Into the Wilderness
Page 8

"I had a monetary settlement in mind," said Julian. "That would seem to be sufficient in this case, don't you think?"
Hawkeye had been following this exchange silently but now he spoke up. "You won't get Nathaniel to sit inside over your books, Judge," he said with a grin. "He must needs be out of doors. His mother managed to get his letters and numbers into him, but he's not overfond of sitting down with 'em."
Nathaniel turned his attention to the judge.
"I won't keep your books, and I have a home of my own," he said.
"But if you feel there's something you owe me, there's something I'll ask of you."
The judge nodded. "If it's in my power."
"Good Lord, Father," muttered Julian.
Nathaniel ignored Julian. "You can hire me to build the schoolhouse your daughter wants," he said. "For a fair wage. I'll start tomorrow."
"Tomorrow—" the judge said, bewildered.
"Even you can't build a cabin in the middle of winter," Richard pointed out.
"No, but I can cut the logs and lay the foundation and the chimney. I’ll roll the logs after the first thaw. I'll need to borrow a team, when it gets that far. And I'll take half the wage up front."
"That's a very good offer, Judge," remarked Richard Todd."I would take him up on it, otherwise you'll be dependent on Billy Kirby to build for you, and you know what a poor job he'll make of it." Richard looked pointedly at the crooked door sills and window sashes.
"Done and done," said the judge with a sigh. "If costs can be kept to a minimum." He was relieved to have two sticky matters resolved at once. Elizabeth would have her school; his debt to Hawkeye's son would be eased.
* * *
"You've got your eye on that woman," Hawkeye said to Nathaniel when they were finally on their way.
Nathaniel shrugged. "And if I do, what's to come of it?"
His father laughed softly. "She's fine to look at, sure enough. And smart. Smarter than her father and brother put together, I'd wager."
They were making their way up Hidden Wolf, walking the horse the judge had lent them. The doe was strapped over the mare's back, and the dogs trotted along behind wearily, glad to be headed for home, but still, with short bursts of enthusiasm, setting off after any sign of a rabbit.
Nathaniel took his time answering. He knew his father approved of Elizabeth; he wouldn't be bothered talking to anybody he didn't like, and he had found plenty to discuss with her. He had a weakness for women with tongues quick enough to match his own.
"She's content to remain a spinster, she says."
Hawkeye grunted. "Well, look at her menfolk. If those are the only husbands she's ever seen at their work, who could blame her?" Then, with a sideways glance: "Todd will have her if he can get her."
Nathaniel's shoulder was aching; he rubbed it with the heel of one hand. "If she brings the land along with her, he will," he agreed. "But it don't look as though she'll be easily got. She calls herself a spinster, and proud of it."
"You had a conversation with her about her spinsterhood right quick, I'd say."
"She's the kind that provokes me, I won't deny that." The mare threatened to lose her footing and Nathaniel chirped to her calmly. "Maybe I scairt her off."
"Or got her interested."
Nathaniel nodded. "There's that possibility."
They walked in silence for a few minutes.
"It would solve some problems," Hawkeye pointed out.
"If she brought Hidden Wolf into the match, it would."
Hawkeye grunted. "I saw you looking at her, and it ain't the land that got your attention. You looked at her like you looked at Sarah, once upon a time. Now don't get that face on you. Sarah's been dead five years. She wouldn't have begrudged you a new woman."
"You trying to marry me off to the judge's daughter? Right now, with Chingachgook on his way here with a proposition that's going to make every white man in this valley howl?"
Hawkeye shrugged. "I don't deny the timing's bad. But there's some things can't be ignored, and that woman is one of them. You best keep your wits about you, or Todd will beat you to it."
They were silent for a while as they scrambled up a steep slope, urging the horse along behind.
"Can't see a woman like that scraping hide and hoeing corn," Nathaniel said.
"True enough. But there's others to do that work. She's a schoolteacher."
Hawkeye said this last in a respectful tone. It was something Nathaniel had never understood about his father, his willingness to believe absolute good of any schoolteacher—until evidence to the contrary came to the front.
"Well, say for a minute she decides she's interested and I make her an offer. The judge wouldn't like it. Nor her brother," said Nathaniel.
Pausing to catch his breath, Hawkeye turned to look out over the village tucked into the elbow of the mountain. The evening was coming fast; long shadows of deepening dark blue moved down over the forest, reaching over the snowy fields to curl fingers around the scattered cabins and barns. Half Moon Lake glittered softly in the last of the evening light like a silver hand mirror thrown down carelessly on a rumpled white coverlet.
"Her daddy is white," Hawkeye said quietly, as if he and his son were not; as if they were of a different universe. "He thinks he owns the sky. The sky won't give him much of an argument, but that daughter of his will. He don't know what's coming his way." He shook his head and grinned. "That's a strong—willed woman, Nathaniel, and some men would run in the other direction. Richard Todd will, when he figures her out."