A week after the events narrated1 in the last chapter, Jasper Derry was sitting beside the stove in the hall at Fort Erie, smoking his pipe and conversing2 with his father-in-law about his intention of going to Lake Winnipeg with the brigade in spring and proceeding3 thence to Canada in a bark canoe.
“Of course,” said he, “I will take Marie with me, and if you’ll take my advice, father, you’ll come too.”
“No, my son, not yet a while,” said old Laroche, shaking his head; “I have a year yet to serve the Company before my engagement is out. After that I may come, if I’m spared; but you know that the Indians are not safe just now, and some of them, I fear, bear me a grudge4, for they’re a revengeful set.”
“That’s true, father, but supposin’ that all goes well with you, will ye come an’ live with Marie and me?”
“We shall see, lad; we shall see,” replied Laroche, with a pleased smile; for the old guide evidently enjoyed the prospect5 of spending the evening of life in the land of his fathers, and under the roof-tree of his son and daughter.
At that moment the report of a gun was heard outside the house. One of the window-panes was smashed and at the same instant Laroche fell heavily forward on the floor.
Jasper sprang up and endeavoured to raise him, but found that he was insensible. He laid him carefully on his back, and hastily opened the breast of his coat. A few drops of blood showed where he had been wounded. Meanwhile several of the men who had been attracted by the gunshot so close to the house burst into the room.
“Stand back, stand back, give him air,” cried Jasper; “stay, O God help us! the old man is shot clean through the heart!”
For one moment Jasper looked up with a bewildered glance in the faces of the men, then, uttering a wild cry of mingled6 rage and agony, he sprang up, dashed them aside, and catching7 up his gun and snow-shoes rushed out of the house.
He soon found a fresh track in the snow, and the length of the stride, coupled with the manner in which the snow was cast aside, and the smaller bushes were broken and trodden down, told him that the fugitive8 had made it. In a moment he was following the track with the utmost speed of which he was capable. He never once halted, or faltered9, or turned aside, all that day. His iron frame seemed to be incapable10 of fatigue11. He went with his body bent12 forward, his brows lowering, and his lips firmly compressed; but he was not successful. The murderer had got a sufficiently13 long start of him to render what sailors call a stern chase a long one. Still Jasper never thought of giving up the pursuit, until he came suddenly on an open space, where the snow had been recently trodden down by a herd14 of buffaloes16, and by a band of Indians who were in chase of them.
Here he lost the track, and although he searched long and carefully he could not find it. Late that night the baffled hunter returned to the fort.
“You have failed—I see by your look,” said Mr Pemberton, as Jasper entered.
“Ay, I have failed,” returned the other gloomily. “He must have gone with the band of Indians among whose tracks I lost his footsteps.”
“Have you any idea who can have done this horrible deed?” said Pemberton.
“It was Darkeye,” said Jasper in a stern voice.
Some of the Indians who chanced to be in the hall were startled, and rose on hearing this.
“Be not alarmed, friends,” said the fur-trader. “You are the guests of Christian17 men. We will not punish you for the deeds of another man of your tribe.”
“I know it,” said Jasper angrily; “I feel sure of it; but I cannot prove it—of course. Does Arrowhead agree with me?”
“He does!” replied the Indian, “and there may be proof. Does Jasper remember the trading store and the bitten bullet?”
A gleam of intelligence shot across the countenance19 of the white hunter as his comrade said this. “True, Arrowhead, true.”
He turned, as he spoke20, to the body of his late father-in-law, and examined the wound. The ball, after passing through the heart, had lodged21 in the back, just under the skin.
“See,” said he to the Indians, “I will cut out this ball, but before doing so I will tell how I think it is marked.”
He then related the incident in the trading store, with which the reader is already acquainted, and afterwards extracted the ball, which, although much flattened22 and knocked out of shape, showed clearly the deep marks made by the Indian’s teeth. Thus, the act which had been done slyly but boastfully before the eyes of a comrade, probably as wicked as himself, became the means whereby Darkeye’s guilt23 was clearly proved.
At once a party of his own tribe were directed by their chief to go out in pursuit of the murderer.
It were vain for me to endeavour to describe the anguish24 of poor Marie on being deprived of a kind and loving father in so awful and sudden a manner. I will drop a veil over her grief, which was too deep and sacred to be intermeddled with.
On the day following the murder, a band of Indians arrived at Fort Erie with buffalo15 skins for sale. To the amazement25 of every one Darkeye himself was among them. The wily savage26—knowing that his attempting to quit that part of the country as a fugitive would be certain to fix suspicion on him as the murderer—resolved to face the fur-traders as if he were ignorant of the deed which had been done. By the very boldness of this step he hoped to disarm27 suspicion; but he forgot the bitten ball.
It was therefore a look of genuine surprise that rose to Darkeye’s visage, when, the moment he entered the fort, Mr Pemberton seized him by the right arm, and led him into the hall.
At first he attempted to seize the handle of his knife, but a glance at the numbers of the white men, and the indifference28 of his own friends, showed him that his best chance lay in cunning.
The Indians who had arrived with him were soon informed by the others of the cause of this, and all of them crowded into the hall to watch the proceedings29. The body of poor Laroche was laid on a table, and Darkeye was led up to it. The cunning Indian put on a pretended look of surprise on beholding30 it, and then the usual expression of stolid31 gravity settled on his face as he turned to Mr Pemberton for information.
