{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_2328/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_2328","id":"gutenberg_2328","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2328","summary":null,"tags":["Category: American Literature","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","Curiosities and wonders -- Fiction","Seneca Lake (N.Y.) -- Fiction"],"text":"Produced by Hugh C. MacDougall.  HTML version by Al Haines.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Lake Gun\n\n\nby\n\nJames Fenimore Cooper\n\n\n\n\n{This text has been transcribed and annotated by Hugh C. MacDougall,\nFounder and Secretary of the James Fenimore Cooper Society\n(jfcooper@wpe.com), who welcomes corrections and emendations. The text\nhas been transcribed as written, except that because of the limitations\nof the Gutenberg Project format, italicized words have been transcribed\nin FULL CAPITALS.}\n\n{\"The Lake Gun\" is one of James Fenimore Cooper's very few short\nstories, and was written in the last year of his life. It was\ncommissioned by George E. Wood for publication in a volume of\nmiscellaneous stories and poems called \"The Parthenon\" (New York:\nGeorge E. Wood, 1850), and Cooper received $100 for it. The story was\nreprinted a few years later in a similar volume called \"Specimens of\nAmerican Literature\" (New York, 1866). It was published in book form in\n1932 in a slipcased edition limited to 450 copies (New York: William\nFarquhar Payson, 1932) with an introduction by Robert F. Spiller.}\n\n{Introductory Note: The \"Lake Gun,\" though based on folklore about\nSeneca Lake in Central New York State (the \"Wandering Jew\" and the\n\"Lake Gun\"), and on a supposed Seneca Indian legend, is in fact\npolitical satire commenting on American political demagogues in\ngeneral, and in particular on the then (1850) Whig Senator from New\nYork State, William Henry Seward (1801-1872), who had served as\nGovernor of New York (1838-1842) and would later become Secretary of\nState (1861-1869) under Presidents Lincoln and Johnson. By 1850 Cooper\nfeared that unscrupulous political extremists, mobilizing public\nopinion behind causes such as abolitionism, were leading America\ntowards a disastrous Civil War. Cooper probably obtained his local lore\nabout Seneca Lake while visiting his son Paul, who attended Geneva\nCollege (now Hobart College) on Lake Seneca from 1840-1844.}\n\n\n\n\nThe Lake Gun\n\n\nby\n\nJames Fenimore Cooper\n\n\n\n\nThe Seneca is remarkable for its \"Wandering Jew,\" and the \"Lake Gun.\"\nThe first is a tree so balanced that when its roots are clear of the\nbottom it floats with its broken and pointed trunk a few feet above the\nsurface of the water, driving before the winds, or following in the\ncourse of the currents. At times, the \"Wandering Jew\" is seen off\nJefferson, near the head of this beautiful sheet; and next it will\nappear anchored, as it might be, in the shallow water near the outlet.\n\n{\"Wandering Jew\" = The medieval legend of Ahasueras, who mocked Christ\non his way to the cross and was condemned to live until Judgment Day,\nis widespread throughout Europe, though he was only identified as a\n\"Jew\" in the 17th century--students at Geneva College (now Hobart\nCollege) applied the name to a supposedly unsinkable floating log in\nLake Seneca, identified as the legendary \"Chief Agayentha\";\nJefferson = I am indebted to John Gormley of Burdett, NY, for the\ninformation that the Village of Jefferson, which I had been unable\nto locate, was renamed \"Watkins\" in 1852 and then the current and\nwell-known \"Watkins Glen\" in 1926. (August, 2011)} \n\nFor more than half a century has this remnant of the forest floated\nabout, from point to point, its bald head whitening with time, until\nits features have become familiar to all the older inhabitants of that\nregion of country. The great depth of the Seneca prevents it from\nfreezing; and summer and winter, springtime and autumn, is this\nwanderer to be observed; occasionally battling with the ice that makes\na short distance from the shore, now pursuing its quiet way before a\nmild southern air in June, or, again, anchored, by its roots touching\nthe bottom, as it passes a point, or comes in contact with the flats.