The pioneers

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Preface

TO MR. CHARLES WILEY, Bookseller.

Every man is, more or less, the sport of accident; nor d(? I know that authors are at all exempted from this humiliating influence. . This is the third of my novels, and it depends on two very uncertain contingencies, whether it will not be the last: — the one being the public opinion, and the other mine own humour. The first book was written, because I was told that I could not write a grave tale ; so, to prove that the world did not know me, I wrote one that was so grave nobody would read it ; wherein I think that I had much the best of the argument. The second was written to see if I could not overcome this neglect of the reading world. How far I have succeeded, Mr. Charles Wiley, must ever remain secret between ourselves. The third has been written, exclusively, to please myself : so it would be no wonder if it displeased every body else ; for what 1 *

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two ever thought alike, on a subject of the imagination ?

I should think criticism to be the perfection of human acquirements, did there not exist this discrepancy in taste. Just as I have made up my mind to adopt the very sagacious hints of one learned Reviewer, a pamphlet is put into my hands, containing the remarks of another, who condemns all that his rival praises, and praises all that his rival condemns. There I am, left like an ass between two locks of hay ; so that I have determined to relinquish my animate nature, and remain stationary, like a lock of hay between two asses.

It is now a long time, say the wise ones, since the world has been told all that is new and novel. But the Reviewers (the cunning wights!) have adopted an ingenious expedient, to give a freshness to the most trite idea. They clothe it in a language so obscure and metaphysical, that the reader is not about to comprehend their pages without some labour. This is called a great “ range of thought and not improperly, as I can testify * for, in my own case, I have frequently ranged the universe of ideas, and come back again in as perfect ignorance of their meaning as when I set out. It is delightful, to see the literati of a circulating library get hold of one of these difficult* periods ! Their praise of the performance *is exactly commensurate with its obscurity. Every body knows, that to seem wise is the first requisite in a great man.

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A common word in the mouths of all Reviewers, readers of magazines, and young ladies, when speaking of novels, is Jceeping and yet there are but few who attach the same meaning to it. I belong, myself, to the old school, in this particular, and think that it applies more to the subject la hand, than to any use of terms, or of cant expressions. As a man might just as well be out ©f the world as out of “ keeping,” I have endeavoured to confine myself, in this tale, strictly to its observance. This is a formidable curb to the imagination, as, doubtless, the reader will very soon discover ; but under its influence I have come to the conclusion, that the writer of a tale, who takes the earth for the scene of his storj’’, is in some degree bound to respect human nature. Therefore I would advise any one, who may take up this book, with the expectation of meeting gods and goddesses, spooks or witches, or of feeling that strong excitement that is produced by battles and murders, to throw it aside at once, for no such interest will be found in any of its pages.

I have already said that it was mine own humour that suggested this tale ; but it is a humour that is deeply connected with feeling. Happier periods, more interesting events, and possibly, more beauteous scenes, might have been selected, to exemplify my^ subject ; but none of either that would be so dear to me. I wish, ‘therefore, to be judged more by what I have done, than by my sins of omission. I have introduced one battle, but it is

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not of the most Homeric kind. As for murders, the population of a new country will not admit of such a waste of human life. There might possibly have been one or two hangings, to the manifest advantage of the “ settlement but then it would have been out of “ keeping’’ with the humane laws of this compassionate country.

The “ Pioneers” is now before the world, Mr. W lEEY, and I shall look to you for the only true account of its reception. The critics may write as obscurely ^s they please, and look much wiser than they are ; the papers may puff or abuse, as theii changeful humours dictate ; but if you meet me with a smiling face, I shall at once know that all is essentially well.

If you 'should ever have occasion for a pretace, 1 beg you will let me hear from you in reply.

Yours, truly,

TPIE AUTHOR.

New-York^ January 182i3.

OR THE

SOURCES OF THE SUSQUEHANNA

CHAPTER I. See, Winter comes, to rule the varied year

Sullen and sad, with all his rising train ;

Vapours, and clouds, and storms —

Thomso

i

Near the centre of the great State of New- York lies an extensive district of country, whose surface i is a succession of hills and dales, or, to speak with greater deference to geographical definitions, of mountains and valleys. It is among these hills that the Delaware takes its rise ; and flowing from the. limpid lakes and thousand springs of this country, the numerous sources of the mighty Susquehanna meander through the valleys, until, uniting, they form one of the proudest streams of which the old United States could boast. The mountains are generally arable to the top, although instances are not wanting, where their sides are jutted with rocks, that aid greatly in giving that romantic character to the country, which it so eminently possesses. The vales are narrow, rich, and cultivated ; with a stream uniformly winding through each.

