Bertrand Russell - "The Problems of Philosophy"

Bram Stoker - "The Lady of the Shroud"

Alexander Mackenzie - "History Of The Mackenzies"

G. W. Curtis, ed. George Willis Cooke - "Early Letters of George Wm. Curtis"

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




All this passed in less than a minute, and the events were so sudden
and unexpected, that men less accustomed than the Pathfinder and
his associates to forest warfare would have been at a loss how to
act.

"There is not a moment to lose," said Jasper, tearing aside the
bushes, as he spoke earnestly, but in a suppressed voice. "Do as
I do, Master Cap, if you would save your niece; and you, Mabel,
lie at your length in the canoe."

The words were scarcely uttered when, seizing the bow of the light
boat he dragged it along the shore, wading himself, while Cap
aided behind, keeping so near the bank as to avoid being seen by
the savages below, and striving to gain the turn in the river above
him which would effectually conceal the party from the enemy. The
Pathfinder's canoe lay nearest to the bank, and was necessarily the
last to quit the shore. The Delaware leaped on the narrow strand
and plunged into the forest, it being his assigned duty to watch
the foe in that quarter, while Arrowhead motioned to his white
companion to seize the bow of the boat and to follow Jasper. All
this was the work of an instant; but when the Pathfinder reached the
current that was sweeping round the turn, he felt a sudden change
in the weight he was dragging, and, looking back, he found that
both the Tuscarora and his wife had deserted him. The thought of
treachery flashed upon his mind, but there was no time to pause,
for the wailing shout that arose from the party below proclaimed
that the body of the young Iroquois had floated as low as the spot
reached by his friends. The report of a rifle followed; and then
the guide saw that Jasper, having doubled the bend in the river,
was crossing the stream, standing erect in the stern of the canoe,
while Cap was seated forward, both propelling the light boat
with vigorous strokes of the paddles. A glance, a thought, and
an expedient followed each other quickly in one so trained in the
vicissitudes of the frontier warfare. Springing into the stern of
his own canoe, he urged it by a vigorous shove into the current,
and commenced crossing the stream himself, at a point so much
lower than that of his companions as to offer his own person for a
target to the enemy, well knowing that their keen desire to secure
a scalp would control all other feelings.

"Keep well up the current, Jasper," shouted the gallant guide,
as he swept the water with long, steady, vigorous strokes of the
paddle; "keep well up the current, and pull for the alder bushes
opposite. Presarve the Sergeant's daughter before all things, and
leave these Mingo knaves to the Sarpent and me."

Jasper flourished his paddle as a signal of understanding, while
shot succeeded shot in quick succession, all now being aimed at
the solitary man in the nearest canoe.

"Ay, empty your rifles like simpletons as you are," said the
Pathfinder, who had acquired a habit of speaking when alone, from
passing so much of his time in the solitude of the forest; "empty
your rifles with an unsteady aim, and give me time to put yard upon
yard of river between us. I will not revile you like a Delaware
or a Mohican; for my gifts are a white man's gifts, and not an
Indian's; and boasting in battle is no part of a Christian warrior;
but I may say here, all alone by myself, that you are little better
than so many men from the town shooting at robins in the orchards.
That was well meant," throwing back his head, as a rifle bullet cut
a lock of hair from his temple; "but the lead that misses by an
inch is as useless as the lead that never quits the barrel. Bravely
done, Jasper! the Sergeant's sweet child must be saved, even if
we go in without our own scalps."

By this time the Pathfinder was in the centre of the river, and
almost abreast of his enemies, while the other canoe, impelled by
the vigorous arms of Cap and Jasper, had nearly gained the opposite
shore at the precise spot that had been pointed out to them. The
old mariner now played his part manfully; for he was on his proper
element, loved his niece sincerely, had a proper regard for
his own person, and was not unused to fire, though his experience
certainly lay in a very different species of warfare. A few strokes
of the paddles were given, and the canoe shot into the bushes,
Mabel was hurried to land by Jasper, and for the present all three
of the fugitives were safe.

Not so with the Pathfinder: his hardy self-devotion had brought him
into a situation of unusual exposure, the hazards of which were
much increased by the fact that, just as he drifted nearest to
the enemy the party on the shore rushed down the bank and joined
their friends who still stood in the water. The Oswego was about
a cable's length in width at this point, and, the canoe being in
the centre, the object was only a hundred yards from the rifles that
were constantly discharged at it; or, at the usual target distance
for that weapon.

