Malaeska: The Indian Wife of the White Hunter

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iant beauty of the point, on that side, and its quiet and entire loneliness contrasts pleasantly with the bustling and crowded little village on the opposite body of land. There is much to attract attention to that dwelling. Besides occupying one of the most lovely sites on the river, it is remarkable for an appearance of old-fashioned comfort at variance with the pillared houses and rustic cottages

himself, is a fine stately farmer of the old class-shrewd, penetrating, and intelligent-one of those men who contrive to keep the heart green when the frost of age is chilling the blood and whitening upon the brow. He has already numbered more than the threescore years and ten allotted to man. His habits and the fashion of his attire are those of fifty years ago. He still clings to huge wood-fires, apples, a

ould cling about his knees and play with the silver buckles on his shoes as he talked. That tall, stately old man, and the sweet child made a beautiful picture of "age at play with infancy," when the fire-light flickered over them, to the ancient family pictures, painted in Holland, hanging on the wall behind us, in the old-fashioned oval frames, which, with the heavy Dutch Bible, which lay on the stand, secured with hasp

the thick growth of timber which clothed them at the base; they loomed up from the dense sea of foliage like the outposts of a darker world. Of all the cultivated acres which at the present day sustain thousands with their products, one little clearing alone smiled up from the heart of the wilderness. A few hundred acres had been cleared by a hardy band of settlers, and a cluster of log-houses was erected in the heart of the little valley which now

ed for the woods in search of game. A bear had been seen on the brink of the clearing at break of day, and while the greater

swingled tow. Both were handsome, but different in the cast of their features. The character of the first might be read in his gay air and springy step, as he followed close to the Englishman, dashing away the brushwood with the muzzle of his gun, and detecting with a quick eye the broken twigs or disturbed leaves which betrayed the course of the hunted bear. There was also something characteristic in the wearing of his dress, in the fox-skin cap thrown c

carriage, bespoke him as one of those who hide deep feeling under an appearance of coldness and apathy. He had been a schoolmaster in the Bay State, from whence he had been drawn by the bright eyes and merry laugh of one Martha Fellows, a

p from the middle, on either side, to the magnificent trees that hedged it in with a beautiful and leafy rampart. The margin was irregular; here and there a clump of trees shot down into the inclosure, and the clearing occasionally ran up into the forest in tiny glades and little grassy nooks, in which the sunlight slumbered like smiles on the face of a dreaming infant. On every side the trunks of huge trees shot up along the margin beneath their magnificent canopy of leaves, like the ivied columns of a ruin, or fell back in the misty perspective of the forest, scarcely discernible in its gloom of shadow. The heavy piles of foliage, which fell amid the boughs like a wealth of drapery flung in masses to the summer wind, was thrifty and ripe wi

of the clearing; the grass was much trampled around them, and three or four half-naked Indian children lay rolling upon it, laughing, shouting, and flinging up their limbs in the pleasant morning air. One young Indian woman was also frolicking among them, tossing an infant in her arms, caroling and playing with it. Her laugh was musical as a bird song, and as she darted to and f

"Can they find no spot to burrow in but 'the Straka?' St. George! but I hav

m; "touch but a hair of her head, and by the Lord that

hed into his cheek at this savage burst of anger so uncalled for and so insolent. He gazed a mo

but jest. Come, we have lost the trail, and sha

he spoke, and turned into the woods. Jone

er his companions, and then at the group of young India

pond, which was about a mile south of "the Straka," when they were again joined by Danforth. His brow was unclouded, and he seemed anxious to do away the effect

whole, and that was beautiful. It smiled softly, and like a promise of love over that sunless ravine. Another step, and the waterfall was before him. It was sublime, but beautiful-oh, very beautiful-that little body of water, curling and foaming downward like a wreath of snow sifted from the clouds, breaking in a shower of spray over the shelf of rocks which stayed its progress, then leaping a second foaming mass, down, down, like a deluge of flowing light, another hundred feet to the shadowy depths of the ravine. A shower of sunlight played amid the foliage far overhead, and upon the top of the curving precipice where the waters made their first leap. As the hunter became more calm, he remarked how harmoniously the beautiful and sublime were blended in the scene. The precipices were rugged and frowning, but soft, rich mosses and patches of delicate white wild-flowers clung about them. So profusely were those gentle flowers lavished upon the rocks, that it seemed as if the very spray drops were breaking into blossoms as they fell. The hunter's heart swelled with pleasure as he drank in the extreme beauty of the scene. He rested his gun against a fragment of rock, and sat down with his eyes fixed on the waterfall. As he gazed, it seemed as if the precipices were moving upward-upward to the very sky. He was pondering on this strange optical illusion, which has puzzled many a dizzy brain since, when the click of a gunlock struck sharply on his ear. He sprang to his feet. A bullet whistled by his head, cutting through the dark locks which curled in heavy masses above his temples, and as a sense of giddiness cleared from his brain, he saw a half-naked savage crouching upon the ledge of rocks which