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now gliding peacefully under the brow of one of ‘ the hills, and then suddenly shooting across the plain, to wash the feet of its opposite rival. Beautiful and thriving villages are found interspersed along the margins of the small lakes, or situated at those points of the streams which are favourable to manufacturing; and neat and comfortable farms, with every indication of wealth about them, are scattered profusely through the vales, and even to the mountain tops. Roads diverge in every direction, from the even and graceful bottoms of the ^ valleys, t(^he most rugged and intricate passes of the hills. ^Vcademies, and minor edifices for the encouragement of learning, meet the eye of the ' stranger, at every few miles, as he winds his way through this uneven territory ; and places for the { public worship of God abound with that frequency ! which cTmracterizes a moral and reflecting people, and witfl That variety of exterior and canonical government which flows from unfettered liberty of conscience. In short, the whole district is hourly exhibiting how much can be done, in even a rugged country, and with a severe climate, under the dominion of mild laws, and where every man feels a direct, interest in the prosperity of a commonwealth, of which he knows himself to form a distinct and independent part. The expedients of the pioneers who first broke ground in the settlement of this country, are succeeded by the permanent improvements of the yeoman, who intends to leave, his remains to moulder under the sod w^hich he tills, or, perhaps, of the son, who, born in the land, piously wishes to linger around the grave of his father. Only forty years have passed since this whole territory was a wilderness.

Very soon after the establishment of the independence of the States by the peace of 1783, the

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n enterprise of their citizens was directed to a developement of the natural advantages of their widely extended dominions. Before the war of the revolution the inhabited parts of the colony of New- York were limited to less than a tenth of her possessions. A narrow belt of country, extending for a short distance on either side of the Hudson, with a similar occupation of fifty miles on the banks of the Mohawk, together with the islands of Nassau and Staten, and a few insulated settlements on chosen* land along the margins of streams, composed the country that was then inhabited by less than two hundred thousand souls. Within the sHBrt period we have mentioned, her population has spread itself over five degrees of latitude and seven of lojrtgitude, and has swelled to the powerful nur^ber of nearly a million and a half, who are maintained in abundance, and can look forward to ages b^jfere the evil day must arrive, when their possess|lns will become unequal to their wants.

Our tale begins in 1793, about seven years ii&er the commencement of one of the earliest of those settlements, which have conduced to effect that magical change in the power and condition of the state, to which we have alluded.

It was near the setting of the sun, on a clear, cold day in December of that year, when a sleigh was moving slowly up one of the mountains in the district which we have described. The day had been fine for the season, and but two or three large clouds, whose colour seemed brightened by the light reflected from the mass of snow that covered the earth, floated in a sky of the purest blue. The road wound along the brow of a precipice, and on one side was upheld by a foundation of logs, piled for many feet, one upon the other, while a narrow excavation in the mountain, in the opposite direct

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tion, had made a passage of sufficient width for th<^ ordinary travelling of that day. But logs, excavation, and every thing that did not reach for several feet above the earth, lay promiscuously buried under the snow. A single track, barely wide enough to receive the sleigh, denoted the route of the highway, and this was sunken near two feet below the surrounding surface. In the vale, which lay at a distance of several hundred feet beneath them, there was what in the language of the country was called a clearings and all the usual improvements of a new settlement ; these even extended u]^the hill to the point where the road turned short and ran across the level land, which lay on the summit of the mountain ; but the summit it&elf yet remained a forest. There was a glittering in the atmosphere, as if it were filled with irfcumerable shining particles, and the noble bay ho^s that drew the sleigh were covered, in many prfts, with a coat of frost. The vapour from their nostrils was seen to issue like smoke ; and every object in the view, as well as every arrangement of the travellers, denoted the depth of a winter in the mountains. The harness, which was of a deep dull black, differing from the glossy varnishing of the present day, was ornamented with enormous plates and buckles of brass, that shone ^ like gold in the transient beams of the sun, which found their way obliquely through the tops of the trees. Huge saddles, studded with nails of the same material, and fitted with cloth that admirably served as blankets to the shoulders of the animals, supported four high, square-topped turrets, through which the stout reins led from the mouths of the ^ horses to the hands of the driver, who was a negro, of apparently twenty years of age. His face, which nature had coloured with a glistening black, was

