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of the Cafe de Paris, or of marrying her to some second Vatel.
With the eating and drinking, the building advanced pari passu.
Pigeonswing brought in his venison, his ducks, his pigeons, and his
game of different varieties, daily, keeping the larder quite as well
supplied as comported with the warmth of the weather; while the
others worked on the new chiente. In order to obtain materials for
this building, one so much larger than his old abode, Ben went up
the Kalamazoo about half a mile, where he felled a sufficient number
of young pines, with trunks of about a foot in diameter, cutting
them into lengths of twenty and thirty feet, respectively. These
lengths, or trunks, were rolled into the river, down which they
slowly floated, until they arrived abreast of Castle Meal, where
they were met by Peter, in a canoe, who towed each stick, as it
arrived, to the place of landing. In this way, at the end of two
days' work, a sufficient quantity of materials was collected to
commence directly on the building itself.
Log-houses are of so common occurrence, as to require no particular
description of the one now put up, from us. It was rather less than
thirty feet in length, and one-third narrower than it was long. The
logs were notched, and the interstices were filled by pieces of the
pine, split to a convenient size. The roof was of bark, and of the
simplest construction, while there was neither door nor window;
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though one aperture was left for the first, and two for the last.
Corporal Flint, however, was resolved that not only a door should be
made, as well as shutters for the windows, but that the house
should, in time, be picketed. When le Bourdon remonstrated with him
on the folly of taking so much unnecessary pains, it led to a
discussion, in which the missionary even felt constrained to join.
"What's the use--what's the use?" exclaimed le Bourdon a little
impatiently, when he found the corporal getting to be in earnest in
his proposal. "Here have I lived, safely, two seasons in Castle
Meal, without any pickets or palisades; and yet you want to turn
this new house into a regular garrison!"
"Aye, Bourdon, that was in peaceable times; but these is war times.
I've seen the fall of Fort Dearborn, and I don't want to see the
fall of another post this war. The Pottawattamies is hostile, even
Peter owns; and the Pottawattamies has been here once, as you say
yourself, and may come ag'in."
"The only Pottawattamie who has ever been at this spot, to my
knowledge, is dead, and his bones are bleaching up yonder in the
openings. No fear of him, then."
"His body is gone," answered the corporal; "and what is more the
rifle is gone with it. I heard that his rifle had been forgotten,
and went to collect the arms left on the field of battle, but found
nothing. No doubt his friends have burned, or buried, the chief, and
they will be apt to take another look in this quarter of the
country, having l'arnt the road."
Boden was struck with this intelligence, as well as with the
reasoning, and after a moment's pause, he answered in a way that
showed a wavering purpose.
"It will take a week's work, to picket or palisade the house," he
answered, "and I wish to be busy among the bees, once more."
"Go to your bees, Bourdon, and leave me to fortify and garrison, as
becomes my trade. Parson Amen, here, will tell you that the children
of Israel are often bloody-minded and are not to be forgotten."
"The corporal is right," put in the missionary; "the corporal is
quite right. The whole history of the ancient Jews gives us this
character of them; and even Saul of Tarsus was bent on persecution
and slaughter, until his hand was stayed by the direct manifestation
of the power of God. I can see glimmerings of this spirit in Peter,
and this at a moment when he is almost ready to admit that he's a
descendant of Israel."
"Is Peter ready to allow that?" asked the bee-hunter, with more
interest in the answer than he would have been willing to allow.
"As good as that-yes, quite as good as that. I can see, plainly,
that Peter has some heavy mystery on his mind; sooner, or later, we
shall learn it. When it does come out, the world may be prepared to
learn the whole history of the Ten Tribes!" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]