The Prairie. James Fenimore Cooper

Читать онлайн книгу.

The Prairie - James Fenimore Cooper


Скачать книгу
trapper paused, and followed the departing wagon with his eye, marvelling greatly as to the nature of its concealed contents, until it had also gained the summit of the eminence, and in its turn disappeared behind the swell of the land. Then he turned to gaze at the desolation of the scene around him. The absence of human forms would have scarce created a sensation in the bosom of one so long accustomed to solitude, had not the site of the deserted camp furnished such strong memorials of its recent visitors, and as the old man was quick to detect, of their waste also. He cast his eye upwards, with a shake of the head, at the vacant spot in the heavens which had so lately been filled by the branches of those trees that now lay stripped of their verdure, worthless and deserted logs, at his feet.

      “Ay,” he muttered to himself, “I might have know'd it—I might have know'd it! Often have I seen the same before; and yet I brought them to the spot myself, and have now sent them to the only neighbourhood of their kind within many long leagues of the spot where I stand. This is man's wish, and pride, and waste, and sinfulness! He tames the beasts of the field to feed his idle wants; and, having robbed the brutes of their natural food, he teaches them to strip the 'arth of its trees to quiet their hunger.”

      A rustling in the low bushes which still grew, for some distance, along the swale that formed the thicket on which the camp of Ishmael had rested, caught his ear, at the moment, and cut short the soliloquy. The habits of so many years, spent in the wilderness, caused the old man to bring his rifle to a poise, with something like the activity and promptitude of his youth; but, suddenly recovering his recollection, he dropped it into the hollow of his arm again, and resumed his air of melancholy resignation.

      “Come forth, come forth!” he said aloud: “be ye bird, or be ye beast, ye are safe from these old hands. I have eaten and I have drunk: why should I take life, when my wants call for no sacrifice? It will not be long afore the birds will peck at eyes that shall not see them, and perhaps light on my very bones; for if things like these are only made to perish, why am I to expect to live for ever? Come forth, come forth; you are safe from harm at these weak hands.”

      “Thank you for the good word, old trapper!” cried Paul Hover, springing actively forward from his place of concealment. “There was an air about you, when you threw forward the muzzle of the piece, that I did not like; for it seemed to say that you were master of all the rest of the motions.”

      “You are right, you are right!” cried the trapper, laughing with inward self-complacency at the recollection of his former skill. “The day has been when few men knew the virtues of a long rifle, like this I carry, better than myself, old and useless as I now seem. You are right, young man; and the time was, when it was dangerous to move a leaf within ear-shot of my stand; or,” he added, dropping his voice, and looking serious, “for a Red Mingo to show an eyeball from his ambushment. You have heard of the Red Mingos?”

      “I have heard of minks,” said Paul, taking the old man by the arm, and gently urging him towards the thicket as he spoke; while, at the same time, he cast quick and uneasy glances behind him, in order to make sure he was not observed. “Of your common black minks; but none of any other colour.”

      “Lord! Lord!” continued the trapper, shaking his head, and still laughing, in his deep but quiet manner; “the boy mistakes a brute for a man! Though, a Mingo is little better than a beast; or, for that matter, he is worse, when rum and opportunity are placed before his eyes. There was that accursed Huron, from the upper lakes, that I knocked from his perch among the rocks in the hills, back of the Hori—”

      His voice was lost in the thicket, into which he had suffered himself to be led by Paul while speaking, too much occupied by thoughts which dwelt on scenes and acts that had taken place half a century earlier in the history of the country, to offer the smallest resistance.

      Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

      Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

      Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

      Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wBDAAMCAgMCAgMDAwMEAwMEBQgFBQQEBQoHBwYIDAoMDAsK CwsNDhIQDQ4RDgsLEBYQERMUFRUVDA8XGBYUGBIUFRT/2wBDAQMEBAUEBQkFBQkUDQsNFBQUFBQU FBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBQUFBT/wAARCAWgA4QDASIA AhEBAxEB/8QAHgAAAQQDAQEBAAAAAAAAAAAABQIDBAYAAQcJCAr/xABVEAABAwMDAwIDBQUGBAQC ARUBAgMEBQYRABIhBxMxQVEUImEIFTJxgRYjQpGhCRdSscHwJDPR4TRicvElQ1OCGJKiNURUc7Mm NmNkdYOTsrQ3dKP/xAAaAQADAQEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQIDBAUG/8QAQxEAAQMDAQYDBgYCAQMD BAEFAQACEQMSITEEEyIyQVEjYfAUQnGBkaEzUrHB0eEFQ/EkNGIVU3IGRJKyVGOCFqLC/9oADAMB AAIRAxEAPwD5Fs+p1ioOyxUWyltONhW3sIVnkD3Gpt3TJ0CjLdgJJd3AKUlOShPqQP5alXAiY9R5 SKerEop+Ug84zyAffGdCLFZqcOFJ+8e42zkFtL5+Yf4jz4HjX02R4ec9V8/IPiY+Cm2lMnVCjIdn JIe3EJUpOCtPoSP56EXvV6vT5sZuF3G2VJzubRu3Kz4PH5cfXUm+2KnMhxvu/uOM5JcDB+Y/4Tx5 HnRihfEx6PFRUVj4vGCVK5+gPucaMu8POOqoEDxMfBS4LjrkJlb6dj5QkrSPRWOdUsVyuG7xGIWI /e29rZ8vb/xZx7c51q6IVeduNK4gfLPy9ktKwhPvn9ffV3LnhG9Pd2+M/wBce2jNQxkR90YYJwZ+ ybnuPMwn3I6O4+lCi2kjyrHA1VLIq9VqMySiaVuMJRnetG3arPgcfnxqNbUOvNXIVy++Gcq7ylqy hXtj0POMY1Z7hMmVRJaac5ulYwO2oZ88gfXGdEl/HkR07ogN4MGevZRrzmT4FI7kEELKwFLSnKkp 9xrLNnT59IDk7Jc3kIWoYUpPuf1zqFYrNRiw5JqPcbZyC2JB5Hv58DxrL6YqMyLF+7u441k9wMHk +3jyPOlJ/Fz8E4H4ePimL2q9Xp06O3C3tsqTnc2jduVnwePy4+urVBW87DYckICH1ISXEjwFY51A oKpESjRU1FzEnGD3FDPngH3OMarVyw689cqVxA+Wsp7Kmz8ieOc+g9c50ySzjyZ6dkoDuDAjr3Sh W63+1/w21wx+9s7Oz5e3nznHtznVynKdZhSHGE73ktqKE+5xxpfd/wDl70d7bnbnn88e2qRa8OvM 3GpcsPhn5u8p1WUq9sfr7aM0zGTP2Rh4nAj7qZZFXq9TlyW529bCU53uI27VZ8Dj8/5aJ3jKnU+j l2AFdwLAWtAyUp9wP5afuMyZdDlJpzm+RgD92r5vPIH1xoXYrFSiRJJqHcbZyC2HzyP8R58DxoyP Ck56oMHxMY6KdZ82dUKOlyck9zcQlak4K0+5H8/5aE3vV6vTpkVuFvbYUM70I3b15/Cf+n109fbN SlQ45p5W4xklxLB+Y/4Tx5Gi9A+Kj0eKmpugSSMHeoZ+gPucaMu8OTjqgQ3xMZ6KbCU69EYU+jtv FAK0D+FWORqnCs1w3j8NtWI/d29rZ8nb/wAWce3OdJuSFXnLlQ5E7xZBT2VoPyIHru/XOc6u/cBJ b3o7wTnAP9ce2jNQxkQfqlhgnBn7Juct1qE+5HR3H0oUW0/4lY4GqrY9Yq1RnSUTlOOMpRnctG3a rPgcfnxqLbUKvN3MVyw/2sq7qnFfIoemPTzjGNWi4RJkUeUinLzJxgbFDPnkD64zoBL+PIjp3TgN 4MGevZRbxmzqdRy5BCu4VgLWlOShPv8A5DSrQmzqhSA7OSou7yEqUnaVJ98fz1AsZmpRIso1Euts 5HbEg8j3PPgeNZfbNSlxoppxccYyS4GDyTxtPHp50rjG9z8EQPw8fFMXvVqvBmxkQe42wpOdzaN2 5WfB4/LjVqhKedhR1yEBDxQkuJHorHI1Ct/4mLRYiagspk4we4rnzwD9carVywq9IuRK4ffLIKS0 ptWEI98+nnPnTks48menZEB3BgR1SjWq4bv+GCViN3tva2fJ2/fOPbnOrjOW61BkOMI3vJQotp91 Y404XU/8renvYztyM/nj21R7ZhV5q41Ll98M/N3lOKyhQ5xj9fbRmmYyZ+yWHicCPupVk1erz5sl E4LcZSnO5aNu1WfA/rx9NFLynzoFH7sEKS7vAUtCclKff/LUm4TJk0SWinubpOAB21Dd55A9jjQm xmalEhyvvHuNs7h2xIPI9/PgeNLLfDk56p4PiY+CnWfOn1GjpcnhXc3kJWpOCtPvj+ehd7VWr06Z

Скачать книгу