Chapter XXIX.

by James Fenimore Cooper

　　"It is noised, he hath a mass of treasure."--Timon of Athens.

　　When Marmaduke Temple and his cousin rode through the gate of theformer, the heart of the father had been too recently touched with thebest feelings of our nature, to leave inclination for immediatediscourse. There was an importance in the air of Richard, which wouldnot have admitted of the ordinary informal conversation of thesheriff, without violating all the rules of consistency; and theequestrians pursued their way with great diligence, for more than amile, in profound silence. At length the soft expression of parentalaffection was slowly chased from the handsome features of the Judge,and was gradually supplanted by the cast of humor and benevolence thatwas usually seated on his brow.

　　"Well, Dickon," he said, since I have yielded myself so far implicitlyto your guidance, I think the moment has arrived when I am entitled tofurther confidence. Why and wherefore are we journeying together inthis solemn gait?"

　　The sheriff gave a loud hem, that rang far in the forest, and keepinghis eyes fixed on objects before him like a man who is looking deepinto futurity:

　　"There has always been one point of difference between us, JudgeTemple, I may say, since our nativity," he replied; not that I wouldinsinuate that you are at all answerable for the acts of Nature; for aman is no more to be condemned for the misfortunes of his birth, thanhe is to be commended for the natural advantages he may possess; buton one point we may be said to have differed from our births, andthey, you know, occurred within two days of each other."

　　"I really marvel, Richard, what this one point can be, for, to myeyes, we seem to differ so materially, and so often--"

　　"Mere consequences, sir," interrupted the sheriff; "all our minordifferences proceed from one cause, and that is, our opinions of theuniversal attainments of genius."

　　"In what, Dickon?"

　　"I speak plain English, I believe, Judge Temple: at least I ought; formy father, who taught me, could speak----"

　　"Greek and Latin," interrupted Marmaduke. "I well know thequalifications of your family in tongues, Dickon. But proceed to thepoint; why are we travelling over this mountain to-day?"

　　"To do justice to any subject, sir, the narrator must he suffered toproceed in his own way," continued the sheriff. "You are of opinion,Judge Temple, that a man is to be qualified by nature and education todo only one thing well, whereas I know that genius will supply theplace of learning, and that a certain sort of man can do anything andeverything."

　　"Like yourself, I suppose," said Marmaduke, smiling.

　　"I scorn personalities, sir, I say nothing of myself; but there arethree men on your Patent, of the kind that I should term talented bynature for her general purposes though acting under the influence ofdifferent situations."

　　"We are better off, then, than I had supposed. Who are thesetriumviri?"

　　"Why, sir, one is Hiram Doolittle; a carpenter by trade, as you know--and I need only point to the village to exhibit his merits. Then heis a magistrate, and might shame many a man, in his distribution ofjustice, who has had better opportunities."

　　"Well, he is one," said Marmaduke, with the air of a man that wasdetermined not to dispute the point.

　　"Jotham Riddel is another."

　　"Who?"

　　"Jotham Riddel."

　　"What, that dissatisfied, shiftless, lazy, speculating fellow! he whochanges his county every three years, his farm every six months, andhis occupation every season! an agriculturist yesterday, a shoemakerto-day, and a school master to-morrow! that epitome of all theunsteady and profitless propensities of the settlers without one oftheir good qualities to counterbalance the evil! Nay, Richard. thisis too bad for even--but the third."

　　"As the third is not used to hearing such comments on his character,Judge Temple, I shall not name him."

　　"The amount of all this, then, Dickon, is that the trio, of which youare one, and the principal, have made some important discovery."

　　"I have not said that I am one, Judge Temple. As I told you before,say nothing egotistical. But a discovery has been made, and you aredeeply interested in it."

　　"Proceed--I am all ears."

　　"No, no, Duke, you are bad enough, I own, but not so bad as that,either; your ears are not quite full grown."

　　The sheriff laughed heartily at his own wit, and put himself in goodhumor thereby, when he gratified his patient cousin with the followingexplanation:

　　"You know, Duke, there is a man living on your estate that goes bythe name of Natty Bumppo. Here has this man lived, by what I canlearn, for more than forty years--by himself, until lately; and nowwith strange companions."

　　"Part very true, and all very probable," said the Judge.

　　"All true, sir; all true. Well, within these last few months haveappeared as his companions an old Indian chief, the last, or one ofthe last of his tribe that is to be found in this part of the country,and a young man, who is said to be the son of some Indian agent, by asquaw."

