I must carry back your answer, and in order to do so it is necessary that you should send it.
A faithful messenger gives his ar'n'd, word for word."
Hist no longer hesitated to speak her mind fully.
In the excitement she rose from her bench, and naturally recurring to that language in which she expressed herself the most readily, she delivered her thoughts and intentions, beautifully and with dignity, in the tongue of her own people.
"Tell the Hurons, Deerslayer," she said, "that they are as ignorant as moles; they don't know the wolf from the dog.
Among my people, the rose dies on the stem where it budded, the tears of the child fall on the graves of its parents; the corn grows where the seed has been planted.
The Delaware girls are not messengers to be sent, like belts of wampum, from tribe to tribe.
They are honeysuckles, that are sweetest in their own woods; their own young men carry them away in their bosoms, because they are fragrant; they are sweetest when plucked from their native stems.
Even the robin and the martin come back, year after year, to their old nests; shall a woman be less true hearted than a bird?
Set the pine in the clay and it will turn yellow; the willow will not flourish on the hill; the tamarack is healthiest in the swamp; the tribes of the sea love best to hear the winds that blow over the salt water.
As for a Huron youth, what is he to a maiden of the Lenni Lenape.
He may be fleet, but her eyes do not follow him in the race; they look back towards the lodges of the Delawares.
He may sing a sweet song for the girls of Canada, but there is no music for Wah, but in the tongue she has listened to from childhood.
Were the Huron born of the people that once owned the shores of the salt lake, it would be in vain, unless he were of the family of Uncas.
The young pine will rise to be as high as any of its fathers.
Wah-ta-Wah has but one heart, and it can love but one husband."
Deerslayer listened to this characteristic message, which was given with an earnestness suited to the feelings from which it sprung, with undisguised delight, meeting the ardent eloquence of the girl, as she concluded, with one of his own heartfelt, silent, and peculiar fits of laughter.
"That's worth all the wampum in the woods!" he exclaimed. "You don't understand it, I suppose, Judith, but if you'll look into your feelin's, and fancy that an inimy had sent to tell you to give up the man of your ch'ice, and to take up with another that wasn't the man of your ch'ice, you'll get the substance of it, I'll warrant!
Give me a woman for ra'al eloquence, if they'll only make up their minds to speak what they feel.
By speakin', I don't mean chatterin', howsever; for most of them will do that by the hour; but comm' out with their honest, deepest feelin's in proper words.
And now, Judith, having got the answer of a red-skin girl, it is fit I should get that of a pale-face, if, indeed, a countenance that is as blooming as your'n can in any wise so be tarmed.
You are well named the Wild Rose, and so far as colour goes, Hetty ought to be called the Honeysuckle."
'Did this language come from one of the garrison gallants, I should deride it, Deerslayer, but coming from you, I know it can be depended on," returned Judith, deeply gratified by his unmeditated and characteristic compliments. "It is too soon, however, to ask my answer; the Great Serpent has not yet spoken."
"The Sarpent!
Lord; I could carry back his speech without hearing a word of it!
I didn't think of putting the question to him at all, I will allow; though 'twould be hardly right either, seeing that truth is truth, and I'm bound to tell these Mingos the fact and nothing else.
So, Chingachgook, let us hear your mind on this matter-are you inclined to strike across the hills towards your village, to give up Hist to a Huron, and to tell the chiefs at home that, if they're actyve and successful, they may possibly get on the end of the Iroquois trail some two or three days a'ter the inimy has got off of it?"
Like his betrothed, the young chief arose, that his answer might be given with due distinctness and dignity.
Hist had spoken with her hands crossed upon her bosom, as if to suppress the emotions within, but the warrior stretched an arm before him with a calm energy that aided in giving emphasis to his expressions.
"Wampum should be sent for wampum," he said; "a message must be answered by a message.
Hear what the Great Serpent of the Delawares has to say to the pretended wolves from the great lakes, that are howling through our woods.
They are no wolves; they are dogs that have come to get their tails and ears cropped by the hands of the Delawares.
They are good at stealing young women; bad at keeping them.
Chingachgook takes his own where he finds it; he asks leave of no cur from the Canadas.
If he has a tender feeling in his heart, it is no business of the Hurons.
He tells it to her who most likes to know it; he will not bellow it in the forest, for the ears of those that only understand yells of terror.
What passes in his lodge is not for the chiefs of his own people to know; still less for Mingo rogues -"
"Call 'em vagabonds, Sarpent -" interrupted Deerslayer, unable to restrain his delight - "yes, just call 'em up-and-down vagabonds, which is a word easily intarpreted, and the most hateful of all to their ears, it's so true.
Never fear me; I'll give em your message, syllable for syllable, sneer for sneer, idee for idee, scorn for scorn, and they desarve no better at your hands -only call 'em vagabonds, once or twice, and that will set the sap mounting in 'em, from their lowest roots to the uppermost branches!"
"Still less for Mingo vagabonds," resumed Chingachgook, quite willingly complying with his friend's request. "Tell the Huron dogs to howl louder, if they wish a Delaware to find them in the woods, where they burrow like foxes, instead of hunting like warriors.
When they had a Delaware maiden in their camp, there was a reason for hunting them up; now they will be forgotten unless they make a noise.
Chingachgook don't like the trouble of going to his villages for more warriors; he can strike their run-a-way trail; unless they hide it under ground, he will follow it to Canada alone.
He will keep Wah-ta-Wah with him to cook his game; they two will be Delawares enough to scare all the Hurons back to their own country ."
"That's a grand despatch, as the officers call them things!" cried Deerslayer; "'twill set all the Huron blood in motion; most particularily that part where he tells 'em Hist, too, will keep on their heels 'til they're fairly driven out of the country.
Ahs! me; big words ain't always big deeds, notwithstanding!
The Lord send that we be able to be only one half as good as we promise to be! And now, Judith, it's your turn to speak, for them miscreants will expect an answer from each person, poor Hetty, perhaps, excepted."
"And why not Hetty, Deerslayer?
She often speaks to the purpose; the Indians may respect her words, for they feel for people in her condition."
"That is true, Judith, and quick-thoughted in you.
The red-skins do respect misfortunes of all kinds, and Hetty's in particular.