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now mottled with the cold, and his large shining eyes were moistened with a liquid that flowed from the same cause ; still there was a smiling ex pression of good humour in his happy countenance, that was created by the thoughts of his home, and a Christmas fire-side, with its Christmas frolics. The sleigh was one of those large, comfortable, old-fashioned conveyances, which would admit a whole family within its bosom, but which now contained only two passengers besides the driver. Its outside was a modest green, and its inside of a fiery red, that was intended to convey the idea of heat in that cold climate. Large buffalo skins, trimmed around the edges with red cloth, cut into festoons, covered the back of the sleigh, and w'ere spread over its bottom, and drawn up around the feet of the travellers — one of whom was a man of middle age, and the other a female, just enteri^n^ upon womanhood. The former was of a large^tature ; but the precautions he had taken to guard against the cold left but little of his person exposed to view. A great-coat, that was abundantly ornamented, if it were not made more comfortable, by a profusion of furs, enveloped the whole of his figure, excepting the head, which was covered with a cap of martin skins, lined with morocco, the sides of which were made to fall, if necessary, and were now drawn close over the ears, and were fastened beneath his chin with a black riband ; its top was surmounted with the tail of the animal whose skin had furnished the materials for the cap, which fell back, not ungracefully, a few inches behind the head. From beneath this masque were to be seen part of a fine manly face, and particularly a pair of expressive, large blue eyes, that promised extraordinary intellect, covert humour, and great benevolence. The form of his companion was liteial- VOL. I. 2

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ly hid beneath the multitude and varietj^ of garments which she wore. There were furs and silks . peeping from under a large camlet cloak, with a thick flannel lining, that, by its cut and size, was evidently intended for a masculine wearer. A huge hood of black silk, that was quilted with down, concealed the whole of her head, except at a small opening in front for breath, through which occasionally sparkled a pair of animated eyes of the deepest black.

Both the father and daughter (for such was the connexion between the travellers) were too much occupied with their difierent reflections to break the stillness, that received little or no interruption from the easy gliding of the sleigh, by the sound of their voices. The former was thinking of the wife that had held this their only child fondly to her bosom, when, four years before, she had reluctantly consented to relinquish the society of her daughter, in order that the latter might enjoy the advantages which the city could afford to her education. A few months afterward death had deprived him of the remaining companion of his solitude ; but still he had enough of real regard for his child, not to bring her into the comparative wilderness in which he dwelt, until the full period had expired, to which he had limited her juvenile labours. The reflections of the daughter were less melancholy, and mingled with a pleased astonishment at the novel scenery that she met at every turn in the road.

The mountain on which they were journeying was covered with pines, that rose without a branch seventy or eighty feet, and which frequently towered to an additional height, that more than equalled that elevation. Through the innumerable vistas that opened beneath the lofty trees the eye

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could penetrate, until it was met by a distant inequality in the ground, or was stopped by a view of the summit of the mountain which lay on the opposite side of the valley to which they were hastening. The dark trunks of the trees rose from the pure white of the snow, in regularly formed shafts until, at a great height, their branches shot forth their horizontal limbs, that were covered with the meager* foliage of an evergreen, affording a melancholy contrast to the torpor of nature below. To the travellers there seemed to be no wind ; but these pines waved majestically at their topmost boughs, sending forth a dull, sighing sound, that was quite in consonance with the scene.

The sleigh had glided for some distance along the even surface, and the gaze of the female was bent in inquisitive, and, perhaps, timid glances, into the recesses of the forest, which were lighted by the unsullied covering of the earth, when a loud and continued howling was heard, pealing under the long arches of the woods, like the cry of a numerous pack of hounds. The instant the sounds reached the ears of the gentleman, whatever might have been the subject of his meditations, he forgot it ; for he cried aloud to the black—

“ Hold up, Aggy ; there is old Hector ; I should know his bay among ten thousand. The Leatherstocking'has put his hounds into the hills this clear day, and they have started their game, you hear. There is a deer-track a few rods ahead ; — and now, Bess, if thou canst muster courage enough to stand fire, I will give thee a saddle for thy Christmas dinner.”

The black drew up, with a cheerful grin upon his chilled features, and began thrashing his arms together, in order to restore the circulation to his fingers, while the speaker stood erect, and, throw-

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ing aside his outer covering, stept from the sleigh upon a bank of snow, which sustained his weight without yielding more than an inch or two. A storm of sleet had fallen and frozen upon the surface a few days before, and but a slight snow had occurred since to purify, without weakening its covering.

