Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne - "Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, v12"

S.R. Crockett - "The Lilac Sunbonnet"

John Lothrop Motley - "History of the United Netherlands, 1585"

Zane Grey - "The Last Trail"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
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.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: The Pathfinder

J >> James Fenimore Cooper >> The Pathfinder




It was in the power of those behind the bushes, by placing their
eyes near the leaves, to find many places to look through while one
at a little distance lost this advantage. To those who watched his
motions from behind their cover, and they were all in the canoes,
it was evident that Jasper was totally at a loss to imagine where
the Pathfinder had secreted himself. When fairly round the curvature
in the shore, and out of sight of the fire he had lighted above,
the young man stopped and began examining the bank deliberately
and with great care. Occasionally he advanced eight or ten paces,
and then halted again, to renew the search. The water being much
shallower than common, he stepped aside, in order to walk with
greater ease to himself and came so near the artificial plantation
that he might have touched it with his hand. Still he detected
nothing, and was actually passing the spot when Pathfinder made an
opening beneath the branches, and called to him in a low voice to
enter.

"This is pretty well," said the Pathfinder, laughing; "though pale-face
eyes and red-skin eyes are as different as human spy-glasses. I
would wager, with the Sergeant's daughter here, a horn of powder
against a wampum-belt for her girdle, that her father's rijiment
should march by this embankment of ours and never find out the
fraud! But if the Mingoes actually get down into the bed of the
river where Jasper passed, I should tremble for the plantation.
It will do for their eyes, even across the stream, however, and
will not be without its use."

"Don't you think, Master Pathfinder, that it would be wisest, after
all," said Cap, "to get under way at once, and carry sail hard down
stream, as soon as we are satisfied that these rascals are fairly
astern of us? We seamen call a stern chase a long chase."

"I wouldn't move from this spot until we hear from the Sarpent
with the Sergeant's pretty daughter here in our company, for all
the powder in the magazine of the fort below. Sartain captivity or
sartain death would follow. If a tender fa'n, such as the maiden
we have in charge, could thread the forest like old deer, it might,
indeed, do to quit the canoes; for by making a circuit we could
reach the garrison before morning."

"Then let it be done," said Mabel, springing to her feet under
the sudden impulse of awakened energy. "I am young, active, used
to exercise, and could easily out-walk my dear uncle. Let no one
think me a hindrance. I cannot bear that all your lives should be
exposed on my account."

"No, no, pretty one; we think you anything but a hindrance or
anything that is unbecoming, and would willingly run twice this
risk to do you and the honest Sergeant a service. Do I not speak
your mind, Eau-douce?"

"To do _her_ a service!" said Jasper with emphasis. "Nothing shall
tempt me to desert Mabel Dunham until she is safe in her father's
arms."

"Well said, lad; bravely and honestly said, too; and I join in it,
heart and hand. No, no! you are not the first of your sex I have
led through the wilderness, and never but once did any harm befall
any of them: -- that was a sad day, certainly, but its like may
never come again."

Mabel looked from one of her protectors to the other, and her fine
eyes swam in tears. Frankly placing a hand in that of each, she
answered them, though at first her voice was choked, "I have no
right to expose you on my account. My dear father will thank you,
I thank you, God will reward you; but let there be no unnecessary
risk. I can walk far, and have often gone miles on some girlish
fancy; why not now exert myself for my life? -- nay, for your
precious lives?"

"She is a true dove, Jasper" said the Pathfinder, neither relinquishing
the hand he held until the girl herself, in native modesty, saw
fit to withdraw it, "and wonderfully winning! We get to be rough,
and sometimes even hard-hearted, in the woods, Mabel; but the sight
of one like you brings us back again to our young feelings, and
does us good for the remainder of our days. I daresay Jasper here
will tell you the same; for, like me in the forest, the lad sees
but few such as yourself on Ontario, to soften his heart and remind
him of love for his kind. Speak out now, Jasper, and say if it is
not so?"

"I question if many like Mabel Dunham are to be found anywhere,"
returned the young man gallantly, an honest sincerity glowing in
his face that spoke more eloquently than his tongue; "you need not
mention the woods and lakes to challenge her equals, but I would
go into settlements and towns."

"We had better leave the canoes," Mabel hurriedly rejoined; "for
I feel it is no longer safe to be here."

