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diff --git a/34583.txt b/34583.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ff06594 --- /dev/null +++ b/34583.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6738 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The German Pioneers, by Friedrich Spielhagen + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The German Pioneers + A Tale of the Mohawk + +Author: Friedrich Spielhagen + +Translator: Levi Sternberg + +Release Date: December 5, 2010 [EBook #34583] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GERMAN PIONEERS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + + + + + + + +Page scan source: +http://www.archive.org/details/germanpioneersta01spie + + + + + + +[Illustration: "You are not my maid-servant, Catherine," +he said gently. (P. 57.)] + + + + + + + THE GERMAN PIONEERS + + A TALE OF THE MOHAWK + + + + BY + FREDERICK SPIELHAGEN. + + + + + _TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY_ + The REV. LEVI STERNBERG. D. D. + + + + + CHICAGO: + Donohue, Henneberry & Co. + 1891. + + + + + + + + * * * * * + + Copyright, 1891 + BY + DONOHUE, HENNEBERRY & CO. + + * * * * * + + + + + + THE GERMAN PIONEERS + + + + + CHAPTER I + + +On a certain forenoon in the month of April, 1758, there was unusual +activity in the harbor of New York. In spite of the disagreeable +weather--which had now already lasted two days, with dense fogs and +drizzling rain, and even then, from low, gray clouds, was drenching the +multitude--there stood upon the quay dense groups of people looking at +a large Dutch three-master, which had already lain a couple of days in +the roadstead, and now was swinging at anchor in the troubled water +nearer shore. + +"The gentlemen would have done better to have remained at home," said a +little man, referring to two broad-shouldered farmers, who stood near. +"I will eat my tailor's goose and not be called Samuel Squenz if, out +of the skin-covered skeletons which have thus far passed here on their +way to the state-house to take the oath of allegiance to our king--whom +may God bless--they can select a single ordinary farmhand." + +"Have you seen them?" asked another, who had just joined the group. + +"Have I seen them!" replied Samuel Squenz. "We have all seen them. I +tell you, neighbor, had they come out of the grave after lying there +four months they could not have more bones and less flesh. Surely four +months in the grave and four months on that Hollander amounts to about +the same thing." + +"The poor devils!" said the other. + +"Ah, what poor devils?" called out a man, distinguished from those +around him by his larger wig, more careful dress, rotund body, red, +flabby cheeks, and German accent. "Poor devils! What brings them here? +What are we to do with the starved ragamuffins, of whom one half could +not pay full fare? Now according to our wise laws a wage-sale must be +openly made, as was yesterday advertised both in the 'Gazette' and in +the 'Journal.'" + +"They bring us nothing into the country except the dirty rags they have +on and ship-fever, from which may God protect us," called out Samuel +Squenz. "I kept nose and mouth shut as the vermin crept past us." + +"It is a sin," said neighbor Flint. + +"It is a shame," snarled neighbor Bill. + +"Therefore I have always said," continued the man, with the red, +hanging cheeks, "that we should do as they do in Philadelphia, where +for the last thirty years they have levied a poll-tax of forty +shillings on every imported Dutchman, just as they do on a nigger. But +here a man may preach and preach, but it is to deaf ears. I will not +stay out in the rain on account of these ragamuffins. Good day, +gentlemen." + +The big man touched his three-cornered hat, but, instead of leaving the +place, went with heavy strides to the edge of the quay and looked at +the ship, which had by this time raised its anchor and was being slowly +driven on by the tide. + +"It is a sin," said neighbor Flint. + +"It is a shame," snarled neighbor Bill. + +"That is--for Mr. Pitcher to speak so," cried one who now came up and +had heard the last words of him who was just leaving. + +"What do you mean by that, Mr. Brown?" asked Samuel Squenz, +respectfully lifting his cap. + +"Isn't it a shame, now," said Mr. Brown, a small, old, lean man, who +spoke with much animation, and while speaking gesticulated violently +with his lean little arms. "Isn't it a shame for one to speak so +contemptuously about his own countrymen? Is not this Mr. Pitcher just +as good, or as bad as the poor devils there on the ship? Did not his +parents, in 1710, while Robert Hunter was governor, come to New York +with the great immigration, from the Palatinate? They were good, +respectable people, whom I knew well, who had a hard time of it, and +who honestly and honorably worked up to their subsequent better +condition. They do not deserve that this, their son, whom I have seen +running about the streets barefoot, should so utterly forget them and +slander their memory as to change his name from the German, Krug, into +the English, Pitcher. Pitcher indeed! The old Krug was, I think, made +out of better clay than this young English Pitcher, who reviles these +immigrants and thereby creeps under the same cover with the Dutch who +sell people for a term of years, and deal in human flesh as you do, +neighbor Flint, with beef, and you, neighbor Bill, with cheese and +butter." + +The old man thrust his bamboo cane angrily into the moist ground. + +"It is a sin," said neighbor Flint. + +"It is a shame," said neighbor Bill. + +"With your permission, neighbors," said Samuel Squenz, "I will not +praise Mr. Pitcher, though he gives me work. One must, however, honor +his father, though he was a miserable Dutchman. Nor will I have +anything to do with those who deal in human flesh, or sell people for a +term of years. May the Lord forgive Mr. Pitcher if he meddles with such +a business. But I cannot blame those to whom this immigration is an +open grief, and who declare it to be injurious to the commonwealth. +These vagabonds take the bread from our mouths, and stuff it into their +unwashed mouths, while they are too stupid or too lazy to earn a +shilling." + +"Do you see that man near the edge of the quay close to Mr. Pitcher?" +said Mr. Brown. + +"The young farmer?" + +"The same. How do you like him?" + +"He is a noble looking fellow, though I cannot approve of the cut of +his coat." + +"Now this young man is also German, called Lambert Sternberg. He lives +on Canada Creek, and I have just, in my office, counted out one hundred +pounds into his hands, and have given him a commission for another +hundred pounds if he delivers to my correspondents in Albany this fall +by October, on my account, the tar and rosin agreed upon." + +"Is it possible," said Samuel Squenz. "Yes, yes, there are exceptions." + +"Not at all an exception," earnestly replied Mr. Brown. "Lambert +Sternberg's brother is a fur-hunter and has, for six years, been in a +mutually advantageous partnership with my neighbor Squirrel. So +likewise there live on Canada Creek, on the Mohawk, and on the +Schoharie dozens, yes, hundreds of excellent people, who have in their +veins as pure German blood as you and I have English blood. By diligent +labor they have placed themselves in comfortable circumstances; and it +would have gone still better with them had not the Government, instead +of aiding and protecting them, thrown obstacles in their way. This time +the young man was obliged to take his long journey to New York to +maintain his and his neighbors' rights to the pine trees growing on +their own ground--a right as clear as the sun--and yet, God only knows +what the issue would have been, had I not intervened and showed the +Governor that the purchaser of land, first from the Indians, then from +the government, should not be forced to buy it again for the third time +from the first swindler who crowds himself in and manages to get some +show of title." + +Mr. Brown spoke with great earnestness. Most of his hearers, whose eyes +wandered back and forth between the speaker and the farmer at the edge +of the quay, seemed to be convinced. However Samuel Squenz would not +keep quiet, but cried out with a grieved voice: + +"What do you thus show, Mr. Brown, except that these scamps swallow up +the land to which we, and our children, and our children's children, +are entitled? And one must not speak of injury done to the +commonwealth! I would like to know what else it should be called?" + +"A strengthening," cried Mr. Brown; "a strengthening and an +establishing of the commonwealth. That would be the right word. Is it +not a blessing for us all that outside, on the farthest border, these +poor Germans have settled, and, if God permit, will settle still +farther, and, by their position, are in constant conflict with the +French, and whom we have to thank that you, and I, and all of us here +in New York, can peacefully prosecute our business. When last fall +Captain Belletre, with his French and Indians, fell upon the valley of +the Mohawk, who hindered that he did not reach Albany, and God knows +how much further? We did not, for two years ago we allowed Fort Oswego +to be taken; and General Abercrombie, who commands at Albany, had done +nothing to protect the threatened points until October when Belletre +came. I ask again, who hindered? The Germans, who fought as well as +they could under the lead of their watchful captain, Nicolas Herkimer, +though they lost forty killed and one hundred and two prisoners, not to +speak of the $50,000 damage done by the thieving, burning murderers. +That is an injury to the commonwealth, Mr. Squenz, of which you may +take occasion to think, Mr. Squenz, and therewith I commend you to +God." + +The choleric old gentleman had spoken in such a passion that, in spite +of the rain, he took off, not only his hat, but also his wig, and was +now wiping his bald head with his handkerchief as he left the group and +shuffled over to the young countryman, who still stood in the same +place on the quay looking at the ship. Now, however, as the old man +patted him on the shoulder, he turned about with the appearance of one +who has just been awakened out of a dream. It could not have been a +pleasant dream. On the fine, dark-complexioned face there was a trace +of deep grief, and the large, blue, kind, German eyes looked very sad. + +"Ah, Mr. Brown," said the young man, "I supposed you had long since +gone home." + +"While I stood but ten steps behind you and spent my breath in +defending you! But so it is with you Germans. To strike home when it +comes to the worst--that you can do; but to speak for yourselves--to +maintain your rights against the simpletons who look at you over the +shoulder and who shrug the shoulder over you--that you leave for +others." + +"What has happened, Mr. Brown?" said the young man. + +"What has happened! The old story. I have again rushed into the fire +for you sleepy fellows--I, an old fool. Do you think--but for this +morning I have already vexed myself enough on your account, and I can +surely reckon on having an attack of the colic this evening. And this +weather besides--the devil take the weather, and the Germans too! Come, +Mr. Lambert, come." + +The old man moved about uneasily. + +"I would like to stay a little longer," said Lambert, hanging back. + +"You have no time to lose if you mean to go by the Albany boat. It +leaves at three o'clock, and you also wanted to get your horse shod." + +Lambert turned from the ship, which by this time had come quite near, +to his business friend, and from him again to the ship. + +"If you will permit me," said Lambert. + +"Do as you please," cried the old man. "You may look at your countrymen +and spoil your appetite for dinner. Or you may buy a young blockhead +who will eat the hair off your head, or a handsome maid who would not +behave at home, but is naturally good enough for you--or perhaps rather +two--that your brother Conrad may also be provided for. Do as you +please, but let me go home. We eat at twelve, and Mrs. Brown likes her +guests to be punctual. Good morning." + +Mr. Brown held down his hat, which the wind threatened to take off, +with his bamboo cane, and hurried away at the moment when a dull sound +from Broadway indicated that the immigrants were returning. + + + + + CHAPTER II + + +There entered new life into the wet and surly groups on the quay. Men +stood on tiptoe and eagerly looked in the direction of Broadway, where +the wretched crowd now appeared. Others pressed forward to the point +where the ship was to land. It was now so near that they were already +casting over the ropes. Lambert, who still stood on the outer edge, saw +himself surrounded by a dense mass, and thus kept in a place he would +now have gladly surrendered to anyone whose eyes and heart could better +endure the sight of the utmost human wretchedness. + +The scene of this misery was the deck of the ship above and below, of +which he now had an unobstructed view. Already, from a distance, had +the confusion caused by the commingled piles of bales, casks, trunks, +and baskets, between which wives and children were wandering about, +filled him with sad reflections. But his heart ceased to beat and his +chest to heave as, clearer and clearer, and now also very near, the +crying and scolding, weeping and lamenting of the unfortunate people +struck upon his ear. As his glance wandered from one pitiable object to +another, he everywhere saw countenances deathly pale and disfigured by +hunger and sickness, out of whose deep, sunken eyes dull despair and +frenzied anxiety fearfully glared. As they thus stood in motionless +groups it seemed as if they had lost all power and inclination to do +anything for themselves. Their heads were stretched forward like timid +sheep which the butcher's dog has driven to the door of the slaughter +house. Thus they hastened and hurried and crowded between the chests +and casks, and greedily gathered up their poor belongings. Elsewhere, +in confused quarreling and strife, they snatched bundles from each +other, and threatened each other with their fists, until the supercargo +intervened and with scolding and pushing and striking, separated them. +Lambert could endure the horrible sight no longer, and pressed back the +crowd which now surrounded him like a wall. As he involuntarily cast a +last glance over the deck it fell upon a form which he had not before +noticed, and at once he stopped as though struck by lightning. + +Directly before him there leaned against a great pile of bales a young, +tall, slender maiden. Her right arm was thrust against the bales, the +hand supporting her head. Her other arm hung at her side. Her face, of +which he had only a side view, was so thin and pale that the long, dark +eyelashes were brought out with singular distinctness. The lustrous +black hair was wound around the head in comely braids, and her dress, +though poor and threadbare enough, was more tasty than that of the +other women, to whom she was evidently greatly superior in refinement. +As though a powerful enchantment had seized him, Lambert could not +withdraw his gaze from this face. He had never seen anything so +beautiful. He had not thought that anything so beautiful could be +found. Nearly breathless, without knowing what he was doing--even +forgetting where he was--he looked at the stranger as though she were +an apparition, until, with sad shaking of the head, she let her +supporting arm fall and, passing around the pile of goods against which +she had leaned, she disappeared from his sight. + +At this moment, back on the Battery, there sounded a great shouting and +drumming and fifing. The crowd pressed forward, and was again pushed +back. The police who accompanied the immigrants had already had trouble +with the mob all the way through the city, and now, having to pass +through the compact mass on the quay to the gang-plank, were obliged to +use all their authority and to swing their clubs indiscriminately. So +it happened that over the living wall before him Lambert saw now and +then a pale, grief-stricken countenance, as the poor immigrants passed +over the narrow gangway to the deck of the ship. Here those who had +just returned on board immediately began to call for their wives and +children, some of whom, overcome by fatigue, did not move, while others +hastened to their husbands as soon as possible. A dreadful confusion +arose, which was increased by the ship's crew rushing into the crowd +and making room by pushing and striking indiscriminately. It had +reached its highest point when those on the quay, headed by the stout +Mr. Pitcher, in a close mass pushed on from behind and blocked up the +way to every one who, with his bundles and packs, desired to leave the +ship. The men screamed, the women cried, the children whimpered, the +captain and sailors cursed and swore. The police swung their clubs. It +was a dreadful chaos, in which Lambert's anxious glances were ever +peering about for the poor girl who was looking on the tumult which was +roaring around her, so lonely, so forsaken, so still and patient. As he +saw her form again emerge, now on the forward part of the deck, he held +back no longer. Without further thought, with a mighty spring from the +edge of the quay, he swung himself aboard of the ship and hastened to +the point where he had last seen her. He knew not why he did this. He +had no conception of what he should say to the maiden when he should +reach her. It seemed as though he was drawn by unseen hands, which it +was impossible for him to resist, and to whose guidance he willingly +committed himself. + +After he had approached her, lost sight of her, feared at last that he +should not again find her, he suddenly came near her. She had kneeled +on the deck before a couple of children--a boy and a girl from six to +eight years old--whose threadbare garments she was fixing, and was +speaking; to a woman who stood near with quite a small child in her +arms, and who was constantly scolding, till the husband came up and +dragged the children away, scolding and cursing. His wife followed him +without a word or look of thanks to her who was left behind. She slowly +arose and looked sadly at those who were leaving. She followed them, +tied a small piece of cloth which she had worn, about the neck of the +smallest child, and then slowly returned to the place where the family +had left her. Her countenance was more sad than before. Tears rolled +over her pale cheeks. + +"Can I be of any help to you, madam?" asked Lambert. + +The girl raised her dark eyelashes, and looked searchingly with her +large brown eyes at his kind, honorable face. + +"Nobody can help me," said she. + +"Have you no parents, no relatives, no friends?" asked Lambert. + +"I have nobody--nobody," replied the maiden, and turned herself partly +away that she might hide the tears which now burst forth in streams +from her eyes. + +Lambert's eyes also became moist. The trouble of the poor girl pressed +heavily on his heart. + +"Can you not leave the ship?" he further inquired. + +The unhappy one, without answering, only wept the more. + +"Do not consider me too pressing, kind maiden, I have seen you standing +so forsaken that my pity has been awakened. And now you yourself say +that you are alone, that you have nobody to help you, and that nobody +can help you. Perhaps I can do so if you will confide in me. I will +surely do all that is in my power." + +While the young man thus spoke the girl wept more and more gently. She +now again turned her pale face to him and said: + +"I thank you, kind man. I thank you with my whole heart, and may God +bless you for the compassion you have felt for a poor, helpless +creature. But help--that indeed you cannot. Who could help me? By whose +help could I leave this ship?" + +Her countenance took on an unusual expression. She looked, with staring +eyes, over the bulwarks into the water which rose and fell at the +ship's bow. "For me there is but one means of escape," she murmured. + +At this moment a man, cursing, pressed through the crowd, which made +room for him in all directions. He was an under-sized, broad-shouldered +fellow with a red wig, a brutal countenance and a pair of green eyes +which glittered maliciously. + +He put on quite an air, dressed in his ship uniform, and drew after him +a sturdy farmer, who seemed to follow him reluctantly and who looked at +the maiden with dull, staring eyes, while he in the uniform approached, +and with legs spread apart, called out in poor German: + +"So, Miss Catherine Weise, I have soon picked up a man. He is the +richest farmer within ten miles, as he says himself, and needs a +capable maid-servant on his farm. He has already bid forty on my bare +recommendation. That indeed is scarcely the half, but perhaps he will +now give the whole amount, after he has himself seen you, and has +convinced himself that I did not lie to him. What do you think, Mr. +Triller? Isn't she a stunner? Are you now willing to fork over, ha?" + +He struck the farmer on the shoulder and broke out in uproarious +laughter. + +"Let it be forty-five, captain," said the farmer, "and I'll take her as +she stands." + +"Not a shilling under ninety," cried the captain, "not a shilling, even +if I should have to keep her myself. No, she would gladly stay with me. +Isn't it true. Miss Catherine? She is a stunner." + +"Don't touch her; if you don't want your skull cracked!" cried Lambert. + +The captain took a step back and stared at the young farmer, whom he +had not before noticed, and who now stood before him with glowing eyes +and balled fists. + +"Oho!" he exclaimed, "who are you? Do you know that I am Captain Van +Broom? Do you know that I shall at once throw you into the water? What +is your name? What do you want?" + +He took a step back, having said the last words in a far less confident +tone. He did not think it prudent to have anything further to do with a +man of so resolute an appearance and so evidently superior to himself +in bodily strength. + +"My name is Lambert Sternberg, from Canada Creek," said the young man. +"There live in the city of New York respectable citizens who know me +well; and what I want I will soon tell you, if you will kindly step +aside with me for a few moments." + +"As you wish; as you wish," snarled the captain. + +"In a moment," said Lambert. He approached the maiden, who stood +trembling violently, and said to her in a low tone, "Catherine Weise, +will you accept me as your protector, and permit me to do for you what, +under such circumstances, an honorable man should do for a helpless +maiden?" + +A deep blush spread over Catherine's face She fixed her dark eyes upon +her questioner with a peculiar expression that made his inmost heart +flutter. She tried to answer, but there came no sound from her +trembling lips. + +"Wait here for me," said the young man. + +He turned to the captain and went with him to a retired part of the +deck. The robust farmer had turned aside and felt no further interest +in the deal, after he saw that another purchaser for the merchandise +was found, and which, all things considered, was entirely too dear for +him. + +"Now, Mr. Broom," said Lambert, as he overtook him, "I am at your +service." + +"I'll be----if I know what you want," said the captain. + +"Simply this: To take that girl there, whom you call Catherine Weise, +with me from the ship, and that at once." + +"Oho!" said the captain, "you are in a hurry. Has she told you how much +she owes us?" + +"No," said Lambert, "but I have already heard the amount from you." + +"Ninety pounds! sir, ninety pounds! That isn't a small matter," cried +the captain. + +"I suppose you will be able to show that the maiden owes you so much. +You will then find me ready." + +The captain cast a grim side-glance at the young man like a hyena +driven from his prey by a leopard. He would have liked to have the +beautiful booty for himself, but was far too shrewd a business man not +to avail himself of such a chance. Besides, the Messrs. Van Sluiten and +Co., in Rotterdam, and Mr. Pitcher, who was probably now in the ship's +office engaged with the book-keeper, had also a word to say. So he +spoke in what was for him an unusually courteous tone, instead of the +coarse one he had just used: + +"If I can show it?--yes, sir. For what do you take Captain Van Broom? +With us about everything is booked twice, sir, in farthings and pence. +Are you surprised that the amount is so large? I will make it clear. +The girl is the daughter of the Rev. Mr. Weise, who died eight days +ago, and was buried with all honor at sea. He was a preacher in the +region from which most of my passengers come. On the way, I must say it +of him, he put himself to a good deal of trouble for his filthy people +and did for them more than his strength would bear, while they in +Southampton suffered with hunger and cold; and now on the voyage +provisions with us became somewhat scarce, and the water--well, one has +a heart in his breast, and I yielded to the preacher when he came to +borrow for his people. So it has happened that his account has run up a +little higher than is usual. At the best not much was to be got from +the old man, though there still remained the girl, for whom doubtless a +purchaser could be found. So I have taken the risk, and have by degrees +given them credit for a hundred pounds." + +"You before said ninety." + +"A hundred pounds, by----!" shrieked the captain. + +"Come with me into the office. There I will show you in black and +white. You, there, supercargo, see to it that the thieving vagabonds do +not slip from aboard. And you, Mr. Jones, do not leave the gangplank; +and keep with you Jean and Jacob, and knock any one down who tries to +leave the ship without a pass. Should any one ask for me, he must wait +a moment. I have to speak with this gentleman. Will you follow me, Mr. +Sternberg?" + +The captain opened the door of a low and spacious cabin which was built +on the deck. A dark-complexioned man, with immense brass rings in his +ears, sat at a table covered with thick books and papers, diligently +writing. Near him stood Mr. Pitcher, with his red, bloated, flabby +cheeks, and on his wig-covered head his three-cornered hat, looking +over his shoulder. + +"Ah!" said the captain, "here you are, too, Mr. Pitcher. That fits +charmingly. Now we can make the matter clear at once. This is Mr. +Charles Pitcher, our general agent for New York. This--" + +"I think I already have the honor," said Mr. Pitcher, lifting his hat. +"Are not you Mr. Sternberg from Canada Creek, whom I met two years ago +in Albany? Have you transacted your business with Mr. Brown? I lately +saw you with him on Broadway. Well, other people want to live too. +Excuse me, Mr. Sternberg; excuse me. Take a seat. What brings you to us +at this time, Mr. Sternberg?" + +"It is on account of Catherine Weise," said the captain, in whose eyes +the simple countryman, with whom the rich Mr. Pitcher desired to have +dealings, had assumed a quite different appearance. "I told you about +her yesterday, Mr. Pitcher." + +Between Mr. Pitcher and the captain there now took place a short but +earnest conversation, of which Lambert understood nothing, as it was +carried on in Dutch. They ought to have let the girl go free, but the +hateful man at the desk opened a large book and said: "Catherine Weise, +folio 470 to 475, beginning September sixth of last year, in Rotterdam, +brought until to day, April fifteenth, 1758, port of New York, +amounting to L89, 10s.--" + +"Ninety-nine pounds," corrected Captain Van Broom. + +"Ninety-nine pounds," repeated the man with the ear-rings. "The +gentleman will require a conveyance from us to which the proper +signatures are attached. For this we charge one pound. Here is the +form. Please give me the specifications as I write." + +The dark-complexioned man took a sheet of parchment and read, in a +leaden, business-like voice: + +"_In nomine dei_: Between Lambert Sternberg, of Canada Creek, and +Joanna Catherine Weise, of Zellerfeld, in the electorate of Hanover, +aged twenty years, single, the following service contract--shall we say +six years, Mr. Sternberg." It is the usual period--for six successive +years from this date, under the following conditions mutually agreed +upon: + +"_Pro primo_: Joanna Catherine Weise, born, etc.; agrees of her own +free will, and after due consideration, to bind herself to Mr. Lambert +Sternberg to go with him, or under his direction, to West Canada Creek, +in the province of New York, and there, from the day on which she shall +have arrived in the before-named district, for six successive years to +give him true and faithful required maid-service, under no pretense to +relax it, much less, without the consent of Lambert Sternberg, to +forsake his service. + +"To this, _pro secundo_, Lambert Sternberg promises--" + +"It is enough," said Lambert. + +"How?" said he with the ear-rings. + +"It is enough," said Lambert. "I wish first to talk over the conditions +with the maiden." + +"My dear sir, consider the circumstances," called out Mr. Pitcher, in a +friendly, helpful tone. "When a man pays L99 he can dictate the +conditions." + +"That may be," replied Lambert. "However, it is my privilege to deal in +my own way." + +"As you wish--altogether as you wish," said Mr. Pitcher. "We force +nobody. You also wish--" + +"Simply a receipt in full for Catherine Weise." + +"As you please," said Mr. Pitcher. + +While he with the ear-rings wrote out the receipt, and Lambert counted +out the money on the table--it was the same that he had received an +hour before from Mr. Brown--Mr. Pitcher and the captain grimaced +sneeringly behind the back of the simpleton who was so easily limed, +and never once looked at the famous account he was satisfying. + +"So," said Mr. Pitcher, "this is finished. Now we will--" + +"Drink to your happy journey," said the captain, as he reached for a +rum-flask which stood near on the rack. + +"And to the _et cetera_, _et cetera_," cried Mr. Pitcher. + +"Good morning, Messrs.," said Lambert, gathering up the receipt, the +half-finished contract and Catherine's passage-ticket, and hurrying out +of the cabin as though the deck under him was afire. Brutal laughter +rung behind him. He stood still a moment. His cheeks glowed. His heart +beat furiously against his ribs. Every convulsed fiber of his body +urged him to turn back and take vengeance on the mean scoundrels for +their laughter. But he thought of the poor girl--how much more she had +endured, and that he could do nothing better for her than to release +her from such a hell, as soon as possible. + +The deck had now been somewhat cleared. The more fortunate ones, who +needed not to fear the book in the hands of the man with the ear-rings, +had already left the ship. Those who were obliged to stay sat and stood +around in groups. Stupid indifference or uncertainty characterized +their wan appearance. Curious gazers moved about among them, some of +whom had come desirous of making contracts similar to the one which lay +crushed in Lambert's coat-pocket. The heavy farmer, who had before made +a bid on Catherine, was now speaking with another girl, who had adorned +her rags with a couple of red ties, and laughed heartily at the broken +German, and at the jokes of the man. They seemed to be already agreed +on a bargain. + +Lambert hastened as fast as he could to the farther part of the deck, +where he had already seen Catherine in the same place where he had left +her. But as he came near her he stopped. It seemed to him that nothing +had yet been accomplished--that all yet remained to be done. She now +turned and saw him. A melancholy smile spread over her countenance. + +"Is it not true? Nobody can help me," said she. + +"Here is your receipt and your ticket," said Lambert. + +His strong, brown hands shook as he gave her the papers, and her thin +white hands trembled as she took them. A burning red spread over her +countenance. + +"Have you done this for me?" said she. + +Lambert did not reply, and was greatly agitated as she immediately +bowed down, caught his hands and pressed them against her weeping face +and lips. + +"Kind maiden--kind maiden! what are you doing?" stammered Lambert. +"Don't weep. I was glad to do it. I am fortunate to have been able to +render you this service. Were it possible I would do the same for all +the other unfortunates here. But now let us away. I have but a few +hours left. I must begin my homeward journey. I would be glad first to +know that you are in safety. Do you know anyone in the city, or in its +vicinity to whom I can take you?" + +Catherine shook her head. + +"Have you no friends among the immigrants who perhaps expect you to +accompany them on their farther journey?" + +"I have nobody--nobody!" said the girl. "You see everyone thinks only +of himself, and alas! everybody has enough of his own to look after." + +Lambert stood helpless. He thought for a moment about his old business +friend, Mr. Brown. But, alas! Mrs. Brown was not a kind woman. To her, +her husband's predilection for the Germans seemed very ridiculous. It +did not very well please her to welcome strangers. He knew no other +house in the city, except the inn where he had left his horse, and +which in other respects was not desirable, especially as to the company +which gathered there. He looked at Catherine as though advice must come +from her, but her eyes had an anxious and strained expression. + +"Do you mean to give me over to other people?" said she. + +"What do you mean?" asked Lambert. + +"Kind sir, you have already done so much for me, and are reluctant now +to tell me that you can do no more for me. I will need a long, long +time with my service to pay the heavy debt. I know it well. But I would +cheerfully serve you and your parents as long as I live, and even give +my life for you. Now you wish to take me to others. Speak freely. I +will gladly bind myself for as many years as they desire and make good +your recommendation." She smiled sadly and picked up a small bundle +that lay near her. "I am ready," said she. + +"Catherine!" said Lambert. + +She looked inquiringly at him. + +"Catherine!" said he again. His chest heaved and fell as though he was +summoning up all his strength to speak calmly. "I live far from here, +full twenty days' travel, on the utmost border, the farthest settler, +in an impoverished region, open to the inroad of our enemies, and which +last year suffered from them a dreadful visitation. But if you will go +with me--" + +A joyful perplexity showed itself in Catherine's wan face. + +"How can you ask?" said she. + +"Well may I ask," replied Lambert, "and well must I ask. It remains +with you. Your evidence of indebtedness is in your own hands and I will +never again take it in mine. You are free to come and to go. And so, +Catherine Weise, I ask you once more, will you as a free maiden go with +me to my home, if I promise you on the honor of a man that I will care +for you, help and protect you as a brother should his sister?" + +"I will go with you, Lambert Sternberg," said Catherine. + +Breathing deeply, she laid her hand in his offered right hand. + +Then they hastened over the deck. Catherine nodded tearfully to one and +another. She could not speak. Her heart was too full for speech. No one +returned her silent farewell, except with dumb and hopeless looks which +cut her to the heart. On the long and terrible journey from her home +until now, according to her strength and beyond her strength, she had +tried to mitigate the boundless wretchedness around her. She could do +no more than leave the hapless creatures to their fate. Alas! what a +fate awaited those who were here cast on a strange shore like the +scattered fragments of a wreck that has been the dreadful sport of the +waves. Tears of pity dimmed her eyes. Her senses forsook her. When, +holding her bundle of clothing in her hand, she felt her feet standing +on solid ground, she knew not how she had got off the ship. + +Catherine said nothing, but in her inmost heart she cried out again and +again: "God be praised!" + + + + + CHAPTER III + + +The setting sun, which hung over the forest sea of Canada Creek, poured +its purple beams over the travelers. They had just emerged from the +woods through which they had been going the whole day by solitary, +narrow Indian trails. At their feet lay the valley, filled with roseate +evening mist, following the windings of the creek. + +Lambert stopped the strong-limbed horse which he was leading by the +bridle as they were ascending the valley, and said to his companion: + +"This is Canada Creek, and that is our house." + +"Where?" asked Catherine. + +Leaning over the saddle and protecting her eyes from the sun with her +hand she eagerly looked in the direction which the young man had +indicated. + +"There," said he, "toward the north, where the creek appears. Do you +see it?" + +"Now I do," said Catherine. + +At this moment the horse, with expanded nostrils, snorted, and suddenly +leapt sideways. The unprepared rider lost her balance and would have +fallen off had not her companion, by a quick spring, caught her in his +arms. + +"It is nothing," said he, as she slid down to the ground. "Old Hans +acts as if he had never before seen a snake. Are you not ashamed of +yourself, old fellow? So--keep quiet, so!" He patted the frightened +horse on his short, thick neck, stripped off the bridle and tied him to +a sapling. + +"You must have been terribly frightened," said he. His voice and hands +shook while he buckled on the pillion which had become displaced. + +"Oh, no," said Catherine. + +She had seated herself on the root of a tree, and looked over the +valley where now, over the luxuriant meadow which followed the course +of the stream, a fog began to rise. Yonder the sun was just dipping +into the emerald, forest sea, and the golden flames on the trunks, +boughs and tops of the great trees were gradually fading away. + +From above, the cloudless, greenish-blue evening sky looked down, while +a flock of wild swans was flying northward up the valley. From time to +time they uttered their peculiar, melancholy cry, melodiously softened +by the distance. A deep, quiet stillness brooded over the primitive +forest. + +The young man stood leaning against the shoulder of the horse. There +rested on his brown face a deep, sad anxiety. Often a shadow of +restlessness and fear passed over it, widely differing from the usual +expression of the smooth, manly features, and obscuring the light that +commonly danced in the large blue eyes. He looked now at the swans, +which shone as silver stars in the distant, rosy horizon--now at the +maiden who sat there, partly turned away from him. At length, drawing a +deep breath a couple of times, he approached her. + +"Catherine," said he. + +She raised her handsome face. Her large brown eyes were filled with +tears. + +"Are you sorry that you have come with me?" said the young man. + +Catherine shook her head. + +"No," said she; "how unthankful I should then be." + +"And yet, you are weeping." + +"I am not weeping," said Catherine, as she drew her hands across her +eyes and tried to smile. "I was just thinking how happy my father would +have been, had he, at the end of his wanderings, found this still +place. Ah! just so had he wished and dreamed. Still it could not be so. +How your parents will rejoice to see you again." + +She was about to rise. Lambert touched her shoulder. + +"Stay yet a moment, Catherine, I have--I must ask you something." + +The anxiety that had already before showed itself in his face become +still greater. His brows were contracted. His eyes had a stern, severe +look. + +Catherine looked up at him with astonishment. + +"Had my parents meanwhile died and you and I, Catherine, must dwell +alone in yonder house--" + +"You must not speak so, Lambert Sternberg," said Catherine. "It is our +duty to trust the Lord. They are doubtless alive and well--they and +your brother. Why do we lose time? The evening is passing and I am +fully rested." + +Lambert wished to make a reply, but the words refused to pass his lips. +He stared before him as if in uncertainty, and at length turned to the +horse, and with a degree of violence thrust the bit between his teeth. +Then he threw the rifle, which stood leaning against the trunk of a +tree, on his shoulder and, leading his horse by the bridle, began to +descend the rocky declivity. Silently Catherine followed, carefully +looking where she could with confidence set her foot, casting many a +glance at those going before. The path was very steep and the horse +often slid. Lambert needed all his strength and carefulness, and it was +manifest that he did not once look back, nor did he ask Catherine how +she was getting along. Meanwhile Catherine's heart palpitated. It +seemed as though the restlessness, the anxiety about his home that +spoke in Lambert's words and looks, had also seized her. "Were they +indeed dead--were they all dead--and were we two, he and I, to dwell in +yonder house!" + +They had reached the valley. Here, along the creek, which flowed in +many windings between the meadow banks, there was an easier though +narrower path. The horse thrust forward his ears, neighed and stepped +along quicker. Lambert had to hold him by the bridle. Catherine walked +a little to one side. It did not tire the slim, vigorous girl to come +along. It was not the exertion that caused her to breathe with +difficulty. The silence which Lambert had not broken for a long time +pressed upon her more and more. She was not accustomed to it. On the +other hand--this she now for the first time thought of--he had toyed +with her during the journey of weeks, he had always talked with her in +a way so kind and good. Now, however, in view of his nearer +responsibilities he had become silent. He did not speak of those +belonging to him. Indeed she would not have known that his parents were +living had he not, when she asked him whether he thought that his +mother would be satisfied with her, replied that she should give +herself no uneasiness on that account. Had he not even now expressed a +fear that he should not find his parents alive? + +"The kind man," said she to herself, "did not wish to make the heart of +the poor orphan heavy by telling me about his parents, and now he +cannot wait for the time of meeting them." + +"Catherine," said he at that moment. + +"Lambert," replied she, coming to his side, glad that he had at last +broken silence. As he said no more to her as she waited, she added, +"You wished to say something?" + +"We shall not live there alone," indicating the block-house with his +eyes, standing but a few steps from them. + +"No, surely not," she replied. + +He gave her an unusual look. + +"Do not be so anxious, kind Lambert, we are in God's care." + +"No, certainly not," replied he. + +He had not observed what she had last said, and only recalled her +former words. But it affected her painfully when, through +misapprehension, she had heard denied that which she believed, with all +her heart, as her old father had believed in all need and trouble. "We +are in God's care!" That was the text of his last sermon which, already +himself dying, he had delivered between decks to his unhappy fellow +sufferers. That was his last word as, a few hours later, he breathed +out, in their arms, his pure spirit. Did not her pious childhood-faith +approve itself to her in a wonderful manner? When all human help seemed +impossible, did not a kind man, God-sent, come, and with a strong hand +lead her out of the labyrinth, and carefully conduct her over hills and +mountains, creeks and rivers, through endless forests and immeasurable +prairies? Never, never, by the side of the good and strong one, had +there come to her a feeling of anxiety or fear. Now, as she was nearing +the end of her pilgrimage, should doubt find sly entrance? "I will +protect and help you as a brother does his sister!" Had he promised too +much? Why did he walk so self-absorbed, so still and dumb at her side, +now that he was so near his own hearth and that of his parents? Did he, +perhaps, fear that he would not be kindly received on account of the +stranger he was bringing home? Why was the house there before them so +still? No barking of dogs. No sign of those who at the next moment +might be expected to rush into the arms of the home-comer. The solitary +house on the little hillock, gently descending from it on all sides, +and standing near the creek which, like a snake through the grass, was +quietly winding among the rushes, was perfectly silent. Silent and +still were the dark woods which here and there overlooked the valley +from the heights along the shore. + +As she now reached the house Catherine felt as though her heart would +leap forth as she observed that the lower story, built of immense logs, +had no windows but narrow slits like the portholes in the walls of a +fortress, and that the upper story was surrounded by a low, massive +breastwork, and that the shingle roof was quite high. Lambert tied the +horse to a heavy ring which was near the door, cast searching glances +about the house and surroundings, murmured something that she did not +understand, and finally pushed slowly against the heavy door which +opened inward. + +He disappeared in the house, came out after a few moments and said: +"There is nobody here. We are entirely alone. Will you go with me?" + +They were the very same words that he had addressed to her on the deck +of the emigrant ship, and she again answered him as then: + +"I will go with you, Lambert Sternberg." She grasped the hand which he +had extended to her and followed him into the forsaken house. + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + +While Lambert had been engaged within there came through the door a +bright light, which Catherine now saw was produced by a large pine +fagot burning in a corner of the room near a great stone-hearth. The +room was half kitchen and store-room, and half living-room--such as the +young woman had become acquainted with in many a farm-house where she +had rested during her journey. It was fitted up with various utensils +hanging on the walls and ceiling, standing in corners and lying on the +floor. Near the hearth there were a couple of rough pine chairs, and, +against the wall, a large four-cornered table, serving both for a +dressing-table and for meals. There still stood on it a couple of +earthen dishes on which were the remains of a meal to which a bear's +ham, which had not again been hung upon its hook, contributed the +principal part. The entire arrangement was planned on the basis of the +simplest necessity. There was no trace of an endeavor after grace and +beauty, or the merely agreeable. This observation, that the young +maiden made with her first glance about the room, fell upon her heart +even more heavily than the empty house. The house would fill up when +the absent ones returned, but would she be happy in the company of +those who lived here, who called it their home? + +"I must look after my horse," said Lambert, "and after the rest of the +things. You may meanwhile prepare the evening meal--you will probably +find something. We will after that consider your sleeping apartment. It +looks very bad here, but Conrad knows nothing about order. However, you +can have a chamber upstairs. I will sleep below. I shall not go far, +and will soon be back. Do not be afraid." + +He said all this forcibly, in snatches, while prying into the corners, +so that she scarcely understood him. Then he quickly left the house, +and she heard him outside untie the horse and go away with it. + +"Do not be afraid! Should I be so it would not be strange. How +wonderful it all is! But he has been so heavenly kind to me, a poor +girl; and surely his intentions are as honorable and true as ever. +Where can they be? They must certainly be at some neighbor's." She had +seen at a distance from the creek a couple of roofs. "Does he still +expect them back? Now I will do what becomes a good maid who expects +her master. What shall I begin with? Yes, that is it. So, it will soon +begin to look more cheerful." + +She turned to the hearth and in a few minutes had made a bright fire +with the dry, prepared pine wood that lay near. Then she took from the +hook the kettle that hung by a chain against the wall and filled it +half full of water, which she drew from a pump that stood directly +beside the hearth. She sought and soon found whatever else was needed +for the preparation of the evening meal. She was uncertain of the +number for whom she was to provide. She finally concluded that six +would be the correct number: Lambert's parents, his brother Conrad, of +whom he had spoken a couple of times, Lambert himself, and perhaps +there might be another member of the family, or they might bring a +guest with them. When she had finished this work she began to put the +room in order, but only what would come right with but little labor. +"For," said she, "I have no right to do it, and they might be +displeased with me." + +She had thus quietly labored for a quarter of an hour, and as there was +for the moment nothing more to do and the water in the kettle was +boiling, she went to the hearth and looked at the flaming fire, +thinking that it must at least be time for Lambert to return. She heard +a noise behind her. She turned half around and was greatly frightened +when she saw, but a few steps from her, instead of Lambert, a stranger +staring at her without moving, with a look of such wonder, as though he +did not believe his own eyes. The light of the pine sticks burning with +a bright flame fell full upon him. It was fortunate for Catherine that, +the same moment, she saw that the giant-like man, clothed in a peculiar +half-farmer, half-Indian garb, was quite young, and that his sunburned +face was handsome, and that his great, wondering eyes had a merry look. + +And now the young giant leaned his rifle, which he had allowed to slip +to the floor, against the table, gave his strong hands a ringing slap, +broke out in very loud laughter, threw himself into a chair which +cracked in spite of its strong construction, sprang up again and +approached the maiden, who drew back somewhat, again began to laugh, +though not so loud, then was silent, shook his short, brown locks and +said: + +"Lambert has done this well; but where is the other one?" + +Catherine did not answer. She did not know what to think of the words +of the young man though they affected her disagreeably, and her heart +began to beat powerfully. + +The young giant looked about the room as though searching whether any +one were hidden there. He then again directed his glances toward +Catherine, but with a different expression in the large eyes which now +shone with a deeper light. He said through his white teeth: + +"You are handsome, girl. I have never before seen anything so +beautiful. What is your name?" + +"Catherine," said the young maiden, who felt that she must say +something. "Catherine Weise. You are Conrad, Lambert's brother. I see +it by the resemblance. Your brother Lambert has been very kind to +me--very kind. We have just arrived. He has gone to put the horse in +the stable. I think he will soon be here. You should have met him. Will +the others also come soon?" + +"Who should come?" asked Conrad. + +"Your parents," said Catherine. She said it very faintly, fear, +increasing every moment, almost strangling her. + +Conrad showed his white teeth. "Our parents!" cried he, "our parents! +They are long since dead. You must be satisfied with us two." + +"I will look for Lambert," said Catherine, and tried to pass Conrad to +the door. Conrad stepped in her way. + +"So," said he smiling provokingly, "then Lambert has brought you along +for himself, the cunning fellow--and I must look further. Now, as for +myself, I am the younger man and can wait a little; but one kiss, +beautiful sister-in-law, that you must give me--that is the least." + +He stretched out his powerful hands and with giant strength insolently +drew the resisting girl to him and kissed her glowing cheeks. + +At this moment the water, which for a long time had simmered, noisily, +sissing and whizzing, poured over the edge of the kettle in a large +swell into the fire which it almost extinguished. A thick, gray vapor, +through which the light of the fire looked red, rose and filled the +room. Catherine tore herself loose, or was torn loose, she could not +tell which; but there were now two persons there struggling together, +and the other might well be Lambert. She also thought she had heard +Lambert call her name, and so again, as outside the evening wind fanned +her cheeks glowing with anger and shame. + +Within, the vapor had disappeared. Conrad, having disengaged himself +with a powerful effort from his assailant, fell laughing on his neck. + +"Lambert, dear, best Lambert!" + +"Let me go!" said Lambert, freeing himself from the embrace. "Let me +go. Catherine!" + +He looked with wandering, anxious eyes about the poorly lighted room. + +"She has gone out," said Conrad. "I will bring her again for you." + +"No, no, _I_ will, I must," called Lambert, already at the door. "At +least take me along--I beg you, Conrad, let me. I will afterwards +explain everything to you. Catherine! For the mercy of God! She may +have fallen into the creek!" + +"Stupid stuff!" said Conrad, who, less excited than his brother, had +cast his eyes, sharp as those of a falcon, in every direction. "There +she sits, there, do you see?" + +"I will go to her alone." + +"You may, so far as I am concerned. And Lambert, listen, have you not +also brought me a wife?" + +But Lambert was already hastening with beating heart to the place where +he saw Catherine sit, or lie, he could not tell which, on account of +the distance and the evening twilight which now prevailed. + +Catherine had run straight forward from the hill on which the house +stood until she saw the creek at her feet. She now ran along its edge, +scarcely knowing what she wished to do, or whither to go, driven by the +painful feeling that the man whom she had trusted as she did her God, +had deceived her. She could not make it clear to herself. Everything +had come so quickly--had passed like a shadow in the smoke and mist +from the fire on the hearth. What she had conceived to be a family, +consisted of two brothers fighting with each other--fighting on her +account. And this was the end of her long pilgrimage, which she had +begun in such a hopeful spirit--with a constantly increasing +confidence--yes, at last with wonderful joyfulness. This the end! "O, +my God, my God!" groaned the young girl, stopping and looking anxiously +into the wilderness which in fearful silence surrounded her, the night +with its gathering darkness settling down upon her. "O, my God, my +God!" + +A bridge, consisting of an immense tree trunk, led across the creek at +the place where she now was. She had already set one foot on the +dangerous crossing when it suddenly became dark before her eyes. +Involuntarily she turned and sank back on her knees, laying her head +against the trunk of the tree. Her senses forsook her. + +Then, as if from a great distance, she heard her name called, +"Catherine!" Again, but now quite near, "Catherine!" She opened her +eyes. Near her in the grass kneeled Lambert. He had seized her +powerless hands. His long, smooth, brown hair fluttered confusedly in +the evening wind about his pale, anxious face. + +"Catherine," he said again, "can you forgive me?" She looked at him. +She wished to say: "Why have you done this to me?" But her heart was +too full. Two large tears rolled down her cheeks. Others followed them +unrestrained. She wished to withdraw her hands from those of Lambert. +He, however, in his desperation, held her fast, and in a despairing +voice, cried: "For God's sake, Catherine, listen to me. I meant it +well. I wanted to tell you a hundred times, but I could not. I thought +you would not so willingly go with me if you knew the actual state of +things. I endured a great fear, as you may have perceived, when we +passed through Albany and Schenectady and the valley of the Mohawk, +where they all know me. I always went first into the houses to beg the +people not to speak to you of my situation. To-day I left the road and +came on through the woods so that nobody here on the creek should meet +me. It was not right; it was very foolish; it was bad in me that I did +not requite your confidence with confidence on my part; but I did not +know how to help myself. For God's sake, forgive me, Catherine." + +She had now withdrawn her hands and laid them across her breast. +Lambert had risen. He brushed his hair from his face. With all the +thoughts that crossed his brain, with all the feelings that filled his +breast, he knew not what more he should say--what he had said. + +"Catherine, believe me, oh, believe me! I had not thought when I +reached New York that I should not return alone to my home. I will take +you back again--will take you where you will. My uncle Christian Ditmar +and his wife, my aunt, are old and childless and will be glad to have +you; and Conrad and I will again live as we have hitherto. Conrad has +ever been to me a kind and faithful brother, and he now feels very +sorry that he has so offended you. We will both watch over you--watch +over you all--as we always have here where we are the farthest +settlers. However, as you will, Catherine, as you will." + +She had now raised herself up, and, as she stood there in the light of +the moon which had for some time risen above the edge of the forest, +Lambert thought that the beloved maiden had never before appeared so +beautiful. + +She had folded her hands, and, not looking at Lambert, but upward, she +said softly but firmly: "I will go with you, Lambert Sternberg--come +what will." + +They walked back toward the house, side by side, the moon shining in +the deep blue sky with radiant clearness. From time to time Lambert +cast sly glances at the beloved one. He had yet so much to tell her--so +very much--but he would not speak since she herself was silent, and he +knew that she could speak more beautifully than he had ever heard any +one speak before. It was also so well and he was so thankful that at +last the burden was lifted from his soul, and that she had forgiven him +and would entirely forgive him when she learned how much he had +suffered. + +This Catherine had already perceived in the painful vehemence of a man +otherwise so quiet and self-contained. She had felt it in the storm +that had swept through her own soul. Now after the turmoil of the +storm she was at peace. What had happened? Was everything that she +silently hoped, lived upon, cherished, forever destroyed? Or, amid +thunder-claps, did a new world bloom far more beautiful than she had +ever dreamed? + +Thus, lost in their own peculiar thoughts, they again reached the +house. + +"Do you come at last?" said Conrad. + +He was standing in the door which he now opened wide for the two. Then +he gave his hand to Catherine and his brother and greeted them for the +first time. "You before took me so by surprise," said he, "that I did +not know where my head stood. In what a confusion everything about here +lay! It had become somewhat disordered during the two months that you, +Lambert, was away. You know I do not well understand housekeeping. I +came home a couple of hours ago, having been upon Black River for eight +days after beaver. However, instead of beaver I found Onondagas, whose +manner was far from friendly--the cursed scoundrels. I went to Uncle +Ditmar's who had, meanwhile, kept our cows. Bless has calved. Ditmar +will keep the calf if you do not wish to raise it. Take seats here. I +have meanwhile rearranged the evening meal as well as I could after my +awkward interference. There is baked ham, your favorite dish, Lambert." + +Conrad was unusually busy while he thus spoke. He set the chairs to the +table, pulled them back, that he might wipe them off with his brown +hand, and then set them up again. Again and again he put wood on the +fire, so that the fire crackled and the flame went roaring up the +chimney. For no definite reason, except that it had to be so, he kicked +his wolfhound, Pluto, while she, having just come in, kept blinking at +Catherine with her large yellow eyes. He himself did not look at the +strange girl, and when his glance accidentally passed over her face he +became red and embarrassed, and speedily turned his eyes away again. + +In this way he acted during the whole meal. He talked, stood up, sat +down again, tried to put things in order, but brought them into greater +confusion, so that Lambert became red in the face and thanked the Lord +when he saw Catherine smiling in a friendly way. She thought she could +interpret Conrad's conduct in his favor. It was apparent enough that it +had not made an unfavorable impression on the young and beautiful girl. +It cost her no trouble now and again to return a friendly word to his +talk. Lambert was astonished, and it sounded strange to him as she once +laughed in the same cheerful, soft tone in which she spoke. He had not +heard her laugh once during her whole journey. + +So he sat there full of thankful joy that everything had turned out so +well after he had been very despondent and was filled with secret +unrest like one who, having with difficulty escaped a great danger, +does not venture to yield to the feeling of security and seems to feel +the ground shaking under his feet. + +But as the meal was now drawing to a close another care began to press +upon him with increasing weight. During the journey, in the farm-houses +which they entered, which were often very small, it had happened more +than once that he had passed the night in the same room with the family +and his companion. Two or three nights when they could reach no human +habitation they had taken their rest in the forest, and he had seen +the beloved maiden by the light of the camp-fire sleeping peacefully, +while he looked up through the tops of the trees and thanked God that +he was permitted to watch over her slumber. But this occurred on the +journey--an unusual condition, which could not and should not last. +There was in the upper story a store-room partitioned off, in which one +of the brothers used to sleep, while the other had his simple couch in +a small recess in the lower room. The brothers had hit upon this +arrangement the preceding year, when the inroads of the French +necessitated redoubled watchfulness. Afterwards, though the danger was +over, they had kept up the custom until Lambert's departure. Lambert +had thought of each room for Catherine, but Conrad had mentioned during +the meal that, on his eight-days' excursion, he had learned that the +French were stirring again. Consequently renewed watchfulness was +necessary, and that since Lambert must be very tired from his journey, +he would undertake the watch for that night. + +"Then we will in turn both watch above," said Lambert after a pause. +"Catherine will be satisfied for the night here below. To-morrow we +will make a better arrangement for her. Is that satisfactory, +Catherine?" + +"Quite so," replied the young woman. "I saw in the recess +sweet-smelling hay, and here is the beautiful white bear-skin; do not +trouble yourselves. I shall get along all right. Good night." + +She gave Lambert her hand and then Conrad, who looked on with surprise. +He wondered at his brother, and followed him up the narrow stairway +after they had bolted and barricaded the door. + +Catherine watched them as they ascended, drew a deep breath, passed her +hand over her forehead, and began to clear away the supper table, and +to wash up and put away the dishes, that she might with better courage +carry forward the work of reducing things to order which she had before +timidly begun. This took a long time. Often she stood benumbed in the +midst of her work with her hand pressed against her forehead. Her heart +was so full she could have sat down and shed a flood of tears. At the +same time a firm, unchecked serenity filled her soul, such as she had +experienced when quite a young thing playing at forfeits when the band +of children in their colored dresses wildly pursued each other. + +Then awakened out of such strange dreams, she again quietly continued +her work, and at last looked about the room with a self-satisfied air, +since it had now assumed quite a different appearance. Having carefully +put out the fire on the hearth, she sought her modest couch that she +had prepared in the recess on the farther side of the large room. + +Through the narrow port-holes in the thick plank wall there stole in +streaks of the moon's rays, spreading about her a faint twilight. It +was easy to breathe in the fresh forest exhalation which blew in at the +openings and played about her cheeks. The brook purled uninterruptedly. +From time to time there was a rustle, first gentle, then swelling out, +and then again holding back like the tones of an organ. It was the +solemn music of the primitive forest. She had already noticed this +music on her journey when, sleeping under the trees on gathered moss, +she, with dream-veiled, half-open eyes, saw Lambert sitting at the +camp-fire. She could now also hear his step as he made the round +of the gallery above. Conrad's tread would be heavier. Once he +stopped directly over her head. Was he looking in the distance for the +blood-thirsty enemies? or was he listening to the mocking-bird's +wonderful song which she had for some time noticed coming from the +forest in soft, sobbing tones, as the nightingale had warbled, over in +her German home, in the linden tree at the gable of the parsonage. Then +again it, shrieked like a vexatious parrot, or laughed like a magpie. +This sounded quite ludicrous. Then it was no more the mockingbird's +twofold, demon-like singing, but two human voices, and Lambert spoke in +excited, suffering tones: "Catherine, can you forgive me?" and Conrad +laughed, saying: "Catherine is not at all angry," and she had to smile, +and with a smile on her lips she fell asleep. + +Meanwhile, as Catherine had correctly supposed, Lambert, walking slowly +over the floor of the gallery, kept watch, though Conrad, recurring to +what he had reported, assured him that, for the present, the danger of +which he had before spoken did not exist, and that he had only +mentioned it that he might have good grounds for leaving. He then +became very angry as Lambert replied, "I do not know what you mean," +threw himself on the bed in the watch-chamber and declared that he was +too tired to say another word. + +However he did not sleep, for as Lambert, after an hour, softly walked +past the open door of the watch-chamber, he thought he heard his name +spoken. He stopped and looked in. + +"Did you call me, Conrad?" + +"Yes," replied Conrad, who had raised himself on his elbow, "I wished +to ask you something." + +"What?" + +"Are you then not married?" + +"No; why?" + +"Oh! I only asked; so good night." + +"Conrad, dear Conrad, I wish with all my heart to tell you everything." +But Conrad had already sunk back on the bear skin and had fallen +asleep, or pretended that he had. + +Lambert went sadly out. "To-morrow," said he to himself, "before we see +Catherine, he shall know it, and he will help me, and all will be +well." + + + + + CHAPTER V + + +Lambert, having, in the early morning, lain down by the side of Conrad, +awoke late and found his brother gone. He had left the block-house at +sunrise. Catherine was up and occupied about the hearth when Conrad +lightly descended the stairs. He was in a great hurry, and declined the +morning soup which she offered him. He would certainly be back before +night. Then he took his rifle, hung about him his game bag, and, with +Pluto at his heels, went up the creek with long strides. + +"The wild youth," said Lambert. + +He was quite displeased with Conrad, but that he had intentionally +avoided him did not enter his mind. Conrad had acted strangely enough +last evening, but then the older brother was accustomed to the +unreliable, crisp and often silly humors of the younger one. "Why +should Conrad give up a hunt to-day which perhaps he had prearranged +with his companions? He will doubtless return by noon with a fat deer +and a woodman's appetite." + +So said Lambert while, standing at the hearth, he partook of his +morning meal. However he did not say that, on the whole, he was not so +much put out by his brother's absence--that he reluctantly gave up the +sweet habit of being alone with Catherine that he might talk freely +with her. + +But this morning the pleasant conversation was wanting. Catherine was +still and, as Lambert now saw, was pale, and her beaming, brown eyes +were veiled. Now that the end of her journey had been reached she felt +how great the strain had been; but soon, smiling, accommodated herself +to the situation. + +"You need not feel concerned," said she. "In a couple of days--perhaps +hours--all will be regained. I will not boast, but I have always been +able to accomplish what others could, and often a little more, and, if +you are not too strict a master, you shall be satisfied with your +maid-servant." + +To Lambert it seemed as if the sun had suddenly been overcast. With +trembling hand he put down the cup which he had not yet entirely +emptied. + +"You are not my maid-servant, Catherine," he said gently. + +"Yes I am, Lambert, yes I am, though you magnanimously tore up the +evidence of my indebtedness," replied the young maiden. "I owe you none +the less on that account. The debt is now doubled. You know it well and +yet it is proper for me to say it. I desired to be to you a good and +faithful maid-servant--to you and yours. I supposed nothing else but +that your parents were still alive, and I heartily rejoiced that I +could serve them. You said nothing about your parents, I think, because +you did not wish to make me feel sad. Now your parents, like mine, +are dead, and you live here alone with your brother, so I am your +maid-servant and your brother's." + +Lambert made a motion as though he wished to reply, but his half-raised +arm fell powerless, and his opened lips again closed. He had intended +to say: "I love you, Catherine. Do you not see it?" How could he now +say it? + +Catherine continued: + +"I beg you, Lambert, with this understanding, to talk with your +brother, if you have not already done so. You are the elder and know me +better. He is young and impetuous, as it seems, and now sees me for the +first time. And now, Lambert, you surely have something better to do +than to stand here and talk with me. I have to clear away a little here +yet, and will follow you should you not go far, if you do not object. I +should like to see all, and know about every part." + +She turned to him and gave him her hand. "Does that please you?" she +asked smiling. + +"Entirely, entirely," replied Lambert. Tears stood in his eyes, but the +dear girl wanted it so, and that was enough. + +"I will first go to the barn-yard," said he, "and then into the forest. +This afternoon I intended to go to Uncle Ditmar's. Perhaps you will +accompany me." + +He went out hastily. Catherine looked at him with sad smiles. "You +good, dear, best man," said she, "it is not my fault that I distress +you, but I must think of us all. The madcap will probably now be +satisfied." + +Catherine now felt herself somewhat relieved of the weight that had +lain on her heart since the peculiar scene with Conrad in the morning. +Involuntarily she constantly thought about how alarmed Conrad appeared +when, as he came down the narrow, steep stairs, he found her already on +the hearth; how he had then approached her and stared at her with his +large, glistening eyes, and had said: "Are you man and wife, or are you +not? If you are, then it will be best for me to send a bullet through +my head; but, lie not--for God's sake, do not lie, otherwise I will +indeed shoot myself, but first surely both of you." + +Then as Catherine drew back from the violence, he began to laugh. "Now, +one does not lightly shoot such a brother dead, who is so good that he +could not be better, and a girl who is so handsome, so wonderfully +beautiful. So far as I am concerned I need feel no anxiety about being +shot dead. This can happen to me any day. Pluto, beast, are you again +staring at her? Wait! I will teach you manners." With this he hastened +away. Outside Pluto howled grievously, as though she would teach +Catherine that her master was not accustomed to indulge in vain +threats. + +"Now he will be satisfied," said Catherine, yet a couple of times, +while she cleared away the breakfast and made some preparations for the +simple dinner. To-day she did not, like yesterday, have to gather up +laboriously what she needed; everything was at her hand. Everything +appeared as if familiar to her--as though she had known it from youth +up. She hummed her favorite song, "Were I a wild falcon I would soar +aloft," and then interrupted herself and said: "It has been childish +for me to be so fearful. He loves him; that one sees clearly. He has +called him the best brother, and surely, at the bottom of his heart, he +is kind though his eyes have so wild a look. Before glittering eyes +which are so handsome one needs not be afraid. But Lambert's eyes are +still handsomer." + +Catherine stepped to the door. It was a most beautiful spring morning. +Small white clouds passed quietly over the light blue sky. Golden stars +danced in the creek. Dew-drops sparkled in the luxuriant grass of the +meadow--here in emerald green, in blue and purple shades there. The +woods which encircled the hill on which the house stood looked down +quietly. Over a rocky height that projected steep out of the forest +there hovered a great eagle with extended wings sporting in the balmy +air that was breathing through the valley and whose every puff was +charged with balsamic aroma. + +Catherine folded her hands and her eyes filled with tears. It seemed to +her as if she were again standing in the small church of her home +village, and that she heard her father's mild voice pronounce the +benediction over the congregation: "The Lord let the light of His +countenance fall upon you and give you peace." + +The last remains of unrest had passed away from her and, in her present +mood, she went to seek Lambert, whom she supposed to be at the +buildings which, as she passed around the block-house, she saw standing +at some distance towards the forest. + +She found him working at a hedge which inclosed part of a field in +which the lance-shaped, bright leaves of the Indian-corn waved in the +morning wind. Young, red-blossomed apple trees, whose trunks had been +carefully wound with thorns, had been planted around the fields. + +"This the deer did last night," said Lambert, as he approached a +damaged place. "Here are the fresh tracks. Conrad knows how to keep +them respectful, but during the eight days that he has been away they +have again become bold." + +"I will help you," said Catherine, after she had looked on for a few +minutes. + +"This is no labor for you," said Lambert, looking up. + +"So, once for all, you must not speak," serenely replied Catherine. "If +you want a princess in your house you must at once send me away again. +I own myself unfit for that." + +Lambert smiled with pleasure when he saw how skillfully she took hold +of the matter, and how handy she was. He now noticed for the first time +that the roses had again blossomed on her cheeks; and as she now, in +helping him, bent over and back, the agreeable play of the lines of her +slender, girlish body filled him with trembling delight. + +"But you also should not be unemployed," said Catherine. + +The young man, blushing deeply, returned to his work with redoubled +zeal, so that it was soon completed. + +"What comes next?" asked Catherine. + +"I intended to go up into the woods to look after my pine trees. There +will be probably more to do there than here, where my kind uncle has +kept every thing so well in order. But about woodcraft he understands +little or nothing; and Conrad concerns himself only with his hunting. +It was fortunate that I could do the chief labor before I left home in +the spring." + +He hung the gun, which leaned against the hedge near him, over his +shoulder and looked at Catherine. + +Lingering he said: "Will you go with me? It is not far." + +"That is truly fortunate," said Catherine. "You know I am shy of long +roads. Will you not rather saddle Hans?" + +She called the horse, grazing in an enclosure near by, in which there +was also a small flock of black-wooled sheep. He pricked up his ears, +came slowly, swinging his tail, and put his head over the bars. + +"You good Hans," said Catherine, brushing the thick forelock out of the +eyes of the animal, "I gave you a good deal of trouble on the long +journey." + +"The trouble was not so very great. Is it not so, old Hans?" said +Lambert. + +Hans seemed to think that to such an idle question no answer was +necessary and went on quietly chewing his last mouthful of grass. +The young people stood and looked on and stroked the head and neck +of the animal, while in the branches of a blossoming apple tree a +robin-redbreast sang. Their hands touched. Lambert's large eyes assumed +a determined expression and then were raised with a cordial look to the +blushing face of the maiden. + +"Now you must also show me the barn-yard," said Catherine. + +"Cheerfully," said Lambert. + +They entered the barn-yard which like the house was inclosed with a +stone-wall of the height of a man, and contained several low buildings +formed of logs. First the stable in which, in the winter and in bad +weather, Hans, the cows and the sheep stayed quietly together. This was +now empty with the exception of a couple of half-grown pigs grunting +within a partition, and a large flock of hens and turkeys which had +been contentedly scratching in the straw, but now, frightened at the +unwelcome intrusion, cackling and flying apart rushed out of the open +door. Then they entered the work-shop, in which Lambert worked during +the winter, and where, besides excellent timber and all kinds of tools, +there were standing, begun and finished, tubs which would have done +credit to a cooper. + +"In the fall these are all filled with tar and rosin," said Lambert, +"and sent to Albany. It won't be long before I must stick to this, and +my Uncle Ditmar, of whom I learned coopering, will help me, I suppose, +and also Conrad, though he does not like mechanical labor. Still he can +do anything he pleases, and does it better than one who devotes his +life to it." + +Catherine was pleased to hear that Lambert was so proud of his younger +brother, but did not speak of it. It seemed to her as if a dark shadow +had passed over her heart, which had but now been as sunny as the +surrounding golden, spring landscape. + +They left the barn-yard and, ascending by degrees, soon reached the +edge of the woods, which here extended back farther from the level +ground, so that, as they turned about, the valley lay like a great +meadow in the woods, in the midst of which was the blockhouse on the +hill. The creek was concealed by the reeds which fringed its shore. +Deep peace rested in happy quietude on the earth in its morning +freshness. But up in the air there appeared an unusual spectacle. The +eagle which Catherine had before observed had been joined by another. +They sailed directly over the house and wound their circles together +swifter and ever swifter until, with loud outcries, they rushed against +each other, striking with their mighty wings, whirling round each +other, clasping each other, and falling like a stone. Then again they +separated, sailed aloft, again rushed together, until at length one +flew toward the woods followed by the other. + +"A hateful sight," said Catherine. "The angry beasts!" + +"We are accustomed to that," said Lambert. + +Catherine was greatly disturbed by this battle scene. Involuntarily she +had again to think of Conrad. + +As they now turned into the woods she asked: + +"Do you truly love your brother?" + +"And he me," said Lambert. + +"He is yet so young," Catherine began again. + +"Ten years younger than I. I am thirty-two. Our mother died when he was +born. Good Aunt Ditmar, our sainted mother's sister, took him home +since my father and I, poor youngster, naturally did not know how to +help ourselves. When he was a couple of years old he came again to us, +though his aunt would gladly have kept him. But father did not stand +any too well with uncle, and was jealous, fearing that his child would +become entirely estranged from him. So I waited on and brought up the +little orphaned rogue as best I could, and, since he grew so, I thought +that any mother would be proud of the boy. Then, when I could no longer +carry him, I played with him, and taught him the little I had learned, +and so we have been together day and night, and an angry word has never +passed between us, though he was as wild and intractable as a young +bear. Father's position in respect to him was very difficult, being +himself a determined man and quite passionate. Once, being at variance, +father raised his hand against the eleven-year-old boy, who was as +brave and proud as a man. He ran away into the woods and did not +return, so that we thought that he had either committed suicide, or had +been torn in pieces by the bears. Meanwhile my young gentleman stuck +among the Indians at Oneida Lake and did not let anything be seen or +heard of him for three years, until, a few days after father's death, +he suddenly entered the block-house where I sat alone and sad. At first +I did not know him, for he had grown a couple of heads taller and was +dressed in Indian style. But he fell upon my neck and wept bitterly, +and said: + +"'I heard by chance that our father was lying on his death-bed. I have +been walking three days and three nights to see him again.' In the +midst of his weeping he threw back his head and, with sparkling eyes, +exclaimed: 'But do not think that I have forgiven him for striking me; +but I am sorry that I ran away.' So he came again as he had gone, wild +and proud, and at the next moment soft and kind." + +Lambert was silent. After a short pause he said: "I wish I had told you +all this before; you would then not have