CHAPTER 29.

“It is noised, he hath a mass of treasure.”—Timon of Athens.

When Marmaduke Temple and his cousin rode through the gate of the
former, the heart of the father had been too recently touched with the
best feelings of our nature, to leave inclination for immediate
discourse.  There was an importance in the air of Richard, which would
not have admitted of the ordinary informal conversation of the
sheriff, without violating all the rules of consistency; and the
equestrians pursued their way with great diligence, for more than a
mile, in profound silence.  At length the soft expression of parental
affection was slowly chased from the handsome features of the Judge,
and was gradually supplanted by the cast of humor and benevolence that
was usually seated on his brow.

“Well, Dickon,” he said, since I have yielded myself so far implicitly
to your guidance, I think the moment has arrived when I am entitled to
further confidence.  Why and wherefore are we journeying together in
this solemn gait?”

The sheriff gave a loud hem, that rang far in the forest, and keeping
his eyes fixed on objects before him like a man who is looking deep
into futurity:

“There has always been one point of difference between us, Judge
Temple, I may say, since our nativity,” he replied; not that I would
insinuate that you are at all answerable for the acts of Nature; for a
man is no more to be condemned for the misfortunes of his birth, than
he is to be commended for the natural advantages he may possess; but
on one point we may be said to have differed from our births, and
they, you know, occurred within two days of each other.”

“I really marvel, Richard, what this one point can be, for, to my
eyes, we seem to differ so materially, and so often—”

“Mere consequences, sir,” interrupted the sheriff; “all our minor
differences proceed from one cause, and that is, our opinions of the
universal attainments of genius.”

“In what, Dickon?”

“I speak plain English, I believe, Judge Temple: at least I ought; for
my father, who taught me, could speak——”

“Greek and Latin,” interrupted Marmaduke.  “I well know the
qualifications of your family in tongues, Dickon.  But proceed to the
point; why are we travelling over this mountain to-day?”

“To do justice to any subject, sir, the narrator must he suffered to
proceed in his own way,” continued the sheriff.  “You are of opinion,
Judge Temple, that a man is to be qualified by nature and education to
do only one thing well, whereas I know that genius will supply the
place of learning, and that a certain sort of man can do anything and
everything.”

“Like yourself, I suppose,” said Marmaduke, smiling.

“I scorn personalities, sir, I say nothing of myself; but there are
three men on your Patent, of the kind that I should term talented by
nature for her general purposes though acting under the influence of
different situations.”

“We are better off, then, than I had supposed.  Who are these
triumviri?”

“Why, sir, one is Hiram Doolittle; a carpenter by trade, as you know—
and I need only point to the village to exhibit his merits.  Then he
is a magistrate, and might shame many a man, in his distribution of
justice, who has had better opportunities.”

“Well, he is one,” said Marmaduke, with the air of a man that was
determined not to dispute the point.

“Jotham Riddel is another.”

“Who?”

“Jotham Riddel.”

“What, that dissatisfied, shiftless, lazy, speculating fellow! he who
changes his county every three years, his farm every six months, and
his occupation every season! an agriculturist yesterday, a shoemaker
to-day, and a school master to-morrow! that epitome of all the
unsteady and profitless propensities of the settlers without one of
their good qualities to counterbalance the evil! Nay, Richard.  this
is too bad for even—but the third.”

“As the third is not used to hearing such comments on his character,
Judge Temple, I shall not name him.”

“The amount of all this, then, Dickon, is that the trio, of which you
are one, and the principal, have made some important discovery.”

“I have not said that I am one, Judge Temple.  As I told you before,
say nothing egotistical.  But a discovery has been made, and you are
deeply interested in it.”

“Proceed—I am all ears.”

“No, no, ‘Duke, you are bad enough, I own, but not so bad as that,
either; your ears are not quite full grown.”

The sheriff laughed heartily at his own wit, and put himself in good
humor thereby, when he gratified his patient cousin with the following
explanation:

“You know, ‘Duke, there is a man living on your estate that goes by
the name of Natty Bumppo.  Here has this man lived, by what I can
learn, for more than forty years—by himself, until lately; and now
with strange companions.”

“Part very true, and all very probable,” said the Judge.

“All true, sir; all true.  Well, within these last few months have
appeared as his companions an old Indian chief, the last, or one of
the last of his tribe that is to be found in this part of the country,
and a young man, who is said to be the son of some Indian agent, by a
squaw.”

