Chapter XXXVII.

by James Fenimore Cooper

　　"Love rules the court, the camp, the grove."--Lay of the Last Minstrel.

　　"IT would have been sad, indeed, to lose you in such manner, my oldfriend," said Oliver, catching his breath for utterance. "Up andaway! even now we may be too late; the flames are circling round thepoint of the rock below, and, unless we can pass there, our onlychance must be over the precipice. Away! away! shake off your apathy,John; now is the time of need."

　　Mohegan pointed toward Elizabeth, who, forgetting her danger, had sunkback to a projection of the rock as soon as she recognized the soundsof Edwards voice, and said with something like awakened animation:

　　"Save her--leave John to die."

　　"Her! whom mean you?" cried the youth, turning quickly to the placethe other indicated; but when he saw the figure of Elizabeth bendingtoward him in an attitude that powerfully spoke terror, blended withreluctance to meet him in such a place, the shock deprived him ofspeech.

　　"Miss Temple!" he cried, when he found words; " you here! is such adeath reserved for you!"

　　"No, no, no--no death, I hope, for any of us, Mr. Edwards," shereplied, endeavoring to speak calmly; there is smoke, but no fire toharm us. Let us endeavor to retire."

　　"Take my arm," said Edwards; "there must he an opening in somedirection for your retreat. Are you equal to the effort?"

　　"Certainly. You surely magnify the danger, Mr. Ed wards. Lead me outthe way you came."

　　"I will--I will," cried the youth, with a kind of hysterical utterance."No, no--there is no danger--I have alarmed you unnecessarily."

　　"But shall we leave the Indian--can we leave him, as be says, to die?"

　　An expression of painful emotion crossed the face of the young man; hestopped and cast a longing look at Mohegan but, dragging his companionafter him, even against her will, he pursued his way with enormousstrides toward the pass by which he had just entered the circle offlame.

　　"Do not regard him, " he said, in those tones that de note a desperatecalmness; "he is used to the woods, and such scenes; and he willescape up the mountain--over the rock--or he can remain where he is insafety."

　　"You thought not so this moment, Edwards! Do not leave him there tomeet with such a death," cried Elizabeth, fixing a look on thecountenance of her conductor that seemed to distrust his sanity.

　　"An Indian born! who ever heard of an Indian dying by fire? An Indiancannot burn; the idea is ridiculous. Hasten, hasten, Miss Temple, orthe smoke may incommodate you."

　　"Edwards! your look, your eye, terrifies me! Tell me the danger; is itgreater than it seems? I am equal to any trial."

　　"If we reach the point of yon rock before that sheet of fire, we aresafe, Miss Temple," exclaimed the young man in a voice that burstwithout the bounds of his forced composure. " Fly! the struggle isfor life!"

　　The place of the interview between Miss Temple and the Indian hasalready been described as one of those plat forms of rock, which forma sort of terrace in the mountains of that country, and the face ofit, we have said, was both high and perpendicular. Its shape wasnearly a natural arc, the ends of which blended with the mountain, atpoints where its sides were less abrupt in their descent. It wasround one of these terminations of the sweep of the rock that Edwardshad ascended, and it was toward the same place that he urged Elizabethto a desperate exertion of speed.

　　Immense clouds of white smoke had been pouring over the summit of themountain, and had concealed the approach and ravages of the element;but a crackling sound drew the eyes of Miss Temple, as she flew overthe ground supported by the young man, toward the outline of smokewhere she already perceived the waving flames shooting forward fromthe vapor, now flaring high in the air, and then bending to the earth,seeming to light into combustion every stick and shrub on which theybreathed. The sight aroused them to redoubled efforts; but,unfortunately, a collection of the tops of trees, old and dried, laydirectly across their course; and at the very moment when both hadthought their safety insured, the warm current of the air swept aforked tongue of flame across the pile, which lighted at the touch;and when they reached the spot, the flying pair were opposed by thesurly roaring of a body of fire, as if a furnace were glowing in theirpath. They recoiled from the heat, and stood on a point of the rock,gazing in a stupor at the flames which were spreading rap idly downthe mountain, whose side, too, became a sheet of living fire. It wasdangerous for one clad in the light and airy dress of Elizabeth toapproach even the vicinity of the raging element; and those flowingrobes, that gave such softness and grace to her form, seemed now to beformed for the instruments of her destruction.

