The Forest King Part 5

Breakfast being over, the Indian chief said he must be up and away before the sun licked up the morning dew. He had lodged in that cottage the first and last night; that thrice in his sleep he had dreamed of death and a dishonored tomb, when no phantom of the night was near, not even the sound of waters or the whisper of the breeze was heard among the lonely trees; and yet the dream was thrice repeated. Esock Mayall told him he must wait a short time, and his wife would prepare him some provisions, and he would let him have a horse to ride as far as the Mohawk River, and that would carry him beyond danger. The chief consented to wait a short time for the horse and provisions, but said there was danger in delay.

Whilst the young bride was preparing her father's provision, Wolf-hunter cast his keen eye up the creek in the direction of the bear fight, and saw three strange Indian hunters approaching with their silver-mounted rifles, armed with tomahawks and hunting-knives. They came rapidly forward until they reached the place where they killed the mammoth bear, then halted, viewed the meat that hung on the branches of some trees, and then came directly towards the cottage. The Indian chief began to retreat, when Wolf-hunter cried out:

"No danger. Face the music."

This Esock Mayall understood to mean, "Never fear, but be ready," and sat his gun down by his side, and Wolf-hunter did the same. The three Indians came near the fire, when Wolf-hunter addressed them in the Oneida tongue:

"Good-morning, brothers."

They replied: "Good-morning, brother. We have followed the trail of three bears, and we find you have killed them, and we want some of the meat."

Wolf-hunter told them to be seated near the fire and they would bring them some; the three Indians sat down their rifles and came near the fire. As the young bride came out of the cottage with a large piece of bear's meat in a long handled pan, and placed it over the fire, the three Indians stared at her in amazement, and then turned and looked at each other. One of the Indians said: "She looks just as her mother did before she was murdered. She is a Wan-nut-ha."[2]

[Footnote 2: A beauty.]

They paused a while, and one of the Indians called her Dora, to which she made no reply. He then called her Dora in a louder tone. To which the maiden replied:

"My name is Blanche."

"Well," said the Indian, "your name was Dora. Twelve years have pa.s.sed away since I saw your sunny face, and looked upon your silky flaxen hair; you have changed to a graceful young lady squaw, and when I now look upon you--

"Your sparkling eyes and glossy flaxen hair Seem the same your mother used to wear When the lake lay calm with silver breast Beneath pale Luna's beams at rest.

And when the lurid morn arose, And flashed her light on land and sea, The silvery foam beat on the lonely sh.o.r.e Where Dora and her mother used to roam.

Death had hushed the voice of her fond mother, The Indian's war-axe parted her fair locks, The b.l.o.o.d.y tide ran down her snowy neck, Her ivory bosom dyed with crimson gore, Then fled with Dora to the forest wild.

There a captive in the chieftain's tent, Whilst twelve successive years went by; But now a hunter's young and lovely bride, And cooks the savory venison, night and morn, Upon the streamlet's flow'ry banks, Where the woodland choir with melody of song Chant the praise of G.o.d that watch'd o'er all, And saw the sparrow in his lonely fall.

When spring, with balmy air, bids vegetation rise, And all the flowers put on their bloom; The emerald reeds, along the sandy bay Washed by the blue waves, beat upon the sh.o.r.e, Then Dora, with her loving mate, Will walk in summer's golden days, By Cynthia's evening silver light, And call to mind those infant days When her fond mother led her by the hand, And her little feet made impress on the sand; And plant a flower beside the monumental stone In yonder church-yard, o'er her mother's tomb, Then ramble o'er the green and flow'ry lawn, Leaning fondly on her lover's buoyant arm, The valiant, happy man, who Fate ordained To write his name, in love, upon her heart And fondly claim her for his own."

Dora was delighted with her new name, believing it to be the name given her by her parents, whom she had so often seen in her dreams, whilst sleeping in the Indian's tent. And then it seemed so familiar to her--it seemed like the voice of her mother floating in music-tones upon the morning air. And the Indians seemed to her sent by the Great Spirit to inform her of the place of her birth, of the Eden of her childhood, and the path that would conduct her to her once-loved home, which now came up in grand review before her youthful mind, as the Indians related the sad story of the death of her mother, the capture of her lovely child, and the curling flames that consumed their earthly home.