\nIt has been known to remain a year or two at a time in view of the\nvillage of Geneva, until, accustomed to its sight, the people began to\nthink that it was never to move from its berth any more; but a fresh\nnortherly breeze changes all this; the \"Jew\" swings to the gale, and,\nlike a ship unmooring, drags clear of the bottom, and goes off to the\nsouthward, with its head just high enough above water to be visible. It\nwould seem really that his wanderings are not to cease as long as wood\nwill float.\n\n{Village of Geneva = now the City of Geneva, at the northern end of\nLake Seneca}\n\nNo white man can give the history of this \"Jew.\" He was found laving\nhis sides in the pure waters of the Seneca by the earliest settlers,\nand it may have been ages since his wanderings commenced. When they are\nto cease is a secret in the womb of time.\n\nThe \"Lake Gun\" is a mystery. It is a sound resembling the explosion of\na heavy piece of artillery, that can be accounted for by none of the\nknown laws of nature. The report is deep, hollow, distant, and\nimposing. The lake seems to be speaking to the surrounding hills, which\nsend back the echoes of its voice in accurate reply. No satisfactory\ntheory has ever been broached to explain these noises. Conjectures have\nbeen hazarded about chasms, and the escape of compressed air by the\nsudden admission of water; but all this is talking at random, and has\nprobably no foundation in truth. The most that can be said is, that\nsuch sounds are heard, though at long intervals, and that no one as yet\nhas succeeded in ascertaining their cause.\n\n{\"The Lake Gun\" = The \"Lake Gun\" or \"Lake Drum\" is a mysterious booming\nsound occasionally heard on Lake Seneca (and on neighboring Lake\nCayuga), which has been given a variety of scientific, literary, and\nlegendary interpretations.}\n\nIt is not many lustrums since curiosity induced an idler, a traveler,\nand one possessed of much attainment derived from journeys in distant\nlands, first to inquire closely into all the traditions connected with\nthese two peculiarities of the Seneca, and, having thus obtained all he\ncould, to lead him to make the tour of the entire lake, in the hope of\nlearning more by actual personal observation. He went up and down in\nthe steamboat; was much gratified with his trip, but could see or hear\nnothing to help him in his investigation. The \"Gun\" had not been heard\nin a long time, and no one could tell him what had become of the\n\"Wandering Jew.\" In vain did his eyes roam over the broad expanse of\nwater; they could discover nothing to reward their search. There was an\nold man in the boat, of the name of Peter, who had passed his life on\nthe Seneca, and to him was our traveler referred, as the person most\nlikely to gratify his curiosity. Fuller (for so we shall call the\nstranger for the sake of convenience) was not slow to profit by this\nhint, and was soon in amicable relations with the tough, old,\nfresh-water mariner. A half-eagle opportunely bestowed opened all the\nstores of Peter's lore; and he professed himself ready to undertake a\ncruise, even, for the especial purpose of hunting up the \"Jew.\"\n\n{lustrum = a period of five years; half eagle = a U.S. gold coin worth\n$5.00}\n\n\"I haven't seen that ere crittur now\"--Peter always spoke of the tree\nas if it had animal life--\"these three years. We think he doesn't like\nthe steamboats. The very last time I seed the old chap he was a-goin'\nup afore a smart norwester, and we was a-comin' down with the wind in\nour teeth, when I made out the 'Jew,' about a mile, or, at most, a mile\nand a half ahead of us, and right in our track. I remember that I said\nto myself, says I, 'Old fellow, we'll get a sight of your countenance\nthis time.' I suppose you know, sir, that the 'Jew' has a face just\nlike a human?\"\n\n\"I did not know that; but what became of the tree?\"\n\n\"Tree,\" answered Peter, shaking his head, \"why, can't we cut a tree\ndown in the woods, saw it and carve it as we will, and make it last a\nhundred years? What become of the tree, sir;--why, as soon as the 'Jew'\nsaw we was a-comin' so straight upon him, what does the old chap do but\nshift his helm, and make for the west shore. You never seed a steamer\nleave sich a wake, or make sich time. If he went half a knot, he went\ntwenty!