In this extremity the steadiness and skill of the Pathfinder did
him good service. He knew that his safety depended altogether
on keeping in motion; for a stationary object at that distance,
would have been hit nearly every shot. Nor was motion of itself
sufficient; for, accustomed to kill the bounding deer, his enemies
probably knew how to vary the line of aim so as to strike him, should
he continue to move in any one direction. He was consequently
compelled to change the course of the canoe, -- at one moment
shooting down with the current, with the swiftness of an arrow;
and at the next checking its progress in that direction, to glance
athwart the stream. Luckily the Iroquois could not reload their
pieces in the water, and the bushes that everywhere fringed the
shore rendered it difficult to keep the fugitive in view when on
the land. Aided by these circumstances, and having received the
fire of all his foes, the Pathfinder was gaining fast in distance,
both downwards and across the current, when a new danger suddenly,
if not unexpectedly, presented itself, by the appearance of the
party that had been left in ambush below with a view to watch the
river.

These were the savages alluded to in the short dialogue already
related. They were no less than ten in number; and, understanding
all the advantages of their bloody occupation, they had posted
themselves at a spot where the water dashed among rocks and over
shallows, in a way to form a rapid which, in the language of the
country, is called a rift. The Pathfinder saw that, if he entered
this rift, he should be compelled to approach a point where the
Iroquois had posted themselves, for the current was irresistible,
and the rocks allowed no other safe passage, while death or
captivity would be the probable result of the attempt. All his
efforts, therefore, were turned toward reaching the western shore,
the foe being all on the eastern side of the river; but the exploit
surpassed human power, and to attempt to stem the stream would at
once have so far diminished the motion of the canoe as to render
aim certain. In this exigency the guide came to a decision with
his usual cool promptitude, making his preparations accordingly.
Instead of endeavoring to gain the channel, he steered towards
the shallowest part of the stream, on reaching which he seized his
rifle and pack, leaped into the water, and began to wade from rock
to rock, taking the direction of the western shore. The canoe
whirled about in the furious current, now rolling over some slippery
stone, now filling, and then emptying itself, until it lodged on
the shore, within a few yards of the spot where the Iroquois had
posted themselves.

In the meanwhile the Pathfinder was far from being out of danger;
for the first minute, admiration of his promptitude and daring,
which are so high virtues in the mind of an Indian, kept his
enemies motionless; but the desire of revenge, and the cravings
for the much-prized trophy, soon overcame this transient feeling,
and aroused them from their stupor. Rifle flashed after rifle,
and the bullets whistled around the head of the fugitive, amid the
roar of the waters. Still he proceeded like one who bore a charmed
life; for, while his rude frontier garments were more than once
cut, his skin was not razed.

As the Pathfinder, in several instances, was compelled to wade in
water which rose nearly to his arms, while he kept his rifle and
ammunition elevated above the raging current, the toil soon fatigued
him, and he was glad to stop at a large stone, or a small rock,
which rose so high above the river that its upper surface was dry.
On this stone he placed his powder-horn, getting behind it himself,
so as to have the advantage of a partial cover for his body. The
western shore was only fifty feet distant, but the quiet, swift,
dark current that glanced through the interval sufficiently showed
that here he would be compelled to swim.

A short cessation in the firing now took place on the part of the
Indians, who gathered about the canoe, and, having found the paddles,
were preparing to cross the river.

"Pathfinder," called a voice from among the bushes, at the point
nearest to the person addressed, on the western shore.

"What would you have, Jasper?"

"Be of good heart -- friends are at hand, and not a single Mingo
shall cross without suffering for his boldness. Had you not better
leave the rifle on the rock, and swim to us before the rascals can
get afloat?"

"A true woodsman never quits his piece while he has any powder
in his horn or a bullet in his pouch. I have not drawn a trigger
this day, Eau-douce, and shouldn't relish the idea of parting with
those reptiles without causing them to remember my name. A little
water will not harm my legs; and I see that blackguard, Arrowhead,
among the scamps, and wish to send him the wages he has so faithfully
earned. You have not brought the Sergeant's daughter down here in
a range with their bullets, I hope, Jasper?"

