The Prairie (Fiscle Part 3) Of 2 by J Fenimore Cooper (top non fiction books of all time .TXT) 📖

                      How If He Will Not Stand?

                                                   --Shakspeare.

 

The Several Movements,  Related In The Close Of The Preceding Chapter,

Had Passed In So Short A Space Of Time,  That The Old Man,  While He

Neglected Not To Note The Smallest Incident,  Had No Opportunity Of

Expressing His Opinion Concerning The Stranger's Motives. After The

Pawnee Had Disappeared,  However,  He Shook His Head And Muttered,  While

He Walked Slowly To The Angle Of The Thicket That The Indian Had Just

Quitted--

 

"There Are Both Scents And Sounds In The Air,  Though My Miserable

Senses Are Not Good Enough To Hear The One,  Or To Catch The Taint Of

The Other."

 

"There Is Nothing To Be Seen," Cried Middleton,  Who Kept Close At His

Side. "My Eyes And My Ears Are Good,  And Yet I Can Assure You That I

Neither Hear Nor See Any Thing."

 

"Your Eyes Are Good! And You Are Not Deaf!" Returned The Other With A

Slight Air Of Contempt; "No,  Lad,  No; They May Be Good To See Across A

Church,  Or To Hear A Town-Bell,  But Afore You Had Passed A Year In

These Prairies You Would Find Yourself Taking A Turkey For A Buffaloe,

Or Conceiting,  Fifty Times,  That The Roar Of A Buffaloe Bull Was The

Thunder Of The Lord! There Is A Deception Of Natur' In These Naked

Plains,  In Which The Air Throws Up The Images Like Water,  And Then It

Is Hard To Tell The Prairies From A Sea. But Yonder Is A Sign That A

Hunter Never Fails To Know!"

 

The Trapper Pointed To A Flight Of Vultures,  That Were Sailing Over

The Plain At No Great Distance,  And Apparently In The Direction In

Which The Pawnee Had Riveted His Eye. At First Middleton Could Not

Distinguish The Small Dark Objects,  That Were Dotting The Dusky

Clouds,  But As They Came Swiftly Onward,  First Their Forms,  And Then

Their Heavy Waving Wings,  Became Distinctly Visible.

Part 3 Chapter 19 Pg 13

 

"Listen," Said The Trapper,  When He Had Succeeded In Making Middleton

See The Moving Column Of Birds. "Now You Hear The Buffaloes,  Or

Bisons,  As Your Knowing Doctor Sees Fit To Call Them,  Though Buffaloes

Is Their Name Among All The Hunters Of These Regions. And,  I Conclude,

That A Hunter Is A Better Judge Of A Beast And Of Its Name," He Added,

Winking To The Young Soldier,  "Than Any Man Who Has Turned Over The

Leaves Of A Book,  Instead Of Travelling Over The Face Of The 'Arth,  In

Order To Find Out The Natur's Of Its Inhabitants."

 

"Of Their Habits,  I Will Grant You," Cried The Naturalist,  Who Rarely

Missed An Opportunity To Agitate Any Disputed Point In His Favourite

Studies. "That Is,  Provided Always,  Deference Is Had To The Proper Use

Of Definitions,  And That They Are Contemplated With Scientific Eyes."

 

"Eyes Of A Mole! As If Man's Eyes Were Not As Good For Names As The

Eyes Of Any Other Creatur'! Who Named The Works Of His Hand? Can You

Tell Me That,  With Your Books And College Wisdom? Was It Not The First

Man In The Garden,  And Is It Not A Plain Consequence That His Children

Inherit His Gifts?"

 

"That Is Certainly The Mosaic Account Of The Event," Said The Doctor;

"Though Your Reading Is By Far Too Literal!"

 

"My Reading! Nay,  If You Suppose,  That I Have Wasted My Time In

Schools,  You Do Such A Wrong To My Knowledge,  As One Mortal Should

Never Lay To The Door Of Another Without Sufficient Reason. If I Have

Ever Craved The Art Of Reading,  It Has Been That I Might Better Know

The Sayings Of The Book You Name,  For It Is A Book Which Speaks,  In

Every Line,  According To Human Feelings,  And Therein According To

Reason."

 

"And Do You Then Believe," Said The Doctor A Little Provoked By The

Dogmatism Of His Stubborn Adversary,  And Perhaps,  Secretly,  Too

Confident In His Own More Liberal,  Though Scarcely As Profitable,

Attainments,--"Do You Then Believe That All These Beasts Were

Literally Collected In A Garden,  To Be Enrolled In The Nomenclature Of

The First Man?"

 

"Why Not? I Understand Your Meaning; For It Is Not Needful To Live In

Towns To Hear All The Devilish Devices,  That The Conceit Of Man Can

Invent To Upset His Own Happiness. What Does It Prove,  Except Indeed

It May Be Said To Prove That The Garden He Made Was Not After The

Miserable Fashions Of Our Times,  Thereby Directly Giving The Lie To

What The World Calls Its Civilising? No,  No,  The Garden Of The Lord

Was The Forest Then,  And Is The Forest Now,  Where The Fruits Do Grow,

And The Birds Do Sing,  According To His Own Wise Ordering. Now,  Lady,

You May See The Mystery Of The Vultures! There Come The Buffaloes

Themselves,  And A Noble Herd It Is! I Warrant Me,  That Pawnee Has A

Troop Of His People In Some Of The Hollows,  Nigh By; And As He Has

Gone Scampering After Them,  You Are About To See A Glorious Chase. It

Will Serve To Keep The Squatter And His Brood Under Cover,  And For

Ourselves There Is Little Reason To Fear. A Pawnee Is Not Apt To Be A

Malicious Savage."