“Who says that?” cried Marmaduke, with an interest; that he had not
manifested before.

“Who? why, common sense—common report—the hue and cry.  But listen
till you know all.  This youth has very pretty talents—yes, what I
call very pretty talents— and has been well educated, has seen very
tolerable company, and knows how to behave himself when he has a mind
to.  Now, Judge Temple, can you tell me what has brought three such
men as Indian John, Natty Bumppo, and Oliver Edwards together?”
Marmaduke turned his countenance, in evident surprise, to his cousin,
and replied quickly:

“Thou hast unexpectedly hit on a subject, Richard, that has often
occupied my mind.  But knowest thou anything of this mystery, or are
they only the crude conjectures of—”

“Crude nothing, ‘Duke, crude nothing : but facts, stub-born facts.
You know there arc mines in these mountains; I have often heard you
say that you believed in their existence.”

“Reasoning from analogy, Richard, but not with any certainty of the
fact.”

“You have heard them mentioned, and have seen specimens of the ore,
sir; you will not deny that! and, reasoning from analogy, as you say,
if there be mines in South America, ought there not to be mines in
North America too?”

“Nay, nay, I deny nothing, my cousin.  I certainly have heard many
rumors of the existence of mines in these hills: and I do believe that
I have seen specimens of the precious metals that have been found
here.  It would occasion me no surprise to learn that tin and silver,
or what I consider of more consequence, good coal—”

“Damn your coal,” cried the sheriff; “ who wants to find coal in these
forests? No, no—silver, ‘Duke; silver is the one thing needful, and
silver is to be found.  But listen: you are not to be told that the
natives have long known the use of gold and silver; now who so likely
to be acquainted where they are to be found as the ancient inhabitants
of a country? I have the best reasons for believing that both Mohegan
and the Leather-Stocking have been privy to the existence of a mine in
this very mountain for many years.”

The sheriff had now touched his cousin in a sensitive spot; and
Marmaduke lent a more attentive ear to the speaker, who, after waiting
a moment to see the effect of this extraordinary development,
proceeded:

“Yes, sir, I have my reasons, and at a proper time you shall know
them,”

“No time is so good as the present.”

“Well, well, be attentive,” continued Richard, looking cautiously
about him, to make certain that no eavesdropper was hid in the forest,
though they were in constant motion.  “I have seen Mohegan and the
Leather-Stocking, with my own eyes—and my eyes are as good as
anybody’s eyes—I have seen them, I say, both going up the mountain and
coming down it, with spades and picks; and others have seen them
carrying things into their hut, in a secret and mysterious manner,
after dark.  Do you call this a fact of importance?”

The Judge did not reply, but his brow had contracted, with a
thoughtfulness that he always wore when much interested, and his eyes
rested on his cousin in expectation of hearing more.  Richard
continued:

“It was ore.  Now, sir, I ask if you can tell me who this Mr. Oliver
Edwards is, that has made a part of your household since Christmas?”

Marmaduke again raised his eyes, but continued silent, shaking his
head in the negative.

“That he is a half-breed we know, for Mohegan does not scruple to call
him openly his kinsman; that he is well educated we know.  But as to
his business here—do you remember that about a month before this young
man made his appearance among us, Natty was absent from home several
days? You do; for you inquired for him, as you wanted some venison to
take to your friends, when you went for Bess.  Well, he was not to be
found.  Old John was left in the hut alone, and when Natty did appear,
although he came on in the night, he was seen drawing one of those
jumpers that they carry their grain to mill in, and to take out
something with great care, that he had covered up under his bear-
skins.  Now let me ask you, Judge Temple, what motive could induce a
man like the Leather-Stocking to make a sled, and toil with a load
over these mountains, if he had nothing but his rifle or his
ammunition to carry?”

“They frequently make these jumpers to convey their game home, and you
say he had been absent many days.”

“How did he kill it? His rifle was in the village, to be mended.  No,
no—that he was gone to some unusual place is certain; that he brought
back some secret utensils is more certain; and that he has not allowed
a soul to approach his hut since is most certain of all.”

“He was never fond of intruders——--”

“I know it,” interrupted Richard; “but did he drive them from his
cabin morosely? Within a fortnight of his return, this Mr. Edwards
appears.  They spend whole days in the mountains, pretending to be
shooting, but in reality exploring; the frosts prevent their digging
at that time, and he avails himself of a lucky accident to get into
good quarters.  But even now, he is quite half of his time in that
hut—many hours every night.  They are smelting, 'Duke they are
smelting, and as they grow rich, you grow poor.”