　　The villagers were accustomed to resort to that hill, in quest oftimber and fuel; in procuring which, it was their usage to take onlythe bodies of the trees, leaving the tops and branches to decay underthe operations of the weather. Much of the hill was, consequently,covered with such light fuel, which, having been scorched under thesun for the last two months, was ignited with a touch. Indeed, insome cases, there did not appear to be any contact between the fireand these piles, but the flames seemed to dart from heap to heap, asthe fabulous fire of the temple is represented to reillumine itsneglected lamp.

　　There was beauty as well as terror in the sight, and Edwards andElizabeth stood viewing the progress of the desolation, with a strangemixture of horror and interest. The former, however, shortly rousedhimself to new exertions, and, drawing his companion after him, theyskirted the edge of the smoke, the young man penetrating frequentlyinto its dense volumes in search of a passage, but in every instancewithout success. In this manner they proceeded in a semicircle aroundthe upper part of the terrace, until arriving at the verge of theprecipice opposite to the point where Edwards had ascended, the horridconviction burst on both, at the same instant, that they werecompletely encircled by fire. So long as a single pass up or down themountain was unexplored, there was hope: but when retreat seemed to beabsolutely impracticable, the horror of their situation broke uponElizabeth as powerfully as if she had hitherto considered the dangerlight.

　　"This mountain is doomed to be fatal to me!" she whispered;" we shallfind our graves on it!"

　　"Say not so, Miss Temple; there is yet hope," returned the youth, inthe same tone, while the vacant expression of his eye contradicted hiswords; "let us return to the point of the rock--there is--there must be--some place about it where we can descend.

　　"Lead me there," exclaimed Elizabeth; "let us leave no effortuntried." She did not wait for his compliance, but turning, retracedher steps to the brow of the precipice, murmuring to herself, insuppressed, hysterical sobs, My father! my poor, my distractedfather!"

　　Edwards was by her side in an instant, and with aching eyes heexamined every fissure in the crags in quest of some opening thatmight offer facilities for flight. But the smooth, even surface ofthe rocks afforded hardly a resting-place for a foot, much less thosecontinued projections which would have been necessary for a descent ofnearly a hundred feet. Edwards was not slow in feeling the convictionthat this hope was also futile, and, with a kind of feverish despairthat still urged him to action, he turned to some new expedient.

　　"There is nothing left, Miss Temple," he said, "but to lower you fromthis place to the rock beneath. If Natty were here, or even thatIndian could be roused, their ingenuity and long practice would easilydevise methods to do it; but I am a child at this moment in everythingbut daring. Where shall I find means? This dress of mine is so light,and there is so little of it--then the blanket of Mohegan; we must try--we must try--anything is better than to see you a victim to such adeath!"

　　"And what will become of you?" said Elizabeth. "In deed, indeed,neither you nor John must be sacrificed to my safety."

　　He heard her not, for he was already by the side of Mohegan, whoyielded his blanket without a question, retaining his seat with Indiandignity and composure, though his own situation was even more criticalthan that of the others. The blanket was cut into shreds, and thefragments fastened together: the loose linen jacket of the youth andthe light muslin shawl of Elizabeth were attached to them, and thewhole thrown over the rocks with the rapidity of lightning; but theunited Pieces did not reach half-way to the bottom.

　　"It will not do--it will not do!" cried Elizabeth; " for me there is nohope! The fire comes slowly, but certainly. See, it destroys the veryearth before it!"

　　Had the flames spread on that rock with half the quick ness with whichthey leaped from bush to tree in other parts of the mountain, ourpainful task would have soon ended; for they would have consumedalready the captives they inclosed. But the peculiarity of theirsituation afforded Elizabeth and her companion the respite of whichthey had availed themselves to make the efforts we have recorded.