　　"Who says that?" cried Marmaduke, with an interest; that he had notmanifested before.

　　"Who? why, common sense--common report--the hue and cry. But listentill you know all. This youth has very pretty talents--yes, what Icall very pretty talents-- and has been well educated, has seen verytolerable company, and knows how to behave himself when he has a mindto. Now, Judge Temple, can you tell me what has brought three suchmen as Indian John, Natty Bumppo, and Oliver Edwards together?"Marmaduke turned his countenance, in evident surprise, to his cousin,and replied quickly:

　　"Thou hast unexpectedly hit on a subject, Richard, that has oftenoccupied my mind. But knowest thou anything of this mystery, or arethey only the crude conjectures of--"

　　"Crude nothing, Duke, crude nothing : but facts, stub-born facts.You know there arc mines in these mountains; I have often heard yousay that you believed in their existence."

　　"Reasoning from analogy, Richard, but not with any certainty of thefact."

　　"You have heard them mentioned, and have seen specimens of the ore,sir; you will not deny that! and, reasoning from analogy, as you say,if there be mines in South America, ought there not to be mines inNorth America too?"

　　"Nay, nay, I deny nothing, my cousin. I certainly have heard manyrumors of the existence of mines in these hills: and I do believe thatI have seen specimens of the precious metals that have been foundhere. It would occasion me no surprise to learn that tin and silver,or what I consider of more consequence, good coal--"

　　"Damn your coal," cried the sheriff; " who wants to find coal in theseforests? No, no--silver, Duke; silver is the one thing needful, andsilver is to be found. But listen: you are not to be told that thenatives have long known the use of gold and silver; now who so likelyto be acquainted where they are to be found as the ancient inhabitantsof a country? I have the best reasons for believing that both Moheganand the Leather-Stocking have been privy to the existence of a mine inthis very mountain for many years."

　　The sheriff had now touched his cousin in a sensitive spot; andMarmaduke lent a more attentive ear to the speaker, who, after waitinga moment to see the effect of this extraordinary development,proceeded:

　　"Yes, sir, I have my reasons, and at a proper time you shall knowthem,"

　　"No time is so good as the present."

　　"Well, well, be attentive," continued Richard, looking cautiouslyabout him, to make certain that no eavesdropper was hid in the forest,though they were in constant motion. "I have seen Mohegan and theLeather-Stocking, with my own eyes--and my eyes are as good asanybodys eyes--I have seen them, I say, both going up the mountain andcoming down it, with spades and picks; and others have seen themcarrying things into their hut, in a secret and mysterious manner,after dark. Do you call this a fact of importance?"

　　The Judge did not reply, but his brow had contracted, with athoughtfulness that he always wore when much interested, and his eyesrested on his cousin in expectation of hearing more. Richardcontinued:

　　"It was ore. Now, sir, I ask if you can tell me who this Mr. OliverEdwards is, that has made a part of your household since Christmas?"

　　Marmaduke again raised his eyes, but continued silent, shaking hishead in the negative.

　　"That he is a half-breed we know, for Mohegan does not scruple to callhim openly his kinsman; that he is well educated we know. But as tohis business here--do you remember that about a month before this youngman made his appearance among us, Natty was absent from home severaldays? You do; for you inquired for him, as you wanted some venison totake to your friends, when you went for Bess. Well, he was not to befound. Old John was left in the hut alone, and when Natty did appear,although he came on in the night, he was seen drawing one of thosejumpers that they carry their grain to mill in, and to take outsomething with great care, that he had covered up under his bear-skins. Now let me ask you, Judge Temple, what motive could induce aman like the Leather-Stocking to make a sled, and toil with a loadover these mountains, if he had nothing but his rifle or hisammunition to carry?"

　　"They frequently make these jumpers to convey their game home, and yousay he had been absent many days."

　　"How did he kill it? His rifle was in the village, to be mended. No,no--that he was gone to some unusual place is certain; that he broughtback some secret utensils is more certain; and that he has not alloweda soul to approach his hut since is most certain of all."

　　"He was never fond of intruders------"

　　"I know it," interrupted Richard; "but did he drive them from hiscabin morosely? Within a fortnight of his return, this Mr. Edwardsappears. They spend whole days in the mountains, pretending to beshooting, but in reality exploring; the frosts prevent their diggingat that time, and he avails himself of a lucky accident to get intogood quarters. But even now, he is quite half of his time in thathut--many hours every night. They are smelting, 'Duke they aresmelting, and as they grow rich, you grow poor."

