The Knight of the Golden Melice Part 20

Some brands were smouldering in the ashes, and they threw an obscure light into the wigwam.

As they were thus lying, Arundel thought that he could hear once in a while a faint rustling, but whence it proceeded he was unable, with all his attention, to discover, and at last concluded it was caused by the wind among dry leaves.

He had now become so accustomed to this state of things, that the anxieties which he felt in the first part of the night were gone, and he began to fancy that the expectation of Sa.s.sacus was unfounded. The face of the chief was turned away, so that it was impossible to determine whether he were sleeping or not; from the manner of his breathing, however, Arundel judged that he was awake. But suddenly the respirations became long and deep, and he exhibited the indications of a profound slumber. An instant afterwards Arundel, whose eyes were constantly turned to the opening, beheld the face of an Indian peering in. His first impulse was to cry out, but before he could make a sound, he saw a naked arm emerge from behind some skins which hung from the upper part of the lodge quite down to the ground, and bury a tomahawk in the head of the intruder, who fell dead upon the spot. At the same instant, the dreadful war-whoop rung through the air, and the chief leaping to his feet, and accompanied by the warrior, who had been concealed, the two sprung into the open s.p.a.ce in front. Arundel too, hastened after them. In the star-light no objects were clearly discernible, but dark figures could be dimly seen, engaged in hand to hand contests, and the cracking of dry branches under trampling feet could be heard. These sounds were mingled with thick panting breaths, and occasionally the fall of a body on the ground. They lasted but a few moments, and then a silence succeeded, as deep as if no living thing were in the forest. As the eyes of Arundel became more accustomed to the darkness, he beheld a tall form near by, which he recognized for that of Sa.s.sacus, and immediately approached him.

The chief was standing near the body of a huge Indian, who was lying prostrate on the earth. He was in the last agonies of death, and while Arundel was looking on, the sinewy limbs quivered into immobility. Nor had Sa.s.sacus escaped without a wound. The blood was streaming from a gash in his side, indistinctly seen by light from the fire, but he paid no heed to it, and the result proved it not to be dangerous.

When the dusky warrior had breathed his last, the chief uttered a peculiar cry, and immediately half a dozen stalwart men, several of whom had each a fresh scalp hanging at his girdle, surrounded him. He addressed them in their own language, and from his gestures, and the looks of his companions, Arundel supposed that he was speaking of him.

He next pointed to the dead body, and seemed to be giving orders concerning it. One of the Indians stooped down, and with his knife made a motion as if to take off the scalp, but being rebuked by the chief, he desisted, and then lent his a.s.sistance to two others in bearing away the corpse. Arundel had the curiosity to follow. The three bore the body to the bank of the river, where, binding it with withes to several large limbs of trees, they thrust it into the stream, and left it to find its way to the ocean. A few earnest words, unintelligible to the young man, were on their return spoken by Sa.s.sacus, who had meanwhile had a styptic applied to his wound. When he had finished speaking, the Indians dispersed in various directions in the depths of the dark wood, and the chief beckoning to his friend, they entered the wigwam, and disposed themselves to sleep, which delayed not long to close their eye-lids.

CHAPTER XIV.

They spake not a word, But like dumb statues, or breathless stones, Star'd on each other.

SHAKSPEARE.

The time fixed for the audience of the amba.s.sadors on the next day, was in the afternoon instead of the morning, that all things might be done with dignity, and an opportunity afforded to show them the fort erected near the water, and the shipping, and whatever else might impress them with the power of the whites. With this view, the Indians had been committed to the charge of the deputy Gov. Dudley, and of Sir Christopher Gardiner, the latter of whom acted as interpreter. The two gentlemen accordingly employed themselves in the course of the forenoon, in exhibiting to their red friends whatever might, in their judgment, best subserve the object, and at the moment we meet them, were standing on the deck of the ship commanded by Capt. Sparhawk, which lay alongside of the wharf. Of the dozen Indians who had been at the audience on the yesterday only seven were present, and they were all the oldest. The whole group appeared, to a careless observer, stolid and unmoved by what they saw; but one who watched them might notice that they cast inquisitive, though stolen glances, on every thing around. Moreover, upon closer examination, he might fancy an air of uneasiness among them, as ever and anon they turned their eyes toward the houses of the settlement, and the forest that lay beyond.

The jolly Capt. Sparhawk was endeavoring, to the best of his abilities, to do the honors of his vessel, quite unabashed by the presence of either Dudley or Sir Christopher.

