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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:34:31 -0700 |
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diff --git a/10434-h/10434-h.htm b/10434-h/10434-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3f664ac --- /dev/null +++ b/10434-h/10434-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,17049 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Wyandotte, by James Fenimore Cooper</title> +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + + body { + margin .5em; + font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; + } + + h1,h2,h3,h4 { + text-align: center; + font-weight: bold; + font-variant: small-caps + } + + .smallcaps { font-variant: small-caps } + + a { text-decoration: none; } + a:hover { background-color: #ffffcc } + + div.chapter { + margin-top: 4em; + } + + div.epi { + margin-top: 1.5em; + margin-right: auto; + margin-bottom: 1.5em; + margin-left: auto; + width: 50%; + font-size: .9em; + } + + div.epi p { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + padding-left: auto; + padding-right: auto; + border: none; + } + + table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + } + + --> +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10434 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Wyandotte, by James Fenimore Cooper</h1> + + +</pre> +<center><b>E-text prepared by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders</b></center> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<h1>Wyandotté;</h1> + +<p align="center">or,</p> + +<h2 class="subtitle">The Hutted Knoll.</h2> + +<h3>A Tale.</h3> + +<h2 class="author">By J. Fenimore Cooper.</h2> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="epi"> +<p> "I venerate the Pilgrim's cause,<br /> + Yet for the red man dare to plead:<br /> + We bow to Heaven's recorded laws,<br /> + He turns to Nature for his creed."</p> + +<p> Sprague.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +</div> + +<h3>Complete in One Volume.</h3> + + +<h4>1871.</h4> + + + +<div class="chapter" id="preface"> +<h2>Preface.</h2> + + + +<p>The history of the borders is filled with legends of the sufferings of +isolated families, during the troubled scenes of colonial warfare. Those +which we now offer to the reader, are distinctive in many of their leading +facts, if not rigidly true in the details. The first alone is necessary to +the legitimate objects of fiction.</p> + +<p>One of the misfortunes of a nation, is to hear little besides its own +praises. Although the American revolution was probably as just an effort +as was ever made by a people to resist the first inroads of oppression, +the cause had its evil aspects, as well as all other human struggles. We +have been so much accustomed to hear everything extolled, of late years, +that could be dragged into the remotest connection with that great event, +and the principles which led to it, that there is danger of overlooking +truth, in a pseudo patriotism. Nothing is really patriotic, however, that +is not strictly true and just; any more than it is paternal love to +undermine the constitution of a child by an indiscriminate indulgence in +pernicious diet. That there were demagogues in 1776, is as certain as that +there are demagogues in 1843, and will probably continue to be demagogues +as long as means for misleading the common mind shall exist.</p> + +<p>A great deal of undigested morality is uttered to the world, under the +disguise of a pretended public virtue. In the eye of reason, the man who +deliberately and voluntarily contracts civil engagements is more strictly +bound to their fulfilment, than he whose whole obligations consist of an +accident over which he had not the smallest control, that of birth; though +the very reverse of this is usually maintained under the influence of +popular prejudice. The reader will probably discover how we view this +master, in the course of our narrative.</p> + +<p>Perhaps this story is obnoxious to the charge of a slight anachronism, in +representing the activity of the Indians a year earlier than any were +actually employed in the struggle of 1775. During the century of warfare +that existed between the English and French colonies, the savage tribes +were important agents in furthering the views of the respective +belligerents. The war was on the frontiers, and these fierce savages were, +in a measure, necessary to the management of hostilities that invaded +their own villages and hunting-grounds. In 1775, the enemy came from the +side of the Atlantic, and it was only after the struggle had acquired +force, that the operations of the interior rendered the services of such +allies desirable. In other respects, without pretending to refer to any +real events, the incidents of this tale are believed to be sufficiently +historical for all the legitimate purposes of fiction.</p> + +<p>In this book the writer has aimed at sketching several distinct varieties +of the human race, as true to the governing impulses of their educations, +habits, modes of thinking and natures. The red man had his morality, as +much as his white brother, and it is well known that even Christian ethics +are coloured and governed, by standards of opinion set up on purely human +authority. The honesty of one Christian is not always that of another, any +more than his humanity, truth, fidelity or faith. The spirit must quit its +earthly tabernacle altogether, ere it cease to be influenced by its tints +and imperfections.</p> +</div> + + + + +<h2>The Hutted Knoll.</h2> + + +<div class="chapter" id="ch01"> +<h2>Chapter I.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> "An acorn fell from an old oak tree,<br /> + And lay on the frosty ground--<br /> + 'O, what shall the fate of the acorn be?'<br /> + Was whispered all around<br /> + By low-toned voices chiming sweet, <br /> + Like a floweret's bell when swung--<br /> + And grasshopper steeds were gathering fleet, <br /> + And the beetle's hoofs up-rung."</p> + +<p> Mrs. Seba Smith.</p></div> + + +<p>There is a wide-spread error on the subject of American scenery. From the +size of the lakes, the length and breadth of the rivers, the vast +solitudes of the forests, and the seemingly boundless expanse of the +prairies, the world has come to attach to it an idea of grandeur; a word +that is in nearly every case, misapplied. The scenery of that portion of +the American continent which has fallen to the share of the Anglo-Saxon +race, very seldom rises to a scale that merits this term; when it does, it +is more owing to the accessories, as in the case of the interminable +woods, than to the natural face of the country. To him who is accustomed +to the terrific sublimity of the Alps, the softened and yet wild grandeur +of the Italian lakes, or to the noble witchery of the shores of the +Mediterranean, this country is apt to seem tame, and uninteresting as a +whole; though it certainly has exceptions that carry charms of this nature +to the verge of loveliness.</p> + +<p>Of the latter character is the face of most of that region which lies in +the angle formed by the junction of the Mohawk with the Hudson, extending +as far south, or even farther, than the line of Pennsylvania, and west to +the verge of that vast rolling plain which composes Western New York. This +is a region of more than ten thousand square miles of surface, embracing +to-day, ten counties at least, and supporting a rural population of near +half a million of souls, excluding the river towns.</p> + +<p>All who have seen this district of country, and who are familiar with the +elements of charming, rather than grand scenery it possesses, are agreed +in extolling its capabilities, and, in some instances, its realities. The +want of high finish is common to everything of this sort in America; and, +perhaps we may add, that the absence of picturesqueness as connected with +the works of man, is a general defect; still, this particular region, and +all others resembling it--for they abound on the wide surface of the +twenty-six states--has beauties of its own, that it would be difficult to +meet with in any of the older portions of the earth.</p> + +<p>They who have done us the honour to read our previous works, will at once +understand that the district to which we allude, is that of which we have +taken more than one occasion to write; and we return to it now, less with +a desire to celebrate its charms, than to exhibit them in a somewhat +novel, and yet perfectly historical aspect. Our own earlier labours will +have told the reader, that all of this extended district of country, with +the exception of belts of settlements along the two great rivers named, +was a wilderness, anterior to the American revolution. There was a minor +class of exceptions to this general rule, however, to which it will be +proper to advert, lest, by conceiving us too literally, the reader may +think he can convict us of a contradiction. In order to be fully +understood, the explanations shall be given at a little length.</p> + +<p>While it is true, then, that the mountainous region, which now contains +the counties of Schoharie, Otsego, Chenango, Broome, Delaware, &c., was a +wilderness in 1775, the colonial governors had begun to make grants of its +lands, some twenty years earlier. The patent of the estate on which we are +writing lies before us; and it bears the date of 1769, with an Indian +grant annexed, that is a year or two older. This may be taken as a mean +date for the portion of country alluded to; some of the deeds being older, +and others still more recent. These grants of land were originally made, +subject to quit-rents to the crown; and usually on the payment of heavy +fees to the colonial officers, after going through the somewhat +supererogatory duty of "extinguishing the Indian title," as it was called. +The latter were pretty effectually "extinguished" in that day, as well as +in our own; and it would be a matter of curious research to ascertain the +precise nature of the purchase-money given to the aborigines. In the case +of the patent before us, the Indian right was "extinguished" by means of a +few rifles, blankets, kettles, and beads; though the grant covers a +nominal hundred thousand, and a real hundred and ten or twenty thousand +acres of land.</p> + +<p>The abuse of the grants, as land became more valuable, induced a law, +restricting the number of acres patented to any one person, at any one +time, to a thousand. Our monarchical predecessors had the same facilities, +and it may be added, the same propensities, to rendering a law a dead +letter, as belongs to our republican selves. The patent on our table, +being for a nominal hundred thousand acres, contains the names of one +hundred different grantees, while three several parchment documents at its +side, each signed by thirty-three of these very persons, vest the legal +estate in the first named, for whose sole benefit the whole concession was +made; the dates of the last instruments succeeding, by one or two days, +that of the royal patent itself.</p> + +<p>Such is the history of most of the original titles to the many estates +that dotted the region we have described, prior to the revolution. Money +and favouritism, however were not always the motives of these large +concessions. Occasionally, services presented their claims; and many +instances occur in which old officers of the army, in particular, received +a species of reward, by a patent for land, the fees being duly paid, and +the Indian title righteously "extinguished." These grants to ancient +soldiers were seldom large, except in the cases of officers of rank; three +or four thousand well-selected acres, being a sufficient boon to the +younger sons of Scottish lairds, or English squires, who had been +accustomed to look upon a single farm as an estate.</p> + +<p>As most of the soldiers mentioned were used to forest life, from having +been long stationed at frontier posts, and had thus become familiarized +with its privations, and hardened against its dangers, it was no unusual +thing for them to sell out, or go on half-pay, when the wants of a family +began to urge their claims, and to retire to their "patents," as the land +itself, as well as the instrument by which it was granted, was invariably +termed, with a view of establishing themselves permanently as landlords.</p> + +<p>These grants from the crown, in the portions of the colony of New York +that lie west of the river counties, were generally, if not invariably, +simple concessions of the fee, subject to quit-rents to the king, and +reservations of mines of the precious metals, without any of the +privileges of feudal seignory, as existed in the older manors on the +Hudson, on the islands, and on the Sound. Why this distinction was made, +it exceeds our power to say; but, that the fact was so, as a rule, we have +it in proof, by means of a great number of the original patents, +themselves, that have been transmitted to us from various sources. Still, +the habits of "home" entailed the name, even where the thing was not to be +found. Titular manors exist, in a few instances, to this day, where no +manorial rights were ever granted; and manor-houses were common +appellations for the residences of the landlords of large estates, that +were held in fee, without any exclusive privileges, and subject to the +reservation named. Some of these manorial residences were of so primitive +an appearance, as to induce the belief that the names were bestowed in +pleasantry; the dwellings themselves being of logs, with the bark still on +them, and the other fixtures to correspond. Notwithstanding all these +drawbacks, early impressions and rooted habits could easily transfer terms +to such an abode; and there was always a saddened enjoyment among these +exiles, when they could liken their forest names and usages to those they +had left in the distant scenes of their childhood.</p> + +<p>The effect of the different causes we have here given was to dot the +region described, though at long intervals, with spots of a semi-civilized +appearance, in the midst of the vast--nay, almost boundless--expanse of +forest. Some of these early settlements had made considerable advances +towards finish and comfort, ere the war of '76 drove their occupants to +seek protection against the inroads of the savages; and long after the +influx of immigration which succeeded the peace, the fruits, the meadows, +and the tilled fields of these oases in the desert, rendered them +conspicuous amidst the blackened stumps, piled logs, and smooty fallows of +an active and bustling settlement. At even a much later day, they were to +be distinguished by the smoother surfaces of their fields, the greater +growth and more bountiful yield of their orchards, and by the general +appearance of a more finished civilization, and of greater age. Here and +there, a hamlet had sprung up; and isolated places, like Cherry Valley +and Wyoming, were found, that have since become known to the general +history of the country.</p> + +<p>Our present tale now leads us to the description of one of those early, +personal, or family settlements, that had grown up, in what was then a +very remote part of the territory in question, under the care and +supervision of an ancient officer of the name of Willoughby. Captain +Willoughby, after serving many years, had married an American wife, and +continuing his services until a son and daughter were born, he sold his +commission, procured a grant of land, and determined to retire to his new +possessions, in order to pass the close of his life in the tranquil +pursuits of agriculture, and in the bosom of his family. An adopted child +was also added to his cares. Being an educated as well as a provident man, +Captain Willoughby had set about the execution of this scheme with +deliberation, prudence, and intelligence. On the frontiers, or lines, as +it is the custom to term the American boundaries, he had become acquainted +with a Tuscarora, known by the English <i>sobriquet</i> of "Saucy Nick." This +fellow, a sort of half-outcast from his own people, had early attached +himself to the whites, had acquired their language, and owing to a +singular mixture of good and bad qualities, blended with great native +shrewdness, he had wormed himself into the confidence of several +commanders of small garrisons, among whom was our captain. No sooner was +the mind of the latter made up, concerning his future course, than he sent +for Nick, who was then in the fort; when the following conversation took +place:</p> + +<p>"Nick," commenced the captain, passing his hand over his brow, as was his +wont when in a reflecting mood; "Nick, I have an important movement in +view, in which you can be of some service to me."</p> + +<p>The Tuscarora, fastening his dark basilisk-like eyes on the soldier, +gazed a moment, as if to read his soul; then he jerked a thumb backward, +over his own shoulder, and said, with a grave smile--</p> + +<p>"Nick understand. Want six, two, scalp off Frenchman's head; wife and +child; out yonder, over dere, up in Canada. Nick do him--what you give?"</p> + +<p>"No, you red rascal, I want nothing of the sort--it is peace now, (this +conversation took place in 1764), and you know I never bought a scalp, in +time of war. Let me hear no more of this."</p> + +<p>"What you want, <i>den</i>?" asked Nick, like one who was a good deal puzzled.</p> + +<p>"I want land--<i>good</i> land--little, but <i>good</i>. I am about to get a +grant--a patent--"</p> + +<p>"Yes," interrupted Nick, nodding; "I know <i>him</i>--paper to take away +Indian's hunting-ground."</p> + +<p>"Why, I have no wish to do that--I am willing to pay the red men +reasonably for their right, first."</p> + +<p>"Buy Nick's land, den--better dan any oder."</p> + +<p>"Your land, knave!--You own no land--belong to no tribe--have no rights to +sell."</p> + +<p>"What for ask Nick help, den?"</p> + +<p>"What for?--Why because you <i>know</i> a good deal, though you own literally +nothing. That's what for."</p> + +<p>"Buy Nick <i>know</i>, den. Better dan he great fader <i>know</i>, down at York."</p> + +<p>"That is just what I do wish to purchase. I will pay you well, Nick, if +you will start to-morrow, with your rifle and a pocket-compass, off here +towards the head-waters of the Susquehannah and Delaware, where the +streams run rapidly, and where there are no fevers, and bring me an +account of three or four thousand acres of rich bottom-land, in such a way +as a surveyor can find it, and I can get a patent for it. What say you, +Nick; will you go?"</p> + +<p>"He not wanted. Nick sell 'e captain, his own land: here in 'e fort."</p> + +<p>"Knave, do you not know me well enough not to trifle, when I am serious?"</p> + +<p>"Nick ser'ous too--Moravian priest no ser'ouser more dan Nick at dis +moment. Got land to sell."</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby had found occasion to punish the Tuscarora, in the +course of his services; and as the parties understood each other perfectly +well, the former saw the improbability of the latter's daring to trifle +with him.</p> + +<p>"Where is this land of yours, Nick," he inquired, after studying the +Indian's countenance for a moment. "Where does it lie, what is it like, +how much is there of it, and how came you to own it?"</p> + +<p>"Ask him just so, ag'in," said Nick, taking up four twigs, to note down +the questions, <i>seriatim</i>.</p> + +<p>The captain repeated his inquiries, the Tuscarora laying down a stick at +each separate interrogatory.</p> + +<p>"Where he be?" answered Nick, taking up a twig, as a memorandum. "He out +dere--where he want him--where he say.--One day's march from Susquehanna."</p> + +<p>"Well; proceed."</p> + +<p>"What he like?--Like land, to be sure. T'ink he like water! Got <i>some</i> +water--no too much--got some land--got no tree--got some tree. Got good +sugar-bush--got place for wheat and corn."</p> + +<p>"Proceed."</p> + +<p>"How much of him?" continued Nick, taking up another twig; "much as he +want--want little, got him--want more, got him. Want none at all, got none +at all--got what he want."</p> + +<p>"Go on."</p> + +<p>"To be sure. How came to own him?--How a pale face come to own America? +<i>Discover</i> him--ha!--Well, Nick discover land down yonder, up dere, over +here."</p> + +<p>"Nick, what the devil do you mean by all this?"</p> + +<p>"No mean devil, at all--mean land--<i>good</i> land. <i>Discover</i> him--know where +he is--catch beaver dere, three, two year. All Nick say, true as word of +honour; much more too."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean it is an old beaver-dam destroyed?" asked the captain, +pricking up his ears; for he was too familiar with the woods, not to +understand the value of such a thing.</p> + +<p>"No destroy--stand up yet--good as ever.--Nick dere, last season."</p> + +<p>"Why, then, do you tell of it? Are not the beaver of more value to you, +than any price you may receive for the land?"</p> + +<p>"Cotch him all, four, two year ago--rest run away. No find beaver to stay +long, when Indian once know, two time, where to set he trap. Beaver +cunninger 'an pale face--cunning as bear."</p> + +<p>"I begin to comprehend you, Nick. How large do you suppose this pond to +be?"</p> + +<p>"He 'm not as big as Lake Ontario. S'pose him smaller, what den? Big +enough for farm."</p> + +<p>"Does it cover one or two hundred acres, think you?--Is it as large as the +clearing around the fort?"</p> + +<p>"Big as two, six, four of him. Take forty skin, dere one season. Little +lake; all 'e tree gone."</p> + +<p>"And the land around it--is it mountainous and rough, or will it be good +for corn?"</p> + +<p>"All sugar-bush--what you want better? S'pose you want corn; <i>plant</i> him. +S'pose you want sugar; <i>make</i> him."</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby was struck with this description, and he returned to +the subject, again and again. At length, after extracting all the +information he could get from Nick, he struck a bargain with the fellow. A +surveyor was engaged, and he started for the place, under the guidance of +the Tuscarora. The result showed that Nick had not exaggerated. The pond +was found, as he had described it to be, covering at least four hundred +acres of low bottom-land; while near three thousand acres of higher +river-flat, covered with beach and maple, spread around it for a +considerable distance. The adjacent mountains too, were arable, though +bold, and promised, in time, to become a fertile and manageable district. +Calculating his distances with judgment, the surveyor laid out his metes +and bounds in such a manner as to include the pond, all the low-land, and +about three thousand acres of hill, or mountain, making the materials for +a very pretty little "patent" of somewhat more than six thousand acres of +capital land. He then collected a few chiefs of the nearest tribe, dealt +out his rum, tobacco, blankets, wampum, and gunpowder, got twelve Indians +to make their marks on a bit of deer-skin, and returned to his employer +with a map, a field-book, and a deed, by which the Indian title was +"extinguished." The surveyor received his compensation, and set off on a +similar excursion, for a different employer, and in another direction. +Nick got his reward, too, and was well satisfied with the transaction. +This he afterwards called "sellin' beaver when he all run away."</p> + +<p>Furnished with the necessary means, Captain Willoughby now "sued out his +patent," as it was termed, in due form. Having some influence, the affair +was soon arranged; the grant was made by the governor in council, a +massive seal was annexed to a famous sheet of parchment, the signatures +were obtained, and "Willoughby's Patent" took its place on the records of +the colony, as well as on its maps. We are wrong as respects the latter +particular; it did not take <i>its</i> place, on the maps of the colony, though +it took <i>a</i> place; the location given for many years afterwards, being +some forty or fifty miles too far west. In this peculiarity there was +nothing novel, the surveys of all new regions being liable to similar +trifling mistakes. Thus it was, that an estate, lying within +five-and-twenty miles of the city of New York, and in which we happen to +have a small interest at this hour, was clipped of its fair proportions, +in consequence of losing some miles that run over obtrusively into another +colony; and, within a short distance of the spot where we are writing, a +"patent" has been squeezed entirely out of existence, between the claims +of two older grants.</p> + +<p>No such calamity befell "Willoughby's Patent," however. The land was +found, with all its "marked or <i>blazed</i> trees," its "heaps of stones," +"large butternut corners," and "dead oaks." In a word, everything was as +it should be; even to the quality of the soil, the beaver-pond, and the +quantity. As respects the last, the colony never gave "struck measure;" a +thousand acres on paper, seldom falling short of eleven or twelve hundred +in soil. In the present instance, the six thousand two hundred and +forty-six acres of "Willoughby's Patent," were subsequently ascertained to +contain just seven thousand and ninety-two acres of solid ground.</p> + +<p>Our limits and plan will not permit us to give more than a sketch of the +proceedings of the captain, in taking possession; though we feel certain +that a minute account of the progress of such a settlement would possess a +sort of Robinson Crusoe-like interest, that might repay the reader. As +usual, the adventurers commenced their operations in the spring. Mrs. +Willoughby, and the children, were left with their friends, in Albany; +while the captain and his party pioneered their way to the patent, in the +best manner they could. This party consisted of Nick, who went in the +capacity of hunter, an office of a good deal of dignity, and of the last +importance, to a set of adventurers on an expedition of this nature. Then +there were eight axe-men, a house-carpenter, a mason, and a mill-wright. +These, with Captain Willoughby, and an invalid sergeant, of the name of +Joyce, composed the party.</p> + +<p>Our adventurers made most of their journey by water. After finding their +way to the head of the Canaideraga, mistaking it for the Otsego, they +felled trees, hollowed them into canoes, embarked, and, aided by a yoke of +oxen that were driven along the shore, they wormed their way, through the +Oaks, into the Susquehanna, descending that river until they reached the +Unadilla, which stream they ascended until they came to the small river, +known in the parlance of the country, by the erroneous name of a creek, +that ran through the captain's new estate. The labour of this ascent was +exceedingly severe; but the whole journey was completed by the end of +April, and while the streams were high. Snow still lay in the woods; but +the sap had started, and the season was beginning to show its promise.</p> + +<p>The first measure adopted by our adventurers was to "hut." In the very +centre of the pond, which, it will be remembered, covered four hundred +acres, was an island of some five or six acres in extent. It was a rocky +knoll, that rose forty feet above the surface of the water, and was still +crowned with noble pines, a species of tree that had escaped the ravages +of the beaver. In the pond, itself, a few "stubs" alone remained, the +water having killed the trees, which had fallen and decayed. This +circumstance showed that the stream had long before been dammed; +successions of families of beavers having probably occupied the place, and +renewed the works, for centuries, at intervals of generations. The dam in +existence, however, was not very old; the animals having fled from their +great enemy, man, rather than from any other foe.</p> + +<p>To the island Captain Willoughby transferred all his stores, and here he +built his hut. This was opposed to the notions of his axe-men, who, +rightly enough, fancied the mainland would be more convenient; but the +captain and the sergeant, after a council of war, decided that the +position on the knoll would be the most military, and might be defended +the longest, against man or beast. Another station was taken up, however, +on the nearest shore, where such of the men were permitted to "hut," as +preferred the location.</p> + +<p>These preliminaries observed, the captain meditated a bold stroke against +the wilderness, by draining the pond, and coming at once into the +possession of a noble farm, cleared of trees and stumps, as it might be by +a <i>coup de main</i>. This would be compressing the results of ordinary years +of toil, into those of a single season, and everybody was agreed as to the +expediency of the course, provided it were feasible.</p> + +<p>The feasibility was soon ascertained. The stream which ran through the +valley, was far from swift, until it reached a pass where the hills +approached each other in low promontories; there the land fell rapidly +away to what might be termed a lower terrace. Across this gorge, or +defile, a distance of about five hundred feet, the dam had been thrown, a +good deal aided by the position of some rocks that here rose to the +surface, and through which the little river found its passage. The part +which might be termed the key-stone of the dam, was only twenty yards +wide, and immediately below it, the rocks fell away rapidly, quite sixty +feet, carrying down the waste water in a sort of fall. Here the +mill-wright announced his determination to commence operations at once, +putting in a protest against destroying the works of the beavers. A pond +of four hundred acres being too great a luxury for the region, the man was +overruled, and the labour commenced.</p> + +<p>The first blow was struck against the dam about nine o'clock, on the 2d +day of May, 1765, and, by evening, the little sylvan-looking lake, which +had lain embedded in the forest, glittering in the morning sun, unruffled +by a breath of air, had entirely disappeared! In its place, there remained +an open expanse of wet mud, thickly covered with pools and the remains of +beaver-houses, with a small river winding its way slowly through the +slime. The change to the eye was melancholy indeed; though the prospect +was cheering to the agriculturist. No sooner did the water obtain a little +passage, than it began to clear the way for itself, gushing out in a +torrent, through the pass already mentioned.</p> + +<p>The following morning, Captain Willoughby almost mourned over the works of +his hands. The scene was so very different from that it had presented when +the flats were covered with water, that it was impossible not to feel the +change. For quite a month, it had an influence on the whole party. Nick, +in particular, denounced it, as unwise and uncalled for, though he had +made his price out of the very circumstance in prospective; and even +Sergeant Joyce was compelled to admit that the knoll, an island no longer, +had lost quite half its security as a military position. The next month, +however, brought other changes. Half the pools had vanished by drainings +and evaporation; the mud had begun to crack, and, in some places to +pulverize; while the upper margin of the old pond had become sufficiently +firm to permit the oxen to walk over it, without miring. Fences of trees, +brush, and even rails, enclosed, on this portion of the flats, quite fifty +acres of land; and Indian corn, oats, pumpkins, peas, potatoes, flax, and +several other sorts of seed, were already in the ground. The spring proved +dry, and the sun of the forty-third degree of latitude was doing its work, +with great power and beneficence. What was of nearly equal importance, the +age of the pond had prevented any recent accumulation of vegetable matter, +and consequently spared those who laboured around the spot, the impurities +of atmosphere usually consequent on its decay. Grass-seed, too, had been +liberally scattered on favourable places, and things began to assume the +appearance of what is termed "living."</p> + +<p>August presented a still different picture. A saw-mill was up, and had +been at work for some time. Piles of green boards began to make their +appearance, and the plane of the carpenter was already in motion. Captain +Willoughby was rich, in a small way; in other words, he possessed a few +thousand pounds besides his land, and had yet to receive the price of his +commission. A portion of these means were employed judiciously to advance +his establishment; and, satisfied that there would be no scarcity of +fodder for the ensuing winter, a man had been sent into the settlements +for another yoke of cattle, and a couple of cows. Farming utensils were +manufactured on the spot, and sleds began to take the place of carts; the +latter exceeding the skill of any of the workmen present.</p> + +<p>October offered its products as a reward for all this toil. The yield was +enormous, and of excellent quality. Of Indian corn, the captain gathered +several hundred bushels, besides stacks of stalks and tops. His turnips, +too, were superabundant in quantity, and of a delicacy and flavour +entirely unknown to the precincts of old lands. The potatoes had not done +so well; to own the truth, they were a little watery, though there were +enough of them to winter every hoof he had, of themselves. Then the peas +and garden truck were both good and plenty; and a few pigs having been +procured, there was the certainty of enjoying a plenty of that important +article, pork, during the coming winter.</p> + +<p>Late in the autumn, the captain rejoined his family in Albany, quitting +the field for winter quarters. He left sergeant Joyce, in garrison, +supported by Nick, a miller, the mason, carpenter, and three of the +axe-men. Their duty was to prepare materials for the approaching season, +to take care of the stock, to put in winter crops, to make a few bridges, +clear out a road or two, haul wood to keep themselves from freezing, to +build a log barn and some sheds, and otherwise to advance the interests of +the settlement. They were also to commence a house for the patentee.</p> + +<p>As his children were at school, captain Willoughby determined not to take +his family immediately to the Hutted Knoll, as the place soon came to be +called, from the circumstance of the original bivouack. This name was +conferred by sergeant Joyce, who had a taste in that way, and as it got to +be confirmed by the condescension of the proprietor and his family, we +have chosen it to designate our present labours. From time to time, a +messenger arrived with news from the place; and twice, in the course of +the winter, the same individual went back with supplies, and encouraging +messages to the different persons left in the clearing. As spring +approached, however, the captain began to make his preparations for the +coming campaign, in which he was to be accompanied by his wife; Mrs. +Willoughby, a mild, affectionate, true-hearted New York woman, having +decided not to let her husband pass another summer in that solitude +without feeling the cheering influence of her presence.</p> + +<p>In March, before the snow began to melt, several sleigh-loads of different +necessaries were sent up the valley of the Mohawk, to a point opposite the +head of the Otsego, where a thriving village called Fortplain now stands. +Thence men were employed in transporting the articles, partly by means of +"jumpers" <i>improvised</i> for the occasion, and partly on pack-horses, to the +lake, which was found this time, instead of its neighbour the Canaderaiga. +This necessary and laborious service occupied six weeks, the captain +having been up as far as the lake once himself; returning to Albany, +however, ere the snow was gone.</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch02"> +<h2>Chapter II.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> All things are new--the buds, the leaves, <br /> + That gild the elm-tree's nodding crest, <br /> + And even the nest beneath the eaves--<br /> + There are no birds in last year's nest.</p> + + <p>Longfellow.</p></div> + + +<p>"I have good news for you, Wilhelmina," cried the captain, coming into the +parlour where his wife used to sit and knit or sew quite half the day, and +speaking with a bright face, and in a cheerful voice--"Here is a letter +from my excellent old colonel; and Bob's affair is all settled and agreed +on. He is to leave school next week, and to put on His Majesty's livery +the week after."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Willoughby smiled, and yet two or three tears followed each other +down her cheeks, even while she smiled. The first was produced by pleasure +at hearing that her son had got an ensigncy in the 60th, or Royal +Americans; and the last was a tribute paid to nature; a mother's fears at +consigning an only boy to the profession of arms.</p> + +<p>"I am rejoiced, Willoughby," she said, "because <i>you </i> rejoice, and I +know that Robert will be delighted at possessing the king's commission; +but, he is <i>very</i> young to be sent into the dangers of battle and the +camp!"</p> + +<p>"I was younger, when I actually went into battle, for <i>then</i> it was war; +now, we have a peace that promises to be endless, and Bob will have +abundance of time to cultivate a beard before he smells gunpowder. As for +myself"--he added in a half-regretful manner, for old habits and opinions +would occasionally cross his mind--"as for myself, the cultivation of +<i>turnips</i> must be my future occupation. Well, the bit of parchment is +sold, Bob has got <i>his</i> in its place, while the difference in price is in +my pocket, and no more need be said--and here come our dear girls, +Wilhelmina, to prevent any regrets. The father of two such daughters +<i>ought</i>, at least, to be happy."</p> + +<p>At this instant, Beulah and Maud Willoughby, (for so the adopted child was +called as well as the real), entered the room, having taken the lodgings +of their parents, in a morning walk, on which they were regularly sent by +the mistress of the boarding-school, in which they were receiving what was +<i>then</i> thought to be a first-rate American female education. And much +reason had their fond parents to be proud of them! Beulah, the eldest, was +just eleven, while her sister was eighteen months younger. The first had a +staid, and yet a cheerful look; but her cheeks were blooming, her eyes +bright, and her smile sweet. Maud, the adopted one, however, had already +the sunny countenance of an angel, with quite as much of the appearance of +health as her sister; her face had more finesse, her looks more +intelligence, her playfulness more feeling, her smile more tenderness, at +times; at others, more meaning. It is scarcely necessary to say that both +had that delicacy of outline which seems almost inseparable from the +female form in this country. What was, perhaps, more usual in that day +among persons of their class than it is in our own, each spoke her own +language with an even graceful utterance, and a faultless accuracy of +pronunciation, equally removed from effort and provincialisms. As the +Dutch was in very common use then, at Albany, and most females of Dutch +origin had a slight touch of their mother tongue in their enunciation of +English, this purity of dialect in the two girls was to be ascribed to the +fact that their father was an Englishman by birth; their mother an +American of purely English origin, though named after a Dutch god-mother; +and the head of the school in which they had now been three years, was a +native of London, and a lady by habits and education.</p> + +<p>"Now, Maud," cried the captain, after he had kissed the forehead, eyes and +cheeks of his smiling little favourite--"Now, Maud, I will set you to +guess what good news I have for you and Beulah."</p> + +<p>"You and mother don't mean to go to that bad Beave Manor this summer, as +some call the ugly pond?" answered the child, quick as lightning.</p> + +<p>"That is kind of you, my darling; more kind than prudent; but you are not +right."</p> + +<p>"Try Beulah, now," interrupted the mother, who, while she too doted on her +youngest child, had an increasing respect for the greater solidity and +better judgment of her sister: "let us hear Beulah's guess."</p> + +<p>"It is something about my brother, I know by mother's eyes," answered the +eldest girl, looking inquiringly into Mrs. Willoughby's face.</p> + +<p>"Oh! yes," cried Maud, beginning to jump about the room, until she ended +her saltations in her father's arms--"Bob has got his commission!--I +know it all well enough, now--I would not thank you to tell me--I know it +all now--<i>dear</i> Bob, how he <i>will</i> laugh! and how happy I am!"</p> + +<p>"Is it so, mother?" asked Beulah, anxiously, and without even a smile.</p> + +<p>"Maud is right; Bob is an ensign--or, will be one, in a day or two. You do +not seem pleased, my child?"</p> + +<p>"I wish Robert were not a soldier, mother. Now he will be always away, and +we shall never see him; then he may be obliged to fight, and who knows how +unhappy it may make <i>him</i>?"</p> + +<p>Beulah thought more of her brother than she did of herself; and, sooth to +say, her mother had many of the child's misgivings. With Maud it was +altogether different: she saw only the bright side of the picture; Bob gay +and brilliant, his face covered with smiles, his appearance admired +himself, and of course his sisters, happy. Captain Willoughby sympathized +altogether with his pet. Accustomed to arms, he rejoiced that a career in +which he had partially failed--this he did not conceal from himself or his +wife--that this same career had opened, as he trusted, with better +auspices on his only son. He covered Maud with kisses, and then rushed +from the house, finding his heart too full to run the risk of being +unmanned in the presence of females.</p> + +<p>A week later, availing themselves of one of the last falls of snow of the +season, captain Willoughby and his wife left Albany for the Knoll. The +leave-taking was tender, and to the parents bitter; though after all, it +was known that little more than a hundred miles would separate them from +their beloved daughters. Fifty of these miles, however, were absolutely +wilderness; and to achieve them, quite a hundred of tangled forest, or of +difficult navigation, were to be passed. The communications would be at +considerable intervals, and difficult. Still they might be held, and the +anxious mother left many injunctions with Mrs. Waring, the head of the +school, in relation to the health of her daughters, and the manner in +which she was to be sent for, in the event of any serious illness.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Willoughby had often overcome, as she fancied, the difficulties of a +wilderness, in the company of her husband. It is the fashion highly to +extol Napoleon's passage of the Alps, simply in reference to its physical +obstacles. There never was a brigade moved twenty-four hours into the +American wilds, that had not greater embarrassments of this nature to +overcome, unless in those cases in which favourable river navigation has +offered its facilities. Still, time and necessity had made a sort of +military ways to all the more important frontier points occupied by the +British garrisons, and the experience of Mrs. Willoughby had not hitherto +been of the severe character of that she was now compelled to undergo.</p> + +<p>The first fifty miles were passed over in a sleigh, in a few hours, and +with little or no personal fatigue. This brought the travellers to a Dutch +inn on the Mohawk, where the captain had often made his halts, and whither +he had from time to time, sent his advanced parties in the course of the +winter and spring. Here a jumper was found prepared to receive Mrs. +Willoughby; and the horse being led by the captain himself, a passage +through the forest was effected as far as the head of the Otsego. The +distance being about twelve miles, it required two days for its +performance. As the settlements extended south from the Mohawk a few +miles, the first night was passed in a log cabin, on the extreme verge of +civilization, if civilization it could be called, and the remaining eight +miles were got over in the course of the succeeding day. This was more +than would probably have been achieved in the virgin forest, and under the +circumstances, had not so many of the captain's people passed over the +same ground, going and returning, thereby learning how to avoid the +greatest difficulties of the route, and here and there constructing a rude +bridge. They had also blazed the trees, shortening the road by pointing +out its true direction.</p> + +<p>At the head of the Otsego, our adventurers were fairly in the wilderness. +Huts had been built to receive the travellers, and here the whole party +assembled, in readiness to make a fresh start in company. It consisted of +more than a dozen persons, in all; the black domestics of the family being +present, as well as several mechanics whom Captain Willoughby had employed +to carry on his improvements. The men sent in advance had not been idle, +any more than those left at the Hutted Knoll. They had built three or four +skiffs, one small batteau, and a couple of canoes. These were all in the +water, in waiting for the disappearance of the ice; which was now reduced +to a mass of stalactites in form, greenish and sombre in hue, as they +floated in a body, but clear and bright when separated and exposed to the +sun. The south winds began to prevail, and the shore was glittering with +the fast-melting piles of the frozen fluid, though it would have been vain +yet to attempt a passage through it.</p> + +<p>The Otsego is a sheet that we have taken more than one occasion to +describe, and the picture it then presented, amidst its frame of +mountains, will readily be imagined by most of our readers. In 1765, no +sign of a settlement was visible on its shores; few of the grants of land +in that vicinity extending back so far. Still the spot began to be known, +and hunters had been in the habit of frequenting its bosom and its +shores, for the last twenty years or more Not a vestige of their presence, +however, was to be seen from the huts of the captain; but Mrs. Willoughby +assured her husband, as she stood leaning on his arm, the morning after +her arrival, that never before had she gazed on so eloquent, and yet so +pleasing a picture of solitude as that which lay spread before her eyes.</p> + +<p>"There is something encouraging and soothing in this bland south wind, +too," she added, "which seems to promise that we shall meet with a +beneficent nature, in the spot to which we are going. The south airs of +spring, to me are always filled with promise."</p> + +<p>"And justly, love; for they are the harbingers of a renewed vegetation. If +the wind increase, as I think it may, we shall see this chilling sheet of +ice succeeded by the more cheerful view of water. It is in this way, that +all these lakes open their bosoms in April."</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby did not know it, while speaking, but, at that moment, +quite two miles of the lower, or southern end of the lake, was clear, and +the opening giving a sweep to the breeze, the latter was already driving +the sheets of ice before it, towards the head, at a rate of quite a mile +in the hour. Just then, an Irishman, named Michael O'Hearn, who had +recently arrived in America, and whom the captain had hired as a servant +of all work, came rushing up to his master, and opened his teeming +thoughts, with an earnestness of manner, and a confusion of rhetoric, that +were equally characteristic of the man and of a portion of his nation.</p> + +<p>"Is it journeying south, or to the other end of this bit of wather, or +ice, that yer honour is thinking of?" he cried "Well, and there'll be room +for us all, and to spare; for divil a bir-r-d will be left in that quarter +by night, or forenent twelve o'clock either, calculating by the clock, if +one had such a thing; as a body might say."</p> + +<p>As this was said not only vehemently, but with an accent that defies +imitation with the pen, Mrs. Willoughby was quite at a loss to get a clue +to the idea; but, her husband, more accustomed to men of Mike's class, was +sufficiently lucky to comprehend what he was at.</p> + +<p>"You mean the pigeons, Mike, I suppose," the captain answered, +good-humouredly. "There are certainly a goodly number of them; and I dare +say our hunters will bring us in some, for dinner. It is a certain sign +that the winter is gone, when birds and beasts follow their instincts, in +this manner. Where are you from, Mike?"</p> + +<p>"County Leitrim, yer honour," answered the other, touching his cap.</p> + +<p>"Ay, that one may guess," said the captain, smiling, 'but where last?"</p> + +<p>"From looking at the bir-r-ds, sir!--Och! It's a sight that will do madam +good, and contains a sartainty there'll be room enough made for us, where +all these cr'atures came from. I'm thinking, yer honour, if we don't ate +<i>them</i>, they'll be wanting to ate <i>us</i>. What a power of them, counting big +and little; though they 're all of a size, just as much as if they had +flown through a hole made on purpose to kape them down to a convanient +bigness, in body and feathers."</p> + +<p>"Such a flight of pigeons in Ireland, would make a sensation, Mike," +observed the captain, willing to amuse his wife, by drawing out the County +Leitrim-man, a little.</p> + +<p>"It would make a dinner, yer honour, for every mother's son of 'em, +counting the gur-r-rls, in the bargain! Such a power of bir-r-ds, would +knock down 'praties, in a wonderful degree, and make even butthermilk +chape and plenthiful. Will it be always such abundance with us, down at +the Huts, yer honour? or is this sight only a delusion to fill us with +hopes that's never to be satisfied?"</p> + +<p>"Pigeons are seldom wanting in this country, Mike, in the spring and +autumn; though we have both birds and beasts, in plenty, that are +preferable for food."</p> + +<p>"Will it be plentthier than this?--Well, it's enough to destroy human +appetite, the sight of 'em! I'd give the half joe I lost among them +blackguards in Albany, at their Pauss, as they calls it, jist to let my +sisther's childer have their supper out of one of these flocks, such as +they are, betther or no betther. Och! its pleasant to think of them +childer having their will, for once, on such a power of wild, savage +bir-r-ds!"</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby smiled at this proof of <i>naiveté</i> in his new domestic, +and then led his wife back to the hut; if being time to make some fresh +dispositions for the approaching movement. By noon, it became apparent to +those who were waiting such an event, that the lake was opening; and, +about the same time, one of the hunters came in from a neighbouring +mountain, and reported that he had seen clear water, as near their +position as three or four miles. By this time it was blowing fresh, and +the wind, having a clear rake, drove up the honeycomb-looking sheet before +it, as the scraper accumulates snow. When the sun set, the whole north +shore was white with piles of glittering icicles; while the bosom of the +Otsego, no longer disturbed by the wind, resembled a placid mirror. + +Early on the following morning, the whole party embarked. There was no +wind, and men were placed at the paddles and the oars. Care was taken, on +quitting the huts, to close their doors and shutters; for they were to be +taverns to cover the heads of many a traveller, in the frequent journeys +that were likely to be made, between the Knoll and the settlements. These +stations, then, were of the last importance, and a frontier-man always had +the same regard for them, that the mountaineer of the Alps has for his +"refuge."</p> + +<p>The passage down the Otsego was the easiest and most agreeable portion of +the whole journey. The day was pleasant, and the oarsmen vigorous, if not +very skilful, rendering the movement rapid, and sufficiently direct. But +one drawback occurred to the prosperity of the voyage. Among the labourers +hired by the captain, was a Connecticut man, of the name of Joel Strides, +between whom and the County Leitrim-man, there had early commenced a +warfare of tricks and petty annoyances; a warfare that was perfectly +defensive on the part of O'Hearn, who did little more, in the way of +retort, than comment on the long, lank, shapeless figure, and meagre +countenance of his enemy. Joel had not been seen to smile, since he +engaged with the captain; though three times had he laughed outright, and +each time at the occurrence of some mishap to Michael O'Hearn the fruit of +one of his own schemes of annoyance.</p> + +<p>On the present occasion, Joel, who had the distribution of such duty, +placed Mike in a skiff, by himself, flattering the poor fellow with the +credit he would achieve, by rowing a boat to the foot of the lake, +without assistance. He might as well have asked Mike to walk to the outlet +on the surface of the water! This arrangement proceeded from an innate +love of mischief in Joel, who had much of the quiet waggery, blended with +many of the bad qualities of the men of his peculiar class. A narrow and +conceited selfishness lay at the root of the larger portion of this man's +faults. As a physical being, he was a perfect labour-saving machine, +himself; bringing all the resources of a naturally quick and acute mind to +bear on this one end, never doing anything that required a particle more +than the exertion and strength that were absolutely necessary to effect +his object. He rowed the skiff in which the captain and his wife had +embarked, with his own hands; and, previously to starting, he had selected +the best sculls from the other boats, had fitted his twhart with the +closest attention to his own ease, and had placed a stretcher for his +feet, with an intelligence and knowledge of mechanics, that would have +done credit to a Whitehall waterman. This much proceeded from the +predominating principle of his nature, which was, always to have an eye on +the interests of Joel Strides; though the effect happened, in this +instance, to be beneficial to those he served.</p> + +<p>Michael O'Hearn, on the contrary, thought only of the end; and this so +intensely, not to so say vehemently, as generally to overlook the means. +Frank, generous, self-devoted, and withal accustomed to get most things +wrong-end-foremost, he usually threw away twice the same labour, in +effecting a given purpose, that was expended by the Yankee; doing the +thing worse, too, besides losing twice the time. He never paused to think +of this, however. The <i>masther's</i> boat was to be rowed to the other end of +the lake, and, though he had never rowed a boat an inch in his life, he +was ready and willing to undertake the job. "If a certain quantity of work +will not do it," thought Mike, "I'll try as much ag'in; and the divil is +in it, if <i>that</i> won't sarve the purpose of that little bit of a job."</p> + +<p>Under such circumstances the party started. Most of the skiffs and canoes +went off half an hour before Mrs. Willoughby was ready, and Joel managed +to keep Mike for he last, under the pretence of wishing his aid in loading +his own boat, with the bed and bedding from the hut. All was ready, at +length, and taking his seat, with a sort of quiet deliberation, Joel said, +in his drawling way, "You'll follow <i>us</i>, Mike, and you can't be a +thousand miles out of the way." Then he pulled from the shore with a +quiet, steady stroke of the sculls, that sent the skiff ahead with great +rapidity, though with much ease to himself.</p> + +<p>Michael O'Hearn stood looking at the retiring skiff, in silent admiration, +for two or three minutes. He was quite alone; for all the other boats were +already two or three miles on their way, and distance already prevented +him from seeing the mischief that was lurking in Joel's hypocritical eyes.</p> + +<p>"Follow <i>yees</i>!" soliloquized Mike--"The divil burn ye, for a guessing +yankee as ye ar'--how am I to follow with such legs as the likes of these? +If it wasn't for the masther and the missus, ra'al jontlemen and ladies +they be, I'd turn my back on ye, in the desert, and let ye find that +Beaver estate, in yer own disagreeable company. Ha!--well, I must thry, +and if the boat won't go, it'll be no fault of the man that has a good +disposition to make it."</p> + +<p>Mike now took his seat on a board that lay across the gunwale of the skiff +at a most inconvenient height, placed two sculls in the water, one of +which was six inches longer than the other, made a desperate effort, and +got his craft fairly afloat. Now, Michael O'Hearn was not left-handed, +and, as usually happens with such men, the inequality between the two +limbs was quite marked. By a sinister accident, too, it happened that the +longest oar got into the strongest hand, and there it would have staid to +the end of time; before Mike would think of changing it, on that account. +Joel, alone, sat with his face towards the head of the lake, and he alone +could see the dilemma in which the county Leitrim-man was placed. Neither +the captain nor his wife thought of looking behind, and the yankee had all +the fun to himself. As for Mike, he succeeded in getting a few rods from +the land, when the strong arm and the longer lever asserting their +superiority, the skiff began to incline to the westward. So intense, +however, was the poor fellow's zeal, that he did not discover the change +in his course until he had so far turned as to give him a glimpse of his +retiring master; then he inferred that all was right, and pulled more +leisurely. The result was, that in about ten minutes, Mike was stopped by +the land, the boat touching the north shore again, two or three rods from +the very point whence it had started. The honest fellow got up, looked +around him, scratched his head, gazed wistfully after the fast-receding +boat of his master, and broke out in another soliloquy.</p> + +<p>"Bad luck to them that made ye, ye one-sided thing!" he said, shaking his +head reproachfully at the skiff: "there's liberty for ye to do as ye +ought, and ye'll not be doing it, just out of contrairiness. Why the divil +can't ye do like the other skiffs, and go where ye're wanted, on the road +towards thim beavers? Och, ye'll be sorry for this, when ye're left +behind, out of sight!"</p> + +<p>Then it flashed on Mike's mind that possibly some article had been left in +the hut, and the skiff had come back to look after it; so, up he ran to +the captain's deserted lodge, entered it, was lost to view for a minute, +then came in sight again, scratching his head, and renewing his +muttering--"No," he said, "divil a thing can I see, and it must be pure +con<i>trair</i>iness! Perhaps the baste will behave betther next time, so I'll +thry it ag'in, and give it an occasion. Barring obstinacy, 't is as +good-lookin' a skiff as the best of them."</p> + +<p>Mike was as good as his word, and gave the skiff as fair an opportunity of +behaving itself as was ever offered to a boat. Seven times did he quit the +shore, and as often return to it, gradually working his way towards the +western shore, and slightly down the lake. In this manner, Mike at length +got himself so far on the side of the lake, as to present a barrier of +land to the evil disposition of his skiff to incline to the westward. It +could go no longer in that direction, at least.</p> + +<p>"Divil burn ye," the honest fellow cried, the perspiration rolling down +his face; "I think ye'll be satisfied without walking out into the forest, +where I wish ye war' with all my heart, amang the threes that made ye! +Now, I'll see if yer con<i>trair</i>y enough to run up a hill."</p> + +<p>Mike next essayed to pull along the shore, in the hope that the sight of +the land, and of the overhanging pines and hemlocks, would cure the +boat's propensity to turn in that direction. It is not necessary to say +that his expectations were disappointed, and he finally was reduced to +getting out into the water, cool as was the weather, and of wading along +the shore, dragging the boat after him. All this Joel saw before he passed +out of sight, but no movement of his muscles let the captain into the +secret of the poor Irishman's strait.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile, the rest of the flotilla, or <i>brigade</i> of boats, as the +captain termed them, went prosperously on their way, going from one end of +the lake to the other, in the course of three hours. As one of the party +had been over the route several times already, there was no hesitation on +the subject of the point to which the boats were to proceed. They all +touched the shore near the stone that is now called the "Otsego Rock," +beneath a steep wooded bank, and quite near to the place where the +Susquehannah glanced out of the lake, in a swift current, beneath a +high-arched tracery of branches that were not yet clothed with leaves.</p> + +<p>Here the question was put as to what had become of Mike. His skiff was +nowhere visible, and the captain felt the necessity of having him looked +for, before he proceeded any further. After a short consultation, a boat +manned by two negroes, father and son, named Pliny the elder, and Pliny +the younger, or, in common parlance, "old Plin" and "young Plin," was sent +back along the west-shore to hunt him up. Of course, a hut was immediately +prepared for the reception of Mrs. Willoughby, upon the plain that +stretches across the valley, at this point. This was on the site of the +present village of Cooperstown, but just twenty years anterior to the +commencement of the pretty little shire town that now exists on the spot.</p> + +<p>It was night ere the two Plinies appeared towing Mike, as their great +namesakes of antiquity might have brought in a Carthaginian galley, in +triumph. The county Leitrim-man had made his way with excessive toil about +a league ere he was met, and glad enough was he to see his succour +approach. In that day, the strong antipathy which now exists between the +black and the emigrant Irishman was unknown, the competition for household +service commencing more than half a century later. Still, as the negro +loved fun constitutionally, and Pliny the younger was somewhat of a wag, +Mike did not entirely escape, scot-free.</p> + +<p>"Why you drag 'im like ox, Irish Mike?" cried the younger negro--"why you +no row 'im like other folk?"</p> + +<p>"Ah--you're as bad as the rest of 'em," growled Mike. "They tould me +Ameriky was a mighty warm country, and war-r-m I find it, sure enough, +though the wather isn't as warm as good whiskey. Come, ye black divils, +and see if ye can coax this <i>contrairy</i> crathure to do as a person +wants."</p> + +<p>The negroes soon had Mike in tow, and then they went down the lake +merrily, laughing and cracking their jokes, at the Irishman's expense, +after the fashion of their race. It was fortunate for the Leitrim-man that +he was accustomed to ditching, though it may be questioned if the pores of +his body closed again that day, so very effectually had they been opened. +When he rejoined his master, not a syllable was said of the mishap, Joel +having the prudence to keep his own secret, and even joining Mike in +denouncing the bad qualities of the boat. We will only add here, that a +little calculation entered into this trick, Joel perceiving that Mike was +a favourite, and wishing to bring him into discredit.</p> + +<p>Early the next morning, the captain sent the negroes and Mike down the +Susquehannah a mile, to clear away some flood-wood, of which one of the +hunters had brought in a report the preceding day. Two hours later, the +boats left the shore, and began to float downward with the current, +following the direction of a stream that has obtained its name from its +sinuosities.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes the boats reached the flood-wood, where, to Joel's great +amusement, Mike and the negroes, the latter having little more calculation +than the former, had commenced their operations on the upper side of the +raft, piling the logs on one another, with a view to make a passage +through the centre. Of course, there was a halt, the females landing. +Captain Willoughby now cast an eye round him in hesitation, when a knowing +look from Joel caught his attention.</p> + +<p>"This does not seem to be right," he said--"cannot we better if a little?"</p> + +<p>"It's right wrong, captain," answered Joel, laughing like one who enjoyed +other people's ignorance. "A sensible crittur' would begin the work on +such a job, at the lower side of the raft."</p> + +<p>"Take the direction, and order things to suit yourself."</p> + +<p>This was just what Joel liked. <i>Head-work</i> before all other work for him, +and he set about the duty authoritatively and with promptitude. After +rating the negroes roundly for their stupidity, and laying it on Mike +without much delicacy of thought or diction, over the shoulders of the two +blacks, he mustered his forces, and began to clear the channel with +intelligence and readiness.</p> + +<p>Going to the lower side of the jammed flood-wood, he soon succeeded in +loosening one or two trees, which floated away, making room for others to +follow. By these means a passage was effected in half an hour, Joel having +the prudence to set no more timber in motion than was necessary to his +purpose, lest it might choke the stream below. In this manner the party +got through, and, the river being high at that season, by night the +travellers were half-way to the mouth of the Unadilla. The next evening +they encamped at the junction of the two streams, making their +preparations to ascend the latter the following morning.</p> + +<p>The toil of the ascent, however, did not commence, until the boats entered +what was called the creek, or the small tributary of the Unadilla, on +which the beavers had erected their works, and which ran through the +"Manor." Here, indeed, the progress was slow and laborious, the rapidity +of the current and the shallowness of the water rendering every foot +gained a work of exertion and pain. Perseverance and skill, +notwithstanding, prevailed; all the boats reaching the foot of the rapids, +or straggling falls, on which the captain had built his mills, about an +hour before the sun disappeared. Here, of course, the boats were left, a +rude road having been cut, by means of which the freights were transported +on a sledge the remainder of the distance. Throughout the whole of this +trying day, Joel had not only worked head-work, but he had actually +exerted himself with his body. As for Mike, never before had he made such +desperate efforts. He felt all the disgrace of his adventure on the lake, +and was disposed to wipe it out by his exploits on the rivers. Thus Mike +was ever loyal to his employer. He had sold his flesh and blood for money, +and a man of his conscience was inclined to give a fair penny's-worth. The +tractable manner in which the boat had floated down the river, it is true, +caused him some surprise, as was shown in his remark to the younger Pliny, +on landing.</p> + +<p>"This is a curious boat, afther all," said Pat. "One time it's all +con<i>trar</i>iness, and then ag'in it's as obliging as one's own mother. It +<i>followed</i> the day all's one like a puppy dog, while yon on the big wather +there was no more <i>dhriving</i> it than a hog. Och! it's a faimale boat, by +its whims!"</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch03"> +<h2>Chapter III.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> "He sleeps forgetful of his once bright flame<br /> + He has no feeling of the glory gone; <br /> + He has no eye to catch the mounting flame<br /> + That once in transport drew him on; <br /> + He lies in dull oblivious dreams, nor cares<br /> + Who the wreathed laurel bears."</p> + +<p> Percival.</p></div> + + +<p>The appearance of a place in which the remainder of one's life is to be +past is always noted with interest on a first visit. Thus it was that Mrs. +Willoughby had been observant and silent from the moment the captain +informed her that they had passed the line of his estate, and were +approaching the spot where they were to dwell. The stream was so small, +and the girding of the forest so close, that there was little range for +the sight; but the anxious wife and mother could perceive that the hills +drew together, at this point, the valley narrowing essentially, that rocks +began to appear in the bed of the river, and that the growth of the timber +indicated fertility and a generous soil.</p> + +<p>When the boat stopped, the little stream came brawling down a ragged +declivity, and a mill, one so arranged as to grind and saw, both in a very +small way, however, gave the first signs of civilization she had beheld +since quitting the last hut near the Mohawk. After issuing a few orders, +the captain drew his wife's arm through his own, and hurried up the +ascent, with an eagerness that was almost boyish, to show her what had +been done towards the improvement of the "Knoll." There is a pleasure in +diving into a virgin forest and commencing the labours of civilization, +that has no exact parallel in any other human occupation. That of +building, or of laying out grounds, has certainly some resemblance to it, +but it is a resemblance so faint and distant as scarcely to liken the +enjoyment each produces. The former approaches nearer to the feeling of +creating, and is far more pregnant with anticipations and hopes, though +its first effects are seldom agreeable, and are sometimes nearly hideous. +Our captain, however, had escaped most of these last consequences, by +possessing the advantage of having a clearing, without going through the +usual processes of chopping and burning; the first of which leaves the +earth dotted, for many years, with unsightly stumps, while the rains and +snows do not wash out the hues of the last for several seasons.</p> + +<p>An exclamation betrayed the pleasure with which Mrs. Willoughby got her +first glimpse of the drained pond. It was when she had clambered to the +point of the rocks, where the stream began to tumble downward into the +valley below. A year had done a vast deal for the place. The few stumps +and stubs which had disfigured the basin when it was first laid bare, had +all been drawn by oxen, and burned. This left the entire surface of the +four hundred acres smooth and fit for the plough. The soil was the deposit +of centuries, and the inclination, from the woods to the stream, was +scarcely perceptible to the eye. In fact, it was barely sufficient to +drain the drippings of the winter's snows. The form of the area was a +little irregular; just enough so to be picturesque; while the inequalities +were surprisingly few and trifling. In a word, nature had formed just such +a spot as delights the husbandman's heart, and placed it beneath a sun +which, while its fierceness is relieved by winters of frost and snow, had +a power to bring out all its latent resources.</p> + +<p>Trees had been felled around the whole area, with the open spaces filled +by branches, in a way to form what is termed a brush fence. This is not a +sightly object, and the captain had ordered the line to be drawn <i>within</i> +the woods, so that the visible boundaries of the open land were the virgin +forest itself. His men had protested against this, a fence, however +unseemly, being in their view an indispensable accessory to civilization. +But the captain's authority, if not his better taste, prevailed; and the +boundary of felled trees and brush was completely concealed in the +back-ground of woods. As yet, there was no necessity for cross-fences, the +whole open space lying in a single field. One hundred acres were in winter +wheat. As this grain had been got in the previous autumn, it was now +standing on the finest and driest of the soil, giving an air of rich +fertility to the whole basin. Grass-seed had been sown along both banks of +the stream, and its waters were quietly flowing between two wide belts of +fresh verdure, the young plants having already started in that sheltered +receptacle of the sun's rays. Other portions of the flat showed signs of +improvement, the plough having actually been at work for quite a +fortnight.</p> + +<p>All this was far more than even the captain had expected, and much more +than his wife had dared to hope. Mrs. Willoughby had been accustomed to +witness the slow progress of a new settlement; but never before had she +seen what might be done on a beaver-dam. To her all appeared like magic, +and her first question would have been to ask her husband to explain what +had been done with the trees and stumps, had not her future residence +caught her eye. Captain Willoughby had left his orders concerning the +house, previously to quitting the Knoll; and he was now well pleased to +perceive that they had been attended to. As this spot will prove the scene +of many of the incidents we are bound to relate, it may be proper, here, +to describe it, at some length.</p> + +<p>The hillock that rose out of the pond, in the form of a rocky little +island, was one of those capricious formations that are often met with on +the surface of the earth. It stood about thirty rods from the northern +side of the area, very nearly central as to its eastern and western +boundaries, and presented a slope inclining towards the south. Its +greatest height was at its northern end, where it rose out of the rich +alluvion of the soil, literally a rock of some forty feet in +perpendicular height, having a summit of about an acre of level land, and +falling off on its three sides; to the east and west precipitously; to the +south quite gently and with regularity. It was this accidental formation +which had induced the captain to select the spot as the site of his +residence; for dwelling so far from any post, and in a place so difficult +of access, something like military defences were merely precautions of +ordinary prudence. While the pond remained, the islet was susceptible of +being made very strong against any of the usual assaults of Indian +warfare; and, now that the basin was drained, it had great advantages for +the same purpose. The perpendicular rock to the north, even overhung the +plain. It was almost inaccessible; while the formation on the other sides, +offered singular facilities, both for a dwelling and for security. All +this the captain, who was so familiar with the finesse of Indian +stratagem, had resolved to improve in the following manner:</p> + +<p>In the first place, he directed the men to build a massive wall of stone, +for a hundred and fifty feet in length, and six feet in height. This +stretched in front of the perpendicular rock, with receding walls to its +verge. The latter were about two hundred feet in length, each. This was +enclosing an area of two hundred, by one hundred and fifty feet, within a +blind wall of masonry. Through this wall there was only a single passage; +a gateway, in the centre of its southern face. The materials had all been +found on the hill itself, which was well covered with heavy stones. Within +this wall, which was substantially laid, by a Scotch mason, one accustomed +to the craft, the men had erected a building of massive, squared, pine +timber, well secured by cross partitions. This building followed the wall +in its whole extent, was just fifteen feet in elevation, without the roof, +and was composed, in part, by the wall itself; the latter forming nearly +one-half its height, on the exterior. The breadth of this edifice was only +twenty feet, clear of the stones and wood-work; leaving a court within of +about one hundred by one hundred and seventy-five feet in extent. The roof +extended over the gateway even; so that the space within was completely +covered, the gates being closed. This much had been done during the +preceding fall and winter; the edifice presenting an appearance of rude +completeness on the exterior. Still it had a sombre and goal-like air, +there being nothing resembling a window visible; no aperture, indeed, on +either of its outer faces, but the open gateway, of which the massive +leaves were finished, and placed against the adjacent walls, but which +were not yet hung. It is scarcely necessary to say, this house resembled +barracks, more than an ordinary dwelling. Mrs. Willoughby stood gazing at +it, half in doubt whether to admire or to condemn, when a voice, within a +few yards, suddenly drew her attention in another direction.</p> + +<p>"How you like him?" asked Nick, who was seated on a stone, at the margin +of the stream, washing his feet, after a long day's hunt. "No t'ink him +better dan beaver skin? Cap'in know all 'bout him; now he give Nick some +more last quit-rent?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Last</i>, indeed, it will be, then, Nick; for I have already paid you +<i>twice</i> for your rights."</p> + +<p>"Discovery wort' great deal, cap'in--see what great man he make +pale-face."</p> + +<p>"Ay, but <i>your</i> discovery, Nick, is not of that sort."</p> + +<p>"What sort, den?" demanded Nick, with the rapidity of lightning. "Give him +back 'e beaver, if you no like he discovery. Grad to see 'em back, ag'in; +skin higher price dan ever."</p> + +<p>"Nick, you're a cormorant, if there ever was one in this world! +Here--there is a dollar for you; the quit-rent is paid for this year, at +least. It ought to be for the last time."</p> + +<p>"Let him go for all summer, cap'in. Yes, Nick wonderful commerant! no such +eye he got, among Oneida!"</p> + +<p>Here the Tuscarora left the side of the stream, and came up on the rock, +shaking hands, good-humouredly, with Mrs. Willoughby, who rather liked the +knave; though she knew him to possess most of the vices of his class.</p> + +<p>"He very han'som beaver-dam," said Nick, sweeping his hand gracefully over +the view; "bye 'nd bye, he'll bring potatoe, and corn, and cider--all 'e +squaw want. Cap'in got good fort, too. Old soldier love fort; like to live +in him."</p> + +<p>"The day may come, Nick, when that fort may serve us all a good turn, out +here in the wilderness," Mrs. Willoughby observed, in a somewhat +melancholy tone; for her tender thoughts naturally turned towards her +youthful and innocent daughters.</p> + +<p>The Indian gazed at the house, with that fierce intentness which sometimes +glared, in a manner that had got to be, in its ordinary aspects, dull and +besotted. There was a startling intelligence in his eye, at such moments; +the feelings of youth and earlier habit, once more asserting their power. +Twenty years before, Nick had been foremost on the war-path; and what was +scarcely less honourable, among the wisest around the council-fire. He was +born a chief, and had made himself an outcast from his tribe, more by the +excess of ungovernable passions, than from any act of base meanness.</p> + +<p>"Cap'm tell Nick, now, what he mean by building such house, out here, +among ole beaver bones?" he said, sideling up nearer to his employer, and +gazing with some curiosity into his face.</p> + +<p>"What do I mean, Nick?--Why I mean to have a place of safety to put the +heads of my wife and children in, at need. The road to Canada is not so +long, but a red-skin can make one pair of moccasins go over it. Then, the +Oneidas and Mohawks are not all children of heaven."</p> + +<p>"No pale-face rogue, go about, I s'pose?" said Nick, sarcastically.</p> + +<p>"Yes, there are men of that class, who are none the worse for being locked +out of one's house, at times. But, what do <i>you</i> think of the hut?--You +know I call the place the 'Hut,' the Hutted Knoll."</p> + +<p>"He hole plenty of beaver, if you cotch him!--But no water left, and he +all go away. Why you make him stone, first; den you make him wood, a'ter; +eh? Plenty rock; plenty tree."</p> + +<p>"Why, the stone wall can neither be cut away, nor set fire to, Nick; +that's the reason. I took as much stone as was necessary, and then used +wood, which is more easily worked, and which is also drier."</p> + +<p>"Good--Nick t'ought just dat. How you get him water if Injen come?"</p> + +<p>"There's the stream, that winds round the foot of the hill, Nick, as you +see; and then there is a delicious spring, within one hundred yards of the +very gate."</p> + +<p>"Which side of him?" asked Nick, with his startling rapidity.</p> + +<p>"Why, here, to the left of the gate, and a little to the right of the +large stone--"</p> + +<p>"No--no," interrupted the Indian, "no left--no right--which side--<i>inside</i> +gate; <i>outside</i> gate?"</p> + +<p>"Oh!--the spring is outside the gate, certainly; but means might be found +to make a covered way to it; and then the stream winds round directly +underneath the rocks, behind the house, and wafer could be raised from +<i>that</i>, by means of a rope. Our rifles would count for something, too, in +drawing water, as well as in drawing blood."</p> + +<p>"Good.--Rifle got long arm. He talk so, Ingin mind him. When you t'ink +red-skin come ag'in your fort, cap'in, now you got him done?"</p> + +<p>"A long time first, I hope, Nick. We are at peace with France, again; and +I see no prospect of any new quarrel, very soon. So long as the French and +English are at peace, the red men will not dare to touch either."</p> + +<p>"Dat true as missionary! What a soldier do, cap'in, if so much peace? +Warrior love a war-path."</p> + +<p>"I wish it were not so, Nick. But <i>my</i> hatchet is buried, I hope, for +ever."</p> + +<p>"Nick hope cap'in know where to find him, if he want to? Very bad to put +anyt'ing where he forget; partic'larly tomahawk. Sometime quarrel come, +like rain, when you don't tink."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that also cannot be denied. Yet, I fear the next quarrel will be +among ourselves, Nick.--The government at home, and the people of the +colonies, are getting to have bad blood between them."</p> + +<p>"Dat very queer! Why pale-face mo'der and pale-face darter no love one +anoder, like red-skin?"</p> + +<p>"Really, Nick, you are somewhat interrogating this evening; but, my squaw +must be a little desirous of seeing the inside of her house, as well as +its outside, and I must refer you to that honest fellow, yonder, for an +answer. His name is Mike; I hope he and you will always be good friends."</p> + +<p>So saying, the captain nodded in a friendly manner, and led Mrs. +Willoughby towards the hut, taking a foot-path that was already trodden +firm, and which followed the sinuosities of the stream, to which it served +as a sort of a dyke. Nick took the captain at his word, and turning about +he met the county Leitrim-man, with an air of great blandness, thrusting +out a hand, in the pale-face fashion, as a sign of amity, saying, at the +same time--</p> + +<p>"How do, Mike?--Sago--Sago--grad you come--good fellow to drink Santa +Cruz, wid Nick."</p> + +<p>"How do, Mike!" exclaimed the other, looking at the Tuscarora with +astonishment, for this was positively the first red man the Irishman had +ever seen. "How do Mike! Ould Nick be ye?--well--ye look pretty much as +I expected to see you--pray, how did ye come to know <i>my</i> name?"</p> + +<p>"Nick know him--know every t'ing. Grad to see you, Mike--hope we live +together like good friend, down yonder, up here, over dere."</p> + +<p>"Ye do, do ye! Divil burn me, now, if I want any sich company. Ould Nick's +yer name, is it?"</p> + +<p>"Old Nick--young Nick--saucy Nick; all one, all to'ther. Make no odd what +you call; I come."</p> + +<p>"Och, yer a handy one! Divil trust ye, but ye'll come when you arn't +wanted, or yer not of yer father's own family. D'ye live hereabouts, +masther Ould Nick?"</p> + +<p>"Live here--out yonder--in he hut, in he wood--where he want. Make no +difference to Nick."</p> + +<p>Michael now drew back a pace or two, keeping his eyes fastened on the +other intently, for he actually expected to see some prodigious and sudden +change in his appearance. When he thought he had got a good position for +manly defence or rapid retreat, as either might become necessary the +county Leitrim-man put on a bolder front and resumed the discourse.</p> + +<p>"If it's so indifferent to ye where ye dwell," asked Mike, "why can't you +keep at home, and let a body carry these cloaks and bundles of the +missuses, out yonder to the house wither she's gone?"</p> + +<p>"Nick help carry 'em. Carry t'ing for dat squaw hundred time."</p> + +<p>"That what! D'ye mane Madam Willoughby by yer blackguard name?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; cap'in wife--cap'in squaw, mean him. Carry bundle, basket, hundred +time for him."</p> + +<p>"The Lord preserve me, now, from sich atrocity and impudence!" laying down +the cloaks and bundles, and facing the Indian, with an appearance of great +indignation--"Did a body ever hear sich a liar! Why, Misther Ould Nick, +Madam Willoughby wouldn't let the likes of ye touch the ind of her +garments. You wouldn't get the liberty to walk in the same path with her, +much less to carry her bundles. I'll answer for it, ye're a great liar, +now, ould Nick, in the bottom of your heart."</p> + +<p>"Nick great liar," answered the Indian, good-naturedly; for he so well +knew this was his common reputation, that he saw no use in denying it. +"What of dat? Lie good sometime."</p> + +<p>"That's another! Oh, ye animal; I've a great mind to set upon ye at once, +and see what an honest man can do wid ye, in fair fight! If I only knew +what ye'd got about yer toes, now, under them fine-looking things ye wear +for shoes, once, I'd taich ye to talk of the missus, in this style."</p> + +<p>"Speak as well as he know how. Nick never been to school. Call 'e squaw, +<i>good</i> squaw. What want more?"</p> + +<p>"Get out! If ye come a foot nearer, I'll be at ye, like a dog upon a bull, +though ye gore me. What brought ye into this paiceful sittlement, where +nothing but virtue and honesty have taken up their abode?"</p> + +<p>What more Mike might have said is not known, as Nick caught a sign from +the captain, and went loping across the flat, at his customary gait, +leaving the Irishman standing on the defensive, and, to own the truth, not +sorry to be rid of him. Unfortunately for the immediate enlightenment of +Mike's mind, Joel overheard the dialogue, and comprehending its meaning, +with his native readiness, he joined his companion in a mood but little +disposed to clear up the error.</p> + +<p>"Did ye see that <i>crathure</i>?" asked Mike, with emphasis.</p> + +<p>"Sartain--he is often seen here, at the Hut. He may be said to live here, +half his time."</p> + +<p>"A pritty hut, then, ye must have of it! Why do ye tolerate the vagabond? +He's not fit for Christian society."</p> + +<p>"Oh! he's good company, sometimes, Mike. When you know him better, you'll +like him better. Come; up with the bundles, and let us follow. The captain +is looking after us, as you see."</p> + +<p>"Well may he look, to see us in sich company!--Will he har-r-m the +missus?"</p> + +<p>"Not he. I tell you, you'll like him yourself when you come to know him."</p> + +<p>"If I do, burn me! Why, he says <i>himself</i>, that he's Ould Nick, and I'm +sure I never fancied the crathure but it was in just some such for-r-m. +Och! he's ill-looking enough, for twenty Ould Nicks."</p> + +<p>Lest the reader get an exaggerated notion of Michael's credulity, it may +be well to say that Nick had painted a few days before, in a fit of +caprice, and that one-half of his face was black, and the other a deep +red, while each of his eyes was surrounded with a circle of white, all of +which had got to be a little confused in consequence of a night or two of +orgies, succeeded by mornings in which the toilet had been altogether +neglected. His dress, too, a blanket with tawdry red and yellow trimmings, +with ornamented leggings and moccasins to correspond, had all aided in +maintaining the accidental mystification. Mike followed his companion, +growling out his discontent, and watching the form of the Indian, as the +latter still went loping over the flat, having passed the captain, with a +message to the barns.</p> + +<p>"I'll warrant ye, now, the captain wouldn't tolerate such a crathure, but +he's sent him off to the woods, as ye may see, like a divil, as he is! To +think of such a thing's spakeing to the missus! Will I fight him?--That +will I, rather than he'll say an uncivil word to the likes of her! He's +claws they tell me, though he kapes them so well covered in his fine +brogues; divil burn me, but I'd grapple him by the toes."</p> + +<p>Joel now saw how deep was Michael's delusion, and knowing it <i>must</i> soon +be over, he determined to make a merit of necessity, by letting his +friend into the truth, thereby creating a confidence that would open the +way to a hundre'd future mischievous scenes.</p> + +<p>"Claws!" he repeated, with an air of surprise--"And why do you think an +Injin has claws, Mike?"</p> + +<p>"An Injin! D'ye call that miscoloured crathure an Injin Joel. Isn't it one +of yer yankee divils?"</p> + +<p>"Out upon you, for an Irish ninny. Do you think the captain would <i>board</i> +a devil! The fellow's a Tuscarora, and is as well known here as the owner +of the Hut himself. It's Saucy Nick."</p> + +<p>"Yes, saucy Ould Nick--had it from his very mout' and even the divil +would hardly be such a blackguard as to lie about his own name. Och! he's +a roarer, sure enough; and then for the tusks you mintion, I didn't see +'em, with my eyes; but the crathure has a mouth that might hould a +basket-full."</p> + +<p>Joel now perceived that he must go more seriously to work to undeceive his +companion. Mike honestly believed he had met an American devil, and it +required no little argumentation to persuade him of the contrary. We shall +leave Joel employed in this difficult task, in which he finally succeeded, +and follow the captain and his wife to the hut.</p> + +<p>The lord and lady of the manor examined everything around their future +residence, with curious eyes. Jamie Allen, the Scotch mason mentioned, was +standing in front of the house, to hear what might be said of his wall, +while two or three other mechanics betrayed some such agitation as the +tyro in literature manifests, ere he learns what the critics have said of +his first work. The exterior gave great satisfaction to the captain. The +wall was not only solid and secure, but it was really handsome. This was +in some measure owing to the quality of the stones, but quite as much to +Jamie's dexterity in using them. The wall and chimneys, of the latter of +which there were no less than six, were all laid in lime, too; it having +been found necessary to burn some of the material to plaster the interior. +Then the gates were massive, being framed in oak, filled in with four-inch +plank, and might have resisted a very formidable assault. Their strong +iron hinges were all in their places, but the heavy job of hanging had +been deferred to a leisure moment, when all the strength of the manor +might be collected for that purpose. There they stood, inclining against +the wall, one on each side of the gateway, like indolent sentinels on +post, who felt too secure from attack to raise their eyes.</p> + +<p>The different mechanics crowded round the captain, each eager to show his +own portion of what had been done. The winter had not been wasted, but, +proper materials being in abundance, and on the spot, captain Willoughby +had every reason to be satisfied with what he got for his money. +Completely shut out from the rest of the world, the men had worked +cheerfully and with little interruption; for their labours composed their +recreation. Mrs. Willoughby found the cart of the building her family was +to occupy, with the usual offices, done and furnished. This comprised all +the front on the-eastern side of the gateway, and most of the wing, in +the same half, extending back to the cliff. It is true, the finish was +plain; but everything was comfortable. The ceilings were only ten feet +high certainly, but it was thought prodigious in the colony in that day; +and then the plastering of Jamie was by no means as unexceptionable as his +stone-work; still every room had its two coats, and white-wash gave them a +clean and healthful aspect. The end of the wing that came next the cliff +was a laundry, and a pump was fitted, by means of which water was raised +from the rivulet. Next came the kitchen, a spacious and comfortable room +of thirty by twenty feet; an upper-servant's apartment succeeded; after +which were the bed-rooms of the family a large parlour, and a library, or +office, for the captain. As the entire range, on this particular side of +the house, extended near or quite two hundred and fifty feet, there was no +want of space or accommodation.</p> + +<p>The opposite, or western half of the edifice, was devoted to more homely +uses. It contained an eating-room and divers sleeping-rooms far the +domestics and labourers, besides store-rooms, garners, and <i>omnium +gatherums</i> of all sorts. The vast ranges of garrets, too, answered for +various purposes of household and farming economy. All the windows, and +sundry doors, opened into the court, while the whole of the exterior wall, +both wooden and stone, presented a perfect blank, in the way of outlets. +It was the captain's intention, however, to cut divers loops through the +logs, at some convenient moment, so that men stationed in the garrets +might command the different faces of the structure with their musketry. +But, like the gates, these means of defence were laid aside for a more +favourable opportunity.</p> + +<p>Our excellent matron was delighted with her domestic arrangements. They +much surpassed any of the various barracks in which she had dwelt, and a +smile of happiness beamed on her handsome face, as she followed her +husband from room to room, listening to his explanations. When they +entered their private apartments, and these were furnished and ready to +receive them, respect caused the rest to leave them by themselves, and +once more they found that they were alone.</p> + +<p>"Well, Wilhelmina," asked the gratified husband--gratified, because he saw +pleasure beaming in the mild countenance and serene blue eyes of one of +the best wives living--"Well, Wilhelmina," he asked, "can you give up +Albany, and all the comforts of your friends' dwellings, to be satisfied +in a home like this? It is not probable I shall ever build again, whatever +Bob may do, when he comes after me. This structure, then, part house, part +barrack, part fort, as it is, must be our residence for the remainder of +our days. We are <i>hutted</i> for life."</p> + +<p>"It is all-sufficient, Willoughby. It has space, comfort, warmth, coolness +and security. What more can a wife and a mother ask, when she is +surrounded by those she most loves? Only attend to the security, Hugh. +Remember how far we are removed from any succour, and how sudden and +fierce the Indians are in their attacks. Twice have we, ourselves, been +near being destroyed by surprises, from which accident, or God's +providence, protected us, rather than our own vigilance. If this could +happen in garrisons, and with king's troops around us, how much more +easily might it happen here, with only common labourers to watch what is +going on!"</p> + +<p>"You exaggerate the danger, wife. There are no Indians, in this part of +the country, who would dare to molest a settlement like ours. We count +thirteen able-bodied men in all, besides seven women, and could use +seventeen or eighteen muskets and rifles on an emergency. No <i>tribe</i> would +dare commence hostilities, in a time of general peace, and so near the +settlements too; and, as to stragglers, who might indeed murder to rob, we +are so strong, ourselves, that we may sleep in peace, so far as they are +concerned."</p> + +<p>"One never knows that, dearest Hugh. A marauding party of half-a-dozen +might prove too much for many times their own number, when unprepared. I +<i>do</i> hope you will have the gates hung, at least; should the girls come +here, in the autumn, I could not sleep without hanging the gates."</p> + +<p>"Fear nothing, love," said the captain, kissing his wife with manly +tenderness. "As for Beulah and Maud, let them come when they please; we +shall always have a welcome for them, and no place can be safer than under +their father's eyes."</p> + +<p>"I care not so much for myself, Hugh, but <i>do</i> not let the gates be +forgotten until the girls come."</p> + +<p>"Everything shall be done as you desire, wife of mine, though it will be a +hard job to get two such confounded heavy loads of wood on their hinges. +We must take some day when everybody is at home, and everybody willing to +work. Saturday next, I intend to have a review; and, once a month, the +year round, there will be a muster, when all the arms are to be cleaned +and loaded, and orders given how to act in case of an alarm. An old +soldier would be disgraced to allow himself to be run down by mere +vagabonds. My pride is concerned, and you may sleep in peace."</p> + +<p>"Yes, do, dearest Hugh."--Then the matron proceeded through the rooms, +expressing her satisfaction at the care which had been had for her +comfort, in her own rooms in particular.</p> + +<p>Sooth to say, the interior of the hut presented that odd contrast between +civilization and rude expedients, which so frequently occurs on an +American frontier, where persons educated in refinement often find +themselves brought in close collision with savage life. Carpets, in +America, and in the year of our Lord 1765, were not quite as much a matter +of course in domestic economy, as they are to-day. Still they were to be +found, though it was rare, indeed, that they covered more than the centre +of the room. One of these great essentials, without which no place can +appear comfortable in a cold climate, was spread on the floor of Mrs. +Willoughby's parlour--a room that served for both eating and as a sala, +the Knight's Hall of the Hut, measuring twenty by twenty-four feet--though +in fact this carpet concealed exactly two-thirds of the white clean plank. +Then the chairs were massive and even rich, while one might see his face +in the dark mahogany of the tables. There were cellarets--the captain +being a connoisseur in wines--bureaus, secretaries, beaufets, and other +similar articles, that had been collected in the course of twenty years' +housekeeping, and scattered at different posts, were collected, and +brought hither by means of sledges, and the facilities of the +water-courses. Fashion had little to do with furniture, in that simple +age, when the son did not hesitate to wear even the clothes of the father, +years and years after the tailor had taken leave of them. Massive old +furniture, in particular, lasted for generations, and our matron now saw +many articles that had belonged to her grandfather assembled beneath the +first roof that she could ever strictly call her own.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Willoughby took a survey of the offices last. Here she found, already +established, the two Plinies, with Mari', the sister of the elder Pliny, +Bess, the wife of the younger, and Mony--alias Desdemona--a collateral of +the race, by ties and affinities that garter-king-at-arms could not have +traced genealogically; since he would have been puzzled to say whether the +woman was the cousin, or aunt, or step-daughter of Mari', or all three. +All the women were hard at work, Bess singing in a voice that reached the +adjoining forest. Mari'--this name was pronounced with a strong emphasis +on the last syllable, or like Maria, without the final vowel--Mari' was +the head of the kitchen, even Pliny the elder standing in salutary dread +of her authority; and her orders to her brother and nephew were pouring +forth, in an English that was divided into three categories; the +Anglo-Saxon, the Low Dutch, and the Guinea dialect; a medley that rendered +her discourse a droll assemblage of the vulgar and the classical.</p> + +<p>"Here, niggers," she cried, "why you don't jump about like Paus dance? +Ebbery t'ing want a hand, and some want a foot. Plate to wash, crockery to +open, water to b'ile, dem knife to clean, and not'ing missed. Lord, +here's a madam, and 'e whole kitchen in a diffusion."</p> + +<p>"Well, Mari'," exclaimed the captain, good-naturedly, "here you are, +scolding away as if you had been in the place these six months, and knew +all its faults and weaknesses."</p> + +<p>"Can't help a scold, master, in sich a time as dis--come away from dem +plates, <i>you</i> Great Smash, and let a proper hand take hold on 'em."</p> + +<p>Here we ought to say, that captain Willoughby had christened Bess by the +sobriquet of Great Smash, on account of her size, which fell little short +of two hundred, estimated in pounds, and a certain facility she possessed +in destroying crockery, while 'Mony went by the milder appellation of +"Little Smash;" not that bowls or plates fared any better in her hands, +but because <i>she</i> weighed only one hundred and eighty.</p> + +<p>"Dis is what I tell 'em, master," continued Mari', in a remonstrating, +argumentative sort of a tone, with dogmatism and respect singularly +mingled in her manner--"Dis, massa, just what I tell 'em <i>all</i>. I tell +'em, says I, this is Hunter Knoll, and not All<i>bon</i>ny--here no store--no +place to buy t'ing if you break 'em; no good woman who know ebbery t'ing, +to tell you where to find t'ing, if you <i>lose</i> him. If dere was only good +woman, <i>dat</i> somet'ing; but no fortun'-teller out here in de bushes--no, +no--when a silber spoon go, <i>here</i>, he go for good and all--Goody, +massy"--staring at something in the court--"what he call <i>dat</i>, sa?"</p> + +<p>"That--oh! that is only an Indian hunter I keep about me, to bring us +game--you'll never have an empty spit, Mari', as long as <i>he</i> is with us. +Fear nothing; he will not harm you. His name is Nick."</p> + +<p>"De <i>Ole</i> Nick, massa?"</p> + +<p>"No, only <i>Saucy</i> Nick. The fellow is a little slovenly to-day in his +appearance, and you see he has brought already several partridges, besides +a rabbit. We shall have venison, in the season."</p> + +<p>Here all the negroes, after staring at Nick, quite a minute, set up a loud +shout, laughing as if the Tuscarora had been created for their special +amusement. Although the captain was somewhat of a martinet in his domestic +discipline, it had ever altogether exceeded his authority, or his art, to +prevent these bursts of merriment; and he led his wife away from the din, +leaving Mari', Great Smash, and Little Smash, with the two Plinies, in +ecstasies at their own uproar. Burst succeeded burst, until the Indian +walked away, in offended dignity.</p> + +<p>Such was the commencement of the domestication of the Willoughbys at the +Hutted Knoll. The plan of our tale does not require us to follow them +minutely for, the few succeeding years, though some further explanation +may be necessary to show why this settlement varied a little from the +ordinary course.</p> + +<p>That very season, or, in the summer of 1765, Mrs. Willoughby inherited +some real estate in Albany, by the death of an uncle, as well as a few +thousand pounds currency, in ready money. This addition to his fortune +made the captain exceedingly comfortable; or, for that day, rich; and it +left him to act his pleasure as related to his lands. Situated as these +last were, so remote from other settlements as to render highways, for +some time, hopeless, he saw no use in endeavouring to anticipate the +natural order of things. It would only create embarrassment to raise +produce that could not be sent to market; and he well knew that a +population of any amount could not exist, in quiet, without the usual +attendants of buying and selling. Then it suited his own taste to be the +commander-in-chief of an isolated establishment like this; and he was +content to live in abundance, on his flats, feeding his people, his +cattle, and even his hogs to satiety, and having wherewithal to send away +the occasional adventurer, who entered his clearing, contented and happy.</p> + +<p>Thus it was that he neither sold nor leased. No person dwelt on his land +who was not a direct dependant, or hireling, and all that the earth +yielded he could call his own. Nothing was sent abroad for sale but +cattle. Every year, a small drove of fat beeves and milch cows found their +way through the forest to Albany, and the proceeds returned in the shape +of foreign supplies. The rents, and the interests on bonds, were left to +accumulate, or were applied to aid Robert in obtaining a new step in the +army. Lands began to be granted nearer and nearer to his own, and here and +there some old officer like himself, or a solitary farmer, began to cut +away the wilderness; but none in his immediate vicinity.</p> + +<p>Still the captain did not live altogether as a hermit. He visited Edmeston +of Mount Edmeston, a neighbour less than fifty miles distant; was +occasionally seen at Johnson Hall, with Sir William; or at the bachelor +establishment of Sir John, on the Mohawk; and once or twice he so far +overcame his indolence, as to consent to serve as a member for a new +county, that was called Tryon, after a ruling governor.</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch04"> +<h2>Chapter IV.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> Hail! sober evening! Thee the harass'd brain<br /> + And aching heart with fond orisons greet; <br /> + The respite thou of toil; the balm of pain; <br /> + To thoughtful mind the hour for musing meet, <br /> + 'Tis then the sage from forth his lone retreat, <br /> + The rolling universe around espies; <br /> + 'Tis then the bard may hold communion sweet<br /> + With lovely shapes unkenned by grosser eyes, <br /> + And quick perception comes of finer mysteries.</p> + +<p> Sands.</p></div> + + +<p>In the preceding chapter we closed the minuter narrative with a scene at +the Hut, in the spring of 1765. We must now advance the time just ten +years, opening, anew, in the month of May, 1775. This, it is scarcely +necessary to tell the reader, is bringing him at once up to the earliest +days of the revolution. The contest which preceded that great event had in +fact occurred in the intervening time, and we are now about to plunge into +the current of some of the minor incidents of the struggle itself.</p> + +<p>Ten years are a century in the history of a perfectly new settlement. The +changes they produce are even surprising, though in ordinary cases they do +not suffice to erase the signs of a recent origin. The forest is opened, +and the light of day admitted, it is true; but its remains are still to be +seen in multitudes of unsightly stumps, dead standing trees, and +ill-looking stubs. These vestiges of the savage state usually remain a +quarter of a century; in certain region they are to be found for even more +than twice that period. All this, however, had captain Willoughby escaped, +in consequence of limiting his clearing, in a great measure, to that which +had been made by the beavers, and from which time and natural decay had, +long before his arrival, removed every ungainly object. It is true, here +and there a few acres had been cleared on the firmer ground, at the margin +of the flats, where barns and farm buildings had been built, and orchards +planted; but, in order to preserve the harmony of his view, the captain +had caused all the stumps to be pulled and burnt, giving to these places +the same air of agricultural finish as characterized the fields on the +lower land.</p> + +<p>To this sylvan scene, at a moment which preceded the setting of the sun by +a little more than an hour, and in the first week of the genial month of +May, we must now bring the reader in fancy. The season had been early, and +the Beaver Manor, or the part of it which was cultivated, lying low and +sheltered, vegetation had advanced considerably beyond the point that is +usual, at that date, in the elevated region of which we have been writing. +The meadows were green with matted grasses, the wheat and rye resembled +rich velvets, and the ploughed fields had the fresh and mellowed +appearance of good husbandry and a rich soil. The shrubbery, of which the +captain's English taste had introduced quantities, was already in leaf, +and even portions of the forest began to veil their sombre mysteries with +the delicate foliage of an American spring.</p> + +<p>The site of the ancient pond was a miracle of rustic beauty. Everything +like inequality or imperfection had disappeared, the whole presenting a +broad and picturesquely shaped basin, with outlines fashioned principally +by nature, an artist that rarely fails in effect. The flat was divided +into fields by low post-and-rail fences, the captain making it a law to +banish all unruly animals from his estate. The barns and out-buildings +were neatly made and judiciously placed, and the three or four roads, or +lanes, that led to them, crossed the low-land in such graceful curves, as +greatly to increase the beauty of the landscape. Here and there a log +cabin was visible, nearly buried in the forest, with a few necessary and +neat appliances around it; the homes of labourers who had long dwelt in +them, and who seemed content to pass their lives in the same place. As +most of these men had married and become fathers, the whole colony, +including children, notwithstanding the captain's policy not to settle, +had grown to considerably more than a hundred souls, of whom +three-and-twenty were able-bodied men. Among the latter were the millers; +but, their mills were buried in the ravine where they had been first +placed, quite out of sight from the picture above, concealing all the +unavoidable and ungainly-looking objects of a saw-mill yard.</p> + +<p>As a matter of course, the object of the greatest interest, as it was the +most conspicuous, was the Hutted Knoll, as the house was now altogether +called, and the objects it contained. Thither, then, we will now direct +our attention, and describe things as they appeared ten years after they +were first presented to the reader.</p> + +<p>The same agricultural finish as prevailed on the flats pervaded every +object on the Knoll, though some labour had been expended to produce it. +Everything like a visible rock, the face of the cliff on the northern end +excepted, had disappeared, the stones having been blasted, and either +worked into walls for foundations, or walls for fence. The entire base of +the Knoll, always excepting the little precipice at the rivulet, was +encircled by one of the latter, erected under the superintendence of Jamie +Allen, who still remained at the Hut, a bachelor, and as he said himself, +a happy man. The southern-face of the Knoll was converted into lawn, there +being quite two acres intersected with walks, and well garnished with +shrubbery. What was unusual in America, at that day, the captain, owing to +his English education, had avoided straight lines, and formal paths; +giving to the little spot the improvement on nature which is a consequence +of embellishing her works without destroying them. On each side of this +lawn was an orchard, thrifty and young, and which were already beginning +to show signs of putting forth their blossoms.</p> + +<p>About the Hut itself, the appearance of change was not so manifest. +Captain Willoughby had caused it to be constructed originally, as he +intended to preserve it, and if formed no part of his plan to cover it +with tawdry colours. There it stood, brown above, and grey beneath, as +wood or stone was the material, with a widely projecting roof. It had no +piazzas, or stoups, and was still without external windows, one range +excepted. The loops had been cut, but it was more for the benefit of +lighting the garrets, than for any other reason, all of them being glazed, +and serving the end for which they had been pierced. The gates remained +precisely in the situation in which they were, when last presented to the +eye of the reader! There they stood, each leaning against the wall on its +own side of the gateway, the hinges beginning to rust, by time and +exposure. Ten years had not produced a day of sufficient leisure in which +to hang them: though Mrs. Willoughby frequently spoke of the necessity of +doing so, in the course of the first summer. Even she had got to be so +familiarized to her situation, and so accustomed to seeing the leaves +where they stood, that she now regarded them as a couple of sleeping lions +in stone, or as characteristic ornaments, rather than as substantial +defences to the entrance of the dwelling.</p> + +<p>The interior of the Hut, however, had undergone many alterations. The +western half had been completed, and handsome rooms had been fitted up for +guests and inmates of the family, in the portion of the edifice occupied +by the latter. Additional comforts had been introduced, and, the garners, +cribs and lodgings of the labourers having been transferred to the skirts +of the forest, the house was more strictly and exclusively the abode of a +respectable and well-regulated family. In the rear, too, a wing had been +thrown along the verge of the cliff, completely enclosing the court. This +wing, which overhung the rivulet, and had, not only a most picturesque +site, but a most picturesque and lovely view, now contained the library, +parlour and music-room, together with other apartments devoted to the uses +of the ladies, during the day; the old portions of the house that had once +been similarly occupied being now converted into sleeping apartments. The +new wing was constructed entirely of massive squared logs, so as to render +it bullet-proof, here being no necessity for a stone foundation, standing, +as it did, on the verge of a cliff some forty feet in height. This was the +part of the edifice which had external windows, the elevation removing it +from the danger of inroads, or hostile shot, while the air and view were +both grateful and desirable. Some extra attention had been paid to the +appearance of the meadows on this side of the Knoll, and the captain had +studiously kept their skirts, as far as the eye could see from the +windows, in virgin forest; placing the barns, cabins, and other detached +buildings, so far south as to be removed from view. Beulah Willoughby, a +gentle, tranquil creature, had a profound admiration of the beauties of +nature; and to her, her parents had yielded the control of everything that +was considered accessary to the mere charms of the eye; her taste had +directed most of that which had not been effected by the noble luxuriance +of nature. Wild roses were already putting forth their leaves in various +fissures of the rocks, where earth had been placed for their support, and +the margin of the little stream, that actually washed the base of the +cliff, winding off in a charming sweep through the meadows, a rivulet of +less than twenty feet in width, was garnished with willows and alder. +Quitting this sylvan spot, we will return to the little shrub-adorned area +in front of the Hut. This spot the captain called his <i>glacis</i>, while his +daughters termed it the lawn. The hour, it will be remembered, was shortly +before sunset, and thither nearly all the family had repaired to breathe +the freshness of the pure air, and bathe in the genial warmth of a season, +which is ever so grateful to those who have recently escaped from the +rigour of a stern winter. Rude, and sufficiently picturesque garden-seats, +were scattered about, and on one of these were seated the captain and his +wife; he, with his hair sprinkled with grey, a hale, athletic, healthy man +of sixty, and she a fresh-looking, mild-featured, and still handsome +matron of forty-eight. In front, stood a venerable-looking personage, of +small stature, dressed in rusty black, of the cut that denoted the attire +of a clergyman, before it was considered aristocratic to wear the outward +symbols of belonging to the church of God. This was the Rev. Jedidiah +Woods, a native of New England, who had long served as a chaplain in the +same regiment with the captain, and who, being a bachelor, on retired pay, +had dwelt with his old messmate for the last eight years, in the double +capacity of one who exercised the healing art as well for the soul as for +the body. To his other offices, he added that of an instructor, in +various branches of knowledge, to the young people. The chaplain, for so +he was called by everybody in and around the Hut, was, at the moment of +which we are writing, busy in expounding to his friends certain nice +distinctions that existed, or which he fancied to exist, between a tom-cod +and a chub, the former of which fish he very erroneously conceived he held +in his hand at that moment; the Rev. Mr. Woods being a much better angler +than naturalist. To his dissertation Mrs. Willoughby listened with great +good-nature, endeavouring all the while to feel interested; while her +husband kept uttering his "by all means," "yes," "certainly," "you're +quite right, Woods," his gaze, at the same time, fastened on Joel Strides, +and Pliny the elder, who were unharnessing their teams, on the flats +beneath, having just finished a "land," and deeming it too late to +commence another.</p> + +<p>Beulah, her pretty face shaded by a large sun-bonnet, was superintending +the labours of Jamie Allen, who, finding nothing just then to do as a +mason, was acting in the capacity of gardener; his hat was thrown upon the +grass, with his white locks bare, and he was delving about some shrubs +with the intention of giving them the benefit of a fresh dressing of +manure. Maud, however, without a hat of any sort, her long, luxuriant, +silken, golden tresses covering her shoulders, and occasionally veiling +her warm, rich cheek, was exercising with a battledore, keeping Little +Smash, now increased in size to quite fourteen stone, rather actively +employed as an assistant, whenever the exuberance of her own spirits +caused her to throw the plaything beyond her reach. In one of the +orchards, near by, two men were employed trimming the trees. To these the +captain next turned all his attention, just as he had encouraged the +chaplain to persevere, by exclaiming, "out of all question, my dear +sir"--though he was absolutely ignorant that the other had just advanced a +downright scientific heresy. At this critical moment a cry from Little +Smash, that almost equalled a downfall of crockery in its clamour, drew +every eye in her direction.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter, Desdemona?" asked the chaplain, a little tartly, by +no means pleased at having his natural history startled by sounds so +inapplicable to the subject. "How often have I told you that the Lord +views with displeasure anything so violent and improper as your outcries?"</p> + +<p>"Can't help him, dominie--nebber can help him, when he take me sudden. +See, masser, dere come Ole Nick!"</p> + +<p>There was Nick, sure enough. For the first time, in more than two years, +the Tuscarora was seen approaching the house, on the long, loping trot +that he affected when he wished to seem busy, or honestly earning his +money. He was advancing by the only road that was ever travelled by the +stranger as he approached the Hut; or, he came up the valley. As the woman +spoke, he had just made his appearance over the rocks, in the direction of +the mills. At that distance, quite half a mile, he would not have been +recognised, but for this gait, which was too familiar to all at the Knoll, +however, to be mistaken.</p> + +<p>"That is Nick, sure enough!" exclaimed the captain. "The fellow comes at +the pace of a runner; or, as if he were the bearer of some important +news!"</p> + +<p>"The tricks of Saucy Nick are too well known to deceive any here," +observed Mrs. Willoughby, who, surrounded by her husband and children, +always felt so happy as to deprecate every appearance of danger.</p> + +<p>"These savages will keep that pace for hours at a time," observed the +chaplain; "a circumstance that has induced some naturalists to fancy a +difference in the species, if not in the genus."