“It is true, it is true,” murmured his wife, moving back among her daughters;
“God forgive me, that I should forget it!”
“And now, young man; you, who have so often come into my clearing, under the pretence of lining the bee into his hole,” resumed Ishmael, after a momentary pause, as if to recover the equilibrium of his mind, “with you there is a heavier account to settle.
Not satisfied with rummaging my camp, you have stolen a girl who is akin to my wife, and who I had calculated to make one day a daughter of my own.”
A stronger sensation was produced by this, than by any of the preceding interrogations.
All the young men bent their curious eyes on Paul and Ellen, the former of whom seemed in no small mental confusion, while the latter bent her face on her bosom in shame.
“Harkee, friend Ishmael Bush,” returned the bee-hunter, who found that he was expected to answer to the charge of burglary, as well as to that of abduction; “that I did not give the most civil treatment to your pots and pails, I am not going to gainsay.
If you will name the price you put upon the articles, it is possible the damage may be quietly settled between us, and all hard feelings forgotten.
I was not in a church-going humour when we got upon your rock, and it is more than probable there was quite as much kicking as preaching among your wares; but a hole in the best man’s coat can be mended by money.
As to the matter of Ellen Wade, here, it may not be got over so easily.
Different people have different opinions on the subject of matrimony.
Some think it is enough to say yes and no, to the questions of the magistrate, or of the parson, if one happens to be handy, in order to make a quiet house; but I think that where a young woman’s mind is fairly bent on going in a certain direction, it will be quite as prudent to let her body follow.
Not that I mean to say Ellen was not altogether forced to what she did, and therefore she is just as innocent, in this matter, as yonder jackass, who was made to carry her, and greatly against his will, too, as I am ready to swear he would say himself, if he could speak as loud as he can bray.”
“Nelly,” resumed the squatter, who paid very little attention to what Paul considered a highly creditable and ingenious vindication, “Nelly, this is a wide and a wicked world, on which you have been in such a hurry to cast yourself.
You have fed and you have slept in my camp for a year, and I did hope that you had found the free air of the borders, enough to your mind to wish to remain among us.”
“Let the girl have her will,” muttered Esther, from the rear; “he, who might have persuaded her to stay, is sleeping in the cold and naked prairie, and little hope is left of changing her humour; besides, a woman’s mind is a wilful thing, and not easily turned from its waywardness, as you know yourself, my man, or I should not be here the mother of your sons and daughters.”
The squatter seemed reluctant to abandon his views of the abashed girl, so easily; and before he answered to the suggestion of his wife, he turned his usual dull look along the line of the curious countenances of his boys, as if to see whether there was not one among them fit to fill the place of the deceased.
Paul was not slow to observe the expression, and hitting nigher than usual on the secret thoughts of the other, he believed he had fallen on an expedient which might remove every difficulty.
“It is quite plain, friend Bush,” he said, “that there are two opinions in this matter; yours for your sons, and mine for myself.
I see but one amicable way of settling this dispute, which is as follows:—do you make a choice among your boys of any you will, and let us walk off together for the matter of a few miles into the prairies; the one who stays behind, can never trouble any man’s house or his fixen, and the one who comes back may make the best of his way he can, in the good wishes of the young woman.”
“Paul!” exclaimed the reproachful, but smothered voice of Ellen. “Never fear, Nelly,” whispered the literal bee-hunter, whose straight-going mind suggested no other motive of uneasiness, on the part of his mistress, than concern for himself; “I have taken the measure of them all, and you may trust an eye that has seen to line many a bee into his hole!”
“I am not about to set myself up as a ruler of inclinations,” observed the squatter. “If the heart of the child is truly in the settlements, let her declare it; she shall have no let or hinderance from me.
Speak, Nelly, and let what you say come from your wishes, without fear or favour.
Would you leave us to go with this young man into the settled countries, or will you tarry and share the little we have to give, but which to you we give so freely?”
Thus called upon to decide, Ellen could no longer hesitate.
The glance of her eye was at first timid and furtive.
But as the colour flushed her features, and her breathing became quick and excited, it was apparent that the native spirit of the girl was gaining the ascendency over the bashfulness of sex.
“You took me a fatherless, impoverished, and friendless orphan,” she said, struggling to command her voice, “when others, who live in what may be called affluence compared to your state, chose to forget me; and may Heaven in its goodness bless you for it!
The little I have done, will never pay you for that one act of kindness.
I like not your manner of life; it is different from the ways of my childhood, and it is different from my wishes; still, had you not led this sweet and unoffending lady from her friends, I should never have quitted you, until you yourself had said, Go, and the blessing of God go with you!’”
“The act was not wise, but it is repented of; and so far as it can be done, in safety, it shall be repaired.
Now, speak freely, will you tarry, or will you go?”
“I have promised the lady,” said Ellen, dropping her eyes again to the earth, “not to leave her; and after she has received so much wrong from our hands, she may have a right to claim that I keep my word.”
“Take the cords from the young man,” said Ishmael. When the order was obeyed, he motioned for all his sons to advance, and he placed them in a row before the eyes of Ellen.
“Now let there be no trifling, but open your heart.
Here ar’ all I have to offer, besides a hearty welcome.”
The distressed girl turned her abashed look from the countenance of one of the young men to that of another, until her eye met the troubled and working features of Paul.
Then nature got the better of forms.
She threw herself into the arms of the bee-hunter, and sufficiently proclaimed her choice by sobbing aloud.
Ishmael signed to his sons to fall back, and evidently mortified, though perhaps not disappointed by the result, he no longer hesitated.
“Take her,” he said, “and deal honestly and kindly by her.
The girl has that in her which should make her welcome, in any man’s house, and I should be loth to hear she ever came to harm.
And now I have settled with you all, on terms that I hope you will not find hard, but, on the contrary, just and manly.
I have only another question to ask, and that is of the Captain; do you choose to profit by my teams in going into the settlements, or not?”
“I hear, that some soldiers of my party are looking for me near the villages of the Pawnees,” said Middleton, “and I intend to accompany this chief, in order to join my men.”
“Then the sooner we part the better.
Horses are plenty on the bottom.
Go; make your choice, and leave us in peace.”
“That is impossible, while the old man, who has been a friend of my family near half a century, is left a prisoner.
What has he done, that he too is not released?