been so frightened last +evening." + +"And this morning," said Catherine to herself. + +Lambert continued: "They here call him the Indian, and the name fits +him in more than one respect. At least no Indian would undertake to +compete with him in those things in which they chiefly excel. In all +their arts Conrad beats them; and then he loves the hunt, the forest +and rambling ways just as the red-skins do. But his heart is true as +pure gold, and in that he is not a red-skin, who are all as false as a +jack-o'-lantern in the swamp. For this reason we all here on the Mohawk +and on the Schoharie, old and young, love him. Wherever there are +German settlers there he comes on his hunting expeditions, and is +everywhere welcome. The people sleep without fear when he is there, for +they know they are guarded by the best rifle in the colony." + +Lambert's eyes brightened as he spoke about his brother. Suddenly his +face became beclouded. + +"Who knows," continued he, "how different it might have been last year +had he been here with us? But when Belletre broke loose with his +devilish Indians and his French, who are much worse devils, we were +entirely unprepared. We would not believe the Indian who brought us the +news. Conrad would have known what there was of it, and would soon have +brought it out. But he remained above between the lakes on a hunt; so +we missed his arm and rifle. Then took place the remarkable +circumstance that they did not come here to Canada Creek, and that our +houses escaped their ravages. This afterward caused bad blood, and one +could hear whisperings about treachery, though, at the first alarm, we +all hurried forward and did our share. Conrad helped us fight in his +own way. He says nothing about it, but I think that many an Indian, who +in the morning went hunting, was vainly waited for at his camp-fire in +the evening, and has not to this day returned to his wigwam." + +A shudder passed over Catherine. What had the wild man said this +morning? "As far as it concerns me I need not trouble myself about +being shot to death." Dreadful! Had she not seen as she came up the +Mohawk valley where many houses had been burned which had not been +rebuilt, the entire families having been killed by the merciless +enemies? And how many plain wooden crosses in green fields, along the +road, in the edge of the woods, where a peaceful farmer, a helpless +wife, a playful child, had been pitilessly killed. No, no! It was an +honorable conflict for house and home, for body and life--the same +conflict through which her good father with his whole congregation had +been driven out of Germany. They knew not how to resist their shameless +and disorderly oppressors except by flight over the sea into this +wilderness at the furthest west. Whither shall they yet fly, since the +same enemy even here begrudges them life and freedom? Here one cannot +say: "Let us forsake our houses and shake the dust from our feet." Here +the word is wait, fight, conquer, or die. Not in empty threatening did +the farmer as he went to his peaceful labor carry his gun on his +shoulder. + +"I wish I too knew how to handle the rifle," said Catherine. + +"Like my Aunt Ursul," said Lambert laughing. "She shoots as well as any +one of us, Conrad naturally being excepted. Nor does she leave her +rifle at home. Here we are, at the pinery." + +They had reached a tall forest, such as Catherine on her journey, had +not hitherto seen. The powerful trunks shot up like the pillars of a +dome and intertwined their mighty tops in an arch through whose dark +vaults here and there red sun-rays flashed. The morning wind soughed +through the wide halls, having now become stronger, and ascending, +gently died at the top like the murmur of the sea. + +"This seems to have stood so since the first day of creation," said +Catherine. + +"And yet its days are numbered," said Lambert. "In a couple of years +there will be little more to be seen of it. I am sorry for the +beautiful trees, and now, since you so admire them, I am doubly sorry. +But there is no longer any remedy. See, here my labor begins." + +A slight depression, through which a brooklet purled on its way to the +creek, separated this piece of woods from another which had already +been prepared the second year for the manufacture of tar. Lambert +explained to his companion that each of the large trees was divided +into four quarters. "In the spring, as soon as the sap begins to rise, +the north quarter, where the sun has the least power, is peeled off for +two feet in order to draw off the turpentine. In the fall, before the +sap begins to slacken, the southern quarter is treated in the same way. +The following spring the eastern side, and in the fall the western +side, is in like manner peeled. Then the upper part of the tree, filled +with turpentine, is cut down and split up and roasted in an oven so +prepared as to secure the tar. This I will show you later. This indeed +is not a pleasing sight," said Lambert, "nor will I take you farther, +where the poor naked stumps stand and decay. It cannot well be +otherwise. One must live, and we here on Canada Creek have nothing +else, or scarcely anything else, since our small cultivated acreage +must be devoted to our most urgent necessities. So must also our live +stock, though we have plenty of fertile plow-land and rich meadow-land. +But what can one do when he is every instant in danger, and his crops +are destroyed, and his herds are driven off? They must leave us our +pine trees, and our ovens can soon be rebuilt. To replace the burnt +casks and utensils we make new ones. Hence it was for us a question of +life or death when, last winter, Mr. Albert Livingston wished to +confine us to the valley, and claimed the woods on the hills for +himself, notwithstanding that we had first bought both valley and +forest from the Indians, and again after that from the Government. But +all this I told you often enough on the journey, and you have listened +patiently, and rejoice that the business has been arranged in our +favor. God be praised--" + +"And your faithful care," said Catherine. "You had it hard enough on +the long, tiresome journey, from which you did not return unencumbered. +After you had been relieved of the old care you were laden with a new +one in me, a poor, helpless girl." + +"Shall I deny it?" replied Lambert. "Yes, Catherine, with you there +came a new care to me. You know what I mean. I feared I had done wrong +to bring you here, where everybody's life is in daily, yes, hourly +danger. This indeed I did not conceal from you, though I felt that you +would not on this account be frightened back. But--" + +"Then don't distress yourself further about it," said Catherine. "Or do +you think you have been deceived in me?" + +"No," answered Lambert. "But since we are here, it has appeared to me +as though I should have set the matter forth more pressingly. So I also +blame myself that I let Conrad go away this morning without first more +fully ascertaining what he knows about the enemy. He is too careless to +take to heart anything of that kind, I should use better judgment." + +"Better judgment, but not less courage," said Catherine. "If I must +believe that my coming has robbed you of your cool courage, how could I +forgive myself for having come here with you? No, Lambert, you must not +so wrong me. I will also learn to use the rifle like Ursul. Why do you +laugh?" + +"I cannot think of you and the good old lady together without +laughing," said Lambert. + +"Perhaps I shall also live to be old, and, it is to be hoped, good. I +shall then take it amiss if mischievous young people laugh at me." + +"You old!" said Lambert, shaking his head. "You old! This I can +conceive as little as how this rivulet must begin if it would flow up +these rocks!" + +They now went on between the tree-trunks down to the creek, and were +walking along the edge where, in the mud of the shore, bison and deer +had impressed their deep trails. The stream did not run as smoothly +here as on the level ground. Its course was obstructed, now by rocks +covered with moss a hundred years old, now by an immense tree-trunk +which had fallen diagonally across, and whose withered branches +stretched down into the brown water. A little further up it had to make +its way over rocks, over which it leapt in indescribable, foam-covered +cascades. From where they both stood one could see a part of the fall, +like the fluttering ends of a white garment. The roar was softened by +the distance and accorded remarkably well with the sound of the morning +wind in the majestic tree-tops. With this exception there was an +oppressive stillness in the primitive forest, which the occasional +flight of a flock of pigeons overhead, the hammering of the woodpecker, +the cawing of crows, the chirping of a little bird high above in the +branches, and the piping of a little squirrel, seemed to make only the +stiller. Soft vaporous shadows filled the woods. But in the clear space +above the creek there was spread a golden twilight bewitchingly woven +out of light and shadow. In this enchanting light how bright the +beloved one appeared to her lover. He could not turn his eyes from +her as he now sat near her feet in the moss. Her rich, dark hair +which encircled her well-formed head like a crown; the beautiful, +slanting brows, the long, silky eyelashes; the sweet face; the heavenly +form--ah! all this, on the long journey, had made a deep impression; +but now it seemed as if he had not known it before--as though he now +saw for the first time that she was so beautiful, so wonderfully +beautiful. Also her dark eyelashes were raised, and her glance wandered +over the blue eyes which had never before seemed so deep and bright, +turned back timidly, then looked again more keenly, and could no longer +withdraw themselves; then out of their blue depths there came such +wonderful flashes that her heart stood still, and suddenly again she +felt it bounding and beating against the heart of the beloved man who +held her infolded in his arms. Then they released each other. Each +caught the other's hand. They sank again into each other's arms, +exchanged warm kisses and promises, and laughed, and cried, and said +they had loved each other from the moment in which they first saw each +other, and would do so to the last. + +Suddenly Catherine shrunk back. "Conrad!" she cried. "O, my God! +Lambert, what are we beginning?" + +"What has happened, my darling?" asked Lambert, while he sought again +to draw the beloved one to him. + +"No, no," said Catherine, "this must first be arranged. O, why did I +not tell you? But how could I speak of it before? Now indeed I must +speak, even though it be too late." + +Without hesitating and in a becoming manner she told Lambert what +Conrad had said in the morning, and how strange his conduct, and how +threatening his appearance had been. "I seem constantly to hear his +laugh," said she at last. "Great God, there he is!" + +She pointed with her trembling hand up the creek to the place where, +between the dark underwood, the foam-streaks of the waterfall +fluttered. + +"Where?" asked Lambert. + +"Conrad! I thought I saw him slipping away between the trunks of the +trees." + +Lambert shook his head. + +"Then he would be there yet," said he. "It must have been a deer that +wanted to go to the spring. Surely you are causelessly frightened. I +can well believe that the youth finds my beautiful girl handsome, but +love as I do, that he cannot. Hereafter he will be happy in seeing me +happy." + +"But now I surely have heard a human voice," cried Catherine. + +"I, too, this time," said Lambert, "but it came from up the creek. +Hark!" + +"He, holla, holla, he, ho!" it now sounded. + +"That is Aunt Ursul," said Lambert. "How does she come now to be here?" + +A dark shadow passed over his face, which however at once disappeared +as Catherine impressed a hearty kiss on his lips, and said: "Quick, +Lambert; let us now go to meet your aunt. See that she observes +nothing. Do you hear?" + +"There she is already," said Lambert, half vexed, half laughing, as now +a large person, whose clothes were an unusual mixture of women's and +men's clothing, and who, carrying a rifle on her shoulder, pressing +through the bushes, soon reached the pair. + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + +"So!" said Aunt Ursul. "There yon are, sir!" + +She remained standing, took her rifle from her shoulder and looked with +large, round eyes on those who were approaching, like a beast of prey +on a coming victim. + +"God bless you, aunt," said Lambert, extending his hand to his old +friend in salutation. "It is long since we have seen each other." + +"And it might have been longer had it depended on you, sir," replied +Aunt Ursul. "But one must first visit his pinery. Relatives and friends +come later. It is fortunate that Aunt Ursul knows her people, or she +might have had to look long for you, sir." + +She threw her gun with a powerful swing on her shoulder, turned short +on the heel of her man's boots, and began to stride back over the road +along the creek by which she had come. She had returned Lambert's +salutation but slightly, and had not noticed Catherine at all. + +"How did you learn that I am back?" asked Lambert. + +"Not from you, sir," replied Aunt Ursul. + +"How is uncle?" + +"As usual." + +"You have taken such good care of my things--" + +"One must, when the men are wandering about the country." + +"You well know, aunt, that I did not remain so long away for release +from labor, nor entirely on my own account. Nor was my journey useless. +The business that took me to New York is so arranged that you and +others will be satisfied." + +"So!" said Ursul. + +"And I have likewise brought with me for you a young female friend, +whom you will love as she deserves, and whom you will receive kindly as +you do all who need your help." + +"So!" said Aunt Ursul. + +The path was so narrow that two could not walk abreast. Ursul did not +turn about, but Lambert now did so and observed that Catherine was +quite pale, and that tears stood in her eyes. The sight cut him to the +heart, as he had but a little before seen the beautiful face radiant +with happiness. "Have good courage, my girl," said he softly. "She does +not mean unkindly." + +Catherine tried to smile through her tears, and bowed as if she would +say: "Let it pass. Since you love me I can bear anything." + +"Lambert!" called Ursul, who was vigorously walking on, "come here!" + +"Only go," stammered Catherine; "but, for God's sake, tell her nothing. +I could not endure it." + +The young man tore himself away with a powerful effort and followed +Ursul Ditmar, whom he soon overtook. + +"Come to my side," said Aunt Ursul; "the path is wide enough so you +need no longer trot behind me." + +Lambert did as his aunt desired. Aunt Ursul could not bear opposition, +and Lambert had from his youth honored her as a second mother. However +he could not refrain from saying with mild reproach, "You are very +rough with the poor girl, aunt." + +"So!" said the dame. "Do you think so? It is naturally very important +for an old person like me to know what such a look into the world +means. No, I may as well tell you what I think. You have done a foolish +thing, sir, do you hear--a besotted, foolish thing in that at such a +time you have burdened yourself with a woman. If, instead, you had +brought half a dozen men, these we could indeed have used to better +advantage." + +"But, Aunt Ursul, first hear me--" + +"I will not listen! I know the whole story as though I had been present +from the beginning. Poor famished creatures, who all looked as though +they had already for four weeks played the ghost. Surely! It is a sin +and shame, and may the evil one pay back the greedy sharpers and +Hollanders, and pour melted gold down their hungry throats! But when a +gun is fired off it is well not to be in front of it. Why did you stand +near and gaze when you knew that you had such a butter-heart in your +breast? Now you have the burden. What will be the result? You will +naturally marry the girl. And then? Then there comes every year a +crying brat until there are four or five. At the fifth the poor +creature dies and Aunt Ursul can then take the young brood and raise +them. But I tell you, that won't do, by any means! I would not +undertake it should you offer me a ton of gold for each child." + +Aunt Ursul had spoken so excitedly and in so loud a voice that Lambert +was glad when, turning, he saw Catherine following slowly at a great +distance, her head bowed down and she often plucking a wood-flower. + +"How can you talk in that way, aunt?" said Lambert. + +"To you it would indeed be pleasanter should I utter what first comes +into the mouth, and say yea, and amen, to what you dumbheads have +hatched out. Furthermore, I have no sympathy for you, sir. You have +prepared your own soup. You must eat it yourself. Poor girl! Thrust out +into the world naked and bare, so to speak, and with such eyes--just +like your sainted mother's--by which all men were captivated. This is +itself already a heaven-appearing misfortune. I can sing a song about +it. Why do you laugh, you green woodpecker? Do you think, since now, in +my fifty-seventh year, I am not as slim as an osier-switch and as +smooth as an eel, I could not turn the heads of the men at seventeen? +You are getting on beautifully. I tell you how foolish they were, +though it isn't worth while to say it, for they are all so. But I had +half a dozen on every finger, and your girl has as yet but two." + +"Surely I do not understand you, aunt," said Lambert, whose anxiety +kept increasing as long as she kept talking in her peculiar way. + +"Well, then, I will speak plainly," said Ursul, after she had cast a +rapid glance toward Catherine. "This morning--I was just raking up my +hay--your brother came with such a leap over the gate that my first +impulse was to give him one over the head, and, distracted and wild, to +my horror, began to speak so incoherently, that no one besides me, who +know him from childhood, could have gathered his meaning; saying that +he must shoot himself dead since you could not both marry her, and +other foolish talk, all showing that he is madly and blindly in love +with the girl." + +Lambert was frightened, as he now heard from the mouth of Aunt Ursul +what Catherine herself had told him a few minutes before. So the bad +temper had not been blown away by the first morning wind that fanned +the cheeks of the hunter, as he had hoped it would be. He had carried +it at least as far as Aunt Ursul's. + +"Surely you have set his head right, aunt?" said Lambert. + +"First set right the head of that pine," said Aunt Ursul, pointing to +an immense tree which had been shattered by lightning so that its top +now held by the bark, hung to the trunk. "And then, sir, you did not do +right in not keeping your promise to bring the young man a wife as you +have done for yourself." + +"I promised nothing of the kind," replied Lambert earnestly. "It was +impossible for me to believe that Conrad was serious when he called +after me, as I was already trotting off down the valley: 'Bring +back with you a wife for each of us!' I never thought of it +again--especially not when heaven threw in my way a poor orphan, and I +offered her, forsaken by the whole world, a refuge with me. You see, +aunt, that I am indeed blameless." + +"Then give him the girl," said Ursul. + +"Sooner my life," earnestly replied Lambert. + +"I would like to know," said Ursul, "whether I cannot justly say that +beauty is a woman's misfortune, and I suppose you will admit it. Nor is +it less so for the men who are bewitched by it. What do the poor +creatures gain by it? Nothing more than the turtledoves which I found +covered with blood near your house. What do you gain by it? Just as +much as the two eagles who, on account of those doves, tore the flesh +from each other's bodies. Alas, poor women! unhappy women!" + +"Conrad will listen to reason," said Lambert, with trembling lips. + +"I do not know," replied Ursul, shaking her large head. "It often +happens that men-folks become reasonable, but they usually wait until +it is too late. So I fear it will also be this time. Now he has gone +into the woods, and heaven knows how long he will wander about there, +and that at a time when we cannot spare a single man--and him least of +all." + +"He won't fail us when we need him," said Lambert. + +"He failed us last year, and did we not need him then? But so men are, +and especially you young men. You make a hunting match, or get up a +race, or, at a wedding, dance the soles off your feet, and do +everything as it pleases you, and the rest you let go as it pleases +God. We saw it last year. How I talked, and preached, urging you to +watchfulness, after I saw that General Abercrombie in Albany did not +bestir himself, and naturally your hands were lying in your laps. I +preached to deaf ears. Afterward when the abominable French broke +in and sunk, and burned, and murdered after their wicked heart's +desire--yes, now every one protected his own head as best he could. But +how many houses might still stand, how many wives and children could +to-day yet look at the lovely sun and praise their heavenly Father, if +you from the first had stood together as it became intelligent men? And +now, Lambert, there stands my horse and I do not know what more to say +to you; so help yourself out of the mire and me on my horse; and, as to +what concerns the lady, I will come again to-morrow, or you can bring +her to me. I will not bite her. Have no care. Today I won't stay +longer. God protect you, Lambert. Give my compliments to the lady. What +is her name?" + +"Catherine Weise," said Lambert. "She is an orphan. Her father, who was +a preacher, and, out of love for his people, emigrated with them, she +lost eight days before the ship reached New York." + +"Catherine," said Ursul. "Our dear Father in heaven! So I always wanted +to call my daughter, should I have one. Both my sainted grandmothers +had that name. Nay, things happen alike. Compliments to the girl, who +seems to be a well-behaved person, and God protect you, Lambert." + +The Amazon arranged her clothes, which was somewhat difficult, as she +sat like a man in the saddle, chirruped to her horse, gave him a hard +cut over the neck, and trotted briskly away from the edge of the woods +where they had stood, down the hill, over the meadow, until she reached +the road which led from the creek to the other farm-houses. + +The young man looked at the retreating figure with sad glances and a +deep sigh. He heard behind him a light step. He turned eagerly and +opened his arms to the beloved one. But Catherine shook her handsome +head. Her large, inquiring dark eyes, in which there were still some +traces of tears, rested on his face. + +"For God's sake!" exclaimed Lambert, "why do you look in such a strange +way, Catherine? What have we to do with others? I love you." + +"And I you," said Catherine, "but it must happen." + +"What must happen? Catherine, dear Catherine," cried Lambert. + +"Come," said the maiden, "let us sit down here and talk with each other +quietly, very quietly." + +She sat down on the trunk of a half-buried pine and looked thoughtfully +before her. + +Lambert seated himself at her side. He wished to speak, but before he +could find the right word, Catherine raised her eyes and said: + +"See, Lambert, how much you have kindly done for me, a poor girl, and I +could not do otherwise than give you back the only thing I have--my +all--and love you with all the strength of my soul, with every drop of +blood in my heart. I could not do otherwise, and it will be so as long +as I live, and after this life throughout eternity. But, Lambert, it +was not right for me that, in addition to the much and the beautiful +that you have given me, I should also take your love. I felt this from +the first day on, and I tried to prevent your seeing my love, though I +confess it was a hard task." + +Catherine's voice trembled, but she held back the tears that were ready +to break from her eyes, and continued: + +"I felt from the beginning--and I have said to myself, and promised +thousands of times--that I would be a maid-servant to you and your +parents and relatives, and, should you bring home a wife, I would also +serve her and her children, and so help, as much as I could, to promote +your happiness and that of all related to you. When I yesterday learned +that you no longer have parents I fled. I wished to flee, while a +voice, which I only now rightly understand, said that it would come +about as it now has come, and as it should not have come. I have not +listened to the voice of my conscience, and the punishment follows at +its heels. Your brother is angry at you on my account. Your aunt has +left you in anger on my account. What a bad girl I must be, could I +calmly look on and see how unhappy I am making him for whom I would +give my blood, drop by drop. For this reason it must take place. You +have given me permission to go where I will--and God will guide my +steps." + +Having uttered these words she arose, pale, having her hands folded +under her bosom, and her tearless eyes having a far-off look. + +Immediately Lambert stood up before her, and her eyes met his, which +shone with a wonderfully clear and steady light. "Catherine!" + +More he did not say. But it was the right word and the right tone--a +cordial tone full of tender suggestion, and yet so firm, so true, that +it resounded again in the heart of the maiden: "Catherine!" and filled +her soul with sweet pleasure. What she had just said, in the bitter +feeling of her injured pride, and in her painful conviction that she +must subordinate her own happiness and the happiness of him she +loved--it now seemed to her but idle breath, like the wind sweeping +above through the rustling tops of the pines and below over the bending +grass of the meadow. The pines stood firm, the grass rose again, and +everything remained as it was before--yes, more beautiful and +delightful than before. What was now her pride except a small +additional offering that she brought to her beloved who would not be +happy without her--who without her could not be happy? This Lambert +said to her again and again; and she said to him that separation from +her beloved and death would be the same for her, and that she would +never again think of it, but that she could live for him and be happy +with him. + +So they sat a long time at the edge of the primitive forest in the +shadow of the venerable trees--before them the sunlit prairie with its +bending flowers and grass, alone--speaking in whispers, as though the +mottled butterflies which were moving about the flowers must not hear. +And if a bird happened to fly past uttering his warning cry, +frightened, they crowded close to each other and then laughed, happy +that they were alone and might sink into each other's arms and say what +they had already said a hundred times, and yet did not get tired of +saying and hearing it. + +Then they formed plans for the future--far-reaching plans--that during +the fall they would clear at least yet five acres, and that they would +in any case keep the calf of which Aunt Ursul had the care, and whether +it would not be best to partition off a chamber in the upper story of +the house, leaving sufficient space for the store-room; and, as the +stairway was very narrow and steep, they would make a new one. They +must also not fail to have a suitable garden in which to raise greens +and gooseberries and currants; and a honeysuckle-arbor, such as +Catherine had in her father's garden, there surely must be, though +Lambert was not sure that he quite understood what Catherine meant by a +honeysuckle-arbor. + +The ascending sun suggested their return home. Lambert was disinclined +to leave the woods in whose shade the complete fullness of his +happiness had been revealed. But Catherine said: "No, you must not on +my account neglect a single duty that rests on you. Otherwise your +friends, who consider it a misfortune that you have taken up a poor +girl like me, will be right. So you must yet to-day ride to your +neighbors with your compliments. They would take it amiss should you +not do it, and they would be right. It is your duty to inform them +about your journey, which you undertook for their best interest as well +as your own. They will be pleased to see you again, and that everything +has turned out so well." + +"And where shall I leave you, in the meantime?" asked Lambert, as they +now walked slowly along the creek toward the house. + +"Where a woman should be--at home," said Catherine. + +"I unwillingly leave you there," said Lambert. "I do not believe I +could return before evening, however I might hasten. It is six miles to +Adam Bellinger's, who lives near the mouth of the creek and who is the +last of us six who prepared the petition to the governor. On the way I +must stop three times, or rather four times, for I must not ride past +my old Uncle Ditmar. It is impossible for me to leave you so long +alone, since the French are stirring again, and I do not know how far +they have come already." + +"Here good advice is dear," said Catherine laughing mischievously. "You +can't take me along to-day, after you yesterday went far out of your +way so that your neighbors should not see what a wonderful rarity you +had brought with you on your return from your journey." + +"Nor shall it be different," said Lambert, but little pained by the +gentle raillery, accompanied as it was with a kiss. "Though you do not +go the whole distance, you can at least go as far as Ditmar's." + +Catherine arched her eyebrows: "Are you quite sure that I should be +kindly received there?" she asked gently. + +"Quite sure," said Lambert, earnestly, "the more so as my aunt was +unfriendly to you before. As far as I know her she has no stronger wish +than to repair the mischief. Believe me, Catherine, a better heart than +Aunt Ursul's cannot be found, though the severe fate that has befallen +her has made her peculiar and unmannerly." + +"Tell me about it," said Catherine. + +"It is a dreadful history," said Lambert, "and I would rather not +rehearse it; but you will think otherwise of my aunt when you meet her, +and so let it be. + +"It is now thirteen years--it was in 'forty-four and I was +nineteen--when war broke out between the English and the French, which +they call King George's war. Neither the English nor the French could +raise many men, so they had to rely on the Indians, each party trying +by every means to win them to itself and set them against the opposite +party. Now, the English had a treaty of a long standing with the Six +Nations; but at this time they also began to waver and to unite with +the French, who knew better how to flatter them. So many fell away, and +entered into secret or open partnership with our foes. The uncertainty +daily increased. Nobody had any assurance of his life. The Germans +here on the Mohawk, and especially on the creek, had hitherto escaped; +but the danger came nearer and nearer to us, and then it was that +we went to our work with a rifle on the shoulder, and when father, +with the help of a couple of blacks from Virginia--secured for the +occasion--strengthened the block-house as it is now. Before, it was +more open. + +"Nicolas Herkimer settled on the Mohawk, and several others followed +his example. Most of them, however, took the matter more lightly, and +said the French or Indians should only come on; they would soon show +them the road, and send them home with bloody heads. About this they +debated with Uncle Ditmar, and became angry at him since he was always +full of courage and of bitter hatred of the French whom he had already +learned to know on the other side, where they had burned his parents' +house and driven them from their home. He thought that should we wait +until the French came to us it would be altogether too late. It was a +shame that now everybody should think only of himself. All should +assemble here, and on the Mohawk, and on the Schoharie; that no one +should stay at home who could fire off a rifle, and that some should go +to meet the French, and pay them back, in their own territory, what +before and since they have done to us. Perhaps the old man was right, +but nobody listened to him. Then came the year 'forty-six, when the +French with their Indians swept through the valley of the Mohawk as far +as Schenectady and Albany, and destroyed and robbed what they found, +and killed and scalped what came in their way, and committed every +conceivable horror. My uncle could stand it no longer. He went out with +his four sons--my cousins--of whom the eldest was twenty-six and the +youngest nineteen. Aunt Ursul would not stay at home, but went along, +with her rifle on her shoulder, just as you saw her awhile ago, and +they carried on war by themselves and killed many French and Indians, +until they were resting on a certain day among a small clump of trees +on the open prairie and, not noticing, were overrun from all sides. +There my aunt saw her sons fall, one after the other, while she was +loading the guns. At last old Ditmar was struck by a stray bullet and +sank at her feet apparently dead. Aunt Ursul fired off the gun she had +loaded once more and laid a Frenchman low, seized it by the muzzle, and +swinging the butt on high she rushed out and struck about her so, that +the Indians themselves, at sight of such bravery, did not kill her, but +overpowered her, and tied her, and took her along as prisoner. They +likewise took uncle, who gave signs of life, when an Indian had already +torn his scalp half off. Perhaps they intended to spare them for a +later, more painful death. But it did not go as far as that, thank God! +for the troop which was taking them along was attacked by another +tribe, which held with the English, and they were killed to the last +man. So my aunt, after a couple of months, came again, robbed of her +stalwart sons, with her husband, whose mind has never since been quite +right, and who has lived on for months and years without uttering a +word, though attending to his work like anyone else." + +Lambert ceased speaking. Catherine took his hand and, with gentle +pressure, held it. + +So they went, hand in hand, along the creek. Here and there a pair of +summer-ducks came out of the reeds and flew, swift as an arrow, toward +the woods. Fish sprang up in the crystal-clear water. The rushes waved. +The flowers and grass on the prairie swayed in the tepid wind. The sun +poured down its golden rays. But it seemed to both as if there had +fallen a veil over the clear, spring morning. + +"I wish I had not told you this--at least not today," said Lambert. + +"And I thank you that you did so," said Catherine. "The happiness would +be too great were our good fortune without a shadow. Did you not find +me helpless, forsaken, poor as a beggar, pressed to the ground by care +and grief, and did you not, without a moment's hesitation, stretch out +your hand to pick me out of the dust? So I will hold it fast--your dear +hand--and help you carry the cares and burdens of life, and with you go +into the battle, if it must be, as good Aunt Ditmar did, whom may God +bless for her bravery, and whose pardon I heartily beg for the injury I +did her in my feelings. Now I can see why she who has suffered so +dreadfully cannot, like other good people, heartily rejoice over the +good fortune which comes to them before her eyes. Poor soul! She no +longer believes in good fortune." + +"Perhaps it is also something else," said Lambert thoughtfully, and +after a short pause proceeded: "See, Catherine, I love you so dearly, +and have kept still so long, that I would like to tell you about +everything that passes through my mind. So I will also tell you this: I +do not know, but I believe that my aunt would be better pleased were +Conrad in my place. She has not forgotten that she carried the +youngster, when a small and helpless creature, in her arms, and has +always loved him as though she were his own mother. So Conrad has also +hung to her; and, on account of the Ditmars, the difficulty arose +between him and our father. Conrad wanted to go and live at Ditmar's, +and father forbid it to the eleven-year-old youngster. The very Indian +tribe to which Conrad fled had rescued the Ditmars. I believe he was +himself present, though I do not know, since he has never said a word +about it; nor has aunt, to whom he may have forbidden it. All this aunt +has never forgotten." + +"And shall not forget it," observed Catherine with animation. "See, +Lambert, now that we have honorably acknowledged that we love one +another, I am no longer so timid. We must now be equally honest toward +the others. Your aunt knows it, you say, and she will adapt herself to +the actual state of affairs. Conrad must also know it, and then he +won't be angry at you any longer. It perhaps sounds a little bold, but +if I am indeed pleasing to him, let me manage it, Lambert. I will tame +the young bear for you." + +Lambert shook his head, and had again to laugh as he now looked into +the face of the beloved one, which beamed with happiness as before. +"Yes, yes, who could withstand you? Who would not willingly do what you +wish?" + +They had reached the block-house, and entered the open door. Lambert +looked about the room with as much wonder as though he now saw it for +the first time. About the hearth, on the shelves, there hung and stood +kettles, pitchers and pots clean and burnished. They had heretofore +always been in confusion. On the hearth itself the live coals glimmered +under the ashes, and only needed to be uncovered and fanned again to +start the fire. Near by lay the fire-wood carefully piled up. The table +was brightly scoured. The chairs were set in order. The floor was +sprinkled with white sand. The hunting and fishing apparatus neatly +hung against the wall. The small mirror which, dusty and dull, had +hitherto leaned in a dark corner, had found a suitable place between +the silhouettes of his parents, while they were encircled with simple +garlands. + +"You best one!" said Lambert, as with deep emotion he locked the +beloved one in his arms. "You will prove the good angel of us all." + +"To that may God help me!" ejaculated Catherine. "And now, Lambert, we +must think about the obligations resting on us. While you go and feed +Hans, I will prepare our noonday meal. After dinner we will start, for +I suppose you mean to take me along. Now, no more talking; we have +already trifled away too much time." + +She drove out the beloved one with kisses and scolding, and then turned +to her work, which she pushed forward in a lively manner, though she +often pressed her hand on her heart, which it seemed would burst with +sheer happiness. Wherever she looked, she, in imagination, saw the form +of her beloved--the true, good, thoughtful eyes; the face embrowned by +exposure, with its handsome, clear expression; the powerful frame, +which moved with such calm assurance. In the crackling of the fire; in +the measured tick-tack of the old Swartzwald clock, she seemed ever to +hear his deep, friendly voice; and she mentally recalled the words he +had said to her, and trembled with pleasure as she thought how her name +rang out from his lips: "Catherine!" So she had always been called. Her +father, friends, neighbors, all the world had called her Catherine, and +yet it seemed as though to-day she had heard it for the first time. + +Oh! everything had turned out so different and so much better than she +had dared to hope. How doubtingly she had looked toward the land with +fixed eyes, which had already learned to weep on the torture-ship. What +more could it bring her besides terrible, inconceivable misery? How +unhappy she had yesterday felt on her arrival, and again this morning. +Could she then now be in reality happy, so very happy that her dear, +dead father, were he still living, could wish for her nothing +better--nothing more desirable? + +Catherine bowed her head and folded her hands in prayer, and then +looked up with brightened glances. + +"Yes," said she softly, "he would have blessed our engagement with his +fatherly, priestly blessing. I can call myself his before men, as I am +before God and in my own heart. And though I have no friend, male or +female, to rejoice with us and to wish us joy, I am on that account +none the less his and he mine. But I will make friends of the whole +world--the strange old aunt and the wild Conrad. I am no longer afraid +of anybody--of anything." + +So spoke Catherine to herself as she was setting the table, and yet she +was badly scared as, at that moment, she heard the stamping of a horse +before the house, and a loud human voice calling: + +"He, holla! Lambert Sternberg!" + +Trembling, she laid down the plates and stepped to the door to see the +caller, who again and again screamed: "Lambert Sternberg! He, holla, +Lambert Sternberg!" + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + +Before the house, on a long-limbed, lean horse, whose panting flanks +and hanging head showed that he had just completed a long and rapid +trip, a young man had stopped. On