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PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

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Books: The Pathfinder

J >> James Fenimore Cooper >> The Pathfinder




"I shall do wiser to keep within the blockhouse until the fate of
the island is settled," returned Mabel. "Our enemies can feel no
concern on account of one like me, knowing that I can do them no
harm, and I greatly prefer to remain here as more befitting my sex
and years."

"If nothing but your convenience were concerned, Mabel, we should
all cheerfully acquiesce in your wishes, but these gentlemen fancy
that the work will aid their operations, and they have a strong
desire to possess it. To be frank with you, finding myself and your
uncle in a very peculiar situation, I acknowledge that, to avert
consequences, I have assumed the power that belongs to his Majesty's
commission, and entered into a verbal capitulation, by which I
have engaged to give up the blockhouse and the whole island. It
is the fortune of war, and must be submitted to; so open the door,
pretty Mabel, forthwith, and confide yourself to the care of those
who know how to treat beauty and virtue in distress. There's no
courtier in Scotland more complaisant than this chief, or who is
more familiar with the laws of decorum."

"No leave blockhouse," muttered June, who stood at Mabel's side,
attentive to all that passed. "Blockhouse good -- got no scalp."

Our heroine might have yielded but for this appeal; for it began
to appear to her that the wisest course would be to conciliate the
enemy by concessions instead of exasperating them by resistance.
They must know that Muir and her uncle were in their power; that
there was no man in the building, and she fancied they might proceed
to batter down the door, or cut their way through the logs with
axes, if she obstinately refused to give them peaceable admission,
since there was no longer any reason to dread the rifle. But the
words of June induced her to hesitate, and the earnest pressure
of the hand and entreating looks of her companion strengthened a
resolution that was faltering.

"No prisoner yet," whispered June; "let 'em make prisoner before
'ey take prisoner -- talk big; June manage 'em."

Mabel now began to parley more resolutely with Muir, for her uncle
seemed disposed to quiet his conscience by holding his tongue, and
she plainly intimated that it was not her intention to yield the
building.

"You forget the capitulation, Mistress Mabel," said Muir; "the
honor of one of his Majesty's servants is concerned, and the honor
of his Majesty through his servant. You will remember the finesse
and delicacy that belong to military honor?"

"I know enough, Mr. Muir, to understand that you have no command
in this expedition, and therefore can have no right to yield the
blockhouse; and I remember, moreover, to have heard my dear father
say that a prisoner loses all his authority for the time being."

"Rank sophistry, pretty Mabel, and treason to the king, as well
as dishonoring his commission and discrediting his name. You'll
no' be persevering in your intentions, when your better judgment
has had leisure to reflect and to make conclusions on matters and
circumstances."

"Ay," put in Cap, "this is a circumstance, and be d----d to it!"

"No mind what'e uncle say," ejaculated June, who was occupied in
a far corner of the room. "Blockhouse good - got no scalp."

"I shall remain as I am, Mr. Muir, until I get some tidings of my
father. He will return in the course of the next ten days."

"Ah, Mabel, this artifice will no' deceive the enemy, who, by means
that would be unintelligible, did not our suspicions rest on an
unhappy young man with too much plausibility, are familiar with
all our doings and plans, and well know that the sun will not set
before the worthy Sergeant and his companions will be in their power.
Aweel! Submission to Providence is truly a Christian virtue!"

"Mr. Muir, you appear to be deceived in the strength of this work,
and to fancy it weaker than it is. Do you desire to see what I
can do in the way of defence, if so disposed?"

"I dinna mind if I do," answered the Quartermaster, who always grew
Scotch as he grew interested.

"What do you think of that, then? Look at the loop of the upper
story!"

As soon as Mabel had spoken, all eyes were turned upward, and
beheld the muzzle of a rifle cautiously thrust through a hole,
June having resorted again to a _ruse_ which had already proved so
successful. The result did not disappoint expectation. No sooner
did the Indians catch a sight of the fatal weapon than they leaped
aside, and in less than a minute every man among them had sought a
cover. The French officer kept his eye on the barrel of the piece
in order to ascertain that it was not pointed in his particular
direction, and he coolly took a pinch of snuff. As neither Muir
nor Cap had anything to apprehend from the quarter in which the
others were menaced, they kept their ground.