“How much of this is thine own, Richard, and how much comes from
others? I would sift the wheat from the chaff.”

“Part is my own, for I saw the jumper, though it was broken up and
burnt in a day or two.  I have told you that I saw the old man with
his spades and picks.  Hiram met Natty, as he was crossing the
mountain, the night of his arrival with the sled, and very good-
naturedly offered —Hiram is good-natured—to carry up part of his load,
for the old man had a heavy pull up the back of the mountain, but he
wouldn't listen to the thing, and repulsed the offer in such a manner
that the squire said he had half a mind to swear the peace against
him.  Since the snow has been off, more especially after the frosts
got out of the ground, we have kept a watchful eye on the gentle
man, in which we have found Jotham useful.”
Marmaduke did not much like the associates of Richard in this
business; still he knew them to be cunning and ready expedients; and
as there was certainly something mysterious, not only in the
connection between the old hunters and Edwards, but in what his cousin
had just related, he began to revolve the subject in his own mind with
more care.  On reflection, he remembered various circumstances that
tended to corroborate these suspicions, and, as the whole business
favored one of his infirmities, he yielded the more readily to their
impression.  The mind of Judge Temple, at all times comprehensive, had
received from his peculiar occupations a bias to look far into
futurity, in his speculations on the improvements that posterity were
to make in his lands.  To his eye, where others saw nothing but a
wilderness, towns, manufactories, bridges, canals, mines, and all the
other resources of an old country were constantly presenting
themselves, though his good sense suppressed, in some degree, the
exhibition of these expectations.

As the sheriff allowed his cousin full time to reflect on what he had
heard, the probability of some pecuniary adventure being the
connecting link in the chain that brought Oliver Edwards into the
cabin of Leather-Stocking appeared to him each moment to be stronger.
But Marmaduke was too much in the habit of examining both sides of a
subject not to perceive the objections, and he reasoned with himself
aloud:

“It cannot be so, or the youth would not be driven so near the verge
of poverty.”

“What so likely to make a man dig for money as being poor?” cried the
sheriff.

“Besides, there is an elevation of character about Oliver that
proceeds from education, which would forbid so clan- destine a
proceeding.”

“Could an ignorant fellow smelt?” continued Richard.

“Bess hints that he was reduced even to his last shilling when we took
him into our dwelling.”

“He had been buying tools.  And would he spend his last sixpence for a
shot at a turkey had he not known where to get more?”

“Can I have possibly been so long a dupe? His manner has been rude to
me at times, but I attributed it to his conceiving himself injured,
and to his mistaking the forms of the world.”

“Haven’t you been a dupe all your life, ‘Duke, and an’t what you call
ignorance of forms deep cunning, to conceal his real character?”

“If he were bent on deception, he would have concealed his knowledge,
and passed with us for an inferior man.”

“He cannot.  I could no more pass for a fool, myself, than I could
fly.  Knowledge is not to be concealed, like a candle under a bushel,”

“Richard,” said the Judge, turning to his cousin, “there are many
reasons against the truth of thy conjectures, but thou hast awakened
suspicions which must be satisfied.  But why are we travelling here?”

“Jotham, who has been much in the mountain latterly, being kept there
by me and Hiram, has made a discovery, which he will not explain, he
says, for he is bound by an oath; but the amount is, that he knows
where the ore lies, and he has this day begun to dig.  I would not
consent to the thing, ‘Duke, without your knowledge, for the land is
yours; and now you know the reason of our ride.  I call this a
countermine, ha!”

“And where is the desirable spot?” asked the Judge with an air half
comical, half serious.

“At hand; and when we have visited that, I will show you one of the
places that we have found within a week, where our hunters have been
amusing themselves for six months past.”

The gentlemen continued to discuss the matter, while their horses
picked their way under the branches of the trees and over the uneven
ground of the mountain.  They soon arrived at the end of their
journey, where, in truth, they found Jotham already buried to his neck
in a hole that he had been digging.

Marmaduke questioned the miner very closely as to his reasons for
believing in the existence of the precious metals near that particular
spot; but the fellow maintained an obstinate mystery in his answers.
He asserted that he had the best of reasons for what he did, and
inquired of the judge what portion of the profits would fall to his
own share, in the event of success, with an earnestness that proved
his faith.  After spending an hour near the place, examining the
stones, and searching for the usual indications of the proximity of
ore, the Judge remounted and suffered his cousin to lead the way to
the place where the mysterious trio had been making their excavation.

