Into the Wilderness (12 page)

"Sarah—Nathaniel's
wife—was Mohawk. Her father was head of the Wolf clan," Richard Todd
volunteered. She wondered if she really did hear something of distaste in his
voice, or if that was her imagination.

"Who
is the old man?" asked Elizabeth.

"Chingachgook—Great—Snake,"
Dr. Todd replied. "Some call him Indian John. He is Mahican. Hannah's
great—grandfather."

Elizabeth
was more and more confused. "I don't understand."

Dr.
Todd looked down at her for a long moment. "No," he said finally.
"It's not very clear. Chingachgook adopted Dan'l when he was orphaned as
an infant, and raised him as a son. So he is by extension Nathaniel's adoptive
grandfather. Although the natives would not recognize the validity of such
terms. Once they accept a child into the family they no longer think of it as
anything but their own."

"Elizabeth,"
the judge said, holding out one arm toward her to draw her closer. "I
would like to introduce you."

For
the first time Elizabeth noticed that her brother was nowhere in the room. She
was glad that Julian was not present, for she was sure that the way Nathaniel
looked at her as she moved toward her father would not go unnoticed by her
brother. Elizabeth was very agitated and confused by all the things that had
happened this evening, and she was suddenly shy of Nathaniel and a little
frightened; how should she speak to this daughter of his? To his grandfather?
She had never in her life spoken to an Indian, and she was nervous, and annoyed
with herself for being nervous. The thought of Nathaniel's dead wife kept
raising itself in her mind and she put it away resolutely. Elizabeth wanted nothing
more than to escape to her room to consider all these strange happenings and
feelings in solitude, but that possibility was not open to her.

With
a tone which showed him to be deeply moved, her father made her acquainted with
Chingachgook, whom he introduced as a chieftain of the Mahican people, a
lifelong friend, and someone to whom the judge owed not only much of his good
fortune, but his health and life. Elizabeth was very surprised by this
introduction, and even more unsure of how to greet such a personage. She was in
some danger of becoming truly flustered, but then she looked into the man's
eyes. His intelligence lit up his face so that it shone like a copper farthing.
He might be very old, but his wits were sharp, and while his look was critical,
it was not unkind. She curtsied deeply with her head bowed and said nothing.

When
she looked up her gaze went first to Nathaniel, and she saw that she had not
offended him.

"Come,"
said the judge."There is food and drink and you must be very tired—John has
come very far, Elizabeth, he has been traveling for many weeks in the dead of
winter. He honors us coming so directly to our home."

Elizabeth
had thought to slip away to her own room, and she began to make her excuses;
then she caught sight of Nathaniel, who watched her closely. With a barely
perceptible nod of the head she understood that he wanted her to come along
with the men, that for some reason he thought it important to have her there.
She nodded to her father and let herself be escorted from the room.

They
settled around the dining room table and let what was left of the party carry
on in the other room without them. Curiosity saw to it that the visitors'
plates and tankards were full, and the judge kept their conversation going. Elizabeth
thought that she would have some time now to be quiet, to think over all that
had happened, and to prepare herself for what might come, but she immediately
felt herself observed, on more than one front. Julian had come into the room
and taken a place at the table. His color was high, his manner extremely
nervous. He tried to catch Elizabeth's eye. Nathaniel's observation of her was
more subtle, but she felt it very clearly. Then Chingachgook addressed her.

"You
remind me of my son's wife," he said to Elizabeth. His voice was deeply
melodious and his English had an intonation which was unfamiliar to her.
"She was one such as you.
Winganool,
longochquen
, we say in my language."

"’A
keen—spirited woman,’" translated Nathaniel.

"Aye,
that she was, my girl," murmured Hawkeye.

Elizabeth
was flustered and gratified, but most of all she felt very much out of her
depth, and was almost glad to have Julian interrupt, as he relieved her of the
responsibility of a response.

"What
brings you to these parts?" asked Julian, disrupting this easy exchange.
He had found his pipe and puffed at it furiously.

"I
come to be with my son and his people." The old man spoke quietly, but he
addressed Julian without hesitation or a hint of apology.

"Chingachgook
is always welcome in Paradise," said the judge.

"When
I was a boy, these were Kahnyen’keháka lands," said Chingachgook
thoughtfully. He paused, and looked directly at Elizabeth.
"Kahnyen’keháka—the Mohawk—were a fierce people. They feared no tribe,
they did not know hunger. But most of the Kahnyen’keháka are gone."
Chingachgook gestured to the northwest. "They fought with the British
against the new government, and there is no place for them now in their
homeland. Only a few of them are left here in the land of the Wolf, but those
are very dear to us." He glanced at Hannah. "We must learn to live
more closely together, we who are left behind."

"So
you plan to take up residence in Paradise?" asked Julian in a deceptively
even tone of voice. Elizabeth kept her eyes on her plate, and wished
desperately that she had some way of removing her brother from this room.

The
judge stepped into the conversation; there was a warning tone in his words that
Elizabeth noted quite clearly, but that she feared Julian would miss.
"Some years ago I incurred a great debt to Chingachgook," said the
judge. "He and his people are free to live on my lands, for as long as
they remain in my family's holdings."

All
the men tensed at this formulation.

"’His
people' is very loosely framed, Father," Julian said.

The
judge rose from his place. "Julian, I would speak with you in my
study."

With
a sigh, the younger man followed his father from the room. There was silence
for a moment, as if a great storm had suddenly passed by without touching them.
Elizabeth suspected that this tension which had grown in the room would return
with her father. There was some unfinished business between the men, that was
certain.

Chingachgook
spoke to Elizabeth. "We have not always been dependent on the goodwill of
friends. Once my people hunted to the east. There was game for everyone.

