Chapter XXXIV.

by James Fenimore Cooper

　　"Ha! ha! look! he wears cruel garters!"-Lear.

　　The punishments of the common law were still known, at the time of ourtale, to the people of New York; and the whipping-post, and itscompanion, the stocks, were not yet supplanted by the more mercifulexpedients of the public prison. Immediately in front of the jailthose relics of the older times were situated, as a lesson ofprecautionary justice to the evil-doers of the settlement.

　　Natty followed the constables to this spot, bowing his head insubmission to a power that he was unable to op pose, and surrounded bythe crowd that formed a circle about his person, exhibiting in theircountenances strong curiosity. A constable raised the upper part ofthe stocks, and pointed with his finger to the holes where the old manwas to place his feet. Without making the least objection to thepunishment, the Leather-Stocking quietly seated himself on the ground,and suffered his limbs to be laid in the openings, without even amurmur; though he cast one glance about him, in quest of that sympathythat human nature always seems to require under suffering " but he metno direct manifestations of pity, neither did he see any unfeelingexultation, or hear a single reproachful epithet. The character ofthe mob, if it could be called by such a name, was that of attentivesubordination.

　　The constable was in the act of lowering the upper plank, whenBenjamin, who had pressed close to the side of the prisoner, said, inhis hoarse tone, as if seeking for some cause to create a quarrel:

　　"Where away, master constable, is the use of clapping a man in themhere bilboes? It neither stops his grog nor hurts his back; what foris it that you do the thing?"

　　"Tis the sentence of the court, Mr. Penguillium, and theres law forit, I spose."

　　"Ay, ay, I know that theres law for the thing; but where away do youfind the use, I say? it does no harm, and it only keeps a man by theheels for the small matter of two glasses"

　　"Is it no harm, Benny Pump," said Natty, raising his eyes with apiteous look in the face of the steward--" is it no harm to show off aman in his seventy-first year, like a tame bear, for the settlers tolook on? Is it no harm to put an old soldier, that has served throughthe war of fifty-six, and seen the enemy in the seventy-sixbusiness, into a place like this, where the boys can point at him andsay, I have known the time when he was a spectacle for the county? Isit no harm to bring down the pride of an honest man to be the equal ofthe beasts of the forest?"

　　Benjamin stared about him fiercely, and could he have found a singleface that expressed contumely, he would have been prompt to quarrelwith its owner; but meeting everywhere with looks of sobriety, andoccasionally of commiseration, he very deliberately seated himself bythe side of the hunter, and, placing his legs in the two vacant holesof the stocks, he said:

　　"Now lower away, master constable, lower away, I tell ye! If-so-betheres such a thing hereabouts, as a man that wants to see a bear,let him look and be d--d, and he shall find two of them, and mayhap oneof the same that can bite as well as growl."

　　"But I have no orders to put you in the stocks, Mr. Pump," cried theconstable; "you must get up and let me do my duty."

　　"Youve my orders, and what do you need better to meddle with my ownfeet? so lower away, will ye, and let me see the man that chooses toopen his mouth with a grin on it."

　　"There cant be any harm in locking up a creatur that will enter thepound," said the constable, laughing, and closing the stocks on themboth.

　　It was fortunate that this act was executed with decision, for thewhole of the spectators, when they saw Benjamin assume the position hetook, felt an inclination for merriment, which few thought it worthwhile to suppress. The steward struggled violently for his libertyagain, with an evident intention of making battle on those who stoodnearest to him; but the key was already turned, and all his effortswere vain.

　　"Hark ye, master constable," he cried, "just clear away your bilboesfor the small matter of a log-glass, will ye, and let me show some ofthem there chaps who it is they are so merry about"

　　"No, no, you would go in, and you cant come out," returned theofficer, "until the time has expired that the Judge directed for thekeeping of the prisoner."