"You can never do it; you can never do it. It would be a march of
more than twenty miles, and that, too, of tramping over brush and
roots, and through swamps, in the dark; the trail of such a party
would be wide, and we might have to fight our way into the garrison
after all. We will wait for the Mohican."

Such appearing to be the decision of him to whom all, in their
present strait, looked up for counsel, no more was said on the
subject. The whole party now broke up into groups: Arrowhead and
his wife sitting apart under the bushes, conversing in a low tone,
though the man spoke sternly, and the woman answered with the
subdued mildness that marks the degraded condition of a savage's
wife. Pathfinder and Cap occupied one canoe, chatting of their
different adventures by sea and land; while Jasper and Mabel
sat in the other, making greater progress in intimacy in a single
hour than might have been effected under other circumstances in a
twelvemonth. Notwithstanding their situation as regards the enemy,
the time flew by swiftly, and the young people, in particular,
were astonished when Cap informed them how long they had been thus
occupied.

"If one could smoke, Master Pathfinder," observed the old sailor,
"this berth would be snug enough; for, to give the devil his due,
you have got the canoes handsomely landlocked, and into moorings
that would defy a monsoon. The only hardship is the denial of
the pipe."

"The scent of the tobacco would betray us; and where is the use of
taking all these precautions against the Mingo's eyes, if we are
to tell him where the cover is to be found through the nose? No,
no; deny your appetites; and learn one virtue from a red-skin, who
will pass a week without eating even, to get a single scalp. Did
you hear nothing, Jasper?"

"The Serpent is coming."

"Then let us see if Mohican eyes are better than them of a lad who
follows the water."

The Mohican had indeed made his appearance in the same direction as
that by which Jasper had rejoined his friends. Instead of coming
directly on, however, no sooner did he pass the bend, where he was
concealed from any who might be higher up stream, than he moved
close under the bank; and, using the utmost caution, got a position
where he could look back, with his person sufficiently concealed
by the bushes to prevent its being seen by any in that quarter.

"The Sarpent sees the knaves!" whispered Pathfinder. "As I'm a
Christian white man, they have bit at the bait, and have ambushed
the smoke!"

Here a hearty but silent laugh interrupted his words, and nudging
Cap with his elbow, they all continued to watch the movements of
Chingachgook in profound stillness. The Mohican remained stationary
as the rock on which he stood full ten minutes; and then it was
apparent that something of interest had occurred within his view,
for he drew back with a hurried manner, looked anxiously and keenly
along the margin of the stream, and moved quickly down it, taking
care to lose his trail in the shallow water. He was evidently in
a hurry and concerned, now looking behind him, and then casting
eager glances towards every spot on the shore where he thought a
canoe might be concealed.

"Call him in," whispered Jasper, scarcely able to restrain his
impatience, -- "call him in, or it will be too late! See! he is
actually passing us."

"Not so, not so, lad; nothing presses, depend on it;" returned his
companion, "or the Sarpent would begin to creep. The Lord help
us and teach us wisdom! I _do_ believe even Chingachgook, whose
sight is as faithful as the hound's scent, overlooks us, and will
not find out the ambushment we have made!"

This exultation was untimely; for the words were no sooner spoken
than the Indian, who had actually got several feet lower down the
stream than the artificial cover, suddenly stopped; fastened a
keen-riveted glance among the transplanted bushes; made a few hasty
steps backward; and, bending his body and carefully separating
the branches, he appeared among them.

"The accursed Mingos!" said Pathfinder, as soon as his friend was
near enough to be addressed with prudence.

"Iroquois," returned the sententious Indian.

"No matter, no matter; Iroquois, devil, Mingo, Mengwes, or furies
-- all are pretty much the same. I call all rascals Mingos. Come
hither, chief, and let us convarse rationally."

When their private communication was over, Pathfinder rejoined the
rest, and made them acquainted with all he had learned.

The Mohican had followed the trail of their enemies some distance
towards the fort, until the latter caught a sight of the smoke of
Jasper's fire, when they instantly retraced their steps. It now
became necessary for Chingachgook, who ran the greatest risk of
detection, to find a cover where he could secrete himself until
the party might pass. It was perhaps fortunate for him that the
savages were so intent on this recent discovery, that they did not
bestow the ordinary attention on the signs of the forest. At all
events, they passed him swiftly, fifteen in number, treading lightly
in each other's footsteps; and he was enabled again to get into
their rear. After proceeding to the place where the footsteps
of Pathfinder and the Mohican had joined the principal trail, the
Iroquois had struck off to the river, which they reached just as
Jasper had disappeared behind the bend below. The smoke being now
in plain view, the savages plunged into the woods and endeavored to
approach the fire unseen. Chingachgook profited by this occasion
to descend to the water, and to gain the bend in the river also,
which he thought had been effected undiscovered. Here he paused,
as has been stated, until he saw his enemies at the fire, where
their stay, however, was very short.