Catherine's appearance he forgot to +shut the large mouth which he had opened in calling. His long, flaxen +hair hung down in strands from under his large, three-cornered hat upon +his narrow shoulders. The sweat poured from his freckled, saturated, +long face, and his dull, water-blue eyes had a frightened look as +Catherine, aghast, called out: + +"For God's sake, what has happened?" + +"Where is he?" stammered he on the horse, and turned his eyes in every +direction. + +"You are looking for Lambert Sternberg?" asked Catherine. + +The rider bowed. + +"I will call him. Dismount and rest yourself a moment. I will soon be +back," said Catherine. + +The rider did as the young girl had told him, climbed in a tired way +out of the high saddle, and tied his horse to the iron ring. As +Catherine turned to go, Lambert came around the house. He was leading +Hans by the halter, and called out: + +"God bless you, Adam Bellinger! What brings you here?" + +"The French are here!" replied Adam. + +Lambert started, and looked quickly toward Catherine, who on her part +kept her large, questioning eyes fixed on him. + +"What does that mean?" asked Lambert. "Where are they? What do you +know, Adam? By the thousand, man, speak!" + +"I know nothing," said Adam. "My father sent me." + +"What for? What is to be done?" + +"I was in the field." said Adam, "when my father came running up, +saying that I must unharness and saddle the mare; that Herkimer had +been there; that the French were on the march; and that I should +report it everywhere, and that this afternoon all should come to his +house to consult as to what was to be done." + +"Then it cannot be so very bad," said Lambert, breathing more freely. +"Herkimer is a man of sense, and would not ask us to come to his house +if there was very pressing danger to our own homes. But how did you +learn that I had returned?" + +"I was at Aunt Ursul's, who sent me here to tell you that she was going +to the meeting, and that if you should not wish to leave the young +lady, who may indeed be your bride, alone, you should take her along +and leave her at Eisenlord's on the way, or at Voltz', where the women +intend to remain at home, or at our house." + +"It is well," said Lambert, as he took the hand of Catherine, standing +by him still and pale. "Now come in, Adam Bellinger, and take a bite +and a drink. You appear to need it, and the poor beast too. We will be +ready in ten minutes." + +Lambert shoved up the movable crib, while Catherine went into the house +and brought out a loaf of bread which Adam cut in pieces for his horse. +Then they all went in and sat down to the hastily prepared meal, to +which Adam addressed himself so earnestly that he had little time to +answer Lambert's many questions. + +Catherine learned enough, as she silently listened, to form a +conception of the real situation. She had often heard Lambert speak of +Nicolas Herkimer, one of the richest and noblest German settlers, who +owned a large farm and a castle-like house on the Mohawk, at the mouth +of Canada Creek. The year before, during Belletre's raid, he had been +of great service to the settlements. The governor had given him a +captain's commission, and had intrusted him, for the future, with the +defense of the neighboring German districts. + +"He will already have formed his plans," said Lambert. "We on the creek +will doubtless have to look out for ourselves, we are pushed ahead so +far. There shall be nothing lacking with us, though I did not expect to +have the murdering incendiaries here so soon again." + +Out of Lambert's entire being spoke the settled courage of a man who +well knew the threatened danger, but was resolved to defy it, come what +would. His eyes sought Catherine's, who went quietly back and forth +serving the men, and whose large, glistening eyes said: "You see, +beloved, I am, like you, quiet and self-contained." + +Adam seemed to have forgotten all his fear, while engaged in eating and +drinking. He looked up at Catherine, when she filled his plate for the +second time, bowing with a friendly grin. At last he slowly laid down +his knife and fork and looked about him contentedly, as though he would +say: "One sits here a good deal more comfortably than in the cursed +high saddle of the mare, who threw me at every step from one side to +the other." + +"Are you ready, Adam?" asked Lambert, who had risen and had hung about +him his rifle. + +"Indeed," replied Adam, "but hardly the mare. The poor beast is not +accustomed to anything like this." + +"I will water her, and saddle Hans," said Lambert. + +Catherine followed him to the door. Lambert caught her hand and said: +"Catherine, I thank you, I thank you with my whole heart. I now know +that I need cast no more reproaches on myself." + +"You should not have cast any," said Catherine. "Your affairs are mine +Your fate is mine. I live and die with you." + +"And so will I give every drop of my blood for you," said Lambert, "but +I hope to God that there are yet many good days appointed us. It cannot +for the present have much significance. Conrad, who was up there for a +week, and in the region from which they must come, surely knows more +about our enemies than anyone else; and he told me that there is at +least no immediate danger." + +"So I think, too," said Catherine, "and for that reason I will ask a +favor of you, Lambert. You have on my account slightly neglected your +duty. Had you returned alone you would yesterday already have seen and +spoken with your friends, for you would have taken the road through the +valley instead of through the woods. To-day it is fortunate that your +friend Adam has found us, for you might easily have failed to be where +you belong. This is not right, and lies heavy on my mind. Now you have +a long ride. I know well that Hans can carry us both, but he will go +better if you alone ride him. And then what would be the result should +everyone, on such an occasion, drag his wife with him? The others also +stay at home. You will leave me here, Lambert. Is it not so?" + +"Now it is getting to be time," said Adam Bellinger, coming out of the +door. + +Lambert stood irresolute. He saw no danger in leaving Catherine alone, +but it was very trying for him to separate himself from her just at +this time. + +"Conrad may come back to his dinner and find the house deserted. Surely +it is better, Lambert, that I stay here." + +"Well, as you will," said Lambert. + +He again unbuckled the pillion that he had put upon Hans. + +"Does not the maiden go along?" asked Adam, who was already mounted. + +Lambert did not answer. + +"Well then, good-bye, young lady; and best thanks. Hot! Mare!" + +He turned his horse, which left the crib unwillingly. + +Catherine flew into Lambert's arms. + +"May you live happy, beloved. I hope you are not displeased with me?" + +"With you?" + +His lips trembled. Silently he pressed Catherine to his breast; then +with a mighty effort he tore himself away, swung himself upon Hans, +galloped after his companion, who was trotting ahead on his long-limbed +horse, and at every step of the animal flew up in the air, while his +sharp elbows moved up and down like wings. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + +Lambert soon overtook the awkward rider. The two young men trotted on +for a time side by side without speaking, until suddenly the mare, +panting, stood still. Adam, having thus been thrown upon the neck of +the beast, remarked that the mare was a very intelligent creature, and +well knew that it was impossible for her to keep going at such a gait; +that in such a case she always stopped to give the rider time for +reflection; and that he had always found that one also finally reaches +his destination by going on a walk, and that far easier. + +"But also so much later," said Lambert, impatiently. "If you are +absolutely unable to keep up with me I must leave you and ride on +ahead." + +"For God's sake!" cried Adam, and thrust his heels so forcibly into the +sides of the mare that she sprang forward, and again fell into a trot. +"For God's sake! that will soon fail." + +"You are a coward," said Lambert, "in that you are put to the blush by +a girl." + +He turned back in the saddle toward the blockhouse before it should +disappear from his sight behind the forest-encompassed, rocky hill +around which they were winding. Catherine had not left her place in +front of the door. Though uncertain whether she could see the +salutation he waved his hand to her, and then the rocks hid her from +his sight. + +An indescribable sadness fell upon Lambert and it did not lack much but +he would have turned Hans about and gone back at full speed. But with a +strong determination he overcame his painful emotion. "I am just as +great a coward," said he to himself, "and even a greater one, for I +know better about what is going on, and nothing that I do for her +should be burdensome to me." + +"You may well talk," Adam broke in upon Lambert's self-communings. + +"Why?" asked Lambert. + +"Should they pull the scalp from over your ears no rooster would crow +after that; but my mother would weep her eyes out." + +"Perhaps there may be somebody who would rather see my scalp on my head +than on an Indian's girdle." + +"Do you mean the young lady?" asked Adam, opening his mouth from ear to +ear, and for a moment letting go of the horn of the saddle, and +pointing back over his shoulder with his thumb. + +"Perhaps," said Lambert. + +"Don't trouble yourself about that," said Adam, in a comforting tone. +"Then I will marry her. It is already a long time since mother wanted +me to marry. But you know I would not take just anybody. The girl +pleases me." + +"So!" said Lambert. + +"Yes," said Adam. "Barbara and Gussie and Annie would doubtless at +first cry a little, but that would come right in time. I believe that +Fritz and August Volz are already engaged to Barbara and Gussie, and we +have always thought that you would marry Annie." + +"With or without a scalp?" asked Lambert. + +Adam thought this such a capital joke that he stopped the mare to +press his fists into his sides and break out in ringing laughter. A +fish-hawk, which had plunged into the creek among the reeds, flew away +frightened, while his warning voice rang out. + +"My God!" said Adam, "I really thought it was already one of the mean +French, or red-skins." + +"Have you during this time of terror heard of them?" asked Lambert as +they were riding along. + +"Once," said Adam, "about a month ago. Father went to Schenectady with +the wheat, and I was alone in the field, when little Anton came running +and cried out: 'The Indians have swum across the creek and are at our +house.' Fear so flew into my legs that I did not know where my head +stood, and I wanted to go right home to help the women. But when I +again got my breath I was standing before Eisenlord's door. The old man +was at home, and at once sent his youngest son to Peter Volz', whence +soon there came the old man himself and Fritz and August. Then we went +courageously forward, though the crying women did not want us to go. On +the way Christian Eisenlord and young Peter Volz joined us, so that we +were six or seven, although apparently there could not much reliance be +placed on me, since I almost cried my eyes out from pity and heartache +that I should now find our house burned down, and my beautiful Bless +and the four English hogs, that I had just that morning bought of John +Martens, driven away, and mother and Barbara and Gussie and Annie +scalped. But as we came out of the woods, through which we had +carefully skulked, there stood our house undisturbed; and the women +were standing before the door scolding little Anton, who was crying +bitterly." + +"How about the Indians?" asked Lambert. + +"You must not interrupt me, if I am to tell my story in an orderly +way," said Adam. "Where was I?" + +"At Anton, who was crying bitterly." + +"The poor boy!" said Adam. "I could not blame him. He should have gone +in and covered the Indian--who was about naked, so that the women were +ashamed." + +"Then there really was one there?" + +"Yes, indeed; and he had swum through the creek, and lay on the hearth +as drunk as a red-skin can be, and snored so that we could hear him +outdoors. Then the others had a good laugh at my expense, and, since, +they have constantly jeered me about the drunken fellow, though one +should not paint the devil on the wall. I indeed could do nothing about +it. But little Anton should have been wiser. On account of what took +place then, they would not believe my message to-day; and had I not +said and sworn that Herkimer himself had told my father, they would +have remained at home, except Aunt Ursul, who immediately saddled both +her horses." + +"So! Has uncle also gone along?" asked Lambert. + +"We shall soon know," said Adam. "I will call." They stopped before the +Ditmar house. Adam rose in his stirrups, put both hands to his mouth +and screamed so loud that the doves on the roof were frightened, and +Melac, the watch-dog, in the yard, began to bark and howl fearfully. +"He, holla! Christian Ditmar! holla, he!" However the long figure of +old Ditmar did not appear at the upper-half of the door, through which +one could see the interior. + +Lambert thought best to go right on and not call at William Teichert's. +His farm lay somewhat to one side, at the edge of the woods which here +bore back from the creek in a great bend and came back to it again near +Peter Volz' yard. Here indeed they had to stop, for mother Volz had +seen the riders from a distance, and stood before the door with a +pitcher of home-brewed beer in each hand, which Peter, her youngest +son, had just drawn fresh from the barrel. Mother Volz was much +excited, and great tears rolled over her big cheeks as she handed the +pitchers to the riders, at the same time scolding the French and her +Peter, who would go to the meeting and leave her--an old, helpless +woman--alone, the good-for-nothing! + +"If I am good for nothing," said Peter, "I cannot help you, mother. But +I must always stay at home and play the baby; that is just as it is." + +"Yes, that is the case," said Adam, smacking his lips forcibly over his +beer, "and the rest of us must have a hard time of it." + +"Then give me the mare and you stay here," said the courageous Peter. + +Adam was not disinclined to accept so agreeable an offer, and began to +climb out of the saddle when the mare, perhaps misunderstanding the +motion of the rider, or because she perceived that she was near her own +stable, suddenly started on a trot, to Adam's disappointment and +Lambert's satisfaction, whose impatience at the unnecessary loitering +had become very great. + +Now, however, thanks to the mare's fixed purpose to end her unusual +labor for the day, without stopping, she went on faster and faster--so +that Adam held convulsively to the horn of the saddle, while his long, +yellow hair flew about his ears--on along the creek, past John +Eisenlord's house, where the women hastened to the door, and called, +and wondering looked after those who were rushing past. Thus they went +faster and faster until the mare stopped in Bellinger's yard with a +jerk and threw her rider over her head in the sand at the feet of his +mother and three sisters and younger brother. His mother called out: + +"Run, little Anton! and open the stable for the mare, so that she does +not crush her skull against the door--the poor beast!" + +No one felt concerned for Adam. In fact, this was the usual way in +which the mare, after such a trip, returned her rider. He soon got up +and rubbed his long legs groaning, while the women surrounded Lambert +and inquired about his journey; when he got back; and why in the +world he yesterday took the rough road through the woods? how his +maid-servant behaved? and why he had brought one from a distance of +fifty miles, when he could easily have found one--and perhaps a better +one--near by? + +Lambert briefly thanked them for their kind inquiries, ascertained how +long since the men had gone, spurred his horse and, with a brief +salutation, trotted away, thus filling the beautiful blonde Annie with +not a little anxiety, and compelling her to listen to the remarks of +her sisters, Barbara and Gussie: + +"Now one can clearly see, what we always thought, that Lambert +Sternberg did not take that long journey to New York on account of the +pines." + +Annie replied that she cared nothing for Lambert, and that Fritz and +August Volz had also not yet declared themselves. The mother took +Annie's part, and the dispute threatened to become serious, when it +happily occurred to them that they had not once asked Adam what sort of +a person the new girl was. + +They now learned from the keen rider, who had gone into the house and +was rubbing his shins with brandy, that, in no case was Lambert to have +her, but that he himself was to marry the girl as soon as the Indians +had taken Lambert's scalp, and that he and Lambert had come to a +complete agreement on that matter. + +While Catherine's fate was thus discussed in the Bellinger family, +Lambert pushed along on a fast trot to regain lost time. He had +gathered from the questions of the women, and still more from the tone +in which they were put, that the way in which he had dealt was not +thought favorably of. He was yesterday persuaded of this, and to escape +this neighborhood interference he had taken the road through the woods. +He felt grieved and angry at his aunt, who alone could have spread +abroad the knowledge of his return and his relation to Catherine. Still +he said to himself that, since all must shortly know it, it was best +they should know it as soon as possible. He saw how difficult his +position in the community would be--as indeed it should be--so long as +Catherine was not his wife; possibly even after that; that, at all +events, it was his duty to make his relation to Catherine clear to all +eyes. He determined yet to-day, should opportunity offer, to speak to +the minister and to seek the advice and help of that excellent man. + +He had now come out of what was properly the valley of the creek, near +its mouth. Toward the right of him lay the broad German Flats, in the +fork between the creek and the Mohawk. The land, long rescued from the +primitive forest, was rich, and there were unbroken lines of successive +settlements, with a small church and a parsonage in the midst on a +hill. Before him, on the other side of the Mohawk, whose clear waters +glanced between its bushy shores, there stood out also on a hill, what +looked like a small fortification. This, the purposed end of his +journey, was Nicolas Herkimer's stately house. + +He now discovered that, as he had feared, he would not be the last one +to arrive. In the even reaches between corn-fields and bushes those +coming on foot or on horseback singly, or by twos, or threes, from +different directions, could be seen, all moving toward one point. There +was a house conveniently situated on this side of the river, diagonally +across from Herkimer's farm, where Hans Haberkorn, the ferryman, lived. + +Here, a few minutes afterward, Lambert met the men whom he had from a +distance seen coming. By them he was greeted very cordially, as though +all had heard of his journey to New York, but not of his return. They +wanted to know how the matters had resulted and especially what he had +heard in the city about the war in Europe; whether the French had +really, the year before at Roszbach, been so helplessly slaughtered, +and whether the king of Prussia was this year going to take the field +against his countless enemies. + +Lambert told them what he knew, and on his part sought information +about things at home. Of the five or six men who thus happened to meet, +each gave his impressions as best he could, from which it appeared that +there were nearly as many different opinions as there were men, in the +small gathering. Yes, while they were eagerly attacking Hans +Haberkorn's rum, they became so warm that they seemed to have forgotten +why they were there, until Lambert's urgency induced them to go on. + +Hans Haberkorn thought there was no hurry and that they could just as +well consult here as at Herkimer's. The rest, however, would not stay +behind. They tied their horses in a row, under an open shed, to the +manger, and went upon the river; and on the short passage across +renewed their debate with increased earnestness, so that it did not +lack much of going from words to blows on the small scow. + +On this account it was fortunate that, as they landed on the other +side, others joined them, of whom some had crossed before, while +others, coming from the other side, awaited the landing of the +ferry-boat so that they could go on together. Over the greeting they +for the moment forgot their contention, but they had proceeded but a +few steps before the war of words began again as before, while those +who came up afterward mingled in the crowd and took part on one or the +other side. So, scolding and quarreling, they reached the front yard of +Herkimer's house. + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + +There might have been a hundred who were here assembled, all German +settlers from the Mohawk, from the creek, and some even from Schoharie, +for that far had the circumspect Herkimer sent his message. In the +tall, often giant-like men, who sat in long rows on the benches under +the projecting roof of the house, in the shade, or moved about on the +open, sunny lawn, nobody would have recognized the descendants of the +pale and emaciated immigrants who, in their time, landed in the harbor +of New York and of Philadelphia from pest-ships, in an inhospitable +country. So thought Lambert, as he cast his eye over the assembly and +looked at those nearer, whom he knew and soon singled out. There was +first the distinguished form of Nicolas Herkimer himself, with broad +shoulders, on which the long, grayish hair fell, and the clear, blue +eyes, which to-day appeared brighter and more thoughtful than usual as +he spoke with one and another, and then again looked at the position of +the sun to see whether the hour appointed for the meeting had come. +There was the minister Rosenkrantz, with his kind, friendly face as +storm-tried and weather-browned as that of any of his people, from whom +he was distinguished only by his black clothes and his large snuff-box, +which he was constantly turning about in his fingers. There were his +neighbors, the Volzes, and the Eisenlords, father and sons, and William +Teichert, and old Adam Bellinger; and at last he also discovered, at +the farthest corner, his uncle, Christian Ditmar, still as ever and +brooding with his fur cap drawn far down over his face. Lambert was +trying to press through to the old man, as Richard, Herkimer's youngest +son, of the same age as Conrad, and a dear friend of both brothers, +touched his shoulder. + +"God bless you, Lambert! You have come back at the right time, I should +say. Where is your brother?" + +Lambert informed him that this morning Conrad went hunting, and had not +yet returned when he himself left home. + +"This will be very unpleasant news for father," said Richard. "He has +already asked a couple of times for both of you. There he comes +himself. I will afterward talk with you, Lambert." + +It was painful enough for Lambert that he was obliged to give the same +information to the honored man who so heartily welcomed him. "I knew it +already from your aunt," said Herkimer, "but I hoped that he had +meanwhile come. It is very unpleasant that he fails us. I hear that he +has been for eight days at the lake, and surely knows more about the +movements of our enemies than any one of us. To be sure I have on the +whole been well informed, but it would be desirable to have some one on +whom I could call. What did he tell you?" + +"Only this," replied Lambert, and then told Herkimer the little he had +learned from Conrad; that the Onondaga Indians were assembled in large +number, and that it was Conrad's impression that it was not for a good +purpose. + +"That agrees altogether with my other reports," said Nicolas Herkimer. +"These rascals have already for a long time played false, and we shall +doubtless soon have them on our necks. Listen, Lambert; I have thought +of placing you in an important position, and before we enter upon our +consultation I wish to come to an understanding with you. Mr. +Rosenkrantz, a moment." + +The preacher drew near and heartily greeted Lambert, and began at once +to ask about his journey, but Herkimer quickly interrupted the +talkative minister. + +"That will do as well later, dominie," said he, "we have now something +more important to think of. I wish to explain our plan to Lambert, on +whom we can rely in any event. This, Lambert, is our plan: After our +losses of last year we are, in any case, too weak for open warfare +against an enemy far exceeding us in number and able to choose his own +time and place for attack. The only thing left for us to do is, by +constant and regular scouting, as well as possible to learn his +movements, so that, before an actual attack follows, we can retire to +our fortified points. One of these naturally is the fort, which is in a +good, defensible condition. The second is my house. For this I stand, +and this they did not even venture to attack last year. About the third +I will soon speak with you. In addition to this, so that all may be +informed as soon as possible, we will establish signals up the river +and away from it. For this purpose we must form small squads of +troopers which can be rapidly concentrated at threatened points and +occupy the enemy until wives and children have accomplished their +flight. Cattle, and what else can be concealed, we must secure +beforehand. Now, as to what concerns you: It is most likely that this +time they will select the creek for attack. They passed by you last +year, hence they will hope to find the more with you. And then they +know--or believe--that here on the Mohawk we are better prepared and +more fully informed than you. The last is probably the case. You live +so far off that you could not, upon being pursued, have much prospect +of reaching either here or the fort; and for the same reason, we could +as little help you. Your father, who was an intelligent man, understood +this well, and so strengthened your house that it could for a short +time be held by a few well-protected men, furnished with ample +provisions and ammunition, against a large troop. On this I have built +my plan. You are a good rifleman, and your brother Conrad is the best +in the colony. You are both courageous, resolute men, and you have got +to carry your own hide to market, which speaks for itself in such +circumstances. I will give you two or three men, whom you may yourself +select, and it will then be your business to protect yourselves and +your neighbors--such as the Ditmars, Teicherts and perhaps also +Volzes--who can reach you--Eisenlords and Bellingers are nearer +here--until we are in a condition to bring help. I need not tell you, +Lambert, upon how responsible and dangerous a post I place you. On your +watchfulness hangs not only the life of your neighbors, but perhaps +also the fate of all of us about here. On the other hand it may happen +that we, with the help of soldiers from Albany, cannot ourselves resist +the enemy, and so can either not help you at all, or not at the right +time. Will you, Lambert Sternberg, undertake the charge?" + +"I will," said Lambert. + +Nicolas Herkimer shook hands with him heartily, and turned to other +groups. The minister, who had listened, eagerly twisting his small +clothes, and often bowing his head, now reached out his hand to Lambert +and said: + +"You have not undertaken a small matter, dear young man. May God help +you!" + +"Amen! honored sir," replied Lambert. "I need your help perhaps more +than you are aware of. I came here to make to you a communication, if +opportunity offered, highly important to myself, and to ask your +advice. Will you listen to me a few minutes? I will try to be brief." + +"Speak," said the minister, "though I think I already know what you +wish to say." + +Lambert looked inquiringly at the minister. + +"My dear friend, your Aunt Ditmar has already told me something which I +have interpreted according to the disposition of young people. But say +on." + +Lambert now told the worthy man the history of his love for Catherine +from the first moment when he saw her on the deck of the ship to that +hour, and at last made known his earnest wish that he might, before all +the world, call her his wife. + +"I understand, I understand," said the minister, who had been all ears; +"yes, yes; for this you may well wish, both on the girl's account and +your own; yes, also on account of Conrad, who otherwise might deal some +silly blows." + +"And so," said Lambert, "as the danger is threatening, I wish as soon +as possible to be united to Catherine forever." + +"Forever!" said the minister earnestly. "This I also fully understand. +Also short and well, dear young friend, I will gladly serve you, as it +is my office and my heartfelt wish. We cannot here always observe the +forms prescribed by the church, but God sees the heart. So I think +to-morrow, satisfied with a single proclamation of the bans, we will +attend to the marriage immediately after public worship. Are you +satisfied with that? Good; and then I must ask you yet one thing, viz.: +That you this evening take the lady to whom you are engaged to your +Aunt Ditmar's and leave her there until to-morrow, and from there bring +her to the wedding. I repeat, God looks at the heart, but appearances +sway our judgment, and so for the people's sake I wish you would follow +my advice." + +"I will gladly do it, worthy sir," said Lambert. "I will at once speak +to my aunt about it." + +"There she comes now," said the minister. + +Aunt Ursul had been actively helping Herkimer's women in the house, +which the labor of entertaining so many guests at once made necessary. +She now declared that, with her consent, not another pitcher of beer or +glass of rum should be furnished. "I know my people, and if anything is +to come out of the consultation, you must begin now, for an hour hence +you might as well preach reason to horses. Say this to Herkimer, +dominie. I will look after my old man. You are welcome to go with me, +Lambert. He has already asked about you--something that he doesn't do +every day. But the French you know bring him into harness. He is to-day +quite changed." + +Lambert went to his uncle with his aunt, but could not discover any +change in him. The old man kept sitting in the same corner on the +bench, the fur cap drawn far down on his forehead. His sunken head was +scarcely raised in returning Lambert's salutation with a silent nod. +However, the otherwise half-closed eyes looked for a moment from under +the heavy eyebrows in a peculiar glance, but his thoughts must have +wandered far away. He appeared not to hear what Lambert said to him. + +"Only let him be," said Aunt Ursul; "he now has other things in his +head, and for us it is high time that we at last come to the business. +It will likely go like a mixture of cabbage and turnips." + +Aunt Ursul appeared to be right. The noise kept increasing. They went +around with pitchers and flasks in their hands, and drank to one +another, and talked and screamed at each other, till suddenly first one +then another shouted: "Still!" "Quiet!" Now the well-known form of the +minister appeared, as they crowded through one another. He had climbed +on a table and stood there. He had quit turning his snuff-box about in +his fingers and waited until they should be ready to listen to him. +"Still!" "Quiet!" sounded forth more authoritatively than before. But +quiet was not forthcoming. In certain distant groups the loud talking +continued, and a coarse voice cried: "What does the dominie want?" + +"What I want," called the minister, "I will soon tell you. I beg you, +back there, that you will at length keep your mouths shut and bring +your wisdom, if you have any, to market at the right time and to the +right place." + +The rough word awakened laughter everywhere, but after the laughter it +became still. + +The minister slipped the snuff-box into his pocket, took off his large +three-cornered hat, shoved back the much-used, short wig and thus +proceeded: + +"I wish with you all to call upon the Lord, and beseech Him that this +time the cup, which we emptied last year to the last bitter dregs, the +taste of which still lies on our tongues, may graciously pass from us; +and if in His incomprehensible wisdom he has decreed that it shall not +be so, and that He will again try our hearts and reins, that then, in +His grace, He will give us strength to endure the severe trial like +brave men who know that the good God, in spite of all and everything, +does not forsake him who does not forsake himself, and helps him who +helps himself. This, dear friends and countrymen, is a word which has +been profitable in many ways and at many times, but never and for no +one more than for us at this time. Who will deliver us out of our +distress and danger here, on the utmost border of the earth, occupied +by people of our race, where surrounding enemies lurk and go about to +destroy us, but God and ourselves? And with God's help we will save +ourselves--of this I am fully convinced--if we keep His commandment +which reads: 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' Since if we, as +it becomes neighbors, stand beside each other, shoulder to shoulder, +with one mind and one heart, and full of the same courage in danger, +distress and death, then and only then, dear friends, shall we overcome +the danger and deliver ourselves from the distress, and die, should +death meet us, as brave men, discharging our highest duty as men and +Christians. And now, dear friends, after having said what I, as a +servant of the Word of God and a man of peace, wished to say, from a +full and loving heart, I thank you that you have listened to me +attentively. Will you not with equal attention listen to the man whom +we all know and honor, an honest farmer like yourselves, and in +addition a brave soldier. May the Lord bless him so that he may give +you good advice; and may the Lord bless you so that you may take +advice; and may He protect us all and let the light of His countenance +fall upon us and give us peace. Amen." + +The earnest words of the minister, who spoke--especially toward the +last--with a deeply moved voice, did not entirely fail of their effect. +An approving murmur ran here and there through the assembly. But the +voice of the speaker had scarcely ceased and his form disappeared from +the table when again, though not as loud as before, some voices were +raised asking what was the object of the talk? whether they had come +here to hear a sermon? + +"Talking costs no money and the minister can talk well. He was last +year one of the first to run for the fort, and left the rest to their +fate, but truly it is well not to be before a gun when it is fired +off." + +So here and there spake those who were dissatisfied. Others said they +should be ashamed to say such things about so excellent a man. Others +called: "Quiet! don't you see that Herkimer wants to speak?" + +So at last Nicolas Herkimer, who had already stood on the table a few +minutes and let his keen, earnest eyes pass over the assembly, raised +his voice. He spoke long and impressively. He unfolded in every +particular the plan which he had, in its chief parts, before told +Lambert. In it he had thought of everything, remembered everything, and +reduced to its smallest compass the threatened danger that could be +avoided. + +"That is what I have to say," he concluded. "Now it is for you to test +my proposals. We are free men, and each one can in the end do what he +pleases, and carry his hide to market this way or that. But that we are +free does not forbid us to be united. On the other hand, only by being +united shall we preserve and protect our freedom. United we cannot be +and become, if you talk and cry out among each other as just now you +did, again. Whoever knows anything better than I, let him come here and +speak. Let him who does not, keep still and listen. And let us not +forget--what we tell our children--that he who will not hear must feel. +Who wishes to speak after me?" + +"I!" "I!" called out a couple of dozen voices. + +"You cannot all speak at once," said Herkimer with some bitterness; "so +you come here, Hans Haberkorn. You screamed the loudest." + +Hans Haberkorn, the ferryman, appeared beside Herkimer on the table. +The small, undersized, barefoot fellow who had, behind the bar +connected with his ferry, so often spoken large words and scolded his +rich neighbor on the other side of the river, could not let the +opportunity pass to tell the last speaker the truth--as he expressed +it--before all the world. He wanted to know whether it was honest and +neighborly in Nicolas Herkimer that he wanted three ferries at the same +time over the river within half a mile of each other, after it had been +promised him, Hans Haberkorn, that he should be the only ferryman on +this ground? That he on that account had settled on a piece of land +which consisted of moor and sand, and on which he would long since have +starved if he had not also a beer saloon. Now the two ferries should be +used only in urgent cases, and then again discontinued, or--what would +follow--let the wolf eat. It was absolutely certain that one ferry +without a beer saloon could not support itself. Both the other ferries +would want to set up beer saloons, and then it would be to him, +personally, the same whether the French came to-day or to-morrow and +killed him with his wife and children. For his part he would rather be +put to death at once than starve to death by degrees. + +"Hans Haberkorn is right!" called out half a dozen voices. + +"Shame on the good-for-nothing fellow who thinks only about himself!" +cried others, and pressed toward the table from which Hans Haberkorn +quickly jumped. The place he vacated was again occupied by big John +Mertens, who had a large farm on the moor between the Mohawk and the +creek, near the church, and by some was considered to be better off +than Herkimer himself. In any case one could always be sure that John +Mertens would oppose anything that Herkimer and the minister wanted, of +whom he observed that they always stuck under the same cover. With +this--his favorite expression--he began his discourse, saying: That one +might well know what to think of a plan that had been formed without +consulting him, John Mertens, who also had a word to say, having ten +head of cattle in the pasture more than people whom he would not name; +nor would he speak of the sheep and the English hogs which he had first +introduced; that every child knew that one could not bring sheep out of +a stable when the roof over their heads was afire; nor could one drive +fifty hogs away so fast that a lame Indian could not overtake them, not +to speak of a dozen who could run. They might think of John Mertens so +or so, but he is an honest fellow who does not hide his meaning behind +a bush. This was what he wanted to say--The discourse of the big farmer +was very confused, and was partly lost in the fat of his double chin; +but his adherents, of whom the number was not small, showed their +approbation with screams and yells. The opposite party did not fail to +pay back such an answer as was due. A dreadful tumult arose, which +Nicolas Herkimer's powerful voice could not overcome. It seemed as if +the consultation on whose issue the weal or woe of hundreds hung, +through the folly and conceit of a couple of dozen would end in empty +confusion and disorder. + +Suddenly there stood beside Nicolas Herkimer a person, the mere sight +of whom, as with a blow, brought the boisterous assembly to order, as +though a dead man had become alive and wished to address them. The +giant-long, skeleton-lean form of Christian Ditmar, whose bony hands +were stretched apart as if in conjuration, while, from under the thick +fur cap the gray hair in disordered strands was whipped by the wind +about his ghost-like face, was awe-inspiring. Then he raised his voice, +which now shrieked frantically, and then again rung out like thunder, +and thus spoke: + +"So is being fulfilled the Word of God: 'The sins of the fathers shall +be visited upon the children to the third and fourth generation.' Yes, +the sins of the fathers. You have quarreled with each other and raised +your arms against each other while French wolves are howling around the +German flock, and have worried and killed as their wicked hearts +desired. They murdered my parents and brothers and sisters. I saw it +with my own eyes. I saw too my parents' house go up in flames, and +our neighbors' houses burning, and the city became a ruin and an +ash-heap--the beautiful proud city on the Neckar. Among the ruins +wandered weeping wives looking among the ashes for the bones of +husbands and brothers, and cried: 'Woe!' 'Woe!' 