“Your hand did this,” said the fur-trader.
“No, you’re not a dog,” cried Jasper fiercely; “you are worse—a cowardly murderer?”
“Stand back, Jasper,” said Mr Pemberton, laying his hand on the shoulder of the excited hunter, and thrusting him firmly away. “This is a serious charge. The Indian shall not be hastily condemned33. He shall have fair play, and justice.”
“Good!” cried several of the Indians on hearing this. Meanwhile the principal chief of the tribe took up his stand close beside the prisoner.
“Darkeye,” said Mr Pemberton, while he looked steadfastly34 into the eyes of the Indian, who returned the look as steadily— “Darkeye, do you remember a conversation you had many weeks ago in the trading store at Jasper’s House?”
The countenance of the Indian was instantly troubled, and he said with some hesitation35, “Darkeye has had many conversations in that store; is he a medicine-man (a conjurer) that he should know what you mean?”
“I will only put one other question,” said the fur-trader. “Do you know this bullet with the marks of teeth in it?”
Darkeye’s visage fell at once. He became deadly pale, and his limbs trembled. He was about to speak when the chief, who had hitherto stood in silence at his side, suddenly whirled his tomahawk in the air, and, bringing it down on the murderer’s skull36, cleft37 him to the chin!
A fierce yell followed this act, and several scalping knives reached the dead man’s heart before his body fell to the ground. The scene that followed was terrible. The savages38 were roused to a state of frenzy39, and for a moment the white men feared an attack, but the anger of the Indians was altogether directed against their dead comrade, who had been disliked by his people, while his poor victim Laroche had been a universal favourite. Seizing the body of Darkeye, they carried it down to the banks of the river, hooting40 and yelling as they went; hacked41 and cut it nearly to pieces, and then, kindling42 a large fire, they threw the mangled43 corpse44 into it, and burned it to ashes.
It was long before the shadow of this dark cloud passed away from Fort Erie; and it was longer still before poor Marie recovered her wonted cheerfulness. But the presence of Mr Wilson did much to comfort her. Gradually time softened45 the pang46 and healed the wound.
And now, little remains47 to be told. Winter passed away and spring came, and when the rivers and lakes were sufficiently free from ice, the brigade of boats left Fort Erie, laden48 with furs, for the sea-coast.
On arriving at Lake Winnipeg, Jasper obtained a small canoe, and, placing his wife and Heywood in the middle of it, he and Arrowhead took the paddles, seated themselves in the bow and stern, and guided their frail49 bark through many hundreds of miles of wilderness50—over many a rough portage, across many a beautiful lake, and up many a roaring torrent51, until, finally, they arrived in Canada.
Here Jasper settled. His farm prospered—his family increased. Sturdy boys, in course of time, ploughed the land and blooming daughters tended the dairy. Yet Jasper Derry did not cease to toil52. He was one of those men who feel that they were made to work, and that much happiness flows from working. He often used to say that if it was God’s will, he would “like to die in harness.”
Jasper’s only weakness was the pipe. It stuck to him and he stuck to it to the last. Marie, in course of time, came to tolerate it, and regularly filled it for him every night.
Evening was the time when the inmates53 of Erie Cottage (as their residence was named) enjoyed themselves most; for it was then that the stalwart sons and the blooming daughters circled round the great fire of wood that roared, on winter nights, up the chimney; and it was then that Jasper received his pipe from his still good-looking, though rather stout54, Marie, and began to spin yarns55 about his young days. At this time, too, it was, that the door would frequently open, and a rugged56 old Indian would stalk in like a mahogany ghost, and squat57 down in front of the fire. He was often followed by a tall thin old gentleman, who was extremely excitable, but good-humoured. Jasper greeted these two remarkable58 looking men by the names of Arrowhead and Heywood.
And glad were the young people when they saw their wrinkled faces, for then, they knew from experience, their old father would become more lively than usual, and would go on for hours talking of all the wonders and dangers that he had seen and encountered long, long ago, when he and his two friends were away in the wilderness.
The End.
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1
narrated
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| v.故事( narrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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conversing
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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grudge
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| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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buffalo
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| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
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buffaloes
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| n.水牛（分非洲水牛和亚洲水牛两种）( buffalo的名词复数 )；（南非或北美的）野牛；威胁；恐吓 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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haughtily
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| adv. 傲慢地, 高傲地 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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21
lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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disarm
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| v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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beholding
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| v.看，注视( behold的现在分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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stolid
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| adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的 | |
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32
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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steadfastly
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| adv.踏实地，不变地；岿然；坚定不渝 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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cleft
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| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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39
frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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40
hooting
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| （使）作汽笛声响，作汽车喇叭声( hoot的现在分词 )； 倒好儿； 倒彩 | |
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41
hacked
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| 生气 | |
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42
kindling
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| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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43
mangled
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| vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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45
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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46
pang
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| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
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47
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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48
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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49
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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50
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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51
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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52
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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53
inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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55
yarns
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| n.纱( yarn的名词复数 )；纱线；奇闻漫谈；旅行轶事 | |
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56
rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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57
squat
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| v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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