So "Juan" and "Alisanda" it became between my lady and me, and Don Pedro looked on and smiled. Yet with and beneath it all, both held to a subtle reserve which told me plainer than words that the barriers were down only for a truce2, and not for a treaty,—that our freedom of conduct as fellow-travellers would at the journey's end be barred by a return to customs not of the country.
At times when alone on watch at night, I thought with misgiving3 of the approaching days when my lady would resume her fine Castilian hauteur4 and Don Pedro his punctilious5 politeness. But on the whole I was content to make the most of my opportunities,—to drift with the current of our companionship as the boat drifted with the stream.
Milder days came to us as we floated down into the Southwest,—days of grateful sunshine and lessening6 rains,—heavenly hours beneath the blue sky, when, inspired by the blossoming springtime upon the verdant8 shores, we sat together in the open stern and sang solos and duets and trios to the accompaniment of the guitar.
With the coming of nightfall I learned to look longingly9 for fog or wet, for a clear moon meant a night on watch, that we might lose nothing of the drift. But a dark sky gave me excuse to tie up to the bank for the night and join in an evening of music and genteel talk about our crackling beechwood fire.
Then there were lessons for me in Spanish from the don, and in the playing of the guitar by Alisanda. It was strange how clumsy were my fingers and how repeatedly I had to ask my fair teacher to place them correctly.
And so we swept on down the beautiful river, the swirling10 depth of the Spring fresh bearing us clear over the rocks of the Ohio Falls at Louisville, as over the hundreds of miles of inundated11 flats and shoals above and below.
At Lusk's Ferry Don Pedro had planned to leave the river and cut across country horseback, over the forty-league road to Kaskaskia, which would have saved nearly half the keelboat journey up the Mississippi from the mouth of the Ohio to St. Louis. For this we should have taken aboard our horses at Louisville or at the little settlement of Shawnee Town below the Wabash, since at Lusk's Ferry suitable mounts for our party were not to be had at any price. In the outcome, however, the miscarriage12 of plans proved truly fortunate.
Having no other choice, we dropped on downstream past the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, to Fort Massac, our lonesome American stockade13, built near the site of the old French post of the same name. We tied up to the steep bank of clay and gravel14, and I made a landing. Upon inquiry15 at the post, Captain Bissell, the commandant, whom I had met the previous Fall on my eastward16 journey, informed me at some length as to the movements of General Wilkinson. Report having been received that General Herrera, the Spanish commander in Texas, was gathering17 a force to march upon Natchitoches, the Commander-in-Chief had descended18 the Mississippi for the double purpose of strengthening the forts at New Orleans and of assembling a force to repel19 the expected invasion.
I intimated to the captain that Señor Vallois was not averse20 to a war which might give his country opportunity to throw off the Spanish yoke21. At this he confided22 to me as his opinion that the long-impending hostilities23 seemed now inevitable24, and that he would welcome a change which would not only relieve him of his ennui25 in this solitary26 post, but would tend to break up the general stagnation27 of the service.
His urgent invitation brought Don Pedro and Alisanda ashore28 for a much needed change. Neither had set foot on shore for days, and I persuaded Don Pedro that the recreation was well worth the delay. But my pleasure over the enjoyment29 of the exercise was not added to by the sight of the gallant30 captain and his no less gallant lieutenant31 receiving the smiles of Alisanda for their attentions. As a good excuse for avoiding the painful spectacle, I secured some spare jars of sweetmeats from Chita, and bartered32 them in the little settlement near the fort stockade for chickens, eggs, and butter,—all of which would be still higher in price and harder to obtain after we entered the Mississippi.
Soon after the landing of my companions, so strong a head wind set in that we were forced to lie moored33 over night. Toward morning it fell to a pleasant breeze, and I put off at dawn, without waiting to rouse the others.
Midday found us afloat on the broad bosom34 of the Father of Waters, whose noble flood, swollen35 above St. Louis by the silty36 downpourings of the Missouri, and here by the Spring torrent37 of the Ohio, rolled on gulfwards in full-banked majesty39. It was a grand sight, but one to which Don Pedro and Alisanda gave more thought than myself. Captain Bissell had dropped me a word of warning as to possible trouble from canoe parties of Chickasaw and other Indians, which, in view of Alisanda's presence, gave me no little uneasiness.
That night and the next I called upon Don Pedro to watch, turn about, with myself. I even went so far as to land at New Madrid; but the villagers knew nothing of the Indians. At last, late in the afternoon of the third day, we sighted a canoe full of warriors41 putting out from the left bank, with the evident intention of intercepting42 us. At my command Alisanda and her woman sought shelter in their room, while I left the steering43 to the don, and stood ready with my rifle and his pistols.