　　"How much of this is thine own, Richard, and how much comes fromothers? I would sift the wheat from the chaff."

　　"Part is my own, for I saw the jumper, though it was broken up andburnt in a day or two. I have told you that I saw the old man withhis spades and picks. Hiram met Natty, as he was crossing themountain, the night of his arrival with the sled, and very good-naturedly offered --Hiram is good-natured--to carry up part of his load,for the old man had a heavy pull up the back of the mountain, but hewouldn't listen to the thing, and repulsed the offer in such a mannerthat the squire said he had half a mind to swear the peace againsthim. Since the snow has been off, more especially after the frostsgot out of the ground, we have kept a watchful eye on the gentleman, in which we have found Jotham useful."Marmaduke did not much like the associates of Richard in thisbusiness; still he knew them to be cunning and ready expedients; andas there was certainly something mysterious, not only in theconnection between the old hunters and Edwards, but in what his cousinhad just related, he began to revolve the subject in his own mind withmore care. On reflection, he remembered various circumstances thattended to corroborate these suspicions, and, as the whole businessfavored one of his infirmities, he yielded the more readily to theirimpression. The mind of Judge Temple, at all times comprehensive, hadreceived from his peculiar occupations a bias to look far intofuturity, in his speculations on the improvements that posterity wereto make in his lands. To his eye, where others saw nothing but awilderness, towns, manufactories, bridges, canals, mines, and all theother resources of an old country were constantly presentingthemselves, though his good sense suppressed, in some degree, theexhibition of these expectations.

　　As the sheriff allowed his cousin full time to reflect on what he hadheard, the probability of some pecuniary adventure being theconnecting link in the chain that brought Oliver Edwards into thecabin of Leather-Stocking appeared to him each moment to be stronger.But Marmaduke was too much in the habit of examining both sides of asubject not to perceive the objections, and he reasoned with himselfaloud:

　　"It cannot be so, or the youth would not be driven so near the vergeof poverty."

　　"What so likely to make a man dig for money as being poor?" cried thesheriff.

　　"Besides, there is an elevation of character about Oliver thatproceeds from education, which would forbid so clan- destine aproceeding."

　　"Could an ignorant fellow smelt?" continued Richard.

　　"Bess hints that he was reduced even to his last shilling when we tookhim into our dwelling."

　　"He had been buying tools. And would he spend his last sixpence for ashot at a turkey had he not known where to get more?"

　　"Can I have possibly been so long a dupe? His manner has been rude tome at times, but I attributed it to his conceiving himself injured,and to his mistaking the forms of the world."

　　"Havent you been a dupe all your life, Duke, and ant what you callignorance of forms deep cunning, to conceal his real character?"

　　"If he were bent on deception, he would have concealed his knowledge,and passed with us for an inferior man."

　　"He cannot. I could no more pass for a fool, myself, than I couldfly. Knowledge is not to be concealed, like a candle under a bushel,"

　　"Richard," said the Judge, turning to his cousin, "there are manyreasons against the truth of thy conjectures, but thou hast awakenedsuspicions which must be satisfied. But why are we travelling here?"

　　"Jotham, who has been much in the mountain latterly, being kept thereby me and Hiram, has made a discovery, which he will not explain, hesays, for he is bound by an oath; but the amount is, that he knowswhere the ore lies, and he has this day begun to dig. I would notconsent to the thing, Duke, without your knowledge, for the land isyours; and now you know the reason of our ride. I call this acountermine, ha!"

　　"And where is the desirable spot?" asked the Judge with an air halfcomical, half serious.

　　"At hand; and when we have visited that, I will show you one of theplaces that we have found within a week, where our hunters have beenamusing themselves for six months past."

　　The gentlemen continued to discuss the matter, while their horsespicked their way under the branches of the trees and over the unevenground of the mountain. They soon arrived at the end of theirjourney, where, in truth, they found Jotham already buried to his neckin a hole that he had been digging.

　　Marmaduke questioned the miner very closely as to his reasons forbelieving in the existence of the precious metals near that particularspot; but the fellow maintained an obstinate mystery in his answers.He asserted that he had the best of reasons for what he did, andinquired of the judge what portion of the profits would fall to hisown share, in the event of success, with an earnestness that provedhis faith. After spending an hour near the place, examining thestones, and searching for the usual indications of the proximity ofore, the Judge remounted and suffered his cousin to lead the way tothe place where the mysterious trio had been making their excavation.