"She is safe for the present at least; though all depends on our
keeping the river between us and the enemy. They must know our
weakness now; and, should they cross, no doubt some of their party
will be left on the other side."

"This canoeing touches your gifts rather than mine, boy, though I
will handle a paddle with the best Mingo that ever struck a salmon.
If they cross below the rift, why can't we cross in the still water
above, and keep playing at dodge and turn with the wolves?"

"Because, as I have said, they will leave a party on the other
shore; and then, Pathfinder, would you expose Mabel, to the rifles
of the Iroquois?"

"The Sergeant's daughter must be saved," returned the guide, with
calm energy. "You are right, Jasper; she has no gift to authorize
her in offering her sweet face and tender body to a Mingo rifle.
What can be done, then? They must be kept from crossing for an
hour or two, if possible, when we must do our best in the darkness."

"I agree with you, Pathfinder, if it can be effected; but are we
strong enough for such a purpose?"

"The Lord is with us, boy, the Lord is with us; and it is unreasonable
to suppose that one like the Sergeant's daughter will be altogether
abandoned by Providence in such a strait. There is not a boat
between the falls and the garrison, except these two canoes, to
my sartain knowledge; and I think it will go beyond red-skin gifts
to cross in the face of two rifles like these of yourn and mine. I
will not vaunt, Jasper; but it is well known on all this frontier
that Killdeer seldom fails."

"Your skill is admitted by all, far and near, Pathfinder; but a
rifle takes time to be loaded; nor are you on the land, aided by
a good cover, where you can work to the advantage you are used to.
If you had our canoe, might you not pass to the shore with a dry
rifle?"

"Can an eagle fly, Jasper?" returned the other, laughing in his
usual manner, and looking back as he spoke. But it would be unwise
to expose yourself on the water; for them miscreants are beginning
to bethink them again of powder and bullets."

"It can be done without any such chances. Master Cap has gone up
to the canoe, and will cast the branch of a tree into the river to
try the current, which sets from the point above in the direction
of your rock. See, there it comes already; if it float fairly, you
must raise your arm, when the canoe will follow. At all events,
if the boat should pass you, the eddy below will bring it up, and
I can recover it."

While Jasper was still speaking, the floating branch came in sight;
and, quickening its progress with the increasing velocity of the
current, it swept swiftly down towards the Pathfinder, who seized
it as it was passing, and held it in the air as a sign of success.
Cap understood the signal, and presently the canoe was launched into
the stream, with a caution and an intelligence that the habits of
the mariner had fitted him to observe. It floated in the same direction
as the branch, and in a minute was arrested by the Pathfinder.

"This has been done with a frontier man's judgment Jasper," said
the guide, laughing; "but you have your gifts, which incline most
to the water, as mine incline to the woods. Now let them Mingo
knaves cock their rifles and get rests, for this is the last chance
they are likely to have at a man without a cover."

"Nay, shove the canoe towards the shore, quartering the current,
and throw yourself into it as it goes off," said Jasper eagerly.
"There is little use in running any risk."

"I love to stand up face to face with my enemies like a man, while
they set me the example," returned the Pathfinder proudly. "I am
not a red-skin born, and it is more a white man's gifts to fight
openly than to lie in ambushment."

"And Mabel?"

"True, boy, true; the Sergeant's daughter must be saved; and, as
you say, foolish risks only become boys. Think you that you can
catch the canoe where you stand?"

"There can be no doubt, if you give a vigorous push."

Pathfinder made the necessary effort; the light bark shot across
the intervening space, and Jasper seized it as it came to land.
To secure the canoe, and to take proper positions in the cover,
occupied the friends but a moment, when they shook hands cordially,
like those who had met after a long separation.

"Now, Jasper, we shall see if a Mingo of them all dares cross the
Oswego in the teeth of Killdeer! You are handier with the oar and
the paddle and the sail than with the rifle, perhaps; but you have
a stout heart and a steady hand, and them are things that count in
a fight."

"Mabel will find me between her and her enemies," said Jasper
calmly.

"Yes, yes, the Sergeant's daughter must be protected. I like you,
boy, on your own account; but I like you all the better that you
think of one so feeble at a moment when there is need of all your
manhood. See, Jasper! Three of the knaves are actually getting
into the canoe! They must believe we have fled, or they would not
surely venture so much, directly in the very face of Killdeer."