\"\n\nThis little episode rather shook Fuller's faith in Peter's accuracy;\nbut it did not prevent his making an arrangement by which he and the\nold man were to take a cruise in quest of the tree, after having\nfruitlessly endeavored to discover in what part of the lake it was just\nthen to be seen.\n\n\"Some folks pretend he's gone down,\" said Peter, in continuation of a\ndiscourse on the subject, as he flattened in the sheets of a very\ncomfortable and rather spacious sailboat, on quitting the wharf of\nGeneva, \"and will never come up ag'in. But they may just as well tell\nme that the sky is coming down, and that we may set about picking up\nthe larks. That 'Jew' will no more sink than a well-corked bottle will\nsink.\"\n\n{picking up the larks = \"When the sky falls we shall catch larks\" is an\nold proverb, meaning that an idea or suggestion is ridiculous}\n\nThis was the opinion of Peter. Fuller cared but little for it, though\nhe still fancied he might make his companion useful in hunting up the\nobject of his search. These two strangely-assorted companions cruised\nup and down the Seneca for a week, vainly endeavoring to find the\n\"Wandering Jew.\" Various were the accounts they gleaned from the\ndifferent boatmen. One had heard he was to be met with off this point;\nanother, in that bay: all believed he might be found, though no one had\nseen him lately--some said, in many years.\n\n\"He'll turn up,\" said Peter, positively, \"or the Seneca would go down\nbows foremost. We shall light on the old chap when we least expect it.\"\n\nIt must be confessed that Peter had many sufficient reasons for\nentertaining these encouraging hopes. He was capitally fed, had very\nlittle more to do than to ease off, or flatten in a sheet, the boat\nbeing too large to be rowed; and cigars, and liquors of various sorts\nwere pretty much at his command, for the obvious reason that they were\nunder his care. In delivering his sentiments, however, Peter was\nreasonably honest, for he had the most implicit faith, not only in the\nexistence of this \"Jew,\" but in the beneficent influence of his visits.\nHis presence was universally deemed a sign of good luck.\n\nFuller passed most of the nights in a comfortable bed, leaving Peter in\nthe boat; sometimes asking for lodgings in a farm-house, and, at\nothers, obtaining them in an inn. Wherever he might be, he inquired\nabout the \"Wandering Jew\" and the \"Lake Gun,\" bent on solving these two\ndifficult problems, if possible, and always with the same success. Most\npersons had seen the former, but not lately; while about one in ten had\nheard the latter. It occurred to our traveler that more of the last\nwere to be found nearer to the northern than to the southern end of the\nlake.\n\nThe cruise continued a fortnight in this desultory manner, with the\nsame want of success. One morning, as Fuller was returning to the boat,\nafter passing the night in a farm-house, he was struck by the\nstatue-like appearance of a figure which stood on the extreme point of\na low, rocky promontory, that was considerably aside from any dwelling\nor building. The place was just at the commencement of the hill\ncountry, and where the shores of the Seneca cease to offer those\nsmiling pictures of successful husbandry that so much abound farther\nnorth. A somber, or it might be better to say a sober, aspect gave\ndignity to the landscape, which, if not actually grand, had, at least,\nmost of the elements that characterize the noble in nature.\n\nBut Fuller, at the moment, was less struck with the scenery, charming\nas that certainly was, than with the statue-like and immovable form on\nthe little promontory. A single tree shaded the spot where the stranger\nstood, but it cast its shadows toward the west, at that early hour,\nleaving the erect and chiseled form in clear sun-light. Stimulated by\ncuriosity, and hoping to learn something that might aid him in his\nsearch from one as curious as himself, Fuller turned aside, and,\ninstead of descending to the spot where Peter had the boat ready for\nhis reception, he crossed a pleasant meadow, in the direction of the\ntree.