Gustave Aimard
The Frontiersmen
"I am very much obliged to you, gentlemen, for your advice and good wishes for our welfare," said Bagsley, rising; "but when duty calls, we must obey. If you will point us the direction, we will be doubly obliged."
Their direction was pointed out by Ralph, who again made an ineffectual effort to induce them to desist from their dangerous expedition.
"Good day, gentlemen," said Bagsley, as he was about leaving. "Our intention is to return here this afternoon, and should you have no objection, we will admit Mr. Jenkins to bail on your becoming bound in double the sum I mentioned to you. Good day, gentlemen." And the attorney departed, followed by the bailiff.
The first impulse of Ralph was to laugh at this little interlude in the tragedy that was being enacted around them: but the matter was too serious, after all, to be treated so lightly.
"They are gone to a long imprisonment – perhaps to death," said Barton.
"No get Jenkins, this time," said the Tuscarora. "Lose their scalps – that all they make."
The hour now approached for the departure of Ralph and Eagle's-Wing. The sun was just sinking behind the western hills, when, taking their rifles, they left the cottage, proceeding is a southerly direction.
CHAPTER XIV
"An host of furies,
Could not have baited me more torturingly,
More rudely, or more most unnaturally."
BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.
Ichabod, whom we have so long neglected, after the departure of Panther and Snake-tongue, remained in as easy a position as the nature of his confinement would permit, and gave himself up to reflection upon his unpleasant situation. It was evident that it was the intention of the Senecas to subject him to torture: but whether they would proceed to the last extremity, he could not conjecture. But the possibility that such might be their intention, could not but present itself to his mind. He had often been in positions where death was impending; but those were times when, amidst the excitement of conflict, the mind does not dwell with any fixed tenacity upon that event; or, if it does, contemplates it under the colors of excitement with which it is clothed. But now, bound hand and foot, he was about to be led unresistingly, and in cool blood, to that fate, about which all men think, and but few appreciate, until the mortal hour.
Ichabod had a sort of creed, upon which he had heretofore relied with confidence. Now, however, for the first time, he began to doubt whether there was not a possibility of error in it, and whether he had sufficiently examined points of faith which he had heretofore rejected. But whichever way his mind wandered, he ever recurred, in his ignorance, to the simple articles of faith in which he had so long entertained confidence. Such were the nature of his thoughts, when Deersfoot entered the hut, to announce to him that the Senecas and their chief were waiting for him.
Now, Ichabod had, until this moment, been wholly engaged in the train of thought which we have mentioned; but when it was broken by this announcement, a new idea seemed suddenly presented to his mind.
"Yes, I know what that means, Deersfoot. It means that you are going to tortur' me, according to Indian law. I never did ra'ally think that I should live to be game for Senecas; but you do your duty according to your natur', and I'll do mine, according to such light as I've got. But, see here, Deersfoot, now, understand, that I don't ask for marcy, or anything of that sort; but if this business can be compromised to the benefit of us all then it's for your interest as well as mine to settle it. Now, I've got a proposition to make to Panther and the rest of you; and if you've a mind to hear it, well and good; and if you havn't, why, then you needn't."
Deersfoot listened, under the impression that Ichabod had, at last, repented of his resolution, and that he was willing to accept freedom upon the terms which had been proposed to him. After Ichabod had concluded, he replied:
"My brother is wise. I will say to the chief what my brother wishes. It is good for us to be at peace."
With this he departed. But a few moments elapsed, before he returned with the information that the Senecas and their chief would meet their prisoner in council. The withes that were bound about the ankles of Ichabod, were unfastened, yet it was some time before he was able to stand without assistance. When he had sufficiently recovered the use of his feet, he was conducted by Deersfoot to a lodge on the opposite side of the circle, where he found Panther and Snake-tongue, together with the larger portion of the Senecas, who were seated in a circle about the lodge, to listen to his proposal.
Ichabod was placed in the centre of the circle. Conforming to Indian custom, he preserved a perfect composure and silence, until, at length, he was addressed by Panther:
"My brother," said he, "had a cloud before his eyes, when he refused to listen to my counsel. The cloud has now passed away; he now sees clear; he sees that it will be wise to do as we wish. We have come together to listen: my brother can speak."