When I signed the party to hold off at hailing distance, the foremost warrior40 signed back that they were friends. But they were now near enough for me to see their black war paint. Again I signed the leader to keep off, and he in turn hailed me in Shawnee, demanding lead and gunpowder44. Before I realized what I was saying, I had answered him in his own tongue, telling him to bring his party around under our stern.
At this unexpected address, the chief raised the hand which I knew had been grasping his rifle. I responded with three or four quick signs that drew a guttural exclamation45 from the least stolid46 of the warriors. They were not used to meeting white men who could claim fellowship in their tribe. But as they paddled nearer, I stared back at their chief, hardly less astonished. There could be no mistaking his noble, powerful features. He was my adopted brother Tecumseh!
The instant I recognized him with certainty, I laid down my rifle, and called to him in Shawanese: "Tecumseh, many years have come and gone since we parted at the British fort on the Maumee, yet do you not know again your white brother Scalp Boy?"
At the word he rose from his knees and stood grandly erect47 in the bow of the canoe, staring at me from beneath his levelled palm. The craft was now within twenty yards of us, and Don Pedro could not withhold48 a muttered exclamation of apprehension49 and warning. Almost at the same moment Tecumseh stooped, and catching50 up a corner of his blanket, wiped the grim war paint from his face. The paddlers at once paused to follow his example.
"Santisima!" muttered Don Pedro. "Why do they rub their faces?"
"They remove the war paint in proof of friendship. Their chief is one of my Indian brothers, who saved me from torture."
"But they come close! You will not permit them to enter the boat, with Alisanda—"
"Fear nothing," I hastened to assure him. "We are safer now than when we were alone. My brother and his people can be trusted with our lives and our property."
"It is true, señor," remarked Tecumseh in clear though guttural English. "Scalp Boy and his friends are sacred in the eyes of all Shawnees. He is a member of our tribe and my brother."
I reached out and grasped the hand of the chief as the canoe came alongside.
"Come aboard and feast with us," I said.
He shook his head. "No, Scalp Boy; that may not be. It warms my heart to again grasp your hand; but you are an American white man; you have long ago forgotten your Shawnee kindred—"
"No, no, Tecumseh! I have always remembered you and Elskwatawa, my true-hearted brothers—"
"Tecumseh does not blame his white brother for returning to his white kindred. There is no enmity between us. But Elskwatawa our brother has become a communer with the Great Spirit, and he has told the redman how evil are the customs and food and firewater of the white man. It is evil for the redman to mingle51 with the white people."
"Have you then taken the warpath, my brother? Is that why you came out against us in war paint?" I asked.
"We came out to attack you because we had need of powder, and I would not beg. But we are not on the warpath."
"You are far from home," I remarked.
He swept his hand around in a grand gesture. "Elskwatawa the Prophet and I make a great journey to our red cousins. We visit all the tribes from the Great Lakes to that greater water in the South which the white people call the Gulf38."
"To form a great conspiracy52 against my people!" I exclaimed.
"Your people!" he repeated. "No, we seek to convince the tribes of my people that they are all brothers, and should join in one nation."
"That they may seek to destroy the white people!"
"That they may hold back the white man from stealing any more of their land."
He had me there. I could only look my regret; for I knew that, whatever his intent, the result must be war.
He returned to the object of his averted53 attack. "Give us powder and lead, Scalp Boy. We cannot eat the white man's food. We need powder and lead to shoot game."
"Not to make war?" I asked.
"I speak with a straight tongue," he said.
At this I went into the cabin and fetched out a small keg of powder and a quarter-hundredweight of lead. He motioned me to hand the gifts to the warrior in the stern of the canoe, and when I turned again to him, he held out a beautifully wrought54 belt of wampum.
"It is little I can give to my brother," he said.
"I take the gift because my brother offers it," I replied. "What I have given is nothing. All that I could give would not repay what Tecumseh did for me in my boyhood!"
He looked me up and down with an approving glance. "Scalp Boy has grown to be a great warrior. I will ask the Great Spirit that we may never meet on the battlefield."
Before I could respond, he signed his warriors to push off, and the canoe shot away at arrowy speed. At once Alisanda slipped out of the cabin, to peer after the darting55 craft and the grim savages56, whose naked, bronzed forebodies, fantastically streaked57 with the war paint, swayed to the paddle strokes so vigorously as to bob their plumed58 war locks about in a most comical manner. It was a sight she was not apt to see again even on the Mississippi, if only because of the redman's dislike to exert himself except when hunting or on the warpath.
Though we had come so well through this adventure, the accident of our escape from attack did not lessen7 my fear of visits from Indians belonging to other tribes. To my vast relief, the following day brought us safely in the approach of a great flotilla of flour-laden flats, whose draught59 of water gave them better headway than our boat. The drift of our craft, which sat so much higher in the water, was at times more retarded60 by the head winds. The difference was so slight that we were able to keep the others in sight until another flotilla overtook us. In fact, so vast was the extent of the river traffic that from this point until our landing at Natchez, we were never beyond view of one or more descending61 vessels62, while even keelboats, ascending63 under sail or poles, were not uncommon64.