\n\nSeveral times did our traveler stop to gaze on that immovable form. A\nfeeling of superstition came over him when he saw that not the smallest\nmotion, nor relief of limb or attitude, was made for the ten minutes\nthat his eye had rested on the singular and strange object. At he drew\nnearer, however, the outlines became more and more distinct, and he\nfancied that the form was actually naked. Then the truth became\napparent: it was a native of the forest, in his summer garb, who had\nthrown aside his blanket, and stood in his leggings, naked. Phidias\ncould not have cut in stone a more faultless form; for active,\nhealthful youth had given to it the free and noble air of manly but\nmodest independence.\n\n{Phidias = a very famous Greek sculptor of the 5th century B.C.}\n\n\"Sago,\" said Fuller, drawing near to the young Indian, who did not\nbetray surprise or emotion of any sort, as the stranger's foot-fall\ncame unexpectedly on his ear, using the salutation of convention, as it\nis so generally practiced between the two races. The Indian threw\nforward an arm with dignity, but maintained his erect and otherwise\nimmovable attitude.\n\n{Sago = a term of greeting, as Cooper believed, among American Indians}\n\n\"Oneida?\" demanded Fuller, while he doubted if any young warrior of\nthat half-subdued tribe could retain so completely the air and mien of\nthe great forests and distant prairies.\n\n\"Seneca,\" was the simple answer. The word was uttered in a tone so low\nand melancholy that it sounded like saddened music. Nothing that Fuller\nhad ever before heard conveyed so much meaning so simply, and in so few\nsyllables. It illuminated the long vista of the past, and cast a gloomy\nshadow into that of the future, alluding to a people driven from their\nhaunts, never to find another resting-place on earth. That this young\nwarrior so meant to express himself--not in an abject attempt to extort\nsympathy, but in the noble simplicity of a heart depressed by the fall\nof his race--Fuller could not doubt; and every generous feeling of his\nsoul was enlisted in behalf of this young Indian.\n\n\"Seneca,\" he repeated slowly, dropping his voice to something like the\nsoft, deep tones of the other; \"then you are in your own country, here?\"\n\n\"My country,\" answered the red man, coldly, \"no; my FATHER'S country,\nyes.\"\n\nHis English was good, denoting more than a common education, though it\nhad a slightly foreign or peculiar accent. The intonations of his voice\nwere decidedly those of the Indian.\n\n\"You have come to visit the land of your fathers?\"\n\nA slight wave of the hand was the reply. All this time the young Seneca\nkept his eye fastened in one direction, apparently regarding some\nobject in the lake. Fuller could see nothing to attract this nearly\nriveted gaze, though curiosity induced him to make the effort.\n\n\"You admire this sheet of water, by the earnest manner in which you\nlook upon it?\" observed Fuller.\n\n\"See!\" exclaimed the Indian, motioning toward a point near a mile\ndistant. \"He moves! may be he will come here.\"\n\n\"Moves! I see nothing but land, water, and sky. What moves?\"\n\n\"The Swimming Seneca. For a thousand winters he is to swim in the\nwaters of this lake. Such is the tradition of my people. Five hundred\nwinters are gone by since he was thrown into the lake; five hundred\nmore must come before he will sink. The curse of the Manitou is on him.\nFire will not burn him; water will not swallow him up; the fish will\nnot go near him; even the accursed axe of the settler can not cut him\ninto chips! There he floats, and must float, until his time is\nfinished!\"\n\n{Swimming Seneca = though I have been unable to discover any genuine\nNative American origin for this legend, a detailed variation of it can\nbe found in a poem, \"Outalissa\", by Rev. Ralph Hoyt, published in\n\"Sketches by Rev. Hoyt, Vol. VIII\" (New York. C. Shepard, n.d. [ca.\n1848] (the Geneva College library copy of which is inscribed \"DeLancey\"\nand may have belonged to the family of Cooper's brother-in-law,\nEpiscopal Bishop of Western New York William Heathcote De Lancey\n(1797-1865), who lived in Geneva)--a somewhat different version forms\nthe Geneva (Hobart) College student legend of Chief Agayentha or \"The\nFloating Chief.\"}\n\n\"You must mean the 'Wandering. Jew?'\"\n\n\"So the pale-faces call him; but he was never a Jew. 'Tis a chief of\nthe Senecas, thrown into the lake by the Great Spirit, for his bad\nconduct. Whenever he tries to get upon the land, the Spirit speaks to\nhim from the caves below, and he obeys.\"\n\n\"THAT must mean the 'Lake Gun?'\"\n\n\"So the pale-faces call it. It is not strange that the names of the red\nman and of the pale-faces should differ.