</p> + +<p>"Is he chub or tom-cod, Woods?" asked the captain, throwing back on the +other all he recollected of the previous discourse.</p> + +<p>"Nay," observed Mrs. Willoughby, anxiously, "I <i>do </i> think he may have +some intelligence! It is now more than a twelvemonth since we have seen +Nick."</p> + +<p>"It is more than twice twelvemonth, my dear; I have not seen the fellow's +face since I denied him the keg of rum for his 'discovery' of another +beaver pond. He has tried to sell me a new pond every season since the +purchase of this."</p> + +<p>"Do you think he took serious offence, Hugh, at that refusal? If so, would +it not be better to give him what he asks?"</p> + +<p>"I have thought little about it, and care less, my dear. Nick and I know +each other pretty well. It is an acquaintance of thirty years' standing, +and one that has endured trials by flood and field, and even by the +horse-whip. No less than three times have I been obliged to make these +salutary applications to Nick's back, with my own hands; though it is, +now, more than ten years since a blow has passed between us."</p> + +<p>"Does a savage ever forgive a blow?" asked the chaplain, with a grave air, +and a look of surprise.</p> + +<p>"I fancy a <i>savage</i> is quite as apt to forgive it, as a <i>civilized</i> man, +Woods. To you, who have served so long in His Majesty's army, a blow, in +the way of punishment, can be no great novelty."</p> + +<p>"Certainly not, as respects the soldiers; but I did not know Indians were +ever flogged."</p> + +<p>"That is because you never happened to be present at the ceremony--but, +this is Nick, sure enough; and by his trot I begin to think the fellow has +some message, or news."</p> + +<p>"How old is the man, captain? Does an Indian never break down?"</p> + +<p>"Nick must be fairly fifty, now. I have known him more than half that +period, and he was an experienced, and, to own the truth, a brave and +skilful warrior, when we first met. I rate him fifty, every day of it."</p> + +<p>By this time the new-comer was so near, that the conversation ceased, all +standing gazing at him, as he drew near, and Maud gathering up her hair, +with maiden bashfulness, though certainly Nick was no stranger. As for +Little Smash, she waddled off to proclaim the news to the younger Pliny, +Mari, and Great Smash, all of whom were still in the kitchen of the Hut, +flourishing, sleek and glistening.</p> + +<p>Soon after, Nick arrived. He came up the Knoll on his loping trot, never +stopping until he was within five or six yards of the Captain, when he +suddenly halted, folded his arms, and stood in a composed attitude, lest +he should betray a womanish desire to tell his story. He did not even pant +but appeared as composed and unmoved, as if he had walked the half-mile he +had been seen to pass over on a trot.</p> + +<p>"Sago--Sago," cried the captain, heartily--"you are welcome back, Nick; I +am glad to see you still so active."</p> + +<p>"Sago"--answered the guttural voice of the Indian, who quietly nodded his +head.</p> + +<p>"What will you have to refresh you, after such a journey, Nick--our trees +give us good cider, now."</p> + +<p>"Santa Cruz better,"--rejoined the sententious Tuscarora.</p> + +<p>"Santa Cruz is certainly <i>stronger</i>" answered the captain laughing, "and, +in that sense, you may find it better. You shall have a glass, as soon as +we go to the house. What news do you bring, that you come in so fast?"</p> + +<p>"Glass won't do. Nick bring news worth <i>jug</i>. Squaw give <i>two</i> jug for +Nick's news. Is it barg'in?"</p> + +<p>"I!" cried Mrs. Willoughby--"what concern can I have with your news. My +daughters are both with me, and Heaven be praised! both are well. What +<i>can</i> I care for your news, Nick?"</p> + +<p>"Got no pap-poose but gal? T'ink you got boy--officer--great chief--up +here, down yonder--over dere."</p> + +<p>"Robert!--Major Willoughby! What can <i>you</i> have to tell me of my son?"</p> + +<p>"Tell all about him, for <i>one</i> jug. Jug out yonder; Nick's story out here. +One good as t'other."</p> + +<p>"You shall have all you ask, Nick."--These were not temperance days, when +conscience took so firm a stand between the bottle and the lips.--"You +shall have all you ask, Nick, provided you can really give me good +accounts of my noble boy. Speak, then; what have you to say?"</p> + +<p>"Say you see him in ten, five minute. Sent Nick before to keep moder from +too much cry."</p> + +<p>An exclamation from Maud followed; then the ardent girl was seen rushing +down the lawn, her hat thrown aside; and her bright fair hair again +flowing in ringlets on her shoulders. She flew rather than ran, in the +direction of the mill, where the figure of Robert Willoughby was seen +rushing forward to meet her. Suddenly the girl stopped, threw herself on a +log, and hid her face. In a few minutes she was locked in her brother's +arms. Neither Mrs. Willoughby nor Beulah imitated this impetuous movement +on the part of Maud; but the captain, chaplain, and even Jamie Allen, +hastened down the road to meet and welcome the young major. Ten minutes +later, Bob Willoughby was folded to his mother's heart; then came Beulah's +turn; after which, the news having flown through the household, the young +man had to receive the greetings of <i>Mari'</i>, both the Smashes, the younger +Pliny, and all the dogs. A tumultuous quarter of an hour brought all +round, again, to its proper place, and restored something like order to +the Knoll. Still an excitement prevailed the rest of the day, for the +sudden arrival of a guest always produced a sensation in that retired +settlement; much more likely, then, was the unexpected appearance of the +only son and heir to create one. As everybody bustled and was in motion, +the whole family was in the parlour, and major Willoughby was receiving +the grateful refreshment of a delicious cup of tea, before the sun set. +The chaplain would have retired out of delicacy, but to this the captain +would not listen; he would have everything proceed as if the son were a +customary guest, though it might have been seen by the manner in which his +mother's affectionate eye was fastened on his handsome face, as well as +that in which his sister Beulah, in particular, hung about him, under the +pretence of supplying his wants, that the young man was anything but an +every-day inmate.</p> + +<p>"How the lad has grown!" said the captain, tears of pride starting into +his eyes, in spite of a very manful resolution to appear composed and +soldier-like.</p> + +<p>"I was about to remark that myself, captain," observed the chaplain. "I do +think Mr. Robert has got to his full six feet--every inch as tall as you +are yourself, my good sir."</p> + +<p>"That is he, Woods--and taller in one sense. He is a major, already, at +twenty-seven; it is a step I was not able to reach at near twice the age."</p> + +<p>"That is owing, my dear sir," answered the son quickly, and with a slight +tremor in his voice, "to your not having as kind a father as has fallen to +my share--or at least one not as well provided with the means of +purchasing."</p> + +<p>"Say none at all, Bob, and you can wound no feeling, while you will tell +the truth. <i>My</i> father died a lieutenant-colonel when I was a school-boy; +I owed my ensigncy to my uncle Sir Hugh, the father of the present Sir +Harry Willoughby; after that I owed each step to hard and long service. +Your mother's legacies have helped you along, at a faster rate, though I +do trust there has been some merit to aid in the preferment."</p> + +<p>"Speaking of Sir Harry Willoughby, sir, reminds me of one part of my +errand to the Hut," said the major, glancing his eye towards his father, +as if to prepare him for some unexpected intelligence.</p> + +<p>"What of my cousin?" demanded the captain, calmly. "We have not met in +thirty years, and are the next thing to strangers to each other. Has he +made that silly match of which I heard something when last in York? Has he +disinherited his daughter as he threatened? Use no reserve here; our +friend Woods is one of the family."</p> + +<p>"Sir Harry Willoughby is not married, sir, but dead."</p> + +<p>"Dead!" repeated the captain, setting down his cup, like one who received +a sudden shock. "I hope not without having been reconciled to his +daughter, and providing for her large family?"</p> + +<p>"He died in her arms, and escaped the consequences of his silly intention +to marry his own housekeeper. With one material exception, he has left +Mrs. Bowater his whole fortune."</p> + +<p>The captain sat thoughtful, for some time; every one else being silent and +attentive. But the mother's feelings prompted her to inquire as to the +nature of the exception.</p> + +<p>"Why, mother, contrary to all my expectations, and I may say wishes, he +has left <i>me</i> twenty-five thousand pounds in the fives. I only hold the +money as my father's trustee."</p> + +<p>"You do no such thing, Master Bob, I can tell you!" said the captain, with +emphasis.</p> + +<p>The son looked at the father, a moment, as if to see whether he was +understood, and then he proceeded--</p> + +<p>"I presume you remember, sir," said the major, "that <i>you</i> are the heir to +the title?"</p> + +<p>"I have not forgot that, major Willoughby; but what is an empty baronetcy +to a happy husband and father like me, here in the wilds of America? Were +I still in the army, and a colonel, the thing might be of use; as I am, I +would rather have a tolerable road from this place to the Mohawk than the +duchy of Norfolk, without the estate."</p> + +<p>"Estate there is none, certainly," returned the major, in a tone of a +little disappointment, "except the twenty-five thousand pounds; unless you +include that which you possess where you are; not insignificant, by the +way, sir."</p> + +<p>"It will do well enough for old Hugh Willoughby, late a captain in His +Majesty's 23d Regiment of Foot, but not so well for <i>Sir</i> Hugh. No, no, +Bob. Let the baronetcy sleep awhile; it has been used quite enough for the +last hundred years or more. Out of this circle, there are probably not ten +persons in America, who know that I have any claims to it."</p> + +<p>The major coloured, and he played with the spoon of his empty cup, +stealing a glance or two around, before he answered.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Sir Hugh--my dear father, I mean--but--to own the +truth, never anticipating such a decision on your part, I have spoken of +the thing to a good many friends--I dare say, if the truth were known, +I've called you the baronet, or Sir Hugh, to others, at least a dozen +times."</p> + +<p>"Well, should it be so, the thing will be forgotten. A parson can be +unfrocked, Woods, and a baronet can be unbaroneted, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"But, Sir William"--so everybody called the well-known Sir William +Johnson, in the colony of New York--"But, Sir William found it useful, +Willoughby, and so, I dare say, will his son and successor, Sir John," +observed the attentive wife and anxious mother; "and if <i>you</i> are not now +in the army, Bob is. It will be a good thing for our son one day, and +ought not to be lost."</p> + +<p>"Ah, I see how it is, Beulah; your mother has no notion to lose the right +of being called Lady Willoughby."</p> + +<p>"I am sure my mother, sir, wishes to be called nothing that does not +become <i>your</i> wife; if you remain Mr. Hugh Willoughby, she will remain +Mrs. Hugh Willoughby. But papa, it <i>might</i> be useful to Bob."</p> + +<p>Beulah was a great favourite with the captain, Maud being only his +darling; he listened always to whatever the former said, therefore, with +indulgence and respect. He often told the chaplain that his daughter +Beulah had the true feelings of her sex, possessing a sort of instinct for +whatever was right and becoming, in woman.</p> + +<p>"Well, Bob may have the baronetcy, then," he said, smiling. "Major Sir +Robert Willoughby will not sound amiss in a despatch."</p> + +<p>"But, Bob <i>cannot</i> have it, father," exclaimed Maud--"No one <i>can</i> have it +but <i>you</i>; and it's a pity it should be lost."</p> + +<p>"Let him wait, then, until I am out of the way; when he may claim his +own."</p> + +<p>"<i>Can</i> that be done?" inquired the mother, to whom nothing was without +interest that affected her children. "How is it, Mr. Woods?--may a title +be dropped, and then picked up again?--how is this, Robert?"</p> + +<p>"I believe it may, my dear mother--it will always exist, so long as +there is an heir, and my father's disrelish for it will not be binding on +me."</p> + +<p>"Oh! in that case, then, all will come right in the end--though, as your +father does not want it, I wish you could have it, now."</p> + +<p>This was said with the most satisfied air in the world, as if the speaker +had no possible interest in the matter herself, and it closed the +conversation, for that time. It was not easy to keep up an interest in +anything that related to the family, where Mrs. Willoughby was concerned, +in which heart did not predominate. A baronetcy was a considerable dignity +in the colony of New York in the year of our Lord, 1775, and it gave its +possessor far more importance than it would have done in England. In the +whole colony there was but one, though a good many were to be found +further south; and he was known as "Sir John," as, in England, Lord +Rockingham, or, in America, at a later day, La Fayette, was known as +"<i>The</i> Marquis." Under such circumstances, then, it would have been no +trifling sacrifice to an ordinary woman to forego the pleasure of being +called "my lady." But the sacrifice cost our matron no pain, no regrets, +no thought even: The same attachments which made her happy, away from the +world, in the wilderness where she dwelt, supplanted all other feelings, +and left her no room, or leisure, to think of such vanities. When the +discourse changed, it was understood that "Sir Hugh" was not to be "Sir +Hugh," and that "Sir Robert" must bide his time.</p> + +<p>"Where did you fall in with the Tuscarora, Bob?" suddenly asked the +captain, as much to bring up another subject, as through curiosity. "The +fellow had been so long away, I began to think we should never see him +again.</p> + +<p>"He tells me, sir, he has been on a war path, somewhere out among the +western savages. It seems these Indians fight among themselves, from time +to time, and Nick has been trying to keep his hand in. I found him down at +Canajoharie, and took him for a guide, though he had the honesty to own he +was on the point of coming over here, had I not engaged him."</p> + +<p>"I'll answer for it he didn't tell you <i>that</i>, until you had paid him for +the job."</p> + +<p>"Why, to own the truth, he did not, sir. He pretended something about +owing money in the village, and got his pay in advance. I learned his +intentions only when we were within a few miles of the Hut."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad to find, Bob, that you give the place its proper name. How +gloriously Sir Hugh Willoughby, Bart., of The <i>Hut</i>, Tryon county, New +York, would sound, Woods!--Did Nick boast of the scalps he has taken from +the Carthaginians?"</p> + +<p>"He lays claim to three, I believe, though I have seen none of his +trophies."</p> + +<p>"The Roman hero!--Yet, I have known Nick rather a dangerous warrior. He +was out against us, in some of my earliest service, and our acquaintance +was made by my saving his life from the bayonet of one of my own +grenadiers. I thought the fellow remembered the act for some years; but, +in the end, I believe I flogged all the gratitude out of him. His motives, +now, are concentrated in the little island of Santa Cruz."</p> + +<p>"Here he is, father," said Maud, stretching her light, flexible form out +of a window. "Mike and the Indian are seated at the lower spring, with a +jug between them, and appear to be in a deep conversation."</p> + +<p>"Ay, I remember on their first acquaintance, that Mike mistook <i>Saucy</i> +Nick, for <i>Old</i> Nick. The Indian was indignant for a while, at being +mistaken for the Evil Spirit, but the worthies soon found a bond of union +between them, and, before six months, he and the Irishman became sworn +friends. It is said whenever two human beings love a common principle, +that it never fails to make them firm allies."</p> + +<p>"And what was the principle, in this case, captain Willoughby?" inquired +the chaplain, with curiosity.</p> + +<p>"Santa Cruz. Mike renounced whiskey altogether, after he came to America, +and took to rum. As for Nick, he was never so vulgar as to find pleasure +in the former liquor."</p> + +<p>The whole party had gathered to the windows, while the discourse was +proceeding, and looking out, each individual saw Mike and his friend, in +the situation described by Maud. The two <i>amateurs</i>--<i>connoisseurs</i> would +not be misapplied, either--had seated themselves at the brink of a spring +of delicious water, and removing the corn-cob that Pliny the younger had +felt it to be classical to affix to the nozzle of a quart jug, had, some +time before, commenced the delightful recreation of sounding the depth, +not of the spring, but of the vessel. As respects the former, Mike, who +was a wag in his way, had taken a hint from a practice said to be common +in Ireland, called "potatoe and point," which means to eat the potatoe and +point at the butter; declaring that "rum and p'int" was every bit as +entertaining as a "p'int of rum." On this principle, then, with a broad +grin on a face that opened from ear to ear whenever he laughed, the county +Leitrim-man would gravely point his finger at the water, in a sort of +mock-homage, and follow up the movement with such a suck at the nozzle, +as, aided by the efforts of Nick, soon analyzed the upper half of the +liquor that had entered by that very passage. All this time, conversation +did not flag, and, as the parties grew warm, confidence increased, though +reason sensibly diminished. As a part of this discourse will have some +bearing on what is to follow, it may be in place to relate it, here.</p> + +<p>"Ye're a jewel, ye be, <i>ould</i> Nick, or <i>young</i> Nick!" cried Mike, in an +ecstasy of friendship, just after he had completed his first half-pint. +"Ye're as wilcome at the Huts, as if ye owned thim, and I love ye as I did +my own brother, before I left the county Leitrim--paice to his sowl!"</p> + +<p>"He dead?" asked Nick, sententiously; for he had lived enough among the +pale-faces to have some notions of then theory about the soul.</p> + +<p>"That's more than I know--but, living or dead, the man must have a sowl, +ye understand, Nicholas. A human crathure widout a sowl, is what I call a +heretick; and none of the O'Hearns ever came to <i>that</i>."</p> + +<p>Nick was tolerably drunk, but by no means so far gone, that he had not +manners enough to make a grave, and somewhat dignified gesture; which was +as much as to say he was familiar with the subject.</p> + +<p>"All go ole fashion here?" he asked, avoiding every appearance of +curiosity, however.</p> + +<p>"That does it--that it does, Nicholas. All goes ould enough. The captain +begins to get ould; and the missus is oulder than she used to be; and +Joel's wife looks a hundred, though she isn't t'irty; and Joel, himself, +the spalpeen--he looks--" a gulp at the jug stopped the communication.</p> + +<p>"Dirty, too?" added the sententious Tuscarora, who did not comprehend more +than half his friend said.</p> + +<p>"Ay, dir-r-ty--he's always <i>that</i>. He's a dirthy fellow, that thinks his +yankee charactur is above all other things."</p> + +<p>Nick's countenance became illuminated with an expression nowise akin to +that produced by rum, and he fastened on his companion one of his fiery +gazes, which occasionally seemed to penetrate to the centre of the object +looked at.</p> + +<p>"Why pale-face hate one anoder? Why Irishman don't love yankee?"</p> + +<p>"Och! love the crathure, is it? You'd betther ask me to love a to'd"--for +so Michael would pronounce the word 'toad.' "What is there to love about +him, but skin and bone! I'd as soon love a skiliten. Yes--an immortal +skiliten."</p> + +<p>Nick made another gesture, and then he endeavoured to reflect, like one +who had a grave business in contemplation. The Santa Cruz confused his +brain, but the Indian never entirely lost his presence of mind; or never, +at least, so long as he could either see or walk.</p> + +<p>"Don't like him"--rejoined Nick. "Like anybody?"</p> + +<p>"To be sure I does--I like the capt'in--och, <i>he</i>'s a jontleman--and I +likes the missus; she's a laddy--and I likes Miss Beuly, who's a swate +young woman--and then there's Miss Maud, who's the delight of my eyes. +Fegs, but isn't <i>she</i> a crathure to relish!"</p> + +<p>Mike spoke like a good honest fellow, as he was at the bottom, with all +his heart and soul. The Indian did not seem pleased, but he made no +answer.</p> + +<p>"You've been in the wars then, Nick!" asked the Irishman, after a short +pause.</p> + +<p>"Yes--Nick been chief ag'in--take scalps."</p> + +<p>"Ach! That's a mighty ugly thrade! If you'd tell 'em that in Ireland, +they'd not think it a possibility."</p> + +<p>"No like fight in Ireland, hah?"</p> + +<p>"I'll not say that--no, I'll not say that; for many's the jollification at +which the fighting is the chafe amusement. But we likes <i>thumping</i> on the +head--not <i>skinning</i> it."</p> + +<p>"That your fashion--my fashion take scalp. You thump; I skin--which best?"</p> + +<p>"Augh! skinnin' is a dreadthful operation; but shillaleh-work comes nately +and nat'rally. How many of these said scalps, now, may ye have picked up, +Nick, in yer last journey?"</p> + +<p>"T'ree--all man and woman--no pappoose. One big enough make <i>two</i>; so call +him <i>four</i>."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Divil burn ye, Nick; but there's a spice of your namesake in ye, +afther all. T'ree human crathures skinned, and you not satisfied, and so +ye'll chait a bit to make 'em four! D'ye never think, now, of yer latther +ind? D'ye never confess?"</p> + +<p>"T'ink every day of <i>dat</i>. Hope to find more, before last day come. Plenty +scalp <i>here</i>; ha, Mike?"</p> + +<p>This was said a little incautiously, perhaps, but it was said under a +strong native impulse. The Irishman, however, was never very logical or +clear-headed; and three gills of rum had, by no means, helped to purify +his brain. He heard the word "plenty," knew he was well fed and warmly +clad, and just now, that Santa Cruz so much abounded, the term seemed +peculiarly applicable.</p> + +<p>"It's a plinthiful place it is, is this very manor. There's all sorts of +things in it that's wanted. There's food and raiment, and cattle, and +grain, and porkers, and praiching--yes, divil burn it, Nick, but there's +what <i>goes</i> for praiching, though it's no more like what <i>we</i> calls +praiching than yer'e like Miss Maud in comeliness, and ye'll own, +yourself, Nick, yer'e no beauty."</p> + +<p>"Got handsome hair," said Nick, surlily--"How she look widout scalp?"</p> + +<p>"The likes of her, is it! Who ever saw one of her beauthy without the +finest hair that ever was! What do you get for your scalps?--are they of +any use when you find 'em?"</p> + +<p>"Bring plenty bye'm-by. Whole country glad to see him before long--den +beavers get pond ag'in."</p> + +<p>"How's that--how's that, Indian? Baiver get pounded? There's no pound, +hereabouts, and baivers is not an animal to be shut up like a hog!"</p> + +<p>Nick perceived that his friend was past argumentation, and as he himself +was approaching the state when the drunkard receives delight from he knows +not what, it is unnecessary to relate any more of the dialogue. The jug +was finished, each man very honestly drinking his pint, and as naturally +submitting to its consequences; and this so much the more because the two +were so engrossed with the rum that both forgot to pay that attention to +the spring that might have been expected from its proximity.</p> +</div> + + + +<div class="chapter" id="ch05"> +<h2>Chapter V.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> The soul, my lord, is fashioned--like the lyre.<br /> + Strike one chord suddenly, and others vibrate.<br /> + Your name abruptly mentioned, casual words<br /> + Of comment on your deeds, praise from your uncle,<br /> + News from the armies, talk of your return,<br /> + A word let fall touching your youthful passion,<br /> + Suffused her cheek, call'd to her drooping eye<br /> + A momentary lustre, made her pulse<br /> + Leap headlong, and her bosom palpitate.</p> + +<p> Hillhouse.</p></div> + +<p> +The approach of night, at sea and in a wilderness, has always something +more solemn in it, than on land in the centre of civilization. As the +curtain is drawn before his eyes, the solitude of the mariner is +increased, while even his sleepless vigilance seems, in a measure, +baffled, by the manner in which he is cut off from the signs of the hour. +Thus, too, in the forest, or in an isolated clearing, the mysteries of the +woods are deepened, and danger is robbed of its forethought and customary +guards. That evening, Major Willoughby stood at a window with an arm +round the slender waist of Beulah, Maud standing a little aloof; and, as +the twilight retired, leaving the shadows of evening to thicken on the +forest that lay within a few hundred feet of that side of the Hut, and +casting a gloom over the whole of the quiet solitude, he felt the force of +the feeling just mentioned, in a degree he had never before experienced.</p> + +<p>"This is a <i>very</i> retired abode, my sisters," he said, thoughtfully. "Do +my father and mother never speak of bringing you out more into the world?"</p> + +<p>"They take us to New York every winter, now father is in the Assembly," +quietly answered Beulah. "We expected to meet you there, last season, and +were greatly disappointed that you did not come."</p> + +<p>"My regiment was sent to the eastward, as you know, and having just +received my new rank of major, it would not do to be absent at the moment. +Do you ever see any one here, besides those who belong to the manor?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! yes"--exclaimed Maud eagerly--then she paused, as if sorry she had +said anything; continuing, after a little pause, in a much more moderated +vein--"I mean occasionally. No doubt the place is very retired."</p> + +<p>"Of what characters are your visiters?--hunters, trappers, +settlers--savages or travellers?"</p> + +<p>Maud did not answer; but, Beulah, after waiting a moment for her sister to +reply, took that office on herself.</p> + +<p>"Some of all," she said, "though few certainly of the latter class. The +hunters are often here; one or two a month, in the mild season; settlers +rarely, as you may suppose, since my father will not sell, and there are +not many about, I believe; the Indians come more frequently, though I +think we have seen less of them, during Nick's absence than while he was +more with us. Still we have as many as a hundred in a year, perhaps, +counting the women. They come in parties, you know, and five or six of +these will make that number. As for travellers, they are rare; being +generally surveyors, land-hunters, or perhaps a proprietor who is looking +up his estate. We had two of the last in the fall, before we went below."</p> + +<p>"That is singular; and yet one might well look for an estate in a +wilderness like this. Who were your proprietors?"</p> + +<p>"An elderly man, and a young one. The first was a sort of partner of the +late Sir William's, I believe, who has a grant somewhere near us, for +which he was searching. His name was Fonda. The other was one of the +Beekmans, who has lately succeeded his father in a property of +considerable extent, somewhere at no great distance from us, and came to +take a look at it. They say he has quite a hundred thousand acres, in one +body."</p> + +<p>"And did he find his land? Tracts of thousands and tens of thousands, are +sometimes not to be discovered."</p> + +<p>"We saw him twice, going and returning, and he was successful. The last +time, he was detained by a snow-storm, and staid with us some days--so +long, indeed, that he remained, and accompanied us out, when we went +below. We saw much of him, too, last winter, in town."</p> + +<p>"Maud, you wrote me nothing of all this! Are visiters of this sort so very +common that you do not speak of them in your letters?"</p> + +<p>"Did I not?--Beulah will scarce pardon me for <i>that</i>. She thinks Mr. Evert +Beekman more worthy of a place in a letter, than I do, perhaps."</p> + +<p>"I think him a very respectable and sensible young man," answered Beulah +quietly though there was a deeper tint on her cheek than common, which it +was too dark to see. "I am not certain, however, he need fill much space +in the letters of either of your sisters.'</p> + +<p>"Well, this is <i>something</i> gleaned!" said the major, laughing--"and now, +Beulah, if you will only let out a secret of the same sort about Maud, I +shall be <i>au fait</i> of all the family mysteries."</p> + +<p>"All!" repeated Maud, quickly--"would there be nothing to tell of a +certain major Willoughby, brother of mine?"</p> + +<p>"Not a syllable. I am as heart-whole as a sound oak, and hope to remain +so. At all events, all I love is in this house. To tell you the truth, +girls, these are not times for a soldier to think of anything but his +duty. The quarrel is getting to be serious between the mother country and +her colonies."</p> + +<p>"Not so serious, brother," observed Beulah, earnestly, "as to amount to +<i>that</i>. Evert Beekman thinks there will be trouble, but he does not +appear to fancy it will go as far as very serious violence."</p> + +<p>"Evert <i>Beekman</i>!--most of that family are loyal, I believe; how is it +with this Evert?"</p> + +<p>"I dare say, <i>you</i> would call him a <i>rebel</i>," answered Maud, laughing, for +now Beulah chose to be silent, leaving her sister to explain, "He is not +<i>fiery</i>; but he calls himself an <i>American</i>, with emphasis; and that is +saying a good deal, when it means he is not an <i>Englishman</i>. Pray what do +you call yourself, Bob?"</p> + +<p>"I!--Certainly an American in one sense, but an Englishman in another. An +American, as my father was a Cumberland-man, and an Englishman as a +subject, and as connected with the empire."</p> + +<p>"As St. Paul was a Roman. Heigho!--Well, I fear I have but one +character--or, if I have two, they are an American, and a New York girl. +Did I dress in scarlet, as you do, I might feel English too, possibly."</p> + +<p>"This is making a trifling misunderstanding too serious," observed Beulah. +"Nothing can come of all the big words that have been used, than more big +words. I know that is Evert Beekman's opinion."</p> + +<p>"I hope you may prove a true prophet," answered the major, once more +buried in thought. "This place <i>does</i> seem to be fearfully retired for a +family like ours. I hope my father may be persuaded to pass more of his +time in New York. Does he ever speak on the subject, girls, or appear to +have any uneasiness?"</p> + +<p>"Uneasiness about what? The place is health itself: all sorts of fevers, +and agues, and those things being quite unknown. Mamma says the toothache, +even, cannot be found in this healthful spot."</p> + +<p>"That is lucky--and, yet, I wish captain Willoughby--<i>Sir Hugh</i> +Willoughby could be induced to live more in New York. Girls of your time +of life, ought to be in the way of seeing the world, too."</p> + +<p>"In other words, of seeing admirers, major Bob," said Maud, laughing, and +bending forward to steal a glance in her brother's face. "Good night. <i>Sir +Hugh</i> wishes us to send you into his library when we can spare you, and +<i>my lady</i> has sent us a hint that it is ten o'clock, at which hour it is +usual for sober people to retire."</p> + +<p>The major kissed both sisters with warm affection--Beulah fancied with +a sobered tenderness, and Maud thought kindly--and then they retired to +join their mother, while he went to seek his father.</p> + +<p>The captain was smoking in the library, as a room of all-<i>head</i>-work was +called, in company with the chaplain. The practice of using tobacco in +this form, had grown to be so strong in both of these old inmates of +garrisons, that they usually passed an hour, in the recreation, before +they went to bed. Nor shall we mislead the reader with any notions of +fine-flavoured Havana segars; pipes, with Virginia cut, being the +materials employed in the indulgence. A little excellent Cogniac and +water, in which however the spring was not as much neglected, as in the +orgies related in the previous chapter, moistened their lips, from time to +time, giving a certain zest and comfort to their enjoyments. Just as the +door opened to admit the major, he was the subject of discourse, the proud +parent and the partial friend finding almost an equal gratification in +discussing his fine, manly appearance, good qualities, and future hopes. +His presence was untimely, then, in one sense; though he was welcome, and, +indeed, expected. The captain pushed a chair to his son, and invited him +to take a seat near the table, which held a spare pipe or two, a box of +tobacco, a decanter of excellent brandy, a pitcher of pure water, all +pleasant companions to the elderly gentlemen, then in possession.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you are too much of a maccaroni, Bob, to smoke," observed the +smiling father. "I detested a pipe at your time of life; or may say, I was +afraid of it; the only smoke that was in fashion among our scarlet coats +being the smoke of gunpowder. Well, how comes on Gage, and your neighbours +the Yankees?"</p> + +<p>"Why, sir," answered the major, looking behind him, to make sure that the +door was shut--"Why, sir, to own the truth, my visit, here, just at this +moment, is connected with the present state of that quarrel."</p> + +<p>Both the captain and the chaplain drew the pipes from their mouths, +holding them suspended in surprise and attention.</p> + +<p>"The deuce it is!" exclaimed the former. "I thought I owed this unexpected +pleasure to your affectionate desire to let me know I had inherited the +empty honours of a baronetcy!"</p> + +<p>"That was <i>one</i> motive, sir, but the least. I beg you to remember the +awkwardness of my position, as a king's officer, in the midst of enemies."</p> + +<p>"The devil! I say, parson, this exceeds heresy and schism! Do you call +lodging in your father's house, major Willoughby, being in the midst of +enemies? This is rebellion against nature, and is worse than rebellion +against the king."</p> + +<p>"My dear father, no one feels more secure with <i>you</i>, than I do; or, even, +with Mr. Woods, here. But, there are others besides you two, in this part +of the world, and your very settlement may not be safe a week longer; +probably would not be, if my presence in it were known."</p> + +<p>Both the listeners, now, fairly laid down their pipes, and the smoke began +gradually to dissipate, as it might have been rising from a field of +battle. One looked at the other, in wonder, and, then, both looked at the +major, in curiosity.</p> + +<p>"What is the meaning of all this, my son?" asked the captain, gravely. +"Has anything new occurred to complicate the old causes of quarrel?"</p> + +<p>"Blood has, at length, been drawn, sir; open rebellion has commenced!"</p> + +<p>"This is a serious matter, indeed, if it be really so. But do you not +exaggerate the consequences of some fresh indiscretion of the soldiery, in +firing on the people? Remember, in the other affair, even the colonial +authorities justified the officers."</p> + +<p>"This is a very different matter, sir. Blood has not been drawn in a +<i>riot</i>, but in a <i>battle</i>."</p> + +<p>"Battle! You amaze me, sir! That is indeed a serious matter, and may lead +to most serious consequences!"</p> + +<p>"The Lord preserve us from evil times," ejaculated the chaplain, "and lead +us, poor, dependent creatures that we are, into the paths of peace and +quietness! Without his grace, we are the blind leading the blind."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean, major Willoughby, that armed and disciplined bodies have met +in actual conflict?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not literally so, my dear father; but the minute-men of +Massachusetts, and His Majesty's forces, have met and fought. This I +know, full well; for my own regiment was in the field, and, I hope it is +unnecessary to add, that its second officer was not absent."</p> + +<p>"Of course these minute-men--rabble would be the better word--could not +stand before you?" said the captain, compressing his lips, under a strong +impulse of military pride.</p> + +<p>Major Willoughby coloured, and, to own the truth, at that moment he wished +the Rev. Mr. Woods, if not literally at the devil, at least safe and sound +in another room; anywhere, so it were out of ear-shot of the answer.</p> + +<p>"Why, sir," he said, hesitating, not to say stammering, notwithstanding a +prodigious effort to seem philosophical and calm--"To own the truth, these +minute-fellows are not quite as contemptible as we soldiers would be apt +to think. It was a stone-wall affair, and dodging work; and, so, you know, +sir, drilled troops wouldn't have the usual chance. They pressed us pretty +warmly on the retreat."</p> + +<p>"<i>Retreat</i>! Major Willoughby!"</p> + +<p>"I called it retreat, sure enough; but it was only a march <i>in</i>, again, +after having done the business on which we went out. I shall admit, I say, +sir, that we were hard pressed, until <i>reinforced</i>."</p> + +<p>"<i>Reinforced</i>, my dear Bob! <i>Your</i> regiment, <i>our</i> regiment could not need +a reinforcement against all the Yankees in New England."</p> + +<p>The major could not abstain from laughing, a little, at this exhibition of +his father's <i>esprit de corps</i>; but native frankness, and love of truth, +compelled him to admit the contrary.</p> + +<p>"It <i>did</i>, sir, notwithstanding," he answered; "and, not to mince the +matter, it needed it confoundedly. Some of our officers who have seen the +hardest service of the last war, declare, that taking the march, and the +popping work, and the distance, altogether, it was the warmest day <i>they</i> +remember. Our loss, too, was by no means insignificant, as I hope you will +believe, when you know the troops engaged. We report something like three +hundred casualties."</p> + +<p>The captain did not answer for quite a minute. All this time he sat +thoughtful, and even pale; for his mind was teeming with the pregnant +consequences of such an outbreak. Then he desired his son to give a +succinct, but connected history of the whole affair. The major complied, +beginning his narrative with an account of the general state of the +country, and concluding it, by giving, as far as it was possible for one +whose professional pride and political feelings were too deeply involved +to be entirely impartial, a reasonably just account of the particular +occurrence already mentioned.</p> + +<p>The events that led to, and the hot skirmish which it is the practice of +the country to call the Battle of Lexington, and the incidents of the day +itself, are too familiar to the ordinary reader, to require repetition +here. The major explained all the military points very clearly, did full +justice to the perseverance and daring of the provincials, as he called +his enemies--for, an American himself, he would not term them +Americans--and threw in as many explanatory remarks as he could think of, +by way of vindicating the "march <i>in</i>, again." This he did, too, quite as +much out of filial piety, as out of self-love; for, to own the truth, the +captain's mortification, as a soldier, was so very evident as to give his +son sensible pain.</p> + +<p>"The effect of all this," continued the major, when his narrative of the +military movements was ended, "has been to raise a tremendous feeling, +throughout the country, and God knows what is to follow."</p> + +<p>"And this you have come hither to tell me, Robert," said the father, +kindly. "It is well done, and as I would have expected from you. We might +have passed the summer, here, and not have heard a whisper of so important +an event."</p> + +<p>"Soon after the affair--or, as soon as we got some notion of its effect on +the provinces, general Gage sent me, privately, with despatches to +governor Tryon. <i>He</i>, governor Tryon, was aware of your position; and, as +I had also to communicate the death of Sir Harry Willoughby, he directed +me to come up the river, privately, have an interview with Sir John, if +possible, and then push on, under a feigned name, and communicate with +you. He thinks, now Sir William is dead, that with your estate, and new +rank, and local influence, you might be very serviceable in sustaining the +royal cause; for, it is not to be concealed that this affair is likely to +take the character of an open and wide-spread revolt against the authority +of the crown."</p> + +<p>"General Tryon does me too much honour," answered the captain, coldly. "My +estate is a small body of wild land; my influence extends little beyond +this beaver meadow, and is confined to my own household, and some fifteen +or twenty labourers; and as for the <i>new rank</i> of which you speak, it is +not likely the colonists will care much for <i>that, </i> if they disregard the +rights of the king. Still, you have acted like a son in running the risk +you do, Bob; and I pray God you may get back to your regiment, in safety."</p> + +<p>"This is a cordial to my hopes, sir; for nothing would pain me more than +to believe you think it my duty, because I was born in the colonies, to +throw up my commission, and take side with the rebels."</p> + +<p>"I do not conceive that to be your duty, any more than I conceive it to be +mine to take sides against them, because I happened to be born in England. +It is a weak view of moral obligations, that confines them merely to the +accidents of birth, and birth-place. Such a subsequent state of things may +have grown up, as to change all our duties, and it is necessary that we +discharge them as they <i>are</i>; not as they may have been, hitherto, or may +be, hereafter. Those who clamour so much about mere birth-place, usually +have no very clear sense of their higher obligations. Over our birth we +can have no control; while we are rigidly responsible for the fulfilment +of obligations voluntarily contracted."</p> + +<p>"Do you reason thus, captain?" asked the chaplain, with strong +interest--"Now, I confess, I <i>feel</i>, in this matter, not only very much +like a native American, but very much like a native Yankee, in the +bargain. You know I was born in the Bay, and--the major must excuse +me--but, it ill-becomes my cloth to deceive--I hope the major will pardon +me--I--I do hope--"</p> + +<p>"Speak out, Mr. Woods," said Robert Willoughby, smiling--"<i>You</i> have +nothing to fear from your old friend the major."</p> + +<p>"So I thought--so I thought--well, then, I was glad--yes, really rejoiced +at heart, to hear that my countrymen, down-east, there, had made the +king's troops scamper,"</p> + +<p>"I am not aware that I used any such terms, sir, in connection with the +manner in which we marched in, after the duty we went out on was +performed," returned the young soldier, a little stiffly. "I suppose it is +natural for one Yankee to sympathize with another; but, my father, Mr. +Woods, is an <i>Old</i> England, and not a <i>New</i>-England-man; and he may be +excused if he feel more for the servants of the crown."</p> + +<p>"Certainly, my dear major--certainly, my dear Mr. Robert--my old pupil, +and, I hope, my friend--all this is true enough, and very natural. I allow +captain Willoughby to wish the best for the king's troops, while I wish +the best for my own countrymen."</p> + +<p>"This is natural, on both sides, out of all question, though it by no +means follows that it is right. 'Our country, right or wrong,' is a +high-sounding maxim, but it is scarcely the honest man's maxim. Our +country, after all, cannot have nearer claims upon us, than our parents +for instance; and who can claim a moral right to sustain even his own +father, in error, injustice, or crime? No, no--I hate your pithy sayings; +they commonly mean nothing that is substantially good, at bottom."</p> + +<p>"But one's country, in a time of actual war, sir!" said the major, in a +tone of as much remonstrance as habit would allow him to use to his own +father.</p> + +<p>"Quite true, Bob; but the difficulty here, is to know which <i>is</i> one's +country. It is a family quarrel, at the best, and it will hardly do to +talk about foreigners, at all. It is the same as if I should treat Maud +unkindly, or harshly, because she is the child of only a friend, and not +my own natural daughter. As God is my judge, Woods, I am unconscious of +not loving Maud Meredith, at this moment, as tenderly as I love Beulah +Willoughby. There was a period, in her childhood, when the playful little +witch had most of my heart, I am afraid, if the truth were known. It is +use, and duty, then, and not mere birth, that ought to tie our hearts."</p> + +<p>The major thought it might very well be that one child should be loved +more than another, though he did not understand how there could be a +divided allegiance. The chaplain looked at the subject with views still +more narrowed, and he took up the cudgels of argument in sober earnest, +conceiving this to be as good an opportunity as another, for disposing of +the matter.</p> + +<p>"I am all for birth, and blood, and natural ties," he said, "always +excepting the peculiar claims of Miss Maud, whose case is <i>sui generis</i>, +and not to be confounded with any other case. A man can have but one +country, any more than he can have but one nature; and, as he is forced to +be true to that nature, so ought he morally to be true to that country. +The captain says, that it is difficult to determine which is one's +country, in a civil war; but I cannot admit the argument. If Massachusetts +and England get to blows, Massachusetts is my country; if Suffolk and +Worcester counties get into a quarrel, my duty calls me to Worcester, +where I was born; and so I should carry out the principle from country to +country, county to county, town to town, parish to parish; or, even +household to household."</p> + +<p>"This is an extraordinary view of one's duty, indeed, my dear Mr. Woods," +cried the major, with a good deal of animation; "and if one-half the +household quarrelled with the other, you would take sides with that in +which you happened to find yourself, at the moment."</p> + +<p>"It is an extraordinary view of one's duty, for a <i>parson</i>;" observed the +captain. "Let us reason backward a little, and ascertain where we shall +come out. You put the head of the household out of the question. Has he +no claims? Is a father to be altogether overlooked in the struggle between +the children? Are his laws to be broken--his rights invaded--or his person +to be maltreated, perhaps, and his curse disregarded, because a set of +unruly children get by the ears, on points connected with their own +selfishness?"</p> + +<p>"I give up the household," cried the chaplain, "for the bible settles +that; and what the bible disposes of, is beyond dispute--'Honour thy +father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the +Lord thy God giveth thee'--are terrible words, and must not be disobeyed. +But the decalogue has not another syllable which touches the question. +'Thou shalt not kill,' means murder only; common, vulgar murder--and 'thou +shalt not steal,' 'thou shalt not commit adultery,' &c., don't bear on +civil war, as I see. 'Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy'--'Thou shalt +not covet the ox nor the ass'--'Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord +thy God in vain'--none of these, not one of them, bears, at all, on this +question."</p> + +<p>"What do you think of the words of the Saviour, where he tells us to +'render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's? Has Cæsar no rights +here? Can Massachusetts and my Lord North settle their quarrels in such a +manner as to put Cæsar altogether out of view?"</p> + +<p>The chaplain looked down a moment, pondered a little, and then he came up +to the attack, again, with renewed ardour.</p> + +<p>"Cæsar is out of the question here. If His Majesty will come and take +sides with us, we shall be ready to honour and obey him; but if he choose +to remain alienated from us, it is his act, not ours."</p> + +<p>"This is a new mode of settling allegiance! If Cæsar will do as we wish, +he shall still be Cæsar; but, if he refuse to do as we wish, then down +with Cæsar. I am an old soldier, Woods, and while I feel that this +question has two sides to it, my disposition to reverence and honour the +king is still strong."</p> + +<p>The major appeared delighted, and, finding matters going on so favourably, +he pleaded fatigue and withdrew, feeling satisfied that, if his father +fairly got into a warm discussion, taking the loyal side of the question, +he would do more to confirm himself in the desired views, than could be +effected by any other means. By this time, the disputants were so warm as +scarcely to notice the disappearance of the young man, the argument +proceeding.</p> + +<p>The subject is too hackneyed, and, indeed, possesses too little interest, +to induce us to give more than an outline of what passed. The captain and +the chaplain belonged to that class of friends, which may be termed +argumentative. Their constant discussions were a strong link in the chain +of esteem; for they had a tendency to enliven their solitude, and to give +a zest to lives that, without them, would have been exceedingly +monotonous. Their ordinary subjects were theology and war; the chaplain +having some practical knowledge of the last, and the captain a lively +disposition to the first. In these discussions, the clergyman was +good-natured and the soldier polite; circumstances that tended to render +them far more agreeable to the listeners than they might otherwise have +proved.</p> + +<p>On the present occasion, the chaplain rang the changes diligently, on the +natural feelings, while his friend spoke most of the higher duties. The +<i>ad captandum</i> part of the argument, oddly enough, fell to the share of +the minister of the church; while the intellectual, discriminating, and +really logical portion of the subject, was handled by one trained in +garrisons and camps, with a truth, both of ethics and reason, that would +have done credit to a drilled casuist. The war of words continued till +past midnight, both disputants soon getting back to their pipes, carrying +on the conflict amid a smoke that did no dishonour to such a +well-contested field. Leaving the captain and his friend thus intently +engaged, we will take one or two glimpses into different parts of the +house, before we cause all our characters to retire for the night.</p> + +<p>About the time the battle in the library was at its height, Mrs. +Willoughby was alone in her room, having disposed of all the cares, and +most of the duties of the day. The mother's heart was filled with a calm +delight that it would have been difficult for herself to describe. All she +held most dear on earth, her husband, her kind-hearted, faithful, +long-loved husband; her noble son, the pride and joy of her heart; Beulah, +her own natural-born daughter, the mild, tractable, sincere, true-hearted +child that so much resembled herself; and Maud, the adopted, one rendered +dear by solicitude and tenderness, and now so fondly beloved on her own +account, were all with her, beneath her own roof, almost within the circle +of her arms. The Hutted Knoll was no longer a solitude; the manor was not +a wilderness to <i>her</i>; for where her heart was, there truly was her +treasure, also. After passing a few minutes in silent, but delightful +thought, this excellent, guileless woman knelt and poured out her soul in +thanksgivings to the Being, who had surrounded her lot with so many +blessings. Alas! little did she suspect the extent, duration, and direful +nature of the evils which, at that very moment, were pending over her +native country, or the pains that her own affectionate hear? was to +endure! The major had not suffered a whisper of the real nature of his +errand to escape him, except to his father and the chaplain; and we will +now follow him to his apartment, and pass a minute, <i>tête-à-tête,</i> with +the young soldier, ere he too lays his head on his pillow.</p> + +<p>A couple of neat rooms were prepared and furnished, that were held sacred +to the uses of the heir. They were known to the whole household, black and +white, as the "young captain's quarters;" and even Maud called them, in +her laughing off-handedness, "Bob's Sanctum." Here, then, the major found +everything as he left it on his last visit, a twelvemonth before; and some +few things that were strangers to him, in the bargain. In that day, +toilets covered with muslin, more or less worked and ornamented, were a +regular appliance of every bed-room, of a better-class house, throughout +America. The more modern "Duchesses," "Psyches," "dressing-tables," &c. +&c., of our own extravagant and benefit-of-the-act-taking generation, were +then unknown; a moderately-sized glass, surrounded by curved, gilded +ornaments, hanging against the wall, above the said muslin-covered table, +quite as a matter of law, if not of domestic faith.</p> + +<p>As soon as the major had set down his candle, he looked about him, as one +recognises old friends, pleased at renewing his acquaintance with so many +dear and cherished objects. The very playthings of his childhood were +there; and, even a beautiful and long-used hoop, was embellished with +ribbons, by some hand unknown to himself. "Can this be my mother?" thought +the young man, approaching to examine the well-remembered hoop, which he +had never found so honoured before; "can my kind, tender-hearted mother, +who never will forget that I am no longer a child, can she have really +done this? I must laugh at her, to-morrow, about it, even while I kiss and +bless her." Then he turned to the toilet, where stood a basket, filled +with different articles, which, at once, he understood were offerings to +himself. Never had he visited the Hut without finding such a basket in his +room at night. It was a tender proof how truly and well he was remembered, +in his absence.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" thought the major, as he opened a bundle of knit lamb's-wool +stockings, "here is my dear mother again, with her thoughts about damp +feet, and the exposure of service. And a dozen shirts, too, with 'Beulah' +pinned on one of them--how the deuce does the dear girl suppose I am to +carry away such a stock of linen, without even a horse to ease me of a +bundle? My kit would be like that of the commander-in-chief, were I to +take away all that these dear relatives design for me. What's this?--a +purse! a handsome silken purse, too, with Beulah's name on it. Has Maud +nothing, here? Why has Maud forgotten me! Ruffles, handkerchiefs, +garters--yes, here is a pair of my good mother's own knitting, but nothing +of Maud's--Ha! what have we here? As I live, a beautiful silken +scarf--netted in a way to make a whole regiment envious. Can this have +been bought, or has it been the work of a twelvemonth? No name on it, +either. Would my father have done this? Perhaps it is one of his old +scarfs--if so, it is an old <i>new</i> one, for I do not think it has ever been +worn. I must inquire into this, in the morning--I wonder there is nothing +of Maud's!"</p> + +<p>As the major laid aside his presents, he kissed the scarf, and then--I +regret to say without saying <i>his</i> prayers--the young man went to bed.</p> + +<p>The scene must now be transferred to the room where the sisters--in +affection, if not in blood--were about to seek their pillows also. Maud, +ever the quickest and most prompt in her movements, was already in her +night-clothes; and, wrapping a shawl about herself, was seated waiting for +Beulah to finish her nightly orisons. It was not long before the latter +rose from her knees, and then our heroine spoke.</p> + +<p>"The major must have examined the basket by this time," she cried, her +cheek rivalling the tint of a riband it leaned against, on the back of the +chair. "I heard his heavy tramp--tramp--tramp--as he went to his room--how +differently these men walk from us girls, Beulah!"</p> + +<p>"They do, indeed; and Bob has got to be so large and heavy, now, that he +quite frightens me, sometimes. Do you not think he grows wonderfully like +papa?"</p> + +<p>"I do not see it. He wears his own hair, and it's a pity he should ever +cut it off, it's so handsome and curling. Then he is taller, but +lighter--has more colour--is so much younger--and everyway so different, I +wonder you think so. I do not think him in the least like father."</p> + +<p>"Well, that is odd, Maud. Both mother and myself were struck with the +resemblance, this evening, and we were both delighted to see it. Papa is +quite handsome, and so I think is Bob. Mother says he is not <i>quite</i> as +handsome as father was, at his age, but <i>so</i> like him, it is surprising!"</p> + +<p>"Men may be handsome and not alike. Father is certainly one of the +handsomest elderly men of my acquaintance--and the major is +so-so-ish--but, I wonder you can think a man of seven-and-twenty so <i>very</i> +like one of sixty odd. Bob tells me he can play the flute quite readily +now, Beulah."</p> + +<p>"I dare say; he does everything he undertakes uncommonly well. Mr. Woods +said, a few days since, he had never met with a boy who was quicker at his +mathematics."</p> + +<p>"Oh! All Mr. Wood's geese are swans. I dare say there have been other boys +who were quite as clever. I do not believe in <i>non-pareils,</i> Beulah."</p> + +<p>"You surprise me, Maud--you, whom I always supposed such a friend of +Bob's! He thinks everything <i>you</i> do, too, so perfect! Now, this very +evening, he was looking at the sketch you have made of the Knoll, and he +protested he did not know a regular artist in England, even, that would +have done it better."</p> + +<p>Maud stole a glance at her sister, while the latter was speaking, from +under her cap, and her cheeks now fairly put the riband to shame; but her +smile was still saucy and wilful.</p> + +<p>"Oh nonsense," she said--"Bob's no judge of drawings--<i>He</i> scarce knows a +tree from a horse!"</p> + +<p>"I'm surprised to hear you say so, Maud," said the generous-minded and +affectionate Beulah, who could see no imperfection in Bob; "and that of +your brother. When he taught <i>you</i> to draw, you thought him well skilled +as an artist."</p> + +<p>"Did I?--I dare say I'm a capricious creature--but, somehow, I don't +regard Bob, just as I used to. He has been away from us so much, of late, +you know--and the army makes men so formidable--and, they are not like us, +you know--and, altogether, I think Bob excessively changed."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm glad mamma don't hear this, Maud. She looks upon her son, now +he is a major, and twenty-seven, just as she used to look upon him, when +he was in petticoats--nay, I think she considers us all exactly as so many +little children."</p> + +<p>"She is a dear, good mother, I know," said Maud, with emphasis, tears +starting to her eyes, involuntarily, almost <i>impetuously</i>--"whatever she +says, does, wishes, hopes, or thinks, is right."</p> + +<p>"Oh! I knew you would come to, as soon as there was a question about +mother! Well, for my part, I have no such horror of men, as not to feel +just as much tenderness for father or brother, as I feel for mamma, +herself."</p> + +<p>"Not for Bob, Beulah. Tenderness for Bob! Why, my dear sister, that is +feeling tenderness for a <i>Major of Foot</i>, a very different thing from +feeling it for one's mother. As for papa--dear me, he is glorious, and I +do so love him!"</p> + +<p>"You ought to, Maud; for you were, and I am not certain that you are not, +at this moment, <i>his</i> darling."</p> + +<p>It was odd that this was said without the least thought, on the part of +the speaker, that Maud was not her natural sister--that, in fact, she was +not in the least degree related to her by blood. But so closely and +judiciously had captain and Mrs. Willoughby managed the affair of their +adopted child, that neither they themselves, Beulah, nor the inmates of +the family or household, ever thought of her, but as of a real daughter of +her nominal parents. As for Beulah, her feelings were so simple and +sincere, that they were even beyond the ordinary considerations of +delicacy, and she took precisely the same liberties with her titular, as +she would have done with a natural sister. Maud alone, of all in the Hut, +remembered her birth, and submitted to some of its most obvious +consequences. As respects the captain, the idea never crossed her mind, +that she was adopted by him; as respects her mother, she filled to her, in +every sense, that sacred character; Beulah, too, was a sister, in thought +and deed; but, Bob, he had so changed, had been so many years separated +from her; had once actually called her Miss Meredith--somehow, she knew +not how herself--it was fully six years since she had begun to remember +that <i>he</i> was not her brother.</p> + +<p>"As for my father," said Maud, rising with emotion, and speaking with +startling emphasis--"I will not say I <i>love</i> him--I <i>worship</i> him!"</p> + +<p>"Ah! I know that well enough, Maud; and to say the truth, you are a couple +of idolaters, between you. Mamma says this, sometimes; though she owns she +is not jealous. But it would pain her excessively to hear that you do not +feel towards Bob, just as we all feel."</p> + +<p>"But, ought I?--Beulah, I cannot!"</p> + +<p>"Ought you!--Why not, Maud? Are you in your senses, child?"</p> + +<p>"But--you know--I'm sure--you ought to remember--"</p> + +<p>"<i>What</i>?" demanded Beulah, really frightened at the other's excessive +agitation.</p> + +<p>"That I am <i>not</i> his real--true--<i>born</i> sister!"</p> + +<p>This was the first time in their lives, either had ever alluded to the +fact, in the other's presence. Beulah turned pale; she trembled all over, +as if in an ague; then she luckily burst into tears, else she might have +fainted.</p> + +<p>"Beulah--my sister--my <i>own</i> sister!" cried Maud, throwing herself into +the arms of the distressed girl.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Maud, you <i>are</i>, you <i>shall</i> for ever be, my only, only sister."</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch06"> +<h2>Chapter VI.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> O! It is great for our country to die, where ranks are contending;<br /> + Bright is the wreath of our fame; Glory awaits us for aye--<br /> + Glory, that never is dim, shining on with light never ending--<br /> + Glory, that never shall fade, never, O! never away.</p> + +<p> Percival.</p></div> + +<p> +Notwithstanding the startling intelligence that had so unexpectedly +reached it, and the warm polemical conflict that had been carried on +within its walls, the night passed peacefully over the roof of the Hutted +Knoll. At the return of dawn, the two Plinys, both the Smashes, and all +the menials were again afoot; and, ere long, Mike, Saucy Nick Joel, and +the rest were seen astir, in the open fields, or in the margin of the +woods. Cattle were fed, cows milked fires lighted, and everything pursued +its course, in the order of May. The three wenches, as female negroes were +then termed, <i>ex officio</i>, in America, opened their throats, as was usual +at that hour, and were heard singing at their labours, in a way nearly to +deaden the morning carols of the tenants of the forest. <i>Mari'</i> in +particular, would have drowned the roar of Niagara. The captain used to +call her his clarion.</p> + +<p>In due time, the superiors of the household made their appearance. Mrs. +Willoughby was the first out of her room, as was ever the case when there +was anything to be done. On the present occasion, the "fatted calf" was to +be killed, not in honour of the return of a prodigal son, however, but in +behalf of one who was the pride of her eyes, and the joy of her heart. The +breakfast that she ordered was just the sort of breakfast, that one must +visit America to witness. France can set forth a very scientific <i>déjeuner +à la fourchette,</i> and England has laboured-and ponderous imitations; but, +for the spontaneous, superabundant, unsophisticated, natural, +all-sufficing and all-subduing morning's meal, take America, in a +better-class house, in the country, and you reach the <i>ne plus ultra</i>, in +that sort of thing. Tea, coffee, and chocolate, of which the first and +last were excellent, and the second respectable; ham, fish, eggs, toast, +cakes, rolls, marmalades, &c. &c. &c., were thrown together in noble +confusion; frequently occasioning the guest, as Mr. Woods naively +confessed, an utter confusion of mind, as to which he was to attack, when +all were inviting and each would be welcome.</p> + +<p>Leaving Mrs. Willoughby in deep consultation with Mari' on the subject of +this feast, we will next look after the two sweet girls whom we so +abruptly deserted in the last chapter. When Maud's glowing cheeks were +first visible that morning, signs of tears might have been discovered on +them, as the traces of the dew are found on the leaf of the rose; but +they completely vanished under the duties of the toilet, and she came +forth from her chamber, bright and cloudless as the glorious May-morning, +which had returned to cheer the solitude of the manor. Beulah followed, +tranquil, bland and mild as the day itself, the living image of the +purity of soul, and deep affections, of her honest nature.</p> + +<p>The sisters went into the breakfast-room, where they had little lady-like +offices of their own to discharge, too, in honour of the guest; each +employing herself in decorating the table, and in seeing that it wanted +nothing in the proprieties As their pleasing tasks were fulfilled, the +discourse did not flag between them. Nothing, however, had been said, that +made the smallest allusion to the conversation of the past night. Neither +felt any wish to revive that subject; and, as for Maud, bitterly did she +regret ever having broached it. At times, her cheeks burned with blushes, +as she recalled her words; and yet she scarce knew the reason why. The +feeling of Beulah was different. She wondered her sister could ever think +she was a Meredith, and not a Willoughby. At times she feared some +unfortunate oversight of her own, some careless allusion, or indiscreet +act, might have served to remind Maud of the circumstances of her real +birth. Yet there was nothing in the last likely to awaken unpleasant +reflections, apart from the circumstance that she was not truly a child of +the family into which she had been transplanted. The Merediths were, at +least, as nonourable a family as the Willoughbys, in the ordinary worldly +view of the matter; nor was Maud, by any means, a dependant, in the way of +money. Five thousand pounds, in the English funds, had been settled on +her, by the marriage articles of her parents; and twenty years of careful +husbandry, during which every shilling had been scrupulously devoted to +accumulation, had quite doubled the original amount. So far from being +penniless, therefore, Maud's fortune was often alluded to by the captain, +in a jocular way, as if purposely to remind her that she had the means of +independence, and duties connected with it. It is true, Maud, herself, had +no suspicion that she had been educated altogether by her "father," and +that her own money had not been used for this purpose. To own the truth, +she thought little about it; knew little about it, beyond the fact, that +she had a fortune of her own, into the possession of which she must step, +when she attained her majority. How she came by it, even, was a question +she never asked though there were moments when tender regrets and +affectionate melancholy would come over her heart, as she thought of her +natural parents, and of their early deaths. Still, Maud implicitly reposed +on the captain and Mrs. Willoughby, as on a father and mother; and it was +not owing to <i>them</i>, or anything connected with their love, treatment, +words, or thoughts, that she was reminded that they were not so in very +fact, as well as in tenderness.</p> + +<p>"Bob will think <i>you</i> made these plum sweetmeats, Beulah," said Maud, with +a saucy smile, as she placed a glass plate on the table--"He never thinks +I <i>can</i> make anything of this sort; and, as he is so fond of plums, he +will be certain to taste them; then <i>you</i> will come in for the praise!"</p> + +<p>"You appear to think, that <i>praise</i> he must. Perhaps he may not fancy them +good."</p> + +<p>"If I thought so, I would take them away this instant," cried Maud, +standing in the attitude of one in doubt. "Bob does <i>not</i> think much of +such things in girls, for he says ladies need not be cooks; and yet when +one <i>does</i> make a thing of this sort, one would certainly like to have it +<i>well</i> made."</p> + +<p>"Set your heart at ease, Maud; the plums are delicious--much the best we +ever had, and we are rather famous for them, you know. I'll answer for it, +Bob will pronounce them the best he has ever tasted."</p> + +<p>"And if he shouldn't, why should I care--that is, not <i>very much</i>--about +it. You know they are the first I ever made, and one may be permitted to +fail on a first effort. Besides, a man <i>may</i> go to England, and see fine +sights, and live in great houses, and all that, and not understand when he +has good plum sweetmeats before him, and when bad. I dare say there are +many <i>colonels</i> in the army, who are ignorant on this point."</p> + +<p>Beulah laughed, and admitted the truth of the remark; though, in her +secret mind, she had almost persuaded herself that Bob knew everything.</p> + +<p>"Do you not think our brother improved in appearance, Maud," she asked, +after a short pause. "The visit to England has done him that service, at +least."</p> + +<p>"I don't see it, Beulah--I see no change. To me, Bob is just the same +to-day, that he has ever been; that is, ever since he grew to be a +man--with boys, of course, it is different. Ever since he was made a +captain, I mean."</p> + +<p>As major Willoughby had reached that rank the day he was one-and-twenty, +the reader can understand the precise date when Maud began to take her +present views of his appearance and character.</p> + +<p>"I am surprised to hear you say so, Maud! Papa says he is better 'set up,' +as he calls it, by his English drill, and that he looks altogether more +like a soldier than he did."</p> + +<p>"Bob has always had a martial look!" cried Maud, quickly--"He got that in +garrison, when a boy."</p> + +<p>"If so, I hope he may never lose it!" said the subject of the remark, +himself, who had entered the room unperceived, and overheard this speech. +"Being a soldier, one would wish to look like what he is, my little +critic."</p> + +<p>The kiss that followed, and that given to Beulah, were no more than the +usual morning salutations of a brother to his sisters, slight touches of +rosy cheeks; and yet Maud blushed; for, as she said to herself, she had +been taken by surprise.</p> + +<p>"They say listeners never hear good of themselves," answered Maud, with a +vivacity that betokened confusion. "Had you come a minute sooner, master +Bob, it might have been an advantage."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Beulah's remarks I do not fear; so long as I get off unscathed from +yours, Miss Maud, I shall think myself a lucky fellow. But what has +brought me and my training into discussion, this morning?"</p> + +<p>"It is natural for sisters to speak about their brother after so long----"</p> + +<p>"Tell him nothing about it, Beulah," interrupted Maud. "Let him listen, +and eaves-drop, and find out as he may, if he would learn our secrets. +There, major Willoughby, I hope that is a promise of a breakfast, which +will satisfy even your military appetite!"</p> + +<p>"It looks well, indeed, Maud--and there, I perceive, are some of Beulah's +excellent plums, of which I am so fond--know they were made especially for +me, and I must kiss you, sister, for this proof of remembrance."</p> + +<p>Beulah, to whose simple mind it seemed injustice to appropriate credit +that belonged to another, was about to tell the truth; but an imploring +gesture from her sister induced her to smile, and receive the salute in +silence.</p> + +<p>"Has any one seen captain Willoughby and parson Woods this morning?" +inquired the major. "I left them desperately engaged in discussion, and I +really feel some apprehension as to the remains left on the field of +battle."</p> + +<p>"Here they both come," cried Maud, glad to find the discourse taking so +complete a change; "and there is mamma, followed by Pliny, to tell Beulah +to take her station at the coffee, while I go to the chocolate, leaving +the tea to the only hand that can make it so that my father will drink +it."</p> + +<p>The parties mentioned entered the room, in the order named; the usual +salutations followed, and all took their seats at table. Captain +Willoughby was silent and thoughtful at first, leaving his son to rattle +on, in a way that betokened care, in his view of the matter, quite as much +as it betokened light-heartedness in those of his mother and sisters. The +chaplain was rather more communicative than his friend; but he, too, +seemed restless, and desirous of arriving at some point that was not +likely to come uppermost, in such a family party. At length, the impulses +of Mr. Woods got the better of his discretion, even, and he could conceal +his thoughts no longer.</p> + +<p>"Captain Willoughby," he said, in a sort of apologetic, and yet simple and +natural manner, "I have done little since we parted, seven hours since, +but think of the matter under discussion."</p> + +<p>"If you have, my dear Woods, there has been a strong sympathy between us; +I have scarcely slept. I may say I have thought of nothing else, myself, +and am glad you have broached the subject, again."</p> + +<p>"I was about to say, my worthy sir, that reflection, and my pillow, and +your sound and admirable arguments, have produced an entire change in my +sentiments. I think, now, altogether with you."</p> + +<p>"The devil you do, Woods!" cried the captain, looking up from his bit of +dry toast, in astonishment. "Why, my dear fellow--this is odd--excessively +odd, if the truth must be said.--To own the real state of the case, +chaplain, you have won <i>me</i> over, and I was just about to make proper +acknowledgments of your victory!"</p> + +<p>It need scarcely be added that the rest of the company were not a little +amazed at these cross-concessions, while Maud was exceedingly amused. As +for Mrs. Willoughby, nothing laughable ever occurred in connection with +her husband; and then she would as soon think of assailing the church +itself, as to ridicule one of its ministers. Beulah could see nothing but +what was right in her father, at least; and, as for the major, he felt too +much concerned at this unexpected admission of his father's, to perceive +anything but the error.</p> + +<p>"Have you not overlooked the injunction of scripture, my excellent +friend?" rejoined the chaplain. "Have you left to the rights of Cæsar, all +their weight and authority? 'The king's name is a tower of strength.'"</p> + +<p>"Have not you, Woods, forgotten the superior claims of reason and right, +over those of accident and birth--that man is to be considered as a +reasoning being, to be governed by principles and ever-varying facts, and +not a mere animal left to the control of an instinct that perishes with +its usefulness?"</p> + +<p>"What <i>can</i> they mean, mother?" whispered Maud, scarce able to repress the +laughter that came so easily to one with a keen sense of the ludicrous.</p> + +<p>"They have been arguing about the right of parliament to tax the colonies, +I believe, my dear, and <i>over-persuaded</i> each other, that's all. It <i>is</i> +odd, Robert, that Mr. Woods should convert your father."</p> + +<p>"No, my dearest mother, it is something even more serious than that." By +this time, the disputants, who sat opposite each other, were fairly +launched into the discussion, again, and heeded nothing that passed--"No, +dearest mother, it is far worse than even <i>that</i>. Pliny, tell my man to +brush the hunting-jacket--and, see he has his breakfast, in good style--he +is a grumbling rascal, and will give the house a bad character, else--you +need not come back, until we ring for you--yes, mother, yes dearest girls, +this is a far more serious matter than you suppose, though it ought not to +be mentioned idly, among the people. God knows now they may take it--and +bad news flies swift enough, of itself."</p> + +<p>"Merciful Providence!" exclaimed Mrs. Willoughby-"What <i>can</i> you mean, my +son?"</p> + +<p>"I mean, mother, that civil war has actually commenced in the colonies, +and that the people of your blood and race are, in open arms, against the +people of my father's native country--in a word, against me."</p> + +<p>"How can that be, Robert? Who would <i>dare</i> to strike a blow against the +king?"</p> + +<p>"When men get excited, and their passions are once inflamed, they will do +much, my mother, that they might not dream of, else."</p> + +<p>"This must be a mistake! Some evil-disposed person has told you this, +Robert, knowing your attachment to the crown."</p> + +<p>"I wish it were so, dear madam; but my own eyes have seen--I may say my +own flesh has felt, the contrary."</p> + +<p>The major then related what had happened, letting his auditors into the +secret of the true state of the country. It is scarcely necessary to +allude to the degree of consternation and pain, with which he was heard, +or to the grief which succeeded.</p> + +<p>"You spoke of yourself, dear Bob," said Maud, naturally, and with strong +feeling--"<i>You</i> were not hurt, in this cruel, cruel battle."</p> + +<p>"I ought not to have mentioned it, although I did certainly receive a +smart contusion--nothing more, I assure you--here in the shoulder, and it +now scarcely inconveniences me."</p> + +<p>By this time all were listening, curiosity and interest having silenced +even the disputants, especially as this was the first they had heard of +the major's casualty. Then neither felt the zeal which had warmed him in +the previous contest, but was better disposed to turn aside from its +pursuit.</p> + +<p>"I hope it did not send you to the rear, Bob?" anxiously inquired the +father.</p> + +<p>"I <i>was</i> in the rear, sir, when I got the hurt," answered the major, +laughing. "The rear is the post of honour, on a retreat, you know, my dear +father; and I believe our march scarce deserves another name."</p> + +<p>"That is hard, too, on king's troops! What sort of fellows had you to +oppose, my son?"</p> + +<p>"A rather intrusive set, sir. Their object was to persuade us to go into +Boston, as fast as possible; and, it was a little difficult, at times, not +to listen to their arguments. If my Lord Percy had not come out, with a +strong party, and two pieces of artillery, we might not have stood it much +longer. Our men were fagged like hunted deer, and the day proved +oppressively hot."</p> + +<p>"Artillery, too!" exclaimed the captain, his military pride reviving a +little, to unsettle his last convictions of duty. "Did you open your +columns, and charge your enemies, in line?"</p> + +<p>"It would have been charging air. No sooner did we halt, than our foes +dispersed; or, no sooner did we renew the march, than every line of wall, +along our route, became a line of hostile muskets. I trust you will do us +justice, sir--you know the regiments, and can scarce think they +misbehaved."</p> + +<p>"British troops seldom do that; although I have known it happen. No men, +however, are usually more steady, and then these provincials are +formidable as skirmishers. In that character, I know <i>them</i>, too. What has +been the effect of all this on the country, Bob?--You told us something of +it last night; complete the history."</p> + +<p>"The provinces are in a tumult. As for New England, a flame of fire could +scarce be more devastating; though I think this colony is less excited. +Still, here, men are arming in thousands."</p> + +<p>"Dear me--dear me"--ejaculated the peacefully-inclined chaplain--"that +human beings can thus be inclined to self destruction!"</p> + +<p>"Is Tryon active?--What do the royal authorities, all this time?"</p> + +<p>"Of course they neglect nothing feasible; but, they must principally rely +on the loyalty and influence of the gentry, until succour can arrive from +Europe. If <i>that</i> fail them, their difficulties will be much increased."</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby understood his son; he glanced towards his unconscious +wife, as if to see how far she felt with him.</p> + +<p>"Our own families are divided, of course, much as they have been in the +previous discussions," he added. "The De Lanceys, Van Cortlandts, +Philipses, Bayards, and most of that town connection, with a large +portion of the Long Island families, I should think, are with the crown; +while the Livingstons, Morrises, Schuylers, Rensselaers, and their +friends, go with the colony. Is not this the manner in which they are +divided?"</p> + +<p>"With some limitations, sir. All the De Lanceys, with most of their strong +connections and influence, are with <i>us</i>--with the <i>king</i>, I mean--while +all the Livingstons and Morrises are against us. The other families are +divided--as with the Cortlandts, Schuylers, and Rensselaers. It is +fortunate for the Patroon, that he is a boy."</p> + +<p>"Why so, Bob?" asked the captain, looking inquiringly up, at his son.</p> + +<p>"Simply, sir, that his great estate may not be confiscated. So many of his +near connections are against us, that he could hardly escape the +contamination; and the consequences would be inevitable."</p> + +<p>"Do you consider that so certain, sir? As there are two sides to the +question, may there not be two results to the war?"</p> + +<p>"I think not, sir. England is no power to be defied by colonies +insignificant as these."</p> + +<p>"This is well enough for a king's officer, major Willoughby; but all large +bodies of men are formidable when they are right, and nations--these +colonies are a nation, in extent and number--are not so easily put down, +when the spirit of liberty is up and doing among them."</p> + +<p>The major listened to his father with pain and wonder. The captain spoke +earnestly, and there was a flush about his fine countenance, that gave it +sternness and authority. Unused to debate with his father, especially when +the latter was in such a mood, the son remained silent, though his mother, +who was thoroughly loyal in her heart--meaning loyal as applied to a +sovereign--and who had the utmost confidence in her husband's tenderness +and consideration for herself, was not so scrupulous.</p> + +<p>"Why, Willoughby," she cried, "you really incline to rebellion! I, even I, +who was born in the colonies, think them very wrong to resist their +anointed king, and sovereign prince."</p> + +<p>"Ah, Wilhelmina," answered the captain, more mildly, "you have a true +colonist's admiration of <i>home</i>. But I was old enough, when I left +England, to appreciate what I saw and knew, and cannot feel all this +provincial admiration."</p> + +<p>"But surely, my dear captain, England is a very great country," +interrupted the chaplain--"a prodigious country; one that can claim all +our respect and love. Look at the church, now, the purified continuation +of the ancient visible authority of Christ on earth! It is the +consideration of this church that has subdued my natural love of +birth-place, and altered my sentiments."</p> + +<p>"All very true, and all very well, in <i>your</i> mouth, chaplain; yet even the +visible church may err. This doctrine of divine right would have kept the +Stuarts on the throne, and it is not even English doctrine; much less, +then, need it be American. I am no Cromwellian, no republican, that wishes +to oppose the throne, in order to destroy it. A good king is a good thing, +and a prodigious blessing to a country; still, a people needs look to its +political privileges if it wish to preserve them. You and I will discuss +this matter another time, parson. There will be plenty of opportunities," +he added, rising, and smiling good-humouredly; "I must, now, call my +people together, and let them know this news. It is not fair to conceal a +civil war."</p> + +<p>"My dear sir!" exclaimed the major, in concern--"are you not +wrong?--precipitate, I mean--Is it not better to preserve the secret, to +give yourself time for reflection--to await events?--I can discover no +necessity for this haste. Should you see things differently, hereafter, an +incautious word uttered at this moment might bring much motive for +regret."</p> + +<p>"I have thought of all this, Bob, during the night--for hardly did I close +my eyes--and you cannot change my purpose. It is honest to let my people +know how matters stand; and, so far from being hazardous, as you seem to +think, I consider it wise. God knows what time will bring forth; but, in +every, or any event, fair-dealing can scarcely injure him who practises +it. I have already sent directions to have the whole settlement collected +on the lawn, at the ringing of the bell, and I expect every moment we +shall hear the summons."</p> + +<p>Against this decision there was no appeal. Mild and indulgent as the +captain habitually was, his authority was not to be disputed, when he +chose to exercise it. Some doubts arose, and the father participated in +them, for a moment, as to what might be the effect on the major's +fortunes; for, should a very patriotic spirit arise among the men, +two-thirds of whom were native Americans, and what was more, from the +eastern colonies, he might be detained; or, at least, betrayed on his +return, and delivered into the hands of the revolted authorities. This was +a very serious consideration, and it detained the captain in the house, +some time after the people were assembled, debating the chances, in the +bosom of his own family.</p> + +<p>"We exaggerate the danger," the captain, at length, exclaimed. "Most of +these men have been with me for years, and I know not one among them who I +think would wish to injure me, or even you, my son, in this way. There is +far more danger in attempting to deceive them, than in making them +confidants. I will go out and tell the truth; then we shall, at least, +have the security of self-approbation. If you escape the danger of being +sold by Nick, my son, I think you have little to fear from any other."</p> + +<p>"By Nick!" repeated half-a-dozen voices, in surprise--Surely, +father--surely, Willoughby--surely, my dear captain, you cannot suspect as +old and tried a follower, as the Tuscarora!"</p> + +<p>"Ay, he is an <i>old</i> follower, certainly, and he has been <i>punished</i> often +enough, if he has not been <i>tried</i>. I have never suffered my distrust of +that fellow to go to sleep--it is unsafe, with an Indian, unless you have +a strong hold on his gratitude."</p> + +<p>"But, Willoughby, he it was who found this manor for us," rejoined the +wife. "Without him, we should never have been the owners of this lovely +place, this beaver-dam, and all else that we so much enjoy."</p> + +<p>"True, my dear; and without good golden guineas, we should not have had +Nick."</p> + +<p>"But, sir, I pay as liberally as he can wish," observed the major. "If +bribes will buy him, mine are as good as another's."</p> + +<p>"We shall see--under actual circumstances, I think we shall be, in every +respect, safer, by keeping nothing back, than by telling all to the +people."</p> + +<p>The captain now put on his hat, and issued through the undefended +gateway, followed by every individual of his family. As the summons had +been general, when the Willoughbys and the chaplain appeared on the lawn, +every living soul of that isolated settlement, even to infants in the +arms, was collected there. The captain commanded the profound respect of +all his dependants, though a few among them did not love him. The fault +was not his, however, but was inherent rather in the untoward characters +of the disaffected themselves. His habits of authority were unsuited to +their habits of a presuming equality, perhaps; and it is impossible for +the comparatively powerful and affluent to escape the envy and repinings +of men, who, unable to draw the real distinctions that separate the +gentleman from the low-minded and grovelling, impute their advantages to +accidents and money. But, even the few who permitted this malign and +corrupting tendency to influence their feelings, could not deny that their +master was just and benevolent, though he did not always exhibit this +justice and benevolence precisely in the way best calculated to soothe +their own craving self-love, and exaggerated notions of assumed natural +claims. In a word, captain Willoughby, in the eyes of a few unquiet and +bloated imaginations among his people, was obnoxious to the imputation of +pride; and this because he saw and felt the consequences of education, +habits, manners, opinions and sentiments that were hidden from those who +not only had no perception of their existence, but who had no knowledge +whatever of the qualities that brought them into being. Pope's familiar +line of "what can we reason but from what we know?" is peculiarly +applicable to persons of this class; who are ever for dragging all things +down to standards created by their own ignorance; and who, slaves of the +basest and meanest passions, reason as if they were possessors of all the +knowledge, sensibilities and refinements of their own country and times. +Of this class of men, comes the ordinary demagogue, a wretch equally +incapable of setting an example of any of the higher qualities, in his own +person or practice, and of appreciating it when exhibited by others. Such +men abound under all systems where human liberty is highly privileged, +being the moral <i>fungi</i> of freedom, as the rankest weeds are known to be +the troublesome and baneful productions of the richest soils.</p> + +<p>It was no unusual thing for the people of the Hutted Knoll to be +collected, in the manner we have described. We are writing of a period, +that the present enlightened generation is apt to confound with the darker +ages of American knowledge, in much that relates to social usages at +least, though it escaped the long-buried wisdom of the Mormon bible, and +Miller's interpretations of the prophecies. In that day, men were not so +silly as to attempt to appear always wise; but some of the fêtes and +festivals of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors were still tolerated among us; the +all-absorbing and all-<i>swallowing</i> jubilee of "Independence-day" not +having yet overshadowed everything else in the shape of a holiday. Now, +captain Willoughby had brought with him to the colonies the love of +festivals that is so much more prevalent in the old world than in the new; +and it was by no means an uncommon thing for him to call his people +together, to make merry on a birth-day, or the anniversary of some battle +in which he had been one of the victors. When he appeared on the lawn, on +the present occasion, therefore, it was expected he was about to meet them +with some such announcement.</p> + +<p>The inhabitants of the manor, or the estate of the Hutted Knoll, might be +divided into three great physical, and we might add moral categories, or +races, viz: the Anglo-Saxon, the Dutch, both high and low, and the +African. The first was the most numerous, including the families of the +millers, most of the mechanics, and that of Joel Strides, the +land-overseer; the second was composed chiefly of labourers; and the last +were exclusively household servants, with the exception of one of the +Plinys, who was a ploughman, though permitted to live with his kinsfolk in +the Hut. These divisions, Maud, in one of her merry humours, had +nick-named the three tribes; while her father, to make the enumeration +complete, had classed the serjeant, Mike, and Jamie Allen, as +supernumeraries.</p> + +<p>The three tribes, and the three supernumeraries, then, were all collected +on the lawn, as the captain and his family approached. By a sort of +secret instinct, too, they had divided themselves into knots, the Dutch +keeping a little aloof from the Yankees; and the blacks, almost as a +matter of religion, standing a short distance in the rear, as became +people of their colour, and slaves. Mike and Jamie, however, had got a +sort of neutral position, between the two great divisions of the whites, +as if equally indifferent to their dissensions or antipathies. In this +manner all parties stood, impatiently awaiting an announcement that had +been so long delayed. The captain advanced to the front, and removing his +hat, a ceremony he always observed on similar occasions, and which had the +effect to make his listeners imitate his own courtesy, he addressed the +crowd.</p> + +<p>"When people live together, in a wilderness like this," commenced the +captain, "there ought to be no secrets between them, my friends, in +matters that touch the common interests. We are like men on a remote +island; a sort of colony of our own; and we must act fairly and frankly by +each other. In this spirit, then, I am now about to lay before you, all +that I know myself, concerning an affair of the last importance to the +colonies, and to the empire." Here Joel pricked up his ears, and cast a +knowing glance at 'the miller,' a countryman and early neighbour of his +own, who had charge of the grinding for the settlement, and who went by +that appellation '<i>par excellence</i>!' "You all know," continued the +captain, "that there have been serious difficulties between the colonies +and parliament, now, for more than ten years; difficulties that have been, +once or twice, partially settled, but which have as often broken out, in +some new shape, as soon as an old quarrel was adjusted."</p> + +<p>Here the captain paused a moment; and Joel, who was the usual spokesman of +'the people,' took an occasion to put a question.</p> + +<p>"The captain means, I s'pose," he said, in a sly, half-honest, +half-jesuitical manner, "the right of parliament to tax us Americans, +without our own consent, or our having any members in their +le<i>gys</i>la<i>toore</i>?"</p> + +<p>"I mean what you say. The tax on tea, the shutting the port of Boston, and +other steps, have brought larger bodies of the king's troops among us, +than have been usual. Boston, as you probably know, has had a strong +garrison, now, for some months. About six weeks since, the +commander-in-chief sent a detachment out as far as Concord, in New +Hampshire, to destroy certain stores. This detachment had a meeting with +the minute-men, and blood was drawn. A running fight ensued, in which +several hundreds have been killed and wounded; and I think I know both +sides sufficiently well, to predict that a long and bloody civil war is +begun. These are facts you should know, and accordingly I tell them to +you."</p> + +<p>This simple, but explicit, account was received very differently, by the +different listeners. Joel Strides leaned forward, with intense interest, +so as not to lose a syllable. Most of the New Englanders, or Yankees, paid +great attention, and exchanged meaning glances with each other, when the +captain had got through. As for Mike, he grasped a shillelah that he +habitually carried, when not at work, looking round, as if waiting for +orders from the captain, on whom to begin. Jamie was thoughtful and grave, +and, once or twice, as the captain proceeded, he scratched his head in +doubt. The Dutch seemed curious, but bewildered, gaping at each other like +men who might make up their minds, if you would give them time, but who +certainly had not yet. As for the blacks, their eyes began to open like +saucers, when they heard of the quarrel; when it got to the blows, their +mouths were all grinning with the delight of a thing so exciting. At the +mention of the number of the dead, however, something like awe passed over +them, and changed their countenances to dismay. Nick alone was +indifferent. By the cold apathy of his manner, the captain saw at once +that the battle of Lexington had not been a secret to the Tuscarora, when +he commenced his own account. As the captain always encouraged a proper +familiarity in his dependants, he now told them he was ready to answer any +questions they might think expedient to put to him, in gratification of +their natural curiosity.</p> + +<p>"I s'pose this news comes by the major?" asked Joel.</p> + +<p>"You may well suppose that, Strides. My son is here, and we have no other +means of getting it."</p> + +<p>"Will yer honour be wishful that we shoulther our fire-arms, and go out +and fight one of them sides, or t'other?" demanded Mike.</p> + +<p>"I wish nothing of the sort, O'Hearn. It will be time enough for us to +take a decided part, when we get better ideas of what is really going on."</p> + +<p>"Doesn't the captain, then, think matters have got far enough towards a +head, for the Americans to make up their minds conclusively, as it might +be?" put in Joel, in his very worst manner.</p> + +<p>"I think it will be wiser for us all to remain where we are, and <i>as</i> we +are. Civil war is a serious matter, Strides, And no man should rush +blindly into its dangers and difficulties."</p> + +<p>Joel looked at the miller, and the miller looked at Joel. Neither said +anything, however, at the time. Jamie Allen had been <i>out</i> in the +'forty-five,' when thirty years younger than he was that day; and though +he had his predilections and antipathies, circumstances had taught him +prudence.</p> + +<p>"Will the parliament, think ye, no be bidding the soldiery to wark their +will on the puir unairmed folk, up and down the country, and they not +provided with the means to resist them?"</p> + +<p>"Och, Jamie!" interrupted Mike, who did not appear to deem it necessary to +treat this matter with even decent respect--"where will be yer valour and +stomach, to ask sich a question as <i>that</i>! A man is always reathy, when he +has his ar-r-ms and legs free to act accorthing to natur'. What would a +rigiment of throops do ag'in the likes of sich a place as this? I'm sure +it's tin years I've been <i>in</i> it, and I've niver been able to find my way +<i>out</i> of it. Set a souldier to rowing on the lake forenent the rising sun, +with orders to get to the other ind, and a pretty job he 'd make of +marching on that same! I knows it, for I've thried it, and it is not a +new beginner that will make much of <i>sich</i> oare; barring he knows nothin' +about them."</p> + +<p>This was not very intelligible to anybody but Joel, and <i>he </i> had ceased +to laugh at Mike's voyage, now, some six or seven years; divers other +disasters, all having their origin in a similar confusion of ideas, +having, in the interval, supplanted that calamity, as it might be, +<i>seriatim</i>. Still it was an indication that Mike might be set down as a +belligerent, who was disposed to follow his leader into the battle, +without troubling him with many questions concerning the merits of the +quarrel. Nevertheless, the county Leitrim-man acknowledged particular +principles, all of which had a certain influence on his conduct, whenever +he could get at them, to render them available. First and foremost, he +cordially disliked a Yankee; and he hated an Englishman, both as an +oppressor and a heretic; yet he loved his master and all that belonged to +him. These were contradictory feelings, certainly; but Mike was all +contradiction, both in theory and in practice.</p> + +<p>The Anglo-Saxon tribe now professed a willingness to retire, promising to +<i>think of the matter</i>, a course against which Mike loudly protested, +declaring he never knew any good come of thinking, when matters had got as +far as blows. Jamie, too, went off scratching his head, and he was seen to +make many pauses, that day, between the shovels-full of earth he, from +time to time, threw around his plants, as if pondering on what he had +heard. As for the Dutch, their hour had not come. No one expected them to +decide the day they first heard of argument.</p> + +<p>The negroes got together, and began to dwell on the marvels of a battle in +which so many Christians had been put to death. Little Smash placed the +slain at a few thousands; but Great Smash, as better became her loftier +appellation and higher spirit, affirmed that the captain had stated +<i>hundreds</i> of thousands; a loss, with less than which, as she contended, +no great battle could possibly be fought.</p> + +<p>When the captain was housed, Serjeant Joyce demanded an audience; the +object of which was simply to ask for <i>orders</i>, without the least +reference to <i>principles</i>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch07"> +<h2>Chapter VII.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> We are all here!<br /> + Father, mother,<br /> + Sister, brother,<br /> + All who hold each other dear.<br /> + Each chair is fill'd--we're all <i>at home</i>;<br /> + To-night let no cold stranger come:<br /> + It is not often thus around<br /> + Our old familiar hearth we're found:<br /> + Bless, then, the meeting and the spot;<br /> + For once be every care forgot;<br /> + Let gentle Peace assert her power,<br /> + And kind Affection rule the hour;<br /> + We're all--all here.</p> + +<p> Sprague.</p></div> + +<p> +Although most of the people retired to their dwellings, or their labours, +as soon as the captain dismissed them, a few remained to receive his +farther orders. Among these last were Joel, the carpenter, and the +blacksmith. These men now joined the chief of the settlement and his son, +who had lingered near the gateway, in conversation concerning the +alterations that the present state of things might render necessary, in +and about the Hut.</p> + +<p>"Joel," observed the captain, when the three men were near enough to hear +his orders, "this great change in the times will render some changes in +our means of defence prudent, if not necessary."</p> + +<p>"Does the captain s'pose the people of the colony will attack <i>us</i>?" asked +the wily overseer, with emphasis.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not the people of the colony, Mr. Strides, for we have not <i>yet</i> +declared ourselves their enemies; but there are other foes, who are more +to be apprehended than the people of the colony."</p> + +<p>"I should think the king's troops not likely to trouble themselves to +ventur' here--the road might prove easier to come than to return. Besides, +our plunder would scarce pay for such a march."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not--but there never has yet been a war in these colonies that +some of the savage tribes were not engaged in it, before the whites had +fairly got themselves into line."</p> + +<p>"Do you really think, sir, there can be much serious danger of <i>that</i>!" +exclaimed the major, in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Beyond a question, my son. The scalping-knife will be at work in six +months, if it be not busy already, should one-half of your reports and +rumours turn out to be true. Such is American history."</p> + +<p>"I rather think, sir, your apprehensions for my mother and sisters may +mislead you. I do not believe the American authorities will ever allow +themselves to be driven into a measure so perfectly horrible and +unjustifiable; and were the English ministry sufficiently cruel, or +unprincipled, to adopt the policy, the honest indignation of so humane a +people would be certain to drive them from power."</p> + +<p>As the major ceased speaking, he turned and caught the expression of +Joel's countenance, and was struck with the look of intense interest with +which the overseer watched his own warm and sincere manner.</p> + +<p>"Humanity is a very pretty stalking-horse for political orations, Bob," +quietly returned the father; "but it will scarcely count for much with an +old campaigner. God send you may come out of this war with the same +ingenuous and natural feelings as you go into it."</p> + +<p>"The major will scarce dread the savages, should he be on the side of his +nat'ral friends!" remarked Joel; "and if what he says about the humanity +of the king's advisers be true, he will be safe from <i>them</i>."</p> + +<p>"The major will be on the side to which duty calls him, Mr. Strides, if it +may be agreeable to your views of the matter," answered the young man, +with a little more <i>hauteur</i> than the occasion required.</p> + +<p>The father felt uneasy, and he regretted that his son had been so +indiscreet; though he saw no remedy but by drawing the attention of the +men to the matter before them.</p> + +<p>"Neither the real wishes of the people of America, nor of the people of +England, will avail much, in carrying on this war," he said. "Its conduct +will fall into the hands of those who will look more to the ends than to +the means; and success will be found a sufficient apology for any wrong. +This has been the history of all the wars of my time, and it is likely to +prove the history of this. I fear it will make little difference to us on +which side we may be in feeling; there will be savages to guard against in +either case. This gate must be hung, one of the first things, Joel; and I +have serious thoughts of placing palisades around the Knoll. The Hut, well +palisaded, would make a work that could not be easily carried, without +artillery."</p> + +<p>Joel seemed struck with the idea, though it did not appear that it was +favourably. He stood studying the house and the massive gates for a minute +or two, ere he delivered his sentiments on the subject. When he did speak, +it was a good deal more in doubt, than in approbation.</p> + +<p>"It's all very true, captain," he said; the house would <i>seem</i> to be a +good deal more safe like, if the gates were up; but, a body don't know; +sometimes gates be a security, and sometimes they isn't. It all depends on +which side the danger comes. Still, as these are <i>made</i>, and finished all +to hanging, it's 'most a pity, too, they shouldn't be used, if a body +could find <i>time</i>."</p> + +<p>"The time <i>must</i> be found, and the gates be hung," interrupted the +captain, too much accustomed to Joel's doubting, 'sort-o'-concluding +manner, to be always patient under the infliction. "Not only the gates, +but the palisades must be got out, holes dug, and the circumvallation +completed."</p> + +<p>"It must be as the captain says, of course, he being master here. But +time's precious in May. There's half our plantin' to be done yet, and some +of the ground hasn't got the last ploughin'. Harvest won't come without +seed-time; for no man, let him be great, or let him be small--and it does +seem to me a sort o' wastin' of the Lord's blessin's, to be hangin' gates, +and diggin' holes for that--the thing the captain mentioned--when there's +no visible danger in sight to recommend the measure to prudence, as it +might be."</p> + +<p>"That may be your opinion, Mr. Strides, but it is not mine. I intend to +guard against a visible danger that is <i>out</i> of sight, and I will thank +you to have these gates hung, this very day."</p> + +<p>"This very day!--The captain's a mind to be musical about the matter! +Every hand in the settlement couldn't get them gates in their places in +less than a week."</p> + +<p>"It appears to me, Strides, you are 'playing on the music,' as you call +it, yourself, now?"</p> + +<p>"No, indeed, captain; them gates will have to be hung on the mechanic +principle; and it will take at least two or three days for the carpenter +and blacksmith to get up the works that's to do it. Then the hanging, +itself, I should think would stand us in hand a day for each side. As for +the circumvalley, what between the cuttin', and haulin', and diggin', and +settin', that would occupy all hands until after first hoein'. That is, +hoein' would come afore the plantin'."</p> + +<p>"It does not appear to me, Bob, such a heavy job as Joel represents! The +gates are heavy, certainly, and may take us a day or two; but, as for +stockading--I've seen barracks stockaded in, in a week, if I remember +right. You know something of this--what is your opinion?"</p> + +<p>"That this house can be stockaded in, in the time you mention; and, as I +have a strong reluctance to leave the family before it is in security, +with your permission I will remain and superintend the work."</p> + +<p>The offer was gladly accepted, on more accounts than one; and the captain, +accustomed to be obeyed when he was in earnest, issued his orders +forthwith, to let the work proceed. Joel, however, was excused, in order +that he might finish the planting he had commenced, and which a very few +hands could complete within the required time. As no ditch was necessary, +the work was of a very simple nature, and the major set about his portion +of it without even re-entering the house.</p> + +<p>The first thing was to draw a line for a trench some six or seven feet +deep, that was to encircle the whole building, at a distance of about +thirty yards from the house. This line ran, on each side of the Hut, on +the very verge of the declivities, rendering the flanks far more secure +than the front, where it crossed the lawn on a gently inclining surface. +In one hour the major had traced this lines with accuracy; and he had six +or eight men at work with spades, digging the trench. A gang of hands was +sent into the woods, with orders to cut the requisite quantify of young +chestnuts; and, by noon, a load of the material actually appeared on the +ground. Still, nothing was done to the gates.</p> + +<p>To own the truth, the captain was now delighted. The scene reminded him of +some in his military life, and he bustled about, giving his orders, with a +good deal of the fire of youth renewed, taking care, however, in no manner +to interfere with the plans of his son. Mike buried himself like a mole, +and had actually advanced several feet, before either of the Yankees had +got even a fair footing on the bottom of his part of the trench. As for +Jamie Allen, he went to work with deliberation; but it was not long before +his naked gray hairs were seen on a level with the surface of the ground. +The digging was not hard, though a little stony, and the work proceeded +with spirit and success. All that day, and the next, and the next, and the +next, the Knoll appeared alive, earth being cast upward, teams moving, +carpenters sawing, and labourers toiling. Many of the men protested that +their work was useless, unnecessary, <i>unlawful</i> even; but no one dared +hesitate under the eyes of the major, when his father had once issued a +serious command. In the mean time, Joel's planting was finished, though he +made many long pauses while at work on the flats, to look up and gaze at +the scene of activity and bustle that was presented at the Knoll. On the +fourth day, towards evening, he was obliged to join the general "bee," +with the few hands he had retained with himself.</p> + +<p>By this time, the trench was dug, most of the timber was prepared, and the +business of setting up the stockade was commenced. Each young tree was cut +to the length of twenty feet, and pointed at one end. Mortices, to receive +cross-pieces, were cut at proper distances, and holes were bored to admit +the pins. This was all the preparation, and the timbers were set in the +trench, pointed ends uppermost. When a sufficient number were thus +arranged, a few inches from each other, the cross-pieces were pinned on, +bringing the whole into a single connected frame, or bent. The bent was +then raised to a perpendicular, and secured, by pounding the earth around +the lower ends of the timbers. The latter process required care and +judgment, and it was entrusted to the especial supervision of the +deliberate Jamie, the major having discovered that the Yankees, in +general, were too impatient to get on, and to make a show. Serjeant Joyce +was particularly useful in dressing the rows of timber, and in giving the +whole arrangement a military air.</p> + +<p>"<i>Guid</i> wark is far better than <i>quick</i> wark," observed the cool-headed +Scotchman, as he moved about among the men, "and it's no the fuss and +bustle of acteevity that is to give the captain pleasure. The thing that +is well done, is done with the least noise and confusion. Set the +stockades mair pairpendic'lar, my men."</p> + +<p>"Ay--dress them, too, my lads"--added the venerable ex-serjeant.</p> + +<p>"This is queer plantin', Jamie," put in Joel, "and queerer grain will +come of it. Do you think these young chestnuts will ever grow, ag'in, that +you put them out in rows, like so much corn?"</p> + +<p>"Now it's no for the growth we does it, Joel, but to presairve the human +growth we have. To keep the savage bairbers o' the wilderness fra' +clippin' our polls before the shearin' time o' natur' has gathered us a' +in for the hairvest of etairnity. They that no like the safety we're +makin' for them, can gang their way to 'ither places, where they '11 find +no forts, or stockades to trouble their een."</p> + +<p>"I'm not critical at all, Jamie, though to my notion a much better use for +your timber plantation would be to turn it into sheds for cattle, in the +winter months. I can see some good in <i>that</i>, but none in <i>this</i>."</p> + +<p>"Bad luck to ye, then, Misther Sthroddle," cried Mike, from the bottom of +the trench, where he was using a pounding instrument with the zeal of a +paviour--"Bad luck to the likes of ye, say I, Misther Strides. If ye've +no relish for a fortification, in a time of war, ye've only to shoulther +yer knapsack, and go out into the open counthry, where ye'll have all to +yer own satisfaction. Is it forthify the house, will we? That we will, and +not a hair of the missuss's head, nor of the young ladies' heads, nor of +the masther's head, though he's mighty bald as it is, but not a hair of +<i>all</i> their heads shall be harmed, while Jamie, and Mike, and the bould +ould serjeant, here, can have their way. I wish I had the trench full of +yer savages, and a gineral funeral we'd make of the vagabonds! Och! +They're the divil's imps, I hear from all sides, and no love do I owe +them."</p> + +<p>"And yet you're the bosom friend of Nick, who's anything but what I call +a specimen of his people."</p> + +<p>"Is it Nick ye 're afther? Well, Nick's half-civilized accorthin' to yer +Yankee manners, and he's no spicimen, at all. Let him hear you call him by +sich a name, if ye want throuble."</p> + +<p>Joel walked away, muttering, leaving the labourers in doubt whether he +relished least the work he was now obliged to unite in furthering, or +Mike's hit at his own peculiar people. Still the work proceeded, and in +one week from the day it was commenced, the stockade was complete, its +gate excepted. The entrance through the palisades was directly in front of +that to the house, and both passages still remained open, one set of gates +not being completed, and the other not yet being hung.</p> + +<p>It was on a Saturday evening when the last palisade was placed firmly in +the ground, and all the signs of the recent labour were removed, in order +to restore as much of the former beauty of the Knoll as possible. It had +been a busy week; so much so, indeed, as to prevent the major from holding +any of that confidential intercourse with his mother and sisters, in which +it had been his habit to indulge in former visits. The fatigues of the +days sent everybody to their pillows early; and the snatches of discourse +which passed, had been affectionate and pleasant, rather than +communicative. Now that the principal job was so near being finished, +however, and the rubbish was cleared away, the captain summoned the family +to the lawn again, to enjoy a delicious evening near the close of the +winning month of May. The season was early, and the weather more bland, +than was usual, even in that sheltered and genial valley. For the first +time that year, Mrs. Willoughby consented to order the tea-equipage to be +carried to a permanent table that had been placed under the shade of a +fine elm, in readiness for any <i>fête champêtre</i> of this simple character.</p> + +<p>"Come, Wilhelmina, give us a cup of your fragrant hyson, of which we have +luckily abundance, tax or no tax. I should lose <i>caste</i>, were it known how +much American treason we have gulped down, in this way; but, a little tea, +up here in the forest, can do no man's conscience any great violence, in +the long run. I suppose, major Willoughby, His Majesty's forces do not +disdain tea, in these stirring times."</p> + +<p>"Far from it, sir; we deem it so loyal to drink it, that it is said the +port and sherry of the different messes, at Boston, are getting to be much +neglected. I am an admirer of tea, for itself, however, caring little +about its collateral qualities. Farrel"--turning to his man, who was +aiding Pliny the elder, in arranging the table--"when you are through +here, bring out the basket you will find on the toilet, in my room."</p> + +<p>"True, Bob," observed the mother, smiling--"that basket has scarce been +treated with civility. Not a syllable of thanks have I heard, for all the +fine things it contains."</p> + +<p>"My mind has been occupied with care for your safety, dear mother, and +that must be my excuse. Now, however, there is an appearance of security +which gives one a breathing-time, and my gratitude receives a sudden +impulse. As for you, Maud, I regret to be compelled to say that you stand +convicted of laziness; not a single thing do I owe to your labours, or +recollection of me."</p> + +<p>"Is that possible!" exclaimed the captain, who was pouring water into the +tea-pot. "Maud is the last person I should suspect of neglect of this +nature; I do assure you, Bob, no one listens to news of your promotions +and movements with more interest than Maud."</p> + +<p>Maud, herself, made no answer. She bent her head aside, in a secret +consciousness that her sister might alone detect, and form her own +conclusions concerning the colour that she felt warming her cheeks. But, +Maud's own sensitive feelings attributed more to Beulah than the sincere +and simple-minded girl deserved. So completely was she accustomed to +regard Robert and Maud as brother and sister, that even all which had +passed produced no effect in unsettling her opinions, or in giving her +thoughts a new direction. Just at this moment Farrel came back, and placed +the basket on the bench, at the side of his master.</p> + +<p>"Now, my dearest mother, and you, girls"--the major had begun to drop the +use of the word 'sisters' when addressing <i>both</i> the young ladies--"Now, +my dearest mother, and you, girls, I am about to give each her due. In the +first place, I confess my own unworthiness, and acknowledge, that I do +not deserve one-half the kind attention I have received in these various +presents, after which we will descend to particulars."</p> + +<p>The major, then, exposed every article contained in the basket, finding +the words "mother" and "Beulah" pinned on each, but nowhere any indication +that his younger sister had even borne him in mind. His father looked +surprised at this, not to say a little grave; and he waited, with evident +curiosity, for the gifts of Maud, as one thing after another came up, +without any signs of her having recollected the absentee.