I hope it may prove true, sir.”
“I rather guess ‘twill be left out to men,” added Hiram, with an air equally balanced between doubt and assurance, but which judge Temple understood to mean certainty;
“I some think that I am appointed a referee in the case myself; Jotham as much as told me that he should take me.
The defendant, I guess, means to take Captain Hollister, and we two have partly agreed on Squire Jones for the third man.”
“Are there any criminals to be tried?” asked Marmaduke.
“There’s the counterfeiters,” returned the magistrate, “as they were caught in the act, I think it likely that they’ll be indicted, in which case it’s probable they’ll be tried.”
“Certainly, sir; I had forgotten those men.
There are no more, I hope.”
“Why, there is a threaten to come forward with an assault that happened at the last independence day; but I’m not sartain that the law’ll take hold on’t. There was plaguey hard words passed, but whether they struck or not I haven’t heard.
There’s some folks talk of a deer or two being killed out of season, over on the west side of the Patent, by some of the squatters on the ‘Fractions.’”
“Let a complaint be made, by all means,” said the Judge;
“I am determined to see the law executed to the letter, on all such depredators.”
“Why, yes, I thought the judge was of that mind; I came partly on such a business myself.”
“You!” exclaimed Marmaduke, comprehending in an instant how completely he had been caught by the other’s cunning; “and what have you to say, sir?”
“I some think that Natty Bumppo has the carcass of a deer in his hut at this moment, and a considerable part of my business was to get a search-warrant to examine.”
“You think, sir! do you know that the law exacts an oath, before I can issue such a precept?
The habitation of a citizen is not to be idly invaded on light suspicion.”
“I rather think I can swear to it myself,” returned the immovable Hiram; “and Jotham is in the street, and as good as ready to come in and make oath to the same thing.”
“Then issue the warrant thyself; thou art a magistrate, Mr. Doolittle; why trouble me with the matter?”
“Why, seeing it’s the first complaint under the law, and knowing the judge set his heart on the thing, I thought it best that the authority to search should come from himself.
Besides, as I’m much in the woods, among the timber, I don’t altogether like making an enemy of the Leather Stocking.
Now, the Judge has a weight in the county that puts him above fear.”
Miss Temple turned her face to the callous Architect as she said’
“And what has any honest person to dread from so kind a man as Bumppo?”
“Why, it’s as easy, miss, to pull a rifle trigger on a magistrate as on a painter.
But if the Judge don’t conclude to issue the warrant, I must go home and make it out myself.”
“I have not refused your application, sir,” said Marmaduke, perceiving at once that his reputation for impartiality was at stake; “go into my office, Mr. Doolittle, where I will join you, and sign the warrant.”
Judge Temple stopped the remonstrances which Elizabeth was about to utter, after Hiram had withdrawn, by laying his hand on her mouth, and saying:
“It is more terrible in sound than frightful in reality, my child.
I suppose that the Leather-Stocking has shot a deer, for the season is nearly over, and you say that he was hunting with his dogs when he came so timely to your assistance.
But it will be only to examine his cabin, and find the animal, when you can pay the penalty out of your own pocket, Bess.
Nothing short of the twelve dollars and a half will satisfy this harpy, I perceive; and surely my reputation as judge is worth that trifle.”
Elizabeth was a good deal pacified with this assurance, and suffered her father to leave her, to fulfil his promise to Hiram.
When Marmaduke left his office after executing his disagreeable duty, he met Oliver Edwards, walking up the gravelled walk in front of the mansion-house with great strides, and with a face agitated by feeling.
On seeing judge Temple, the youth turned aside, and with a warmth in his manner that was not often exhibited to Marmaduke, he cried:
“I congratulate you, sir; from the bottom of my soul, I congratulate you, Judge Temple.
Oh! it would have been too horrid to have recollected for a moment!
I have just left the hut, where, after showing me his scalps, old Natty told me of the escape of the ladies, as the thing to be mentioned last.
Indeed, indeed, sir, no words of mine can express half of what I have felt “—the youth paused a moment, as if suddenly recollecting that he was overstepping prescribed limits, and concluded with a good deal of embarrassment—“what I have felt at this danger to Miss—Grant, and—and your daughter, sir.”
But the heart of Marmaduke was too much softened to admit his cavilling at trifles, and, without regarding the confusion of the other, he replied:
“I thank thee, thank thee, Oliver; as thou sayest, it is almost too horrid to be remembered.
But come, let us hasten to Bess, for Louisa has already gone to the rectory.”
The young man sprang forward, and, throwing open a door, barely permitted the Judge to precede him, when he was in the presence of Elizabeth in a moment.
The cold distance that often crossed the demeanor of the heiress, in her intercourse with Edwards, was now entirely banished, and two hours were passed by the party, in the free, unembarrassed, and confiding manner of old and esteemed friends.
Judge Temple had forgotten the suspicions engendered during his morning’s ride, and the youth and maiden conversed, laughed, and were sad by turns, as impulse directed.
At length, Edwards, after repeating his intention to do so for the third time, left the mansion-house to go to the rectory on a similar errand of friendship.
During this short period, a scene was passing at the hut that completely frustrated the benevolent intentions of Judge Temple in favor of the Leather-Stocking, and at once destroyed the short-lived harmony between the youth and Marmaduke.
When Hiram Doolittle had obtained his search-warrant, his first business was to procure a proper officer to see it executed.
The sheriff was absent, summoning in person the grand inquest for the county; the deputy who resided in the village was riding on the same errand, in a different part of the settlement; and the regular constable of the township had been selected for his station from motives of charity, being lame of a leg. Hiram intended to accompany the officer as a spectator, but he felt no very strong desire to bear the brunt of the battle.
It was, however, Saturday, and the sun was already turning the shadows of the pines toward the east; on the morrow the conscientious magistrate could not engage in such an expedition at the peril of his soul and long before Monday, the venison, and all vestiges of the death of the deer, might be secreted or destroyed.