"Unfortunately,
that's not the case anymore," said Richard Todd, who sat to Elizabeth's
left. He had followed the conversation with close attention to this point.

"Well,
that's true enough," said Hawkeye, with sudden great emotion; his anger
sparked in his voice. "The legislature has been up to tricks," he
explained to Chingachgook. "Those who never had to take a gun in hand to
feed a family are forbidding woodsmen to hunt. As if they could keep track of
the likes of us in the forest. You ask the judge, he'll tell you about how the
rich men sit together and think up laws to vex common folk."

"Surely,
Dan'l, but surely," said Reverend Witherspoon. "Surely you agree that
we need laws to restrict the amount of timber that can be taken in a season,
and to protect the spawning grounds in the rivers"

"You
don't get my point. Of course I can't deny that fools like Billy Kirby don't
know when to stop and put down the axe. He would take down the whole forest if he
could, and every animal in it. But a good hunter never shoots a doe with a fawn
beside her, and he don't need laws written down to tell him so. Common sense is
enough of a law, for those who don't let greed rule them."

"Common
sense can't be legislated," said Elizabeth, and the men turned to her.
Richard Todd raised an eyebrow in surprise, but the others did not seem
surprised at the way she joined in the conversation.

"That
is true," said Chingachgook. "And well spoken."

"It
is true," said Richard, addressing Hawkeye rather than Elizabeth.
"But Billy Kirby is a fact. There are too many like him. From that it
follows that we need some greater authority to stop men who won't stop
themselves. The citizens of Paradise will enforce the laws passed by the legislature.
You know they will take pleasure in doing so."

"Aye,
you're right." Disgusted, Hawkeye shook his head.

"There
is a shortage of game," said Nathaniel, taking up the conversation.
"We were out every day this week and didn't get any venison till yesterday."

Elizabeth
looked down when she felt a hand on her own: the child Hannah, who sat to her
right, was looking up at her with a shy smile. Elizabeth thought of bringing up
the subject of school, when the door opened and her father came back in,
without Julian.

"I
apologize for my son," he said without preamble. "He has much to
learn." He took his seat next to Chingachgook and clasped him firmly by
the forearm.

"It
is certainly good to see you here. It has been too long. You'll have to tell me
about things down Genesee Valley way." The judge sought out Elizabeth and
then smiled at her. "This man saved my life a total of three times,
daughter. Twice during the wars, and once soon after, when I was traveling the
Mohawk. I had every gold and silver coin to my name in the canoe, on my way to
the auction where I bought the second patent, this very land."

The
judge was a good storyteller, and most of his audience was attentive as he told
of that last journey, of the run—in with thieves on the road, and how Hawkeye
and Chingachgook had intervened when he believed all was lost. While he was
telling this story, Elizabeth watched Nathaniel from the corner of her eye,
seeing that he was distracted and that his attention wandered between herself
and his adoptive grandfather.

"And
there I made a vow to these two that they should have property rights on
whatever land I owned, for themselves and their families. And now finally
Chingachgook comes to take what I offered him."

The
judge wound up with a great flourish, and lifted his tankard.

Nathaniel
and Hawkeye exchanged glances. "Might as well make it clear now,
Judge," said Hawkeye. "My father did not come up from Genesee on his
own."

"Well,
I hardly thought he traveled alone in the dead of winter," said the judge.

"Falling—Day's
children came along, too," said Nathaniel.

"Otter,"
said Hannah, speaking out to the table for the first time. "And Many-Doves
."

"Well,
Hannah," said the judge kindly. "It must be good to have your aunt
and uncle come to visit."

With
a grin to his granddaughter, Hawkeye answered the judge. "That ain't all
of it," he said lightly. "She'll have to put up with them a sight
longer. They come to stay."

The
judge glanced at Richard, but before he could respond, Chingachgook held up one
hand, much like a battered and seasoned split of oak. His wrists were ringed
with faded tattoos in geometrical shapes.

"There
is no peace in the Northwest Territory," he said. "Little—Turtle has
unfinished business with Washington's troops, and I for one am too old to fight.
I come to my friend the judge for myself, and for my family, and for my son's
family. We will settle together on Hidden Wolf, and be good neighbors."

"You
and your families are welcome for as long as you want to stay," said the
judge, but he glanced uneasily at Richard Todd.

Chingachgook
blinked slowly. "I come to ask something from the judge which is more than
his hospitality."

There
was a small silence.

"We
are grateful for your friendship and your generosity. But we are a people who
must fend for ourselves. It seems that the only way we can do that, and live as
we must live, is if we own the land we live on, as the whites do."

While
Elizabeth had been following the conversation closely, she still missed much of
the meaning because the names of these people they discussed were new to her.
But now she sensed Richard still suddenly: the tension rose in the room like a
sudden blast of heat, and Elizabeth knew that something terribly important was
happening. Her father was flushed and perspiring, and Richard sat with his
hands in a fist on the table. But Hawkeye, Chingachgook, and Nathaniel were as
calm and easy as they had been from the beginning.

"It
is not our way to lay claim to land with pieces of paper. We have never
understood this manner of the Europeans. But now it seems we must accept this
practice if we are to have any chance of surviving."

Chingachgook
paused and looked around the room, his dark eyes under their hoods of flesh
sharp and observant.

"The
judge has more land than he can use. I ask him as our friend, as a man who has
always treated the Kahnyen’keháka and the Mahicans fairly, I ask him as I would
ask a brother who has hunted and fought with me for thirty years, to sell us
the mountain called Hidden Wolf, where my son and his son's family live and
hunt. So that we can sustain ourselves in these forests, not as his guests, but
as his neighbors."