The Great Stone Face, and Other Tales of the White Mountains Read online

longed to be buried againin its depths rather than trust themselves to so vast and visible asolitude.

  'Shall we go on?' said Matthew, throwing his arm round Hannah's waist,both to protect her and to comfort his heart by drawing her close to it.

  But the little bride, simple as she was, had a woman's love of jewels,and could not forego the hope of possessing the very brightest in theworld, in spite of the perils with which it must be won.

  'Let us climb a little higher,' whispered she, yet tremulously, as sheturned her face upward to the lonely sky.

  'Come, then,' said Matthew, mustering his manly courage and drawing heralong with him, for she became timid again the moment that he grew bold.

  And upward, accordingly, went the pilgrims of the Great Carbuncle, nowtreading upon the tops and thickly-interwoven branches of dwarf pines,which, by the growth of centuries, though mossy with age, had barelyreached three feet in altitude. Next, they came to masses and fragmentsof naked rock heaped confusedly together, like a cairn reared by giantsin memory of a giant chief. In this bleak realm of upper air nothingbreathed, nothing grew; there was no life but what was concentrated intheir two hearts; they had climbed so high that Nature herself seemed nolonger to keep them company. She lingered beneath them, within the vergeof the forest trees, and sent a farewell glance after her children asthey strayed where her own green footprints had never been. But soonthey were to be hidden from her eye. Densely and dark the mists began togather below, casting black spots of shadow on the vast landscape, andsailing heavily to one centre, as if the loftiest mountain peak hadsummoned a council of its kindred clouds. Finally, the vapors weldedthemselves, as it were, into a mass, presenting the appearance of apavement over which the wanderers might have trodden, but where theywould vainly have sought an avenue to the blessed earth which they hadlost. And the lovers yearned to behold that green earth again, moreintensely, alas! than, beneath a clouded sky, they had ever desired aglimpse of heaven. They even felt it a relief to their desolation whenthe mists, creeping gradually up the mountain, concealed its lonelypeak, and thus annihilated, at least for them, the whole regionof visible space. But they drew closely together, with a fond andmelancholy gaze, dreading lest the universal cloud should snatch themfrom each other's sight.

  Still, perhaps, they would have been resolute to climb as far and ashigh, between earth and heaven, as they could find foothold, if Hannah'sstrength had not begun to fail, and with that, her courage also. Herbreath grew short. She refused to burden her husband with her weight,but often tottered against his side, and recovered herself each time bya feebler effort. At last, she sank down on one of the rocky steps ofthe acclivity.

  'We are lost, dear Matthew,' said she, mournfully. 'We shall never findour way to the earth again. And oh how happy we might have been in ourcottage!'

  'Dear heart! we will yet be happy there,' answered Matthew. 'Look! Inthis direction, the sunshine penetrates the dismal mist. By its aid, Ican direct our course to the passage of the Notch. Let us go back, love,and dream no more of the Great Carbuncle!'

  'The sun cannot be yonder,' said Hannah, with despondence. 'By this timeit must be noon. If there could ever be any sunshine here, it would comefrom above our heads.'

  'But look!' repeated Matthew, in a somewhat altered tone. 'It isbrightening every moment. If not sunshine, what can it be?'

  Nor could the young bride any longer deny that a radiance was breakingthrough the mist, and changing its dim hue to a dusky red, whichcontinually grew more vivid, as if brilliant particles were interfusedwith the gloom. Now, also, the cloud began to roll away from themountain, while, as it heavily withdrew, one object after anotherstarted out of its impenetrable obscurity into sight, with precisely theeffect of a new creation, before the indistinctness of the old chaoshad been completely swallowed up. As the process went on, they saw thegleaming of water close at their feet, and found themselves on the veryborder of a mountain lake, deep, bright, clear, and calmly beautiful,spreading from brim to brim of a basin that had been scooped out ofthe solid rock. A ray of glory flashed across its surface. The pilgrimslooked whence it should proceed, but closed their eyes with a thrill ofawful admiration, to exclude the fervid splendor that glowed from thebrow of a cliff impending over the enchanted lake. For the simple pairhad reached that lake of mystery, and found the long-sought shrine ofthe Great Carbuncle!

