If he that has a right to be master and ruler here is forced to squinch his thirst, when a-dry, with snow-Water, it ill becomes them that have lived by his bounty to be making merry, as if there was nothing in the world but sunshine and summer.”
When he had spoken, Leather-Stocking again dropped his head on his knees, and concealed his hard and wrinkled features with his hands.
The change from the excessive cold without to the heat of the bar-room, coupled with the depth and frequency of Richard’s draughts, had already levelled whatever inequality there might have existed between him and the other guests, on the score of spirits; and he now held out a pair of swimming mugs of foaming flip toward the hunter, as he cried:
“Merry! ay! merry Christmas to you, old boy!
Sun shine and summer! no! you are blind, Leather-Stocking, ‘tis moonshine and winter—take these spectacles, and open your eyes—
So let us be jolly, And cast away folly, For grief turns a black head to gray.
—Hear how old John turns his quavers.
What damned dull music an Indian song is, after all, Major!
I wonder if they ever sing by note.”
While Richard was singing and talking, Mohegan was uttering dull, monotonous tones, keeping time by a gentle motion of his head and body.
He made use of but few words, and such as he did utter were in his native language, and consequently only understood by himself and Natty.
Without heeding Richard, he continued to sing a kind of wild, melancholy air, that rose, at times, in sudden and quite elevated notes, and then fell again into the low, quavering sounds that seemed to compose the character of his music.
The attention of the company was now much divided, the men in the rear having formed themselves into little groups, where they were discussing various matters; among the principal of which were the treatment of mangy hogs and Parson Grant’s preaching; while Dr. Todd was endeavoring to explain to Marmaduke the nature of the hurt received by the young hunter.
Mohegan continued to sing, while his countenance was becoming vacant, though, coupled with his thick, bushy hair, it was assuming an expression very much like brutal ferocity.
His notes were gradually growing louder, and soon rose to a height that caused a general cessation in the discourse.
The hunter now raised his head again, and addressed the old warrior warmly in the Delaware language, which, for the benefit of our readers, we shall render freely into English.
“Why do you sing of your battles, Chingachgook, and of the warriors you have slain, when the worst enemy of all is near you, and keeps the Young Eagle from his rights?
I have fought in as many battles as any warrior in your tribe, but cannot boast of my deeds at such a time as this.”
“Hawk-eye,” said the Indian, tottering with a doubtful step from his place,
“I am the Great Snake of the Delawares; I can track the Mingoes like an adder that is stealing on the whip-poor-will’s eggs, and strike them like the rattlesnake dead at a blow.
The white man made the tomahawk of Chingachgook bright as the waters of Otsego, when the last sun is shining; but it is red with the blood of the Maquas.”
“And why have you slain the Mingo warriors?
Was it not to keep these hunting-grounds and lakes to your father’s children? and were they not given in solemn council to the Fire-eater? and does not the blood of a warrior run in the veins of a young chief, who should speak aloud where his voice is now too low to be heard?”
The appeal of the hunter seemed in some measure to recall the confused faculties of the Indian, who turned his face toward the listeners and gazed intently on the Judge.
He shook his head, throwing his hair back from his countenance, and exposed eyes that were glaring with an expression of wild resentment.
But the man was not himself.
His hand seemed to make a fruitless effort to release his tomahawk, which was confined by its handle to his belt, while his eyes gradually became vacant. Richard at that instant thrusting a mug before him, his features changed to the grin of idiocy, and seizing the vessel with both hands, he sank backward on the bench and drank until satiated, when he made an effort to lay aside the mug with the helplessness of total inebriety.
“Shed not blood!” exclaimed the hunter, as he watched the countenance of the Indian in its moment of ferocity; “but he is drunk and can do no harm.
This is the way with all the savages; give them liquor, and they make dogs of themselves.
Well, well—the day will come when right will be done; and we must have patience.”
Natty still spoke in the Delaware language, and of course was not understood.
He had hardly concluded before Richard cried:
“Well, old John is soon sewed up.
Give him a berth, captain, in the barn, and I will pay for it.
I am rich to night, ten times richer than ‘Duke, with all his lands, and military lots, and funded debts, and bonds, and mortgages,
‘Come, let us be jolly, And cast away folly, For grief—-’
“Drink, King Hiram—drink, Mr. Doo-nothing—-drink, sir, I say.
This is a Christmas eve, which comes, you know, but once a year.”
“He! he! he! the squire is quite moosical to-night,” said Hiram, whose visage began to give marvellous signs of relaxation.
“I rather guess we shall make a church on’t yet, squire?”
“A church, Mr. Doolittle! we will make a cathedral of it! bishops, priests, deacons, wardens, vestry, and choir; organ, organist, amid bellows!
By the Lord Harry, as Benjamin says, we will clap a steeple on the other end of it, and make two churches of it.
What say you, ‘Duke, will you pay? ha! my cousin Judge, wilt pay?”
“Thou makest such a noise, Dickon,” returned Marmaduke, “it is impossible that I can hear what Dr. Todd is saying.
I think thou observedst, it is probable the wound will fester, so as to occasion danger to the limb in this cold weather?”
“Out of nater, sir, quite out of nater,” said Elnathan, attempting to expectorate, but succeeding only in throwing a light, frothy substance, like a flake of snow, into the fire—“quite out of nater that a wound so well dressed, and with the ball in my pocket, should fester.
I s’pose, as the Judge talks of taking the young man into his house, it will be most convenient if I make but one charge on’t.”
“I should think one would do,” returned Marmaduke, with that arch smile that so often beamed on his face; leaving the beholder in doubt whether he most enjoyed the character of his companion or his own covert humor.
The landlord had succeeded in placing the Indian on some straw in one of his outbuildings, where, covered with his own blanket, John continued for the remainder of the night.
In the mean time, Major Hartmann began to grow noisy and jocular; glass succeeded glass, and mug after mug was introduced, until the carousal had run deep into the night, or rather morning; when the veteran German expressed an inclination to return to the mansion-house.