its reach. At the next instant the form of the Leatherstocking rushed by her, and he called aloud, 'Come in, Hector, come in, old fool; 'tis a hard-lived animal, and may jump ag'in." Natty fearlessly maintained his position in front of the females, notwithstanding the violent bounds and threatening aspect of the wounded panther, which gave several indications of returning strength and ferocity, until his rifle was again loaded, when he stepped up to the enraged animal, and placing the muzzle close to its head, every spark of life was extinguished by the discharge. The death of her terrible enemy appeared to Elizabeth like a resurrection from her own grave. There was an elasticity in the mind of our heroine that rose to meet the pressure of instant danger, and the more direct it had been, the more her nature had struggled to overcome it. But still she was a woman. Had she been left to herself in her late extremity, she would probably have used her faculties to the utmost, and with discretion, in protecting her person; but encumbered with her inanimate friend, retreat was a thing not to be attempted. Notwithstanding the fearful aspect of her foe, the eye of Elizabeth had never shrunk from its gaze, and long after the event her thoughts would recur to her passing sensations, and the sweetness of her midnight sleep would be disturbed, as her active fancy conjured,14 in dreams, the most trifling movements of savage fury that the beast had exhibited in its moment of power. We shall leave the reader to imagine the restoration of Louisa's senses, and the expressions of gratitude which fell from the young women. The former was effected by a little water, that was brought from one of the thousand springs of those mountains, in the cap of the Leatherstocking; and the latter were uttered with the warmth that might be expected from the character of Elizabeth. Natty received her vehement protestations of gratitude with a simple expression of good-will, and with indulgence for her present excitement, but with a carelessness that showed how little he thought of the service he had rendered. "Well, well," he said, “be it so, gal; let it be so, if you wish it we'll talk the thing over another time. Come, come; let us get into the road, for you've had terror enough to make you wish yourself in your father's house ag’in.” This was uttered as they were proceeding, at a pace that was adapted to the weakness of Louisa, towards the highway: on reaching which, the ladies separated from their guide, declaring themselves equal to the remainder of the walk without his assistance, and feeling encouraged by the sight of the village, which lay beneath their feet like a picture, with its limpid lake in front, the winding stream 15 along its margin, and its hundred chimneys of whitened bricks. The reader need not be told the nature of the emotions which two youthful, ingenuous, and well-educated girls would experience at their escape from a death so horrid as the one which had impended over them, while they pursued their way in silence along the track on the side of the mountain; nor how deep were their mental thanks to that Power which had given them their existence, and which had not deserted them in their extremity; neither how often they pressed each other's arms, as the assurance of their present safety came like a healing balm athwart their troubled spirits, when their thoughts were recurring to the recent moments of horror. Leatherstocking remained on the hill, gazing after their retiring figures, until they were hidden by a bend in the road, when he whistled in his dogs, and shouldering his rifle, he returned into the forest. "Well, it was a skeary thing to the young creaturs," said Natty, while he retrod the path towards the plain. "It might frighten an older woman, to see a she-painter 16 so near her, with a dead cub by its side. I wonder if I had aimed at the varmint's eye, if I shouldn't have touched the life sooner than in the forehead; but they are hardlived animals, and it was a good shot, consid'ring that I could see nothing but the head and the peak of its tail." NOTES TO COOPER 1. The "Escape from a Panther" is an episode taken from Chapter xxviii. of "The Pioneers." For a notice of this work, see the sketch of Cooper. This selection well illustrates our author's power of vivid description and narrative. As already pointed out, it is in work of this kind that he appears at his best. 2. Miss Elizabeth Temple, the heroine of "The Pioneers," and her friend, Miss Louise Grant, daughter of the local rector. They are out on a pleasure walk, a short distance from Leatherstocking's hut, and not far from the village of Templeton, the name for Cooperstown adopted in the story. 3. They had been talking about a young man, the hero of the tale, in whom both were more interested than they would have cared to acknowledge, and about whose life there was a mystery — explained, of course, near the end of the story. 4. Otsego Lake, about seven and a half miles long and one and a half miles wide. It is surrounded by high hills, and the scenery is picturesque. 5. The cry of the panther, so old hunters have said, often bears a striking resemblance to the human voice, for which, as in the present case, it has sometimes been mistaken. 6. It was customary in Cooper's time to call a woman by the very indefinite title of "female" a usage that has fortunately given way to better taste. 7. Do you discover any incongruity in this sentence? Remodel and improve it. 8. To this sentence Cooper appended the following note: "Not long since there appeared in the papers an account of a hunter, upon whose head a panther had leaped, as he was sitting in the woods. A severe struggle ensued. The man was seriously wounded, but saved himself by plunging into a piece of water close at hand, and diving beneath the surface. There can be no doubt that these animals have occasionally inflicted fatal wounds. Governor DeWitt Clinton mentioned a panther, killed early in this century near Oneida Lake, by a Frenchman. The animal was shot in the attitude of leaping on the man. Its length was nine feet, eleven inches. The head was taken to Schenectady, where it may possibly still be found." 9. This sentence may be taken as illustrating Cooper's rapid and careless style. 10. What is the antecedent of "which"? Note also the careless use of "its" and "her" in the same sentence. II. Is this a correct use of the word "talons"? 12. Is it correct to call a panther a “wild cat”? 13. Could this be strictly true? Note the unsteadiness in the use of the pronouns in this and the preceding sentence. 14. What is the difference between conjure and conjure up? Which is the correct word here? 15. The Susquehanna, one branch of which takes its rise in Otsego Lake. 16. A term for panther frequently used by uneducated persons. IX SELECTIONS FROM BRYANT THANATOPSIS To him who in the love of Nature holds 4 And healing sympathy, that steals 5 away 7 Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall, And breathless darkness, and the narrow house, 9 Thy image. Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim To mix for ever with the elements; And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain 13 |