</p> + +<p>"This is odd, truly," observed the father, seriously; "I hope, Bob, you +have done nothing to deserve this? I should be sorry to have my little +girl affronted!"</p> + +<p>"I assure you, sir, that I am altogether ignorant of any act, and I can +solemnly protest against any intention, to give offence. If guilty, I now +pray Maud to pardon me."</p> + +<p>"You have done nothing, Bob--<i>said</i> nothing, Bob--<i>thought</i> nothing to +offend me," cried Maud, eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Why, then, have you forgotten him, darling, when your mother and sister +have done so much in the way of recollection?" asked the captain.</p> + +<p>"Forced gifts, my dear father, are no gifts. I do not like to be compelled +to make presents."</p> + +<p>This was uttered in a way to induce the major to throw all the articles +back into the basket, as if he wished to get rid of the subject, without +further comment. Owing to this precipitation, the scarf was not seen. +Fortunately for Maud, who was ready to burst into tears, the service of +the tea prevented any farther allusion to the matter.</p> + +<p>"You have told me, major," observed captain Willoughby, "that your old +regiment has a new colonel; but you have forgotten to mention his name. I +hope it is my old messmate, Tom Wallingford, who wrote me he had some such +hopes last year."</p> + +<p>"General Wallingford has got a light-dragoon regiment--general Meredith +has my old corps; he is now in this country, at the head of one of Gage's +brigades."</p> + +<p>It is a strong proof of the manner in which Maud--Maud Willoughby, as she +was ever termed--had become identified with the family of the Hutted +Knoll, that, with two exceptions, not a person present thought of her, +when the name of this general Meredith was mentioned; though, in truth, he +was the uncle of her late father. The exceptions were the major and +herself. The former now never heard the name without thinking of his +beautiful little playfellow, and nominal sister; while Maud, of late, had +become curious and even anxious on the subject of her natural relatives. +Still, a feeling akin to awe, a sentiment that appeared as if it would be +doing violence to a most solemn duty, prevented her from making any +allusion to her change of thought, in the presence of those whom, during +childhood, she had viewed only as her nearest relatives, and who still +continued so to regard her. She would have given the world to ask Bob a +few questions concerning the kinsman he had mentioned, but could not think +of doing so before her mother, whatever she might be induced to attempt +with the young man, when by himself.</p> + +<p>Nick next came strolling along, gazing at the stockade, and drawing near +the table with an indifference to persons and things that characterized +his habits. When close to the party he stopped, keeping his eye on the +recent works.</p> + +<p>"You see, Nick, I am about to turn soldier again, in my old days," +observed the captain. "It is now many years since you and I have met +within a line of palisades. How do you like our work?"</p> + +<p>"What you make him for, cap'in?"</p> + +<p>"So as to be secure against any red-skins who may happen to long for our +scalps."</p> + +<p>"Why want <i>your</i> scalp? Hatchet hasn't been dug up, atween us--bury him +so deep can't find him in ten, two, six year."</p> + +<p>"Ay, it has long been buried, it is true; but you red gentlemen have a +trick of digging it up, with great readiness, when there is any occasion +for it. I suppose you know, Nick, that there are troubles in the +colonies?"</p> + +<p>"Tell Nick all about him,"--answered the Indian, evasively--"No read--no +hear--don't talk much--talk most wid Irisher--can't understand what he +want--say t'ing one way, den say him, anoder."</p> + +<p>"Mike is not very lucid of a certainty," rejoined the captain, laughing, +all the party joining in the merriment--"but he is a sterling good +fellow, and is always to be found, in a time of need."</p> + +<p>"Poor rifle--nebber hit--shoot one way, look t'other?"</p> + +<p>"He is no great shot, I will admit; but he is a famous fellow with a +shillaleh. Has he given you any of the news?"</p> + +<p>"All he say, news--much news ten time, as one time. Cap'in lend Nick a +quarter dollar, yesterday."</p> + +<p>"I did lend you a quarter, certainly, Nick; and I supposed it had gone to +the miller for rum, before this. What am I to understand by your holding +it out in this manner?--that you mean to repay me!"</p> + +<p>"Sartain--good quarter--just like him cap'in lent Nick. Like as one pea. +Nick man of honour; keep his word."</p> + +<p>"This does look more like it than common, Nick. The money was to be +returned to-day, but I did not expect to see it, so many previous +contracts of that nature having been vacated, as the lawyers call it."</p> + +<p>"Tuscarora chief alway gentleman. What he say, he do. Good quarter dollar, +dat, cap'in?"</p> + +<p>"It is unexceptionable, old acquaintance; I'll not disdain receiving it, +as it may serve for a future loan."</p> + +<p>"No need bye'm-by--take him, now--cap'in, lend Nick dollar; pay him +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>The captain protested against the <i>sequitur</i> that the Indian evidently +wished to establish; declining, though in a good-natured manner, to lend +the larger sum. Nick was disappointed, and walked sullenly away, moving +nearer to the stockade, with the air of an offended man.</p> + +<p>"That is an extraordinary fellow, sir!" observed the major--"I really +wonder you tolerate him so much about the Hut. It might be a good idea to +banish him, now that the war has broken out."</p> + +<p>"Which would be a thing more easily said than done. A drop of water might +as readily be banished from that stream, as an Indian, from any part of +the forest he may choose to visit. You brought him here yourself, Bob, and +should not blame us for tolerating his presence."</p> + +<p>"I brought him, sir, because I found he recognised me even in this dress, +and it was wise to make a friend of him. Then I wanted a guide, and I was +well assured he knew the way, if any man did. He is a surly scoundrel, +however, and appears to have changed his character, since I was a boy."</p> + +<p>"If there be any change, Bob, it is in yourself. Nick has been Nick these +thirty years, or as long as I have known him. Rascal he is, or his tribe +would not have cast him out. Indian justice is stern, but it is natural +justice. No man is ever put to the ban among the red men, until they are +satisfied he is not fit to enjoy savage rights. In garrison, we always +looked upon Nick as a clever knave, and treated him accordingly. When one +is on his guard against such a fellow, he can do little harm, and this +Tuscarora has a salutary dread of me, which keeps him in tolerable order, +during his visits to the Hut. The principal mischief he does here, is to +get Mike and Jamie deeper in the Santa Cruz than I could wish; but the +miller has his orders to sell no more rum."</p> + +<p>"I hardly think you do Nick justice, Willoughby," observed the +right-judging and gentle wife. "He has <i>some</i> good qualities; but you +soldiers always apply martial-law to the weaknesses of your +fellow-creatures."</p> + +<p>"And you tender-hearted women, my dear Wilhelmina, think everybody as good +as yourselves."</p> + +<p>"Remember, Hugh, when your son, there, had the canker-rash, how actively +and readily the Tuscarora went into the forest to look for the gold-thread +that even the doctors admitted cured him. It was difficult to find, +Robert; but Nick remembered a spot where he had seen it, fifty miles off; +and, without a request even, from us, he travelled that distance to +procure it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, this is true"--returned the captain, thoughtfully--"though I +question if the cure was owing to the gold-thread, as you call it, +Wilhelmina. Every man has some good quality or other; and, I much fear, +some bad ones also.--But, here is the fellow coming back, and I do not +like to let him think himself of sufficient consequence to be the subject +of our remarks."</p> + +<p>"Very true, sir--it adds excessively to the trouble of such fellows, to +let them fancy themselves of importance."</p> + +<p>Nick, now, came slowly back, after having examined the recent changes to +his satisfaction. He stood a moment in silence, near the table, and then, +assuming an air of more dignity than common, he addressed the captain.</p> + +<p>"Nick ole <i>chief</i>" he said. "Been at Council Fire, often as cap'in. Can't +tell, all he know; want to hear about new war."</p> + +<p>"Why, Nick, it is a family quarrel, this time. The French have nothing to +do with it."</p> + +<p>"Yengeese fight Yengeese--um?"</p> + +<p>"I am afraid it will so turn out. Do not the Tuscaroras sometimes dig up +the hatchet against the Tuscaroras?"</p> + +<p>"Tuscarora man kill Tuscarora man--good--he quarrel, and kill he enemy. +But Tuscarora warrior nebber take scalp of Tuscarora squaw and pappoose! +What you t'ink he do dat for? Red man no hog, to eat pork."</p> + +<p>"It must be admitted, Nick, you are a very literal logician--'dog won't +eat dog,' is our English saying. Still the <i>Yankee</i> will fight the +Yengeese, it would seem. In a word, the Great Father, in England, has +raised the hatchet against his American children."</p> + +<p>"How you like him, cap'in--um? Which go on straight path, which go on +crooked? How you like him?"</p> + +<p>"I like it little, Nick, and wish with all my heart the quarrel had not +taken place."</p> + +<p>"Mean to put on regimentals--hah! Mean to be cap'in, ag'in? Follow drum +and fife, like ole time?"</p> + +<p>"I rather think not, old comrade. After sixty, one likes peace better than +war; and I intend to stay at home."</p> + +<p>"What for, den, build fort? Why you put fence round a house, like pound +for sheep?"</p> + +<p>"Because I intend to <i>stay</i> there. The stockade will be good to keep off +any, or every enemy who may take it into their heads to come against us. +You have known me defend a worse position than this."</p> + +<p>"He got no gate," muttered Nick--"What he good for, widout gate? Yengeese, +Yankees, red man, French man, walk in just as he please. No good to leave +such squaw wid a door wide open."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Nick," cried Mrs. Willoughby. "I knew you were <i>my</i> friend, +and have not forgotten the gold-thread."</p> + +<p>"He <i>very</i> good," answered the Indian, with an important look. "Pappoose +get well like not'ing. He a'most die, to-day; to-morrow he run about and +play. Nick do him, too; cure him wid gold-thread."</p> + +<p>"Oh! you are, or were quite a physician at one time, Nick. I remember when +you had the smallpox, yourself."</p> + +<p>The Indian turned, with the quickness of lightning, to Mrs. Willoughby, +whom he startled with his energy, as he demanded--</p> + +<p>"You remember dat, Mrs. cap'in! Who gib him--who cure him--um?"</p> + +<p>"Upon my word, Nick, you almost frighten me. I fear I gave you the +disease, but it was for your own good it was done. You were inoculated by +myself, when the soldiers were dying around us, because they had never had +that care taken of them. All I inoculated lived; yourself among the +number."</p> + +<p>The startling expression passed away from the fierce countenance of the +savage, leaving in its place another so kind and amicable as to prove he +not only was aware of the benefit he had received, but that he was deeply +grateful for it. He drew near to Mrs. Willoughby, took her still white and +soft hand in his own sinewy and dark fingers, then dropped the blanket +that he had thrown carelessly across his body, from a shoulder, and laid +it on a mark left by the disease, by way of pointing to her good work. He +smiled, as this was done.</p> + +<p>"Ole mark," he said, nodding his head--"sign we good friend--he nebber go +away while Nick live."</p> + +<p>This touched the captain's heart, and he tossed a dollar towards the +Indian, who suffered it, however, to lie at his feet unnoticed. Turning to +the stockade, he pointed significantly at the open gateways.</p> + +<p>"Great danger go t'rough little 'ole," he said, sententiously, walking +away as he concluded. "Why you leave big 'ole open?"</p> + +<p>"We <i>must</i> get those gates hung next week," said the captain, positively; +"and yet it is almost absurd to apprehend anything serious in this remote +settlement, and that at so early a period in the war."</p> + +<p>Nothing further passed on the lawn worthy to be recorded. The sun set, and +the family withdrew into the house, as usual, to trust to the overseeing +care of Divine Providence, throughout a night passed in a wilderness. By +common consent, the discourse turned upon things noway connected with the +civil war, or its expected results, until the party was about to separate +for the night, when the major found himself alone with his sisters, in his +own little parlour, dressing-room, or study, whatever the room adjoining +his chamber could properly be called.</p> + +<p>"You will not leave us soon, Robert," said Beulah, taking her brother's +hand, with confiding affection, "I hardly think my father young and active +enough, or rather <i>alarmed</i> enough, to live in times like these!"</p> + +<p>"He is a soldier, Beulah, and a good one; so good that his son can teach +him nothing. I wish I could say that he is as good a <i>subject</i>: I fear he +leans to the side of the colonies."</p> + +<p>"Heaven be praised!" exclaimed Beulah--"Oh! that his son would incline in +the same direction."</p> + +<p>"Nay, Beulah," rejoined Maud, reproachfully; "you speak without +reflection. Mamma bitterly regrets that papa sees things in the light he +does. <i>She</i> thinks the parliament right, and the colonies wrong."</p> + +<p>"What a thing is a civil war!" ejaculated the major--"Here is husband +divided against wife--son against father--brother against sister. I could +almost wish I were dead, ere I had lived to see this!"</p> + +<p>"Nay, Robert, it is not so bad as that, either," added Maud. "My mother +will never oppose my father's will or judgment. Good wives, you know, +never do <i>that</i>. She will only pray that he may decide right, and in a way +that his children will never have cause to regret. As for me, I count for +nothing, of course."</p> + +<p>"And Beulah, Maud; is she nothing, too? Here will Beulah be praying for +her brother's defeat, throughout this war. It has been some presentiment +of this difference of opinion that has probably induced you to forget me, +while Beulah and my mother were passing so many hours to fill that +basket."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you do Maud injustice, Robert," said Beulah, smiling. "I think I +can say none loves you better than our dear sister--or no one has thought +of you more, in your absence."</p> + +<p>"Why, then, does the basket contain no proof of this remembrance--not even +a chain of hair--a purse, or a ring--nothing, in short, to show that I +have not been forgotten, when away."</p> + +<p>"Even if this be so," said Maud, with spirit, "in what am I worse than +yourself. What proof is there that you have remembered <i>us?</i>"</p> + +<p>"This," answered the major, laying before his sisters two small packages, +each marked with the name of its proper owner. "My mother has her's, too, +and my father has not been forgotten."</p> + +<p>Beulah's exclamations proved how much she was gratified with her presents; +principally trinkets and jewelry, suited to her years and station. First +kissing the major, she declared her mother must see what she had received, +before she retired for the night, and hurried from the room. That Maud was +not less pleased, was apparent by her glowing cheeks and tearful eyes; +though, for a wonder, she was far more restrained in the expression of her +feelings. After examining the different articles, with pleasure, for a +minute or two, she went, with a quick impetuous movement, to the basket, +tumbled all its contents on the table, until she reached the scarf, which +she tossed towards the major, saying, with a faint laugh--</p> + +<p>"There, unbeliever--heathen--is <i>that</i> nothing? Was that made in a minute, +think you?"</p> + +<p>"<i>This!</i>" cried the major, opening the beautiful, glossy fabric in +surprise. "Is not this one of my father's old sashes, to which I have +fallen heir, in the order of nature?"</p> + +<p>Maud dropped her trinkets, and seizing two corners of the sash, she opened +it, in a way to exhibit its freshness and beauty.</p> + +<p>"Is this <i>old</i>, or <i>worn?</i>" she asked, reproachfully. "Your father never +even saw it, Bob. It has not yet been around the waist of man."</p> + +<p>"It is not possible!--This would be the work of months--is <i>so</i> +beautiful--you cannot have purchased it."</p> + +<p>Maud appeared distressed at his doubts. Opening the folds still wider, she +raised the centre of the silk to the light, pointed to certain letters +that had been wrought into the fabric, so ingeniously as to escape +ordinary observation, and yet so plainly as to be distinctly legible when +the attention was once drawn to them. The major took the sash into his own +hands altogether, held it opened before the candles, and read the words +"Maud Meredith" aloud. Dropping the sash, he turned to seek the face of +the donor, but she had fled the room. He followed her footsteps and +entered the library, just as she was about to escape from it, by a +different door.</p> + +<p>"I am offended at your incredulity," said Maud, making an effort to laugh +away the scene, "and will not remain to hear lame excuses. Your new +regiment can have no nature in it, or brothers would not treat sisters +thus."</p> + +<p>"Maud <i>Meredith</i> is not my sister," he said, earnestly, "though Maud +<i>Willoughby</i> may be. Why is the name Meredith?"</p> + +<p>"As a retort to one of your own allusions--did you not call me Miss +Meredith, one day, when I last saw you in Albany?"</p> + +<p>"Ay, but that was in jest, my dearest Maud. It was not a deliberate thing, +like the name on that sash."</p> + +<p>"Oh! jokes may be premeditated as well as murder; and many a one <i>is</i> +murdered, you know. Mine is a prolonged jest."</p> + +<p>"Tell me, does my mother--does Beulah know who made this sash?"</p> + +<p>"How else could it have been made, Bob? Do you think I went into the +woods, and worked by myself, like some romantic damsel who had an +unmeaning secret to keep against the curious eyes of persecuting friends!"</p> + +<p>"I know not what I thought--scarce know what I think now. But, my mother; +does she know of this <i>name</i>?"</p> + +<p>Maud blushed to the eyes; but the habit and the love of truth were so +strong in her, that she shook her head in the negative.</p> + +<p>"Nor Beulah?--<i>She</i>, I am certain, would not have permitted 'Meredith' to +appear where 'Willoughby' should have been."</p> + +<p>"Nor Beulah, either, major Willoughby," pronouncing the name with an +affectation of reverence. "The honour of the Willoughbys is thus +preserved from every taint, and all the blame must fall on poor Maud +Meredith."</p> + +<p>"You dislike the name of Willoughby, then, and intend to drop it, in +future--I have remarked that you sign yourself only 'Maud,' in your last +letters--never before, however, did I suspect the reason."</p> + +<p>"Who wishes to live for ever an impostor? It is not my legal name, and I +shall soon be called on to perform legal acts. Remember, Mr. Robert +Willoughby, I am twenty; when it comes to pounds, shillings, and pence, I +must not forge. A little habit is necessary to teach me the use of my own +<i>bonâ fide</i> signature."</p> + +<p>"But ours--the name is not hateful to you--you do not throw it aside, +seriously, for ever!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Yours</i>! What, the honoured name of my dear, dearest father--of my +mother--of Beulah--of yourself, Bob!"</p> + +<p>Maud did not remain to terminate her speech. Bursting into tears, she +vanished.</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch08"> +<h2>Chapter VIII.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> The village tower--'tis joy to me!--I cry, the Lord is here!<br /> + The village bells! They fill the soul with ecstasy sincere.<br /> + And thus, I sing, the light hath shined to lands in darkness hurled,<br /> + Their sound is now in all the earth, their words throughout the world.</p> + +<p> Coxe.</p></div> + +<p> +Another night past in peace within the settlement of the Hutted Knoll. The +following morning was the Sabbath, and it came forth, balmy, genial, and +mild; worthy of the great festival of the Christian world. On the subject +of religion, captain Willoughby was a little of a martinet; understanding +by liberty of conscience, the right of improving by the instruction of +those ministers who belonged to the church of England. Several of his +labourers had left him because he refused to allow of any other +ministrations on his estate; his doctrine being that every man had a right +to do as he pleased in such matters; and as he did not choose to allow of +schism, within the sphere of his own influence, if others desired to be +schismatics they were at liberty to go elsewhere, in order to indulge +their tastes. Joel Strides and Jamie Allen were both disaffected to this +sort of orthodoxy, and they had frequent private discussions on its +propriety; the former in his usual wily and jesuitical mode of sneering +and insinuating, and the latter respectfully as related to his master, but +earnestly as it concerned his conscience. Others, too, were dissentients, +but with less repining; though occasionally they would stay away from Mr. +Wood's services. Mike, alone, took an open and manly stand in the matter, +and he a little out-Heroded Herod; or, in other words, he exceeded the +captain himself in strictness of construction. On the very morning we have +just described, he was present at a discussion between the Yankee overseer +and the Scotch mason, in which these two dissenters, the first a +congregationalist, and the last a seceder, were complaining of the +hardships of a ten years' abstinence, during which no spiritual provender +had been fed out to them from a proper source. The Irishman broke out upon +the complainants in a way that will at once let the reader into the secret +of the county Leitrim-man's principles, if he has any desire to know them.</p> + +<p>"Bad luck to all sorts of religion but the right one!" cried Mike, in a +most tolerant spirit. "Who d'ye think will be wishful of hearing mass and +pr'aching that comes from <i>any</i> of your heretick parsons? Ye're as dape in +the mire yerselves, as Mr. Woods is in the woods, and no one to lade ye +out of either, but an evil spirit that would rather see all mankind +br'iling in agony, than dancing at a fair."</p> + +<p>"Go to your confessional, Mike," returned Joel, with a sneer--"It's a +month, or more, sin' you seen it, and the priest will think you have +forgotten him, and go away offended."</p> + +<p>"Och! It's such a praist, as the likes of yees has no nade of throubling! +Yer conscience is aisy, Misther Straddle, so that yer belly is filled, and +yer wages is paid. Bad luck o sich religion!"</p> + +<p>The allusion of Joel related to a practice of Michael's that is deserving +of notice. It seems that the poor fellow, excluded by his insulated +position from any communication with a priest of his own church, was in +the habit of resorting to a particular rock in the forest, where he would +kneel and acknowledge his sins, very much as he would have done had the +rock been a confessional containing one authorized to grant him +absolution. Accident revealed the secret, and from that time Michael's +devotion was a standing jest among the dissenters of the valley. The +county Leitrim-man was certainly a little too much addicted to Santa Cruz, +and he was accused of always visiting his romantic chapel after a debauch. +Of course, he was but little pleased with Joel's remark on the present +occasion; and being, like a modern newspaper, somewhat more vituperative +than logical, he broke out as related.</p> + +<p>"Jamie," continued Joel, too much accustomed to Mike's violence to heed +it, "it does seem to me a hardship to be obliged to frequent a church of +which a man's conscience can't approve. Mr. Woods, though a native +colonist, is an Old England parson, and he has so many popish ways about +him, that I am under considerable concern of <i>mind</i>"--concern, of +<i>itself</i>, was not sufficiently emphatic for one of Joel's sensitive +feelings--"I am under considerable <i>concern of mind</i> about the children. +They <i>sit under</i> no other preaching; and, though Lyddy and I do all we can +to gainsay the sermons, as soon as meetin' is out, some of it <i>will</i> +stick. You may worry the best Christian into idolatry and unbelief, by +parseverance and falsehood. Now that things look so serious, too, in the +colonies, we ought to be most careful."</p> + +<p>Jamie did not clearly understand the application of the present state of +the colonies, nor had he quite made up his mind, touching the merits of +the quarrel between parliament and the Americans. As between the Stuarts +and the House of Hanover, he was for the former, and that mainly because +he thought them Scotch, and it was surely a good thing for a Scotchman to +govern England; but, as between the <i>Old</i> countries and the <i>New</i>, he was +rather inclined to think the rights of the first ought to predominate; +there being something opposed to natural order, agreeably to his notions, +in permitting the reverse of this doctrine to prevail. As for +presbyterianism, however, even in the mitigated form of New England church +government, he deemed it to be so much better than episcopacy, that he +would have taken up arms, old as he was, for the party that it could be +made to appear was fighting to uphold the last. We have no wish to mislead +the reader. Neither of the persons mentioned, Mike included, actually +<i>knew</i> anything of the points in dispute between the different sects, or +churches, mentioned; but only <i>fancied</i> themselves in possession of the +doctrines, traditions, and authorities connected with the subject. These +fancies, however, served to keep alive a discussion that soon had many +listeners; and never before, since his first ministration in the valley, +did Mr. Woods meet as disaffected a congregation, as on this day.</p> + +<p>The church of the Hutted Knoll, or, as the clergyman more modestly termed +it, the chapel, stood in the centre of the meadows, on a very low swell of +their surface, where a bit of solid dry ground had been discovered, fit +for such a purpose. The principal object had been to make it central; +though some attention had been paid also to the picturesque. It was well +shaded with young elms, just then opening into leaf; and about a dozen +graves, principally of very young children, were memorials of the +mortality of the settlement. The building was of stone, the work of Jamie +Allen's own hands, but small, square, with a pointed roof, and totally +without tower, or belfry. The interior was of unpainted cherry, and +through a want of skill in the mechanics, had a cold and raw look, little +suited to the objects of the structure. Still, the small altar, the desk +and the pulpit, and the large, square, curtained pew of the captain, the +only one the house contained, were all well ornamented with hangings, or +cloth, and gave the place somewhat of an air of clerical comfort and +propriety. The rest of the congregation sat on benches, with +kneeling-boards before them. The walls were plastered, and, a proof that +parsimony had no connection with the simple character of the building, and +a thing almost as unusual in America at that period as it is to-day in +parts of Italy, the chapel was entirely finished.</p> + +<p>It has been said that the morning of the particular Sabbath at which we +have now arrived, was mild and balmy. The sun of the forty-third degree of +latitude poured out its genial rays upon the valley, gilding the tender +leaves of the surrounding forest with such touches of light as are best +known to the painters of Italy. The fineness of the weather brought +nearly all the working people of the settlement to the chapel quite an +hour before the ringing of its little bell, enabling the men to compare +opinions afresh, on the subject of the political troubles of the times, +and the women to gossip about their children.</p> + +<p>On all such occasions, Joel was a principal spokesman, nature having +created him for a demagogue, in a small way; an office for which education +had in no degree unfitted him. As had been usual with him, of late, he +turned the discourse on the importance of having correct information of +what was going on, in the inhabited parts of the country, and of the +expediency of sending some trustworthy person on such an errand. He had +frequently intimated his own readiness to go, if his neighbours wished it.</p> + +<p>"We're all in the dark here," he remarked, "and might stay so to the end +of time, without some one to be relied on, to tell us the news. Major +Willoughby is a fine man"--Joel meant <i>morally</i>, not <i>physically</i>--"but +he's a king's officer, and nat'rally feels inclined to make the best of +things for the rig'lars. The captain, too, was once a soldier, himself, +and his feelin's turn, as it might be, unav'idably, to the side he has +been most used to. We are like people on a desart island, out here in the +wilderness--and if ships won't arrive to tell us how matters come on, we +must send one out to l'arn it for us. I'm the last man at the Dam"--so the +<i>oi polloi</i> called the valley--"to say anything hard of either the captain +or his son; but one is English born, and the other is English bred; and +each will make a difference in a man's feelin's."</p> + +<p>To this proposition the miller, in particular, assented; and, for the +twentieth time, he made some suggestion about the propriety of Joel's +going himself, in order to ascertain how the land lay.</p> + +<p>"You can be back by hoeing," he added, "and have plenty of time to go as +far as Boston, should you wish to."</p> + +<p>Now, while the great events were in progress, which led to the subversion +of British power in America, an under-current of feeling, if not of +incidents, was running in this valley, which threatened to wash away the +foundations of the captain's authority. Joel and the miller, if not +downright conspirators, had hopes, calculations, and even projects of +their own, that never would have originated with men of the same class, in +another state of society; or, it might almost be said, in another part of +the world. The sagacity of the overseer had long enabled him to foresee +that the issue of the present troubles would be insurrection; and a sort +of instinct which some men possess for the strongest side, had pointed out +to him the importance of being a patriot. The captain, he little doubted, +would take part with the crown, and then no one knew what might be the +consequences. It is not probable that Joel's instinct for the strongest +side predicted the precise confiscations that subsequently ensued, some of +which had all the grasping lawlessness of a gross abuse of power; but he +could easily foresee that if the owner of the estate should be driven off, +the property and its proceeds, probably for a series of years, would be +very apt to fall under his own control and management. Many a patriot has +been made by anticipations less brilliant than these; and as Joel and the +miller talked the matter over between them, they had calculated all the +possible emolument of fattening beeves, and packing pork for hostile +armies, or isolated frontier posts, with a strong gusto for the +occupation. Should open war but fairly commence, and could the captain +only be induced to abandon the Knoll, and take refuge within a British +camp, everything might be made to go smoothly, until settling day should +follow a peace. At that moment, <i>non est inventus</i> would be a sufficient +answer to a demand for any balance.</p> + +<p>"They tell me," said Joel, in an aside to the miller, "that law is as good +as done with in the Bay colony, already; and you know if the law has run +out <i>there</i>, it will quickly come to an end, here. York never had much +character for law."</p> + +<p>"That's true, Joel; then you know the captain himself is the only +magistrate hereabout; and, when he is away, we shall have to be governed +by a committee of safety, or something of that natur'."</p> + +<p>"A committee of safety will be the thing!"</p> + +<p>"What is a committee of safety, Joel?" demanded the miller, who had made +far less progress in the arts of the demagogue than his friend, and who, +in fact, had much less native fitness for the vocation; "I have heer'n +tell of them regulations, but do not rightly understand 'em, a'ter all."</p> + +<p>"You know what a committee is?" asked Joel, glancing inquiringly at his +friend.</p> + +<p>"I s'pose I do--it means men's takin' on themselves the trouble and care +of public business."</p> + +<p>"That's it--now a committee of safety means a few of us, for instance, +having the charge of the affairs of this settlement, in order to see that +no harm shall come to anything, especially to the people."</p> + +<p>"It would be a good thing to have one, here. The carpenter, and you, and I +might be members, Joel."</p> + +<p>"We'll talk about it, another time. The corn is just planted, you know; +and it has got to be hoed <i>twice</i>, and topped, before it can be gathered. +Let us wait and see how things come on at Boston."</p> + +<p>While this incipient plot was thus slowly coming to a head, and the +congregation was gradually collecting at the chapel, a very different +scene was enacting in the Hut. Breakfast was no sooner through, than Mrs. +Willoughby retired to her own sitting-room, whither her son was shortly +summoned to join her. Expecting some of the inquiries which maternal +affection might prompt, the major proceeded to the place named with +alacrity; but, on entering the room, to his great surprise he found Maud +with his mother. The latter seemed grave and concerned, while the former +was not entirely free from alarm. The young man glanced inquiringly at the +young lady, and he fancied he saw tears struggling to break out of her +eyes.</p> + +<p>"Come hither, Robert"--said Mrs. Willoughby, pointing to a chair at her +side--with a gravity that struck her son as unusual--"I have brought you +here to listen to one of the old-fashioned lectures, of which you got so +many when a boy."</p> + +<p>"Your advice, my dear mother--or even your reproofs--would be listened to +with far more reverence and respect, now, than I fear they were then," +returned the major, seating himself by the side of Mrs. Willoughby, and +taking one of her hands, affectionately, in both his own. "It is only in +after-life that we learn to appreciate the tenderness and care of such a +parent as you have been; though what I have done lately, to bring me in +danger of the guard-house, I cannot imagine. Surely <i>you</i> cannot blame me +for adhering to the crown, at a moment like this!"</p> + +<p>"I shall not interfere with your conscience in this matter, Robert; and my +own feelings, American as I am by birth and family, rather incline me to +think as you think. I have wished to see you, my son, on a different +business."</p> + +<p>"Do not keep me in suspense, mother; I feel like a prisoner who is waiting +to hear his charges read. What have I done?"</p> + +<p>"Nay, it is rather for <i>you</i> to tell <i>me</i> what you have done. You cannot +have forgotten, Robert, how very anxious I have been to awaken and keep +alive family affection, among my children; how very important both your +father and I have always deemed it; and how strongly we have endeavoured +to impress this importance on all your minds. The tie of family, and the +love it ought to produce, is one of the sweetest of all our earthly +duties. Perhaps we old people see its value more than you young; but, to +us, the weakening of it seems like a disaster only a little less to be +deplored than death."</p> + +<p>"Dearest--dearest mother! What <i>can</i> you--what <i>do</i> you mean?--What can +<i>I</i>--what can <i>Maud</i> have to do with this?"</p> + +<p>"Do not your consciences tell you, both? Has there not been some +misunderstanding--perhaps a quarrel--certainly a coldness between you? A +mother has a quick and a jealous eye; and I have seen, for some time, that +there is not the old confidence, the free natural manner, in either of +you, that there used to be, and which always gave your father and me so +much genuine happiness. Speak, then, and let me make peace between you."</p> + +<p>Robert Willoughby would not have looked at Maud, at that moment, to have +been given a regiment; as for Maud, herself, she was utterly incapable of +raising her eyes from the floor. The former coloured to the temples, a +proof of consciousness, his mother fancied; while the latter's face +resembled ivory, as much as flesh and blood.</p> + +<p>"If you think, Robert," continued Mrs. Willoughby, "that Maud has +forgotten you, or shown pique for any little former misunderstanding, +during your last absence, you do her injustice. No one has done as much +for you, in the way of memorial; that beautiful sash being all her own +work, and made of materials purchased with her own pocket-money. Maud +loves you truly, too; for, whatever may be the airs she gives herself, +while you are together, when absent, no one seems to care more for your +wishes and happiness, than that very wilful and capricious girl."</p> + +<p>"Mother!--mother!" murmured Maud, burying her face in both her hands.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Willoughby was woman in all her feelings, habits and nature. No one +would have been more keenly alive to the peculiar sensibilities of her +sex, under ordinary circumstances, than herself; but she was now acting +and thinking altogether in her character of a mother; and so long and +intimately had she regarded the two beings before her, in that common and +sacred light, that it would have been like the dawn of a new existence for +her, just then, to look upon them as not really akin to each other.</p> + +<p>"I shall not, nor can I treat either of you as a child," she continued, +"and must therefore appeal only to your own good sense, to make a peace. I +know it can be nothing serious; but, it is painful to me to see even an +affected coldness among my children. Think, Maud, that we are on the point +of a war, and how bitterly you would regret it, should any accident befall +your brother, and your memory not be able to recall the time passed among +us, in his last visit, with entire satisfaction."</p> + +<p>The mother's voice trembled; but tears no longer struggled about the +eyelids of Maud. Her face was pale as death, and it seemed as if every +ordinary fountain of sorrow were dried up.</p> + +<p>"Dear Bob, this is too much!" she said eagerly, though in husky tones. +"Here is my hand--nay, here are <i>both</i>. Mother must not think this cruel +charge is--<i>can</i> be true."</p> + +<p>The major arose, approached his sister, and impressed a kiss on her cold +cheek. Mrs. Willoughby smiled at these tokens of amity, and the +conversation continued in a less earnest manner.</p> + +<p>"This is right, my children," said the single-hearted Mrs. Willoughby, +whose sensitive maternal love saw nothing but the dreaded consequences of +weakened domestic affections; "and I shall be all the happier for having +witnessed it. Young soldiers, Maud, who are sent early from their homes, +have too many inducements to forget them and those they contain; and we +women are so dependent on the love of our male friends, that it is wisdom +in <i>us</i> to keep alive all the earlier ties as long and as much as +possible."</p> + +<p>"I am sure, dearest mother," murmured Maud, though in a voice that was +scarcely audible, "<i>I</i> shall be the last to wish to weaken this family +tie. No one can feel a warmer--more proper--a more <i>sisterly</i> affection +for Robert, than I do--he was always so kind to me when a child--and so +ready to assist me--and so manly--and so everything that he ought to +be--it is surprising you should have fancied there was any coldness +between us!"</p> + +<p>Major Willoughby even bent forward to listen, so intense was his curiosity +to hear what Maud said; a circumstance which, had she seen it, would +probably have closed her lips. But her eyes were riveted on the floor, her +cheeks were bloodless, and her voice so low, that nothing but the +breathless stillness he observed, would have allowed the young man to hear +it, where he sat.</p> + +<p>"You forget, mother"--rejoined the major, satisfied that the last murmur +had died on his ears--"that Maud will probably be transplanted into +another family, one of these days, where we, who know her so well, and +have reason to love her so much, can only foresee that she will form new, +and even stronger ties than any that accident may have formed for her +here."</p> + +<p>"Never--never"--exclaimed Maud, fervently--"I can never love any as well +as I love those who are in this house."</p> + +<p>The relief she wanted stopped her voice, and, bursting into tears, she +threw-herself into Mrs. Willoughby's arms, and sobbed like a child. The +mother now motioned to her son to quit the room, while she remained +herself to soothe the weeping girl, as she so often had done before, when +overcome by her infantile, or youthful griefs. Throughout this interview, +habit and single-heartedness so exercised their influence, that the +excellent matron did not, in the most remote manner, recollect that her +son and Maud were not natural relatives. Accustomed herself to see the +latter every day, and to think of her, as she had from the moment when +she was placed in her arms, an infant of a few weeks old the effect that +separation might produce on others, never presented itself to her mind. +Major Willoughby, a boy of eight when Maud was received in the family, had +known from the first her precise position; and it was perhaps morally +impossible that <i>he</i> should not recall the circumstance in their +subsequent intercourse; more especially as school, college, and the army, +had given him so much leisure to reflect on such things, apart from the +influence of family habits; while it was to be expected that a consequence +of his own peculiar mode of thinking on this subject, would be to produce +something like a sympathetic sentiment in the bosom of Maud. Until within +the last few years, however, she had been so much of a child herself, and +had been treated so much like a child by the young soldier, that it was +only through a change in him, that was perceptible only to herself, and +which occurred when he first met her grown into womanhood, that she alone +admitted any feelings that were not strictly to be referred to sisterly +regard. All this, nevertheless, was a profound mystery to every member of +the family, but the two who were its subjects; no other thoughts than the +simplest and most obvious, ever suggesting themselves to the minds of the +others.</p> + +<p>In half an hour, Mrs. Willoughby had quieted all Maud's present troubles, +and the whole family left the house to repair to the chapel. Michael, +though he had no great reverence for Mr. Wood's ministrations, had +constituted himself sexton, an office which had devolved on him in +consequence of his skill with the spade. Once initiated into one branch of +this duty, he had insisted on performing all the others; and it was +sometimes a curious spectacle to see the honest fellow, busy about the +interior of the building, during service, literally stopping one of his +ears with a thumb, with a view, while he acquitted himself of what he +conceived to be temporal obligations, to exclude as much heresy as +possible. One of his rules was to refuse to commence tolling the bell, +until he saw Mrs. Willoughby and her daughter, within a reasonable +distance of the place of worship; a rule that had brought about more than +one lively discussion between himself and the levelling-minded, if not +heavenly-minded Joel Strides. On the present occasion, this simple +process did not pass altogether without a dispute.</p> + +<p>"Come, Mike; it's half-past ten; the people have been waiting about the +meetin' 'us, some time; you should open the doors and toll the bell. +People can't wait, for ever for anybody; not even for your church."</p> + +<p>"Then let 'em just go home, ag'in, and come when they're called. Because, +the ould women, and the young women, and the childer, and the likes o' +them, wishes to scandalize their fellow cr'atures, Christians I will not +call 'em, let 'em mate in the mill, or the school-house, and not come +forenent a church on sich a business as that. Is it toll the bell, will I, +afore the Missus is in sight?--No--not for a whole gineration of ye, Joel; +and every one o' them, too, a much likelier man than ye bees yerself."</p> + +<p>"Religion is no respecter of persons"--returned the philosophical Joel. +"Them that likes masters and mistresses may have them, for all me; but it +riles me to meet with meanness."</p> + +<p>"It does!" cried Mike, looking up at his companion, with a very startling +expression of wonder. "If that be true, ye must be in a mighty throubled +state, most of the live-long day, ye must!"</p> + +<p>"I tell you, Michael O'Hearn, religion is no respecter of persons. The +Lord cares jist as much for <i>me</i>, as he does for captain Willoughby, or +his wife, or his son, or his darters, or anything that is his."</p> + +<p>"Divil burn me, now, Joel, if I believe <i>that</i>!" again cried Mike, in his +dogmatic manner. "Them that understands knows the difference between +mankind, and I'm sure it can be no great sacret to the Lord, when it is so +well known to a poor fellow like myself. There's a plenthy of +fellow-cr'atures that has a mighty good notion of their own excellence, +but when it comes to r'ason and thruth, it's no very great figure ye all +make, in proving what ye say. This chapel is the master's, if chapel the +heretical box can be called, and yonder bell was bought wid his money; and +the rope is his; and the hands that mane to pull it, is his; and so +there's little use in talking ag'in rocks, and ag'in minds that's made up +even harder than rocks, and to spare."</p> + +<p>This settled the matter. The bell was not tolled until Mrs. Willoughby, +and her daughters, had got fairly through the still unprotected gateway of +the stockade, although the recent discussion of political questions had so +far substituted discontent for subordination in the settlement, that more +than half of those who were of New England descent, had openly expressed +their dissatisfaction at the delay. Mike, however, was as unmoved as the +little chapel itself, refusing to open the door until the proper moment +had arrived, according to his own notion of the fitness of things. He then +proceeded to the elm, against which the little bell was hung, and +commenced tolling it with as much seriousness as if the conveyer of sounds +had been duly consecrated.</p> + +<p>When the family from the Hut entered the chapel, all the rest of the +congregation were in their customary seats. This arrival, however, added +materially to the audience, Great Smash and Little Smash, the two Plinys, +and some five or six coloured children, between the ages of six and +twelve, following in the train of their master. For the blacks, a small +gallery had been built, where they could sit apart, a proscribed, if not a +persecuted race. Little did the Plinys or the Smashes, notwithstanding, +think of this. Habit had rendered their situation more than tolerable, for +it had created notions and usages that would have rendered them +uncomfortable, in closer contact with the whites. In that day, the two +colours never ate together, by any accident; the eastern castes being +scarcely more rigid in the observance of their rules, than the people of +America were on this great point. The men who would toil together, joke +together, and pass their days in familiar intercourse, would not sit down +at the same board. There seemed to be a sort of contamination, according +to the opinions of one of these castes, in breaking bread with the other. +This prejudice often gave rise to singular scenes, more especially in the +households of those who habitually laboured in company with their slaves. +In such families, it not unfrequently happened that a black led the +councils of the farm. He might be seen seated by the fire, uttering his +opinions dogmatically, reasoning warmly against his own master, and +dealing out his wisdom <i>ex cathedra</i>, even while he waited, with patient +humility, when he might approach, and satisfy his hunger, after all of the +other colour had quitted the table.</p> + +<p>Mr. Woods was not fortunate in the selection of his subject, on the +occasion of which we are writing. There had been so much personal +activity, and so much political discussion during the past week, as to +prevent him from writing a new sermon, and of course he was compelled to +fail back on the other end of the barrel. The recent arguments inclined +him to maintain his own opinions, and he chose a discourse that he had +delivered to the garrison of which he had last been chaplain. To this +choice he had been enticed by the text, which was, "Render unto Cæsar the +things that are Cæsar's," a mandate that would be far more palatable to an +audience composed of royal troops, than to one which had become a good +deal disaffected by the arts and arguments of Joel Strides and the miller. +Still, as the sermon contained a proper amount of theological truisms, and +had a sufficiency of general orthodoxy to cover a portion of its political +bearing, it gave far more dissatisfaction to a few of the knowing, than to +the multitude. To own the truth, the worthy priest was so much addicted to +continuing his regimental and garrison course of religious instruction, +that his ordinary listeners would scarcely observe this tendency to +loyalty; though it was far different with those who were eagerly looking +for causes of suspicion and denunciation, in the higher quarters.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Joel, as he and the miller, followed by their respective +families, proceeded towards the mill, where the household of the Strides' +were to pass the remainder of the day, "well, this is a bold sermon for a +minister to preach in times like these! I kind o' guess, if Mr. Woods was +down in the Bay, 'render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsars,' wouldn't +be doctrine to be so quietly received by every congregation. What's your +notion about that, Miss Strides?"</p> + +<p><i>Miss</i> Strides thought exactly as her husband thought, and the miller and +his wife were not long in chiming in with her, accordingly. The sermon +furnished material for conversation throughout the remainder of the day, +at the mill, and divers conclusions were drawn from it, that were ominous +to the preacher's future comfort and security.</p> + +<p>Nor did the well-meaning parson entirely escape comment in the higher +quarters.</p> + +<p>"I wish, Woods, you had made choice of some other subject," observed the +captain, as he and his friend walked the lawn together, in waiting for a +summons to dinner.</p> + +<p>"In times like these, one cannot be too careful of the political notions +he throws out; and to own the truth to you, I am more than half inclined +to think that Cæsar is exercising quite as much authority, in these +colonies, as justly falls to his share."</p> + +<p>"Why, my dear captain, you have heard this very sermon three or four times +already, and you have more than once mentioned it with commendation!"</p> + +<p>"Ay, but that was in garrison, where one is obliged to teach +subordination. I remember the sermon quite well, and a very good one it +was, twenty years since, when you first preached it; but--"</p> + +<p>"I apprehend, captain Willoughby, that '<i>tempora mutantur, et, nos mutamus +in illis.'</i> That the mandates and maxims of the Saviour are far beyond the +mutations and erring passions of mortality. His sayings are intended for +all times."</p> + +<p>"Certainly, as respects their general principles and governing truths. But +no text is to be interpreted without some reference to circumstances. All +I mean is, that the preaching which might be very suitable to a battalion +of His Majesty's Fortieth might be very unsuitable for the labourers of +the Hutted Knoll; more especially so soon after what I find is called the +Battle of Lexington."</p> + +<p>The summons to dinner cut short the discourse; and probably prevented a +long, warm, but friendly argument.</p> + +<p>That afternoon and evening, captain Willoughby and his son had a private +and confidential discourse. The former advised the major to rejoin his +regiment without delay, unless he were prepared to throw up his commission +and take sides with the colonists, altogether. To this the young soldier +would not listen, returning to the charge, in the hope of rekindling the +dormant flame of his father's loyalty.</p> + +<p>The reader is not to suppose that captain Willoughby's own mind was +absolutely made up to fly into open rebellion. Far from it. He had his +doubts and misgivings on the subjects of both principles and prudence, but +he inclined strongly to the equity of the demands of the Americans. +Independence, or separation, if thought of at all in 1775 entered into +the projects of but very few; the warmest wish of the most ardent of the +whigs of the colonies being directed toward compromise, and a distinct +recognition of their political franchises. The events that followed so +thickly were merely the consequences of causes which, once set in motion, +soon attained an impetus that defied ordinary human control. It was +doubtless one of the leading incidents of the great and mysterious scheme +of Divine Providence for the government of the future destinies of man, +that political separation should commence, in this hemisphere, at that +particular juncture, to be carried out, ere the end of a century, to its +final and natural conclusion.</p> + +<p>But the present interview was less to debate the merits of any disputed +question, than to consult on the means of future intercourse, and to +determine on what was best to be done at the present moment. After +discussing the matter, pro and con, it was decided that the major should +quit the Knoll the next day, and return to Boston, avoiding Albany and +those points of the country in which he would be most exposed to +detection. So many persons were joining the American forces that were +collecting about the besieged town, that his journeying on the proper road +would excite no suspicion; and once in the American camp, nothing would be +easier than to find his way into the peninsula. All this young Willoughby +felt no difficulty in being able to accomplish, provided he could get into +the settlements without being followed by information of his real +character. The period of spies, and of the severe exercise of martial-law, +was not yet reached; and all that was apprehended was detention. Of the +last, however, there was great danger; positive certainty, indeed, in the +event of discovery; and major Willoughby had gleaned enough during his +visit, to feel some apprehensions of being betrayed. He regretted having +brought his servant with him; for the man was a European, and by his +dulness and speech might easily get them both into difficulties. So +serious, indeed, was this last danger deemed by the father, that he +insisted on Robert's starting without the man, leaving the last to follow, +on the first suitable occasion.</p> + +<p>As soon as this point was settled, there arose the question of the proper +guide. Although he distrusted the Tuscarora, captain Willoughby, after +much reflection, came to the opinion that it would be safer to make an +ally of him, than to give him an opportunity of being employed by the +other side. Nick was sent for, and questioned. He promised to take the +major to the Hudson, at a point between Lunenburg and Kinderhook, where he +would be likely to cross the river without awakening suspicion; his own +reward to depend on his coming back to the Hutted Knoll with a letter from +the major, authorizing the father to pay him for his services. This plan, +it was conceived, would keep Nick true to his faith, for the time being, +at least.</p> + +<p>Many other points were discussed between the father and son, the latter +promising if anything of importance occurred, to find the means of +communicating it to his friends at the Knoll, while Parrel was to follow +his master, at the end of six weeks or two months, with letters from the +family. Many of the captain's old army-friends were now in situations of +authority and command, and he sent to them messages of prudence, and +admonitions to be moderate in their views, which subsequent events proved +were little regarded. To general Gage he even wrote, using the precaution +not to sign the letter, though its sentiments were so much in favour of +the colonies, that had it been intercepted, it is most probable the +Americans would have forwarded the missive to its direction.</p> + +<p>These matters arranged, the father and son parted for the night, some time +after the house-clock had struck the hour of twelve.</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch09"> +<h2>Chapter IX.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> Though old in cunning, as in years,<br /> + He is so small, that like a child<br /> + In face and form, the god appears,<br /> + And sportive like a boy, and wild;<br /> + Lightly he moves from place to place,<br /> + In none at rest, in none content;<br /> + Delighted some new toy to chase--<br /> + On childish purpose ever bent.<br /> + Beware! to childhood's spirits gay<br /> + Is added more than childhood's power;<br /> + And you perchance may rue the hour<br /> + That saw you join his seeming play.</p> + +<p> Griffen</p></div> + +<p> +The intention of the major to quit the Knoll that day, was announced to +the family at breakfast, on the following morning. His mother and Beulah +heard this intelligence, with a natural and affectionate concern, that +they had no scruples in avowing; but Maud seemed to have so schooled her +feelings, that the grief she really felt was under a prudent control. To +her, it appeared as if her secret were constantly on the point of +exposure, and she believed <i>that</i> would cause her instant death. To +survive its shame was impossible in her eyes, and all the energies of her +nature were aroused, with the determination of burying her weakness in her +own bosom. She had been so near revealing it to Beulah, that even now she +trembled as she thought of the precipice over which she had been +impending, strengthening her resolution by the recollection of the danger +she had run.</p> + +<p>As a matter of necessary caution, the intended movements of the young man +were kept a profound secret from all in the settlement. Nick had +disappeared in the course of the night, carrying with him the major's +pack, having repaired to a designated point on the stream, where he was to +be joined by his fellow-traveller at an hour named. There were several +forest-paths which led to the larger settlements. That usually travelled +was in the direction of old Fort Stanwix, first proceeding north, and +then taking a south-eastern direction, along the shores of the Mohawk. +This was the route by which the major had come. Another struck the Otsego, +and joined the Mohawk at the point more than once mentioned in our opening +chapters. As these were the two ordinary paths--if paths they could be +called, where few or no traces of footsteps were visible--it was more than +probable any plan to arrest the traveller would be laid in reference to +their courses. The major had consequently resolved to avoid them both, and +to strike boldly into the mountains, until he should reach the +Susquehanna, cross that stream on its flood wood, and finding one of its +tributaries that flowed in from the eastward, by following its banks to +the high land, which divides the waters of the Mohawk from this latter +river, place himself on a route that would obliquely traverse the +water-courses, which, in this quarter of the country, have all a general +north or south direction. Avoiding Schenectady and Albany, he might +incline towards the old establishments of the descendants of the emigrants +from the Palatinate, on the Schoharie, and reach the Hudson at a point +deemed safe for his purposes, through some of the passes of the mountains +in their vicinity. He was to travel in the character of a land-owner who +had been visiting his patent, and his father supplied him with a map and +an old field-book, which would serve to corroborate his assumed character, +in the event of suspicion, or arrest. Not much danger was apprehended, +however, the quarrel being yet too recent to admit of the organization and +distrust that subsequently produced so much vigilance and activity.</p> + +<p>"You will contrive to let us hear of your safe arrival in Boston, Bob," +observed the father, as he sat stirring his tea, in a thoughtful way--"I +hope to God the matter will go no farther, and that our apprehensions, +after all, have given this dark appearance to what has already happened."</p> + +<p>"Ah, my dear father; you little know the state of the country, through +which I have so lately travelled!" answered the major, shaking his head. +"An alarm of fire, in an American town, would scarce create more movement, +and not so much excitement. The colonies are alive, particularly those of +New England, and a civil war is inevitable; though I trust the power of +England will render it short."</p> + +<p>"Then, Robert, do not trust yourself among the people of New +England"--cried the anxious mother. "Go rather to New York, where we have +so many friends, and so much influence. It will be far easier to reach New +York than to reach Boston."</p> + +<p>"That may be true, mother, but it will scarcely be as creditable. My +regiment is in Boston, and its enemies are <i>before</i> Boston; an old soldier +like captain Willoughby will tell you that the major is a very necessary +officer to a corps. No--no--my best course is to fall into the current of +adventurers who are pushing towards Boston, and appear like one of their +number, until I can get an opportunity of stealing away from them, and +join my own people."</p> + +<p>"Have a care, Bob, that you do not commit a military crime. Perhaps these +provincial officers may take it into their heads to treat you as a spy, +should you fall into their hands!"</p> + +<p>"Little fear of that, sir; at present it is a sort of colonial scramble +for what they fancy liberty. That they will fight, in their zeal, I know; +for I have seen it; but matters have not at all gone as far as you appear +to apprehend. I question if they would even stop Gage, himself, from going +through their camp, were he outside, and did he express a desire to +return."</p> + +<p>"And yet you tell me, arms and ammunition are seized all over the land; +that several old half-pay officers of the king have been arrested, and put +under a sort of parole!"</p> + +<p>"Such things were talked of, certainly, though I question if they have yet +been done. Luckily for yourself, under your present opinions at least, +<i>you</i> are not on half-pay, even."</p> + +<p>"It is fortunate, Bob, though you mention it with a smile. With my present +feelings, I should indeed be sorry to be on half-pay, or quarter-pay, were +there such a thing. I now feel myself my-own master, at liberty to follow +the dictates of my conscience, and the suggestions of my judgment."</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, you are a little fortunate, it must be acknowledged. I cannot +see how any man <i>can</i> be at liberty to throw off the allegiance he owes +his natural sovereign. What think you, Maud?"</p> + +<p>This was said half in bitterness, half in jest, though the appeal at its +close was uttered in a serious manner, and a little anxiously. Maud +hesitated, as if to muster her thoughts, ere she replied.</p> + +<p>"My feelings are against rebellion," she said, at length; "though I fear +my reason tells me there is no such thing as a natural sovereign. If the +parliament had not given us the present family, a century since, by what +rule of nature would it be our princes, Bob?"</p> + +<p>"Ah! these are some of the flights of your rich imagination, my +dear--Maud; it is parliament that has made them our princes, and +parliament, at least, is our legal, constitutional master."</p> + +<p>"That is just the point in dispute. Parliament may be the rightful +governors of England, but are they the rightful governors of America?"</p> + +<p>"Enough," said the captain, rising from table--"We will not discuss such a +question, just as we are about to separate. Go, my son; a duty that is to +be performed, cannot be done too soon. Your fowling-piece and ammunition +are ready for you, and I shall take care to circulate the report that you +have gone to pass an hour in the woods, in search of pigeons. God bless +you, Bob; however we may differ in this matter--you are my son--my <i>only</i> +son--my dear and well-beloved boy--God for ever bless you!"</p> + +<p>A profound stillness succeeded this burst of nature, and then the young +man took his leave of his mother and the girls. Mrs. Willoughby kissed her +child. She did not even weep, until she was in her room; then, indeed, she +went to her knees, her tears, and her prayers. Beulah, all heart and truth +as she was, wept freely on her brother's neck; but Maud, though pale and +trembling, received his kiss without returning it; though she could not +help saying with a meaning that the young man had in his mind all that +day, ay, and for many succeeding days--"be careful of yourself, and run +into no unnecessary dangers; God bless you, dear, <i>dear</i> Bob."</p> + +<p>Maud alone followed the movements of the gentlemen with her eyes. The +peculiar construction of the Hut prevented external view from the south +windows; but there was a loop in a small painting-room of the garret that +was especially under her charge. Thither, then, she flew, to ease her +nearly bursting heart with tears, and to watch the retiring footsteps of +Robert. She saw him, accompanied by his father and the chaplain, stroll +leisurely down the lawn, conversing and affecting an indifferent manner, +with a wish to conceal his intent to depart. The glass of the loop was +open, to admit the air, and Maud strained her sense of hearing, in the +desire to catch, if possible, another tone of his voice. In this she was +unsuccessful; though he stopped and gazed back at the Hut, as if to take a +parting look. Her father and Mr. Woods did not turn, and Maud thrust her +hand through the opening and waved her handkerchief. "He will think it +Beulah or I," she thought, "and it may prove a consolation to him to know +how much <i>we</i> love him." The major saw the signal, and returned it. His +father unexpectedly turned, and caught a glimpse of the retiring hand, as +it was disappearing within the loop. "That is our precious Maud," he said, +without other thought than of her sisterly affection. "It is <i>her</i> +painting-room; Beulah's is on the other side of the gateway; but the +window does not seem to be open."</p> + +<p>The major started, kissed his hand fervently, five or six times, and then +he walked on. As if to change the conversation, he said hastily, and with +a little want of connection with what had just passed--</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, that gate, sure enough--have it hung, at once, I do entreat of +you. I shall not be easy until I hear that both the gates are hung--that +in the stockade, and that in the house, itself."</p> + +<p>"It was my intention to commence to-day," returned the father, "but your +departure has prevented it. I will wait a day or two, to let your mother +and sisters tranquillize their minds a little, before we besiege them with +the noise and clamour of the workmen."</p> + +<p>"Better besiege them with <i>that</i>, my dear sir, than leave them exposed to +an Indian, or even a rebel attack."</p> + +<p>The major then went on to give some of his more modern military notions, +touching the art of defence. As one of the old school, he believed his +father a miracle of skill; but what young man, who had enjoyed the +advantages of ten or fifteen years of the most recent training in any +branch of knowledge, ever believed the educations of those who went before +him beyond the attacks of criticism. The captain listened patiently, and +with an old man's tolerance for inexperience, glad to have any diversion +to unhappy thoughts.</p> + +<p>All this time Maud watched their movements from the loop, with eyes +streaming with tears. She saw Robert pause, and look back, again and +again; and, once more, she thrust out the handkerchief. It was plain, +however, he did not see it; for he turned and proceeded, without any +answering signal.</p> + +<p>"He never <i>can</i> know whether it was Beulah or I," thought Maud; "yet, he +may fancy we are <i>both</i> here."</p> + +<p>On the rocks, that overhung the mills, the gentlemen paused, and conversed +for quite a quarter of an hour. The distance prevented Maud from +discerning their countenances; but she could perceive the thoughtful, and +as she fancied melancholy, attitude of the major, as, leaning on his +fowling-piece, his lace was turned towards the Knoll, and his eyes were +really riveted on the loop. At the end of the time mentioned, the young +soldier shook hands hastily and covertly with his companions, hurried +towards the path, and descended out of sight, following the course of the +stream. Maud saw him no more, though her father and Mr. Woods stood on the +rocks quite half an hour longer, catching occasional glimpses of his form, +as it came out of the shadows of the forest, into the open space of the +little river; and, indeed, until the major was within a short distance of +the spot where he was to meet the Indian. Then they heard the reports of +both barrels of his fowling-piece, fired in quick succession, the signals +that he had joined his guide. This welcome news received, the two +gentlemen returned slowly towards the house.</p> + +<p>Such was the commencement of a day, which, while it brought forth nothing +alarming to the family of the Hutted Knoll, was still pregnant with +important consequences. Major Willoughby disappeared from the sight of his +father about ten in the morning; and before twelve, the settlement was +alive with the rumours of a fresh arrival. Joel knew not whether to +rejoice or to despair, as he saw a party of eight or ten armed men rising +above the rock, and holding their course across the flats towards the +house. He entertained no doubt of its being a party sent by the provincial +authorities to arrest the captain, and he foresaw the probability of +another's being put into the lucrative station of receiver of the estate, +during the struggle which was in perspective. It is surprising how many, +and sometimes how pure patriots are produced by just such hopes as those +of Joel's. At this day, there is scarce an instance of a confiscated +estate, during the American revolution, connected with which racy +traditions are not to be found, that tell of treachery very similar to +this contemplated by the overseer in some instances of treachery effected +by means of kinsmen and false friends.</p> + +<p>Joel had actually got on his Sunday coat, and was making his way towards +the Knoll, in order to be present, at least, at the anticipated scene, +when, to his amazement, and somewhat to his disappointment, he saw the +captain and chaplain moving down the lawn, in a manner to show that these +unexpected arrivals brought not unwelcome guests. This caused him to +pause; and when he perceived that the only two among the strangers who had +the air of gentlemen, were met with cordial shakes of the hand, he turned +back towards his own tenement, a half-dissatisfied, and yet half contented +man.</p> + +<p>The visit which the captain had come out to receive, instead of producing +any uneasiness in his family, was, in truth, highly agreeable, and very +opportune. It was Evert Beekman, with an old friend, attended by a party +of chain-bearers, hunters, &c., on his way from the "Patent" he owned in +the neighbourhood--that is to say, within fifty miles--and halting at the +Hutted Knoll, under the courteous pretence of paying his respects to the +family, but, in reality, to bring the suit he had now been making to +Beulah for quite a twelvemonth, to a successful termination.</p> + +<p>The attachment between Evert Beekman and Beulah Willoughby was of a +character so simple, so sincere, and so natural, as scarce to furnish +materials for a brief episode. The young man had not made his addresses +without leave obtained from the parents; he had been acceptable to the +daughter from the commencement of their acquaintance; and she had only +asked time to reflect, ere she gave her answer, when he proposed, a day or +two before the family left New York.</p> + +<p>To own the truth, Beulah was a little surprised that her suitor had +delayed his appearance till near the close of May, when she had expected +to see him at the beginning of the month. A letter, however, was out of +the question, since there was no mode of transmitting it, unless the +messenger were sent expressly; and the young man had now come in person, +to make his own apologies.</p> + +<p>Beulah received Evert Beekman naturally, and without the least +exaggeration of manner, though a quiet happiness beamed in her handsome +face, that said as much as lover could reasonably desire. Her parents +welcomed him cordially, and the suitor must have been dull indeed, not to +anticipate all he hoped. Nor was it long before every doubt was removed. +The truthful, conscientious Beulah, had well consulted her heart; and, +while she blushed at her own temerity, she owned her attachment to her +admirer. The very day of his arrival they became formally betrothed. As +our tale, however, has but a secondary connection with this little +episode, we shall not dwell on it more than is necessary to the principal +object. It was a busy morning, altogether; and, though there were many +tears, there were also many smiles. By the time it was usual, at that +bland season, for the family to assemble on the lawn, everything, even to +the day, was settled between Beulah and her lover, and there was a little +leisure to think of other things. It was while the younger Pliny and one +of the Smashes were preparing the tea, that the following conversation was +held, being introduced by Mr. Woods, in the way of digressing from +feelings in which he was not quite as much interested as some of the rest +of the party.</p> + +<p>"Do you bring us anything new from Boston?" demanded the chaplain. "I have +been dying to ask the question these two hours--ever since dinner, in +fact; but, somehow, Mr. Beekman, I have not been able to edge in an +inquiry."</p> + +<p>This was said good-naturedly, but quite innocently; eliciting smiles, +blushes, and meaning glances in return. Evert Beekman, however, looked +grave before he made his reply.</p> + +<p>"To own the truth, Mr. Woods," he said, "things are getting to be very +serious. Boston is surrounded by thousands of our people; and we hope, not +only to keep the king's forces in the Peninsula, but, in the end, to drive +them out of the colony."</p> + +<p>"This is a bold measure, Mr. Beekman!--a very bold step to take against +Cæsar!"</p> + +<p>"Woods preached about the rights of Cæsar, no later than yesterday, you +ought to know, Beekman," put in the laughing captain; "and I am afraid he +will be publicly praying for the success of the British arms, before +long."</p> + +<p>"I <i>did</i> pray for the Royal Family," said the chaplain, with spirit, "and +hope I shall ever continue to do so."</p> + +<p>"My dear fellow, I do not object to <i>that</i>. Pray for all conditions of +men, enemies and friends alike; and, particularly, pray for our princes; +but pray also to turn the hearts of their advisers."</p> + +<p>Beekman seemed uneasy. He belonged to a decidedly whig family, and was +himself, at the very moment, spoken of as the colonel of one of the +regiments about to be raised in the colony of New York. He held that rank +in the militia, as it was; and no one doubted his disposition to resist +the British forces, at the proper moment. He had even stolen away from +what he conceived to be very imperative duties, to secure the woman of his +heart before he went into the field. His answer, in accordance, partook +essentially of the bias of his mind.</p> + +<p>"I do not know, sir, that it is quite wise to pray so very willingly for +the Royal Family," he said. "We may wish them worldly happiness, and +spiritual consolation, as part of the human race; but political and +specific prayers, in times like these, are to be used with caution. Men +attach more than the common religious notion, just now, to prayers for the +king, which some interpret into direct petitions against the United +Colonies."</p> + +<p>"Well," rejoined the captain, "I cannot agree to this, myself. If there +were a prayer to confound parliament and its counsels, I should be very +apt to join in it cordially; but I am not yet ready to throw aside king, +queen, princes and princesses, all in a lump, on account of a few taxes, +and a tittle tea."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry to hear this from you, sir," answered Evert. "When your +opinions were canvassed lately at Albany, I gave a sort of pledge that you +were certainly more with us than against us."</p> + +<p>"Well then, I think, Beekman, you drew me in my true outlines. In the +main, I think the colonies right, though I am still willing to pray for +the king."</p> + +<p>"I am one of those, captain Willoughby, who look forward to the most +serious times. The feeling throughout the colonies is tremendous, and the +disposition on the part of the royal officers is to meet the crisis with +force."</p> + +<p>"You have a brother a captain of foot in one of the regiments of the +crown, colonel Beekman--what are his views in this serious state of +affairs?"</p> + +<p>"He has already thrown up his commission--refusing even to sell out, a +privilege that was afforded him. His name is now before congress for a +majority in one of the new regiments that are to be raised."</p> + +<p>The captain looked grave; Mrs. Willoughby anxious; Beulah interested; and +Maud thoughtful.</p> + +<p>"This has a serious aspect, truly," observed the first. "When men abandon +all their early hopes, to assume new duties, there must be a deep and +engrossing cause. I had not thought it like to come to this!"</p> + +<p>"We have had hopes major Willoughby might do the same; I know that a +regiment is at his disposal, if he be disposed to join us. No one would be +more gladly received. We are to have Gates, Montgomery, Lee, and many +other old officers, from regular corps, on our side."</p> + +<p>"Will colonel Lee be put at the head of the American forces?"</p> + +<p>"I think not, sir. He has a high reputation, and a good deal of +experience, but he is a humourist; and what is something, though you will +pardon it, he is not an American born."</p> + +<p>"It is quite right to consult such considerations, Beekman; were I in +congress, they would influence <i>me</i>, Englishman as I am, and in many +things must always remain."</p> + +<p>"I am glad to hear you say that, Willoughby," exclaimed the chaplain--" +right down rejoiced to hear you say so! A man is bound to stand by his +birth-place, through thick and thin."</p> + +<p>"How do you, then, reconcile your opinions, in this matter, to <i>your</i> +birth-place, Woods?" asked the laughing captain.</p> + +<p>To own the truth, the chaplain was a little confused. He had entered into +the controversy with so much zeal, of late, as to have imbibed the +feelings of a thorough partisan; and, as is usual, with such philosophers, +was beginning to overlook everything that made against his opinions, and +to exaggerate everything that sustained them.</p> + +<p>"How?"--he cried, with zeal, if not with consistency--"Why, well enough. I +am an Englishman too, in the general view of the case, though born in +Massachusetts. Of English descent, and an English subject."</p> + +<p>"Umph!--Then Beekman, here, who is of Dutch descent, is not bound by the +same principles as we are ourselves?"</p> + +<p>"Not by the same <i>feelings</i> possibly; but, surely, by the same principles. +Colonel Beekman is an Englishman by construction, and you are by birth. +Yes, I'm what may be called a <i>constructive</i> Englishman."</p> + +<p>Even Mrs. Willoughby and Beulah laughed at this, though not a smile had +crossed Maud's face, since her eye had lost Robert Willoughby from view. +The captain's ideas seemed to take a new direction, and he was silent some +little time before he spoke.</p> + +<p>"Under the circumstances in which we are now placed, as respects each +other, Mr. Beekman," he said, "it is proper that there should be no +concealments on grave points. Had you arrived an hour or two earlier, you +would have met a face well known to you, in that of my son, major +Willoughby."</p> + +<p>"Major Willoughby, my dear sir!" exclaimed Beekman, with a start of +unpleasant surprise; "I had supposed him with the royal army, in Boston. +You say he has left the Knoll--I sincerely hope not for Albany."</p> + +<p>"No--I wished him to go in that direction, at first, and to see you, in +particular; but his representations of the state of the country induced me +to change my mind; he travels by a private way, avoiding all the towns of +note, or size."</p> + +<p>"In that he has done well, sir. Near to me as a brother of Beulah's must +always seem, I should be sorry to see Bob, just at this moment. If there +be no hope of getting him to join us, the farther we are separated the +better."</p> + +<p>This was said gravely, and it caused all who heard it fully to appreciate +the serious character of a quarrel that threatened to arm brother against +brother. As if by common consent, the discourse changed, all appearing +anxious, at a moment otherwise so happy, to obliterate impressions so +unpleasant from their thoughts.</p> + +<p>The captain, his wife, Beulah and the colonel, had several long and +private communications in the course of the evening. Maud was not sorry to +be left to herself, and the chaplain devoted his time to the entertainment +of the friend of Beekman, who was in truth a surveyor, brought along +partly to preserve appearances, and partly for service. The chain-bearers, +hunters, &c., had been distributed in the different cabins of the +settlement, immediately on the arrival of the party.</p> + +<p>That night, when the sisters retired, Maud perceived that Beulah had +something to communicate, out of the common way. Still, she did not know +whether it would be proper for her to make any inquiries, and things were +permitted to take their natural course. At length Beulah, in her gentle +way, remarked--"It is a fearful thing, Maud, for a woman to take upon +herself the new duties, obligations and ties of a wife."</p> + +<p>"She should <i>not</i> do it, Beulah, unless she feels a love for the man of +her choice, that will sustain her in them. You, who have <i>real</i> parents +living, ought to feel this fully, as I doubt not you do."</p> + +<p>"<i>Real</i> parents! Maud, you frighten me! Are not <i>my </i> parents <i>yours?</i>--Is +not all our love common?"</p> + +<p>"I am ashamed of myself, Beulah. Dearer and better parents than mine, no +girl ever had. I am ashamed of my words, and beg you will forget them."</p> + +<p>"That I shall be very ready to do. It was a great consolation to think +that should I be compelled to quit home, as compelled I must be in the +end, I should leave with my father and mother a child as dutiful, and one +that loves them as sincerely as yourself, Maud."</p> + +<p>"You have thought right, Beulah. I do love them to my heart's core! Then +you are right in another sense; for I shall <i>never</i> marry. My mind is made +up to <i>that</i>"</p> + +<p>"Well, dear, many are happy that never marry--many women are happier than +those that do. Evert has a kind, manly, affectionate heart, and I know +will do all he can to prevent my regretting home; but we can never have +more than <i>one</i> mother, Maud!"</p> + +<p>Maud did not answer, though she looked surprised that Beulah should say +this to <i>her</i>.</p> + +<p>"Evert has reasoned and talked so much to my father and mother," continued +the <i>fiancée</i>, blushing, "that they have thought we had better be married +at once. Do you know, Maud, that it has been settled this evening, that +the ceremony is to take place to-morrow!"</p> + +<p>"This is sudden, indeed, Beulah! Why have they determined on so unexpected +a thing?"</p> + +<p>"It is all owing to the state of the country. I know not how he has done +it--but Evert has persuaded my father, that the sooner I am his wife, the +more secure we shall <i>all</i> be, here at the Knoll."</p> + +<p>"I hope you love Evert Beekman, dearest, dearest Beulah?"</p> + +<p>"What a question, Maud! Do you suppose I could stand up before a minister +of God, and plight my faith to a man I did not love?--Why have you seemed +to doubt it?"</p> + +<p>"I do not doubt it--I am very foolish, for I know you are conscientious as +the saints in heaven--and yet, Beulah, I think <i>I</i> could scarce be so +tranquil about one I loved."</p> + +<p>The gentle Beulah smiled, but she no longer felt uneasiness. She +understood the impulses and sentiments of her own pure but tranquil nature +too well, to distrust herself; and she could easily imagine that Maud +would not be as composed under similar circumstances.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it is well, sister of mine," she answered laughing, though +blushing, "that you are so resolved to remain single; for one hardly knows +where to find a suitor sufficiently devoted and ethereal for your taste. +No one pleased you last winter, though the least encouragement would have +Brought a dozen to your feet; and here there is no one you can possibly +have, unless it be dear, good, old Mr. Woods."</p> + +<p>Maud compressed her lips, and really looked stern, so determined was she +to command herself; then she answered somewhat in her sister's vein--</p> + +<p>"It is very true," she said, "there is no hero for me to accept, unless it +be dear Mr. Woods; and he, poor man, has had one wife that cured him of +any desire to possess another, they say."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Woods! I never knew that he was married. Who can have told you this, +Maud?"</p> + +<p>"I got it from Robert"--answered the other, hesitating a little. "He was +talking one day of such things."</p> + +<p>"What things, dear?"</p> + +<p>"Why--of getting married--I believe it was about marrying relatives--or +connections--or, some such thing; for Mr. Woods married a cousin-german, +it would seem--and so he told me all about it. Bob was old enough to know +his wife, when she died. Poor man, she led him a hard life--he must be far +from the Knoll, by this time, Beulah!"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Woods!--I left him with papa, a few minutes since, talking over the +ceremony for to-morrow!"</p> + +<p>"I meant Bob----"</p> + +<p>Here the sisters caught each other's eyes, and both blushed, consciousness +presenting to them, at the same instant, the images that were uppermost in +their respective minds. But, no more was said. They continued their +employments in silence, and soon each was kneeling in prayer.</p> + +<p>The following day, Evert Beekman and Beulah Willoughby were married. The +ceremony took place, immediately after breakfast, in the little chapel; no +one being present but the relatives, and Michael O'Hearn, who quieted his +conscience for not worshipping with the rest of the people, by acting as +their sexton. The honest county Leitrim man was let into the secret--as a +great secret, however--at early dawn; and he had the place swept and in +order in good season, appearing in his Sunday attire to do honour to the +occasion, as he thought became him.</p> + +<p>A mother as tender as Mrs. Willoughby, could not resign the first claim on +her child, without indulging her tears, Maud wept, too; but it was as much +in sympathy for Beulah's happiness, as from any other cause. The marriage +in other respects, was simple, and without any ostentatious +manifestations of feeling. It was, in truth, one of those rational and +wise connections, which promise to wear well, there being a perfect +fitness, in station, wealth, connections, years, manners and habits, +between the parties. Violence was done to nothing, in bringing this +discreet and well-principled couple together. Evert was as worthy of +Beulah, as she was worthy of him. There was confidence in the future, on +every side; and not a doubt, or a misgiving of any sort, mingled with the +regrets, if regrets they could be called, that were, in some measure, +inseparable from the solemn ceremony.</p> + +<p>The marriage was completed, the affectionate father had held the weeping +but smiling bride on his bosom, the tender mother had folded her to her +heart, Maud had pressed her in her arms in a fervent embrace, and the +chaplain had claimed his kiss, when the well-meaning sexton approached.</p> + +<p>"Is it the likes of yees I wish well to!" said Mike--"Ye may well say +<i>that</i>; and to yer husband, and childer, and all that will go before, and +all that have come after ye! I know'd ye, when ye was mighty little, and +that was years agone; and niver have I seen a cross look on yer pretthy +face. I've app'inted to myself, many's the time, a consait to tell ye all +this, by wor-r-d of mouth; but the likes of yees, and of the Missus, and +of Miss Maud there--och! isn't she a swate one! and many's the pity, +there's no sich tall, handsome jontleman to take <i>her</i>, in the bargain, +bad luck to him for staying away; and so God bless ye, all, praist in the +bargain, though he's no praist at all; and here's my good wishes said and +done."</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch10"> +<h2>Chapter X.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> Ho! Princes of Jacob! the strength and the stay<br /> + Of the daughters of Zion;--now up, and away;<br /> + Lo, the hunters have struck her, and bleeding alone<br /> + Like a pard in the desert she maketh her moan:<br /> + Up with war-horse and banner, with spear and with sword,<br /> + On the spoiler go down in the might of the Lord!</p> + +<p> Lunt.</p></div> + +<p> +The succeeding fortnight, or three weeks, brought no material changes, +beyond those connected with the progress of the season. Vegetation was out +in its richest luxuriance, the rows of corn and potatoes, freshly hoed, +were ornamenting the flats, the wheat and other grains were throwing up +their heads, and the meadows were beginning to exchange their flowers for +the seed. As for the forest, it had now veiled its mysteries beneath broad +curtains of a green so bright and lively, that one can only meet it, +beneath a generous sun, tempered by genial rains, and a mountain air. The +chain-bearers, and other companions of Beekman, quitted the valley the day +after the wedding, leaving no one of their party behind but its principal.</p> + +<p>The absence of the major was not noted by Joel and his set, in the +excitement of receiving so many guests, and in the movement of the +wedding. But, as soon as the fact was ascertained, the overseer and miller +made the pretence of a 'slack-time' in their work, and obtained permission +to go to the Mohawk, on private concerns of their own. Such journeys were +sufficiently common to obviate suspicion; and, the leave had, the two +conspirators started off, in company, the morning of the second day, or +forty-eight hours after the major and Nick had disappeared. As the latter +was known to have come in by the Fort Stanwix route, it was naturally +enough supposed that he had returned by the same; and Joel determined to +head him on the Mohawk, at some point near Schenectady, where he might +make a merit of his own patriotism, by betraying the son of his master. +The reader is not to suppose Joel intended to do all this openly; so far +from it, his plan was to keep himself in the back-ground, while he +attracted attention to the supposed toryism of the captain, and +illustrated his own attachment to the colonies.</p> + +<p>It is scarcely necessary to say that this plan failed, in consequence of +the new path taken by Nick. At the very moment when Joel and the miller +were lounging about a Dutch inn, some fifteen or twenty miles above +Schenectady, in waiting for the travellers to descend the valley of the +Mohawk, Robert Willoughby and his guide were actually crossing the Hudson, +in momentary security at least. After remaining at his post until +satisfied his intended prey had escaped him, Joel, with his friend, +returned to the settlement. Still, the opportunity had been improved, to +make himself better acquainted with the real state of the country; to open +communications with certain patriots of a moral calibre about equal to his +own, but of greater influence; to throw out divers injurious hints, and +secret insinuations concerning the captain; and to speculate on the +propriety of leaving so important a person to work his will, at a time so +critical. But the pear was not yet ripe, and all that could now be done +was to clear the way a little for something important in future.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, Evert Beekman having secured his gentle and true-hearted +wife, began, though with a heavy heart, to bethink him of his great +political duties. It was well understood that he was to have a regiment of +the new levies, and Beulah had schooled her affectionate heart to a degree +that permitted her to part with him, in such a cause, with seeming +resignation. It was, sooth to say, a curious spectacle, to see how these +two sisters bent all their thoughts and wishes, in matters of a public +nature, to favour the engrossing sentiments of their sex and natures; Maud +being strongly disposed to sustain the royal cause, and the bride to +support that in which her husband had enlisted, heart and hand.</p> + +<p>As for captain Willoughby, he said little on the subject of politics; but +the marriage of Beulah had a powerful influence in confirming his mind in +the direction it had taken after the memorable argument with the chaplain. +Colonel Beekman was a man of strong good sense, though without the least +brilliancy; and his arguments were all so clear and practical, as to carry +with them far more weight than was usual in the violent partisan +discussions of the period. Beulah fancied him a Solon in sagacity, and a +Bacon in wisdom. Her father, without proceeding quite as far as this, was +well pleased with his cool discriminating judgment, and much disposed to +defer to his opinions. The chaplain was left out of the discussions as +incorrigible.</p> + +<p>The middle of June was passed, at the time colonel Beekman began to think +of tearing himself from his wife, in order to return into the active +scenes of preparation he had quitted, to make this visit. As usual, the +family frequented the lawn, at the close of the day, the circumstance of +most of the windows of the Hut looking on the court, rendering this resort +to the open air more agreeable than might otherwise have been the case. +Evert was undecided whether to go the following morning, or to remain a +day longer, when the lawn was thus occupied, on the evening of the 25th of +the month, Mrs. Willoughby making the tea, as usual, her daughters sitting +near her, sewing, and the gentlemen at hand, discussing the virtues of +different sorts of seed-corn.</p> + +<p>"There is a stranger!" suddenly exclaimed the chaplain, looking towards +the rocks near the mill, the point at which all arrivals in the valley +were first seen from the Hut. "He comes, too, like a man in haste, +whatever may be his errand."</p> + +<p>"God be praised," returned the captain rising; "it is Nick, on his usual +trot, and this is about the time he should be back, the bearer of good +news. A week earlier might have augured better; but this will do. The +fellow moves over the ground as if he really had something to +communicate!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Willoughby and her daughters suspended their avocations, and the +gentlemen stood, in silent expectation, watching the long, loping strides +of the Tuscarora, as he came rapidly across the plain. In a few minutes +the Indian came upon the lawn, perfectly in wind, moving with deliberation +and gravity, as he drew nearer to the party. Captain Willoughby, knowing +his man, waited quite another minute, after the red-man was leaning +against an apple-tree, before he questioned him.</p> + +<p>"Welcome back, Nick," he then said. "Where did you leave my son?"</p> + +<p>"He tell dere," answered the Indian, presenting a note, which the captain +read.</p> + +<p>"This is all right, Nick; and it shows you have been a true man. Your +wages shall be paid to-night. But, this letter has been written on the +eastern bank of the Hudson, and is quite three weeks old--why have we not +seen you, sooner?"</p> + +<p>"Can't see, when he don't come."</p> + +<p>"That is plain enough; but why have you not come back sooner? That is my +question."</p> + +<p>"Want to look at country--went to shore of Great Salt Lake."</p> + +<p>"Oh!--Curiosity, then, has been at the bottom of your absence?"</p> + +<p>"Nick warrior--no squaw--got no cur'osity."</p> + +<p>"No, no--I beg your pardon, Nick; I did not mean to accuse you of so +womanish a feeling. Far from it; I know you are a man. Tell us, however, +how far, and whither you went?"</p> + +<p>"Bos'on," answered Nick, sententiously.</p> + +<p>"Boston! That has been a journey, indeed. Surely my son did not allow you +to travel in his company through Massachusetts?"</p> + +<p>"Nick go alone. Two path; one for major; one for Tuscarora. Nick got dere +first."</p> + +<p>"That I can believe, if you were in earnest. Were you not questioned by +the way?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Tell 'em I'm Stockbridge--pale-face know no better. T'ink he fox; +more like wood-chuck."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Nick, for the compliment. Had my son reached Boston before you +came away?"</p> + +<p>"Here he be"--answered the Indian, producing another missive, from the +folds of his calico shirt.</p> + +<p>The captain received the note which he read with extreme gravity, and some +surprise.</p> + +<p>"This is in Bob's handwriting," he said, "and is dated 'Boston, June +18th, 1775;' but it is without signature, and is not only Bob, but Bob +Short."</p> + +<p>"Read, dear Willoughby," exclaimed the anxious mother. "News from <i>him</i>, +concerns us all."</p> + +<p>"News, Wilhelmina!--They may call this news in Boston, but one is very +little the better for it at the Hutted Knoll. However, such as it is, +there is no reason for keeping it a secret, while there is <i>one</i> reason, +at least, why it should be known. This is all. 'My dearest sir--Thank God +I am unharmed; but we have had much to make us reflect; you know what duty +requires--my best and endless love to my mother, and Beulah--and dear, +laughing, capricious, <i>pretty</i> Maud. Nick was present, and can tell you +all. I do not think he will extenuate, or aught set down in malice."' And +this without direction, or signature; with nothing, in fact, but place and +date. What say <i>you</i> to all this, Nick?"</p> + +<p>"He very good--major dere; he know. Nick dere--hot time--a t'ousand +scalp--coat red as blood."</p> + +<p>"There has been another battle!" exclaimed the captain; "that is too plain +to admit of dispute. Speak out at once, Nick--which gained the day; the +British or the Americans?"</p> + +<p>"Hard to tell--one fight, t'other fight. Red-coat take de ground; Yankee +kill. If Yankee could take scalp of all he kill, he whip. But, poor +warriors at takin' scalp. No know how."</p> + +<p>"Upon my word, Woods, there does seem to be something in all this! It can +hardly be possible that the Americans would dare to attack Boston, +defended as it is, by a strong army of British regulars."</p> + +<p>"That would they not," cried the chaplain, with emphasis. "This has been +only another skirmish."</p> + +<p>"What you call skirmge?" asked Nick, pointedly. "It skirmge to take +t'ousand scalp, ha?"</p> + +<p>"Tell us what <i>has</i> happened, Tuscarora?" said the captain, motioning his +friend to be silent.</p> + +<p>"Soon tell--soon done. Yankee on hill; reg'lar in canoe. Hundred, t'ousand, +fifty canoe--full of red-coat. Great chief, dere!--ten--six--two--all go +togeder. Come ashore--parade, pale-face manner--march--booh--booh--dem +cannon; pop, pop--dem gun. Wah! how he run!"</p> + +<p>"Run!--who ran, Nick?--Though I suppose it must have been the poor +Americans, of course."</p> + +<p>"Red-coat run," answered the Indian, quietly.</p> + +<p>This reply produced a general sensation, even the ladies starting, and +gazing at each other.</p> + +<p>"Red-coat run"--repeated the captain, slowly. "Go on with your history, +Nick--where was this battle fought?"</p> + +<p>"T'other Bos'on--over river--go in canoe to fight, like Injin from +Canada."</p> + +<p>"That must have been in Charlestown, Woods--you may remember Boston is on +one peninsula, and Charlestown on another. Still, I do not recollect that +the Americans were in the latter, Beekman--you told me nothing of that?"</p> + +<p>"They were not so near the royal forces, certainly, when I left Albany, +sir," returned the colonel. "A few direct questions to the Indian, +however, would bring out the whole truth."</p> + +<p>"We must proceed more methodically. How many Yankees were in this fight, +Nick?--Calculate as we used to, in the French war."</p> + +<p>"Reach from here to mill--t'ree, two deep, cap'in. All farmer; no sodger. +Carry gun, but no carry baggonet; no carry knapsack. No wear red-coat. +<i>Look</i> like town-meetin'; <i>fight</i> like devils."</p> + +<p>"A line as long as from this to the mill, three deep, would contain about +two thousand men, Beekman. Is that what you wish to say, Nick?"</p> + +<p>"That about him--pretty near--just so."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, there were about two thousand Yankees on this hill--how many +king's troops crossed in the canoes, to go against them?"</p> + +<p>"Two time--one time, so many; t'other time, half so many. Nick close by; +count <i>him</i>."</p> + +<p>"That would make three thousand in all! By George, this does look like +work. Did they all go together, Nick?"</p> + +<p>"No; one time go first; fight, run away. Den two time go, fight good +deal--run away, too. Den try harder--set fire to wigwam--go up hill; +Yankee run away."</p> + +<p>"This is plain enough, and quite graphical. Wigwam on fire? Charlestown is +not burnt, Nick?"</p> + +<p>"Dat he--Look like old Council Fire, gone out. Big canoe fire--booh--booh-- +Nick nebber see such war before--wah! Dead man plenty as leaves on tree; +blood run like creek!"</p> + +<p>"Were you in this battle, Nick? How came you to learn so much about it?"</p> + +<p>"Don't want to be in it--better out--no scalp taken. Red-man not'in' to +do, dere. How know about him?--<i>See</i> him--dat all. Got eye; why no see +him, behind stone wall. Good see, behind stone wall."</p> + +<p>"Were you across the water yourself, or did you remain in Boston, and see +from a distance?"</p> + +<p>"Across in canoe--tell red-coat, general send letter by Nick--major say, +he <i>my</i> friend--let Nick go."</p> + +<p>"My son was in this bloody battle, then!" said Mrs. Willoughby. "He +writes, Hugh, that he is safe?"</p> + +<p>"He does, dearest Wilhelmina; and Bob knows us too well, to attempt +deception, in such a matter."</p> + +<p>"Did you see the major in the field, Nick--after you crossed the water, I +mean?"</p> + +<p>"See him, all. Six--two--seven t'ousand. Close by; why not see major stand +up like pine--no dodge he head, <i>dere</i>. Kill all round him--no hurt <i>him</i>! +Fool to stay dere--tell him so; but he no come away. Save he scalp, too."</p> + +<p>"And how many slain do you suppose there might have been left on the +ground--or, did you riot remain to see?"</p> + +<p>"Did see--stay to get gun--knapsack--oder good t'ing--plenty about; pick +him up, fast as want him." Here Nick coolly opened a small bundle, and +exhibited an epaulette, several rings, a watch, five or six pairs of +silver buckles, and divers other articles of plunder, of which he had +managed to strip the dead. "All good t'ing--plenty as stone--have him +widout askin'."</p> + +<p>"So I see, Master Nick--and is this the plunder of Englishmen, or of +Americans?"</p> + +<p>"Red-coat nearest--got most t'ing, too. Go farder, fare worse; as +pale-face say."</p> + +<p>"Quite satisfactory. Were there more red-coats left on the ground, or more +Americans?"</p> + +<p>"Red-coat so," said Nick, holding up <i>four</i> fingers--Yankee, so; "holding +up <i>one</i>. Take big grave to hold red-coat. Small grave won't hold Yankee. +Hear what he count; most red-coat. More than t'ousand warrior! British +groan, like squaw dat lose her hunter."</p> + +<p>Such was Saucy Nick's description of the celebrated, and, in some +particulars, unrivalled combat of Bunker Hill, of which he had actually +been an eye-witness, on the ground, though using the precaution to keep +his body well covered. He did not think it necessary to state the fact +that he had given the <i>coup-de-grace</i>, himself, to the owner of the +epaulette, nor did he deem it essential to furnish all the particulars of +his mode of obtaining so many buckles. In other respects, his account was +fair enough, "nothing extenuating, or setting down aught in malice." The +auditors had listened with intense feeling; and Maud, when the allusion +was made to Robert Willoughby, buried her pallid face in her hands, and +wept. As for Beulah, time and again, she glanced anxiously at her husband, +and bethought her of the danger to which he might so soon be exposed.</p> + +<p>The receipt of this important intelligence confirmed Beekman in the +intention to depart. The very next morning he tore himself away from +Beulah, and proceeded to Albany. The appointment of Washington, and a long +list of other officers, soon succeeded, including his own as a colonel; +and the war may be said to have commenced systematically. Its distant din +occasionally reached the Hutted Knoll; but the summer passed away, +bringing with it no event to affect the tranquillity of that settlement. +Even Joel's schemes were thwarted for a time, and he was fain to continue +to wear the mask, and to gather that harvest for another, which he had +hoped to reap for his own benefit.</p> + +<p>Beulah had all a young wife's fears for her husband; but, as month +succeeded month, and one affair followed another, without bringing him +harm, she began to submit to the anxieties inseparable from her situation, +with less of self-torment, and more of reason. Her mother and Maud were +invaluable friends to her, in this novel and trying situation, though each +had her own engrossing cares on account of Robert Willoughby. As no other +great battle, however, occurred in the course of the year '75, Beekman +remained in safety with the troops that invested Boston, and the major +with the army within it. Neither was much exposed, and glad enough were +these gentle affectionate hearts, when they learned that the sea separated +the combatants.</p> + +<p>This did not occur, however, until another winter was passed. In November, +the family left the Hut, as had been its practice of late years, and went +out into the more inhabited districts to pass the winter. This time it +came only to Albany, where colonel Beekman joined it, passing a few happy +weeks with his well-beloved Beulah. The ancient town mentioned was not gay +at a moment like that; but it had many young officers in it, on the +American side of the question, who were willing enough to make themselves +acceptable to Maud. The captain was not sorry to see several of these +youths manifesting assiduity about her he had so long been accustomed to +consider as his youngest daughter; for, by this time, his opinions had +taken so strong a bias in favour of the rights of the colonies, that +Beekman himself scarce rejoiced more whenever he heard of any little +success alighting on the American arms.</p> + +<p>"It will all come right in the end," the worthy captain used to assure his +friend the chaplain. "They will open their eyes at home, ere long, and the +injustice of taxing the colonies will be admitted. Then all will come +round again; the king will be as much beloved as ever, and England and +America will be all the better friends for having a mutual respect. I know +my countrymen well; they mean right, and will do right, as soon as their +stomachs are a little lowered, and they come to look at the truth, coolly. +I'll answer for it, the Battle of Bunker's Hill made <i>us</i>"--the captain +had spoken in this way, now, for some months--"made <i>us</i> a thousand +advocates, where we had one before. This is the nature of John Bull; give +him reason to respect you, and he will soon do you justice; but give him +reason to feel otherwise, and he becomes a careless, if not a hard +master."</p> + +<p>Such were the opinions captain Willoughby entertained of his native land; +a land he had not seen in thirty years, and one in which he had so +recently inherited unexpected honours, without awakening a desire to +return and enjoy them. His opinions were right in part, certainly; for +they depended on a law of nature, while it is not improbable they were +wrong in all that was connected with the notions of any peculiarly manly +quality, in any particular part of christendom. No maxim is truer than +that which teaches us "like causes produce like effects;" and as human +beings are governed by very similar laws all over the face of this round +world of ours, nothing is more certain than the similarity of their +propensities.</p> + +<p>Maud had no smiles, beyond those extracted by her naturally sweet +disposition, and a very prevalent desire to oblige, for any of the young +soldiers, or young civilians, who crowded about her chair, during the +Albany winter mentioned. Two or three of colonel Beekman's military +friends, in particular, would very gladly have become connected with an +officer so much respected, through means so exceedingly agreeable; but no +encouragement emboldened either to go beyond the attention and assiduities +of a marked politeness.</p> + +<p>"I know not how it is," observed Mrs. Willoughby, one day, in a +<i>tête-à-tête</i> with her husband; "Maud seems to take less pleasure than is +usual with girls of her years, in the attentions of your sex. That her +heart is affectionate--warm--even tender, I am very certain; and yet no +sign of preference, partiality, or weakness, in favour of any of these +fine young men, of whom we see so many, can I discover in the child. They +all seem alike to her!"</p> + +<p>"Her time will come, as it happened to her mother before her," answered +the captain. "Whooping-cough and measles are not more certain to befall +children, than love to befall a young woman. You were all made for it, my +dear Willy, and no fear but the girl will catch the disease, one of these +days; and that, too, without any inoculation."</p> + +<p>"I am sure, I have no wish to separate from my child"--so Mrs. Willoughby +always spoke of, and so she always felt towards Maud--"I am sure, I have +no wish to separate from my child; but as we cannot always remain, it is +perhaps better this one should marry, like the other. There is young +Verplanck much devoted to her; he is everyway a suitable match; and then +he is in Evert's own regiment."</p> + +<p>"Ay, he would do; though to my fancy Luke Herring is the far better +match."</p> + +<p>"That is because he is richer and more powerful, Hugh--you men cannot +think of a daughter's establishment, without immediately dragging in +houses and lands, as part of the ceremony."</p> + +<p>"By George, wife of mine, houses and lands in moderation, are very good +sweeteners of matrimony!"</p> + +<p>"And yet, Hugh, I have been very happy as a wife, nor have you been very +miserable as a husband, without any excess of riches to sweeten the +state!" answered Mrs. Willoughby, reproachfully. "Had you been a full +general, I could not have loved you more than I have done as a mere +captain."</p> + +<p>"All very true, Wilhelmina, dearest," returned the husband, kissing the +faithful partner of his bosom with strong affection--"very true, my dear +girl; for girl you are and ever will be in my eyes; but <i>you</i> are one in a +million, and I humbly trust there are not ten hundred and one, in every +thousand, just like myself. For my part, I wish dear, saucy, capricious +little Maud, no worse luck in a husband, than Luke Herring."</p> + +<p>"She will never be <i>his</i> wife; I know her, and my own sex, too well to +think it. You are wrong, however, Willoughby, in applying such terms to +the child. Maud is not in the least capricious, especially in her +affections. See with what truth and faithfulness of sisterly attachment +she clings to Bob. I do declare I am often ashamed to feel that even his +own mother has less solicitude about him than this dear girl."</p> + +<p>"Pooh, Willy; don't be afflicted with the idea that you don't make +yourself sufficiently miserable about the boy. Bob will do well enough, +and will very likely come out of this affair a lieutenant-colonel. I may +live yet to see him a general officer; certainly, if I live to be as old +as my grandfather, Sir Thomas. As for Maud, she finds Beulah uneasy about +Beekman; and having no husband herself, or any over that she cares a straw +about, why she just falls upon Bob as a <i>pis aller</i>. I'll warrant you she +cares no more for him than any of the rest of us--than myself, for +instance; though as an old soldier, I don't scream every time I fancy a +gun fired over yonder at Boston."</p> + +<p>"I wish it were well over. It is <i>so</i> unnatural for Evert and Robert to be +on opposite sides."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is out of the common way, I admit; and yet 'twill all come +round, in the long run. This Mr. Washington is a clever fellow, and seems +to play his cards with spirit and judgment. He was with us, in that +awkward affair of Braddock's; and between you and me, Wilhelmina, he +covered the regulars, or we should all have laid our bones on that +accursed field. I wrote you at the time, what I thought of him, and now +you see it is all coming to pass."</p> + +<p>It was one of the captain's foibles to believe himself a political +prophet; and, as he had really both written and spoken highly of +Washington, at the time mentioned, it had no small influence on his +opinions to find himself acting on the same side with this admired +favourite. Prophecies often produce their own fulfilment, in cases of much +greater gravity than this; and it is not surprising that our captain found +himself strengthened in his notions by the circumstance.</p> + +<p>The winter passed away without any of Maud's suitors making a visible +impression on her heart. In March, the English evacuated Boston, Robert +Willoughby sailing with his regiment for Halifax, and thence with the +expedition against Charleston, under Sir Henry Clinton. The next month, +the family returned to the Knoll, where it was thought wiser, and even +safer to be, at a moment so critical, than even in a more frequented +place. The war proceeded, and, to the captain's great regret, without any +very visible approaches towards the reconciliation he had so confidently +anticipated. This rather checked his warmth in favour of the colonial +cause; for, an Englishman by birth, he was much opposed at bottom to +anything like a dissolution of the tie that connected America with the +mother country; a political event that now began seriously to be talked of +among the initiated.</p> + +<p>Desirous of thinking as little as possible of disagreeable things, the +worthy owner of the valley busied himself with his crops, his mills, and +his improvements. He had intended to commence leasing his wild lands about +this time, and to begin a more extended settlement, with an eye to +futurity; but the state of the country forbade the execution of the +project, and he was fain to limit his efforts by their former boundaries. +The geographical position of the valley put it beyond any of the ordinary +exactions of military service; and, as there was a little doubt thrown +around its owner's opinions, partly in consequence of his son's present +and his own previous connection with the royal army, and partly on account +of Joel's secret machinations, the authorities were well content to let +the settlement alone, provided it would take care of itself. +Notwithstanding the prominent patriotism of Joel Strides and the miller, +they were well satisfied, themselves, with this state of things; +preferring peace and quietness to the more stirring scenes of war. Their +schemes, moreover, had met with somewhat of a check, in the feeling of the +population of the valley, which, on an occasion calculated to put their +attachment to its owner to the proof, had rather shown that they +remembered his justice, liberality, and upright conduct, more than exactly +comported with their longings. This manifestation of respect was shown at +an election for a representative in a local convention, in which every +individual at the Hutted Knoll, who had a voice at all, the two +conspirators excepted, had given it in favour of the captain. So decided +was this expression of feeling, indeed, that it compelled Joel and the +miller to chime in with the cry of the hour, and to vote contrary to their +own wishes.</p> + +<p>One, dwelling at the Hutted Knoll, in the summer of 1776, could never have +imagined that he was a resident of a country convulsed by a revolution, +and disfigured by war. There, everything seemed peaceful and calm, the +woods sighing with the airs of their sublime solitude, the genial sun +shedding its heats on a grateful and generous soil, vegetation ripening +and yielding with all the abundance of a bountiful nature, as in the more +tranquil days of peace and hope.</p> + +<p>"There is something frightful in the calm of this valley, Beulah!" +exclaimed Maud one Sunday, as she and her sister looked out of the library +window amid the breathing stillness of the forest, listening to the +melancholy sound of the bell that summoned them to prayers. "There is a +frightful calm over this place, at an hour when we know that strife and +bloodshed are so active in the country. Oh! that the hateful congress had +never thought of making this war!"</p> + +<p>"Evert writes me all is well, Maud; that the times will lead to good; the +people are right; and America will now be a nation--in time, he thinks, a +great, and a very great nation."</p> + +<p>"Ah! It is this ambition of greatness that hurries them all on! Why can +they not be satisfied with being respectable subjects of so great a +country as England, that they must destroy each other for this phantom of +liberty? Will it make them wiser, or happier, or better than they are?"</p> + +<p>Thus reasoned Maud, under the influence of one engrossing sentiment. As +our tale proceeds, we shall have occasion to show, perhaps, how far was +that submission to events which she inculcated, from the impulses of her +true character. Beulah answered mildly, but it was more as a young +American wife:</p> + +<p>"I know Evert thinks it all right, Maud; and you will own he is neither +fiery nor impetuous. If <i>his</i> cool judgment approve of what has been done, +we may well suppose that it has not been done in too much haste, or +needlessly."