CHAPTER IV

The Pioneers

by James F. Cooper

CHAPTER IV, THE PIONEERS by James F. Cooper
An eText from LiteratureClassics.com.

Please see the eText readme for important copyright information (available from the options menu above if you are browsing online or as a separate file in the archive if you are browsing offline.)


“How now? whose mare’s dead? what’s the matter?” - Falstaff

A large lumber sleigh, drawn by four horses, was soon seen dashing
through the leafless bushes which fringed the road. The leaders were
of gray, and the pole-horses of a jet-black. Bells innumerable were
suspended from every part of the harness where one of the tinkling
balls could be placed, while the rapid movement of the equipage, in
defiance of the steep ascent, announced the desire of the driver to
ring them to the utmost. The first glance at this singular
arrangement acquainted the Judge with the character of those in the
sleigh. It contained four male figures. On one of those stools that
are used at writing desks, lashed firmly to the sides of the vehicle,
was seated a little man, enveloped in a great-coat fringed with fur,
in such a manner that no part of him was visible, except a face of an
unvarying red color. There was an habitual upward look about the head
of this gentleman, as if dissatisfied with its natural proximity to
the earth; and the expression of his countenance was that of busy
care, He was the charioteer, and he guided the mettled animals along
the precipice with a fearless eye and a steady hand, Immediately
behind him, with his face toward the other two, was a tall figure, to
whose appearance not even the duplicate overcoats which he wore, aided
by the corner of a horse-blanket, could give the appearance of
strength. His face was protruding from beneath a woollen night cap;
and, when he turned to the vehicle of Marmaduke as the sleighs
approached each other, it seemed formed by nature to cut the
atmosphere with the least possible resistance. The eyes alone
appeared to create any obstacle, for from either side of his forehead
their light-blue, glassy balls projected. The sallow of his
countenance was too permanent to be affected even by the intense cold
of the evening. Opposite to this personage sat a solid, short, and
square figure. No part of his form was to be discovered through his
overdress, but a face that was illuminated by a pair of black eyes
that gave the lie to every demure feature in his countenance. A fair,
jolly wig furnished a neat and rounded outline to his visage, and he,
well as the other two, wore marten-skin caps. The fourth was a meek-
looking, long-visaged man, without any other protection from the cold
than that which was furnished by a black surcoat, made with some
little formality, but which was rather threadbare and rusty. He wore
a hat of extremely decent proportions, though frequent brushing had
quite destroyed its nap. His face was pale, and withal a little
melancholy, or what might be termed of a studious complexion. The air
had given it, just now, a light and somewhat feverish flush, The
character of his whole appearance, especially contrasted to the air of
humor in his next companion, was that of habitual mental care. No
sooner had the two sleighs approached within speaking distance, than
the driver of this fantastic equipage shouted aloud

“Draw up in the quarry—draw up, thou king of the Greeks; draw into the
quarry, Agamemnon, or I shall never be able to pass you. Welcome
home, Cousin ‘Duke— welcome, welcome, black-eyed Bess. Thou seest,
Marina duke that I have taken the field with an assorted cargo, to do
thee honor. Monsieur Le Quoi has come out with only one cap; Old
Fritz would not stay to finish the bottle; and Mr. Grant has got to
put the ‘lastly’ to his sermon, yet. Even all the horses would come—
by the-bye, Judge, I must sell the blacks for you immediately; they
interfere, and the nigh one is a bad goer in double harness. I can
get rid of them to—”

“Sell what thou wilt, Dickon,” interrupted the cheerful voice of the
Judge, “so that thou leavest me my daughter and my lands. And Fritz,
my old friend, this is a kind compliment, indeed, for seventy to pay
to five-and-forty. Monsieur Le Quoi, I am your servant. Mr. Grant,”
lifting his cap, “I feel indebted to your attention. Gentlemen, I
make you acquainted with my child. Yours are names with which she is
very familiar.”

“Velcome, velcome Tchooge,” said the elder of the party, with a strong
German accent. “Miss Petsy vill owe me a kiss.”

“And cheerfully will I pay It, my good sir,” cried the soft voice of
Elizabeth; which sounded, in the clear air of the hills. Like tones
of silver, amid the loud cries of Richard. “I have always a kiss for
my old friend. Major Hartmann.”

By this time the gentleman in the front seat, who had been addressed
as Monsieur Le Quoi, had arisen with some difficulty, owing to the
impediment of his overcoats, and steadying himself by placing one hand
on the stool of the charioteer, with the other he removed his cap, and
bowing politely to the Judge and profoundly to Elizabeth, he paid his
compliments.