"Be wise, my pretty Mabel, be wise!" exclaimed the former; "and
no' be provoking useless contention. In the name of all the kings
of Albin, who have ye closeted with you in that wooden tower that
seemeth so bloody-minded? There is necromancy about this matter,
and all our characters may be involved in the explanation."

"What do you think of the Pathfinder, Master Muir, for a garrison
to so strong a post?" cried Mabel, resorting to an equivocation
which the circumstances rendered very excusable. "What will your
French and Indian companions think of the aim of the Pathfinder's
rifle?"

"Bear gently on the unfortunate, pretty Mabel, and do not confound
the king's servants -- may Heaven bless him and all his royal
lineage! -- with the king's enemies. If Pathfinder be indeed in
the blockhouse, let him speak, and we will hold our negotiations
directly with him. He knows us as friends, and we fear no evil at
his hands, and least of all to myself; for a generous mind is apt
to render rivalry in a certain interest a sure ground of respect
and amity, since admiration of the same woman proves a community
of feeling and tastes."

The reliance on Pathfinder's friendship did not extend beyond the
Quartermaster and Cap, however, for even the French officer, who
had hitherto stood his ground so well, shrank back at the sound of
the terrible name. So unwilling, indeed, did this individual, a
man of iron nerves, and one long accustomed to the dangers of the
peculiar warfare in which he was engaged, appear to remain exposed
to the assaults of Killdeer, whose reputation throughout all that
frontier was as well established as that of Marlborough in Europe,
that he did not disdain to seek a cover, insisting that his two
prisoners should follow him. Mabel was too glad to be rid of her
enemies to lament the departure of her friends, though she kissed
her hand to Cap through the loop, and called out to him in terms
of affection as he moved slowly and unwillingly away.

The enemy now seemed disposed to abandon all attempts on the
blockhouse for the present; and June, who had ascended to a trap
in the roof, whence the best view was to be obtained, reported that
the whole party had assembled to eat, on a distant and sheltered
part of the island, where Muir and Cap were quietly sharing in the
good things which were going, as if they had no concern on their
minds. This information greatly relieved Mabel, and she began to
turn her thoughts again to the means of effecting her own escape,
or at least of letting her father know of the danger that awaited
him. The Sergeant was expected to return that afternoon, and she
knew that a moment gained or lost might decide his fate.

Three or four hours flew by. The island was again buried in a
profound quiet, the day was wearing away, and yet Mabel had decided
on nothing. June was in the basement, preparing their frugal meal,
and Mabel herself had ascended to the roof, which was provided
with a trap that allowed her to go out on the top of the building,
whence she commanded the best view of surrounding objects that the
island possessed; still it was limited, and much obstructed by the
tops of trees. The anxious girl did not dare to trust her person
in sight, knowing well that the unrestrained passions of some savage
might induce him to send a bullet through her brain. She merely
kept her head out of the trap, therefore, whence, in the course of
the afternoon, she made as many surveys of the different channels
about the island as "Anne, sister Anne," took of the environs of
the castle of Blue Beard.

The sun had actually set; no intelligence had been received from
the boats, and Mabel ascended to the roof to take a last look,
hoping that the party would arrive in the darkness; which would at
least prevent the Indians from rendering their ambuscade so fatal
as it might otherwise prove, and which possibly might enable her
to give some more intelligible signal, by means of fire, than it
would otherwise be in her power to do. Her eye had turned carefully
round the whole horizon, and she was just on the point of drawing
in her person, when an object that struck her as new caught her
attention. The islands lay grouped so closely, that six or eight
different channels or passages between them were in view; and in
one of the most covered, concealed in a great measure by the bushes
of the shore, lay what a second look assured her was a bark canoe.
It contained a human being beyond a question. Confident that if an
enemy her signal could do no harm, and; if a friend, that it might
do good, the eager girl waved a little flag towards the stranger,
which she had prepared for her father, taking care that it should
not be seen from the island.