The spot chosen by Jotham was on the back of the mountain that
overhung the hut of Leather-Stocking, and the place selected by Natty
and his companions was on the other side of the same hill, but above
the road, and, of course, in an opposite direction to the route taken
by the ladies in their walk.

“We shall be safe in approaching the place now,” said Richard, while
they dismounted and fastened their horses; “for I took a look with the
glass, and saw John and Leather-Stocking in their canoe fishing before
we left home, and Oliver is in the same pursuit; but these may be
nothing but shams to blind our eye; so we will be expeditious, for it
would not be pleasant to be caught here by them.”

“Not on my own land?” said Marmaduke sternly.  “If it be as you
suspect, I will know their reasons for making this excavation.”

“Mum,” said Richard, laying a finger on his lip, and leading the way
down a very difficult descent to a sort of natural cavern, which was
found in the face of the rock, and was not unlike a fireplace in
shape.  In front of this place lay a pile of earth, which had
evidently been taken from the recess, and part of which was yet fresh.
An examination of the exterior of the cavern left the Judge in doubt
whether it was one of Nature’s frolics that had thrown it into that
shape, or whether it had been wrought by the hands of man, at some
earlier period.  But there could be no doubt that the whole of the
interior was of recent formation, and the marks of the pick were still
visible where the soft, lead-colored rock had opposed itself to the
progress of the miners.  The whole formed an excavation of about
twenty feet in width, and nearly twice that distance in depth.  The
height was much greater than was required for the ordinary purposes of
experiment, but this was evidently the effect of chance, as the roof
of the cavern was a natural stratum of rock that projected many feet
beyond the base of the pile.  Immediately in front of the recess, or
cave, was a little terrace, partly formed by nature, and partly by the
earth that had been carelessly thrown aside by the laborers.  The
mountain fell off precipitously in front of the terrace, and the
approach by its sides, under the ridge of the rocks, was difficult and
a little dangerous.  The whole was wild, rude, and apparently
incomplete; for, while looking among the bushes, the sheriff found the
very implements that had been used in the work.

When the sheriff thought that his cousin had examined the spot
sufficiently, he asked solemnly:

“Judge Temple, are you satisfied?”

“Perfectly, that there is something mysterious and perplexing in this
business.  It is a secret spot, and cunningly devised, Richard; yet I
see no symptoms of ore.”

“Do you expect, sir, to find gold and silver lying like pebbles on the
surface of the earth?—dollars and dimes ready coined to your hands?
No, no—the treasure must be sought after to be won.  But let them
mine; I shall countermine.”

The Judge took an accurate survey of the place, and noted in his
memorandum-book such marks as were necessary to find it again in the
event of Richard’s absence; when the cousins returned to their horses.

On reaching the highway they separated, the sheriff to summon twenty-
four “good men and true,” to attend as thc inquest of the county, on
the succeeding Monday, when Marmaduke held his stated court of “common
pleas and general sessions of the peace,” and the Judge to return,
musing deeply on what he had seen and heard in the course of the
morning.

When the horse of the latter reached the spot where the highway fell
toward the valley, the eye of Marmaduke rested, it is true, on the
same scene that had, ten minutes before, been so soothing to the
feelings of his daughter and her friend, as they emerged from the
forest; but it rested in vacancy.  He threw the reins to his sure
footed beast, and suffered the animal to travel at his own gait, while
he soliloquized as follows:

“There may be more in this than I at first supposed.  I have suffered
my feelings to blind my reason, in admitting an unknown youth in this
manner to my dwelling; yet this is not the land of suspicion.  I will
have Leather-Stocking before me, and, by a few direct questions,
extract the truth from the simple old man.”

At that instant the Judge caught a glimpse of the figures of Elizabeth
and Louisa, who were slowly descending the mountain, short distance
before him.  He put spurs to his horse, and riding up to them,
dismounted, and drove his steed along the narrow path.  While the
agitated parent was listening to the vivid description that his
daughter gave of her recent danger, and her unexpected escape, all
thoughts of mines, vested rights, and examinations were absorbed in
emotion; and when the image of Natty again crossed his recollection,
it was not as a law Less and depredating squatter, but as the
preserver of his child.