\"\n\n\"The races are not the same, and each has its own traditions. I wish to\nhear what the Senecas say about this floating tree; but first have the\ngoodness to point it out to me.\"\n\nThe young Indian did as Fuller requested. Aided by the keener vision of\nthe red man, our traveler at length got a glimpse of a distant speck on\nthe water, which his companion assured him was the object of their\nmutual search. He himself had been looking for the \"Jew\" a week, but\nhad asked no assistance from others, relying on the keenness of his\nsight and the accuracy of his traditions. That very morning he had\nfirst discovered the speck on the water, which he now pointed out to\nhis companion.\n\n\"You think, then, that yonder object is the 'Wandering Jew?'\" asked\nFuller.\n\n\"It is the Swimming Seneca. Five hundred winters has he been obliged to\nkeep in the chilled waters of the lake; in five hundred more the\nManitou will let him rest on its bottom.\"\n\n\"What was the offense that has drawn down upon this chief so severe a\npunishment?\"\n\n\"Listen to our traditions, and you shall know. When the Great Spirit\ncreated man, He gave him laws to obey, and duties to perform--\"\n\n\"Excuse me, Seneca, but your language is so good that I hardly know\nwhat to make of you.\"\n\nAn almost imperceptible smile played about the compressed lip of the\nyoung Indian, who, at first, seemed disposed to evade an explanation;\nbut, on reflection, he changed his purpose, and communicated to Fuller\nthe outlines of a very simple, and, by no means, unusual history. He\nwas a chief of the highest race in his tribe, and had been selected to\nreceive the education of a pale-face at one of the colleges of that\npeople. He had received a degree, and, yielding to the irrepressible\nlongings of what might almost be termed his nature, he no sooner left\nthe college in which he had been educated, than he resumed the blanket\nand leggings, under the influence of early recollections, and a\nmistaken appreciation of the comparative advantages between the\ncivilized condition, and those of a life passed in the forest and on\nthe prairies. In this respect our young Seneca resembles the white\nAmerican, who, after a run of six months in Europe, returns home with\nthe patriotic declaration in his mouth, that his native land is\npreferable to all other lands. Fuller soon understood the case, when\nboth reverted to their common object in coming thither. The young\nSeneca thereupon resumed his explanation.\n\n{the young Indian = almost certainly based on Abraham La Fort or\nDe-hat-ka-tons (1799-1848), an Oneida Indian who attended Geneva\nCollege in the late 1820s, but who later abandoned Christianity and\nreturned to his traditional way of life}\n\n\"These laws of the Great Spirit,\" continued the Seneca, \"were not\ndifficult to obey so long as the warrior was of a humble mind, and\nbelieved himself inferior to the Manitou, who had fashioned him with\nHis hands, and placed him between the Seneca and the Cayuga, to hunt\nthe deer and trap the beaver. But See-wise was one of those who\npracticed arts that you pale-faces condemn, while you submit to them.\nHe was a demagogue among the red men, and set up the tribe in\nopposition to the Manitou.\"\n\n{See-wise = intended to represent William Henry Seward's surname}\n\n\"How,\" exclaimed Fuller, \"did the dwellers in the forest suffer by such\npractices?\"\n\n\"Men are every where the same, let the color, or the tribe, or the\ncountry be what it may. It was a law of our people, one which tradition\ntells us came direct from the Great Spirit, that the fish should be\ntaken only in certain seasons, and for so many moons. Some thought this\nlaw was for the health of the people; others, that it was to enable the\nfish to multiply for the future. All believed it wise, because it came\nfrom the Manitou, and had descended to the tribe through so many\ngenerations: all but See-wise. He said that an Indian ought to fish\nwhen and where he pleased; that a warrior was not a woman; that the\nspear and the hook had been given to him to be used, like the bow and\narrow, and that none but cowardly Indians would scruple to take the\nfish when they wished. Such opinions pleased the common Indians, who\nlove to believe themselves greater than they are. See-wise grew