'A deadly curse on you +hangmen and murdering incendiaries!' + +"I, a weak boy, cried along with them: 'Woe! Woe! A curse upon you, you +hangmen, and murdering incendiaries!' After many years I came here, and +again found them, the mean French wolves, howling around the German +flock; and I disputed with the rest and separated from the others, and +went out with my wife and my sons to take vengeance on those who had +killed my parents and all my kindred. How did the vengeance look when +my four brave boys lay dead at their father's feet, each with a bullet +through his breast?" + +Christian Ditmar was silent a few moments. He must suppress the sadness +that rose in his heart at these recollections. He then proceeded with +increasing emotion: + +"And so you have suffered and bled, earlier and later, under the greedy +teeth. However I, who have suffered more than you all, I tell you that +I deserved it since I blindly followed the voice of my heart crying for +vengeance and did not hearken to the advice of more prudent men; and so +you have deservedly suffered, and will suffer, since you also will not +listen, you fools and madmen, and propose to separate as you came, the +one this way, the other that, by which the wolves will again have an +easy play. But then your own and your children's blood will rest on you +as my children's blood has come upon me. Here--!" + +Christian Ditmar tore his fur cap from his head. A broad, fearful scar +ran like a stream of blood over the high forehead from one temple to +the other. + +"Here!" he repeated, while with his forefinger he pointed to the track +of blood; "here! here!" He raised both hands to his head, and with a +dull cry that rang dreadfully through the silent assembly, he fell +helpless. Nicolas Herkimer caught him in his arms; but soon the old man +gathered himself up and, with Lambert's help, who quickly sprang to his +aid, descended from the table and walked slowly to the entrance into +the door-yard, supported by the strong arm of his wife and attended by +Lambert. + +"Have you now heard?" said Aunt Ursul to the rest who crowded around, +helpful and eager. "Have you now heard, you straw-heads? Why do you +stand about here and gape? I can take care of my old man alone. Better +go and do what he has told you. You also stay here, Lambert, and when +you pass our house stop a moment. I wish to speak with you." + +Lambert brought out the horses of his relatives from the long row of +those which were swinging their tails under the shed, and bridled them. +He now helped into the saddle his uncle, who had fallen back into his +former stupidity, and after his great excitement seemed to take no +farther part in the matter. Meanwhile Aunt Ursul had resolutely brought +a stool and from it mounted her horse. Lambert looked at the retreating +figures until they reached the ferry, where Hans Haberkorn's oldest +boy, in the absence of his father, attended to the service, and then +returned to the meeting, in which there now prevailed a very different +mood. + +The appearance and words of Christian Ditmar had produced a powerful +effect. Everybody knew the witless Christian and his history, and that +he had been dumb since he had lost his sons, and his oldest friends +could no longer remember the sound of his voice. And now the dumb had +opened his mouth and had spoken fearful words, which cut to the heart +those who listened in dumb wonderment. Yes, yes; it was, if not a +miracle, at least a sign--a gray sign--well enough understood by the +superstitious. When men are silent stones will speak. They had not been +silent before--far otherwise--but they had not listened; they would now +listen; they wanted to hear Herkimer explain his views once more. + +Nicolas Herkimer did so, and with a result far different from the +first. They now found that it must be altogether so, and not +otherwise--that better advice could not be given. Should the French +this time select Canada Creek as the first point of attack, as to all +appearance they would, it would be very bad for Lambert Sternberg and +the Ditmars and the Eisenlords and the rest. But it could not be +helped. When now Lambert appeared on the table and in a few plain words +said that he was proud to assume the existing responsibility, and that +he would hold out on his post to his last breath, and that he now +desired the young men who had a heart and a good rifle for the +undertaking, at once to go with him to-day; then August and Fritz Volz +and Christian Eisenlord, and half a dozen others, cried out: "I!" "I!" +with one voice, and pressing up joined the fighting band. + +The leaders of the three cavalry squads were now selected. These were +to help those on and away from the Mohawk, and on the creek, as they +were fleeing to the forts. So also right men were quickly appointed for +the old ferry, and for the added new ones, and for the other important +posts which were yet to be provided for. + +The excellent spirit which had seized the assembly made them unwilling +to hear any more quarreling and strife; and those who grumbled +secretly, such as Hans Haberkorn, John Mertens and others, thought it +better policy to lay aside their opposition for a more convenient time. + +It was late in the afternoon when Nicolas Herkimer declared the +business finished, and asked the minister to close the meeting. The +minister put up his snuff-box, stepped on the table and spoke with a +loud voice which clearly indicated deep feeling, as follows: + +"Dear neighbors and friends: I will not speak long, for you are in a +hurry to get home to your wives and children. I will only ask you with +me briefly to thank God that He has opened our hearts to the spirit of +brotherliness and love, and to beseech Him that He will keep awake in +us this spirit for the miserable days with which we are now threatened. +Then this open heart and this wakeful spirit will make our hands +strong, and we shall live in a strong tower, which is our God. And the +prince of this world, however terrible he may be, will accomplish +nothing against the eternal God in heaven, who will not leave His brave +Germans. And now, dear neighbors and friends, go home, and keep your +eyes stiff and your powder dry. To-morrow, as may happen, if you have +more to do and cannot come to church, no damage will be done. God give +us all a happy reunion. Amen." + +"Amen!" "Amen!" sounded forth everywhere in the circle of men, among +whom there were none who had not found for the moment a deep and holy +earnestness. They had assembled in disputation and quarreling. They +separated in peace and harmony. Most of them at their departure went to +shake hands with Nicolas Herkimer, and specially assured him that he +could in any case rely on them. The honor of a pinch of snuff from the +minister was sought by so many that the noble man could at last, +laughing, only present the empty box. The young people who desired to +be placed on the most dangerous post, had gathered about Lambert, and +it required Herkimer's authority to settle the choice. Lambert had +declared that he could not accept more than four, since he himself and +Conrad must also be added, making six good rifles for the protection of +the house. A larger number would unnecessarily consume food and +ammunition in case they had to stand a siege. So then, to grieve no +one, the lot should determine, and it fell on Fritz Volz, from the +creek; Jacob Ehrlich and Anthony Bierman, from the Mohawk; and on +Richard Herkimer. Lambert was satisfied with the issue. They were, on +the whole, wide-awake young men--at least Fritz Volz and Richard +Herkimer, his special friends. They agreed that the last two, who lived +near enough, should occupy the post yet this evening, and that the two +others should come early in the morning. + +Now at last, after about all who had been assembled had gone, could +Lambert leave Nicolas Herkimer, who said: "I will keep you no longer +now. I will ride over to-morrow, as there are yet many things about +which I want to talk to you." Lambert had not improperly pressed to go. +As he reached the other side he found the Eisenlords, the Teicherts and +a dozen others who all, with a glass of Hans Haberkorn's genuine, were +discussing what they had heard and decided upon. He shook hands with +them and hastened on, Fritz Volz calling after him that he would see +him in the evening. As now he gave loose rein to his horse he cast an +anxious, inquiring glance at the sky, in which the sun had nearly run +its course. It was perhaps yet half an hour to its setting. On his left +the level fields and marshes shimmered and glimmered in red, blended +lights, so that he could hardly distinguish the shingled roofs of the +houses; and the forms of riders and footmen appeared now and then as +dark points in the sea of fire. To the right, where the farther he went +the nearer did the hills and rocks press toward him, the mighty trunks +of the giant pines glowed in dark purple, and their branching tops +blazed in green-golden flames to the cloudless sky. With every +hoof-beat of the horse the sun sunk deeper, and Lambert had just left +Bellinger's farm behind when the sea of fire to the left was +extinguished by a blue fog; and toward evening only the highest tops of +the tallest trees reflected the departing light of day. Night soon came +on. As his noble beast rapidly struck the grassy soil with strong hoofs +he saw that he could not reach home in less than an hour. + +A nameless discontent seized him. The longing for the beloved one, +which he had so nobly fought all these hours, now asserted its rights, +and so filled his breast that he could hardly breathe. Minutes seemed +like hours. There was also another distressing feeling--a feeling of +fear for something he could not conceive of, for which he had no name, +and which may on that account have been more terrible. In all his life +he had never before had such an experience. Nearest to it were the +frightful dreams that had terrified him when a boy, from which he in +vain sought to wake. Lambert groaned aloud, and Hans groaned under the +pressure of the rider's legs. + +So he rushed forward faster and faster, without looking to the right or +left, without stopping at Eisenlord's or at Volz', though everywhere +from the doors the women called to him: "Holla, Lambert, whither in +such haste?" until at last Hans, angry at the conduct of his otherwise +reasonable master, ran at full speed. + +Aunt Ursul had requested him to stop on his return, and he himself +wished to speak with her about what the minister had said. So he +stopped his foaming horse unwillingly when he came to the Ditmar house. + +"Is he near comfort.'" said Aunt Ursul who had heard him coming and now +stepped to the door. "The poor beast is like a cat which has been lying +eight days in the water. How you look yourself: Like the rider in the +book of Revelation." + +"I feel as though some misfortune had happened there," stammered +Lambert, pointing homeward. + +"Papperlapap!" said Aunt Ursul. "What can have happened? Conrad--yes, +Lambert; I already see that now I can't get a rational word out of you, +so in God's name, drive on. I have just put my old man to bed and given +him a cup of tea, so I am entirely free and will come over in about an +hour." + +She gave Hans, who was already restlessly champing his bit, a blow on +his wet neck. He sprang away with his rider. "Those whom we love are +always but half near comfort," said Aunt Ursul, looking after him and +shaking her head; "nevertheless--nevertheless--Conrad is a madcap, and +acted this morning as though he had lost his reason. I must see that +all things go right." + +Aunt Ursul turned back into the house, took her gun from the rack and, +with long strides, followed Lambert, who was already immersed in the +evening fog which rose from the creek in thick streaks. + + + + + CHAPTER X + + +When at noon to-day Lambert tore himself away from Catherine, she stood +still as though stunned. The conviction that she ought to remain behind +had come to her on the instant; the determination to do so had been +uttered so soon; the carrying out of the resolution too had followed so +closely at its heels, that now, as the forms of the riders disappeared +behind a turn of the road and she found herself really alone, it +appeared to her as though she were having a disagreeable, fearful dream +out of which she must momentarily awake. She struck herself over her +forehead and eyes, but all was real. There stood the empty crib. There +lay the pail which the mare had pushed over. There was the pillion +which at the last moment Lambert had unbuckled from the saddle. There +were the short, trampled grass and the tracks of the hoofs of the +horses. There was the open door in which she had just now seen Lambert. +Catherine took a few steps, as though she would follow the beloved one, +and then stood still, pressing her hand on her loud-beating heart. Deep +sadness overwhelmed her, but she vigorously fought down the feeling. +"He has so often called you a brave girl," said she to herself, "and +will you weep and complain like a child which the mother has left alone +for a few moments? He will soon come back; surely he will soon come +back." + +She entered the house to see what time it was. The hand of the +Swartzwald clock pointed to twelve. The distance to Nicolas Herkimer's +house was six miles. If she counted going and returning it was twelve, +and on the calculation of the men themselves would take them two hours, +so that Lambert could be back by six o'clock, or by seven at the +latest. That was indeed a long time, but there was yet much to do, and +perhaps also to-day Conrad would return earlier from hunting. + +"On Conrad's account I should remain here," said Catherine to herself +as she cleared away the dinner-dishes. "He must learn to see in me his +sister, and he will, when we show our confidence in him and have no +secrets before him. Ah, could I only yesterday have greeted him as a +brother! However, that will follow. It must follow yet to-day, when he +returns. Then we will live together in peace, and the wild man will +find that it is not a bad thing to have a female friend who takes care +of him until he himself loves a girl, and establishes a home and builds +a house for himself here near us, or at the edge of the woods he so +much loves. That will be a joyful, happy life. We will be good +neighbors. I shall love his wife and she me." + +Catherine had sat down on the hearth and, with her head supported by +her hand, looked before her with half-closed eyes, thinking. The fire +on the hearth gently crackled; the wall-clock said "tick-tack." In the +meadow outside the birds sang. Through the open door the sun shone +clear into the cool, shaded room; and in the bright sunbeams, which +reached as far as her knees, dust atoms danced, lighted up, and +twinkling like golden stars seemed to be waving and playing and +catching one another. Then they were no longer golden stars, but +children's laughing faces, which emerged out of the partial darkness of +the background, came up to her knees, and again disappeared in the dark +corners, and from them looked out with bright, blue, happy eyes. Then +the vision vanished. The sun still shone into the silent room. The fire +crackled. The wall-clock said "tick-tack," and out in the meadows sang +the birds. + +The young maiden arose and commenced her labor anew, but there was a +different expression in her mild, innocent countenance; and other +thoughts, which came to her like a revelation, filled her soul. The +bridal feeling which now happified her, had acquired another phase, for +which she knew not how to account. It was a deeper, more earnest +feeling--distinguished from the former like the light of noon now lying +on field and forest, from that of the morning. Those were the same +bending grass-stems and the same swaying tree-tops. It was the same +clear creek and they were the same waving rushes, and yet all was +changed as by a gentle, mighty, magic hand, and spoke another +speech--moving and dissolving in mystery. Now she understood why the +beloved man, who was truth and openness itself, so anxiously concealed +from her for weeks that she must live alone with him in his house. +"Alone! Would it not have been the same had he told the truth? told me +that he loved me? that he did not want me as a maid-servant? Would it +not have come out just the same? Did I not also love him from the first +moment on? and have I not followed him through peopled cities, through +the pathless wilderness, on a journey of weeks, through rain and +sunshine, day and night, in unknown regions? What is so different now? +Did I not devote myself to him as we left the ship hand in hand? 'You +shall be my lord!' And is it not said in the church when the minister +lays the hands of lovers together: 'He shall be thy lord.' Yes, he +shall be my lord, now and always. He shall be my lord." + +So spoke Catherine to herself to banish the occasional shudders that +passed through her heart and often took away her breath, while she +completed the arrangements in her room which had been temporarily made +last evening, and put away her few belongings in a closet that had been +contrived in the thick wall. Then, as there was nothing more to do +here, she for the first time ascended the stairs to the upper story, +and walked around the gallery which encircled the house and projected +beyond the lower story, and was surrounded by well-joined planks and +provided with port-holes. With the exception of a place poorly enough +partitioned off in which the brothers had slept the previous night, the +room, used in winter as a store-room, was empty, or served for the +storage of that for which there was no room below. Catherine acquired a +clearer notion of the plan, which she and Lambert had formed in the +morning, to prepare a small, pleasant room for them both here where +everything was more airy and free. However, without Lambert she did not +succeed very well in planning. + +So she again went downstairs, and to her surprise saw by the clock that +since Lambert had left but one hour had elapsed. She took some work and +seated herself with it on a bench before the door in the shade of the +gallery. + +It was in the stillness of the day. There was so little wind that the +grass-stems in the meadow, and the rushes at the edge of the creek, +scarcely bent. The butterflies passed from flower to flower on languid +wing. The hum of the bees and the chirping of the crickets had a sleepy +sound. All around, everything was still. However, out of the forest +there frequently came the hoarse cry of the tree-falcon, or the call of +a bird which Catherine did not recognize. In the blue sky there hung +single white clouds whose shadows moved, slowly--very slowly--over the +sunny prairie. + +At first Catherine was pleased with this quietude, which seemed an +image of sabbath stillness, filling her soul. But she had scarcely thus +sat an hour before the monotony of the scene about her filled her heart +with a strange fear. How entirely different it was this morning. Then +heaven and earth and tree and bush and every flower and every +grass-stem smiled and bowed their welcome to her. Everything had spoken +to her in persuasive language. Now that the beloved one was at a +distance everything was dumb, except that heaven and earth and tree and +bush and every flower and every grass-stem breathed out one word with +ever-increasing sadness: Alone! alone! + +Catherine let her work sink into her lap. An image, that had been for +many years as if blotted from her memory, suddenly came before her in +pale colors, but very distinct--the image of her dead mother, who, +adorned with flowers, lay in her coffin--and she a little girl, ten +years old, stood beside it; and her father had come up and taken her +hand and said: "We two are now alone." + +"Alone!" + +Her heart was filled with increasing fear. Again taking up her work she +tried to sing a song that always occurred to her when everything was so +quiet: "Were I a wild Falcon I would soar aloft." But she commenced so +gently that she did not complete the first measure. Her voice sounded +strange. She was frightened at her own voice. + +Perhaps, she thought, it would be better if she went to the barn-yard +where in the morning she had passed such happy moments with Lambert. + +She arose and hastily walked down the path, at last running, and now +with beating heart leaned against the bars of the inclosure. The sheep +which stood near ran away frightened, and looked at her from a distance +with dull eyes. In the yard all was still. The hens and turkeys had +gone out into the fields. As she again turned, from among the fruit +trees, in whose blossom-covered branches this morning a robin sang so +sweetly, there broke out a brown bird of prey and with broad, flapping +wings hastened toward the forest. On the ground among the grass there +lay several colored feathers. + +More sad than when she went Catherine returned to the house, and again +sat down before the door, with the full purpose now to wait quietly, +and to fight down her depression of spirits. + +So she sat patiently long, endless hours. The light in the green tops +of the trees in yonder woods became more golden. The shadows that lay +along the edge became deeper and broader--one after another came out of +the wilderness until at last they branched out in troops. From time to +time flocks of pigeons flew like lightning over the prairie from one +side of the forest to the other. High above them, in the bright sky, +sailed more slowly chains of wild geese, filling the air with their +monotone cry. Then again everything was still, and Catherine could hear +the rushing of the blood in her temples. + +She could endure it no longer. It occurred to her that she had seen a +couple of books in the house on a shelf too high for her to reach. She +went in, pushed up the table, set a stool on it and got the books. + +There were two of them, bound in hog's leather, very dusty and +worm-eaten--a Bible and a history, as it appeared. The writing on the +fly-leaf was at first in Latin, which the minister's daughter +understood well enough to decipher with a little pains. It stated +that this book belonged to Conrad Emanuel Sternberg, formerly a +student of theology at Heidelberg, who, in the year 1709, after his +parents--well-to-do vintners in the Palatinate--had lost everything in +the dreadful winter, when the wine in the casks and the birds in the +air froze, in company with the young cooper, Christian Ditmar, from +Heidelberg, had determined upon the great undertaking of emigrating to +America, which he reached June 13th, 1710, more dead than alive, +after a long and tedious voyage from the Rhine through Holland and +by way of England. He settled on the Hudson with his friends and +fellow-sufferers, where he hoped to end his life in quietness and +peace. + +This pious wish was not fulfilled. Further notices followed this +connected narrative, but written in the German language, as though the +writer had meanwhile forgotten his Latin, saying that he had moved with +his faithful companion, Christian Ditmar, from the Hudson to the +Mohawk, thence to Schoharie and finally to Canada Creek. Then there was +the date of his marriage with Elisabeth Christiane Frank, of Schoharie, +the younger sister of Ursula, his old friend's and now brother-in-law's +wife, the birthdays of his sons, Lambert and Conrad, and the death of +Christiane. With this sad event the record of the life of the old +Heidelberg student was closed. He had not written a line more. + +Catherine looked thoughtfully at the faded writing, gently closed the +lid and opened the second, smaller book. It was entitled: "Description +of the destruction of the city of Heidelberg on the 22nd and 23rd of +May, 1689." + +She began to read mechanically until by degrees she became conscious of +what she was reading and sprang up with a dull outcry: "Great God! what +have I read? Is it possible that human beings can so rage against one +another--that there are tyrants to whom neither the silvered hair of +the aged, nor the modesty of the maiden, nor the innocent laughter of +children--to whom nothing is sacred? + +"Why not? Did not the bands under Soubise ravage through the cities and +towns of Hanover? And did not their ruthless cruelty and base +shamelessness drive her old father and all her neighbors and friends +from their beloved homes across the sea? Were they not the sons and +grandsons of those robbers who, under Melac and Borges, burnt the +Palatinate and reduced Heidelberg to a dust heap? + +"And again, did they not, the year before, ravage here just so, in +connection with the Indians, their like-minded confederates? Here, +among these hills and in these valleys and woods, the same French were +threatening again and their approach was already proclaimed. Dreadful! +dreadful!" + +The poor girl, though so sore and sad at heart, had up to this moment +found no definite cause of fear. Now fear overwhelmed her with sudden +power. She looked with fixed eyes toward the edge of the forest as +though at every moment the French and Indians were about to break forth +from its silent recesses. She listened intently, until the blood seemed +to boil in her temples, and as though it would burst the veins. +Merciful God! What would become of her? How could Lambert leave her in +such a howling wilderness?--he who had so long been her guardian and +defense--he who had cherished her as the apple of his eye. If only +Conrad would come. It was about the same time yesterday when he +came--no, it was later; the sun had already set, and now it was still +over the woods. But why should he to-day stay out so long? And who, +besides Lambert, could better protect her than Lambert's brother, the +strong, alert man who only needed to set his foot across the door-step +to make those dwelling in the house feel secure? So Lambert said only +this morning. Why did he now stay away when his presence was so much +desired? + +Catherine pressed her hands against her beating temples. What should +she do? What could she do but wait and try to hush a fear that surely +was childish. There near her lay the Bible. She had so often, in sad +hours, drawn from it rest and comfort. She took it up and read where +her eyes happened to fall: + +"And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain +and his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth and his +countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain: Why art thou wroth? and +why is thy countenance fallen? * * * And Cain talked with his brother +Abel, and it came to pass when they were in the field, Cain rose up +against Abel his brother and slew him." + +The printed page glimmered before her eyes. With a dull cry the +affrighted girl sprang up. "Cain killed Abel! Cain killed Abel!" And +she had wished that he--the terrible one--were here--he who this +morning had uttered such dreadful threatenings. No, no! he must not +come back; he must not find her alone. He must not see her again. She +must away to meet Lambert. She must warn him--must tell him that his +brother would kill him on her account; that he must give her up, or +with her go out into the wide world. They must flee from the brother. +He must save her and himself from that dreaded brother. + +As though the block-house was on fire Catherine hastened from the door, +down the hill, to the creek, along the creek, without looking around, +without observing that she had started in the opposite direction so +that at every step she was farther away from Lambert. When she reached +the bridge where Lambert had yesterday overtaken her she became aware +of her mistake. But she was like a wrecked vessel driven shoreward by +the waves and then again carried out to sea. Destruction by him from +whom she would escape seemed unavoidable. No more capable of forming a +further purpose, deprived of all strength, she sunk together; and as +though she must here await the expected death-blow, she bowed her head +and covered her face with her hands. + +"Catherine!" + +Slowly she withdrew her hands from her deadly pale face, and saw Conrad +standing before her with his rifle on his shoulder and his dog at his +heels, looking at her with vacant eyes, and appearing to have just come +out of the sedge along the shore. She had anticipated his coming--knew +that he would come. She no longer felt that nameless dread. On the +other hand there instantly came over her a peculiar restfulness, and in +a quiet tone she said: "You come late. I have been waiting for you." + +"Indeed?" said Conrad. + +He was also very pale, and the expression of his face was strangely +changed. + +Catherine observed it, but it could not change her purpose to proceed, +even should it cost her life. She arose from her reclining position, +though not without an effort--her limbs seemed as if dead--and, as she +began mechanically to return to the house, she said: + +"I have been waiting for you, since I wish to say something to you +before I leave your house." + +Conrad started. Catherine felt it, though she kept her eyes directed to +the ground. However, involuntarily walking faster, she proceeded: + +"What I could not tell you this morning, for it has taken place since, +I will say now. I have become engaged to your brother." + +She expected that now an outbreak would follow, but Conrad walked on +silently at her side. + +"I engaged myself to him," said Catherine--and her voice became firmer +while she spoke--"this morning after you were gone, and I hardly know +how it came about. I only know that Lambert has done for me more than +any other man, excepting my good old father who is dead; that to him I +owe my life, which therefore belongs to him; that at any time he might +ask for it he might have it of me. He did not ask it of me this +morning, but I gave it to him freely--my life and my love--for that is +the same. And now--" + +"And now?" asked Conrad. + +"Now I must away, if you are not the kind brother whom Lambert loves so +much--if you are resolved to turn the angry words you spoke this +morning into fierce deeds. How could I remain here and see how I have +sown strife between brother and brother, especially at this time, when +you should stand shoulder to shoulder against the treacherous enemy? +Where I shall go I do not know, I only know that I cannot stay, so long +as you are angry at your brother on my account. But, Conrad, while I +thus speak, it seems to me entirely impossible that you can place +yourself between me and your brother." + +"Why impossible?" asked Conrad. + +"Because you love your brother," replied Catherine, gathering courage +as she spoke. "You have every reason to love him, though you do not +love me as Lambert loves me. Why should you? You do not know me. You +saw me yesterday for the first time, and a few minutes this morning. +Though I may indeed have pleased you, yet, as you now hear that my +heart is already given to your brother, what else, as an honorable man, +can you do than to rejoice at our happiness as we would rejoice in +yours should heaven provide you a similar happiness, which I hope may +soon happen?" + +They had reached the house. The dog, which with long leaps had gone +ahead, met them wagging her tail and springing against her master +Conrad pushed the animal away, but not with his usual rough force. His +manner was more sad than angry and his motions were like those of one +who is very tired. He sank down on the bench on which Catherine's work +and the books still lay, supported his elbow on his knee and rested his +head on his hand. + +"You are hungry and thirsty from your long hunt," said Catherine; +"shall I prepare your evening meal?" + +Conrad shook his head. All fear had vanished from Catherine's soul. As +she saw the wild, intractable man sitting there so still--so sunk +within himself--there stirred in her heart stronger and stronger +another feeling. + +"Conrad," said she softly. "Conrad," she repeated, laying her hand on +his shoulder, "I will indeed also hold you very dear." + +A dull cry, like that of an animal that has been mortally wounded, +broke from Conrad's broad chest. He put both hands to his face and wept +aloud like a child, and the body of the giant-like man shook from the +pain stirring within him as might the small frame of a child. + +Catherine for a moment stood helpless and speechless. Then there +also came from her eyes warm tears, and with the tears she found +words--mild, kind words--of sympathy and comfort. She told him again +and again that she would love him as a sister should love a brother; +that his young, sorrowful heart would find peace; that he should see in +her his sister; and that he would find pure happiness in this feeling +until there blossomed out another happiness in the love of a virtuous +girl, in which no one would more deeply share than she and Lambert. + +"Do not speak his name," said Conrad. + +He had jumped up, all his limbs shaking with anger and his eyes +flashing. He convulsively grasped his gun, which stood near, by the +barrel. + +"You think you are going to play me off with words. For me smooth +words; for him kisses! I saw to-day in the woods how handsomely you can +kiss." + +He broke out in loud laughter. Catherine, frightened, drew back. + +"So!" said Conrad, "that is your true face. Do you still love me as a +sister her brother?" + +"If you are so unbrotherly, no!" said Catherine. "But you do not know +what you are saying." + +"Truly not," growled Conrad. + +"And not what you are doing," said Catherine. "You would otherwise be +ashamed to torment a poor, helpless girl." + +She leaned against the door-post, pale and trembling, her hands folded +over her breast, her large eyes fixed on the angry man, who tried in +vain to meet her gaze, and raved before her like a wild animal. + +Then the dog dashed forward, and at the same moment the dull hoof-beats +of a horse in full run became perceptible. Fear seized Catherine as to +what the issue would be should Lambert now return--and it could be no +other. + +"Conrad!" she called; "Conrad, it is your brother." + +Impelled by an overwhelming feeling she threw herself before him and +wound her arms about his knees. + +"Let me be!" cried Conrad. + +"Not till you have sworn that you will not injure him." + +"Let me be!" cried Conrad again, and he violently tore her loose. +Catherine tottered forward, stumbled and fell. Her head struck hard +against the door-sill. + +She came near fainting, but with a great effort picked herself up +again, as angry voices struck her ear, and threw herself between the +brothers. + +"Lambert! Conrad! For God's sake, rather kill me! Conrad, it is your +brother. Lambert, he does not know what he is doing!" + +The brothers released each other, and panting, looked at one another +with flashing eyes. By the sound Lambert's rifle had fallen to the +ground. Conrad held his half-raised in his strong hands. + +"Now," said Lambert; "why do you not shoot?" + +"I do not want to kill you," said Conrad. "If I wanted your life I +could have taken it this morning." + +"What then do you want?" + +"Nothing from you. Why did you come just now? You shall not see me +again. Since we have happened again to meet, let me tell you that it +must be the last time. Go your own way and let me go mine." + +With a powerful swing he threw his rifle on his shoulder and turned +away. + +Lambert intercepted him. "You must not go. I will forget that you +raised your hand against me. Do you also forget that I raised mine +against you. By the memory of our father; by the memory of our mother, +I conjure you, do not leave your parents' house." + +"It is too small for us all," said Conrad, with bitter scorn. + +"Then _we_ will leave it. I will gladly do it if you will but stay." + +"I need no house," said Conrad. + +"The house, however, needs you, as you can help defend it against our +bitter enemies. Do you wish to see it go up in flames? You know that +the French are coming--perhaps you know more about it than I--than all +of us; and we to-day greatly missed you. Will you become a traitor to +our common interests--to your brother, your friends, to wives and +children? Conrad, you must not go away!" + +"If the enemy comes you will again creep away as you did before," said +Conrad. "I will not hide in forts. I will fight openly. I will take the +matter in hand entirely alone, and you may here, in your holes, go to +destruction or not; it will not trouble me. My blood be upon me if I +again set either foot across this door-sill!" + +He pushed his fur cap down over his eyes, whistled to his dog, and as +he, making his rounds about the house, did not come, he called out: + +"So you, too, stay here. Curse on you all!" + +That was the last word that Catherine heard. The dreadful, +soul-stirring excitement of these hours had exhausted her strength, and +her fall had broken her down entirely. She felt a stinging pain in her +temples. There was a ringing in her ears. She saw Lambert's form, as +through a veil, bending over her; and then it was not Lambert, but Aunt +Ursul, and then everything sunk away about her in deep night. + + + + + CHAPTER XI + + +Aunt Ursul sat at Catherine's bed in the room carefully noticing every +motion of the young girl who lay there, pale, with closed eyes, half +asleep as it appeared. She repeatedly felt her pulse, and renewed the +cold cloths on her forehead. She then again bent over her, listened to +her quiet breathing, then bowed satisfied and murmured: "There's +nothing more to be done here now. We will now look after the young +man." + +She arose and retired, as quietly as her heavy boots would permit, from +the chamber, her face expressing displeasure as the door creaked a +little, though she shut it very softly. Lambert, who had been sitting +at the hearth, raised his head and looked at her who was entering with +anxious eye. Aunt Ursul sat down by his side, placed her feet firmly on +the hearth, and said, in a tone intended to be a whisper, but on +account of her deep, rough voice was a dull growl: + +"No, Lambert, on that side"--she at the same time inclined her large +head toward the chamber--"so far it goes quite well. The girl is a +brave child, and will to-morrow again stand firm in her shoes. If we +women should at once discover your stupidities we would have much to +do." + +Lambert seized the hand of the kind woman. Tears stood in his eyes. +Aunt Ursul did not know how it happened, but her eyelashes also became +moist. She breathed deeply two or three times, and said: "You ought to +be ashamed, Lambert. You really have a heart like a young chicken, and +now it occurs to me that I have eaten nothing the whole day. Give me a +piece of bread and some ham, or whatever you have, and if there is yet +a swallow of rum in the flask it won't do any hurt--but add to it +two-thirds water. A well-behaved person will not otherwise drink the +fiery stuff. And now we will once have a little rational talk, Lambert. +We need not be in a hurry. The girl sleeps so soundly that she will not +wake under six hours." + +Lambert had taken what was wanted out of the cupboard. Aunt Ursul moved +her chair to the table, and while she was eating heartily, said: + +"Do you know, Lambert, that the girl is a treasure?" + +Lambert bowed. + +"And that neither you, nor Conrad, nor any man in this earthly vale of +tears, is good enough for the maiden?" + +Lambert's eyes said: "Yes." + +"I have now for the first time carefully looked at her," said Aunt +Ursul; "as she lay there, white and bloody, like the doves this +morning. There is not one false or distorted line in her lovely face. +Everything is entire purity and innocence, as though the Lord God +had opened a window in heaven and sent her forth upon the earth. And +now to think that such a lovely angel is destined to all the suffering +and anguish which is our inheritance from our mother Eve--Good God, +it is dreadful! Since, rightly considered, Lambert, you cannot help +it, as you did not make the world, and are all in all a good man, +Lambert--yes, a right good man--what Aunt Ursul can do to smooth the +way to your happiness that she will do with all her heart. Yes, surely, +Lambert, that she will." + +"I thank you, aunt," replied Lambert. "I can truly say that I have +always been persuaded of your good will, and have constantly reckoned +on you, but I am afraid that now nobody can any longer help us. How +shall I stand with her before God's altar when I know that my brother +begrudges me my happiness? Even could I do so, Catherine could not bear +the thought that it is she on whose account Conrad is irreconcilably +angry. She knows how I have loved the young man--how I still love +him. I could shed my blood for him, and how did he renounce us even +now--even now?" + +Lambert supported his forehead with his hand. On Aunt Ursul's rough +face there also lay a deep, helpless sadness. She wished to say +something comforting to Lambert, but found nothing to say. Lambert +proceeded: + +"I am not angry at him. How could I be? You know, aunt, that we were +long uncertain whether he or I should go to New York, since he had less +to keep him, and we thought it would do him good to get out among other +people. Then he would have found Catherine, and he would surely have +dealt just as I did; and who knows how everything would then have +fitted itself in?" + +Aunt Ursul shook her large head. + +"Do not sin against yourself, Lambert," said she. "I have always found +that, rightly weighed, everything had to come out just as it did come +out, and with this we pause." + +"I, also, cannot conceive how it could have been different," replied +Lambert. "As far as I can see, my hand has been little in this, and yet +I might even surrender her could I thus bring Conrad back." + +"And I my two hands and my head in addition," said Aunt Ursul, "could I +by that means bring it about that my four boys might enter the door +alive. Lambert, Lambert! let me tell you, 'if' and 'but' are very fine +things, but one must keep them away from him or he will get crazy over +them. I have had experience of it in myself and in my old man." + +"But Conrad is not dead," said Lambert, "so all hope cannot be lost. I +had also lost my head. I did not know what I said or did. He was +without this already unhappy enough. Alas, aunt, I am also to blame. I +would gladly tell him that. I would like to talk right into his heart. +He has hitherto always been willing to listen to me. What do you +advise, aunt?" + +"What should I advise?" said Aunt Ursul fretfully. "It is always the +old story: First you set the world on its head, and then you come +running and cry: 'What do you advise, aunt?' Am I God? Many times there +seems to be need of it. No, Lambert, in that you are indeed right. +Conrad is not yet dead, and so we need not throw away our guns into the +grain-field. But it will not do to pour out the child with the water in +which you have bathed it. To pour oil into the fire increases the +blaze. Should you now go to Conrad it would not be well. You can't +gather ripe figs from a thorn-bush. In due time one can pick roses, +Lambert, in due time." + +Aunt Ursul repeated her last words several times as though she would +thus help her inability to advise. + +"But time is pressing," said Lambert. "Who knows how soon we shall have +the French here?