Part 3 Chapter 19 Pg 14

Every Eye Was Now Drawn To The Striking Spectacle That Succeeded. Even

The Timid Inez Hastened To The Side Of Middleton To Gaze At The Sight,

And Paul Summoned Ellen From Her Culinary Labours,  To Become A Witness

Of The Lively Scene.

 

Throughout The Whole Of Those Moving Events,  Which It Has Been Our

Duty To Record,  The Prairies Had Lain In The Majesty Of Perfect

Solitude. The Heavens Had Been Blackened With The Passage Of The

Migratory Birds,  It Is True,  But The Dogs Of The Party,  And The Ass Of

The Doctor,  Were The Only Quadrupeds That Had Enlivened The Broad

Surface Of The Waste Beneath. There Was Now A Sudden Exhibition Of

Animal Life,  Which Changed The Scene,  As It Were,  By Magic,  To The

Very Opposite Extreme.

 

A Few Enormous Bison Bulls Were First Observed,  Scouring Along The

Most Distant Roll Of The Prairie,  And Then Succeeded Long Files Of

Single Beasts,  Which,  In Their Turns,  Were Followed By A Dark Mass Of

Bodies,  Until The Dun-Coloured Herbage Of The Plain Was Entirely Lost,

In The Deeper Hue Of Their Shaggy Coats. The Herd,  As The Column

Spread And Thickened,  Was Like The Endless Flocks Of The Smaller

Birds,  Whose Extended Flanks Are So Often Seen To Heave Up Out Of The

Abyss Of The Heavens,  Until They Appear As Countless As The Leaves In

Those Forests,  Over Which They Wing Their Endless Flight. Clouds Of

Dust Shot Up In Little Columns From The Centre Of The Mass,  As Some

Animal,  More Furious Than The Rest,  Ploughed The Plain With His Horns,

And,  From Time To Time,  A Deep Hollow Bellowing Was Borne Along On The

Wind,  As If A Thousand Throats Vented Their Plaints In A Discordant

Murmuring.

 

A Long And Musing Silence Reigned In The Party,  As They Gazed On This

Spectacle Of Wild And Peculiar Grandeur. It Was At Length Broken By

The Trapper,  Who,  Having Been Long Accustomed To Similar Sights,  Felt

Less Of Its Influence,  Or,  Rather,  Felt It In A Less Thrilling And

Absorbing Manner,  Than Those To Whom The Scene Was More Novel.

 

"There Go Ten Thousand Oxen In One Drove,  Without Keeper Or Master,

Except Him Who Made Them,  And Gave Them These Open Plains For Their

Pasture! Ay,  It Is Here That Man May See The Proofs Of His Wantonness

And Folly! Can The Proudest Governor In All The States Go Into His

Fields,  And Slaughter A Nobler Bullock Than Is Here Offered To The

Meanest Hand; And When He Has Gotten His Sirloin,  Or His Steak,  Can He

Eat It With As Good A Relish As He Who Has Sweetened His Food With

Wholesome Toil,  And Earned It According To The Law Of Natur',  By

Honestly Mastering That Which The Lord Hath Put Before Him?"

 

"If The Prairie Platter Is Smoking With A Buffaloe's Hump,  I Answer,

No," Interrupted The Luxurious Bee-Hunter.

 

"Ay,  Boy,  You Have Tasted,  And You Feel The Genuine Reasoning Of The

Thing! But The Herd Is Heading A Little This-A-Way,  And It Behoves Us

To Make Ready For Their Visit. If We Hide Ourselves,  Altogether,  The

Horned Brutes Will Break Through The Place And Trample Us Beneath

Their Feet,  Like So Many Creeping Worms; So We Will Just Put The Weak

Part 3 Chapter 19 Pg 15

Ones Apart,  And Take Post,  As Becomes Men And Hunters,  In The Van."

 

As There Was But Little Time To Make The Necessary Arrangements,  The

Whole Party Set About Them In Good Earnest. Inez And Ellen Were Placed

In The Edge Of The Thicket On The Side Farthest From The Approaching

Herd. Asinus Was Posted In The Centre,  In Consideration Of His Nerves,

And Then The Old Man,  With His Three Male Companions,  Divided

Themselves In Such A Manner As They Thought Would Enable Them To Turn

The Head Of The Rushing Column,  Should It Chance To Approach Too Nigh

Their Position. By The Vacillating Movements Of Some Fifty Or A

Hundred Bulls,  That Led The Advance,  It Remained Questionable,  For

Many Moments,  What Course They Intended To Pursue. But A Tremendous

And Painful Roar,  Which Came From Behind The Cloud Of Dust That Rose

In The Centre Of The Herd,  And Which Was Horridly Answered By The

Screams Of The Carrion Birds,  That Were Greedily Sailing Directly

Above The Flying Drove,  Appeared To Give A New Impulse To Their

Flight,  And At Once To Remove Every Symptom Of Indecision. As If Glad

To Seek The Smallest Signs Of The Forest,  The Whole Of The Affrighted

Herd Became Steady In Its Direction,  Rushing In A Straight Line Toward

The Little Cover Of Bushes,  Which Has Already Been So Often Named.

 

The Appearance Of Danger Was Now,  In Reality,  Of A Character To Try

The Stoutest Nerves. The Flanks Of The Dark,  Moving Mass,  Were

Advanced In Such A Manner As To Make A Concave Line Of The Front,  And

Every Fierce Eye,  That Was Glaring From The Shaggy Wilderness Of Hair

In Which The Entire Heads Of The Males Were Enveloped,  Was Riveted

With Mad Anxiety On The Thicket. It Seemed As If Each Beast Strove