“Cover thy poll, Gaul, cover thy poll,” cried the driver, who was Mr.
Richard Jones; “cover thy poll, or the frost will pluck out the
remnant of thy locks. Had the hairs on the head of Absalom been as
scarce as thine, he might have been living to this day.” The jokes of
Richard never failed of exciting risibility, for he uniformly did
honor to his own wit; and he enjoyed a hearty laugh on the present
occasion, while Mr. Le Quoi resumed his seat with a polite
reciprocation in his mirth. The clergyman, for such was the office of
Mr. Grant, modestly, though quite affectionately, exchanged his
greetings with the travellers also, when Richard prepared to turn the
heads of his horses homeward.

It was in the quarry alone that he could effect this object, without
ascending to the summit of the mountain. A very considerable
excavation had been made in the side of the hill, at the point where
Richard had succeeded in stopping the sleighs, from which the stones
used for building in the village were ordinarily quarried, and in
which he now attempted to turn his team. Passing itself was a task of
difficulty, and frequently of danger, in that narrow road; but Richard
had to meet the additional risk of turning his four-in-hand. The
black civilly volunteered his services to take off the leaders, and
the Judge very earnestly seconded the measure with his advice.
Richard treated both proposals with great disdain.

“Why, and wherefore. Cousin ‘Duke?” he exclaimed, a little angrily;
“the horses are gentle as lambs. You know that I broke the leaders
myself, and the pole-horses are too near my whip to be restive. Here
is Mr. Le Quoi, now, who must know something about driving, because he
has rode out so often with me; I will leave it to Mr. Le Quoi whether
there is any danger.”

It was not in the nature of the Frenchman to disappoint expectations
so confidently formed; although he cat looking down the precipice
which fronted him, as Richard turned his leaders into the quarry, with
a pair of eyes that stood out like those of lobsters. The German’s
muscles were unmoved, but his quick sight scanned each movement. Mr.
Grant placed his hands on the side of the sleigh, in preparation for a
spring, but moral timidity deterred him from taking the leap that
bodily apprehension strongly urged him to attempt.

Richard, by a sudden application of the whip, succeeded in forcing the
leaders into the snow-bank that covered the quarry; but the instant
that the impatient animals suffered by the crust, through which they
broke at each step, they positively refused to move an inch farther in
that direction. On the contrary, finding that the cries and blows of
their driver were redoubled at this juncture, the leaders backed upon
the pole-horses, who in their turn backed the sleigh. Only a single
log lay above the pile which upheld the road on the side toward the
valley, and this was now buried in the snow. The sleigh was easily
breed across so slight an impediment, and before Richard became
conscious of his danger one-half of the vehicle Was projected over a
precipice, which fell perpendicularly more than a hundred feet. The
Frenchman, who by his position had a full view of their threatened
flight, instinctively threw his body as far forward as possible, and
cried

“Oh! mon cher Monsieur Deeck! mon Dieu! que faites vous!”

“Donner und blitzen, Richart!” exclaimed the veteran German, looking
over the side of the sleigh with unusual emotion, “put you will preak
ter sleigh and kilt ter horses!”

“Good Mr. Jones,” said the clergyman, “be prudent, good sir—be
careful,”

“Get up, obstinate devils!” cried Richard, catching a bird’s-eye view
of his situation, and in his eagerness to move forward kicking the
stool on which he sat—” get up, I say—Cousin ‘Duke, I shall have to
sell the grays too; they are the worst broken horses—Mr. Le Quoi”
Richard was too much agitated to regard his pronunciation, of which he
was commonly a little vain: “Monsieur La Quoi, pray get off my leg;
you hold my leg so tight that it's no wonder the horses back.”

“Merciful Providence!” exclaimed the Judge; “they will be all killed!”
Elizabeth gave a piercing shriek, and the black of Agamemnon’s face
changed to a muddy white.