ed. "It is brave to leave your skulking place in the bushes, when the danger is over. B

ith the savage. The Englishma

ut keep a good heart, my lad, for hang me, if I should not have done the same thing if the red de

ack hair, and a pool of blood half washed from the rock by the spray. The body

n, the men who had gone to the woods in the morning began to collect with their game. Two stags, racoons and meaner game in abundance, were lying before the door, when the three hunters came in with the slain bear. They were greeted with a boisterous shout, and the hunters crowded eagerly forward to examine the prize; but when Jon

al silence. "There'll be no clear hunting in the woods after this; but how did it all come abo

inking-cups, a couple of half-empty bottles, with a pitcher of water, backed by a broken mug, filled to the fractured top with maple molasses. Nothing of the kind could have been more beautiful than pretty Martha as she bent forward, listening with rapt attention to the animated whisper of William Danforth, who stood by her, divested of his coarse frock, his cap lying

he blush as it deepened and glowed on her embrowned cheek; he saw the sparkling pleasure of her hazel eyes, and the pretty dimples gathering about her red lips, like spots of sunlight flickering through the leaves of a red rose, and his heart sickened with distrust. But when the handsome hunter laid his hands on hers and bent his head, till the short curls on his temples

nd casting a mischievous glance at Danfor

wrath, he finished his magnificent commencement; "Will you give me a drink of wat

man who loved her, and whom she loved better than any thing in existence. Jones turned on her a bitter contemptuous look, and raising the pitcher to his lips, left the room. In a few minutes the other hunters entered, and Jason Fellows, father to Martha, announced it as decided by the hu

the emissaries mentioned, drop

taken and tomahawked by the way!" she exclaimed

ones, advancing to the table; "I

resolution to be tomahawked and comfortably scalped on his own responsibility, he turned majestically

answer till the morning, and the hunters left the house to divi

girl scarcely heeded his departure. Her eyes filled with tears, and seating herself on a settee which ran along one e

imself beside her. Martha wiped the tears from her eyes and remained quiet, for she knew that he had returned, and with that knowledge, the spirit of coquetry had revived; and when Jones, soft

me," said the disappointed lover, rising indignantly a

her arm, and casting a glance, half-repentant, half-comic, on her retr

m in her encouragement of another, she would have acknowledged the fault with all proper humility; but he did no such thing-he was a common-sense man, and he resolved to end his first love-quarrel in a common-se

"why do I find you on terms of such fa

had just begun to quiver with repentance, worked themselves into a pouting fullness, till they resembled the rose-bud just as it bursts into leave

ner to convince her that she was wrong, and acted wildly, f

more decidedly on her lover, and bursting into tears, declared that she would thank him

listen to common sense," he said

and; "I won't hear any more of your lecturing,-leave the

lked out of the house. With a heavy heart Martha watched his slender form as

without saying one word,-I am sure he won't," she repeated to herself over and o

e been familiar with the track, for he found his way without difficulty through the wilderness, and never stopped till he came out on the northern brink of the Pond. He looked anxiously over the face of the little lake. The fitful moon had broken from a cloud, and was tou

d another flashed out, each bearing to a particular direction, and then a myriad of flames rose high and bright, il

p-fire, each with his firelock in his hand. There was a general movement. Dark faces flitted in quick succession between him a

he wore no paint-her cheek was round and smooth, and large gazelle-like eyes gave a soft brilliancy to her countenance, beautiful beyond expression. Her dress was a robe of dark chintz, open at the throat, and confined at the waist by a narrow belt of wampum, which, with the bead bracelets on her naked arms, and the embroidered moccasins laced over her feet, was the only Indian ornament about her. Even her hair, which all of her tribe wore laden with ornaments, and hanging down the back,

d, in her broken English, hanging fondly about him; "the boy an

ffections, had no aim, no object, but what centered in the love she bore her white husband. The feelings which in civilized life are scattered over a thousand objects, were, in her bosom, centered in one single being; he supplied the pl