bolder\nby success, until he dared to say in council, that the red men made the\nworld themselves, and for themselves, and that they could do with it\nwhat they pleased. He saw no use in any night; it was inconvenient; an\nIndian could sleep in the light as well as in the darkness; there was\nto be eternal day; then the hunt could go on until the deer was killed,\nor the bear treed. The young Indians liked such talk. They loved to be\ntold they were the equals of the Great Spirit. They declared that\nSee-wise should be their principal chief. See-wise opened his ears wide\nto this talk, and the young men listened to his words as they listened\nto the song of the mocking-bird. They liked each other, because they\npraised each other. It is sweet to be told that we are better and wiser\nthan all around us. It is sweet to the red man; the pale-faces may have\nmore sober minds--\"\n\nThe Seneca paused an instant, and Fuller fancied that a smile of irony\nagain struggled about his compressed lip. As the traveler made no\nremark, however, the youthful warrior resumed his tale.\n\n\"I hear a great deal of what demagogues are doing among your people,\nand of the evil they produce. They begin by flattering, and end by\nruling. He carries a strong hand, who makes all near him help to uphold\nit. In the crowd few perceive its weight until it crushes them.\n\n\"Thus was it with See-wise. Half the young men listened to him, and\nfollowed in his trail. The aged chiefs took counsel together. They saw\nthat all the ancient traditions were despised, and that new conduct was\nlikely to come in with new opinions. They were too old to change. What\nwas done has never been said, but See-wise disappeared. It was\nwhispered that he had gone down among the fish he loved to take out of\nseason. There is one tradition, that he speared an enormous salmon, and\nthe fish, in its struggles, drew him out of his canoe, and that his\nhands could not let go of the handle of his spear. Let this be as it\nmay, no one ever saw See-wise any more, in the form in which he had\nbeen known to his people. At length the trunk of a tree was seen\nfloating about the Seneca, and one of the oldest of the chiefs,\npointing to it, pronounced the name of 'See-wise.' He would fish out of\nseason, and his spirit is condemned, they say, to float among the\nsalmon, and trout, and eels, for a thousand winters. It was not long\nafter this that the lake began to speak, in a voice loud as the thunder\nfrom the clouds. The Seneca traditions say this is the Manitou calling\nto See-wise, when he goes down after the fish, out of season.\"\n\n\"And do you, an educated man, believe in this tale?\" asked Fuller.\n\n\"I can not say. The things learned in childhood remain the longest on\nthe memory. They make the deepest marks. I have seen the evil that a\ndemagogue can do among the pale-faces; why should I not believe the\nsame among my own people?\"\n\n\"This is well enough, as respects the curse on the demagogue; but lakes\ndo not usually--\"\n\nFuller had got thus far, when the Seneca, as if in mockery, emitted the\nsound that has obtained the name of the \"Lake Gun\" among those who have\nlived on its banks in these later times. Perhaps it was, in part, the\ninfluence of the Seneca's legend, united to the opinions and statements\nof the inhabitants of that region, which conspired to make our traveler\nstart, in awe and surprise; for, certainly, the deep-mouthed cannon\nnever gave forth a more impressive and sudden concussion on the ear.\n\n\"It does, indeed, sound very like a gun!\" said Fuller, after a long\npause had enabled him to speak.\n\n\"It is the voice of the Great Spirit, forbidding See-wise to fish,\"\nanswered the Seneca. \"For a time the demagogue has all the talking to\nhimself, but, sooner or later, the voice of truth is heard, which is\nthe voice of the Manitou. But I must go nearer to the tree--ha! what\nhas become of it?\"\n\nFuller looked, and, sure enough, the speck on the water had vanished.\nThis might have been by an unobserved movement in a current; or it\nmight have been owing to a sudden variation in the light; certain it\nwas, no tree could now be seen. Fuller then proposed to use his boat,\nin endeavoring to get nearer to the \"Jew.\" The Seneca gave a very\ncheerful assent, and, throwing his light summer blanket, with an air of\nmanly grace, over a shoulder, he followed to the water-side.