The Zane Grey Megapack. Zane GreyЧитать онлайн книгу.
branching out.”
“How long will it take me to learn the Delaware language?” inquired Jim.
“Not long. You do not, however, need to speak the Indian tongue, for we have excellent interpreters.”
“We heard much at Fort Pitt and Fort Henry about the danger, as well as uselessness, of our venture,” Jim continued. “The frontiersmen declared that every rod of the way was beset with savage foes, and that, even in the unlikely event of our arriving safely at the Village of Peace, we would then be hemmed in by fierce, vengeful tribes.”
“Hostile savages abound here, of course; but we do not fear them. We invite them. Our work is to convert the wicked, to teach them to lead good, useful lives. We will succeed.”
Jim could not help warming to the minister for his unswervable faith, his earnest belief that the work of God could not fail; nevertheless, while he felt no fear and intended to put all his heart in the work, he remembered with disquietude Colonel Zane’s warnings. He thought of the wonderful precaution and eternal vigilance of Jonathan and Wetzel—men of all men who most understood Indian craft and cunning. It might well be possible that these good missionaries, wrapped up in saving the souls of these children of the forest, so full of God’s teachings as to have little mind for aught else, had no knowledge of the Indian nature beyond what the narrow scope of their work invited. If what these frontiersmen asserted was true, then the ministers’ zeal had struck them blind.
Jim had a growing idea of the way in which the savages could be best taught. He resolved to go slowly; to study the redmen’s natures; not to preach one word of the gospel to them until he had mastered their language and could convey to their simple minds the real truth. He would make Christianity as clear to them as were the deer-trails on the moss and leaves of the forest.
“Ah, here you are. I hope you have rested well,” said Mr. Zeisberger, when at the conclusion of this long recital Nell and Kate came into the room.
“Thank you, we feel much better,” answered Kate. The girls certainly looked refreshed. The substitution of clean gowns for their former travel-stained garments made a change that called forth the minister’s surprise and admiration.
“My! My! Won’t Edwards and Young beg me to keep them here now!” he exclaimed, his pleased eyes resting on Nell’s piquant beauty and Kate’s noble proportions and rich coloring. “Come; I will show you over the Village of Peace.”
“Are all these Indians Christians?” asked Jim.
“No, indeed. These Indians you see here, and out yonder under the shade, though they are friendly, are not Christians. Our converts employ themselves in the fields or shops. Come; take a peep in here. This is where we preach in the evenings and during inclement weather. On pleasant days we use the maple grove yonder.”
Jim and the others looked in at the door of the large log structure. They saw an immense room, the floor covered with benches, and a raised platform at one end. A few windows let in the light. Spacious and barn-like was this apartment; but undoubtedly, seen through the beaming eyes of the missionary, it was a grand amphitheater for worship. The hard-packed clay floor was velvet carpet; the rude seats soft as eiderdown; the platform with its white-oak cross, an altar of marble and gold.
“This is one of our shops,” said Mr. Zeisberger, leading them to a cabin. “Here we make brooms, harness for the horses, farming implements—everything useful that we can. We have a forge here. Behold an Indian blacksmith!”
The interior of the large cabin presented a scene of bustling activity. Twenty or more Indians bent their backs in earnest employment. In one corner a savage stood holding a piece of red-hot iron on an anvil, while a brawny brave wielded a sledge-hammer. The sparks flew; the anvil rang. In another corner a circle of braves sat around a pile of dried grass and flags. They were twisting and fashioning these materials into baskets. At a bench three Indian carpenters were pounding and sawing. Young braves ran back and forth, carrying pails, rough-hewn boards and blocks of wood.
Instantly struck by two things, Jim voiced his curiosity:
“Why do these Indians all wear long hair, smooth and shiny, without adornment?”
“They are Christians. They wear neither headdress, war-bonnet, nor scalp-lock,” replied Mr. Zeisberger, with unconscious pride.
“I did not expect to see a blacksmith’s anvil out here in the wilderness. Where did you procure these tools?”
“We have been years getting them here. Some came by way of the Ohio River; others overland from Detroit. That anvil has a history. It was lost once, and lay for years in the woods, until some Indians found it again. It is called the Ringing Stone, and Indians come from miles around to see and hear it.”
The missionary pointed out wide fields of corn, now growing yellow, and hillsides doted with browsing cattle, droves of sturdy-limbed horses, and pens of fat, grunting pigs—all of which attested to the growing prosperity of the Village of Peace.
On the way back to the cabin, while the others listened to and questioned Mr. Zeisberger, Jim was silent and thoughtful, for his thoughts reverted to his brother.
Later, as he walked with Nell by the golden-fringed stream, he spoke of Joe.
“Joe wanted so much to hunt with Wetzel. He will come back; surely he will return to us when he has satisfied his wild craving for adventure. Do you not think so?”
There was an eagerness that was almost pleading in Jim’s voice. What he so much hoped for—that no harm had befallen Joe, and that he would return—he doubted. He needed the encouragement of his hope.
“Never,” answered Nell, solemnly.
“Oh, why—why do you say that?”
“I saw him look at you—a strange, intent glance. He gazed long at me as we separated. Oh! I can feel his eyes. No; he will never come back.”
“Nell, Nell, you do not mean he went away deliberately—because, oh! I cannot say it.”
“For no reason, except that the wilderness called him more than love for you or—me.”
“No, no,” returned Jim, his face white. “You do not understand. He really loved you—I know it. He loved me, too. Ah, how well! He has gone because—I can’t tell you.”
“Oh, Jim, I hope—he loved—me,” sobbed Nell, bursting into tears. “His coldness—his neglect those—last few days—hurt me—so. If he cared—as you say—I won’t be—so—miserable.”
“We are both right—you when you say he will never return, and I when I say he loved us both,” said Jim sadly, as the bitter certainty forced itself into his mind.
As she sobbed softly, and he gazed with set, stern face into the darkening forest, the deep, mellow notes of the church bell pealed out. So thrilled, so startled were they by this melody wondrously breaking the twilight stillness, that they gazed mutely at each other. Then they remembered. It was the missionary’s bell summoning the Christian Indians to the evening service.
CHAPTER XI.
The, sultry, drowsy, summer days passed with no untoward event to mar their slumbering tranquillity. Life for the newcomers to the Village of Peace brought a content, the like of which they had never dreamed of. Mr. Wells at once began active work among the Indians, preaching to them through an interpreter; Nell and Kate, in hours apart from household duties, busied themselves brightening their new abode, and Jim entered upon the task of acquainting himself with the modes and habits of the redmen. Truly, the young people might have found perfect happiness in this new and novel life, if only Joe had returned. His disappearance and subsequent absence furnished a theme for many talks and many a quiet hour of dreamy sadness. The fascination of his personality had been so impelling that long after it was withdrawn a charm lingered around everything which reminded them of him; a subtle and sweet memory, with perverse and half bitter persistence, returned hauntingly. No trace of Joe had been seen by any of the friendly Indian runners. He was