"I'm afraid we are laboring under some mistake here," replied Ichabod: "as for that business you proposed to me, there's no use in talking about that. It's all well enough for a Seneca to propose it; but it would rather go agin my natur' to accept it. I came here to speak to you about a matter of a great deal more importance than that."
There was a loud murmur of dissatisfaction among the Senecas; and many of them sprang to their feet with the intention of taking vengeance, at once, for this seemingly public insult. Panther, however, immediately restored silence.
"My brother," said he, "is a great warrior; he is cunning as a fox; but he is surrounded by warriors as brave and cunning as himself. We will hear what he has got to say."
"Now, I want to say to you, Panther, and to the rest of you," continued Ichabod, unmoved, "what I said to Deersfoot before I was brought in here, that if you want to put me to tortur', and think that's the best use you can make of me, I've nothing to say agin it, for that's good Injin law; but if you ra'ally want to make the most out of me that you can, then you'll listen to what I've got to say."
He paused for a few moments; but as the Indians remained silent, he took it as a manifestation of their disposition to give him their attention.
"You see," continued he, "that ever since the white men came over the ocean to this country, they've been increasing and growing more powerful, and you've been growing weaker. The people who came over, in the first place, established colonies – they fit the French – they fit the Injins, and finally they had a fight with England for independence; and notwithstanding all their Cornwallis's and Burgoyne's, and the Injins to boot, they got what they fout for. Now, you can see, that there's no use in your keeping up these old-fashioned customs of tomahawking and scalping, and living in the woods, and acting like Injins, more than like white people. If you do, it won't be long before there won't be a red man left in the country. It's rather hard to tell you these things to your faces; but they're facts, as you can see with half an eye. Now there is a way, in which you can not only keep your own, but get the start of the white people, in this territory, to boot. It may be going agin flesh and blood and color to tell such a secret to you, but still, I'm willing to do it."
His auditory, at the first glance, would have seemed to be wholly unmoved at this long introduction; but on a closer view, it would have been seen, that while many of the Senecas shot forth wilder and fiercer glances from behind passionless faces, others seemed moved by a feeling of curiosity to hear the end of this strange exordium. Panther, after a short silence, replied:
"My brother is brave; he is not afraid to speak in the midst of his enemies. It is true that the Injins are weak and the pale-faces are strong. We are dropping like the leaves; and the hunter comes home to his wigwam at night, tired and hungry, and brings but little game. The pale-faces are growing stronger. I have thought of it much. There is a way to make them grow weaker; but that is not the way which appears to the eyes of my brother. His way, I am afraid, is not a good way. He would have us forget that we are Injins. That we cannot do. Tho Great Spirit made us red men; he made us Injins. He placed us in the forests; he gave us tomahawks and knives with which to fight our enemies; and bows and arrows to shoot the bear and deer. We cannot be anything but Injins. Our fathers and grandfathers were Injins; and the little pappoose is an Injin. As soon as he is grown, he takes to the path of his nation. I may speak foolish; but this is what I know. If the white men destroy us, we will die like Injins; if they drive us from our hunting-grounds, we will not go without scalps. We will do as the Great Spirit tells us."
There was a loud expression of satisfaction at this speech of Panther; and he sat down under a deluge of applause, that a little alarmed Snake-tongue for his laurels. He waited with impatience until Ichabod should give him an opportunity to assert his superiority in the way of speech-making. Silence having been again restored, Ichabod continued:
"To the threats you made, Panther, in your speech, I shall not reply. My business, just now, is peaceable; and I'm addressing you for your profit; and I shall not be diverted by angry insinuations. I've said that the Injins are growing weaker, and the white men are growing stronger. Now I want to give you a lesson, in the first place, in political economy. A nation never become great and prosperous, that relied wholly on fighting. There is no surer and better way for that, than for a nation to be industrious, and keep a sharp eye out for the chances. It may be, that you can't understand that idea, precisely; for I never knew an Injin that could understand how anything could be made by honest labor: but I'll try and make the thing plain to you. Now, you see, as these Colonies are free and independent, this country that has been growing so fast, is going to grow a great deal faster. You'll see, in a few years, at most, that a valley like this will be occupied by white men, and villages will start up, and water-powers will be selected on all such streams as this. Now, why can't you get the start of the white men? I've been talking with Squire Barton about setting up a factory down here; and having all this land about here laid out into building lots. Now, you see, if you'll just look at the thing in a reasonable point of view, you'll see the advantages of going into this business with a jump. I'm given you a hint of the thing, Panther, and you might make a sly bargain with the Oneidas, and buy up a large quantity of these lots. They'll be valuable, some day, sartain. That's one way in which you could make money out of it. Then there's another way in which it would be a decided advantage to all your nation, male and female, old and young, under the present order of things. A man with half an eye can see that there's a a great lack of clothing among you; and some of you wouldn't hardly answer to be presented into fashionable company. You havn't but mighty little of it; and what you do wear, is of a kind of heathenish, Injin sort. Now, you see, at a small profit, we could supply you with cloth, so that you could wear pantaloons, jackets and coats, and look like gentlemen; and then all you'd have to do, would be to behave yourselves, to be a respectable sort of people. Now, if you can't see the advantages of this speculation, all that I've got to say is, that I pity you; and you may work your tortur' on me just as soon as you please. I've the satisfaction of knowing that I've done my duty by you like a Christian."
The Senecas seemed completely astounded by this long speech, and its conclusion. The most of them looked at each other with a vacant stare, as though they could not comprehend its meaning; while others regarded it as a public insult, and intended as such; which, while it exasperated their feelings, gave them a much greater regard for the bravery of their prisoner. At length Snake-tongue slowly arose, and glancing with a mien of dignity upon the assembly, proceeded to reply:
"My brother has spoken," said he; "he speaks with the tongue of a pale-face, and we poor Injins cannot understand. But we have heard enough; we can guess what our brother means. He means to put up a house on the river and drive away the fish. He means to cut down the trees, and make them into houses, and drive away the deer. He wants us to wear clothes like the pale-faces. It is a strange speech. My brother does not smile; he looks as if he talked from his heart. If he means us well, then we thank him, although we cannot see it as he does. We do not want the land of the Oneidas. The Oneidas are squaws; they stayed in their wigwams when their brothers went on the warpath. We do not want the land of the squaws; let them keep it; we will not steal it or buy it. But my brother wants us to wear the clothes of the pale-faces. It is strange that my brother should speak such a thing. How would an Injin look in the pantaloons and coat of a pale-face? His brethren could not know him; they would look him in the face and laugh. The little pappooses would laugh at him. It cannot be; my brother does not know the Senecas; they live after the traditions of their fathers – and their fathers never wore the clothes of the pale-faces. The Great Spirit gave them bows and arrows, and told them to shoot bears and deer, and make clothes from their skins. That is what we have done; that is what we mean to do. We have bought blankets from the pale-faces: some of our wise men have said that it was wrong to do so – that our fathers did not wear blankets of wool, and that we ought not to do it. I have thought so myself. But to wear pantaloons, jacket and coat! My brother might as well say that the Senecas should learn to read in books, and hoe corn and potatoes in the fields. We will not talk about it; my brother does not know the Senecas. We are Injins, and we will live like Injins."
"My brother has spoken; we have heard him, and we do not like his words. He is a brave warrior; we know it; but we are going to try and see how brave he is. Our young men will bind him to a tree, and will throw their tomahawks to see how near they can come to his head and not hit it. We will then try something else. We like to know a brave warrior. It does us good to see a brave warrior laugh at his enemies; and my brother must be glad to know that we are going to treat him like a brave. We shall hurt him all we can. We do not wear pantaloons, jackets and coats; if we did, we should not know how to honor him: we should be like the pale-faces. My brother must be glad that we do not dress like the pale-faces. Our young men are ready."
This speech was received with "rounds of applause" in other words, "it brought down the house;" and Snake-tongue sat down with a much greater reputation for oratory than he possessed when he arose. When the assembly once more became silent, and as three or four of the Senecas advanced towards Ichabod for the purpose of conducting him to the place selected for the torture, he said with a look of contempt:
"I might have known better than to cast pearls afore swine. They are nothing but venomous, thick-skulled Senecas; and they may go without clothes all their life-times, before I'll ever give 'em a piece of decent advice agin."