--Perhaps to-morrow. My God! to-morrow should be our +wedding day." + +He told his aunt what arrangement he had made with the minister. + +"Yes, yes; man proposes, but God disposes," said Aunt Ursul. "We can +now say nothing about tomorrow. This thing will probably not get so far +as that by to-morrow. What concerns the other I will make my care, +Lambert. Whether the maiden comes to me, or I to her, will be about the +same in the minister's eyes, to say nothing about God, who has +something better to attend to than to trouble himself about such +hocus-pocus. I am here beforehand. I would gladly have looked after my +old man, who was today quite desperate and heathenish, but if it must +be I too will stay. There must be some one to lead the regiment when it +comes. Still there, Pluto! What does the beast mean? I believe the +young men are coming already. You look after them, Lambert. I will +meanwhile look after the girl; and Lambert, if they are there, keep +them before the house. The night is warm and you can keep watch there. +Whoever wishes to sleep can come in here and lie down on the hearth, +but I want him to be as still as a mouse." + +Aunt Ursul went into the room. Lambert stepped to the front door and +quieted the growling Pluto. He listened, and now clearly heard the +steps of his comrades. Soon their forms emerged out of the light fog +which had spread over the fields near the creek, though the moon +already stood at some height over the woods. There were three of them. +Lambert's heart beat. He expected only Fritz Volz and Richard Herkimer. +Was Conrad the third? Surely, surely it must be Conrad. + +But out of Pluto's broad chest sounds like rolling thunder now broke +forth. Did not the intelligent and faithful beast know her own master? +Lambert with great eagerness went to meet those who were coming. + +"God bless you, Lambert," said Richard Herkimer. + +"God bless you, Lambert," said Fritz Volz. + +The third one had remained a few steps behind. + +"Who is the other one?" asked Lambert with trembling voice. + +"Guess," said Richard laughing. + +"The crazy fellow," said Fritz Volz. + +"He would go with us, though Annie herself thought that he would not +fire away his powder for nothing," said Richard. + +"Is it Adam Bellinger?" asked Lambert. + +"Now come up, you hare's foot," said Fritz Volz. + +"Are you holding the dog?" asked Adam, with uncertain voice. + +Richard and Fritz laughed, but Lambert could not join them, as he might +have done at another time. Adam instead of Conrad! What could have +moved the silly fellow to such night-wandering except the desire again +to be near Catherine? What would his friends think of Catherine? What +would not the talkative Adam have told them on the way. + +"Come a little nearer," said Richard, having taken Lambert's arm as +they were walking toward the house. "I want to say a few words to you. +You must not be angry, Lambert, that we brought Adam along. He would +not be set right. Heaven knows what has come into his calf's head. We +could have made nothing out of his crazy talk, but the ladies lit the +candle so that it shone bright enough. That you--Nay, Lambert, old boy, +I wish you happiness with all my heart. And I can also tell you that by +this a heavy stone is lifted from my heart. You know I have always +liked Annie, and she has not been unkind to me; but old Bellinger had +got his head set that you must become his third son-in-law--and nobody +else. Now if you marry the stranger girl it will help us all. Therefore +once more, happiness and blessing, Lambert Sternberg, with my whole +heart." + +"That I also wish you," said Lambert. + +"I know it," said Richard; "but now we must also say good evening to +your girl, Lambert. If she is half as handsome as Adam swears, she must +be something truly wonderful. Is she in the house?" + +They stood before the door. The two others were still some distance +behind. Lambert drew his young friend beside him on the bench and +briefly told him everything which sooner or later he would have +unfolded more fully, but which now could no longer be kept secret. + +"This is my situation, Richard," concluded he. "You can conceive how +heavy my heart is." + +"I can well conceive it," said Richard Herkimer, heartily pressing +Lambert's hand. "Dear friend, this is an unhappy record. Conrad should +be ashamed, especially at this time, to forsake you and leave the cart +sticking in the mud, when even such fellows as John Mertens and Hans +Haberkorn are pulling with us at the same rope." + +"You see, Richard, it is that which grieves me most," said Lambert, +"You know how they talked about us last year--that we held with the +French; that Conrad spoke Indian better than German, and other +scandalous stuff. What will they now say when they hear that, at the +very moment when the danger breaks in upon us, Conrad is not to be +found among us?" + +"Let them say what they will," said Richard. "My father, the minister, +and all who are reasonably intelligent, you have always had on your +side; and they will also this time know what to think. Perhaps Conrad +also will yet consider." + +"God grant it!" said Lambert, with a deep sigh. + +"Now," said Richard, rising, "I will give a wink to Fritz Volz; and +then you must tell us what we are to do for the night." + +Richard Herkimer went to the two others, who had remained standing at +some distance, engaged, as it appeared, in a discussion. At the same +moment Aunt Ursul came out of the door. + +"Is that you, Lambert?" + +"Yes, aunt." + +"Who are the others?" + +Lambert named the friends. + +"What, then, does Adam want?" said Aunt Ursul. + +"The fellow has become quite foolish. Nay, Lambert, that is your +business; but to-morrow send off the awkward fellow. We don't want +useless eaters here. This evening he may come in with the rest. +Catherine is up again. She says it is not a time now to be sick. In +that surely she is right. She is standing at the fire, boiling an +evening soup for your people, as though nothing had happened--the noble +girl! I am now going home; and, Lambert, the minister meant well in +what he said to you, but under the circumstances it is senseless. You +are an honorable man, and the girl is not trifling, and God knows what +your duty is in the case." + +Lambert went with Aunt Ursul into the house. Catherine came to meet +him, looking pale and having a cloth wound about her head, but greeting +him with a friendly smile. "You must not scold me," she said. "To +please your aunt I acted as though I was asleep. I have heard +everything. I could not remain quietly in bed while you have so many +guests. I again feel quite well." + +She leaned her head against his breast and whispered: "And you love me +notwithstanding, Lambert; not so?" + +Lambert held the dear girl fast in his arms as a loud ahem! was heard, +and Aunt Ursul entered the door closely followed by the three young +men. + +"So, you young people," said Aunt Ursul, "come in and eat your +supper--that is, if it is ready; and this is my Lambert's dear bride, +and she is not standing there like Lot's pillar of salt. Adam +Bellinger, you may as well shut your mouth. No roasted pigeons will fly +into it. There is for this evening a soup, so that you must move your +own hands to get it conveniently out of the bowl. So, Richard Herkimer, +that is right that you at once offer your hand to the young lady. You +are always polite, having learned it from your father. And now I'll be +off. God protect you, Catherine, and you, Lambert, and you all. I shall +come again to-morrow and perhaps with my old man. Now nobody needs to +be farther concerned about me. Do you hear? Aunt Ursul can find her +home alone." + +While she thus spoke she took her rifle, kissed Catherine heartily, and +shook hands with the young men one after the other. Then she walked out +of the house into the windy night. + +The three guests breathed more freely when austere Aunt Ursul had +turned her broad back, and her heavy tread outside was heard. But it +was some time before they began to look about them and to talk, though +Catherine kindly invited them to take seats, and assured them that the +soup would soon be ready. + +Richard Herkimer said to Fritz Volz: "Better sit down, Fritz," though +he himself remained standing. Fritz Volz pushed Adam Bellinger in the +side and asked him if he did not see that he was standing in the way of +the young lady. Then they rubbed their hands as if they were entirely +frozen, though, at least on Adam's brow, clear sweat drops were +impearled. And when they spoke it was in whispers, as though the +steaming soup which Catherine now placed on the table was to be their +last meal. + +Adam Bellinger was not quite sure whether this would be the case with +him. Fritz Volz had before told him that the chief business would be +diligently to patrol against the enemy, and, since he had such a +burning desire to measure himself against the French, he must make the +beginning; that it was indeed no fun to walk about the woods in the +night when there might be a Frenchman behind every tree; but that +doubtless Adam would teach the fellows manners. Adam said that he had +come to help defend the blockhouse against a possible attack, but not +to let himself be shot by the French and scalped by the Indians in the +woods in the night and fog. The contention about this, which had before +been arrested, was now again taken up by the teasing Fritz, though with +a little timidity. He wanted to know from Adam how he could distinguish +between a tree-trunk and an Indian, in the night. Richard asked him how +he would save himself if he were suddenly seized by his long, yellow +hair from behind and jerked to the ground. By these and other similar +questions of the two teasers, Adam was thrown into great distress. They +laughed loud, while he came near crying, until Catherine interposed, +saying that a courageous man would in danger hit upon the right thing, +though he might not be able to tell beforehand what he would do. + +"Yes, indeed," said Adam, "the young lady has more sense in her little +finger than you have in your two heads. I shall doubtless know what I +have to do." + +He accompanied these brave words with such a thankful, tender look at +Catherine, that both the merry rogues broke out in loud laughter, and a +glimmer of mirthfulness passed over Lambert's earnest face. + +"It is enough," said he. "Adam will do his duty as well as the rest of +us. It is time that we assign the watch for the night; two for every +two hours, and Adam and I will make the beginning. Good night, +Catherine." + +He gave his hand to Catherine. The others followed his example. As +Lambert was leaving the house Fritz Volz and Richard Herkimer came out +too. + +"We will also rather stay outdoors," said Richard. "Fritz, as I know by +experience, cannot do without snoring and that might disturb Catherine, +who surely needs sleep." + +Fritz Volz said he could do without snoring, but Richard could not stop +talking, and that it was on the whole better that they should camp +before the door. + +"You kind young men," said Lambert. + +"Is that kind?" said Richard eagerly. "I would stand all night on my +head if I knew that Catherine would sleep better on that account." + +"And I would lie there in the creek up to my neck in the water," said +Fritz Volz. + +Adam sighed, and looked at the moon which hung clear and large over the +forest. + +"Come, Adam," said Lambert, "we will go upon our round." + +They set out, accompanied by Pluto. The others stretched themselves out +upon the dry sand before the door, wrapped up in their blankets, their +rifles in their arms. Fritz Volz did not snore. Richard Herkimer did +not talk. Both looked up to the twinkling stars, lost in thoughts which +happily remained concealed from Gussie and Annie Bellinger. + +Never before had Catherine been so carefully guarded as during this +night. + + + + + CHAPTER XII + + +The following day was the Sabbath, though it brought the Germans on the +Mohawk and on the creek no Sabbath rest; but only labor, fatigue, +alarm, distraction. From early morning it swarmed in all the +settlements as in a bee-hive. Wives prepared and packed. Holes were dug +in carefully selected and well-concealed places, in which such valuable +things as could not well be taken along were hidden. The men got their +arms in readiness, or brought the cattle from the pastures and from the +woods and shut them up in the yards so that they could at any moment +drive them to the fort, or to Herkimer's house, as orders had been +given yesterday afternoon. Boats went busily here and there. From time +to time a rider hastened to one of the rendezvous appointed for the +three flying corps. A feeling of security and pride took possession of +all when such a squadron, consisting of twenty-four well mounted and +armed young men, under the lead of Charles Herkimer, Richard's oldest +brother, trotted up the river toward Black River to reconnoiter. By +noon the two new ferries were also ready. All felt assured of the +usefulness of these arrangements, now that it had come to the point of +actual flight, though yesterday they had met with earnest opposition. +However, more than one could hardly believe in such a possibility, for +the sun in the blue sky shone down so golden, the birds sang so +blithely in the trees, and over the fields from the little church on +the hill came the clear sound of the small bell. But, indeed, on the +twelfth of November of the year before, the sun also rose clear, and +when it had gone down its last rays had fallen on the ruins of more +than one burned house, and more than one was lying in the fields who +would never again see it rise. The remembrance of that dreadful day was +yet too fresh to allow the thoughtless to shut out the seriousness of +the situation; and the bitter thought that they would have to answer +for leaving house and home unprotected from the ruthless enemy, +reminded them of Herkimer's words the day before, that everything, +except life itself, can again be arranged, and can be more or less +easily made to accommodate itself to the inevitable. + +Also in the otherwise so quiet house on the creek there was to-day a +restless urgency. Jacob Ehrlich and Anthony Bierman had come from the +Mohawk, accoutered with their rifles and a large sack of ammunition, +which Herkimer had given them, and which the stout young men had +carried by turns the whole distance up the creek. Now the powder, to +which each added his own store, was equally divided, and the caliber of +the rifles was measured, whence it appeared that two different sizes of +bullets must be cast. With this Lambert intrusted Adam Bellinger, +after, under four eyes, not without a certain solemnity, he had said +that it was his earnest desire to stay and take part in every danger +with him and the rest. He knew about the French, but would rather hear +the whistling of their bullets and the Indian's war-whoop than the +laughter of the women at home should he now return without having +accomplished anything. Lambert pitied the poor fellow, and the more +since Catherine took kindly to her foolish admirer and laughed in a +friendly way at his peculiarities. + +In the council of war held by the young men it was decided that they +must leave the door-yard, which for good reasons had been made to +extend a considerable distance from the house, as it was, and that +their defense must be confined to the house itself. The proposition of +Richard to conduct the water of the creek into the dry ditch which +encircled the foot of the hill outside of the stone inclosure was +discarded as evidently requiring too much time. Instead of this it was +decided to deepen the partly filled ditch as much as they could, and in +many places where the wall was broken down to repair and raise it and +entirely to block up the passage-way through it opposite the house-door +with stones and plank, and meanwhile use a bridge over the wall and +dug-way that could be easily removed. There was found little to do to +the house itself, though they looked carefully after the strong +shutters with which the port-holes of the ground-floor, like those of a +war-ship, could be closed from within, and so also at those covering +the round holes in the gallery, through which they could fire at an +enemy from above, should he be able to reach the house and come beneath +the gallery. In the roof were cut several trap-doors, so that here also +those approaching could be greeted with two very long-range rifles. + +While the men were thus engaged, Catherine and Aunt Ursul, who had +again come early in the morning, did not remain unemployed. Fortunately +water did not first have to be brought. The spring carried into the +house by the intelligent and indescribable labor of Lambert's father, +furnished plentifully all that was needed. But for the moment the +supply of provisions seemed to be inadequate. During Lambert's absence +Conrad had lived from hand to mouth, according to his hunter's custom, +and Catherine had manifestly had no time to supply what was lacking. So +Adam had repeatedly to go empty to the Ditmar house, which happily was +not far, and come back loaded with loaves of bread, hams and other +good things--every time received with a loud hallo by his merry +companions--until Aunt Ursul declared that there was enough to last +eight days. For still better provision a couple of wethers of Lambert's +small flock were driven into the inclosure where also Hans was pastured +on the short grass, and often shook his thick head and looked at +Lambert with his intelligent eyes, as though he wished to know what the +unusual rush to-day might mean, and whether he must walk about saddled +all day. But it might be that at any moment a message had to be sent, +and Hans had to be ready. + +So they labored busily in the work of fortifying, and were toward noon +engaged in erecting the fire-signal, when a rider on a gray horse +became visible, as he was coming up the valley on a trot. + +"Herkimer! Herkimer!" called out Fritz Volz, who first saw him. + +"Yes, it is father," said Richard in confirmation. + +A few minutes later the distinguished man stopped before the door, and +was respectfully greeted by Lambert and the other young men. + +"I have no time to stop," said Herkimer, "and only wanted to see how +far you have got. Now this looks well. Could you fill the ditch with +water it would indeed be better; but this would be a long and wearisome +labor, and you will have to dispense with it. How are you off for +ammunition? Do you think you have enough, Lambert?" + +Herkimer had now dismounted, and he asked Lambert and Aunt Ursul, who +had meanwhile come out of the house, to give him detailed account of +the condition of things, by means of which he knew how to bring it +about that they should get some distance from the others. + +He then said, "I would like to speak to you alone. I feel sure of you, +and of Richard, but I am not so certain of the others, whom I do not +know so well. You will here, so far as one can now judge, have a +difficult position. I this morning received intelligence that the +French have at least three hundred men, and that besides this the +Onondagas and the Oneidas will join them. The bargain is indeed not yet +concluded, but will doubtless be made if our last means fail--I mean if +Conrad is not in a position to bring his old friends into a different +state of mind. I have from the governor the long-expected authority to +yield to them everything possible, and can intrust Conrad with it. He +or nobody is in a situation to turn away from us this great misfortune. +Where is he? I have not yet seen him." + +"Hurry over there, Lambert. Those sparrow-heads will not finish without +you," said Aunt Ursul. + +"The poor boy!" she proceeded, as Lambert went away with red cheeks and +a thankful look at Aunt Ursul, "the poor, dear boy! his heart is being +eaten out; and that so that now the whole world must become acquainted +with his brother's shame, which is really his own shame. Nay, you are +indeed not sponsor for the whole world, Herkimer, but in this case you +must be satisfied with me." + +She then briefly told Herkimer all that it was necessary for him to +know. + +The excellent man listened with an earnest, thoughtful mien, and there +lay a deep pain in the tone of his voice as now, shaking his gray head, +he said: + +"So we Germans will not unitedly resist our natural enemy. That Conrad +should now fail us is a sad misfortune. His quarrel with Lambert at +this moment means, not one friend less, but several hundred enemies +more. Yes, why do I say hundred? The example of the Oneidas may +become the measure of all the nations along the lakes, and then our +well-being--our peace--is past for a long time, perhaps forever!" + +Nicolas Herkimer sighed, and struck his forehead with his hand. + +"Now," said he, "what one cannot hinder one must let happen, and, in +any case, poor Catherine cannot help it. Let us go in a few moments, +aunt, I would like to form the acquaintance of the maiden who so turns +the heads of our young men." + +Catherine, who was busily engaged at the hearth in her preparations for +dinner, had paid no attention to what was going on outside. She had +just stepped to the door to look for Aunt Ursul, and suddenly saw a +strange and very stately man opposite to her, in whom she at once +recognized Nicolas Herkimer. A deep blush flew over her cheeks; then, +however, she approached without being confused, and put her hand in +Herkimer's offered right hand. + +"Poor child!" said he, holding her thin fingers for a moment, "the life +that awaits you here is very rough. May the strength you need not be +wanting to you." + +"Ah, what, sponsor," said Aunt Ursul; "do not make the maiden shy. You +think because she has hands like a princess--but it depends not on the +hands, but on the heart, sponsor--and that I assure you is in the right +place. So much I can tell you." + +"Should you not say it, those eyes would do so," said Herkimer +smiling--"at least to me, who am old enough to look into them without +being punished for it. Now, my dear girl, you need not blush. You see +my hair is getting gray, so a joke may be allowed. Live happy, Aunt +Ursul. Live happy, kind maiden; and may heaven grant that we may +joyfully meet again." + +He said the last words also to the young men, who had finished their +work and had come up. Then he pressed the hand of each one in turn, +holding that of his son Richard perhaps a moment longer, swung himself +on the gray, and rode off on a sharp trot without looking back. + +"That is an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile," said Aunt +Ursul. "And now, children, let us go to the table. I have an appetite +like a wild wolf." + +Notwithstanding this information, at the dinner to which they now sat +down Aunt Ursul ate almost nothing, and also, contrary to her custom, +was very still. Toward the last she took no part whatever in the +conversation, and first woke from her absent-mindedness when Anthony +Bierman, who had the watch, announced the minister. + +"Who?" called Aunt Ursul, as she quickly rose from her chair; "the +minister? He comes at the right time for me. God has sent him. Keep +your seats; do you hear?" + +Aunt Ursul hastily left the house and went to meet the minister, who, +with rapid strides, was approaching, having his hat, wig and snuff-box +in one hand, and in the other a colored pocket handkerchief with which +he was wiping his bald head. + +"I know it already," he called out, as soon as he caught sight of Aunt +Ursul. "Herkimer, who met me between your house and Volz', has told me +everything." + +"So much the better," replied Aunt Ursul, "and now, dominie, don't talk +as loud as if you were standing in the pulpit. The young folks are +within, and must not hear what we are doing here. Come close." + +She led the minister away from the house to the wall of the door-yard, +where nobody could hear except Hans, who now raised his thick head and +with a bit of grass in his mouth observantly looked at the two with his +black eyes from under his bushy foretop. + +"What business have you to listen? Go your way," said Aunt Ursul to the +horse. + +"But, Aunt Ursul, what in all the world is it all about?" asked the +minister. + +"You shall soon hear," replied Aunt Ursul, whose glances wandered from +the edge of the woods to the sky, and from there again toward the +woods, and at last, with a peculiar expression of face, rested on the +minister. + +"You are not married, dominie, and for what you do, or leave undone, +you are accountable to nobody." + +"What do you mean by that?" asked the minister. + +"My old man is seventy-one, and I do not believe that he will last much +longer," remarked Ursul thoughtfully. + +The minister held the pinch of snuff, that he had meant to apply to his +nose, between his fingers, and looked attentively at Aunt Ursul. + +"Should he live longer, he has had me thirty years; and sometime +everything must come to an end; so we are very properly called and +chosen thereto." + +The minister dropped the pinch of snuff. "For God's sake, Aunt Ursul, +what are you driving at?" + +"I took you to be more courageous," said Aunt Ursul. + +"And I you to be more rational," said the minister. + +"About such things one must ask his own heart," said Aunt Ursul. + +"And the heart is a timorous, perverse thing," replied the minister. + +"Yes, very timid," said Aunt Ursul, scornfully. + +"Yes; truly perverse," said the minister guardedly. + +"Now, without further parley, will you be my man, or not?" said Aunt +Ursul who had lost patience. + +"God forbid!" said the minister, who could no longer control his +repugnance. + +"Indeed, you look like a man," said Aunt Ursul contemptuously, turning +on her heel. + +"Are you then entirely God-forsaken, unhappy woman?" said the minister, +laying his fleshy hand on Aunt Ursul's shoulder. + +"Not I, but you, hare-hearted man," said Aunt Ursul, shaking off his +hand and turning vigorously away. "You who always preach about +sacrifice and love, and have neither the one nor the other; and shear +the cuckoo for the lost lamb, if you can only sit quietly by your +flesh-pots. Now then stay, in the devil's name--God forgive me the +sin--I shall be able alone to find the road to my poor, misguided boy, +and God will give me the right words to touch his heart." + +Again Aunt Ursul turned away. The minister slapped his forehead, and +with a few rapid steps overtook her as she was hastening from him. + +"Aunt Ursul!" + +"What do you want?" + +"Naturally I will go with you." + +"For once." + +"For once and every time. By the thousand, woman! why did you not tell +me at once that it was something about Conrad?" + +"About whom else should it be?" + +"About many things. Forget what I have said. I give you my word as a +man and as a servant of God that it was a misunderstanding--of which I +am ashamed--and for which I ask your pardon. When shall we start?" + +Aunt Ursul shook her head. She could not conceive what her old friend +had before thought, but she felt that he was now fully resolved, and +minutes were precious. + +"At once naturally," she replied to his last question. + +"I am ready." + +"So! Come in and say a friendly word to the girl, and let nothing be +noticed. Lambert must not know what we have in hand. Nobody must know. +If we succeed in bringing him back it is well; if not, let his shame be +buried with us. In either case they must not feel concerned about us. +It is possible, dominie, that we shall never return. You comprehend +that clearly?" + +"God's will be done," said the minister. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + + +Two hours later, Aunt Ursul and the minister were already deep in the +forest, away from the creek, on a narrow Indian path, which was as well +the path of the buffalo and the deer. But Pluto, going before the +wanderers, with her broad nose near the ground and her long, restless +tail wagging, did not follow the tracks of buffalo or deer. More than +once she turned away from a fresh track into the woods, every time soon +to return into the path. + +"You see now, dominie, how well it is that I went back to fetch the dog +on an occasion like this," said Aunt Ursul. "You were impatient at the +losing of time, but we are well paid for it." + +"It was not on account of the delay," replied the minister. "I was +afraid that, in spite of our large circuit, they would guess our +purpose. Both Lambert and Catherine looked at us with an expression +which, as I read it, meant: 'We know what you are up to!'" + +"They know nothing," said Aunt Ursul. "Why should I not call out the +dog for my own and my old man's greater security?" + +"Because nobody would really believe that you are so disturbed by +fear." + +"Well," said Aunt Ursul, "let them think what they please. Without the +dog we should fail, and so let us push on." + +"I am not quite sure that we shall so reach our end, Aunt Ursul." + +"Are you already tired?" + +"I tire not so easily, in such an affair, you know. But who can assure +us that Conrad, in his anger and despondency, has not walked as far as +his feet would carry him, which at last must be farther than we with +our best will can go. And there is another possibility, of which I +think with trembling." + +"That my young man has gone over to them?" cried Aunt Ursul, turning so +quickly that the minister, who was close behind, jumped back a step. +"Do you mean that?" + +"God forbid!" replied the minister, displeased at Aunt Ursul's +question, and that by its earnestness his opened snuff-box was almost +knocked out of his hand. "But he who lays his hand upon his brother, as +Conrad has done, may also lay his hand upon himself. As far as I know +Conrad, the last will be at least as easy as the first." + +"You, however, do not know my young man," said Aunt Ursul earnestly, +and she went on in more quiet tones: "See, dominie, I admit that the +young man, at this moment, does not value his life more than a pine +cone, but, notwithstanding, I would swear that he will sell it dear. +And who shall pay for it? The French and their base Indians. That you +may depend on. And see, dominie, that is also the reason why I am +thoroughly convinced that he has not gone as far as his feet could +carry him, but is somewhere here near by, and is keeping sharp watch +over the house in which his parents lived, whose door-sill he will +never again cross. He may keep his word, but be assured, dominie, if +the enemy get so far they will have to come over his dead body." + +Deeply moved, Aunt Ursul was silent. The minister, though not entirely +convinced, thought it prudent not to express his opinion. + +So they went on for some time in silence. The dog ran ahead, or out to +one or the other side of the path, at one moment stopping and smelling +up in the air, then again eagerly following a track. Aunt Ursul's +sharp, knowing eyes watched every movement of the animal, and often she +gently said: "Search, Pluto!--that is right, Pluto," more to herself +than to the dog, for she needed little encouragement. The minister kept +his eyes fixed on Aunt Ursul's broad back, and conversed with her when +the path did not require all his attention. + +This indeed was often the case, and soon the path became so difficult +for their unaccustomed feet that conversation stopped entirely. Ever +rougher and steeper became the ascent over the great roots of the old +forest pines. Ever more wildly roared the creek among the sharp rocks, +until at length in a deep cleft under overhanging vines it entirely +disappeared from the wanderers. Following the dog, they now turned off +to the right into the woods, and, laboriously going up a few hundred +steps, reached the top of the plateau. + +Here the minister, whose strength was nearly exhausted, would gladly +have rested a few moments; but Aunt Ursul, with an expressive look, +pointed to the dog, which with great jumps, as though full of joy, ran +about a pine which stretched up giant-like in the midst of a little +opening. + +"There he lay," said Aunt Ursul, almost breathless from excitement and +joy. "Here, in this spot, he lay. Do you see, dominie, the impression +in the moss and the crushed bushes? There also is a torn piece of +paper. Here he put a new load in his rifle. Further, dominie, further. +I would swear that in less than half an hour we will have himself. +Further! Further!" + +The energetic woman shoved her rifle, which had slid off by her bending +over, more securely on her shoulder, and took several long steps, as +the dog, which for a moment had stood motionless with raised head +looking into the woods, suddenly, with a loud bark and breaking through +the bushes with great leaps, disappeared in the forest. + +"Now, God help us! what then has the beast?" said the minister, coming +up panting. + +"Her master," replied Aunt Ursul. "Still!" + +Bending her body she stared with great round eyes at the thicket in +which the dog had disappeared. The minister's heart throbbed ready to +burst. He would gladly have taken a pinch of snuff, as he usually did +when peculiarly excited, but Aunt Ursul had laid her hand on his arm, +and her brown fingers pressed harder and harder. + +"Still!" said she again, though the minister neither spoke nor stirred. +"Don't you hear anything?" + +"No," said the minister. + +"But I do." + +A peculiar sound, half a call, half a sob, came from her throat. She +let go the arm of the minister and hastened in the same direction the +dog had taken. But she had not yet reached the edge of the opening, +when the bushes separated and Conrad stepped out, accompanied by Pluto, +barking with joy and jumping up against her master. Aunt Ursul could +not or would not check her walk. She threw herself forward on Conrad's +breast, who with strong arms embraced the good aunt, his second mother, +bending his face over her shoulder to conceal the tears streaming from +his eyes. + +So the two stood, encircled in each other's arms, and the light of the +evening sun played so beautifully about the handsome picture that the +eyelashes of the minister became moist. + +He stepped up gently, and, laying one hand on Conrad's shoulder and the +other on that of his aunt, said heartily: "Here my blessing is not +needed, but I must be permitted to rejoice with you." + +"God bless you, dominie!" said Conrad, raising himself up and reaching +out his hand to the worthy man. "This is handsome in you that you have +accompanied aunt. I did not expect you, at least not both of you." + +"Yet, Conrad," said Aunt Ursul, interrupting him, "why are you ashamed +to tell the truth? You did expect me!" + +"Well, yes," said Conrad. + +"And I have brought him along." Aunt Ursul added, "because you know him +from childhood, that he's a good and righteous man; and in such a case +a man can speak better to a man than a poor woman like me, for the +cuckoo knows how it looks in your hard hearts." + +Conrad's handsome countenance darkened while his aunt spoke in this +manner. His eyes looked angry from under his sunken eyelashes. However, +he forced himself to speak with apparent calmness, saying: "I thank you +again; but, aunt, and you, dominie, I beg you say nothing about +him--you know whom I mean--and also nothing about her. I can't hear it +and I won't hear it. It may be that I am wrong, but I have taken my +stand and will take the consequences." + +"Now," said Aunt Ursul to the minister, "you must open your mouth. For +what else did I bring you along?" + +Aunt Ursul was quite angry. She felt a secret sympathy with Conrad, and +had at the same time an obscure feeling that, in his condition, she +would think and speak and act in the same manner. She could say nothing +more, in a case in which her heart sided so painfully with the one who +was in the wrong. + +The minister, in his excitement, took one pinch of snuff after the +other. Then he sought unavailingly for the few remaining particles, +closed his box, put it in his pocket, and said: "Conrad, listen quietly +to me a few minutes. I think I can tell you something of which you +have, perhaps, not so earnestly thought. Whether you are wrong in +regard to your brother and the maiden--whom I to-day first learned to +know, and who appears to be a good, brave girl--or not, I will not +decide, nor will I examine into the matter. I have never been married, +nor, so far as I know, in love, but once, and that so long ago that it +may well be that I do not understand such things. But, Conrad, there +are brothers whom we cannot renounce. There are father's houses which +must be sacred to us under all circumstances. In the one case we are of +the same lineage; in the other it is our home-land. On this account, to +us driven away and thrust out--to us pressed down and shaken together +by strangers in a strange land--must those relatives who are still +left--must the country of our new home, be twice and thrice holy. And +there is nothing, Conrad, that can release us from this duty; no strife +with a brother, no wish to have a wife, no rights as to mine and thine, +for here there is no mine and thine, but only _our_, as in the prayer +we offer to God in whom we all believe. I know well, Conrad, that this +feeling of holy duty has not died out of your heart; that, on the other +hand, you will in your own way satisfy it. But, Conrad, your way is not +a good one, even were you determined, as we all suppose, to sacrifice +your life. I tell you, Conrad, God will not accept the offering. He +will reject it, as he did Cain's sacrifice, and your precious blood +will run down into the sand useless and unhonored." + +The minister's deep voice had an unusually solemn tone, in this forest +stillness; and as he now, on account of his emotion, which beautifully +illuminated his plain face, was silent a few moments, it roared through +the branches of the giant pines as if God himself and not a man had +spoken. + +So at least it seemed to good Aunt Ursul, and the same feeling was able +also to touch the wild and perverse heart of Conrad. His broad breast +rose and fell powerfully; his face had a peculiar, constrained +expression; his eyes were fixed on the ground, and his strong hands, +which grasped the barrel of his gun, trembled. + +The minister began anew: "Your precious blood--I say, Conrad, precious, +as all human blood is precious, but doubly precious in the hour of +danger, thrice precious when it flows in the veins of a man to whom the +God of all has given the power to be the protection and defense of +those nearest to him. Moreover, Conrad, to whom much is given, of him +shall much be required. The rest of us are only like soldiers in rank +and file, and we need not be ashamed of it. But you are looked upon as +holding a more important position, and I need only to mention it so +that you may return to yourself. You will not shrink from a task that +you and you only of us all are fitted for. Nicolas Herkimer has learned +that negotiations are taking place between our enemies and the Oneidas; +that they are only delaying their attack until a treaty is concluded, +in order that then they may fall upon us with resistless power. You +know that our holding of the Oneidas will secure to us the other +nations on the lakes. You