Fenimore Coopers Literary Offences | Page 5

certainly surprising just as it stands; but it is not
surprising enough for Cooper. Cooper adds a touch. He has made
Pathfinder do this miracle with another man's rifle; and not only that,
but Pathfinder did not have even the advantage of loading it himself.
He had everything against him, and yet he made that impossible shot;
and not only made it, but did it with absolute confidence, saying, "Be
ready to clench." Now a person like that would have undertaken that
same feat with a brickbat, and with Cooper to help he would have
achieved it, too.
Pathfinder showed off handsomely that day before the ladies. His very
first feat was a thing which no Wild West show can touch. He was
standing with the group of marksmen, observing--a hundred yards from
the target, mind; one jasper raised his rifle and drove the centre of the
bull's-eye. Then the Quartermaster fired. The target exhibited no result
this time. There was a laugh. "It's a dead miss," said Major Lundie.
Pathfinder waited an impressive moment or two; then said, in that calm,
indifferent, know-it-all way of his, "No, Major, he has covered jasper's
bullet, as will be seen if any one will take the trouble to examine the
target."
Wasn't it remarkable! How could he see that little pellet fly through the
air and enter that distant bullet-hole? Yet that is what he did; for
nothing is impossible to a Cooper person. Did any of those people have
any deep-seated doubts about this thing? No; for that would imply
sanity, and these were all Cooper people.
"The respect for Pathfinder's skill and for his 'quickness and accuracy
of sight'" (the italics [''] are mine) "was so profound and general, that
the instant he made this declaration the spectators began to distrust
their own opinions, and a dozen rushed to the target in order to

ascertain the fact. There, sure enough, it was found that the
Quartermaster's bullet had gone through the hole made by Jasper's, and
that, too, so accurately as to require a minute examination to be certain
of the circumstance, which, however, was soon clearly established by
discovering one bullet over the other in the stump against which the
target was placed."
They made a "minute" examination; but never mind, how could they
know that there were two bullets in that hole without digging the latest
one out? for neither probe nor eyesight could prove the presence of any
more than one bullet. Did they dig? No; as we shall see. It is the
Pathfinder's turn now; he steps out before the ladies, takes aim, and
fires.
But, alas! here is a disappointment; an incredible, an unimaginable
disappointment--for the target's aspect is unchanged; there is nothing
there but that same old bullet-hole!
"'If one dared to hint at such a thing,' cried Major Duncan, 'I should say
that the Pathfinder has also missed the target!'"
As nobody had missed it yet, the "also" was not necessary; but never
mind about that, for the Pathfinder is going to speak.
"'No, no, Major,' said he, confidently, 'that would be a risky declaration.
I didn't load the piece, and can't say what was in it; but if it was lead,
you will find the bullet driving down those of the Quartermaster and
Jasper, else is not my name Pathfinder.'
"A shout from the target announced the truth of this assertion."
Is the miracle sufficient as it stands? Not for Cooper. The Pathfinder
speaks again, as he "now slowly advances towards the stage occupied
by the females":
"'That's not all, boys, that's not all; if you find the target touched at all,
I'll own to a miss. The Quartermaster cut the wood, but you'll find no
wood cut by that last messenger."

The miracle is at last complete. He knew--doubtless saw--at the
distance of a hundred yards--that his bullet had passed into the hole
without fraying the edges. There were now three bullets in that one
hole--three bullets embedded processionally in the body of the stump
back of the target. Everybody knew this--somehow or other--and yet
nobody had dug any of them out to make sure. Cooper is not a close
observer, but he is interesting. He is certainly always that, no matter
what happens. And he is more interesting when he is not noticing what
he is about than when he is. This is a considerable merit.
The conversations in the Cooper books have a curious sound in our
modern ears. To believe that such talk really ever came out of people's
mouths would be to believe that there was a time when time was of no
value to a person who thought he had something to say; when it was the
custom to spread a two-minute remark out to ten; when a