　　The spot chosen by Jotham was on the back of the mountain thatoverhung the hut of Leather-Stocking, and the place selected by Nattyand his companions was on the other side of the same hill, but abovethe road, and, of course, in an opposite direction to the route takenby the ladies in their walk.

　　"We shall be safe in approaching the place now," said Richard, whilethey dismounted and fastened their horses; "for I took a look with theglass, and saw John and Leather-Stocking in their canoe fishing beforewe left home, and Oliver is in the same pursuit; but these may benothing but shams to blind our eye; so we will be expeditious, for itwould not be pleasant to be caught here by them."

　　"Not on my own land?" said Marmaduke sternly. "If it be as yoususpect, I will know their reasons for making this excavation."

　　"Mum," said Richard, laying a finger on his lip, and leading the waydown a very difficult descent to a sort of natural cavern, which wasfound in the face of the rock, and was not unlike a fireplace inshape. In front of this place lay a pile of earth, which hadevidently been taken from the recess, and part of which was yet fresh.An examination of the exterior of the cavern left the Judge in doubtwhether it was one of Natures frolics that had thrown it into thatshape, or whether it had been wrought by the hands of man, at someearlier period. But there could be no doubt that the whole of theinterior was of recent formation, and the marks of the pick were stillvisible where the soft, lead-colored rock had opposed itself to theprogress of the miners. The whole formed an excavation of abouttwenty feet in width, and nearly twice that distance in depth. Theheight was much greater than was required for the ordinary purposes ofexperiment, but this was evidently the effect of chance, as the roofof the cavern was a natural stratum of rock that projected many feetbeyond the base of the pile. Immediately in front of the recess, orcave, was a little terrace, partly formed by nature, and partly by theearth that had been carelessly thrown aside by the laborers. Themountain fell off precipitously in front of the terrace, and theapproach by its sides, under the ridge of the rocks, was difficult anda little dangerous. The whole was wild, rude, and apparentlyincomplete; for, while looking among the bushes, the sheriff found thevery implements that had been used in the work.

　　When the sheriff thought that his cousin had examined the spotsufficiently, he asked solemnly:

　　"Judge Temple, are you satisfied?"

　　"Perfectly, that there is something mysterious and perplexing in thisbusiness. It is a secret spot, and cunningly devised, Richard; yet Isee no symptoms of ore."

　　"Do you expect, sir, to find gold and silver lying like pebbles on thesurface of the earth?--dollars and dimes ready coined to your hands?No, no--the treasure must be sought after to be won. But let themmine; I shall countermine."

　　The Judge took an accurate survey of the place, and noted in hismemorandum-book such marks as were necessary to find it again in theevent of Richards absence; when the cousins returned to their horses.

　　On reaching the highway they separated, the sheriff to summon twenty-four "good men and true," to attend as thc inquest of the county, onthe succeeding Monday, when Marmaduke held his stated court of "commonpleas and general sessions of the peace," and the Judge to return,musing deeply on what he had seen and heard in the course of themorning.

　　When the horse of the latter reached the spot where the highway felltoward the valley, the eye of Marmaduke rested, it is true, on thesame scene that had, ten minutes before, been so soothing to thefeelings of his daughter and her friend, as they emerged from theforest; but it rested in vacancy. He threw the reins to his surefooted beast, and suffered the animal to travel at his own gait, whilehe soliloquized as follows:

　　"There may be more in this than I at first supposed. I have sufferedmy feelings to blind my reason, in admitting an unknown youth in thismanner to my dwelling; yet this is not the land of suspicion. I willhave Leather-Stocking before me, and, by a few direct questions,extract the truth from the simple old man."

　　At that instant the Judge caught a glimpse of the figures of Elizabethand Louisa, who were slowly descending the mountain, short distancebefore him. He put spurs to his horse, and riding up to them,dismounted, and drove his steed along the narrow path. While theagitated parent was listening to the vivid description that hisdaughter gave of her recent danger, and her unexpected escape, allthoughts of mines, vested rights, and examinations were absorbed inemotion; and when the image of Natty again crossed his recollection,it was not as a law Less and depredating squatter, but as thepreserver of his child.