In a few moments the speaker succeeded in extiicating a double-barrelled fowling-piece from among a multitude of trunks and bandboxes. After throwing aside the thick mittens which had encased his hands, that now appeared in a pair of leather gloves tipped with fur, he examined his priming, and was about to move forward, when the light bounding noise of an animal plunging through the woods was heard, and directly a fine buck darted into the path, a short distance ahead of him. The appearance of the animal was sudden, and his flight inconceivably rapid ; but the traveller appeared to be too keen a sportsman to be disconcerted by either. As it came first into view he raised the fowling-piece to his shoulder, and, with a practised ,eye and steady hand, drew a trigger ; but the deer dashed forward undaunted, and apparently unhurt. Without lowering his piece, the traveller turned its muzzle towards his intended victim, and fired again. Neither discharge, however, seemed to have taken effect.

The whole scene had passed with a rapidity that confused the female, who was unconsciously rejoicing in the escape of the buck, as he rather darted like a meteor, than ran across the road before her, when a sharp, quick sound struck her ear, quite different from the full, round reports of her father’s gun, but still sufficiently distinct to be known as the concussion produced by fire-arms. At the same instant that she heard this unexpected report, the

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buck sprang from the snow, to a great height in the air, and directly a second discharge, similar in sound to the first, followed, when the animal came to the earth, falling headlong, and rolling over on the crust once or twice with its own velocity. A loud shout was given by the unseen marksman, as triumphing in his better aim ; and a couple of men instantly appeared from behind the trunks of two of the pines, where they had evidently placed themselves in expectation of the passage of the deer.

“ Ha ! Natty, had I known you were in ambush, I would not have fired,” cried the traveller, moving towards the spot where the deer lay — near to which he was followed by the delighted black, with the sleigh ; “ but the sound of old Hector was too exhilarating to let me be quiet ; though I hardly think I struck him either.”

“ No — no — Judge,” returned the hunter, with an inward chuckle, and with that look of exultation, that indicates a consciousness of superior skill ; “ you burnt your powder, only to warm your nose this cold evening. Did ye think to stop a full grown buck, with Hector and the slut open upon him, within sound, with that robin pop-gun in your hand ? There’s plenty of pheasants among the swamps ; and the snow birds are flying round your own door, where you may feed them with crumbs, and shoot enough for a pot-pie, any day ; but if you’re for a buck, or a little bear’s meat. Judge, you’ll have to take the long rifle, with ,a greased wadding, or you’ll waste more powder than you’ll fill stomachs, I’m thinking.”

As the speaker concluded, he drew his bare hand aci-oss the bottom of his nose, and again opened his enormous mouth with a kind of inward laugh.

2 *

“ The gun scatters well, Natty, and has killed a deer before now,” said the traveller, smiling good humouredly. ' “ One barrel was charged with buck shot ; but the other was loaded for birds only. Here are two hurts that he has received ; one through his neck, and the other directly through his heart. It is by no means certain. Natty, but 1 gave him one of the two.”

“ Let who will kill him,” said the hunter, rathei surlily, “ I suppose the cretur is to be eaten.” So saying, he drew a large knife from a leathern sheath, which was stuck through his girdle or sash, and cut the throat of the animal. “ If there is two balls through the deer, I want to know if there wasn’t two rifles fired — besides, who ever saw such a ragged hole from a smooth-bore, as this is through the neck ? — and 3 ’^ou will owm ^"ourself. Judge, that the buck fell at the last shot, which was sent from a truer and a younger hand, than your’n or mine ’ither ; but for my part, although I am a poor man, J can live without the venison, but I don’t love to give up my lawful dues in a free country. Though, for the matter k)f that, might often makes right here, as well as in the old country, for what I can see.”

An air of sullen dissatisfaction pervaded the manner of the hunter during the whole of this speech ; yet he thought it prudent to utter the close of the sentence in such an under tone, as to leave nothing audible but the grumbling sounds of his voice.

“ Nay, Natty,” rejoined the traveller, with undisturbed good humour, “ it is for the honour that I contend. A few dollars will pay for the venison ; but what will requite me for the lost honour of a buck’s tail in my cap ? Think, Natty, how I should triumph over that quizzing dog, Dick Jones^

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who has failed seven times this season already, and has only brought in one Wuod-chuck and a few gray squirrels.”