"What will ye have to drink, my hearties?" he cried, slapping one of the biggest Indians on the shoulder, who merely turned round and stared at the questioner. "To you, gentlemen," he said, addressing Dudley and the Knight, "I can offer some of Mounseer's, or Don Spaniard's wine, though to my liking, your Rosa Solis is the only drink fit for a man; and I will wager the good ship Rule Britannia against a c.o.c.k boat that these devils will say so too."

"There is no need," said Dudley, roughly. "It were to obscure the little intellect these savages have, with that which serves no purpose, save to convert them into brutes."

The Knight's reply was more courteous.

"At another time, worthy Captain, it were a pleasure to accept thine invitation, but bethink thee that it is early in the day."

"It is near upon twelve," answered the Captain, looking at the sun, "or I never squinted through a quadrant; and may it please ye, Governor, wont ye let the red skins speak for themselves?"

"Nay," said Dudley, "so long as they are within my charge, nothing stronger than water shall pa.s.s their lips."

"But," persisted the Captain, "if all I hear on sh.o.r.e be true, I take it ye are trying to drive a bargain with them imps. Now, have ye never noticed that the best time to trade with a man is when half a dozen gla.s.ses have warmed his heart?"

"Peace," said Dudley, "no more of this. We came to see the ship and not to trespa.s.s on thy mistaken hospitality."

"The lubberly milksop!" muttered the Captain betwixt his teeth. "But what," he added aloud, "are the red skins looking at so sharp out to sea?"

While this conversation had been going on, the attention of the savages had been arrested by an object floating on the water. It rose and fell on the heaving sea, at one moment visible, and at the next hid from view. At first it had been impossible to say what it was. It might be a spar, or plank, or any part of a shipwrecked vessel. The tide was coming in, and the object became more and more distinct, until an old sailor, whose experienced eyes had also been attracted sea-ward, exclaimed,

"Captain, I'm a green hand, and never weathered the Cape, if there ben't a man lashed on yon spar."

"By St. George's cross, but I believe thou art right, d.i.c.k Spritsail,"

cried the Captain. "It's some poor fellow, I warrant me, whose ship has gone down, and who made a raft to try his luck. Johnny Shark, do ye see, is no pleasant customer to become acquainted with, and so he took a venture on the spar for a Christian burial, instead of making Jonah's viage."

"It's no Christian," replied d.i.c.k, "unless the waters in these lat.i.tudes have the faculty to turn a man black."

The sailor had hardly p.r.o.nounced the last words, when one of the Indians, divesting himself of the skin that covered his shoulders, leaped from the side of the ship, and swam in the direction of the object which had attracted their attention. It would seem that his keen eyes, like those of the sailor, had detected the body, and that, unable to repress his curiosity, he had taken this method to satisfy it. Amid the loud and wondering exclamations of the white men, and the subdued gutturals of the Indians, whose straining eyes betrayed their interest, the swimmer, with l.u.s.ty strokes, breasted the green billows as they came rolling into the bay. When he reached the floating ma.s.s he carefully examined it, and then raised a wail sadder than the cry of the loon over the dark waves, when it antic.i.p.ates the coming storm.

It was responded to by his companions on board the ship, in a yell of mingled rage and grief, that was heard in all parts of the village, and far over the water.

"What possesses the imps now?" cried the Captain, as two more Indians, following the example of their tribesman, plunged into the water. "I wonder what they have found?"

"Send a boat after them, Captain, if thou wilt do me a pleasure," said Dudley, "It seems to be something wherein they take a great interest, and it will be only friendly to furnish them a.s.sistance."

"O, ho! old bear, canst growl sweetly enough an' it suits thy purpose," said the Captain to himself. "But it shall never be said that Jack Sparhawk was an unmannerly lubber. Halloo, half a dozen of ye," he cried aloud, "run aft and lower the boat. Bear a hand, men; move quick," he added, as they came running from the bow, where they had been standing, toward the stern. "Jump in Bill," he continued, as the keel of the yawl touched the water, "take a couple of men, pull after them red skins, and bring 'em ash.o.r.e, with whatever they have found in the offing."

In a very short s.p.a.ce of time the boat was pulling away into the harbor, and soon reached the object of the search. It turned out to be an Indian, being no other than the warrior Pieskaret, whose corpse the wily Sa.s.sacus had committed to the river Charles, wearing the unshorn honors of his scalp, in order to avert suspicion from himself, and fix it on the whites. For rightly did the sagacious chief judge that no Taranteen could be induced to believe that an Indian would forbear to possess himself, if he were able, of the coveted prize, especially that of so mighty a warrior as Pieskaret. And with regard to the Pequot in particular, he, of all, after the provocation of yesterday, would be the last, if he had slain Pieskaret, to be supposed capable of an act of so great self-denial.