Of the motives of the Iroquois the Mohican could judge only by their
acts. He thought they had detected the artifice of the fire, and
were aware that it had been kindled with a view to mislead them;
for, after a hasty examination of the spot, they had separated,
some plunging again into the woods, while six or eight had followed
the footsteps of Jasper along the shore, and come down the stream
towards the place where the canoes had landed. What course they
might take on reaching that spot was only to be conjectured; for
the Serpent had felt the emergency to be too pressing to delay
looking for his friends any longer. From some indications that
were to be gathered from their gestures, however, he thought it
probable that their enemies might follow down in the margin of the
stream, but could not be certain.

As the Pathfinder related these facts to his companions, the
professional feelings of the two other white men came uppermost,
and both naturally reverted to their habits, in quest of the means
of escape.

"Let us run out the canoes at once," said Jasper eagerly; "the
current is strong, and by using the paddles vigorously we shall
soon be beyond the reach of these scoundrels!"

"And this poor flower, that first blossomed in the clearings --
shall it wither in the forest?" objected his friend, with a poetry
which he had unconsciously imbibed by his long association with
the Delawares.

"We must all die first," answered the youth, a generous color
mounting to his temples; "Mabel and Arrowhead's wife may lie down
in the canoes, while we do our duty, like men, on our feet."

"Ay, you are active at the paddle and the oar, Eau-douce, I will
allow, but an accursed Mingo is more active at his mischief; the
canoes are swift, but a rifle bullet is swifter."

"It is the business of men, engaged as we have been by
a confiding father, to run this risk -- "

"But it is not their business to overlook prudence."

"Prudence! a man may carry his prudence so far as to forget his
courage."

The group was standing on the narrow strand, the Pathfinder leaning
on his rifle, the butt of which rested on the gravelly beach,
while both his hands clasped the barrel at the height of his own
shoulders. As Jasper threw out this severe and unmerited imputation,
the deep red of his comrade's face maintained its hue unchanged,
though the young man perceived that the fingers grasped the iron of
the gun with the tenacity of a vice. Here all betrayal of emotion
ceased.

"You are young and hot-headed," returned Pathfinder, with a
dignity that impressed his listeners with a keen sense of his moral
superiority; "but my life has been passed among dangers of this
sort, and my experience and gifts are not to be mastered by the
impatience of a boy. As for courage, Jasper, I will not send back
an angry and unmeaning word to meet an angry and an unmeaning word;
for I know that you are true in your station and according to your
knowledge; but take the advice of one who faced the Mingos when you
were a child, and know that their cunning is easier sarcumvented
by prudence than outwitted by foolishness."

"I ask your pardon, Pathfinder," said the repentant Jasper, eagerly
grasping the hand that the other permitted him to seize; "I ask your
pardon, humbly and sincerely. 'Twas a foolish, as well as wicked
thing to hint of a man whose heart, in a good cause, is known to
be as firm as the rocks on the lake shore."

For the first time the color deepened on the cheek of the Pathfinder,
and the solemn dignity which he had assumed, under a purely natural
impulse, disappeared in the expression of the earnest simplicity
inherent in all his feelings. He met the grasp of his young friend
with a squeeze as cordial as if no chord had jarred between them,
and a slight sternness that had gathered about his eye disappeared
in a look of natural kindness.

"'Tis well, Jasper," he answered, laughing; "I bear no ill-will, nor
shall any one on my behalf. My natur' is that of a white man, and
that is to bear no malice. It might have been ticklish work to have
said half as much to the Sarpent here, though he is a Delaware,
for color will have its way -- "

A touch on his shoulder caused the speaker to cease. Mabel was
standing erect in the canoe, her light, but swelling form bent
forward in an attitude of graceful earnestness, her finger on her
lips, her head averted, her spirited eyes riveted on an opening
in the bushes, and one arm extended with a fishing-rod, the end of
which had touched the Pathfinder. The latter bowed his head to a
level with a look-out near which he had intentionally kept himself
and then whispered to Jasper, --

"The accursed Mingos! Stand to your arms, my men, but lay quiet
as the corpses of dead trees!"