The picture set forth by the Indians was forcibly impressed upon the mind of Dora, and she persuaded her husband to accompany her on foot through a dense forest, for more than a hundred miles, following a blind Indian war-path which she had been trained to follow through other forests by her tutors, in other days. This war-path led them to the lake sh.o.r.e, where they obtained a boat, with a skillful oarsman, to land them on the sh.o.r.e of that lovely bay which Dora had so often seen in her dreams, whilst sleeping in the Indian chief's wigwam. When they arrived at the birthplace and youthful home of Dora, she could only find the place by the remains of part of the burnt and cracked walls of the foundation, and a few trees that had escaped the fury of the flames.

Here Dora called to mind the scene that occurred when the Indian's war-axe parted the fair forehead of her mother. She seemed to see the crimson tide run down her neck, her ivory bosom stained, as her parental life-blood ebbed away. She wept long and loud for her fond mother. She lingered round the fatal spot until the sinking sun began to cast her last rays in lengthened shade over the waters of the lake below. She then hurried to the nearest house with her husband, where her neighbor recognized her and called her Dora. Like the Indian, he said he knew her by the hair her mother used to wear, and her being the exact likeness of her mother.

Here she first learned of the death of her father, who, feeling the heavy loss of his wife and the unknown fate of his darling child, grieved so immoderately over their loss that Disease laid her fatal hands upon him, and in one short year they laid him down gently to sleep by her mother, until Gabriel's trump shall awake them again at the resurrection morn. Here they tarried for the night--but the night appeared long and sleepless to Dora--and in the early morn was accompanied by their friend and neighbor to the church-yard where lay the remains of her father and mother, unmarked, except by a rude stone, to guide them to the place where their kind neighbors had gently laid them down to rest from the turmoil of life's uneven ways. The summer months were spent among strangers and the scenes of her early childhood, and visiting the burial-place of her parents weekly, to water the moss-rose and the eglantine she had planted on their graves, and scatter the most beautiful flowers that bloomed in that region upon their graves at the hour of falling dews, to wanton and perfume the surrounding air.

As summer wore away Dora and her husband became tired of fas.h.i.+onable life, and longed to return to the shades of forest life, for which they had a fondness--to feast again on the rich and savory dishes of venison, wild fowls and fish, and rest in tranquillity at their own cottage home, surrounded by shady bowers. Dora had paid the last debt of grat.i.tude to her deceased parents at the earliest opportunity, and then started with her husband by the same route they came for their forest home, again to retrace their steps, guided by a blind Indian war-path, long since abandoned by the Indians.

After a weary march of several days they arrived at their forest home, and were warmly greeted by the elder Mayall and his learned and accomplished wife, who received them more warmly on account of some good books Esock Mayall had purchased for his mother, to repay her for his early education, which she had superintended in her own cottage, when her husband was absent on the chase. When they arrived at their forest home, Autumn, with all her charms, with yellow and crimson loaf and falling fruit, charmed the young hunter and his faithful and devoted wife, as they looked with pride upon their forest home, surrounded with all the charms which Nature has so wisely lavished upon the untarnished works of his adorable hand. They came to the conclusion that Contentment and Modesty were two beautiful flowers that flourished only in secret and retired places, where the G.o.d of Nature reigned.

"Dora again, in her wild forest home, Where, in wavy ma.s.ses fondly flowing Droops the graceful mountain vine, And the yellow sunbeams, glowing Cross the shadows line on line; Where the zephyrs, softly sighing, Woo the gently pearling rills; Where the feathered songsters, vieing, Each a different measure trills; Where the echoes, now replying, Die amid the distant hills; Where the skies are ever changing; Where the slanting moonbeams quiver On the noisy mountain streams: Where the placid flowing river Like a thread of silver gleams.

Oh, my heart is ever yearning For the sweet, remembered ones, Where magic roses blossom In the evening golden light, And tender, enchanting songs Float on the balmy breeze at night."

THE END.