</p> + +<p>"Think, Beulah," rejoined Maud, with an ashen cheek, and in trembling +tones, "that Evert and Robert may, at this very moment, be engaged in +strife against each other. The last messenger who came in, brought us the +miserable tidings that Sir William Howe was landing a large army near New +York, and that the Americans were preparing to meet it. We are certain +that Bob is with his regiment; and his regiment we know is in the army. +How can we think of this liberty, at a moment so critical?"</p> + +<p>Beulah did not reply; for in spite of her quiet nature, and implicit +confidence in her husband, she could not escape a woman's solicitude. The +colonel had promised to write at every good occasion, and that which he +promised was usually performed. She thought, and thought rightly, that a +very few days would bring them intelligence of importance; though it came +in a shape she had little anticipated, and by a messenger she had then no +desire to see.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, the season and its labours advanced. August was over, and +September with its fruits had succeeded, promising to bring the year round +without any new or extraordinary incidents to change the fortunes of the +inmates of the Hutted Knoll. Beulah had now been married more than a +twelvemonth, and was already a mother; and of course all that time had +elapsed since the son quitted his father's house. Nick, too, had +disappeared shortly after his return from Boston; and throughout this +eventful summer, his dark, red countenance had not been seen in the +valley.</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch11"> +<h2>Chapter XI.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> And now 'tis still! no sound to wake<br /> + The primal forest's awful shade;<br /> + And breathless lies the covert brake,<br /> + Where many an ambushed form is laid:<br /> + I see the red-man's gleaming eye,<br /> + Yet all so hushed the gloom profound,<br /> + That summer birds flit heedlessly,<br /> + And mocking nature smiles around.</p> + +<p> Lunt.</p></div> + +<p> +The eventful summer of 1776 had been genial and generous in the valley of +the Hutted Knoll. With a desire to drive away obtrusive thoughts, the +captain had been much in his fields, and he was bethinking himself of +making a large contribution to the good cause, in the way of fatted +porkers, of which he had an unusual number, that he thought might yet be +driven through the forest to Fort Stanwix, before the season closed. In +the way of intelligence from the seat of war, nothing had reached the +family but a letter from the major, which he had managed to get sent, and +in which he wrote with necessary caution. He merely mentioned the arrival +of Sir William Howe's forces, and the state of his own health. There was a +short postscript, in the following words, the letter having been directed +to his father:--"Tell dearest Maud," he said, "that charming women have +ceased to charm me; glory occupying so much of my day-dreams, like an +<i>ignis fatuus</i>, I fear; and that as for love, <i>all</i> my affections are +centred in the dear objects at the Hutted Knoll. If I had met with a +single woman I admired half as much as I do her pretty self, I should have +been married long since." This was written in answer to some thoughtless +rattle that the captain had volunteered to put in his last letter, as +coming from Maud, who had sensitively shrunk from sending a message when +asked; and it was read by father, mother, and Beulah, as the badinage of a +brother to a sister, without awaking a second thought in either. Not so +with Maud, herself, however. When her seniors had done with this letter, +she carried it to her own room, reading and re-reading it a dozen times; +nor could she muster resolution to return it; but, finding at length that +the epistle was forgotten, she succeeded in retaining it without awakening +attention to what she had done. This letter now became her constant +companion, and a hundred times did the sweet gill trace its characters, in +the privacy of her chamber, or in that of her now solitary walks in the +woods.</p> + +<p>As yet, the war had produced none of those scenes of ruthless frontier +violence, that had distinguished all the previous conflicts of America. +The enemy was on the coast, and thither the efforts of the combatants had +been principally directed. It is true, an attempt on Canada had been made, +but it failed for want of means; neither party being in a condition to +effect much, as yet, in that quarter. The captain had commented on this +peculiarity of the present struggle; all those which had preceded it +having, as a matter of course, taken the direction of the frontiers +between the hostile provinces.</p> + +<p>"There is no use, Woods, in bothering ourselves about these things, after +all," observed captain Willoughby, one day, when the subject of hanging +the long-neglected gates came up between them. "It's a heavy job, and the +crops will suffer if we take off the hands this week. We are as safe, +here, as we should be in Hyde Park; and safer too; for there +house-breakers and foot-pads abound; whereas, <i>your</i> preaching has left +nothing but very vulgar and everyday sinners at the Knoll."</p> + +<p>The chaplain had little to say against this reasoning; for, to own the +truth, he saw no particular cause for apprehension. Impunity had produced +the feeling of security, until these gates had got to be rather a subject +of amusement, than of any serious discussion. The preceding year, when the +stockade was erected, Joel had managed to throw so many obstacles in the +way of hanging the gates, that the duty was not performed throughout the +whole of the present summer, the subject having been mentioned but once or +twice, and then only to be postponed to a more fitting occasion.</p> + +<p>As yet no one in the valley knew of the great event which had taken place +in July. A rumour of a design to declare the provinces independent had +reached the Hut, in May; but the major's letter was silent on this +important event, and positive information had arrived by no other channel; +otherwise, the captain would have regarded the struggle as much more +serious than he had ever done before; and he might have set about raising +these all-important gates in earnest. As it was, however, there they +stood; each pair leaning against its proper wall or stockade, though those +of the latter were so light as to have required but eight or ten men to +set them on their hinges, in a couple of hours at most.</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby still confined his agricultural schemes to the site of +the old Beaver Pond. The area of that was perfectly beautiful, every +unsightly object having been removed, while the fences and the tillage +were faultlessly neat and regular. Care had been taken, too, to render the +few small fields around the cabins which skirted this lovely rural scene, +worthy of their vicinage. The stumps had all been dug, the surfaces +levelled, and the orchards and gardens were in keeping with the charms +that nature had so bountifully scattered about the place.</p> + +<p>While, however, all in the shape of tillage was confined to this one spot, +the cattle ranged the forest for miles. Not only was the valley, but the +adjacent mountain-sides were covered with intersecting paths, beaten by +the herds, in the course of years. These paths led to many a glen, or +look-out, where Beulah and Maud had long been in the habit of pursuing +their rambles, during the sultry heats of summer, Though so beautiful to +the eye, the flats were not agreeable for walks; and it was but natural +for the lovers of the picturesque to seek the eminences, where they could +overlook the vast surfaces of leaves that were spread before them; or to +bury themselves in ravines and glens, within which the rays of the sun +scarce penetrated. The paths mentioned led near, or to, a hundred of these +places, all within a mile or two of the Hut. As a matter of course, then, +they were not neglected.</p> + +<p>Beulah had now been a mother several months. Her little Evert was born at +the Knoll, and he occupied most of those gentle and affectionate thoughts +which were not engrossed by his absent father. Her marriage, of itself, +had made some changes in her intercourse with Maud; but the birth of the +child had brought about still more. The care of this little being formed +Beulah's great delight; and Mrs. Willoughby had all that peculiar interest +in her descendant, which marks a grandmother's irresponsible love. These +two passed half their time in the nursery, a room fitted between their +respective chambers; leaving Maud more alone than it was her wont to be, +and of course to brood over her thoughts and feelings. These periods of +solitude our heroine was much accustomed to pass in the forest. Use had so +far emboldened her, that apprehension never shortened her walks, or +lessened their pleasure. Of danger, from any ordinary source, there was +literally next to none, man never having been known to approach the +valley, unless by the regular path; while the beasts of prey had been so +actively hunted, as rarely to be seen in that quarter of the country. The +panther excepted, no wild quadruped was to be in the least feared in +summer; and, of the first, none had ever been met with by Nick, or any of +the numerous woodsmen who had now frequented the adjacent hills for two +lustrums.</p> + +<p>About three hours before the setting of the sun, on the evening of the 23d +of September, 1776, Maud Willoughby was pursuing her way, quite alone, +along one of the paths beaten by the cattle, at some little distance from +a rocky eminence, where there was a look-out, on which Mike, by her +father's orders, had made a rude seat. It was on the side of the clearing +most remote from all the cabins; though once on the elevation, she could +command a view of the whole of the little panorama around the site of the +ancient pond. In that day, ladies wore the well-known gipsey hat, a style +that was peculiarly suited to the face of our heroine. Exercise had given +her cheeks a rich glow; and though a shade of sadness, or at least of +reflection, was now habitually thrown athwart her sweet countenance, this +bloom added an unusual lustre to her eyes, and a brilliancy to her beauty, +that the proudest belle of any drawing-room might have been glad to +possess. Although living so retired, her dress always became her rank; +being simple, but of the character that denotes refinement, and the habits +and tastes of a gentlewoman. In this particular, Maud had ever been +observant of what was due to herself; and, more than all, had she attended +to her present appearance since a chance expression of Robert Willoughby's +had betrayed how much he prized the quality in her.</p> + +<p>Looking thus, and in a melancholy frame of mind, Maud reached the rock, +and took her place on its simple seat, throwing aside her hat, to catch a +little of the cooling air on her burning cheeks. She turned to look at the +lovely view again, with a pleasure that never tired. The rays of the sun +were streaming athwart the verdant meadows and rich corn, lengthening the +shadows, and mellowing everything, as if expressly to please the eye of +one like her who now gazed upon the scene. Most of the people of the +settlement were in the open air, the men closing their day's works in the +fields, and the women and children busied beneath shades, with their +wheels and needles; the whole presenting such a picture of peaceful, rural +life, as a poet might delight to describe, or an artist to delineate with +his pencil.</p> + +<p> + "The landscape smiles + Calm in the sun; and silent are the hills + And valleys, and the blue serene of air."</p> + +<p><i>The Vanished Lark</i>.</p> + +<p> +"It is very beautiful!" thought Maud. "Why cannot men be content with such +scenes of loveliness and nature as this, and love each other, and be at +peace, as God's laws command? Then we might all be living happily +together, Mere, without trembling lest news of some sad misfortune should +reach us, from hour to hour. Beulah and Evert would not be separated; but +both could remain with their child--and my dear, dear father and mother +would be so happy to have us all around them, in security--and, then, Bob, +too--perhaps Bob might bring a wife from the town, with him, that I could +love as I do Beulah"--It was one of Maud's day-dreams to love the wife of +Bob, and make him happy by contributing to the happiness of those he most +prized--"No; I could never love her as I do <i>Beulah</i>; but I should make +her very dear to me, as I ought to, since she would be Bob's wife."</p> + +<p>The expression of Maud's face, towards the close of this mental +soliloquy, was of singular sadness; and yet it was the very picture of +sincerity and truth. It was some such look as the windows of the mind +assume, when the feelings struggle against nature and hope, for +resignation and submission to duty.</p> + +<p>At this instant, a cry arose from the valley! It was one of those +spontaneous, involuntary outbreakings of alarm, that no art can imitate, +no pen describe; but which conveys to the listener's ear, terror in the +very sound. At the next instant, the men from the mill were seen rushing +up to the summit of the cliff that impended over their dwellings, followed +by their wives dragging children after them, making frantic gestures, +indicative of alarm. The first impulse of Maud was to fly; but a moment's +reflection told her it was much too late for that. To remain and witness +what followed would be safer, and more wise. Her dress was dark, and she +would not be likely to be observed at the distance at which she was +placed; having behind her, too, a back-ground of gloomy rock. Then the +scene was too exciting to admit of much hesitation or delay in coming to a +decision; a fearful species of maddened curiosity mingling with her alarm. +Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that Maud continued gazing +on what she saw, with eyes that seemed to devour the objects before them.</p> + +<p>The first cry from the valley was followed by the appearance of the +fugitives from the mill. These took the way towards the Hut, calling on +the nearest labourers by name, to seek safety in flight. The words could +not be distinguished at the rock, though indistinct sounds might; but the +gestures could not be mistaken. In half a minute, the plain was alive with +fugitives; some rushing to their cabins for their children, and all taking +the direction of the stockade, as soon as the last were found. In five +minutes the roads and lanes near the Knoll were crowded with men, women +and children, hastening forward to its protection, while a few of the +former had already rushed through the gateways, as Maud correctly +fancied, in quest of their arms.</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby was riding among his labourers when this fearful +interruption to a tranquillity so placid first broke upon his ear. +Accustomed to alarms, he galloped forward to meet the fugitives from the +mill, issuing orders as he passed to several of the men nearest the house. +With the miller, who thought little of anything but safety at that +instant, he conversed a moment, and then pushed boldly on towards the +verge of the cliffs. Maud trembled as she saw her father in a situation +which she thought must be so exposed; but his cool manner of riding about +proved that he saw no enemy very near. At length he waved his hat to some +object, or person in the glen beneath; and she even thought she heard his +shout. At the next moment, he turned his horse, and was seen scouring +along the road towards the Hut. The lawn was covered with the fugitives as +the captain reached it, while a few armed men were already coming out of +the court-yard. Gesticulating as if giving orders, the captain dashed +through them all, without drawing the rein, and disappeared in the court. +A minute later, he re-issued, bearing his arms, followed by his wife and +Beulah, the latter pressing little Evert to her bosom.</p> + +<p>Something like order now began to appear among the men. Counting all ages +and both colours, the valley, at this particular moment, could muster +thirty-three males capable of bearing arms. To these might be added some +ten or fifteen women who had occasionally brought down a deer, and who +might be thought more or less dangerous, stationed at a loop, with a rifle +or a musket. Captain Willoughby had taken some pains to drill the former, +who could go through some of the simpler light-infantry evolutions. Among +them he had appointed sundry corporals, while Joel Strides had been named +a serjeant. Joyce, now an aged and war-worn veteran, did the duty of +adjutant. Twenty men were soon drawn up in array, in front of the open +gateway on the lawn, under the immediate orders of Joyce; and the last +woman and child, that had been seen approaching the place of refuge, had +passed within the stockade. At this instant captain Willoughby called a +party of the stragglers around him, and set about hanging the gates of the +outer passage, or that which led through the palisades.</p> + +<p>Maud would now have left the rock, but, at that moment, a dark body of +Indians poured up over the cliffs, crowning it with a menacing cloud of at +least fifty armed warriors. The rivulet lay between her and the Hut, and +the nearest bridge that crossed it would have brought her within reach of +danger. Then it would require at least half an hour to reach that bridge +by the circuitous path she would be compelled to take, and there was +little hope of getting over it before the strangers should have advanced. +It was better to remain where she could behold what was passing, and to be +governed by events, than to rush blindly into unseen risks.</p> + +<p>The party that crowned the cliffs near the mills, showed no impatience to +advance. It was evidently busy in reconnoitring, and in receiving +accessions to its numbers. The latter soon increased to some seventy or +eighty warriors. After waiting several minutes in inaction, a musket, or +rifle, was fired towards the Hut, as if to try the effect of a summons and +the range of a bullet. At this hint the men on the lawn retired within the +stockade, stacked their arms, and joined the party that was endeavouring +to get the gates in their places. From the circumstance that her father +directed all the women and children to retire within the court, Maud +supposed that the bullet might have fallen somewhere near them. It was +quite evident, however, that no one was injured.</p> + +<p>The gates intended for the stockade, being open like the rest of that +work, were materially lighter than those constructed for the house itself. +The difficulty was in handling them with the accuracy required to enter +the hinges, of which there were three pairs. This difficulty existed on +account of their great height. Of physical force, enough could be applied +to toss them over the stockade itself, if necessary; but finesse was +needed, rather than force, to effect the principal object, and that under +difficult circumstances. It is scarcely possible that the proximity of so +fierce an enemy as a body of savages in their war-paint, for such the men +at the mill had discovered was the guise of their assailants, would in any +measure favour the coolness and tact of the labourers. Poor Maud lost the +sense of her own danger, in the nervous desire to see the long-forgotten +gates hung; and she rose once or twice, in feverish excitement, as she saw +that the leaf which was raised fell in or out, missing its fastenings. +Still the men persevered, one or two sentinels being placed to watch the +Indians, and give timely notice of their approach, should they advance.</p> + +<p>Maud now kneeled, with her face bowed to the seat, and uttered a short but +most fervent prayer, in behalf of the dear beings that the Hut contained. +This calmed her spirits a little, and she rose once more to watch the +course of events. The body of men had left the gate at which they had just +been toiling, and were crowding around its fellow. One leaf was hung! As +an assurance of this, she soon after saw her father swing it backward and +forward on its hinges, to cause it to settle into its place. This was an +immense relief, though she had heard too many tales of Indian warfare, to +think there was any imminent danger of an attack by open day, in the very +face of the garrison. The cool manner in which her father proceeded, +satisfied her that he felt the same security, for the moment; his great +object being, in truth, to make suitable provision against the hours of +darkness.</p> + +<p>Although Maud had been educated as a lady, and possessed the delicacy and +refinement of her class, she had unavoidably caught some of the fire and +resolution of a frontier life. To her, the forest, for instance, possessed +no fancied dangers; but when there was real ground for alarm, she +estimated its causes intelligently, and with calmness. So it was, also, in +the present crisis. She remembered all she had been taught, or had heard, +and quick of apprehension, her information was justly applied to the +estimate of present circumstances.</p> + +<p>The men at the Hut soon had the second leaf of the gate ready to be +raised. At this instant, an Indian advanced across the flat alone, bearing +a branch of a tree in his hand, and moving swiftly. This was a flag of +truce, desiring to communicate with the pale-faces. Captain Willoughby met +the messenger alone, at the foot of the lawn, and there a conference took +place that lasted several minutes. Maud could only conjecture its objects, +though she thought her father's attitude commanding, and his gestures +stern. The red-man, as usual, was quiet and dignified. This much our +heroine saw, or fancied she saw; but beyond this, of course, all was vague +conjecture. Just as the two were about to part, and had even made +courteous signs of their intention, a shout arose from the workmen, which +ascended, though faintly, as high as the rock. Captain Willoughby turned, +and then Maud saw his arm extended towards the stockade. The second leaf +of the gate was in its place, swinging to and fro, in a sort of exulting +demonstration of its uses! The savage moved away, more slowly than he had +advanced, occasionally stopping to reconnoitre the Knoll and its defences.</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby now returned to his people, and he was some time busied +in examining the gates, and giving directions about its fastenings. +Utterly forgetful of her own situation, Maud shed tears of joy, as she saw +that this great object was successfully effected. The stockade was an +immense security to the people of the Hut. Although it certainly might be +scaled, such an enterprise would require great caution, courage, and +address; and it could hardly be effected, at all, by daylight. At night, +even, it would allow the sentinels time to give the alarm, and with a +vigilant look-out, might be the means of repelling an enemy. There was +also another consideration connected with this stockade. An enemy would +not be fond of trusting himself <i>inside</i> of it, unless reasonably certain +of carrying the citadel altogether; inasmuch as it might serve as a prison +to place him in the hands of the garrison. To recross it under a fire from +the loops, would be an exploit so hazardous that few Indians would think +of undertaking it. All this Maud knew from her father's conversations, and +she saw how much had been obtained in raising the gates. Then the +stockade, once properly closed, afforded great security to those moving +about within it; the timbers would be apt to stop a bullet, and were a +perfect defence against a rush; leaving time to the women and children to +get into the court, even allowing that the assailants succeeded in scaling +the palisades.</p> + +<p>Maud thought rapidly and well, in the strait in which she was placed. She +understood most of the movements, on both sides, and she also saw the +importance of her remaining where she could note all that passed, if she +intended to make an attempt at reaching the Hut, after dark. This +necessity determined her to continue at the rock, so long as light +remained. She wondered she was not missed, but rightly attributed the +circumstance to the suddenness of the alarm, and the crowd of other +thoughts which would naturally press upon the minds of her friends, at +such a fearful moment. "I will stay where I am," thought Maud, a little +proudly, "and prove, if I am not really the daughter of Hugh Willoughby, +that I am not altogether unworthy of his love and care! I can even pass +the night in the forest, at this warm season, without suffering."</p> + +<p>Just as these thoughts crossed her mind, in a sort of mental soliloquy, a +stone rolled from a path above her, and fell over the rock on which the +seat was placed. A footstep was then heard, and the girl's heart beat +quick with apprehension. Still she conceived it safest to remain perfectly +quiet. She scarce breathed in her anxiety to be motionless. Then it +occurred to her, that some one beside herself might be out from the Hut, +and that a friend was near. Mike had been in the woods that very +afternoon, she knew; for she had seen him; and the true-hearted fellow +would indeed be a treasure to her, at that awful moment. This idea, which +rose almost to certainty as soon as it occurred, induced her to spring +forward, when the appearance of a man, whom she did not recognise, dressed +in a hunting-shirt, and otherwise attired for the woods, carrying a short +rifle in the hollow of his arm, caused her to stop, in motionless terror. +At first, her presence was not observed; but, no sooner did the stranger +catch a glimpse of her person, than he stopped, raised his hands in +surprise, laid his rifle against a tree, and sprang forward; the girl +closing her eyes, and sinking on the seat, with bowed head, expecting the +blow of the deadly tomahawk.</p> + +<p>"Maud--dearest, <i>dearest</i> Maud--do you not know me!" exclaimed one, +leaning over the pallid girl, while he passed an arm round her slender +waist, with an affection so delicate and reserved, that, at another time, +it might have attracted attention. "Look up, dear girl, and show that at +least you fear not <i>me!</i>"</p> + +<p>"Bob," said the half-senseless Maud. "Whence come you?--<i>Why</i> do you come +at this fearful instant!--Would to God your visit had been better timed!"</p> + +<p>"Terror makes you say this, my poor Maud! Of all the family, I had hoped +for the warmest welcome from <i>you</i>. We think alike about this war--then +you are not so much terrified at the idea of my being found here, but can +hear reason. Why do you say this, then, my dearest Maud?"</p> + +<p>By this time Maud had so far recovered as to be able to look up into the +major's face, with an expression in which alarm was blended with +unutterable tenderness. Still she did not throw her arms around him, as a +sister would clasp a beloved brother; but, rather, as he pressed her +gently to his bosom, repelled the embrace by a slight resistance. +Extricating herself, however, she turned and pointed towards the valley.</p> + +<p>"Why do I say this? See for yourself--the savages have at length come, and +the whole dreadful picture is before you."</p> + +<p>Young Willoughby's military eye took in the scene at a glance. The Indians +were still at the cliff, and the people of the settlement were straining +at the heavier gates of the Hut, having already got one of them into a +position where it wanted only the proper application of a steady force to +be hung. He saw his father actively employed in giving directions; and a +few pertinent questions drew all the other circumstances from Maud. The +enemy had now been in the valley more than an hour, and the movements of +the two parties were soon related.</p> + +<p>"Are you alone, dearest Maud? are you shut out by this sudden inroad?" +demanded the major, with concern and surprise.</p> + +<p>"So it would seem. I can see no other--though I did think Michael might be +somewhere near me, in the woods, here; I at first mistook your footsteps +for his."</p> + +<p>"That is a mistake"--returned Willoughby, levelling a small pocket +spy-glass at the Hut--"Mike is tugging at that gate, upholding a part of +it, like a corner-stone. I see most of the faces I know there, and my dear +father is as active, and yet as cool, as if at the head of a regiment."</p> + +<p>"Then I am alone--it is perhaps better that as many as possible should be +in the house to defend it."</p> + +<p>"Not alone, my sweet Maud, so long as I am with you. Do you still think my +visit so ill-timed?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not, after all. Heaven knows what I should have done, by myself, +when it became dark!"</p> + +<p>"But are we safe on this seat?--May we not be seen by the Indians, since +we so plainly see them?"</p> + +<p>"I think not. I have often remarked that when Evert and Beulah have been +here, their figures could not be perceived from the lawn; owing, I fancy, +to the dark back-ground of rock. My dress is not light, and you are in +green; which is the colour of the leaves, and not easily to be +distinguished. No other spot gives so good a view of what takes place in +the valley. We must risk a little exposure, or act in the dark."</p> + +<p>"You are a soldier's daughter, Maud"--This was as true of major Meredith +as of captain Willoughby, and might therefore be freely said by even +Bob--"You are a soldier's daughter, and nature has clearly intended you to +be a soldier's wife. This is a <i>coup-d'-oeil</i> not to be despised."</p> + +<p>"I shall never be a wife at all"--murmured Maud, scarce knowing what she +said; "I may not live to be a soldier's daughter, even, much longer. But, +why are <i>you</i> here?--surely, surely <i>you</i> can have no connection with +those savages!--I have heard of such horrors; but <i>you</i> would not +accompany <i>them</i>, even though it were to <i>protect</i> the Hut."</p> + +<p>"I'll not answer for that, Maud. One would do a great deal to preserve his +paternal dwelling from pillage, and his father's grey hairs from violence. +But I came alone; that party and its objects being utterly strangers to +me."</p> + +<p>"And <i>why</i> do you come at all, Bob?" inquired the anxious girl, looking up +into his face with open affection--"The situation of the country is now +such, as to make your visits very hazardous."</p> + +<p>"Who could know the regular major in this hunting-shirt, and forest garb? +I have not an article about my person to betray me, even were I before a +court. No fear for me then, Maud; unless it be from these demons in human +shape, the savages. Even they do not seem to be very fiercely inclined, as +they appear at this moment more disposed to eat, than to attack the Hut. +Look for yourself; those fellows are certainly preparing to take their +food; the group that is just now coming over the cliffs, is dragging a +deer after it."</p> + +<p>Maud took the glass, though with an unsteady hand, and she looked a moment +at the savages. The manner in which the instrument brought these wild +beings nearer to her eye, caused her to shudder, and she was soon +satisfied.</p> + +<p>"That deer was killed this morning by the miller," she said; "they have +doubtless found it in or near his cabin. We will be thankful, however, for +this breathing-time--it may enable my dear father to get up the other +gate. Look, Robert, and see what progress they make?"</p> + +<p>"One side is just hung, and much joy does it produce among them! +Persevere, my noble old father, and you will soon be safe against your +enemies. What a calm and steady air he has, amid it all! Ah! Maud, Hugh +Willoughby ought, at this moment, to be at the head of a brigade, helping +to suppress this accursed and unnatural rebellion. Nay, more; he <i>may</i> be +there, if he will only listen to reason and duty."</p> + +<p>"And <i>this</i> is then your errand here, Bob?" asked his fair companion, +gazing earnestly at the major.</p> + +<p>"It is, Maud--and I hope you, whose feelings I know to be right, can +encourage me to hope."</p> + +<p>"I fear not. It is now too late. Beulah's marriage with Evert has +strengthened his opinions--and then"</p> + +<p>"What, dearest Maud? You pause as if that '<i>then</i>' had a meaning you +hesitated to express."</p> + +<p>Maud coloured; after which she smiled faintly, and proceeded: "We should +speak reverently of a father--and such a father, too. But does it not seem +probable to you, Bob, that the many discussions he has with Mr. Woods may +have a tendency to confirm each in his notions?"</p> + +<p>Robert Willoughby would have answered in the affirmative, had not a sudden +movement at the Hut prevented.</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch12"> +<h2>Chapter XII.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> From Flodden ridge<br /> + The Scots beheld the English host<br /> + Leave Barmore wood, their evening post,<br /> + And heedful watched them as they crossed<br /> + The Till by Twisal Bridge.</p> + +<p> Scott</p></div> + +<p> +It was just at this instant that most of the women of the settlement +rushed from the court, and spread themselves within the stockade, Mrs. +Willoughby and Beulah being foremost in the movement. The captain left the +gate, too, and even the men, who were just about to raise the last leaf, +suspended their toil. It was quite apparent some new cause for uneasiness +or alarm had suddenly awoke among them. Still the stack of arms remained +untouched, nor was there any new demonstration among the Indians. The +major watched everything, with intense attention, through the glass.</p> + +<p>"What is it, dear Bob?" demanded the anxious Maud. "I see my dearest +mother--she seems alarmed."</p> + +<p>"Was it known to her that you were about to quit the house, when you came +out on this walk?"</p> + +<p>"I rather think not. She and Beulah were in the nursery with little Evert, +and my father was in the fields. I came out without speaking to any +person, nor did I meet any before entering the forest."</p> + +<p>"Then you are now first missed. Yes, that is it--and no wonder, Maud, it +creates alarm. Merciful God! How must they all feel, at a moment like +this!"</p> + +<p>"Fire your rifle, Bob--that will draw their eyes in this direction, and I +will wave my handkerchief--perhaps <i>that</i> might be seen. Beulah has +received such signals from me, before."</p> + +<p>"It would never do. No, we must remain concealed, watching their +movements, in order to be able to aid them at the proper time. It is +painful to endure this suspense, beyond a doubt; but the pain must be +borne in order to ensure the safety of one who is so very, very precious +to us all."</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the fearful situation in which she was placed, Maud felt +soothed by these words. The language of affection, as coming from Robert +Willoughby, was very dear to her at all times, and never more than at a +moment when it appeared that even her life was suspended, as it might be, +by a hair.</p> + +<p>"It is as you say," she answered gently, giving him her hand with much of +her ancient frankness of manner; "we should be betrayed, and of course +lost--but what means the movement at the Hut?"</p> + +<p>There was indeed a movement within the stockade. Maud's absence was now +clearly ascertained, and it is needless to describe the commotion the +circumstance produced. No one thought any longer of the half of the gate +that still remained to be hung, but every supposable part of the house and +enclosure had been examined in quest of her who was missing. Our heroine's +last remark, however, was produced by certain indications of an intention +to make a descent from one of the external windows of the common parlour, +a room it will be remembered that stood on the little cliff, above the +rivulet that wound beneath its base. This cliff was about forty feet high, +and though it offered a formidable obstacle to any attempt to scale it, +there was no great difficulty in an active man's descending, aided by a +rope. The spot, too, was completely concealed from the view of the party +which still remained on the rock, near the mill, at a distance of quite +half a mile from the gates of the stockade. This fact greatly facilitated +the little sortie, since, once in the bed of the rivulet, which was +fringed with bushes, it would be very practicable, by following its +windings, to gain the forest unseen. The major levelled his glass at the +windows, and immediately saw the truth of all that has here been +mentioned.</p> + +<p>"They are preparing to send a party out," he said, "and doubtless in quest +of you, Maud. The thing is very feasible, provided the savages remain much +longer in their present position. It is matter of surprise to me, that the +last have not sent a force in the rear of the Hut, where the windows are +at least exposed to fire, and the forest is so close as to afford a cover +to the assailants. In front there is literally none, but a few low fences, +which is the reason I presume that they keep so much aloof."</p> + +<p>"It is not probable they know the valley. With the exception of Nick, but +few Indians have ever visited us, and that rarely. Those we have seen have +all been of the most peaceable and friendly tribes; not a true warrior, as +my father says, ever having been found among them. Nick is the only one of +them all that can thus be termed."</p> + +<p>"Is it possible that fellow has led this party? I have never more than +half confided in him, and yet he is too old a friend of the family, I +should think, to be guilty of such an act of baseness."</p> + +<p>"My father thinks him a knave, but I question if he has an opinion of him +as bad as that. Besides, <i>he</i> knows the valley, and would have led the +Indians round into the rear of the house, if it be a place so much more +favourable for the attack, as you suppose. These wretches have come by the +common paths, all of which first strike the river, as you know, below the +mills."</p> + +<p>"That is true. I lost my way, a few miles from this, the path being very +blind on the eastern route, which I travelled as having gone it last with +Nick, and thinking it the safest. Fortunately I recognised the crest of +this mountain above us, by its shape, or I might never have found my way; +although the streams, when struck, are certain guides to the woodsman. As +soon as I hit the cow-paths, I knew they would lead me to the barns and +sheds. See! a man is actually descending from a window!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! Bob, I hope it is not my father! He is too old--it is risking too +much to let him quit the house."</p> + +<p>"I will tell you better when he reaches the ground. Unless +mistaken--ay--it is the Irishman, O'Hearn."</p> + +<p>"Honest Mike! He is always <i>foremost</i> in everything, though he so little +knows how anything but digging ought to be done. Is there not another +following him--or am I deceived?"</p> + +<p>"There is--he has just reached the ground, too. This might be spared, did +they know how well you are guarded, Maud. By one who would die cheerfully +to prevent harm from reaching you!"</p> + +<p>"They little dream of that, Bob," answered Maud, in a low tone. "Not a +human being in that valley fancies you nearer to him than the royal armies +are, at this moment. But they do not send a third--I am glad they weaken +their own force no further."</p> + +<p>"It is certainly best they should not. The men had their rifles slung when +they descended, and they are now getting them ready for service. It is +Joel Strides who is with Mike."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry for it. <i>That</i> is a man I little like, Bob, and I should be +sorry he knew of your being here."</p> + +<p>This was said quickly, and with a degree of feeling that surprised the +major, who questioned Maud earnestly as to her meaning and its reasons. +The latter told him she scarce knew herself; that she disliked the man's +manner, had long thought his principles bad, and that Mike in his +extraordinary way had said certain things to her, to awaken distrust.</p> + +<p>"Mike speaks in hieroglyphics," said the major, laughing, in spite of the +serious situation in which he and his companion were placed, "and one must +never be too sure of <i>his</i> meaning. Joel has now been many years with my +father, and he seems to enjoy his confidence."</p> + +<p>"He makes himself useful, and is very guarded in what he says at the Hut. +Still--I wish him not to know of your being here."</p> + +<p>"It will not be easy to prevent it, Maud. I should have come boldly into +the valley, but for this accidental meeting with you, trusting that my +father has no one about him so base as to betray his son."</p> + +<p>"Trust not Joel Strides. I'll answer for Mike with my life; but sorry +indeed should I be that Joel Strides knew of your being among us. It were +better, perhaps, that most of the workmen should not be in the secret. +See--the two men are quitting the foot of the rocks."</p> + +<p>This was true, and Robert Willoughby watched their movements with the +glass. As had been expected, they first descended into the bed of the +rivulet, wading along its shore, under the cover of the bushes, until they +soon became concealed even from the view of one placed on a height as +elevated as that occupied by Robert and Maud. It was sufficiently +apparent, however, that their intention was to reach the forest in this +manner, when they would probably commence their search for the missing +young lady. Nor was it long before Robert and Maud plainly saw the two +adventurers quit the bed of the stream and bury themselves in the forest. +The question now seriously arose as to the best course for the major and +his companion to pursue. Under ordinary circumstances, it would have been +wisest, perhaps, to descend at once and meet the messengers, who might +soon be found at some of the usual haunts of the girl; but against this +the latter so earnestly protested, and that in a manner so soothing to the +young man's feelings, that he scarce knew how to oppose her wishes. She +implored him not to confide in Joel Strides too hastily, at least. It +might be time enough, when there was no alternative; until the true +character of the party then in the valley was known, it would be +premature. Nothing was easier than to conceal himself until it was dark, +when he might approach the Hut, and be admitted without his presence being +known to any but those on whom the family could certainly rely. The major +urged the impossibility of his quitting Maud, until she was joined by the +two men sent in quest of her, and then it would be too late, as he must be +seen. Although he might escape immediate recognition in his present dress, +the presence of a stranger would excite suspicions, and compel an +explanation. To this Maud replied in the following manner: Her customary +places of resort, when in the woods, were well known; more especially to +Michael, who was frequently employed in their vicinity. These were a +little water-fall, that was situated a hundred rods up the rivulet, to +which a path had been made expressly, and where an arbour, seat, and +little table had been arranged, for the purposes of working, reading, or +taking refreshments. To this spot the men would unquestionably proceed +first. Then, there was a deep ravine, some distance farther, that was +often visited for its savage beauty, and whither she more frequently went, +perhaps, than to any other place. Thither Michael would be certain to lead +his companion. These two places visited, they might infallibly expect to +see the men at the rock, where the two were then seated, as the last spot +in which Maud might naturally be expected to be found. It would require an +hour to visit the two places first named, and to examine the surrounding +woods; and by that time, not only would the sun be set, but the twilight +would be disappearing. Until that moment, then, the major might remain at +her side, and on the sound of the approaching footsteps of the messengers, +he had only to retire behind a projection of the rocks, and afterwards +follow towards the Knoll, at a safe distance.</p> + +<p>This plan was too plausible to be rejected; and giving Robert an hour of +uninterrupted discourse with his companion, it struck him as having more +advantages than any other mentioned. The party near the mills, too, +remaining perfectly quiet, there was less occasion for any change of their +own, than might otherwise have been the case. So far, indeed, from +appearing to entertain any hostile intention, not a cabin had been +injured, if approached, and the smoke of the conflagration which had been +expected to rise from the mills and the habitations in the glen, did not +make its appearance. If any such ruthless acts as applying the brand and +assaulting the people were in contemplation, they were at least delayed +until night should veil them in a fitting darkness.</p> + +<p>It is always a great relief to the mind, in moments of trial, to have +decided on a course of future action. So the major and Maud now found; +for, taking his seat by her side, he began to converse with his companion +more connectedly, and with greater calmness than either had yet been able +to achieve. Many questions were asked, and answers given, concerning the +state of the family, that of his father and mother, and dear Beulah and +her infant, the latter being as yet quite a stranger to the young soldier.</p> + +<p>"Is he like his rebel of a father?" asked the royal officer, smiling, but +as his companion fancied, painfully; "or has he more of the look of the +Willoughbys. Beekman is a good-looking Dutchman; yet, I would rather have +the boy resemble the good old English stock, after all."</p> + +<p>"The sweet little fellow resembles both father and mother; though the +first the most, to Beulah's great delight. Papa says he is true 'Holland's +come of', as they call it, though neither mamma nor I will allow of any +such thing. Colonel Beekman is a very worthy man, Bob, and a most +affectionate and attentive husband. Beulah, but for this war, could not be +happier."</p> + +<p>"Then I forgive him one-half of his treason--for the remainder let him +take his luck. Now I am an uncle, my heart begins to melt a little towards +the rebel. And you, Maud, how do the honours of an aunt sit upon your +feelings? But women are all heart, and would love a rat."</p> + +<p>Maud smiled, but she answered not. Though Beulah's child were almost as +dear to her as one of her own could have been, she remembered that she was +<i>not</i> its aunt, in fact; and, though she knew not why, in that company, +and even at that grave moment, the obtrusive thought summoned a bright +flush to her cheeks. The major probably did not notice this change of +countenance, since, after a short pause, he continued the conversation +naturally.</p> + +<p>"The child is called Evert, is it not, <i>aunt</i> Maud?" he asked, laying an +emphasis on 'aunt.'</p> + +<p>Maud wished this word had not been used; and yet Robert Willoughby, could +the truth have been known, had adverted to it with an association in his +own mind, that would have distressed her, just then, still more. <i>Aunt</i> +Maud was the name that others, however, were most fond of adopting, since +the birth of the child; and remembering this, our heroine smiled.</p> + +<p>"That is what Beulah has called me, these six months," she said--"or +ever since Evert was born. I became an aunt the day he became a nephew; +and dear, good Beulah has not once called me <i>sister</i> since, I think."</p> + +<p>"These little creatures introduce new ties into families," answered the +major, thoughtfully. "They take the places of the generations before them, +and edge us out of our hold on the affections, as in the end they supplant +us in our stations in life. If Beulah love me only as an <i>uncle</i>, however, +she may look to it. I'll be supplanted by no Dutchman's child that was +ever born!"</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i>, Bob!" cried Maud, starting. "You are its <i>real</i> uncle; Beulah must +ever remember <i>you</i>, and <i>love</i> you, as her <i>own</i> brother!"</p> + +<p>Maud's voice became suddenly hushed, like one who feared she had said too +much. The major gazed at her intently, but he spoke not; nor did his +companion see his look, her own eyes being cast meekly and tremblingly on +the earth at her feet. A considerable pause succeeded, and then the +conversation reverted to what was going on in the valley.</p> + +<p>The sun was now set, and the shadows of evening began to render objects a +little indistinct beneath them. Still it was apparent that much anxiety +prevailed in and about the Hut, doubtless on account of our heroine's +absence. So great was it, indeed, as entirely to supersede the hanging of +the remaining leaf of the gate, which stood in the gap where it belonged, +stayed by pieces of timber, but unhung. The major thought some disposition +had been made, however, by which the inmates might pass and repass by the +half that was suspended, making a tolerable defence, when all was closed.</p> + +<p>"Hist!" whispered Maud, whose faculties were quickened by the danger of +her companion; "I hear the voice of Michael, and they approach. No sense +of danger can repress poor O'Hearn's eloquence; his ideas seeming to flow +from his tongue very much as they rise to his thoughts, chance directing +which shall appear first."</p> + +<p>"It is true, dear girl; and as you seem so strongly to wish it, I will +withdraw. Depend on my keeping near you, and on my presence, should it be +required."</p> + +<p>"You will not forget to come beneath the windows, Bob," said Maud, +anxiously, but in great haste; for the footsteps of the men drew rapidly +near; "at the very spot where the others descended."</p> + +<p>The major bent forward and kissed a cheek that was chilled with +apprehension, but which the act caused to burn like fire; then he +disappeared behind the projection of rock he had himself pointed out. As +for Maud, she sat in seeming composure, awaiting the approach of those who +drew near.</p> + +<p>"The divil bur-r-n me, and all the Injins in Ameriky along wid me," said +Mike, scrambling up the ascent by a short cut, "but I think we'll find the +young Missus, here, or I don't think we'll be finding her the night. It's +a cursed counthry to live in, Misther Strides, where a young lady of the +loveliness and pithiful beauty of Miss Maud can be lost in the woods, as +it might be a sheep or a stray baste that was for tasting the neighbour's +pastures."</p> + +<p>"You speak too loud, Mike, and you speak foolishness into the bargain," +returned the wary Joel.</p> + +<p>"Is it I, you mane! Och! don't think ye 're goin' to set me a rowin' a +boat once more, ag'in my inclinations and edication, as ye did in ould +times. I've rung ye into yer ma'tin', and out of yer m'atin', too, twenty +times too often to be catched in that same trap twice. It's Miss Maud I +wants, and Miss Maud I'll find, or ---- Lord bless her swate face and +morals, and her cha<i>rack</i>ter, and all belonging to her!--isn't that, now, +a prathy composure for the likes of her, and the savages at the mill, and +the Missus in tears, and the masther mighty un'asy, and all of us +bothered! See how she sits on that bit of a sate that I puts there for her +wid my own hands, as a laddy should, looking jist what she is, the quane +of the woods, and the delight of our eyes!"</p> + +<p>Maud was too much accustomed to the rhapsodies of the county Leitrim-man +to think much of this commencement; but resolute to act her part with +discretion, she rose to meet him, speaking with great apparent +self-possession.</p> + +<p>"Is it possible you are in quest of me?" she said--"why has this +happened?--I usually return about this hour."</p> + +<p>"Hoors is it! Don't talk of hoors, beauthiful young laddy, when a single +quarther may be too late," answered Mike, dogmatically. "It's your own +mother that's not happy at yer being in the woods the night, and yer ould +father that has moore un'asiness than he'll confess; long life to the +church in which confession is held to be right, and dacent, and accorthing +to the gospel of St. Luke, and the whole calender in the bargain. Ye'll +not be frightened, Miss Maud, but take what I've to tell ye jist as if ye +didn't bel'ave a wo-r-r-d of it; but, divil bur-r-n me, if there arn't +Injins enough on the rocks, forenent the mill, to scalp a whole province, +and a county along wid it, if ye'll give 'em time and knives enough."</p> + +<p>"I understand you, Michael, but am not in the least alarmed," answered +Maud, with an air of great steadiness; such, indeed, as would have +delighted the captain. "Something of what has been passing below have I +seen; but, by being calm and reasonable, we shall escape the danger. Tell +me only, that all is safe in the Hut--that my dear mother and sister are +well."</p> + +<p>"Is it the Missus? Och, she's as valiant as a peacock, only strick down +and overcome about your own self! As for Miss Beuly, where's the likes of +her to be found, unless it's on this same bit of a rock? And it's agraable +to see the captain, looking for all the wor-r-ld like a commander-in-chaif +of six or eight rijiments, ordering one this-a-way, and another +that-a-way--By St. Patrick, young laddy, I only hopes them vagabonds will +come on as soon as yourself is inside the sticks, jist to give the ould +jontleman a better occasion to play souldier on 'em. Should they happen to +climb over the sticks, I've got the prattiest bit of a shillaleh ready +that mortal eyes iver adorned! 'Twould break a head and niver a hat +harmed--a thousand's the pities them chaps wears no hats. Howsever, we'll +see."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Mike, for the courage you show, and the interest you take in +all our welfares--Is it not too soon to venture down upon the flats, Joel? +I must trust to <i>you</i> as a guide."</p> + +<p>"I think Miss Maud would do full as well if she did. Mike must be told, +too, not to talk so much, and above all, not to speak so loud. He may be +heard, sometimes, a dozen rods."</p> + +<p>"Tould!" exclaimed the county Leitrim-man, in heat--"And isn't tould I've +been twenty times already, by your own smooth conversation? Where's the +occasion to tell a thing over and over ag'in, when a man is not wanting in +ears. It's the likes of you that loves to convarse."</p> + +<p>"Well, Mike, for my sake, you will be silent, I hope," said Maud. +"Remember, I am not fitted for a battle, and the first thing is to get +safely into the house. The sooner we are down the hill, perhaps, the +better it may be. Lead the way, then, Joel, and I will follow. Michael +will go next to you, in readiness for any enemy, and I will bring up the +rear. It will be better for all to keep a dead silence, until it be +necessary to speak."</p> + +<p>This arrangement was made, and the party proceeded, Maud remaining a +little behind, in order that the major might catch glimpses of her person, +in the sombre light of the hour and the forest, and not miss the road. A +few minutes brought them all upon the level land, where, Joel, instead of +entering the open fields, inclined more into the woods, always keeping one +of the many paths. His object was to cross the rivulet under cover, a +suitable place offering a short distance from the point where the stream +glided out of the forest. Towards this spot Joel quietly held his way, +occasionally stopping to listen if any movement of importance had occurred +on the flats. As for Maud, her eyes were frequently cast behind her, for +she was fearful Robert Willoughby might miss the path, having so little +acquaintance with the thousand sinuosities he encountered. She caught +glimpses of his person, however, in the distance, and saw that he was on +the right track. Her chief concern, therefore, soon became an anxiety that +he should not be seen by her companions. As they kept a little in advance, +and the underbrush was somewhat thick, she had strong hopes that this evil +would be avoided.</p> + +<p>The path being very circuitous, it took some time to reach the spot Joel +sought. Here he, Mike, and Maud, crossed the rivulet on a tree that had +been felled expressly to answer the purposes of a rustic foot-bridge; a +common expedient of the American forest. As our heroine had often +performed this exploit when alone, she required no assistance, and she +felt as if half the danger of her critical situation had vanished, when +she found herself on the same side of the stream as the Hut. Joel, nothing +suspecting, and keeping all his faculties on the sounds and sights that +might occur in front, led the way diligently, and soon reached the verge +of the woods. Here he paused for his companions to join him.</p> + +<p>Twilight had, by this time, nearly disappeared. Still, enough remained to +enable Maud to perceive that many were watching for her, either at the +windows above the cliff, or through different parts of the stockades. The +distance was so small, that it might have been possible, by raising the +voice, even to converse; but this would be an experiment too hazardous, as +some hostile scouts, at that hour might very well be fearfully near.</p> + +<p>"I see nothing, Miss Maud," observed Joel, after taking a good look around +him. "By keeping the path that follows the edge of the brook, though it is +so crooked, we shall be certain of good walking, and shall be half hid +by the bushes. It's best to walk quick, and to be silent."</p> + +<p>Maud bade him go on, waiting herself behind a tree, to let the two men +precede her a short distance. This was done, and the major stole up to her +side unseen. A few words of explanation passed, when the young lady ran +after her guides, leaving Robert Willoughby seated on a log. It was a +breathless moment to Maud, that in which she was passing this bit of open +land. But the distance was so short, that it was soon gotten over; and the +three found themselves beneath the cliff. Here they passed the spring, and +following a path which led from it, turned the edge of the rocks, and +ascended to the foot of the stockades. It remained to turn these also, in +order to reach the so recently suspended gates. As Maud passed swiftly +along, almost brushing the timbers with her dress, she saw, in the dim +light, fifty faces looking at her, and thrust between the timbers; but she +paused not, spoke not--scarcely breathed. A profound stillness reigned on +the Knoll; but when Joel arrived at the gate, it was instantly opened, and +he glided in. Not so with Mike, who stopped and waited until she he had +been in quest of entered before him, and was in safety.</p> + +<p>Maud found herself in her mother's arms, the instant the gate was passed. +Mrs. Willoughby had been at the angle of the cliff, had followed her +child, in her swift progress round the stockade, and was ready to receive +her, the moment she entered. Beulah came next, and then the captain +embraced, kissed, wept over, and scolded his little favourite.</p> + +<p>"No reproaches now, Hugh"--said the more considerate wife, and gentle +woman--"Maud has done no more than has long been her custom, and no one +could have foreseen what has happened."</p> + +<p>"Mother--father"--said Maud, almost gasping for breath--"let us bless God +for my safety, and for the safety of all that are dear to us--thank you, +dear Mr. Woods--there is a kiss, to thank you--now let us go into the +house; I have much to tell you--come dear sir--come dearest mother, do not +lose a moment; let us all go to the library."</p> + +<p>As this was the room in which the family devotions were usually held, the +auditors fancied the excited girl wished to return her thanks in that +mode, one not unfrequent in that regulated family, and all followed her, +who dared, with tender sympathy in her feelings, and profoundly grateful +for her safety. As soon as in the room, Maud carefully shut the door, and +went from one to another, in order to ascertain who were present. Finding +none but her father, mother, sister, and the chaplain, she instantly +related all that had passed, and pointed out the spot where the major was, +at that moment, waiting for the signal to approach. It is unnecessary to +dwell on the astonishment and delight, mingled with concern, that this +intelligence produced.</p> + +<p>Maud then rapidly recounted her plan, and implored her father to see it +executed. The captain had none of her apprehensions on the subject of his +people's fidelity, but he yielded to the girl's earnest entreaties. Mrs. +Willoughby was so agitated with all the unlooked-for events of the day, +that she joined her daughter in the request, and Maud was told to proceed +with the affair, in her own way.</p> + +<p>A lamp was brought, and placed by Maud in a pantry that was lighted by a +single, long, narrow, external window, at the angle of the building next +the offices, and the door was closed on it. This lamp was the signal for +the major to approach, and with beating hearts the females bent forward +from the windows, secure of not being seen in the night, which had now +fairly closed on the valley, to listen to his approaching footsteps +beneath. They did not wait long ere he was not only heard, but dimly seen, +though totally out of the line of sight from all in the Hut, with the +exception of those above his head. Captain Willoughby had prepared a rope, +one end of which was dropped, and fastened by the major, himself, around +his body. A jerk let those above know when he was ready.</p> + +<p>"What shall we do next?" asked the captain, in a sort of despair. "Woods +and I can never drag that tall, heavy fellow up such a distance. He is six +feet, and weighs a hundred and eighty, if he weighs a pound."</p> + +<p>"Peace," half-whispered Maud, from a window. "All will be right in a +moment." Then drawing in her body, the pale but earnest girl begged her +father to have patience. "I have thought of all. Mike and the blacks may +be trusted with our lives--I will call them."</p> + +<p>This was done, and the county Leitrim-man and the two Plinys were soon in +the room.</p> + +<p>"O'Hearn," said Maud, inquiringly--"I think you are my friend?"</p> + +<p>"Am I my own!--Is it yees, is the question? Well, jist wish for a tooth, +and ye may take all in my head for the asking. Och, I 'd be a baste, else! +I'd ate the remain of my days wid not'ing but a spoon to obleege ye."</p> + +<p>"As for you, Pliny, and your son here, you have known us from children. +Not a word must pass the lips of either, as to what you see--now pull, but +with great care, lest the rope break."</p> + +<p>The men did as ordered, raising their load from the ground, a foot or two +at a time. In this manner the burthen approached, yard after yard, until +it was evidently drawing near the window.</p> + +<p>"It's the captain hoisting up the big baste of a hog, for provisioning the +hoose, ag'in a saige," whispered Mike to the negroes, who grinned as they +tugged; "and when the cr'atur squails, see to it, that ye do not squail +yerselves."</p> + +<p>At that moment the head and shoulders of a man appeared at the window, +Mike let go the rope, seized a chair, and was about to knock the intruder +on the head; but the captain arrested the blow.</p> + +<p>"It's one of the vagabond Injins that has undermined the hog, and coome up +in its stead," roared Mike."</p> + +<p>"It's my son"--answered the captain, mildly--"see that you are silent, +and secret."</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch13"> +<h2>Chapter XIII.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> And glory long has made the sages smile,<br /> + Tis something, nothing, words, illusion, wind--<br /> + Depending more upon the historian's style<br /> + Than on the name a person leaves behind.<br /> + Troy owes to Homer what whist owes to Hoyle<br /> + The present century was growing blind<br /> + To the great Marlborough's skill in giving knocks,<br /> + Until his late Life by Archdeacon Coxe.</p> + +<p> Byron.</p></div> + +<p> +Major Willoughby's feet were scarcely on the library floor, when he was +clasped in his mother's arms. From these he soon passed into Beulah's; nor +did his father hesitate about giving him an embrace nearly as warm. As for +Maud, she stood by, weeping in sympathy and in silence.</p> + +<p>"And you, too, old man," said Robert Willoughby, dashing the tears from +his eyes, and turning to the elder black, holding out a hand--"this is not +the first time, by many, old Pliny, that you have had me between heaven +and earth. Your son was my old play-fellow, and we must shake hands also. +As for O'Hearn, steel is not truer, and we are friends for life."</p> + +<p>The negroes were delighted to see their young master, for, in that day, +the slaves exulted in the honour, appearance, importance and dignity of +their owners, far more than their liberated descendants do now in their +own. The major had been their friend when a boy; and he was, at present, +their pride and glory. In their view of the matter, the English army did +not contain his equal in looks, courage, military skill, or experience; +and it was treason <i>per se</i> to fight against a cause that he upheld. The +captain had laughingly related to his wife a conversation to this effect +he had not long before overheard between the two Plinys.</p> + +<p>"Well, Miss Beuly do a pretty well"--observed the elder, "but, den he +all'e better, if he no get 'Merican 'mission. What you call raal colonel, +eh? Have 'e paper from 'e king like Masser Bob, and wear a rigimental +like a head of a turkey cock, so! Dat bein' an up and down officer."</p> + +<p>"P'rhaps Miss Beuly bring a colonel round, and take off a blue coat, and +put on a scarlet," answered the younger.</p> + +<p>"Nebber!--nebber see dat, Plin, in a rebbleushun. Dis got to be a +rebbleushun; and when <i>dat</i> begin in 'arnest, gib up all idee of +'mendment. Rebbleushuns look all one way--nebber see two side, any more +dan coloured man see two side in a red-skin."</p> + +<p>As we have not been able to trace the thought to antiquity, this +expression may have been the original of the celebrated axiom of Napoleon, +which tells us that "revolutions never go backwards." At all events, such +was the notion of Pliny Willoughby, Sen., as the namesake of the great +Roman styled himself; and it was greatly admired by Pliny Willoughby, +Jun., to say nothing of the opinions of Big Smash and Little Smash, both +of whom were listeners to the discourse.</p> + +<p>"Well, I wish a colonel Beekman"--To this name the fellow gave the true +Doric sound of <i>Bakeman</i>--"I wish a colonel Beekman only corprul in king's +troops, for Miss Beuly's sake. Better be sarjun dere, dan +briggerdeer-ginral in 'Merikan company; dat <i>I</i> know."</p> + +<p>"What a briggerdeer mean, Plin?" inquired Little Smash, with interest. +"Who he keep company wid, and what he do? Tell a body, do--so many officer +in 'e army, one nebber know all he name."</p> + +<p>"'Mericans can't hab 'em. Too poor for <i>dat</i>. Briggerdeer great gentleum, +and wear a red coat. Ole time, see 'em in hundreds, come to visit Masser, +and Missus, and play wid Masser Bob. Oh! no rebbleushun in dem days; but +ebbery body know he own business, and <i>do</i> it, too."</p> + +<p>This will serve to show the political sentiments of the Plinys, and may +also indicate the bias that the Smashes were likely to imbibe in such +company. As a matter of course, the major was gladly welcomed by these +devoted admirers; and when Maud again whispered to them the necessity of +secresy, each shut his mouth, no trifling operation in itself, as if it +were to be henceforth hermetically sealed.</p> + +<p>The assistants were now dismissed, and the major was left alone with his +family. Again and again Mrs. Willoughby embraced her son; nor had her new +ties at all lessened Beulah's interest in her brother. Even the captain +kissed his boy anew, while Mr. Woods shook hands once more with his old +pupil, and blessed him. Maud alone was passive in this scene of feeling +and joy.</p> + +<p>"Now, Bob, let us to business," said the captain, as soon as tranquillity +was a little restored. "You have not made this difficult and perilous +journey without an object; and, as we are somewhat critically situated +ourselves, the sooner we know what it is, the less will be the danger of +its not producing its proper effect."</p> + +<p>"Heaven send, dear sir, that it fail not in its effect, indeed," answered +the son. "But is not this movement in the valley pressing, and have I not +come opportunely to take a part in the defence of the house?"</p> + +<p>"That will be seen a few hours later, perhaps. Everything is quiet now, +and will probably so remain until near morning; or Indian tactics have +undergone a change. The fellows have lighted camp-fires on their rocks, +and seem disposed to rest for the present, at least. Nor do I know that +they are bent on war at all. We have no Indians near us, who would be +likely to dig up the hatchet; and these fellows profess peace, by a +messenger they have sent me."</p> + +<p>"Are they not in their war-paint, sir? I remember to have seen warriors, +when a boy, and my glass has given these men the appearance of being on +what they call 'a war-path.'"</p> + +<p>"Some of them are certainly in that guise, though he who came to the Knoll +was not. <i>He</i> pretended that they were a party travelling towards the +Hudson in order to learn the true causes of the difficulties between their +Great English and their Great American Fathers. He asked for meal and meat +to feed his young men with. This was the whole purport of his errand."</p> + +<p>"And your answer, sir; is it peace, or war, between you?"</p> + +<p>"Peace in professions, but I much fear war in reality. Still one cannot +know. An old frontier garrison-man, like myself, is not apt to put much +reliance on Indian faith. We are now, God be praised! all within the +stockade; and having plenty of arms and ammunition, are not likely to be +easily stormed. A siege is out of the question; we are too well +provisioned to dread that."</p> + +<p>"But you leave the mills, the growing grain, the barns, even the cabins of +your workmen, altogether at the mercy of these wretches."</p> + +<p>"That cannot well be avoided, unless we go out and drive them off, in open +battle. For the last, they are too strong, to say nothing of the odds of +risking fathers of families against mere vagabonds, as I suspect these +savages to be. I have told them to help themselves to meal, or grain, of +which they will find plenty in the mill. Pork can be got in the houses, +and they have made way with a deer already, that I had expected the +pleasure of dissecting myself. The cattle roam the woods at this season, +and are tolerably safe; but they can burn the barns and other buildings, +should they see fit. In this respect, we are at their mercy. If they ask +for rum, or cider, that may bring matters to a head; for, refusing may +exasperate them, and granting either, in any quantity, will certainly +cause them all to get intoxicated."</p> + +<p>"Why would not that be good policy, Willoughby?" exclaimed the chaplain. +"If fairly disguised once, our people might steal out upon them, and take +away all their arms. Drunken men sleep very profoundly."</p> + +<p>"It would be a canonical mode of warfare, perhaps, Woods," returned the +chaplain, smiling, "but not exactly a military. I think it safer that they +should continue sober; for, as yet, they manifest no great intentions of +hostility. But of this we can speak hereafter. Why are you here, my son, +and in this guise?"</p> + +<p>"The motive may as well be told now, as at another time," answered the +major, giving his mother and sisters chairs, while the others imitated +their example in being seated. "Sir William Howe has permitted me to come +out to see you--I might almost say <i>ordered</i> me out; for matters have now +reached a pass when we think every loyal gentleman in America must feel +disposed to take sides with the crown."</p> + +<p>A general movement among his auditors told the major the extent of the +interest they felt in what was expected to follow. He paused an instant to +survey the dark-looking group that was clustering around him; for no +lights were in the room on account of the open windows, and he spoke in a +low voice from motives of prudence; then he proceeded:</p> + +<p>"I should infer from the little that passed between Maud and myself," he +said, "that you are ignorant of the two most important events that have +yet occurred in this unhappy conflict?"</p> + +<p>"We learn little here," answered the father. "I have heard that my Lord +Howe and his brother Sir William have been named commissioners by His +Majesty to heal all the differences. I knew them both, when young men, +and their elder brother before them. Black Dick, as we used to call the +admiral, is a discreet, well-meaning man; though I fear both of them owe +their appointments more to their affinity to the sovereign than to the +qualities that might best fit them to deal with the Americans."</p> + +<p>"Little is known of the affinity of which you speak[*], and less said in +the army," returned the major, "but I fear there is no hope of the object +of the commission's being effected. The American congress has declared the +colonies altogether independent of England; and so far as this country is +concerned, the war is carried on as between nation and nation. All +allegiance, even in name, is openly cast aside."</p> + +<p> [* The mother of the three Lords Howe, so well known in American + history, viz: <i>George</i>, killed before Ticonderoga, in the war of '56; + <i>Richard</i>, the celebrated admiral, and the hero of the 1st June; and Sir + <i>William</i>, for several years commander-in-chief in this country, and the + 5th and last viscount; was a Mademoiselle Kilmansegge, who was supposed + to be a natural daughter of George I. This would make these three + officers and George II. first-cousins; and George III their great-nephew + <i>a la mode de Bretagne</i>. Walpole, and various other English writers, + speak openly, not only of the connection, but of the family resemblance. + Indeed, most of the gossiping writers of that age seem to allow that + Lord Howe was a grandson of the first English sovereign of the House of + Brunswick.]</p> + +<p>"You astonish me, Bob! I did not think it could ever come to this!"</p> + +<p>"I thought your native attachments would hardly endure as strong a measure +as this has got to be," answered the major, not a little satisfied with +the strength of feeling manifested by his father. "Yet has this been done, +sir, and done in a way that it will not be easy to recall. Those who now +resist us, resist for the sake of throwing off all connection with +England."</p> + +<p>"Has France any agency in this, Bob?--I own it startles me, and has a +French look."</p> + +<p>"It has driven many of the most respectable of our enemies into our arms, +sir. We have never considered you a direct enemy, though unhappily +inclining too much against us; 'but this will determine Sir Hugh,' said +the commander-in-chief in our closing interview--I suppose you know, my +dear father, that all your old friends, knowing what has happened, insist +on calling you Sir Hugh. I assure you, I never open my lips on the +subject; and yet Lord Howe drank to the health of Sir Hugh Willoughby, +openly at his own table, the last time I had the honour to dine with him."</p> + +<p>"Then the next time he favours you with an invitation, Bob, be kind enough +to thank him. I want no empty baronetcy, nor do I ever think of returning +to England to live. Were all I had on earth drummed together, it would +barely make out a respectable competency for a private gentleman in that +extravagant state of society; and what is a mere name to one in such +circumstances? I wish it were transferable, my dear boy, in the old Scotch +mode, and you should be Sir Bob before you slept."</p> + +<p>"But, Willoughby, it may be useful to Robert, and why should he not have +the title, since neither you nor I care for it?" asked the considerate +mother.</p> + +<p>"So he may, my dear; though he must wait for an event that I fancy you are +not very impatient to witness--my death. When I am gone, let him be Sir +Robert, in welcome. But, Bob--for plain, honest Bob must you remain till +then, unless indeed you earn your spurs in this unhappy war--have you any +military tidings for us? We have heard nothing since the arrival of the +fleet on the coast."</p> + +<p>"We are in New York, after routing Washington on Long Island. The +rebels"--the major spoke a little more confidently than had been his +wont--"The rebels have retreated into the high country, near the borders +of Connecticut, where they have inveterate nests of the disaffected in +their rear."</p> + +<p>"And has all this been done without bloodshed? Washington had staff in +him, in the old French business."</p> + +<p>"<i>His</i> stuff is not doubted, sir; but his men make miserable work of it. +Really I am sometimes ashamed of having been born in the country. These +Yankees fight like wrangling women, rather than soldiers."</p> + +<p>"How's this!--You spoke honestly of the affair at Lexington, and wrote us +a frank account of the murderous work at Bunker Hill. Have their natures +changed with the change of season?"</p> + +<p>"To own the truth, sir, they did wonders on the Hill, and not badly in the +other affair; but all their spirit seems gone. I am quite ashamed of them. +Perhaps this declaration of independence, as it is called, has damped +their ardour."</p> + +<p>"No, my son--the change, if change there is, depends on a general and +natural law. Nothing but discipline and long training can carry men with +credit through a campaign, in the open field. Fathers, and husbands, and +brothers and lovers, make formidable enemies, in sight of their own +chimney-tops; but the most flogging regiments, we used to say, were the +best fighting regiments for a long pull. But, have a care, Bob; you are +now of a rank that may well get you a separate command, and do not despise +your enemy. I know these Yankees well--you are one, yourself, though only +half-blooded; but I know them well, and have often seen them tried. They +are very apt to be badly commanded, heaven cursing them for their sins, in +this form more than any other--but get them fairly at work, and the guards +will have as much as they can wish, to get along with. Woods will swear to +<i>that</i>."</p> + +<p>"Objecting to the <i>mode</i> of corroboration, my dear sir, I can support its +substance. Inclined as I am to uphold Cæsar, and to do honour to the +Lord's anointed, I will not deny my countrymen's courage; though I think, +Willoughby, now I recall old times, it was rather the fashion of our +officers to treat it somewhat disrespectfully."</p> + +<p>"It was, indeed," answered the captain, thoughtfully--"and a silly thing +it was. They mistook the nature of a mild and pacific people, totally +without the glitter and habits of military life, for a timid people; and I +have often heard the new hands in the colonies speak of their inhabitants +with contempt on this very head. Braddock had that failing to a great +degree; and yet this very major Washington saved his army from +annihilation, when it came to truly desperate work. Mark the words of a +much older soldier than yourself, Bob; you may have more of the bravery of +apparel, and present a more military aspect; may even gain advantages over +them by means of higher discipline, better arms, and more accurate +combinations; but, when you meet them fairly, depend on it you will meet +dangerous foes, and men capable of being sooner drilled into good soldiers +than any nation I have met with. Their great curse is, and probably will +be, in selecting too many of their officers from classes not embued with +proper military pride, and altogether without the collaterals of a good +military education."</p> + +<p>To all this the major had nothing very material to object, and remembering +that the silent but thoughtful Beulah had a husband in what he called the +rebel ranks, he changed the subject. Arrangements were now made for the +comfort and privacy of the unlooked-for guest. Adjoining the library, a +room with no direct communication with the court by means of either door, +or window, was a small and retired apartment containing a cot-bed, to +which the captain was accustomed to retire in the cases of indisposition, +when Mrs. Willoughby wished to have either of her daughters with herself, +on their account, or on her own. This room was now given to the major, and +in it he would be perfectly free from every sort of intrusion. He might +eat in the library, if necessary; though, all the windows of that wing of +the house opening outward, there was little danger of being seen by any +but the regular domestics of the family, all of whom were to be let into +the secret of his presence, and all of whom were rightly judged to be +perfectly trustworthy.</p> + +<p>As the evening promised to be dark, it was determined among the gentlemen +that the major should disguise himself still more than he was already, and +venture outside of the building, in company with his father, and the +chaplain, as soon as the people, who were now crowded into the vacant +rooms in the empty part of the house, had taken possession of their +respective quarters for the night. In the meantime a hearty supper was +provided for the traveller in the library, the bullet-proof +window-shutters of which room, and indeed of all the others on that side +of the building, having first been closed, in order that lights might be +used, without drawing a shot from the adjoining forest.</p> + +<p>"We are very safe, here," observed the captain, as his son appeased his +hunger, with the keen relish of a traveller. "Even Woods might stand a +siege in a house built and stockaded like this. Every window has solid +bullet-proof shutters, with fastenings not easily broken; and the logs of +the buildings might almost defy round-shot. The gates are all up, one leaf +excepted, and that leaf stands nearly in its place, well propped and +supported. In the morning it shall be hung like the others. Then the +stockade is complete, and has not a speck of decay about it yet. We shall +keep a guard of twelve men up the whole night, with three sentinels +outside of the buildings; and all of us will sleep in our clothes, and on +our arms. My plan, should an assault be made, is to draw in the sentinels, +as soon as they have discharged their pieces, to close the gate, and man +the loops. The last are all open, and spare arms are distributed at them. +I had a walk made within the ridge of the roofs this spring, by which men +can run round the whole Hut, in the event of an attempt to, set fire to +the shingles, or fire over the ridge at an enemy at the stockades. It is a +great improvement, Bob; and, as it is well railed, will make a capital +station in a warm conflict, before the enemy make their way within the +stockade."</p> + +<p>"We must endeavour not to let them get there, sir," answered the +major--"but, as soon as your people are housed, I shall have an +opportunity to reconnoitre. Open work is most to the taste of us +regulars."</p> + +<p>"Not against an Indian enemy. You will be glad of such a fortress as this, +boy, before the question of independence, or no independence, shall be +finally settled. Did not Washington entrench in the town?"</p> + +<p>"Not much on that side of the water, sir; though he was reasonably well in +the ground on Long Island. <i>There</i> he had many thousands of men, and works +of some extent."</p> + +<p>"And how did he get off the island?" demanded the captain, turning round +to look his son in the face. "The arm of the sea is quite half-a-mile in +width, at that point--how did he cross it in the face of a victorious +army?--or did he only save himself, while you captured his troops?"</p> + +<p>The major coloured a little, and then he looked at Beulah and smiled +good-naturedly.</p> + +<p>"I am so surrounded by rebels here," he said, "that it is not easy to +answer all your questions, sir. Beat him we did, beyond a question, and +that with a heavy loss to his army--and out of New York we have driven +him, beyond a question--but--I will not increase Beulah's conceit by +stating any more!"</p> + +<p>"If you can tell me anything kind of Evert, Bob, you will act like a +brother in so doing," said the gentle wife.</p> + +<p>"Ay, Beekman did well too, they said. I heard some of our officers +extolling a charge he made; and to own the truth, I was not sorry to be +able to say he was my sister's husband, since a fierce rebel she would +marry. All our news of <i>him</i> is to his credit; and now I shall get a kiss +for my pains."</p> + +<p>The major was not mistaken. With a swelling heart, but smiling +countenance, his sister threw herself into his arms, when she kissed and +was kissed until the tears streamed down her cheeks.</p> + +<p>"It was of Washington I intended to speak, sir," resumed the major, +dashing a tear or two from his own eyes, as Beulah resumed her chair. "His +retreat from the island is spoken of as masterly, and has gained him great +credit. He conducted it in person, and did not lose a man. I heard Sir +William mention it as masterly."</p> + +<p>"Then by heaven, America will prevail in this contest!" exclaims I the +captain, striking his fist upon the table, with a suddenness and force +that caused all in the room to start. "If she has a general who can effect +such a movement skilfully, the reign of England is over, here. Why, Woods, +Xenophon never did a better thing! The retreat of the ten thousand was +boy's play to getting across that water. Besides, your victory could have +been no great matter, Bob, or it would never have been done."</p> + +<p>"Our victory was respectable, sir, while I acknowledge that the retreat +was great. No one among us denies it, and Washington is always named with +respect in the army."</p> + +<p>In a minute more, Big Smash came in, under the pretence of removing the +dishes, but, in reality to see Master Bob, and to be noticed by him. She +was a woman of sixty, the mother of Little Smash, herself a respectable +matron of forty; and both had been born in the household of Mrs. +Willoughby's father, and had rather more attachment for any one of her +children than for all of their own, though each had been reasonably +prolific. The <i>sobriquets</i> had passed into general use, and the real names +of Bess and Ma<i>ri'</i> were nearly obsolete. Still, the major thought it +polite to use the latter on the present occasion.</p> + +<p>"Upon my word, Mrs. Bess," he said, shaking the old woman cordially by the +hand, though he instinctively shrunk back from the sight of a pair of lips +that were quite ultra, in the way of pouting, which used often to salute +him twenty years before--"Upon my word, Mrs. Bess, you improve in beauty, +everytime I see you. Old age and you seem to be total strangers to each +other. How do you manage to remain so comely and so young?"</p> + +<p>"God send 'e fus', Masser Bob, heabben be praise, and a good conscience do +'e las'. I <i>do</i> wish you could make ole Plin hear <i>dat</i>! He nebber t'ink +any good look, now-a-day, in a ole wench."</p> + +<p>"Pliny is half blind. But that is the way with most husbands, Smash; they +become blind to the charms of their spouses, after a few years of +matrimony."</p> + +<p>"Nebber get marry, Masser Bob, if dat be 'e way."</p> + +<p>Then Great Smash gave such a laugh, and such a swing of her unwieldy body, +that one might well have apprehended her downfall. But, no such thing. She +maintained the equilibrium; for, renowned as she had been all her life at +producing havoc among plates, and cups, and bowls, she was never known to +be thrown off her own centre of gravity. Another hearty shake of the hand +followed, and the major quitted the table. As was usual on all great and +joyous occasions in the family, when the emotions reached the kitchen, +that evening was remarkable for a "smash," in which half the crockery that +had just been brought from the table, fell an unresisting sacrifice. This +produced a hot discussion between "The Big" and "The Little" as to the +offender, which resulted, as so often happens, in these inquiries into +the accidents of domestic life, in the conclusion that "nobody" was alone +to blame.</p> + +<p>"How 'e t'ink he <i>can</i> come back, and not a plate crack!" exclaimed +Little Smash, in a vindicatory tone, she being the real delinquent--"Get +in 'e winder, too! Lor! <i>dat</i> enough to break all 'e dish in 'e house, and +in 'e mill, too! I <i>do</i> wish ebbery plate we got was an Injin--den you see +fun! Can nebber like Injin; 'em so red, and so sabbage!"</p> + +<p>"Nebber talk of Injin, now," answered the indignant mother--"better talk +of plate. Dis make forty t'ousand dish you break, Mari', sin' you war' a +young woman. S'pose you t'ink Masser made of plate, dat you break 'em up +so! Dat what ole Plin say--de nigger! He say all men made of clay, and +plate made of clay, too--well, bot' clay, and bot' <i>break</i>. All on us +wessels, and all on us break to pieces some day, and den dey'll t'row <i>us</i> +away, too."</p> + +<p>A general laugh succeeded this touch of morality, Great Smash being a +little addicted to ethical remarks of this nature; after which the war was +renewed on the subject of the broken crockery. Nor did it soon cease; +wrangling, laughing, singing, toiling, a light-heartedness that knew no +serious cares, and affection, making up the sum of the everyday existence +of these semi-civilized beings. The presence of the party in the valley, +however, afforded the subject of an episode; for a negro has quite as much +of the <i>de haut en bas</i> in his manner of viewing the aborigines, as the +whites have in their speculations on his own race. Mingled with this +contempt, notwithstanding, was a very active dread, neither of the Plinys, +nor of their amiable consorts, in the least relishing the idea of being +shorn of the wool, with shears as penetrating as the scalping-knife. After +a good deal of discussion on this subject, the kitchen arrived at the +conclusion that the visit of the major was ordered by Providence, since it +was out of all the rules of probability and practice to have a few +half-clad savages get the better of "Masser Bob," who was born a soldier, +and had so recently been fighting for the king.</p> + +<p>On the latter subject, we ought to have stated that the captain's kitchen +was ultra-loyal. The rude, but simple beings it contained, had a reverence +for rank and power that even a "rebbelushun" could not disturb, and which +closely associated, in their minds, royal authority with divine power. +Next to their own master, they considered George III, as the greatest man +of the age; and there was no disposition in them to rob him of his rights +or his honours.</p> + +<p>"You seem thoughtful, Woods," said the captain, while his son had retired +to his own room, in order to assume a disguise less likely to attract +attention in the garrison than a hunting-shirt. "Is it this unexpected +visit of Bob's that furnishes food for reflection?"</p> + +<p>"Not so much his visit, my dear Willoughby, as the news he brings us. God +knows what will befall the church, should this rebellion make serious +head. The country is in a dreadful way, already, on the subject of +religion; but it will be far worse if these 'canters' get the upper hand +of the government."</p> + +<p>The captain was silent and thoughtful for a moment; then he laughingly +replied--</p> + +<p>"Fear nothing for the church, chaplain. It is of God, and will outlast a +hundred political revolutions."</p> + +<p>"I don't know that, Willoughby--I don't know that"--The chaplain did not +exactly mean what he said--"'Twouldn't surprise me if we had '<i>taking</i> up +collections,' '<i>sitting under preaching,' 'providentially happening,' +'exercised in mind</i>,' and '<i>our Zion</i>' finding their way into +dictionaries."</p> + +<p>"Quite likely, Woods"--returned the captain, smiling--"Liberty is known to +produce great changes in <i>things</i>; why not in language?"</p> + +<p>"Liberty, indeed! Yes; '<i>liberty</i> in prayer' is another of their phrases. +Well, captain Willoughby, if this rebellion should succeed, we may give up +all hopes for the church. What sort of government shall we have, do you +imagine, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Republican, of course," answered the captain, again becoming thoughtful, +as his mind reverted to the important results that were really dependent +on the present state of things. "Republican--it <i>can</i> be no other. These +colonies have always had a strong bias in that direction, and they want +the elements necessary to a monarchy. New York has a landed gentry, it is +true; and so has Maryland, and Virginia, and the Carolinas; but they are +not strong enough to set up a political aristocracy, or to prop a throne; +and then this gentry will probably be much weakened by the struggle. Half +the principal families are known to be with the crown, as it is; and new +men will force them out of place, in a revolution. No, Woods, if this +revolution prosper, the monarchy is done in America, for at least a +century."</p> + +<p>"And the prayers for the king and royal family--what will become of +<i>them</i>?"</p> + +<p>"I should think they must cease, also. I question if a people will +continue long to pray for authorities that they refuse to obey."</p> + +<p>"I shall stick to the rubrics as long as I have a tongue in my head. I +trust, Willoughby, <i>you</i> will not stop these prayers, in your settlement?"</p> + +<p>"It is the last mode in which I should choose to show hostility. Still, +you must allow it is a little too much to ask a congregation to pray that +the king shall overcome his enemies, when they are among those very +enemies? The question presents a dilemma."</p> + +<p>"And, yet, I have never failed to read that prayer, as well as all the +rest. You have not objected, hitherto."</p> + +<p>"I have not, for I have considered the war as being waged with parliament +and the ministers, whereas it is now clearly with the king. This paper is +certainly a plain and forcible document."</p> + +<p>"And what is that paper? Not the Westminster Confession of Faith, or the +Saybrook Platform, I hope; one of which will certainly supersede the +Thirty-nine Articles in all our churches, if this rebellion prosper."</p> + +<p>"It is the manifesto issued by congress, to justify their declaration of +independence. Bob has brought it with him, as a proof how far matters have +been carried; but, really, it seems to be a creditable document, and is +eloquently reasoned."</p> + +<p>"I see how it is, Willoughby--I see how it is. We shall find you a rebel +general yet; and I expect to live to hear <i>you</i> talk about 'our Zion' and +'providential accidents.'"</p> + +<p>"Neither, Woods. For the first, I am too old; and, for the last, I have +too much taste, I trust. Whether I shall always pray for the king is +another matter. But, here is the major, ready for his sortie. Upon my +word, his masquerade is so complete, I hardly know him myself."</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch14"> +<h2>Chapter XIV.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> He could not rest, he could not stay<br /> + Within his tent to wait for day;<br /> + But walked him forth along the sand,<br /> + Where thousand sleepers strewed the strand.</p> + +<p> <i>Siege of Corinth</i>.</p></div> + +<p> +It was now so late that most of the men of the Hut, and all the women and +children, were housed for the night, provided no alarm occurred. There was +consequently little risk in the major's venturing forth, disguised as he +was, should care be taken not to approach a light. The great number of the +latter, streaming through the windows of the western wing of the building, +showed how many were now collected within the walls, and gave an unusual +appearance of life and animation to the place. Still, the court was clear, +the men seeking their pallets, in readiness for their coming watches, +while the women were occupied with those great concerns of female life, +the care of children.</p> + +<p>The captain, major, and chaplain, each carrying a rifle, and the two +former pistols, moved rapidly across the court, and passed the gate. The +moveable leaf of the latter was left unbarred, it being the orders of the +captain to the sentinels without, on the approach of an enemy, to retire +within the court, and then to secure the fastenings.</p> + +<p>The night was star-light, and it was cool, as is common to this region of +country. There being neither lamp nor candle on the exterior of the house, +even the loops being darkened, there was little danger in moving about +within the stockades. The sentinels were directed to take their posts so +near the palisades as to command views of the open lawn without, a +precaution that would effectually prevent the usual stealthy approach of +an enemy without discovery. As the alarm had been very decided, these +irregular guardians of the house were all at their posts, and exceedingly +watchful, a circumstance that enabled the captain to avoid them, and thus +further remove the danger of his son's being recognised. He accordingly +held himself aloof from the men, keeping within the shadows of the sides +of the Hut.</p> + +<p>As a matter of course, the first object to which our two soldiers directed +their eyes, was the rock above the mill. The Indians had lighted fires, +and were now apparently bivouacked at no great distance from them, having +brought boards from below with that especial object. Why they chose to +remain in this precise position, and why they neglected the better +accommodations afforded by some fifteen or twenty log-cabins, that skirted +the western side of the valley in particular, were subjects of conjecture. +That they were near the fires the board shanties proved, and that they +were to the last degree careless of the proximity of the people of the +place, would seem also to be apparent in the fact that they had not +posted, so far as could be ascertained, even a solitary sentinel.</p> + +<p>"This is altogether surprising for Indian tactics," observed the captain, +in a low voice; for everything that was uttered that night without the +building was said in very guarded tones. "I have never before known the +savages to cover themselves in that manner; nor is it usual with them to +light fires to point out the positions they occupy, as these fellows seem +to have done."</p> + +<p>"Is it not all <i>seeming</i>, sir?" returned the major. "To me that camp, if +camp it can be called, has an air of being deserted."</p> + +<p>"There is a look about it of premeditated preparation that one ought +always to distrust in war."</p> + +<p>"Is it not unmilitary, sir, for two soldiers like ourselves to remain in +doubt on such a point? My professional pride revolts at such a state of +things; and, with your leave, I will go outside, and set the matter at +rest by reconnoitring."</p> + +<p>"Professional pride is a good thing, Bob, rightly understood and rightly +practised. But the highest point of honour with the really good soldier is +to do that for which he was precisely intended. Some men fancy armies were +got together just to maintain certain exaggerated notions of military +honour; whereas, military honour is nothing but a moral expedient to aid +in effecting the objects for which they are really raised. I have known +men so blinded as to assert that a soldier is bound to maintain his honour +at the expense of the law; and this in face of the fact that, in a free +country, a soldier is in truth nothing but one of the props of the law, in +the last resort. So with us; we are here to defend this house, and those +it contains; and our military honour is far more concerned in doing that +effectually, and by right means, than in running the risk of not doing it +at all, in order to satisfy an abstract and untenable notion of a false +code. Let us do what is <i>right</i>, my son, and feel no concern that our +honour suffer."</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby said this, because he fancied it a fault in his son's +character, sometimes to confound the end with the means, in appreciating +the ethics of his profession. This is not an uncommon error among those +who bear arms, instances not being wanting in which bodies of men that are +the mere creatures of authority, have not hesitated to trample the power +that brought them into existence under foot, rather than submit to mortify +the feelings of a purely conventional and exaggerated pride. The major was +rebuked rather than convinced, it not being the natural vocation of youth +to perceive the justice of all the admonitions of age.</p> + +<p>"But, if one can be made auxiliary to the other, sir," the son remarked, +"then you will allow that professional <i>esprit</i>, and professional +prudence, may very well march hand in hand."</p> + +<p>"Of that there can be no doubt, though I think it far wiser and more +soldier-like, even, to use all proper precautions to guard this house, +under our actual circumstances, than to risk anything material in order to +satisfy our doubts concerning the state of that camp."</p> + +<p>"But the cabins, and all the property that lies exposed to fire and other +accidents, including the mills? Is it not worth your while to let me make +a little excursion, in order to ascertain the state of things, as +connected with them?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it would, Bob"--returned the father, after a little reflection. +"It would be a great point gained, to send a man to look after the +buildings, and the horses. The poor beasts may be suffering for water; +and, as you say, the first thing will be to ascertain where our wild +visiters really are, and what they are actually bent on. Woods, go with us +to the gate, and let us out. I rely on your saying nothing of our absence, +except to explain to the two nearest sentinels who we are, and to be on +the look-out for us, against the moment we may return."</p> + +<p>"Will it not be very hazardous to be moving in front of the stockade, in +the dark? Some of our own people may fire upon you."</p> + +<p>"You will tell them to be cautious, and we shall use great circumspection +in our turn. I had better give you a signal by which we shall be known."</p> + +<p>This was done, and the party moved from under the shadows of the Hut, down +to the gate. Here the two soldiers halted for several minutes, taking a +deliberate and as thorough a survey of the scene without, as the darkness +permitted. Then the chaplain opened the gate, and they issued forth, +moving with great caution down the lawn, towards the fleets. As a matter +of course, captain Willoughby was perfectly familiar with all the lanes, +ditches, bridges and fields of his beautiful possessions. The alluvial +soil that lay spread around him was principally the result of ages of +deposit while the place was covered with water; but, as the overflowing of +the water had been produced by a regular dam, the latter once removed, the +meadows were free, from the excessive moisture which generally saturates +drained lands. Still, there were two or three large open ditches, to +collect the water that came down the adjacent mountains or bubbled up from +springs near the margin of the woods Across these ditches the roads led, +by bridges, and the whole valley was laid out, in this manner, equally +with a view to convenience and rural beauty. A knowledge of all the +windings was of great use, on the present occasion, even on the advance; +while, on the retreat, it might clearly be the means of preserving the +lives, or liberties, of the two adventurers.</p> + +<p>The captain did not proceed by the principal road which led from the Hut +to the mills, the great thoroughfare of the valley, since it might be +watched, in order to prevent a hostile sortie against the camp; but he +inclined to the right, or to the westward, in order to visit the cabins +and barns in that quarter. It struck him his invaders might have quietly +taken possession of the houses, or even have stolen his horses and +decamped. In this direction, then, he and his son proceeded, using the +greatest caution in their movements, and occasionally stopping to examine +the waning fires at the rock, or to throw a glance behind them at the +stockade. Everything remained in the quiet which renders a forest +settlement so solemn and imposing, after the daily movements of man have +ceased. The deepest and most breathless attention could not catch an +unaccustomed sound. Even the bark of a dog was not heard, all those useful +animals having followed their masters into the Hut, as if conscious that +their principal care now lay in that direction. Each of the sentinels had +one of these animals near him, crouched under the stockade, in the +expectation of their giving the alarm, should any strange footstep +approach. In this manner most of the distance between the Knoll and the +forest was crossed, when the major suddenly laid a hand on his father's +arm.</p> + +<p>"Here is something stirring on our left," whispered the former--"It seems, +too, to be crouching under the fence."</p> + +<p>"You have lost your familiarity with our rural life, Bob," answered the +father, with a little more confidence of tone, but still guardedly, "or +this fragrant breath would tell you we are almost on a cow. It is old +Whiteback; I know her by her horns. Feel; she is here in the lane with us, +and within reach of your hand. A gentler animal is not in the settlement. +But, stop--pass your hand on her udder--she will not stir--how is it, full +or not?"</p> + +<p>"If I can judge, sir, it is nothing remarkable in the way of size."</p> + +<p>"I understand this better. By Jupiter, boy, that cow has been milked! It +is certain none of our people have left the house to do it, since the +alarm was first given. This is ominous of neighbours."</p> + +<p>The major made no reply, but he felt to ascertain if his arms were in a +state for immediate service. After a moment's further pause the captain +proceeded, moving with increased caution. Not a word was now uttered, for +they were getting within the shadows of the orchard, and indeed of the +forest, where objects could not well be distinguished at the distance of a +very few yards. A cabin was soon reached, and it was found empty; the fire +reduced to a few embers, and quite safe. This was the residence of the man +who had the care of the horses, the stables standing directly behind it. +Captain Willoughby was a thoughtful and humane man, and it struck him the +animals might now be turned into a field that joined the barn-yard, where +there was not only rich pasture, but plenty of sweet running water. This +he determined to do at once, the only danger being from the unbridled +movements of cattle that must be impatient from unusual privation, and a +prolonged restraint.</p> + +<p>The major opened the gate of the field, and stationed himself in a way to +turn the animals in the desired direction, while his father went into the +stable to set them free. The first horse came out with great deliberation, +being an old animal well cooled with toil at the plough, and the major had +merely to swing his arm, to turn him into the field. Not so with the next, +however. This was little better than a colt, a creature in training for +his master's saddle; and no sooner was it released than it plunged into +the yard, then bounded into the field, around which it galloped, until it +found the water. The others imitated this bad example; the clatter of +hoofs, though beaten on a rich turf, soon resounding in the stillness of +the night, until it might be heard across the valley. The captain then +rejoined his son.</p> + +<p>"This is a good deed somewhat clumsily done, Bob," observed the father, as +he picked up his rifle and prepared to proceed. "An Indian ear, however, +will not fail to distinguish between the tramping of horses and a charge +of foot."</p> + +<p>"Faith, sir, the noise may serve us a good turn yet. Let us take another +look at the fires, and see if this tramping has set any one in motion near +them. We can get a glimpse a little further ahead."</p> + +<p>The look was taken, but nothing was seen. While standing perfectly +motionless, beneath the shadows of an apple-tree, however, a sound was +heard quite near them, which resembled that of a guarded footstep. Both +gentlemen drew up, like sportsmen expecting the birds to rise, in waiting +for the sound to approach. It did draw nearer, and presently a human form +was seen moving slowly forward in the path, approaching the tree, as if to +get within its cover. It was allowed to draw nearer and nearer, until +captain Willoughby laid his hand, from behind the trunk, on the stranger's +shoulder, demanding sternly, but in a low voice, "who are you?"</p> + +<p>The start, the exclamation, and the tremor that succeeded all denoted the +extent of this man's surprise. It was some little time, even, before he +could recover from his alarm, and then he let himself be known by his +answer.</p> + +<p>"Massy!" exclaimed Joel Strides, who ordinarily gave this doric sound to +the word 'mercy'--"Massy, captain, is it <i>you!</i> I should as soon thought +of seeing a ghost! What in natur' has brought you out of the stockade, +sir?"</p> + +<p>"I think that is a question I might better ask you, Mr. Strides. My orders +were to keep the gate close, and for no one to quit the court-yard even, +until sent on post, or called by an alarm."</p> + +<p>"True, sir--quite true--true as gospel. But let us moderate a little, +captain, and speak lower; for the Lord only knows who's in our +neighbourhood. Who's that with you, sir?--Not the Rev. Mr. Woods, is it?"</p> + +<p>"No matter who is with me. <i>He</i> has the authority of my commands for being +here, whoever he may be, while you are here in opposition to them. You +know me well enough, Joel, to understand nothing but the simple truth will +satisfy me."</p> + +<p>"Lord, sir, I am one of them that never wish to tell you anything <i>but</i> +truth. The captain has known me now long enough to understand my natur', I +should think; so no more need be said about <i>that.</i>"</p> + +<p>"Well, sir--give me the reason--and see that it is given to me without +reserve."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir; the captain shall have it. He knows we scrambled out of our +houses this afternoon a little onthinkingly, Injin alarms being skeary +matters. It was an awful hurrying time! Well, the captain understands, +too, we don't work for him without receiving our wages; and I have been +laying up a little, every year, until I've scraped together a few hundred +dollars, in good half-joes; and I bethought me the money might be in +danger, should the savages begin to plunder; and I've just came out to +look a'ter the money."</p> + +<p>"If this be true, as I hope and can easily believe to be the case, you +must have the money about you, Joel, to prove it."</p> + +<p>The man stretched forth his arm, and let the captain feel a handkerchief, +in which, sure enough, there was a goodly quantity of coin. This gave him +credit for truth, and removed all suspicion of his present excursion being +made with any sinister intention. The man was questioned as to his mode of +passing the stockade, when he confessed he had fairly clambered over it, +an exploit of no great difficulty from the inside. As the captain had +known Joel too long to be ignorant of his love of money, and the offence +was very pardonable in itself, he readily forgave the breach of orders. +This was the only man in the valley who did not trust his little hoard in +the iron chest at the Hut; even the miller reposing that much confidence +in the proprietor of the estate; but Joel was too conscious of dishonest +intentions himself to put any unnecessary faith in others.</p> + +<p>All this time, the major kept so far aloof as not to be recognised, though +Joel, once or twice, betrayed symptoms of a desire to ascertain who he +was. Maud had awakened suspicions that now became active, in both father +and son, when circumstances so unexpectedly and inconveniently threw the +man in their way. It was consequently the wish of the former to get rid of +his overseer as soon as possible. Previously to doing this, however, he +saw fit to interrogate him a little further.</p> + +<p>"Have you seen anything of the Indians since you left the stockade, +Strides?" demanded the captain. "We can perceive no other traces of their +presence than yonder fires, though we think that some of them must have +passed this way, for Whiteback's udder is empty."</p> + +<p>"To own the truth, captain, I haven't. I some think that they've left the +valley; though the Lord only can tell when they'll be back ag'in. Such +critturs be beyond calcilation! They outdo arithmetic, nohow. As for the +cow, I milked her myself; for being the crittur the captain has given to +Phoebe for her little dairy, I thought it might hurt her not to be +attended to. The pail stands yonder, under the fence, and the women and +children in the Hut may be glad enough to see it in the morning."</p> + +<p>This was very characteristic of Joel Strides. He did not hesitate about +disobeying orders, or even to risk his life, in order to secure his money; +but, determined to come out, he had the forethought and care to bring a +pail, in order to supply the wants of those who were now crowded within +the stockade, and who were too much accustomed to this particular sort of +food, not to suffer from its absence. If we add, that, in the midst of all +this prudent attention to the wants of his companions, Joel had an eye to +his personal popularity and what are called "ulterior events", and that he +selected his own cow for the precise reason given, the reader has certain +distinctive traits of the man before him.</p> + +<p>"This being the case," returned the captain, a good deal relieved at +finding that the savages had not been the agents in this milking affair, +since it left the probability of their remaining stationary--"This being +the case, Joel, you had better find the pail, and go in. As soon as day +dawns, however, I recommend that all the cows be called up to the stockade +and milked generally. They are feeding in the lanes, just now, and will +come readily, if properly invited. Go, then, but say nothing of having met +me, and--"</p> + +<p>"Who else did the captain say?" inquired Joel, curiously, observing that +the other paused.</p> + +<p>"Say nothing of having met us at all, I tell you. It is very important +that my movements should be secret."</p> + +<p>The two gentlemen now moved on, intending to pass in front of the cabins +which lined this part of the valley, by a lane which would bring them out +at the general highway which led from the Knoll to the mill. The captain +marched in front, while his son brought up the rear, at a distance of two +or three paces. Each walked slowly and with caution, carrying his rifle in +the hollow of his arm, in perfect readiness for service. In this manner +both had proceeded a few yards, when Robert Willoughby felt his elbow +touched, and saw Joel's face, within eighteen inches of his own, as the +fellow peered under his hat. It was an action so sudden and unexpected, +that the major saw, at once, nothing but perfect coolness could avert his +discovery.</p> + +<p>"Is't you, Dan'el"--so was the miller named. "What in natur' has brought +the old man on this tramp, with the valley filled with Injins?" whispered +Joel, prolonging the speech in order to get a better view of a face and +form that still baffled his conjectures. "Let's know all about it."</p> + +<p>"You'll get me into trouble," answered he major, shaking off his +unwelcome neighbour, moving a step further from him, and speaking also in +a whisper. "The captain's bent on a scout, and you know he'll not bear +contradiction. Off with you, then, and don't forget the milk."</p> + +<p>As the major moved away, and seemed determined to baffle him, Joel had no +choice between complying and exposing his disobedience of orders to the +captain. He disliked doing the last, for his cue was to seem respectful +and attached, and he was fain to submit. Never before, however, did Joel +Strides suffer a man to slip through his fingers with so much reluctance. +He saw that the captain's companion was not the miller, while the disguise +was too complete to enable him to distinguish the person or face. In that +day, the different classes of society were strongly distinguished from +each other, by their ordinary attire; and, accustomed to see major +Willoughby only in the dress that belonged to his station, he would not be +likely to recognise him in his present guise, had he even known of or +suspected his visit. As it was, he was completely at fault; satisfied it +was not his friend Daniel, while unable to say who it was.</p> + +<p>In this doubting state of mind, Joel actually forgot the savages, and the +risks he might run from their proximity. He walked, as it might be +mechanically, to the place where he had left the pail, and then proceeded +slowly towards the Knoll, pondering at every step on what he had just +seen. He and the miller had secret communications with certain active +agents of the revolutionists, that put them in possession of facts, +notwithstanding their isolated position, with which even their employer +was totally unacquainted. It is true, these agents were of that low caste +that never fail to attach themselves to all great political enterprises, +with a sole view to their own benefit; still, as they were active, cunning +and bold, and had the sagacity to make themselves useful, they passed in +the throng of patriots created by the times, and were enabled to impart to +men of similar spirits much available information.</p> + +<p>It was through means like these, that Joel knew of the all-important +measure of the declaration of independence, while it still remained a +secret to captain Willoughby. The hope of confiscations was now active in +the bosoms of all this set, and many of them had even selected the +portions of property that they intended should be the reward of their own +love of freedom and patriotism. It has been said that the English ministry +precipitated the American revolution, with a view to share, among their +favourites, the estates that it was thought it would bring within the gift +of the crown, a motive so heinous as almost to defy credulity, and which +may certainly admit of rational doubts. On the other hand, however, it is +certain that individuals, who will go down to posterity in company with +the many justly illustrious names that the events of 1776 have committed +to history, were actuated by the most selfish inducements, and, in divers +instances, enriched themselves with the wrecks of estates that formerly +belonged to their kinsmen or friends. Joel Strides was of too low a class +to get his name enrolled very high on the list of heroes, nor was he at +all ambitious of any such distinction; but he was not so low that he could +not and did not aspire to become the owner of the property of the Hutted +Knoll. In an ordinary state of society, so high a flight would seem +irrational in so low an aspirant; but Joel came of a people who seldom +measure their pretensions by their merits, and who imagine that to boldly +aspire, more especially in the way of money, is the first great step to +success. The much talked of and little understood doctrine of political +equality has this error to answer for, in thousands of cases; for nothing +can be more hopeless, in the nature of things, than to convince a man of +the necessity of possessing qualities of whose existence he has not even a +faint perception, ere he may justly pretend to be put on a level with the +high-minded, the just, the educated, and the good. Joel, therefore, saw no +other reason than the law, against his becoming the great landlord, as +well as captain Willoughby; and could the law be so moulded as to answer +his purposes, he had discreetly resolved to care for no other +considerations. The thought of the consequences to Mrs. Willoughby and her +daughters gave him no concern whatever; they had already possessed the +advantages of their situation so long, as to give Phoebe and the miller's +wife a sort of moral claim to succeed them. In a word, Joel, in his +yearnings after wealth, had only faintly shadowed forth the modern +favourite doctrine of "rotation in office."