know that thus far they have been a wall to +us behind which we felt measurably secure. You have lived for years +with the Oneidas. You speak their language; you are highly respected by +them; you know the way to their hearts. Now then, Conrad, it is the +wish and will of Herkimer, our captain, that you go at once to them, +and in his name, and in that of the governor, assure them of the +yielding of all points lately in controversy between them and the +government to their satisfaction, and according to their own views, if +they will abide by the old protection and alliance which they entered +into with us--yes, if they only will not take part against us in the +present war. You notice and understand the proposition, so that I, a +man little accustomed to such things, need not go into particulars. I +now ask you, Conrad Sternberg, will you, as is your bounden duty, carry +out the orders of our captain?" + +"It is too late," said Conrad, with broken voice. + +"Why too late?" + +"What you fear has already taken place. The Oneidas have joined the +French and the Onondagas. This morning--yes, an hour ago--I could yet +have gone to them unobserved to bring about what you propose. Now it is +impossible." + +"How do you know it, Conrad?" asked the minister and Aunt Ursul, as if +out of the same mouth. + +"Come," said Conrad. + +He hung his rifle over his shoulder, and now walked before them both +diagonally through the forest, which was constantly becoming lighter +until the tall trees stood singly among the low bushes. Here he moved +carefully in a bent posture and indicated to the two by signs that they +should follow his example. At last he fell on his knees, bent a couple +of bushes slowly apart, and winked to the others to come up in the same +way. They did so, and looked through the opening, as through a little +window for observation in a door, on an unusual spectacle. + +Beneath them, at the foot of the steep mass of rocks on the edge of +which they were, there spread out a broad, meadow-like valley, which on +the opposite side was encircled by precipitous, wood-covered rocks, and +through it in many windings a creek gently ran. On the bank of the +creek next to them there was a space covered with small, canvas-walled +tents and lodges, standing without order. Between the tents and lodges +there burned a couple of dozen fires whose rising smoke, glowing in the +evening sun, spread out above in a dark cloud, through which the scene +below looked more phantasmal. There was a mass of people in active +movement--French, some regulars and some volunteers, many without any +distinctive mark--and, in greater number, Indians, whose half-naked +bodies, adorned with variously colored war-paint, shone in the light of +the sun. The groups on the bank of the creek stood close together, and +it was not difficult to discover the reason. On the other side, the +band of Indians there gathered must have arrived recently. Some were +engaged in putting up their wigwams, others were kindling fires. The +most of them, however, stood at the edge of the creek talking with +those on the other side. The creek, of moderate breadth, had washed out +for itself a deep bed in the meadow-land, with steep sides. They could +not well come together without bridges, and these were hastily made for +the occasion with tree-trunks, while here and there the willful or +eager swam across, or, trying to jump across and in most cases falling +short, occasioned every time shouts of laughter among those looking on. + +With beating hearts Aunt Ursul and the minister in succession observed +the spectacle which had to them such a terrible meaning. Then following +Conrad's whispered request, they withdrew as carefully as they had +crept up, back through the bushes into the woods. + +"How many are there?" asked Aunt Ursul. + +"Four hundred besides the Oneidas," replied Conrad. "The Oneidas are +quite as strong, if they allow all their warriors to be called into the +field. I have just counted two hundred and fifty. Anyhow, the others +will follow, otherwise they would find no preparations for the night." + +"But will they go on at once?" asked Aunt Ursul. + +"Certainly, for they know that the hours are precious. So you will +doubtless by to-morrow noon have them on your necks." + +"_You_?" said the minister impressively. "You should say '_We_,' +Conrad." + +Conrad did not answer, but went silently and without turning into the +border of the woods far enough from the edge of the plateau to prevent +their being seen. After going about two hundred steps they came to a +place where there was a deep ravine, which led from the heights above +by a sort of natural rock-stairs into the valley. Above, where the +stairs opened on the plateau, there was a narrow, deep-cut path +entirely blocked by a cunningly devised obstruction of tree-trunks, +stones and brush. Other stones, some of them very large, were pushed so +close to the sides of the ditch that with a lever, or perhaps even with +the foot, they could be slid of! on those coming up the path. It looked +as if a dozen strong men must have labored for days to perform such a +work. Conrad's giant strength accomplished it in a few hours. + +"Here," said he, turning to his companions with his peculiar laugh, +"here I intended to wait until the last stone had been thrown off and +my last cartridge had been shot." + +"And then?" asked Aunt Ursul. + +"Break in two my rifle on the head of the first one that should come up +into the narrow path." + +"And now?" asked the minister, seizing the hand of the wild man; "and +now, Conrad?" + +"Now I will carry out the orders of Herkimer." + +"For God's sake!" cried Aunt Ursul. "It would clearly be your +destruction; the Onondagas, your enemies, would pull you to pieces!" + +"Hardly," replied Conrad. "The Oneidas would not consent to it--at +least without quarreling and strife. By this means already much would +be gained, and thus I would keep them back longer than if I opposed +them here, where I would in a few hours be killed. But I hope it will +come out better. I would already have gone over to the Oneidas this +morning, when they lay in the woods, but I had nothing to offer them. +Now this is different. Perhaps I may be able to talk them over. At +least I will try. Goodbye, both of you." + +He reached out his hands to them. Aunt Ursul threw herself into his +arms as though she would not again let her beloved young man be +separated from her; but Conrad, with gentle force, freed himself and +said: + +"There is not a minute to be lost. I must make a wide circuit in order +to come from the other side into the valley, and you have a long +journey. The dog I shall take along. She can be of no use to you on the +way home. Can you find the way without her, aunt? Now then good-bye; +good-bye all!" + +"In the hope of again seeing you," said the minister. + +Conrad's face was convulsed for a moment. "As God will," he answered, +in subdued tones. + +The next minute they two were alone. For a moment they heard his +retreating steps. Then all was still. + +"We shall not see him again," said Aunt Ursul. + +"We _shall_ see him again," said the minister, looking at the purple +clouds shining through the branches. "God helps the courageous." + +"Then he will help him," said Aunt Ursul. "A more courageous heart than +that of my young man beats in no human breast. God be gracious to him!" + +"Amen!" said the minister. + +They turned back on their homeward journey, back through the primitive +forest, over which now the evening shadows were fast gathering. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + + +The minister had not deceived himself when, at their departure from the +block-house, he thought he read in Lambert's and Catherine's manner +that they both perceived what he and Aunt Ursul contemplated, in spite +of all their precautions. Indeed, while Lambert was guiding the labor +of fortifying, and was himself taking an active hand in the work, his +mind was constantly oppressed with heavy cares about Conrad. His heart, +full of love, and needing love, could not bear the thought that his +brother should be so unhappy while he was so happy--that for the first +time he could not give the best part of the sunshine of life to him for +whom hitherto no sacrifice had been too heavy. No, not him could he +give--but he would give--not for all the world--not for his soul's +salvation. Here there was no doubt--there _could be_ no doubt--for this +would have been the basest treachery toward himself, and toward the +dear girl who had trustfully given him her pure maiden heart. And +yet--and yet-- + +Catherine's heart was scarcely less sad. She held Lambert so +unspeakably dear, and her first experience must be that she was +bringing to her beloved great suffering as her first gift. She saw, +indeed, no mark of sorrow in the countenance of the precious man. She +had learned too well to read those smooth and honorable lines. There +was no dark cloud on that open brow, no gloomy falling of those mild, +blue eyes, no sad contortion about the mouth, which otherwise so +readily and often opened in friendly smiles, but which was now closed +so fast. + +Thus they, without needing to speak about winning back Conrad, had +thought and brooded; and when Aunt Ursul, yesterday, brought in the +minister, and scarcely left the good man time to sit down and eat his +dinner, but soon drove him up again and with him left the block-house, +and a few minutes after returned and called Pluto out, as though she no +longer placed any reliance on Melac, her watch-dog at home, Lambert and +Catherine gave each other an expressive look, and as soon as they were +alone fell into each other's arms and said: + +"Perhaps, perhaps everything will come out right yet." + +However sad the minds of the lovers, they kept their sadness to +themselves; and the rest were little inclined to trouble themselves +about an anxiety which was so carefully concealed from them; though +Richard Herkimer, Lambert remembered, had said it was a pity that +Conrad should just at this time show his folly. The others had spoken +in a similar manner, but with that on their part the matter was laid +aside. With or without Conrad, they were determined to do their duty; +and this certainty raised the spirits of the brave young men to +unwonted courage. One added circumstance gave a peculiar impulse to +this courageous feeling and enabled them to look upon the very +important position in which they found themselves in an entirely poetic +light. The excellent young men were all quite enchanted with +Catherine's beauty and loveliness, and gave to this enchantment the +most harmless and delightful expression. If Catherine at the table said +a friendly word, there shone five pairs of white rows of teeth. If she +expressed a wish, or only indicated one with her eyes, ten hands were +stretched out--ten legs began to move. Wherever she went or stood, she +had two or three attentive listeners at her side who watched with the +greatest eagerness and sought to anticipate her wishes. It was a +conviction firmly fixed in the mind of each that for Catherine's sake +they were willing not only to be killed, but to die in the most +barbaric manner the cruel nature of the Indian had discovered. So, on +one occasion, when Lambert was not present, in an overflow of heroism, +on Richard Herkimer's special suggestion, they all five had agreed and +had shaken hands on it and promised that, whichever of them should +outlive the rest, before he died himself he would kill Catherine, so +that she should not fall into the enemy's hands. + +This agreement of tragic sacrifice did not in any way hinder the five +heroes from trying their wit on each other, and, together with their +sympathy for the beautiful maiden, to tease and joke each other in +every way. Poor Adam had to suffer the most from this habit. They tried +to convince the good young man that Lambert had laid away a bullet +which was not intended for the French, and that they were not surprised +that Lambert should think no one dangerous to him besides Adam. Fritz +Volz and Richard Herkimer--that he well knew himself--had already made +their selection. Jacob Ehrlich and Anton Bierman were secretly weeping +for their treasures that they had left on the Mohawk. Adam had already +for years been going about like a roaring lion seeking whom he might +devour; that he was a wandering terror and a constant care for all +bridegrooms and unmarried young men; that the others had been commanded +to come, but that Adam came of his own accord; and that he should tell +them to what end and for what purpose, as he stood guard last evening, +he had sung so sweetly: "How beautiful shines on us the morning star," +that Catherine had cried and said: "Now listen to Adam, who sings +sweeter than a nightingale." + +Adam did not fail to reply to his tormentors. They should only concern +themselves about their own affairs; that he knew what he was about. +Then again, in a weeping tone, he would beg and beseech the friends to +tell him truly whether Lambert had indeed formed such a shameful +purpose, and whether Catherine had really found and declared his +singing so fine, and that in this life she only wanted one thing and +that was a blonde lock from the head of the singer to take with her +into the grave. The friends swore high and low that each of them had +heard it out of Catherine's own mouth, and that each of them had +promised to fulfill her special wish, and that Adam should now freely +give up his scalp-lock before the Indians took it by force and the skin +with it. Adam resisted, and called for help until the surrounding space +resounded with shouts and laughter. + +It was in the afternoon when Lambert, driven from the house by unrest, +walked slowly along the bank of the creek up toward the woods. He +stopped a moment and shook his head as the noise from the house struck +his ear, and then again went on. They could joke and laugh, those good +comrades, in this hour of sorrow and need, which oppressed his soul +with leaden weight. And yet they well knew that this hour might be +their last. They also had parents at home and sisters, and one and +another had a girl whom he loved, and the life of these people also +hung on the cast of a die. But then, they were all much younger than +he, and took life so much lighter--as light as one must take it at last +and be done with it so as not to sink under the burden. Was he not +already too old to load more on himself--he, to whom the old burden was +already so heavy to carry? How often had the rest jeered him on this +account; called him Hans the dreamer; using as a by-word when anything +more serious occurred: "For this let God and Lambert Sternberg +provide." Yes, indeed, he had learned to know care early enough, when +his mother died leaving him alone with his peevish, passionate father; +and he had to play the mediator between him and the wild Conrad, and +their relatives and the rest. And then, after his father's death, all +the labor for the common good fell upon him, if there was any failure +on the part of the neighbors. So he had always labored and cared, and +had well understood this spring that he must undertake the difficult +and responsible mission to New York. He had undertaken it, as he did +everything which was too burdensome for others, without thinking of +pay, without expecting the thanks of those who had given him their +commission. Now heaven had so arranged that he should find her from +whom one look, one word was pay and thanks for all that he had +done--for all that he had suffered. The pay was too great, the thanks +were too much. He had perceived this from the beginning. Who could +honorably begrudge him his unexpected happiness, obtained after fearful +misgivings? Not the neighbors, who would hardly forgive him for +preferring a stranger to their daughters. Not Aunt Ursul, who, though +her honest and righteous disposition strove against it, yet would +rather see Conrad in his place. And Conrad himself--his only, his +beloved brother--yes, that was the deepest grief; that was the drop +bitter as gall, poured into the sweet draught of love, and which he +must always taste. It ought not to be so. If this should not be so what +purpose, what meaning had the rest? Why care for a future that could no +more bring him true joy? Why cling to a life that had become so +burdensome to him? Why undertake the heavy conflict that was imminent? +Why hope to come out of this battle as victor? There the grass was +growing in his fields. Must it be trampled? There his cattle were, +wandering in the wilderness. Must they fall as booty into the hands of +the enemy? There stood his barn. Must it go up in flames? There was his +strongly built house. Must he and she be buried beneath its fragments? + +Thus, in deep, oppressive anxiety, Lambert stood at the edge of the +forest, looking over the valley that contained his home, glittering in +the bright sunlight. There was no noise in the wide circuit except the +buzz of insects over the soft bending grass and flowers of the prairie, +and an occasional bird-note from the branches of the dark-green pines +which, motionless, drank in the heat of the sun. Was then everything +which had passed through his brain a heavy, fearful dream, out of which +he could wake when he pleased? Was the signal pile there, which with +its smoke and fire should warn the rest down the creek, erected for a +joke? Did Aunt Ursul, who, full of care, had the evening before sent +Fritz Volz at a late hour to tell them that she had certain knowledge +that the enemy was quite near, and that they should keep the sharpest +watch--did Aunt Ursul only imagine that it was so? + +There! What sound was that which that instant struck his sharp ear out +of the woods? There was a cracking and crushing in the dry branches, as +when a deer runs with full speed through the bushes. No, It is not a +deer. He now clearly heard another sound which could only be produced +by the foot of a man running for his life. Nearer and nearer, down the +creek, down the steep, stony, bushy path, in mad leaps, as when a stone +is pushed down over a slope, came the runner. + +A sudden, joyful fear rushed through Lambert's soul. In all the world +but one foot could step like that--his brother's foot. In breathless, +intense emotion he stands there, his wildly beating heart almost +leaping from his breast. He wishes to call, but the sound sticks in his +throat. He tries to run to meet him, but his knees tremble under him. +At the next moment Conrad, breaking through the bushes, is at his side, +and his faithful dog with mighty leaps comes with him. + +"Conrad!" cried Lambert, "Conrad!" + +He rushed to his brother and encircled him in his arms. All that had +just now troubled him so dreadfully is forgotten. Now come what will, +it is worth while to live, and also, if it must be, to die. + +"Are they coming, Conrad?" + +"In one hour they will be here!" + + + + + CHAPTER XV + + +The certainty that now the decisive moment had come, and the joy that +the same moment had brought back his brother, again gave Lambert a +touch of the peculiarities on account of which young and old valued and +praised him--calmness, circumspection, confidence. Without hesitating a +moment as to what was next to be done, and calling to his brother to +notify those in the house, he hastened across the plank over the creek +to the hill yonder, where the signal pile had been erected, which from +there could be clearly seen from Ditmar's house away from the creek. A +minute later there rose from the lofty, ingeniously constructed +wood-pile a dark column of smoke, pushing its way up like the stem of a +mighty palm, and spreading out above in the still air like an immense +crown. Then, a quarter of a mile down the creek, there came up a dark +cloud of smoke. Uncle Ditmar has kept good watch. The signal has been +answered and carried farther. In a quarter of an hour they will also +know on the Mohawk, six miles farther, that here on the creek the enemy +has broken in. Then back over the creek--a strong push--the fastening +is broken off. The plank floats away. + +"Are you here yet, Conrad? How the rest will rejoice! Come!" + +Lambert hastened ahead. Conrad followed with slow, lingering steps. Was +it fatigue after the dreadful running? Had the blood with which his +leathern jacket was dotted spurted from his veins? + +So asked Lambert, but received no answer. And now they had reached the +temporary bridge, where the friends who stood on the wall received them +with loud cheers. Lambert hastened up and shook the hand of each brave +youth with heartfelt joy. Conrad still lingered at the foot of the +bridge. His face was pale, and as if emaciated with bodily pain, or an +inward conflict. He had sworn with a terrible oath that he would not +again cross the door-sill of his father's house, or his blood should +pay the forfeit. The strong, wild heart shrunk together in his breast. +His blood--why should this trouble him? He had not spared it. He had, a +quarter of an hour ago in a battle which he alone could take up--which +he alone could bring to a happy issue--put it at hazard. But his +word! his word! that he had never yet broken--which he now shall +break--_must_ break, as his clearer soul tells him--as his noble heart +bids him, in spite of all. + +As he still lingered, Catherine was suddenly standing among his +cheering companions. On her account had he renounced his father's +house. As if blinded by lightning he turned away his gaze. But she is +already at his side, has seized his hand with a soft pressure that he +cannot withstand, leads him with gentle force, that he must follow, up +the bridge, over the wall, down into the inner yard, where his +comrades, jubilant, press around him, and at the same time, with a +sudden impulse, seize him, raise him up on high, and with jubilation +and noise carry the fugitive--the returned one--into the house, as +though they would with bantering cunning drive from their prey the +demons lurking about the door-sill. + +So it also seemed to him. Conrad is back, the best rifle in the colony. +They had resolved without Conrad to do their duty. But the quick looks, +the short words which they interchanged, the faces illuminated with +joy, these said plainly, "It is far better so." If only Aunt Ursul and +Christian Ditmar were here the dance might begin at once. "They could +be here already," thought Catherine. "Hurrah! there they come!" cried +Richard Herkimer, who had gone up on the gallery to see better; "and +there are three. The third is the minister. Hurrah! and again, hurrah! +and once more, _hurrah_!" + +Who now has time or inclination to ask the breathless ones how the +minister came to be here? Enough that they are here at the right time, +and that at last the bridge can be thrown off and that the door can be +barricaded with the strong beams lying ready. There they now are, +locked in their wooden fortress in the midst of the wilderness, miles +away from friends, depending solely on themselves, on their firm +courage, on their strong arms, on their keen eyes--two women, nine men, +nine rifles. Though the minister is not to be counted, as he would not +know how to use a rifle even if he wished to fight, yet Aunt Ursul has +a rifle, and knows how to use it, and will fight; that can be depended +on. + +Now the parts are assigned and everything and every man is in place. In +one division of the lower, thoroughly protected room is Hans, whom +Lambert will not sacrifice. In another are the sheep, which were taken +in out of compassion, and now bleated piteously in the darkness. On the +gallery of the upper story, behind the breastwork, lay Lambert, +Richard, Fritz Volz, Jacob Ehrlich and Anton Bierman, with the barrels +of their rifles in the port-holes. On the floor above, at the +trap-doors of the high, shingled roof, stood Conrad, Aunt Ursul and +Christian Ditmar, whose far-carrying rifle was, in his time, the dread +of the enemy. With them is the minister, who, though he is not a good +shot, well understands how quickly and properly, to load a rifle. This +service Adam Bellinger performs for those on the gallery. Catherine is +to bring food and drink, when necessary, to those who are to fight. +Lambert and the rest have adjured her not in any way to expose herself +to danger. She, however, secretly purposed, in case of need, to take +Adam's rifle, which now lay idle, and follow Aunt Ursul's example. + +Silence reigned in the house. Whoever should see it standing there, +still, gloomy, locked, would suppose it forsaken by its former +occupants--a piece of abandoned property in the all-embracing +wilderness. Silent in its entire circuit lay that wilderness under the +ban of the hot afternoon sun. Silent was the green prairie on which +scarcely a single flower bent, or grass-stem waved. Silent the woods +whose treetops reached up unmoved toward the blue sky, from which +several white clouds looked down motionless. Deepest silence! Forest +stillness! + +There!--a loud, long drawn-out, many-voiced whoop, whose dreadful echo +is reflected back from surrounding objects. From the forest break forth +at once fifty half-naked Indians in their colored war-paint, swinging +their rifles and tomahawks, and, leaping forward with wild jumps, +hastening over the prairie, one part coming directly toward the +block-house, the other going around so as in a short time to rush up +from all sides. The house stood as silent as before. There was no reply +to the demand which the on-rushing enemy kept repeating with yells and +cries and whoops. The first are already within a hundred paces--then +comes the answer, a short, sharp sound from four German rifles fired at +the same moment, so that but one report was heard. Four Indians fall +not to rise again. The others run on more rapidly, and had already +reached the surrounding wall, when again is heard the crack of four +rifles and again four Indians fall--one, having been shot through the +heart, leapt up high, like a deer. + +This they had not expected. A third salvo might follow the second, and +there yet lay between them and the house a ditch and wall. Who could +tell whether this third salvo might not be more dreadful than the first +two? No one wants it tried. In a moment all turn and run, in like +haste, back to the woods, which they had not reached until again four +shots are sent after them. Two more sink dead at the feet of the +French, who had kept concealed in the woods, observing the bloody +spectacle before them, full of horror and compelled to confess that the +first attack, which they had cunningly left to their Indian allies, had +altogether failed. + +Yes, the first attack had been repelled. Those in the block-house shook +hands with each other, and then again grasped their freshly loaded +guns. One of the Indians raised up on his hands and knees, and again +fell back, and then again raised up. Richard Herkimer said: "That is my +man. The poor devil shall not be in pain much longer." He raised his +rifle to his cheek, but Lambert laid his hand on his shoulder saying: +"We shall need every shot, Richard, and he has enough." The Indian, in +a death-cramp grasped the grass, twitched a few times, and then lay +rigid like the rest of his comrades. + +"What will happen now? Will they seek us again in the same way, or +choose some other mode of attack? and what then?" The young men debated +the matter, and Aunt Ursul, who had come down from the upper floor, +joined in the discussion. Their views were divided. Lambert thought +that they had soon enough found out how strong the fastness was, and +how much they must sacrifice in this most dangerous pitfall until the +rest should actually reach the house. It also appeared how large the +number was, since thus far it was clear that they had had to do with +only a part, and that their principal force was still in the woods. + +"Lambert is right," said Aunt Ursul. "They are one hundred and fifty +strong--fifty French and a hundred Onondagas." + +"Ninety-two," said Anton Bierman, "for eight lie there." + +Jacob Ehrlich usually laughed when Anton said something witty. This +time he did not laugh. He was silently reckoning how many Indians, +leaving out the French, would fall to his share if there really were so +many. Jacob Ehrlich could not make out the exact number, but he reached +the result that under all the circumstances it would be hard work. + +The others looked inquiringly at Aunt Ursul. That the report came from +Conrad was certain, but how had he learned the fact? Aunt Ursul now +related her yesterday's expedition with the minister. But thus it could +not be concealed that, without her interference, Conrad would not now +have been here. But about this she did not wish to speak, at least +today. She also said that Conrad had found and watched the camp of our +enemies; that he had counted them head by head, and that they had +divided into two parts; that of these the larger, a hundred French, as +many Onondagas and at least two hundred Oneidas, had started for the +Mohawk, and would doubtless already have arrived, but that the Oneidas +had no heart for the affair, and that it was at least possible that at +the decisive moment they would fall away and go over to their old +treaty friends. + +"If it is so, we can also reckon on help from my father," said Richard +Herkimer. + +"We will reckon on nobody but ourselves," said Lambert. + +"What are the fellows up to now?" said Anton Bierman. + +Out of the woods in which the enemy for the last half-hour was entirely +concealed there came three men--one Frenchman and two Indians. They had +laid aside their arms. Instead of them they carried long rods to the +ends of which white cloths were tied. They swung the rods back and +forth and made the cloths flutter. So they came up slowly as though +they were not quite sure, and wished to assure themselves whether those +on the other side were disposed to regard a flag of truce. Anton +Bierman and Jacob Ehrlich felt no inclination to do this. They thought +that the scoundrels, the year before, had never shown mercy, and that +for their part they would send them to the devil with their white rags +and, though there were but three, they were worth three charges of +powder. Lambert had enough to do to hush the excited men, and to make +it clear to them that they, as Germans, should not be the first to do +that. + +Meanwhile those who had come to ask a parley had approached to within a +short distance of the house. Lambert appeared on the gallery, after he +had told the others not to let themselves be seen, and called out: +"Halt!" + +The three stood still. + +"What do you want?" + +"Is there one among you who speaks French?" asked the Frenchman in +German. + +"We speak only German," answered Lambert. "What do you want?" + +The Frenchman, a tall, dark-complexioned man, placed himself in a quite +theatrical posture while he set his flag of truce on the ground with +his left hand and raised the right hand toward heaven, and called out: + +"I, Roger de St. Croix, Lieutenant in the service of his most Christian +Majesty, Louis XV., and commander of his majesty's troops here present, +and of the allied Indians of the tribe of the Onondagas, herewith bring +to your knowledge and inform you that, if you at once and on the spot +lay down your arms and give yourselves up to our mercy or severity, we +will grant life to you, your wives and children, nor will we injure you +in your possessions, but will leave everything--house, barn and +cattle--undestroyed. But should you be mad enough to make further +resistance against the formidable power of six hundred well-armed and +disciplined soldiers of his majesty, and as many more brave and +dreadful Indians, then I swear--I, Roger de St. Croix--that not one of +you shall get away with his life--neither you, nor your wives, nor your +children--and that we will level with the dust your houses and barns, +so that nobody could again find the place where they stood." + +The man, who spoke German glibly enough, though with a French accent, +had spoken louder and louder until at last he shrieked. He now let his +gesticulating right arm fall to his side and stood there in an +indifferent attitude, like a man conducting a spiritless conversation +which he can stop or continue just as the other may prefer. + +"Shall I answer for you?" asked Anton as he struck his rifle. + +"Still!" said Lambert, and then raised his voice: "Go back to your +people and tell them that we here, united German men, one as all and +all as one, are resolved to hold the house, come what will; and that we +are quite confident that we can hold it, even if you were twelve +hundred instead of one hundred and fifty, counting in the ten already +lying there." + +The Frenchman made a quick motion of surprise, and turned to his +attendants who had been standing there without altering their posture, +or stirring. He appeared to say something to them which arrested their +attention. Then he again took his former theatrical posture and called +out: + +"From what you last said, though it is false, I infer that there is +with you a certain Conrad Sternberg. I promise you that not a hair +shall be bent and a hundred Louis d'or besides, if you will deliver to +us this Conrad Sternberg." + +"The man of whom you speak," replied Lambert, "is with us, and you have +already twice heard the crack of his rifle, and if you so please you +can hear it again." + +"But this Conrad is a traitor, who has cheated us in the most shameful +manner," cried the Frenchman. "I am no traitor," called Conrad, who now +stood beside his brother. "I told you I would escape as soon as +possible. Since you this time thought your six could hold me you will +the next time set a dozen to guard me." + +"The next time I will begin by having laid at my feet, first your scalp +and then your head," cried the Frenchman in loudest tones. + +"Enough!" called Lambert. "I give you ten minutes to get back into the +woods. He of you who then yet lets himself be seen outside does it at +his peril!" + +The Frenchman doubled up his fist, and then bethought himself as to +what, under all circumstances, a Frenchman owes himself against German +blockheads, and taking off his large, three-cornered hat, made a low +bow, turned on his heel, and walked at first slowly, then faster and +faster toward the woods, until he fell into a regular trot, evidently +to spare the Germans the shame of shooting, after the ten minutes had +elapsed, at the messenger of his Most Christian Majesty. + +"Lord of my life!" cried Anton. "Now I first know him. That is the same +fellow, Jacob, who three years ago came to us begging, and who +afterward hung about the neighborhood half a year. He called himself +Mr. Emil, and said that he had shot a comrade in a duel and had on +that account to flee. But others claimed that he was an escaped +galley-slave. Afterward he wanted to marry Sally, Joseph Kleeman's +black girl, but she said she was too good for a fellow like that, and +Hans Kessel, Sally's treasure, once pounded him as limber as a rag, +after which he disappeared. Lord of my life! He gives himself out here +as a lieutenant, and speaks of his Most Christian Majesty, and is +willing to leave us our dear lives--the mean plate-licker, the +gallows-bird!" + +So honest Anton scolded and abused, and asserted that if he did not get +this Mr. Emil, or Saint Croix, or whatever the fellow's name was, in +front of his rifle, to him the whole sport would be spoiled. + +The rest would gladly have known what Conrad had before had to do with +the French, but their curiosity remained unsatisfied, for Conrad had +immediately again gone up, and soon the attention of the besieged was +directed to another side. From the barn-yard arose a column of smoke, +which every moment became thicker and blacker, until the flames burst +forth from the mass. The enemy had made his threat true. It seemed to +be a useless barbarity, for the barn was too far from the block-house +for the flames to leap across, though the wind, which now began to +rise, was blowing toward the house, driving along smoke and sparks. But +this whole war was only a continuous chain of such barbarities. This +morning Lambert had mentally seen what he now actually saw. He had +wrought all this with his own hands, which now the more firmly grasped +the barrel of his gun. Then there cracked a shot above and another, and +Aunt Ursul called down the stairs: "Be watchful! Eyes left! In the +reeds!" + +The meaning of these words and of the shots fired from above soon +became clear. The attention of the besieged had not been uselessly +directed to the land side. In the thick sedge and reeds, of man's +height, with which the shores of the creek were overgrown, one could +come from the woods within a hundred paces of the house. It was a +difficult undertaking, for the ground was a bottomless bog as far as +the reeds grew, and where they ended the creek was deep and rapid. But +they had ventured to do it, and it soon appeared with what result. From +among the reeds here and there shots were soon being fired with +increasing rapidity. There must indeed have been a considerable number +who had came by that dangerous way, and had concealed themselves along +the shore in spite of all that those in the house could do to free +themselves from neighbors so unwelcome and dangerous. + +Wherever an eagle-feathered head or a naked arm showed itself, or the +barrel of a gun glistened, yes, if the sedge only moved, a bullet +struck. But though a few dead bodies floated down the creek, others lay +dead or wounded among the rushes and others still had sunk in the +morass, the remaining number was so great and the daring enemy was so +embittered by his heavy losses, it seemed that the worst must and would +come. Besides, the evening wind kept increasing, causing the tops of +the rushes to wave hither and thither, so that it was difficult and +often impossible to follow the movements of the unseen enemy, and many +a precious charge was wasted. This evidently made the attacking party +more bold. The fire-line was constantly receding from the shore. The +more frequent bullets rained against the breastwork and roof. It might +be expected at any moment that a rush would be made from the reeds and +that, having rapidly run across the short distance that still separated +them from the house, they would attempt to storm it. + +But it soon became manifest that on the opposite side of the house they +were by no means willing to set the decision of the day on a single +card. Suddenly, at the edge of the woods, there began to be a stirring +and a moving as if the forest itself had become alive. Broad shields of +man's height cunningly contrived out of pine branches were pushed out +or carried, one could not tell which, in a connected line over the +smooth level meadow toward the house. The progress was slow, but +onward, until they had approached within rifle shot, and then the +marksmen behind the shields opened a lively fire. The shields were +indeed no sure protection for the attacking party, but they made the +aim of the beleaguered more difficult, and moreover compelled them to +be more watchful, and to direct their rifles toward two sides at once. + +But the oncoming foe had not yet exhausted his ingenuity. From the +barn-yard, where everything was entirely burned down, they at the same +time came rolling before them Lambert's large casks, and, as soon as +they were near enough, they set them up and so made a wall that could +every moment be shoved farther, and offered a much more sure protection +than the pine-branch shields. Anton Bierman had laughed loudly when he +saw the casks coming toward the house, but after he had fired at them a +few times, clearly without effect, he laughed no more, but said softly +to his friend Jacob: "Things begin to look serious!" + +It was indeed serious. So far no one had received apparent injury, +except that one and another was badly cut by splinters torn from the +breastwork by bullets, and bled profusely. But the battle had now +lasted for three hours. It was a warm piece of work, under the June +sun, and the cheeks of the fighters glowed, and the barrels of their +guns were hot. Furthermore, many an eye, when it could turn away a +moment from the unaccustomed bloody work toward the sun, had observed +with care how rapidly it had been sinking during this hour which would +not end--how low it already stood. So long as its light lasted a +handful of men might keep up the doubtful strife against a crafty, +cunning enemy far outnumbering them, and leave it undecided. But how +soon the sun would set, and when it did, and darkness came on, it would +cover the valley for hours with an impenetrable veil, since now the +moon did not rise till after midnight; and under the protection of the +night and of the fog the enemy could slip up and storm the place. True +the beams of the lower story were thick enough, and the only door was +barred, but a dozen axes could in a short time break in the door and, +however thick the beams, they could not withstand fire. Then the +beleaguered would have no choice but to give their living bodies to the +flames, or with their arms in their hands try to open