Jasper advanced rapidly, but noiselessly, to the canoe, and with a
gentle violence induced Mabel to place herself in such an attitude
as concealed her entire body, though it would have probably exceeded
his means to induce the girl so far to lower her head that she could
not keep her gaze fastened on their enemies. He then took his own
post near her, with his rifle cocked and poised, in readiness to
fire. Arrowhead and Chingachgook crawled to the cover, and lay in
wait like snakes, with their arms prepared for service, while the
wife of the former bowed her head between her knees, covered it
with her calico robe, and remained passive and immovable. Cap
loosened both his pistols in their belt, but seemed quite at a
loss what course to pursue. The Pathfinder did not stir. He had
originally got a position where he might aim with deadly effect
through the leaves, and where he could watch the movements of his
enemies; and he was far too steady to be disconcerted at a moment
so critical.

It was truly an alarming instant. Just as Mabel touched the shoulder
of her guide, three of the Iroquois had appeared in the water, at
the bend of the river, within a hundred yards of the cover, and
halted to examine the stream below. They were all naked to the
waist, armed for an expedition against their foes, and in their
warpaint. It was apparent that they were undecided as to the
course they ought to pursue in order to find the fugitives. One
pointed down the river, a second up the stream, and the third
towards the opposite bank. They evidently doubted.



CHAPTER V

Death is here and death is there,
Death is busy everywhere.
SHELLEY


It was a breathless moment. The only clue the fugitives possessed
to the intentions of their pursuers was in their gestures and the
indications which escaped them in the fury of disappointment. That
a party had returned already, on their own footsteps, by land, was
pretty certain; and all the benefit expected from the artifice of
the fire was necessarily lost. But that consideration became of
little moment just then; for the party was menaced with an immediate
discovery by those who had kept on a level with the river. All the
facts presented themselves clearly, and as it might be by intuition,
to the mind of Pathfinder, who perceived the necessity of immediate
decision and of being in readiness to act in concert. Without
making any noise, therefore, he managed to get the two Indians and
Jasper near him, when he opened his communications in a whisper.

"We must be ready, we must be ready," he said. "There are but
three of the scalping devils, and we are five, four of whom may be
set down as manful warriors for such a skrimmage. Eau-douce, do
you take the fellow that is painted like death; Chingachgook, I
give you the chief; and Arrowhead must keep his eye on the young
one. There must be no mistake, for two bullets in the same body
would be sinful waste, with one like the Sergeant's daughter in
danger. I shall hold myself in resarve against accident, lest a
fourth reptile appear, for one of your hands may prove unsteady.
By no means fire until I give the word; we must not let the crack
of the rifle be heard except in the last resort, since all the rest
of the miscreants are still within hearing. Jasper, boy, in case
of any movement behind us on the bank, I trust to you to run out the
canoe with the Sergeant's daughter, and to pull for the garrison,
by God's leave."

The Pathfinder had no sooner given these directions than the near
approach of their enemies rendered profound silence necessary. The
Iroquois in the river were slowly descending the stream; keeping
of necessity near the bushes which overhung the water, while the
rustling of leaves and the snapping of twigs soon gave fearful
evidence that another party was moving along the bank, at an equally
graduated pace; and directly abreast of them. In consequence of the
distance between the bushes planted by the fugitives and the true
shore, the two parties became visible to each other when opposite
that precise point. Both stopped, and a conversation ensued, that
may be said to have passed directly over the heads of those who
were concealed. Indeed, nothing sheltered the travellers but the
branches and leaves of plants, so pliant that they yielded to every
current of air, and which a puff of wind a little stronger than
common would have blown away. Fortunately the line of sight carried
the eyes of the two parties of savages, whether they stood in the
water or on the land, above the bushes, and the leaves appeared
blended in a way to excite no suspicion. Perhaps the very boldness
of the expedient alone prevented an immediate exposure. The
conversation which took place was conducted earnestly, but in guarded
tones, as if those who spoke wished to defeat the intentions of
any listeners. It was in a dialect that both the Indian warriors
beneath, as well as the Pathfinder, understood. Even Jasper
comprehended a portion of what was said.