“ Ah ! the game is becoming hard to find, indeed, Judge, with your clearings and betterments,” said the old hunter, with a kind of disdainful resignation. “ The time has been, when I have shot thirteen deer, without counting the fa’ns, standing in the door of my own hut ! — and for bear’s meat, if one wanted a ham or so from the cretur, he had only to watch a-nights, and he could shoot one by moonlight, through the cracks of the logs ; no fear of his over-sleeping himself, n’ither, for the howling of the wolves was sartin to keep his eyes open. There’s old Hector,” — patting with affection a tall hound, of black and yellow spots, with white belly and legs, that just then came in on the scent, accompanied by the slut he had mentioned ; “ see where the wolves bit his throat, the night I druve them from the venison I was smoldng oUvthe chimbly top — that dog is more to be. trusted nor many a Christian man ; for he never forgets a friend, and loves the hand that gives him bread*^

There was a peculiarity in the manner'^of the hunter, that struck the notice of the young female, who had been a close and interested observer of his appearance and equipments, from the moment he first came into view. He was tall, and so meagre as to make him seem above even the six feet that he actually stood in his stockings. On his head, which was thinly covered with lank, sandy hair, he wore a cap made of fox-skin, resembling in shape the one we have already described, although much inferior in finish and crnaments. His face was skinny, and thin almost to emaciation ; but yet bore no signs of disease ; — on the contrary, it had every indication of the most robust and en-

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during health. The cold and the exposure had, together, given it a colour of uniform red ; his gray eyes were glancing under a pair of shaggy brows, that overhung them in long hairs of gray mingled with their natural hue ; his scraggy neck was bare, and burnt to the same tint with his face ; though a small part of a shirt collar, made of the country check, was to be seen above the over-dress he wore. A kind of coat, made of dressed deer-skin, with the hair on, was belted close to his lank body, by a girdle of coloured worsted. On his feet were deer-skin moccasins, ornamented with porcupines’ quills, after the manner of the Indians, and his limbs were guarded with long leggings of the same material as the moccasins, which, gartering over the knees of his tarnished buck-skin breeches, had obtained for him, among the settlers, the nick-name of Leather-stocking, notwithstanding his legs were protected beneath, in winter, by thick garments of woollen, duly made of good blue yarn. Over his left shoulder was slung a belt of deer-skin, from which depended an enormous ox horn, so thinly scraped, as ^Jiscover the dark powder that it contained, v Tli^arger end was fitted ingeniously and securely with a wooden bottom, and the other was stopped tight by a little plug. A leathern pouch hung before him, from which, as he concluded his last speech, he took a small measure, and, filling it accurately with powder, he commenced reloading the rifle, which, as its butt rested on the snow before him, reached nearly to the top of his fox-skin cap.

The traveller had been closely examining the wounds during these movements, and now, without heeding the ill-humour of the hunter’s manner, exclaimed —

I would fain establish a right. Natty, to the tHE PIONEERS.

bonour of this capture ; and surely if the hit in the neck be mine, it is enough ; for the shot in the neart was unnecessary- — what we call an act of supererogation, Leather-stocking.”

“ You may call it by what lamed name you please. Judge,” said the hunter, throwing his rifle across his left arm, and knocking up a brass lid in the breech, from which he took a small piece of greased leather, and wrapping a ball in it, forced them down by main strength on the powder, where he continued to pound them while speaking. “It’s far easier to call names, than to shoot a buck on the spring ; but the cretur come by his end from a younger hand than ’ither your’n or mine, as I Said before.”

“ What say you, my friend,” cried the traveller, turning pleasantly to Natty’s companion; “ shall we toss up this dollar for the honour, and you keep the silver if you lose ; what say you, friend ?”

“ That I killed the deer,” answered the young man, with a little haughtiness, as he leaned on another long rifle, similar to that of Netty’s.

“ Here are two to one, indeed,” replied the Judge, with a smile ; “lam outvoted — overruled, as we say on the bench. There is Aggy, he can’t vote, being a slave ; and Bess is a minor — so I must even make the best .of it. But you’ll sell me the venison ; and the deuce is in it, but I make a good story about its death.”

“ The meat is none of mine to sell,” said Leather-stocking, adopting a iittle of his companion’s hauteur; “ for my part, I have known animals travel days with shots in the neck, and I’m none of them who’ll rob a man of his rightful dues.”

You are tenacious of your rights, this cold evening, Natty,” returned the Judge, with unconquer

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able good nature ; “ but what say you, young man, will three dollars pay you for the buck

“ First let us determine the question of right to the satisfaction of us both,” said the youth, firmly but respectfully, and with a pronunciation and Ian guage vastly superior to his appearance ; “ with how many shot did you load your gun ?”