</p> + +<p>The appearance of a stranger in company with captain Willoughby could not +fail, therefore, to give rise to many conjectures in the mind of a man +whose daily and hourly thoughts were running on these important changes. +"Who <i>can</i> it be," thought Joel, as he crawled along the lane, bearing the +milk, and lifting one leg after the other, as if lead were fastened to his +feet. "Dan'el it is not--nor is it any one that I can consait on, about +the Hut. The captain is mightily strengthened by this marriage of his +da'ter with colonel Beekman, that's sartain. The colonel stands wonderful +well with our folks, and he 'll not let all this first-rate land, with +such capital betterments, go out of the family without an iffort, I +conclude--but then I calcilate on <i>his</i> being killed--there must be a +disperate lot on 'em shot, afore the war's over, and <i>he</i> is as likely to +be among 'em as another. Dan'el thinks the colonel has the look of a +short-lived man. Waal; to-morrow will bring about a knowledge of the name +of the captain's companion, and then a body may calcilate with greater +sartainty!"</p> + +<p>This is but an outline of what passed through Joel's mind as he moved +onward. It will serve, however, to let the reader into the secret of his +thoughts, as well as into their ordinary train, and is essentially +connected with some of the succeeding events of our legend. As the +overseer approached the stockade, his ideas were so abstracted that he +forgot the risk he ran; but walking carelessly towards the palisades, the +dogs barked, and then he was saluted by a shot. This effectually aroused +Joel, who called out in his natural voice, and probably saved his life by +so doing. The report of the rifle, however, produced an alarm, and by the +time the astounded overseer had staggered up to the gate, the men were +pouring out from the court, armed, and expecting an assault. In the midst +of this scene of confusion, the chaplain admitted Joel, as much astonished +as the man himself, at the whole of the unexpected occurrence.</p> + +<p>It is unnecessary to say that many questions were asked. Joel got rid of +them, by simply stating that he had gone out to milk a cow, by the +captain's private orders, and that he had forgotten to arrange any signal, +by which his return might be known. He ventured to name his employer, +because he knew he was not there to contradict him; and Mr. Woods, being +anxious to ascertain if his two friends had been seen, sent the men back +to their lairs, without delay, detaining the overseer at the gate for a +minute's private discourse. As the miller obeyed, with the rest, he asked +for the pail with an eye to his own children's comfort; but, on receiving +it, he found it empty! The bullet had passed through it, and the contents +had escaped.</p> + +<p>"Did you see any <i>thing, or person</i>, Strides?" demanded the chaplain, as +soon as the two were alone.</p> + +<p>"Lord, Mr. Woods, I met the captain!--The sight on him came over me a'most +as cruelly as the shot from the rifle; for I no more expected it than I do +to see you rise up to heaven, in your clothes, like Elijah of old. Sure +enough, <i>there</i> was the captain, himself, and--and--"</p> + +<p>Here Joel sneezed, repeating the word "and" several times, in hopes the +chaplain would supply the name he so much wished to hear.</p> + +<p>"But you saw no savages?--I know the captain is out, and you will be +careful not to mention it, lest it get to Mrs. Willoughby's ears, and make +her uneasy. You saw nothing of the savages?"</p> + +<p>"Not a bit--the critturs lie cluss enough, if they haven't actually +tramped. <i>Who</i> did you say was with the captain, Mr. Woods?"</p> + +<p>"I said nothing about it--I merely asked after the Indians, who, as you +say, do keep themselves very close. Well, Joel, go to your wife, who must +be getting anxious about you, and be prudent."</p> + +<p>Thus dismissed, the overseer did not dare to hesitate; but he entered the +court, still pondering on the late meeting.</p> + +<p>As for the two adventurers, they pursued their march in silence. As a +matter of course, they heard the report of the rifle, and caught some +faint sounds from the alarm that succeeded; but, readily comprehending the +cause, they produced no uneasiness; the stillness which succeeded soon +satisfying them that all was right. By this time they were within a +hundred yards of the flickering fires. The major had kept a strict watch +on the shanties at the report of the rifle; but not a living thing was +seen moving in their vicinity. This induced him to think the place +deserted, and he whispered as much to his father.</p> + +<p>"With any other enemy than an Indian", answered the latter, "you might be +right enough, Bob; but with these rascals one is never certain. We must +advance with a good deal of their own caution."</p> + +<p>This was done, and the gentlemen approached the fires in the most guarded +manner, keeping the shantees between them and the light. By this time, +however, the flames were nearly out, and there was no great difficulty in +looking into the nearest shantee, without much exposure. It was deserted, +as proved to be the case with all the others, on further examination. +Major Willoughby now moved about on the rock with greater confidence; for, +naturally brave, and accustomed to use his faculties with self-command in +moments of trial, he drew the just distinctions between real danger and +unnecessary alarm; the truest of all tests of courage.</p> + +<p>The captain, feeling a husband's and a father's responsibility, was a +little more guarded; but success soon gave him more confidence, and the +spot was thoroughly explored. The two then descended to the mills, which, +together with the adjacent cabins, they entered also, and found uninjured +and empty. After this, several other suspected points were looked at, +until the captain came to the conclusion that the party had retired, for +the night at least, if not entirely. Making a circuit, however, he and his +son visited the chapel, and one or two dwellings on that side of the +valley, when they bent their steps towards the Knoll.</p> + +<p>As the gentlemen approached the stockade, the captain gave a loud hem, and +clapped his hands. At the signal the gate flew open, and they found +themselves in company with their friend the chaplain once more. A few +words of explanation told all they had to say, and then the three passed +into the court, and separated; each taking the direction towards his own +room. The major, fatigued with the toils of a long march, was soon in a +soldier's sleep; but it was hours before his more thoughtful, and still +uneasy father, could obtain the rest which nature so much requires.</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch15"> +<h2>Chapter XV.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> ----"I could teach you,<br /> + How to choose right, but then I am forsworn;<br /> + So will I never be; so may you miss me;<br /> + But if you do, you'll make me wish a sin<br /> + That I had been forsworn."----</p> + +<p> <i>Portia</i>.</p></div> + +<p> +Captain Willoughby knew that the hour which preceded the return of light, +was that in which the soldier had the most to apprehend, when in the +field. This is the moment when it is usual to attempt surprises; and it +was, in particular, the Indian's hour of blood. Orders had been left, +accordingly, to call him at four o'clock, and to see that all the men of +the Hut were afoot, and armed also. Notwithstanding the deserted +appearance of the valley, this experienced frontier warrior distrusted the +signs of the times; and he looked forward to the probability of an +assault, a little before the return of day, with a degree of concern he +would have been sorry to communicate to his wife and daughters.</p> + +<p>Every emergency had been foreseen, and such a disposition made of the +forces, as enabled the major to be useful, in the event of an attack, +without exposing himself unnecessarily to the danger of being discovered. +He was to have charge of the defence of the rear of the Hut, or that part +of the buildings where the windows opened outwards; and Michael and the +two Plinys were assigned him as assistants. Nor was the ward altogether a +useless one. Though the cliff afforded a material safeguard to this +portion of the defences, it might be scaled; and, it will be remembered, +there was no stockade at all, on this, the northern end of the house.</p> + +<p>When the men assembled in the court, therefore, about an hour before the +dawn, Robert Willoughby collected his small force in the dining-room, the +outer apartment of the <i>suite</i>, where he examined their arms by +lamp-light, inspected their accoutrements, and directed them to remain +until he issued fresh orders. His father, aided by serjeant Joyce, did the +same in the court; issuing out, through the gate of the buildings, with +his whole force, as soon as this duty was performed. The call being +general, the women and children were all up also; many of the former +repairing to the loops, while the least resolute, or the less experienced +of their number, administered to the wants of the young, or busied +themselves with the concerns of the household. In a word, the Hut, at that +early hour, resembled a hive in activity, though the different pursuits +had not much affinity to the collection of honey.</p> + +<p>It is not to be supposed that Mrs. Willoughby and her daughters still +courted their pillows on an occasion like this. They rose with the others, +the grandmother and Beulah bestowing their first care on the little Evert, +as if <i>his</i> life and safety were the considerations uppermost in their +thoughts. This seemed so natural, that Maud wondered she too could not +feel all this absorbing interest in the child, a being so totally +dependent on the affection of its friends and relatives to provide for its +wants and hazards, in an emergency like the present.</p> + +<p>"<i>We</i> will see to the child, Maud," observed her mother, ten or fifteen +minutes after all were up and dressed. "Do you go to your brother, who +will be solitary, alone in his citadel. He may wish, too, to send some +message to his father. Go, then, dear girl, and help to keep up poor Bob's +spirits."</p> + +<p>What a service for Maud! Still, she went, without hesitation or delay; for +the habits of her whole infancy were not to be totally overcome by the +natural and more engrossing sentiments of her later years. She could not +feel precisely the reserve and self-distrust with one she had so long +regarded as a brother, as might have been the case with a stranger youth +in whom she had begun to feel the interest she entertained for Robert +Willoughby. But, Maud did not hesitate about complying. An order from her +mother to her was law; and she had no shame, no reserves on the subject of +contributing to Bob's comfort or happiness.</p> + +<p>Her presence was a great relief to the young man himself, whom she found +in the library. His assistants were posted without, as sentinels to keep +off intruders, a disposition that left him quite alone, anxious and +uneasy. The only intercourse he could have with his father was by means of +messages; and the part of the building he occupied was absolutely without +any communication with the court, except by a single door near the +offices, at which he had stationed O'Hearn.</p> + +<p>"This is kind, and like yourself, dearest Maud," exclaimed the young man, +taking the hand of his visiter, and pressing it in both his own, though he +strangely neglected to kiss her cheek, as he certainly would have done had +it been Beulah--"This is kind and like yourself; now I shall learn +something of the state of the family. How is my mother?"</p> + +<p>It might have been native coyness, or even coquetry, that unconsciously to +herself influenced Maud's answer. She knew not why--and yet she felt +prompted to let it be understood she had not come of her own impulses.</p> + +<p>"Mother is well, and not at all alarmed," she said. "She and Beulah are +busy with little Evert, who crows and kicks his heels about as if <i>he</i> +despised danger as becomes a soldier's son, and has much amused even <i>me</i>; +though I am accused of insensibility to his perfections. Believing you +might be solitary, or might wish to communicate with some of us, my mother +desired me to come and inquire into your wants."</p> + +<p>"Was such a bidding required, Maud! How long has an order been necessary +to bring <i>you</i> to console <i>me</i>?"</p> + +<p>"That is a calculation I have never entered into, Bob," answered Maud, +slightly blushing, and openly smiling, and that in a way, too, to take all +the sting out of her words--"as young ladies can have more suitable +occupations, one might think. You will admit I guided you faithfully and +skilfully into the Hut last evening, and such a service should suffice for +the present. But, my mother tells me we have proper causes of complaint +against you, for having so thoughtlessly left the place of safety into +which you were brought, and for going strolling about the valley, after we +had retired, in a very heedless and boyish manner!"</p> + +<p>"I went with my father; surely I could not have been in better company."</p> + +<p>"At his suggestion, or at your own, Bob?" asked Maud, shaking her head.</p> + +<p>"To own the truth, it was, in some degree, at my own. It seemed so very +unmilitary for two old soldiers to allow themselves to be shut up in +ignorance of what their enemies were at, that I could not resist the +desire to make a little <i>sortie</i>. You must feel, dear Maud, that our +motive was <i>your </i> safety--the safety, I mean, of my mother, and Beulah, +and nil of you together--and you ought to be the last to blame us."</p> + +<p>The tint on Maud's cheek deepened as Robert Willoughby laid so heavy an +emphasis on "<i>your</i> safety;" but she could not smile on an act that risked +so much more than was prudent.</p> + +<p>"This is well enough as to motive," she said, after a pause; "but +frightfully ill-judged, I should think, as to the risks. You do not +remember the importance our dear father is to us all--to my mother--to +Beulah--even to me, Bob."</p> + +<p>"Even to <i>you</i>, Maud!--And why not as much to <i>you</i> as to any of us?"</p> + +<p>Maud could speak to Beulah of her want of natural affinity to the family; +but, it far exceeded her self-command to make a direct allusion to it to +Robert Willoughby. Still, it was now rarely absent from her mind; the love +she bore the captain and his wife, and Beulah, and little Evert, coming to +her heart through a more insidious and possibly tenderer tie, than that of +purely filial or sisterly affection. It was, indeed, this every-day +regard, strangely deepened and enlivened by that collateral feeling we so +freely bestow on them who are bound by natural ties to those who have the +strongest holds on our hearts, and which causes us to see with their eyes, +and to feel with their affections. Accordingly, no reply was made to the +question; or, rather, it was answered by putting another.</p> + +<p>"Did you see anything, after all, to compensate for so much risk?" asked +Maud, but not until a pause had betrayed her embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"We ascertained that the savages had deserted their fires, and had not +entered any of the cabins. Whether this were done to mislead us, or to +make a retreat as sudden and unexpected as their inroad, we are altogether +in the dark. My father apprehends treachery, however; while, I confess, to +me it seems probable that the arrival and the departure may be altogether +matters of accident. The Indians are in motion certainly, for it is known +that our agents are busy among them; but, it is by no means so clear that +<i>our </i> Indians would molest captain Willoughby--Sir Hugh Willoughby, as my +father is altogether called, at head-quarters."</p> + +<p>"Have not the Americans savages on their side, to do us this ill office?"</p> + +<p>"I think not. It is the interest of the rebels to keep the savages out of +the struggle; they have so much at risk, that this species of warfare can +scarcely be to <i>their</i> liking."</p> + +<p>"And ought it to be to the liking of the king's generals, or ministers +either, Bob!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not, Maud. I do not defend it; but I have seen enough of politics +and war, to know that results are looked to, far more than principles. +Honour, and chivalry, and humanity, and virtue, and right, are freely used +in terms; but seldom do they produce much influence on facts. Victory is +the end aimed at, and the means are made to vary with the object."</p> + +<p>"And where is all we have read together?--Yes, <i>together</i>, Bob? for I owe +you a great deal for having directed my studies--where is all we have read +about the glory and truth of the English name and cause?"</p> + +<p>"Very much, I fear, Maud, where the glory and truth of the American name +and cause will be, as soon as this new nation shall fairly burst the +shell, and hatch its public morality. There are men among us who believe +in this public honesty, but I do not."</p> + +<p>"You are then engaged in a bad cause, major Willoughby, and the sooner you +abandon it, the better."</p> + +<p>"I would in a minute, if I knew where to find a better. Rely on it, +dearest Maud, all causes are alike, in this particular; though one side +may employ instruments, as in the case of the savages, that the other side +finds it its interest to decry. Men, as individuals, <i>may</i> be, and +sometimes <i>are</i>, reasonably upright--but, <i>bodies</i> of men, I much fear, +never. The latter escape responsibility by dividing it."</p> + +<p>"Still, a good cause may elevate even bodies of men," said Maud, +thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"For a time, perhaps; but not in emergencies. You and I think it a good +cause, my good and frowning Maud, to defend the rights of our sovereign +lord the king. Beulah I have given up to the enemy; but on you I have +implicitly replied."</p> + +<p>"Beulah follows her heart, perhaps, as they say it is natural to women to +do. As for myself, I am left free to follow my own opinion of my duties."</p> + +<p>"And they lead you to espouse the cause of the king, Maud!"</p> + +<p>"They will be very apt to be influenced by the notions of a certain +captain Willoughby, and Wilhelmina, his wife, who have guided me aright on +so many occasions, that I shall not easily distrust their opinions on +this."</p> + +<p>The major disliked this answer; and yet, when he came to reflect on it, as +reflect he did a good deal in the course of the day, he was dissatisfied +with himself at being so unreasonable as to expect a girl of twenty-one +not to think with her parents, real or presumed, in most matters. At the +moment, however, he did not wish further to press the point.</p> + +<p>"I am glad to learn, Bob," resumed Maud, looking more cheerful and +smiling, "that you met with no one in your rash sortie--for rash I shall +call it, even though sanctioned by my father."</p> + +<p>"I am wrong in saying that. We did meet with one man, and that was no less +a person than your bug-bear, Joel Strides--as innocent, though as meddling +an overseer as one could wish to employ."</p> + +<p>"Robert Willoughby, what mean you! Does this man know of your presence at +the Knoll?"</p> + +<p>"I should hope not--<i>think</i> not." Here the major explained all that is +known to the reader on this head, when he continued--"The fellow's +curiosity brought his face within a few inches of mine; yet I do not +believe he recognised me. This disguise is pretty thorough; and what +between his ignorance, the darkness and the dress, I must believe he was +foiled."</p> + +<p>"Heaven be praised!" exclaimed Maud, breathing more freely. "I have long +distrusted that man, though he seems to possess the confidence of every +one else. Neither my father nor my mother will see him, as I see him; yet +to me his design to injure you is <i>so</i> clear--<i>so</i> obvious!--I wonder, +often wonder, that others cannot view it as I do. Even Beulah is blind!"</p> + +<p>"And what do you see so clearly, Maud? I have consented to keep myself +incog. in submission to your earnest request; and yet, to own the truth, I +can discover no particular reason why Strides is to be distrusted more +than any one else in the valley--than Mike, for instance."</p> + +<p>"Mike! I would answer for <i>his</i> truth with my life. <i>He</i> will never betray +you, Bob."</p> + +<p>"But why is Joel so much the object of your distrust?--and why am <i>I</i> the +particular subject of your apprehensions?"</p> + +<p>Maud felt the tell-tale blood flowing again to her cheeks; since, to give +a simple and clear reason for her distrust, exceeded her power. It was +nothing but the keen interest which she took in Robert Willoughby's safety +that had betrayed to her the truth; and, as usually happens, when anxiety +leads the way in discoveries of this sort, logical and plausible +inferences are not always at command. Still, Maud not only thought herself +right, but, in the main, she <i>was</i> right; and this she felt so strongly as +to be enabled to induce others to act on her impressions.</p> + +<p>"<i>Why</i> I believe in Strides' sinister views is more than I may be able to +explain to you, in words, Bob," she replied, after a moment's thought; +"still, I <i>do</i> believe in them as firmly as I believe in my existence. His +looks, his questions, his journeys, and an occasional remark, have all +aided in influencing the belief; nevertheless, no one proof may be +perfectly clear and satisfactory. Why <i>you</i> should be the subject of his +plans, however, is simple enough, since you are the only one among us he +can seriously injure. By betraying you, he might gain some great advantage +to himself."</p> + +<p>"To whom can he betray me, dear? My father is the only person here, in +any authority, and of him I have no cause to be afraid."</p> + +<p>"Yet, you were so far alarmed when last here, as to change your route back +to Boston. If there were cause for apprehension then, the same reason may +now exist."</p> + +<p>"That was when many strangers were in the valley, and we knew not exactly +where we stood. I have submitted to your wishes, however, Maud, and shall +lie <i>perdu</i>, until there is a serious alarm; then it is understood I am to +be permitted to show myself. In a moment of emergency my unexpected +appearance among the men might have a dramatic effect, and, of itself, +give us a victory. But tell me of my prospects--am I likely to succeed +with my father? Will he be brought over to the royal cause?"</p> + +<p>"I think not. All common inducements are lost on him. His baronetcy, for +instance, he will never assume; <i>that</i>, therefore, cannot entice him. Then +his feelings are with his adopted country, which he thinks right, and +which he is much disposed to maintain; more particularly since Beulah's +marriage, and our late intercourse with all that set. My mother's family, +too, has much influence with him. They, you know, are all whigs."</p> + +<p>"Don't prostitute the name, Maud. Whig does not mean rebel; these +misguided men are neither more nor less than rebels. I had thought this +declaration of independence would have brought my father at once to our +side."</p> + +<p>"I can see it has disturbed him, as did the Battle of Bunker's Hill. But +he will reflect a few days, and decide now, as he did then, in favour of +the Americans. He has English partialities, Bob, as is natural to one born +in that country; but, on this point, his mind is very strongly American."</p> + +<p>"The accursed Knoll has done this! Had he lived in society, as he ought to +have done, among his equals and the educated, we should now see him at the +head--Maud, I know I can confide in <i>you</i>."</p> + +<p>Maud was pleased at this expression of confidence, and she looked up in +the major's face, her full blue eyes expressing no small portion of the +heartfelt satisfaction she experienced. Still, she said nothing.</p> + +<p>"You may well imagine," the major continued, "that I have not made this +journey entirely without an object--I mean some object more important, +even, than to see you all. The commander-in-chief is empowered to raise +several regiments in this country, and it is thought useful to put men of +influence in the colonies at their head. Old Noll de Lancey, for instance, +so well known to us all, is to have a brigade; and I have a letter in my +pocket offering to Sir Hugh Willoughby one of his regiments. One of the +Allens of Pennsylvania, who was actually serving against us, has thrown up +his commission from congress, since this wicked declaration, and has +consented to take a battalion from the king. What think you of all this? +Will it not have weight with my father?"</p> + +<p>"It may cause him to reflect, Bob; but it will not induce him to change +his mind. It may suit Mr. Oliver de Lancey to be a general, for he has +been a soldier his whole life; but my father has retired, and given up all +thoughts of service. He tells us he never liked it, and has been happier +here at the Knoll, than when he got his first commission. Mr. Allen's +change of opinion may be well enough, he will say, but I have no need of +change; I am here, with my wife and daughters, and have them to care for, +in these troubled times. What think you he said, Bob, in one of his +conversations with us, on this very subject?"</p> + +<p>"I am sure I cannot imagine--though I rather fear it was some wretched +political stuff of the day."</p> + +<p>"So far from this, it was good natural feeling that belongs, or ought to +belong to all days, and all ages," answered Maud, her voice trembling a +little as she proceeded. "'There is my son,' he said; 'one soldier is +enough in a family like this. <i>He</i> keeps all our hearts anxious, and may +cause them all to mourn.'"</p> + +<p>Major Willoughby was mute for quite a minute, looking rebuked and +thoughtful.</p> + +<p>"I fear I do cause my parents concern," he at length answered; "and why +should I endeavour to increase that of my excellent mother, by persuading +her husband to return to the profession? If this were ordinary service, I +could not think of it. I do not know that I ought to think of it, as it +is!"</p> + +<p>"Do not, dear Robert. We are all--that is, mother is often miserable on +your account; and why would you increase her sorrows? Remember that to +tremble for one life is sufficient for a woman."</p> + +<p>"My mother is miserable on <i>my</i> account!" answered the young man, who was +thinking of anything but his father, at that instant. "Does Beulah never +express concern for me? or have her new ties completely driven her brother +from her recollection? I know she can scarce wish me success; but she +might still feel some uneasiness for an only brother. We are but two--"</p> + +<p>Maud started, as if some frightful object glared before her eyes; then she +sat in breathless silence, resolute to hear what would come next. But +Robert Willoughby meant to pursue that idea no farther. He had so +accustomed himself--had endeavoured even so to accustom himself to think +of Beulah as his only sister, that the words escaped him unconsciously. +They were no sooner uttered, however, than the recollection of their +possible effect on Maud crossed his mind. Profoundly ignorant of the true +nature of her feelings towards himself, he had ever shrunk from a direct +avowal of his own sentiments, lest he might shock her; as a sister's ear +would naturally be wounded by a declaration of attachment from a brother; +and there were bitter moments when he fancied delicacy and honour would +oblige him to carry his secret with him to the grave. Two minutes of frank +communication might have dissipated all these scruples for ever; but, how +to obtain those minutes, or how to enter on the subject at all, were +obstacles that often appeared insurmountable to the young man. As for +Maud, she but imperfectly understood her own heart--true, she had +conscious glimpses of its real state; but, it was through those sudden and +ungovernable impulses that were so strangely mingled with her affections. +It was years, indeed, since she had ceased to think of Robert Willoughby +as a brother, and had begun to view him with different eyes; still, she +struggled with her feelings, as against a weakness. The captain and his +wife were her parents; Beulah her dearly, dearly beloved sister; little +Evert her nephew; and even the collaterals, in and about Albany, came in +for a due share of her regard; while Bob, though called Bob as before; +though treated with a large portion of the confidence that was natural to +the intimacy of her childhood; though loved with a tenderness he would +have given even his high-prized commission to know, was no longer thought +of as a brother. Often did Maud find herself thinking, if never saying, +"Beulah may do that, for Beulah is his sister; but it would be wrong in +me. I may write to him, talk freely and even confidentially with him, and +be affectionate to him; all this is right, and I should be the most +ungrateful creature on earth to act differently; but I cannot sit on his +knee as Beulah sometimes does; I cannot throw my arms around his neck when +I kiss him, as Beulah does; I cannot pat his cheek, as Beulah does, when +he says anything to laugh at; nor can I pry into his secrets, as Beulah +does, or affects to do, to tease him. I should be more reserved with one +who has not a drop of my blood in his veins--no, not a single drop." In +this way, indeed, Maud was rather fond of disclaiming any consanguinity +with the family of Willoughby, even while she honoured and loved its two +heads, as parents. The long pause that succeeded the major's broken +sentence was only interrupted by himself.</p> + +<p>"It is vexatious to be shut up here, in the dark, Maud," he said, "when +every minute <i>may</i> bring an attack. This side of the house might be +defended by you and Beulah, aided and enlightened by the arm and counsels +of that young 'son of liberty,' little Evert; whereas the stockade in +front may really need the presence of men who have some knowledge of the +noble art. I wish there were a look-out to the front, that one might at +least see the danger as it approached."</p> + +<p>"If your presence is not indispensable here, I can lead you to my +painting-room, where there is a loop directly opposite to the gate. That +half of the garrets has no one in it."</p> + +<p>The major accepted the proposal with joy, and forthwith he proceeded to +issue a few necessary orders to his subordinates, before he followed Maud. +When all was ready, the latter led the way, carrying a small silver lamp +that she had brought with her on entering the library. The reader already +understands that the Hut was built around a court, the portion of the +building in the rear, or on the cliff, alone having windows that opened +outward. This was as true of the roofs as of the perpendicular parts of +the structure, the only exceptions being in the loops that had been cut in +the half-story, beneath the eaves. Of course, the garrets were very +extensive. They were occupied in part, however, by small rooms, with +dormer-windows, the latter of which opened on the court, with the +exception of those above the cliff. It was on the roofs of these windows +that captain Willoughby had laid his platform, or walk, with a view to +extinguish fires, or to defend the place. There were many rooms also that +were lighted only by the loops, and which, of course, were on the outer +side of the buildings. In addition to these arrangements, the garret +portions of the Hut were divided into two great parts, like the lower +floor, without any doors of communication. Thus, below, the apartments +commenced at the gateway, and extended along one-half the front; the +whole of the east wing, and the whole of the rear, occupying five-eighths +of the entire structure. This part contained all the rooms occupied by the +family and the offices. The corresponding three-eighths, or the remaining +half of the front, and the whole of the west wing, were given to visiters, +and were now in possession of the people of the valley; as were all the +rooms and garrets above them. On the other hand, captain Willoughby, with +a view to keep his family to itself, had excluded every one, but the usual +inmates, from his own portion of the house, garret-rooms included.</p> + +<p>Some of the garret-rooms, particularly those over the library, +drawing-room, and parlour, were convenient and well-furnished little +apartments, enjoying dormer-windows that opened on the meadows and forest, +and possessing a very tolerable elevation, for rooms of that particular +construction. Here Mr. Woods lodged and had his study. The access was by a +convenient flight of steps, placed in the vestibule that communicated with +the court. A private and narrower flight also ascended from the offices.</p> + +<p>Maud now led the way up the principal stairs, Mike being on post at the +outer door to keep off impertinent eyes, followed by Robert Willoughby. +Unlike most American houses, the Hut had few passages on its principal +floor; the rooms communicating <i>en suite</i>, as a better arrangement where +the buildings were so long, and yet so narrow. Above, however, one side +was left in open garret; sometimes in front and sometimes in the rear, as +the light came from the court, or from without. Into this garret, then, +Maud conducted the major, passing a line of humble rooms on her right, +which belonged to the families of the Plinys and the Smashes, with their +connections, until she reached the front range of the buildings. Here the +order was changed along the half of the structure reserved to the use of +the family; the rooms being on the outer side lighted merely by the loops, +while opposite to them was an open garret with windows that overlooked the +court.</p> + +<p>Passing into the garret just mentioned, Maud soon reached the door of the +little room she sought. It was an apartment she had selected for painting, +on account of the light from the loop, which in the morning was +particularly favourable, though somewhat low. As she usually sat on a +little stool, however, this difficulty was in some measure obviated; and, +at all events, the place was made to answer her purposes. She kept the key +herself, and the room, since Beulah's marriage in particular, was her +sanctum; no one entering it unless conducted by its mistress. +Occasionally, Little Smash was admitted with a broom; though Maud, for +reasons known to herself, often preferred sweeping the small carpet that +covered the centre of the floor, with her own fair hands, in preference to +suffering another to intrude.</p> + +<p>The major was aware that Maud had used this room for the last seven years. +It was here he had seen her handkerchief waving at the loop, when he last +departed; and hundreds of times since had he thought of this act of +watchful affection, with doubts that led equally to pain or pleasure, as +images of merely sisterly care, or of a tenderer feeling, obtruded +themselves. These loops were four feet long, cut in the usual bevelling +manner, through the massive timbers; were glazed, and had thick, +bullet-proof, inside shutters, that in this room were divided in equal +parts, in order to give Maud the proper use of the light she wanted. All +these shutters were now closed by command of the captain, in order to +conceal the lights that would be flickering through the different garrets; +and so far had caution become a habit, that Maud seldom exposed her +person at night, near the loop, with the shutter open.</p> + +<p>On the present occasion, she left the light without, and threw open the +upper-half of her heavy shutter, remarking as she did so, that the day was +just beginning to dawn.</p> + +<p>"In a few minutes it will be light," she added; "then we shall be able to +see who is and who is not in the valley. Look--you can perceive my father +near the gate, at this moment."</p> + +<p>"I do, to my shame, Maud. He should not be there, I am cooped up here, +behind timbers that are almost shot-proof."</p> + +<p>"It will be time for you to go to the front, as you soldiers call it, when +there is an enemy to face. You cannot think there is any danger of an +attack upon the Hut this morning."</p> + +<p>"Certainty not. It is now too late. If intended at all, it would have been +made before that streak of light appeared in the east."</p> + +<p>"Then close the shutter, and I will bring in the lamp, and show you some +of my sketches. We artists are thirsting always for praise; and I know you +have a taste, Bob, that one might dread."</p> + +<p>"This is kind of you, dear Maud," answered the major, closing the shutter; +"for they tell me you are niggardly of bestowing such favours. I hear you +have got to likenesses--little Evert's, in particular."</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch16"> +<h2>Chapter XVI.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> Anxious, she hovers o'er the web the while,<br /> + Reads, as it grows, thy figured story there;<br /> + Now she explains the texture with a smile,<br /> + And now the woof interprets with a tear.</p> + +<p> Fawcett.</p></div> + +<p> +All Maud's feelings were healthful and natural. She had no exaggerated +sentiments, and scarcely art enough to control or to conceal any of the +ordinary impulses of her heart. We are not about to relate a scene, +therefore, in which a long-cherished but hidden miniature of the young man +is to play a conspicuous part, and to be the means of revealing to two +lovers the state of their respective hearts; but one of a very different +character. It is true, Maud had endeavoured to make, from memory, one or +two sketches of "Bob's" face; but she had done it openly, and under the +cognizance of the whole family. This she might very well do, indeed, in +her usual character of a sister, and excite no comments. In these efforts, +her father and mother, and Beulah, had uniformly pronounced her success to +be far beyond their hopes; but Maud, herself, had thrown them all aside, +half-finished, dissatisfied with her own labours. Like the author, whose +fertile imagination fancies pictures that defy his powers of description, +her pencil ever fell far short of the face that her memory kept so +constantly in view. This sketch wanted animation, that gentleness, another +fire, and a fourth candour; in short, had Maud begun a thousand all would +have been deficient, in her eyes, in some great essential of perfection. +Still, she had no secret about her efforts, and half-a-dozen of these very +sketches lay uppermost in her portfolio, when she spread it, and its +contents, before the eyes of the original.</p> + +<p>Major Willoughby thought Maud had never appeared more beautiful than as +she moved about making her little preparations for the exhibition. +Pleasure heightened her colour; and there was such a mixture of frank, +sisterly regard, in every glance of her eye, blended, however, with +sensitive feeling, and conscious womanly reserve, as made her a thousand +times--measuring amounts by the young man's sensations--more interesting +than he had ever seen her. The lamp gave but an indifferent light for a +gallery, but it was sufficient to betray Maud's smiles, and blushes, and +each varying emotion of her charming countenance.</p> + +<p>"Now, Bob," she said, opening her portfolio, with all her youthful +frankness and confidence, "you know well enough I am not one of those old +masters of whom you used to talk so much, but your own pupil--the work of +your own hands; and if you find more faults than you have expected, you +will have the goodness to remember that the master has deserted his +peaceful pursuits to go a campaigning--there--that is a caricature of +your own countenance, staring you in the face, as a preface!"</p> + +<p>"This is like, I should think--was it done from memory, dear Maud?"</p> + +<p>"How else should it be done? All our entreaties have never been able to +persuade you to send us even a miniature. You are wrong in this, Bob"--by +no accident did Maud now ever call the major, Robert, though Beulah often +did. There was a desperate sort of familiarity in the <i>Bob</i>, that she +could easily adopt; but the 'Robert' had a family sound that she disliked; +and yet a more truly feminine creature than Maud Meredith did not +exist--"You are wrong, Bob; for mother actually pines to possess your +picture, in some shape or other. It was this wish that induced me to +attempt these things."</p> + +<p>"And why has no one of them ever been finished?--Here are six or eight +beginnings, and all, more or less, like, I should think, and not one of +them more than half done. Why have I been treated so cavalierly, Miss +Maud?"</p> + +<p>The fair artist's colour deepened a little; but her smile was quite as +sweet as it was saucy, as she replied--</p> + +<p>"Girlish caprice, I suppose. I like neither of them; and of that which a +woman dislikes, she will have none. To be candid, however, I hardly think +there is one of them all that does you justice."</p> + +<p>"No?--what fault have you to find with this? This might be worked up to +something very natural."</p> + +<p>"It would be <i>a</i> natural, then--it wants expression, fearfully."</p> + +<p>"And this, which is still better. That might be finished while I am here, +and I will give you some sittings."</p> + +<p>"Even mother dislikes <i>that</i>--there is too much of the Major of Foot in +it. Mr. Woods says it is a martial picture."</p> + +<p>"And ought not a soldier to look like a soldier? To me, now, that seems a +capital beginning."</p> + +<p>"It is not what mother, or Beulah--or father--or even any of us wants. It +is too full of Bunker's Hill. Your friends desire to see you as you appear +to <i>them</i>; not as you appear to your enemies."</p> + +<p>"Upon my word, Maud, you have made great advances in the art! This is a +view of the Knoll, and the dam--and here is another of the mill, and the +water-fall--all beautifully done, and in water-colours, too. What is +this?--Have you been attempting a sketch of yourself!--The glass must have +been closely consulted, my fair coquette, to enable you to do this!"</p> + +<p>The blood had rushed into Maud's face, covering it with a rich tell-tale +mantle, when her companion first alluded to the half-finished miniature he +held in his hand; then her features resembled ivory, as the revulsion of +feeling, that overcame her confusion, followed. For some little time she +sate, in breathless stillness, with her looks cast upon the floor, +conscious that Robert Willoughby was glancing from her own face to the +miniature, and from the miniature to her face again, making his +observations and comparisons. Then she ventured to raise her eyes timidly +towards his, half-imploringly, as if to beseech him to proceed to +something else. But the young man was too much engrossed with the +exceedingly pretty sketch he held in his hand, to understand her meaning, +or to comply with her wishes.</p> + +<p>"This is yourself, Maud!" he cried--"though in a strange sort of +dress--why have you spoilt so beautiful a thing, by putting it in this +masquerade?"</p> + +<p>"It is not myself--it is a copy of--a miniature I possess."</p> + +<p>"A miniature you possess!--Of whom can you possess so lovely a miniature, +and I never see it?"</p> + +<p>A faint smile illumined the countenance of Maud, and the blood began to +return to her cheeks. She stretched her hand over to the sketch, and gazed +on it, with intense feeling, until the tears began to stream from her +eyes.</p> + +<p>"Maud--dear, <i>dearest</i> Maud--have I said that which pains you?--I do not +understand all this, but I confess there are secrets to which I can have +no claim to be admitted--"</p> + +<p>"Nay, Bob, this is making too much of what, after all, must sooner or +later be spoken of openly among us. I believe that to be a copy of a +miniature of my mother."</p> + +<p>"Of mother, Maud--you are beside yourself--it has neither her features, +expression, nor the colour of her eyes. It is the picture of a far +handsomer woman, though mother is still pretty; and it is perfection!"</p> + +<p>"I mean of <i>my</i> mother--of Maud Yeardley; the wife of my father, Major +Meredith."</p> + +<p>This was said with a steadiness that surprised our heroine herself, when +she came to think over all that had passed, and it brought the blood to +her companion's heart, in a torrent.</p> + +<p>"This is strange!" exclaimed Willoughby, after a short pause. "And <i>my</i> +mother--<i>our</i> mother has given you the original, and told you this? I did +not believe she could muster the resolution necessary to such an act."</p> + +<p>"She has not. You know, Bob, I am now of age; and my father, a month +since, put some papers in my hand, with a request that I would read them. +They contain a marriage settlement and other things of that sort, which +show I am mistress of more money than I should know what to do with, if it +were not for dear little Evert--but, with such a precious being to love, +one never can have too much of anything. With the papers were many +trinkets, which I suppose father never looked at. This beautiful miniature +was among the last; and I feel certain, from some remarks I ventured to +make, mother does not know of its existence."</p> + +<p>As Maud spoke, she drew the original from her bosom, and placed it in +Robert Willoughby's hands. When this simple act was performed, her mind +seemed relieved; and she waited, with strong natural interest, to hear +Robert Willoughby's comments.</p> + +<p>"This, then, Maud, was your <i>own</i>--your <i>real</i> mother!" the young man +said, after studying the miniature, with a thoughtful countenance, for +near a minute. "It is <i>like</i> her--like you."</p> + +<p>"Like <i>her</i>, Bob?--How can you know anything or that?--I suppose it to be +my mother, because I think it like myself, and because it is not easy to +say who else it can be. But you cannot know anything of this?"</p> + +<p>"You are mistaken, Maud--I remember both your parents well--it could not +be otherwise, as they were the bosom friends of my own. You will remember +that I am now eight-and-twenty, and that I had seen seven of these years +when you were born. Was my first effort in arms never spoken of in your +presence?"</p> + +<p>"Never--perhaps it was not a subject for me to hear, if it were in any +manner connected with my parents."</p> + +<p>"You are right--that must be the reason it has been kept from your ears."</p> + +<p>"Surely, surely, I am old enough to hear it <i>now</i>--<i>you</i> will conceal +nothing from me, Bob?"</p> + +<p>"If I would, I could not, now. It is too late, Maud. You know the manner +in which Major Meredith died?--"</p> + +<p>"He fell in battle, I have suspected," answered the daughter, in a +suppressed, doubtful tone--"for no one has ever directly told me even +that."</p> + +<p>"He did, and I was at his side. The French and savages made an assault on +us, about an hour earlier than this, and our two fathers rushed to the +pickets to repel it--I was a reckless boy, anxious even at that tender age +to see a fray, and was at their side. Your father was one of the first +that fell; but Joyce and <i>our</i> father beat the Indians back from his body, +and saved it from mutilation. Your mother was buried in the same grave, +and then you came to us, where our have been ever since."</p> + +<p>Maud's tears flowed fast, and yet it was not so much in grief as in a +gush of tenderness she could hardly explain to herself. Robert Willoughby +understood her emotions, and perceived that he might proceed.</p> + +<p>"I was old enough to remember both your parents well--I was a favourite, I +believe, with, certainly was much petted by, both--I remember your birth, +Maud, and was suffered to carry you in my arms, ere you were a week old."</p> + +<p>"Then you have known me for an impostor from the beginning, Bob--must have +often thought of me as such!"</p> + +<p>"I have known you for the daughter of Lewellen Meredith, certainly; and +not for a world would I have you the real child of Hugh Willoughby--" + +"Bob!" exclaimed Maud, her heart beating violently, a rush of feeling +nearly overcoming her, in which alarm, consciousness, her own secret, +dread of something wrong, and a confused glimpse of the truth, were all so +blended, as nearly to deprive her, for the moment, of the use of her +senses.</p> + +<p>It is not easy to say precisely what would have followed this tolerably +explicit insight into the state of the young man's feelings, had not an +outcry on the lawn given the major notice that his presence was needed +below. With a few words of encouragement to Maud, first taking the +precaution to extinguish the lamp, lest its light should expose her to a +shot in passing some of the open loops, he sprang towards the stairs, and +was at his post again, literally within a minute. Nor was he a moment too +soon. The alarm was general, and it was understood an assault was +momentarily expected.</p> + +<p>The situation of Robert Willoughby was now tantalizing in the extreme. +Ignorant of what was going on in front, he saw no enemy in the rear to +oppose, and was condemned to inaction, at a moment when he felt that, by +training, years, affinity to the master of the place, and all the usual +considerations, he ought to be in front, opposed to the enemy. It is +probable he would have forgotten his many cautions to keep close, had not +Maud appeared in the library, and implored him to remain concealed, at +least until there was the certainty his presence was necessary elsewhere.</p> + +<p>At that instant, every feeling but those connected with the danger, was +in a degree forgotten. Still, Willoughby had enough consideration for Maud +to insist on her joining her mother and Beulah, in the portion of the +building where the absence of external windows rendered their security +complete, so long as the foe could be kept without the palisades. In this +he succeeded, but not until he had promised, again and again, to be +cautious in not exposing himself at any of the windows, the day having now +fairly dawned, and particularly not to let it be known in the Hut that he +was present until it became indispensable.</p> + +<p>The major felt relieved when Maud had left him. For her, he had no longer +any immediate apprehensions, and he turned all his faculties to the sounds +of the assault which he supposed to be going on in front. To his surprise, +however, no discharges of fire-arms succeeded; and even the cries, and +orders, and calling from point to point, that are a little apt to succeed +an alarm in an irregular garrison, had entirely ceased; and it became +doubtful whether the whole commotion did not proceed from a false alarm. +The Smashes, in particular, whose vociferations for the first few minutes +had been of a very decided kind, were now mute; and the exclamations of +the women and children had ceased.</p> + +<p>Major Willoughby was too good a soldier to abandon his post without +orders, though bitterly did he regret the facility with which he had +consented to accept so inconsiderable a command. He so far disregarded his +instructions, however, as to place his whole person before a window, in +order to reconnoitre; for it was now broad daylight, though the sun had +not yet risen. Nothing rewarded this careless exposure; and then it +flashed upon his mind that, as the commander of a separate detachment, he +had a perfect right to employ any of his immediate subordinates, either as +messengers or scouts. His choice of an agent was somewhat limited, it is +true, lying between Mike and the Plinys; after a moment of reflection, he +determined to choose the former.</p> + +<p>Mike was duly relieved from his station at the door, the younger Pliny +being substituted for him, and he was led into the library. Here he +received hasty but clear orders from the major how he was to proceed, and +was thrust, rather than conducted from the room, in his superior's haste +to hear the tidings. Three or four minutes might have elapsed, when an +irregular volley of musketry was heard in front; then succeeded an +answering discharge, which sounded smothered and distant. A single musket +came from the garrison a minute later, and then Mike rushed into the +library, his eyes dilated with a sort of wild delight, dragging rather +than carrying his piece after him.</p> + +<p>"The news!" exclaimed the major, as soon as he got a glimpse of his +messenger. "What mean these volleys, and how comes on my father in front?"</p> + +<p>"Is it what do they mane?" answered Mike. "Well, there's but one maning to +powther and ball, and that's far more sarious than shillelah wor-r-k. If +the rapscallions didn't fire a whole plathoon, as serjeant Joyce calls it, +right at the Knoll, my name is not Michael O'Hearn, or my nature one that +dales in giving back as good as I get."</p> + +<p>"But the volley came first from the house--why did my father order his +people to make the first discharge?"</p> + +<p>"For the same r'ason that he didn't. Och! there was a big frown on his +f'atures, when he heard the rifles and muskets; and Mr. Woods never +pr'ached more to the purpose than the serjeant himself, ag'in that same. +But to think of them rapscallions answering a fire that was ag'in orders! +Not a word did his honour say about shooting any of them, and they just +pulled their triggers on the house all the same as if it had been logs +growing in senseless and uninhabited trees, instead of a rational and well +p'apled abode. Och! arn't they vagabonds!"</p> + +<p>"If you do not wish to drive me mad, man, tell me clearly what has past, +that I may understand you."</p> + +<p>"Is it understand that's wanting?--Lord, yer honour, if ye can understand +that Misther Strhides, that's yon, ye'll be a wise man. He calls hisself a +'son of the poor'atin's,' and poor 'ating it must have been, in the +counthry of his faders, to have produced so lane and skinny a baste as +that same. The orders was as partic'lar as tongue of man could utter, and +what good will it all do?--Ye're not to fire, says serjeant Joyce, till ye +all hear the wor-r-d; and the divil of a wor-r-d did they wait for; but +blaze away did they, jist becaase a knot of savages comes on to them rocks +ag'in, where they had possession all yesterday afthernoon; and sure it is +common enough to breakfast where a man sups."</p> + +<p>"You mean to say that the Indians have reappeared on the rocks, and that +some of Strides's men fired at them, without orders?--Is that the history +of the affair?"</p> + +<p>"It's jist that, majjor; and little good, or little har-r-m, did it do. +Joel, and his poor'atin's, blazed away at 'em, as if they had been so many +Christians--and 'twould have done yer heart good to have heard the +serjeant belabour them with hard wor-r-ds, for their throuble. There's +none of the poor'atin' family in the serjeant, who's a mighty man wid his +tongue!"</p> + +<p>"And the savages returned the volley--which explains the distant discharge +I heard."</p> + +<p>"Anybody can see, majjor, that ye're yer father's son, and a souldier +bor-r-n. Och! who would of t'ought of that, but one bred and bor-r-n in +the army? Yes; the savages sent back as good as they got, which was jist +not'in' at all, seem' that no one is har-r-m'd."</p> + +<p>"And the single piece that followed--there was one discharge, by itself?"</p> + +<p>Mike opened his mouth with a grin that might have put either of the Plinys +to shame, it being rather a favourite theory with the descendants of the +puritans--or "poor'atin's," as the county Leitrim-man called Joel and his +set--that the Irishman was more than a match for any son of Ham at the +Knoll, in the way of capacity about this portion of the human countenance. +The major saw that there was a good deal of self-felicitation in the +expression of Mike's visage, and he demanded an explanation in more direct +terms.</p> + +<p>"'Twas I did it, majjor, and 'twas as well fired a piece as ye've ever +hear-r-d in the king's sarvice. Divil bur-r-n me, if I lets Joel get any +such advantage over me, as to have a whole battle to himself. No--no--as +soon as I smelt his Yankee powther, and could get my own musket cock'd, +and pointed out of the forthifications, I lets 'em have it, as if it had +been so much breakfast ready cooked to their hands. 'Twas well pointed, +too; for I'm not the man to shoot into a fri'nd's countenance."</p> + +<p>"And you broke the orders for a reason no better than the fact that +Strides had broken them before?"</p> + +<p>"Divil a bit, majjor--Joel had <i>broken</i> the orders, ye see and that +settled the matter. The thing that is once broken is broken, and wor-r-ds +can't mend it, any more than for bearin' to fire a gun will mend it."</p> + +<p>By dint of cross-questioning, Robert Willoughby finally succeeded in +getting something like an outline of the truth from Mike. The simple facts +were, that the Indians had taken possession of their old bivouac, as soon +as the day dawned, and had commenced their preparations for breakfast, +when Joel, the miller, and a few of that set, in a paroxysm of valour, had +discharged a harmless volley at them; the distance rendering the attempt +futile. This fire had been partially returned, the whole concluding with +the <i>finale</i> from the Irishman's gun, as has been related. As it was now +too light to apprehend a surprise, and the ground in front of the palisade +had no very dangerous covers, Robert Willoughby was emboldened to send one +of the Plinys to request an interview with his father. In a few minutes +the latter appeared, accompanied by Mr. Woods.</p> + +<p>"The same party has reappeared, and seems disposed to occupy its old +position near the mill," said the captain, in answer to his son's +inquiries. "It is difficult to say what the fellows have in view; and +there are moments when I think there are more or less whites among them. I +suggested as much to Strides, chaplain; and I thought the fellow appeared +to receive the notion as if he thought it might be true."</p> + +<p>"Joel is a little of an enigma to me, captain Willoughby," returned the +chaplain; "sometimes seizing an idea like a cat pouncing upon a rat, and +then coquetting with it, as the same cat will play with a mouse, when it +has no appetite for food."</p> + +<p>"Och! he's a precious poor'atin'!" growled Mike, from his corner of the +room.</p> + +<p>"If whites are among the savages, why should they not make themselves +known?" demanded Robert Willoughby. "Your character, sir, is no secret; +and they must be acquainted with their own errand here."</p> + +<p>"I will send for Strides, and get his opinion a little more freely," +answered the captain, after a moment of deliberation. "You will withdraw, +Bob; though, by leaving your door a little ajar, the conversation will +reach you; and prevent the necessity of a repetition."</p> + +<p>As Robert Willoughby was not unwilling to hear what the overseer might +have to say in the present state of things, he did not hesitate about +complying, withdrawing into his own room as requested, and leaving the +door ajar, in a way to prevent suspicion of his presence, as far as +possible. But, Joel Strides, like all bad men, ever suspected the worst. +The innocent and pure of mind alone are without distrust; while one +constituted morally, like the overseer, never permitted his thoughts to +remain in the tranquillity that is a fruit of confidence. Conscious of his +own evil intentions, his very nature put on armour against the same +species of machinations in others, as the hedge-hog rolls himself into a +ball, and thrusts out his quills, at the sight of the dog. Had not captain +Willoughby been one of those who are slow to see evil, he might have +detected something wrong in Joel's feelings, by the very first glance he +cast about him, on entering the library.</p> + +<p>In point of fact, Strides' thoughts had not been idle since the rencontre +of the previous night. Inquisitive, and under none of the usual restraints +of delicacy, he had already probed all he dared approach on the subject; +and, by this time, had become perfectly assured that there was some +mystery about the unknown individual whom he had met in his master's +company. To own the truth, Joel did not suspect that major Willoughby had +again ventured so far into the lion's den; but he fancied that some secret +agent of the crown was at the Hut, and that the circumstance offered a +fair opening for helping the captain down the ladder of public favour, and +to push himself up a few of its rounds. He was not sorry, therefore, to be +summoned to this conference, hoping it might lead to some opening for +farther discoveries.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, Strides"--said captain Willoughby, motioning towards a chair so +distant from the open door of the bed-room, and so placed as to remove the +danger of too close a proximity--"Sit down--I wish to consult you about +the state of things towards the mills. To me it seems as If there were +more pale-faces than red-skins among our visitors."</p> + +<p>"That's not onlikely, captain--the people has got to be greatly given to +paintin' and imitatin', sin' the hatchet has been dug up ag'in the +British. The tea-boys were all in Indian fashion."</p> + +<p>"True; but, why should white men assume such a disguise to come to the +Knoll? I am not conscious of having an enemy on earth who could meditate +harm to me or mine."</p> + +<p>Alas! poor captain. That a man at sixty should yet have to learn that the +honest, and fair-dealing, and plain-dealing, and affluent--for captain +Willoughby was affluent in the eyes of those around him--that such a man +should imagine he was without enemies, was to infer that the Spirit of +Darkness had ceased to exercise his functions among men. Joel knew better, +though he did not perceive any necessity, just then, for letting the fact +reach the ears of the party principally concerned.</p> + +<p>"A body might s'pose the captain was pop'lar, if any man is pop'lar," +answered the overseer; "nor do I know that visiters in paint betoken +onpopularity to a person in these times more than another. May I ask why +the captain consaits these Injins a'n't Injins? To me, they have a +desperate savage look, though I a'n't much accustomed to red skin usages."</p> + +<p>"Their movements are too open, and yet too uncertain, for warriors of the +tribes. I think a savage, by this time, would have made up his mind to act +as friend or foe."</p> + +<p>Joel seemed struck with the idea; and the expression of his countenance, +which on entering had been wily, distrustful and prying, suddenly changed +to that of deep reflection.</p> + +<p>"Has the captain seen anything else, partic'lar, to confirm this idee?" he +asked.</p> + +<p>"Their encampment, careless manner of moving, and unguarded exposure of +their persons, are all against their being Indians."</p> + +<p>"The messenger they sent across the meadow, yesterday, <i>seemed</i> to me to +be a Mohawk?"</p> + +<p>"He was. Of <i>his</i> being a real red-skin there can be no question. But he +could neither speak nor understand English. The little that passed between +us was in Low Dutch. Our dialogue was short; for, apprehensive of +treachery, I brought it to a close sooner than I might otherwise have +done."</p> + +<p>"Yes; treachery is a cruel thing," observed the conscientious Joel; "a man +can't be too strongly on his guard ag'in it. Does the captain ra'ally +calcilate on defending the house, should a serious attempt be brought +forward for the day?"</p> + +<p>"Do I! That is an extraordinary question, Mr. Strides. Why have I built in +this mode, if I have no such intention?--why palisaded?--why armed and +garrisoned, if not in earnest?"</p> + +<p>"I s'posed all this might have been done to prevent a surprise, but not in +any hope of standin' a siege. I should be sorry to see all our women and +children shut up under one roof, if the inimy came ag'in us, in airnest, +with fire and sword."</p> + +<p>"And I should be sorry to see them anywhere else. But, this is losing +time. My object in sending for you, Joel, was to learn your opinion about +the true character of our visiters. Have you any opinion, or information +to give me, on that point?"</p> + +<p>Joel placed his elbow on his knee, and his chin in the palm of his hand, +and pondered on what had been suggested, with seeming good-will, and great +earnestness.</p> + +<p>"If any one could be found venturesome enough to go out with a flag," he +at length remarked, "the whole truth might be come at, in a few minutes."</p> + +<p>"And who shall I employ? Cheerfully would I go myself, were such a step +military, or at all excusable in one in my situation."</p> + +<p>"If the likes of myself will sarve yer honour's turn," put in Mike, +promptly, and yet with sufficient diffidence as regarded his views of his +own qualifications--"there'll be nobody to gainsay that same; and it isn't +wilcome that I nade tell you, ye'll be to use me as ye would yer own +property."</p> + +<p>"I hardly think Mike would answer," observed Joel, not altogether without +a sneer. "He scurce knows an Indian from a white man; when it comes to the +paint, it would throw him into dreadful confusion."</p> + +<p>"If ye thinks that I am to be made to believe in any more Ould Nicks, +Misther Strhides, then ye're making a mistake in my nature. Let but the +captain say the word, and I'll go to the mill and bring in a grist of them +same, or l'ave my own body for toll."</p> + +<p>"I do not doubt you in the least, Mike," captain Willoughby mildly +observed; "but there will be no occasion, just now, of your running any +such risks. I shall be able to find other truce-bearers."</p> + +<p>"It seems the captain has his man in view," Joel said, keenly eyeing his +master. "Perhaps 'tis the same I saw out with him last night. That's a +reliable person, I do s'pose."</p> + +<p>"You have hit the nail on the head. It was the man who was out last night, +at the same time I was out myself, and his name is Joel Strides."</p> + +<p>"The captain's a little musical, this morning--waal--if go I must, as +there was two on us out, let us go to these savages together. I saw enough +of <i>that</i> man, to know he is reliable; and if he'll go, <i>I</i>'ll go."</p> + +<p>"Agreed"--said Robert Willoughby, stepping into the library--"I take you +at your word, Mr. Strides; you and I will run what risks there may be, in +order to relieve this family from its present alarming state."</p> + +<p>The captain was astounded, though he knew not whether to be displeased or +to rejoice. As for Mike, his countenance expressed great dissatisfaction; +for he ever fancied things were going wrong so long as Joel obtained his +wishes. Strides, himself, threw a keen glance at the stranger, recognised +him at a glance, and had sufficient self-command to conceal his discovery, +though taken completely by surprise. The presence of the major, however, +immediately removed all his objections to the proposed expedition; since, +should the party prove friendly to the Americans, he would be safe on his +own account; or, should it prove the reverse, a king's officer could not +fail to be a sufficient protection.</p> + +<p>"The gentleman's a total stranger to me," Joel hypocritically resumed; +"but as the captain has belief in him, I must have the same. I am ready to +do the ar'nd, therefore, as soon as it is agreeable."</p> + +<p>"This is well, captain Willoughby," put in the major, in order to +anticipate any objections from his father; "and the sooner a thing of +this sort is done, the better will it be for all concerned. I am ready to +proceed this instant; and I take it this worthy man--I think you called +him Strides--is quite as willing."</p> + +<p>Joel signified his assent; and the captain, perceiving no means of +retreat, was fain to yield. He took the major into the bed-room, however, +and held a minute's private discourse, when he returned, and bade the two +go forth together.</p> + +<p>"Your companion has his instructions, Joel," the captain observed, as they +left the library together; "and you will follow his advice. Show the white +flag as soon as you quit the gate; if they are true warriors, it must be +respected."</p> + +<p>Robert Willoughby was too intent on business, and too fearful of the +reappearance and reproachful looks of Maud, to delay. He had passed the +court, and was at the outer gate, before any of the garrison even noted +his appearance among them. Here, indeed, the father's heart felt a pang; +and, but for his military pride, the captain would gladly have recalled +his consent. It was too late, however; and, squeezing his hand, he +suffered his son to pass outward. Joel followed steadily, as to +appearances, though not without misgivings as to what might be the +consequences to himself and his growing family.</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch17"> +<h2>Chapter XVII.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> "I worship not the sun at noon,<br /> + The wandering stars, the changing moon,<br /> + The wind, the flood, the flame;<br /> + I will not bow the votive knee<br /> + To wisdom, virtue, liberty;<br /> + There is no god, but God for me,<br /> + Jehovah is his name."</p> + +<p> Montgomery.</p></div> + +<p> +So sudden and unexpected had been the passage of Robert Willoughby through +the court, and among the men on post without the inner gates, that no one +recognised his person. A few saw that a stranger was in their midst; but, +under his disguise, no one was quick enough of eye and thought to +ascertain who that stranger was. The little white flag that they +displayed, denoted the errand of the messengers; the rest was left to +conjecture.</p> + +<p>As soon as captain Willoughby ascertained that the alarm of the morning +was not likely to lead to any immediate results, he had dismissed all the +men, with the exception of a small guard, that was stationed near the +outer gait, under the immediate orders of serjeant Joyce. The latter was +one of those soldiers who view the details of the profession as forming +its great essentials; and when he saw his commander about to direct a +<i>sortie</i>, it formed his pride not to ask questions, and to seem to know +nothing about it. To this, Jamie Allen, who composed one of the guard, +quietly assented; but it was a great privation to the three or four New +England-men to be commanded not to inquire into the why and wherefore.</p> + +<p>"Wait for orders, men, wait for orders," observed the serjeant, by way of +quieting an impatience that was very apparent. "If his honour, the +captain, wished us to be acquainted with his movements, he would direct a +general parade, and lay the matter before us, as you know he always does, +on proper occasions. 'Tis a flag going out, as you can see, and should a +truce follow, we'll lay aside our muskets, and seize the plough-shares; +should it be a capitulation--I know our brave old commander too well to +suppose it possible--but <i>should</i> it be even <i>that</i>, we'll ground arms +like men, and make the best of it."</p> + +<p>"And should Joel, and the other man, who is a stranger to me, be scalped?" +demanded one of the party.</p> + +<p>"Then we'll avenge their scalps. That was the way with us, when my Lord +Howe fell--'avenge his death! cried our colonel; and on we pushed, until +near two thousand of us fell before the Frenchmen's trenches. Oh! <i>that</i> +was a sight worth seeing, and a day to talk of!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but you were threshed soundly, serjeant, as I've heard from many +that were there."</p> + +<p>"What of that, sir! we obeyed orders. 'Avenge his death!' was the cry; and +on we pushed, in obedience, until there were not men enough left in our +battalion to carry the wounded to the rear."</p> + +<p>"And what did you do with them?" asked a youth, who regarded the serjeant +as another Cæsar--Napoleon not having come into notice in 1776.</p> + +<p>"We let them lie where they fell. Young man, war teaches us all the +wholesome lesson that impossibilities are impossible to be done. War is +the great schoolmaster of the human race; and a learned man is he who has +made nineteen or twenty campaigns."</p> + +<p>"If he live to turn his lessons to account"--remarked the first speaker, +with a sneer.</p> + +<p>"If a man is to die in battle, sir, he had better die with his mind stored +with knowledge, than be shot like a dog that has outlived his usefulness. +Every pitched battle carries out of the world learning upon learning that +has been got in the field. Here comes his honour, who will confirm all I +tell you, men. I was letting these men, sir, understand that the army and +the field are the best schools on earth. Every old soldier will stick to +that, your honour."</p> + +<p>"We are apt to think so, Joyce--have the arms been inspected this +morning?"</p> + +<p>"As soon as it was light, I did that myself, sir."</p> + +<p>"Flints, cartridge-boxes and bayonets, I hope?"</p> + +<p>"Each and all, sir. Does your honour remember the morning we had the +affair near Fort du Quesne?"</p> + +<p>"You mean Braddock's defeat, I suppose, Joyce?"</p> + +<p>"I call nothing a defeat, captain Willoughby. We were roughly handled that +day, sir; but I am not satisfied it was a defeat. It is true, we fell +back, and lost some arms and stores; but, in the main, we stuck to our +colours, considering it was in the woods. No, sir; I do not call that a +defeat, by any means."</p> + +<p>"You will at least own we were hard pressed, and might have fared worse +than we did, had it not been for a certain colonial corps, that manfully +withstood the savages?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir; that I allow. I remember the corps, and its commander, a +colonel Washington, with your honour's permission."</p> + +<p>"It was, indeed, Joyce. And do you happen to know what has became of this +same colonel Washington?"</p> + +<p>"It never crossed my mind to inquire, sir, as he was a provincial. I dare +say he may have a regiment--or even a brigade by this time; and good use +would he make of either."</p> + +<p>"You have fallen far behind his fortunes, Joyce. The man is a +commander-in-chief--a captain-general."</p> + +<p>"Your honour is jesting--since many of his seniors are still living."</p> + +<p>"This is the man who leads the American armies, in the war with England."</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, in <i>that</i> way, he may indeed get a quick step, or two. I make +no doubt, sir, so good a soldier will know how to obey orders."</p> + +<p>"From which I infer you think him right, in the cause he has espoused?"</p> + +<p>"Bless your honour, sir, I think nothing about it, and care nothing about +it. If the gentleman has taken service with congress, as they call the new +head-quarters, why he ought to obey congress; and if he serve the king, +His Majesty's orders should be attended to."</p> + +<p>"And, in this crisis, serjeant, may I ask in what particular service you +conceive yourself to be, just at the present moment?"</p> + +<p>"Captain Willoughby's, late of His Majesty's ---th Regiment of Foot, at +your honour's command."</p> + +<p>"If all act in the same spirit, Joyce, we shall do well enough at the +Knoll, though twice as many savages brave us as are to be seen on yon +rocks," returned the captain, smiling.</p> + +<p>"And why should they no?" demanded Jamie Allen, earnestly. "Ye're laird +here, and we've no the time, nor the grace, to study and understand the +orthodoxy and heterodoxy of the quarrel atween the House of Hanover and +the houses of these Americans; so, while we a'stand up for the house and +household of our old maister, the Lord will smile on our efforts, and lead +us to victory."</p> + +<p>"Divil bur-r-n me, now, Jamie," said Mike, who having seen the major to +the gate, now followed his father, in readiness to do him any good turn +that might offer--"Divil bur-r-n me, now, Jamie, if ye could have said it +better had ye just aised yer conscience to a proper praist, and were +talking on a clane breast! Stick up for the captain, says I, and the Lord +will be of our side!"</p> + +<p>The serjeant nodded approbation of this sentiment, and the younger Pliny, +who happened also to be within hearing, uttered the sententious word +"gosh" and clenched his fist, which was taken as proof of assent also, on +his part. But, the Americans of the guard, all of whom were the tools of +Joel's and the miller's arts, manifested a coldness that even exceeded the +usual cold manner of their class. These men meant right; but they had been +deluded by the falsehoods, machinations, and frauds of a demagogue, and +were no longer masters of their own opinions or acts. It struck the +captain that something was wrong; but, a foreigner by birth himself, he +had early observed, and long known, the peculiar exterior and phlegm of +the people of the country, which so nearly resemble the stoicism of the +aborigines, as to induce many writers to attribute both alike to a cause +connected with climate. The present was not a moment however, nor was the +impression strong enough to induce the master of the place to enter into +any inquiries. Turning his eyes in the direction of the two bearers of the +flag, he there beheld matter for new interest, completely diverting his +thoughts from what had just passed.</p> + +<p>"I see they have sent two men to meet our messengers serjeant," he +said--"This looks as if they understood the laws of war."</p> + +<p>"Quite true, your honour. They should now blindfold our party, and lead +them within their own works, before they suffer them to see at all; though +there would be no great advantage in it, as Strides is as well acquainted +with every inch of that rock as I am with the manual exercise."</p> + +<p>"Which would seem to supersede the necessity of the ceremony you have +mentioned?"</p> + +<p>"One never knows, your honour. Blindfolding is according to the rules, and +I should blindfold a flag before I let him approach, though the hostile +ranks stood drawn up, one on each side of a parade ground. Much is gained, +while nothing is ever lost, by sticking to the rules of a trade."</p> + +<p>The captain smiled, as did all the Americans of the guard; the last having +too much sagacity not to perceive that a thing might be overdone, as well +as too little attended to. As for Jamie and Mike, they both received the +serjeant's opinions as law; the one from having tried the troops of the +line at Culloden, and the other on account of divers experiences through +which he had gone, at sundry fairs, in his own green island. By this time, +however, all were too curious in watching the result of the meeting, to +continue the discourse.</p> + +<p>Robert Willoughby and Joel had moved along the lane towards the rocks, +without hesitating, keeping their little flag flying. It did not appear +that their approach produced any change among the savages, who were now +preparing their breakfasts, until they had got within two hundred yards of +the encampment, when two of the red-men, having first laid aside their +arms, advanced to meet their visiters. This was the interview which +attracted the attention of those at the Hut, and its progress was noted +with the deepest interest.</p> + +<p>The meeting appeared to be friendly. After a short conference, in which +signs seemed to be a material agent in the communications, the four moved +on in company, walking deliberately towards the rocks. Captain Willoughby +had sent for his field-glass, and could easily perceive much that occuired +in the camp, on the arrival of his son. The major's movements were calm +and steady, and a feeling of pride passed over the father's heart, as he +noted this, amid a scene that was well adapted to disturbing the +equilibrium of the firmest mind. Joel certainly betrayed nervousness, +though he kept close at his companion's side, and together they proceeded +into the very centre of the party of strangers.</p> + +<p>The captain observed, also, that this arrival caused no visible sensation +among the red-men. Even those the major almost touched in passing did not +look up to note his appearance, while no one seemed to speak, or in any +manner to heed him. The cooking and other preparations for the breakfast +proceeded precisely as if no one had entered the camp. The two who had +gone forth to meet the flag alone attended its bearers, whom they led +through the centre of the entire party; stopping only on the side opposite +to the Hut, where there was an open space of flat rock, which it had not +suited the savages to occupy.</p> + +<p>Here the four halted, the major turning and looking back like a soldier +who was examining his ground. Nor did any one appear disposed to interrupt +him in an employment that serjeant Joyce pronounced to be both bold and +against the usages of war to permit. The captain thought the stoicism of +the savages amounted to exaggeration, and it renewed his distrust of the +real characters of his visiters. In a minute or two, however, some three +or four of the red-men were seen consulting together apart, after which +they approached the bearers of the flag, and some communications passed +between the two sides. The nature of these communications could not be +known, of course, though the conference appeared to be amicable. After two +or three minutes of conversation, Robert Willoughby, Strides, the two men +who had advanced to meet them, and the four chiefs who had joined the +group, left the summit of the rock in company, taking a foot-path that +descended in the direction of the mills. In a short time they all +disappeared in a body.</p> + +<p>The distance was not so great but these movements could easily be seen by +the naked eye, though the glass was necessary to discover some of the +details. Captain Willoughby had planted the instrument among the +palisades, and he kept his gaze riveted on the retiring group as long as +it was visible; then, indeed, he looked at his companions, as if to read +their opinions in their countenances. Joyce understood the expression of +his face; and, saluting in the usual military manner, he presumed to +speak, in the way of reply.</p> + +<p>"It seems all right, your honour, the bandage excepted," said the +serjeant. "The flag has been met at the outposts, and led into the camp; +there the officer of the day, or some savage who does the duty, has heard +his errand; and, no doubt, they have all now gone to head-quarters, to +report."</p> + +<p>"I desired my son, Joyce--"</p> + +<p>"Whom, your honour--?"</p> + +<p>The general movement told the captain how completely his auditors were +taken by surprise, at this unlooked-for announcement of the presence of +the major at the Knoll. It was too late to recall the words, however, and +there was so little prospect of Robert's escaping the penetration of Joel, +the father saw no use in attempting further concealment.</p> + +<p>"I say I desired my son, major Willoughby, who is the bearer of that +flag," the captain steadily resumed, "to raise his hat in a particular +manner, if all seemed right; or to make a certain gesture with his left +arm, did he see anything that required us to be more than usually on our +guard."</p> + +<p>"And which notice has he given to the garrison, if it be your honour's +pleasure to let us know?"</p> + +<p>"Neither. I thought he manifested an intention to make the signal with the +hat, when the chiefs first joined him; but he hesitated, and lowered his +hand without doing as I had expected. Then, again, just as he disappeared +behind the rocks, the left arm was in motion, though not in a way to +complete the signal."</p> + +<p>"Did he seem hurried, your honour, as if prevented from communicating by +the enemy?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all, Joyce. Irresolution appeared to be at the bottom of it, so +far as I could judge." + +"Pardon me, your honour; uncertainty would be a better word, as applied to +so good a soldier. Has major Willoughby quitted the king's service, that +he is among us, sir, just at his moment?"</p> + +<p>"I will tell you his errand another time, serjeant. At present, I can +think only of the risk he runs. These Indians are lawless wretches; one +is never sure of then faith."</p> + +<p>"They are bad enough, sir; but no man can well be so bad as to disregard +the rights of a flag," answered the serjeant, in a grave and slightly +important manner. "Even the French, your honour, have always respected our +<i>flags</i>."</p> + +<p>"That is true; and, yet, I wish we could overlook that position at the +mill. It's a great advantage to them, Joyce, that they can place +themselves behind such a cover, when they choose!"</p> + +<p>The serjeant looked at the encampment a moment; then his eye followed the +woods, and the mountain sides, that skirted the little plain, until his +back was fairly turned upon the supposed enemy, and he faced the forest in +the rear of the Hut.</p> + +<p>"If it be agreeable to your honour, a detachment can be detailed to make a +demonstration"--Joyce did not exactly understand this word, but it sounded +military--"in the following manner: I can lead out the party, by the rear +of the house, using the brook as a covered-way. Once in the woods, it will +be easy enough to make a flank movement upon the enemy's position; after +which, the detachment can be guided by circumstances."</p> + +<p>This was very martial in sound, and the captain felt well assured that +Joyce was the man to attempt carrying out his own plan; but he made no +answer, sighing and shaking his head, as he walked away towards the house. +The chaplain followed, leaving the rest to observe the savages.</p> + +<p>"Ye're proposition, serjeant, no seems to give his honour much +satisfaction," said the mason, as soon as his superior was out of hearing. +"Still, it was military, as I know by what I saw mysal' in the Forty-five. +Flainking, and surprising, and obsairving, and demonstrating, and such +devices, are the soul of war, and are a' on the great highway to victory. +Had Chairlie's men obsairved, and particularised mair, there might have +been a different family on the throne, an' the prince wad ha' got his ain +ag'in. I like your idea much, serjaint, and gin' ye gang oot to practise +it, I trust ye 'll no forget that ye've an auld fri'nd here, willing to be +of the pairty."</p> + +<p>"I didn't think the captain much relished the notion of being questioned +about his son's feelin's, and visit up here, at a time like this," put in +one of the Americans.</p> + +<p>"There's bowels in the man's body!" cried Mike, "and it isn't the likes of +him that has no falin'. Ye don't know what it is to be a father, or ye'd +groan in spirit to see a child of yer own in the grip of fiery divils like +them same. Isn't he a pratty man, and wouldn't I be sorrowful to hear that +he had come to har-r-m? Ye've niver asked, serjeant, how the majjor got +into the house, and ye a military sentry in the bargain!"</p> + +<p>"I suppose he came by command, Michael, and it is not the duty of the +non-commissioned officers to question their superiors about anything that +has happened out of the common way. I take things as I find them, and obey +orders. I only hope that the son, as a field-officer, will not out-rank +the father, which would be unbecoming: though date of commissions, and +superiority, must be respected."</p> + +<p>"I rather think if a major in the king's service was to undertake to use +authority here," said the spokesman of the Americans, a little stiffly, +"he wouldn't find many disposed to follow at his heels."</p> + +<p>"Mutiny would not fare well, did it dare to lift its head in this +garrison"--answered the serjeant, with a dignity that might better have +suited the mess-room of a regular regiment, than the situation in which he +was actually placed. "Both captain Willoughby and myself have seen mutiny +attempted, but neither has ever seen it succeed."</p> + +<p>"Do you look on us as lawful, enlisted soldiers?" demanded one of the +labourers, who had a sufficient smattering of the law, to understand the +difference between a mercenary and a volunteer. "If I'm regimented, I +should at least like to know in whose service it is?"</p> + +<p>"Ye're over-quick at yer objections and sentiments," said Jamie Allen, +coolly, "like most youths, who see only their ain experience in the airth, +and the providence o' the Lord. Enlisted we are, a' of us, even to Michael +here, and it's in the sairvice of our good master, his honour captain +Willoughby; whom, with his kith and kin, may the Lord presairve from this +and all other dangers."</p> + +<p>The word master would, of itself, be very likely to create a revolt +to-day, in such a corps as it was the fortune of our captain to command, +though to that of "boss" there would not he raised the slightest +objection. But the English language had not undergone half of its present +mutations in the year 1776; and no one winced in admitting that he served +a "master," though the gorges of several rose at the idea of being engaged +in the service of any one, considered in a military point of view. It is +likely the suggestion of the mason would have led to a hot discussion, had +not a stir among the savages, just at that instant, called off the +attention of all present, to matters of more importance than even an angry +argument.</p> + +<p>The movement seemed to be general, and Joyce ordered his men to stand to +their arms; still he hesitated about giving the alarm. Instead of +advancing towards the Hut, however, the Indians raised a general yell, and +went over the cliffs, disappearing in the direction of the mill, like a +flock of birds taking wing together. After waiting half an hour, in vain, +to ascertain if any signs of the return of the Indians were to be seen, +the serjeant went himself to report the state of things to his commander.</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby had withdrawn to make his toilet for the day, when he +saw the last of his son and the overseer. While thus employed he had +communicated to his wife all that had occurred; and Mrs. Willoughby, in +her turn, had told the same to her daughters. Maud was much the most +distressed, her suspicions of Joel being by far the most active and the +most serious. From the instant she learned what had passed, she began to +anticipate grave consequences to Robert Willoughby, though she had +sufficient fortitude, and sufficient consideration for others, to keep +most of her apprehensions to herself.</p> + +<p>When Joyce demanded his audience, the family was at breakfast, though +little was eaten, and less was said. The serjeant was admitted, and he +told his story with military precision.</p> + +<p>"This has a suspicious air, Joyce," observed the captain, after musing a +little; "to me it seems like an attempt to induce us to follow, and to +draw us into an ambuscade."</p> + +<p>"It may be that, your honour; or, it may be a good honest retreat. <i>Two</i> +prisoners is a considerable exploit for savages to achieve. I have known +them count <i>one</i> a victory."</p> + +<p>"Be not uneasy, Wilhelmina; Bob's rank will secure him good treatment, his +exchange being far more important to his captors, if captors they be, than +his death. It is too soon to decide on such a point, serjeant. After all, +the Indians may be at the mills, in council. On a war-path, all the young +men are usually consulted, before any important step is taken. Then, it +may be the wish of the chiefs to impress our flag-bearers with an idea of +their force."</p> + +<p>"All that is military, your honour, and quite possible. Still, to me the +movement seems as if a retreat was intended, in fact, or that the +<i>appearance</i> of one was in view."</p> + +<p>"I will soon know the truth," cried the chaplain. "I, a man of peace, can +surely go forth, and ascertain who these people are, and what is their +object."</p> + +<p>"You, Woods! My dear fellow, do you imagine a tribe of blood-thirsty +savages will respect you, or your sacred office? You have a sufficient +task with the king's forces, letting his enemies alone. You are no +missionary to still a war-cry."</p> + +<p>"I beg pardon, sir"--put in the serjeant--"his reverence is more than half +right"--here the chaplain rose, and quitted the room in haste, unobserved +by the two colloquists--"There is scarce a tribe in the colony, your +honour, that has not some knowledge of our priesthood; and I know of no +instance in which the savages have ever ill-treated a divine."</p> + +<p>"Poh, poh, Joyce; this is much too sentimental for your Mohawks, and +Oneidas, and Onondagas, and Tuscaroras. They will care no more for little +Woods than they care for the great woods through which they journey on +their infernal errands."</p> + +<p>"One cannot know, Hugh"--observed the anxious mother--"Our dear Robert is +in their hands; and, should Mr. Woods be really disposed to go on this +mission of mercy, does it comport with our duty as parents to oppose it?"</p> + +<p>"A mother is all mother"--murmured the captain, who rose from table, +kissed his wife's cheek affectionately, and left the room, beckoning to +the serjeant to follow.</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby had not been gone many minutes when the chaplain made +his appearance, attired in his surplice, and wearing his best wig; an +appliance that all elderly gentlemen in that day fancied necessary to the +dignity and gravity of their appearance. Mrs. Willoughby, to own the +truth, was delighted. If this excellent woman was ever unjust, it was in +behalf of her children; solicitude for whom sometimes induced her to +overlook the rigid construction of the laws of equality.</p> + +<p>"We will see which best understands the influence of the sacred office, +captain Willoughby, or myself;" observed the chaplain, with a little more +importance of manner than it was usual for one so simple to assume. "I do +not believe the ministry was instituted to be brow-beaten by tribes of +savages, any more than it is to be silenced by the unbeliever, or +schismatic."</p> + +<p>It was very evident that the Rev. Mr. Woods was considerably excited; and +this was a condition of mind so unusual with him, as to create a species +of awe in the observers. As for the two young women, deeply as they were +interested in the result, and keenly as Maud, in particular, felt +everything which touched the fortunes of Robert Willoughby, neither would +presume to interfere, when they saw one whom they had been taught to +reverence from childhood, acting in a way that so little conformed to his +ordinary manner. As for Mrs. Willoughby, her own feelings were so much +awakened, that never had Mr. Woods seemed so evangelical and like a saint, +as at that very moment; and it would not have been difficult to persuade +her that he was acting under something very like righteous superhuman +impulses.</p> + +<p>Such, however, was far from being the case. The worthy priest had an +exalted idea of his office; and, to fancy it might favorably impress even +savages, was little more than carrying out his every-day notions of its +authority. He conscientiously believed that he, himself, a regularly +ordained presbyter, would be more likely to succeed in the undertaking +before him, than a mere deacon; were a bishop present, he would cheerfully +have submitted to his superior claims to sanctity and success. As for +arch-bishops, arch-deacons, deans, rural deans, and all the other worldly +machinery which has been superadded to the church, the truth compels us +to add, that our divine felt no especial reverence since he considered +them as so much clerical surplusage, of very questionable authority, and +of doubtful use. He adhered strictly to the orders of divine institution, +to these he attached so much weight, as to be entirely willing, in his own +person, to demonstrate how little was to be apprehended, when their power +was put forth, even against Indians, in humility and faith.</p> + +<p>"I shall take this sprig of laurel in my hand, in lieu of the +olive-branch," said the excited chaplain, "as the symbol of peace. It is +not probable that savages can tell one plant from the other; and if they +could, it will be easy to explain that olives do not grow in America. It +is an eastern tree, ladies, and furnishes the pleasant oil we use on our +salads. I carry with me, notwithstanding, the oil which proves a balm to +many sorrows; that will be sufficient."</p> + +<p>"You will bid them let Robert return to us, without delay?" said Mrs. +Willoughby, earnestly.</p> + +<p>"I shall bid them respect God and their consciences. I cannot now stop to +rehearse to you the mode of proceeding I shall adopt; but it is all +arranged in my own mind. It will be necessary to call the Deity the 'Great +Spirit' or 'Manitou'--and to use many poetical images; but this can I do, +on an emergency. Extempore preaching is far from agreeable to me, in +general; nor do I look upon it, in this age of the world, as exactly +canonical; nevertheless, it shall be seen I know how to submit even to +<i>that</i>, when there is a suitable necessity."</p> + +<p>It was so seldom Mr. Woods used such magnificent ideas, or assumed a +manner in the least distinguishable from one of the utmost simplicity, +that his listeners now felt really awed; and when he turned to bless them, +as he did with solemnity and affection, the two daughters knelt to receive +his benedictions. These delivered, he walked out of the room, crossed the +court, and proceeded straightway to the outer gate.</p> + +<p>It was, perhaps, fortunate to the design of the Rev. Mr. Woods, that +neither the captain nor the serjeant was in the way, to arrest it. This +the former would certainly have done, out of regard to his friend, and the +last out of regard to "orders." But these military personages were in the +library, in deep consultation concerning the next step necessary to take. +This left the coast clear, no one belonging to the guard conceiving +himself of sufficient authority to stop the chaplain, more especially when +he appeared in his wig and surplice. Jamie Allen was a corporal, by +courtesy; and, at the first summons, he caused the outer gate to be +unlocked and unbarred, permitting the chaplain to make his egress, +attended by his own respectful bows. This Jamie did, out of reverence to +religion, generally; though the surplice ever excited his disgust; and, as +for the Liturgy, he deemed it to be a species of solemn mockery of +worship.</p> + +<p>The captain did not reappear outside of the court, until the chaplain, who +had made the best of his way towards the rocks, was actually stalking like +a ghost among ruins, through the deserted shantees of the late encampment.</p> + +<p>"What in the name of Indian artifice is the white animal that I see moving +about on the rocks?" demanded the captain, whose look was first turned in +the direction of the camp.</p> + +<p>"It seems an Indian wrapped up in a shirt, your honour--as I live, sir, it +has a cocked hat on its head!"</p> + +<p>"Na--na"--interrupted Jamie, "ye'll no be guessing the truth this time, +without the aid of a little profane revelation. The chiel ye see yan, yer +honour, is just chaplain Woods."</p> + +<p>"Woods--the devil!"</p> + +<p>"Na--na--yer honour, it's the reverend gentleman, hissel', and no the +de'il, at a'. He's in his white frock--though why he didn't wear his black +gairment is more than I can tell ye--but there he is, walking about amang +the Indian dwellings, all the same as if they were so many pews in his ain +kirk."</p> + +<p>"And, how came you to let him pass the gate, against orders?"</p> + +<p>"Well, and it is aboot the orders of the priesthood, that he so often +preaches, and seeing him in the white gairment, and knowing ye've so many +fast-days, and Christmas', in the kirk o' England, I fancied it might be a +bit matter o' prayer he wished to offer up, yan, in the house on the flat; +and so I e'en thought church prayers better than no prayers at all, in +such a strait."</p> + +<p>As it was useless to complain, the captain was fain to submit, even +beginning to hope some good might come of the adventure, when he saw Mr. +Woods walking unmolested through the deserted camp. The glass was +levelled, and the result was watched in intense interest.</p> + +<p>The chaplain first explored every shantee, fearlessly and with diligence. +Then he descended the rocks, and was lost to view, like those who had +preceded him. A feverish hour passed, without any symptom of human life +appearing in the direction of the mills. Sometimes those who watched, +fancied they beheld a smoke beginning to steal up over the brow of the +rocks, the precursor of the expected conflagration; but a few moments +dispersed the apprehension and the fancied smoke together. The day +advanced, and yet the genius of solitude reigned over the mysterious glen. +Not a sound emerged from it, not a human form was seen near it, not a sign +of a hostile assault or of a friendly return could be detected. All in +that direction lay buried in silence, as if the ravine had swallowed its +tenants, in imitation of the grave.</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch18"> +<h2>Chapter XVIII.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> To deck my list by Nature were design'd<br /> + Such shining expletives of human kind;<br /> + Who want, while through blank life they dream along,<br /> + Sense to be right, and passion to be wrong.</p> + +<p> Young.</p></div> + +<p> +The disappearance of Mr. Woods occasioned no uneasiness at first. An hour +elapsed before the captain thought it necessary to relate the occurrence +to his family, when a general panic prevailed among the females. Even Maud +had hoped the savages would respect the sacred character of the divine, +though she knew not why; and here was one of her principal grounds of +hope, as connected with Robert Willoughby, slid from beneath her feet.</p> + +<p>"What <i>can</i> we do, Willoughby?" asked the affectionate mother, almost +reduced to despair. "I will go myself, in search of my son--they will +respect <i>me</i>, a woman and a mother."</p> + +<p>"You little know the enemy we have to deal with, Wilhelmina, or so rash a +thought could not have crossed your mind. We will not be precipitate; a +few hours may bring some change to direct us. One thing I learn from +Woods' delay. The Indians cannot be far off, and he must be with them, or +in their hands; else would he return alter having visited the mills and +the houses beneath the cliffs."</p> + +<p>This sounded probable, and all felt there was a relief in fancying that +their friends were still near them, and were not traversing the wilderness +as captives.</p> + +<p>"I feel less apprehension than any of you," observed Beulah, in her placid +manner. "If Bob is in the hands of an American party, the brother-in-law +of Evert Beekman cannot come to much harm; with British Indians he will be +respected for his own sake, as soon as he can make himself known."</p> + +<p>"I have thought of all this, my child"--answered the father, musing--"and +there is reason in it. It will be difficult, however, for Bob to make his +real character certain, in his present circumstances. He does not appear +the man he is; and should there even be a white among his captors who can +read, he has not a paper with him to sustain his word."</p> + +<p>"But, he promised me faithfully to use Evert's name, did he ever fall into +American hands"--resumed Beulah, earnestly--"and Evert has said, again and +again, that <i>my </i> brother could never be his enemy."</p> + +<p>"Heaven help us all, dear child!" answered the captain, kissing his +daughter--"It is, indeed, a cruel war, when such aids are to be called in +for our protection. We will endeavour to be cheerful, notwithstanding; for +we know of nothing yet, that ought to alarm us, out of reason; all may +come right before the sun set."</p> + +<p>The captain looked at his family, and endeavoured to smile, but he met no +answering gleam of happiness on either face; nor was his own effort very +successful. As for his wife, she was never known to be aught but +miserable, while any she loved were in doubtful safety. She lived entirely +out of herself, and altogether for her husband, children, and friends; a +woman less selfish, or one more devoted to the affections, never existing. +Then Beulah, with all her reliance on the magic of Evert's name, and with +the deep feelings that had been awakened within her, as a wife and a +mother, still loved her brother as tenderly as ever. As for Maud, the +agony she endured was increased by her efforts to keep it from breaking +out in some paroxysm that might betray her secret; and her features were +getting an expression of stern resolution, which, blended with her beauty, +gave them a grandeur her father had never before seen in her bright +countenance.</p> + +<p>"This child suffers on Bob's account more than any of us"--observed the +captain, drawing his pet towards him, placing her kindly on his knee, and +folding her to his bosom. "She has no husband yet, to divide her heart; +all her love centres in her brother."</p> + +<p>The look which Beulah cast upon her father was not reproachful, for that +was an expression she would not have indulged with him; but it was one in +which pain and mortification were so obvious, as to induce the mother to +receive her into her own arms.</p> + +<p>"Hugh, you are unjust to Beulah"--said the anxious mother--"Nothing can +ever cause this dear girl, either, to forget to feel for any of us."</p> + +<p>The captain's ready explanation, and affectionate kiss, brought a smile +again to Beulah's face, though it shone amid tears. All was, however, +immediately forgotten; for the parties understood each other, and Maud +profited by the scene to escape from the room. This flight broke up the +conference; and the captain, after exhorting his wife and daughter to set +an example of fortitude to the rest of the females, left the house, to +look after his duties among the men.</p> + +<p>The absence of Joel cast a shade of doubt over the minds of the +disaffected. These last were comparatively numerous, comprising most of +the native Americans in the Hut, the blacks and Joyce excepted. Strides +had been enabled to effect his purposes more easily with his own +countrymen by working on their good qualities, as well as on their bad. +Many of these men--most of them, indeed--meant well, but their attachment +to the cause of their native land laid them open to assaults, against +which Mike and Jamie Allen were insensible. Captain Willoughby was an +Englishman, in the first place; he was an old army-officer, in the next; +and he had an only son who was confessedly in open arms against the +independence of America. It is easy to see how a demagogue like Joel, who +had free access to the ears of his comrades, could improve circumstances +like these to his own particular objects. Nevertheless, he had +difficulties to contend with. If it were true that parson Woods still +insisted on praying for the king, it was known that the captain laughed at +him for his reverence for Cæsar; if Robert Willoughby were a major in the +royal forces, Evert Beekman was a colonel in the continentals; if the +owner of the manor were born in England, his wife and children were born +in America; and he, himself, was often heard to express his convictions of +the justice of most of that for which the provincials were +contending--<i>all</i>, the worthy captain had not yet made up his mind to +concede to them.</p> + +<p>Then, most of the Americans in the Hut entertained none of the selfish and +narrow views of Joel and the miller. Their wish was to do right, in the +main; and though obnoxious to the charge of entertaining certain +prejudices that rendered them peculiarly liable to become the dupes of a +demagogue, they submitted to many of the better impulses, and were +indisposed to be guilty of any act of downright injustice. The perfect +integrity with which they had ever been treated, too, had its influence; +nor was the habitual kindness of Mrs. Willoughby to their wives and +children forgotten; nor the gentleness of Beulah, or the beauty, spirit, +and generous impulses of Maud. In a word, the captain, when he went forth +to review his men, who were now all assembled under arms within the +palisades for that purpose, went to meet a wavering, rather than a +positively disaffected or rebellious body.</p> + +<p>"Attention!" cried Joyce, as his commanding officer came in front of a +line which contained men of different colours, statures, ages, dresses, +countries, habits and physiognomies, making it a sort of epitome of the +population of the whole colony, as it existed in that day--"Attention! +Present, arms."</p> + +<p>The captain pulled off his hat complacently, in return to this salute, +though he was obliged to smile at the array which met his eyes. Every one +of the Dutchmen had got his musket to an order, following a sort of +fugleman of their own; while Mike had invented a "motion" that would have +puzzled any one but himself to account for. The butt of the piece was +projected towards the captain, quite out of line, while the barrel rested +on his own shoulder. Still, as his arms were extended to the utmost, the +county Leitrim-man fancied he was performing much better than common. Jamie +had correct notions of the perpendicular, from having used the plumb-bob +so much, though even he made the trifling mistake of presenting arms with +the lock outwards. As for the Yankees, they were all tolerably exact, in +everything but time, and the line; bringing their pieces down, one after +another, much as they were in the practice of following their leaders, in +matters of opinion. The negroes defied description; nor was it surprising +they failed, each of them thrusting his head forward to see how the +"motions" looked, in a way that prevented any particular attention to his +own part of the duty. The serjeant had the good sense to see that his +drill had not yet produced perfection, and he brought his men to a +shoulder again, as soon as possible. In this he succeeded perfectly, with +the exception that just half of the arms were brought to the right, and +the other half to the left shoulders.</p> + +<p>"We shall do better, your honour, as we get a little more drill"--said +Joyce, with an apologetic salute--"Corporal Strides has a tolerable idea +of the manual, and he usually acts as our fugleman. When he gets back, we +shall improve."</p> + +<p>"When he gets back, serjeant--can you, or any other man, tell when that +will be?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yer honour," sputtered Mike, with the eagerness of a boy. "I'se the +man to tell yees that same."</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i>?--What can <i>you</i> know, that is not known to all of us, my good +Michael?"</p> + +<p>"I knows what I sees; and if yon isn't Misther Strhides, then I am not +acquainted with his sthraddle."</p> + +<p>Sure enough, Joel appeared at the gate, as Mike concluded his assertions. +How he got there, no one knew; for a good look-out had been kept in the +direction of the mill; and, yet here was the overseer applying for +admission, as if he had fallen from the clouds! Of course, the application +was not denied, though made in a manner so unexpected, and Joel stood in +front of his old comrades at the hoe and plough, if not in arms, in less +than a minute. His return was proclaimed through the house in an +incredibly short space of time, by the aid of the children, and all the +females came pouring out from the court to learn the tidings, led by Mrs. +Strides and her young brood.</p> + +<p>"Have you anything to communicate to me in private, Strides?" the captain +demanded, maintaining an appearance of <i>sang froid</i> that he was far from +feeling--"or, can your report be made here, before the whole settlement?"</p> + +<p>"It's just as the captain pleases," answered the wily demagogue; "though, +to my notion, the people have a right to know all, in an affair that +touches the common interest."</p> + +<p>"Attention! men"--cried the serjeant--"By platoons, to the right"</p> + +<p>"No matter, Joyce," interrupted the captain, waving his hand--"Let the men +remain. You have held communications with our visiters, I know, Strides?"</p> + +<p>"We have, captain Willoughby, and a desperate sort of visiters be they! A +more ugly set of Mohawks and Onondagas I never laid eyes on."</p> + +<p>"As for their appearance, it is matter of indifference to me--what is the +object of their visit?"</p> + +<p>"I mean ugly behaved, and they deserve all I say of 'em. Their ar'nd, +according to their own tell, is to seize the captain, and his family, in +behalf of the colonies."</p> + +<p>As Joel uttered this, he cast a glance along the line of faces paraded +before him, in order to read the effect it might produce. That it was not +lost on some, was as evident as that it was on others. The captain, +however, appeared unmoved, and there was a slight air of incredulity in +the smile that curled his lip.</p> + +<p>"This, then, you report as being the business of the party in coming to +this place!" he said, quietly.</p> + +<p>"I do, sir; and an ugly ar'nd it is, in times like these."</p> + +<p>"Is there any person in authority in a party that pretends to move about +the colony, with such high duties?"</p> + +<p>"There's one or two white men among 'em, if that's what the captain +means; they pretend to be duly authorised and appointed to act in behalf +of the people."</p> + +<p>At each allusion to the people, Joel invariably looked towards his +particular partisans, in order to note the effect the use of the word +might produce. On the present occasion, he even ventured to wink at the +miller.</p> + +<p>"If acting on authority, why do they keep aloof?--I have no such character +for resisting the laws, that any who come clothed with its mantle need +fear resistance."</p> + +<p>"Why, I s'pose they reason in some such manner as this. There's <i>two</i> laws +in operation at this time; the king's law, and the people's law. I take +it, this party comes in virtue of the people's law, whereas it is likely +the law the captain means is the king's law. The difference is so great, +that one or t'other carries the day, just as the king's friends or the +people's friends happen to be the strongest. These men don't like to trust +to <i>their</i> law, when the captain may think it safest to trust a little to +his'n."</p> + +<p>"And all this was told you, Strides, in order to be repeated to me?"</p> + +<p>"Not a word on't; it's all my own consait about the matter. Little passed +between us."</p> + +<p>"And, now," said the captain, relieving his breast by a long sigh, "I +presume I may inquire about your companion. You probably have ascertained +who he is?"</p> + +<p>"Lord, captain Willoughby, I was altogether dumbfounded, when the truth +came upon me of a sudden! I never should have known the major in that +dress, in the world, or out of the world either; but he walks so like the +captain, that as I followed a'ter him, I said to myself, who <i>can</i> it +be?--and then the walk came over me, as it might be; and then I remembered +last night, and the stranger that was out with the captain, and how he +occupied the room next to the library, and them things; and so, when I +come to look in his face, there was the major sure enough!"</p> + +<p>Joel lied famously in this account; but he believed himself safe, as no +one could very well contradict him.</p> + +<p>"Now, you have explained the manner in which you recognised my son, +Strides," added the captain, "I will thank you to let me know what has +become of him?"</p> + +<p>"He's with the savages. Having come so far to seize the father, it wasn't +in natur' to let the son go free, when he walked right into the lion's +den, like."</p> + +<p>"And how could the savages know he <i>was</i> my son? Did they, too, recognise +the family walk?"</p> + +<p>Strides was taken aback at this question, and he even had the grace to +colour a little. He saw that he was critically placed; for, in addition to +the suggestions of conscience, he understood the captain sufficiently to +know he was a man who would not trifle, in the event of his suspicions +becoming active. He knew he deserved the gallows, and Joyce was a man who +would execute him in an instant, did his commander order it. The idea +fairly made the traitor tremble in his shoes.</p> + +<p>"Ah! I've got a little ahead of my story," he said, hastily. "But, perhaps +I had best tell everything as it happened--"</p> + +<p>"That will be the simplest and clearest course. In order that there be no +interruption, we will go into my room, where Joyce will follow us, as soon +as he has dismissed his men."</p> + +<p>This was done, and in a minute or two the captain and Joel were seated in +the library, Joyce respectfully standing; the old soldier always declining +to assume any familiarity with his superior. We shall give the substance +of most of Joel's report in our own language; preferring it, defective as +it is, to that of the overseer's, which was no bad representative of his +cunning, treacherous and low mind.</p> + +<p>It seems, then, that the bearers of the flag were amicably received by the +Indians. The men towards whom they were led on the rocks, were the chiefs +of the party, who treated them with proper respect. The sudden movement +was explained to them, as connected with their meal; and the chiefs, +accompanied by the major and Strides, proceeded to the house of the +miller. Here, by means of a white man for an interpreter, the major had +demanded the motive of the strangers in coming into the settlement. The +answer was a frank demand for the surrender of the Hut, and all it +contained, to the authorities of the continental congress. The major had +endeavoured to persuade a white man, who professed to hold the legal +authority for what was doing, of the perfectly neutral disposition of his +father, when, according to Joel's account, to his own great astonishment, +the argument was met by the announcement of Robert Willoughby's true +character, and a sneering demand if it were likely a man who had a son in +the royal army, and who had kept that son secreted in his own house, would +be very indifferent to the success of the royal cause.</p> + +<p>"They've got a wonderful smart man there for a magistrate, I can tell +you," added Joel, with emphasis, "and he ra'ally bore as hard on the major +as a lawyer before a court. How he found out that the major was at the Hut +is a little strange, seein' that none of us know'd of it; but they've got +extraor'nary means, now-a-days."</p> + +<p>"And, did major Willoughby admit his true character, when charged with +being in the king's service?"</p> + +<p>"He did--and like a gentleman. He only insisted that his sole ar'nd out +here was to see his folks, and that he intended to go back to York the +moment he had paid his visit."</p> + +<p>"How did the person you mention receive his explanations?"