"The trail is washed away by the water!" said one from below,
who stood so near the artificial cover of the fugitives, that he
might have been struck by the salmon-spear that lay in the bottom
of Jasper's canoe. "Water has washed it so clear that a Yengeese
hound could not follow."

"The pale-faces have left the shore in their canoes," answered the
speaker on the bank.

"It cannot be. The rifles of our warriors below are certain."

The Pathfinder gave a significant glance at Jasper, and he clinched
his teeth in order to suppress the sound of his own breathing.

"Let my young men look as if their eyes were eagles'," said the
eldest warrior among those who were wading in the river. "We have
been a whole moon on the war-path, and have found but one scalp.
There is a maiden among them, and some of our braves want wives."

Happily these words were lost on Mabel; but Jasper's frown became
deeper, and his face fiercely flushed.

The savages now ceased speaking, and the party which was concealed
heard the slow and guarded movements of those who were on the
bank, as they pushed the bushes aside in their wary progress. It
was soon evident that the latter had passed the cover; but the
group in the water still remained, scanning the shore with eyes that
glared through their war-paint like coals of living fire. After
a pause of two or three minutes, these three began also to descend
the stream, though it was step by step, as men move who look
for an object that has been lost. In this manner they passed the
artificial screen, and Pathfinder opened his mouth in that hearty
but noiseless laugh that nature and habit had contributed to render
a peculiarity of the man. His triumph, however, was premature;
for the last of the retiring party, just at this moment casting a
look behind him, suddenly stopped; and his fixed attitude and steady
gaze at once betrayed the appalling fact that some neglected bush
had awakened his suspicions.

It was perhaps fortunate for the concealed that the warrior who
manifested these fearful signs of distrust was young, and had still
a reputation to acquire. He knew the importance of discretion
and modesty in one of his years, and most of all did he dread the
ridicule and contempt that would certainly follow a false alarm.
Without recalling any of his companions, therefore, he turned on
his own footsteps; and, while the others continued to descend the
river, he cautiously approached the bushes, on which his looks
were still fastened, as by a charm. Some of the leaves which were
exposed to the sun had drooped a little, and this slight departure
from the usual natural laws had caught the quick eyes of the Indian;
for so practised and acute do the senses of the savage become, more
especially when he is on the war-path, that trifles apparently of
the most insignificant sort often prove to be clues to lead him
to his object.

The trifling nature of the change which had aroused the suspicion
of this youth was an additional motive for not acquainting his
companions with his discovery. Should he really detect anything,
his glory would be the greater for being unshared; and should he
not, he might hope to escape that derision which the young Indian
so much dreads. Then there were the dangers of an ambush and
a surprise, to which every warrior of the woods is keenly alive,
to render his approach slow and cautious. In consequence of the
delay that proceeded from these combined causes, the two parties
had descended some fifty or sixty yards before the young savage
was again near enough to the bushes of the Pathfinder to touch them
with his hand.

Notwithstanding their critical situation, the whole party behind
the cover had their eyes fastened on the working countenance of the
young Iroquois, who was agitated by conflicting feelings. First
came the eager hope of obtaining success where some of the most
experienced of his tribe had failed, and with it a degree of
glory that had seldom fallen to the share of one of his years or a
brave on his first war-path; then followed doubts, as the drooping
leaves seemed to rise again and to revive in the currents of air;
and distrust of hidden danger lent its exciting feeling to keep
the eloquent features in play. So very slight, however, had been
the alteration produced by the heat on the bushes of which the
stems were in the water, that when the Iroquois actually laid his
hand on the leaves, he fancied that he had been deceived. As no
man ever distrusts strongly without using all convenient means of
satisfying his doubts, however, the young warrior cautiously pushed
aside the branches and advanced a step within the hiding-place,
when the forms of the concealed party met his gaze, resembling so
many breathless statues. The low exclamation, the slight start,
and the glaring eye, were hardly seen and heard, before the
arm of Chingachgook was raised, and the tomahawk of the Delaware
descended on the shaven head of his foe. The Iroquois raised his
hands frantically, bounded backward, and fell into the water, at
a spot where the current swept the body away, the struggling limbs
still tossing and writhing in the agony of death. The Delaware
made a vigorous but unsuccessful attempt to seize an arm, with the
hope of securing the scalp; but the bloodstained waters whirled
down the current, carrying with them their quivering burden.