　　The thin covering of earth on the rock supported but a scanty andfaded herbage, and most of the trees that had found root in thefissures had already died, during the in tense heats of precedingsummers. Those which still retained the appearance of life bore a fewdry and withered leaves, while the others were merely the wrecks ofpines, oaks, and maples. No better materials to feed the fire couldbe found, had there been a communication with the flames; but theground was destitute of the brush that led the destructive element,like a torrent, over the remainder of the hill. As auxiliary to thisscarcity of fuel, one of the large springs which abound in thatcountry gushed out of the side of the ascent above, and, aftercreeping sluggishly along the level land, saturating the mossycovering of the rock with moisture, it swept around the base of thelittle cone that formed the pinnacle of the mountain, and, enteringthe canopy of smoke near one of the terminations of the terrace, foundits way to the lake, not by dashing from rock to rock, but by thesecret channels of the earth. It would rise to the surface, here andthere, in the wet seasons, but in the droughts of summer it was to betraced only by the bogs and moss that announced the proximity ofwater. When the fire reached this barrier, it was compelled to pause,until a concentration of its heat could overcome the moisture, like anarmy awaiting the operations of a battering train, to open its way todesolation.

　　That fatal moment seemed now to have arrived, for the hissing steamsof the spring appeared to be nearly exhausted, and the moss of therocks was already curling under the intense heat, while fragments ofbark, that yet clung to the dead trees, began to separate from theirtrunks, and fall to the ground in crumbling masses. The air seemedquivering with rays of heat, which might be seen playing along theparched stems of the trees. There were moments when dark clouds ofsmoke would sweep along the little terrace; and, as the eye lost itspower, the other senses contributed to give effect to the fearfulhorror of the scene. At such moments, the roaring of the flames, thecrackling of the furious element, with the tearing of fallingbranches, and occasionally the thundering echoes of some falling tree,united to alarm the victims. Of the three, however, the youthappeared much the most agitated. Elizabeth, having relinquishedentirely the idea of escape, was fast obtaining that resignedcomposure with which the most delicate of her sex are sometimes knownto meet unavoidable evils; while Mohegan, who was much nearer to thedanger, maintained his seat with the invincible resignation of anIndian warrior. Once or twice the eye of the aged chief, which wasordinarily fixed in the direction of the distant hills, turned towardthe young pair, who seemed doomed to so early a death, with a slightindication of pity crossing his composed features, but it wouldimmediately revert again to its former gaze, as if already lookinginto the womb of futurity. Much of the time he was chanting a kind oflow dirge in the Delaware tongue, using the deep and remarkableguttural tones of his people.

　　"At such a moment, Mr. Edwards, all earthly distinctions end,"whispered Elizabeth; "persuade John to move nearer to us--let us dietogether."

　　"I cannot--he will not stir," returned the youth, in the same horridlystill tones. " He considers this as the happiest moment of his life,he is past seventy, and has been decaying rapidly for some time; hereceived some injury in chasing that unlucky deer, too, on the lake,Oh! Miss Temple, that was an unlucky chase, indeed! it has led, Ifear, to this awful scene."

　　The smile of Elizabeth was celestial. "Why name such a trifle now?--atthis moment the heart is dead to all earthly emotions!"

　　"If anything could reconcile a man to this death," cried the youth,"it would be to meet it in such company!"

　　"Talk not so, Edwards; talk not so," interrupted Miss Temple. "I amunworthy of it, and it is unjust to your self. We must die; yes--yes--we must die--it is the will of God, and let us endeavor to submit likehis own children."

　　"Die!" the youth rather shrieked than exclaimed, "no --no--no--there mustyet be hope--you, at least, must-not, shall not die."

　　"In what way can we escape?" asked Elizabeth, pointing with a look ofheavenly composure toward the fire "Observe! the flame is crossing thebarrier of wet ground--it comes slowly, Edwards, but surely. Ah! see!the tree! the tree is already lighted!"

