第35章

The GhostsNever stoops the soaring vulture On his quarry in the desert, On the sick or wounded bison, But another vulture, watching From his high aerial look-out, Sees the downward plunge, and follows;And a third pursues the second, Coming from the invisible ether, First a speck, and then a vulture, Till the air is dark with pinions.

So disasters come not singly;

But as if they watched and waited, Scanning one another's motions, When the first descends, the others Follow, follow, gathering flock-wise Round their victim, sick and wounded, First a shadow, then a sorrow, Till the air is dark with anguish.

Now, o'er all the dreary North-land, Mighty Peboan, the Winter, Breathing on the lakes and rivers, Into stone had changed their waters.

From his hair he shook the snow-flakes, Till the plains were strewn with whiteness, One uninterrupted level, As if, stooping, the Creator With his hand had smoothed them over.

Through the forest, wide and wailing, Roamed the hunter on his snow-shoes;In the village worked the women, Pounded maize, or dressed the deer-skin;And the young men played together On the ice the noisy ball-play, On the plain the dance of snow-shoes.

One dark evening, after sundown, In her wigwam Laughing Water Sat with old Nokomis, waiting For the steps of Hiawatha Homeward from the hunt returning.

On their faces gleamed the firelight, Painting them with streaks of crimson, In the eyes of old Nokomis Glimmered like the watery moonlight, In the eyes of Laughing Water Glistened like the sun in water;And behind them crouched their shadows In the corners of the wigwam, And the smoke In wreaths above them Climbed and crowded through the smoke-flue.

Then the curtain of the doorway From without was slowly lifted;Brighter glowed the fire a moment, And a moment swerved the smoke-wreath, As two women entered softly, Passed the doorway uninvited, Without word of salutation, Without sign of recognition, Sat down in the farthest corner, Crouching low among the shadows.

From their aspect and their garments, Strangers seemed they in the village;Very pale and haggard were they, As they sat there sad and silent, Trembling, cowering with the shadows.

Was it the wind above the smoke-flue, Muttering down into the wigwam?

Was it the owl, the Koko-koho, Hooting from the dismal forest?

Sure a voice said in the silence:

"These are corpses clad in garments, These are ghosts that come to haunt you, From the kingdom of Ponemah, From the land of the Hereafter!"Homeward now came Hiawatha From his hunting in the forest, With the snow upon his tresses, And the red deer on his shoulders.

At the feet of Laughing Water Down he threw his lifeless burden;Nobler, handsomer she thought him, Than when first he came to woo her, First threw down the deer before her, As a token of his wishes, As a promise of the future.

Then he turned and saw the strangers, Cowering, crouching with the shadows;Said within himself, "Who are they?

What strange guests has Minnehaha?"

But he questioned not the strangers, Only spake to bid them welcome To his lodge, his food, his fireside.

When the evening meal was ready, And the deer had been divided, Both the pallid guests, the strangers, Springing from among the shadows, Seized upon the choicest portions, Seized the white fat of the roebuck, Set apart for Laughing Water, For the wife of Hiawatha;Without asking, without thanking, Eagerly devoured the morsels, Flitted back among the shadows In the corner of the wigwam.

Not a word spake Hiawatha, Not a motion made Nokomis, Not a gesture Laughing Water;Not a change came o'er their features;