The sailors found the Taranteens around the raft, and pushing it ash.o.r.e, In spite of the remonstrances of the savages, which the white men did not half understand, they unlashed the body from the boughs, and taking it into the boat, pulled for the land, closely followed by the swimmers. As they approached the vessel, they were ordered by Dudley to take it to the wharf, and he and the Knight, followed by the natives, descended the side, and advanced to the spot where the boat was to land. Here, when they arrived, a considerable group of persons had collected, and were examining the corpse.

So short a time had pa.s.sed since the breath left the body, that it still looked fresh and life-like. There, extended on the sand, lay the strong, bold man, who but a day before had boasted of his prowess, and of the terror of his name; now a dog might insult him with impunity. A deep wound gaped upon his breast, and the water had not washed all the clotted blood from his head. His countenance wore a look of deadly ferocity, and it was evident that he had died as a brave man should, with his face to the foe.

The Taranteens, after the first burst of feeling, looked on in gloomy silence, and began to cast glances of distrust and apprehension around. The scalp-lock of Pieskaret was untouched. He had fallen then in no conflict with Indians. His companions had escaped with the body, and launched it on the water in order to apprise them of what had happened, and of their own danger. In low tones they addressed each other, and drew aside for consultation.

Meanwhile a thousand comments were made by the bystanders. A cloud rested on the weather-beaten face of Dudley, and over the whole group, except the Knight, whose equanimity no circ.u.mstance seemed able to disturb.

"I suspected mischief," said Dudley to the Knight, "when this morning, only half the number of the savages presented themselves; and now doth it pa.s.s my understanding how this miserable wretch lost his life."

"It is seldom that a brawl disturbs our peaceful settlement," said Sir Christopher, "and I have heard of none during the night. Has your worship obtained knowledge of any such?"

"Of none. And now will great scandal, and even infamy rest on us, by reason of this most untoward event, I fear me that our position with reference to these Taranteens will be worse than it was before, and that now they will be converted from indifferent neighbors into relentless enemies, unless we discover and deliver up to them the murderer, and even that will hardly restore confidence."

"Nor can we say that the man was murdered. It is hard to get a limit to the unbridled pa.s.sions of savages; and it may be that it was in self-defence, or in the endeavor to prevent some other grievous wrong, that whosoever killed him took his life."

"A mystery doth enshroud the affair. Where lost the man his life, and by whose hand, and for what cause? It could not be where they camped in the night. We heard no disturbance, no signs of violence are to be seen, and the other Indians would have known. If Indians killed him, why took they not his scalp, and why set they him floating on the water? Herein it looks like the foolish prank of drunken sailors. But then what cause of such enmity could there be? for all was done very quietly. And what has become of the missing Taranteens? Are they too killed, or in the forest on their way home? Has Sa.s.sacus any hand in this matter? Be it as it may, the bold partizan of the Pequots must be looked after."

"It is as thou sayest, hard to determine," answered the Knight; "but if Indians were concerned in this most lamentable deed, strange has been their conduct. Such truly is not the customary manner of the natives to dispose of their enemies. Wonderful forbearance indeed, and disregard of the traditions and superst.i.tions of the tribes must it require, to allow an enemy, when it can be prevented, to step upon the happy hunting grounds, bearing the unviolated honors of his head."

"It may be," replied Dudley, "that his foes were unable to tear away the b.l.o.o.d.y trophy; that before they could do so his body was rescued by his companions."

"But how account for his being launched upon the deep? Is this an Indian mode of disposing of friends?"

"My mind is as perplexed as thine. I will consider the thing more maturely hereafter. Thou knowest their heathen tongue. Step forward, may it please thee, and try to calm their irritated spirits, a.s.suring them of our friendship and grief at what we cannot explain."

Thus requested, the Knight advanced, and commenced a speech to the savages, to which they listened in moody silence. What he said was of course unintelligible to all except the Indians, but it appeared not to produce a favorable impression. No sound, whether of approval or the contrary, escaped their lips, as, surrounding the corpse of their companion, they regarded it with ominous brows, until the Knight concluded, when an Indian addressed him in reply.

"How hast thou prevailed?" inquired Dudley, when the Taranteen stopped.

"Alas!" replied Sir Christopher, "no representations which I can make are sufficient to soothe their exasperation or allay their suspicions."

"Ask them," said Dudley, "after their other companions."

A howl of rage, and a few rapid words, were the return to the inquiry.

"What means that?" said the Deputy Governor.