　　Her words were too true. The heat of the conflagration had at lengthovercome the resistance of the spring, and the fire was slowlystealing along the half-dried moss; while a dead pine kindled with thetouch of a forked flame, that, for a moment, wreathed around the stemof the tree, as it whined, in one of its evolutions, under theinfluence of the air. The effect was instantaneous, The flames dancedalong the parched trunk of the pine like lightning quivering on achain, and immediately a column of living fire was raging on theterrace. It soon spread from tree to tree, and the scene wasevidently drawing to a close. The log on which Mohegan was seatedlighted at its further end, and the Indian appeared to be surroundedby fire. Still he was unmoved. As his body was unprotected, hissufferings must have been great; but his fortitude was superior toall. His voice could yet be heard even in the midst of these horrors.Elizabeth turned her head from the sight, and faced the valley Furiouseddies of wind were created by the heat, and, just at the moment, thecanopy of fiery smoke that overhung the valley was cleared away,leaving a distinct view of the peaceful village beneath them,My fathermy lather!" shrieked Elizabeth "Oh! this--surely mighthave been spared me--but I submit."

　　The distance was not so great but the figure of Judge Temple could beseen, standing in his own grounds, and apparently contemplating, inperfect unconsciousness of the danger of his child, the mountain inflames. This sight was still more painful than the approachingdanger; and Elizabeth again faced the hill.

　　"My intemperate warmth has done this!" cried Edwards, in the accentsof despair. "If I had possessed but a moiety of your heavenlyresignation, Miss Temple, all might yet have been well."

　　"Name it not--name it not," she said. "It is now of no avail. We mustdie, Edwards, we must die--let us do so as Christians. But--no--you mayyet escape, perhaps. Your dress is not so fatal as mine. Fly! Leaveme, An opening may yet be found for you, possibly--certainly it isworth the effort. Fly! leave me--but stay! You will see my father! mypoor, my bereaved father! Say to him, then, Edwards, say to him, allthat can appease his anguish. Tell him that I died happy andcollected; that I have gone to my beloved mother; that the hours ofthis life are nothing when balanced in the scales of eternity. Sayhow we shall meet again. And say," she continued, dropping her voice,that had risen with her feelings, as if conscious of her worldlyweakness, "how clear, how very dear, was my love for him; that it wasnear, too near, to my love for God."

　　The youth listened to her touching accents, but moved not. In amoment he found utterance, and replied:

　　"And is it me that you command to leave you! to leave you on the edgeof the grave? Oh! Miss Temple, how little have you known me!" hecried, dropping on his knees at her feet, and gathering her flowingrobe in his arms as if to shield her from the flames. "I have beendriven to the woods in despair, but your society has tamed the lionwithin me. If I have wasted my time in degradation, twas you thatcharmed me to it. If I have forgotten my name and family, your formsupplied the place of memory. If I have forgotten my wrongs, twasyou that taught me charity. No--no--dearest Elizabeth, I may die withyou, but I can never leave you!"

　　Elizabeth moved not, nor answered. It was plain that her thoughts hadbeen raised from the earth, The recollection of her father, and herregrets at their separation, had been mellowed by a holy sentiment,that lifted her above the level of earthly things, and she was fastlosing the weakness of her sex in the near view of eternity. But asshe listened to these words she became once more woman. She struggledagainst these feelings, and smiled, as she thought she was shaking offthe last lingering feeling of nature, when the world, and all itsseductions, rushed again to her heart, with the sounds of a human,voice, crying in piercing tones:

　　"Gal! where he ye, gal! gladden the heart of an old man, if ye yetbelong to arth!"

　　"Hist!" said Elizabeth; " tis the Leather-Stocking; he seeks me!"

　　"Tis Natty!" shouted Edwards, "and we may yet be saved!"

　　A wide and circling flame glared on their eyes for a moment, evenabove the fire of the woods, and a loud report followed.

　　"'Tis the canister, tis the powder," cried the same voice, evidentlyapproaching them. " Tis the canister, and the precious child islost."

　　At the next instant Natty rushed through the steams of the spring, andappeared on the terrace, without his deerskin cap, his hair burnt tohis head, his shirt, of country check, black and filled with holes,and his red features of a deeper color than ever, by the heat he hadencountered.