Though far from as swift as the flooded Ohio, the Mississippi bore us rapidly on our way. Divided by island after island and contorted this way and that by out-jutting points, its mighty65 current, swollen to vast width, yet swept on in majestic66 grandeur67 past towering bluffs68 and inundated lowlands and wildernesses69 as virgin70 as in the remote days of De Soto the Spaniard, and La Salle the Frenchman, other than for an occasional plantation71 and, at longer intervals72, the log cabins of the little settlements.
I will not speak of our difficulties from snags and sawyers and delaying eddies73, or of the extreme difficulty of shooting the waterfowl, which, though abundant, had long since been taught wariness74 by the guns aboard the swarming75 river craft. I shot a swan and now and then a duck, but for the most part was held too close to the navigation of our awkward flat to hunt such shy game.
On the other hand, our well-stocked larder76 supplied us with all else than fresh meat and milk, and to obtain fish we had only to trail a line over the stern. The season was favorable to the avoidance of fevers and agues; the high water obviated77 in a measure the danger of shoals and sawyers, and I had had the forethought to provide nettings, which saved us when within the cabin the torments78 which at night we would otherwise have suffered from mosquitoes and gnats79, even out in midchannel.
So, on the whole, our days would have passed pleasantly, even without those joys of companionship of which I have written. Aside from an occasional fierce thunder storm, our May days on the lower river were ideal to southern-born persons like my companions, though the fervid80 sunrays on the water darkened Don Pedro's aristocratic face to a coffee brown, and burned my ruddy complexion81 until it presented one unvaried expanse of brick red.
When not at work, Chita was accustomed to doze82, uncovered, in the full blaze, mumbling83 in answer to my repeated warnings, that it would take a lifetime of basking84 to draw the fog and wet of England and my country from her bones. But she took great care that her mistress should never venture out into the sun-glare unmasked. Though the señorita could endure the heat as well as herself, there was always the señorita's complexion to be considered.
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1
kinsmen
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| n.家属，亲属( kinsman的名词复数 ) | |
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truce
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| n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束 | |
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misgiving
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕 | |
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hauteur
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| n.傲慢 | |
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punctilious
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| adj.谨慎的，谨小慎微的 | |
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lessening
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| 减轻，减少，变小 | |
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lessen
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| vt.减少，减轻；缩小 | |
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verdant
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| adj.翠绿的，青翠的，生疏的，不老练的 | |
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longingly
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| adv. 渴望地 热望地 | |
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swirling
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 ) | |
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inundated
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| v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付 | |
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miscarriage
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| n.失败，未达到预期的结果；流产 | |
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stockade
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| n.栅栏，围栏；v.用栅栏防护 | |
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gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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repel
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| v.击退，抵制，拒绝，排斥 | |
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averse
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| adj.厌恶的；反对的，不乐意的 | |
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yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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hostilities
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| n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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ennui
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| n.怠倦，无聊 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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stagnation
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| n. 停滞 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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bartered
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| v.作物物交换，以货换货( barter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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moored
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| adj. 系泊的 动词moor的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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silty
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| adj.淤泥的，塞满了淤泥的 | |
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torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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42
intercepting
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| 截取（技术），截接 | |
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steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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44
gunpowder
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| n.火药 | |
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45
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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46
stolid
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| adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的 | |
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47
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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48
withhold
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| v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡 | |
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49
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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50
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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51
mingle
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| vt.使混合，使相混；vi.混合起来；相交往 | |
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52
conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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53
averted
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| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
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54
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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55
darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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56
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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57
streaked
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| adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
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plumed
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| 饰有羽毛的 | |
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59
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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60
retarded
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| a.智力迟钝的，智力发育迟缓的 | |
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61
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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67
grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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bluffs
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| 恐吓( bluff的名词复数 )； 悬崖； 峭壁 | |
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wildernesses
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| 荒野( wilderness的名词复数 )； 沙漠； （政治家）在野； 不再当政（或掌权） | |
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virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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72
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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73
eddies
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| （水、烟等的）漩涡，涡流( eddy的名词复数 ) | |
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74
wariness
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| n. 注意,小心 | |
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75
swarming
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| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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76
larder
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| n.食物贮藏室，食品橱 | |
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obviated
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| v.避免，消除（贫困、不方便等）( obviate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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78
torments
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| （肉体或精神上的）折磨，痛苦( torment的名词复数 )； 造成痛苦的事物[人] | |
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79
gnats
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| n.叮人小虫( gnat的名词复数 ) | |
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80
fervid
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| adj.热情的；炽热的 | |
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81
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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82
doze
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| v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐 | |
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83
mumbling
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的现在分词 ) | |
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84
basking
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| v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的现在分词 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽 | |
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