　　Benjamin, finding that his threats and his struggles were useless, hadgood sense enough to learn patience from the resigned manner of hiscompanion, and soon settled himself down by the side of Natty, with acontemptuousness expressed in his hard features, that showed he hadsubstituted disgust for rage. When the violence of the stewardsfeelings had in some measure subsided, he turned to his fellow-sufferer, and, with a motive that might have vindicated a worseeffusion, he attempted the charitable office of consolation,

　　"Taking it by and large, Master Bump-ho, its but a small matter afterall," he said. "Now, Ive known very good sort of men, aboard of theBoadishey, laid by the heels, for nothing, mayhap, but forgetting thattheyd drunk their allowance already, when a glass of grog has come intheir way. This is nothing more than riding with two anchors ahead,waiting for a turn in the tide, or a shift of wind, dye see, with asoft bottom and plenty of room for the sweep of your hawse. Now Iveseen many a man, for over-shooting his reckoning, as I told ye mooredhead and starn, where he couldnt so much as heave his broadsideround, and mayhap a stopper clapped on his tongue too, in the shape ofa pump-bolt lashed athwartship his jaws, all the same as an outriggeralong side of a taffrel-rail."

　　The hunter appeared to appreciate the kind intentions of the other,though he could not understand his eloquence, and, raising his humbledcountenance, he attempted a smile, as he said:

　　"Anan!"

　　"Tis nothing, I say, but a small matter of a squall that will soonblow over," continued Benjamin. " To you that has such a length ofkeel, it must be all the same as nothing; thof, seeing that I amlittle short in my lower timbers, theyve triced my heels up in such away as to give me a bit of a cant. But what cares I, Master Bump-ho,if the ship strains a little at her anchor? its only for a dog-watch,and damme but shell sail with you then on that cruise after themsaid beaver. I'm not much used to small arms, seeing that I wasstationed at the ammunition- boxes, being summat too low-rigged to seeover the ham- mock-cloths; but I can carry the game, dye see, andmayhap make out to lend a hand with the traps; and if- so-be youreany way so handy with them as ye be with your boat-hook, twill be buta short cruise after all, I've squared the yards with Squire Dickensthis morning, and I shall send him word that he neednt bear my nameon the books again till such time as the cruise is over."

　　"Youre used to dwell with men, Benny," said Leather-Stocking,mournfully, " and the ways of the woods would be hard on you, if----"

　　"Not a bit--not a bit," cried the steward; "Im none of your fair-weather chaps, Master Bump-ho, as sails only in smooth water. When Ifind a friend, I sticks by him, dye see. Now, theres no better mana-going than Squire Dickens, and I love him about the same as I lovesMistress Hollisters new keg of Jamaiky." The steward paused, andturning his uncouth visage on the hunter, he surveyed him with aroguish leer of his eye, and gradually suffered the muscles of hishard features to relax, until his face was illuminated by the displayof his white teeth, when he " dropped his voice, and added; "I say,Master Leather-

　　Stocking, tis fresher and livelier than any Hollands youll get inGarnsey. But well send a hand over and ask the woman for a taste,for Im so jammed in these here bilboes that I begin to want summat tolighten my upper works."

　　Natty sighed, and gazed about him on the crowd, that already began todisperse, and which had now diminished greatly, as its membersscattered in their various pursuits. He looked wistfully at Benjamin,but did not reply; a deeply-seated anxiety seeming to absorb everyother sensation, and to throw a melancholy gloom over his wrinkledfeatures, which were working with the movements of his mind.

　　The steward was about to act on the old principle, that silence givesconsent, when Hiram Doolittle, attended by Jotham, stalked out of thecrowd, across the open space, and approached the stocks. Themagistrate passed by the end where Benjamin was seated, and postedhimself, at a safe distance from the steward, in front of the Leather-Stocking. Hiram stood, for a moment, cowering before the keen looksthat Natty fastened on him, and suffering under an embarrassment thatwas quite new; when having in some degree recovered himself, he lookedat the heavens, and then at the smoky atmosphere, as if it were onlyan ordinary meeting with a friend, and said in his formal, hesitatingway:

　　"Quite a scurcity of rain, lately; I some think we shall have a longdrought ont."