\n\n\"Most red men,\" resumed the young warrior, as he took his place in the\nboat, \"would see something marvelous in this appearance and\ndisappearance of the swimming Seneca, and would hesitate about going\nany nearer to him; but this is not my feeling--error is strengthened by\nneglecting to look into truth. I hope yet to go near See-wise.\"\n\nFuller hardly knew what to think of his companion's credulity. At times\nhe appeared to defer to the marvelous and the traditions of his tribe;\nthen, again, the lights of education would seem to gleam upon the\ndarkness of his superstition, and leave him a man of inductive reason.\nAs for himself, he was probably not altogether as much of the last as\nhis pride of race would have led him to hope.\n\nPeter had seen nothing, but he had heard the \"Gun.\"\n\n\"'T was a mere flash in the pan to what I have heard, when the lake is\nin 'arnest,\" said the old fellow, with the love of exaggeration so\ncommon with the vulgar. \"Still, it was a gun.\"\n\n\"A signal that the 'Wandering Jew' is near by; so, haul aft the sheets,\nand let us depart.\"\n\nIn a quarter of an hour the boat was lying with her foresheet hauled\nover, and her helm down, within a hundred yards of the object of the\nlong search of the whole party. It was deep water, and a slight ripple\nunder what might be termed the cutwater of the tree indicated a\nmovement. Perhaps a lower current forced forward the roots, which, in\ntheir turn, urged the trunk ahead. As often happens in such cases, the\naccidental formation of the original fracture, aided by the action of\nthe weather, had given to the end of the trunk a certain resemblance to\na human countenance. Peter was the first to point out the peculiarity,\nwhich he looked upon uneasily. Fuller soon observed it, and said the\naspect was, in sooth, that of a demagogue. The forehead retreated, the\nface was hatchet-shaped, while the entire expression was selfish, yet\nundecided. As for the Seneca, he gazed on these signs with wonder,\nmingled with awe.\n\n{hatchet shaped = William Henry Seward was famous for his angular,\nhatchet-shaped nose}\n\n\"We see here the wicked See-wise. The Great Spirit--call him Manitou,\nor call him God--does not forget what is wrong, or what is right. The\nwicked may flourish for a while, but there is a law that is certain to\nbring him within the power of punishment. Evil spirits go up and down\namong us, but there is a limit they can not pass. But Indians like this\nSwimming Seneca do much harm. They mislead the ignorant, arouse evil\npassions, and raise themselves into authority by their dupes. The man\nwho tells the people their faults is a truer friend than he who harps\nonly on their good qualities. Be that only a tree, or be it a man bound\nin this form, for a thousand winters, by the hand of the Great Spirit,\nit tells the same story. See-wise did once live. His career comes to us\nin traditions, and we believe all that our fathers told us. Accursed be\nthe man who deceives, and who opens his mouth only to lie! Accursed,\ntoo, is the land that neglects the counsels of the fathers to follow\nthose of the sons!\"\n\n\"There is a remarkable resemblance between this little incident in the\nhistory of the Senecas and events that are passing among our pale-faced\nrace of the present age. Men who, in their hearts, really care no more\nfor mankind than See-wise cared for the fish, lift their voices in\nshouts of a spurious humanity, in order to raise themselves to power,\non the shoulders of an excited populace. Bloodshed, domestic violence,\nimpracticable efforts to attain an impossible perfection, and all the\nevils of a civil conflict are forgotten or blindly attempted, in order\nto raise themselves in the arms of those they call the people.\"\n\n\"I know your present condition,\" answered the young Seneca, openly\nsmiling. \"The Manitou may have ordered it for your good. Trust to HIM.\nThere are days in which the sun is not seen--when a lurid darkness\nbrings a second night over the earth. It matters not. The great\nluminary is always there. There may be clouds before his face, but the\nwinds will blow them away. The man or the people that trust in God will\nfind a lake for every See-wise.\"","title":"The Lake Gun","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":5276}