined those with whom she was resolved to live or
die.
One glance of affectionate reproach she met from her Henrich's eyes:
but he did not speak. With the assistance of Ludovico's nurse, who rode
behind him, he had just lifted Tisquantum to his own saddle, and was
preparing to mount himself, and endeavor to support the unconscious old
man, and again commence the race far life or death. But it seemed a
hopeless attempt--so utterly helpless was the Sachem, and so unable to
retain his seat. Quick as thought Oriana unbound her long twisted
girdle of many colors; and, flinging it to Henrich, desired him to bind
the failing form of her father to his own. He did so: and the nurse
having mounted behind Oriana, again the now furious steeds started
forward. All these actions had taken less time to perform than they
have to relate; but yet the pursuing flames had gained much way, and
the flight became more desperate, and more hazardous. Again the
prostrate forms of horses and their riders met the eyes of Henrich and
Oriana; but in the thickness of the air, and the wild speed at which
they were compelled to pass, it was impossible to distinguish who were
the unhappy victims.
'Heaven be praised!' at length Henrich exclaimed--and they were the
first words he had uttered since the flight had been resumed--' Heaven
be praised! I see the rocks dimly through the clouds of smoke. Yet a
few moments, and we shall be safe. Already the grass around us is
shorter and thinner: we are leaving the savanna, and shall soon reach
the barren defile, where the flames will find no fuel'
The horses seemed to know that safety was near at hand, for they
bounded forward with fresh vigor, and quickly joined the group of
breathless fugitives, who, having reached the extremity of the prairie,
had paused to rest from their desperate exertions, and to look out for
those of their companions who were missing, but who they hoped would
soon overtake them.
Oriana snatched her now smiling boy from Mailah's arms, and embraced
him with a fervency and emotion that showed how little she had hoped to
see his face again. But her own happy and grateful feelings were
painfully interrupted by her friend's exclamation of agony--
'Where is my Lincoya?' she cried. 'Did he not follow with you? I saw
him close to me when I paused to take your child: and he is not here!
O, my Lincoya! my brave, my beautiful boy! Have you perished in the
flames, with none to help you?' And she broke forth into cries and
lamentations that wrung the heart of Oriana.
She could give her no tidings of the lost youth, for she knew not whose
fainting forms she had passed in the narrow shrouded path; and it was
utterly impossible now to go and seek him, for the flames had followed
hard upon their flight, and were still raging over the mass of dry
herbage, and consuming even the scattered tufts that grew among the
stones at the entrance to the ravine. So intense was the heat of the
glowing surface, even after the blaze had died away, that it would not
be practicable to pass over it for many hours; and the party, who had
reached a place of safety, were compelled to make arrangements for
passing the night where they were, not only that they might be ready to
seek the remains of their lost friends the next morning, but also
because their own weary limbs, and those of their trembling horses,
refused to carry them any further. All the provisions and other
baggage, which they had carried for their journey, had been abandoned
in the flight, end had become a rapid prey to the devouring flames. But
several of the scorched and affrighted prairie fowls, and a few hares--
exhausted with their long race--were easily secured by the young
hunters, end afforded a supper to the weary company.
The horses were then turned loose to find fodder for themselves, and to
drink at the little brook that still trickled among the rocks; and
large fires having been lighted to scare the wild beasts that, like our
travelers, had been driven for refuge to the ravine, all lay down to
sleep, thankful to the deities in whom they respectively trusted, for
their preservation in such imminent peril.
Fervent were the prayers and praises that were offered up that night by
the little band of Christians, among whom Henrich always officiated as
minister: and even the distressed spirit of Mailah was comforted and
calmed as she joined in his words of thanksgiving, and in his heartfelt
petitions that the lost Lincoya might yet be restored to his parents;
or that, if his spirit had already passed away from earth, it might
have been purified by faith, and received into the presence of its God
and Savior.
Mailah was tranquilized; but her grief and anxiety were not removed:
and she passed that sad night in sleepless reflection on the dreadful
fate of her only child, and in sincere endeavors so to realize and
apply all the blessed truths she had learnt from Henrich, as to derive
from them that comfort to her own soul, and that perfect resignation to
the will of God, that she well knew they were designed to afford to the
Christian believer. And that night of watchfulness did not pass
unprofitably to Mailah's spirit.
But where was Lincoya? Where was the youth whose mother mourned him as
dead? He was safe amid the top most boughs of a lonely tree, that now
stood scorched and leafless in the midst of the smoldering plain,
several miles from the safe retreat that had been gained by his
friends.
The horse on which he rode that day, though fleet and active, was
young, and uninured to long continued and violent exertion; and, at
length, its foot getting entangled in some creeping plant that had
grown across the pathway, it had fallen violently to the ground, and
thrown its young rider among the prairie-grass, where he lay, stunned,
and unable to rise, until all his companions had passed by. Then he
regained the path, and attempted to raise the exhausted creature from
the earth: but all in vain. Its trembling limbs were unable to support
it; and Lincoya saw that he could no longer look to his favorite steed
for the safety of his own life, and must abandon it to perish in the
flames.
But the boy was an Indian, and accustomed to Indian difficulties and
Indian expedients. He glanced rapidly around for some means of
preservation; and, seeing a tree of some magnitude, and at no great
distance, he resolved to try to reach it ere the coming fire had seized
on the surrounding herbage, and seek for a refuge in its summit. With
much difficulty, he forced his way through the tall rank grass that
waved above his head, and the wild vines that were entangled with it in
every direction; and he reached the foot of the tree just as the flames
were beginning to scorch its outmost branches. He sprang upward; and,
climbing with the agility of a squirrel, he was soon in the highest
fork of the tree, and enabled to look down in security on the
devastating fire beneath him. All around was one wide sea of ruddy
flames, that shot up in forked and waving tongues high amid the heavy
clouds of smoke. Happily for Lincoya, the herbage beneath his tree of
refuge grew thin and scanty, and did not afford much food for the
devouring elements; otherwise it must have consumed his retreat, and
suffocated him even in its topmost boughs. As it was, the lower
branches only were destroyed, and the boy was able to endure the heat
and smoke until the roaring flames had passed beneath him, and he
watched them driving onward in the wake of his flying friends.