Mabel had repeated her signal eight or ten times in vain, and
she began to despair of its being noticed, when a sign was given
in return by the wave of a paddle, and the man so far discovered
himself as to let her see it was Chingachgook. Here, then, at last,
was a friend; one, too, who was able, and she doubted not would be
willing to aid her. From that instant her courage and her spirits
revived. The Mohican had seen her; must have recognized her, as
he knew that she was of the party; and no doubt, as soon as it was
sufficiently dark, he would take the steps necessary to release
her. That he was aware of the presence of the enemy was apparent
by the great caution he observed, and she had every reliance on
his prudence and address. The principal difficulty now existed
with June; for Mabel had seen too much of her fidelity to her own
people, relieved as it was by sympathy for herself, to believe she
would consent to a hostile Indian's entering the blockhouse, or
indeed to her leaving it, with a view to defeat Arrowhead's plans.
The half-hour which succeeded the discovery of the presence of the
Great Serpent was the most painful of Mabel Dunham's life. She
saw the means of effecting all she wished, as it might be within
reach of her hand, and yet it eluded her grasp. She knew June's
decision and coolness, notwithstanding all her gentleness and womanly
feeling; and at last she came reluctantly to the conclusion that
there was no other way of attaining her end than by deceiving her
tried companion and protector. It was revolting to one so sincere
and natural, so pure of heart, and so much disposed to ingenuousness
as Mabel Dunham, to practise deception on a friend like June; but
her own father's life was at stake, her companion would receive
no positive injury, and she had feelings and interests directly
touching herself which would have removed greater scruples.

As soon as it was dark, Mabel's heart began to beat with increased
violence; and she adopted and changed her plan of proceeding at
least a dozen times in a single hour. June was always the source
of her greatest embarrassment; for she did not well see, first,
how she was to ascertain when Chingachgook was at the door, where
she doubted not he would soon appear; and, secondly, how she was
to admit him, without giving the alarm to her watchful companion.
Time pressed, however; for the Mohican might come and go away again,
unless she was ready to receive him. It would be too hazardous to
the Delaware to remain long on the island; and it became absolutely
necessary to determine on some course, even at the risk of choosing
one that was indiscreet. After running over various projects in
her mind, therefore, Mabel came to her companion, and said, with
as much calmness as she could assume, --

"Are you not afraid, June, now your people believe Pathfinder is
in the blockhouse, that they will come and try to set it on fire?"

"No t'ink such t'ing. No burn blockhouse. Blockhouse good; got
no scalp."

"June, we cannot know. They hid because they believed what I told
them of Pathfinder's being with us."

"Believe fear. Fear come quick, go quick. Fear make run away;
wit make come back. Fear make warrior fool, as well as young girl."

Here June laughed, as her sex is apt to laugh when anything
particularly ludicrous crosses their youthful fancies.

"I feel uneasy, June; and wish you yourself would go up again to
the roof and look out upon the island, to make certain that nothing
is plotting against us; you know the signs of what your people
intend to do better than I."

"June go, Lily wish; but very well know that Indian sleep; wait for
'e fader. Warrior eat, drink, sleep, all time, when don't fight
and go on war-trail. Den never sleep, eat, drink -- never feel.
Warrior sleep now."

"God send it may be so! but go up, dear June, and look well about
you. Danger may come when we least expect it."

June arose, and prepared to ascend to the roof; but she paused, with
her foot on the first round of the ladder. Mabel's heart beat so
violently that she was fearful its throbs would be heard; and she
fancied that some gleamings of her real intentions had crossed
the mind of her friend. She was right in part, the Indian woman
having actually stopped to consider whether there was any indiscretion
in what she was about to do. At first the suspicion that Mabel
intended to escape flashed across her mind; then she rejected it,
on the ground that the pale-face had no means of getting off the
island, and that the blockhouse was much the most secure place she
could find. The next thought was, that Mabel had detected some
sign of the near approach of her father. This idea, too, lasted
but an instant; for June entertained some such opinion of her
companion's ability to understand symptoms of this sort -- symptoms
that had escaped her own sagacity -- as a woman of high fashion
entertains of the accomplishments of her maid. Nothing else in
the same way offering, she began slowly to mount the ladder.

Just as she reached the upper floor, a lucky thought suggested
itself to our heroine; and, by expressing it in a hurried but natural
manner, she gained a great advantage in executing her projected
scheme.

"I will go down," she said, "and listen by the door, June, while
you are on the roof; and we will thus be on our guard, at the same
time, above and below."