　　Benjamin was occupied in untying his bag of dollars, and did notobserve the approach of the magistrate, while Natty turned his face,in which every muscle was working, away from him in disgust, withoutanswering. Rather encouraged than daunted by this exhibition ofdislike, Hiram, after a short pause, continued:

　　"The clouds look as if theyd no water in them, and the earth isdreadfully parched. To my judgment, therell be short crops thisseason, if the rain doesnt fail quite speedily."

　　The air with which Mr. Doolittle delivered this prophetical opinionwas peculiar to his species. It was a jesuitical, cold, unfeeling,and selfish manner, that seemed to say, "I have kept within the law,"to the man he had so cruelly injured. It quite overcame the restraintthat the old hunter had been laboring to impose on himself, and heburst out in a warm glow of indignation.

　　"Why should the rain fall from the clouds," he cried, "when you forcethe tears from the eyes of the old, the sick, and the poor! Away withye--away with ye! you may be formed in the image of the Maker, butSatan dwells in your heart. Away with ye, I say! I am mournful, andthe sight of ye brings bitter thoughts."

　　Benjamin ceased thumbing his money, and raised his head at the instantthat Hiram, who was thrown off his guard by the invectives of thehunter, unluckily trusted his person within reach of the steward, whograsped one of his legs with a hand that had the grip of a vise, andwhirled the magistrate from his feet, before he had either time tocollect his senses or to exercise the strength he did really possess.Benjamin wanted neither proportions nor manhood in his head,shoulders, and arms, though all the rest of his frame appeared to beoriginally intended for a very different sort of a man. He exertedhis physical powers on the present occasion, with much discretion;and, as he had taken his antagonist at a great disadvantage, thestruggle resulted very soon in Benjamin getting the magistrate fixedin a posture somewhat similar to his own, and manfully placed face toface.

　　"Youre a ships cousin, I tell ye, Master Doo-but-little," roared thesteward; "some such matter as a ships cousin, sir. I know you, I do,with your fair-weather speeches to Squire Dickens, to his face, andthen you go and sarve out your grumbling to all the old women in thetown, do ye? Aint it enough for any Christian, let him harbor neverso much malice, to get an honest old fellow laid by the heels in thisfashion, without carrying sail so hard on the poor dog, as if youwould run him down as he lay at his anchors? But Ive logged many ahard thing against your name, master, and now the times come to footup the days work, dye see; so square yourself, you lubber, squareyourself, and well soon know whos the better man."

　　"Jotham!" cried the frightened magistrate--" Jotham! call in theconstables. Mr. Penguillium, I command the peace--I order you to keepthe peace."

　　"There's been more peace than love atwixt us, master," cried thesteward, making some very unequivocal demonstrations toward hostility;"so mind yourself! square your self, I say! do you smell this here bitof a sledge-hammer?"

　　"Lay hands on me if you dare!" exclaimed Hiram, as well as he could,under the grasp which the steward held on his throttle--" lay hands onme if you dare!"

　　"If you call this laying, master, you are welcome to the eggs," roaredthe steward.

　　It becomes our disagreeable duty to record here, that the acts ofBenjamin now became violent; for he darted his sledge-hammer violentlyon the anvil of Mr. Doolittles countenance, and the place became inan instant a scene of tumult and confusion. The crowd rushed in adense circle around the spot, while some ran to the court room to givethe alarm, and one or two of the more juvenile part of the multitudehad a desperate trial of speed to see who should be the happy man tocommunicate the critical situation of the magistrate to his wife.