Sure enough the Iroquois did appear bent on venturing across
the stream; for, as the Pathfinder and his friends now kept their
persons strictly concealed, their enemies began to think that the
latter had taken to flight. Such a course was that which most white
men would have followed; but Mabel was under the care of those who
were much too well skilled in forest warfare to neglect to defend
the only pass that, in truth, now offered even a probable chance
for protection.

As the Pathfinder had said, three warriors were in the canoe, two
holding their rifles at a poise, as they knelt in readiness to aim
the deadly weapons, and the other standing erect in the stern to
wield the paddle. In this manner they left the shore, having had
the precaution to haul the canoe, previously to entering it, so
far up the stream as to have got into the comparatively still water
above the rift. It was apparent at a glance that the savage who
guided the boat was skilled in the art; for the long steady sweep
of his paddle sent the light bark over the glassy surface of the
tranquil river as if it were a feather floating in air.

"Shall I fire?" demanded Jasper in a whisper, trembling with
eagerness to engage.

"Not yet, boy, not yet. There are but three of them, and if Master
Cap yonder knows how to use the popguns he carries in his belt, we
may even let them land, and then we shall recover the canoe."

"But Mabel -- ?"

"No fear for the Sergeant's daughter. She is safe in the hollow
stump, you say, with the opening judgmatically hid by the brambles.
If what you tell me of the manner in which you concealed the trail
be true, the sweet one might lie there a month and laugh at the
Mingos."

"We are never certain. I wish we had brought her nearer to our
own cover!"

"What for, Eau-douce? To place her pretty little head and leaping
heart among flying bullets? No, no: she is better where she is,
because she is safer."

"We are never certain. We thought ourselves safe behind the bushes,
and yet you saw that we were discovered."

"And the Mingo imp paid for his curiosity, as these knaves are
about to do."

The, Pathfinder ceased speaking; for at that instant the sharp
report of a rifle was heard, when the Indian in the stern of the
canoe leaped high into the air, and fell into the water, holding
the paddle in his hand. A small wreath of smoke floated out from
among the bushes of the eastern shore, and was soon absorbed by
the atmosphere.

"That is the Sarpent hissing!" exclaimed the Pathfinder exultingly.
"A bolder or a truer heart never beat in the breast of a Delaware.
I am sorry that he interfered; but he could not have known our
condition."

The canoe had no sooner lost its guide than it floated with the
stream, and was soon sucked into the rapids of the rift. Perfectly
helpless, the two remaining savages gazed wildly about them, but
could offer no resistance to the power of the element. It was
perhaps fortunate for Chingachgook that the attention of most of
the Iroquois was intently given to the situation of those in the
boat, else would his escape have been to the last degree difficult,
if not totally impracticable. But not a foe moved, except to
conceal his person behind some cover; and every eye was riveted on
the two remaining adventurers. In less time than has been necessary
to record these occurrences, the canoe was whirling and tossing
in the rift, while both the savages had stretched themselves in
its bottom, as the only means of preserving the equilibrium. This
natural expedient soon failed them; for, striking a rock, the
light draft rolled over, and the two warriors were thrown into the
river. The water is seldom deep on a rift, except in particular
places where it may have worn channels; and there was little to
be apprehended from drowning, though their arms were lost; and the
two savages were fain to make the best of their way to the friendly
shore, swimming and wading as circumstances required. The canoe
itself lodged on a rock in the centre of the stream, where for the
moment it became useless to both parties.

"Now is our time, Pathfinder," cried Jasper, as the two Iroquois
exposed most of their persons while wading in the shallowest part
of the rapids: "the fellow up stream is mine, and you can take the
lower."

So excited had the young man become by all the incidents of the
stirring scene, that the bullet sped from his rifle as he spoke,
but uselessly, as it would seem, for both the fugitives tossed
their arms in disdain. The Pathfinder did not fire.

"No, no, Eau-douce," he answered; "I do not seek blood without a
cause; and my bullet is well leathered and carefully driven down,
for the time of need. I love no Mingo, as is just, seeing how
much I have consorted with the Delawares, who are their mortal and
natural enemies; but I never pull trigger on one of the miscreants
unless it be plain that his death will lead to some good end. The
deer never leaped that fell by my hand wantonly. By living much
alone with God in the wilderness a man gets to feel the justice
of such opinions. One life is sufficient for our present wants;
and there may yet be occasion to use Killdeer in behalf of the
Sarpent, who has done an untimorsome thing to let them rampant
devils so plainly know that he is in their neighborhood. As I'm
a wicked sinner, there is one of them prowling along the bank this
very moment, like one of the boys of the garrison skulking behind
a fallen tree to get a shot at a squirrel!"