nt to the wood?" inquired Danforth, as she drew him to the

pine. When her heart grew sick, she looked in the boy's eyes and was gl

wn; and parting the straight, black hair from a forehead which scarcely bore a tinge

look of proud anguish, laid her finger on i

's tribe; but Malaeska never thinks of that when she sees the white man's

cts of his inadvertent speech; "but tell me, Malaeska, why have the war

and that it was supposed he had been shot by some of the whites from the settlement. She said that the

he left the wigwam and proceeded at a brisk walk to the brink of the Pond. He came out of the thick forest which fringed it a little above the point on which the Indians were collected. Their dance was over, and from the few guttural tones which reached him, Danforth knew that they were planning the death of some particular individuals, which was probably to precede their attack on the settlement. The council fire still streamed high in the air, reddening the w

fierce cry reiterated, till the woods resounded with the wild echo rudely summoned from the caves. As the young hunter stood lost in astonishment at the strange commotion, he was seized by the savages, and dragged before their chief, while the group around furiously demanded vengeance, quick and terrible, for the death of their slain brother. The truth flashed acro

young chief-one of your own tribe

as taken a rattlesnake to warm in his wigwam-the warrior shall crush his head!" and with a fierce

aped for his death-pyre. It was a fearful sight, and the heart of the brave hunter quailed within him as he looked. With another wild whoop, the Indians seized their victim, and were about to strip him for the sacrifice. In their blind fury, they tore him from the grasp of those who held him, and were too intent on divesting him of his clothes to remark that his limbs were free.

and hurled his cap out toward the center of the pond. The ruse succeeded, for the moon came out just at the instant, and with renewed shouts the savages turned in pursuit of the empty cap.

he brink of the forest, irresolute,

of the pursuers smote his ear as they made the land. On, on he bounded with the swiftness of a hunted stag, through swamp and brushwood, and over rocks. He darted

hut. The boy was asleep, but his mother w

alaeska, we must part; your tribe seek my life; warriors a

orcing back the arms she had flung about him, he

her, pretended to be asleep. She had scarcely composed herself, when three savages entered the wigwam. One bore a blazing pine-knot, with which he proceeded to search for the fugitive. While the others were busy among the scanty furniture, he approached the trembling wife, and after feeling about among the furs without effect, lifted the

im in his flight. He had never thought of introducing her as his wife among the whites, and now that circumstances made it necessary for him to part with her forever, or to take her among his people for a shelter, a pang, such as he had never felt, came to his heart. His affections struggled powerfully with his pride. The picture of his disgrace-of the scorn with which his parents and sisters wou

you and the boy must re

ngled with humiliation and reproach, that the hunter's heart thrilled painfully in his bosom. Slowly, and as if

, and the boy will have no

er solicitude, and that voice so full of tender entreaty-the husband's heart could not withstand them. His bosom heav

w; but when seven suns have passed, I will come again; or, if the tribe stil

bowed her head in

good. Malaeska wil

the poor Indian wife w

The heart of the maiden grew heavy, and when her father came in to dine, her eyes were red with weeping, and a cloud of mingled sorrow and petulance darkened her handsome

is morning?" she at length que

which Danforth had met with among the Indians, and of his departure with Arthur Jones in search of aid from the nearest settlement. The old man gloomily added, that the savages would doubtless burn the houses over their heads, and massacre every living being within them, long before the two brave fellows would return with men. Such indeed, were the ter

olemn conclave, to devise measures for the defence of their wives and children. Their slender preparations were soon made; all were gathered around one of the largest houses in gloomy apprehension; the women and children within, and the man standing in front, sternly resolving to die in the defence of their loved ones. Suddenly there came up a sound from the wood, the trampling of many feet, and the crackling of brushwood, as if some large body of men were forcing a way through the tangled forest. The women bowed their pallid faces, and gathering their children in their arms, waited appalled for the attack. The men stood rea

ing, accompanied by three or four guests; every heart beat high, save one-Martha Fellows; she, poor girl, was sad among the general rejoicing; her lover had not spoken to her though she lingered near his

iful than Martha herself. The humble maiden thought of Jones, and of the bright blue eyes of the En

ince the dispersing of the crowd; and unheeded by her father, who was relating his hunting exploits to the five strangers quartered o

; for the fierce eyes gazing down upon her, were those of a savage. She could not repeat the cry, for the wretch crushed her form to his naked chest with a grasp of iron, and winding his hand in her hair, was about to dash her to the ground. That moment a bullet whistled by her cheek. The Indian tightened