　　Benjamin worked away, with great industry and a good deal of skill, athis occupation, using one hand to raise up his antagonist, while heknocked him over with the other; for he would have been disgraced inhis own estimation, had he struck a blow on a fallen adversary. Bythis considerate arrangement he had found means to hammer the visageof Hiram out of all shape, by the time Richard succeeded in forcinghis way through the throng to the point of combat. The sheriffafterward declared that, independently of his mortification aspreserver of the peace of the county, at this interruption to itsharmony, he was never so grieved in his life as when he saw thisbreach of unity between his favorites. Hiram had in some degreebecome necessary to his vanity, and Benjamin, strange as it mayappear, he really loved. This attachment was exhibited in the firstwords that he uttered.

　　"Squire Doolittle! Squire Doolittle! I am ashamed to see a man of yourcharacter and office forget himself so much as to disturb the peace,insult the court, and beat poor Benjamin in this manner!"

　　At the sound of Mr. Jones voice, the steward ceased his employment,and Hiram had an opportunity of raising his discomfited visage towardthe mediator. Emboldened by the sight of the sheriff, Mr. Doolittleagain had recourse to his lungs.

　　"Ill have law on you for this," he cried desperately; "Ill have thelaw on you for this. I call on you, Mr. Sheriff, to seize this man,and I demand that you take his body into custody."

　　By this time Richard was master of the true state of the case, and,turning to the steward, he said reproach fully:

　　"Benjamin, how came you in the stocks? I always thought you were mildand docile as a lamb. It was for your docility that I most esteemedyou. Benjamin! Benjamin! you have not only disgraced yourself, butyour friends, by this shameless conduct, Bless me! bless me! Mr.Doolittle, he seems to have knocked your face all of one side."

　　Hiram by this time had got on his feet again, and with out the reachof the steward, when he broke forth in violent appeals for vengeance.The offence was too apparent to be passed over, and the sheriff,mindful of the impartiality exhibited by his cousin in the recenttrial of the Leather-Stocking, came to the painful conclusion that itwas necessary to commit his major-domo to prison. As the time ofNattys punishment was expired, and Benjamin found that they were tobe confined, for that night at least, in the same apartment, he madeno very strong objection to the measure, nor spoke of bail, though, asthe sheriff preceded the party of constables that conducted them tothe jail, he uttered the following remonstrance:

　　"As to being berthed with Master Bump-ho for a night or so, its butlittle I think of it, Squire Dickens, seeing that I calls him anhonest man, and one as has a handy way with boat-hooks and rifles; butas for owning that a man desarves anything worse than a doubleallowance, for knocking that carpenters face a-one-side, as you callit, Ill maintain its agin reason and Christianity. If theres abloodsucker in this 'ere county, its that very chap. Ay! I know him!and if he hasnt got all the same as dead wood in his headworks, heknows summat of me. Wheres the mighty harm, squire, that you take itso much to heart? Its all the same as any other battle, dye see sir,being broadside to broadside, only that it was foot at anchor,which was what we did in Port Pray a roads, when Suffring came inamong us; and a suffring time he had of it before he got out again."

　　Richard thought it unworthy of him to make any reply to this speech,but when his prisoners were safely lodged in an outer dungeon,ordering the bolts to be drawn and the key turned, he withdrew.

　　Benjamin held frequent and friendly dialogues with different people,through the iron gratings, during the afternoon; but his companionpaced their narrow limits, in his moccasins, with quick, impatienttreads, his face hanging on his breast in dejection, or when lifted,at moments, to the idlers at the window, lighted, perhaps, for aninstant, with the childish aspect of aged forgetfulness, which wouldvanish directly in an expression of deep and obvious anxiety.

　　At the close of the day, Edwards was seen at the window, in earnestdialogue with his friend; and after he de parted it was thought thathe had communicated words of comfort to the hunter, who threw himselfon his pallet and was soon in a deep sleep. The curious spectatorshad exhausted the conversation of the steward, who had drunk goodfellowship with half of his acquaintance, and, as Natty was no longerin motion, by eight oclock, Billy Kirby, who was the last lounger atthe window, retired into the "Templeton Coffee-house," when Natty roseand hung a blanket before the opening, and the prisoners apparentlyretired for the night.