"I cannot raise the lid, Deerslayer!" she said - "Had we not better give up the attempt, and find some other means of releasing the prisoners?"
"Not so - Judith; not so, gal.
No means are as sartain and easy, as a good bribe," answered the other. "As for the lid, 'tis held by nothing but its own weight, which is prodigious for so small a piece of wood, loaded with iron as it is."
As Deerslayer spoke, he applied his own strength to the effort, and succeeded in raising the lid against the timbers of the house, where he took care to secure it by a sufficient prop.
Judith fairly trembled as she cast her first glance at the interior, and she felt a temporary relief in discovering that a piece of canvas, that was carefully tucked in around the edges, effectually concealed all beneath it.
The chest was apparently well stored, however, the canvas lying within an inch of the lid.
"Here's a full cargo," said Deerslayer, eyeing the arrangement, "and we had needs go to work leisurely and at our ease.
Sarpent, bring some stools while I spread this blanket on the floor, and then we'll begin work orderly and in comfort."
The Delaware complied, Deerslayer civilly placed a stool for Judith, took one himself, and commenced the removal of the canvas covering.
This was done deliberately, and in as cautious a manner as if it were believed that fabrics of a delicate construction lay hidden beneath.
When the canvass was removed, the first articles that came in view were some of the habiliments of the male sex.
They were of fine materials, and, according to the fashions of the age, were gay in colours and rich in ornaments.
One coat in particular was of scarlet, and had button holes worked in gold thread.
Still it was not military, but was part of the attire of a civilian of condition, at a period when social rank was rigidly respected in dress.
Chingachgook could not refrain from an exclamation of pleasure, as soon as Deerslayer opened this coat and held it up to view, for, notwithstanding all his trained self-command, the splendor of the vestment was too much for the philosophy of an Indian.
Deerslayer turned quickly, and he regarded his friend with momentary displeasure as this burst of weakness escaped him, and then he soliloquized, as was his practice whenever any strong feeling suddenly got the ascendancy.
"'Tis his gift! - yes, 'tis the gift of a red-skin to love finery, and he is not to be blamed.
This is an extr'ornary garment, too, and extr'ornary things get up extr'ornary feelin's. I think this will do, Judith, for the Indian heart is hardly to be found in all America that can withstand colours like these, and glitter like that.
If this coat was ever made for your father, you've come honestly by the taste for finery, you have."
"That coat was never made for father," answered the girl, quickly - "it is much too long, while father is short and square."
"Cloth was plenty if it was, and glitter cheap," answered Deerslayer, with his silent, joyous laugh. "Sarpent, this garment was made for a man of your size, and I should like to see it on your shoulders."
Chingachgook, nothing loath, submitted to the trial, throwing aside the coarse and thread bare jacket of Hutter, to deck his person in a coat that was originally intended for a gentleman.
The transformation was ludicrous, but as men are seldom struck with incongruities in their own appearance, any more than in their own conduct, the Delaware studied this change in a common glass, by which Hutter was in the habit of shaving, with grave interest.
At that moment he thought of Hist, and we owe it to truth, to say, though it may militate a little against the stern character of a warrior to avow it, that he wished he could be seen by her in his present improved aspect.
"Off with it, Sarpent - off with it," resumed the inflexible Deerslayer. "Such garments as little become you as they would become me.
Your gifts are for paint, and hawk's feathers, and blankets, and wampum, and mine are for doublets of skins, tough leggings, and sarviceable moccasins.
I say moccasins, Judith, for though white, living as I do in the woods it's necessary to take to some of the practyces of the woods, for comfort's sake and cheapness."
"I see no reason, Deerslayer, why one man may not wear a scarlet coat, as well as another," returned the girl. "I wish I could see you in this handsome garment."
"See me in a coat fit for a Lord!
- Well, Judith, if you wait till that day, you'll wait until you see me beyond reason and memory.
No - no - gal, my gifts are my gifts, and I'll live and die in 'em, though I never bring down another deer, or spear another salmon.
What have I done that you should wish to see me in such a flaunting coat, Judith?"
"Because I think, Deerslayer, that the false-tongued and false-hearted young gallants of the garrisons, ought not alone to appear in fine feathers, but that truth and honesty have their claims to be honored and exalted."
"And what exaltification" - the reader will have remarked that Deerslayer had not very critically studied his dictionary - "and what exaltification would it be to me, Judith, to be bedizened and bescarleted like a Mingo chief that has just got his presents up from Quebec?
No - no - I'm well as I am; and if not, I can be no better.
Lay the coat down on the blanket, Sarpent, and let us look farther into the chist."
The tempting garment, one surely that was never intended for Hutter, was laid aside, and the examination proceeded.
The male attire, all of which corresponded with the coat in quality, was soon exhausted, and then succeeded female.
A beautiful dress of brocade, a little the worse from negligent treatment, followed, and this time open exclamations of delight escaped the lips of Judith.
Much as the girl had been addicted to dress, and favorable as had been her opportunities of seeing some little pretension in that way among the wives of the different commandants, and other ladies of the forts, never before had she beheld a tissue, or tints, to equal those that were now so unexpectedly placed before her eyes.
Her rapture was almost childish, nor would she allow the inquiry to proceed, until she had attired her person in a robe so unsuited to her habits and her abode.
With this end, she withdrew into her own room, where with hands practised in such offices, she soon got rid of her own neat gown of linen, and stood forth in the gay tints of the brocade.
The dress happened to fit the fine, full person of Judith, and certainly it had never adorned a being better qualified by natural gifts to do credit to its really rich hues and fine texture.
When she returned, both Deerslayer and Chingachgook, who had passed the brief time of her absence in taking a second look at the male garments, arose in surprise, each permitting exclamations of wonder and pleasure to escape him, in a way so unequivocal as to add new lustre to the eyes of Judith, by flushing her cheeks with a glow of triumph.
Affecting, however, not to notice the impression she had made, the girl seated herself with the stateliness of a queen, desiring that the chest might be looked into, further. "I don't know a better way to treat with the Mingos, gal," cried Deerslayer, "than to send you ashore as you be, and to tell 'em that a queen has arrived among 'em!
They'll give up old Hutter, and Hurry, and Hetty, too, at such a spectacle!"
"I thought your tongue too honest to flatter, Deerslayer," returned the girl, gratified at this admiration more than she would have cared to own. "One of the chief reasons of my respect for you, was your love for truth."
"And 'tis truth, and solemn truth, Judith, and nothing else.
Never did eyes of mine gaze on as glorious a lookin' creatur' as you be yourself, at this very moment!
I've seen beauties in my time, too, both white and red; and them that was renowned and talk'd of, far and near; but never have I beheld one that could hold any comparison with what you are at this blessed instant, Judith; never." The glance of delight which the girl bestowed on the frank-speaking hunter in no degree lessened the effect of her charms, and as the humid eyes blended with it a look of sensibility, perhaps Judith never appeared more truly lovely, than at what the young man had called that "blessed instant."