Into the Wilderness Read Free Page A

control,
and that his attention was focused, exclusively, absolutely, on her.
    * * *
    A
half hour later, once again on their way, Elizabeth found herself seated across
from two men to whom she had just been introduced in the briefest and most
unusual manner. Dan'l Bonner—the one the judge called Hawkeye—was the focus of
her brother's attention. His son, Nathaniel, was utterly silent.
    At
the back of the sleigh, strapped quickly across the piles of luggage, was the
deer; Nathaniel Bonner had only agreed to come into the village for medical
treatment once the judge—over Julian's protests—had acknowledged the Bonners'
rightful claim to the animal. Now Julian fumed, arguing in turns with Hawkeye
and his own father. Nathaniel took no part in the argument, but neither did he
miss a word;
Elizabeth
was sure of it.
    Elizabeth
found herself glancing up at Nathaniel far more often than she knew she should,
and without fail she found him looking at her. Each time this happened,
Elizabeth looked away and vowed not to look up again, but she could not curb
her curiosity: this was a white man, dressed like an Indian, with a long
earring of beaten silver dangling from one ear; she had heard him speaking to his
father in a language which must be native; he was tall and lean and as menacing
as a whipcord; one broad hand held the barrel of the long rifle in a manner
which was both casual and deliberate. There was a serious wound in his shoulder
which had been hastily stanched with her father's handkerchief and
Elizabeth
's own scarf,
but it seemed to concern him not at all; and he was determined to look at her,
and only her, without pause. This behavior—impertinent, and distinctly
unseemly—so unnerved her that
Elizabeth
could not think of anything suitable to say to him in reproach.
    "Father,
I simply do not understand. The land on which the animal fell belongs to
you," Julian was saying.
    The
judge nodded. "It does. Right now we are just about in the middle of the
original patent, which was about a thousand acres. Backs right onto the
wilderness on the other side of
Hidden
Wolf
Mountain
."
    Elizabeth,
who at that moment was glancing up at Nathaniel, saw a slight tremor in his
face.
    "Are
you in pain, Mr. Bonner?"
    Her brother
turned toward her irritably."My God, Elizabeth. It's a minor wound. He
won't die of it."
    "No
one has ever died of good manners, either, Julian,"
Elizabeth
said dryly. "You might try
some for yourself and find out."
    This
brought out a surprised grunt of amusement from Hawkeye, who shifted his
attention from Julian for a moment to appraise
Elizabeth
.
    "Then
give him the doe as payment for his pain and suffering," Julian continued.
"But do not call it his. You cannot countenance poaching."
    "I
have given Hawkeye and his son permission to hunt on my land, in perpetuity. In
season, of course. That means that the animal is theirs. I wish they would sell
me the saddle to roast for our dinner tomorrow—"
    From
the corner of her eye,
Elizabeth
noted how Nathaniel's face grew still at this.
    "—but
if they will not, I cannot force them."
    "Mr.
Bonner—Hawkeye," Julian said, turning to the older man. "Will you at
least concede that my father has a right to a portion of the meat—" The
judge began to protest, but his son insisted on finishing.
    "—as
a token of goodwill?"
    Julian's
behavior was shameful;
Elizabeth
could not deny this. But it was one thing to see all her brother's worst faults
come to light, and quite another to see him do it in the company of strangers.
If her brother could not feel the mortification which should be his,
Elizabeth
would. She
tried to catch his eye, but instead she got the attention of Dan'l Bonner.
    He
was a man of about seventy years, with white hair touched with hints of his
earlier black, and a deeply weathered face, but with a calm dignity and
intelligence. His voice was deep and had a strange cadence, an intonation
Elizabeth
had not heard
from any other American so far. He