Prevod
Ruth Bonython je nesrečna hči odpadnika. Njen oče je enako krivičen do prijateljev kakor do sovražnikov, a do nikogar ni tako neusmiljen kakor do Ruth. Čeprav ve, da ljubi gospoda Scammona — kljub temu, da jo je zapustil — in da bi raje umrla, kakor se poročila z drugim, jo je obljubil Moggu Megonu, poglavarju, ki vlada Indijancem ob izlivu reke Saco. Ta nerodni divjak si domišlja, da pozna najgloblji vzrok njene žalosti, in nekega dne, ko jo snubi, razgrne svojo odejo ter ji pokaže Scammonov skalp, da bi dokazal, da jo je maščeval. Ruth ga z grozo gleda, ko pa ji krvavo trofejo vrže pred noge, jo krsti s solzo odpuščanja. Kakšno hudodelstvo utegne slediti temu? Ah, zanj nobeno, kajti zdaj pristopi Bonython in ga zasipa z laskanjem ter pijačo, dokler od poglavarja naposled ne iztisne podpisa — totemskega znamenja loka — na listini o prenosu zemlje, za katero je pripravljen prodati svojo hčer. Ruth, ki jo očetova nizkotnost in Indijančeva surovost spravita ob pamet, plane na podivjanega divjaka, mu izza pasu iztrga nož, ki je ubil njenega ljubega, mu prekolje srce in zbeži v gozd, Bonythona pa pusti otrplega od osuplosti.
Oče Rasles v svoji kapeli v Norridgewocku ščuva indijanske spreobrnjence proti puritancem, ki so se petdeset let poprej naselili južno od njega. K njemu pride ženska v raztrganih oblačilih in s prestrašenim obrazom. Pravi, da je prejšnjo noč pred njo stala njena pokojna mati in jo očitajoče gledala, ker je ubila Mogga Megona. Duhovnik se v srdu umakne, saj je bil Mogg obetaven služabnik vere, in ji ukaže, naj odide, ker ne more prositi za odpuščanje. Ko nato v kapeli mračno premišljuje, ga zdramita pok strelov in švist puščic. Harmon in Moulton napredujeta s svojimi možmi in vpijeta: »Dol z rimsko zverjo! Smrt babilonskemu psu!« Ruth, ki ne ve, kaj utegne pomeniti ta nova nesreča, steče iz cerkve in izgine.
Nekaj dni pozneje stari baron Castine, ki se odpravi v Norridgewock pokopat in maščevat mrtve, najde žensko, sedečo na tleh, s pogledom uprtim čez polje, posejano s pepelom in človeškimi kostmi. Dotakne se je. Mrzla je. Življenje jo je zapustilo že pred dnevi. To je Ruth.
Izvirnik
Hapless daughter of a renegade is Ruth Bonython. Her father is as unfair to his friends as to his enemies, but to neither of them so merciless as to Ruth. Although he knows that she loves Master Scammon--in spite of his desertion and would rather die than wed another, he has promised her to Mogg Megone, the chief who rules the Indians at the Saco mouth. He, blundering savage, fancies that he sees to the bottom of her grief, and one day, while urging his suit, he opens his blanket and shows the scalp of Scammon, to prove that he has avenged her. She looks in horror, but when he flings the bloody trophy at her feet she baptizes it with a forgiving tear. What villainy may this lead to? Ah, none for him, for Bonython now steps in and plies him with flattery and drink, gaining from the chief, at last, his signature--the bow totem--to a transfer of the land for which he is willing to sell his daughter. Ruth, maddened at her father's meanness and the Indian's brutality, rushes on the imbruted savage, grasps from his belt the knife that has slain her lover, cleaves his heart in twain, and flies into the wood, leaving Bonython stupid with amazement.
Father Rasles, in his chapel at Norridgewock, is affecting his Indian converts against the Puritans, who settled to the southward of him fifty years before. To him comes a woman with torn garments and frightened face. Her dead mother stood before her last night, she says, and looked at her reprovingly, for she had killed Mogg Megone. The priest starts back in wrath, for Mogg was a hopeful agent of the faith, and bids her go, for she can ask no pardon. Brooding within his chapel, then, he is startled by the sound of shot and hum of arrows. Harmon and Moulton are advancing with their men and crying, “Down with the beast of Rome! Death to the Babylonish dog!” Ruth, knowing not what this new misfortune may mean, runs from the church and disappears.
Some days later, old Baron Castine, going to Norridgewock to bury and revenge the dead, finds a woman seated on the earth and gazing over a field strewn with ashes and with human bones. He touches her. She is cold. There has been no life for days. It is Ruth.