Ichabod was now led a short distance from the lodges, in the direction of the river, to the border of the cleared land. He was there fastened to a tree, with thongs around his feet and waist. The upper part of his body was left free, that he might display his fear by attempting to dodge the hatchets as they were thrown at him. It was now about four o'clock in the afternoon; and the bright autumn sun shone directly in his face, so that it was with extreme difficulty, after a little while, that he could even raise his eyes sufficiently to observe his enemies. Yet he did so; for he knew that any shrinking in that respect, would be deemed a mark of cowardice on his part.
The Indians had now gathered in front of him, at the distance of fifteen or twenty feet, and were preparing for the commencement of the ceremony. Resting against a stump, at a short distance on one side, was Guthrie, who was surveying the prisoner with a look of malicious pleasure, which he did not attempt to conceal.
Deersfoot was the first who advanced from the crowd of Senecas with his tomahawk in his hand. As he stepped forward, he said to Ichabod:
"I shall now throw my hatchet. I shall come as close as I can. I shall try not to hit my brother. If I do, he will be ashamed of me."
He threw his tomahawk with a force that drove the blade into the tree within an inch of Ichabod's head, almost to the handle. Ichabod, during the whole process, surveyed Deersfoot with a smile. As the hatchet struck the tree, he exclaimed:
"Well done, Deersfoot. That's almost as good as a bullet from a rifle in practised hand, could have done it. You've got an expert hand, any way, for that kind of we'pon."
A murmur of admiration broke from the Indians at this specimen of Ichabod's coolness. Another Seneca stepped forward, and had just raised his hatchet in the act to throw, when a loud yell in the opposite direction attracted the attention of the Senecas. In a moment, two of their number, who had been stationed as lookouts in that direction, were seen advancing towards the crowd, accompanied by two whites. The reader will at once recognize in these strangers, the attorney and his worthy companion, the bailiff. The latter, however, had been disarmed; and although they were not bound, their faces showed signs of indignation at what they, no doubt, supposed to be uncivil treatment. As they approached the crowd of Indians, Bagsley cried out,
"Will anybody be civil enough to show me the ringleader of this disorderly assembly?"
Panther stepped forward. "If the pale-faces wish to see the chief of the Senecas, he is here."
"I am happy to make your acquaintance, sir," said Bagsley. "I have the honor to be a member of the legal profession – an attorney-at-law, sir, and this gentleman who accompanies me is a deputy sheriff, sir – one who, at this moment, bears in his own person, all the dignity and authority of sheriff of the county of Tryon, in whose bailiwick you now are."
"Ugh!" ejaculated Panther; and the emphatic exclamation was answered by the whole crowd of Senecas.
"Our business here, sir, is to arrest one Ichabod Jenkins, upon a capias ad respondendum, at the suit of Samuel Parsons, for £25, 7s. 6d. I have been given to understand that he is in your custody, or that you know his whereabouts."
Panther made a gesture towards the tree where Ichabod was confined. Bagsley, whose view in that direction had been interrupted by the body of Indians who stood between him and the tree, now discovered the unfortunate debtor.
"I am much obliged to you, gentlemen," said he, "for having detained him until our arrival. I presume it was done as a matter of accommodation to us, as you probably had heard of our coming. Although you have made the arrest without color of law, and ex colore officii, and also without process, yet I will undertake to defend you, should he be malicious enough to bring his suit for assault and battery and false imprisonment. And, further, as you have behaved so properly in this matter, I shall feel disposed to compromise amicably with you a cause of action for the same offence, in which I have been retained by Mr. Barton. Mr. Rogers, you will do your duty."
That worthy was about moving towards Ichabod, when his course was at once arrested. The Indians, evidently, did not understand the value of the proceeding, except that they were in danger of losing their victim if this movement was not prevented. At a gesture from Panther, the intruders were surrounded.
"The pale-face is our prisoner," said he. "We do not understand what you wish. Our young men are trying to see how brave he is, and we cannot let him go."
"You don't mean to say," exclaimed Rogers, "that you are going to prevent this arrest! I'd like to see you do that! Stand back there," shouted he, waving his arm towards the Senecas in his front. But this gesture had only the effect of narrowing the circle within which to stood.
"Gentlemen," said Bagsley, "you are probably entirely unacquainted with that beautiful system of jurisprudence which has been embellished by the writings of Coke, and adorned by the lives of Hale, Holt and Mansfield. You are probably, also, unacquainted with a statute recently enacted by the Honorable, the Legislature of the State, of New York. You cannot be aware that, by interfering with our proceedings, which are perfectly regular – I give you my word and honor, as an attorney – you are subjecting yourselves to fine and imprisonment."
"We know no law, except Injin law," said Panther, "and we are trying to do our duty, as we understand it. We do not know pale-face law and we do not want to know it."
"I must confess," answered Bagsley, "that I am not very well acquainted with the Indian system of jurisprudence. It is, I presume, an unwritten system —leges non scriptæ– and, as such, I have great respect for it; it is undoubtedly an admirable system; but it is not the system to which I allude. You are, gentlemen, in the county of Tryon, under the jurisdiction of the State of New York, and amenable to its laws. I really hope, gentlemen, that you perceive the point in the case, and will retire, and leave us to the discharge of our duty. It will be extremely unpleasant for us to be called upon to exercise the authority with which we are clothed, and I really hope there will be no occasion for it."
And he and Rogers again attempted to move forward; but the Senecas pressed still closer; and they now found themselves completely hemmed in, and unable to move in either direction. Ichabod, who had seen and understood the whole proceeding now exclaimed —
"If I've got any friend among you Senecas, here, I hope you'll finish this business as soon as practicable. A blow of a tomahawk will be thankfully received; or if you've got up this matter to try a new system of tortur' on me, I'll acknowledge myself a squaw at once, if that'll be any pleasure to you. I can't stand out agin this kind of horrors, any way."
Rogers, who now found he would not be suffered to proceed in the making of the arrest, by the actual touching of the person of Ichabod, cried out —
"Ichabod Jenkins, I arrest you by virtue of – " but his voice was drowned in the yells of the Senecas; and the two intruders were immediately seized and bound.
"Gentlemen," said Bagsley, "bound or unbound. I will do my duty towards you, at least. I shall certify to the court, according to the statute, in such case made and provided, the names of the resisters, aiders, consenters, commanders and favorers, who have interfered with this arrest, and by a writ judicial, your bodies will be attached to appear in the same court."
The voice of the attorney was drowned in the yells of the now angry Senecas; and he, together with the bailiff, were at once led to one of the lodges, where they were left, bound hand and foot.
Ichabod laughed with great glee over the discomfiture of this new enemy, whom he looked upon as more formidable than the other.
"I thank you, red-skins, for this act of friendship; its ra'ally kind in you; and I shan't have nigh so bad an opinion of your nation, hereafter, as I have had. You do hate a lawyer; and there we agree. It's a pity that we can't be friends, under the circumstances; but I reckon that's impossible. So, proceed to business again, and get through with this part of your tortur' as fast as possible."
Order having been again restored, the Indian who had been interrupted by the arrival of Bagsley and his companion, again stepped forward.
"My brother," said he, addressing Ichabod, "is brave when he faces an Injin; but he does not like the men with long, forked tongues. We do not like them either. We think too much of our brother to give him up. He is a great warrior; and we want to do him honor according to Injin law. I may hit my brother, but I shall try not to."
He threw his tomahawk as he spoke, and the blade grazed Ichabod's head so closely that it severed a lock of hair from his brows. This was considered a great exploit; and the Senecas testified their admiration by loud yells.
One after one, the tomahawks of the Senecas were thrown, with divers success. Those who did not possess full confidence in their ability to perform the ceremony with credit to themselves, threw more at random; and many of the weapons did not even hit the tree. The perfect composure with which Ichabod endured this species of torture, which, to one at all fearful or timid, would be exquisitely painful, excited the admiration of the Indians to the highest degree. At last, Panther, who had stood calmly by, watching the ceremony, approached Ichabod, and said —
"It is now my turn to do honor to the pale-face. I must say that he is brave. We are glad that he is so brave. I shall now throw my hatchet, and I hope I shall not hurt my brother very much. I expect to hurt him a little. Should I hurt him very bad it will be a mistake, and I shall be very sorry; for we mean to try something else. We mean to know how brave our brother is."
He threw his tomahawk with fearful rapidity and seeming carelessness. It passed the side of Ichabod's head, opposite that from which the hair had been partially shorn; but it grazed so closely that the hair was shorn to the skin, almost as smoothly as it could have been done with a razor. It must have been exceedingly painful; but the smile which rested upon the face of Ichabod, as the hatchet left the hand of Panther, remained, as the Senecas, with admiration divided between the victim and their chief, crowded around Ichabod to examine the effects of the blow.
"Well done! Well done!" exclaimed Ichabod. "I doubt whether I could beat that with my rifle. I must say that you are about as expert a set of fellows with them kind of we'pons as I ever come across."
Panther now approached Ichabod, and said, "we have tried our brother as well as we could with our tomahawks. He is very brave; and it does us good to do him honor. If we had our squaws here to scold at him, or our pappooses to shoot arrows at him, we might please him better; but we have not, and we please him as well as we can, to-morrow we will try and do better. But to-night, we will leave him here tied to the tree; but he shall have an Indian by him to keep away the wolves. We expect, in the morning, our brother will be weaker, and he will not then be so brave. It is not natural that he should be. We will then tell him what we mean to do. But let not my brother be troubled; it shall be something that will honor him much."
This was a species of torture which Ichabod had not expected. He had been bound to the tree in such a manner that he was entirely sustained by the thongs which confined him, and his position was becoming, momentarily, more painful. It must be confessed, that his spirit quailed at the idea of remaining so long a time in this painful situation; but he knew of only one way by which he could be relieved – and that was, by the betrayal of his friend. This he would not do; and he could only hope that he might find some means so to provoke his guard that in his anger the latter might, by some hasty blow, dispatch him. It was with much impatience, then, that he waited for the approach of darkness – until which time he would probably be left alone.
He closed his eyes, into which the sun had shone until the brilliant glare had nearly deprived him of the power of vision, and endeavored to draw strength and fortitude from within. But a short time elapsed, however, before he heard a step, as of someone approaching him from behind. It was Guthrie, who had separated himself from the Indians, and who now came up immediately in front of him, with an ironical smile upon his countenance. Ichabod surveyed him with a look of calmness and composure.
"I suppose," said he, "that you've come here for the purpose of having your chance at me. Now, all I've got to say to you, is, that I've a sort of respect for them red devils, for they do according to their natur' and color: but as for you, you're a white-livered traitor and Tory; and if anybody knows any other words in the English language that have got a more contemptible meaning, they know more than I do – that's all: " and Ichabod closed his eyes again, as with the effort to shut out of his view so disgusting a sight.
"Pluck to the last!" exclaimed Guthrie. "I must say, that you've got more nerve than I reckoned on; but I rather expect that you'll give in before to-morrow's over. Do you want to know what's coming next?" asked he, with a sneer.
"Well, stranger, I don't suppose I should know any more about it after you have told me, than I do now," answered Ichabod; "for I've set you down for an infarnal liar. I ain't at all particular as to what you say; but this I do know, if them Senecas – who are gentlemen born, compared to what you are – would give me that rifle of mine again, and set me loose for a few moments, I'd agree, that after I'd given you a proper sort of chastising, I'd come back here again and stand all they might choose to do to me. It rather provokes one with Natur' and Providence, to see such an infarnal villain as you are, live and breathe."
Guthrie chuckled, in his peculiar manner. "I've waited many a day to get a chance at you. You didn't know me, when I saw you up at the cottage yonder; but I knowed you. I've got a scar over here," pointing towards his back, "that will remember you as long as it burns. You give it to me in that scrimmage we had down here, in '79; and I thought I'd just let you know that you may thank me for what you're getting now. As for that fighting you propose, I don't think that it's any object, for you're receiving, now, pretty much what you desarve." Then, approaching close to Ichabod, and laying his hand upon the spot shaven by the tomahawk of Panther, he continued – "That was a pretty close shave, any way. I was rather afeard he would make a bad job of it, and kill you. I knowed him do that once: " and the villain laughed.
