The German Pioneers Part 17

"You are not married, dominie, and for what you do, or leave undone, you are accountable to n.o.body."

"What do you mean by that?" asked the minister.

"My old man is seventy-one, and I do not believe that he will last much longer," remarked Ursul thoughtfully.

The minister held the pinch of snuff, that he had meant to apply to his nose, between his fingers, and looked attentively at Aunt Ursul.

"Should he live longer, he has had me thirty years; and sometime everything must come to an end; so we are very properly called and chosen thereto."

The minister dropped the pinch of snuff. "For G.o.d's sake, Aunt Ursul, what are you driving at?"

"I took you to be more courageous," said Aunt Ursul.

"And I you to be more rational," said the minister.

"About such things one must ask his own heart," said Aunt Ursul.

"And the heart is a timorous, perverse thing," replied the minister.

"Yes, very timid," said Aunt Ursul, scornfully.

"Yes; truly perverse," said the minister guardedly.

"Now, without further parley, will you be my man, or not?" said Aunt Ursul who had lost patience.

"G.o.d forbid!" said the minister, who could no longer control his repugnance.

"Indeed, you look like a man," said Aunt Ursul contemptuously, turning on her heel.

"Are you then entirely G.o.d-forsaken, unhappy woman?" said the minister, laying his fleshy hand on Aunt Ursul's shoulder.

"Not I, but you, hare-hearted man," said Aunt Ursul, shaking off his hand and turning vigorously away. "You who always preach about sacrifice and love, and have neither the one nor the other; and shear the cuckoo for the lost lamb, if you can only sit quietly by your flesh-pots. Now then stay, in the devil's name--G.o.d forgive me the sin--I shall be able alone to find the road to my poor, misguided boy, and G.o.d will give me the right words to touch his heart."

Again Aunt Ursul turned away. The minister slapped his forehead, and with a few rapid steps overtook her as she was hastening from him.

"Aunt Ursul!"

"What do you want?"

"Naturally I will go with you."

"For once."

"For once and every time. By the thousand, woman! why did you not tell me at once that it was something about Conrad?"

"About whom else should it be?"

"About many things. Forget what I have said. I give you my word as a man and as a servant of G.o.d that it was a misunderstanding--of which I am ashamed--and for which I ask your pardon. When shall we start?"

Aunt Ursul shook her head. She could not conceive what her old friend had before thought, but she felt that he was now fully resolved, and minutes were precious.

"At once naturally," she replied to his last question.

"I am ready."

"So! Come in and say a friendly word to the girl, and let nothing be noticed. Lambert must not know what we have in hand. n.o.body must know.

If we succeed in bringing him back it is well; if not, let his shame be buried with us. In either case they must not feel concerned about us.

It is possible, dominie, that we shall never return. You comprehend that clearly?"

"G.o.d's will be done," said the minister.

CHAPTER XIII

Two hours later, Aunt Ursul and the minister were already deep in the forest, away from the creek, on a narrow Indian path, which was as well the path of the buffalo and the deer. But Pluto, going before the wanderers, with her broad nose near the ground and her long, restless tail wagging, did not follow the tracks of buffalo or deer. More than once she turned away from a fresh track into the woods, every time soon to return into the path.

"You see now, dominie, how well it is that I went back to fetch the dog on an occasion like this," said Aunt Ursul. "You were impatient at the losing of time, but we are well paid for it."

"It was not on account of the delay," replied the minister. "I was afraid that, in spite of our large circuit, they would guess our purpose. Both Lambert and Catherine looked at us with an expression which, as I read it, meant: 'We know what you are up to!'"

"They know nothing," said Aunt Ursul. "Why should I not call out the dog for my own and my old man's greater security?"

"Because n.o.body would really believe that you are so disturbed by fear."

"Well," said Aunt Ursul, "let them think what they please. Without the dog we should fail, and so let us push on."

"I am not quite sure that we shall so reach our end, Aunt Ursul."

"Are you already tired?"

"I tire not so easily, in such an affair, you know. But who can a.s.sure us that Conrad, in his anger and despondency, has not walked as far as his feet would carry him, which at last must be farther than we with our best will can go. And there is another possibility, of which I think with trembling."

"That my young man has gone over to them?" cried Aunt Ursul, turning so quickly that the minister, who was close behind, jumped back a step.

"Do you mean that?"

"G.o.d forbid!" replied the minister, displeased at Aunt Ursul's question, and that by its earnestness his opened snuff-box was almost knocked out of his hand. "But he who lays his hand upon his brother, as Conrad has done, may also lay his hand upon himself. As far as I know Conrad, the last will be at least as easy as the first."

"You, however, do not know my young man," said Aunt Ursul earnestly, and she went on in more quiet tones: "See, dominie, I admit that the young man, at this moment, does not value his life more than a pine cone, but, notwithstanding, I would swear that he will sell it dear.

And who shall pay for it? The French and their base Indians. That you may depend on. And see, dominie, that is also the reason why I am thoroughly convinced that he has not gone as far as his feet could carry him, but is somewhere here near by, and is keeping sharp watch over the house in which his parents lived, whose door-sill he will never again cross. He may keep his word, but be a.s.sured, dominie, if the enemy get so far they will have to come over his dead body."

Deeply moved, Aunt Ursul was silent. The minister, though not entirely convinced, thought it prudent not to express his opinion.

So they went on for some time in silence. The dog ran ahead, or out to one or the other side of the path, at one moment stopping and smelling up in the air, then again eagerly following a track. Aunt Ursul's sharp, knowing eyes watched every movement of the animal, and often she gently said: "Search, Pluto!--that is right, Pluto," more to herself than to the dog, for she needed little encouragement. The minister kept his eyes fixed on Aunt Ursul's broad back, and conversed with her when the path did not require all his attention.

This indeed was often the case, and soon the path became so difficult for their unaccustomed feet that conversation stopped entirely. Ever rougher and steeper became the ascent over the great roots of the old forest pines. Ever more wildly roared the creek among the sharp rocks, until at length in a deep cleft under overhanging vines it entirely disappeared from the wanderers. Following the dog, they now turned off to the right into the woods, and, laboriously going up a few hundred steps, reached the top of the plateau.