As the Pathfinder pointed with his finger while speaking, the
quick eye of Jasper soon caught the object towards which it was
directed. One of the young warriors of the enemy, burning with a
desire to distinguish himself, had stolen from his party towards
the cover in which Chingachgook had concealed himself; and as the
latter was deceived by the apparent apathy of his foes, as well as
engaged in some further preparations of his own, he had evidently
obtained a position where he got a sight of the Delaware. This
circumstance was apparent by the arrangements the Iroquois was
making to fire, for Chingachgook himself was not visible from the
western side of the river. The rift was at a bend in the Oswego,
and the sweep of the eastern shore formed a curve so wide that
Chingachgook was quite near to his enemies in a straight direction,
though separated by several hundred feet on the land, owing to
which fact air lines brought both parties nearly equidistant from
the Pathfinder and Jasper. The general width of the river being
a little less than two hundred yards, such necessarily was about
the distance between his two observers and the skulking Iroquois.

"The Sarpent must be thereabouts," observed Pathfinder, who never
turned his eye for an instant from the young warrior; "and yet he
must be strangely off his guard to allow a Mingo devil to get his
stand so near, with manifest signs of bloodshed in his heart."

"See!" interrupted Jasper -- "there is the body of the Indian the
Delaware shot! It has drifted on a rock, and the current has forced
the head and face above the water."

"Quite likely, boy, quite likely. Human natur' is little better
than a log of driftwood, when the life that was breathed into its
nostrils is departed. That Iroquois will never harm any one more;
but yonder skulking savage is bent on taking the scalp of my best
and most tried friend."

The Pathfinder suddenly interrupted himself by raising his rifle,
a weapon of unusual length, with admirable precision, and firing
the instant it had got its level. The Iroquois on the opposite
shore was in the act of aiming when the fatal messenger from Killdeer
arrived. His rifle was discharged, it is true, but it was with the
muzzle in the air, while the man himself plunged into the bushes,
quite evidently hurt, if not slain.

"The skulking reptyle brought it on himself," muttered Pathfinder
sternly, as, dropping the butt of his rifle, he carefully commenced
reloading it. "Chingachgook and I have consorted together since
we were boys, and have fi't in company on the Horican, the Mohawk,
the Ontario, and all the other bloody passes between the country of
the Frenchers and our own; and did the foolish knave believe that
I would stand by and see my best friend cut off in an ambushment?"

"We have served the Sarpent as good a turn as he served us. Those
rascals are troubled, Pathfinder, and are falling back into their
covers, since they find we can reach them across the river."

"The shot is no great matter, Jasper, no great matter. Ask any
of the 60th, and they can tell you what Killdeer can do, and has
done, and that, too, when the bullets were flying about our heads
like hailstones. No, no! this is no great matter, and the unthoughtful
vagabond drew it down on himself."

"Is that a dog, or a deer, swimming towards this shore?" Pathfinder
started, for sure enough an object was crossing the stream, above
the rift, towards which, however, it was gradually setting by the
force of the current. A second look satisfied both the observers
that it was a man, and an Indian, though so concealed as at first
to render it doubtful. Some stratagem was apprehended, and the
closest attention was given to the movements of the stranger.

"He is pushing something before him as he swims, and his head
resembles a drifting bush," said Jasper.

"'Tis Indian devilry, boy; but Christian honesty shall circumvent
their arts."

As the man slowly approached, the observers began to doubt the
accuracy of their first impressions, and it was only when two-thirds
of the stream were passed that the truth was really known.

"The Big Sarpent, as I live!" exclaimed Pathfinder, looking at his
companion, and laughing until the tears came into his eyes with
pure delight at the success of the artifice. "He has tied bushes
to his head, so as to hide it, put the horn on top, lashed the
rifle to that bit of log he is pushing before him, and has come
over to join his friends. Ah's me! The times and times that he
and I have cut such pranks, right in the teeth of Mingos raging
for our blood, in the great thoroughfare round and about Ty!"