  They threw their arms around each other, and trembled at their ownsuccess; for, as the legends of this wondrous gem rushed thickupon their memory, they felt themselves marked out by fate and theconsciousness was fearful. Often, from childhood upward, they had seenit shining like a distant star. And now that star was throwing itsintensest lustre on their hearts. They seemed changed to one another'seyes, in the red brilliancy that flamed upon their cheeks, while it lentthe same fire to the lake, the rocks, and sky, and to the mists whichhad rolled back before its power. But, with their next glance, theybeheld an object that drew their attention even from the mighty stone.At the base of the cliff, directly beneath the Great Carbuncle, appearedthe figure of a man, with his arms extended in the act of climbing, andhis face turned upward, as if to drink the full gush of splendor. But hestirred not, no more than if changed to marble.

  'It is the Seeker,' whispered Hannah, convulsively grasping herhusband's arm. 'Matthew, he is dead.'

  'The joy of success has killed him,' replied Matthew, tremblingviolently. 'Or, perhaps, the very light of the Great Carbuncle wasdeath!'

  'The Great Carbuncle,' cried a peevish voice behind them. 'The GreatHumbug! If you have found it, prithee point it out to me.'

  They turned their heads, and there was the Cynic, with his prodigiousspectacles set carefully on his nose, staring now at the lake, now atthe rocks, now at the distant masses of vapor, now right at the GreatCarbuncle itself, yet seemingly as unconscious of its light as ifall the scattered clouds were condensed about his person. Though itsradiance actually threw the shadow of the unbeliever at his own feet,as he turned his back upon the glorious jewel, he would not be convincedthat there was the least glimmer there.

  'Where is your Great Humbug?' he repeated. 'I challenge you to make mesee it!'

  'There,' said Matthew, incensed at such perverse blindness, andturning the Cynic round towards the illuminated cliff. 'Take off thoseabominable spectacles, and you cannot help seeing it!'

  Now these colored spectacles probably darkened the Cynic's sight, in atleast as great a degree as the smoked glasses through which people gazeat an eclipse. With resolute bravado, however, he snatched them fromhis nose, and fixed a bold stare full upon the ruddy blaze of theGreat Carbuncle. But scarcely had he encountered it, when, with a deep,shuddering groan, he dropped his head, and pressed both hands across hismiserable eyes. Thenceforth there was, in very truth, no light of theGreat Carbuncle, nor any other light on earth, nor light of heavenitself, for the poor Cynic. So long accustomed to View all objectsthrough a medium that deprived them of every glimpse of brightness,a single flash of so glorious a phenomenon, striking upon his nakedvision, had blinded him forever.

  'Matthew,' said Hannah, clinging to him, 'let us go hence!'

  Matthew saw that she was faint, and kneeling down, supported her in hisarms, while he threw some of the thrillingly cold water of the enchantedlake upon her face and bosom. It revived her, but could not renovate hercourage.

  'Yes, dearest!' cried Matthew, pressing her tremulous form to hisbreast--'we will go hence, and return to our humble cottage. The blessedsunshine and the quiet moonlight shall come through our window. We willkindle the cheerful glow of our hearth, at eventide, and be happy in itslight. But never again will we desire more light than all the world mayshare with us.'

  'No,' said his bride, 'for how could we live by day, or sleep by night,in this awful blaze of the Great Carbuncle!'

  Out of the hollow of their hands, they drank each a draught from thelake, which presented them its waters uncontaminated by an earthly lip.Then, lending their guidance to the blinded Cynic, who uttered not
aword, and even stifled his groans in his own most wretched heart, theybegan to descend the mountain. Yet, as they left the shore, till thenuntrodden, of the spirit's lake, they threw a farewell glance towardsthe cliff, and beheld the vapors gathering in dense volumes, throughwhich the gem burned duskily.

  As touching the other pilgrims of the Great Carbuncle, the legend goeson to tell, that the worshipful Master Ichabod Pigsnort soon gave up thequest as a desperate speculation, and wisely resolved to betake himselfagain to his warehouse, near the town dock, in Boston. But, as he passedthrough the Notch of the mountains, a war party of Indians capturedour unlucky merchant, and carried him to Montreal, there holding himin bondage, till, by the payment of a heavy ransom, he had woefullysubtracted from his hoard