Part 25 (1/2)
”Sir, he hath never fed of the dainties that are bred in a book, he hath not eaten paper, as it were; he hath not drunk ink: his intellect is not replenished; he is only an animal--only sensible in the duller parts.”
Love's Labor Lost.
”Here cometh Faith, to bring us tidings of the hamlet,” said the husband of the woman whose character we have so feebly sketched, as he took his seat in the piazza, at the early hour and in the group already mentioned.
”The Ensign hath been abroad in the hills, throughout the night, with a chosen party of our people; and perchance she hath been sent with the substance that they have gathered, concerning the unknown trail.”
”The heavy-footed Dudley hath scarce mounted to the dividing ridge, where report goeth the prints of moccasons were seen,” observed a young man, who in his person bore all the evidences of an active and healthful manhood.
”Of what service is the scouting that faileth of the necessary distance by the weariness of its leader?”
”If thou believest, boy, that thy young foot is equal to contend with the sinews of Eben Dudley, there may be occasion to show the magnitude of thy error, ere the danger of this Indian out-breaking shall pa.s.s away. Thou art too stubborn of will, Mark, to be yet trusted with the leading of parties that may hold the safety of all who dwell in the Wish-Ton-Wish within their keeping.”
The young man looked displeased; but, fearful that his father might observe and misinterpret his humor into a personal disrespect, he turned away, permitting his frowning eye to rest, for an instant, on the timid and stolen glance of a maiden, whose cheek was glowing like the eastern sky, as she busied herself with the preparations of the table.
”What welcome news dost bring from the sign of the Whip-poor-Will?”
Content asked of the woman, who had now come within the little gate of his court. ”Hast seen the Ensign, since the party took the hill-paths; or is it some traveller who hath charged thee with matter for our ears?”
”Eye of man hath not seen the man since he girded himself with the sword of office,” returned Faith, entering the piazza and nodding salutation to those around her; ”and as for strangers, when the clock shall strike noon, it will be one month to the day that the last of them was housed within my doors. But I complain not of the want of custom, as the Ensign would never quit the bar and his gossip, to go into the mountain-lots, so long as there was one to fill his ears with the marvels of the old countries, or even to discourse of the home-stirrings of the colonies themselves.”
”Thou speakest lightly, Faith, of one who merits thy respect and thy duty.”
The eye of the former studied the meek countenance of her from whom this reproof came, with an intenseness and a melancholy that showed her thoughts were on other matters, and then, as it suddenly recalled to what had pa.s.sed, she resumed--
”Truly, what with duty to the man as a husband, and respect to him as an officer of the colony Madam Heathcote, the task is not one of easy bearing. If the King's representative had given the colors to my brother Reuben, and left the Dudley with the halberd in his hand, the preferment would have been ample for one of his qualities, and all the better for the credit of the settlement.”
”The Governor distributed his favor according to the advice of men competent to distinguish merit,” said Content. ”Eben was foremost in the b.l.o.o.d.y affair among the people of the Plantations, where his manhood was of good example to all in company. Should he continue as faithful and as valiant, thou mayest yet live to see thyself the consort of a Captain!”
”Not for glory gained in this night's marching, for yonder cometh the man with a sound body, and seemingly with the stomach of a Caesar--ay, and I'll answer for it, of a regiment too! It is no trifle that will satisfy his appet.i.te, after one of these--ha! pray Heaven the fellow be not harmed--truly, he hath our neighbor Ergot in attendance.”
”There is other than he too, for one cometh in the rear whose gait and air are unknown to me--the trail hath been struck, and Dudley leadeth a captive! A savage, in his paint and cloak of skin, is taken.”
This a.s.sertion caused all to rise, for the excitement of an apprehended inroad was still strong in the minds of those secluded people. Not a syllable more was uttered, until the scout and his companion were before them.
The quick glance of Faith had scanned the person of her husband, and, resuming her spirits with the certainty that he was unharmed, she was the first to greet him with words:
”How now, Ensign Dudley,” said the woman, quite possibly vexed that she had unguardedly betrayed a greater interest in his welfare than she might always deem prudent. ”How now, Ensign, hath the campaign ended with no better trophy than this?”
”The fellow is not a chief, nor, by his step and dull look, even a warrior; but he was, nevertheless, a lurker nigh the settlements, and it was thought prudent to bring him in;” returned the husband, addressing himself to Content, while he answered the salutation of his wife with a sufficiently brief nod. ”My own scouting hath brought nothing to light, but my brother Ring hath fallen on the trail of him that is here present, and it is not a little that we are puzzled in probing, as the good Doctor Ergot calleth it, into the meaning of his errand.”
”Of what tribe may the savage be?”
”There hath been discussion among us, on that matter,” returned Dudley, with an oblique glance of the eye towards the physician. ”Some have said he is a Narragansett, while others think he cometh of a stock still further east.”
”In giving that opinion, I spoke merely of his secondary or acquired habits,” interrupted Ergot; ”for, having reference to his original, the man is a.s.suredly a White.”
”A White!” repeated all around him.
”Beyond a cavil; as may be seen by divers particulars in his outward conformation, viz: in the shape of the head, the muscles of the arms and of the legs, the air and gait, besides sundry other signs, that are familiar to men who have made the physical peculiarities of the two races their study.”