</p> + +<p>"Waal, to own the truth, he laugh'd at it, like all natur'. I don't +believe they put any great weight on a syllable the major told 'em. I +never see critturs with such onbelievin' faces! After talking as long as +suited themselves, they ordered the major to be shut up in a buttery, with +a warrior at the door for a sentinel; a'ter which they took to examining +me."</p> + +<p>Joel then proceeded with an account--his own account, always, be it +remembered--of what passed between himself and the strangers. They had +questioned him closely touching the nature of the defences of the Hut, the +strength of the garrison, its disposition, the number and quality of the +arms, and the amount of the ammunition.</p> + +<p>"You may depend on't, I gave a good account," continued the overseer, in a +self-satisfied way. "In the first place, I told 'em, the captain had a +lieutenant with him that had sarved out the whull French war; then I put +the men up to fifty at once, seein' it was just as easy to say that, as +thirty or thirty-three. As to the arms, I told 'em more than half the +pieces were double-barrelled; and that the captain, in particular, +carried a rifle that had killed nine savages in one fight."</p> + +<p>"You were much mistaken in that, Joel. It is true, that a celebrated chief +once fell by this rifle; even that is not a matter for boasting."</p> + +<p>"Waal, them that told me on't, said that <i>two</i> had fallen before it, and I +put it up to nine at once, to make a good story better. Nine men had a +more desperate sound than two; and when you <i>do</i> begin to brag, a man +shouldn't be backward. I thought, howsever, that they was most +non-plussed, when I told 'em of the field-piece."</p> + +<p>"The field-piece, Strides!--Why did you venture on an exaggeration that +any forward movement of theirs must expose?"</p> + +<p>"We'll see to that, captain--we'll see to that. Field-pieces are desperate +dampers to Indian courage, so I thought I'd just let 'em have a +six-pounder, by way of tryin' their natur's. They look'd like men goin' to +execution, when I told 'em of the cannon, and what a history it had gone +through."</p> + +<p>"And what may have been this history, pray?"</p> + +<p>"I just told 'em it was the very gun the captain had took from the French, +about which we've all heer'n tell; and that, as everybody knows, was a +desperate piece, havin' killed more than a hundred reg'lars, before the +captain charged baggonet on it, and carried it off."</p> + +<p>This was a very artful speech, since it alluded to the most distinguished +exploit of captain Willoughby's military life; one of which it would have +been more than human, had he not been a little proud. All who knew him, +had heard of this adventure, and Joel cunningly turned it to account, in +the manner seen. The allusion served to put to sleep, for the moment at +least, certain very unpleasant suspicions that were getting to be active +in his superior's mind.</p> + +<p>"There was no necessity, Strides, for saying anything about that +affair"--the captain, modestly, interposed. "It happened a long time +since, and might well be forgotten. Then, you know we have no gun to +support your account, when our deficiency is ascertained, it will all be +set down to the true cause--a wish to conceal our real weakness."</p> + +<p>"I beg your honour's pardon," put in Joyce--"I think Strides has acted in +a military manner in this affair. It is according to the art of war for +the besieged to pretend to but stronger than they are; and even besiegers +sometimes put a better face than the truth will warrant, on their +strength. Military accounts, as your honour well knows, never pass exactly +for gospel, unless it be with the raw hands."</p> + +<p>"Then," added Joel, "I know'd what I was about, seem that we had a cannon +ready for use, as soon as it could be mounted."</p> + +<p>"I think I understand Strides, your honour," resumed the serjeant. "I have +carved a 'quaker' as an ornament for the gateway, intending to saw it in +two, in the middle, and place the pieces, crosswise, over the entrance, as +your honour has often seen such things in garrisons--like the brass +ornaments on the artillery caps, I mean, your honour. Well, this gun is +finished and painted, and I intended to split it, and have it up this very +week. I suppose Joel has had it in his mind, quaker fashion."</p> + +<p>"The Serjeant's right. That piece looks as much like a real cannon as one +of our cathechisms is like another. The muzzle is more than a foot deep, +and has a plaguy gunpowder look!"</p> + +<p>"But this gun is not mounted; even if it were, it could only be set up for +show," observed the captain.</p> + +<p>"Put that cannon up once, and I'll answer for it that no Injin faces it. +'Twill be as good as a dozen sentinels," answered Joel. "As for mountin', +I thought of that before I said a syllable about the crittur. There's the +new truck-wheels in the court, all ready to hold it, and the carpenters +can put the hinder part to the whull, in an hour or two, and that in a way +no Injin could tell the difference between it and a ra'al cannon, at ten +yards."</p> + +<p>"This is plausible, your honour," said Joyce, respectfully, "and it shows +that corporal Strides"--Joel insisted he was a serjeant, but the real +Simon Pure never gave him a title higher than that of corporal--"and it +shows that corporal Strides has an idea of war. By mounting that piece, +and using it with discretion--refusing it, at the right moment, and +showing it at another--a great deal might be done with it, either in a +siege or an assault. If your honour will excuse the liberty, I would +respectfully suggest that it might be well to set the quaker on his legs, +and plant him at the gate, as an exhorter."</p> + +<p>The captain reflected a moment, and then desired the overseer to proceed +in his account. The rest of Joel's story was soon told. He had mystified +the strangers, according to his own account of the matter, so thoroughly, +by affecting to withhold nothing, that they considered him as a sort of +ally, and did not put him in confinement at all. It is true, he was placed +<i>en surveillance</i>; but the duty was so carelessly performed, that, at the +right moment, he had passed down the ravine, a direction in which a +movement was not expected, and buried himself in the woods, so very +effectually that it would have baffled pursuit, had any been attempted. +After making a very long <i>détour</i>, that consumed hours, he turned the +entire valley, and actually reached the Hut, under the cover of the +rivulet and its bushes, or precisely by the route in which he and Mike had +gone forth, in quest of Maud, the evening of the major's arrival. This +latter fact, however, Joel had reasons of his own for concealing.</p> + +<p>"You have told us nothing of Mr. Woods, Strides," the captain observed, +when Joel's account was ended.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Woods! I can tell the captain nothing of that gentleman; I supposed +he was here."</p> + +<p>The manner in which the chaplain had left the Hut, and his disappearance +in the ravine, were then explained to the overseer, who evidently had +quitted the mill, on his return, before the divine performed his exploit. +There was a sinister expression in Joel's eyes, as he heard the account, +that might have given the alarm to men more suspicious than the two old +soldiers; but he had the address to conceal all he felt or thought.</p> + +<p>"If Mr. Woods has gone into the hands of the Injins, in his church shirt," +rejoined the overseer, "his case is hopeless, so far as captivity is +consarned. One of the charges ag'in the captain is, that the chaplain he +keeps prays as regulairly for the king as he used to do when it was +lawful, and agreeable to public feelin'."</p> + +<p>"This you heard, while under examination before the magistrate you have +named?" demanded the captain.</p> + +<p>"As good as that, and something more to the same p'int. The 'squire +complained awfully of a minister's prayin' for the king and r'yal family, +when the country was fightin' 'em."</p> + +<p>"In that, the Rev. Mr. Woods only obeys orders," said the serjeant.</p> + +<p>"But they say not. The orders is gone out, now, <i>they</i> pretend, for no man +to pray for any on 'em."</p> + +<p>"Ay--orders from the magistrates, perhaps. But the Rev. Mr. Woods is a +divine, and has his own superiors in the church, and <i>they</i> must issue the +commands that he obeys. I dare to say, your honour, if the archbishop of +Canterbury, or the commander-in-chief of the church, whoever he may be, +should issue a general order directing all the parsons not to pray for +King George, the Rev. Mr. Woods would have no scruple about obeying. But, +it's a different thing when a justice of the peace undertakes to stand +fugleman for the clergy. It's like a navy captain undertaking to wheel a +regiment."</p> + +<p>"Poor Woods!" exclaimed the captain--"Had he been ruled by me, he would +have dropped those prayers, and it would have been better for us both. +But, he is of your opinion, serjeant, and thinks that a layman can have no +authority over a gownsman."</p> + +<p>"And isn't he right, your honour! Think what a mess of it the militia +officers make, when they undertake to meddle with a regular corps. Some of +our greatest difficulties in the last war came from such awkward hands +attempting to manage machines of which they had no just notions. As for +praying, your honour, I'm no wise particular <i>who</i> I pray for, or <i>what</i> I +pray for, so long as it be all set down in general orders that come from +the right head-quarters; and I think the Rev. Mr. Woods ought to be judged +by the same rule."</p> + +<p>As the captain saw no use in prolonging the dialogue, he dismissed his +companions. He then sought his wife, in order to make her acquainted with +the actual state of things. This last was a painful duty, though Mrs. +Willoughby and her daughters heard the truth with less of apprehension +than the husband and father had anticipated. They had suffered so much +from uncertainty, that there was a relief in learning the truth. The +mother did not think the authorities of the colony would hurt her son, +whom she fancied all men must, in a degree, love as she loved. Beulah +thought of her own husband as Bob's safeguard; while Maud felt it to be +comparative happiness to know he was unharmed, and still so near her.</p> + +<p>This unpleasant duty discharged, the captain began to bethink him +seriously of his military trust. After some reflection, and listening to a +few more suggestions from Joyce, he consented to let the "quaker" be put +on wheels. The carpenters were immediately set at work to achieve this +job, which the serjeant volunteered to superintend, in person. As for +Joel, his wife and children, with the miller, occupied most of the +morning; the day turning, and even drawing towards its close, ere he +became visible, as had formerly been his wont, among the men of the +settlement.</p> + +<p>All this time, everything without the palisades lay in the silence of +nature. The sun cast its glories athwart the lovely scene, as in one of +the Sabbaths of the woods; but man was nowhere visible. Not a hostile +Indian, or white, exhibited himself; and the captain began to suspect +that, satisfied with their captures, the party had commenced its return +towards the river, postponing his own arrest for some other occasion. So +strong did this impression become towards the close of the day, that he +was actually engaged in writing to some friends of influence in Albany and +on the Mohawk to interpose their names and characters in his son's behalf, +when the serjeant, about nine o'clock, the hour when he had been ordered +to parade the guard for the first half of the night, presented himself at +the door of his room, to make an important report.</p> + +<p>"What now, Joyce?" demanded the captain. "Are any of our fellows sleepy, +and plead illness?"</p> + +<p>"Worse than that, your honour, I greatly fear," was the answer. Of the ten +men your honour commanded me to detail for the guard, five are missing. I +set them down as deserters."</p> + +<p>"Deserters!--This is serious, indeed; let the signal be made for a general +parade--the people cannot yet have gone to bed; we will look into this."</p> + +<p>As Joyce made it matter of religion "to obey orders," this command was +immediately put in execution. In five minutes, a messenger came to summon +the captain to the court, where the garrison was under arms. The serjeant +stood in front of the little party, with a lantern, holding his +muster-roll in his hand. The first glance told the captain that a serious +reduction had taken place in his forces, and he led the serjeant aside to +hear his report.</p> + +<p>"What is the result of your inquiries, Joyce?" he demanded, with more +uneasiness than he would have liked to betray openly.</p> + +<p>"We have lost just half our men, sir. The miller, most of the Yankees, and +two of the Dutchmen, are not on parade; neither is one of them to be found +in his quarters. They have either gone over to the enemy, captain +Willoughby, or, disliking the appearance of things here, they have taken +to the woods for safety."</p> + +<p>"And abandoned their wives and children, serjeant! Men would scarcely do +that."</p> + +<p>"Their wives and children have deserted too, sir. Not a chick or child +belonging to either of the runaways is to be found in the Hut."</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch19"> +<h2>Chapter XIX.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> "For all the Welshmen, hearing thou wert dead,<br /> + Are gone to Bolingbroke, dispersed and fled."</p> + +<p> <i>Richard III</i></p></div> + +<p> +This was startling intelligence to receive just as night had shut in, and +under the other circumstances of the case. Touching the men who still +remained, captain Willoughby conceived it prudent to inquire into their +characters and names, in order to ascertain the ground he stood on, and to +govern his future course accordingly. He put the question to the serjeant, +therefore, as soon as he could lead him far enough from the little array, +to be certain he was out of ear-shot.</p> + +<p>"We have Michael O'Hearn, Jamie Allen, the two carpenters, the three +niggers, Joel, and the three Dutchmen that last came into the settlement, +and the two lads that Strides engaged at the beginning of the year, left," +was the answer. "These, counting your honour and myself, make just fifteen +men; quite enough yet, I should think, to make good the house, in case of +an assault--though I fear everything like an outwork must be abandoned."</p> + +<p>"On the whole, these are the best of our men," returned the captain; "I +mean the most trustworthy. I count on Mike, Jamie, and the blacks, as +being as much to be relied on as we are ourselves. Joel, too, is a man of +resources, if he will but do his duty under fire."</p> + +<p>"Corporal Strides is still an untried soldier, your honour; though +recruits, even, sometimes do wonders. Of course, I shall reduce the guard +to half its former strength, as the men must have some sleep, sir."</p> + +<p>"We must depend very much on your vigilance and mine, to-night, Joyce. You +shall take the guard till one, when I will stand it for the rest of the +night. I will speak to the men before you dismiss them. An encouraging +word, just now, may be worth a platoon to us."</p> + +<p>The serjeant seldom dissented from any suggestion of his commanding +officer, and the scheme was carried out on the spot. The lantern was so +placed as to permit the captain to see the heterogeneous row of +countenances that was drawn up before him, and he proceeded:</p> + +<p>"It seems, my friends," he said, "that some of our people have been seized +with a panic, and have deserted. These mistaken men have not only fled +themselves, but they have induced their wives and children to follow them. +A little reflection will show you to what distress all must be reduced by +this ill-judged flight. Fifty miles from another settlement of any size, +and more than thirty from even a single hut, beyond the cabin of a hunter, +days must pass before they can reach a place of safety, even should they +escape the savage foe that we know to be scouring the woods. The women and +children will not have sufficient art to conceal their trail, nor +sufficient strength to hold out against hunger and fatigue many hours. God +forgive them for what they have done, and guide them through the +difficulties and pains by which they are menaced! As for us, we must +determine to do our whole duty, or, at once to retire, with the consent of +each other. If there is a man among you, then, who apprehends the +consequences of standing to his arms, and of defending this house, let him +confess it frankly; he shall have leave to depart, with all that belongs +to him, taking food and the means of subsistence and defence with him. I +wish no man to remain with me and mine, but he who can do it cheerfully. +The night is now dark, and, by quitting the Hut at an early hour, such a +start might be gained over any pursuers, as to place him in comparative +security before morning. If any such man is here, let him now speak out +honestly, and fear nothing. The gate shall be opened for his march."</p> + +<p>The captain paused, but not a soul answered. A common sentiment of loyalty +seemed to bind every one of the listeners to his duty. The dark eyes of +the negroes rolled along the short rank to see who would be the first to +desert their master, and grins of delight showed the satisfaction with +which they noted the effect of the appeal. As for Mike, he felt too +strongly to keep silence, and he muttered the passing impressions aloud.</p> + +<p>"Och!"--growled the county Leitrim-man--"Is it a good journey that I wish +the runaways? That it isn't, nor many a good male either, as they trudge +alang t'rough the woods, with their own consciences forenent their eyes, +pricking them up to come back, like so many t'ieves of the wor-r-ld, as +they are, every mother's son of 'em, women and all. I'd nivir do <i>that</i>; +no, not if my head was <i>all</i> scalp, down to the soles of my fut, and an +Injin was at every inch of it, to cut out his summer clothes of my own +skin. Talk of religion amang sich crathures!--Why, there isn't enough +moral in one of thim to carry him through the shortest prayer the Lord +allows a Christian to utter. Divil burn 'em say I, and that's my kindest +wish in their behalf."</p> + +<p>The captain waited patiently for this soliloquy to terminate; then he +dismissed the men, with a few more words of encouragement, and his thanks +for the fidelity they, at least, had shown. By this time the night had got +to be dark, and the court was much more so, on account of the shadows of +the buildings, than places in the open air. As the captain turned aside +to give his last instructions to Joyce, he discovered, by the light of the +lantern the latter held, a figure standing at no great distance, quite +dimly seen on account of its proximity to the walls of the Hut. It was +clearly a man; and as all the males able to bear arms, a single sentinel +outside the court excepted, were supposed to be in the group that had not +yet separated, the necessity of ascertaining the character of this +unlooked-for visiter flashed on the minds of both the old soldiers at the +same instant. Joyce raised the lantern, as they moved quickly towards the +motionless form, and its light glanced athwart a pair of wild, glowing, +dark eyes, and the red visage of an Indian.</p> + +<p>"Nick!" exclaimed the captain, "is that you?--What has brought you here +again, and how have you entered the palisades?--Do you come as a friend, +to aid us, or as an enemy?"</p> + +<p>"Too much question, cap'in--too much like squaw; ask all togeder. Go to +book-room; Nick follow; tell all he got to say."</p> + +<p>The captain whispered the serjeant to ascertain whether the watch without +was vigilant, when he led the way to the library, where, as he expected, +he found his wife and daughters, anxiously waiting his appearance.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Hugh, I trust it is not as bad as we feared!" cried the mother, as +the captain entered the room, closely attended by the Tuscarora; "our men +cannot be so heartless as to desert us at such a moment!"</p> + +<p>The captain kissed his wife, said a word or two of encouragement, and +pointed to the Indian.</p> + +<p>"Nick!" exclaimed all three of the females, in a breath. Though the tones +of their voices denoted very different sensations, at the unexpected +appearance of their old acquaintance. Mrs. Willoughby's exclamation was +not without pleasure, for <i>she</i> thought the man her friend. Beulah's was +filled with alarm, little Evert and savage massacres suddenly crossing the +sensitive mind of the young mother; while Maud's tone had much of the +stern resolution that she had summoned to sustain her in a moment of such +fearful trial.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Nick--Sassy Nick," repeated the Indian, in his guttural voice--"Ole +friend--you no glad see him?"</p> + +<p>"That will depend on your errand," interposed the captain. "Are you one +of the party that is now lying at the mill?--but, stop; how did you get +within the palisades? First answer me <i>that</i>."</p> + +<p>"Come in. Tree no good to stop Injin. Can't do it wid branches, how do it +widout? Want plenty of musket and plenty of soldier to do <i>dat</i>. Dis no +garrison, cap'in, to make Nick afeard. Always tell him too much hole to be +tight."</p> + +<p>"This is not answering my question, fellow. By what means did you pass the +palisades?"</p> + +<p>"What means?--Injin means, sartain. Came like cat, jump like deer, slide +like snake. Nick great Tuscarora chief; know well how warrior march, when +he dig up hatchet."</p> + +<p>"And Nick has been a great hanger-on of garrisons, and should know the use +that I can make of his back. You will remember, Tuscarora, that I have had +you flogged, more than once, in my day."</p> + +<p>This was said menacingly, and with more warmth, perhaps, than was prudent. +It caused the listeners to start, as if a sudden and new danger rose +before their eyes, and the anxious looks he encountered warned the captain +that he was probably going too far. As for Nick, himself, the gathering +thunder-cloud is not darker than his visage became at the words he heard; +it seemed by the moral writhing of his spirit as if every disgracing blow +he had received was at that instant torturing his flesh anew, blended with +the keenest feelings of ignominy. Captain Willoughby was startled at the +effect he had produced; but it was too late to change his course; and he +remained in dignified quiet, awaiting the workings of the Tuscarora's +mind.</p> + +<p>It was more than a minute ere Nick made any reply. Gradually, but very +slowly, the expression of his visage changed. It finally became as stoical +in expression as severe training could render the human countenance, and +as unmoved as marble. Then he found the language he wanted.</p> + +<p>"Listen," said the Indian, sternly. "Cap'in ole man. Got a head like snow +on rock. He bold soldier; but he no got wisdom enough for gray hair. Why +he put he hand rough, on place where whip strike? Wise man nebber do +<i>aat</i>. Last winter he cold; fire wanted to make him warm. Much ice, much +storm, much snow. World seem bad--fit only for bear, and snake, dat hide +in rock. Well; winter gone away; ice gone away; snow gone away; storm gone +away. Summer come, in his place. Ebbery t'ing <i>good</i>--ebbery t'ing +<i>pleasant</i>. Why t'ink of winter, when summer come, and drive him away wid +pleasant sky?"</p> + +<p>"In order to provide for its return. He who never thought of the evil day, +in the hour of his prosperity, would find that he has forgotten, not only +a duty, but the course of wisdom."</p> + +<p>"He <i>not</i> wise!" said Nick, sternly. "Cap'in pale-face chief. He got +garrison; got soldier; got musket. Well, he flog warrior's back; make +blood come. Dat bad enough; worse to put finger on ole sore, and make 'e +pain, and 'e shame, come back ag'in."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it would have been more generous, Nick, to have said nothing +about it; but, you see how I am situated; an enemy without, my men +deserting, a bad look-out, and one finding his way into my very +court-yard, and I ignorant of the means."</p> + +<p>"Nick tell cap'in all about means. If red-men outside, shoot <i>'em</i>; if +garrison run away, flog garrison; if don't know, l'arn; but, don't flog +back, ag'in, on ole sore!"</p> + +<p>"Well, well, say no more about it, Nick. Here is a dollar to keep you in +rum, and we will talk of other matters."</p> + +<p>Nick heeded not the money, though it was held before his eyes, some little +time, to tempt him. Perceiving that the Tuscarora was now acting as a +warrior and a chief, which Nick would do, and do well, on occasion, the +captain pocketed the offering, and regulated his own course accordingly.</p> + +<p>"At all events, I have a right to insist on knowing, first, by what means +you entered the palisades; and, second, what business has brought you +here, at night, and so suddenly."</p> + +<p>"Ask Nick, cap'in, all he right to ask; but, don't touch ole flog. How I +cross palisade? Where your sentinel to stop Injin? One at gate; well, none +all round, t'other place. Get in, up here, down dere, over yonder. Ten, +twenty, t'ree spot--s'pose him tree? climb him. S'pose him +palisade?--climb him, too. What help?--Soldier out at gate when Nick get +over t'other end! Come in court, too, when he want. Half gate half no +gate. So easy, 'shamed to brag of. Cap'in once Nick's friend--went on same +war-path--dat in ole time. Both warrior; both went ag'in French garrison. +Well; who crept in, close by cannon, open gate, let pale-men in. Great +Tuscarora do <i>dat</i>; no flog, <i>den</i>--no talk of ole sore, dat night!"</p> + +<p>"This is all true enough, Wyandotté"--This was Nick's loftiest +appellation; and a grim, but faint smile crossed his visage, as he heard +it, again, in the mouth of one who had known him when its sound carried +terror to the hearts of his enemies--"This is all true, Wyandotté, and I +have even given you credit for it. On that occasion you were bold as the +lion, and as cunning as a fox--you were much honoured for that exploit."</p> + +<p>"No ole sore in <i>dat</i>, um?" cried Nick, in a way so startling as to sicken +Mrs. Willoughby to the heart. "No call Nick dog, dat night. He <i>all</i> +warrior, den--all face; no <i>back</i>."</p> + +<p>"I have said you were honoured for your conduct, Nick, and paid for it. +Now, let me know what has brought you here to-night, and whence you come."</p> + +<p>There was another pause. Gradually, the countenance of the Indian became +less and less fierce, until it lost its expression of malignant resentment +in one in which human emotions of a kinder nature predominated.</p> + +<p>"Squaw good," he said, even gently, waving his hand towards Mrs. +Willoughby--"Got son; love him like little baby. Nick come six, two time +before, runner from her son."</p> + +<p>"My son, Wyandotté!" exclaimed the mother--"Bring you any tidings, now, +from my boy?"</p> + +<p>"No bring tidin'--too heavy; Indian don't love to carry load--bring +<i>letter</i>"</p> + +<p>The cry from the three females was now common, each holding out her hand, +with an involuntary impulse, to receive the note. Nick drew the missive +from a fold of his garment, and placed it in the hand of Mrs. Willoughby, +with a quiet grace that a courtier might have wished to equal, in vain.</p> + +<p>The note was short, and had been written in pencil, on a leaf torn from +some book of coarse paper. The handwriting however, was at once recognised +as Robert Willoughby's though there was no address, nor any signature. The +paper merely contained the following--</p> + +<p>"Trust to your defences, and to nothing else. This party has many white +men in it, disguised as Indians. I am suspected, if not known. You will be +tampered with, but the wisest course is to be firm. If Nick is honest, he +can tell you more; if false, this note will be shown, even though it be +delivered. Secure the inner gates, and depend more on the house itself, +than on the palisades. Fear nothing for me--my life can be in no danger."</p> + +<p>This note was read by each, in succession, Maud turning aside to conceal +the tears that fell fast on the paper, as she perused it. She read it +last, and was enabled to retain it; and precious to her heart was the +boon, at such a moment, when nearly every sensation of her being centred +in intense feeling in behalf of the captive.</p> + +<p>"We are told to inquire the particulars of you, Nick," observed the +captain; "I hope you will tell us nothing but truth. A lie is so unworthy +a warrior's mouth!"</p> + +<p>"Nick didn't lie 'bout beaver dam! Cap'in no find him good, as Indian +say?"</p> + +<p>"In that you dealt honestly, and I give you credit for it. Has any one +seen this letter but ourselves, yourself, and the person who wrote it?"</p> + +<p>"What for ask? If Nick say no, cap'in t'ink he lie. Even fox tell trut' +some time; why not Injin? Nick say no."</p> + +<p>"Where did you leave my son, and when?--Where is the party of red-skins at +this moment?"</p> + +<p>"All pale-face in hurry! Ask ten, one, four question, altogeder. Well; +answer him so. Down here, at mill; down dere, at mill; half an hour, six, +two, ten o'clock."</p> + +<p>"I understand you to say that major Willoughby was at the mill when you +saw him last, and that this was only half an hour since?"</p> + +<p>The Tuscarora nodded his head in assent, but made no other reply. Even as +he did this, his keen eyes rolled over the pallid faces of the females in +a way to awaken the captain's distrust, and he resumed his questions in a +tone that partook more of the military severity of his ancient habits than +of the gentler manner he had been accustomed to use of late years.</p> + +<p>"You know me, Nick," he said sternly, "and ought to dread my displeasure."</p> + +<p>"What cap'in mean, now?" demanded the Indian, quietly.</p> + +<p>"That the same whip is in this fort that I always kept in the other, in +which you knew me to dwell; nor have I forgotten how to use it."</p> + +<p>The Tuscarora gazed at the captain with a very puzzling expression, +though, in the main, his countenance appeared to be ironical rather than +fierce.</p> + +<p>"What for, talk of whip, now?" he said. "Even Yengeese gen'ral hide whip, +when he see enemy. Soldier can't fight when back sore. When battle near, +den all good friend; when battle over, den flog, flog, flog. Why talk +so?--Cap'in nebber strike <i>Wyandotté</i>."</p> + +<p>"Your memory must be short, to say this! I thought an Indian kept a better +record of what passed."</p> + +<p>"No man <i>dare</i> strike Wyandotté!" exclaimed the Indian, with energy. "No +man--pale-face or red-skin, <i>can</i> give blow on back of Wyandotté, and see +sun set!"</p> + +<p>"Well--well--Nick; we will not dispute on this point, but let bye-gones be +bye-gones. What <i>has</i> happened, <i>has</i> happened, and I hope will never +occur again."</p> + +<p>"Dat happen to Nick--Sassy Nick--poor, drunken Nick--to Wyandotté, +nebber!"</p> + +<p>"I believe I begin to understand you, now, Tuscarora, and am glad I have a +chief and a warrior in my house, instead of a poor miserable outcast. +Shall I have the pleasure of filling you a glass in honour of our old +campaigns?"</p> + +<p>"Nick alway dry--Wyandotté know no thirst. Nick, beggar--ask for +rum--<i>pray</i> for rum--<i>t'ink</i> of rum, <i>talk</i> of rum, <i>laugh</i> for rum, <i>cry</i> +for rum. Wyandotté don't know rum, when he see him. Wyandotté beg not'in'; +no, not his scalp."</p> + +<p>"All this sounds well, and I am both willing and glad, chief, to receive +you in the character in which you give me to understand you have now come. +A warrior of Wyandotté's high name is too proud to carry a forked tongue +in his mouth, and I shall hear nothing but truth. Tell me, then, all you +know about this party at the mill; what has brought it here, how you came +to meet my son, and what will be the next step of his captors. Answer the +questions in the order in which I put them."</p> + +<p>"Wyandotté not newspaper to tell ebbery t'ing at once. Let cap'in talk +like one chief speaking to anoder."</p> + +<p>"Then, tell me first, what you know of this party at the mill. Are there +many pale-faces in it?"</p> + +<p>"Put 'em in the river," answered the Indian, sententiously; "water tell +the trut'."</p> + +<p>"You think that there are many among them that would wash white?"</p> + +<p>"Wyandotté <i>know</i> so. When did red warriors ever travel on their path like +hogs in drove? <i>One</i> red-man there, as Great Spirit make him; by his side +<i>two</i> red-men as <i>paint</i> make 'em. This soon told on trail."</p> + +<p>"You struck their trail, then, and joined their company, in that manner?"</p> + +<p>Another nod indicated the assent of the Indian. Perceiving that the +Tuscarora did not intend to speak, the captain continued his +interrogatories.</p> + +<p>"And how did the trail betray this secret, chief?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Toe turn out--step too short--trail too broad--trail too plain--march too +short."</p> + +<p>"You must have followed them some distance, Wyandotté, to learn all this?"</p> + +<p>"Follow from Mohawk--join 'em at mill. Tuscarora don't like too much +travel with Mohawk."</p> + +<p>"But, according to your account, there cannot be a great many red-skins in +the party, if the white men so much out-number them."</p> + +<p>Nick, now, raised his right hand, showing all the fingers and the thumb, +at each exhibition, four several times. Then he raised it once, showing +only the fore-finger and thumb.</p> + +<p>"This makes twenty-two, Nick--Do you include yourself in the number?"</p> + +<p>"Wyandotté, a Tuscarora--he count <i>Mohawks</i>"</p> + +<p>"True--Are there any other red-men among them?"</p> + +<p>"Oneida, so"--holding up four fingers only. After which he held up a +single finger, adding--"Onondaga, so."</p> + +<p>"Twenty-two Mohawks, four Oneidas, and a single Onondaga, make +twenty-seven in all. To these, how many whites am I to add?--You counted +them, also?"</p> + +<p>The Indian now showed both hands, with all the fingers extended, repeating +the gestures four times; then he showed one hand entire, and two fingers +on the other.</p> + +<p>"Forty-seven. Add these to the red-skins, and we get seventy-four for the +total. I had supposed them rather stronger than this, Wyandotté?"</p> + +<p>"No stronger--no weaker--just so. Good many ole womans, too, among +pale-faces."</p> + +<p>"Old women!--You are not speaking literally, Nick? All that I have seen +appear to be men."</p> + +<p>"Got beard; but ole woman, too. Talk--talk--talk;--do not'in'. <i>Dat</i> what +Injin call ole woman. Party, poor party; cap'in beat 'em, if he fight like +ole time."</p> + +<p>"Well, this is encouraging, Wilhelmina, and Nick seems to be dealing +fairly with us."</p> + +<p>"Now, inquire more about Robert, Hugh"--said the wife, in whose maternal +heart her children were always uppermost.</p> + +<p>"You hear, Nick; my wife is desirous of learning something about her son, +next."</p> + +<p>During the preceding dialogue, there had been something equivocal in the +expression of the Indian's face. Every word he uttered about the party, +its numbers, and his own manner of falling in with it, was true, and his +countenance indicated that he was dealing fairly. Still, the captain +fancied that he could detect a covert fierceness in his eye and air, and +he felt uneasiness even while he yielded him credence. As soon as Mrs. +Willoughby, however, interposed, the gleam of ferocity that passed so +naturally and readily athwart the swarthy features of the savage, melted +into a look of gentleness, and there were moments when it might be almost +termed softness.</p> + +<p>"Good to have moder"--said Nick, kindly. "Wyandotté got no squaw--wife +dead, moder dead, sister dead--all gone to land of spirits--bye'm-by, +chief follow. No one throw stone on his grave! Been on death-path long +ago, but cap'in's squaw say 'stop, Nick; little too soon, now; take +medicine, and get well.' Squaw made to do good. Chief alway like 'e squaw, +when his mind not wild with war."</p> + +<p>"And <i>your</i> mind, Wyandotté, is not wild with war, now," answered Mrs. +Willoughby, earnestly. "You will help a mother, then, to get her son out +of the hands of merciless enemies?"</p> + +<p>"Why you t'ink merciless? Because pale-face dress like Injin, and try to +cheat?"</p> + +<p>"That may be one reason; but I fear there are many others. Tell me, +Wyandotté, how came you to discover that Robert was a prisoner, and by +what means did he contrive to give you his letter?"</p> + +<p>The Indian assumed a look of pride, a little blended with hauteur; for he +felt that he was manifesting the superiority of a red-man over the +pale-face, as he related the means through which he had made his +discoveries.</p> + +<p>"Read book on ground," Nick answered gravely. "Two book alway open before +chief; one in sky, t'other on ground. Book in sky, tell weather--snow, +rain, wind, thunder, lightning, war--book on ground, tell what happen."</p> + +<p>"And what had this book on the ground to do with my son, Wyandotté?"</p> + +<p>"Tell all about him. Major's trail first seen at mill. No moccasin--much +boot. Soldier boot like letter--say great deal, in few word. First t'ink +it cap'in; but it too short. Den <i>know</i> it Major."</p> + +<p>"This sounds very well, Nick," interrupted the captain, "though you will +excuse me if I say it is going a little too far. It seems impossible that +you should know that the print of the foot was that of my son. How <i>could</i> +you be certain of this?"</p> + +<p>"How <i>could</i>, eh? Who follow trail from house, here, to Hudson river? +T'ink Nick blind, and can't see? Tuscarora read <i>his</i> book well as +pale-face read bible." Here Nick looked round him a moment, raised his +fore-finger, dropped his voice, and added earnestly--"see him at Bunker +Hill--know him among ten, six, two t'ousand warrior. Know dat foot, if +meet him in Happy Hunting Ground."</p> + +<p>"And why my son's foot, in particular? The boot is often changed, can +never be exactly like its predecessor, and one boot is so much like +another, that to me the thing seems impossible. This account of the boot, +Nick, makes me distrust your whole story."</p> + +<p>"What distrust?" demanded the Indian like lightning.</p> + +<p>"It means doubt, uncertainty--distrust."</p> + +<p>"Don't believe, ha?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is it, substantially. Don't more than <i>half</i> believe, perhaps, +would be nearer to the mark."</p> + +<p>"Why, ole soldier alway distrust; squaw nebber? Ask moder--ha!--you t'ink +Nick don't know son's trail--handsome trail, like young chief's?"</p> + +<p>"I can readily believe Nick might recognise Bob's trail, +Hugh"--expostulated Mrs. Willoughby. "He has a foot in a thousand--you may +remember how every one was accustomed to speak of his beautiful foot, even +when he was a boy. As a man, I think it still more remarkable."</p> + +<p>"Ay, go on, Nick, in this way, and my wife will believe all you say. There +is no distrust in a mother's partiality, certainly. You are an old +courtier, and would make your way at St. James's."</p> + +<p>"Major nebber tell about foot?" asked Nick, earnestly.</p> + +<p>"I remember nothing; and had he spoken of any such thing, I must have +heard it. But, never mind the story, now; you saw the foot-print, and knew +it for my son's. Did you ask to be admitted to his prison? or was your +intercourse secret?"</p> + +<p>"Wyandotté too wise to act like squaw, or boy. See him, widout look. Talk, +widout speak--hear, widout ear. Major write letter, Nick take him. All +done by eye and hand; not'in' done by tongue, or at Council Fire. Mohawk +blind like owl!"</p> + +<p>"May I believe you, Tuscarora; or, incited by demons, do you come to +deceive me?"</p> + +<p>"Ole warrior look two time before he go; t'ink ten time before he say, +yes. All good. Nick no affronted. Do so himself, and t'ink it right. +Cap'in <i>may</i> believe all Nick say."</p> + +<p>"Father!" cried Maud, with simple energy, "I will answer for the Indian's +honesty. He has guided Robert so often, and been with him in so many +trying scenes, he never <i>can</i> have the heart to betray him, or us. Trust +him, then he may be of infinite service."</p> + +<p>Even captain Willoughby, little disposed as he was to judge Nick +favourably, was struck with the gleam of mamy kindness that shot across +the dark face of the Indian, as he gazed at the glowing cheek and +illuminated countenance of the ardent and beautiful girl.</p> + +<p>"Nick seems disposed to make a truce with <i>you</i>, at least, Maud," he said, +smiling, "and I shall now know where to look for a mediator, whenever any +trouble arises between us."</p> + +<p>"I have known Wyandotté, dear sir, from childhood, and he has ever been my +friend. He promised me, in particular, to be true to Bob, and I am happy +to say he has ever kept his word."</p> + +<p>This was telling but half the story. Maud had made the Indian many +presents, and most especially had she attended to his wants, when it was +known he was to be the major's guide, the year previously, on his return +to Boston. Nick had known her real father, and was present at his death. +He was consequently acquainted with her actual position in the family of +the Hutted Knoll; and, what was of far more consequence in present +emergencies, he had fathomed the depths of her heart, in a way our heroine +could hardly be said to have done herself. Off her guard with such a +being, Maud's solicitude, however, had betrayed her, and the penetrating +Tuscarora had discerned that which had escaped the observation of father, +and mother, and sister. Had Nick been a pale-face, of the class of those +with whom he usually associated, his discovery would have gone through the +settlement, with scoffings and exaggerations; but this forest gentleman, +for such was Wyandotté, in spite of his degradation and numerous failings, +had too much consideration to make a woman's affections the subject of his +coarseness and merriment. The secrets of Maud would not have been more +sacred with her own brother, had such a relative existed to become her +confidant, than it was with Saucy Nick.</p> + +<p>"Nick gal's friend," observed the Indian, quietly; "dat enough; what Nick +say, Nick mean. What Nick <i>mean</i>, he <i>do</i>. Come, cap'in; time to quit +squaw, and talk about war."</p> + +<p>At this hint, which was too plain to be misunderstood, captain Willoughby +bade the Indian withdraw to the court, promising to follow him, as soon as +he could hold a short conference with Joyce, who was now summoned to the +council. The subject of discussion was the manner in which the Tuscarora +had passed the stockade, and the probability of his being true. The +serjeant was disposed to distrust all red-men, and he advised putting Nick +under arrest, and to keep him in durance, until the return of light, at +least.</p> + +<p>"I might almost say, your honour, that such are orders, sir. The advice to +soldiers carrying on war with savages, tells us that the best course is to +pay off treachery with treachery; and treachery is a red-skin's manual +exercise. There is O'Hearn will make a capital sentinel, for the fellow is +as true as the best steel in the army. Mr. Woods' room is empty, and it is +so far out of the way that nothing will be easier than to keep the savage +snug enough. Besides, by a little management, he might fancy we were doing +him honour all the while."</p> + +<p>"We will see, serjeant," answered the captain. "It has a bad appearance, +and yet it may be the wisest thing we can do. Let us first go the rounds, +taking Nick with us for safety, and determine afterwards."</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch20"> +<h2>Chapter XX.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> "His hand was stay'd--he knew not why;<br /> + 'Twas a presence breathed around--<br /> + A pleading from the deep-blue sky,<br /> + And up from the teeming ground.<br /> + It told of the care that lavish'd had been<br /> + In sunshine and in dew--<br /> + Of the many things that had wrought a screen<br /> + When peril round it grew."</p> + +<p> Mrs. Seba Smith.</p></div> + +<p> +The desertions gave not only the captain, but his great support and +auxiliary, the serjeant, the gravest apprehensions. A disposition of that +nature is always contagious, men abandoning a failing cause much as rats +are known to quit a sinking ship. It is not a matter of surprise, +therefore, that the distrust which accompanied the unexpected appearance +of the Tuscarora, became associated with this falling off in the loyalty +of the garrison, in the minds of the two old soldiers.</p> + +<p>"I do think, your honour," said Joyce, as they entered the court together, +"that we may depend on O'Hearn, and Jamie, and Strides. The latter, as a +matter of course, being a corporal, or serjeant as he calls himself; and +the two first, as men who have no ties but such as would be likely to keep +them true to this family. But here is the corporal to speak for himself."</p> + +<p>As this was said, corporal Strides, as the serjeant persisted in terming +Joel, on the ground that being but one step higher himself, the overseer +could justly claim no rank of greater pretension, approached the captain, +taking care to make the military salute which Joyce had never succeeded +before in extracting from him, notwithstanding a hundred admonitions on +the subject.</p> + +<p>"This is a distressing affair, captain Willoughby," observed Joel, in his +most jesuitical manner; "and to me it is altogether onaccountable! It does +seem to me ag'in natur', for a man to desart his own household and hum' +(Joel meant '<i>home</i>') in the hour of trial. If a fellow-being wunt +(Anglice 'wont') stand by his wife and children, he can hardly be expected +to do any of his duties."</p> + +<p>"Quite true. Strides," answered the confiding captain, "though these +deserters are not altogether as bad as you represent, since, you will +remember, they have carried their wives and children with them."</p> + +<p>"I believe they have, sir--yes, that must be allowed to be true, and that +it is, which to me seems the most extr'or'nary. The very men that a person +would calcilate on the most, or the heads of families, have desarted, +while them that remain behind are mostly single!"</p> + +<p>"If we single men have no wives and children of our own to fight for, +Strides," observed Joyce, with a little military stiffness, "we have the +wife and children of captain Willoughby; no man who wishes to sell his +life dearly, need look for a better motive."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, serjeant," the captain said, feelingly--"On <i>you</i>, I can rely +as on myself. So long as I have <i>you</i>, and Joel, here, and Mike and the +blacks, and the rest of the brave fellows who have stood by me thus far, I +shall not despair. <i>We</i> can make good the house against ten times our own +number. But, it is time to look to the Indians."</p> + +<p>"I was going to speak to the captain about Nick," put in Joel, who had +listened to the eulogium on his own fidelity with some qualms of +conscience. "I can't say I like the manner he has passed between the two +parties; and that fellow has always seemed to me as if he owed the captain +a mortal grudge; when an Injin <i>does</i> owe a grudge, he is pretty sartain +to pay it, in full."</p> + +<p>"This has passed over my mind, too, I will confess, Joel; yet Nick and I +have been on reasonably good terms, when one comes to remember his +character, on the one side, and the fact that I have commanded a frontier +garrison on the other. If I have had occasion to flog him a few times, I +have also had occasion to give him more rum than has done him good, with +now and then a dollar."</p> + +<p>"There I think the captain miscalcilates," observed Joel with a knowledge +of human nature that would have been creditable to him, had he practised +on it himself. "No man is thankful for rum when the craving is off, sin' +he knows he has been taking an inimy into his stomach; and as for the +money, it was much the same as giving the liquor, seem' that it went for +liquor as soon as he could trot down to the mill. A man will seek his +revenge for rum, as soon as for anything else, when he gets to feel +injuries uppermost. Besides, I s'pose the captain knows an injury will be +remembered long a'ter a favour is forgotten."</p> + +<p>"This may be true, Strides, and certainly I shall keep my eyes on the +Indian. Can you mention any particular act, that excites your suspicion?"</p> + +<p>"Don't the captain think Nick may have had suthin' to do with the +desartions?--A dozen men would scarce desart all at once, as it might be, +onless someone was at the bottom of it."</p> + +<p>This was true enough, certainly, though Joel chose to keep out of view all +his own machinations and arts on the subject. The captain was struck by +the suggestion, and he determined to put his first intention in respect to +Nick in force immediately. Still, it was necessary to proceed with +caution, the state of the Hut rendering a proper watch and a suitable +prison difficult to be obtained. These circumstances were mentioned to the +overseer, who led the way to the part of the buildings occupied by his own +family; and, throwing open the doors, ostentatiously exhibited Phoebe and +her children in their customary beds, at a moment when so many others had +proved recreant. His professed object was to offer a small closet in his +own rooms as a prison for Nick, remarking he must be an ingenious savage +indeed, if he could escape the vigilance of as many watchful eyes as would +then be on him.</p> + +<p>"I believe you, Strides," said the captain, smiling as he walked away from +the place; "if he can escape Phoebe and <i>her</i> children, the fellow must be +made of quicksilver. Still, I have a better prison in view. I am glad to +see this proof, however, of your own fidelity, by finding all your family +in their beds; for those are not wanting who would have me suspect even +<i>you</i>"</p> + +<p>"Me!--Well, if the captain can't count on his own overseer, I should like +to ask such persons on whom he <i>can</i> count? Madam Willoughby and the young +ladies isn't more likely to remain true than I am, myself, I should +think--What in reason, or natur', or all lawful objects, could make +<i>me</i>----"</p> + +<p>Joel was about to run into that excess of vindication that is a little apt +to mark guilt; but, the captain cut him short, by telling him it was +unnecessary, recommending vigilance, and walking away in search of Nick.</p> + +<p>The Indian was found standing beneath the arch of the gateway, upright, +motionless, and patient. A lantern was kept burning here, the place being +used as a sort of guard-house; and, by its light, it was easy to perceive +the state of the still unhung leaf of the passage. This leaf, however, was +propped in its place, by strong timbers; and, on the whole, many persons +would think it the most secure half of the gate. Captain Willoughby +observed that the Indian was studying this arrangement when he entered the +place himself. The circumstance caused him uneasiness, and quickened his +determination to secure the Indian.</p> + +<p>"Well, Nick," he said, concealing his intention under an appearance of +indifference, "you see our gates are well fastened, and steady hands and +quick eyes will do the rest. It is getting late, and I wish to have you +comfortably lodged before I lie down myself. Follow me, and I will show +you to a place where you will be at your ease."</p> + +<p>The Tuscarora understood the captain's object the instant he spoke of +giving him comfortable lodgings, a bed being a thing that was virtually +unknown to his habits. But, he raised no objections, quietly treading in +the other's footsteps, until both were in the bed-room of the absent Mr. +Woods. The apartments of the chaplain were above the library, and, being +in the part of the house that was fortified by the cliff, they had dormer +windows that looked toward the forest. The height of these windows the +captain thought would be a sufficient security against flight; and by +setting Mike and one of the Plinys on the look-out, to relieve each other +at intervals of four hours, he thought the Tuscarora might be kept until +the return of light. The hour when he most apprehended danger was that +which just precedes the day, sleep then pressing the heaviest on the +sentinel's eyelids, and rest having refreshed the assailants.</p> + +<p>"Here, Wyandotté, I intend you shall pass the night," said the captain, +assuming as much courtesy of manner as if he were doing the honours of his +house to an invited and honoured guest. "I know you despise a bed, but +there are blankets, and by spreading them on the floor, you can make your +own arrangements."</p> + +<p>Nick made a gesture of assent, looking cautiously around him, carefully +avoiding every appearance of curiosity at the same time, more in pride of +character, however, than in cunning. Nevertheless, he took in the history +of the locality at a glance.</p> + +<p>"It is well," he said; "a Tuscarora chief no t'ink of sleep. Sleep come +standing, walking; <i>where</i> he will, <i>when</i> he will. Dog eats, den lie down +to sleep; warrior always ready. Good bye, cap'in--to-morrow see him +ag'in."</p> + +<p>"Good night, Nick. I have ordered your old friend Mike, the Irishman, to +come and sit in your room, lest you might want something in the night. You +are good friends with Mike, I believe; I chose him on that account."</p> + +<p>The Indian understood this, too; but not an angry gleam, no smile, nor any +other sign, betrayed his consciousness of the captain's motives.</p> + +<p>"Mike <i>good</i>" he answered, with emphasis. "Long tongue--short t'ink. Say +much; mean little. Heart sound, like hard oak--mind, like spunk--burn +quick, no too much strong."</p> + +<p>This sententious and accurate delineation of the county Leitrim-man's +characteristics induced a smile in the captain; but, O'Hearn entering at +the moment, and possessing his entire confidence, he saw no use in +replying. In another minute the two worthies were left in possession of +the bed-room, Michael having received a most solemn injunction not to be +tempted to drink.</p> + +<p>It was now so late, the captain determined to let the regular watches of +the night take their course. He held a short consultation with Joyce, who +took the first ward, and then threw himself on a mattrass, in his clothes, +his affectionate wife having done the same thing, by the side of her +daughters and grandson in an adjoining room. In a short time, the sounds +of footsteps ceased in the Hut; and, one unacquainted with the real state +of the household, might have fancied that the peace and security of one +of its ancient midnights were reigning about the Knoll.</p> + +<p>It was just two in the morning, when the serjeant tapped lightly at the +door of his commanding officer's room. The touch was sufficient to bring +the captain to his feet, and he instantly demanded the news.</p> + +<p>"Nothing but sentry-go, your honour," replied Joyce. "I am as fresh as a +regiment that is just marching out of barracks, and can easily stand the +guard till daylight. Still, as it was orders to call your honour at two, +I could do no less, you know, sir."</p> + +<p>"Very well, serjeant--I will just wash my eyes, and be with you in a +minute. How has the night gone?"</p> + +<p>"Famously quiet, sir. Not even an owl to trouble it. The sentinels have +kept their eyes wide open, dread of the scalping-knife being a good +wakener, and no sign of any alarm has been seen. I will wait for your +honour, in the court, the moment of relieving guard being often chosen by +a cunning enemy for the assault."</p> + +<p>"Yes," sputtered the captain, his face just emerging from the water--"if +he happen to know when that is."</p> + +<p>In another minute, the two old soldiers were together in the court, +waiting the return of Jamie Allen with his report, the mason having been +sent round to the beds of the fresh men to call the guard. It was not +long, however, before the old man was seen hastening towards the spot +where Joyce had bid him come.</p> + +<p>"The Lord ha' maircy on us, and on a' wretched sinners!" exclaimed Jamie, +as soon as near enough to be heard without raising his voice on too high a +key--"there are just the beds of the three Connecticut lads that were to +come into the laird's guard, as empty as a robin's nest fra' which the +yang ha' flown!"</p> + +<p>"Do you mean, Jamie, that the boys have deserted?"</p> + +<p>"It's just that; and no need of ca'ing it by anither name. The Hoose o' +Hanover wad seem to have put the de'il in a' the lads, women and children +included, and to have raised up a spirit o' disaffection, that is fast +leaving us to carry on this terrible warfare with our ain hearts and +bodies."</p> + +<p>"With your honour's permission," said the serjeant, "I would ask corporal +Allen if the deserters have gone off with their arms and accoutrements?"</p> + +<p>"Airms? Ay, and legs, and a' belonging to 'em, with mair that is the +lawfu' property of the laird. Not so much as a flint is left behind."</p> + +<p>"Then we may count on seeing all the fellows in the enemy's ranks," the +serjeant quietly remarked, helping himself to the tobacco from which he +had refrained throughout the previous hours of the night, Joyce being too +much of a <i>martinet</i> to smoke or chew on duty. "It's up-hill work, your +honour, when every deserter counts two, in this manner. The civil wars, +however, are remarkable for this sort of wheeling, and facing to the +right-about; the same man often changing his colours two or three times in +a campaign."</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby received the news of this addition to his ill luck with +an air of military stoicism, though he felt, in reality, more like a +father and a husband on the occasion than like a hero. Accustomed to +self-command, he succeeded in concealing the extent of his uneasiness, +while he immediately set about inquiring into the extent of the evil.</p> + +<p>"Joel is to join my watch," he said, "and <i>he</i> may throw some light on +this affair. Let us call him, at once, for a few minutes may prove of +importance."</p> + +<p>Even while speaking, the captain crossed the court, accompanied by the +serjeant and mason; and, ceremony being little attended to on such +occasions, they all entered the quarters of Strides, in a body. The place +was empty! Man, woman, and children had abandoned the spot, seemingly in a +body; and this, too, far from empty-handed. The manner in which the room +had been stripped, indeed, was the first fact which induced the captain to +believe that a man so much and so long trusted would desert him in a +strait so serious. There could be no mistake; and, for a moment, the +husband and father felt such a sinking of the heart as would be apt to +follow the sudden conviction that his enemies must prevail.</p> + +<p>"Let us look further, Joyce," he said, "and ascertain the extent of the +evil at once."</p> + +<p>"This is a very bad example, your honour, that corporal Strides has set +the men, and we may expect to hear of more desertions. A non-commissioned +officer should have had too much pride for this! I have always remarked, +sir, in the army, that when a non-commissioned officer left his colours, +he was pretty certain to carry off a platoon with him."</p> + +<p>The search justified this opinion of the serjeant. A complete examination +of the quarters of all the men having been made, it was ascertained that +every white man in the Hut, the serjeant, Jamie Allen, and a young New +England labourer of the name of Blodget excepted, had abandoned the place. +Every man had carried off with him his arms and ammunition, leaving the +rooms as naked of defence as they had been before they were occupied. +Women and children, too, were all gone, proving that the flights had been +made deliberately, and with concert. This left the Hut to be defended by +its owner, the serjeant, the two Plinys and a young descendant of the same +colour, Jamie Allen, Blodget and Mike, who had not yet been relieved from +his ward over the Indian; eight men in all, who might possibly receive +some assistance from the four black females in the kitchen.</p> + +<p>The captain examined this small array of force, every man but Mike being +up and in the line, with a saddened countenance; for he remembered what a +different appearance it made only the previous day, when he had his +gallant son too, with him, a host in himself. It added mortification to +regret, also, when he remembered that this great loss had been made +without a single blow having been struck in defence of his precious +family, and his lawful rights.</p> + +<p>"We must close the gate of the court, and bar it at once, Joyce," the +captain said, as soon as fully apprised of the true state of his force. +"It will be quite sufficient if we make good the house, with this handful +of men; giving up all hope of doing anything with the stockade. It is the +facility offered by the open gateway that has led to all this mischief."</p> + +<p>"I don't know, your honour. When desertion once fairly gets into a man's +mind, it's wonderful the means he will find to bring about his wishes. +Corporal Strides, no doubt has passed his family and his kit through both +gates; for, being in authority, our people were hardly disciplined enough +to understand the difference between a non-commissioned officer <i>on</i> +guard and one <i>off</i> guard; but, there were a hundred ways to mischief, +even had there been no gate. Jamie, take one of the blacks, and bar the +inner gate. What is your honour's pleasure next?"</p> + +<p>"I wish my mind were at ease on the subject of the Tuscarora. With Nick's +assistance as a runner and spy, and even as a sharp-shooter, we should be +vastly stronger. See to the gate yourself, serjeant, then follow me to Mr. +Woods' room."</p> + +<p>This was done, the captain waiting for his companion on the threshold of +the outer door. Ascending the narrow stairs, they were soon on the floor +above, and were happy to find the door of the Tuscarora's prison fastened +without, as they had left it; this precaution having been taken as a +salutary assistance to O'Hearn's sagacity. Undoing these fastenings, the +serjeant stepped aside to allow his superior to precede him, as became +their respective stations. The captain advanced, holding the lantern +before him, and found an empty room. Both Nick and Mike were gone, though +it was not easy to discover by what means they had quitted the place. The +door was secure, the windows were down, and the chimney was too small to +allow of the passage of a human body. The defection of the Irishman caused +the captain great pain, while it produced surprise even in the serjeant. +Mike's fidelity had been thought of proof; and, for an instant, the master +of the place was disposed to believe some evil spirit had been at work to +corrupt his people.</p> + +<p>"This is more than I could have expected, Joyce!" he said, as much in +sorrow as in anger. "I should have as soon looked for the desertion of old +Pliny as that of Mike!"</p> + +<p>"It is extr'or'nary, sir; but one is never safe without in-and-in +discipline. A drill a week, and that only for an hour or two of a Saturday +afternoon, captain Willoughby, may make a sort of country militia, but it +will do nothing for the field. 'Talk of enlisting men for a year, serjeant +Joyce,' said old colonel Flanker to me, one day in the last war--'why it +will take a year to teach a soldier how to eat. Your silly fellows in the +provincial assemblies fancy because a man has teeth, and a stomach, and an +appetite, that he knows how to <i>eat</i>; but eating is an <i>art</i>, serjeant; +and military eating above all other branches of it; and I maintain a +soldier can no more learn how to eat, as a soldier, the colonel meant, +your honour, than he can learn to plan a campaign by going through the +manual exercise.' For my part, captain Willoughby, I have always thought +it took a man his first five years' enlistment to learn how to obey +orders."</p> + +<p>"I had thought that Irishman's heart in the right place, Joyce, and +counted as much on him as I did on you!"</p> + +<p>"On me, captain Willoughby!" answered the serjeant, in a tone of +mortification. "I should think your honour would have made some difference +between your old orderly--a man who had served thirty years in your own +regiment, and most of the time in your own company, and a bit of a wild +Hibernian of only ten years' acquaintance, and he a man who never saw a +battalion paraded for real service!"</p> + +<p>"I see my error now, Joyce; but Michael had so much blundering honesty +about him, or seemed to have, that I have been his dupe. It is too late, +however, to repine; the fellow is gone; it only remains to ascertain the +manner of his flight. May not Joel have undone the fastenings of the door, +and let him and the Indian escape together, in common with the rest of the +deserters?"</p> + +<p>"I secured that door, sir, with my own hands, in a military manner, and +know that it was found as I left it. The Rev. Mr. Woods' bed seems to have +been disturbed; perhaps that may furnish a clue."</p> + +<p>A clue the bed did furnish, and it solved the problem. The bed-cord was +removed, and both the sheets and one of the blankets were missing. This +directed the inquiry to the windows, one of which was not closed entirely. +A chimney stood near the side of this window, and by its aid it was not +difficult to reach the ridge of the roof. On the inner side of the roof +was the staging, or walk, already mentioned; and, once on that, a person +could make the circuit of the entire roof, in perfect safety. Joyce +mounted to the ridge, followed by the captain, and gained the staging with +a little effort, whence they proceeded round the buildings to ascertain if +the rope was not yet hanging over the exterior, as a means of descent. It +was found as expected, and withdrawn lest it might be used to introduce +enemies within the house.</p> + +<p>These discoveries put the matter of Michael's delinquency at rest. He had +clearly gone off with his prisoner, and might next be looked for in the +ranks of the besiegers. The conviction of this truth gave the captain more +than uneasiness; it caused him pain, for the county Leitrim-man had been a +favourite with the whole family, and most especially with his daughter +Maud.</p> + +<p>"I do not think you and the blacks will leave me, Joyce," he observed, as +the serjeant and himself descended, by the common passage, to the court. +"On <i>you</i> I can rely, as I would rely on my noble son, were he with me at +this moment."</p> + +<p>"I beg your honour's pardon--few words tell best for a man, deeds being +his duty--but, if your honour will have the condescension just to issue +your orders, the manner in which they shall be obeyed will tell the whole +story."</p> + +<p>"I am satisfied of that, serjeant; we must put shoulder to shoulder, and +die in the breach, should it be necessary, before we give up the place."</p> + +<p>By this time the two old soldiers were again in the court, where they +found all their remaining force, of the male sex; the men being too +uneasy, indeed, to think of going to their pallets, until better assured +of their safety. Captain Willoughby ordered Joyce to draw them up in line +again, when he addressed them once more in person.</p> + +<p>"My friends," the captain commenced, "there would be little use in +attempting to conceal from you our real situation; nor would it be +strictly honest. You see here every man on whom I can now depend for the +defence of my fireside and family. Mike has gone with the rest, and the +Indian has escaped in his company. You can make up your own opinions of +our chances of success, but my resolution is formed. Before I open a gate +to the merciless wretches without, who are worse than the savages of the +wilderness, possessing all their bad and none of their redeeming +qualities, it is my determination to be buried under the ruins of this +dwelling. But you are not bound to imitate my example; and, if any man +among you, black or white, regrets being here at this moment, he shall +still have arms and ammunition, and food given him, the gates shall be +opened and he may go freely to seek his safety in the forest. For God's +sake let there be no more desertions; he that wishes to quit me, may now +quit me unmolested; but, after this moment, martial law will <i>be</i>, +enforced, and I shall give orders to shoot down any man detected in +treachery, as I would shoot down a vicious dog."</p> + +<p>This address was heard in profound silence. No man stirred, nor did any +man speak.</p> + +<p>"Blodget," continued the captain, "you have been with me a shorter time +than any other person present, and cannot feel the same attachment to me +and mine as the rest. You are the only native American among us, Joyce +excepted--for we count the blacks as nothing in respect to country--may +feel that I am an Englishman born, as I fear has been the case with the +rest of your friends. Perhaps I ought not to ask you to remain. Take your +arms, then, and make the best of your way to the settlements. Should you +reach Albany, you might even serve me essentially by delivering a letter I +will confide to you, and which will bring us effectual succour."</p> + +<p>The young man did not answer, though his fingers worked on the barrel of +his musket, and he shifted his weight, from leg to leg, like one whose +inward feelings were moved.</p> + +<p>"I believe I understand you, captain Willoughby," he said, at length, +"though I think you don't understand me. I know you old country people +think meanly of us new country people, but I suppose that's in the nature +of things; then, I allow Joel Strides' conduct has been such as to give +you reason to judge us harshly. But there is a difference among <i>us</i>, as +well as among the English; and some of us--won't say I am such a man, but +actions speak louder than words, and all will be known in the end--but +<i>some</i> of us will be found true to our bargains, as well as other men."</p> + +<p>"Bravely answered, my lad," cried the serjeant, heartily, and looking +round at his commander with exultation, to congratulate him on having such +a follower--"This is a man who will obey orders through thick and thin, +I'll answer for it, your honour. Little does he care who's king or who's +governor, so long as he knows his captain and his corps."</p> + +<p>"There you are mistaken, serjeant Joyce," the youth observed, firmly. "I'm +for my country, and I'd quit this house in a minute, did I believe captain +Willoughby meant to help the crown. But I have lived long enough here to +know he is at the most neutral; though I think he rather favours the side +of the colonies than that of the crown."</p> + +<p>"You have judged rightly, Blodget," observed the captain. "I do not quite +like this declaration of independence, though I can scarce blame congress +for having made it. Of the two, I think the Americans nearest right, and I +now conceive myself to be more of an American than an Englishman. I wish +this to be understood, Joyce."</p> + +<p>"Do you, sir?--It's just as your honour pleases. I didn't know which side +it was your pleasure to support, nor does it make any great difference +with most of us. Orders are orders, let them come from king or colonies. I +would take the liberty of recommending, your honour, that this young man +be promoted. Strides' desertion has left a vacancy among the corporals, +and we shall want another for the guard. It would hardly do to make a +nigger a corporal."</p> + +<p>"Very well, Joyce, have it as you wish," interrupted the captain, a little +impatiently; for he perceived he had a spirit to deal with in Blodget that +must hold such trifles at their true value. "Let it be corporal Allen and +corporal Blodget in future."</p> + +<p>"Do you hear, men?--These are general orders. The relieved guard will fall +out, and try to get a little sleep, as we shall parade again half an hour +before day."</p> + +<p>Alas! the relieved guard, like the relief itself, consisted of only two +men, corporal Blodget and Pliny the younger; old Pliny, in virtue of his +household work, being rated as an idler. These five, with the captain and +the serjeant, made the number of the garrison seven, which was the whole +male force that now remained.</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby directed Joyce and his two companions to go to their +pallets, notwithstanding, assuming the charge of the look-out himself, and +profiting by the occasion to make himself better acquainted with the +character of his new corporal than circumstances had hitherto permitted.</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch21"> +<h2>Chapter XXI.</h2> + + + +<p> "For thee they fought, for thee they fell, + And their oath was on thee laid; + To thee the clarions raised their swell, + And the dying warriors pray'd."</p> + +<p> Percival.</p> + +<p> +The distaste for each other which existed between the people of New +England and those of the adjoining colonies, anterior to the war of the +revolution, is a matter of history. It was this feeling that threw +Schuyler, one of the ablest and best men in the service of his country, +into the shade, a year later than the period of which we are writing. This +feeling was very naturally produced, and, under the circumstances, was +quite likely to be active in a revolution. Although New England and New +York were contiguous territories, a wide difference existed between their +social conditions. Out of the larger towns, there could scarcely be said +to be a gentry at all, in the former; while the latter, a conquered +province, had received the frame-work of the English system, possessing +Lords of the Manor, and divers other of the fragments of the feudal +system. So great was the social equality throughout the interior of the +New England provinces, indeed, as almost to remove the commoner +distinctions of civilised associations, bringing all classes surprisingly +near the same level, with the exceptions of the very low, or some rare +instance of an individual who was raised above his neighbours by unusual +wealth, aided perhaps by the accidents of birth, and the advantages of +education.</p> + +<p>The results of such a state of society are easily traced. Habit had taken +the place of principles, and a people accustomed to see even questions of +domestic discipline referred, either to the church or to public sentiment, +and who knew few or none of the ordinary distinctions of social +intercourse, submitted to the usages of other conditions of society, with +singular distaste and stubborn reluctance. The native of New England +deferred singularly to great wealth, in 1776 as he is known to defer to it +to-day; but it was opposed to all his habits and prejudices to defer to +social station. Unused to intercourse with what was then called the great +world of the provinces, he knew not how to appreciate its manners or +opinions; and, as is usual with the provincial, he affected to despise +that which he neither practised nor understood. This, at once, indisposed +him to acknowledge the distinctions of classes; and, when accident threw +him into the adjoining province, he became marked, at once, for decrying +the usages he encountered, comparing them, with singular +self-felicitation, to those he had left behind him; sometimes with justice +beyond a doubt, but oftener in provincial ignorance and narrow bigotry.</p> + +<p>A similar state of things, on a larger scale, has been witnessed, more +especially in western New York, since the peace of '83; the great inroads +of emigrants from the New England states having almost converted that +district of country into an eastern colony. Men of the world, while they +admit how much has been gained in activity, available intelligence of the +practical school, and enterprise, regret that the fusion has been quite so +rapid and so complete; it being apparently a law of nature that nothing +precious that comes of man shall be enjoyed altogether without alloy.</p> + +<p>The condition in which captain Willoughby was now placed, might have been +traced to causes connected with the feelings and habits above alluded to. +It was distasteful to Joel Strides, and one or two of his associates, to +see a social chasm as wide as that which actually existed between the +family of the proprietor of the Knoll and his own, growing no narrower; +and an active cupidity, with the hopes of confiscations, or an abandonment +of the estate, came in aid of this rankling jealousy of station; the most +uneasy, as it is the meanest of all our vices. Utterly incapable of +appreciating the width of that void which separates the gentleman from the +man of coarse feelings and illiterate vulgarity, he began to preach that +doctrine of exaggerated and mistaken equality which says "one man is as +good as another," a doctrine that is nowhere engrafted even on the most +democratic of our institutions to-day, since it would totally supersede +the elections, and leave us to draw lots for public trusts, as men are +drawn for juries. On ordinary occasions, the malignant machinations of +Strides would probably have led to no results; but, aided by the opinions +and temper of the times, he had no great difficulty in undermining his +master's popularity, by incessant and well-digested appeals to the envy +and cupidity of his companions. The probity, liberality, and manly +sincerity of captain Willoughby, often counteracted his schemes, it is +true; but, as even the stone yields to constant attrition, so did Joel +finally succeed in overcoming the influence of these high qualities, by +dint of perseverance, and cunning, not a little aided by certain +auxiliaries freely obtained from the Father of Lies.</p> + +<p>As our tale proceeds, Joel's connection with the late movement will become +more apparent, and we prefer leaving the remainder of the explanations to +take their proper places in the course of the narrative.</p> + +<p>Joyce was so completely a matter of drill, that he was in a sound sleep +three minutes after he had lain down, the negro who belonged to his guard +imitating his industry in this particular with equal coolness. As for the +thoughtful Scotchman, Jamie Allen, sleep and he were strangers that night. +To own the truth, the disaffection of Mike not only surprised, but it +disappointed him. He remained in the court, therefore, conversing on the +subject with the "laird," after his companions had fallen asleep.</p> + +<p>"I wad na hae' thought that o' Michael," he said, "for the man had an +honest way with him, and was so seeming valiant, that I could na hae' +supposed him capable of proving a desairter. Mony's the time that I've +heard him swear--for Michael was an awfu' hand at that vice, when his +betters were no near to rebuke him--but often has he swore that Madam, and +her winsome daughters, were the pride of his een; ay, and their delight +too!"</p> + +<p>"The poor fellow has yielded to my unlucky fortune, Jamie," returned the +captain, "and I sometimes think it were better had you all imitated his +example."</p> + +<p>"Begging pairdon, captain Willoughby, for the familiarity, but ye're just +wrang, fra' beginning to end, in the supposition. No man with a hairt in +his body wad desairt ye in a time like this, and no mair 's to be said in +the matter. Nor do I think that luuk has had anything to do with +Michael's deficiency, unless ye ca' it luuk to be born and edicated in a +misguiding religion. Michael's catholicity is at the bottom of his +backsliding, ye'll find, if ye look closely into the maiter."</p> + +<p>"I do not see how that is to be made out, Allen; all sects of the +Christian religion, I believe, teaching us to abide by our engagements, +and to perform our duties."</p> + +<p>"Na doubt--na doubt, 'squire Willoughby--there's a seeming desire to teach +as much in a' churches; but ye'll no deny that the creatur' o' Rome wears +a mask, and that catholicity is, at the best, but a wicked feature to +enter into the worship of God."</p> + +<p>"Catholicism, Jamie, means adherence to the catholic church--"</p> + +<p>"Just that--just that"--interrupted the Scot, eagerly--and it's that o' +which I complain. All protestants--wather fully disposed, or ainly +half-disposed, as may be the case with the English kirk--all protestants +agree in condemning the varry word catholic, which is a sign and a symbol +of the foul woman o' Babylon."</p> + +<p>"Then, Jamie, they agree in condemning what they don't understand. I +should be sorry to think I am not a member of the catholic church myself."</p> + +<p>Yersal'!--No, captain Willoughby, ye're no catholic, though you are a bit +akin to it, perhaps. I know that Mr. Woods, that's now in the hands o' the +savages, prays for the catholics, and professes to believe in what he ca's +the 'Holy Catholic Kirk;' but, then, I've always supposed that was in the +way o' Christian charity like; for one is obleeged to use decent language, +ye'll be acknowledging, sir, in the pulpit, if it's only for appearance's +sake."</p> + +<p>"Well--well--Jamie; a more fitting occasion may occur for discussing +matters of this nature, and we will postpone the subject to another time. +I may have need of your services an hour or two hence, and it will be well +for every man to come to the work fresh and clear-headed. Go to your +pallet then, and expect an early call."</p> + +<p>The mason was not a man to oppose such an order coming from the 'laird;' +and he withdrew, leaving the captain standing in the centre of the court +quite alone. We say alone, for young Blodget had ascended to the gallery +or staging that led around the inner sides of the roofs, while the negro +on guard was stationed at the gateway, as the only point where the Hut +could be possibly carried by a <i>coup-de-main.</i> As the first of these +positions commanded the best exterior view from the inside of the +buildings, the captain mounted the stairs he had so recently descended, +and joined the young Rhode Islander at his post.</p> + +<p>The night was star-light, but the elevation at which the two watchers were +placed, was unfavourable to catching glimpses of any lurking enemy. The +height confounded objects with the ground on which they were placed, +though Blodget told the captain he did not think a man could cross the +palisades without his being seen. By moving along the staging on the +southern side of the quadrangle, he could keep a tolerable look-out, on +the front and two flanks, at the same time. Still, this duty could not be +performed without considerable risk, as the head and shoulders of a man +moving along the ridge of the building would be almost certain to attract +the eye of any Indian without. This was the first circumstance that the +captain remarked on joining his companion, and gratitude induced him to +point it out, in order that the other might, in a degree at least, avoid +the danger.</p> + +<p>"I suppose, Blodget, this is the first of your service," said captain +Willoughby, "and it is not easy to impress on a young man the importance +of unceasing vigilance against savage artifices."</p> + +<p>"I admit the truth of all you say, sir," answered Blodget, "though I do +not believe any attempt will be made on the house, until the other side +has sent in what the serjeant calls another flag."</p> + +<p>"What reason have you for supposing this?" asked the captain, in a little +surprise.</p> + +<p>"It seems unreasonable for men to risk their lives when an easier way to +conquest may seem open to them. That is all I meant, captain Willoughby."</p> + +<p>"I believe I understand you, Blodget. You think Joel and his friends have +succeeded so well in drawing off my men, that they may be inclined to wait +a little, in order to ascertain if further advantages may not be obtained +in the same way."</p> + +<p>Blodget confessed that he had some such thoughts in his mind, while, at +the same time, he declared that he believed the disaffection would go no +further.</p> + +<p>"It is not easy for it to do so," returned the captain, smiling a little +bitterly, as he remembered how many who had eaten of his bread, and had +been cared for by him, in sickness and adversity, had deserted him in his +need, "unless they persuade my wife and daughters to follow those who have +led the way."</p> + +<p>Respect kept Blodget silent for a minute; then uneasiness induced him to +speak.</p> + +<p>"I hope captain Willoughby don't distrust any who now remain with him," he +said. "If so, I know I must be the person."</p> + +<p>"Why you, in particular, young man? With you, surely, have every reason to +be satisfied."</p> + +<p>"It cannot be serjeant Joyce, for he will stay until he get your orders to +march," the youth replied, not altogether without humour in his manner; +"and, as for the Scotchman, he is old, and men of his years are not apt to +wait so long, if they intend to be traitors. The negroes all love you, as +if you were their father, and there is no one but me left to betray you."</p> + +<p>"I thank you for this short enumeration of my strength, Blodget, since it +gives me new assurance of my people's fidelity. You I <i>will</i> not distrust; +the others I <i>cannot</i>, and there is a feeling of high confidence--What do +you see?--why do you lower your piece, and stand at guard, in this +manner?"</p> + +<p>"That is a man's form, sir, on the right of the gate, trying to climb the +palisades. I have had my eye on it, for some time, and I feel sure of my +aim."</p> + +<p>"Hold an instant, Blodget; let us be certain before we act."</p> + +<p>The young man lowered the butt of his piece, waiting patiently and calmly +for his superior to decide. There was a human form visible, sure enough, +and it was seen slowly and cautiously rising until it reached the summit +of the stockade, where it appeared to pause to reconnoitre. Whether it +were a pale-face or a red-skin, it was impossible to distinguish, though +the whole movement left little doubt that an assailant or a spy was +attempting to pass the outer defences.</p> + +<p>"We cannot spare that fellow," said the captain, with a little regret in +his manner; "it is more than we can afford. You must bring him down, +Blodget. The instant you have fired, come to the other end of the stage, +where we will watch the result."</p> + +<p>This arranged, the captain prudently passed away from the spot, turning to +note the proceedings of his companion, the moment he was at the opposite +angle of the gallery. Blodget was in no haste. He waited until his aim was +certain; then the stillness of the valley was rudely broken by the sharp +report of a rifle, and a flash illumined its obscurity. The figure fell +outward, like a bird shot from its perch, lying in a ball at the foot of +the stockade. Still, no cry or groan gave evidence of nature surprised by +keen and unexpected anguish. At the next instant Blodget was by captain +Willoughby's side. His conduct was a pledge of fidelity that could not be +mistaken, and a warm squeeze of the hand assured the youth of his +superior's approbation.</p> + +<p>It was necessary to be cautious, however, and to watch the result with +ceaseless vigilance. Joyce and the men below had taken the alarm, and the +serjeant with his companions were ordered up on the stage immediately, +leaving the negro, alone, to watch the gate. A message was also sent to +the females, to give them confidence, and particularly to direct the +blacks to arm, and to repair to the loops.</p> + +<p>All this was done without confusion, and with so little noise as to +prevent those without from understanding what was in progress. Terror kept +the negroes silent, and discipline the others. As every one had lain down +in his or her clothes, it was not a minute before every being in the Hut +was up, and in motion. It is unnecessary to speak of the mental prayers +and conflicting emotions with which Mrs. Willoughby and her daughters +prepared themselves for the struggle; and, yet, even the beautiful and +delicate Maud braced her nerves to meet the emergency of a frontier +assault. As for Beulah, gentle, peaceful, and forgiving as she was by +nature, the care of little Evert aroused all the mother within her, and +something like a frown that betokened resolution was, for a novelty, seen +on her usually placid face.</p> + +<p>A moment sufficed to let Joyce and his companions into the state of +affairs. There now being four armed men on the stage, one took each of the +three exposed sides of the buildings to watch, leaving the master of the +house to move from post to post, to listen to suggestions, hear reports, +and communicate orders.</p> + +<p>The dark object that lay at the foot of the palisades was pointed out to +the serjeant the instant he was on the stage, and one of his offices was +to observe it, in order to ascertain if it moved, or whether any attempts +were made to carry off the body. The American Indians attach all the glory +or shame of a battle to the acquisition or loss of scalps, and one of +their practices was to remove those who had fallen, at every hazard, in +order to escape the customary mutilation. Some tribes even believed it +disgrace to suffer a dead body to be struck by the enemy, and many a +warrior has lost his life in the effort to save the senseless corpse of a +comrade from this fancied degradation.</p> + +<p>As soon as the little stir created in the Hut by the mustering of the men +was over, a stillness as profound as that which had preceded the alarm +reigned around the place. No noise came from the direction of the mill; no +cry, or call, or signal of battle was heard; everything lay in the quiet +of midnight. Half an hour thus passed, when the streak of light that +appeared in the east announced the approach of day.</p> + +<p>The twenty minutes that succeeded were filled with intense anxiety. The +slow approach of light gradually brought out object after object in the +little panorama, awakening and removing alike, conjectures and +apprehensions. At first the grey of the palisades became visible; then the +chapel, in its sombre outlines; the skirts of the woods; the different +cabins that lined them; the cattle in the fields, and the scattering +trees. As for Joyce, he kept his gaze fastened on the object at the foot +of the stockade, expecting every instant there would be an attempt to +carry it off.</p> + +<p>At length, the light became so strong as to allow the eye to take in the +entire surface of the natural <i>glacis</i> without the defences, bringing the +assurance that no enemy was near. As the ground was perfectly clear, a few +fruit-trees and shrubs on the lawn excepted, and by changing positions on +the stage, these last could now be examined on all sides, nothing was +easier than to make certain of this fact. The fences, too, were light and +open, rendering it impossible for any ambush or advancing party to shelter +itself behind them. In a word, daylight brought the comfortable assurance +to those within the palisades that another night was passed without +bringing an assault.</p> + +<p>"We shall escape this morning, I do believe, Joyce," said the captain, who +had laid down his rifle, and no longer felt it necessary to keep the upper +portions of his body concealed behind the roof--"Nothing can be seen that +denotes an intention to attack, and not an enemy is near."</p> + +<p>"I will take one more thorough look, your honour," answered the serjeant, +mounting to the ridge of the building, where he obtained the immaterial +advantage of seeing more at the same time, at the risk of exposing his +whole person, should any hostile rifle be in reach of a bullet--"then we +may be certain."</p> + +<p>Joyce was a man who stood just six feet in his stockings, and, losing no +part of this stature by his setting up, a better object for a +sharp-shooter could not have been presented than he now offered. The crack +of a rifle soon saluted the ears of the garrison; then followed the +whizzing of the bullet as it came humming through the air towards the Hut. +But the report was so distant as at once to announce that the piece was +discharged from the margin of the forest; a certain evidence of two +important facts; one, that the enemy had fallen back to a cover; the +other, that the house was narrowly watched.</p> + +<p>Nothing tries the nerves of a young soldier more than the whizzing of a +distant fire. The slower a bullet or a shot approaches, the more noise it +makes; and, the sound continuing longer than is generally imagined, the +uninitiated are apt to imagine that the dangerous missile is travelling on +an errand directly towards themselves. Space appears annihilated, and raw +hands are often seen to duck at a round shot that is possibly flying a +hundred yards from them.</p> + +<p>On the present occasion, the younger Pliny fairly squatted below the root +Jamie thought it prudent to put some of his own masonry, which was +favourably placed in an adjacent chimney for such a purpose, between him +and the spot whence the report proceeded; while even Blodget looked up +into the air, as if he expected to <i>see</i> where the bullet was going. +Captain Willoughby had no thought of the missile he was looking for the +smoke in the skirts of the woods, to note the spot; while Joyce, with +folded arms, stood at rest on the ridge, actually examining the valley in +another direction, certain that a fire so distant could not be very +dangerous.</p> + +<p>Jamie's calculation proved a good one. The bullet struck against the +chimney, indented a brick, and fell upon the shingles of the roof. Joyce +descended at the next instant, and he coolly picked up, and kept tossing +the flattened bit of lead in his hand, for the next minute or two, with +the air of a man who seemed unconscious of having it at all.</p> + +<p>"The enemy is besieging us, your honour," said Joyce, "but he will not +attack at present. If I might presume to advise, we shall do well to leave +a single sentinel on this stage, since no one can approach the palisades +without being seen, if the man keeps in motion."</p> + +<p>"I was thinking of this myself, serjeant; we will first post Blodget here. +We can trust him; and, as the day advances, a-less intelligent sentinel +will answer. At the same time, he must be instructed to keep an eye in the +rear of the Hut, danger often coming from the quarter least expected."</p> + +<p>All this was done, and the remainder of the men descended to the court. +Captain Willoughby ordered the gate unbarred, when he passed outside, +taking the direction towards the lifeless body, which still lay where it +had fallen, at the foot of the stockades. He was accompanied by Joyce and +Jamie Allen, the latter carrying a spade, it being the intention to inter +the savage as the shortest means of getting rid of a disagreeable object. +Our two old soldiers had none of the sensitiveness on the subject of +exposure that is so apt to disturb the tyro in the art of war. With +sentinels properly posted, they had no apprehensions of dangers that did +not exist, and they moved with confidence and steadily wherever duty +called. Not only was the inner gate opened and passed, but the outer also, +the simple precaution of stationing a man at the first being the only +safeguard taken.</p> + +<p>When outside of the palisades, the captain and his companions proceeded +at once towards the body. It was now sunrise, and a rich light was +illuminating the hill-tops, though the direct rays of the luminary had not +yet descended to the valley. There lay the Indian, precisely as he had +fallen, no warrior having interposed to save him from the scalping-knife. +His head had reached the earth first, and the legs and body were tumbled +on it, in a manner to render the form a confused pile of legs and blanket, +rather than a bold savage stretched in the repose of death.</p> + +<p>"Poor fellow!" exclaimed the captain, as the three approached the spot; +"it is to be hoped Blodget's bullet did its commission faithfully, else +the fall must have hurt him sadly."</p> + +<p>"By Jove, 'tis nothing but a stuffed soldier!" cried Joyce, rolling the +ingeniously contrived bundle over with his foot; "and here, the lad's ball +has passed directly through its head! This is Injin deviltry, sir; it has +been tried, in order to see whether our sentinels were or were not +asleep."</p> + +<p>"To me, Joyce, it seems more like a white man's clumsiness. The fellow has +been made to resemble an Indian, but people of our own colour have had a +hand in the affair."</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, let that be as it may, it is lucky our youngster had so quick, +an eye, and so nimble a finger. See, your honour; here is the pole by +which the effigy was raised to the top of the palisades, and here is the +trail on the grass yet, by which his supporter has crept off. The fellow +seems to have scrambled along in a hurry; his trail is as plain as that of +a whole company."</p> + +<p>The captain examined the marks left on the grass, and was of opinion that +more than one man had been employed to set up the decoy figure, a +circumstance that seemed probable in itself, when the weight of the image +and the danger of exposure were remembered.--Let that be as it might, he +was rejoiced on reflection that no one was hurt, and he still retained the +hope of being able to come to such an understanding with his invaders as +to supersede the necessity of actual violence.</p> + +<p>"At all events, your honour, I will carry the quaker in," said Joyce, +tossing the stuffed figure on a shoulder. "He do to man the quaker gun at +least, and may be of use in frightening some one of the other side, more +than he has yet frightened us."</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby did not object, though he reminded Joyce that the +desertions had probably put the enemy in possession of a minute statement +of their defences and force, including the history of the wooden gun. If +Joel and his fellow-delinquents had joined the party at the mill, the +name, age, character and spirit of every man remaining in the garrison +were probably known to its leaders; and neither quakers nor paddies would +count for much in opposing an assault.</p> + +<p>The captain came within the gate of the palisades last, closing, barring, +and locking it with his own hands, when all immediate apprehensions from +the enemy ceased. He knew, certainly, that it would probably exceed his +present means of resistance, to withstand a vigorous assault; but, on the +other hand, he felt assured that Indians would never approach a stockade +in open day, and expose themselves to the hazards of losing some fifteen +or twenty of their numbers, before they could carry the place. This was +opposed to all their notions of war, neither honour nor advantage tempting +them to adopt it. As for the first, agreeably to savage notions, glory was +to be measured by the number of scalps taken and lost; and, counting all +the women left in the Hut, there would not be heads enough to supply a +sufficient number to prove an offset to those which would probably be lost +in the assault.</p> + +<p>All this did the captain discuss in few words, with the serjeant, when he +proceeded to join his anxious and expecting wife and daughters.</p> + +<p>"God has looked down upon us in mercy, and protected us this night," said +the grateful Mrs. Willoughby, with streaming eyes, as she received and +returned her husband's warm embrace. "We cannot be too thankful, when we +look at these dear girls, and our precious little Evert. If Robert were +only with us now, I should be entirely happy!"</p> + +<p>"Such is human nature, my little Maud"--answered the captain, drawing his +darling towards himself and kissing her polished forehead. "The very +thoughts of being in our actual strait would have made your mother as +miserable as her worst enemy could wish--if, indeed, there be such a +monster on earth as <i>her</i> enemy--and, now she protests she is delighted +because our throats were not all cut last night. We are safe enough for +the day I think, and not another night shall one of you pass in the Hut, +if I can have my way. If there be such a thing as desertion, there is such +a thing as evacuation also."</p> + +<p>"Hugh!--What <i>can</i> you, <i>do</i> you mean! Remember, we are surrounded by a +wilderness."</p> + +<p>"I know our position reasonably well, wife of mine, and intend to turn +that knowledge to some account, God willing, and aiding. I mean to place +old Hugh Willoughby by the side of Xenophon and Washington, and let the +world see what a man is capable of, on a retreat, when he has such a wife, +two such daughters, and a grandson like that, on his hands. As for Bob, I +would not have him here, on any account. The young dog would run away with +half the glory."</p> + +<p>The ladies were too delighted to find their father and husband in such +spirits, to be critical, and all soon after sat down to an early +breakfast, to eat with what appetite they could.</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch22"> +<h2>Chapter XXII.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> Yet I well remember<br /> + The favours of these men: were they not mine?<br /> + Did they not sometimes cry, all hail! to me?<br /> + So Judas did to Christ: but he, in twelve<br /> + Found truth in all but one; I in twelve thousand none.</p> + +<p> <i>Richard II</i>.</p></div> + +<p> +That which captain Willoughby had said in seeming pleasantry he seriously +meditated. The idea of passing another night in the Hut, supported by only +six men, with more than ten times that number besieging him, and with all +the secrets of his defences known, through the disaffection of his +retainers, was, to the last degree, painful to him. Had his own life, +alone, been at risk, military pride might have tempted him to remain; but +his charge was far too precious to be exposed on account of considerations +so vain.</p> + +<p>No sooner, therefore, was the breakfast over, than captain summoned Joyce +to a consultation on the contemplated movement. The interview took place +in the library, whither the serjeant repaired, on receiving his superior's +orders. As to the party without, no apprehension was felt, so long as the +sentinels were even moderately vigilant, and the day lasted.</p> + +<p>"I suppose, serjeant," commenced captain Willoughby, "a soldier of your +experience is not to be taught what is the next resort of a commanding +officer, when he finds himself unable to make good his ground against his +enemy in front?"</p> + +<p>"It is to retreat, your honour. The road that cannot be passed, must be +turned."</p> + +<p>"You have judged rightly. It is now my intention to evacuate the Hut, and +to try our luck on a march to the rear. A retreat, skilfully executed, is +a creditable thing; and any step appears preferable to exposing the dear +beings in the other room to the dangers of a night assault."</p> + +<p>Joyce appeared struck with the suggestion; though, if one might have +judged from the expression of his countenance, far from favourably. He +reflected a moment ere he answered.</p> + +<p>"Did your honour send for me," he then inquired, "to issue orders for this +retreat, or was it your pleasure to hear anything I might have to say +about it?"</p> + +<p>"The last--I shall give no orders, until I know your opinion of the +measure."</p> + +<p>"It is as much the duty of an inferior to speak his mind freely, when he +is called for an opinion, captain Willoughby, as it is to obey in silence, +when he gets nothing but orders. According to my views of the matter, we +shall do better to stand our ground, and try to make good the house +against these vagabonds, than to trust to the woods."</p> + +<p>"Of course you have your reasons for this opinion, Joyce?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly, your honour. In the first place, I suppose it to be against +the rules of the art of war to evacuate a place that is well provisioned, +without standing an assault. This we have not yet done. It is true, sir, +that our ranks are thinned by desertions; but I never heard of a +garrisoned town, or a garrisoned house, capitulating on account of a few +deserters; and, I take it, evacuation is only the next step before +capitulation."</p> + +<p>"But our desertions, Joyce, have not been <i>few</i>, but <i>many. </i> Three times +as many have left us, if we include our other losses, as remain. It +matters not whence the loss proceeds, so long as it is a loss."</p> + +<p>"A retreat, with women and baggage, is always a ticklish operation, your +honour, especially if an enemy is pressing your rear! Then we have a +wilderness before us, and the ladies could hardly hold out for so long a +march as that from this place to the Mohawk; short of which river they +will hardly be as safe as they are at present."</p> + +<p>"I have had no such march in view, Joyce. You know there is a comfortable +hut, only a mile from this very spot on the mountain side, where we +commenced a clearing for a sheep-pasture, only three summers since. The +field is in rich grass; and, could we once reach the cabin, and manage to +drive a cow or two up there, we might remain a month in security. As for +provisions and clothes, we could carry enough on our backs to serve us all +several weeks; especially if assisted by the cows."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad your honour has thought of this idea," said the serjeant, his +face brightening as he listened; "it will be a beautiful operation to fall +back on that position, when we can hold out no longer in this. The want of +some such arrangement has been my only objection to this post, captain +Willoughby; for, we have always seemed to me, out here in the wilderness, +like a regiment drawn up with a ravine or a swamp in its rear."</p> + +<p>"I am glad to find you relishing the movement for any cause, serjeant. It +is my intention at present to make the necessary arrangements to evacuate +the Hut, while it is light; and, as soon as it is dark, to retreat by the +gates, the palisades, and the rivulet--How now, Jamie? You look as if +there were news to communicate?"</p> + +<p>Jamie Allen, in truth, had entered at that instant in so much haste as to +have overlooked the customary ceremony of sending in his name, or even of +knocking.</p> + +<p>"News!" repeated the mason, with a sort of wondering smile "and it's just +that I've come to bring. Wad ye think it, baith, gentlemen, that our +people are in their am cabins ag'in, boiling their pots, and frying their +pork, a' the same as if the valley was in a state of tranquillity, and we +so many lairds waiting for them to come and do our pleasure!"</p> + +<p>"I do not understand you, Jamie--whom do you mean by 'our people'?"</p> + +<p>"Sure, just the desairters; Joel, and the miller, and Michael, and the +rest."</p> + +<p>"And the cabins--and the pots--and the pork--it is gibberish to me."</p> + +<p>"I hae what ye English ca' an aiccent, I know; but, in my judgment, +captain Willoughby, the words may be comprehended without a dictionary. +It's just that Joel Strides, and Daniel the miller, and the rest o' them +that fleed, the past night, have gane into their ain abodes, and have +lighted their fires, and put over their pots and kettles, and set up their +domestic habitudes, a' the same as if this Beaver Dam was ain o' the +pairks o' Lonnon!"</p> + +<p>"The devil they have! Should this be the case, serjeant, our sortie may be +made at an earlier hour than that mentioned. I never will submit to such +an insult."</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby was too much aroused to waste many words; and, seizing +his hat, he proceeded forthwith to take a look for himself. The stage, or +gallery on the roofs, offering the best view, in a minute he and his two +companions were on it.</p> + +<p>"There; ye'll be seein' a smoke in Joel's habitation, with your own een; +and, yon is anither, in the dwelling of his cousin Seth," said Jamie, +pointing in the direction he named.</p> + +<p>"Smoke there is, of a certainty; but the Indians may have lighted fires in +the kitchen, to do their own cooking. This looks like investing us, +serjeant, rather more closely than the fellows have done before."</p> + +<p>"I rather think not, your honour--Jamie is right, or my eyes do not know a +man from a woman. That is certainly a female in the garden of Joel, and +I'll engage it's Phoebe, pulling onions for his craving stomach, the +scoundrel!"</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby never moved without his little glass, and it was soon +levelled at the object mentioned.</p> + +<p>"By Jupiter, you are right, Joyce"--he cried. "It is Phoebe, though the +hussy is coolly weeding, not culling the onions! Ay--and now I see Joel +himself! The rascal is examining some hoes, with as much philosophy as if +he were master of them, and all near them. This is a most singular +situation to be in!"</p> + +<p>This last remark was altogether just. The situation of those in the Hut +was now singular indeed. Further examination showed that every cabin had +its tenant, no one of the party that remained within the palisades being a +householder. By using the glass, and pointing it, in succession, at the +different dwellings, the captain in due time detected the presence of +nearly every one of the deserters. Not a man of them all, in fact, was +missing, Mike alone excepted. There they were, with their wives and +children, in quiet possession of their different habitations. Nor was this +all; the business of the valley seemed as much on their minds as had been +their practice for years. Cows were milked, the swine were fed, poultry +was called and cared for, and each household was also making the customary +preparations for the morning meal.</p> + +<p>So absorbed was the captain with this extraordinary scene, that he +remained an hour on the staging, watching the course of events. The +breakfasts were soon over, having been later than common, and a little +hurried; then commenced the more important occupations of the day. A field +was already half ploughed, in preparation for a crop of winter grain; +thither Joel himself proceeded, with the necessary cattle, accompanied by +the labourers who usually aided him in that particular branch of +husbandry. Three ploughs were soon at work, with as much regularity and +order as if nothing had occurred to disturb the tranquillity of the +valley. The axes of the wood-choppers were next heard, coming out of the +forest, cutting fuel for the approaching winter; and a half-finished ditch +had its workmen also, who were soon busy casting up the soil, and +fashioning their trench. In a word, all the suspended toil was renewed +with perfect system and order.</p> + +<p>"This beats the devil himself, Joyce!" said the captain, after a half-hour +of total silence. "Here are all these fellows at work as coolly as if I +had just given them their tasks, and twice as diligently. Their unusual +industry is a bad symptom of itself!"</p> + +<p>"Your honour will remark one circumstance. Not a rascal of them all comes +within the fair range of a musket, for, as to throwing away ammunition at +such distances, it would be clearly unmilitary, and might be altogether +useless."</p> + +<p>"I have half a mind to scatter them with a volley"--said the captain, +doubtingly. "Bullets would take effect among those ploughmen, could they +only be made to hit."</p> + +<p>"And amang the cattle, too," observed the Scotsman, who had an eye on the +more economical part of the movement, as well as on that which was +military. "A ball would slay a horse as well as a man in such a +skairmish."</p> + +<p>"This is true enough, Jamie; and it is not exactly the sort of warfare I +could wish, to be firing at men who were so lately my friends. I do not +see, Joyce, that the rascals have any arms with them?"</p> + +<p>"Not a musket, sir. I noticed that, when Joel first detailed his +detachments. Can it be possible that the savages have retired?"</p> + +<p>"Not they; else would Mr. Strides and his friends have gone with them. No, +serjeant, there is a deep plan to lead us into some sort of ambush in this +affair, and we will be on the look-out for them."</p> + +<p>Joyce stood contemplating the scene for some, time, in profound silence, +when he approached the captain formally, and made the usual military +salute; a ceremony he had punctiliously observed, on all proper occasions, +since the garrison might be said to be placed under martial law.</p> + +<p>"If it's your honour's pleasure," he said, "I will detail a detachment, +and go out and bring in two or three of these deserters; by which means we +shall get into their secrets."</p> + +<p>"A detachment, Joyce!" answered the captain, eyeing his subordinate a +little curiously--"What troops do you propose to tell-off for the +service?"</p> + +<p>"Why, your honour, there's corporal Allen and old Pliny off duty; I think +the thing might be done with them, if your honour would have the +condescension to order corporal Blodget, with the two other blacks, to +form as a supporting party, under the cover of one of the fences."</p> + +<p>"A disposition of my force that would leave captain Willoughby for a +garrison! I thank you, serjeant, for your offer and gallantry, but +prudence will not permit it. We may set down Strides and his companions as +so many knaves, and----"</p> + +<p>"That may ye!" cried Mike's well-known voice, from the scuttle that opened +into the garrets, directly in front of which the two old soldiers were +conversing--"That may ye, and no har-r-m done the trut', or justice, or +for that matther, meself. Och! If I had me will of the blackguards, every +rogue of 'em should be bound hand and fut and laid under that pratthy +wather-fall, yon at the mill, until his sins was washed out of him. Would +there be confessions then?--That would there; and sich letting out of +sacrets as would satisfy the conscience of a hog!"</p> + +<p>By the time Mike had got through this sentiment he was on the staging, +where he stood hitching up his nether garment, with a meaning grin on his +face that gave a peculiar expression of heavy cunning to the massive jaw +and capacious mouth, blended with an honesty and good-nature that the +well-meaning fellow was seldom without when he addressed any of the +captain's family. Joyce glanced at the captain, expecting orders to seize +the returned run-away; but his superior read at once good faith in the +expression of his old retainer's countenance.</p> + +<p>"You have occasioned us a good deal of surprise, O'Hearn, on more accounts +than one," observed the captain, who thought it prudent to assume more +sternness of manner than his feelings might have actually warranted. "You +have not only gone off yourself, but you have suffered your prisoner to +escape with you. Then your manner of getting into the house requires an +explanation. I shall hear what you have to say before I make up my mind as +to your conduct."</p> + +<p>"Is it spake I will?--That will I, and as long as it plase yer honour to +listen. Och! Isn't that Saucy Nick a quare one? Divil burn me if I thinks +the likes of him is to be found in all Ameriky, full as it is of Injins +and saucy fellies! Well, now, I suppose, sarjeant, ye've set me down as +sin riding off with Misther Joel and his likes, if ye was to open yer +heart, and spake yer thrue mind?"</p> + +<p>"You have been marked for a deserter, O'Hearn, and one, too, that +deserted from post."</p> + +<p>"Post! Had I been <i>that</i>, I shouldn't have stirred, and ye'd be wanting in +the news I bring ye from the Majjor, and Mr. Woods, and the savages, and +the rest of the varmints."</p> + +<p>"My son!--Is this possible, Michael? Have you seen <i>him</i>, or can you tell +us anything of his state?"</p> + +<p>Mike now assumed a manner of mysterious importance, laying a finger on his +nose, and pointing towards the sentinel and Jamie.</p> + +<p>"It's the sarjeant that I considers as one of the family," said the county +Leitrim-man, when his pantomime was through, "but it isn't dacent to be +bawling out sacrets through a whole nighbourhood; and then, as for <i>Ould</i> +Nick--or Saucy Nick, or whatever ye calls him--Och! isn't he a <i>pratthy</i> +Injin! Ye'll mar-r-ch t'rough Ameriky, and never see his aiquel!"</p> + +<p>"This will never do, O'Hearn. Whatever you have to say must be said +clearly, and in the simplest manner. Follow to the library, where I will +hear your report. Joyce, you will accompany us."</p> + +<p>"Let him come, if he wishes to hear wonderful achaivements!" answered +Mike, making way for the captain to descend the steps; then following +himself, talking as he went. "He'll niver brag of his campaigns ag'in to +the likes of me, seeing that I've outdone him, ten--ay, forty times, and +boot. Och! that Nick's a divil, and no har-r-m said!"</p> + +<p>"In the first place, O'Hearn," resumed the captain, as soon as the three +were alone in the library--"you must explain your own desertion."</p> + +<p>"Me!--Desart! Sure, it isn't run away from yer honour, and the Missus, and +Miss Beuly, and pratthy Miss Maud, and the child, that's yer honour's +m'aning?"</p> + +<p>This was said with so much nature and truth, that the captain had not the +heart to repeat the question, though Joyce's more drilled feelings were +less moved. The first even felt a tear springing to his eye, and he no +longer distrusted the Irishman's fidelity, as unaccountable as his conduct +did and must seem to his cooler judgment. But Mike's sensitiveness had +taken the alarm, and it was only to be appeased by explanations.</p> + +<p>"Yer honour's not sp'aking when I questions ye on that same?" he resumed, +doubtingly.</p> + +<p>"Why, Mike, to be sincere, it did look a little suspicious when you not +only went, off yourself, but you let the Indian go off with you."</p> + +<p>"Did it?"--said Mike, mus'ng--"No, I don't allow that, seein' that the +intent and object was good. And, then, I never took the Injin wid <i>me</i>; +but 'twas I, meself, that went wid <i>him</i>."</p> + +<p>"I rather think, your honour," said Joyce, smiling, "we'll put O'Hearn's +name in its old place on the roster, and make no mark against him at +pay-day."</p> + +<p>"I think it will turn out so, Joyce. We must have patience, too, and let +Mike tell his story in his own way."</p> + +<p>"Is it tell a story, will I? Ah!--Nick's the cr'ature for that same! See, +he has given me foor bits of sticks, every one of which is to tell a +story, in its own way. This is the first; and it manes let the captain +into the sacret of your retrait; and how you got out of the windie, and +how you comes near to breaking yer neck by a fall becaase of the fut's +slipping; and how ye wint down the roof by a rope, the divil a bit +fastening it to yer neck, but houlding it in yer hand with sich a grip as +if 'twere the fait' of the church itself; and how Nick led ye to the hole +out of which ye hot' wint, as if ye had been two cats going t'rough a +door!"</p> + +<p>Mike stopped to grin and look wise, as he recounted the manner of the +escape, the outlines of which, however, were sufficiently well known to +his auditors before he, began.</p> + +<p>"Throw away that stick, now, and let us know where this hole is, and what +you mean by it."</p> + +<p>"No"--answered Mike, looking at the stick, in a doubting manner--"I'll not +t'row it away, wid yer honour's l'ave, 'till I've told ye how we got into +the brook, forenent the forest, and waded up to the woods, where we was +all the same as if we had been two bits of clover tops hid in a haymow. +That Nick is a cr'ature at consailment!"</p> + +<p>"Go on," said the captain, patiently, knowing that there was no use in +hurrying one of Mike's peculiar mode of communicating his thoughts. "What +came next?"