a way from the +closely surrounded, burning house. And even then their destruction was +sure. Whoever was not killed at once would, on account of the number of +the pursuers, be overtaken and brought down. + +Such was the situation. It could not be doubtful either to the +besieged, or besiegers, who had long been convinced that the house was +defended by no more than ten rifles. But however much this certainty +may have raised their desire to fight and their thirst for vengeance, +the courage of those in the blockhouse remained unbroken. Nobody +thought of flight, which was indeed impracticable; nor of surrender, +which equally meant a painful death. All were resolved to defend +themselves to the last breath, and sooner to kill themselves, or each +other, than to fall alive into the hands of the cruel enemy. + +Lambert and Catherine had already before said this to each other, and +during the battle they had more than once signaled the death covenant +to each other with silent, intelligent glances. But the courageous girl +was--not only to her lover--like a banner which waves before the bold +soldier in battle and on which his eyes rest with an enthusiasm that +overcomes death. Whoever looked at the pale, still, determined, +restlessly helpful maiden, drank from a spring of courage and strength, +so that his fearful heart beat higher and his tired limbs were again +strengthened. To the commands constantly repeated from the first: "Stay +away, Catherine! Don't stand there, Catherine!" she paid no attention. +Where she knew she was needed, there she was; above with the men under +the hot roof; below with those on the gallery, giving one a drink; +taking a discharged rifle from the hands of another; giving to another +a gun that she herself had loaded. She had also learned quickly, as she +learned everything on seeing it, that Adam Bellinger, though he +reasonably exerted himself and the sweat ran in streams from his +forehead, was not equal to his task, and that the marksmen often called +in vain for their guns. + +So she was again occupied in the inner room when Aunt Ursul, Conrad, +old Christian and the minister came down from above, while also those +in the gallery stopped shooting and it became still outside. + +"What is going on?" asked Catherine. + +"They are about to visit us with a second storming party," said +Lambert, coming in from the gallery. "It is well that you have come +down. Every man of us must now be on the gallery. We shall soon enough +have them under us." + +Others also came in to hear what would happen. They were assembled in +full count. + +"I think," said Lambert, "we had better not shoot until they are on the +wall, for now they will not turn back again, and then we have eight of +them sure. Afterward five of us will give attention to the others, +while the rest put a stop to the work of the scoundrels below us. Are +the rifles all loaded?" + +"Here!" and, "Here!" said Catherine and Adam, handing out the last two +rifles. + +It so happened that the two were Lambert's and Conrad's rifles. As they +both at the same time came up it was not by mere chance that both took +their guns with the left hand, for at the next moment their right hands +clasped, and thus they stood before Catherine, who, blushing deeply, +took a step back, fearing that her nearness should anew break the bond +of the brothers. But the minister laid his hand on the hands of the +brothers as they held each other with a firm grasp, and said: "As these +two who had for a moment lost each other, and in the hour of danger +have again found each other, to be and to remain, in life and in death +and in eternity united, so let us all, dear brothers and sisters, thank +and praise God that we here stand together so united, and that, in this +solemn hour, which according to all human calculation is our last, we +are fulfilling the chief commandment, and are loving one another. Since +life can offer us nothing greater than this, though we should live a +thousand years, let us without murmuring take our departure from this +dear life. We do not give it up lightly. We have defended it as well as +we could. But we are only flesh and blood, and this our fortress is +wood. God, however, who made us in his own likeness and breathed his +breath into us--God is a spirit and a strong tower." + +As the minister uttered the word, then, as though the Spirit to whom +they were praying had inspired it, the sentiment it awakened passed +through the little assembly and Luther's battle-hymn sounded forth as +if from one mouth: + + + A Strong tower is our God-- + A good defense and armor; + He keeps us free in every need + Which us has yet befallen; + The old and angry fiend, + Earnestly he means, + Great might and much craft + His dreadful armor is, + On earth there's nothing like him. + + With our own might nothing's done; + We surely are quite helpless; + There fights for us the very Man, + Whom God himself has chosen. + Ask you who is He? + He's called Jesus Christ, + The Lord Sabaoth, + There is no other God; + The field he'll not surrender. + + And were the world of devils full, + Would they us wholly swallow, + So fear we not so very much; + We yet shall surely prosper. + + +There they were, on every side, as though the creek and the prairie and +the woods had spit them out at once. They came on in wild leaps, +swinging axes and guns and brush-bundles. French and Indians, hunters +and dogs, rushed on to battle. In a moment they flew across the narrow +intervening space, down into the ditch, up the wall, in frenzied +motion, digging with their nails, one on another's shoulder, up, up. + +Up but not over--at least not the first. + +As soon as a head emerged from behind the wall, a pair of elbows put +firmly on it, a breast exposed, came the deadly bullet, and the +venturesome enemy fell back into the ditch. This fate befalls the +first, the second, the third and the fourth. The fifth at last succeeds +and the sixth; and now half-a-dozen at once, and at another point also +a couple. These are enough. The object is gained. Words of command are +called out. Those who are still on the other side of the wall retire, +forming about the house in a double circle and continually firing. +Again, and then for the last time, to rush forward so soon as those who +had pressed to the house should have finished their work. + +It will to all appearance soon be finished. Sharp axes cut down the +door. The ax-swingers understand their work. They have before opened +breaches in many a barricaded house. And those on the other side, +toward which the wind was blowing, understood their business equally +well. They have often before placed a firebrand against a house they +could not otherwise take. Those above shot well through the round holes +in the bottom of the gallery, and one or two of those below must pay +for their bravery with their lives. But the others are covered, and the +rain of bullets which pours upon the house divides the force of the +besieged who must turn to every side at once. Yet a few strokes and the +door lies in fragments and out of the thick smoke which comes up over +there the flame will soon burst forth. + +The beleaguered know it. An attempt to avert the threatened danger must +be made. They must risk a sally. Two of them must do it. Which two? + +"I!" called out the brave minister. "Why is it not suitable for me?" + +"I!" cried Conrad. "This is my business!" + +"Conrad's and mine," said Lambert with determined voice, "and no one +else. Away, the rest of you, to your posts. You, Richard and Fritz, +guard the door. Here are the two axes; and now, in God's name--" + +The beams which bar the door are taken away so as to uncover a strong +plank, fitting closely into the opening and against which the blows +from without are directed, the door having been shattered. The last +beam is drawn away; the plank falls; the breach desired by the +besiegers is made, and out of the breach rush Lambert and Conrad side +by side, old Christian Ditmar swinging aloft an ax with his nervous arm +and crying: "Here! Germany forever!" + +It is the first word that has to-day fallen from his lips, and it is +his last for to-day and forever. Pierced at once with three bullets, +cut and crushed by a dozen knife cuts and ax-blows he falls, but his +big-hearted purpose is attained. He broke the first onset of the +attacking party. He made a way for the two young men behind him. They +rushed into this passage-way. Nothing can withstand Conrad's giant +strength. His blows fall like hail. He rages among the crowd like a +jaguar among sheep. Yes, it is a jaguar that has come among them--the +great jaguar, as they call him at the lake, who had already torn so +many of the tribe of Onondagas. They are willing to fight with the +devil himself, but cannot bear to look at the flaming eyes of the great +jaguar. They rush away toward the wall, over the wall, into the ditch, +followed by Conrad. Lambert, who had already pulled apart the burning +pile of wood, called after him that he should go no farther but come +back, for the others, who had seen the shameful flight of their +comrades, now directed their fire at the two. Bullet after bullet +strikes the wall near Lambert. It is a wonder that he is yet uninjured; +yes, that he is alive. But he does not think of himself. He only thinks +of his lion-hearted brother. He rushes toward the raging one, who is +fighting near the wall with three Indians, the last within the +enclosure. They shall not get over it again. He seizes one, whirls him +on high and dashes him against the wall where the unlucky fellow lies +with a broken neck. The two others improve the moment and climb over +the wall. One of them, before sliding down into the ditch, discharges +his gun. + +"Come in, for God's sake, Conrad!" called Lambert. He seizes Conrad by +the hand and drags him away. They had reached the door when Conrad +staggered like a drunken man, Lambert caught him about the body. + +"It is nothing, dear brother," said Conrad and straightened himself up. +But in the door he fell down. A stream of blood gushed from his mouth +and moistened the door-sill which he had sworn never again to cross +without the shedding of his blood. + +The door is again barred more strongly than before. + +The fire that Lambert had pulled apart wastes away powerless at the +base of the house. The house is saved; but how long? The little company +that guards it is poorer by two fighting men. The rest, exhausted by +their frightful labor, are more dead than alive. The ammunition is used +up to within a few charges, and the sun pours its last red rays over +the lonely battle-field in the midst of the surrounding forest. In a +few minutes it will go down. Night--the last night--will come on. + +"Your brother is dead," said the minister to Lambert. + +"He has gone before us," said Lambert. "Stay near me, Catherine." + +The minister and Catherine had been occupied below with Conrad. The +minister was skilled in the healing art, but here his skill could +accomplish nothing. Conrad had opened his beautiful blue eyes, with a +bewildered look, but once. They for a moment became bright and clear, +as he saw Catherine's face through the mist of death. Then he lay +still with closed eyes. There was deep peace in the yet wild and +battle-angered face. He breathed but once again. Then his head sunk to +one side as if he were now sleeping quietly. The sun sinks behind the +forest, spreading its blood-red evening-light over those on the +gallery. + +"On what do the fellows wait?" asked Jacob Ehrlich. + +"Eternity will be long enough for you, fool," replied Anton Bierman. + +"If father means to send us succor he must be quick about it," said +Richard Herkimer, with a sad smile. + +"Hurrah! hurrah! and again hurrah!" cried Adam Bellinger, who now +rushes down the stairway and dances about like a crazy person, and +then, crying loudly, falls into the minister's arms. + +"Poor boy! poor boy!" said the minister. + +Lambert went round to the other side of the gallery, from which one +could look down the creek to the edge of the woods where the road makes +a turn and then disappears to reappear for a short distance a little +further on. On this side and on that there was nothing in the road. The +slight hope which had kindled in Lambert's breast was at once +extinguished. Sadly he shook his head. + +And yet, what sound is that? Lambert clearly hears a dull, strong +sound, while, at the same moment, the noise of the enemy is stilled. +The sounds become heavier and stronger. Lambert's heart beats as though +it would split. + +Suddenly there came around the corner of the woods one, two, three +riders in full run and a moment later a large company; twenty, thirty +horses, under whose hoofs the ground trembles. The riders swing their +rifles and "Hurrah! hurrah!" sound forth so that Lambert hears. + +He hastens to his comrades. "Have you all loaded? Then up and out! Now +it is our turn. Now we will drive them!" + +A sharp pursuit--a wild pursuit on the darkening prairie after the +French and Indians, who in frenzied flight rush toward the woods while +German rifles crack after them. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI + + +It was during the fifth summer after these events that the August sun, +which rose above the woods in beaming glory, brought the Germans on the +creek, on the Mohawk and on the Schoharie, a joyful day. To-day bison +and deer might go their way through the primitive forest unmolested. +The hunter drew the charge out of his rifle and put into it a large +load of loose powder. To-day cattle and sheep were left to themselves +in the pasture-fields. The herdsman had brushed his Sunday-coat clean, +and had stuck a large bunch of flowers in his hat. To-day there was +rest from pressing labor, in field and mart. The farmer, much as he had +to do, the herder, the hunter, and all the world, young and old, men, +women and children, were to keep a great holiday--a great, wondrous, +fine peace-festival. For there was again peace on earth--which had +drunk the blood of her children in streams for seven long years. Peace +over in the old home; peace here in the new one. There the hero of the +century, old Fritz, the great Prussian king, was done with his enemies, +and had sheathed his sword. So here too the battle-ax could be buried. + +During the last years it had indeed become dull enough. Since, in the +spring of 'fifty-eight, the attack of the French and Indians had been +so bravely resisted by the Germans, they had made no further invasion +across the border, protected as it was by such a warlike race. As now +Fort Frontenac had fallen and Quebec was surrendered the following +year. England's great victory was won, and what yet followed were only +the flying sparks and the last flickering of a great conflagration. But +for a German shingle or straw roof sparks are also dangerous, and the +master of the house had yet constantly gone to bed burdened with +anxiety, and the next morning went to his labor with his rifle on his +shoulder. Now the last trace of uncertainty had disappeared, and the +bell in the little church sounded out "Peace, peace," over sunny fields +and still woods. + +Out of the woods and over the fields they came in festive groups, on +foot, on horseback, young and old, adorned with flowers, sending +friendly greetings from afar, heartily shaking each other's hands if +they happened to meet at the crossroads; engaging in friendly +conversation as they went through the smiling valley between the Mohawk +and the creek toward the hill on which the church stood, which to-day +could not hold all who came with pious thankfulness. + +"But God does not dwell in temples made by human hands. He is clothed +with light. Heaven is His throne and the earth is His footstool." That +is the text of the sermon which the worthy minister, Rosenkrantz, +to-day delivers to his congregation, gathered around him in a wide +circle under the bright sky and on the green earth. In words that fly +on eagle's wings over the assembly he praises the great, good God, on +whom they, in their need, had called, and who, out in the wild woods +and on the lonely prairie, had delivered them from danger. He calls to +remembrance those who had fallen during the war, and says that not in +vain did they shed their precious blood for house and home in which man +must live, that in the circle of his own family, at his own hearth, he +may show the virtues of love, of helpfulness and patience, and live +according to the image of Him who made him. He declares that those who +survive are called and chosen, after the fearful labor of the war, to +the valuable works of peace, and that all hatred and quarreling and +envy and strife must henceforth be banished from the congregation, +otherwise the dead would rise and complain and ask: "Why did we die?" + +More than once the voice of the minister trembled with deep feeling. He +had gone through it all himself. Every word came from the bottom of his +heart and so it reached the heart. There was scarcely one of the +assembled hundreds whose eyes remained free from tears; and when the +benediction was pronounced, that the Lord who had now so evidently let +the light of His countenance fall on them and had given them peace, +might also further bless and preserve them and give them peace, Amen! +the word touched every heart, and hundreds of voices responded: "Amen!" +"Amen!" as the wind roars through the tops of the trees of the forest. +Then the roaring grew louder and mightier, as it spread in sacred +accord over the sunny fields in the hymn. + +"Now let us all thank God." + +Then they retired stiller than they came. + +But the festival of peace should also be one of joy, and there were +with the old far too many who were young to keep in their joy very +long. At first a few lively words were jokingly interchanged. Then a +lusty fellow had a funny conceit which, in that beautiful, bright +sunshine, he could not possibly keep to himself. The old smiled. The +young men laughed. The girls giggled. The laughter and the joyfulness +were so inspiring and communicative that the guns went off as if of +themselves, and an hour later one who did not know better might have +thought that Herkimer's house, which the French had not ventured to +attack in the frightful years of '57 and '58, was being stormed on the +festival of peace by German young men. + +This indeed was unnecessary. Nicolas Herkimer's large and hospitable +house had to-day all its doors opened wider than usual, for men and +women--for all who lived oh the Mohawk, on the creek and on the +Schoharie--for all that were German, or that were ready to rejoice with +the Germans--all were invited, and were welcome to drink of Nicolas +Herkimer's beer and eat of his roast, and, happy with the joyful, help +to celebrate the great festival. As all had been invited so nobody +stayed at home, unless it might be a mother who could not leave her +children alone, or one to whom it was utterly impossible to come. Big +John Mertens had come, and, simpering, mingled with the guests, his +thumbs in the pockets of his long vest, except when he drew somebody +aside secretly to ask him if it was not very nice in John Mertens that +he gave precedence to Nicolas Herkimer, and that he did honor to his +festival by his presence; that he could just as well entertain such a +multitude of guests and perhaps a little better. Hans Haberkorn was +there, and acted very modestly and reminded one and another that he had +then already said that three ferries across the river were not too +many. Now there were six ferrymen and all made a good living. Some +thought that Hans Haberkorn talked in that way because he was owing +Nicolas Herkimer every cent that the ferry and beer-house were worth, +and a couple of hundred dollars besides. But who had time now to +investigate such things? + +Surely not the young men and maidens who, on the level ground adjoining +the house, beneath the shadow of an immense basswood tree, were +ceaselessly swinging in the dance to the stirring music of a violin, +two fifes and a drum. Parents and old people, who sat under the long, +projecting roof where it was cool, and thoughtfully emptied one pitcher +after another, had also something better for their entertainment. They +remembered, as to-day they well might, what they themselves had +suffered in the home across the sea, or had, at least, been told by the +father, or the grandfather--how the bitter enemy, the Frenchman, had +scorched and burned, up and down the beautiful green Rhine, and how +their own lord by his servants had seized what the French had left, so +that, in his grand castles, he with his courtiers might gormandize and +have brilliant feasts and great hunts, while the poor farmers, +oppressed by service and burdens of every kind, were starving of sheer +hunger. And also the priesthood and the tithes and other endless +miseries of the holy Roman empire of the German nation. Yes, yes, it +had looked badly over there, and though since the great king of +Prussia, old Fritz, had intervened and had followed bravely on his +crutch, it was a great deal better, yet one could live here freer and +better, if one considered it well, being under no lord; and the +minister, though all were not like Rozenkrantz, would allow one to talk +with him and a man's life could be joyful, especially now that the +Frenchman has crept into his hole and the war is at an end. + +Then they talked about the war. That was an inexhaustible subject. In +that everybody had taken part--had himself fought and had his part to +tell--his altogether peculiar experiences, which, if to no one else, at +least to the narrator were of deep interest. They recalled the chief +events of the war, wherein all agreed that the interest was supreme. +These were recounted a hundred times and were gladly repeated once +more, and which clothed themselves in a wonderful garb, though the +eye-witnesses were yet for the most part alive. + +Of these peculiarly noteworthy events, none was more remarkable than +the battle at Sternberg's house in the year '58. And when the deed had +been told that nine men had for six or seven hours resisted one hundred +and fifty well-armed enemies, incredible as it was, there was that in +the history which gave it for the moment a romantic color, even in the +eyes of the indifferent. The quarrel of the brothers over the beautiful +maiden, who was now the handsomest wife in the whole district; the +reconciliation of the brothers in the last hour, and the succeeding +heroic deaths of Christian Ditmar and of Conrad Sternberg--the oldest +and the youngest of the company--and both dying so nobly that one could +not do better than to follow them, as Aunt Ursul said, when they were +both laid in the cool earth. Yes, she had soon enough followed +them--the wonderfully brave souls--she who was so rough, while her +heart was so soft that she did not want to live longer, nor could she +without her husband, with whom she had spent forty years in joy and +sorrow--but mostly in sorrow--and without her wild, strong and last but +perhaps most dearly beloved son. Yes, yes, that he was, to Aunt +Ursul--the Indian, and, as they already before had called him and still +called him at the lake, the great jaguar--Conrad Sternberg, wild and +strong. Were he still living Cornelius Vrooman, from Schoharie, would +not have carried off the victory away from the young men on the Mohawk. +What Cornelius did was indeed no small matter, to draw a sleigh by the +tongue, standing in the sand, loaded with twelve heavy men, half a foot +from its position. Conrad would have drawn the sleigh five feet with +Cornelius on his shoulders. Yes, yes, Conrad Sternberg was endowed with +superhuman strength. Would he otherwise have been able to overcome +twenty-four Indians who had already pressed forward to the house? And +was it not more than human courage for him, whom every Onondaga had +sworn to kill, notwithstanding to go to their camp and set the +Onondagas and Oneidas against each other and both against the French +and then to deliver himself up to the Onondagas, as they insisted on it +that they might feel assured, and to tell them that he would stay with +them as long as they could hold him; and the simpletons, who might have +known better, had thought that six men were sufficient for this, and +had placed the six, with Conrad as guide, in the van. Yes, he had +showed them the way there whence none of them would return. So had he +protected the Sternberg house, and, if one correctly considered it, all +the houses on the creek and the Mohawk, since the Oneidas went back, +and the French and Onondagas might be glad that they had not in the +evening been followed more sharply, since half of the cavalry had been +sent to relieve the Sternberg house. Yes, that was a man, that Conrad, +the like of whom would probably never again appear among them--a Samson +among the Philistines, "who slew them with the jaw-bone of an ass," as +the minister to-day said, in his sermon, though he did not mention +Conrad's name. The minister himself knew how to tell about it, for he +was there and could say more if he would; but he said no more about it, +as soon as he came in his discourse to the chapter. Now, perhaps a +servant of peace should not be blamed if he did not wish to remember +that he had laid low six Indians that day with his own hand. In their +gossiping exaggeration and envy they proceeded to add that if Lambert +Sternberg seldom speaks of his brother he may possibly have his +grounds, since many suspect that Catherine loved Conrad better +than him, and that Lambert Sternberg, in spite of his comfortable +condition--since he is now also Aunt Ursul's heir--and in spite of his +handsome wife and beautiful children, is the unhappiest man in the +whole valley. + +"Be still! There comes Lambert with Herkimer; and what peculiar little +fellow have they forked up?" + +Nicolas Herkimer and Lambert Sternberg approached these confident +dividers of honors, whose conversation had just taken so interesting a +turn, and introduced to them Mr. Brown, of New York, who in Albany, +where he had business, had heard of the peace-festival on the Mohawk, +and as he was a friend of the Germans, had at once decided to come up +and help them celebrate the day. + +The honor-conveyers welcomed the stranger, and said that it was a great +honor which they knew how to prize, and asked whether Mr. Brown and +Lambert--Herkimer had already gone away--would not sit down at their +table and empty a glass to the well-being of his majesty the king. Mr. +Brown was ready for this, and also drank to the welfare of the Germans, +but then left, with the promise that later he would come again with +Lambert; that he wished first to look about a little over the place +where the festival was being held. + +Mr. Brown had not made the long journey from New York to Albany and +from Albany here merely on his own business, nor out of pure sympathy +with the Germans. He came at the suggestion of the Government, which +had at last comprehended the value of the German settlements on the +Mohawk, and further up toward the lake, and had formed the earnest +purpose to advance them as far as possible. Mr. Brown, being peculiarly +fitted to further this end on account of his long business intercourse +with the Germans, was intrusted with this mission. + +He was to communicate with the leading Germans, such as Nicolas +Herkimer and Lambert Sternberg, and take their proposals into +consideration. To this end he had held a long conference with Nicolas +Herkimer, and now imparted his views to his younger friend while +walking with him about the place, Lambert attentively listened in +silence. It did not occur to him that the Englishman had in reality the +interests of his nation in his eye when he spoke of the advantages +which should grow out of it all to the Germans. Nor did Mr. Brown deny +it. + +"We are a practical people, my dear young friend," said he, "and do +nothing for God's sake. Business is business; but this is an honorable +one--I mean one by which both sides are the gainers. Naturally you will +at first serve as a dike and a protecting wall against our enemies, the +French. You will help extend and establish our control of the continent +which will yet come to us. But if you so pull the chestnuts out of the +fire for us will not the sweet fruits be just as good for you? When you +strike for King George do you not just as well fight for your own house +and home? What then, man? So long as one does not stand firm in his own +shoes one must lean against others. See that you Germans reach a +position so that you can enter the market of the world, dealing for +your own advantage and in view of your own danger. You will have to +be satisfied either to be taken in tow by us, or, if you prefer, be +road-makers and pioneers for us." + +The earnest man had, according to his custom, at last spoken very loud, +and with it gesticulated with his little lean arms, and thrust his +Spanish cane into the ground. Now he looked around frightened, grasped +Lambert under the arm, and, while he let himself be led farther away, +proceeded in a more gentle manner and in lower tones: + +"And now I will intrust you with something, my young friend, which I +would not for all the world should come to Mrs. Brown's ears, and which +also, on your own account, you may keep to yourselves. You remember, +Lambert, how five years ago, you were in New York, and we stood on the +quay and saw your country people leave the ship, poor simpletons! It +rained powerfully, and the dismal scene did not by this means become +brighter. Well, this morning, while we were here wandering about, I +have been constantly forced to think and have said to myself: What +immeasurable life-vigor must stick in this race, which needs but a +single life-time to change from half-starved, shy-looking, all-enduring +slaves, into lusty, broad-shouldered, independent freemen. How +immeasurably must such a race have suffered to sink so deep! How high +it must rise when these sufferings are removed; when its good instincts +are left to themselves; when fortune permits it freely to unfold its +great strength which slumbers hidden and is yet scarcely waked up! How +high it must ascend! How wide it must spread! What is beyond its +reach? Do not laugh at me, my young friend. I tremble when I think of +it---when I think what a host like this, as yet without leaders, only +subject to the law of gravity, can overcome--_must_ overcome--when it +has learned to take care of itself; to lead and to march in rank and +file. However this may be, so much is already clear to me; you who here +stand on the border are evidently now our vanguard. You prepare your +countrymen a way. You are truly German pioneers. But again, not a word +of this when you this fall come to New York. My neighbors already call +me 'the Dutchman' and Mrs. Brown will not again--Well, as we are now +speaking of the women, where, then, is your wife, with whom you at that +time so hastily went away? I think I will to-morrow lay claim to your +guest-friendship for a day, and so would be gladly introduced to my +beautiful entertainer." + +"My wife," said Lambert, "is not here. She--" + +"I understand, I understand," interrupted the talkative old man. +"Little household events happen in the best of families. I understand." + +"Now," said Lambert, laughing, "our youngest is already half-a-year +old, and my wife was unwilling longer to stay away from the children; +and besides, this joyous day is also one of sorrowful thoughts to my +family." + +"I know, I know," said the old man. "Your brother--we heard of it in +New York. What do you want, man? Your brave deed is in the mouth of the +people. The ballad singers sing it on the streets:" + + + "A story, a story, + Unto you I will tell, + Concerning a brave hero--" + + +"I should say, two brave heroes. But the people like to keep to one. +You must tell me all this circumstantially when I come to your house +to-morrow." + +"This I will cheerfully do," replied Lambert, "and so I will to-day +take my leave of you. The sun is already low, and I would like to be +home in good time." + +Lambert took the old man to the giver of the feast, who sent his hearty +compliments to his wife, and promised to come with the guest to-morrow, +to have farther consultation, and to visit his daughter-in-law on the +way, who had already fourteen days ago presented him with a grandson. +Richard, after Aunt Ursul's death, had bought the property from +Lambert, and was now his nearest neighbor. Richard came up and proposed +to accompany Lambert. Fritz and August Volz would probably also have +done this, but their wives did not yet want to leave the festival, +which was now at its highest point. And then the women had taken it +into their heads that this was the day on which their brother Adam must +lose his long-maintained freedom and lay it down at the feet of +Margaret Bierman, Anton Bierman's sister. Adam came up. His eyes were +red. He no longer stood quite firm on his long legs. He put his arms +around Lambert, and assured him with hot tears that a man has but one +heart to give once for all, but that if it was necessary for Lambert's +comfort--a necessity that he fully understood--to follow Jacob +Ehrlich's example, given a short time before, he would marry a Bierman +even if a man has but one heart, and Margaret didn't sound half as nice +as a certain other name, that should not cross his lips, "for a man has +but one heart and his heart--" + +Here came Anton Bierman and his brother-in-law Jacob to fetch the +faithless knight, and Anton, who had overheard the last words, assured +Lambert that Adam was a perfect fool, though at bottom a goodhearted +and brave fellow, and that the old Bellingers had left behind, besides +the visible property, a nice round sum, and that if his sister Gretchen +was willing he was satisfied. What did Lambert say to it? + +Lambert said, that he had always given Adam that advice and would also +do it under present circumstances; and to the same effect he spoke to +Richard Herkimer as, two hours later, they two trotted up the creek. + +"Adam," said he, "is not so great a fool. The fellow has mother wit +enough, and, if he can be easily teased, so his antagonists for the +most part do not escape without some scratches. He is also brave, when +he must be. That he showed at that trying time in the block-house. In +wedlock one must be brave. Therefore I always advise to found a new +home when it is suitable. And then, Richard, the German only increases +when he has his own hearth, when he can care and work for house and +home, for wife and child. So I salute the smoke that rises from a new +hearth like a banner about which will gather a group of German +pioneers, as Mr. Brown calls them, who lead forward the host that shall +come after us." + +Richard looked at his companion with some astonishment. Lambert had +always so few thoughts and words. He would have liked to ask whether +Lambert expected to be one among the coming host, but they had just +reached his house, and Lambert bade him give his compliments to Annie, +pressed his hand and trotted away. + +Yes, Lambert always had but few thoughts for others, but not for +Catherine. He could tell her everything that his warm heart suggested +and about which his ever active mind was busy. She, the handsome, good, +intelligent one understood it, felt as he did, and often made things +clear that he could not himself see through. What would she say to the +proposition that Mr. Brown had made to him? "On, Hans, old fellow, yet +a little trot." + +Hans was satisfied. The five years had not weakened his strength. He +could, if a long, sharp trot was necessary, yet make a round of ten +miles with any horse. + +But this time the well-known endurance of the active horse was not put +to the test. He had scarcely trotted two hundred yards and was +beginning to enjoy it, when his master, with a sudden jerk, held him +up, and at the next moment sprang out of the saddle. + +"Catherine!" + +"Lambert!" + +"How are the children?" + +"All well. Conrad did not want to go to bed before he had seen you." + +"And little Ursul?" + +"To-day got her third tooth." + +"And little Catherine?" + +"Sleeps wonderfully." + +They walked on along the bank side by side, leading Hans by the bridle. + +"Are you yet thinking about it?" said Catherine. + +Lambert did not need to ask about what he should be thinking. One does +not forget things like that. It seemed as though it had occurred but +yesterday. + +And yet there had been great changes since that evening. Where they +then walked along the seldom-trodden meadow-path they now went through +waving grain fields on a well-beaten road in which a deep, firm +wagon-track was cut. There were fields with suitable buildings in all +directions, as far as the edge of the woods, which in many places had +been cleared far back. Where portions of the old wood pasture showed +themselves between the cultivated fields, there large gates had been +put, over which here and there a colt or a heifer coming up looked with +large, languid eyes, while farther on in the pasture the rest were +feeding in the rank grass. On through meadows and fields were seen the +shingle roofs of large farmsteads, beside which the old barns which had +been burned down would have looked very mean. On the place where the +block-house was, there now stood forth a stately stone-house in whose +gable the windows were glowing in the evening sun. + +Yes, there have been great changes since that evening which to Lambert +seemed like yesterday, as though he had never lived without his wife +and children. + +They had put Conrad to bed, and Catherine with her soft voice had sung +the wild boy to sleep, while the other two little ones, with their red +cheeks, were slumbering quietly in their beds. They sat before the door +in the honeysuckle-arbor, through which the soft, summer evening wind +was murmuring. + +Lambert told his wife the events of the day, and about Mr. Brown, and +they discussed Mr. Brown's plan of extending the German settlements +farther up the creek, over to the Black River--if possible to Oneida +Lake--and that Mr. Brown, Nicolas Herkimer and himself were to buy the +land, and that he was to be the leader and patron of the new settlers. +He also told Catherine what the old man had said about the future of +the Germans in America, and how the Englishman feared that this hardy, +industrious race would yet surpass the English and take from them their +dominion over the continent. + +"Such language from the mouth of so intelligent a man might make us +very proud," said Catherine. + +"So I thought too," said Lambert. "And yet, when I reflect upon it more +fully it makes me quite sad." + +"How do you mean, Lambert?" + +"I mean the industry, the pains, the labor, the strength, the courage, +the energy, we must use to carry it so far here will be such that they +might perhaps better remain in the old home. As you have painted your +father to me, mild, generous, helpful, learned; such as was my father, +quick, decided, looking far ahead; such as was Uncle Ditmar, unbending, +stern and refractory; such as was our noble Conrad and Aunt Ursul. What +precious blood this new land has already drunk and in the future will +drink! And does it produce the right fruit from the costly seed. I +know not. Granted that we attain all which our old friend promises +us--though it sounds like a fable--but granted that we reach it, and +that we should once have to divide the rich inheritance with the +English, should we remain Germans? I doubt it, and you yourself, +Catherine, have taught me to be doubtful. What would I be without you? +And you had to come to me from the old home--could come only from the +old home. In your soul there sounds a deeper, purer tone, just as in +the beautiful songs that you brought over with you. Will a still deeper +tone sound in the souls of our children? What will be their condition +should it die out?" + +Lambert was silent. Catherine leaned her head on his shoulder. She +found no answer to a question that had already filled her breast with +sad anxiety. + +"And so," Lambert continued, "my heart is divided into two parts. +To-morrow, when the old friend comes, I will go out with him into the +woods and show him the way by which those who are to come must go, and +point out the places where they must build their huts. But as for +myself, I would rather tear down the huts and take you and the +children--how goes the song, Catherine, with which you just now sung +our boy to sleep, the dear, old song, out of the dear, old home-- + + + "Were I a wild falcon, + I would soar aloft." + + +And he pointed toward the east where, in the holy mother-arms of the +dark night, the glory of the coming day was slumbering. + + + + THE END + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The German Pioneers, by Friedrich Spielhagen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GERMAN PIONEERS *** + +***** This file should be named 34583.txt or 34583.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/5/8/34583/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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