At this critical moment, the young hunter, who during the salutations
of the parties had sat in rather sullen silence, sprang from the
sleigh of Marmaduke to the heads of the refractory leaders. The
horses, which were yet suffering under the injudicious and somewhat
random blows of Richard, were dancing up and down with that ominous
movement that threatens a sudden and uncontrollable start, still
pressing backward. The youth gave the leaders a powerful jerk, and
they plunged aside, and re-entered the road in the position in which
they were first halted. The sleigh was whirled from its dangerous
position, and upset, with the runners outward. The German and the
divine were thrown, rather unceremoniously, into the highway, but
without danger to their bones. Richard appeared in the air,
describing the segment of a circle, of which the reins were the radii,
and landed, at the distance of some fifteen feet, in that snow-bank
which the horses had dreaded, right end uppermost. Here, as he
instinctively grasped the reins, as drowning men seize at straws, he
admirably served the purpose of an anchor. The Frenchman, who was on
his legs, in the act of springing from the sleigh, took an aerial
flight also, much in the attitude which boys assume when they play
leap-frog, and, flying off in a tangent to the curvature of his
course, came into the snow-bank head foremost, w-here he remained,
exhibiting two lathy legs on high, like scarecrows waving in a corn-
field. Major Hartmann, whose self-possession had been admirably
preserved during the whole evolution, was the first of the party that
gained his feet and his voice.

“Ter deyvel, Richart!” he exclaimed in a voice half serious, half-
comical, “put you unload your sleigh very hautily!”

It may be doubtful whether the attitude in which Mr. Grant continued
for an instant after his overthrow was the one into which he had been
thrown, or was assumed, in humbling himself before the Power that he
reverenced, in thanksgiving at his escape. When he rose from his
knees, he began to gaze about him, with anxious looks, after the
welfare of his companions, while every joint in his body trembled with
nervous agitation. There was some confusion in the faculties of Mr.
Jones also: but as the mist gradually cleared from before his eyes, he
saw that all was safe, and, with an air of great self-satisfaction, he
cried, “Well—that was neatly saved, anyhow!— it was a lucky thought in
me to hold on to the reins, or the fiery devils would have been over
the mountain by this time. How well I recovered myself, ‘Duke!
Another moment would have been too late; but I knew just the spot
where to touch the off-leader; that blow under his right flank, and
the sudden jerk I gave the rein, brought them round quite in rule, I
must own myself.” *

* The spectators, from immemorial usage, have a right to laugh at the
casualties of a sleigh ride; and the Judge was no sooner certain that
no one was done than he made full use of the privilege.

“Thou jerk! thou recover thyself, Dickon!” he said; ‘but for that
brave lad yonder, thou and thy horses, or rather mine, would have been
dashed to pieces—but where is Monsieur Le Quoi?”

“Oh! mon cher Juge! mon ami!” cried a smothered voice,” praise be God,
I live; vill you, Mister Agamemnon, be pleas come down ici, and help
me on my leg?”

The divine and the negro seized the incarcerated Gaul by his legs and
extricated him from a snow-bank of three feet in depth, whence his
voice had sounded as from the tombs. The thoughts of Mr. Le Quoi,
immediately on Ms liberation, were not extremely collected; and, when
he reached the light, he threw his eyes upward, in order to examine
the distance he had fallen. His good-humor returned, however, with a
knowledge of his safety, though it was some little time before he
clearly comprehended the case.

“What, monsieur,” said Richard, who was busily assisting the black in
taking off the leaders; “are you there? I thought I saw you flying
toward the top of the mountain just now.”

“Praise be God, I no fly down into the lake,” returned the Frenchman,
with a visage that was divided between pain, occasioned by a few large
scratches that he had received in forcing his head through the crust,
and the look of complaisance that seemed natural to his pliable
features.

“Ah! mon cher Mister Deeck, vat you do next? - dere be noting you no
try.”

“The next thing, I trust, will be to learn to drive,” said the Judge,
who bad busied himself in throwing the buck, together with several
other articles of baggage, from his own sleigh into the snow; “here
are seats for you all, gentlemen; the evening grows piercingly cold,
and the hour approaches for the service of Mr. Grant; we will leave
friend Jones to repair the damages, with the assistance of Agamemnon,
and hasten to a warm fire. Here, Dickon, are a few articles of Bess’
trumpery, that you can throw into your sleigh when ready; and there is
also a deer of my taking, that I will thank you to bring. Aggy!
remember that there will be a visit from Santa Claus * to-night.”

* The periodical visits of St. Nicholas, or Santa Claus, as he is
termed, were never forgotten among the inhabitants of New York, until
the emigration from New England brought in the opinions and usages of
the Puritans, like the “bon homme de Noel.” he arrives at each
Christmas.