</p> + +<p>"That will I; and the r'ason comes next, as is seen by this oder stick. +And, so, Nick and meself was in the chaplain's room all alone, and n'ither +of us had any mind to dhrink; Nick becaase he was a prisoner and felt +crass, and full of dignity like; and meself becaase I was a sentinel; and +sarjeant Joyce, there, had tould me, the Lord knows how often, that if I +did my duty well, I might come to be a corporal, which was next in rank to +himself; barring, too, that I was a sentinel, and a drunken sentinel is a +disgrace to a man, sowl and body, and musket."</p> + +<p>"And so neither of you drank?"--put in the captain, by way of a reminder.</p> + +<p>"For that same r'ason, and one betther still, as we had nothin' <i>to</i> +dhrink. Well, says Nick--'Mike,' says he--'you like cap'in, and Missus, +and Miss Beuly, and Miss Maud, and the babby?' Divil burn ye, Nick,' says +I, 'why do ye ask so foolish a question? Is it likes ye would know? +Well--then just ask yerself if you likes yer own kith and kin, and ye've +got yer answer.'"</p> + +<p>"And Nick made his proposal, on getting this answer," interrupted the +captain, "which was--"</p> + +<p>"Here it is, on the stick. 'Well,' says Nick, says he--'run away wid Nick, +and see Majjor; bring back news. Nick cap'in friend, but cap'in don't know +it--won't believe'--Fait', I can't <i>tell</i> yer honour all Nick said, in +his own manner; and so, wid yer Pave, I'll just tell it in my own way."</p> + +<p>"Any way, Mike, so that you do but tell it."</p> + +<p>"Nick's a cr'ature! His idee was for us two to get out of the windie, and +up on the platform, and to take the bedcord, and other things, and slide +down upon the ground--and we <i>did</i> it! As sure as yer honour and the +sarjeant is there, we did <i>that same</i>, and no bones broke! 'Well,' says I, +'Nick, ye're here, sure enough, but how do you mane to get <i>out</i> of here? +Is it climb the palisades ye will, and be shot by a sentinel?'--if there +was one, which there wasn't, yer honour, seeing that all had run away--'or +do ye mane to stay here,' says I, 'and be taken a prisoner of war ag'in, +in which case ye'll be two prisoners, seem' that ye've been taken wonst +already, will ye Nick?' says I. So Nick never spoke, but he held up his +finger, and made a sign for me to follow, as follow I did; and we just +crept through the palisade, and a mhighty phratty walk we had of it, alang +the meadies, and t'rough the lanes, the rest of the way."</p> + +<p>"You crept through the palisades, Mike! There is no outlet of sufficient +size."</p> + +<p>"I admits the hole is a tight squaze, but 'twill answer. And then it's +just as good for an inlet as it is for an outlet, seein' that I came +t'rough it this very marnin'. Och! Nick's a cr'ature! And how d'ye think +that hole comes there, barring all oversights in setting up the sticks?"</p> + +<p>"It has not been made intentionally, I should hope, O'Hearn?"</p> + +<p>"'Twas made by Joel, and that by just sawing off a post, and forcin' out a +pin or two, so that the palisade works like a door. Och! it's nately +contrived, and it manes mischief."</p> + +<p>"This must be looked to, at once," cried the captain; "lead the way, Mike, +and show us the spot."</p> + +<p>As the Irishman was nothing loth, all three were soon in the court, whence +Mike led the way through the gate, round to the point where the stockade +came near the cliffs, on the eastern side of the buildings. This was the +spot where the path that led down to the spring swept along the defences, +and was on the very route by which the captain contemplated retreating, as +well as on that by which Maud had entered the Hut, the night of the +invasion. At a convenient place, a palisade had been sawed off, so low in +the ground that the sods, which had been cut and were moveable, concealed +the injury, while the heads of the pins that ought to have bound the +timber to the cross-piece, were in their holes, leaving everything +apparently secure. On removing the sods, and pushing the timber aside, the +captain ascertained that a man might easily pass without the stockade. As +this corner was the most retired within the works, there was no longer any +doubt that the hole had been used by all the deserters, including the +women and children. In what manner it became known to Nick, however, still +remained matter of conjecture.</p> + +<p>Orders were about to be given to secure this passage, when it occurred to +the captain it might possibly be of use in effecting his own retreat. With +this object in view, then, he hastened away from the place, lest any +wandering eye without might detect his presence near it, and conjecture +the cause. On returning to the library, the examination of Mike was +resumed.</p> + +<p>As the reader must be greatly puzzled with the county Leitrim-man's manner +of expressing himself, we shall relate the substance of what he now +uttered, for the sake of brevity. It would seem that Nick had succeeded in +persuading Mike, first, that he, the Tuscarora, was a fast friend of the +captain and his family, confined by the former, in consequence of a +misconception of the real state of the Indian's feelings, much to the +detriment of all their interests; and that no better service could be +rendered the Willoughbys than to let Nick depart, and for the Irishman to +go with him. Mike, however, had not the slightest idea of desertion, the +motive which prevailed on him to quit the Hut being a desire to see the +major, and, if possible, to help him escape. As soon as this expectation +was placed before his eyes, Mike became a convert to the Indian's wishes. +Like all exceedingly zealous men, the Irishman had an itching propensity +to be doing, and he was filled with a sort of boyish delight at the +prospect of effecting a great service to those whom he so well loved, +without their knowing it. Such was the history of Michael's seeming +desertion; that of what occurred after he quitted the works remains to be +related.</p> + +<p>The Tuscarora led his companion out of the Hut, within half an hour after +they had been left alone together, in the room of Mr. Woods. As this was +subsequently to Joel's flight, Nick, in anticipation of this event, chose +to lie in ambush a short time, in order to ascertain whether the defection +was likely to go any further. Satisfied on this head, he quietly retired +towards the mill. After making a sufficient <i>dêtour</i> to avoid being seen +from the house, Nick gave himself no trouble about getting into the woods, +or of practising any of the expedients of a time of real danger, as had +been done by all of the deserters; but he walked leisurely across the +meadows, until he struck the highway, along which he proceeded forthwith +to the rocks. All this was done in a way that showed he felt himself at +home, and that he had no apprehensions of falling into an ambush. It might +have arisen from his familiarity with the ground; or, it might have +proceeded from the consciousness that he was approaching friends, instead +of enemies.</p> + +<p>At the rocks, however, Nick did not deem it wise to lead Mike any farther, +without some preliminary caution. The white man was concealed in one of +the clefts, therefore, while the Indian pursued his way alone. The latter +was absent an hour; at the end of that time he returned, and, after giving +Mike a great many cautions about silence and prudence, he led him to the +cabin of the miller, in the buttery of which Robert Willoughby was +confined. To this buttery there was a window; but, as it was so small as +to prevent escape, no sentinel had been placed on the outside of the +building. For his own comfort, too, and in order to possess his narrow +lodgings to himself, the major had given a species of parole, by which he +was bound to remain in duresse, until the rising of the next sun. Owing to +these two causes, Nick had been enabled to approach the window, and to +hold communications with the prisoner. This achieved, he returned to the +rocks, and led Mike to the same spot.</p> + +<p>Major Willoughby had not been able to write much, in consequence of the +darkness. That which he communicated, accordingly, had to pass through the +fiery ordeal of the Irishman's brains. As a matter of course it did not +come with particular lucidity, though Mike did succeed in making his +auditors comprehend this much.</p> + +<p>The major was substantially well treated, though intimations had been +given that he would be considered as a spy. Escape seemed next to +impossible; still, he should not easily abandon the hope. From all he had +seen, the party was one of that irresponsible character that would render +capitulation exceedingly hazardous, and he advised his father to hold out +to the last. In a military point of view, he considered his captors as +contemptible, being without a head; though many of the men:--the savages +in particular--appeared to be ferocious and reckless. The whole party was +guarded in discourse, and little was said in English, though he was +convinced that many more whites were present than he had at first +believed. Mr. Woods he had not seen, nor did he know anything of his +arrest or detention.</p> + +<p>This much Mike succeeded in making the captain comprehend, though a great +deal was lost through the singular confusion that prevailed in the mind +of the messenger. Mike however, had still another communication, which we +reserve for the ears of the person to whom it was especially sent.</p> + +<p>This news produced a pause in captain Willoughby's determination. Some of +the fire of youth awoke within him, and he debated with himself on the +possibility of making a sortie, and of liberating his son, as a step +preliminary to victory; or, at least, to a successful retreat. Acquainted +with every foot of the ground, which had singular facilities for a step so +bold, the project found favour in his eyes each minute, and soon became +fixed.</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch23"> +<h2>Chapter XXIII.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> --"Another love<br /> + In its lone woof begun to twine;<br /> + But, ah! the golden thread was wove<br /> + That bound my sister's heart in mine!"</p> + +<p> Willis.</p></div> + +<p> +While the captain and Joyce were digesting their plans Mike proceeded on +an errand of peculiar delicacy with which he had been entrusted by Robert +Willoughby. The report that he had returned flew through the dwellings, +and many were the hearty greetings and shakings of the hand that the +honest fellow had to undergo from the Plinys and Smashes, ere he was at +liberty to set about the execution of this trust. The wenches, in +particular, having ascertained that Mike had not broken his fast, insisted +on his having a comfortable meal, in a sort of servants' hall, before they +would consent to his quitting their sight. As the county Leitrim-man was +singularly ready with a knife and fork, he made no very determined +opposition, and, in a few minutes, he was hard at work, discussing a cold +ham, with the other collaterals of a substantial American breakfast.</p> + +<p>The blacks, the Smashes inclusive, had been seriously alarmed at the +appearance of the invading party. Between them and the whole family of +red-men there existed a sort of innate dislike; an antipathy that +originated in colour, and wool, and habits, and was in no degree lessened +by apprehensions on the score of scalps.</p> + +<p>"How you look, ole Plin, widout wool?" Big Smash had reproachfully +remarked, not five minutes before Mike made his appearance in the kitchen, +in answer to some apologetic observation of her husband, as to the +intentions of the savages being less hostile than he had at first +imagined; "why you say dey <i>no</i> murder, and steal and set fire, when you +know dey's Injin! Natur' be natur'; and dat I hear dominie Woods say t'ree +time one Sunday. What 'e dominie say <i>often</i>, he mean, and dere no use in +saying dey don't come to do harm."</p> + +<p>As Great Smash was an oracle in her own set, there was no gainsaying her +dogmas, and Pliny the elder was obliged to succumb. But the presence of +Mike, one who was understood to have been out, <i>near</i>, if not actually +<i>in</i>, the enemy's camp, and a great favourite in the bargain, was a +circumstance likely to revive the discourse. In fact, all the negroes, +crowded into the hall, as soon as the Irishman was seated at table, one or +two eager to talk, the rest as eager to listen.</p> + +<p>"How near you been to sabbage, Michael?" demanded Big Smash, her two large +coal-black eyes seeming to open in a degree proportioned to her interest +in the answer.</p> + +<p>"I wint as nigh as there was occasion, Smash, and that was nigher than the +likes of yer husband there would be thinking of travelling. Maybe 'twas as +far as from my plate here to yon door; maybe not quite so far. They 're a +dhirty set, and I wish to go no nearer."</p> + +<p>"What dey look like, in 'e dark?" inquired Little Smash--"Awful as by +daylight?"</p> + +<p>"It's not meself that stopped to admire 'em. Nick and I had our business +forenent us, and when a man is hurried, it isn't r'asonable to suppose he +can kape turning his head about to see sights."</p> + +<p>"What dey do wid Misser Woods?--What sabbage want wid dominie?"</p> + +<p>"Sure enough, little one; and the question is of yer own asking. A praist, +even though he should be only a heretic, can have no great call for his +sarvices, in <i>sich</i> a congregation. And, I don't think the fellows are +blackguards enough to scalp a parson."</p> + +<p>Then followed a flood of incoherent questions that were put by all the +blacks in a body, accompanied by divers looks ominous of the most serious +disasters, blended with bursts of laughter that broke out of their risible +natures in a way to render the medley of sensations as ludicrous as it was +strange. Mike soon found answering a task too difficult to be attempted, +and he philosophically came to a determination to confine his efforts to +masticating.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the terror that actually prevailed among the blacks, it +was not altogether unmixed with a resolution to die with arms in their +hands, in preference to yielding to savage clemency. Hatred, in a measure, +supplied the place of courage, though both sexes had insensibly imbibed +some of that resolution which is the result of habit, and of which a +border life is certain to instil more or less into its subjects, in a form +suited to border emergencies. Nor was this feeling confined to the men; +the two Smashes, in particular, being women capable of achieving acts that +would be thought heroic under circumstances likely to arouse their +feelings.</p> + +<p>"Now, Smashes," said Mike, when, by his own calculation, he had about +three minutes to the termination of his breakfast before him, "ye'll do +what I tells ye, and no questions asked. Ye'll find the laddies, Missus, +and Miss Beuly, and Miss Maud, and ye'll give my humble respects to 'em +all--divil the bit, now, will ye be overlooking either of the t'ree, but +ye'll do yer errand genteely and like a laddy yerself--and ye'll give my +jewty and respects to 'em <i>all</i>, I tells ye, and say that Michael O'Hearn +asks the honour of being allowed to wish 'em good morning."</p> + +<p>Little Smash screamed at this message; yet she went, forthwith, and +delivered it, making reasonably free with Michael's manner and gallantry +in so doing.</p> + +<p>"O'Hearn has something to tell us from Robert"--said Mrs. Willoughby, who +had been made acquainted with the Irishman's exploits and return; "he +must be suffered to come in as soon as he desires."</p> + +<p>With this reply, Little Smash terminated her mission.</p> + +<p>"And now, laddies and gentlemen," said Mike, with gravity, as he rose to +quit the servants' hall, "my blessing and good wishes be wid ye. A hearty +male have I had at yer hands and yer cookery, and good thanks it desarves. +As for the Injins, jist set yer hearts at rest, as not one of ye will be +scalp'd the day, seeing that the savages are all to be forenent the mill +this morning, houlding a great council, as I knows from Nick himself. A +comfortable time, then, ye may all enjoy, wid yer heads on yer shoulters, +and yer wool on yer heads."</p> + +<p>Mike's grin, as he retreated, showed that he meant to be facetious, having +all the pleasantry that attends a full stomach uppermost in his animal +nature at that precise moment. A shout rewarded this sally, and the +parties separated with mutual good humour and good feeling. In this state +of mind, the county Leitrim-man was ushered into the presence of the +ladies. A few words of preliminary explanations were sufficient to put +Mike in the proper train, when he came at once to his subject.</p> + +<p>"The majjor is no way down-hearted," he said, "and he ordered me to give +his jewty and riverence, and obligations, to his honoured mother and his +sisters. 'Tell 'em, Mike,' says he, says the majjor, 'that I feels for +'em, all the same as if I was their own fader; and tell 'em,' says he, 'to +keep up their spirits, and all will come right in the ind. This is a +throublesome wor-r-ld, but they that does their jewties to God and man, +and the church, will not fail, in the long run, to wor-r-k their way +t'rough purgatory even, into paradise.'"</p> + +<p>"Surely my son--my dear Robert--never sent us such a message as this, +Michael?"</p> + +<p>"Every syllable of it, and a quantity moor that has slipped my memory," +answered the Irishman, who was inventing, but who fancied he was +committing a very pious fraud--"'Twould have done the Missuses heart good +to have listened to the majjor, who spoke more in the cha<i>rack</i>ter of a +praist, like, than in that of a souldier."</p> + +<p>All three of the ladies looked a little abashed, though there was a gleam +of humour about the mouth of Maud, that showed she was not very far from +appreciating the Irishman's report at its just value. As for Mrs. +Willoughby and Beulah, less acquainted with Mike's habits, they did not so +readily penetrate his manner of substituting his own desultory thoughts +for the ideas of others.</p> + +<p>"As I am better acquainted with Mike's language, dear mother"--whispered +Maud--"perhaps it will be well if I take him into the library and question +him a little between ourselves about what actually passed. Depend on it, I +shall get the truth."</p> + +<p>"Do, my child, for it really pains me to hear Robert so much +misrepresented--and, as Evert must now begin to have ideas, I really do +not like that his uncle should be so placed before the dear little +fellow's mind."</p> + +<p>Maud did not even smile at this proof of a grandmother's weakness, though +she felt and saw all its absurdity. Heart was ever so much uppermost with +the excellent matron, that it was not easy for those she loved to regard +anything but her virtues; and least of all did her daughter presume to +indulge in even a thought that was ludicrous at her expense. Profiting by +the assent, therefore, Maud quietly made a motion for Mike to follow, and +proceeded at once to the room she had named.</p> + +<p>Not a word was exchanged between the parties until both were in the +library, when Maud carefully closed the door, her face pale as marble, and +stood looking inquiringly at her companion. The reader will understand +that, Mr. Woods and Joyce excepted, not a soul at the Hut, out of the +limits of the Willoughby connection, knew anything of our heroine's actual +relation to the captain and his family. It is true, some of the oldest of +the blacks had once some vague notions on the subject; but <i>their</i> +recollections had become obscured by time, and habit was truly second +nature with all of the light-hearted race.</p> + +<p>"<i>That</i> was mighty injanious of you, Miss Maud!" Mike commenced, giving +one of his expressive grins again, and fairly winking. "It shows how +fri'nds wants no spache but their own minds. Barrin' mistakes and +crass-accidents, I'm sartain that Michael O'Hearn can make himself +understood any day by Miss Maud Willoughby, an' niver a word said."</p> + +<p>"Your success then, Mike, will be greater at dumb-show than it always is +with your tongue," answered the young lady, the blood slowly returning to +her cheek, the accidental use of the name of Willoughby removing the +apprehension of anything immediately embarrassing; "what have you to tell +me that you suppose I have anticipated?"</p> + +<p>"Sure, the like o' yees needn't be tould, Miss Maud, that the majjor bad +me spake to ye by yerself, and say a word that was not to be overheerd by +any one else."</p> + +<p>"This is singular--extraordinary even--but let me know more, though the +messenger be altogether so much out of the common way!"</p> + +<p>"I t'ought ye 'd say <i>that</i>, when ye come to know me. Is it meself that 's +a messenger? and where is there another that can carry news widout +spilling any by the way? Nick's a cr'ature, I allows; but the majjor +know'd a million times bhetter than to trust an Injin wid sich a jewty. As +for Joel, and <i>that</i> set of vagabonds, we'll grind 'em all in the mill, +before we've done wid 'em. Let 'em look for no favours, if they wishes no +disapp'intment."</p> + +<p>Maud sickened at the thought of having any of those sacred feelings +connected with Robert Willoughby that she had so long cherished in her +inmost heart, rudely probed by so unskilful a hand; though her last +conversation with the young soldier had told so much, even while it left +so much unsaid, that she could almost kneel and implore Mike to be +explicit. The reserve of a woman, notwithstanding, taught her how to +preserve her sex's decorum, and to maintain appearances.</p> + +<p>"If major Willoughby desired you to communicate anything to me, in +particular," she said, with seeming composure, "I am ready to hear it."</p> + +<p>"Divil the word did he desire, Miss Maud, for everything was in whispers +between us, but jist what I'm about to repait. And here's my stick, that +Nick tould me to kape as a reminderer; it 's far bhetter for me than a +book, as I can't read a syllable. 'And now, Mike,' says the majjor, says +he, 'conthrive to see phratty Miss Maud by herself'----"</p> + +<p>"<i>Pretty</i> Miss Maud!" interrupted the young lady, involuntarily.</p> + +<p>"Och! it's meself that says <i>that</i>, and sure there 's plenty of r'ason for +it; so we'll agree it's all right and proper--'phratty Miss Maud by +herself, letting no mortal else know what you are about. <i>That</i> was the +majjor's."</p> + +<p>"It is very extraordinary!--Perhaps it will be better Michael, if you tell +me nothing but what is strictly the major's. A message should be +delivered as nearly like the words that were actually sent as possible."</p> + +<p>"Wor-r-ds!--And it isn't wor-r-ds at all, that I have to give ye."</p> + +<p>"If not a message in words, in what else can it be?--Not in sticks, +surely."</p> + +<p>"In <i>that</i>"--cried Mike, exultingly--"and, I'll warrant, when the trut' +comes out, that very little bit of silver will be found as good as forty +Injin scalps."</p> + +<p>Although Mike put a small silver snuff-box that Maud at once recognised as +Robert Willoughby's property into the young lady's hand, nothing was more +apparent than the circumstance that he was profoundly ignorant of the true +meaning of what he was doing. The box was very beautiful, and his mother +and Beulah had often laughed at the major for using an article that was +then deemed <i>de rigueur</i> for a man of extreme <i>ton</i>, when all his friends +knew he never touched snuff. So far from using the stimulant, indeed, he +never would show how the box was opened, a secret spring existing; and he +even manifested or betrayed shyness on the subject of suffering either of +his sisters to search for the means of doing so.</p> + +<p>The moment Maud saw the box, her heart beat tumultuously. She had a +presentiment that her fate was about to be decided. Still, she had +sufficient self-command to make an effort to learn all her companion had +to communicate.</p> + +<p>"Major Willoughby gave you this box," she said, her voice trembling in +spite of herself. "Did he send any message with it? Recollect yourself; +the words may be very important."</p> + +<p>"Is it the wor-r-ds? Well, it's little of <i>them</i> that passed between us, +barrin' that the Injins was so near by, that it was whisper we did, and +not a bit else."</p> + +<p>"Still there <i>must</i> have been <i>some</i> message."</p> + +<p>"Ye are as wise as a sarpent, Miss Maud, as Father O'Loony used to tell us +all of a Sunday! Was it wor-r-ds!--Give <i>that</i> to Miss Maud,' says the +majjor, says he, 'and tell her she is now <i>misthress of my sacret.</i>"</p> + +<p>"Did he say this, Michael?--For heaven's sake, be certain of what you tell +me."</p> + +<p>"Irish Mike--Masser want you in monstrous hurry," cried the youngest of +the three black men, thrusting his glistening lace into the door, +announcing the object of the intrusion, and disappearing almost in the +same instant.</p> + +<p>"Do not leave me, O'Hearn," said Maud, nearly gasping for breath, "do not +leave me without an assurance there is no mistake."</p> + +<p>"Divil bur-r-n me if I 'd brought the box, or the message, or anything +like it, phretty Miss Maud, had I t'ought it would have done this +har-r-m."</p> + +<p>"Michael O'Hearn," called the serjeant from the court, in his most +authoritative military manner, and that on a key that would not brook +denial.</p> + +<p>Mike did not dare delay; in half a minute Maud found herself standing +alone, in the centre of the library, holding the well-known snuff-box of +Robert Willoughby in her little hand. The renowned caskets of Portia had +scarcely excited more curiosity in their way than this little silver box +of the major's had created in the mind of Maud. In addition to his playful +evasions about letting her and Beulah pry into its mysteries, he had once +said to herself, in a grave and feeling manner, "When you get at the +contents of this box, dear girl, you will learn the great secret of my +life." These words had made a deep impression at the time--it was in his +visit of the past year--but they had been temporarily forgotten in the +variety of events and stronger sensations that had succeeded. Mike's +message, accompanied by the box itself, however, recalled them, and Maud +fancied that the major, considering himself to be in some dangerous +emergency, had sent her the bauble in order that she might learn what that +secret was. Possibly he meant her to communicate it to others. Persons in +our heroine's situation feel, more than they reason; and it is possible +Maud might have come to some other conclusion had she been at leisure, or +in a state of mind to examine all the circumstances in a more logical +manner.</p> + +<p>Now she was in possession of this long-coveted box--coveted at least so +far as a look into its contents were concerned--Maud not only found +herself ignorant of the secret by which it was opened, but she had +scruples about using the means, even had she been in possession of them. +At first she thought of carrying the thing to Beulah, and of asking if +she knew any way of getting at the spring; then she shrunk from the +exposure that might possibly attend such a step. The more she reflected, +the more she felt convinced that Robert Willoughby would not have sent +<i>her</i> that particular box, unless it were connected with herself, in some +way more than common; and ever since the conversation in the painting-room +she had seen glimmerings of the truth, in relation to his feelings. These +glimmerings too, had aided her in better understanding her own heart, and +all her sentiments revolted at the thought of having a witness to any +explanation that might relate to the subject. In every event she +determined, after a few minutes of thought, not to speak of the message, +or the present, to a living soul.</p> + +<p>In this condition of mind, filled with anxiety, pleasing doubts, +apprehensions, shame, and hope, all relieved, however, by the secret +consciousness of perfect innocence, and motives that angels might avow, +Maud stood, in the very spot where Mike had left her, turning the box in +her hands, when accidentally she touched the spring, and the lid flew +open. To glance at the contents was an act so natural and involuntary as +to anticipate reflection.</p> + +<p>Nothing was visible but a piece of white paper, neatly folded, and +compressed into the box in a way to fill its interior. "Bob has written," +thought Maud--"Yet how could he do this? He was in the dark, and had not +pen or paper!" Another look rendered this conjecture still more +improbable, as it showed the gilt edge of paper of the quality used for +notes, an article equally unlikely to be found in the mill and in his own +pocket. "Yet it must be a note," passed through her mind, "and of course +it was written before he left the Hut--quite likely before he +arrived--possibly the year before, when he spoke of the box as containing +the evidence of the great secret of his life."</p> + +<p>Maud now wished for Mike, incoherent, unintelligible, and blundering as he +was, that she might question him still further as to the precise words of +the message. "Possibly Bob did not intend me to open the-box at all," she +thought, "and meant merely that I should keep it until he could return to +claim it. It contains a great secret; and, because he wishes to keep this +secret from the Indians, it does not follow that he intends to reveal it +to me. I will shut the box again, and guard his secret as I would one of +my own."</p> + +<p>This was no sooner <i>thought</i> than it was <i>done</i>. A pressure of the lid +closed it, and Maud heard the snap of the spring with a start. Scarcely +was the act performed ere she repented it. "Bob would not have sent the +box without some particular object," she went on to imagine; "and had he +intended it not to be opened, he would have told as much to O'Hearn. How +easy would it have been for him to say, and for Mike to repeat, 'tell her +to keep the box till I ask for it--it contains a secret, and I wish my +captors not to learn it.' No, he has sent the box with the design that I +should examine its contents. His very life may depend on my doing so; yes, +and on my doing so this minute!"</p> + +<p>This last notion no sooner glanced athwart our heroine's mind, than she +began diligently to search for the hidden spring. Perhaps curiosity had +its influence on the eagerness to arrive at the secret, which she now +manifested; possibly a tenderer and still more natural feeling lay +concealed behind it all. At any rate, her pretty little fingers never were +employed more nimbly, and not a part of the exterior of the box escaped +its pressure. Still, the secret spring eluded her search. The box had two +or three bands of richly chased work on each side of the place of opening, +and amid these ornaments Maud felt certain that the little projection she +sought must lie concealed. To examine these, then, she commenced in a +regular and connected manner, resolved that not a single raised point +should be neglected. Accident, however, as before, stood her friend; and, +at a moment when she least expected it, the lid flew back, once more +exposing the paper to view.</p> + +<p>Maud had been too seriously alarmed about re-opening the box, to hesitate +a moment now, as to examining its contents. The paper was removed, and she +began to unfold it slowly, a slight tremor passing through her frame as +she did so. For a single instant she paused to scent the delightful and +delicate perfume that seemed to render the interior sacred; then her +fingers resumed their office. At each instant, her eyes expected to meet +Robert Willoughby's well known handwriting. But the folds of the paper +opened on a blank. To Maud's surprise, and, for a single exquisitely +painful moment, she saw that a lock of hair was all the box contained, +besides the paper in which it was enveloped. Her look became anxious, and +her face pale; then the eyes brightened, and a blush that might well be +likened to the tints with which the approach of dawn illumines the sky, +suffused her cheeks, as, holding the hair to the light, the long ringlets +dropped at length, and she recognised one of those beautiful tresses, of +which so many were falling at that very moment, in rich profusion around +her awn lovely face. To unloosen her hair from the comb, and to lay the +secret of Bob Willoughby by its side, in a way to compare the glossy +shades, was the act of only a moment; it sufficed, however, to bring a +perfect conviction of the truth. It was a memorial of herself, then, that +Robert Willoughby so prized, had so long guarded with care, and which he +called the secret of his life!</p> + +<p>It was impossible for Maud not to understand all this. Robert Willoughby +loved her; he had taken this mode of telling his passion. He had been on +the point of doing this in words the very day before; and now he availed +himself of the only means that offered of completing the tale. A flood of +tenderness gushed to the heart of Maud, as she passed over all this in her +mind; and, from that moment, she ceased to feel shame at the recollection +of her own attachment. She might still have shrunk a little from avowing +it to her father, and mother, and Beulah; but, as to herself the world, +and the object of her affections, she now stood perfectly vindicated in +her own eyes.</p> + +<p>That was a precious half-hour which succeeded. For the moment, all present +dangers were lost sight of, in the glow of future hopes. Maud's +imagination portrayed scenes of happiness, in which domestic duties, Bob +beloved, almost worshipped, and her father and mother happy in the +felicity of their children, were the prominent features; while Beulah and +little Evert filled the back-ground of the picture in colours of pleasing +softness. But these were illusions that could not last, for ever, the +fearful realities of her situation returning with the greater +consciousness of existence. Still, Bob might now be loved, without +wounding any of the sensitiveness of her sex's opinions; and dearly, +engrossingly, passionately was he rewarded, for the manner in which he had +thought of letting her know the true state of his heart, at a moment when +he had so much reason to think only of himself.</p> + +<p>It was time for Maud to return to her mother and sister. The box was +carefully concealed, leaving the hair in its old envelope, and she hurried +to the nursery. On entering the room, she found that her father had just +preceded her. The captain was grave, more thoughtful than usual, and his +wife, accustomed to study his countenance for so much of her happiness, +saw at once that something lay heavy on his mind.</p> + +<p>"Has anything out of the way happened, Hugh?" she asked, "to give you +uneasiness?"</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby drew a chair to the side of that of his wife, seated +himself, and took her hand before he answered. Little Evert, who sat on +her knee, was played with, for a moment, as if to defer a disagreeable +duty; not till then did he even speak.</p> + +<p>"You know, dearest Wilhelmina," the captain finally commenced, "that there +have never been any concealments between us, on the score of danger, even +when I was a professed soldier, and might be said to carry my life in my +hand."</p> + +<p>"You have ever found me reasonable, I trust, while feeling like a woman, +mindful of my duty as a wife?"</p> + +<p>"I have, love; this is the reason I have always dealt with you so +frankly."</p> + +<p>"We understand each other, Hugh. Now tell me the worst at once."</p> + +<p>"I am not certain you will think there is any worst about it, Wilhelmina, +as Bob's liberty is the object. I intend to go out myself, at the head of +all the white men that remain, in order to deliver him from the hands of +his enemies. This will leave you, for a time--six or seven hours +perhaps--in the Hut, with only the three blacks as a guard, and with the +females. You need have no apprehension of an assault, however, everything +indicating a different intention on the part of our enemies; on that score +you may set your hearts at rest."</p> + +<p>"All my apprehensions and prayers will be for you, my husband--for +ourselves, we care not."</p> + +<p>"This I expected; it is to lessen these very apprehensions that I have +come to tell you my whole plan."</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby now related, with some minuteness, the substance of +Mike's report, and his own plan, of the last of which we have already +given an outline. Everything had been well matured in his mind, and all +promised success. The men were apprised of the service on which they were +to be employed, and every one of them had manifested the best spirit. They +were then busy in equipping themselves; in half an hour they would be +ready to march.</p> + +<p>To all this Mrs. Willoughby listened like a soldier's wife, accustomed to +the risks of a frontier warfare, though she felt like a woman. Beulah +pressed little Evert to her heart, while her pallid countenance was turned +to her father with a look that seemed to devour every syllable. As for +Maud, a strange mixture of dread and wild delight were blended in her +bosom. To have Bob liberated, and restored to them, was approaching +perfect happiness, though it surpassed her powers not to dread +misfortunes. Nevertheless, the captain was so clear in his explanations, +so calm in his manner, and of a judgment so approved, that his auditors +felt far less concern than might naturally have been expected.</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch24"> +<h2>Chapter XXIV.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> "March--march--march!<br /> + Making sounds as they tread,<br /> + Ho-ho! how they step,<br /> + Going down to the dead."</p> + +<p> Coxe.</p></div> + +<p> +The time Maud consumed in her meditations over the box and its contents, +had been employed by the captain in preparations for his enterprise. +Joyce, young Blodget, Jamie and Mike, led by their commander in person, +were to compose the whole force on the occasion; and every man had been +busy in getting his arms, ammunition and provisions ready, for the last +half-hour. When captain Willoughby, therefore, had taken leave of his +family, he found the party in a condition to move.</p> + +<p>The first great desideratum was to quit the Hut unseen. Joel and his +followers were still at work, in distant fields; but they all carefully +avoided that side of the Knoll which would have brought them within reach +of the musket, and this left all behind the cliff unobserved, unless +Indians were in the woods in that direction. As Mike had so recently +passed in by that route, however, the probability was the whole party +still remained in the neighbourhood of the mills, where all accounts +agreed in saying they mainly kept. It was the intention of the captain, +therefore, to sally by the rivulet and the rear of the house, and to gain +the woods under cover of the bushes on the banks of the former, as had +already been done by so many since the inroad.</p> + +<p>The great difficulty was to quit the house, and reach the bed of the +stream, unseen. This step, however, was a good deal facilitated by means +of Joel's sally-port, the overseer having taken, himself, all the +precautions against detection of which the case well admitted. +Nevertheless, there was the distance between the palisades and the base of +the rocks, some forty or fifty yards, which was entirely uncovered, and +had to be passed under the notice of any wandering eyes that might happen +to be turned in that quarter. After much reflection, the captain and +serjeant came to the conclusion to adopt the following mode of proceeding.</p> + +<p>Blodget passed the hole, by himself, unarmed, rolling down the declivity +until he reached the stream. Here a thicket concealed him sufficiently, +the bushes extending along the base of the rocks, following the curvature +of the rivulet. Once within these bushes, there was little danger of +detection. As soon as it was ascertained that the young man was beneath +the most eastern of the outer windows of the northern wing, the only one +of the entire range that had bushes directly under it, all the rifles were +lowered down to him, two at a time, care being had that no one should +appear at the window during the operation. This was easily effected, jerks +of the rope sufficing for the necessary signals to haul in the line. The +ammunition succeeded; and in this manner, all the materials of offence +and defence were soon collected on the margin of the stream.</p> + +<p>The next step was to send the men out, one by one, imitating the +precautions taken by Blodget. Each individual had his own provisions, and +most of the men carried some sort of arms, such as a pistol, or a knife, +about his person. In half an hour the four men were armed, and waited for +the leader, concealed by the bushes on the border of the brook. It only +remained for captain Willoughby to give some instructions to those he left +in the Hut, and to follow.</p> + +<p>Pliny the elder, in virtue of his years, and some experience in Indian +warfare, succeeded to the command of the garrison, in the absence of its +chief. Had there remained a male white at the Knoll, this trust never +could have devolved on him, it being thought contrary to the laws of +nature for a negro to command one of the other colour; but such was not +the fact, and Pliny the elder succeeded pretty much as a matter of course. +Notwithstanding, he was to obey not only his particular <i>old</i> mistress, +but both his <i>young</i> mistresses, who exercised an authority over him that +was not to be disputed, without doing violence to all the received notions +of the day. To him, then, the captain issued his final orders, bidding him +be vigilant, and above all to keep the gates closed.</p> + +<p>As soon as this was done, the husband and father went to his wife and +children to take a last embrace. Anxious not to excite too strong +apprehensions by his manner, this was done affectionately--solemnly, +perhaps--but with a manner so guarded as to effect his object.</p> + +<p>"I shall look for no other signal, or sign of success, Hugh," said the +weeping wife, "than your own return, accompanied by our dearest boy. When +I can hold you both in my arms, I shall be happy, though all the Indians +of the continent were in the valley."</p> + +<p>"Do not miscalculate as to time, Wilhelmina. That affectionate heart of +yours sometimes travels over time and space in a way to give its owner +unnecessary pain. Remember we shall have to proceed with great caution, +both in going and returning; and it will require hours to make the +<i>dêtour</i> I have in view. I hope to see you again before sunset, but a +delay may carry us into the night. It may even become necessary to defer +the final push until after dark."</p> + +<p>This was melancholy intelligence for the females; but they listened to it +with calmness, and endeavoured to be, as well as to seem, resigned. Beulah +received her father's kiss and blessing with streaming eyes, straining +little Evert to her heart as he left her. Maud was the last embraced, He +even led her, by gentle violence, to the court, keeping her in discourse +by the way, exhorting her to support her mother's spirits by her own sense +and steadiness.</p> + +<p>"I shall have Bob in the Hut, soon," he added, "and this will repay us all +for more than twice the risks--all but you, little vixen; for your mother +tells me you are getting, through some caprice of that variable humour of +your sex, to be a little estranged from the poor fellow."</p> + +<p>"Father!"</p> + +<p>"O! I know it is not very serious still, even Beulah tells me you once +called him a Major of Foot."</p> + +<p>"Did I?" said Maud, trembling in her whole frame lest her secret had been +prematurely betrayed by the very attempt to conceal it. "My tongue is not +always my heart."</p> + +<p>"I know it, darling, unless where I am concerned. Treat the son as you +will, Maud, I am certain that you will always love the father." A pressure +to the heart, and kisses on the forehead, eyes, and cheeks followed. "You +have all your own papers, Maud, and can easily understand your own +affairs. When examined into, it will be seen that every shilling of your +fortune has gone to increase it; and, little hussy, you are now become +something like a great heiress."</p> + +<p>"What does this mean, dearest, dearest father? Your words frighten me!"</p> + +<p>"They should not, love. Danger is never increased by being prepared to +meet it. I have been a steward, and wish it to be known that the duty has +not been unfaithfully discharged. That is all. A hundred-fold am I repaid +by possessing so dutiful and sweet a child."</p> + +<p>Maud fell on her father's bosom and sobbed. Never before had he made so +plain allusions to the true relations which existed between them; the +papers she possessed having spoken for themselves, and having been given +in silence. Nevertheless, as he appeared disposed to proceed no further, +at present, the poor girl struggled to command herself, succeeded in part, +rose, received her father's benediction, most solemnly and tenderly +delivered, and saw him depart, with an air of calmness that subsequently +astonished even herself.</p> + +<p>We must now quit the interesting group that was left behind in the Hut, +and accompany the adventurers in their march.</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby was obliged to imitate his men, in the mode of quitting +the palisades. He had dressed himself in the American hunting-shirt and +trowsers for the occasion, and, this being an attire he now rarely used, +it greatly diminished the chances of his being recognised, if seen. Joyce +was in a similar garb, though neither Jamie nor Mike could ever be +persuaded to assume a style that both insisted so much resembled that of +the Indians. As for Blodget, he was in the usual dress of a labourer.</p> + +<p>As soon as he had reached the bottom of the cliff, the captain let the +fact be known to Old Pliny, by using his voice with caution, though +sufficiently loud to be heard on the staging of the roof, directly above +his head. The black had been instructed to watch Joel and his companions, +in order to ascertain if they betrayed, in their movements, any +consciousness of what was in progress at the Hut. The report was +favourable, Pliny assuring his master that "all 'e men work, sir, just as +afore. Joel hammer away at plough-handle, tinkerin' just like heself. Not +an eye turn dis away, massa."</p> + +<p>Encouraged by this assurance, the whole party stole through the bushes, +that lined this part of the base of the cliffs, until they entered the bed +of the stream. It was September, and the water was so low, as to enable +the party to move along the margin of the rivulet dry-shod, occasionally +stepping from stone to stone. The latter expedient, indeed, was adopted +wherever circumstances allowed, with a view to leave as few traces of a +trail as was practicable. Otherwise the cover was complete; the winding of +the rivulet preventing any distant view through its little reaches, and +the thick fringe of the bushes on each bank, effectually concealing the +men against any passing, lateral, glimpse of their movements.</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby had, from the first, apprehended an assault from this +quarter. The house, in its elevation, however, possessed an advantage that +would not be enjoyed by an enemy on the ground; and, then, the cliff +offered very serious obstacles to anything like a surprise on that portion +of the defences. Notwithstanding, he now led his men, keeping a look +riveted on the narrow lane in his front, far from certain that each turn +might not bring him in presence of an advancing party of the enemy. No +such unpleasant encounter occurred; and the margin of the forest was +gained, without any appearance of the foe, and seemingly without +discovery.</p> + +<p>Just within the cover of the woods, a short reach of the rivulet lay +fairly in sight, from the rear wing of the dwellings. It formed a +beautiful object in the view; the ardent and tasteful Maud having sketched +the silvery ribbon of water, as it was seen retiring within the recesses +of the forest, and often calling upon others to admire its loveliness and +picturesque effect. Here the captain halted, and made a signal to Old +Pliny, to let him know he waited for an answer. The reply was favourable, +the negro showing the sign that all was still well. This was no sooner +done, than the faithful old black hurried down to his mistress, to +communicate the intelligence that the party was safely in the forest; +while the adventurers turned, ascended the bank of the stream, and pursued +their way on more solid ground.</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby and his men were now fairly engaged in the expedition, +and every soul of them felt the importance and gravity of the duty he was +on. Even Mike was fain to obey the order to be silent, as the sound of a +voice, indiscreetly used, might betray the passage of the party to some +outlying scouts of the enemy. Caution was even used in treading on dried +sticks, lest their cracking should produce the same effect.</p> + +<p>The sound of the axe was heard in the rear of the cabins coming from a +piece of woodland the captain had ordered cleared, with the double view of +obtaining fuel, and of increasing his orchards. This little clearing was +near a quarter of a mile from the flats, the plan being, still to retain a +belt of forest round the latter; and it might have covered half-a-dozen +acres of land, having now been used four or five years for the same +purpose. To pass between this clearing and the cabins would have been too +hazardous, and it became necessary to direct the march in a way to turn +the former.</p> + +<p>The cow-paths answered as guides for quite a mile, Mike being thoroughly +acquainted with all their sinuosities. The captain and serjeant, however, +each carried a pocket compass, an instrument without which few ventured +far into the forests. Then the blows of the axes served as sounds to let +the adventurers know their relative position, and, as they circled the +place whence they issued, they gave the constant assurance of their own +progress, and probable security.</p> + +<p>The reader will probably comprehend the nature of the ground over which +our party was now marching. The 'flats' proper, or the site of the old +Beaver Dam, have already been described. The valley, towards the south, +terminated at the rocks of the mill, changing its character below that +point, to a glen, or vast ravine. On the east were mountains of +considerable height, and of unlimited range; to the north, the level land +extended miles, though on a platform many feet higher than the level of +the cleared meadows; while, to the west, along the route the adventurers +were marching, broad slopes of rolling forest spread their richly-wooded +surfaces, filled with fair promise for the future. The highest swell of +this undulating forest was that nearest to the Hut, and it was its +elevation only that gave the home-scene the character of a valley.</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby's object was to gain the summit of this first ridge of +land, which would serve as a guide to his object, since it terminated at +the line of rocks that made the water-fall, quite a mile, however, in the +rear of the mills. It would carry him also quite beyond the clearing of +the wood-choppers, and be effectually turning the whole of the enemy's +position. Once at the precipitous termination caused by the face of rock +that had been thrown to the surface by some geological phenomenon, he +could not miss his way, since these rugged marks must of themselves lead +him directly to the station known to be occupied by the body of his foes.</p> + +<p>Half an hour served to reach the desired ridge, when the party changed +its march, pursuing a direction nearly south, along its summit.</p> + +<p>"Those axes sound nearer and nearer, serjeant," Captain Willoughby +observed, after the march had lasted a long time in profound silence. "We +must be coming up near the point where the men are at work."</p> + +<p>"Does your honour reflect at all on the reason why these fellows are so +particularly industrious in a time like this?--To me it has a very +ambuscadish sort of look!"</p> + +<p>"It cannot be connected with an ambuscade, Joyce, inasmuch as we are not +supposed to be on a march. There can be no ambuscade, you will remember, +practised on a garrison."</p> + +<p>"I ask your honour's pardon--may not a sortie be ambushed, as well as a +march?"</p> + +<p>"In that sense, perhaps, you may be right. And, now you mention it, I +think it odd there should be so much industry at wood-chopping, in a +moment like this. We will halt as soon as the sounds are fairly abreast of +us, when you and I can reconnoitre the men, and ascertain the appearance +of things for ourselves."</p> + +<p>"I remember, sir, when your honour led out two companies of ours, with one +of the Royal Irish, a major's command, of good rights, to observe the left +flank of the French, the evening before we stormed the enemy's works at +Ty--"</p> + +<p>"Your memory is beginning to fail you, Joyce," interrupted the captain, +smiling. "We were far from storming those works, having lost two thousand +men before them, and failed of seeing their inside at all."</p> + +<p>"I always look upon a soldierly attempt, your honour, the same as a thing +that is done. A more gallant stand than we made I never witnessed; and, +though we were driven back, I will allow, yet I call that assault as good +as storming!"</p> + +<p>"Well, have it your own way, Joyce.--The morning before your storming, I +remember to have led out three companies; though it was more in advance, +than on either flank. The object was to unmask a suspected ambush."</p> + +<p>"That's just what I wanted to be at, your honour. The general sent you, as +an old captain, with three companies, to spring the trap, before he +should put his own foot into it."</p> + +<p>"He certainly did--and the movement had the desired effect."</p> + +<p>"Better and better, sir.--I remember we were fired on, and lost some ten +or fifteen men, but I would not presume to say whether the march succeeded +or not; for nothing was said of the affair, next day, in general orders, +sir--"</p> + +<p>"Next day we had other matters to occupy our minds. It was a bloody and a +mournful occasion for England and her colonies."</p> + +<p>"Well, your honour, that does not affect our movement, which, you say, +yourself, was useful."</p> + +<p>"Very true, Joyce, though the great calamity of the succeeding day +prevented the little success of the preceding morning from being mentioned +in general orders. But to what does all this tend; as I know it must lead +to something?"</p> + +<p>"It was merely meant as a respectful hint, your honour, that the inferior +should be sent out, now, according to our own ancient rules, to +reconn'itre the clearing, while the commander-in-chief remain with the +main body, to cover the retreat."</p> + +<p>"I thank you, serjeant, and shall not fail to employ you, on all proper +occasions. At present, it is my intention that we go together, leaving the +men to take breath, in a suitable cover."</p> + +<p>This satisfied Joyce, who was content to wait for orders. As soon as the +sounds of the axes showed that the party were far enough in advance, and +the formation of the land assured the captain that he was precisely where +he wished to be, the men were halted, and left secreted in a cover made by +the top of a fallen tree. This precaution was taken, lest any wandering +savage might get a glimpse of their persons, if they stood lounging about +in the more open forest, during the captain's absence.</p> + +<p>This disposition made, the captain and serjeant, first examining the +priming of their pieces, moved with the necessary caution towards the edge +of the wood-chopper's clearing. The axe was a sufficient guide, and ere +they had proceeded far the light began to shine through the trees, proof +in itself that they were approaching an opening in the forest.</p> + +<p>"Let us incline to the left, your honour," said Joyce, respectfully; +"there is a naked rock hereabouts, that completely overlooks the clearing, +and where we can get even a peep at the Hut. I have often sat on it, when +out with the gun, and wearied; for the next thing to being at home, is to +see home."</p> + +<p>"I remember the place, serjeant, and like your suggestion," answered the +captain, with an eagerness that it was very unusual for him to betray. "I +could march with a lighter heart, after getting another look at the Knoll, +and being certain of its security."</p> + +<p>The parties being both of a mind, it is not surprising that each looked +eagerly for the spot in question. It was an isolated rock that rose some +fifteen or twenty feet above the surface of the ground, having a width and +depth about double its height--one of those common excrescences of the +forest that usually possess interest for no one but the geologist. Such an +object was not difficult to find in an open wood, and the search was soon +rewarded by a discovery. Bending their steps that way, our two soldiers +were quickly at its base. As is usual, the summit of this fragment of rock +was covered with bushes; others shooting out, also, from the rich, warm +earth at its base, or, to speak more properly, at its junction with the +earth.</p> + +<p>Joyce ascended first, leaving his rifle in the captain's charge. The +latter followed, after having passed up his own and his companion's arms; +neither being disposed to stir without having these important auxiliaries +at command. Once on the rock, both moved cautiously to its eastern brow, +care being had not to go beyond the cover. Here they stood, side by side, +gazing on the scene that was outspread before them, through openings in +the bushes.</p> + +<p>To the captain's astonishment, he found himself within half musket shot of +the bulk of the hostile party. A regular bivouac had been formed round a +spring in the centre of the clearing, and bodies of trees had been thrown +together, so as to form a species of work which was rudely, but +effectually abbatied by the branches. In a word, one of those strong, +rough forest encampments had been made, which are so difficult to carry +without artillery, more especially if well defended. By being placed in +the centre of the clearing, an assault could not be made without +expensing the assailants, and the spring always assured to the garrison +the great requisite, water.</p> + +<p>There was a method and order in this arrangement that surprised both our +old soldiers. That Indians had resorted to this expedient, neither +believed; nor would the careless, untaught and inexperienced whites of the +Mohawk be apt to adopt it, without a suggestion from some person +acquainted with the usages of frontier warfare. Such persons were not +difficult to find, it is true; and it was a proof that those claiming to +be in authority, rightfully or not, were present.</p> + +<p>There was something unlooked for, also, in the manner in which the party +of strangers were lounging about, at a moment like that, seemingly doing +nothing, or preparing for no service. Joyce, who was a man of method, and +was accustomed to telling off troops, counted no less than forty-nine of +these idlers, most of whom were lounging near the log entrenchment, though +a few were sauntering about the clearing, conversing with the +wood-choppers, or making their observations listlessly, and seemingly +without any precise object in view.</p> + +<p>"This is the most extr'or'nary sight, for a military expedition, I have +ever seen, your honour," whispered Joyce, after the two had stood +examining the position for quite a minute in silence. "A tolerable good +log breast-work, I will allow, sir, and men enough to make it good against +a sharp assault; but nothing like a guard, and not so much as a single +sentinel. This is an affront to the art. Captain Willoughby; and it is +such an affront to us, that I feel certain we might carry the post by +surprise, if all felt the insult as I do myself."</p> + +<p>"This is no time for rash acts or excited feelings, Joyce. Though, were my +gallant boy with us, I do think we might make a push at these fellows, +with very reasonable chances of success."</p> + +<p>"Yes, your honour, and without him, too. A close fire, three cheers, and a +vigorous charge would drive every one of the rascals into the woods!"</p> + +<p>"Where they would rally, become the assailants in their turn, surround us, +and either compel us to surrender, or starve us out. At all events, +nothing of the sort must be undertaken until we have carried out the plan +for the rescue of Major Willoughby. My hopes of success are greatly +increased since I find the enemy has his principal post up here, where he +must be a long half-mile from the mill, even in a straight line. You have +counted the enemy?"</p> + +<p>"There are just forty-nine of them in sight, and I should think some eight +or ten more sleeping about under the logs, as I occasionally discover a +new one raising his head.--Look, sir, does your honour see that +manoeuvre?"</p> + +<p>"Do I see what, serjeant?--There is no visible change that I discover."</p> + +<p>"Only an Indian chopping wood, Captain Willoughby which is some such +miracle as a white man painting."</p> + +<p>The reader will have understood that all the hostile party that was +lounging about this clearing were in Indian guise, with faces and hands of +the well-known reddish colour that marks the American aborigines. The two +soldiers could discover many evidences that there was deception in these +appearances, though they thought it quite probable that real red men were +mingled with the pale-faces. But, so little did the invaders respect the +necessity of appearances in their present position, that one of these +seeming savages had actually mounted a log, taken the axe from the hands +of its owner, and begun to chop, with a vigour and skill that soon threw +off chips in a way that no man can successfully imitate but the expert +axe-man of the American interior.</p> + +<p>"Pretty well that, sir, for a red-skin," said Joyce, smiling "If there +isn't white blood, ay, and Yankee blood in that chap's arm, I'll give him +some of my own to help colour it. Step this way, your honour--only a foot +or two--there, sir; by looking through the opening just above the spot +where that very make-believe Injin is scattering his chips as if they were +so many kernels of corn that he was tossing to the chickens, you will get +a sight of the Hut."</p> + +<p>The fact was so. By altering his own position a little on the rock, +Captain Willoughby got a full view of the entire buildings of the Knoll. +It is true, he could not see the lawn without the works, nor quite all of +the stockade, but the whole of the western wing, or an entire side-view of +the dwellings, was obtained. Everything seemed as tranquil and secure, in +and around them, as if they vegetated in a sabbath in the wilderness. +There was something imposing even, in the solemn silence of their air, and +the captain now saw that if he had been struck, and rendered uneasy by the +mystery that accompanied the inaction and quiet of his invaders, they, in +their turns, might experience some such sensations as they gazed on the +repose of the Hut, and the apparent security of its garrison. But for +Joel's desertion, indeed, and the information he had carried with him, +there could be little doubt that the stranger must have felt the influence +of such doubts to a very material extent. Alas! as things were, it was not +probable they could be long imposed on, by any seeming calm.</p> + +<p>Captain Willoughby felt a reluctance to tear himself away from the +spectacle of that dwelling which contained so many that were dear to him. +Even Joyce gazed at the house with pleasure, for it had been his quarters, +now, so many years, and he had looked forward to the time when he should +breathe his last in it. Connected with his old commander by a tie that was +inseparable, so far as human wishes could control human events, it was +impossible that the serjeant could go from the place where they had left +so many precious beings almost in the keeping of Providence, at a moment +like that, altogether without emotion. While each was thus occupied in +mind, there was a perfect stillness. The men of the party had been so far +drilled, as to speak in low voices, and nothing they said was audible on +the rock. The axes alone broke the silence of the woods, and to ears so +accustomed to their blows, they offered no intrusion. In the midst of this +eloquent calm, the bushes of the rock rustled, as it might be with the +passage of a squirrel, or a serpent. Of the last the country had but few, +and they of the most innocent kind, while the former abounded. Captain +Willoughby turned, expecting to see one of these little restless beings, +when his gaze encountered a swarthy face, and two glowing eyes, almost +within reach of his arm. That this was a real Indian was beyond dispute, +and the crisis admitting of no delay, the old officer drew a dirk, and had +already raised his arm to strike, when Joyce arrested the blow.</p> + +<p>"This is Nick, your honour;" said the serjeant, inquiringly--"is he +friend, or foe?"</p> + +<p>"What says he himself?" answered the captain, lowering his hand in doubt. +"Let him speak to his own character."</p> + +<p>Nick now advanced and stood calmly and fearlessly at the side of the two +white men. Still there was ferocity in his look, and an indecision in his +movements. He certainly might betray the adventurers at any instant, and +they felt all the insecurity of their situation. But accident had brought +Nick directly in front of the opening through which was obtained the view +of the Hut. In turning from one to the other of the two soldiers, his +quick eye took in this glimpse of the buildings, and it became riveted +there as by the charm of fascination. Gradually the ferocity left his +countenance, which grew human and soft.</p> + +<p>"Squaw in wigwam"--said the Tuscarora, throwing forward a hand with its +fore-finger pointing towards the house. "Ole squaw--young squaw. Good. +Wyandotté sick, she cure him. Blood in Injin body; thick blood--nebber +forget good--nebber forget bad."</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch25"> +<h2>Chapter XXV.</h2> + +<p> + + "Every stride--every stamp, + Every footfall is bolder; + 'Tis a skeleton's tramp, + With a skull on its shoulder! + But ho, how he steps + With a high-tossing head, + That clay-covered bone, + Going down to the dead!"</p> + +<p> Coxe.</p> + +<p> +Nick's countenance was a fair index to his mind; nor were his words +intended to deceive. Never did Wyandotté forget the good, or evil, that +was done him. After looking intently, a short time, at the Hut, he turned +and abruptly demanded of his companions,--</p> + +<p>"Why come here? Like to see enemy between you and wigwam?"</p> + +<p>As all Nick said was uttered in a guarded tone, as if he fully entered +into the necessity of remaining concealed from those who were in such a +dangerous vicinity, it served to inspire confidence, inducing the two +soldiers to believe him disposed to serve them.</p> + +<p>"Am I to trust in you as a friend?" demanded the captain, looking the +Indian steadily in the eye.</p> + +<p>"Why won't trust? Nick no hero--gone away--Nick nebber come +ag'in--Wyandotté hero--who no trust Wyandotté? Yengeese always trust great +chief."</p> + +<p>"I shall take you at your word, Wyandotté, and tell you everything, hoping +to make an ally of you. But, first explain to me, why you left the Hut, +last night--friends do not desert friends."</p> + +<p>"Why leave wigwam?--Because wanted to. Wyandotté come when he want; go +when he want. Nick go too.--Went to see son--come back; tell story; eh?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it has happened much as you say, and I am willing to think it all +occurred with the best motives. Can you tell me anything of Joel, and the +others who have left me?"</p> + +<p>"Why tell?--Cap'in look; he see. Some chop--some plough--some weed--some +dig ditch. All like ole time Bury hatchet--tired of war-path--why cap'in +ask?"</p> + +<p>"I see all you tell me. You know, then, that those fellows have made +friends with the hostile party?"</p> + +<p>"No need know--see. Look--Injin chop, pale-face look on! Call that war?"</p> + +<p>"I do see that which satisfies me the men in paint yonder are not all red +men."</p> + +<p>"No--cap'in right--tell him so at wigwam. But dat +Mohawk--dog--rascal--Nick's enemy!"</p> + +<p>This was said with a gleam of fierceness shooting across the swarthy face, +and a menacing gesture of the hand, in the direction of a real savage who +was standing indolently leaning against a tree, at a distance so small as +to allow those on the rock to distinguish his features. The vacant +expression of this man's countenance plainly denoted that he was totally +unconscious of the vicinity of danger. It expressed the listless vacancy +of an Indian in a state of perfect rest--his stomach full, his body at +ease, his mind peaceful.</p> + +<p>"I thought Nick was not here," the captain quietly observed, smiling on +the Tuscarora a little ironically.</p> + +<p>"Cap'in right--Nick no here. Well for dog 'tis so. Too mean for Wyandotté +to touch. What cap'in come for? Eh! Better tell chief--get council widout +lightin' fire."</p> + +<p>"As I see no use in concealing my plan from you, Wyandotté,"--Nick seemed +pleased whenever this name was pronounced by others--"I shall tell it you, +freely. Still, you have more to relate to me. Why are <i>you</i> here?--And how +came you to discover us?"</p> + +<p>"Follow trail--know cap'in foot--know serjeant foot--know Mike foot--see +so many foot, follow him. Leave so many" holding up three fingers "in +bushes--so many" holding up two fingers "come here. Foot tell <i>which</i> come +here--Wyandotté chief--he follow chief."</p> + +<p>"When did you first strike, or see our trail, Tuscarora?"</p> + +<p>"Up here--down yonder--over dere." Captain Willoughby understood this to +mean, that the Indian had crossed the trail, or seen it in several places. +"Plenty trail; plenty foot to tell all about it. Wyandotté see foot of +friend--why he don't follow, eh?"</p> + +<p>"I hope this is all so, old warrior, and that you will prove yourself a +friend indeed. We are out in the hope of liberating my son, and we came +here to see what our enemies are about."</p> + +<p>The Tuscarora's eyes were like two inquisitors, as he listened; but he +seemed satisfied that the truth was told him. Assuming an air of interest, +he inquired if the captain knew where the major was confined. A few words +explained everything, and the parties soon understood each other.</p> + +<p>"Cap'in right," observed Nick. "Son in cupboard still; but plenty warrior +hear, to keep eye on him."</p> + +<p>"You know his position, Wyandotté, and can aid us materially, if you will. +What say you, chief; will you take service, once more, under your old +commander?"</p> + +<p>"Who <i>he</i> sarve--King George--Congress--eh?"</p> + +<p>"Neither. I am neutral, Tuscarora, in the present quarrel. I only defend +myself, and the rights which the laws assure to me, let whichever party +govern, that may."</p> + +<p>"Dat bad. Nebber neutral in hot war. Get rob from bot' side. Alway be one +or t'oder, cap'in."</p> + +<p>"You may be right, Nicholas, but a conscientious man may think neither +wholly right, nor wholly wrong. I wish never to lift the hatchet, unless +my quarrel be just."</p> + +<p>"Injin no understand <i>dat</i>. Throw hatchet at <i>enemy</i>--what matter what he +say--good t'ing, bad t'ing. He <i>enemy</i>--dat enough. Take scalp from +<i>enemy</i>--don't touch <i>friend</i>"</p> + +<p>"That may do for <i>your</i> mode of warfare, Tuscarora, but It will hardly do +for <i>mine</i>. I must feel that I have right of my side, before I am willing +to take life."</p> + +<p>"Cap'in always talk so, eh? When he soldier, and general say shoot ten, +forty, t'ousand Frenchmen, den he say; stop, general--no hurry--let cap'in +t'ink.' Bye'm-by he'll go and take scalp; eh!"</p> + +<p>It exceeded our old soldier's self-command not to permit the blood to rush +into his face, at this home-thrust; for he felt the cunning of the Indian +had involved him in a seeming contradiction.</p> + +<p>"That was when I was in the army, Wyandotté," he answered, notwithstanding +his confusion, "when my first, and highest duty, was to obey the orders +of my superiors. Then I acted as a soldier; now, I hope to act as a man."</p> + +<p>"Well, Indian chief alway in army. Always high duty, and obey +superior--obey Manitou, and take scalp from enemy. War-path alway open, +when enemy at t'other end."</p> + +<p>"This is no place to discuss such questions, chief; nor have we the time. +Do you go with us?"</p> + +<p>Nick nodded an assent, and signed for the other to quit the rocks. The +captain hesitated a moment, during which he stood intently studying the +scene in the clearing.</p> + +<p>"What say you, Tuscarora; the serjeant has proposed assaulting that +breast-work?"</p> + +<p>"No good, cap'in. You fire, halloo, rush on--well, kill four, six, +two--rest run away. Injin down at mill hear rifle; follow smoke--where +major, den? Get major, first--t'ink about enemy afterwards."</p> + +<p>As Nick said this, he repeated the gesture to descend; and he was obeyed +in silence. The captain now led the way back to his party; and soon +rejoined it. All were glad to see Nick, for he was known to have a sure +rifle; to be fearless as the turkey-cock; and to possess a sagacity in +the woods, that frequently amounted to a species of intuition.</p> + +<p>"Who lead, cap'in or Injin?" asked the Tuscarora, in his sententious +manner.</p> + +<p>"Och, Nick, ye're a cr'ature!" muttered Mike. "Divil bur-r-rn me, Jamie, +but I t'inks the fallie would crass the very three-tops, rather than miss +the majjor's habitation."</p> + +<p>"Not a syllable must be uttered," said the captain, raising a hand in +remonstrance. "I will lead, and Wyandotté will march by my side, and give +me his council, in whispers. Joyce will bring up the rear. Blodget, you +will keep a sharp look-out to the left, while Jamie will do the same to +the right. As we approach the mills, stragglers may be met in the woods, +and our march must be conducted with the greatest caution. Now follow, and +be silent."</p> + +<p>The captain and Nick led, and the whole party followed, observing the +silence which had been enjoined on them. The usual manner of marching on a +war-path, in the woods, was for the men to follow each other singly; an +order that has obtained the name of 'Indian file,' the object being to +diminish the trail, and conceal the force of the expedition, by each man +treading in his leader's footsteps. On the present occasion, however, the +captain induced Nick to walk at his side, feeling an uneasiness on the +subject of the Tuscarora's fidelity that he could not entirely conquer. +The pretext given was very different, as the reader will suppose. By +seeing the print of a moccasin in company with that of a boot, any +straggler that crossed the trail might be led to suppose it had been left +by the passage of a party from the clearing or the mill. Nick quietly +assented to this reasoning, and fell in by the side of the captain without +remonstrance.</p> + +<p>Vigilant eyes were kept on all sides of the line of march, though it, was +hoped and believed that the adventurers had struck upon a route too far +west to be exposed to interruption. A quarter of a mile nearer to the +flats might have brought them within the range of stragglers; but, +following the summit of the ridge, there was a certain security in the +indolence which would be apt to prevent mere idlers from sauntering up an +ascent. At all events, no interruption occurred, the party reaching in +safety the rocks that were a continuation of the range which formed the +precipice at the falls--the sign that they had gone far enough to the +south. At this period, the precipice was nearly lost in the rising of the +lower land, but its margin was sufficiently distinct to form a good mask.</p> + +<p>Descending to the plateau beneath, the captain and Nick now inclined to +the east, the intention being to come in upon the mills from the rear. As +the buildings lay in the ravine, this could only be done by making a rapid +descent immediately in their vicinity; a formation of the ground that +rendered the march, until within pistol-shot of its termination, +reasonably secure. Nick also assured his companions that he had several +times traversed this very plateau, and that he had met no signs of +footsteps on it; from which he inferred that the invaders had not taken +the trouble to ascend the rugged cliffs that bounded the western side of +the glen.</p> + +<p>The approach to the summit of the cliff was made with caution, though the +left flank of the adventurers was well protected by the abrupt descent +they had already made from the terrace above. This left little more than +the right flank and the front to be watched, the falling away of the land +forming, also, a species of cover for the rear. It is not surprising, +then, that the verge of the ravine or glen was attained, and no discovery +was made. The spot being favourable, the captain immediately led down a +winding path, that was densely fringed with bushes, towards the level of +the buildings.</p> + +<p>The glen of the mills was very narrow; so much so, as barely to leave +sites for the buildings themselves, and three or four cabins for the +workmen. The mills were placed in advance, as near as possible to the +course of the water; while the habitations of the workmen were perched on +shelves of the rocks, or such level bits of bottom-land as offered. Owing +to this last circumstance, the house of Daniel the miller, or that in +which it was supposed the major was still confined, stood by itself, and +fortunately, at the very foot of the path by which the adventurers were +descending. All this was favourable, and had been taken into the account +as a material advantage, by Captain Willoughby when he originally +conceived the plan of the present sortie.</p> + +<p>When the chimney of the cabin was visible over the bushes, Captain +Willoughby halted his party, and repeated his instruction to Joyce, in a +voice very little raised above a whisper; The serjeant was ordered to +remain in his present position, until he received a signal to advance. As +for the captain, himself, he intended to descend as near as might be to +the buttery of the cabin, and reconnoitre, before he gave the final order. +This buttery was in a lean-to, as a small addition to the original +building was called in the parlance of the country; and, the object being +shade and coolness, on account of the milk with which it was usually well +stored at this season of the year, it projected back to the very cliff, +where it was half hid in bushes and young trees. It had but a single small +window, that was barred with wood to keep out cats, and such wild vermin +as affected milk, nor was it either lathed or plastered; these two last +being luxuries not often known in the log tenements of the frontier. Still +it was of solid logs, chinked in with mortar, and made a very effectual +prison, with the door properly guarded; the captive being deprived of +edged tools. All this was also known to the father, when he set forth to +effect the liberation of his son, and, like the positions of the buildings +themselves, had been well weighed in his estimate of the probabilities and +chances.</p> + +<p>As soon as his orders were given, Captain Willoughby proceeded down the +path, accompanied only by Nick. He had announced his intention to send the +Tuscarora ahead to reconnoitre, then to force himself among the bushes +between the lean-to and the rocks, and there to open a communication with +the major through the chinks of the logs After receiving Nick's +intelligence, his plan was to be governed by circumstances, and to act +accordingly.</p> + +<p>"God bless you, Joyce," said the captain, squeezing the Serjeant's hand as +he was on the point of descending. "We are on ticklish service, and +require all our wits about us. If anything happen to me, remember that my +wife and daughter will mainly depend on you for protection."</p> + +<p>"I shall consider that as your honour's orders, sir, and no more need be +said to me, Captain Willoughby."</p> + +<p>The captain smiled on his old follower, and Joyce thought that never had +he seen the fine manly face of his superior beam with a calmer, or sweeter +expression, than it did as he returned his own pressure of the hand. The +two adventurers were both careful, and their descent was noiseless. The +men above listened, in breathless silence, but the stealthy approach of +the cat upon the bird could not have been more still, than that, of these +two experienced warriors.</p> + +<p>The place where Joyce was left with the men, might have been fifty feet +above the roof of the cabin, and almost perpendicularly over the narrow +vacancy that was known to exist between the rocks and the lean-to. Still +the bushes and trees were so thick as to prevent the smallest glimpse at +objects below, had the shape of the cliff allowed it, while they even +intercepted sounds. Joyce fancied, nevertheless, that he heard the +rustling bushes, as the captain forced his way into the narrow space he +was to occupy, and he augured well of the fact, since it proved that no +opposition had been encountered. Half an hour of forest silence followed, +that was only interrupted by the tumbling of the waters over the natural +dam. At the end of that weary period, a shout was heard in front of the +mills, and the party raised their pieces, in a vague apprehension that +some discovery had been made that was about to bring on a crisis. Nothing +further occurred, however, to confirm this impression, and an occasional +burst of laughter, that evidently came from white men, rather served to +allay the apprehension.</p> + +<p>Another half-hour passed, during which no interruption was heard. By this +time Joyce became uneasy, a state of things having arrived for which no +provision had been made in his instructions. He was about to leave his +command under the charge of Jamie, and descend himself to reconnoitre, +when a footstep was heard coming up the path. Nothing but the deep +attention, and breathless stillness of the men could have rendered the +sound of a tread so nearly noiseless, audible; but heard it was, at a +moment when every sense was wrought up to its greatest powers. Rifles were +lowered, in readiness to receive assailants, but each was raised again, as +Nick came slowly into view. The Tuscarora was calm in manner, as if no +incident had occurred to disconcert the arrangement, though his eyes +glanced around him, like those of a man who searched for an absent person.</p> + +<p>"Where cap'in?--Where major?" Nick asked, as soon as his glance had taken +in the faces of all present.</p> + +<p>"We must ask that of you, Nick," returned Joyce. "We have not seen the +captain, nor had any orders from him, since he left us."</p> + +<p>This answer seemed to cause the Indian more surprise than it was usual for +him to betray, and he pondered a moment in obvious uneasiness.</p> + +<p>"Can't stay here, alway," he muttered. "Best go see. Bye'm-by trouble +come; then, too late."</p> + +<p>The serjeant was greatly averse to moving without orders. He had his +instructions how to act in every probable contingency, but none that +covered the case of absolute inaction on the part of those below. +Nevertheless, twice the time necessary to bring things to issue had gone +by, and neither signal, shot, nor alarm had reached his ears.</p> + +<p>"Do you know anything of the major, Nick?" the serjeant demanded, +determined to examine the case thoroughly ere he came to a decision.</p> + +<p>"Major dere--see him at door--plenty sentinel. All good--where cap'in?"</p> + +<p>"Where did you leave him?--You can give the last account of him."</p> + +<p>"Go in behind cupboard--under rock--plenty bushes--all right--son dere."</p> + +<p>"This must be looked to--perhaps his honour has fallen into a fit--such +things sometimes happen--and a man who is fighting for his own child, +doesn't feel, Jamie, all the same as one who fights on a general +principle, as it might be."</p> + +<p>"Na--ye 're right, sairjeant J'yce, and ye'll be doing the kind and +prudent act, to gang doon yersal', and investigate the trainsaction with +yer ain een."</p> + +<p>This Joyce determined to do, directing Nick to accompany him, as a guide. +The Indian seemed glad to comply, and there was no delay in proceeding. It +required but a minute to reach the narrow passage between the cliff and +the lean-to. The bushes were carefully shoved aside, and Joyce entered. He +soon caught a glimpse of the hunting-shirt, and then he was about to +withdraw, believing that he was in error, in anticipating orders. But a +short look at his commander removed all scruples; for he observed that he +was seated on a projection of the rocks, with his body bowed forward, +apparently leaning on the logs of the building. This seemed to corroborate +the thought about a fit, and the serjeant pressed eagerly forward to +ascertain the truth.</p> + +<p>Joyce touched his commander's arm, but no sign of consciousness came from +the latter. He then raised his body upright, placing the back in a +reclining attitude against the rocks, and started back himself when he +caught a glimpse of the death-like hue of the face. At first, the notion +of the fit was strong with the serjeant; but, in changing his own +position, he caught a glimpse of a little pool of blood, which at once +announced that violence had been used.</p> + +<p>Although the serjeant was a man of great steadiness of nerves, and +unchangeable method, he fairly trembled as he ascertained the serious +condition of his old and well-beloved commander. Notwithstanding, he was +too much of a soldier to neglect anything that circumstances required. On +examination, he discovered a deep and fatal wound between two of the ribs, +which had evidently been inflicted with a common knife. The blow had +passed into the heart, and Captain Willoughby was, out of all question, +dead! He had breathed his last, within six feet of his own gallant son, +who, ignorant of all that passed, was little dreaming of the proximity of +one so dear to him, as well as of his dire condition.</p> + +<p>Joyce was a man of powerful frame, and, at that moment, he felt he was +master of a giant's strength. First assuring himself of the fact that the +wounded man had certainly ceased to breathe, he brought the arms over his +own shoulders, raised the body on his back, and walked from the place, +with less attention to caution than on entering, but with sufficient care +to prevent exposure. Nick stood watching his movements with a wondering +look, and as soon as there was room, he aided in supporting the corpse.</p> + +<p>In this manner the two went up the path, bearing their senseless burden. A +gesture directed the party with Jamie to precede the two who had been +below, and the serjeant did not pause even to breathe, until he had fairly +reached the summit of the cliff; then he halted in a place removed from +the danger of immediate discovery. The body was laid reverently on the +ground, and Joyce renewed his examination with greater ease and accuracy, +until perfectly satisfied that the captain must have ceased to breathe, +nearly an hour.</p> + +<p>This was a sad and fearful blow to the whole party. No one, at such a +moment, thought of inquiring into the manner in which their excellent +master had received his death-blow; but every thought was bent either on +the extent of the calamity, or on the means of getting back to the Hut. +Joyce was the soul of the party. His rugged face assumed a stern, +commanding expression; but every sign of weakness had disappeared. He gave +his orders promptly, and the men even started when he spoke, so bent on +obtaining obedience did he appear to be.</p> + +<p>The rifles were converted into a bier, the body was placed upon it, and +the four men then raised the burthen, and began to retrace their +footsteps, in melancholy silence. Nick led the way, pointing out the +difficulties of the path, with a sedulousness of attention, and a +gentleness of manner, that none present had ever before witnessed in the +Tuscarora He even appeared to have become woman, to use one of his own +peculiar expressions.</p> + +<p>No one speaking, and all the men working with good will, the retreat, +notwithstanding the burthen with which it was encumbered, was made with a +rapidity greatly exceeding the advance. Nick led the way with an unerring +eye, even selecting better ground than that which the white men had been +able to find on their march. He had often traversed all the hills, in the +character of a hunter, and to him the avenues of the forest were as +familiar as the streets of his native town become to the burgher. He made +no offer to become one of the bearers; this would have been opposed to his +habits; but, in all else, the Indian manifested gentleness and solicitude. +His apprehension seemed to be, and so he expressed it, that the Mohawks +might get the scalp of the dead man; a disgrace that he seemed as +solicitous to avoid as Joyce himself; the serjeant, however, keeping in +view the feelings of the survivors, rather than any notions of military +pride.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the stern resolution that prevailed among the men, that +return march was long and weary. The distance, of itself, exceeded two +miles, and there were the inequalities and obstacles of a forest to oppose +them. Per severance and strength, however, overcame all difficulties; and, +at the end of two hours, the party approached the point where it became +necessary to enter the bed of the rivulet, or expose their sad procession +by marching in open view of any who might be straggling in the rear of the +Hut. A species of desperate determination had influenced the men in their +return march, rendering them reckless of discovery, or its consequences; a +circumstance that had greatly favoured their object; the adventurous and +bold frequently encountering fewer difficulties, in the affairs of war, +than the cautious and timid. But an embarrassment now presented itself +that was far more difficult to encounter than any which proceeded from +personal risks. The loving family of the deceased was to be met; a wife +and daughters apprised of the fearful loss that, in the providence of God, +had suddenly alighted on their house.</p> + +<p>"Lower the body, men, and come to a halt," said Joyce, using the manner of +authority, though his voice trembled "we must consult together, as to our +next step."</p> + +<p>There was a brief and decent pause, while the party placed the lifeless +body on the grass, face uppermost, with the limbs laid in order, and +everything about it, disposed of in a seemliness that betokened profound +respect for the senseless clay, even after the noble spirit had departed. +Mike alone could not resist his strong native propensity to talk. The +honest fellow raised a hand of his late master, and, kissing it with +strong affection, soliloquized as follows, in a tone that was more rebuked +by feeling, than any apprehension of consequences.</p> + +<p>"Little need had ye of a praist, and extreme unction," he said. "The likes +of yerself always kapes a clane breast; and the knife that went into yer +heart found nothing that ye need have been ashamed of! Sorrow come over +me, but yer lass is as great a one to meself, as if I had tidings of the +sinking of ould Ireland into the salt say, itself; a thing that niver +<i>can</i> happen, and niver will happen; no, not even at the last day; as all +agree the wor-r-ld is to be burned and not drowned. And who'll there be to +tell this same to the Missus, and Miss Beuly, and phratty Miss Maud, and +the babby, in the bargain? Divil bur-r-n me, if 't will be Michael +O'Hearn, who has too much sorrow of his own, to be running about, and +d'aling it out to other people. Sarjeant, that will be ver own jewty, and +I pities the man that has to perform it."</p> + +<p>"No man will see me shrink from a duty, O'Hearn," said Joyce, stiffly, +while with the utmost difficulty he kept the tears from breaking out of a +fountain that had not opened, in this way, for twenty years. "It may bear +hard on my feelings--I do not say it will <i>not</i>--but duty is duty, and it +must be done. Corporal Allen, you see the state of things; the commanding +officer is among the casualties, and nothing would be simpler than our +course, were it not for Madam Willoughby--God bless her, and have her in +His holy keeping--and the young ladies. It is proper to deliberate a +little about <i>them</i>. To you then, as an elderly and experienced man, I +first apply for an opinion."</p> + +<p>"Sorrow's an unwelcome guest, whether it comes expected, or without any +previous knowledge. The hairts o the widow and fairtherless must be +stricken, and it's little that a' our consolations and expairiments will +prevail ag'in the feelin's o' natur'. Pheeloosophy and religion tall us +that the body's no mair than a clod o' the valley when the speerit has +fled; but the hairt is unapt to listen to wisdom while the grief is +fraish, and of the severity of an unlooked-for sairtainty. <i>I</i> see little +good, therefore, in doing mair than just sending in a messenger, to clear +the way a little for the arrival of truth, in the form o' death, itsal'."</p> + +<p>"I have been thinking of this--will you take the office, Jamie, as a man +of years and discretion?"</p> + +<p>"Na--na--ye'll be doing far better by sending a younger man. Age has +weakened my memory, and I'll be overlooking some o' the saircumstances in +a manner that will be unseemly for the occasion. Here is Blodget, a youth +of ready wit, and limber tongue."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't do it, mason, to be the owner of ten such properties as this!" +exclaimed the young Rhode Islander, actually recoiling a step, as if he +retreated before a dreaded foe.</p> + +<p>"Well, sairjeant, ye've Michael here, who belangs to a kirk that has so +little seempathy with protestantism as to lessen the pain o' the office. +Death is a near ally to religion, and Michael, by taking a religious view +o' the maither, might bring his hairt into such a condition of +insensibility as wad give him little to do but to tell what has happened, +leaving God, in his ain maircy, to temper the wind to the shorn lamb."</p> + +<p>"You hear, O'Hearn?" said the serjeant, stiffly--"Everybody seems to +expect that you will do this duty."</p> + +<p>"Jewty!--D 'ye call it a jewty for a man in my situation to break the +hearts of Missus, and Miss Beuly, and phratty Miss Maud, and the babby? +for babbies has hearts as well as the stoutest man as is going. Divil +bur-r-n me, then, if ye gets out of my mout' so much as a hint that the +captain's dead and gone from us, for ever and ever, amen! Ye may send me +in, for ye 're corporals, and serjeants, and the likes of yees, and I'll +obey as a souldier, seem' that he would have wished as much himself, had +the breat' staid in his body, which it has not, on account of its l'aving +his sowl on 'arth, and departing with his corporeal part for the mansions +of happiness, the Blessed Mary have mercy on him, whether here or +<i>there</i>--but the captain was not the man to wish a fait'ful follower to +afflict his own wife; and so I'll have not'in' to do with such a message, +at all at all."</p> + +<p>"Nick go"--said the Indian, calmly--"Used to carry message--carry him for +cap'in, once more."</p> + +<p>"Well, Nick, you may do it certainly, if so disposed," answered Joyce, who +would have accepted the services of a Chinese rather than undertake the +office in person. "You will remember and speak to the ladies gently, and +not break the news too suddenly."</p> + +<p>"Yes--squaw soft heart--Nick know--had moder--had wife, once--had darter."</p> + +<p>"Very well; this will be an advantage, men, as Nick is the only married +man among us; and married men should best understand dealing with +females."</p> + +<p>Joyce then held a private communication with the Tuscarora, that lasted +some five or six minutes, when the last leaped nimbly into the bed of the +stream, and was soon concealed by the bushes of one of its reaches.</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch26"> +<h2>Chapter XXVI.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> "Heart leaps to heart--the sacred flood<br /> + That warms us is the same;<br /> + That good old man--his honest blood<br /> + Alike we fondly claim."</p> + +<p> Sprague.</p></div> + +<p> +Although Nick commenced his progress with so much seeming zeal and +activity, his speed abated, the moment he found himself beyond the sight +of those he had left in the woods. Before he reached the foot of the +cliff, his trot had degenerated to a walk; and when he actually found he +was at its base, he seated himself on a stone, apparently to reflect on +the course he ought to pursue.</p> + +<p>The countenance of the Tuscarora expressed a variety of emotions while he +thus remained stationary. At first, it was fierce, savage, exulting; then +it became gentler, soft, perhaps repentant. He drew his knife from its +buckskin sheath, and eyed the blade with a gaze expressive of uneasiness. +Perceiving that a clot of blood had collected at the junction with the +handle, it was carefully removed by the use of water. His look next passed +over his whole person, in order to ascertain if any more of these +betrayers of his fearful secret remained; after which he seemed more at +ease.</p> + +<p>"Wyandotté's back don't ache now," he growled to himself. "Ole sore heal +up. Why Cap'in touch him? T'ink Injin no got feelin'? Good man, sometime; +bad man, sometime. Sometime, live; sometime, die. Why tell Wyandotté he +flog ag'in, just as go to enemy's camp? No; back feel well, now--nebber +smart, any more."</p> + +<p>When this soliloquy was ended, Nick arose, cast a look up at the sun, to +ascertain how much of the day still remained, glanced towards the Hut, as +if examining the nature of its defences, stretched himself like one who +was weary, and peeped out from behind the bushes, in order to see how +those who were afield, still occupied themselves. All this done, with +singular deliberation and steadiness, he arranged his light dress, and +prepared to present himself before the wife and daughters of the man, +whom, three hours before, he had remorselessly murdered. Nick had often +meditated this treacherous deed, during the thirty years which had elapsed +between his first flogging and the present period; but circumstances had +never placed its execution safely in his power. The subsequent punishments +had increased the desire, for a few years; but time had so far worn off +the craving for revenge, that it would never have been actively revived, +perhaps, but for the unfortunate allusions of the victim himself, to the +subject. Captain Willoughby had been an English soldier, of the school of +the last century. He was naturally a humane and a just man, but he +believed in the military axiom that "the most flogging regiments were the +best fighting regiments;" and perhaps he was not in error, as regards the +lower English character. It was a fatal error, however, to make in +relation to an American savage; one who had formerly exercised the +functions, and who had not lost all the feelings, of a chief. Unhappily, +at a moment when everything depended on the fidelity of the Tuscarora, the +captain had bethought him of his old expedient for insuring prompt +obedience, and, by way of a reminder, he made an allusion to his former +mode of punishment. As Nick would have expressed it, "the old sores +smarted;" the wavering purpose of thirty years was suddenly and fiercely +revived, and the knife passed into the heart of the victim, with a +rapidity that left no time for appeals to the tribunal of God's mercy. In +half a minute, Captain Willoughby had ceased to breathe.</p> + +<p>Such had been the act of the man who now passed through the opening of the +palisade, and entered the former habitation of his victim. A profound +stillness reigned in and around the Hut, and no one appeared to question +the unexpected intruder. Nick passed, with his noiseless step, round to +the gate, which he found secured. It was necessary to knock, and this he +did in a way effectually to bring a porter.</p> + +<p>"Who dere?" demanded the elder Pliny, from within.</p> + +<p>"Good friend--open gate. Come wid message from cap'in."</p> + +<p>The natural distaste to the Indians which existed among the blacks of the +Knoll, included the Tuscarora. This disgust was mingled with a degree of +dread; and it was difficult for beings so untutored and ignorant, at all +times to draw the proper distinctions between Indian and Indian. In +<i>their</i> wonder-loving imaginations, Oneidas, Tuscaroras, Mohawks, +Onondagas, and Iroquois were all jumbled together in inextricable +confusion, a red man being a red man, and a savage a savage. It is not +surprising, therefore, that Pliny the elder should hesitate about opening +the gate, and admitting one of the detested race, though a man so well +known to them all, in the peculiar situation of the family. Luckily, Great +Smash happened to be near, and her husband called her to the gate by one +of the signals that, was much practised between them.</p> + +<p>"Who you t'ink out-dere?" asked Pliny the elder of his consort, with a +very significant look.</p> + +<p>"How you t'ink guess, ole Plin?--You 'spose nigger wench like Albonny wise +woman, dat she see t'rough a gate, and know ebbery t'ing, and little +more!"</p> + +<p>"Well, <i>dat</i> Sassy Nick. What you say <i>now?</i>"</p> + +<p>"You sartain, ole Plin?" asked Mistress Smash, with a face ominous of +evil.</p> + +<p>"Sartain as ear. Talk wid him--he want to come in. What you t'ink?"</p> + +<p>"Nebber open gate, ole Plin, till mistress tell you. You stay here--dere; +lean ag'in gate wid all you might; dere; now I go call Miss Maud. She all +alone in librarim, and will know what best. Mind you lean ag'in gate well, +ole Plin."</p> + +<p>Pliny the elder nodded assent, placed his shoulders resolutely against the +massive timbers, and stood propping a defence that would have made a +respectable resistance to a battering-ram, like another Atlas, upholding a +world. His duty was short, however, his 'lady' soon returning with Maud, +who was hastening breathlessly to learn the news.</p> + +<p>"Is it you, Nick?" called out the sweet voice of our heroine through the +crevices of the timber.</p> + +<p>The Tuscarora started, as he so unexpectedly heard those familiar sounds; +for an instant, his look was dark; then the expression changed to pity and +concern, and his reply was given with less than usual of the abrupt, +guttural brevity that belonged to his habits.</p> + +<p>"'Tis Nick--Sassy Nick--Wyandotté, Flower of the Woods," for so the Indian +often termed Maud.--"Got news--cap'in send him. Meet party and go along. +Nobody here; only Wyandotté. Nick see major, too--say somet'ing to young +squaw."</p> + +<p>This decided the matter. The gate was unbarred, and Nick in the court in +half-a-minute. Great Smash stole a glance without, and beckoned Pliny the +elder to join her, in order to see the extraordinary spectacle of Joel and +his associates toiling in the fields. When they drew in their heads, Maud +and her companion were already in the library. The message from Robert +Willoughby had induced our heroine to seek this room; for, placing little +confidence in the delicacy of the messenger, she recoiled from listening +to his words in the presence of others.</p> + +<p>But Nick was in no haste to speak. He took the chair to which Maud +motioned, and he sate looking at her, in a way that soon excited her +alarm.</p> + +<p>"Tell me, if your heart has any mercy in it, Wyandotté; has aught happened +to Major Willoughby?"</p> + +<p>"He well--laugh, talk, feel good. Mind not'ing. He prisoner; don't touch +he scalp."</p> + +<p>"Why, then, do you wear so ominous a look--your face is the very harbinger +of evil."</p> + +<p>"Bad news, if trut' must come. What you' name, young squaw?"</p> + +<p>"Surely, surely, you must know that well, Nick! I am Maud--your old +friend, Maud."</p> + +<p>"Pale-face hab two name--Tuscarora got t'ree. Some time, Nick--sometime, +Sassy Nick--sometime, Wyandotté."</p> + +<p>"You know my name is Maud Willoughby," returned our heroine, colouring to +the temples with a certain secret consciousness of her error, but +preferring to keep up old appearances.</p> + +<p>"Dat call you' fader's name, Meredit'; no Willoughby."</p> + +<p>"Merciful Providence! and has this great secret been known to <i>you</i>, too, +Nick!"</p> + +<p>"He no secret--know all about him. Wyandotté dere. See Major Meredit' +shot. <i>He</i> good chief--nebber flog--nebber strike Injin. Nick know fader, +know moder--know squaw, when pappoose."</p> + +<p>"And why have you chosen this particular moment to tell me all this? Has +it any relation to your message--to Bob--to Major Willoughby, I mean?" +demanded Mauo, nearly gasping for breath.</p> + +<p>"No relation, tell you," said Nick, a little angrily. "Why make relation, +when no relation at all. Meredit'; no Willoughby. Ask moder; ask major; +ask chaplain--all tell trut'! No need to be so feelin'; no you fader, at +all."</p> + +<p>"What <i>can</i> you--what <i>do</i> you mean, Nick? Why do you look so wild--so +fierce--so kind--so sorrowful--so angry? You must have bad news to tell +me."</p> + +<p>"Why bad to <i>you</i>--he no fader--only fader friend. You can't help +it--fader die when you pappoose--why you care, now, for dis?"</p> + +<p>Maud now actually gasped for breath. A frightful glimpse of the truth +gleamed before her imagination, though it was necessarily veiled in the +mist of uncertainty. She became pale as death, and pressed her hand upon +her heart, as if to still its beating. Then, by a desperate effort, she +became more calm, and obtained the power to speak.</p> + +<p>"Oh! is it so, Nick!--<i>can</i> it be so!" she said; "my father has fallen in +this dreadful business?"</p> + +<p>"Fader kill twenty year ago; tell you <i>dat</i>, how often?" answered the +Tuscarora, angrily; for, in his anxiety to lessen the shock to Maud, for +whom this wayward savage had a strange sentiment of affection, that had +grown out of her gentle kindnesses to himself, on a hundred occasions, he +fancied if she knew that Captain Willoughby was not actually her father, +her grief at his loss would be less. "Why you call <i>dis</i> fader, when <i>dat</i> +fader. Nick know fader and moder.--Major no broder."</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the sensations that nearly pressed her to the earth, the +tell-tale blood rushed to Maud's cheeks, again, at this allusion, and she +bowed her face to her knees. The action gave her time to rally her +faculties; and catching a glimpse of the vast importance to all for her +maintaining self-command, she was enabled to raise her face with +something like the fortitude the Indian hoped to see.</p> + +<p>"Trifle with me no longer, Wyandotté, but let me know the worst at once. +Is my father dead?--By father, I mean captain Willoughby?"</p> + +<p>"Mean wrong, den--no fader, tell you. Why young quaw so much like Mohawk?"</p> + +<p>"Man--is captain Willoughby killed?"</p> + +<p>Nick gazed intently into Maud's face for half a minute, and then he nodded +an assent. Notwithstanding all her resolutions to be steady, our heroine +nearly sank under the blow. For ten minutes she spoke not, but sat, her +head bowed to her knees, in a confusion of thought that threatened a +temporary loss of reason. Happily, a flood of tears relieved her, and she +became more calm. Then the necessity of knowing more, in order that she +might act intelligently, occurred to her mind, and she questioned Nick in +a way to elicit all it suited the savage to reveal.</p> + +<p>Maud's first impulse was to go out to meet the body of the captain, and to +ascertain for herself that there was actually no longer any hope. Nick's +account had been so laconic as to leave much obscurity, and the blow had +been so sudden she could hardly credit the truth in its full extent. +Still, there remained the dreadful tidings to be communicated to those +dear beings, who, while they feared so much, had never anticipated a +calamity like this. Even Mrs. Willoughby, sensitive as she was, and +wrapped up in those she loved so entirely, as she was habitually, had been +so long accustomed to see and know of her husband's exposing himself with +impunity, as to begin to feel, if not to think, that he bore a charmed +life. All this customary confidence was to be overcome, and the truth was +to be said. Tell the fact to her mother, Maud felt that she could not +then; scarcely under any circumstances would she have consented to perform +this melancholy office; but, so long as a shadow of doubt remained on the +subject of her father's actual decease, it seemed cruel even to think of +it. Her decision was to send for Beulah, and it was done by means of one +of the negresses.</p> + +<p>So long as we feel that there are others to be sustained by our fortitude, +even the feeblest possess a firmness to which they might otherwise be +strangers. Maud, contrary to what her delicate but active frame and +sweetness of disposition might seem to indicate, was a young woman capable +of the boldest exertions, short of taking human life. Her frontier +training had raised her above most of the ordinary weaknesses of her sex; +and, so far as determination went, few men were capable of higher +resolution, when circumstances called for its display. Her plan was now +made up to go forth and meet the body, and nothing short of a command from +her mother could have stopped her. In this frame of mind was our heroine, +when Beulah made her appearance.</p> + +<p>"Maud!" exclaimed the youthful matron, "what has happened!--why are you so +pale!--why send for me? Does Nick bring us any tidings from the mill?"</p> + +<p>"The worst possible, Beulah. My father--my dear, dear father is hurt. They +have borne him as far as the edge of the woods, where they have halted, in +order not to take us by surprise. I am going to meet the--to meet the men, +and to bring father in. You must prepare mother for the sad, sad +tidings--yes, Beulah, for the worst, as everything depends on the wisdom +and goodness of God!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! Maud, this is dreadful!" exclaimed the sister, sinking into a +chair--"What will become of mother--of little Evert--of us all!"</p> + +<p>"The providence of the Ruler of heaven and earth will care for us. Kiss +me, dear sister--how cold you are--rouse yourself, Beulah, for mother's +sake. Think how much more <i>she</i> must feel than we possibly can, and then +be resolute."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Maud--very true--no woman can feel like a wife--unless it be a +mother--"</p> + +<p>Here Beulah's words were stopped by her fainting.</p> + +<p>"You see, Smash," said Maud, pointing to her sister with a strange +resolution, "she must have air, and a little water--and she has salts +about her, I know. Come, Nick; we have no more time to waste--you must be +my guide."</p> + +<p>The Tuscarora had been a silent observer of this scene, and if it did not +awaken remorse in his bosom, it roused feelings that had never before been +its inmates. The sight of two such beings suffering under a blow that his +own hand had struck, was novel to him, and he knew not which to encourage +most, a sentiment allied to regret, or a fierce resentment, that any +should dare thus to reproach, though it were only by yielding to the grief +natural to their situation. But Maud had obtained a command over him, that +he knew not how to resist, and he followed her from the room, keeping his +eyes riveted the while on the pallid face of Beulah. The last was recalled +from her insensibility, however, in the course of a few minutes, through +the practised attentions of the negresses.</p> + +<p>Maud waited for nothing. Motioning impatiently for the Tuscarora to lead +the way, she glided after him with a rapidity that equalled his own loping +movement. She made no difficulties in passing the stockade, though Nick +kept his eyes on the labourers, and felt assured their <i>exeunt</i> was not +noticed. Once by the path that led along the rivulet, Maud refused all +precautions, but passed swiftly over it, partially concealed by its +bushes. Her dress was dark, and left little liability to exposure. As for +Nick, his forest attire, like the hunting shirt of the whites, was +expressly regulated by the wish to go to and fro unseen.</p> + +<p>In less than three minutes after the Indian and Maud had passed the gate, +they were drawing near to the melancholy group that had halted in the +forest. Our heroine was recognised as she approached, and when she came +rushing up to the spot, all made way, allowing her to fall upon her knees +by the side of the lifeless body, bathing the placid face of the dead with +her tears, and covering it with kisses.</p> + +<p>"Is there no hope--oh! Joyce," she cried, "<i>can</i> it be possible that my +father is actually dead?"</p> + +<p>"I fear, Miss Maud, that his honour has made his last march. He has +received orders to go hence, and, like a gallant soldier as he was, he has +obeyed, without a murmur;" answered the serjeant, endeavouring to appear +firm and soldier-like, himself. "We have lost a noble and humane +commander, and you a most excellent and tender father."</p> + +<p>"No fader,"--growled Nick, at the serjeant's elbow, twitching his sleeve, +at the same time, to attract attention. 'Serjeant know <i>her</i> fader. He by; +I by, when Iroquois shoot him."</p> + +<p>"I do not understand you, Tuscarora, nor do I think you altogether +understand <i>us</i>; the less you say, therefore, the better for all parties. +It is our duty, Miss Maud, to say 'God's will be done,' and the soldier +who dies in the discharge of his duty is never to be pitied. I sincerely +wish that the Rev. Mr. Woods was here; he would tell you all this in a +manner that would admit of no dispute; as for myself, I am a plain man, +Miss Maud, and my tongue cannot utter one-half that my heart feels at this +instant."</p> + +<p>"Ah! Joyce, what a friend--what a parent has it pleased God to call to +himself!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Maud, that may be said with great justice--if his honour has +left us in obedience to general orders, it is to meet promotion in a +service that will never weary, and never end."</p> + +<p>"So kind; so true; so gentle; so just; so affectionate!" said Maud, +wringing her hands.</p> + +<p>"And so brave, young lady. His honour, captain Willoughby, wasn't one of +them that is always talking, and writing, and boasting about fighting; but +when anything was to be <i>done</i>, the Colonel always knew whom to send on +the duty. The army couldn't have lost a braver gentleman, had he remained +in it."</p> + +<p>"Oh! my father--my father,"--cried Maud, in bitterness of sorrow, throwing +herself on the body and embracing it, as had been her wont in +childhood--"would that I could have died for you!"</p> + +<p>"Why you let go on so," grumbled Nick, again. "<i>No</i> her fader--you know +<i>dat</i>, serjeant."</p> + +<p>Joyce was not in a state to answer. His own feelings had been kept in +subjection only by military pride, but they now had become so nearly +uncontrollable, that he found himself obliged to step a little aside in +order to conceal his weakness. As it was, large tears trickled down his +rugged face, like water flowing from the fissures of the riven oak Jamie +Allen's constitutional prudence, however, now became active, admonishing +the party of the necessity of their getting within the protection of the +Hut.</p> + +<p>"Death is at a' times awfu'," said the mason, "but it must befall young +and auld alike. And the affleection it brings cometh fra' the heart, and is +a submission to the la' o' nature. Nevertheless we a' hae our duties, so +lang as we remain in the flesh, and it is time to be thinking o' carryin' +the body into some place o' safety, while we hae a prudent regard to our +ain conditions also."</p> + +<p>Maud had risen, and, hearing this appeal, she drew back meekly, assumed a +manner of forced composure, and signed to the men to proceed. On this +intimation, the body was raised, and the melancholy procession resumed its +march.</p> + +<p>For the purpose of concealment, Joyce led the way into the bed of the +stream, leaving Maud waiting their movements, a little deeper within the +forest. As soon as he and his fellow-bearers were in the water, Joyce +turned and desired Nick to escort the young lady in, again, on dry land, +or by the path along which she had come out. This said, the serjeant and +his companions proceeded. Maud stood gazing on the sad spectacle like one +entranced, until she felt a sleeve pulled, and perceived the Tuscarora at +her side.</p> + +<p>"No go to Hut," said Nick, earnestly; "go wid Wyandotté."</p> + +<p>"Not follow my dear father's remains--not go to my beloved mother in her +anguish. You know not what you ask, Indian--move, and let me proceed."</p> + +<p>"No go home--no use--no good. Cap'in dead--what do widout commander. Come +wid Wyandotté--find major--den do some good."</p> + +<p>Maud fairly started in her surprise. There seemed something so truly +useful, so consoling, so dear in this proposal, that it instantly caught +her ear.</p> + +<p>"Find the Major!" she answered. "Is that possible, Nick? My poor father +perished in making that attempt--what hope can there be then for <i>my</i> +success?" + +"Plenty hope--much as want--all, want. Come wid Wyandotté--he great +chief--show young squaw where to find broder."</p> + +<p>Here was a touch of Nick's consummate art. He knew the female bosom so +well that he avoided any allusion to his knowledge of the real relation +between Robert Willoughby and Maud, though he had so recently urged her +want of natural affinity to the family, as a reason why she should not +grieve. By keeping the Major before her eyes as a brother, the chances of +his own success were greatly increased. As for Maud, a tumult of feeling +came over her heart at this extraordinary proposal. To liberate Bob, to +lead him into the Hut, to offer his manly protection to her mother, and +Beulah, and little Evert, at such an instant, caught her imagination, and +appealed to all her affections.</p> + +<p>"Can you do this, Tuscarora"--she asked, earnestly, pressing her hand on +her heart as if to quiet its throbbings. "Can you really lead me to Major +Willoughby, so that I may have some hope of liberating him?"</p> + +<p>"Sartain--you go, he come. I go, he no come. Don't love Nick--t'ink all +Injin, one Injin--t'ink one Injin, all Injin. You go, he come--he stay, +find more knife, and die like Cap'in. Young squaw follow Wyandotté, and +see."</p> + +<p>Maud needed no more. To save the life of Bob, her well-beloved, he who had +so long been beloved in secret, she would have gone with one far less +known and trusted than the Tuscarora. She made an eager gesture for him to +proceed, and they were soon on their way to the mill, threading the mazes +of the forest.