Though June thought this savored of unnecessary caution, well knowing
that no one could enter the building unless aided from within,
nor any serious danger menace them from the exterior without giving
sufficient warning, she attributed the proposition to Mabel's
ignorance and alarm; and, as it was made apparently with frankness,
it was received without distrust. By these means our heroine was
enabled to descend to the door, as her friend ascended to the
roof. The distance between the two was now too great to admit
of conversation; and for three or four minutes one was occupied
in looking about her as well as the darkness would allow, and the
other in listening at the door with as much intentness as if all
her senses were absorbed in the single faculty of hearing.

June discovered nothing from her elevated stand; the obscurity
indeed almost forbade the hope of such a result; but it would not
be easy to describe the sensation with which Mabel thought she
perceived a slight and guarded push against the door. Fearful that
all might not be as she wished, and anxious to let Chingachgook
know that she was near, she began, though in tremulous and low
notes, to sing. So profound was the stillness of the moment that
the sound of the unsteady warbling ascended to the roof and in a
minute June began to descend. A slight tap at the door was heard
immediately after. Mabel was bewildered, for there was no time
to lose. Hope proved stronger than fear; and with unsteady hands
she commenced unbarring the door. The moccasin of June was heard
on the floor above her when only a single bar was turned. The second
was released as her form reached half-way down the lower ladder.

"What you do?" exclaimed June angrily. "Run away - mad -- leave
blockhouse; blockhouse good." The hands of both were on the last
bar, and it would have been cleared from the fastenings but for
a vigorous shove from without, which jammed the wood. A short
struggle ensued, though both were disinclined to violence. June
would probably have prevailed, had not another and a more vigorous
push from without forced the bar past the trifling impediment that
held it, when the door opened. The form of a man was seen to enter;
and both the females rushed up the ladder, as if equally afraid
of the consequences. The stranger secured the door; and, first
examining the lower room with great care, he cautiously ascended
the ladder. June, as soon as it became dark, had closed the loops
of the principal floor, and lighted a candle. By means of this
dim taper, then, the two females stood in expectation, waiting to
ascertain the person of their visitor, whose wary ascent of the
ladder was distinctly audible, though sufficiently deliberate. It
would not be easy to say which was the more astonished on finding,
when the stranger had got through the trap, that Pathfinder stood
before them.

"God be praised!" Mabel exclaimed, for the idea that the blockhouse
would be impregnable with such a garrison at once crossed her mind.
"O Pathfinder! what has become of my father?"

"The Sergeant is safe as yet, and victorious; though it is not in
the gift of man to say what will be the ind of it. Is not that
the wife of Arrowhead skulking in the corner there?"

"Speak not of her reproachfully, Pathfinder; I owe her my life, my
present security. Tell me what has happened to my father's party
-- why you are here; and I will relate all the horrible events that
have passed upon this island."

"Few words will do the last, Mabel; for one used to Indian devilries
needs but little explanations on such a subject. Everything turned
out as we had hoped with the expedition; for the Sarpent was on
the look-out, and he met us with all the information heart could
desire. We ambushed three boats, druv' the Frenchers out of them,
got possession and sunk them, according to orders, in the deepest
part of the channel; and the savages of Upper Canada will fare
badly for Indian goods this winter. Both powder and ball, too,
will be scarcer among them than keen hunters and active warriors
may relish. We did not lose a man or have even a skin barked; nor
do I think the inimy suffered to speak of. In short, Mabel, it
has been just such an expedition as Lundie likes; much harm to the
foe, and little harm to ourselves."

"Ah, Pathfinder, I fear, when Major Duncan comes to hear the whole
of the sad tale, he will find reason to regret he ever undertook
the affair."

"I know what you mean, I know what you mean; but by telling my story
straight you will understand it better. As soon as the Sergeant
found himself successful, he sent me and the Sarpent off in canoes
to tell you how matters had turned out, and he is following with
the two boats, which, being so much heavier, cannot arrive before
morning. I parted from Chingachgook this forenoon, it being agreed
that he should come up one set of channels, and I another, to see
that the path was clear. I've not seen the chief since."

Mabel now explained the manner in which she had discovered the Mohican,
and her expectation that he would yet come to the blockhouse.

"Not he, not he! A regular scout will never get behind walls or
logs so long as he can keep the open air and find useful employment.
I should not have come myself, Mabel, but I promised the Sergeant
to comfort you and to look after your safety. Ah's me! I reconnoitred
the island with a heavy heart this forenoon; and there was a bitter
hour when I fancied you might be among the slain."

"By what lucky accident were you prevented from paddling up boldly
to the island and from falling into the hands of the enemy?"

"By such an accident, Mabel, as Providence employs to tell the hound
where to find the deer and the deer how to throw off the hound.
No, no! these artifices and devilries with dead bodies may deceive
the soldiers of the 55th and the king's officers; but they are
all lost upon men who have passed their days in the forest. I came
down the channel in face of the pretended fisherman; and, though
the riptyles have set up the poor wretch with art, it was not
ingenious enough to take in a practysed eye. The rod was held too
high, for the 55th have learned to fish at Oswego, if they never
knew how before; and then the man was too quiet for one who got
neither prey nor bite. But we never come in upon a post blindly;
and I have lain outside a garrison a whole night, because they had
changed their sentries and their mode of standing guard. Neither
the Sarpent nor myself would be likely to be taken in by these
clumsy contrivances, which were most probably intended for the
Scotch, who are cunning enough in some particulars, though anything
but witches when Indian sarcumventions are in the wind."

"Do you think my father and his men may yet be deceived?" said
Mabel quickly.

"Not if I can prevent it, Mabel. You say the Sarpent is on the
look-out too; so there is a double chance of our succeeding in
letting him know his danger; though it is by no means sartain by
which channel the party may come."

"Pathfinder," said our heroine solemnly, for the frightful scenes
she had witnessed had clothed death with unusual horrors, --
"Pathfinder, you have professed love for me, a wish to make me your
wife?"

"I did ventur' to speak on that subject, Mabel, and the Sergeant
has even lately said that you are kindly disposed; but I am not a
man to persecute the thing I love."

"Hear me, Pathfinder, I respect you, honor you, revere you; save
my father from this dreadful death, and I can worship you. Here
is my hand, as a solemn pledge for my faith, when you come to claim
it."

"Bless you, bless you, Mabel; this is more than I desarve - more,
I fear, than I shall know how to profit by as I ought. It was
not wanting, however, to make me sarve the Sergeant. We are old
comrades, and owe each other a life; though I fear me, Mabel, being
a father's comrade is not always the best recommendation with a
daughter."

"You want no other recommendation than your own acts -- your
courage, your fidelity. All that you do and say, Pathfinder, my
reason approves, and the heart will, nay, it _shall_ follow."

"This is a happiness I little expected this night; but we are
in God's hands, and He will protect us in His own way. These are
sweet words, Mabel; but they were not wanting to make me do all
that man can do in the present circumstances; they will not lessen
my endeavors, neither."

"Now we understand each other, Pathfinder," Mabel added hoarsely,
"let us not lose one of the precious moments, which may be of
incalculable value. Can we not get into your canoe and go and
meet my father?"

"That is not the course I advise. I don't know by which channel the
Sergeant will come, and there are twenty; rely on it, the Sarpent
will be winding his way through them all. No, no! my advice is
to remain here. The logs of this blockhouse are still green, and
it will not be easy to set them on fire; and I can make good the
place, bating a burning, ag'in a tribe. The Iroquois nation cannot
dislodge me from this fortress, so long as we can keep the flames
off it. The Sergeant is now 'camped on some island, and will not
come in until morning. If we hold the block, we can give him timely
warning, by firing rifles, for instance; and should he determine
to attack the savages, as a man of his temper will be very likely
to do, the possession of this building will be of great account in
the affair. No, no! my judgment says remain, if the object be to
sarve the Sergeant, though escape for our two selves will be no
very difficult matter."

"Stay," murmured Mabel, "stay, for God's sake, Pathfinder! Anything,
everything to save my father!"

"Yes, that is natur'. I am glad to hear you say this, Mabel, for
I own a wish to see the Sergeant fairly supported. As the matter
now stands, he has gained himself credit; and, could he once
drive off these miscreants, and make an honorable retreat, laying
the huts and block in ashes, no doubt, Lundie would remember it
and sarve him accordingly. Yes, yes, Mabel, we must not only save
the Sergeant's life, but we must save his reputation."