The black grinned, conscious of the bribe that was offered him for
silence on the subject of the deer, while Richard, without in the
least waiting for the termination of his cousin’s speech, began his
reply:

“Learn to drive, sayest thou, Cousin ‘Duke? Is there a man in the
county who knows more of horse-flesh than myself? Who broke in the
filly, that no one else dare mount, though your coachman did pretend
that he had tamed her before I took her in hand; but anybody could see
that he lied—he was a great liar, that John—what’s that, a buck?”
Richard abandoned the horses, and ran to the spot where Marmaduke had
thrown the deer, “It is a buck! I am amazed! Yes, here are two holes
in him, he has fired both barrels, and hit him each time, Egod! how
Marmaduke will brag! he is a prodigious bragger about any small matter
like this now; well, to think that ‘Duke has killed a buck before
Christmas! There will be no such thing as living with him—they are
both bad shots though, mere chance—mere chance—now, I never fired
twice at a cloven foot in my life—it is hit or miss with me—dead or
run away-had it been a bear, or a wild-cat, a man might have wanted
both barrels. Here! you Aggy! how far off was the Judge when this
buck was shot?”

“Oh! massa Richard, maybe a ten rod,” cried the black, bending under
one of the horses, with the pretence of fastening a buckle, but in
reality to conceal the grin that opened a mouth from ear to ear.

“Ten rod!” echoed the other; “way, Aggy, the deer I Killed last winter
‘was at twenty—yes! if anything it was nearer thirty than twenty. I
wouldn’t shoot at a deer at ten rod: besides, you may remember, Aggy,
I only fired once.”

“Yes, massa Richard, I ‘member ‘em! Natty Bumppo fire t’oder gun. You
know, sir, all ‘e folks say Natty kill him.”

“The folks lie, you black devil!” exclaimed Richard in great heat. “I
have not shot even a gray squirrel these four years, to which that old
rascal has not laid claim, or some one else [or him. This is a damned
envious world that we live in—people are always for dividing the
credit at a thing, in order to bring down merit to their own level.
Now they have a story about the Patent,* that Hiram Doolittle helped
to plan the steeple to St. Paul’s; when Hiram knows that it is
entirely mine; a little taken front a print of his namesake in London,
I own; but essentially, as to all points of genius, my own.”

* The grants of land, made either by the crown or the state, were but
letters patent under the great seal, and the term “patent” is usually
applied to any district of extent thus conceded; though under the
crown’, manorial rights being often granted with the soil, in the
older counties the word “manor” is frequently used. There are many
manors in New York though all political and judicial rights have
ceased.

“I don't know where he come from,” said the black, losing every mark
of humor in an expression of admiration, “but eb’rybody say, he
wounerful handsome.”

“And well they may say so, Aggy,” cried Richard, leaving the buck and
walking up to the negro with the air of a man who has new interest
awakened within him, “I think I may say, without bragging, that it is
the handsomest and the most scientific country church in America. I
know that the Connecticut settlers talk about their West Herfield
meeting-house; but I never believe more than half what they say, they
are such unconscionable braggers. Just as you have got a thing done,
if they see it likely to be successful, they are always for
interfering; and then it’s tea to one but they lay claim to half, or
even all of the credit. You may remember, Aggy, when I painted the
sign of the bold dragoon for Captain Hollister there was that fellow,
who was about town laying brick-dust on the houses, came one day and
offered to mix what I call the streaky black, for the tail and mane;
and then, because it looks like horse-hair, he tells everybody that
the sign was painted by himself and Squire Jones. If Marmaduke don’t
send that fellow off the Patent, he may ornament his village with his
own hands for me,” Here Richard paused a moment, and cleared his
throat by a loud hem, while the negro, who was all this time busily
engaged in preparing the sleigh, proceeded with his work in respectful
silence. Owing to the religious scruples of the Judge, Aggy was the
servant of Richard, who had his services for a time,* and who, of
course, commanded a legal claim to the respect of the young negro.
But when any dispute between his lawful and his real master occurred,
the black felt too much deference for both to express any opinion.

* The manumission of the slaves in New York has been gradual. When
public opinion became strong in their favor, then grew up a custom of
buying the services of a slave, for six or eight years, with a
condition to liberate him at the end of the period. Then the law
provided that all born after a certain day should be free, the males
at twenty— eight and the females at twenty-five. After this the owner
was obliged to cause his servants to be taught to read and write
before they reached the age of eighteen, and, finally, the few that
remained were all unconditionally liberated in 1826, or after the
publication of this tale. It was quite usual for men more or less
connected with the Quakers, who never held slaves to adopt the first
expedient.

In the mean while, Richard continued watching the negro as he fastened
buckle after buckle, until, stealing a look of consciousness toward
the other, he continued: “Now, if that young man who was in your
sleigh is a real Connecticut settler, he will be telling everybody how
he saved my horses, when, if he had let them alone for half a minute
longer, I would have brought them in much better, without upsetting,
with the whip amid rein—it spoils a horse to give him his heal, I
should not wonder if I had to sell the whole team, just for that one
jerk he gave them,” Richard paused and hemmed; for his conscience
smote him a little for censuring a man who had just saved his life.
“Who is the lad, Aggy—I don’t remember to have seen him before?”

The black recollected the hint about Santa Claus; and, while he
briefly explained how they had taken up the person in question on the
top of the mountain, he forbore to add anything concerning the
accident or the wound, only saying that he believed the youth was a
stranger. It was so usual for men of the first rank to take into
their sleighs any one they found toiling through the snow, that
Richard was perfectly satisfied with this explanation. He heard Aggy
with great attention, and then remarked: “Well, if the lad has not
been spoiled by the people in Templeton he may be a modest young man,
and, as he certainly meant well, I shall take some notice of him—
perhaps he is land-hunting—I say, Aggy, maybe he is out hunting?”

“Eh! yes, massa Richard,” said the black, a little confused; for, as
Richard did all the flogging, he stood in great terror of his master,
in the main—” Yes, sir, I b’lieve he be.”

“Had he a pack and an axe?”

“No, sir, only he rifle.”

“Rifle!” exclaimed Richard, observing the confusion of The negro,
which now amounted to terror. “By Jove, he killed the deer! I knew
that Marmaduke couldn’t kill a buck on the jump—how was it, Aggy? Tell
me all about it, and I’ll roast ‘Duke quicker than he can roast his
saddle—how was it, Aggy? the lad shot the buck, and the Judge bought
it, ha! and he is taking the youth down to get the pay?”

The pleasure of this discovery had put Richard in such a good humor,
that the negro’s fears in some measure vanished, and he remembered the
stocking of Santa Claus. After a gulp or two, he made out to reply;

“You forgit a two shot, sir?”

“Don’t lie, you black rascal!” cried Richard, stepping on the snow-
bank to measure the distance from his lash to the negro’s back; “speak
truth, or I trounce you.” While speaking, the stock was slowly rising
in Richard’s right hand, and the lash drawing through his left, in the
scientific manner with which drummers apply the cat; and Agamemnon,
after turning each side of himself toward his master, and finding both
equally unwilling to remain there, fairly gave in. In a very few
words he made his master acquainted with the truth, at the same time
earnestly conjuring Richard to protect him from the displeasure of thc
lodge I’ll do it, boy, I’ll do it,” cried the other, rubbing his hands
with delight; “say nothing, but leave me to manage ‘Duke. I have a
great mind to leave the deer on the hill, and to make the fellow send
for his own carcass; but no, I will let Marmaduke tell a few bounces
about it before I come out upon him. Come, hurry in, Aggy, I must
help to dress the lad’s wound; this Yankee* doctor knows nothing of
surgery—I had to hold out Milligan’s leg for him, while he cut it off.

* In America the term Yankee is of local meaning. It is thought to be
derived from the manner in which the Indians of New England pronounced
the word “English,” or “Yengeese.” New York being originally a Dutch
province, the term of course was not known there, and Farther south
different dialects among the natives themselves probably produced a
different pronunciation Marmaduke and his cousin, being Pennsylvanians
by birth, were not Yankees in the American sense of the word.

Richard was now seated on the stool again, and, the black taking the
hind seat, the steeds were put in motion toward home, As they dashed
down the hill on a fast trot, the driver occasionally turned his face
to Aggy, and continued speaking; for, notwithstanding their recent
rupture, the most perfect cordiality was again existing between them,
“This goes to prove that I turned the horses with the reins, for no
man who is shot in the right shoulder can have strength enough to
bring round such obstinate devils. I knew I did it from the first;
but I did not want to multiply words with Marmaduke about it.—Will you
bite, you villain? —hip, boys, hip! Old Natty, too, that is the best
of it!—Well, well—’Duke will say no more about my deer—and the Judge
fired both barrels, and hit nothing but a poor lad who was behind a
pine-tree. I must help that quack to take out the buckshot for the
poor fellow.” In this manner Richard descended the mountain; the bells
ringing, and his tongue going, until they entered the village, when
the whole attention of the driver was devoted to a display of his
horsemanship, to the admiration of all the gaping women and children
who thronged the windows to witness the arrival of their landlord and
his daughter.