</p> + +<p>Nick was far from observing the precautions that had been taken by the +captain, in his unfortunate march out. Acquainted with every inch of +ground in the vicinity of the Dam, and an eye-witness of the dispositions +of the invaders, he had no occasion for making the long <i>détour</i> already +described, but went to work in a much more direct manner. Instead of +circling the valley, and the clearing, to the westward, he turned short in +the contrary direction, crossed the rivulet on the fallen tree, and led +the way along the eastern margin of the flats. On this side of the valley +he knew there were no enemies, and the position of the huts and barns +enabled him to follow a path, that was just deep enough in the forest to +conceal his movements. By taking this course, besides having the advantage +of a clear and beaten path, most of the way, the Tuscarora brought the +whole distance within a mile.</p> + +<p>As for Maud, she asked no questions, solicited no pauses, manifested no +physical weakness. Actively as the Indian moved among the trees, she kept +close in his footsteps; and she had scarcely begun to reflect on the real +nature of the undertaking in which she was engaged, when the roar of the +rivulet, and the formation of the land, told her they had reached the +edge of the glen below the mills. Here Nick told her to remain stationary +a moment, while he advanced to a covered point of the rocks, to +reconnoitre. This was the place where the Indian had made his first +observations of the invaders of the valley, ascertaining their real +character before he trusted his person among them. On the present +occasion, his object was to see if all remained, in and about the mills, +as when he had last left the spot.</p> + +<p>"Come"--said Nick, signing for Maud to follow him--"we go--fools sleep, +and eat, and talk. Major prisoner now; half an hour, Major free."</p> + +<p>This was enough for the ardent, devoted, generous-hearted Maud. She +descended the path before her as swiftly as her guide could lead, and, in +five more minutes, they reached the bank of the stream, in the glen, at a +point where a curvature hid the rivulet from those at the mill. Here an +enormous pine had been laid across the torrent; and, flattened on its +upper surface, it made a secure bridge for those who were sure of foot, +and steady of eye. Nick glanced back at his companion, as he stepped upon +this bridge, to ascertain if she were equal to crossing it, a single +glance sufficing to tell him apprehensions were unnecessary. Half a minute +placed both, in safety, on the western bank.</p> + +<p>"Good!" muttered the Indian; "young squaw make wife for warrior."</p> + +<p>But Maud heard neither the compliment nor the expression of countenance +which accompanied it. She merely made an impatient gesture to proceed. +Nick gazed intently at the excited girl; and there was an instant when he +seemed to waver in his own purpose; but the gesture repeated, caused him +to turn, and lead the way up the glen.</p> + +<p>The progress of Nick now, necessarily, became more guarded and slower. He +was soon obliged to quit the common path, and to incline to the left, more +against the side of the cliff, for the purposes of concealment. From the +time he had struck the simple bridge, until he took this precaution, his +course had lain along what might have been termed the common highway, on +which there was always the danger of meeting some messenger, travelling to +or from the valley.</p> + +<p>But Nick was at no loss for paths. There were plenty of them; and the one +he took soon brought him out into that by which Captain Willoughby had +descended to the lean-to. When the spot was reached where Joyce had +halted, Nick paused; and, first listening intently, to catch the sound of +noises, if any might happen to be in dangerous proximity, he addressed his +companion:</p> + +<p>"Young squaw bold," he said, encouragingly; "now want heart of warrior."</p> + +<p>"I can follow, Nick--having come so far, why distrust me, now?"</p> + +<p>"'Cause he here--down dere--woman love man; man love woman--dat right; +but, no show it, when scalp in danger."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I do not understand you, Tuscarora--but, my trust is in God; he +is a support that can uphold any weakness."</p> + +<p>"Good!--stay here--Nick come back, in minute."</p> + +<p>Nick now descended to the passage between the rocks and the lean-to, in +order to make certain that the major still remained in his prison, before +he incurred any unnecessary risk with Maud. Of this fact he was soon +assured; after which he took the precaution to conceal the pool of blood, +by covering it with earth and stones. Making his other observations with +care, and placing the saw and chisel, with the other tools, that had +fallen from the captain's hand, when he received his death-wound, in a +position to be handy, he ascended the path, and rejoined Maud. No word +passed between our heroine and her guide. The latter motioned for her to +follow; then he led the way down to the cabin. Soon, both had entered the +narrow passage; and Maud, in obedience to a sign from her companion, +seated herself on the precise spot where her father had been found, and +where the knife had passed into his heart. To all this, however, Nick +manifested the utmost indifference. Everything like ferocity had left his +face; to use his own figurative language, his sores smarted no longer; and +the expression of his eye was friendly and gentle. Still it showed no +signs of compunction.</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch27"> +<h2>Chapter XXVII.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> "Her pallid face displayed<br /> + Something, methought, surpassing mortal beauty.<br /> + She presently turn'd round, and fixed her large, wild eyes.<br /> + Brimming with tears, upon me, fetch'd a sigh,<br /> + As from a riven heart, and cried: He's dead!"</p> + +<p> Hillhouse.</p></div> + +<p> +Maud had been so earnest, and so much excited, that the scarcely reflected +on the singularity and novelty of her situation, until she was seated, as +described at the close of the last chapter. Then, indeed, she began to +think that she had embarked in an undertaking of questionable prudence, +and to wonder in what manner she was to be useful. Still her heart did not +fail her, or her hopes altogether sink. She saw that Nick was grave and +occupied, like a man who intended to effect his purpose at every hazard; +and that purpose she firmly believed was the liberation of Robert +Willoughby.</p> + +<p>As for Nick, the instant his companion was seated, and he had got a +position to his mind, he set about his business with great assiduity. It +has been said that the lean-to like the cabin, was built of logs; a fact +that constituted the security of the prisoner. The logs of the lean-to, +however, were much smaller than those of the body of the house, and both +were of the common white pine of the country; a wood of durable qualities, +used as it was here, but which yielded easily to edged tools. Nick had a +small saw, a large chisel, and his knife. With the chisel, he cautiously +commenced opening a hole of communication with the interior, by removing a +little of the mortar that filled the interstices between the logs. This +occupied but a moment. When effected, Nick applied an eye to the hole and +took a look within. He muttered the word "good," then withdrew his own +eye, and, by a sign, invited Maud to apply one of hers. This our heroine +did, and saw Robert Willoughby, reading within a few feet of her, with a +calmness of air, that at once announced his utter ignorance of the dire +event that had so lately occurred, almost within reach of his arm.</p> + +<p>"Squaw speak," whispered Nick; "voice sweet as wren--go to Major's ear +like song of bird.--Squaw speak music to young warrior."</p> + +<p>Maud drew back, her heart beat violently, her breathing became difficult, +and the blood rushed to her temples. But an earnest motion from Nick +reminded her this was no time for hesitation, and she applied her mouth to +the hole.</p> + +<p>"Robert--<i>dear</i> Robert," she said, in a loud whisper, "we are here--have +come to release you."</p> + +<p>Maud's impatience could wait no longer; but her eye immediately succeeded +her mouth. That she was heard was evident from the circumstance that the +book fell from the Major's hand, in a way to show how completely he was +taken by surprise. "He knows even my whispers," thought Maud, her heart +beating still more violently, as she observed the young soldier gazing +around him, with a bewildered air, like one who fancied he had heard the +whisperings of some ministering angel. By this time, Nick had removed a +long piece of the mortar; and he too, was looking into the buttery. By way +of bringing matters to an understanding, the Indian thrust the chisel +through the opening, and, moving it, he soon attracted Willoughby's +attention. The latter instantly advanced, and applied his own eye to the +wide crack, catching a view of the swarthy face of Nick.</p> + +<p>Willoughby knew that the presence of this Indian, at such a place, and +under such circumstances, indicated the necessity of caution. He did not +speak, therefore; but, first making a significant gesture towards the door +of his narrow prison, thus intimating the close proximity of sentinels, he +demanded the object of this visit, in a whisper.</p> + +<p>"Come to set major free," answered Nick.</p> + +<p>"Can I trust you, Tuscarora? Sometimes you seem a friend, sometimes an +enemy. I know that you appear to be on good terms with my captors."</p> + +<p>"Dat good--Injin know how to look two way--warrior <i>must</i>, if great +warrior."</p> + +<p>"I wish I had some proof, Nick, that you are dealing with me in good +faith."</p> + +<p>"Call <i>dat</i> proof, den!" growled the savage, seizing Maud's little Land, +and passing it through the opening, before the startled girl was fully +aware of what he meant to do.</p> + +<p>Willoughby knew the hand at a glance. He would have recognised it, in that +forest solitude, by its symmetry and whiteness, its delicacy and its +fullness; but one of the taper fingers wore a ring that, of late, Maud had +much used; being a diamond hoop that she had learned was a favourite +ornament of her real mother's. It is not surprising, therefore, that he +seized the pledge that was thus strangely held forth, and had covered it +with kisses, before Maud had presence of mind sufficient, or strength to +reclaim it. This she would not do, however, at such a moment, without +returning all the proofs of ardent affection that were lavished on her own +hand, by giving a gentle pressure to the one in which it was clasped.</p> + +<p>"This is so strange, Maud!--so every way extraordinary, that I know not +what to think," the young man whispered soon as he could get a glimpse of +the face of the sweet girl. "Why are you here, beloved, and in such +company?"</p> + +<p>"You will trust <i>me</i>, Bob--Nick comes as your friend. Aid him all you can, +now, and be silent. When free, then will be the time to learn all."</p> + +<p>A sign of assent succeeded, and the major withdrew a step, in order to +ascertain the course Nick meant to pursue. By this time, the Indian was at +work with his knife, and he soon passed the chisel in to the prisoner, who +seized it, and commenced cutting into the logs, at a point opposite to +that where the Tuscarora was whittling away the wood. The object was to +introduce the saw, and it required some labour to effect such a purpose. +By dint of application, however, and by cutting the log above as well as +that below, sufficient space was obtained in the course of a few minutes. +Nick then passed the saw in, through the opening, it exceeding his skill +to use such a tool with readiness.</p> + +<p>By this time, Willoughby was engaged with the earnestness and zeal of the +captive who catches a glimpse of liberty. Notwithstanding, he proceeded +intelligently and with caution. The blanket given him by his captors, as a +pallet, was hanging from a nail, and he took the precaution to draw this +mil, and to place it above the spot selected for the cut, that he might +suspend the blanket so as to conceal what he was at, in the event of a +visit from without. When all was ready, and the blanket was properly +placed, he began to make long heavy strokes with the tool, in a way to +deaden the sound. This was a delicate operation; but the work's being done +behind the blanket, had some effect in lessening the noise. As the work +proceeded, Willoughby's hopes increased; and he was soon delighted to hear +from Nick, that it was time to insert the saw in another place. Success is +apt to induce carelessness; and, as the task proceeded, Willoughby's arm +worked with greater rapidity, until a noise at the door gave the startling +information that he was about to be visited. There was just time to finish +the last cut, and to let the blanket fall, before the door opened. The +saw-dust and chips had all been carefully removed, as the work proceeded, +and of these none were left to betray the secret.</p> + +<p>There might have been a quarter of a minute between the moment when +Willoughby seated himself, with his book in his hand, and that in which +the door opened. Short as was this interval, it sufficed for Nick to +remove the piece of log last cut, and to take away the handle of the saw; +the latter change permitting the blanket to hang so close against the logs +as completely to conceal the hole. The sentinel who appeared was an Indian +in externals, but a dull, white countryman in fact and character.</p> + +<p>"I thought I heard the sound of a saw, major," he said listlessly; "yet +everything looks quiet, and in its place here!"</p> + +<p>"Where should I get such a tool?" Willoughby coolly replied; "and what is +there here to saw?"</p> + +<p>"'Twas as nat'ral, too, as the carpenter himself could make it, in sound!"</p> + +<p>"Possibly the mill has been set in motion by some of your idlers, and you +have heard the large saw, which, at a distance, may sound like a smaller +one near by."</p> + +<p>The man looked incredulously at his prisoner for a moment; then he drew to +the door, with the air of one who was determined to assure himself of the +truth, calling aloud as he did so, to one of his companions to join him. +Willoughby knew that no time was to be lost. In half-a-minute, he had +passed the hole, dropped the blanket before it, had circled the slender +waist of Maud with one arm, and was shoving aside the bushes with the +other, as he followed Nick from the straitened passage between the lean-to +and the rock. The major seemed more bent on bearing Maud from the spot, +than on saving himself. Her feet scarce touched the ground, as he ascended +to the place where Joyce had halted. Here Nick stood an instant, with a +finger raised in intense listening. His practised ears caught the sound of +voices in the lean-to, then scarce fifty feet distant. Men called to each +other by name, and then a voice directly beneath them, proclaimed that a +head was already thrust through the hole.</p> + +<p>"Here is your saw, and here is its workmanship!" exclaimed this voice.</p> + +<p>"And here is blood, too," said another. "See! the ground has been a pool +beneath those stones."</p> + +<p>Maud shuddered, as if the soul were leaving its earthly tenement, and +Willoughby signed impatiently for Nick to proceed. But the savage, for a +brief instant, seemed bewildered The danger below, however, increased, and +evidently drew so near, that he turned and glided up the ascent. +Presently, the fugitives reached the descending path, that diverged from +the larger one they were on, and by which Nick and Maud had so recently +come diagonally up this cliff. Nick leaped into it, and then the +intervening bushes concealed their persons from any who might continue on +the upward course. There was an open space, however, a little lower down; +and the quick-witted savage came to a stand under a close cover, believing +flight to be useless should their pursuers actually follow on their heels.</p> + +<p>The halt had not been made half-a-dozen seconds, when the voices of the +party ascending in chase, were heard above the fugitives. Willoughby felt +an impulse to dash down the path, bearing Maud in his arms, but Nick +interposed his own body to so rash a movement. There was not time for a +discussion, and the sounds of voices, speaking English too distinctly to +pass for any but those of men of English birth, or English origin, were +heard disputing about the course to be taken, at the point of junction +between the two paths.</p> + +<p>"Go by the lower," called out one, from the rear; "he will run down the +stream, and make for the settlements on the Hudson. Once before, he has +done this, as I know from Strides himself."</p> + +<p>"D---n Strides!" answered another, more in front. "He is a sniveling +scoundrel, who loves liberty, as a hog loves corn for the sake of good +living. I say go the <i>upper</i>, which will carry him on the heights, and +bring him out near his father's garrison."</p> + +<p>"Here are marks of feet on the upper," observed a third, "though they seem +to be coming <i>down</i>, instead of going <i>up</i> the hill."</p> + +<p>"It is the trail of the fellows who have helped him to escape. Push <i>up</i> +the hill, and we shall have them all in ten minutes. Push <i>up</i>--push +<i>up</i>."</p> + +<p>This decided the matter. It appeared to Willoughby that at least a dozen +men ran up the path, above his head, eager in the pursuit, and +anticipating success. Nick waited no longer, but glided down the cliff, +and was soon in the broad path which led along the margin of the stream, +and was the ordinary thoroughfare in going to or from the Knoll. Here the +fugitives, as on the advance, were exposed to the danger of accidental +meetings; but, fortunately, no one was met, or seen, and the bridge was +passed in safety. Turning short to the north, Nick plunged into the woods +again, following the cow-path by which he had so recently descended to the +glen. No pause was made even here. Willoughby had an arm round the waist +of Maud, and bore her forward, with a rapidity to which her own strength +was altogether unequal. In less than ten minutes from the time the +prisoner had escaped, the fugitives reached the level of the rock of the +water-fall, or that of the plain of the Dam. As it was reasonably certain +that none of the invaders had passed to that side of the valley, haste was +no longer necessary, and Maud was permitted to pause for breath.</p> + +<p>The halt was short, however, our heroine, herself, now feeling as if the +major could not be secure until he was fairly within the palisades. In +vain did Willoughby try to pacify her fears and to assure her of his +comparative safety; Maud's nerves were excited, and then she had the +dreadful tidings, which still remained to be told pressing upon her +spirits, and quickening all her natural impulses and sentiments.</p> + +<p>Nick soon made the signal to proceed, and then the three began to circle +the flats, as mentioned in the advance of Maud and her companion. When +they reached a favourable spot, the Indian once more directed a halt, +intimating his own intention to move to the margin of the woods, in order +to reconnoitre. Both his companions heard this announcement with +satisfaction, for Willoughby was eager to say to Maud directly that which +he had so plainly indicated by means of the box, and to extort from her a +confession that she was not offended; while Maud herself felt the +necessity of letting the major know the melancholy circumstance that yet +remained to be told. With these widely distinct feelings uppermost, our +two lovers saw Nick quit them, each impatient, restless and uneasy.</p> + +<p>Willoughby had found a seat for Maud, on a log, and he now placed himself +at her side, and took her hand, pressing it silently to his heart.</p> + +<p>"Nick has then been a true man, dearest Maud," he said, "notwithstanding +all my doubts and misgivings of him."</p> + +<p>"Yes; he gave me to understand you would hardly trust him, and that was +the reason I was induced to accompany him. We both thought, Bob, you would +confide in <i>me</i>!"</p> + +<p>"Bless you--bless you--beloved Maud--but have you seen Mike--has <i>he</i> had +any interview with you--in a word, did he deliver you my box?"</p> + +<p>Maud's feelings had been so much excited, that the declaration of +Willoughby's love, precious as it was to her heart failed to produce the +outward signs that are usually exhibited by the delicate and sensitive of +her sex, when they listen to the insinuating language for the first time. +Her thoughts were engrossed with her dreadful secret, and with the best +and least shocking means of breaking it to the major. The tint on her +cheek, therefore, scarce deepened, as this question was put to her, while +her eye, full of earnest tenderness, still remained riveted on the face of +her companion.</p> + +<p>"I have seen Mike, dear Bob," she answered, with a steadiness that had its +rise in her singleness of purpose--"and he <i>has</i> shown me--<i>given</i> me, +the box."</p> + +<p>"But have you understood me, Maud?--You will remember that box contained +the great secret of my life!"</p> + +<p>"This I well remember--yes, the box contains the great secret of your +life."</p> + +<p>"But--you cannot have understood me, Maud--else would you not look so +unconcerned--so vacantly--I am not understood, and am miserable!"</p> + +<p>"No--no--no"--interrupted Maud, hurriedly--"I understand <i>all</i> you have +wished to say, and you have no cause to be--" Maud's voice became choked, +for she recollected the force of the blow that she had in reserve.</p> + +<p>"This is so strange!--altogether so unlike your usual manner, Maud, that +there must be some mistake. The box contained nothing but your own hair, +dearest."</p> + +<p>"Yes; nothing else. It was <i>my</i> hair; I knew it the instant I saw it."</p> + +<p>"And did it tell you no secret?--Why was Beulah's hair not with it? Why +did I cherish <i>your</i> hair, Maud, and your's alone? You have not understood +me!"</p> + +<p>"I have, dear, dear Bob!--You love me--you wished to say we are not +brother and sister, in truth; that we have an affection that is far +stronger--one that will bind us together for life. Do not look so +wretched, Bob; I understand everything you wish to say."</p> + +<p>"This is so very extraordinary!--So unlike yourself, Maud, I know not what +to make of it! I sent you that box, beloved one, to say that you had my +whole heart; that I thought of you day and night; that you were the great +object of my existence, and that, while misery would be certain without +you, felicity would be just as certain with you; in a word, that I love +you, Maud, and can never love another."</p> + +<p>"Yes, so I understood you, Bob."--Maud, spite of her concentration of +feeling on the dreadful secret, could not refrain from blushing--"It was +too plain to be mistaken."</p> + +<p>"And how was my declaration received? Tell me at once, dear girl, with +your usual truth of character, and frankness--<i>can</i> you, <i>will</i> you love +me in return?"</p> + +<p>This was a home question, and, on another occasion, it might have produced +a scene of embarrassment and hesitation. But Maud was delighted with the +idea that it was in her power to break the violence of the blow she was +about to inflict, by setting Robert Willoughby's mind at ease on this +great point.</p> + +<p>"I <i>do</i> love you, Bob," she said, with fervent affection beaming in every +lineament of her angel face--"<i>have</i> loved you, for years--how could it be +otherwise? I have scarce seen any other to love; and how see you, and +refrain?"</p> + +<p>"Blessed, blessed, Maud--but this is so strange--I fear you do not +understand me--I am not speaking of such affection as Beulah bears me, as +brother and sister feel; I speak of the love that my mother bore my +father--of the love of man and wife"----</p> + +<p>A groan from Maud stopped the vehement young man, who received his +companion in his arms, as she bowed her head on his bosom, half fainting.</p> + +<p>"Is this resentment, dearest, or is it consent?" he asked, bewildered by +all that passed.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Bob--Father--father--father!"</p> + +<p>"My father!--what of him, Maud? Why has the allusion to him brought you to +this state?"</p> + +<p>"They have killed him, dearest, dearest Bob; and you must now be father, +husband, brother, son, all in one. We have no one left but you!"</p> + +<p>A long pause succeeded. The shock was terrible to Robert Willoughby, but +he bore up against it, like a man. Maud's incoherent and unnatural manner +was now explained, and while unutterable tenderness of manner--a +tenderness that was increased by what had just passed--was exhibited by +each to the other, no more was said of love. A common grief appeared to +bind their hearts closer together, but it was unnecessary to dwell on +their mutual affection in words. Robert Willoughby's sorrow mingled with +that of Maud, and, as he folded her to his heart, their faces were +literally bathed in each other's tears.</p> + +<p>It was some time before Willoughby could ask, or Maud give, an +explanation. Then the latter briefly recounted all she knew, her companion +listening with the closest attention. The son thought the occurrence as +extraordinary as it was afflicting, but there was not leisure for inquiry.</p> + +<p>It was, perhaps, fortunate for our lovers that Nick's employment kept him +away. For nearly ten minutes longer did he continue absent; then he +returned, slowly, thoughtful, and possibly a little disturbed. At the +sound of his footstep, Willoughby released Maud from his arms, and both +assumed an air of as much tranquillity as the state of their feelings +would allow.</p> + +<p>"Better march"--said Nick, in his sententious manner--"Mohawk very mad."</p> + +<p>"Do you see the signs of this?" asked the major, scarce knowing what he +said.</p> + +<p>"Alway make Injin mad; lose scalp. Prisoner run away, carry scalp with +him."</p> + +<p>"I rather think, Nick, you do my captors injustice; so far from desiring +anything so cruel, they treated me well enough, considering the +circumstances, and that we are in the woods."</p> + +<p>"Yes; spare scalp, 'cause t'ink rope ready. Nebber trust Mohawk--all bad +Injin."</p> + +<p>To own the truth, one of the great failings of the savages of the American +forests, was to think of the neighbouring tribes, as the Englishman is +known to think of the Frenchman, and vice versa; as the German thinks of +both, and all think of the Yankee. In a word, his own tribe contains +everything that is excellent, with the Pawnee, the Osage and +Pottawattomie, as Paris contains all that is perfect in the eyes of the +<i>bourgeois</i>, London in those of the cockney, and this virtuous republic in +those of its own enlightened citizens; while the hostile communities are +remorselessly given up to the tender solicitude of those beings which lead +nations, as well as individuals, into the sinks of perdition. Thus Nick, +liberalized as his mind had comparatively become by intercourse with the +whites, still retained enough of the impressions of childhood, to put the +worst construction on the acts of all his competitors, and the best on his +own. In this spirit, then, he warned his companions against placing any +reliance on the mercy of the Mohawks.</p> + +<p>Major Wilioughby, however, had now sufficient inducements to move, without +reference to the hostile intentions of his late captors. That his escape +would excite a malignant desire for vengeance, he could easily believe; +but his mother, his revered heart-broken mother, and the patient, +afflicted Beulah, were constantly before him, and gladly did he press on, +Maud leaning on his arm, the instant Nick led the way. To say that the +lovely, confiding being who clung to his side, as the vine inclines to the +tree, was forgotten, or that he did not retain a vivid recollection of all +that she had so ingenuously avowed in his favour, would not be rigidly +accurate, though the hopes thus created shone in the distance, under the +present causes of grief, as the sun's rays illumine the depths of the +heavens, while his immediate face is entirely hidden by an eclipse.</p> + +<p>"Did you see any signs of a movement against the house, Nick?" demanded +the major, when the three had been busily making their way, for several +minutes, round the margin of the forest.</p> + +<p>The Tuscarora turned, nodded his head, and glanced at Maud.</p> + +<p>"Speak frankly, Wyandotté--"</p> + +<p>"Good!" interrupted the Indian with emphasis, assuming a dignity of manner +the major had never before witnessed. "Wyandotté come--Nick gone away +altogeder. Nebber see Sassy Nick, ag'in, at Dam."</p> + +<p>"I am glad to hear this, Tuscarora, and as Maud says, you may speak +plainly."</p> + +<p>"T'ink, den, best be ready. Mohawk feel worse dan if he lose ten, t'ree, +six scalp. Injin know Injin feelin'. Pale-face can't stop red-skin, when +blood get up."</p> + +<p>"Press on, then, Wyandotté, for the sake of God--let me, at least, die +in defence of my beloved mother!"</p> + +<p>"Moder; good!--Doctor Tuscarora, when death grin in face! She <i>my</i> moder, +too!"</p> + +<p>This was said energetically, and in a manner to assure his listeners that +they had a firm ally in this warlike savage. Little did either dream, at +that instant, that this same wayward being--the creature of passion, and +the fierce avenger of all his own fancied griefs, was the cause of the +dreadful blow that had so recently fallen on them.</p> + +<p>The sun still wanted an hour of setting, when Nick brought his companions +to the fallen tree, by which they were again to cross the rivulet. Here he +paused, pointing to the roofs of the Hut, which were then just visible +through the trees; as much as to say that his duty, as a guide, was done.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Wyandotté," said Willoughby; "if it be the will of God to +carry us safely through the crisis, you shall be well rewarded for this +service."</p> + +<p>"Wyandotté chief--want no dollar. Been Injin runner--now be Injin warrior. +Major follow--squaw follow--Mohawk in hurry."</p> + +<p>This was enough. Nick passed out of the forest on a swift walk--but for +the female, it would have been his customary, loping trot--followed by +Willoughby; his arm, again, circling the waist of Maud, whom he bore along +scarce permitting her light form to touch the earth. At this instant, four +or five conches sounded, in the direction of the mills, and along the +western margin of the meadows. Blast seemed to echo blast; then the +infernal yell, known as the war-whoop, was heard all along the opposite +face of the buildings. Judging from the sounds, the meadows were alive +with assailants, pressing on for the palisades.</p> + +<p>At this appalling moment, Joyce appeared on the ridge of the roof, +shouting, in a voice that might have been heard to the farthest point in +the valley--</p> + +<p>"Stand to your arms, my men," he cried; "here the scoundrels come; hold +your fire until they attempt to cross the stockade."</p> + +<p>To own the truth, there was a little bravado in this, mingled with the +stern courage that habit and nature had both contributed to lend the +serjeant. The veteran knew the feebleness of his garrison, and fancied +that warlike cries, from himself, might counterbalance the yells that were +now rising from all the fields in front of the house.</p> + +<p>As for Nick and the major, they pressed forward, too earnest and excited, +to speak. The former measured the distance by his ear; and thought there +was still time to gain a cover, if no moment was lost. To reach the foot +of the cliff, took just a minute; to ascend to the hole in the palisade, +half as much time; and to pass it, a quarter. Maud was dragged ahead, as +much as she ran; and the period when the three were passing swiftly round +to the gate, was pregnant with imminent risk. They were seen, and fifty +rifles were discharged, as it might be, at a command. The bullets pattered +against the logs of the Hut, and against the palisades, but no one was +hurt. The voice of Willoughby opened the gate, and the next instant the +three were within the shelter of the court.</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch28"> +<h2>Chapter XXVIII.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> "They have not perish'd--no!<br /> + Kind words, remembered voices, once so sweet,<br /> + Smiles, radiant long ago,<br /> + And features, the great soul's apparent seat;</p> + +<p> "All shall come back, each tie<br /> + Of pure affection shall be knit again;<br /> + Alone shall evil die,<br /> + And sorrow dwell a prisoner in thy reign.</p> + +<p> "And then shall I behold<br /> + Him, by whose kind paternal side I sprung,<br /> + And her, who still and cold,<br /> + Fills the next grave--the beautiful and young."</p> + +<p> Bryant's Past.</p></div> + +<p> +The scene that followed passed like a hurricane sweeping over the valley. +Joyce had remained on the ridge of the roof, animating his little +garrison, and endeavouring to intimidate his enemies, to the last moment. +The volley of bullets had reached the palisades and the buildings, and he +was still unharmed. But the sound of the major's voice below, and the cry +that Miss Maud and Nick were at the gate, produced a sudden change in all +his dispositions for the defence. The serjeant ran below himself, to +report and receive his orders from the new commander, while all the +negroes, females as well as males, rushed down into the court, to meet +their young master and mistress.</p> + +<p>It is not easy to describe the minute that succeeded, after Willoughby and +Maud were surrounded by the blacks. The delight of these untutored beings +was in proportion to their recent sorrow. The death of their master, and +the captivity of Master Bob and Miss Maud, had appeared to them like a +general downfall of the family of Willoughby; but here was a revival of +its hopes, that came as unexpectedly as its previous calamities. Amid the +clamour, cries, tears, lamentations, and bursts of uncontrollable +delight, Joyce could scarce find a moment in which to discharge his duty.</p> + +<p>"I see how it is, serjeant," exclaimed Willoughby; "the assault is now +making, and you desire orders."</p> + +<p>"There is not an instant to lose, Major Willoughby; the enemy are at the +palisades already, and there is no one at his station but Jamie and young +Blodget."</p> + +<p>"To your posts, men--to your posts, everybody. The house shall be made +good at all hazards. For God's sake, Joyce, give me arms. I feel that my +father's wrongs are to be revenged."</p> + +<p>"Robert--dear, dear Robert," said Maud, throwing her arms on his +shoulders, "this is no moment for such bitter feelings. Defend us, as I +know you will, but defend us like a Christian."</p> + +<p>One kiss was all that the time allowed, and Maud rushed into the house to +seek her mother and Beulah, feeling as if the tidings of Bob's return +might prove some little alleviation to the dreadful blow under which they +must be suffering.</p> + +<p>As for Willoughby, he had no time for pious efforts at consolation. The +Hut was to be made good against a host of enemies; and the cracking of +rifles from the staging and the fields, announced that the conflict had +begun in earnest. Joyce handed him a rifle, and together they ascended +rapidly to the roofs. Here they found Jamie Allen and Blodget, loading and +firing as fast as they could, and were soon joined by all the negroes. +Seven men were now collected on the staging; and placing three in front, +and two on each wing, the major's dispositions were made; moving, himself, +incessantly, to whatever point circumstances called. Mike, who knew little +of the use of fire-arms, was stationed at the gate, as porter and warder. + +It was so unusual a thing for savages to attack by daylight, unless they +could resort to surprise, that the assailants were themselves a little +confused. The assault was made, under a sudden feeling of resentment at +the escape of the prisoner, and contrary to the wishes of the principal +white men in the party, though the latter were dragged in the train of +events, and had to seem to countenance that of which they really +disapproved. These sudden outbreakings were sufficiently common in +Indian warfare, and often produced memorable disasters. On the present +occasion, however, the most that could occur was a repulse, and to this +the leaders, demagogues who owed their authority to the excesses and +necessities of the times, were fain to submit, should it happen.</p> + +<p>The onset had been fierce and too unguarded. The moment the volley was +fired at the major, the assailants broke cover, and the fields were alive +with men. This was the instant when the defence was left to Allen and +Blodget, else might the exposure have cost the enemy dear. As it was, the +last brought down one of the boldest of the Indians while the mason fired +with good will, though with less visible effect. The yell that followed +this demonstration of the apparent force of the garrison, was a wild +mixture of anger and exultation, and the rush at the palisades was general +and swift. As Willoughby posted his reinforcement, the stockade was alive +with men, some ascending, some firing from its summit, some aiding others +to climb, and one falling within the enclosure, a second victim to +Blodget's unerring aim.</p> + +<p>The volley that now came from the roofs staggered the savages, most of +whom fell outward, and sought cover in their usual quick and dexterous +manner. Three or four, however, thought it safer to fall within the +palisades, seeking safety immediately under the sides of the buildings. +The view of these men, who were perfectly safe from the fire of the +garrison so long as the latter made no sortie, gave an idea to those +without, and produced, what had hitherto been wanting, something like +order and concert in the attack. The firing now became desultory and +watchful on both sides, the attacking party keeping themselves covered by +the trees and fences as well as they could, while the garrison only peered +above the ridge of the roof, as occasions required.</p> + +<p>The instant the outbreak occurred, all the <i>ci-devant</i> dependants of +captain Willoughby, who had deserted, abandoned their various occupations +in the woods and fields, collecting in and around the cabins, in the midst +of their wives and children. Joel, alone, was not to be seen. He had +sought his friends among the leaders of the party, behind a stack of hay, +at a respectful distance from the house, and to which there was a safe +approach by means of the rivulet and its fringe of bushes. The little +council that was held at this spot took place just as the half-dozen +assailants who had fallen within the palisades were seen clustering along +under the walls of the buildings.</p> + +<p>"Natur' gives you a hint how to conduct," observed Joel, pointing out this +circumstance to his principal companions, as they all lay peering over the +upper portions of the stack, at the Hut. "You see them men under the +eaves--they're a plaguy sight safer up there, than we be down here; and; +if 'twere'n't for the look of the thing, I wish I was with 'em. That house +will never be taken without a desperate sight of fightin'; for the captain +is an old warrior, and seems to like to snuff gunpowder"--the reader will +understand none knew of the veteran's death but those in the house--"and +won't be for givin' up while he has a charge left. If I had twenty +men--no, thirty would be better, where these fellows be, I think the place +could be carried in a few minutes, and then liberty would get its rights, +and your monarchy-men would be put down as they all desarve."</p> + +<p>"What do then?" demanded the leading Mohawk, in his abrupt guttural +English. "No shoot--can't kill log."</p> + +<p>"No, chief, that's reasonable, an' ongainsayable, too; but only one-half +the inner gate is hung, and I've contrived matters so, on purpose, that +the props of the half that isn't on the hinges can be undone, all the same +as onlatching the door. If I only had the right man here, now, the +business should be done, and that speedily."</p> + +<p>"Go 'self," answered the Mohawk, not without an expression of distrust and +contempt.</p> + +<p>"Every man to his callin', chief. My trade is peace, and politics, and +liberty, while your's is war. Howsever, I can put you, and them that likes +fightin', on the trail, and then we'll see how matters can be done. +Mortality! How them desperate devils on the roof do keep blazin' away! It +wouldn't surprise me if they shot somebody, or get hurt themselves!"</p> + +<p>Such were the deliberations of Joel Strides on a battle. The Indian +leaders, however, gave some of their ordinary signals, to bring their +'young men' more under command and, sending messengers with orders in +different directions, they left the haystack, compelling Joel to accompany +them.</p> + +<p>The results of these movements were soon apparent. The most daring of the +Mohawks made their way into the rivulet, north of the buildings, and were +soon at the foot of the cliff. A little reconnoitring told them that the +hole which Joel had pointed out, had not been closed since the entrance of +Willoughby and his companions. Led by their chief, the warriors stole up +the ascent, and began to crawl through the same inlet which had served as +an outlet to so many deserters, the previous night, accompanied by their +wives and children.</p> + +<p>The Indians in front had been ordered to occupy the attention of the +garrison, while this movement was in the course of execution. At a signal, +they raised a yell, unmasked them, fired one volley, and seemed to make +another rush at the works. This was the instant chosen for the passage of +the hole, and the seven leading savages effected their entrance within the +stockade, with safety. The eighth man was shot by Blodget, in the hole +itself. The body was instantly withdrawn by the legs, and all in the rear +fell back under the cover of the cliff.</p> + +<p>Willoughby now understood the character of the assault. Stationing Joyce, +with a party to command the hole, he went himself into the library, +accompanied by Jamie and Blodget, using a necessary degree of caution. +Fortunately the windows were raised, and a sudden volley routed all the +Indians who had taken shelter beneath the rocks. These men, however, fled +no further than the rivulet, where they rallied under cover of the bushes, +keeping up a dropping fire at the windows. For several minutes, the combat +was confined to this spot; Willoughby, by often shifting from window to +window along the rear of the house, getting several volleys that told, at +the men under the cover.</p> + +<p>As yet, all the loss had been on the side of the assailants, though +several of the garrison, including both Willoughby and Joyce, had divers +exceedingly narrow escapes. Quite a dozen of the assailants had suffered, +though only four were killed outright. By this time, the assault had +lasted an hour, and the shades of evening were closing around the place. +Daniel, the miller, had been sent by Joel to spring the mine they had +prepared together, but, making the mistake usual with the uninitiated, he +had hung back, to let others pass the hole first, and was consequently +carried down in the crowd, within the cover of the bushes of the rivulet.</p> + +<p>Willoughby had a short consultation with Joyce, and then he set seriously +about the preparations necessary for a light defence. By a little +management, and some persona, risk, the bullet-proof shutters of the north +wing of the Hut were all closed, rendering the rear of the buildings +virtually impregnable. When this was done, and the gates of the area were +surely shut, the place was like a ship in a gale, under short canvass and +hove-to. The enemy within the palisades were powerless, to all appearance, +the walls of stone preventing anything like an application of fire. Of the +last, however, there was a little danger on the roof, the Indians +frequently using arrows for this purpose, and water was placed on the +staging in readiness to be used on occasion.</p> + +<p>All these preparations occupied some time, and it was quite dark ere they +were completed. Then Willoughby had a moment for reflection; the firing +having entirely ceased, and nothing further remaining to do.</p> + +<p>"We are safe for the present, Joyce," the major observed, as he and the +serjeant stood together on the staging, after having consulted on the +present aspect of things; "and I have a solemn duty, yet, to perform--my +dear mother--and the body of my father--"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir; I would not speak of either, so long as it was your honour's +pleasure to remain silent on the subject. Madam Willoughby is sorely cut +down, as you may imagine, sir; and, as for my gallant old commander, he +died in his harness, as a soldier should."</p> + +<p>"Where have you taken the body?--has my mother seen it?"</p> + +<p>"Lord bless you, sir, Madam Willoughby had his honour carried into her own +room, and there she and Miss Beulah"--so all of the Hut still called the +wife of Evert Beekman--"she and Miss Beulah, kneel, and pray, and weep, +as you know, sir, ladies will, whenever anything severe comes over their +feelings--God bless them both, we all say, and think, ay, and pray, too, +in our turns, sir."</p> + +<p>"Very well, Joyce. Even a soldier may drop a tear over the dead body of +his own father. God only knows what this night will bring forth, and I may +never have a moment as favourable as this, for discharging so solemn a +duty."</p> + +<p>"Yes, your honour"--Joyce fancied that the major had succeeded to this +appellation by the decease of the captain--"yes, your honour, the +commandments, that the Rev. Mr. Woods used to read to us of a Sunday, tell +us all about that; and it is quite as much the duty of a Christian to mind +the commandments, I do suppose, as it is for a soldier to obey orders. God +bless you, sir, and carry you safe through the affair. I had a touch of it +with Miss Maud, myself, and know what it is. It's bad enough to lose an +old commander in so sudden a way like, without having to <i>feel</i> what has +happened in company with so sweet ladies, as these we have in the house. +As for these blackguards down inside the works, let them give you no +uneasiness; it will be light work for us to keep them busy, compared to +what your honour has to do."</p> + +<p>It would seem by the saddened manner in which Willoughby moved away, that +he was of the same way of thinking as the serjeant, on this melancholy +subject. The moment, however, was favourable for the object, and delay +could not be afforded. Then Willoughby's disposition was to console his +mother, even while he wept with her over the dead body of him they had +lost.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the wild uproar that had so prevailed, not only without, +but within the place, the portion of the house that was occupied by the +widowed matron and her daughters, was silent as the grave. All the +domestics were either on the staging, or at the loops, leaving the +kitchens and offices deserted. The major first entered a little +ante-chamber, that opened between a store-room, and the apartment usually +occupied by his mother; this being the ordinary means of approach to her +room. Here he paused, and listened quite a minute, in the hope of catching +some sound from within that might prepare him for the scene he was to +meet. Not a whisper, a moan, or a sob could be heard; and he ventured to +tap lightly at the door. This was unheeded; waiting another minute, as +much in dread as in respect, he raised the latch with some such awe, as +one would enter into a tomb of some beloved one. A single lamp let him +into the secrets of this solemn place.</p> + +<p>In the centre of the room, lay stretched on a large table, the manly form +of the author of his being. The face was uppermost, and the limbs had been +laid, in decent order, as is usual with the dead that have been cared for. +No change had been made in the dress, however, the captain lying in the +hunting-shirt in which he had sallied forth; the crimson tint which +disfigured one breast, having been sedulously concealed by the attention +of Great Smash. The passage from life to eternity had been so sudden, as +to leave the usual benignant expression on the countenance of the corpse; +the paleness which had succeeded the fresh ruddy tint of nature, alone +denoting that the sleep was not a sweet repose, but that of death.</p> + +<p>The body of his father was the first object that met the gaze of the +major. He advanced, leaned forward, kissed the marble-like forehead, with +reverence, and groaned in the effort to suppress an unmanly outbreaking of +sorrow. Then he turned to seek the other well-beloved faces. There sat +Beulah, in a corner of the room, as if to seek shelter for her infant, +folding that infant to her heart, keeping her look riveted, in anguish, on +the inanimate form that she had ever loved beyond a daughter's love. Even +the presence of her brother scarce drew a glance away from the sad +spectacle; though, when it at length did, the youthful matron bowed her +face down to that of her child, and wept convulsively. She was nearest to +the major, who moved to her side, and kissed the back of her neck, with +kind affection. The meaning was understood; and Beulah, while unable to +look up, extended a hand to meet the fraternal pressure it received.</p> + +<p>Maud was near, kneeling at the side of the bed. Her whole attitude denoted +the abstraction of a mind absorbed in worship and solicitation. Though +Willoughby's heart yearned to raise her in his arms; to console her, and +bid her lean on himself, in future, for her earthly support, he too much +respected her present occupation, to break in upon it with any irreverent +zeal of his own. His eye turned from this loved object, therefore, and +hurriedly looked for his mother.</p> + +<p>The form of Mrs. Willoughby had escaped the first glances of her son, in +consequence of the position in which she had placed herself. The stricken +wife was in a corner of the room, her person partly concealed by the +drapery of a window-curtain; though this was evidently more the effect of +accident, than of design. Willoughby started, as he caught the first +glance of his beloved parent's face; and he felt a chill pass over his +whole frame. There she sat upright, motionless, tearless, without any of +the alleviating weaknesses of a less withering grief, her mild countenance +exposed to the light of the lamp, and her eyes riveted on the face of the +dead. In this posture had she remained for hours; no tender cares on the +part of her daughters; no attentions from her domestics; no outbreaking of +her own sorrows, producing any change. Even the clamour of the assault had +passed by her like the idle wind.</p> + +<p>"My mother--my poor--dear--heart-broken mother!" burst from Willoughby, at +this sight, and he stepped quickly forward, and knelt at her feet.</p> + +<p>But Bob--the darling Bob--his mother's pride and joy, was unheeded. The +heart, which had so long beaten for others only; which never seemed to +feel a wish, or a pulsation, but in the service of the objects of its +affection, was not sufficiently firm to withstand the blow that had +lighted on it so suddenly. Enough of life remained, however, to support +the frame for a while; and the will still exercised its power over the +mere animal functions. Her son shut out the view of the body, and she +motioned him aside with an impatience of manner he had never before +witnessed from the same quarter. Inexpressibly shocked, the major took her +hands, by gentle compulsion, covering them with kisses, and literally +bathing them in tears.</p> + +<p>"Oh! mother--dearest, dearest mother!" he cried, "<i>will</i> you not--<i>do</i> you +not know <i>me</i>--Robert--Bob--your much-indulged, grateful, affectionate +son. If father is gone into the immediate presence of the God he revered +and served, I am still left to be a support to your declining years. Lean +on me, mother, next to your Father in Heaven."</p> + +<p>"Will he ever get up, Robert?" whispered the widowed mother. "You speak +too loud, and may rouse him before his time. He promised me to bring you +back; and he ever kept his promises. He had a long march, and is weary, +See, how sweetly he sleeps!"</p> + +<p>Robert Willoughby bowed his head to his mother's knees, and groaned aloud. +When he raised his face again, he saw the arms of Maud elevated towards +heaven, as if she would pluck down that consolation for her mother, that +her spirit was so fervently asking of the Almighty. Then he gazed into the +face of his mother again; hoping to catch a gleam of some expression and +recognition, that denoted more of reason. It was in vain; the usual +placidity, the usual mild affection were there; but both were blended with +the unnatural halo of a mind excited to disease, if not to madness. A +slight exclamation, which sounded like alarm, came from Beulah; and +turning towards his sister, Willoughby saw that she was clasping Evert +still closer to her bosom, with her eyes now bent on the door. Looking in +the direction of the latter, he perceived that Nick had stealthily +entered, the room.</p> + +<p>The unexpected appearance of Wyandotté might well alarm the youthful +mother. He had applied his war-paint since entering the Hut; and this, +though it indicated an intention to fight in defence of the house, left a +picture of startling aspect. There was nothing hostile intended by this +visit, however. Nick had come not only in amity, but in a kind concern to +see after the females of the family, who had ever stood high in his +friendship, notwithstanding the tremendous blow he had struck against +their happiness. But he had been accustomed to see those close +distinctions drawn between individuals and colours; and, the other +proprieties admitted, would not have hesitated about consoling the widow +with the offer of his own hand. Major Willoughby, understanding, from the +manner of the Indian, the object of his visit, suffered him to pursue his +own course, in the hope it might rouse his mother to a better +consciousness of objects around her.</p> + +<p>Nick walked calmly up to the table, and gazed at the face of his victim +with a coldness that proved he felt no compunction. Still he hesitated +about touching the body, actually raising his hand, as if with that +intent, and then withdrawing it, like one stung by conscience. Willoughby +noted the act; and, for the first time, a shadowy suspicion glanced on +his mind. Maud had told him all she knew of the manner of his father's +death, and old distrusts began to revive, though so faintly as to produce +no immediate results.</p> + +<p>As for the Indian, the hesitating gesture excepted, the strictest +scrutiny, or the keenest suspicion could have detected no signs of +feeling. The senseless form before him was not less moved than he appeared +to be, so far as the human eye could penetrate. Wyandotté <i>was</i> unmoved. +He believed that, in curing the sores on his own back in this particular +manner, he had done what became a Tuscarora warrior and a chief. Let not +the self-styled Christians of civilized society affect horror at this +instance of savage justice, so long as they go the whole length of the law +of their several communities, in avenging their own fancied wrongs, using +the dagger of calumny instead of the scalping-knife, and rending and +tearing <i>their</i> victims, by the agency of gold and power, like so many +beasts of the field, in all the forms and modes that legal vindictiveness +will either justify or tolerate; often exceeding those broad limits, +indeed, and seeking impunity behind perjuries and frauds.</p> + +<p>Nick's examination of the body was neither hurried nor agitated. When it +was over, he turned calmly to consider the daughters of the deceased.</p> + +<p>"Why you cry--why you 'fear'd," he said, approaching Beulah, and placing +his swarthy hand on the head of her sleeping infant.--"Good squaw--good +pappoose. Wyandotté take care 'em in woods. Bye'm-by go to pale-face town, +and sleep quiet."</p> + +<p>This was rudely said, but it was well meant. Beulah so received it; and +she endeavoured to smile her gratitude in the face of the very being from +whom, more than from all of earth, she would have turned in horror, could +her mental vision have reached the fearful secret that lay buried in his +own bosom. The Indian understood her look; and making a gesture of +encouragement, he moved to the side of the woman whom his own hand had +made a widow.</p> + +<p>The appearance of Wyandotté produced no change in the look or manner of +the matron. The Indian took her hand, and spoke.</p> + +<p>"Squaw <i>berry</i> good," he said, with emphasis. "Why look so sorry--cap'in +gone to happy huntin'-ground of his people. All good dere--chief time +come, <i>must</i> go."</p> + +<p>The widow knew the voice, and by some secret association it recalled the +scenes of the past, producing a momentary revival of her faculties.</p> + +<p>"Nick, <i>you</i> are my friend," she said, earnestly. "Go speak to him, and +see if <i>you</i> can wake him up."</p> + +<p>The Indian fairly started, as he heard this strange proposal. The weakness +lasted only for a moment, however, and he became as stoical, in appearance +at least, as before.</p> + +<p>"No," he said; "squaw quit cap'in, now. Warrior go on last path, all +alone--no want companion.--She look at grave, now and den, and be happy."</p> + +<p>"Happy!" echoed the widow, "what is <i>that</i>, Nick?--what is <i>happy</i>, my +son? It seems a dream--I <i>must</i> have known what it was; but I forget it +all now. Oh! it was cruel, cruel, cruel, to stab a husband, and a +father--wasn't it, Robert?--What say you, Nick--shall I give you more +medicine?--You'll die, Indian, unless you take it--mind what a Christian +woman tells you, and be obedient.--Here, let me hold the cup--there; now +you'll live!"</p> + +<p>Nick recoiled an entire step, and gazed at the still beautiful victim of +his ruthless revenge, in a manner no one had ever before noted in his +mien. His mixed habits left him in ignorance of no shade of the fearful +picture before his eyes, and he began better to comprehend the effects of +the plow he had so hastily struck--a blow meditated for years, though +given at length under a sudden and vehement impulse. The widowed mother, +however, was past noting these changes.</p> + +<p>"No--no--no--Nick," she added, hurriedly, scarce speaking above a whisper, +"do not awake him! God will do that, when he summons his blessed ones to +the foot of his throne. Let us all lie down, and sleep with him. Robert, +do you lie there, at his side, my noble, noble boy; Beulah, place little +Evert and yourself at the other side; Maud, your place is by the head; I +will sleep at his feet; while Nick shall watch, and let us know when it +will be time to rise and pray"</p> + +<p>The general and intense--almost spell-bound--attention with which all in +the room listened to these gentle but touching wanderings of a mind so +single and pure, was interrupted by yells so infernal, and shrieks so wild +and fearful, that it seemed, in sooth, as if the last trump had sounded, +and men were passing forth from their graves to judgment. Willoughby +almost leaped out of the room, and Maud followed, to shut and bolt the +door, when her waist was encircled by the arm of Nick, and she found +herself borne forward towards the din.</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch29"> +<h2>Chapter XXIX.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> "O, Time and Death! with certain pace,<br /> + Though still unequal, hurrying on,<br /> + O'erturning, in your awful race,<br /> + The cot, the palace, and the throne!"</p> + +<p> Sands.</p></div> + +<p> +Maud had little leisure for reflection. The yells and shrieks were +followed by the cries of combatants, and the crack of the rifle. Nick +hurried her along at a rate so rapid that she had not breath to question +or remonstrate, until she found herself at the door of a small store-room, +in which her mother was accustomed to keep articles of domestic economy +that required but little space. Into this room Nick thrust her, and then +she heard the key turn on her egress. For a single moment, Wyandotté stood +hesitating whether he should endeavour to get Mrs. Willoughby and her +other daughter into the same place of security; then, judging of the +futility of the attempt, by the approach of the sounds within, among which +he heard the full, manly voice of Robert Willoughby, calling on the +garrison to be firm, he raised an answering yell to those of the Mohawks, +the war-whoop of his tribe, and plunged into the fray with the desperation +of one who ran a muck, and with the delight of a demon.</p> + +<p>In order to understand the cause of this sudden change, it will be +necessary to return a little, in the order of time. While Willoughby was +with his mother and sisters, Mike had charge of the gate. The rest of the +garrison was either at the loops, or was stationed on the roofs. As the +darkness increased, Joel mustered sufficient courage to crawl through the +hole, and actually reached the gate. Without him, it was found impossible +to spring his mine, and he had been prevailed on to risk this much, on +condition it should not be asked of him to do such violence to his +feelings as to enter the court of a house in which he had seen so many +happy days.</p> + +<p>The arrangement, by which this traitor intended to throw a family upon the +tender mercies of savages, was exceedingly simple. It will be remembered +that only one leaf of the inner gate was hung, the other being put in its +place, where it was sustained by a prop. This prop consisted of a single +piece of timber, of which one end rested on the ground, and the other on +the centre of the gate; the last being effectually prevented from slipping +by pins of wood, driven into the massive wood-work of the gate, above its +end. The lower end of the prop rested against a fragment of rock that +nature had placed at this particular spot. As the work had been set up in +a hurry, it was found necessary to place wedges between the lower end of +the prop and the rock, in order to force the leaf properly into its +groove, without which it might have been canted to one side, and of course +easily overturned by the exercise of sufficient force from without.</p> + +<p>To all this arrangement, Joel had been a party, and he knew, as a matter +of course, its strong and its weak points. Seizing a favourable moment, he +had loosened the wedges, leaving them in their places, however, but using +the precaution to fasten a bit of small but strong cord to the most +material one of the three, which cord he buried in the dirt, and led half +round a stick driven into the earth, quite near the wall, and thence +through a hole made by one of the hinges, to the outer side of the leaf. +The whole had been done with so much care as to escape the vigilance of +casual observers, and expressly that the overseer might assist his friends +in entering the place, after he himself had provided for his own safety by +flight. The circumstance that no one trod on the side of the gateway where +the unhung leaf stood, prevented the half-buried cord from being disturbed +by any casual footstep.</p> + +<p>As soon as Joel reached the wall of the Hut, his first care was to +ascertain if he were safe from missiles from the loops. Assured of this +fact, he stole round to the gate, and had a consultation with the Mohawk +chief, on the subject of springing the mine. The cord was found in its +place; and, hauling on it gently, Joel was soon certain that he had +removed the wedge, and that force might speedily throw down the unhung +leaf. Still, he proceeded with caution. Applying the point of a lever to +the bottom of the leaf, he hove it back sufficiently to be sure it would +pass inside of its fellow; and then he announced to the grave warrior, who +had watched the whole proceeding, that the time was come to lend his aid.</p> + +<p>There were a dozen reckless whites, in the cluster of savages collected at +the gate; and enough of these were placed at handspikes to effect the +intended dislodgement. The plan was this: while poles were set against the +upper portion of the leaf, to force it within the line of the suspended +part, handspikes and crowbars, of which a sufficiency had been provided by +Joel's forethought, were to be applied between the hinge edge and the +wall, to cast the whole over to the other side.</p> + +<p>Unluckily, Mike had been left at the gate as the sentinel. A more +upfortunate selection could not have been made; the true-hearted fellow +having so much self-confidence, and so little forethought, as to believe +the gates impregnable. He had lighted a pipe, and was smoking as +tranquilly as he had ever done before, in his daily indulgences of this +character, when the unhung leaf came tumbling in upon the side where he +sat; nothing saving his head but the upper edge's lodging against the +wall. At the same moment, a dozen Indians leaped through the opening, and +sprang into the court, raising the yells already described. Mike followed, +armed with his shillelah, for his musket was abandoned in the surprise, +and he began to lay about him with an earnestness that in nowise lessened +the clamour. This was the moment when Joyce, nobly sustained by Blodget +and Jamie Allen, poured a volley into the court, from the roofs; when the +fray became general. To this point had the combat reached, when Willoughby +rushed into the open air followed, a few instants later, by Nick.</p> + +<p>The scene that succeeded is not easily described. It was a <i>mélée</i> in the +dark, illuminated, at instants, by the flashes of guns, and rendered +horrible by shrieks, curses, groans and whoops. Mike actually cleared the +centre of the court, where he was soon joined by Willoughby, when, +together, they made a rush at a door, and actually succeeded in gaining +their own party on the roof. It was not in nature for the young soldier to +remain here, however, while his mother, Beulah, and, so far as he knew, +Maud, lay exposed to the savages below. Arnid a shower of bullets he +collected his whole force, and was on the point of charging into the +court, when the roll of a drum without, brought everything to a stand. +Young Blodget, who had displayed the ardour of a hero, and the coolness of +a veteran throughout the short fray, sprang down the stairs unarmed, at +this sound, passed through the astonished crowd in the court, unnoticed, +and rushed to the outer gate. He had barely time to unbar it, when a body +of troops marched through, led by a tall, manly-looking chief, who was +accompanied by one that the young man instantly recognised, in spite of +the darkness, for Mr. Woods, in his surplice. At the next moment, the +strangers had entered, with military steadiness, into the court, to the +number of, at least, fifty, ranging themselves in order across its area.</p> + +<p>"In the name of Heaven, who are you?" called out Willoughby, from a +window. "Speak at once, or we fire."</p> + +<p>"I am Colonel Beekman, at the head of a regular force," was the answer, +"and if, as I suspect, you are Major Willoughby, you know you are safe. In +the name of Congress, I command all good citizens to keep the peace, or +they will meet with punishment for their contumacy."</p> + +<p>This announcement ended the war, Beekman and Willoughby grasping each +other's hands fervently, at the next instant.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Beekman!" exclaimed the last, "at what a moment has God sent you +hither! Heaven be praised! notwithstanding all that has happened, you will +find your wife and child safe. Place sentinels at both gates; for +treachery has been at work here, and I shall ask for rigid justice."</p> + +<p>"Softly--softly--my good fellow," answered Beekman, pressing his hand. +"Your own position is a little delicate, and we must proceed with +moderation. I learned, just in time, that a party was coming hither, bent +on mischief; and obtaining the necessary authority, I hastened to the +nearest garrison, obtained a company, and commenced my march as soon as +possible. Had we not met with Mr. Woods, travelling for the settlements in +quest of succour, we might have been too late. As it was, God be +praised!--I think we have arrived in season."</p> + +<p>Such were the facts. The Indians had repelled the zealous chaplain, as a +madman; compelling him to take the route toward the settlements, however; +their respect for this unfortunate class of beings, rendering them averse +to his rejoining their enemies. He could, and did impart enough to Beekman +to quicken his march, and to bring him and his followers up to the gate at +a time when a minute might have cost the entire garrison their lives.</p> + +<p>Anxious as he was to seek Beulah and his child, Beekman had a soldier's +duties to perform, and those he would not neglect. The sentinels were +posted, and orders issued to light lanterns, and to make a fire in the +centre of the court, so that the actual condition of the field of battle +might be ascertained. A surgeon had accompanied Beekman's party, and he +was already at work, so far as the darkness would allow. Many hands being +employed, and combustibles easy to be found, ere long the desired light +was gleaming on the terrible spectacle.</p> + +<p>A dozen bodies wexre stretched in the court, of which, three or four were +fated never to rise again, in life. Of the rest, no less than four had +fallen with broken heads, inflicted by O'Hearn's shillelah. Though these +blows were not fatal, they effectually put the warriors <i>hors de combat</i>. +Of the garrison, not one was among the slain, in this part of the field. +On a later investigation, however, it was ascertained that the poor old +Scotch mason had received a mortal hurt, through a window, and this by the +very last shot that had been fired. On turning over the dead of the +assailants, too, it was discovered that Daniel the Miller was of the +number. A few of the Mohawks were seen, with glowing eyes, in corners of +the court, applying their own rude dressings to their various hurts; +succeeding, on the whole, in effecting the great purpose of the healing +art, about as well as those who were committed to the lights of science.</p> + +<p>Surprisingly few uninjured members of the assaulting party, however, were +to be found, when the lanterns appeared. Some had slipped through the gate +before the sentinels were posted; others had found their way to the roof, +and thence, by various means to the ground; while a few lay concealed in +the buildings, until a favourable moment offered to escape. Among all +those who remained, not an individual was found who claimed to be in any +authority. In a word, after five minutes of examination, both Beekman and +Willoughby were satisfied that there no longer existed a force to dispute +with them the mastery of the Hut.</p> + +<p>"We have delayed too long relieving the apprehensions of those who are +very dear to us, Major Willoughby," Beekman at length observed. "If you +will lead the way to the parts of the buildings where your--<i>my</i> mother, +and wife, are to be found, I will now follow you."</p> + +<p>"Hold, Beekman--there yet remains a melancholy tale to be told--nay, start +not--I left our Beulah, and your boy, in perfect health, less than a +quarter of an hour since. But my honoured, honourable, revered, beloved +father has been killed in a most extraordinary manner, and you will find +his widow and daughters weeping over his body."</p> + +<p>This appalling intelligence produced a halt, during which Willoughby +explained all he knew of the manner of his father's death, which was +merely the little he had been enabled to glean from Maud. As soon as this +duty was performed, the gentlemen proceeded together to the apartment of +the mourners, each carrying a light.</p> + +<p>Willoughby made an involuntary exclamation, when he perceived that the +door of his mother's room was open. He had hoped Maud would have had the +presence of mind to close and lock it; but here he found it, yawning as if +to invite the entrance of enemies. The light within, too, was +extinguished, though, by the aid of the lanterns, he saw large traces of +blood in the ante-room, and the passages he was obliged to thread. All +this hastened his steps. Presently he stood in the chamber of death.</p> + +<p>Short as had been the struggle, the thirst for scalps had led some of the +savages to this sanctuary. The instant the Indians had gained the court, +some of the most ferocious of their number had rushed into the building, +penetrating its recesses in a way to defile them with slaughter. The first +object that Willoughby saw was one of these ruthless warriors, stretched +on the floor, with a living Indian, bleeding at half a dozen wounds, +standing over him; the eye-balls of the latter were glaring like the +tiger's that is suddenly confronted to a foe. An involuntary motion was +made towards the rifle he carried, by the major; but the next look told +him that the living Indian was Nick. Then it was, that he gazed more +steadily about him, and took in all the horrible truths of that fatal +chamber.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Willoughby was sealed in the chair where she had last been seen, +perfectly dead. No mark of violence was ever found on her body, however, +and there is no doubt that her constant spirit had followed that of her +husband to the other world, in submission to the blow which had separated +them. Beulah had been shot; not, as was afterwards ascertained, by any +intentional aim, but by one of those random bullets, of which so many had +been flying through the buildings. The missile had passed through her +heart, and she lay pressing the little Evert to her bosom, with that air +of steady and unerring affection which had marked every act of her +innocent and feeling life. The boy himself, thanks to the tiger-like +gallantry of Nick, had escaped unhurt. The Tuscarora had seen a party of +six take the direction of this chamber, and he followed with an instinct +of their intentions. When the leader entered the room, and found three +dead bodies, he raised a yell that betokened his delight at the prospect +of gaining so many scalps; at the next instant, while his fingers were +actually entwined in the hair of Captain Willoughby, he fell by a blow +from Wyandotté. Nick next extinguished the lamp, and then succeeded a +scene, which none of the actors, themselves, could have described. Another +Mohawk fell, and the remainder, ailer suffering horribly from the keen +knife of Nick, as well as from blows received from each other, dragged +themselves away, leaving the field to the Tuscarora. The latter met the +almost bewildered gaze of the major with a smile of grim triumph, as he +pointed to the three bodies of the beloved ones, and said--</p> + +<p>"See--all got scalp! Deat', nothin'--scalp, ebbery t'ing."</p> + +<p>We shall not attempt to describe the outbreaking of anguish from the +husband and brother. It was a moment of wild grief, that bore down all the +usual restraints of manhood, though it was such a moment as an American +frontier residence has often witnessed. The quiet but deep-feeling nature +of Beekman received a shock that almost produced a dissolution of his +earthly being. He succeeded, however, in raising the still warm body of +Beulah from the floor, and folding it to his heart. Happily for his +reason, a flood of tears, such as women shed, burst from his soul, rather +than from his eyes, bedewing her still sweet and placid countenance.</p> + +<p>To say that Robert Willoughby did not feel the desolation, which so +suddenly alighted on a family that had often been quoted for its mutual +affection and happiness, would be to do him great injustice. He even +staggered under the blow; yet his heart craved further information. The +Indian was gazing intently on the sight of Beekman's grief, partly in +wonder, but more in sympathy, when he felt an iron pressure of his arm.</p> + +<p>"Maud--Tuscarora"--the major rather groaned than whispered in his ear, +"know you anything of Maud?"</p> + +<p>Nick made a gesture of assent; then motioned for the other to follow. He +led the way to the store-room, produced the key, and throwing open the +door, Maud was weeping on Robert Willoughby's bosom in another instant. He +would not take her to the chamber of death, but urged her, by gentle +violence, to follow him to the library.</p> + +<p>"God be praised for this mercy!" exclaimed the ardent girl, raising her +hands and streaming eyes to heaven. "I know not, care not, who is +conqueror, since <i>you</i> are safe!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! Maud--beloved one--we must now be all in all to each other. Death has +stricken the others."</p> + +<p>This was a sudden and involuntary announcement, though it was best it +should be so under the circumstances. It was long before Maud could hear +an outline, even, of the details, but she bore them better than Willoughby +could have hoped. The excitement had been so high, as to brace the mind to +meet any human evil. The sorrow that came afterwards, though sweetened by +so many tender recollections, and chastened hopes, was deep and enduring.</p> + +<p>Our picture would not have been complete, without relating the catastrophe +that befell the Hutted Knoll; but, having discharged this painful duty, we +prefer to draw a veil over the remainder of that dreadful night. The cries +of the negresses, when they learned the death of their old and young +mistress, disturbed the silence of the place for a few minutes and then a +profound stillness settled on the buildings, marking them distinctly as +the house of mourning. On further inquiry, too, it was ascertained that +Great Smash, after shooting an Oneida, had been slain and scalped. Pliny +the younger, also, fell fighting like a wild beast to defend the entrance +to his mistresses' apartments.</p> + +<p>The following day, when light had returned, a more accurate idea was +obtained of the real state of the valley. All of the invading party, the +dead and wounded excepted, had made a rapid retreat, accompanied by most +of the deserters and their families. The name, known influence, and actual +authority of Colonel Beekman had wrought this change; the irregular powers +that had set the expedition in motion, preferring to conceal their agency +in the transaction, rather than make any hazardous attempt to claim the +reward of patriotic service, as is so often done in revolutions, for +merciless deeds and selfish acts. There had been no real design on the +part of the whites to injure any of the family in their persons; but, +instigated by Joel, they had fancied the occasion favourable for +illustrating their own public virtue, while they placed themselves in the +way of receiving fortune's favours. The assault that actually occurred, +was one of those uncontrollable outbreakings of Indian ferocity, that have +so often set at defiance the restraints of discipline.</p> + +<p>Nick was not to be found either. He had been last seen dressing his +wounds, with Indian patience, and Indian skill, preparing to apply herbs +and roots, in quest of which he went into the forest about midnight. As he +did not return Willoughby feared that he might be suffering alone, and +determined to have a search made, as soon as he had performed the last sad +offices for the dead.</p> + +<p>Two days occurred, however, before this melancholy duty was discharged. +The bodies of all the savages who had fallen were interred the morning +after the assault; but that of Jamie Allen, with those of the principal +persons of the family, were kept for the pious purposes of affection, +until the time mentioned.</p> + +<p>The funeral was a touching sight. The captain, his wife, and daughter, +were laid, side by side, near the chapel; the first and last of their race +that ever reposed in the wilds of America. Mr. Woods read the funeral +service, summoning all his spiritual powers to sustain him, as he +discharged this solemn office of the church. Willoughby's arm was around +the waist of Maud, who endeavoured to reward his tender assiduities by a +smile, but could not. Colonel Beekman held little Evert in his arms, and +stood over the grave with the countenance of a resolute man stricken with +grief--one of the most touching spectacles of our nature.</p> + +<p>"<i>I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord</i>," sounded in the +stillness of that valley like a voice from heaven, pouring out consolation +on the bruised spirits of the mourners. Maud raised her face from +Willoughby's shoulder, and lifted her blue eyes to the cloudless vault +above her; soliciting mercy, and offering resignation in the look. The +line of troops in the back-ground moved, as by a common impulse, and then +a breathless silence showed the desire of these rude beings not to lose a +syllable.</p> + +<p>A round red spot formed on each of the cheeks of Mr. Woods as he +proceeded, and his voice gathered strength, until its lowest intonations +came clear and distinct on every ear. Just as the bodies were about to be +lowered into their two receptacles, the captain, his wife and daughter +being laid in the same grave, Nick came with his noiseless step near the +little group of mourners. He had issued from the forest only a few minutes +before, and understanding the intention of the ceremony, he approached the +spot as fast as weakness and wounds would allow. Even he listened with +profound attention to the chaplain, never changing his eye from his face, +unless to glance at the coffins as they lay in their final resting-place.</p> + +<p>"<i>I heard a voice from Heaven, saying unto me, write, From henceforth +blessed are the dead who die in the Lord; even so saith the Spirit, for +they rest from their labours</i>," continued the chaplain, his voice +beginning to betray a tremor; then the gaze of the Tuscarora became keen +as the panther's glance at his discovered victim. Tears followed, and, for +a moment, the voice was choked.</p> + +<p>"Why you woman?" demanded Nick, fiercely. "Save all 'e scalp!"</p> + +<p>This strange interruption failed to produce any effect. First Beekman +yielded; Maud and Willoughby followed; until Mr. Woods, himself, unable to +resist the double assaults of the power of sympathy and his own affection, +closed the book and wept like a child.</p> + +<p>It required minutes for the mourners to recover their self-command. When +the latter returned, however, all knelt on the grass, the line of soldiers +included, and the closing prayers were raised to the throne of God.</p> + +<p>This act of devotion enabled the mourners to maintain an appearance of +greater tranquillity until the graves were filled. The troops advanced, +and fired three volleys over the captain's grave, when all retired towards +the Hut. Maud had caught little Evert from the arms of his father, and, +pressing him to her bosom, the motherless babe seemed disposed to slumber +there. In this manner she walked away, attended closely by the father, who +now cherished his boy as an only treasure.</p> + +<p>Willoughby lingered the last at the grave, Nick alone remaining near him. +The Indian had been struck by the exhibition of deep sorrow that he had +witnessed, and he felt an uneasiness that was a little unaccountable to +himself. It was one of the caprices of this strange nature of ours, that +he should feel a desire to console those whom he had so deeply injured +himself. He drew near to Robert Willoughby, therefore, and, laying a hand +on the latter's arm, drew his look in the direction of his own red and +speaking face.</p> + +<p>"Why so sorry, major?" he said. "Warrior nebber die but once--<i>must</i> die +sometime."</p> + +<p>"There lie my father, my mother, and my only sister, Indian--is not that +enough to make the stoutest heart bend? You knew them, too, Nick--did you +ever know better?"</p> + +<p>"Squaw good--both squaw good--Nick see no pale-face squaw he like so +much."</p> + +<p>"I thank you, Nick! This rude tribute to the virtues of my mother and +sister, is far more grateful to me than the calculating and regulated +condolence of the world."</p> + +<p>"No squaw <i>so</i> good as ole one--she, all heart--love every body, but +self."</p> + +<p>This was so characteristic of his mother, that Willoughby was startled by +the sagacity of the savage, though reflection told him so long an +acquaintance with the family must have made a dog familiar with this +beautiful trait in his mother.</p> + +<p>"And my father, Nick!" exclaimed the major, with feeling--"my noble, +just, liberal, gallant father!--He, too, you knew well, and must have +loved."</p> + +<p>"No so good as squaw," answered the Tuscarora, sententiously, and not +altogether without disgust in his manner.</p> + +<p>"We are seldom as good as our wives, and mothers, and sisters, Nick, else +should we be angels on earth. But, allowing for the infirmities of us men, +my father was just and gocd."</p> + +<p>"Too much flog"--answered the savage, sternly--"make Injin's back sore."</p> + +<p>This extraordinary speech struck the major less, at the time, than it did, +years afterwards, when he came to reflect on all the events and dialogues +of this teeming week. Such was also the case as to what followed.</p> + +<p>"You are no flatterer, Tuscarora, as I have always found in our +intercourse. If my father ever punished you with severity, you will allow, +me, at least, to imagine it was merited."</p> + +<p>"Too much flog, I say," interrupted the savage, fiercely. "No difference, +chief or not. Touch ole sore too rough. Good, some; bad, some. Like +weather--now shine; now storm."</p> + +<p>"This is no time to discuss these points, Nick. You have fought nobly for +us, and I thank you. Without your aid, these beloved ones would have been +mutilated, as well as slain; and Maud--my own blessed Maud--might now have +been sleeping at their sides."</p> + +<p>Nick's face was now all softness again, and he returned the pressure of +Willoughby's hand with honest fervor. Here they separated. The major +hastened to the side of Maud, to fold her to his heart, and console her +with his love. Nick passed into the forest, returning no more to the Hut. +His path led him near the grave. On the side where lay the body of Mrs. +Willoughby, he threw a flower he had plucked in the meadow; while he shook +his finger menacingly at the other, which hid the person of his enemy. In +this, he was true to his nature, which taught him never to forget a +favour, or forgive an injury.</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter" id="ch30"> +<h2>Chapter XXX.</h2> + + + +<div class="epi"><p> "I shall go on through all eternity, <br /> + Thank God, I only am an embryo still: <br /> + The small beginning of a glorious soul, <br /> + An atom that shall fill immensity."</p> + +<p> Coxe.</p></div> + +<p> +A fortnight elapsed ere Willoughby and his party could tear themselves +from a scene that had witnessed so much domestic happiness; but on which +had fallen the blight of death. During that time, the future arrangements +of the survivors were completed. Beekman was made acquainted with the +state of feeling that existed between his brother-in-law and Maud, and he +advised an immediate union.</p> + +<p>"Be happy while you can," he said, with bitter emphasis. "We live in +troubled times, and heaven knows when we shall see better. Maud has not a +blood-relation in all America, unless there may happen to be some in the +British army. Though we should all be happy to protect and cherish the +dear girl, she herself would probably, prefer to be near those whom nature +has appointed her friends. To me, she will always seem a sister, as you +must ever be a brother. By uniting yourselves at once, all appearances of +impropriety will be avoided; and in time, God averting evil, you can +introduce your wife to her English connections."</p> + +<p>"You forget, Beekman, that you are giving this advice to one who is a +prisoner on parole, and one who may possibly be treated as a spy."</p> + +<p>"No--that is impossible. Schuyler, our noble commander, is both just and a +gentleman. He will tolerate nothing of the sort. Your exchange can easily +be effected, and, beyond your present difficulties, I can pledge myself to +be able to protect you."</p> + +<p>Willoughby was not averse to following this advice; and he urged it upon +Maud, as the safest and most prudent course they could pursue. Our +heroine, however, was so reluctant even to assuming the appearance of +happiness, so recently after the losses she had experienced, that the +lover's task of persuasion was by no means easy. Maud was totally free +from affectation, while she possessed the keenest sense of womanly +propriety. Her intercourse with Robert Willoughby had been of the +tenderest and most confidential nature, above every pretence of +concealment, and was rendered sacred by the scenes through which they had +passed. Her love, her passionate, engrossing attachment, she did not +scruple to avow; but she could not become a bride while the stains of +blood seemed so recent on the very hearth around which they were sitting. +She still saw the forms of the dead, in their customary places, heard +their laughs, the tones of their affectionate voices, the maternal +whisper, the playful, paternal reproof, or Beulah's gentle call.</p> + +<p>"Yet, Robert," said Maud, for she could now call him by that name, and +drop the desperate familiarity of 'Bob,'--"yet, Robert, there would be a +melancholy satisfaction in making our vows at the altar of the little +chapel, where we have so often worshipped together--the loved ones who are +gone and we who alone remain."</p> + +<p>"True, dearest Maud; and there is another reason why we should quit this +place only as man and wife. Beekman has owned that a question will +probably be raised among the authorities at Albany concerning the nature +of my visit here. It might relieve him from an appeal to more influence +than would be altogether pleasant, did I appear as a bridegroom rather +than as a spy."</p> + +<p>The word "spy" settled the matter. All ordinary considerations were lost +sight of, under the apprehensions it created, and Maud frankly consented +to become a wife that very day. The ceremony was performed by Mr. Woods +accordingly, and the little chapel witnessed tears of bitter recollections +mingling with the smiles with which the bride received the warm embrace of +her husband, after the benediction was pronounced. Still, all felt that, +under the circumstances, delay would have been unwise. Maud saw a species +of holy solemnity in a ceremony so closely connected with scenes so sad.</p> + +<p>A day or two after the marriage, all that remained of those who had so +lately crowded the Hut, left the valley together. The valuables were +packed and transported to boats lying in the stream below the mills. All +the cattle, hogs, &c., were collected and driven towards the settlements; +and horses were prepared for Maud and the females, who were to thread the +path that led to Fort Stanwix. In a word, the Knoll was to be abandoned, +as a spot unfit to be occupied in such a war. None but labourers, indeed, +could, or would remain, and Beekman thought it wisest to leave the spot +entirely to nature, for the few succeeding years.</p> + +<p>There had been some rumours of confiscations by the new state, and +Willoughby had come to the conclusion that it would be safer to transfer +this property to one who would be certain to escape such an infliction, +than to retain it in his own hands. Little Evert was entitled to receive a +portion of the captain's estate by justice, if not by law. No will had +been found, and the son succeeded as heir-at-law. A deed was accordingly +drawn up by Mr. Woods, who understood such matters, and being duly +executed, the Beaver Dam property was vested in fee in the child. His own +thirty thousand pounds, the personals he inherited from his mother, and +Maud's fortune, to say nothing of the major's commission, formed an ample +support for the new-married pair. When all was settled, and made +productive, indeed, Willoughby found himself the master of between three +and four thousand sterling a year, exclusively of his allowances from the +British government, an ample fortune for that day. In looking over the +accounts of Maud's fortune, he had reason to admire the rigid justice, and +free-handed liberality with which his father had managed her affairs. +Every farthing of her income had been transferred to capital, a long +minority nearly doubling the original investment. Unknown to himself, he +had married one of the largest heiresses then to be found in the American +colonies. This was unknown to Maud, also; though it gave her great delight +on her husband's account, when she came to learn the truth.</p> + +<p>Albany was reached in due time, though not without encountering the usual +difficulties. Here the party separated. The remaining Plinys and Smashes +were all liberated, handsome provisions made for their little wants, and +good places found for them, in the connection of the family to which they +had originally belonged. Mike announced his determination to enter a corps +that was intended expressly to fight the Indians. He had a long score to +settle, and having no wife or children, he thought he might amuse himself +in this way, during a revolution, as well as in any other.</p> + +<p>"If yer honour was going anywhere near the county Leitrim," he said, in +answer to Willoughby's offer to keep him near himself, "I might travel in +company; seein' that a man likes to look on ould faces, now and then. Many +thanks for this bag of gold, which will sarve to buy scalps wid'; for +divil bur-r-n me, if I don't carry on <i>that</i> trade, for some time to come. +T'ree cuts wid a knife, half a dozen pokes in the side, and a bullet +scraping; the head, makes a man mindful of what has happened; to say +nothing of the captain, and Madam Willoughby, and Miss Beuly--God for ever +bless and presarve 'em all t'ree--and, if there was such a thing as a bit +of a church in this counthry, wouldn't I use this gould for masses?--<i>dat</i> +I would, and let the scalps go to the divil!"</p> + +<p>This was an epitome of the views of Michael O'Hearn. No arguments of +Willoughby's could change his resolution; but he set forth, determined to +illustrate his career by procuring as many Indian scalps, as an atonement +for the wrongs done "Madam Willoughby and Miss Beuly," as came within his +reach.</p> + +<p>"And you, Joyce," said the major, in an interview he had with the +serjeant, shortly after reaching Albany; "I trust <i>we</i> are not to part. +Thanks to Colonel Beekman's influence and zeal, I am already exchanged, +and shall repair to New York next week. You are a soldier; and these are +times in which a <i>good</i> soldier is of some account. I think I can safely +promise you a commission in one of the new provincial regiments, about to +be raised."</p> + +<p>"I thank your honour, but do not feel at liberty to accept the offer. I +took service with Captain Willoughby for life; had he lived, I would have +followed wherever he led. But that enlistment has expired; and I am now +like a recruit before he takes the bounty. In such cases, a man has always +a right to pick his corps. Politics I do not much understand; but when the +question comes up of pulling a trigger <i>for</i> or <i>against</i> his country, an +<i>unengaged</i> man has a right to choose. Between the two, meaning no +reproach to yourself, Major Willoughby, who had regularly taken service +with the other side, before the war began--but, between the two, I would +rather fight an Englishman, than an American."</p> + +<p>"You may possibly be right, Joyce; though, as you say, my service is +taken. I hope you follow the dictates of conscience, as I am certain I do +myself. We shall never meet in arms, however, if I can prevent it. There +is a negotiation for a lieutenant-colonelcy going on, which, if it +succeed, will carry me to England. I shall never serve an hour longer +against these colonies, if it be in my power to avoid it."</p> + +<p>"<i>States</i>, with your permission, Major Willoughby," answered the serjeant, +a little stiffly. "I am glad to hear it, sir; for, though I wish my +enemies good soldiers, I would rather not have the son of my old captain +among them. Colonel Beekman has offered to make me serjeant-major of his +own regiment; and we both of us join next week."</p> + +<p>Joyce was as good as his word. He became serjeant-major, and, in the end, +lieutenant and adjutant of the regiment he had mentioned. He fought in +most of the principal battles of the war, and retired at the peace, with +an excellent character. Ten years later, he fell, in one of the murderous +Indian affairs, that occurred during the first oresidential term, a +grey-headed captain of foot. The manner of his death was not to be +regretted, perhaps, as it was what he had always wished might happen; but, +it was a singular fact, that Mike stood over his body, and protected it +from mutilation; the County Leitrim-man having turned soldier by trade, +re-enlisting regularly, as soon as at liberty, and laying up scalps on all +suitable occasions.</p> + +<p>Blodget, too, had followed Joyce to the wars. The readiness and +intelligence of this young man, united to a courage of proof, soon brought +him forward, and he actually came out of the revolution a captain. His +mind, manners and information advancing with himself, he ended his career, +not many years since, a prominent politician in one of the new states; a +general in the militia--no great preferment, by the way, for one who had +been a corporal at the Hut--and a legislator. Worse men have often acted +in all these capacities among us; and it was said, with truth, at the +funeral of General Blodget, an accident that does not always occur on such +occasions, that "another revolutionary hero is gone." Beekman was never +seen to smile, from the moment he first beheld the dead body of Beulah, +lying with little Evert in her arms. He served faithfully until near the +close of the war, falling in battle only a few months previously to the +peace. His boy preceded him to the grave, leaving, as confiscations had +gone out of fashion by that time, his uncle heir-at-law, again, to the +same property that he had conferred on himself.</p> + +<p>As for Willoughby and Maud, they were safely conveyed to New York, where +the former rejoined his regiment. Our heroine here met her great-uncle, +General Meredith, the first of her own blood relations whom she had seen +since infancy. Her reception was grateful to her feelings; and, there +being a resemblance in years, appearance and manners, she transferred much +of that affection which she had thought interred for ever in the grave of +her reputed father, to this revered relative. He became much attached to +his lovely niece, himself; and, ten years later, Willoughby found his +income quite doubled, by his decease.</p> + +<p>At the expiration of six months, the gazette that arrived from England, +announced the promotion of "Sir Robert Willoughby, Bart., late major in +the ---th, to be lieutenant colonel, by purchase, in His Majesty's ---th +regiment of foot." This enabled Willoughby to quit America; to which +quarter of the world he had no occasion to be sent during the remainder of +the war.</p> + +<p>Of that war, itself, there is little occasion to speak. Its progress and +termination have long been matters of history. The independence of America +was acknowledged by England in 1783; and, immediately after, the +republicans commenced the conquest of their wide-spread domains, by means +of the arts of peace. In 1785, the first great assaults were made on the +wilderness, in that mountainous region which has been the principal scene +of our tale. The Indians had been driven off, in a great measure, by the +events of the revolution; and the owners of estates, granted under the +crown, began to search for their lands in the untenanted woods. Such +isolated families, too, as had taken refuge in the settlements, now began +to return to their deserted possessions; and soon the smokes of clearings +were obscuring the sun. Whitestown, Utica, on the site of old Fort +Stanwix, Cooperstown, for years the seat of justice for several thousand +square miles of territory, all sprang into existence between the years +1785 and 1790. Such places as Oxford, Binghamton, Norwich, Sherburne, +Hamilton, and twenty more, that now dot the region of which we have been +writing, did not then exist, even in name; for, in that day, the +appellation and maps came after the place; whereas, now, the former +precede the last.</p> + +<p>The ten years that elapsed between 1785 and 1795, did wonders for all this +mountain district. More favourable lands lay spread in the great west, but +the want of roads, and remoteness from the markets, prevented their +occupation. For several years, therefore, the current of emigration which +started out of the eastern states, the instant peace was proclaimed, +poured its tide into the counties mentioned in our opening +chapter--<i>counties</i> as they are to-day; <i>county</i> ay, and fragment of a +county, too, as they were then.</p> + +<p>The New York Gazette, a journal that frequently related facts that +actually occurred, announced in its number of June 11th, 1795, "His +Majesty's Packet that has just arrived"--it required half a century to +teach the journalists of this country the propriety of saying "His +<i>Britannic</i> Majesty's Packet," instead of "His Majesty's," a bit of good +taste, and of good sense, that many of them have yet to learn--"has +brought <i>out</i>," <i>home</i> would have been better "among her passengers, +Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Willoughby, and his lady, both of whom are +natives of this state. We welcome them back to their land of nativity +where we can assure them they will be cordially received notwithstanding +old quarrels. <i>Major</i> Willoughby's kindness to American prisoners is +gratefully remembered; nor is it forgotten that he desired to exchange to +another regiment in order to avoid further service in this country."</p> + +<p>It will be conceded, this was a very respectable puff for the year 1795, +when something like moderation, truth, and propriety were observed upon +such occasions. The effect was to bring the English general's name into +the mouths of the whole state; a baronet causing a greater sensation then, +in America, than a duke would produce to-day. It had the effect, however, +of bringing around General Willoughby many of his father's, and his own +old friends, and he was as well received in New York, twelve years after +the termination of the conflict, as if he had fought on the other side. +The occurrence of the French revolution, and the spread of doctrines that +were termed Jacobinical, early removed all the dissensions between a large +portion of the whigs of America and the tories of England, on this side of +the water at least; and Providence only can tell what might have been the +consequences, had this feeling been thoroughly understood on the other.</p> + +<p>Passing over all political questions, however, our narrative calls us to +the relation of its closing scene. The visit of Sir Robert and Lady +Willoughby to the land of their birth was, in part, owing to feeling; in +part, to a proper regard for the future provision of their children. The +baronet had bought the ancient paternal estate of his family in England, +and having two daughters, besides an only son, it occurred to him that the +American property, called the Hutted Knoll, might prove a timely addition +to the ready money he had been able to lay up from his income. Then, both +he and his wife had a deep desire to revisit those scenes where they had +first learned to love each other, and which still held the remains of so +many who were dear to them.</p> + +<p>The cabin of a suitable sloop was therefore engaged, and the party, +consisting of Sir Robert, his wife, a man and woman servant, and a sort of +American courier, engaged for the trip, embarked on the morning of the +25th of July. On the afternoon of the 30th, the sloop arrived in safety at +Albany, where a carriage was hired to proceed the remainder of the way by +land. The route by old Fort Stanwix, as Utica was still generally called, +was taken. Our travellers reached it on the evening of the third day; the +'Sands, which are now traversed in less than an hour, then occupying more +than half of the first day. When at Fort Stanwix, a passable country road +was found, by which the travellers journeyed until they reached a tavern +that united many of the comforts of a coarse civilisation, with frontier +simplicity. Here they were given to understand they had only a dozen miles +to go, in order to reach the Knoll.</p> + +<p>It was necessary to make the remainder of the journey on horseback. A +large, untenanted estate lay between the highway and the valley, across +which no public road had yet been made. Foot-paths, however, abounded, and +the rivulet was found without any difficulty. It was, perhaps, fortunate +for the privacy of the Knoll, that it lay in the line of no frequented +route, and, squatters being rare in that day, Willoughby saw, the instant +he struck the path that followed the sinuosities of the stream, that it +had been seldom trodden in the interval of the nineteen-years which had +occurred since he had last seen it himself. The evidences of this fact +increased, as the stream was ascended, until the travellers reached the +mill, when it was found that the spirit of destruction, which so widely +prevails in the loose state of society that exists in all new countries, +had been at work. Every one of the buildings at the falls had been burnt; +probably as much because it was in the power of some reckless wanderer to +work mischief, as for any other reason. That the act was the result of +some momentary impulse, was evident in the circumstance that the mischief +went no further. Some of the machinery had been carried away, however, to +be set up in other places, on a principle that is very widely extended +through all border settlements, which considers the temporary disuse of +property as its virtual abandonment.</p> + +<p>It was a moment of pain and pleasure, strangely mingled, when Willoughby +and Maud reached the rocks, and got a first view of the ancient Beaver +Dam. All the buildings remained, surprisingly little altered to the eye by +the lapse of years. The gates had been secured when they left the place, +in 1776; and the Hut, having no accessible external windows, that dwelling +remained positively intact. It is true, quite half the palisadoes were +rotted down; but the Hut, itself, had resisted the ravages of time. A +fire had been kindled against its side, but the stone walls had opposed an +obstacle to its ravages; and an attempt, by throwing a brand upon the +roof, had failed of its object, the shingles not igniting. On examination, +the lock of the inner gate was still secure. The key had been found, and, +on its application, an entrance was obtained into the court.</p> + +<p>What a moment was that, when Maud, fresh from the luxuries of an English +home, entered this long and well remembered scene of her youth! Rank +grasses were growing in the court, but they soon disappeared before the +scythes that had been brought, in expectation of the circumstance. Then, +all was clear for an examination of the house. The Hut was exactly in the +condition in which it had been left, with the exception of a little, and a +very little, dust collected by time.</p> + +<p>Maud was still in the bloom of womanhood, feminine, beautiful, full of +feeling, and as sincere as when she left these woods, though her feelings +were tempered a little by intercourse with the world. She went from room +to room, hanging on Willoughby's arm, forbidding any to follow. All the +common furniture had been left in the house, in expectation it would be +inhabited again, ere many years; and this helped to preserve the identity. +The library was almost entire; the bed-rooms, the parlours, and even the +painting-room, were found very much as they would have appeared, after an +absence of a few months. Tears flowed in streams down the cheeks of Lady +Willoughby, as she went through room after room, and recalled to the mind +of her husband the different events of which they had been the silent +witnesses. Thus passed an hour or two of unutterable tenderness, blended +with a species of holy sorrow. At the end of that time, the attendants, of +whom many had been engaged, had taken possession of the offices, &c., and +were bringing the Hut once more into a habitable condition. Soon, too, a +report was brought that the mowers, who had been brought in anticipation +of their services being wanted, had cut a broad swathe to the ruins of the +chapel, and the graves of the family.</p> + +<p>It was now near the setting of the sun, and the hour was favourable for +the melancholy duty that remained. For bidding any to follow, Willoughby +proceeded with Maud to the graves. These had been dug within a little +thicket of shrubs, planted by poor Jamie Allen, under Maud's own +directions. She had then thought that the spot might one day be wanted. +These bushes, lilacs, and ceringos, had grown to a vast size, in that rich +soil. They completely concealed the space within, an area of some fifty +square feet, from the observation of those without. The grass had been cut +over all, however, and an opening made by the mowers gave access to the +graves. On reaching this opening, Willoughby started at hearing voices +within the inclosure; he was about to reprove the intruders, when Maud +pressed his arm, and whispered--</p> + +<p>"Listen, Willoughby--those voices sound strangely to my ears! We have +heard them before."</p> + +<p>"I tell ye, Nick--ould Nicky, or Saucy Nick, or whatever's yer name," said +one within in a strong Irish accent "that Jamie, the mason that was, is +forenent ye, at this minute, under that bit of a sod--and, it's his +honour, and Missus, and Miss Beuly, that is buried here. Och! ye're a +cr'ature, Nick; good at takin' scalps, but ye knows nothin' of graves; +barrin' the quhantity ye've helped to fill."</p> + +<p>"Good"--answered the Indian. "Cap'in here; squaw here; darter here. Where +son?--where t'other gal?"</p> + +<p>"Here," answered Willoughby, leading Maud within the hedge. "I am Robert +Willoughby, and this is Maud Meredith, my wife."</p> + +<p>Mike fairly started; he even showed a disposition to seize a musket which +lay on the grass. As for the Indian, a tree in the forest could not have +stood less unmoved than he was at this unexpected interruption. Then all +four stood in silent admiration, noting the changes which time had, more +or less, wrought in all.</p> + +<p>Willoughby was in the pride of manhood. He had served with distinction, +and his countenance and frame both showed it, though neither had suffered +more than was necessary to give him a high military air, and a look of +robust vigour. As for Maud, with her graceful form fully developed by her +riding-habit, her soft lineaments and polished expression, no one would +have thought her more than thirty, which was ten years less than her real +age. With Mike and Nick it was very different. Both had grown old, not +only in fact, but in appearance. The Irishman was turned of sixty, and his +hard, coarse-featured face, burnt as red as the sun in a fog, by exposure +and Santa Cruz, was getting to be wrinkled and a little emaciated. Still, +his frame was robust and powerful. His attire was none of the best, and it +was to be seen at a glance that it was more than half military. In point +of fact, the poor fellow had been refused a reinlistment in the army, on +account of his infirmities and years, and America was not then a country +to provide retreats for her veterans. Still, Mike had an ample pension for +wounds, and could not be said to be in want. He had suffered in the same +battle with Joyce, in whose company he had actually been corporal O'Hearn, +though his gallant commander had not risen to fight again, as had been the +case with the subordinate.</p> + +<p>Wyandotté exhibited still greater changes. He had seen his threescore and +ten years; and was fast falling into the "sere and yellow leaf." His hair +was getting grey, and his frame, though still active and sinewy, would +have yielded under the extraordinary marches he had once made. In dress, +there was nothing to remark; his ordinary Indian attire being in as good +condition as was usual for the man. Willoughby thought, however, that his +eye was less wild than when he knew him before; and every symptom of +intemperance had vanished, not only from his countenance, but his person.</p> + +<p>From the moment Willoughby appeared, a marked change came over the +countenance of Nick. His dark eye, which still retained much of its +brightness, turned in the direction of the neighbouring chapel, and he +seemed relieved when a rustling in the bushes announced a footstep. There +had not been another word spoken when the lilacs were shoved aside, and +Mr. Woods, a vigorous little man, in a green old age, entered the area. +Willoughby had not seen the chaplain since they parted at Albany, and the +greetings were as warm as they were unexpected.</p> + +<p>"I have lived a sort of hermit's life, my dear Bob, since the death of +your blessed parents," said the divine, clearing his eyes of tears; "now +and then cheered by a precious letter from yourself and Maud--I call you +both by the names I gave you both in baptism--and it was, 'I, <i>Maud</i>, +take thee, <i>Robert</i>,' when you stood before the altar in that little +edifice--you will pardon me if I am too familiar with a general officer +and his lady"</p> + +<p>"Familiar!" exclaimed both in a breath;--and Maud's soft, white hand was +extended towards the chaplain, with reproachful earnestness;--"We, who +were made Christians by you, and who have so much reason to remember and +love you always!"</p> + +<p>"Well, well; I see you are Robert and Maud, still"--dashing streaming +tears from his eyes now. "Yes, I did bring you both into God's visible +church on earth, and you were baptised by one who received his ordination +from the Archbishop of Canterbury himself,"--Maud smiled a little +archly--"and who has never forgotten his ordination vows, as he humbly +trusts. But you are not the only Christians I have made--I now rank +Nicholas among the number"--</p> + +<p>"Nick!" interrupted Sir Robert--"Wyandotté!" added his wife, with a more +delicate tact.</p> + +<p>"I call him Nicholas, now, since he was christened by that name--there is +no longer a Wyandotté, or a Saucy Nick. Major Willoughby, I have a secret +to communicate--I beg pardon, Sir Robert--but you will excuse old habits +--if you will walk this way."</p> + +<p>Willoughby was apart with the chaplain a full half-hour, during which time +Maud wept over the graves, the rest standing by in respectful silence. As +for Nick, a stone could scarcely have been more fixed than his attitude. +Nevertheless, his mien was rebuked, his eye downcast; even his bosom was +singularly convulsed. He knew that the chaplain was communicating to +Willoughby the manner in which he had slain his father. At length, the +gentlemen returned slowly towards the graves; the general agitated, +frowning, and flushed. As for Mr. Woods, he was placid and full of hope. +Willoughby had yielded to his expostulations and arguments a forgiveness, +which came reluctantly, and perhaps as much for the want of a suitable +object for retaliation, as from a sense of Christian duty.</p> + +<p>"Nicholas," said the chaplain, "I have told the general all."</p> + +<p>"He know him!" cried the Indian, with startling energy.</p> + +<p>"I do, Wyandotté; and sorry have I been to learn it. You have made my +heart bitter."</p> + +<p>Nick was terribly agitated. His youthful and former opinions maintained a +fearful struggle with those which had come late in life; the result being +a wild admixture of his sense of Indian justice, and submission to the +tenets of his new, and imperfectly-comprehended faith. For a moment, the +first prevailed. Advancing, with a firm step, to the general, he put his +own bright and keen tomahawk into the other's hands, folded his arms on +his bosom, bowed his head a little, and said, firmly--</p> + +<p>"Strike--Nick kill cap'in--Major kill Nick."</p> + +<p>"No, Tuscarora, no," answered Sir Robert Willoughby, his whole soul +yielding before this act of humble submission--"May God in heaven forgive +the deed, as I now forgive you."</p> + +<p>There was a wild smile gleaming on the face of the Indian; he grasped both +hands of Willoughby in his own. He then muttered the words, "God forgive," +his eye rolled upward at the clouds, and he fell dead on the grave of his +victim. It was thought, afterwards, that agitation had accelerated the +crisis of an incurable affection of the heart.</p> + +<p>A few minutes of confusion followed. Then Mike, bare-headed, his old face +flushed and angry, dragged from his pockets a string of strange-looking, +hideous objects, and laid them by the Indian's side. They were human +scalps, collected by himself, in the course of many campaigns, and +brought, as a species of hecatomb, to the graves of the fallen.</p> + +<p>"Out upon ye, Nick!" he cried. "Had I known the like of that, little would +I have campaigned in yer company! Och! 'twas an undacent deed, and a +hundred confessions would barely wipe it from yer sowl. It's a pity, too, +that ye've died widout absolution from a praist, sich as I've tould ye +off. Barrin' the brache of good fellieship, I could have placed yer own +scalp wid the rest, as a p'ace-offering, to his Honour, the Missus and +Miss Beuly----"</p> + +<p>"Enough," interrupted Sir Robert Willoughby, with an authority of manner +that Mike's military habits could not resist; "the man has repented, and +is forgiven. Maud, love, it is time to quit this melancholy scene; +occasions will offer to revisit it."</p> + +<p>In the end, Mr. Woods took possession of the Hut, as a sort of hermitage, +in which to spend the remainder of his days. He had toiled hard for the +conversion of Nick, in gratitude for the manner in which he had fought in +defence of the females. He now felt as keen a desire to rescue the +Irishman from the superstitions of what he deemed an error quite as fatal +as heathenism. Mike consented to pass the remainder of his days at the +Knoll, which was to be, and in time, <i>was</i>, renovated, under their joint +care.</p> + +<p>Sir Robert and Lady Willoughby passed a month in the valley. Nick had been +buried within the bushes; and even Maud had come to look upon this strange +conjunction of graves, with the eye of a Christian, blended with the +tender regrets of a woman. The day that the general and his wife left the +valley for ever, they paid a final visit to the graves. Here Maud wept for +an hour. Then her husband, passing an arm around her waist, drew her +gently away; saying, as they were quitting the inclosure--</p> + +<p>"They are in Heaven, dearest--looking down in love, quite likely, on us, +the objects of so much of their earthly affection. As for Wyandotté, he +lived according to his habits and intelligence, and happily died under the +convictions of a conscience directed by the lights of divine grace. Little +will the deeds of this life be remembered, among those who have been the +true subjects of its blessed influence. If this man were unmerciful in his +revenge, he also remembered my mother's kindnesses, and bled for her and +her daughters. Without his care, my life would have remained unblessed +with your love, my ever-precious Maud! He never forgot a favour, or +forgave an injury."</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<pre> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10434 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |