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diff --git a/4984-8.txt b/4984-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..69fe841 --- /dev/null +++ b/4984-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,20848 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hidden Children, by Robert W. Chambers + +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 Hidden Children + +Author: Robert W. Chambers + +Posting Date: March 8, 2009 [EBook #4984] +Release Date: January, 2004 +First Posted: April 7, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HIDDEN CHILDREN *** + + + + +Produced by Jim Weiler. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + The Hidden Children + + +by + +Robert W. Chambers, 1914 + + + TO MY MOTHER + +Whatever merit may lie in this book is due to her wisdom, her sympathy + and her teaching + + + AUTHOR'S PREFACE + +No undue liberties with history have been attempted in this romance. +Few characters in the story are purely imaginary. Doubtless the +fastidious reader will distinguish these intruders at a glance, and +very properly ignore them. For they, and what they never were, and what +they never did, merely sugar-coat a dose disguised, and gild the solid +pill of fact with tinselled fiction. + +But from the flames of Poundridge town ablaze, to the rolling smoke of +Catharines-town, Romance but limps along a trail hewed out for her more +dainty feet by History, and measured inch by inch across the bloody +archives of the nation. + +The milestones that once marked that dark and dreadful trail were dead +men, red and white. Today a spider-web of highways spreads over that +Dark Empire of the League, enmeshing half a thousand towns now all +a-buzz by day and all a-glow by night. + +Empire, League, forest, are vanished; of the nations which formed the +Confederacy only altered fragments now remain. But their memory and +their great traditions have not perished; cities, mountains, valleys, +rivers, lakes, and ponds are endowed with added beauty from the lovely +names they wear--a tragic yet a charming legacy from Kanonsis and +Kanonsionni, the brave and mighty people of the Long House, and those +outside its walls who helped to prop or undermine it, Huron and +Algonquin. + +Perhaps of all national alliances ever formed, the Great Peace, which +is called the League of the Iroquois, was as noble as any. For it was a +league formed solely to impose peace. Those who took up arms against +the Long House were received as allies when conquered--save only the +treacherous Cat Nation, or Eries, who were utterly annihilated by the +knife and hatchet or by adoption and ultimate absorption in the Seneca +Nation. + +As for the Lenni-Lenape, when they kept faith with the League they +remained undisturbed as one of the "props" of the Long House, and their +role in the Confederacy was embassadorial, diplomatic and advisory--in +other words, the role of the Iroquois married women. And in the +Confederacy the position of women was one of importance and dignity, +and they exercised a franchise which no white nation has ever yet +accorded to its women. + +But when the Delawares broke faith, then the lash fell and the term +"women" as applied to them carried a very different meaning when spat +out by Canienga lips or snarled by Senecas. + +Yet, of the Lenape, certain tribes, offshoots, and clans remained +impassive either to Iroquois threats or proffered friendship. They, +like certain lithe, proud forest animals to whom restriction means +death, were untamable. Their necks could endure no yoke, political or +purely ornamental. And so they perished far from the Onondaga +firelight, far from the open doors of the Long House, self-exiled, +self-sufficient, irreconcilable, and foredoomed. And of these the +Mohicans were the noblest. + +In the four romances--of which, though written last of all, this is the +third, chronologically speaking--the author is very conscious of error +and shortcoming. But the theme was surely worth attempting; and if the +failure to convince be only partial then is the writer grateful to the +Fates, and well content to leave it to the next and better man. + +BROADALBIN, + + Early Spring, 1913. + __________________________________________________________________ + + NOTE + +During the serial publication of "The Hidden Children" the author +received the following interesting letters relating to the authorship +of the patriotic verses quoted in Chapter X., These letters are +published herewith for the general reader as well as for students of +American history. + + R. W. C. + + + 149 WEST EIGHTY-EIGHTH STREET, + + NEW YORK CITY. + +MRS. HELEN DODGE KNEELAND: + +DEAR MADAM: Some time ago I accidentally came across the verses written +by Samuel Dodge and used by R. W. Chambers in story "Hidden Children." +I wrote to him, inviting him to come and look at the original +manuscript, which has come down to me from my mother, whose maiden name +was Helen Dodge Cocks, a great-granddaughter of Samuel Dodge, of +Poughkeepsie, the author of them. + +So far Mr. Chambers has not come, but he answered my note, inclosing +your note to him. I have written to him, suggesting that he insert a +footnote giving the authorship of the verses, that it would gratify the +descendants of Samuel Dodge, as well as be a tribute to a patriotic +citizen. + +These verses have been published a number of times. About three years +ago by chance I read them in the December National Magazine, p. 247 +(Boston), entitled "A Revolutionary Puzzle," and stating that the +author was unknown. Considering it my duty to place the honor where it +belonged, I wrote to the editor, giving the facts, which he courteously +published in the September number, 1911, p. 876. + +Should you be in New York any time, I will take pleasure in showing you +the original manuscripts. + + Very truly yours, + + ROBERT S. MORRIS, M.D. + + +MR. ROBERT CHAMBERS, + + New York. + +DEAR SIR: I have not replied to your gracious letter, as I relied upon +Dr. Morris to prove to you the authorship of the verses you used in +your story of "The Hidden Children." I now inclose a letter from him, +hoping that you will carry out his suggestion. Is it asking too much +for you to insert a footnote in the next magazine or in the story when +it comes out in book form? I think with Dr. Morris that this should be +done as a "tribute to a patriotic citizen." + +Trusting that you will appreciate the interest we have shown in this +matter, I am + + Sincerely yours, + + HELEN DODGE KNEELAND. + + May 21st, 1914. + + Ann Arbor, Michigan. + + MRS. FRANK G. KNEELAND, + + 727 E. University Avenue. + __________________________________________________________________ + + THE LONG HOUSE + + + "Onenh jatthondek sewarih-wisa-anongh-kwe kaya-renh-kowah! + Onenh wa-karigh-wa-kayon-ne. + Onenh ne okne joska-wayendon. + Yetsi-siwan-enyadanion ne + Sewari-wisa-anonqueh." + + + "_Now listen, ye who established the Great League! + Now it has become old. + Now there is nothing but wilderness. + Ye are in your graves who established it._" + + "At the Wood's Edge." + __________________________________________________________________ + + NENE KARENNA + + + When the West kindles red and low, + Across the sunset's sombre glow, + The black crows fly--the black crows fly! + High pines are swaying to and fro + In evil winds that blow and blow. + The stealthy dusk draws nigh--draws nigh, + Till the sly sun at last goes down, + And shadows fall on Catharines-town. + + + _Oswaya swaying to and fro._ + + + By the Dark Empire's Western gate + Eight stately, painted Sachems wait + For Amochol--for Amochol! + Hazel and samphire consecrate + The magic blaze that burns like Hate, + While the deep witch-drums roll--and roll. + Sorceress, shake thy dark hair down! + The Red Priest comes from Catharines-town. + + + _Ha-ai! Karenna! Fate is Fate._ + + + Now let the Giants clothed in stone + Stalk from Biskoonah; while, new grown, + The Severed Heads fly high--fly high! + White-throat, White-throat, thy doom is known! + O Blazing Soul that soars alone + Like a Swift Arrow to the sky, + High winging--fling thy Wampum down, + Lest the sky fall on Catharines-town. + + + _White-throat, White-throat, thy course is flown._ + + R. W. C. + __________________________________________________________________ + + +CONTENTS + + I THE BEDFORD ROAD + II POUNDRIDGE + III VIEW HALLOO! + IV A TRYST + V THE GATHERING + VI THE SPRING WAIONTHA + VII LOIS + VIII OLD FRIENDS + IX MID-SUMMER + X IN GARRISON + XI A SCOUT OF SIX + XII AT THE FORD + XIII THE HIDDEN CHILDREN + XIV NAI TIOGA! + XV BLOCK-HOUSE NO. 2 + XVI LANA HELMER + XVII THE BATTLE OF CHEMUNG + XVIII THE RITE OF THE HIDDEN CHILDREN + XIX AMOCHOL + XX YNDAIA + XXI CHINISEE CASTLE + XXII MES ADIEUX + + __________________________________________________________________ + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE BEDFORD ROAD + +In the middle of the Bedford Road we three drew bridle. Boyd lounged in +his reeking saddle, gazing at the tavern and at what remained of the +tavern sign, which seemed to have been a new one, yet now dangled +mournfully by one hinge, shot to splinters. + +The freshly painted house itself, marred with buckshot, bore dignified +witness to the violence done it. A few glazed windows still remained +unbroken; the remainder had been filled with blue paper such as comes +wrapped about a sugar cone, so that the misused house seemed to be +watching us out of patched and battered eyes. + +It was evident, too, that a fire had been wantonly set at the northeast +angle of the house, where sill and siding were deeply charred from +baseboard to eaves. + +Nor had this same fire happened very long since, for under the eaves +white-faced hornets were still hard at work repairing their partly +scorched nest. And I silently pointed them out to Lieutenant Boyd. + +"Also," he nodded, "I can still smell the smoky wood. The damage is +fresh enough. Look at your map." + +He pushed his horse straight up to the closed door, continuing to +examine the dismantled sign which hung motionless, there being no wind +stirring. + +"This should be Hays's Tavern," he said, "unless they lied to us at +Ossining. Can you make anything of the sign, Mr. Loskiel?" + +"Nothing, sir. But we are on the highway to Poundridge, for behind us +lies the North Castle Church road. All is drawn on my map as we see it +here before us; and this should be the fine dwelling of that great +villain Holmes, now used as a tavern by Benjamin Hays." + +"Rap on the door," said Boyd; and our rifleman escort rode forward and +drove his rifle-butt at the door, "There's a man hiding within and +peering at us behind the third window," I whispered. + +"I see him," said Boyd coolly. + +Through the heated silence around us we could hear the hornets buzzing +aloft under the smoke-stained eaves. There was no other sound in the +July sunshine. + +The solemn tavern stared at us out of its injured eyes, and we three +men of the Northland gazed back as solemnly, sobered once more to +encounter the trail of the Red Beast so freshly printed here among the +pleasant Westchester hills. + +And to us the silent house seemed to say: "Gentlemen, gentlemen! Look +at the plight I'm in--you who come from the blackened North!" And with +never a word of lip our heavy thoughts responded: "We know, old house! +We know! But at least you still stand; and in the ashes of our +Northland not a roof or a spire remains aloft between the dwelling of +Deborah Glenn and the ford at the middle fort." + +Boyd broke silence with an effort; and his voice was once more cool and +careless, if a little forced: + +"So it's this way hereabouts, too," he said with a shrug and a sign to +me to dismount. Which I did stiffly; and our rifleman escort scrambled +from his sweatty saddle and gathered all three bridles in his mighty, +sunburnt fist. + +"Either there is a man or a ghost within," I said again, "Whatever it +is has moved." + +"A man," said Boyd, "or what the inhumanity of man has left of him." + +And it was true, for now there came to the door and opened it a thin +fellow wearing horn spectacles, who stood silent and cringing before +us. Slowly rubbing his workworn hands, he made us a landlord's bow as +listless and as perfunctory as ever I have seen in any ordinary. But +his welcome was spoken in a whisper. + +"God have mercy on this house," said Boyd loudly. "Now, what's amiss, +friend? Is there death within these honest walls, that you move about +on tiptoe?" + +"There is death a-plenty in Westchester, sir," said the man, in a voice +as colorless as his drab smalls and faded hair. Yet what he said showed +us that he had noted our dress, too, and knew us for strangers. + +"Cowboys and skinners, eh?" inquired Boyd, unbuckling his belt. + +"And leather-cape, too, sir." + +My lieutenant laughed, showing his white teeth; laid belt, hatchet, and +heavy knife on a wine-stained table, and placed his rifle against it. +Then, slipping cartridge sack, bullet pouch, and powder horn from his +shoulders, stood eased, yawning and stretching his fine, powerful frame. + +"I take it that you see few of our corps here below," he observed +indulgently. + +The landlord's lack-lustre eyes rested on me for an instant, then on +Boyd: + +"Few, sir." + +"Do you know the uniform, landlord?" + +"Rifles," he said indifferently. + +"Yes, but whose, man? Whose?" insisted Boyd impatiently. + +The other shook his head. + +"Morgan's!" exclaimed Boyd loudly. "Damnation, sir! You should know +Morgan's! Sixth Company, sir; Major Parr! And a likelier regiment and a +better company never wore green thrums on frock or coon-tail on cap!" + +"Yes, sir," said the man vacantly. + +Boyd laughed a little: + +"And look that you hint as much to the idle young bucks hereabouts--say +it to some of your Westchester squirrel hunters----" He laid his hand +on the landlord's shoulder. "There's a good fellow," he added, with +that youthful and winning smile which so often carried home with it his +reckless will--where women were concerned--"we're down from Albany and +we wish the Bedford folk to know it. And if the gallant fellows +hereabout desire a taste of true glory--the genuine article--why, send +them to me, landlord--Thomas Boyd, of Derry, Pennsylvania, lieutenant, +6th company of Morgan's--or to my comrade here, Mr. Loskiel, ensign in +the same corps." + +He clapped the man heartily on the shoulder and stood looking around at +the stripped and dishevelled room, his handsome head a little on one +side, as though in frankest admiration. And the worn and pallid +landlord gazed back at him with his faded, lack-lustre eyes--eyes that +we both understood, alas--eyes made dull with years of fear, made old +and hopeless with unshed tears, stupid from sleepless nights, haunted +with memories of all they had looked upon since His Excellency marched +out of the city to the south of us, where the red rag now fluttered on +fort and shipping from King's Bridge to the Hook. + +Nothing more was said. Our landlord went away very quietly. An hostler, +presently appearing from somewhere, passed the broken windows, and we +saw our rifleman go away with him, leading the three tired horses. We +were still yawning and drowsing, stretched out in our hickory chairs, +and only kept awake by the flies, when our landlord returned and set +before us what food he had. The fare was scanty enough, but we ate +hungrily, and drank deeply of the fresh small beer which he fetched in +a Liverpool jug. + +When we two were alone again, Boyd whispered: + +"As well let them think we're here with no other object than +recruiting. And so we are, after a fashion; but neither this state nor +Pennsylvania is like to fill its quota here. Where is your map, once +more?" + +I drew the coiled linen roll from the breast of my rifle shirt and +spread it out. We studied it, heads together. + +"Here lies Poundridge," nodded Boyd, placing his finger on the spot so +marked. "Roads a-plenty, too. Well, it's odd, Loskiel, but in this +cursed, debatable land I feel more ill at ease than I have ever felt in +the Iroquois country." + +"You are still thinking of our landlord's deathly face," I said. "Lord! +What a very shadow of true manhood crawls about this house!" + +"Aye--and I am mindful of every other face and countenance I have so +far seen in this strange, debatable land. All have in them something of +the same expression. And therein lies the horror of it all, Mr. Loskiel +God knows we expect to see deathly faces in the North, where little +children lie scalped in the ashes of our frontier--where they even +scalp the family hound that guards the cradle. But here in this sleepy, +open countryside, with its gentle hills and fertile valleys, broad +fields and neat stone walls, its winding roads and orchards, and every +pretty farmhouse standing as though no war were in the land, all seems +so peaceful, so secure, that the faces of the people sicken me. And +ever I am asking myself, where lies this other hell on earth, which +only faces such as these could have looked upon?" + +"It is sad," I said, under my breath. "Even when a lass smiles on us it +seems to start the tears in my throat." + +"Sad! Yes, sir, it is. I supposed we had seen sufficient of human +degradation in the North not to come here to find the same cringing +expression stamped on every countenance. I'm sick of it, I tell you. +Why, the British are doing worse than merely filling their prisons with +us and scalping us with their savages! They are slowly but surely +marking our people, body and face and mind, with the cursed imprint of +slavery. They're stamping a nation's very features with the hopeless +lineaments of serfdom. It is the ineradicable scars of former slavery +that make the New Englander whine through his nose. We of the fighting +line bear no such marks, but the peaceful people are beginning to--they +who can do nothing except endure and suffer." + +"It is not so everywhere," I said, "not yet, anyway." + +"It is so in the North. And we have found it so since we entered the +'Neutral Ground.' Like our own people on the frontier, these +Westchester folk fear everybody. You yourself know how we have found +them. To every question they try to give an answer that may please; or +if they despair of pleasing they answer cautiously, in order not to +anger. The only sentiment left alive in them seems to be fear; all else +of human passion appears to be dead. Why, Loskiel, the very power of +will has deserted them; they are not civil to us, but obsequious; not +obliging but subservient. They yield with apathy and very quietly what +you ask, and what they apparently suppose is impossible for them to +retain. If you treat them kindly they receive it coldly, not +gratefully, but as though you were compensating them for evil done them +by you. Their countenances and motions have lost every trace of +animation. It is not serenity but apathy; every emotion, feeling, +thought, passion, which is not merely instinctive has fled their minds +forever. And this is the greatest crime that Britain has wrought upon +us." He struck the table lightly with doubled fist, "Mr. Loskiel," he +said, "I ask you--can we find recruits for our regiment in such a place +as this? Damme, sir, but I think the entire land has lost its manhood." + +We sat staring out into the sunshine through a bullet-shattered window. + +"And all this country here seems so fair and peaceful," he murmured +half to himself, "so sweet and still and kindly to me after the +twilight of endless forests where men are done to death in the dusk. +But hell in broad sunshine is the more horrible." + +"Look closer at this country," I said. "The highways are deserted and +silent, the very wagon ruts overgrown with grass. Not a scythe has +swung in those hay fields; the gardens that lie in the sun are but +tangles of weeds; no sheep stir on the hills, no cattle stand in these +deep meadows, no wagons pass, no wayfarers. It may be that the wild +birds are moulting, but save at dawn and for a few moments at sundown +they seem deathly silent to me." + +He had relapsed again into his moody, brooding attitude, elbows on the +table, his handsome head supported by both hands. And it was not like +him to be downcast. After a while he smiled. + +"Egad," he said, "it is too melancholy for me here in the open; and I +begin to long for the dusk of trees and for the honest scalp yell to +cheer me up. One knows what to expect in county Tryon--but not here, +Loskiel--not here." + +"Our business here is like to be ended tomorrow," I remarked. + +"Thank God for that," he said heartily, rising and buckling on his war +belt. He added: "As for any recruits we have been ordered to pick up en +passant, I see small chance of that accomplishment hereabout. Will you +summon the landlord, Mr. Loskiel?" + +I discovered the man standing at the open door, his warn hands clasped +behind him, and staring stupidly at the cloudless sky. He followed me +back to the taproom, and we reckoned with him. Somehow, I thought he +had not expected to be paid a penny--yet he did not thank us. + +"Are you not Benjamin Hays?" inquired Boyd, carelessly retying his +purse. + +The fellow seemed startled to hear his own name pronounced so loudly, +but answered very quietly that he was. + +"This house belongs to a great villain, one James Holmes, does it not?" +demanded Boyd. + +"Yes, sir," he whispered. + +"How do you come to keep an ordinary here?" + +"The town authorities required an ordinary. I took it in charge, as +they desired." + +"Oh! Where is this rascal, Holmes?" + +"Gone below, sir, some time since." + +"I have heard so. Was he not formerly Colonel of the 4th regiment?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"And deserted his men, eh? And they made him Lieutenant-Colonel below, +did they not?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Colonel--of what?" snarled Boyd in disgust. + +"Of the Westchester Refugee Irregulars." + +"Oh! Well, look out for him and his refugees. He'll be back here one of +these days, I'm thinking." + +"He has been back." + +"What did he do?" + +The man said listlessly: "It was like other visits. They robbed, +tortured, and killed. Some they burnt with hot ashes, some they hung, +cut down, and hung again when they revived. Most of the sheep, cattle, +and horses were driven off. Last year thousands of bushels of fruit +decayed in the orchards; the ripened grain lay rotting where wind and +rain had laid it; no hay was cut, no grain milled." + +"Was this done by the banditti from the lower party?" + +"Yes, sir; and by the leather-caps, too. The leather-caps stood guard +while the Tories plundered and killed. It is usually that way, sir. And +our own renegades are as bad. We in Westchester have to entertain them +all." + +"But they burn no houses?" + +"Not yet, sir. They have promised to do so next time." + +"Are there no troops here?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"What troops?" + +"Colonel Thomas's Regiment and Sheldon's Horse and the Minute Men." + +"Well, what the devil are they about to permit this banditti to terrify +and ravage a peaceful land?" demanded Boyd. + +"The country is of great extent," said the man mildly. "It would +require many troops to cover it. And His Excellency has very, very few." + +"Yes," said Boyd, "that is true. We know how it is in the North--with +hundreds of miles to guard and but a handful of men. And it must be +that way." He made no effort to throw off his seriousness and nodded +toward me with a forced smile. "I am twenty-two years of age," he said, +"and Mr. Loskiel here is no older, and we fully expect that when we +both are past forty we will still be fighting in this same old war. +Meanwhile," he added laughing, "every patriot should find some lass to +wed and breed the soldiers we shall require some sixteen years hence." + +The man's smile was painful; he smiled because he thought we expected +it; and I turned away disheartened, ashamed, burning with a fierce +resentment against the fate that in three years had turned us into what +we were--we Americans who had never known the lash--we who had never +learned to fear a master. + +Boyd said: "There is a gentleman, one Major Ebenezer Lockwood, +hereabouts. Do you know him?" + +"No, sir." + +"What? Why, that seems strange!" + +The man's face paled, and he remained silent for a few moments. Then, +furtively, his eyes began for the hundredth time to note the details of +our forest dress, stealing stealthily from the fringe on legging and +hunting shirt to the Indian beadwork on moccasin and baldrick, +devouring every detail as though to convince himself. I think our +pewter buttons did it for him. + +Boyd said gravely: "You seem to doubt us, Mr. Hays," and read in the +man's unsteady eyes distrust of everything on earth--and little faith +in God. + +"I do not blame you," said I gently. "Three years of hell burn deep." + +"Yes," he said, "three years. And, as you say, sir, there was fire." + +He stood quietly silent for a space, then, looking timidly at me, he +rolled back his sleeves, first one, then the other, to the shoulders. +Then he undid the bandages. + +"What is all that?" asked Boyd harshly. + +"The seal of the marauders, sir." + +"They burnt you? God, man, you are but one living sore! Did any white +man do that to you?" + +"With hot horse-shoes. It will never quite heal, they say." + +I saw the lieutenant shudder. The only thing he ever feared was +fire--if it could be said of him that he feared anything. And he had +told me that, were he taken by the Iroquois, he had a pistol always +ready to blow out his brains. + +Boyd had begun to pace the room, doubling and undoubling his nervous +fingers. The landlord replaced the oil-soaked rags, rolled down his +sleeves again, and silently awaited our pleasure. + +"Why do you hesitate to tell us where we may find Major Lockwood?" I +asked gently. + +For the first time the man looked me full in the face. And after a +moment I saw his expression alter, as though some spark--something +already half dead within him was faintly reviving. + +"They have set a price on Major Lockwood's head," he said; and Boyd +halted to listen--and the man looked him in the eyes for a moment. + +My lieutenant carried his commission with him, though contrary to +advice and practice among men engaged on such a mission as were we. It +was folded in his beaded shot-pouch, and now he drew it out and +displayed it. + +After a silence, Hays said: + +"The old Lockwood Manor House stands on the south side of the village +of Poundridge. It is the headquarters and rendezvous of Sheldon's +Horse. The Major is there." + +"Poundridge lies to the east of Bedford?" + +"Yes, sir, about five miles." + +"Where is the map, Loskiel?" + +Again I drew it from my hunting shirt; we examined it, and Hays pointed +out the two routes. + +Boyd looked up at Hays absently, and said: "Do you know Luther +Kinnicut?" + +This time all the colour fled the man's face, and it was some moments +before the sudden, unreasoning rush of terror in that bruised mind had +subsided sufficiently for him to compose his thoughts. Little by +little, however, he came to himself again, dimly conscious that he +trusted us--perhaps the first strangers or even neighbours whom he had +trusted in years. + +"Yes, sir, I know him," he said in a low voice. + +"Where is he?" + +"Below--on our service." + +But it was Luther Kinnicut, the spy, whom we had come to interview, as +well as to see Major Lockwood, and Boyd frowned thoughtfully. + +I said: "The Indians hereabout are Mohican, are they not, Mr. Hays?" + +"They were," he replied; and his very apathy gave the answer a sadder +significance. + +"Have they all gone off?" asked Boyd, misunderstanding. + +"There were very few Mohicans to go. But they have gone." + +"Below?" + +"Oh, no, sir. They and the Stockbridge Indians, and the Siwanois are +friendly to our party." + +"There was a Sagamore," I said, "of the Siwanois, named Mayaro. We +believe that Luther Kinnicut knows where this Sagamore is to be found. +But how are we to first find Kinnicut?" + +"Sir," he said, "you must ask Major Lockwood that. I know not one +Indian from the next, only that the savages hereabout are said to be +favourable to our party." + +Clearly there was nothing more to learn from this man. So we thanked +him and strapped on our accoutrements, while he went away to the barn +to bring up our horses. And presently our giant rifleman appeared +leading the horses, and still munching a bough-apple, scarce ripe, +which he dropped into the bosom of his hunting shirt when he discovered +us watching him. + +Boyd laughed: "Munch away, Jack, and welcome," he said, "only mind thy +manners when we sight regular troops. I'll have nobody reproaching +Morgan's corps that the men lack proper respect--though many people +seem to think us but a parcel of militia where officer and man herd +cheek by jowl." + +On mounting, he turned in his saddle and asked Hays what we had to fear +on our road, if indeed we were to apprehend anything. + +"There is some talk of the Legion Cavalry, sir--Major Tarleton's +command." + +"Anything definite?" + +"No, sir--only the talk when men of our party meet. And Major Lockwood +has a price on his head." + +"Oh! Is that all?" + +"That is all, sir." + +Boyd nodded laughingly, wheeled his horse, and we rode slowly out into +the Bedford Road, the mounted rifleman dogging our heels. + +From every house in Bedford we knew that we were watched as we rode; +and what they thought of us in our flaunting rifle dress, or what they +took us to be--enemy or friend--I cannot imagine, the uniform of our +corps being strange in these parts. However, they must have known us +for foresters and riflemen of one party or t'other; and, as we +advanced, and there being only three of us, and on a highway, too, very +near to the rendezvous of an American dragoon regiment, the good folk +not only peeped out at us from between partly closed shutters, but even +ventured to open their doors and stand gazing after we had ridden by. + +Every pretty maid he saw seemed to comfort Boyd prodigiously, which was +always the case; and as here and there a woman smiled faintly at him +the last vestige of sober humour left him and he was more like the +reckless, handsome young man I had come to care for a great deal, if +not wholly to esteem. + +The difference in rank between us permitted him to relax if he chose; +and though His Excellency and our good Baron were ever dinning +discipline and careful respect for rank into the army's republican +ears, there was among us nothing like the aristocratic and rigid +sentiment which ruled the corps of officers in the British service. + +Still, we were not as silly and ignorant as we were at Bunker Hill, +having learned something of authority and respect in these three years, +and how necessary to discipline was a proper maintenance of rank. For +once--though it seems incredible--men and officers were practically on +a footing of ignorant familiarity; and I have heard, and fully believe, +that the majority of our reverses and misfortunes arose because no +officer represented authority, nor knew how to enforce discipline +because lacking that military respect upon which all real discipline +must be founded. + +Of all the officers in my corps and in my company, perhaps Lieutenant +Boyd was slowest to learn the lesson and most prone to relax, not +toward the rank and file--yet, he was often a shade too easy there, +also--but with other officers. Those ranking him were not always +pleased; those whom he ranked felt vaguely the mistake. + +As for me, I liked him greatly; yet, somehow, never could bring myself +to a careless comradeship, even in the woods or on lonely scouts where +formality and circumstance seemed out of place, even absurd. He was so +much of a boy, too--handsome, active, perfectly fearless, and almost +always gay--that if at times he seemed a little selfish or ruthless in +his pleasures, not sufficiently mindful of others or of consequences, I +found it easy to forgive and overlook. Yet, fond as I was of him, I +never had become familiar with him--why, I do not know. Perhaps because +he ranked me; and perhaps there was no particular reason for that +instinct of aloofness which I think was part of me at that age, and, +except in a single instance, still remains as the slightest and almost +impalpable barrier to a perfect familiarity with any person in the +world. + +"Loskiel," he said in my ear, "did you see that little maid in the +orchard, how shyly she smiled on us?" + +"On you," I nodded, laughing. + +"Oh, you always say that," he retorted. + +And I always did say that, and it always pleased him. + +"On this accursed journey south," he complained, "the necessity for +speed has spoiled our chances for any roadside sweethearts. Lord! But +it's been a long, dull trail," he added frankly. "Why, look you, +Loskiel, even in the wilderness somehow I always have contrived to +discover a sweetheart of some sort or other--yes, even in the Iroquois +country, cleared or bush, somehow or other, sooner or later, I stumble +on some pretty maid who flutters up in the very wilderness like a +partridge from under my feet!" + +"That is your reputation," I remarked. + +"Oh, damme, no!" he protested. "Don't say it is my reputation!" + +But he had that reputation, whether he realised it or not; though as +far as I had seen there was no real harm in the man--only a willingness +to make love to any petticoat, if its wearer were pretty. But my own +notions had ever inclined me toward quality. Which is not strange, I +myself being of unknown parentage and birth, high or low, nobody knew; +nor had anybody ever told me how I came by my strange name, Euan +Loskiel, save that they found the same stitched in silk upon my shift. + +For it is best, perhaps, that I say now how it was with me from the +beginning, which, until this memoir is read, only one man knew--and one +other. For I was discovered sleeping beside a stranded St. Regis canoe, +where the Mohawk River washes Guy Park gardens. And my dead mother lay +beside me. + +He who cared for me, reared me and educated me, was no other than Guy +Johnson of Guy Park. Why he did so I learned only after many days; and +at the proper time and place I will tell you who I am and why he was +kind to me. For his was not a warm and kindly character, nor a gentle +nature, nor was he an educated man himself, nor perhaps even a +gentleman, though of that landed gentry which Tryon County knew so +well, and also a nephew of the great Sir William, and became his +son-in-law. + +I say he was not liked in Tryon County, though many feared him more +than they feared young Walter Butler later; yet he was always and +invariably kind to me. And when with the Butlers, and Sir John, and +Colonel Claus, and the other Tories he fled to Canada, there to hatch +most hellish reprisals upon the people of Tryon who had driven him +forth, he wrote to me where I was at Harvard College in Cambridge to +bid me farewell. + +He said to me in that letter that he did not ask me to declare for the +King in the struggle already beginning; he merely requested, if I could +not conscientiously so declare, at least that I remain passive, and +attend quietly to my studies at Cambridge until the war blew over, as +it quickly must, and these insolent people were taught their lesson. + +The lesson, after three years and more, was still in progress; Guy Park +had fallen into the hands of the Committee of Sequestration and was +already sold; Guy Johnson roamed a refugee in Canada, and I, since the +first crack of a British musket, had learned how matters stood between +my heart and conscience, and had carried a rifle and at times my +regiment's standard ever since. + +I had no home except my regiment, no friends except Guy Johnson's, and +those I had made at College and in the regiment; and the former would +likely now have greeted me with rifle or hatchet, whichever came easier +to hand. + +So to me my rifle regiment and my company had become my only home; the +officers my parents; my comrades the only friends I had. + +I wrote to Guy Johnson, acquainting him of my intention before I +enlisted, and the letter went to him with other correspondence under a +flag. + +In time I had a reply from him, and he wrote as though something +stronger than hatred for the cause I had embraced was forcing him to +speak to me gently. + +God knows it was a strange, sad letter, full of bitterness under which +smouldered something more terrible, which, as he wrote, he strangled. +And so he ended, saying that, through him, no harm should ever menace +me; and that in the fullness of time, when this vile rebellion had been +ended, he would vouch for the mercy of His Most Christian Majesty as +far as I was concerned, even though all others hung in chains. + +Thus I had left it all--not then knowing who I was or why Guy Johnson +had been kind to me; nor ever expecting to hear from him again. + + +Thinking of these things as I rode beside Lieutenant Boyd through the +calm Westchester sunshine, all that part of my life--which indeed was +all of my life except these last three battle years--seemed already so +far sway, so dim and unreal, that I could scarce realise I had not been +always in the army--had not always lived from day to day, from hour to +hour, not knowing one night where I should pillow my head the next. + +For at nineteen I shouldered my rifle; and now, at Boyd's age, two and +twenty, my shoulder had become so accustomed to its not unpleasant +weight that, at moments, thinking, I realised that I would not know +what to do in the world had I not my officers, my company, and my rifle +to companion me through life. + +And herein lies the real danger of all armies and of all soldiering. +Only the strong character and exceptional man is ever fitted for any +other life after the army becomes a closed career to him. + +I now remarked as much to Boyd, who frowned, seeming to consider the +matter for the first time. + +"Aye," he nodded, "it's true enough, Loskiel. And I for one don't know +what use I could make of the blessings of peace for which we are so +madly fighting, and which we all protest that we desire." + +"The blessings of peace might permit you more leisure with the ladies," +I suggested smilingly. And he threw back his handsome head and laughed. + +"Lord!" he exclaimed. "What chance have I, a poor rifleman, who may not +even wear his hair clubbed and powdered." + +Only field and staff now powdered in our corps. I said: "Heaven hasten +your advancement, sir." + +"Not that I'd care a fig," he protested, "if I had your yellow, curly +head, you rogue. But with my dark hair unpowdered and uncurled, and no +side locks, I tell you, Loskiel, I earn every kiss that is given me--or +forgiven. Heigho! Peace would truly be a blessing if she brought powder +and pretty clothing to a crop-head, buck-skinned devil like me." + +We were now riding through a country which had become uneven and +somewhat higher. A vast wooded hill lay on our left; the Bedford +highway skirted it. On our right ran a stream, and there was some +swampy land which followed. Rock outcrops became more frequent, and the +hard-wood growth of oak, hickory and chestnut seemed heavier and more +extensive than in Bedford town. But there were orchards; the soil +seemed to be fertile and the farms thrifty, and it was a pleasant land +save for the ominous stillness over all and the grass-grown highway. +Roads and lanes, paths and pastures remained utterly deserted of man +and beast. + +This, if our map misled us not, should be the edges of the town of +Poundridge; and within a mile or so more we began to see a house here +and there. These farms became more frequent as we advanced. After a few +moments' riding we saw the first cattle that we had seen in many days. +And now we began to find this part of the Westchester country very +different, as we drew nearer to the village, for here and there we saw +sheep feeding in the distance, and men mowing who leaned on their +scythes to see us pass, and even saluted us from afar. + +It seemed as though a sense of security reigned here, though nobody +failed to mark our passing or even to anticipate it from far off. But +nobody appeared to be afraid of us, and we concluded that the near +vicinity of Colonel Sheldon's Horse accounted for what we saw. + +It was pleasant to see women spinning beside windows in which flowers +bloomed, and children gazing shyly at us from behind stone walls and +palings. Also, in barnyards we saw fowls, which was more than we had +seen West of us--and now and again a family cat dozing on some doorstep +freshly swept. + +"I had forgotten there was such calm and peace in the world," said +Boyd. "And the women look not unkindly on us--do you think, Loskiel?" + +But I was intent on watching a parcel of white ducks leaving a little +pond, all walking a-row and quacking, and wriggling their fat tails. +How absurd a thing to suddenly close my throat so that I could not find +my voice to answer Boyd; for ever before me grew the almost forgotten +vision of Guy Park, and of our white waterfowl on the river behind the +house, where I had seen them so often from my chamber window leaving +the water's edge at sundown. + +A mile outside the town a leather-helmeted dragoon barred our way, but +we soon satisfied him. + +We passed by the Northwest road, crossed the Stamford highway, and, +consulting our map, turned back and entered it, riding south through +the village. + +Here a few village folk were abroad; half a dozen of Sheldon's dragoons +lounged outside the tavern, to the rail of which their horses were +tied; and we saw other men with guns, doubtless militia, though few +wore any fragment of uniform, save as their hats were cocked or +sprigged with green. + +Nobody hailed us, not even the soldiers; there was no levity, no jest +directed toward our giant rifleman, only a courteous but sober salute +as we rode through Poundridge town and out along the New Canaan highway +where houses soon became fewer and soldiers both afoot and ahorse more +frequent. + +We crossed a stream and two roads, then came into a street with many +houses which ran south, then, at four corners, turned sharp to the +east. And there, across a little brook, we saw a handsome manor house +around which some three score cavalry horses were picketed. + +Yard, lawn, stables and barns were swarming with people--dragoons of +Sheldon's Regiment, men of Colonel Thomas's foot regiment, militia +officers, village gentlemen whose carriages stood waiting; and some of +these same carriages must have come from a distance, perhaps even from +Ridgefield, to judge by the mud and dust that clotted them. + +Beyond the house, on a road which I afterward learned ran toward +Lewisboro, between the Three Lakes, Cross Pond, and Bouton's, a +military convoy was passing, raising a prodigious cloud of dust. I +could see, and faintly hear, sheep and cattle; there was a far crack of +whips, a shouting of drovers and teamsters, and, through the dust, we +caught the sparkle of a bayonet here and there. + +Somewhere, doubtless, some half starved brigade of ours was gnawing its +nails and awaiting this same convoy; and I silently prayed God to lead +it safely to its destination. + +"Pretty women everywhere!" whispered Boyd in my ear. "Our friend the +Major seems to have a houseful. The devil take me if I leave this town +tomorrow!" + +As we rode into the yard and dismounted, and our rifleman took the +bridles, across the crowded roadway we could see a noble house with its +front doors wide open and a group of ladies and children there and many +gentlemen saluting them as they entered or left the house. + +"A respectable company," I heard Boyd mutter to himself, as he stood +slapping the dust from hunting-shirt and leggings and smoothing the +fringe. And, "Damme, Loskiel," he said, "we're like to cut a most +contemptible figure among such grand folk--what with our leather +breeches, and saddle-reek for the only musk we wear. Lord! But yonder +stands a handsome girl--and my condition mortifies me so that I could +slink off to the mews for shame and lie on straw with the hostlers." + +There was, I knew, something genuine in his pretense of hurt vanity, +even under the merry mask he wore; but I only laughed. + +A great many people moved about, many, I could see, having arrived from +the distant country; and there was a great noise of hammering, too, +from a meadow below, where, a soldier told us, they were erecting +barracks for Sheldon's and for other troops shortly expected. + +"There is even talk of a fort for the ridge yonder," he said. "One may +see the Sound from there." + +We glanced up at the ridge, then gazed curiously around, and finally +walked down along the stone wall to a pasture. Here, where they were +building the barracks, there had been a camp; and the place was still +smelling stale enough. Tents were now being loaded on ox wagons; and a +company of Colonel Thomas's regiment was filing out along the road +after the convoy which we had seen moving through the dust toward +Lewisboro. + +People stood about looking on; some poked at the embers of the smoky +fires, some moused and prowled about to see what scrap they might pick +up. + +Boyd's roving gaze had been arrested by a little scene enacting just +around the corner of the partly-erected barracks, where half a dozen +soldiers had gathered around some camp-women, whose sullen attitude +discouraged their gallantries. She was dressed in shabby finery. On her +hair, which was powdered, she wore a jaunty chip hat tied under her +chin with soiled blue ribbons, and a kerchief of ragged lace hid her +bosom, pinned with a withered rose. The scene was sordid enough; and, +indifferent, I gazed elsewhere. + +"A shilling to a penny they kiss her yet!" he said to me presently, and +for the second time I noticed the comedy--if you choose to call it +so--for the wench was now struggling fiercely amid the laughing men. + +"A pound to a penny!" repeated Boyd; "Do you take me, Loskiel?" + +The next moment I had pushed in among them, forcing the hilarious +circle to open; and I heard her quick, uneven breathing as I elbowed my +way to her, and turned on the men good-humoredly. + +"Come, boys, be off!" I said. "Leave rough sport to the lower party. +She's sobbing." I glanced at her. "Why, she's but a child, after all! +Can't you see, boys? Now, off with you all in a hurry!" + +There had evidently been some discipline drilled into Colonel Thomas's +regiments the men seemed instantly to know me for an officer, whether +by my dress or voice I know not, yet Morgan's rifle frock could be +scarcely familiar to them. + +A mischievous sergeant saluted me, grinning, saying it was but idle +sport and no harm meant; and so, some laughing, others seeming to be +ashamed, they made haste to clear out. I followed them, with a nod of +reassurance to the wench, who might have been their drab for aught I +knew, all camps being full of such poultry. + +"Gallantly done!" exclaimed Boyd derisively, as I came slowly back to +where he stood. "But had I been fortunate enough to think of +intervening, egad, I believe I would have claimed what she refused the +rest, Loskiel!" + +"From a ruddied camp drab?" I asked scornfully. + +"Her cheeks and lips are not painted. I've discovered that," he +insisted, staring back at her. + +"Lord!" said I. "Would you linger here making sheep's eyes at yonder +ragged baggage? Come, sir, if you please." + +"I tell you, I would give a half year's pay to see her washed and +clothed becomingly!" + +"You never will," said I impatiently, and jogged his elbow to make him +move. For he was ever a prey to strange and wayward fancies which +hitherto I had only smiled at. But now, somehow--perhaps because there +might have been some excuse for this one--perhaps because what a man +rescues he will not willingly leave to another--even such a poor young +thing as this plaything of the camp--for either of these reasons, or +for none at all, this ogling of her did not please me. + +Most unwillingly he yielded to the steady pressure of my elbow; and we +moved on, he turning his handsome head continually. After a while he +laughed. + +"Nevertheless," said he, "there stands the rarest essence of real +beauty I have ever seen, in lady born or beggar; and I am an ass to go +my way and leave it for the next who passes." + +I said nothing. + +He grumbled for a while below his breath, then: + +"Yes, sir! Sheer beauty--by the roadside yonder--in ragged ribbons and +a withered rose. Only--such Puritans as you perceive it not." + +After a silence, and as we entered the gateway to the manor house: + +"I swear she wore no paint, Loskiel--whatever she is like enough to be." + +"Good heavens!" said I. "Are you brooding on her still?" + +Yet, I myself was thinking of her, too; and because of it a strange, +slow anger was possessing me. + +"Thank God," thought I to myself, "no woman of the common class could +win a second glance from me. In which," I added with satisfaction, "I +am unlike most other men." + +A Philistine thought the same, one day--if I remember right. + + + +CHAPTER II + +POUNDRIDGE + +We now approached the door of the manor house, where we named ourselves +to the sentry, who presently fetched an officer of Minute Men, who +looked us over somewhat coldly. + +"You wish to see Major Lockwood?" he asked. + +"Yes," said Boyd, "and you may say to him that we are come from +headquarters express to speak with him on private business." + +"From whom in Albany do you come, sir?" + +"Well, sir, if you must have it, from General Clinton," returned Boyd +in a lower voice. "But we would not wish it gossipped aloud." + +The man seemed to be perplexed, but he went away again, leaving us +standing in the crowded hall where officers, ladies of the family, and +black servants were continually passing and repassing. + +Very soon a door opened on our left, and we caught a glimpse of a +handsome room full of officers and civilians, where maps were scattered +in confusion over tables, chairs, and even on the floor. An officer in +buff and blue came out of the room, glanced keenly at us, made a slight +though courteous inclination, but instead of coming forward to greet us +turned into another room on the right, which was a parlour. + +Then the minute officer returned, directed us where to place our +rifles, insisted firmly that we also leave under his care our war axes +and the pistol which Boyd carried, and then ushered us into the +parlour. And it occurred to me that the gentleman on whose head the +British had set a price was very considerably inclined toward prudence. + +Now this same gentleman, Major Lockwood, who had been seated behind a +table when we entered the parlour, rose and received us most blandly, +although I noted that he kept the table between himself and us, and +also that the table drawer was open, where I could have sworn that the +papers so carelessly heaped about covered a brace of pistols. + +For to this sorry pass the Westchester folk had come, that they trusted +no stranger, nor were like to for many a weary day to come. Nor could I +blame this gentleman with a heavy price on his head, and, as I heard +later, already the object of numerous and violent attempts in which, at +times, entire regiments had been employed to take him. + +But after he had carefully read the letter which Boyd bore from our +General of Brigade, he asked us to be seated, and shut the table +drawer, and came over to the silk-covered sofa on which we had seated +ourselves. + +"Do you know the contents of this letter?" he asked Boyd bluntly. + +"Yes, Major Lockwood." + +"And does Mr. Loskiel know, also?" + +"Yes, sir," I answered. + +The Major sat musing, turning over and over the letter between thumb +and forefinger. + +He was a man, I should say, of forty or a trifle more, with brown eyes +which sometimes twinkled as though secretly amused, even when his face +was gravest and most composed; a gentleman of middle height, of good +figure and straight, and of manners so simple that the charm of them +struck one afterward as a pleasant memory. + +"Gentlemen," he said, looking up at us from his momentary abstraction, +"for the first part of General Clinton's letter I must be brief with +you and very frank. There are no recruits to be had in this vicinity +for Colonel Morgan's Rifles. Riflemen are of the elite; and our best +characters and best shots are all enlisted--or dead or in prison----" +He made a significant gesture toward the south. And we thought of the +Prison Ships and the Provost, and sat silent. + +"There is," he added, "but one way, and that is to pick riflemen from +our regiments here; and I am not sure that the law permits it in the +infantry. It would be our loss, if we lose our best shots to your +distinguished corps; but of course that is not to be considered if the +interests of the land demand it. However, if I am not mistaken, a +recruiting party is to follow you." + +"Yes, Major." + +"Then, sir, you may report accordingly. And now for the other matters. +General Clinton, in this letter, recommends that we speak very freely +together. So I will be quite frank, gentlemen. The man you seek, Luther +Kinnicut, is a spy whom our Committee of Safety maintains within the +lines of the lower party. If it be necessary I can communicate with +him, but it may take a week. Might I ask why you desire to question him +so particularly?" + +Boyd said: "There is a Siwanois Indian, one Mayaro, a Sagamore, with +whom we have need to speak. General Clinton believes that this man +Kinnicut knows his whereabouts." + +"I believe so, too," said the Major smiling. "But I ask your pardon, +gentlemen; the Sagamore, Mayaro, although a Siwanois, was adopted by +the Mohicans, and should be rated one." + +"Do you know him, sir?" + +"Very well indeed. May I inquire what it is you desire of Mayaro?" + +"This," said Boyd slowly; "and this is the real secret with which I am +charged--a secret not to be entrusted to paper--a secret which you, +sir, and even my comrade, Mr. Loskiel, now learn for the first time. +May I speak with safety in this room, Major?" + +The Major rose, opened the door into the hall, dismissed the sentry, +closed and locked the door, and returned to us. + +"I am," he said smiling, "almost ashamed to make so much circumstance +over a small matter of which you have doubtless heard. I mean that the +lower party has seen fit to distinguish me by placing a price upon my +very humble head; and as I am not only Major in Colonel Thomas's +regiment, but also a magistrate, and also, with my friend Lewis Morris, +a member of the Provincial Assembly, and of the Committee of Safety, I +could not humour the lower party by permitting them to capture so many +important persons in one net," he added, laughing. "Now, sir, pray +proceed. I am honoured by General Clinton's confidence." + +"Then, sir," said Boyd very gravely, "this is the present matter as it +stands. His Excellency has decided on a daring stroke to be delivered +immediately; General Sullivan has been selected to deal it, General +Clinton is to assist. A powerful army is gathering at Albany, and +another at Easton and Tioga. The enemy know well enough that we are +concentrating, and they have guessed where the blow is to be struck. +But, sir, they have guessed wrong!" + +"Not Canada, then?" inquired the Major quietly. + +"No, sir. We demonstrate northward; that is all. Then we wheel west by +south and plunge straight into the wilderness, swift as an arrow files, +directly at the heart of the Long House!" + +"Sir!" he exclaimed, astonished. + +"Straight at the heart o! the Iroquois Confederacy, Major! That is what +is to be done--clean out, scour out, crush, annihilate those hell-born +nations which have so long been terrorizing the Northland. Major +Lockwood, you have read in the New England and Pennsylvania papers how +we have been threatened, how we have been struck, how we have fought +and suffered. But you, sir, have only heard; you have not seen. So I +must tell you now that it is far worse with us than we have admitted. +The frontier of New York State is already in ashes; the scalp yell +rings in our forests day and night; and the red destructives under +Brant, and the painted Tories under Walter Butler, spare neither age +nor sex--for I myself have seen scalps taken from the tender heads of +cradled infants--nay, I have seen them scalp the very hound on guard at +the cabin door! And that is how it goes with us, sir. God save you, +here, from the blue-eyed Indians!" + +He stopped, hesitated, then, softly smiting one fist within the other: + +"But now I think their doom is sounding--Seneca, lying Cayuga, +traitorous Onondaga, Mohawk, painted renegade--all are to go down into +utter annihilation. Nor is that all. We mean to sweep their empire from +end to end, burn every town, every castle, every orchard, every grain +field--lay waste, blacken, ravage, leave nothing save wind-blown ashes +of that great Confederacy, and of the vast granary which has fed the +British northern armies so long. Nothing must remain of the Long House; +the Senecas shall die at the Western door; the Keepers of the Eastern +door shall die. Only the Oneida may be spared--as many as have remained +neutral or loyal to us--they and such of the Tuscaroras and +Lenni-Lenape as have not struck us; and the Stockbridge and White +Plains tribes, and the remnants of the Mohicans. + +"And that is why we have come here for riflemen, and that is why we are +here to find the Sagamore, Mayaro. For our Oneidas have told us that he +knows where the castles of the Long House lie, and that he can guide +our army unerringly to that dark, obscure and fearsome Catharines-town +where the hag, Montour, reigns in her shaggy wilderness." + +There was a long silence; and I for one, amazed at what I had +heard--for I had made certain that we were to have struck at +Canada--was striving to reconcile this astounding news with all my +preconceived ideas. Yet, that is ever the way with us in the regiments; +we march, not knowing whither; we camp at night not knowing why. Unseen +authority moves us, halts us; unseen powers watch us, waking and +sleeping, think for us, direct our rising and our lying down, our going +forth and our return--nay, the invisible empire envelops us utterly in +sickness and in health, ruling when and how much we eat and sleep, +controlling every hour and prescribing our occupation for every minute. +Only our thoughts remain free; and these, as we are not dumb, +unthinking beasts, must rove afield to seek for the why and wherefore, +garnering conclusions which seldom if ever are corroborated. + +So I; for I had for months now made sure that our two armies in the +North were to be flung pell mell on Quebec and on Niagara. Only +regarding the latter place had I nearly hit the mark; for it seemed +reasonable that our army, having once swept the Long House, could +scarcely halt ere we had cleaned out that rat's nest of Indians and +painted Tories which is known as Fort Niagara, and from which every +dreadful raid of the destructives into Tryon County had been planned +and executed. + +Thinking of these things, my deep abstraction was broken by the +pleasant voice of Major Lockwood. + +"Mr. Boyd," he said, "I realise now how great is your need of riflemen +to fill the State's quota. If there is anything I or my associates can +do, under the law, it shall be done; and when we are able to +concentrate, and when your recruiting party arrives, I will do what I +can, if permitted, to select from the dragoons of Sheldon and Moylan, +and from my own regiment such men as may, by marksmanship and +character, qualify for the corps d'élite." + +He rose and began to pace the handsome parlour, evidently worried and +perplexed; and presently he halted before us, who had of course risen +in respect. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "I must lay bare to you our military necessity, +embarrassment, and mortification in this country of Westchester, so +that you may clearly understand the difficulty of furnishing the +recruits you ask for. + +"South of us, from New York to North Castle, our enemy is in +possession. We are attempting to hold this line; but it is a vast +country. We can count on very few Continental troops; our militia has +its various rendezvous, and it turns out at every call. The few +companies of my regiment of foot are widely scattered; one company left +here as escort to the military train an hour ago. Sheldon's 2nd Light +Dragoons are scattered all over the country. Two troops and +headquarters remain now here at my house." + +He waved his hand westward: "So desperate is our condition, gentlemen, +that Colonel Moylan's Dragoons have been ordered here, and are at this +moment, I suppose, on the march to join us. And--I ask you, +gentlemen--considering that in New York City, just below us, there are +ten thousand British regulars, not counting the partizan corps, the +irregulars, the Tory militia, the numberless companies of marauders--I +ask you how you can expect to draw recruits from the handful of men who +have been holding--or striving to hold--this line for the last three +years!" + +Boyd shook his head in silence. As for me, it was not my place to +speak, nor had I anything to suggest. + +After a moment the Major said, more cheerfully: + +"Well, well, gentlemen, who knows after all? We may find ways and +means. And now, one other matter remains to be settled, and I think I +may aid you." + +He went to the door and opened it. The sentry who stood across the hall +came to him instantly and took his orders; and in a few moments there +entered the room four gentlemen to whom we were made known by Major +Lockwood. One of these was our Captain of Minute Men. They were, in +order, Colonel Sheldon, a fretful gentleman with a face which seemed to +me weak, almost stupid; Colonel Thomas, an iron-grey, silent officer, +stern but civil; Captain William Fancher, a Justice of the Peace, Judge +of the Court of Common Pleas, and holding his commission as Captain of +Minute Men; and a Mr. Alsop Hunt, a Quaker, son-in-law of Major +Lockwood, and a most quiet and courteous gentleman. + +With one accord we drew chairs around the handsome centre table, where +silver candlesticks glimmered and a few books lay in their fine, gilded +bindings. + +It was very evident to us that in the hands of these five gentlemen lay +the present safety of Westchester County, military and civil. And to +them Major Lockwood made known our needs--not, however, disturbing them +in their preconceived notion, so common everywhere, that the blow to be +struck from the North was to be aimed at the Canadas. + +Colonel Sheldon's weak features turned red and he said almost peevishly +that no recruits could be picked up in Westchester, and that we had had +our journey for our pains. Anyway, he'd be damned if he'd permit +recruiting for riflemen among his dragoons, it being contrary to law +and common sense. + +"I've a dozen young fellows who might qualify," said Colonel Thomas +bluntly, "but if the law permits Mr. Boyd to take them my regiment's +volleys wouldn't stop a charge of chipmunks!" + +We all laughed a little, and Captain Fancher said: + +"Minute Men are Minute Men, Mr. Boyd. You are welcome to any you can +enlist from my company." + +Alsop Hunt, being a Quaker, and personally opposed to physical +violence, offered no suggestion until the second object of our visit +was made known. Then he said, very quietly: + +"Mayaro, the Mohican Sagamore, is in this vicinity." + +"How do you know that, Alsop?" asked Major Lockwood quickly. + +"I saw him yesterday." + +"Here in Poundridge?" + +Mr. Hunt glanced at Colonel Thomas, then with a slight colour mounting +to his temples: + +"The Sagamore was talking to one of the camp-women last evening--toward +sundown on the Rock Hills. We were walking abroad for the air, my wife +and I----" he turned to Major Lockwood: "Betsy whispered to me, 'There +is a handsome wench talking to an Indian!' And I saw the Sagamore +standing in the sunset light, conversing with one of the camp-women who +hang about Colonel Thomas's regiment.". + +"Would you know the slattern again?" asked Colonel Thomas, scowling. + +"I think so, Colonel. And to tell the truth she was scarce a slattern, +whatever else she may be--a young thing--and it seemed sad to us--to my +wife and me." + +"And handsome?" inquired Boyd, smiling at me. + +"I may not deny it, sir," said Mr. Hunt primly. "The child possessed +considerable comeliness." + +"Why," said Boyd to me, laughingly, "she may be the wench you so +gallantly rescued an hour since." And he told the story gayly enough, +and with no harm meant; but it embarrassed and annoyed me. + +"If the wench knows where the Sagamore may be found," said Major +Lockwood, "it might be well for Mr. Loskiel to look about and try to +find her." + +"Would you know her again?" inquired Colonel Thomas. + +"No, sir, I----" And I stopped short, because what I was about to say +was not true. For, when I had sent the soldiers about their business +and had rejoined Boyd--and when Boyd had bidden me turn again because +the girl was handsome, there had been no need to turn. I had seen her; +and I knew that when he said she was beautiful he said what was true. +And the reason I did not turn, to look again was because beauty in such +a woman should inspire no interest in me. + +I now corrected myself, saying coolly enough: + +"Yes, Colonel Thomas, on second thought I think I might know her if I +see her." + +"Perhaps," suggested Captain Fancher, "the wench has gone a-gypsying +after the convoy." + +"These drabs change lovers over night," observed Colonel Thomas grimly. +"Doubtless Sheldon's troopers are already consoling her." + +Colonel Sheldon, who had been fiddling uneasily with his sword-knot, +exclaimed peevishly: + +"Good God, sir! Am I also to play chaplain to my command?" + +There was a curious look in Colonel Thomas's eyes which seemed to say: +"You might play it as well as you play the Colonel;" but Sheldon was +too stupid and too vain, I think, to perceive any affront. + +And, "Where do you lodge, gentlemen?" inquired our Major, addressing us +both; and when he learned that we were roofless he insisted that we +remain under his roof, nor would he hear of any excuses touching the +present unsuitability of our condition and attire. + +"Gentlemen, gentlemen! I will not accept a refusal," he said. "We are +plain folk and live plainly, and both bed and board are at your +disposal. Lord, sir! And what would Clinton think were I to send two +officers of his corps d'élite to a village ordinary!" + +We had all risen and were moving toward the door. A black servant came +when the Major pulled the bell card, and showed Boyd and myself to two +pretty chambers, small, but very neat, where the linen on the beds +smelled fresh and sweet, and the westering sun struck golden through +chintz curtains drawn aside. + +"Gad!" said Boyd, eying the bed. "It's long since my person has been +intimately acquainted with sheet and pillow. What a pretty nest, +Loskiel. Lord! And here's a vase of posies, too! The touch +feminine--who could mistake it in the sweet, fresh whiteness of this +little roam!" + +Presently came our rifleman, Jack Mount, bearing our saddle-bags; and +we stripped and washed us clean, and put on fresh linen and our best +uniforms of soft doeskin, which differed from the others only in that +they were clean and new, and that the thrums were gayer and the +Iroquois beadwork more flamboyant. + +"If I but had my hair in a snug club, and well powdered," sighed Boyd, +lacing his shirt. "And I tell you, Loskiel, though I would not boast, +this accursed rifle-shirt and these gaudy leggings conceal a supple +body and a leg as neatly turned as any figure more fortunately clothed +in silken coat and stockings!" + +I began to laugh, and he laughed, too, vowing he envied me my hair, +which was yellow and which curled of itself so that it needed no powder. + +I can see him yet, standing there in the sunshine, both hands gripping +his dark hair in pretense of grief, and vowing that he had a mind to +scalp himself for very vexation. Alas! That I remember now such idle +words, spoken in the pride and strength and gayety of youth! And always +when I think of him I remember his dread of fire--the only fear he ever +knew. These things--his brown eyes and quick, gay smile--his lithe and +supple person--and his love of women--these I remember always, even +while already much that concerned this man and me begins to fade with +the stealthy years. + +While the sun still hung high in the west, and ere any hint of evening +was heard either in the robin's note or from the high-soaring martins, +we had dressed. Boyd went away first, saying carelessly that he meant +to look to the horses before paying his respects to the ladies. A +little later I descended, a black servant conducting me to the family +sitting room. + +Here our gallant Major made me known to his lady and to his numerous +family--six young children, and still a seventh, the pretty maid whom +we had seen on approaching the house, who proved to be a married +daughter. Betsy, they called her--and she was only seventeen, but had +been two years the wife of Alsop Hunt. + +As for the Major's lady, who seemed scarce thirty and was six years +older, she so charmed me with her grace, and with the bright courage +she so sweetly maintained in a home which every hour of the day and +night menaced, that even Mrs. Hunt, with her gay spirits, imperious +beauty, and more youthful attractions, no more than shared my +admiration for her mother. + +In half an hour Lieutenant Boyd came in, was presented, and paid his +homage gayly, as he always did. Yet, I thought a slight cloud rested on +his brow, but this soon passed, and I forgot it. + +So we talked of this and that as lightly as though no danger threatened +this house; and Boyd was quickly at his best with the ladies. As for +me, I courted the children. And I remember there were two little maids +of fourteen and eleven, Ruhannah and Hannah, sweet and fresh as wild +June roses, who showed me the tow cloth for our army which they were +spinning, and blushed at my praise of their industry. And there was +Mary, ten, and Clarissa, eight, and two little boys, one a baby--all +save the last two children carding or spinning flax and tow. + +It was not easy to understand that this blooming matron could be mother +of all of these, so youthful she seemed in her Quaker-cut gown of +dove-colour--though it was her handsome, high-spirited daughter who +should have worn the sober garb. + +"Not I," said she, laughing at Boyd. "I'd sooner don jack-boots and be +a dragoon--and we would completely represent a holy cause, my husband +with his broad-brim and I with my sword. What do you say, Mr. Boyd?" + +"I beg of you first to consider the rifle-frock if you must enlist!" +urged Boyd, with such fervour that we all laughed at his gallant effort +to recruit such beauty for our corps; for even a mental picture of +Betsy Hunt in rifle-frock seemed too adorable. Mr. Hunt, entering, +smiled in his quiet, embarrassed way; and I thought that this wise and +gentle-mannered man must have more than a handful in his spirited young +wife, whose dress was anything but plain. + +I had taken the tiny maid, Clarissa, upon my knees and was telling her +of the beauty of our Northland, and of that great, dusky green ocean of +giant pines, vast as the sea and as silent and uncharted, when Major +Lockwood bent over me saying in a quiet voice that it might be well for +me to look about in the town for the wench who knew the whereabouts of +Mayaro. + +"While there is still daylight," he added, as I set Clarissa on the +floor and stood up, "and if she be yet here you should find her before +supper time. We sup at six, Mr. Loskiel." + +I bowed, took leave of the ladies, exchanged an irritated glance for +Boyd's significant grin, and went out to the porch, putting on my light +round cap of moleskin. I liked neither my present errand, nor Boyd's +smile either. + +Now, I had not thought to take with me my side-arms, but a slave waited +at the door with my belt. And as I buckled it and hung war-axe and +heavy hunting blade, I began to comprehend something of the imminent +danger which so apparently lurked about this country. For all military +men hereabouts went armed; and even in the house I had noticed that +Major Lockwood wore his sword, as did the other officers--some even +carrying their pistols. + +The considerable throng of people whom we had first seen in the +neighborhood of the house had scattered or gone off when the infantry +had left. Carpenters were still sawing and hammering on the flimsy new +barracks down in the meadow, and there seemed to be a few people there. +But on strolling thither I saw nothing of the wench; so turned on my +heel and walked briskly up the road. + +About the village itself there was nothing to be seen of the girl, nor +did I know how to make inquiries--perhaps dreading to do so lest my +quest be misunderstood or made a jest of by some impertinent fellow. + +In the west a wide bank of cloud had pushed up over the horizon and was +already halving the low-hanging sun, which presently it entirely +swallowed; and the countryside grew luminously grey and that intense +green tinged the grass, which is with us the forerunner of an +approaching storm. + +But I thought it far off, not then knowing the Hudson's midsummer +habits, nor the rapid violence of the July storms it hatches and drives +roaring among the eastern hills and across the silvery Sound. + +So, with a careless glance aloft, I pursued my errand, strolling hither +and thither through the pleasant streets and lanes of old Poundridge, +always approaching any groups of soldiers that I saw because I thought +it likely that the wench might haunt her kind. + +I did not find her; and presently I began to believe it likely that she +had indeed gone off a-gypsying after the escort companies toward +Lewisboro. + +There is a road which, skirting the Stone Hills, runs east by north +between Cross Pond and the Three Lakes; and, pursuing it, I came on a +vidette of Sheldon's regiment, most carelessly set where he could see +nothing, and yet be seen a mile away. + +Supposing he would halt me, I walked up to him; and he continued to +munch the green bough-apple he was eating, making me a most slovenly +salute. + +Under his leather helmet I saw that my dragoon was but a child of +fifteen--scarce strong enough to swing the heavy sabre at his pommel or +manage the sawed-off musket which he bore, the butt resting wearily on +his thigh. And it made me sober indeed to see to what a pass our +country had come, that we enlisted boys and were obliged to trust to +their ignorance for our protection. + +"It will rain before sundown," he said, munching on his apple; "best +seek shelter, sir. When it comes it will come hard." + +"Where runs this road?" I asked. + +"To Boutonville." + +"And what is Boutonville?" + +"It's where the Boutons live--a mile or two north, sir. They're a wild +parcel." + +"Are they of our party?" + +"Oh, yes, sir. But they hunt the leather-caps as we hunt quail--scare +up a company, fire, and then track down the scattered." + +"Oh; irregulars." + +"No, sir, not skinners. They farm it until the British plague them +beyond endurance. Then," he added significantly, "they go a-hunting +with their dogs." + +I had already turned to retrace my steps when it occurred to me that +perhaps an inquiry of this lad might not be misunderstood. + +So I walked up to his horse and stood caressing the sorry animal while +I described to him the wench I was seeking. + +"Yes, sir," he said seriously, "that's the one the boys are ever +plaguing to make her rage." + +"Do you know her?" + +"By sight, yes, sir." + +"She is one of the camp followers, I take it," said I carelessly. + +"I don't know. The boys are ever plaguing her. She came from the North +they say. All I know is that in April she was first seen here, +loitering about the camp where the White Plains Indians were embodied. +But she did not go off with the Continentals." + +"She was loitering this afternoon by the camp of Colonel Thomas's men," +I said. + +"Very like, sir. Did the men plague her?" + +"Yes." + +He bit into his apple, unconcerned: + +"They are all after her. But I never saw her kind to any man--whatever +she may be." + +Why, I did not know, but what he said gave me satisfaction. + +"You do not know which way she went?" I asked. + +"No, sir. I have been here but the half hour. She knows the Bouton boys +yonder. I have seen her coming and going on this road, sometimes with +an Indian----" + +"With a Sagamore?" + +He continued his munching. Having swallowed what he chewed, he said: + +"I know nothing of savages or Sagamores. The Indian may have been a +Sagamore." + +"Do you know where he is to be found?" + +"No, sir, I do not." + +"Perhaps this young girl knows?" + +"Doubtless she does, seeing she journeys about with him on the ridge +yonder, which we call the Rock Hills." + +"Do you know her name, soldier?" + +"They call her Lois, I believe." + +And that was all the news I could get of her; and I thanked the boy and +slowly started to retrace my steps toward the village. + +Already in the air there was something of that stillness which heralds +storms; no leaves on bush and tree were now stirring; land and sky had +grown sombre all around me; and the grass glimmered intensely green. + +Where the road skirted the Stone Hills were no houses, nothing, in +fact, of human habitation to be seen save low on the flank of the rocky +rampart a ruined sugar house on the edge of a maple ridge, I do not +know what made me raise my head to give it a second glance, but I did; +and saw among the rocks near it a woman moving. + +Nor do I know, even now, how at that distance and in the dusk of a +coming storm I could perceive that it was she whom I was now seeking. +But so certain was I of this that, without even taking thought to +consider, I left the highway, turned to the right, and began to mount +the hillside where traces of a path or sheep-walk were faintly visible +under foot among the brambles. Once or twice I glanced upward to see +whether she observed me, but the scrubby foliage now hid her as well as +the sap-house, and I hastened because the light was growing very dim +now, and once or twice, far away, I thought I heard the muttering of +thunder. + +It was not long before I perceived the ramshackle sap-house ahead of me +among the maples. Then I caught sight of her whom I was seeking. + +It was plain that she had not yet discovered me, though she heard me +moving in the thicket. She stood in a half-crouching, listening +attitude, then slowly began to retreat, not cowering, but sullenly and +with a certain defiance in her lithe movement, like some disturbed and +graceful animal which is capable of defending itself but prefers to get +away peaceably if permitted. + +I stepped out into the clearing and called to her through the +increasing gloom; and for a moment thought she had gone. Then I saw +her, dimly, watching me from the obscurity of the dark doorway. + +"You need have no fear of me," I called to her pleasantly. "You know me +now, do you not?" + +She made no answer; and I approached the doorway and stood peering into +her face through the falling twilight. And for a moment I thought I had +been mistaken; but it was she after all. + +Yet now she wore neither the shabby chip hat with its soiled blue +ribbon tied beneath her chin, nor any trace of hair powder, nor dotted +kerchief cross-fastened at her breast and pinned with the withered rose. + +And she seemed younger and slimmer and more childish than I had thought +her, her bosom without its kerchief meagre or unformed, and her cheeks +not painted either, but much burned by the July sun. Nor were her eyes +black, as I had supposed, but a dark, clear grey with black lashes; and +her unpowdered hair seemed to be a reddish-chestnut and scarce longer +than my own, but more curly. + +"Child," I said, smiling at her, I know not why, "I have been searching +for you ever since I first saw you----" + +And: "What do you want of me?" said she, scarce moving her lips. + +"A favour." + +"Best mount your cobbler's mare and go a-jogging back, my pretty lad." + +The calm venom in her voice and her insolent grey eyes took me aback +more than her saucy words. + +"Doubtless," I said, "you have not recognized in me the officer who was +at some slight pains to be of service----" + +"What is it you desire?" said she, so rudely that I felt my face burn +hot. + +"See here, my lass," said I sharply, "you seem to misunderstand my +errand here." + +"And am like to," said she, "unless you make your errand short and +plainer--though I have learned that the errands which bring such men as +you to me are not too easily misunderstood." + +"Such men as I----" + +"You and your friend with the bold, black eyes. Ask him how much change +he had of me when he came back." + +"I did not know he had seen you again," said I, still redder. And saw +that she believed me not. + +"Birds sing; men lie," said she. "So if----" + +"Be silent! Do you hear!" I cut her short with such contempt that I saw +the painful colour whip her cheeks and her eyes quiver. + +Small doubt that what she had learned of men had not sweetened her nor +taught her confidence. But whatever she had been, and whatever she was, +after all concerned not me that I should take pains to silence her so +brutally. + +"I am sorry I spoke as I did," said I, "--however mistaken you are +concerning my seeking you here." + +She said nothing. + +"Also," I added, with a sudden resurgance of bitterness that surprised +myself, "my conduct earlier in your behalf might have led you to a +wiser judgment." + +"I am wise enough--after my own fashion," she said indifferently. + +"Does a man save and then return to destroy?" + +"Many a hunter has saved many a spotted fawn from wolf and fox--so he +might kill it himself, one day." + +"You do yourself much flattery, young woman," I said, so unpleasantly +that again the hot colour touched her throat and brow. + +"I reason as I have been taught," she said defiantly. "Doubtless you +are self-instructed." + +"No; men have taught me. You witnessed, I believe, one lesson. And your +comrade gave me still another." + +"I care to witness nothing," I said, furious; "far less desire to +attempt your education. Is all plain now?" + +"Your words are," she said, with quiet contempt. + +"My words are one with my intention," said I, angrily; far in spite of +my own indifference and contempt, hers was somehow arousing me with its +separate sting hidden in every word she uttered. "And now," I +continued, "all being plain and open between us, let me acquaint you +with the sole object of my visit here to you." + +She shrugged her shabby shoulders and waited, her eyes, her expression, +her very attitude indifferent, yet dully watchful. + +"You know the Sagamore, Mayaro?" I asked. + +"You say so." + +"Where is he to be found?" I continued patiently. + +"Why do you desire to know?" + +The drab was exasperating me, and I think I looked it, for the +slightest curl of her sullen lips hinted a scornful smile. + +"Come, come, my lass," said I, with all the patience I could still +command, "there is a storm approaching, and I do not wish to get wet. +Answer my civil question and I'll thank you and be off about my +business. Where is this Sagamore to be found?" + +"Why do you wish to know?" + +"Because I desire to consult him concerning certain matters." + +"What matters?" + +"Matters which do not concern you!" I snapped out. + +"Are you sure of that, pretty boy?" + +"Am I sure?" I repeated, furious. "What do you mean? Will you answer an +honest question or not?" + +"Why do you desire to see this Sagamore?" she repeated so obstinately +that I fairly clenched my teeth. + +"Answer me," I said. "Or had you rather I fetched a file of men up +here?" + +"Fetch a regiment, and I shall tell you nothing unless I choose." + +"Good God, what folly!" I exclaimed. "For whom and for what do you take +me, then, that you refuse to answer the polite and harmless question of +an American officer!" + +"You had not so named yourself." + +"Very well, then; I am Euan Loskiel, Ensign in Morgan's rifle regiment!" + +"You say so." + +"Do you doubt it?" + +"Birds sing," she said. Suddenly she stepped from the dark doorway, +came to where I stood, bent forward and looked me very earnestly in the +eyes--so closely that something--her nearness--I know not what--seemed +to stop my heart and breath for a second. + +Then, far on the western hills lightning glimmered; and after a long +while it thundered. + +"Do you wish me to find this Sagamore for you?" she asked very quietly. + +"Will you do so?" + +A drop of rain fell; another, which struck her just where the cheek +curved under the long black lashes, fringing them with brilliancy like +tears. + +"Where do you lodge?" she asked, after a silent scrutiny of me. + +"This night I am a guest at Major Lockwood's. Tomorrow I travel north +again with my comrade, Lieutenant Boyd." + +She was looking steadily at me all the time; finally she said: + +"Somehow, I believe you to be a friend to liberty. I know it--somehow." + +"It is very likely, in this rifle dress I wear," said I smiling. + +"Yet a man may dress as he pleases." + +"You mistrust me for a spy?" + +"If you are, why, you are but one more among many hereabouts. I think +you have not been in Westchester very long. It does not matter. No boy +with the face you wear was born to betray anything more important than +a woman." + +I turned hot and scarlet with chagrin at her cool presumption--and +would not for worlds have had her see how the impudence stung and +shamed me. + +For a full minute she stood there watching me; then: + +"I ask pardon," she said very gravely. + +And somehow, when she said it I seemed to experience a sense of +inferiority--which was absurd and monstrous, considering what she +doubtless was. + +It had now begun to rain in very earnest; and was like to rain harder +ere the storm passed. My clothes being my best, I instinctively stepped +into the doorway; and, of a sudden, she was there too, barring my +entry, flushed and dangerous, demanding the reason of my intrusion. + +"Why," said I astonished, "may I not seek shelter from a storm in a +ruined sugar-house, without asking by your leave?" + +"This sap-house is my own dwelling!" she said hotly. "It is where I +live!" + +"Oh, Lord," said I, bewildered, "--if you are like to take offense at +everything I say, or look, or do, I'll find a hospitable tree +somewhere----" + +"One moment, sir----" + +"Well?" + +She stood looking at me in the doorway, then slowly dropped her eyes, +and in the same law voice I had heard once before: + +"I ask your pardon once again," she said. "Please to come inside--and +close the door. An open door draws lightning." + +It was already drawing the rain in violent gusts. + +The thunder began to bang with that metallic and fizzling tone which it +takes on when the bolts fall very near; flash after flash of violet +light illuminated the shack at intervals, and the rafters trembled as +the black shadows buried us. + +"Have you a light hereabout?" I asked. + +"No," + +For ten minutes or more the noise of the storm made it difficult to +hear or speak. I could scarce see her now in the gloom. And so we +waited there in silence until the roar of the rain began to die away, +and it slowly grew lighter outside and the thunder grew more distant. + +I went to the door, looked out into the dripping woods, and turned to +her. + +"When will you bring the Sagamore to me?" I demanded. + +"I have not promised." + +"But you will?" + +She waited a while, then: + +"Yes, I will bring him." + +"When?" + +"Tonight." + +"You promise?" + +"Yes." + +"And if it rains again'' + +"It will rain all night, but I shall send you the Sagamore. Best go, +sir. The real tempest is yet to break. It hangs yonder above the +Hudson. But you have time to gain the Lockwood House." + +I said to her, with a slight but reassuring smile, most kindly intended: + +"Now that I am no longer misunderstood by you, I may inform you that in +what you do for me you serve our common country." It did not seem a +pompous speech to me. + +"If I doubted that," she said, "I had rather pass the knife you wear +around my throat than trouble myself to oblige you." + +Her words, and the quiet, almost childish voice, seemed so oddly at +variance that I almost laughed; but changed my mind. + +"I should never ask a service of you for myself alone," I said so +curtly that the next moment I was afraid I had angered her, and fearing +she might not keep her word to me, smiled and frankly offered her my +hand. + +Very slowly she put forth her own--a hand stained and roughened, but +slim and small. And so I went away through the dripping bush, and down +the rocky hill. A slight sense of fatigue invaded me; and I did not +then understand that it came from my steady and sustained efforts to +ignore what any eyes could not choose but see--this young girl's +beauty--yes, despite her sorry mien and her rags--a beauty that was +fashioned to trouble men; and which was steadily invading my senses +whether I would or no. + +Walking along the road and springing over the puddles, I thought to +myself that it was small wonder such a wench was pestered in a common +soldier's camp. For she had about her everything to allure the grosser +class--a something--indescribable perhaps--but which even such a man as +I had become unwillingly aware of. And I must have been very conscious +of it, for it made me restless and vaguely ashamed that I should +condescend so far as even to notice it. More than that, it annoyed me +not a little that I should bestow any thought upon this creature at +all; but what irritated me most was that Boyd had so demeaned himself +as to seek her out behind my back. + +When I came to the manor house, it had already begun to rain again; and +even as I entered the house, a tempest of rain and wind burst once more +over the hills with a violence I had scarcely expected. + +Encountering Major Lockwood and Lieutenant Boyd in the hall, I scowled +at the latter askance, but remembered my manners, and smoothed my face +and told them of my success. + +"Rain or no," said I, "she has promised me to send this Sagamore here +tonight. And I am confident she will keep her word." + +"Which means," said Boyd, with an unfeigned sigh, "that we travel north +tomorrow. Lord! How sick am I of saddle and nag and the open road. Your +kindly hospitality, Major, has already softened me so that I scarce +know how to face the wilderness again." + +And at supper, that evening, Boyd frankly bemoaned his lot, and Mrs. +Lockwood condoled with him; but Betsy Hunt turned up her pretty nose, +declaring that young men were best off in the woods, which kept them +out o' mischief. She did not know the woods. + +And after supper, as she and my deceitful but handsome lieutenant +lingered by the stairs, I heard her repeat it again, utterly refusing +to say she was sorry or that she commiserated his desperate lot. But on +her lips hovered a slight and provoking smile, and her eyes were very +brilliant under her powdered hair. + +All women liked Boyd; none was insensible to his charm. Handsome, gay, +amusing--and tender, alas!--too often--few remained indifferent to this +young man, and many there were who found him difficult to forget after +he had gone his careless way. But I was damning him most heartily for +the prank he played me. + +I sat in the parlour talking to Mrs. Lockwood. The babies were long +since in bed; the elder children now came to make their reverences to +their mother and father, and so very dutifully to every guest. A fat +black woman in turban and gold ear-hoops fetched them away; and the +house seemed to lose a trifle of its brightness with the children's +going. + +Major Lockwood sat writing letters on a card-table, a cluster of tall +candles at his elbow; Mr. Hunt was reading; his wife and Boyd still +lingered on the stairs, and their light, quick laughter sounded +prettily at moments. + +Mrs. Lockwood, I remember, had been sewing while she and I conversed +together. The French alliance was our topic; and she was still speaking +of the pleasure it had given all when Lewis Morris brought to her house +young Lafayette. Then, of a sudden, she turned her head sharply, as +though listening. + +Through the roar of the storm I thought I heard the gallop of a horse. +Major Lockwood lifted his eyes from his letters, fixing them on the +rain-washed window. + +Certainly a horseman had now pulled up at our very porch; Mr. Hunt laid +aside his book very deliberately and walked to the parlour door, and a +moment later the noise of the metal knocker outside rang loudly through +the house. + +We were now all rising and moving out into the hall, as though a common +instinct of coming trouble impelled us. The black servant opened; a +drenched messenger stood there, blinking in the candle light. + +Major Lockwood went to him instantly, and drew him in the door; and +they spoke together in low and rapid tones. + +Mrs. Lockwood murmured in my ear: + +"It's one of Luther's men. There is bad news for us from below, I +warrant you." + +We heard the Major say: + +"You will instantly acquaint Colonels Thomas and Sheldon with this +news. Tell Captain Fancher, too, in passing." + +The messenger turned away into the storm, and Major Lockwood called +after him: + +"Is there no news of Moylan's regiment?" + +"None, sir," came the panting answer; there ensued a second's silence, +a clatter of slippery hoofs, then only the loud, dull roar of the rain +filled the silence. + +The Major, who still stood at the door, turned around and glanced at +his wife. + +"What is it, dear--if we may know?" asked she, quite calmly. + +"Yes," he said, "you should know, Hannah. And it may not be true, +but--somehow, I think it is. Tarleton is out." + +"Is he headed this way, Ebenezer?" asked Mr. Hunt, after a shocked +silence. + +"Why--yes, so they say. Luther Kinnicut sends the warning. It seems to +be true." + +"Tarleton has heard, no doubt, that Sheldon's Horse is concentrating +here," said Mr. Hunt. "But I think it better for thee to leave, +Ebenezer." + +Mrs. Lockwood went over to her husband and laid her hand on his sleeve +lightly. The act, and her expression, were heart-breaking, and not to +be mistaken. She knew; and we also now surmised that if the Legion +Cavalry was out, it was for the purpose of taking the man who stood +there before our eyes. Doubtless he was quite aware of it, too, but +made no mention of it. + +"Alsop," he said, turning to his son-in-law, "best take the more +damaging of the papers and conceal them as usual. I shall presently be +busied with Thomas and Sheldon, and may have no time for such details." + +"Will they make a stand, do you think?" I whispered to Boyd, "or shall +we be sent a-packing?" + +"If there be not too many of them I make a guess that Sheldon's Horse +will stand." + +"And what is to be our attitude?" + +"Stand with them," said he, laughing, though he knew well that we had +been cautioned to do our errand and keep clear of all brawls. + + + +CHAPTER III + +VIEW HALLOO! + +It rained, rained, rained, and the darkness and wind combined with the +uproar of the storm to make venturing abroad well nigh impossible. Yet, +an orderly, riding at hazard, managed to come up with a hundred of the +Continental foot, convoying the train, and, turning them in their +slopping tracks, start back with them through a road running shin-high +in mud and water. + +Messengers, also, were dispatched to call out the district militia, and +they plodded all night with their lanterns, over field and path and +lonely country road. + +As for Colonel Sheldon, booted, sashed, and helmeted, he sat apathetic +and inert in the hall, obstinately refusing to mount his men. + +"For," says he, "it will only soak their powder and their skins, and +nobody but a fool would ride hither in such a storm. And Tarleton is no +fool, nor am I, either; and that's flat!" It was not as flat as his own +forehead. + +"Do you mean that I am a fool to march my men back here from +Lewisboro?" demanded Colonel Thomas sharply, making to rise from his +seat by the empty fireplace. + +Duels had sprung from less provocation than had been given by Colonel +Sheldon. Mr. Hunt very mildly interposed; and a painful scene was +narrowly averted because of Colonel Thomas's cold contempt for Sheldon, +which I think Captain Fancher shared. + +Major Lockwood, coming in at the moment, flung aside his dripping +riding cloak. + +"Sir," said he to Sheldon, "the rumour that the Legion is abroad has +reached your men, and they are saddling in my barns." + +"What damned nonsense!" exclaimed Sheldon, in a pet; and, rising, +strode heavily to the door, but met there his Major, one Benjamin +Tallmadge, coming in, all over mud. + +This fiery young dragoon's plume, helmet, and cloak were dripping, and +he impatiently dashed the water from feathers and folds. + +"Sir!" began Colonel Sheldon loudly, "I have as yet given no order to +saddle!" + +And, "By God, sir," says Tallmadge, "the orders must have come from +somebody, for they're doing it!" + +"Sir--sir!" stammered Sheldon, "What d'ye mean by that?" + +"Ah!" says Tallmadge coolly, "I mean what I say. Orders must have been +given by somebody." + +No doubt; for the orders came from himself, the clever trooper that he +was--and so he left Sheldon a-fuming and Major Lockwood and Mr. Hunt +most earnestly persuading him to sanction this common and simple +precaution. + +Why he conducted so stupidly I never knew. It required all the gentle +composure of Mr. Hunt and all the vigorous logic of Major Lockwood to +prevent him from ordering his men to off-saddle and retire to the straw +above the mangers. + +Major Tallmadge and a cornet passed through the hall with their +regimental standard, but Sheldon pettishly bade them to place it in the +parlour and await further orders--for no reason whatever, apparently, +save to exhibit a petty tyranny. + +And all the while a very forest of candles remained lighted throughout +the house; only the little children were asleep; the family servants +and slaves remained awake, not daring to go to bed or even to close +their eyes to all these rumours and uncertainties. + +Colonel Thomas, his iron-grey head sunk on his breast, paced the hall, +awaiting the arrival of the two escort companies of his command, yet +scarcely hoping for such good fortune, I think, for his keen eyes +encountered mine from time to time, and he made me gestures expressive +of angry resignation. + +As for Sheldon, he pouted and sulked on a sofa, and drank mulled wine, +peevishly assuring everybody who cared to listen that no attack was to +be apprehended in such a storm, and that Colonel Tarleton and his men +now lay snug abed in New York town, a-grinning in their dreams. + +A few drenched and woe-begone militia men, the pans of their muskets +wrapped in rags, reported, and were taken in charge by Captain Fancher +as a cattle guard for Major Lockwood's herd. + +None of Major Lockwood's messengers were yet returned. Our rifleman had +saddled our own horses, and had brought them up under one of a row of +sheds which had recently been erected near the house. A pair of smoky +lanterns hung under the dripping rafters; and by their light I +perceived the fine horses of Major Lockwood, and of Colonels Sheldon +and Thomas also, standing near ours, bridled and saddled and held by +slaves. + +Mrs. Lockwood sat near the parlour door, quietly sewing, but from time +to time I saw her raise her eyes and watch her husband. Doubtless she +was thinking of those forty golden guineas which were to be paid for +the delivery of his head--perhaps she was thinking of Bloody +Cunningham, and the Provost, and the noose that dangled in a painted +pagoda betwixt the almshouse and the jail in that accursed British city +south of us. + +Mrs. Hunt had far less to fear for her quiet lord and master, who +combatted the lower party only with his brains. So she found more +leisure to listen to Boyd's whispered fooleries, and to caution him +with lifted finger, glancing at him sideways; and I saw her bite her +lips at times to hide the smile, and tap her slender foot, and bend +closer over her tabouret while her needle flew the faster. + +As for me, my Sagamore had not arrived; and I finally cast a cloak +about me and went out to the horse-sheds, where our rifleman lolled, +chewing a lump of spruce and holding our three horses. + +"Well, Jack," said I, "this is rare weather for Colonel Tarleton's fox +hunting." + +"They say he hunts an ass, sir, too," said Jack Mount under his breath. +"And I think it must be so, for there be five score of Colonel +Sheldon's dragoons in yonder barns, drawing at jack-straws or conning +their thumbs--and not a vidette out--not so much as a militia picket, +save for the minute men which Colonel Thomas and Major Lockwood have +sent out afoot." + +There was a certain freedom in our corps, but it never warranted such +impudent presumption as this; and I sharply rebuked the huge fellow for +his implied disrespect toward Colonel Sheldon. + +"Very well, sir. I will bite off this unmilitary tongue o' mine and +feed it to your horse. Then, sir, if you but ask him, he will tell you +very plainly that none of his four-footed comrades in the barn have +carried a single vidette on their backs even as far as Poundridge +village, let alone Mile-Square." + +I could scarcely avoid smiling. + +"Do you then, for one, believe that Colonel Tarleton will venture +abroad on such a night?" + +"I believe as you do," said the rifleman coolly, "--being some three +years or more a soldier of my country." + +"Oh! And what do I believe, Jack?" + +"Being an officer who commands as good a soldier as I am, you, sir, +believe as I do." + +I was obliged to laugh. + +"Well, Jack--so you agree with me that the Legion Cavalry is out?" + +"It is as sure that nested snake's eggs never hatched out rattlers as +it is certain that this wild night will hatch out Tarleton!" + +"And why is it so certain in your mind, Jack Mount?" + +"Lord, Mr. Loskiel," he said with a lazy laugh, "you know how Mr. Boyd +would conduct were he this same Major Tarleton! You know what Major +Parr would do--and what you and I and every officer and every man of +Morgan's corps would do on such a night to men of Sheldon's kidney!" + +"You mean the unexpected." + +"Yes, sir. And this red fox on horseback, Tarleton, has ever done the +same, and will continue till we stop his loping with a bit o' lead." + +I nodded and looked out into the rain-swept darkness. And I knew that +our videttes should long since have been set far out on every road +twixt here and Bedford village. + +Captain Fancher passed with a lantern, and I ventured to accost him and +mention very modestly my present misgivings concerning our present +situation. + +"Sir," said the Captain, dryly, "I am more concerned in this matter +than are you; and I have taken it upon myself to protest to Major +Tallmadge, who is at this moment gone once more to Colonel Sheldon with +very serious representations." + +"Lieutenant Boyd and I have volunteered as a scout of three," I said, +"but Colonel Sheldon has declined our services with scant politeness." + +Fancher stood far a moment, his rain-smeared lantern hanging motionless +at his side. + +"Tarleton may not ride tonight," he said, and moved off a step or two; +then, turning: "But, damn him, I think he will," said he. And walked +away, swinging his light as furiously as a panther thrashes his tail. + +By the pointers of my watch it now approached three o'clock in the +morning, and the storm was nothing abating. I had entirely despaired of +the Sagamore's coming, and was beginning to consider the sorry pickle +which this alarm must leave us in if Tarleton's Legion came upon us +now; and that with our widely scattered handfuls we could only pull +foot and await another day to find our Sagamore; when, of a sudden +there came a-creeping through the darkness, out o' the very maw of the +storm, a slender shape, wrapped to the eyes in a ragged scarlet cape. I +knew her; but I do not know how I knew her. + +"It is you!" I exclaimed, hastening forward to draw her under shelter. + +She came obediently with me, slipping in between the lanterns and among +the horses, moving silently at my elbow to the farther shed, which was +empty. + +"You use me very kindly," I said, "to venture abroad tonight on my +behalf." + +"I am abroad," she said, "on behalf of my country." + +Only her eyes I could see over the edge of the scarlet cloak, and they +regarded me very coldly. + +"I meant it so," I said hastily, "What of the Sagamore? Will he come?" + +"He will come as I promised you." + +"Here?" I said, delighted. "This very night?" + +"Yes, here, this night." + +"How good--how generous you have been!" I exclaimed with a warmth and +sincerity that invaded every fibre of me. "And have you come through +this wild storm all the long way afoot?" + +"Yes," she said, calmly, "afoot. Since when, sir, have beggars ridden +to a tryst except in pretty fables?" + +"Had I known it, I would have taken horse and gone for you and brought +you here riding pillion behind me." + +"Had I desired you to come for me, Mr. Loskiel, I should not have +troubled you here." + +She loosened the shabby scarlet cloak so that it dropped from below her +eyes and left the features exposed. Enough of lantern light from the +other shed fell on her face for me to see her smooth, cool cheeks all +dewy with the rain, as I had seen them once before in the gloom of the +coming storm. + +She turned her head, glancing back at the other shed where men and +horses stood in grotesque shadow shapes under the windy lantern light; +then she looked cautiously around the shed where we stood. + +"Come nearer," she motioned. + +And once again, as before, my nearness to her seemed for a moment to +meddle with my heart and check it; then, as though to gain the beats +they lost, every little pulse began to hurry faster. + +She said in a low voice: + +"The Sagamore is now closeted with Major Lockwood. I left him at the +porch and came out here to warn you. Best go to him now, sir. And I +will bid you a--good night." + +"Has he business also with Major Lockwood?" + +"He has indeed. You will learn presently that the Sagamore came by +North Castle, and that the roads south of the church are full of +riders--hundreds of them--in jack-boots and helmets." + +"Were their jackets red?" + +"He could not tell. They were too closely cloaked," + +"Colonel Moylan's dragoons?" I said anxiously. "Do you think so?" + +"The Sagamore did not think so, and dared not ask, but started +instantly cross-country with the information. I had been waiting to +intercept him and bring him here to you, as I promised you, but missed +him on the Bedford road, where he should have passed. Therefore, I +hastened hither to confess to you my failure, and chanced to overtake +him but a moment since, as he crossed the dooryard yonder." + +Even in my growing anxiety, I was conscious of the faithfulness that +this poor girl had displayed--this ragged child who had stood in the +storm all night long on the Bedford road to intercept the Indian. +Faithful, indeed! For, having missed him, she had made her way here on +foot merely to tell me that she could not keep her word to me. + +"Has the Sagamore spoken with Colonel Sheldon?" I asked gently. + +"I do not know." + +"Will you tarry here till I return?" + +"Have you further use of me, Mr. Loskiel?" + +Her direct simplicity checked me. After all, now that she had done her +errand, what further use had I for her? I did not even know why I had +asked her to tarry here until my return; and searched my mind seeking +the reason. For it must have been that I had some good reason in my +mind. + +"Why, yes," I said, scarce knowing why, "I have further use for you. +Tarry for a moment and I shall return. And," I added mentally, "by that +time I shall have discovered the reason." + +She said nothing; I hastened back to the house, where even from the +outside I could hear the loud voice of Sheldon vowing that if what this +Indian said were true, the cavalry he had discovered at North Castle +must be Moylan's and no other. + +I entered and listened a moment to Major Lockwood, urging this +obstinate man to send out his patrols; then I walked over to the window +where Boyd stood in whispered consultation with an Indian. + +The savage towered at least six feet in his soaking moccasins; he wore +neither lock nor plume, nor paint of any kind that I could see, carried +neither gun nor blanket, nor even a hatchet. There was only a heavy +knife at the beaded girdle, which belted his hunting shirt and breeches +of muddy tow-cloth. + +As I approached them, the Mohican turned his head and shot a searching +glance at me. Boyd said: + +"This is the great Sagamore, Mayaro, Mr. Loskiel; and I have attempted +to persuade him to come north with us tomorrow. Perhaps your eloquence +will succeed where my plain speech has failed." And to the tall +Sagamore he said: "My brother, this is Ensign Loskiel, of Colonel +Morgan's command--my comrade and good friend. What this man's lips tell +you has first been taught them by his heart. Squirrels chatter, brooks +babble, and the tongues of the Iroquois are split. But this is a man, +Sagamore, such as are few among men. For he lies not even to women." +And though his countenance was very grave, I saw his eyes laughing at +me. + +The Indian made no movement until I held out my hand. Then his sinewy +fingers touched mine, warily at first, like the exploring antennae of a +nervous butterfly. And presently his steady gaze began to disturb me. + +"Does my brother the Sagamore believe he has seen me somewhere +heretofore?" I asked, smilingly. "Perhaps it may have been so--at +Johnson Hall--or at Guy Park, perhaps, where came many chiefs and +sachems and Sagamores in the great days of the great Sir William--the +days that are no more, O Sagamore!" + +And: "My brother's given name?" inquired the savage bluntly. + +"Euan--Euan Loskiel, once of the family of Guy Johnson, but now, for +these three long battle years, officer in Colonel Morgan's regiment," I +said. "Has the wise Sagamore ever seen me before this moment?" + +The savage's eyes wavered, then sought the floor. + +"Mayaro has forgotten," he replied very quietly, using the Delaware +phrase--a tongue of which I scarcely understood a word. But I knew he +had seen me somewhere, and preferred not to admit it. Indian caution, +thought I, and I said: + +"Is my brother Siwanois or Mohican?" + +A cunning expression came into his features: + +"If a Siwanois marries a Mohican woman, of what nation are the +children, my new brother, Loskiel?" + +"Mohican," I said in surprise,--"or so it is among the Iroquois," and +the next moment could have bitten off my tongue for vexation that I +should have so clumsily reminded a Sagamore of a subject nation of his +servitude, by assuming that the Lenni-Lenape had conformed even to the +racial customs of their conquerors. + +The hot flush now staining my face did not escape him, and what he +thought of my stupid answer to him or of my embarrassment, I did not +know. His calm countenance had not altered--not even had his eyes +changed, which features are quickest to alter when Indians betray +emotion. + +I said in a mortified voice: + +"The Siwanois Sagamore will believe that his new brother, Loskiel, +meant no offense." And I saw that the compliment had told. + +"Mayaro has heard," he said, without the slightest emphasis of +resentment. Then, proudly and delicately yielding me reason, and +drawing his superb figure to its full and stately height: "When a +Mohican Sagamore listens, all Algonquins listen, and the Siwanois clan +grow silent in the still places. When a real man speaks, real men +listen with respect. Only the Canienga continue to chirp and chatter; +only the Long House is full of squirrel sounds and the noise of jays." +His lip curled contemptuously. "Let the echoes of the Long House answer +the Kanonsis. Mayaro's ears are open." + +Boyd, with a triumphant glance at me, said eagerly: + +"Is not this hour the hour for the great Siwanois clan of the +Lenni-Lenape to bid defiance to the Iroquois? Is it not time that the +Mohawks listen to the reading of those ancient belts, and count their +dishonoured dead with brookside pebbles from the headwaters of the +Sacandaga to the Delaware Capes?" + +"Can squirrels count?" retorted Mayaro disdainfully. "Does my white +brother understand what the blue-jays say one to another in the +yellowing October woods? Not in the Kanonsis, nor yet in the +Kanonsionni may the Mohicans read to the Mohawks the ancient wampum +records. The Lenni-Lenape are Algonquin, not Huron-Iroquois. Let those +degraded Delawares who still sit in the Long House count their white +belts while, from both doors of the Confederacy, Seneca and Mohawk +belt-bearers hurl their red wampum to the four corners of the world." + +"The Mohicans, while they wait, may read of glory and great deeds," I +said, "but the belts in their hands are not white. How can this be, my +brother?" + +The Sagamore's eyes flashed: + +"The belts we remember are red!" he said. "We Mohicans have never +understood Iroquois wampum. Let the Lenape of the Kansonsionni bear +Iroquois belts!" + +"In the Long House," said I, "the light is dim. Perhaps the Canienga's +ambassadors can no longer perceive the red belts in the archives of the +Lenape." + +It had so far been a careful and cautious exchange of subtlest metaphor +between this proud and sensitive Mohican and me; I striving to win him +to our cause by recalling the ancient greatness and the proud freedom +of his tribe, yet most carefully avoiding undue pressure or any direct +appeal for an immediate answer to Boyd's request. But already I had so +thoroughly prepared the ground; and the Sagamore's responses had been +so encouraging, that the time seemed to have come to put the direct and +final question. And now, to avoid the traditional twenty-four hours' +delay which an Indian invariably believes is due his own dignity before +replying to a vitally important demand, I boldly cast precedent and +custom to the four winds, and once more seized on allegory to aid me in +this hour of instant need. + +I began by saluting him with the most insidious and stately compliment +I could possibly offer to a Sagamore of a conquered race--a race which +already was nearly extinct--investing this Mohican Sagamore with the +prerogatives of his very conquerors by the subtlety of my opening +phrase: + +"O Sagamore! Roya-neh! Noble of the three free clans of a free Mohican +people! Our people have need of you. The path is dark to +Catharines-town. Terror haunts those frightful shades. Roya-nef! We +need you! + +"Brother! Is there occasion for belts between us to confirm a brother's +words, when this leathern girth I wear around my body carries a red +wampum which all may see and read--my war axe and my knife?" + +I raised my right arm slowly, and drew with my forefinger a great +circle in the air around us: + +"Brother! Listen attentively! Since a Sagamore has read the belt I +yesterday delivered, the day-sun has circled us where we now stand. It +is another day, O Roya-neh! In yonder fireplace new ashes whiten, new +embers redden. We have slept (touching my eyelids and then laying my +right hand lightly over his); we have eaten (again touching his lips +and then my own); and now--now here--now, in this place and on this +day, I have returned to the Mohican fire--the Fire of Tamanund! Now I +am seated (touching both knees). Now my ears are open. Let the Sagamore +of the Mohicans answer my belt delivered! I have spoken, O Roya-neh!" + +For a full five minutes of intense silence I knew that my bold appeal +was being balanced in the scales by one of a people to whom tradition +is a religion. One scale was weighted with the immemorial customs and +usages of a great and proud people; the other with a white man's subtle +and flattering recognition of these customs, conveyed in metaphor, +which all Indians adore, and appealing to imagination--an appeal to +which no Huron, no Iroquois, no Algonquin, is ever deaf. + +In the breathless silence of suspense the irritable, high-pitched voice +of Colonel Sheldon came to my ears. It seemed that after all he had +sent out a few troopers and that one had just returned to report a +large body of horsemen which had passed the Bedford road at a gallop, +apparently headed for Ridgefield. But I scarcely noted what was being +discussed in the further end of the hall, so intent was I on the +Sagamore's reply--if, indeed, he meant to answer me at all. I could +even feel Boyd's body quivering with suppressed excitement as our +elbows chanced to come in contact; as for me, I scarce made out to +control myself at all, and any nether lip was nearly bitten through ere +the Mohican lifted his symmetrical head and looked me full and honestly +in the eyes. + +"Brother," he said, in a curiously hushed voice, "on this day I come to +you here, at this fire, to acquaint you with my answer; answering my +brother's words of yesterday." + +I could hear Boyd's deep breath of profound relief. "Thank God!" I +thought. + +The Sagamore spoke again, very quietly: + +"Brother, the road is dark to Catharines-town. There are no stars +there, no moon, no sun--only a bloody mist in the forest. For to that +dreadful empire of the Iroquois only blind trails lead. And from them +ghosts of the Long House arise and stand. Only a thick darkness is +there--an endless gloom to which the Mohican hatchets long, long ago +dispatched the severed souls they struck! In every trail they stand, +these ghosts of the Kanonsi, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga--ghosts of the +Tuscarora. The Mohawk beasts who wear the guise of men are there. +Mayaro spits upon them! And upon their League! And upon their Atotarho +the Siwanois spit!" + +Suddenly his arm shot out and he grasped the hilt of my knife, drew it +from my belt, and then slowly returned it. I drew his knife and +rendered it again. + +"Brother," he said, "I have this day heard your voice coming to me out +of the Northland! I have read the message on the belt you bore and +wear; your voice has not lied to my ears; your message is clear as +running springs to my eyes. I can see through to their pleasant depths. +No snake lies hidden under them. So now--now, I say--if my brother's +sight is dimmed on the trail to Catharines-town, Mayaro will teach him +how to see under the night-sun as owls see, so that behind us, the +steps of many men shall not stumble, and the darkness of the Long House +shall become redder than dawn, lighted by the flames of a thousand +rifles! + +"Brother! A Sagamore never lies. I have drawn my brother's knife! +Brother, I have spoken!" + +And so it was done in that house and in the dark of dawn. Boyd silently +gave him his hands, and so did I; then Boyd led him aside with a slight +motion of dismissal to me. + +As I walked toward the front door, which was now striding open, I saw +Major Tallmadge go out ahead of me, run to the mounting-block, and +climb into his saddle. Colonel Sheldon followed him to the doorway, and +called after him: + +"Take a dozen men with you, and meet Colonel Moylan! A dozen will be +sufficient, Major!" + +Then he turned back into the house, saying to Major Lockwood and Mr. +Hunt he was positive that the large body of dragoons in rapid motion, +which had been seen and reported by one of our videttes a few minutes +since, could be no other than Moylan's expected regiment; and that he +would mount his own men presently and draw them up in front of the +Meeting House. + +The rain had now nearly ceased; a cloudy, greyish horizon became +visible, and the dim light spreading from a watery sky made objects +dimly discernible out of doors. + +I hastened back to the shed where I had left the strange maid swathed +in her scarlet cape; and found her there, slowly pacing the trampled +sod before it. + +As I came up with her, she said: + +"Why are the light dragoons riding on the Bedford road? Is aught amiss?" + +"A very large body of horse has passed our videttes, making toward +Ridgefield. Colonel Sheldon thinks it must be Moylan's regiment." + +"Do you?" + +"It may be so." + +"And if it be the leather-caps?" + +"Then we must find ourselves in a sorry pickle." + +As I spoke, the little bugle-horn of Sheldon's Horse blew boots and +saddles, and four score dragoons scrambled into their saddles down by +the barns, and came riding up the sloppy road, their horses slipping +badly and floundering through the puddles and across the stream, where, +led by a captain, the whole troop took the Meeting House road at a +stiff canter. + +We watched them out of sight, then she said: + +"I have awaited your pleasure, Mr. Loskiel. Pray, in what further +manner can I be of service to--my country?" + +"I have come back to tell you," said I, "that you can be of no further +use. Our errand to the Sagamore has now ended, and most happily. You +have served your country better than you can ever understand. I have +come to say so, and to thank you with--with a heart--very full." + +"Have I then done well?" she asked slowly. + +"Indeed you have!" I replied, with such a warmth of feeling that it +surprised myself. + +"Then why may I not understand this thing that I have done--for my +country?" + +"I wish I might tell you." + +"May you not?" + +"No, I dare not." + +She bit her lip, gazing at nothing over the ragged collar of her cape, +and stood so, musing. And after a while she seemed to come to herself, +wearily, and she cast a tragic upward glance at me. Then, dropping her +eyes, and with the slightest inclination of her head, not looking at me +at all, she started across the trampled grass. + +"Wait----" I was by her side again in the same breath. + +"Well, sir?" And she confronted me with cool mien and lifted brows. +Under them her grey eyes hinted of a disdain which I had seen in them +more than once. + +"May I not suitably express my gratitude to you?" I said. + +"You have already done so." + +"I have tried to do so properly, but it is not easy for me to say how +grateful to you we men of the Northland are--how deeply we must ever +remain in your debt. Yet--I will attempt to express our thanks--if you +care to listen." + +After a pause: "Then--if there is nothing more to say--" + +"There is, I tell you. Will you not listen?" + +"I have been thanked--suitably.... I will say adieu, sir." + +"Would you--would you so far favour me as to make known to me your +name?" I said, stammering a little. + +"Lois is my name," she said indifferently. + +"No more than that?" + +"No more than that." + +How it was now going with me I did not clearly understand, but it +appeared to be my instinct not to let her slip away into the world +without something more friendly said--some truer gratitude +expressed--some warmth. + +"Lois," I said very gravely, "what we Americans give to our country +demands no ignoble reward. Therefore, I offer none of any sort. Yet, +because you have been a good comrade to me--and because now we are +about to go our different ways into the world before us--I ask of you +two things. May I do so?" + +After a moment, looking away from me across the meadow: + +"Ask," she said. + +"Then the first is--will you take my hand in adieu--and let us part as +good soldiers part?" + +Still gazing absently across the meadow, she extended her hand. I +retained it for a moment, then released it. Her arm fell inert by her +side, but mine tingled to the shoulder. + +"And one more thing," I said, while this strange and curious reluctance +to let her go was now steadily invading me. + +"Yes?" + +"Will you wear a comrade's token--in memory of an hour or two with him?" + +"What!" + +She spoke with a quick intake of breath and her grey eyes were on me +now, piercing me to the roots of speech and motive. + +I wore a heavy ring beaten out of gold; Guy Johnson gave it. This I +took from my trembling finger, scarce knowing why I was doing it at +all, and stooping and lifting her little, wind-roughened hand, put it +on the first finger I encountered--blindly, now, and clumsily past all +belief, my hand was shaking so absurdly. + +If my face were now as red as it was hot, hers, on the contrary, had +become very strange and still and white. For a moment I seemed to read +distrust, scorn, even hatred, in her level stare, and something of +fear, too, in every quickening breath that moved the scarlet mantle on +her breast. Then, in a flash, she had turned her back on me and was +standing there in the grey dawn, with both hands over her face, +straight and still as a young pine. But my ring was shining on her +finger. + +Emotion of a nature to which I was an utter stranger was meddling with +my breath and pulses, now checking, now speeding both so that I stood +with mind disconcerted in a silly sort of daze. + +At length I gathered sufficient composure to step to her side again. + +"Once more, little comrade, good-bye," I said. "This ends it all." + +Again she turned her shoulder to me, but I heard her low reply: + +"Good-bye--Mr. Loskiel." + +And so it ended. + +A moment later I found myself walking aimlessly across the grass in no +particular direction. Three times I turned in my tracks to watch her. +Then she disappeared beyond the brookside willows. + +I remember now that I had turned and was walking slowly back to where +our horses stood, moving listlessly through the freshly mowed meadow +between drenched haystacks--the first I had seen that year--and God +alone knows where were my thoughts a-gypsying, when, very far away, I +heard a gun-shot. + +At first I could perceive nothing, then on the distant Bedford road I +saw one of our dragoons running his horse and bending low in his saddle. + +Another dragoon appeared, riding a diable--and a dozen more behind +these; and on their heels a-galloping, a great body of red-jacketed +horsemen--hundreds of them--the foremost shooting from their saddles, +the great mass of them swinging their heavy cutlasses and spurring +furiously after our flying men. + +I had seen far more than was necessary, and I ran for my horse. Other +officers came running, too--Sheldon, Thomas, Lockwood, and my +Lieutenant Boyd. + +As we clutched bridle and stirrup and popped upward into out saddles, +it seemed that the red-coats must cut us off, but we spurred out of the +meadow into the Meeting House road, and Boyd cried furiously in my ear: + +"See what this damned Sheldon has done for us now! God! What disgrace +is ours!" + +I saw Colonel Sheldon presently, pale as death, and heard him exclaim: + +"Oh, Christ! I shall be broke for this! I shall be broke!" + +I made out to say to Boyd: + +"The enemy are coming in hundreds, sir, and we have scarce four score +men mounted by the Meeting House." + +"They'll never stand, either," he panted. "But if they do we'll see +this matter to an end." + +"Our orders?" I asked. + +"Damn our orders," said he. "We'll see this matter to an end." + +We rode hard, but already some of Tallmadge's terror-stricken patrol +were overhauling us, and the clangor of the British cavalry broke +louder and louder on our ears as we came in sight of the Meeting House. +Sheldon's four score troopers heard the uproar of the coming storm, +wavered, broke, and whirled their horses about into a most disorderly +flight along the Stamford road. Everybody ran--there was no other +choice for officers and men--and close on our heels came pelting the +17th British Dragoons, the Hussars, and Mounted Yagers of the Legion; +and behind these galloped their mounted infantry. + +A mad anxiety to get away from this terrible and overwhelming force +thundering on our heels under full charge possessed us all, I think, +and this paramount necessity held shame and fury in abeyance. There was +nothing on earth for us to do but to ride and try to keep our horses +from falling headlong on the rocky, slippery road; for it was now a +very hell of trampling horsemen, riding frantically knee against knee, +buffeted, driven, crowded, crushed, slipping; and trooper after trooper +went down with a crash under the terrible hoofs, horse and rider +battered instantly into eternity. + +For full three-quarters of a mile they ran us full speed, and we drove +on headlong; then at the junction of the New Canaan road our horsemen +separated, and I found myself riding in the rear beside Boyd and Jack +Mount once more. Turning to look back, I perceived the Legion Cavalry +were slowing to a trot to rest their hard-blown horses; and gradually +our men did the same. But the Hussars continued to come on, and we +continued our retreat, matching our speed to theirs. + +They let drive at us once with their heavy pistols, and we in the rear +returned their fire, emptying one saddle and knocking two horses into +the roadside bushes. + +Then they ran us hard again, and strove to flank us, but the rocky +country was too stiff for their riders, and they could not make out to +cut us off or attain our flanks. + +"What a disgrace! What a disgrace!" was all Boyd found to say; and I +knew he meant the shameful surprise, not the retreat of our eighty +light horsemen before the thundering charge of their heavy hundreds. + +Our troopers did not seem really frightened; they now jogged along +doggedly, but coolly enough. We had with us on the New Canaan road some +twenty light dragoons, not including Boyd, myself, and Jack Mount--one +captain, one cornet and a trumpeter lad, the remainder being rank and +file, and several mounted militiamen. + +The captain, riding in the rear with us, was ever twisting his hatless +head to scowl back at the Hussars; and he talked continually in a loud, +confident voice to reassure his men. + +"They're dropping off by tens and twenties," he said. "If they keep to +that habit we'll give 'em a charge. Wait till the odds lessen. Steady +there, boys! This cattle chase is not ended. We'll fetch 'em a crack +yet. We'll get a chance at their mounted infantry yet. All in God's +time, boys. Never doubt it." + +The bugle-horns of the Legion were now sounding their derisive, +fox-hunting calls, and behind us we could hear the far laughter and +shouting: "Yoicks! Forrard! Stole away--stole away!" + +My cheeks began to burn; Boyd gnawed his lips continually, and I saw +our dragoons turning angrily in their saddles as they understood the +insult of the British trumpets. + +Half a mile farther on there ran a sandy, narrow cross road into the +woods on either side of us. + +The captain drew bridle, stood up in his stirrups, and looked back. For +some time, now, the taunting trumpets had not jeered us, and the +pursuit seemed to have slackened after nearly three hard miles of +running. But they still followed us, though it was some minutes before +their red jackets came bobbing up again over the sandy crest of the +hill behind us. + +All our men who had been looking back were now wheeled; and we divided, +half backing into the sandy road to the right, half taking the +left-hand road under command of Lieutenant Boyd. + +"They are not too many," said the dragoon captain coolly, beckoning to +his little bugle-horn. + +Willows hid us until their advanced troopers were close to where we +sat--so close that one of our excited dragoons, spurring suddenly +forward into the main road, beat down a Hussar's guard, flung his arms +around him, and tore him from his saddle. Both fell from their horses +and began to fight fisticuffs in the sandy ditch. + +We charged instantly, and the enemy ran for it, our troopers raising +the view halloo in their turn and whipping out their sabres. And all +the way back to the Stamford road we ran them, and so excited became +our dragoons that we could scarce hold them when we came in sight once +more of the British main body now reforming under the rolling smoke of +Poundridge village, which they had set on fire. + +But further advance was madness, even when the remainder of our light +troop came cantering down the Stamford road to rejoin us and watch the +burning town, for we could now muster but two score and ten riders, +having lost nearly thirty dead or missing. + +A dozen of Captain Fancher's militia came up, sober farmers of the +village that lay below us buried in smoke; and our dragoons listened to +the tales of these men, some of whom had been in the village when the +onset came, and had remained there, skulking about to pick off the +enemy until their main forces returned. + +"Tarleton was in a great rage, I warrant you," said one big, raw-boned +militiaman. "He rode up to Major Lockwood's house with his dragoons, +and says he: 'Burn me this arch rebel's nest!' And the next minute the +Yagers were running in and out, setting fire to the curtains and +lighting bundles of hay in every room. And I saw the Major's lady stand +there on her doorstep and demand the reason for such barbarity--the +house already afire behind her. Mrs. Hunt and the servants came out +with the children in their arms. And, 'By God, madam,' says Tarleton, +'when shots are fired at my men from houses by the inhabitants of any +town in America, I'll burn the town and hang the men if I can get 'em.' +Some Hussars came up, driving before them the Major's fine herd of +imported cattle--and a troop of his brood mares--the same he has so +often had to hide in the Rock Hills. 'Stand clear, madam!' bawls +Tarleton. 'I'll suffer nothing to be removed from that house!' At this +the Major's lady gives one long look after her children, which Betsy +Hunt and the blacks are carrying through the orchard; then she calmly +enters the burning house and comes out again with a big silver platter +and a load of linen from the dining-room in her arms. And at that a +trooper draws his sabre and strikes her with the flat o' the +blade--God, what a blow!--so that the lady falls to her knees and the +heavy silver platter rolls out on the grass and the fine linen is in +the mud. I saw her blacks lift her and get her off through the orchard. +I sneaked out of the brook willows, took a long shot at the beast who +struck her, and then pulled foot." + +There was a shacked silence among the officers who had gathered to +listen. Until this moment our white enemies had offered no violence to +ladies. So this brutality toward the Major's lady astounded us. + +Somebody said in a low voice: + +"They've fired the church, now." + +Major Lockwood's house was also burning furiously, as also were his +barns and stables, his sheds, and the new, unfinished barracks. We +could see it all very plainly from the hilltop where we had gathered. + +"Alsop Hunt was taken," said a militiaman. "They robbed him of his +watch and purse, damning him for a rebel broad-brim. He's off to the +Provost, I fear." + +"They took Mr. Reed, too," said another. "They had a dozen neighbours +under guard when I left." + +Sheldon, looking like death, sat his saddle a little apart. No one +spoke to him. For even a deeper disgrace had now befallen the dragoons +in the loss of their standard left behind in Lockwood's house. + +"What a pitiful mess!" whispered Boyd. "Is there nothing to be done but +sit here and see the red beasts yonder sack the town?" + +Before I could answer, I caught the sound of distant firing on the +Lewisboro road. Colonel Thomas reared stiffly in his saddle, and: + +"Those are my own men!" he said loudly, "or I lie like a Tory!" + +A hill half a mile north of us suddenly became dark with men; we saw +the glitter of their muskets, saw the long belt of white smoke encircle +them, saw red-jacketed men run out of a farmhouse, mount, and gallop +toward the burning town. + +Along the road below us a column of Continental infantry appeared on +the run, cheering us with their hats. + +A roar from our dragoons answered them; our bugle-horn spoke, and I saw +Major Tallmadge, with a trumpeter at his back, rein in while the +troopers were reforming and calling off amid a whirlwind of rearing +horses and excited men. + +Below in the village, the British had heard and perfectly understood +the volley from Thomas's regiment, and the cavalry and mounted infantry +of the Legion were assembling in the smoke, and already beginning a +rapid retreat by the Bedford road. + +As Boyd and I went clattering down the hill, we saw Major Lockwood with +Thomas's men, and we rode up to him. He passed his sword to the left +hand, and leaning across in his saddle, exchanged a grip with us. His +face was ghastly. + +"I know--I know," he said hurriedly. "I have seen my wife and children. +My wife is not badly injured. All are in safety. Thank you, gentlemen." + +We wheeled our horses and fell in beside our infantry, now pressing +forward on a heavy run, so that Colonel Thomas and Major Lockwood had +to canter their horses. + +Firing instantly broke out as we entered the smoky zone where the +houses were burning. Into it, an our left, galloped Sheldon's light +dragoons, who, having but five muskets in the command, went at the +Yagers with naked sabres; and suddenly found themselves in touch with +the entire Legion cavalry, who set up a Loud bawling: + +"Surrender, you damned rebels! Pull up, there! Halt!" + +I saw a trooper, one Jared Hoyt, split the skull of a pursuing British +dragoon straight across the mouth with a back-handed stroke, as he +escaped from the melee; and another, one John Buckhout, duck his head +as a dragoon fired at him, and, still ducking and loudly cursing the +fellow, rejoin us as we sheered off from the masses of red-jacketed +riders, wheeled, and went at the mounted Yagers, who did not stand our +charge. + +There was much smoke, and the thick, suffocating gloom was lighted only +by streaming sparks, so that in the confusion and explosion of muskets +it was difficult to manoeuvre successfully and at the same time keep +clear of Tarleton's overwhelming main body. + +This body was now in full but orderly retreat, driving with it cattle, +horses, and some two dozen prisoners, mostly peaceable inhabitants who +had taken no part in the affair. Also, they had a wagon piled with the +helmets, weapons, and accoutrements of Sheldon's dead riders; and one +of their Hussars bore Sheldon's captured standard in his stirrup. + +To charge this mass of men was not possible with the two score horsemen +left us; and they retreated faster than our militia and Continentals +could travel. So all we could do was to hang on their rear and let +drive at them from our saddles. + +As far as we rode with them, we saw a dozen of their riders fall either +dead or wounded from their horses, and saw their comrades lift them +into one of the wagons. Also we saw our dragoons and militia take three +prisoners and three horses before we finally turned bridle after our +last long shot at their rear guard. + +For our business here lay not in this affair, and Boyd had disobeyed +his orders in not avoiding all fighting. He knew well enough that the +bullets from our three rifles were of little consequence to our country +compared to the safe accomplishment of our mission hither, and our safe +return with the Siwanois. Fortune had connived at our disobedience, for +no one of us bore so much as a scratch, though all three of us might +very easily have been done to death in the mad flight from the Meeting +House, amid that plunging hell of horsemen. + +Fortune, too, hung to our stirrup leathers as we trotted into +Poundridge, for, among a throng of village folk who stood gazing at the +smoking ashes of the Lockwood house, we saw our Siwanois standing, +tall, impassive, wrapped in his blanket. + + +And late that afternoon we rode out of the half-ruined village, +northward. Our saddle-bags were full; our animals rested; and, beside +us, strode the Sagamore, fully armed and accoutred, lock braided, body +oiled and painted for war--truly a terrific shape in the falling dusk. + +On the naked breast of this Mohican warrior of the Siwanois clan, which +is called by the Delawares "The Clan of the Magic Wolf," outlined in +scarlet, I saw the emblem of his own international clan--as I +supposed--a bear. + +And of a sudden, within me, vaguely, something stirred--some faint +memory, as though I had once before beheld that symbol on a dark and +naked breast, outlined in scarlet. Where had I seen it before? At Guy +Park? At Johnson Hall? Fort Johnson? Butlersbury? Somewhere I had seen +that symbol, and in that same paint. Yes, it might easily have been. +Every nation of the Confederacy possessed a clan that wore the bear. +And yet--and yet--this bear seemed somehow different--and yet +familiar--strangely familiar to me--but in a manner which awoke within +me an unrest as subtle as it was curious. + +I drew bridle, and as the Sagamore came up, I said uneasily: + +"Brother, and ensign of the great bear clan of many nations, why is the +symbol that you wear familiar to me--and yet so strangely unfamiliar?" + +He shot a glance of lightning intelligence at me, then instantly his +features became smoothly composed and blank again. + +"Has my brother never before seen the Spirit Bear?" he asked coldly. + +"Is that a clan, Mayaro?" + +"Among the Siwanois only." "That is strange," I muttered. "I have never +before seen a Siwanois. Where could I have seen a Siwanois? Where?" + +But he only shook his head. + +Boyd and Mount had pricked forward; I still lingered by the Mohican. +And presently I said: + +"That was a brave little maid who bore our message to you." + +He made no answer. + +"I have been wondering," I continued carelessly, "whether she has no +friends--so poor she seems--so sad and friendless, Have you any +knowledge of her?" + +The Indian glanced at me warily, "My brother Loskiel should ask these +questions of the maid herself." + +"But I shall never see her again, Sagamore. How can I ask her, then?" + +The Indian remained silent. And, perhaps because I vaguely entertained +some future hope of loosening his tongue in her regard, I now said +nothing more concerning her, deeming that best. But I was still +thinking of her as I rode northward through the deepening dusk. + +A great weariness possessed me, no doubt fatigue from the day's +excitement and anxiety. Also, for some hours, that curious +battle-hunger had been gnawing at my belly so that I had liked to +starve there in my saddle ere Boyd gave the signal to off-saddle for +the night. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A TRYST + +Above the White Plains the territory was supposed to be our own. Below, +seventeen thousand red-coats held the city of New York; and their +partisans, irregulars, militia, refugee-corps, and Legion-horsemen, +harried the lines. Yet, except the enemy's cruisers which sometimes +strayed far up the Hudson, like impudent hawks circling within the very +home-yard, we saw nothing of red-rag or leather-cap north of our lines, +save only once, when Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe nearly caught us. + +His Excellency's army lay in position all around us, now, from West +Point down the river; and our light-horsemen patrolled as far south as +the unhappy country from which we had retired through the smoke of +Bedford's burning farms and the blaze of church and manor at +Poundridge. That hilly strip was then our southern frontier, bravely +defended by Thomas and Lockwood, shamefully neglected by Sheldon, as we +had seen. For which he was broke, poor devil, and a better man set +there to watch the red fox Tarleton, to harry Emmeriek, and to throw +the fear o' God into that headlong blockhead, Simcoe, a brave man, but +so possessed by hatred for "Mr." Washington that every move he made was +like a goaded bull--his halts merely the bewilderment of baffled fury, +his charges blind and bellowing. + +I know how he conducted, not from hearsay alone, but because at sunrise +on our second day northward, before we struck the river-road, we had +like to have had a brush with him, his flankers running afoul of us not +far beyond a fortified post heavily held by our Continentals. + +It was the glimpse of cannon and levelled bayonets that bewildered him; +and his bawling charge sheered wide o' the shabby Continental +battle-line, through which we galloped into safety, our Indian sticking +to my crupper like a tree-cat with every claw. And I remember still the +grim laughter that greeted us from those unshaven, powder-blackened +ranks, and how they laughed, too, as they fired by platoons at the far +glimmer of Simcoe's helmets through the chestnut trees. + +And in the meantime, all the while, even from the very first evening +when we off-saddled in the rocky Westchester woods and made our first +flying-camp, I had become uneasy concerning the Siwanois--uncertain +concerning his loyalty to the very verge of suspicion. + +I said nothing of this to Lieutenant Boyd, having nothing definite to +communicate. Nor did I even hint my suspicions, because distrust in the +mind of such a man as Boyd would be very difficult to eradicate, and +the slightest mishandling of our delicate situation might alienate the +Sagamore forever. + +Yet, of one thing I had become almost convinced: the Siwanois, while we +slept, met and held communication with somebody outside our camp. + +On the first night this had happened; for, awaking and missing the +Sagamore, who had been left on guard, I lay a-watching under my +blanket, and when he came in to the fire once more, it seemed to me +that far in the woods I heard the faint sound of another person +retiring stealthily through the tell-tale bushes that choke all second +growth hereabouts. + +On the second day we crossed to the other side of the Hudson in flat +boats, with our horses. But on that night it was the same, I feigning +sleep when it came time for the Siwanois to relieve the man on guard. +And once again, after he had silently inspected us all, the Sagamore +stole away into leafy depths, but halted as before within earshot +still. And once again some nascent sense within me seemed to become +aware of another human being somewhere moving in the woods outside our +fire. + +How I divined it I do not know, because this time I could hear no sound +in the starry obscurity of the Western Catskills, save only those +familiar forest sounds which never cease by night--unseen stirrings of +sleeping birds, the ruffle, of feathers, the sudden rustle of some +furry thing alarmed, the scratchings and pickings in rotting windfalls, +the whisper of some falling leaf severed by insects or relaxing its +brief clasp of the mother stem in the precocity of a maturity premature. + +Yet, so strong now had become my suspicions that I was already +preparing to unroll my blanket, rise, and creep after the Siwanois, +when his light and rapid footfall sounded on the leaves close to my +head; and, as before, while again I feigned sleep, far in the thicket +somebody moved, cautiously retreating into tangled depths. But whether +I really heard or only guessed, I do not know down to this very day. + +On the third night it rained and we made a bark hut. Perhaps the +Siwanois did his talking with this unseen visitor while away in +pretense of peeling bark, for he did not creep abroad that night. But, +somehow, I knew he had kept some tryst. + +Now, on this fourth day, and our journey drawing to its end, I resolved +to follow the Siwanois if he stirred from our fire, and discover for +myself with what manner of visitor he held these stealthy councils. + +During the long day's march I lagged and watched and listened in vain +for any follower along our route. Sometimes I even played at flanker, +sometimes rode far on ahead, and, at times, stuck to the Indian hour +after hour, seeming not to watch him, but with every sense alert to +surprise some glance, some significant movement, some cunning and +treacherous signal, to convince me that the forest had eyes that marked +us, and ears which heard us, and that the Siwanois knew it, and aided +and abetted under our very gaze. + +But I had seen him do nothing that indicated him to be in secret +communication with anybody. He marked neither tree nor stone, nor leaf +nor moss, as far as I could see; dropped nothing, made no sound at all +save when he gravely answered some observation that we offered. Once, +even, I found a pretext to go back on the trail, searching to find some +sign he might have left behind him: and had my journey for my pains. + +Now, had this same Indian been an Iroquois I might have formed some +reasonable judgment concerning his capacity for treachery; but I had +seen few Delawares in my life, and had never heard them speak at all, +save to boast in their cups of Uncas, Tamanund, and Miontonomoh. As for +a Siwanois Mohican, this Sagamore of the Magic Clan was the first of +his tribe and ensign that I had ever beheld. And with every motive and +every interest and desire in the world to believe him honest--and even +in my secret heart believing him to be so--yet I could not close eyes +and ears to what so stealthily was passing in the midnight woods around +me. And truly it was duty, nor any motive baser, that set me after him +that starlit night, when, as before, being on guard, he left the fire +about midnight: and I out of my blanket and after him in a trice. + +The day was the 7th of July, a Wednesday, I remember, as I had writ it +in my journal, my habit being to set down every evening, or as near the +date as convenient, a few words which briefly recorded the day's events. + +The night before we had camped in the woods along the Catskill road +leading toward Cobus-kill; this night, being fine and warm, we made +open camp along a stream, within a few miles' journey of the Middle +Fort; and, soupaan being eaten, let the coals die and whiten into +ashes. This, partly because we needed not the warmth, partly from +precaution. For although on the open roads our troops in detachments +were now concentrating, moving on Otsego Lake and the upper waters of +the Delaware and Susquehanna, this was no friendly country, and we knew +it. So the less firelight, the snugger we might lie in case of some +stray scalping party from the west or north. + +Now, as I say, no sooner did the Siwanois leave his post and go +a-roving than I went after him, with infinite precaution; and I flatter +myself that I made no more noise on the brookside moss than the +moon-cast shadow of a flying cloud. Guy Johnson was no skilful +woodsman, but his Indians were; and of them I learned my craft. And +scout detail in Morgan's Rifles, too, was a rare school to finish any +man and match him with the best who ran the woods. + +Too near his heels I dared not venture, as long as his tall form passed +like a shadow against the white light that the stars let in through the +forest cleft, where ran the noisy stream. But presently he turned off, +and for a moment I thought to lose him in the utter blackness of the +primeval trees. And surely would have had I not seen close to me a vast +and smoothly slanting ledge of rock which the stars shining on made +silvery, and on which no tree could grow, scarce even a tuft of fern, +so like a floor it lay in a wide oval amid the forest gloom. + +Somewhere upon that dim and sparkling esplanade the Siwanois had now +seated himself. For a while, straining my eyes where I lay flat among +the taller fringing ferns, I could just make out a blot in the greyness +where he sat upright, like a watching catamount under the stars. + +Then, across the dimness, another blot moved to join him; and I felt my +hair stir as chilling certainty shocked from me my lingering hope that +I had been mistaken. + +Faintly--oh, scarce audible at all--the murmur of two voices came to me +there where I lay under the misty lustre of the stars. Nearer, nearer I +crept, nearer, nearer, until I lay flat as a shadow there, stark on the +shelf of rock. And, as though they had heard me, and as if to spite me, +their voices sank to whispers. Yet, I knew of a certainty that I had +neither been observed nor heard. + +Hushed voices, whispers, undertones as soft as summer night winds--that +was all I heard, all I could make of it; and sniffed treason as I lay +there, making no question of the foulness of this midnight tryst. + +It was an hour, I think, they sat there, two ghostly figures formless +against the woods; then one rose, and presently I saw it was the +Sagamore. + +Noiselessly he retraced his steps across the silvery esplanade of rock; +and if my vague, flat outline were even visible to him I passed for a +shadow or a cleft beneath his notice--perhaps for a fallen branch or +heap of fern and withered leaf--I know not. But I let him go, +unstirring, my eyes riveted upon the other shape, seated there like +some grey wraith upon a giant's tombstone, under the high stars. + +Beyond the ferns I saw the shadow of the Sagamore against the stream +pass toward our camp. Then I addressed myself to the business before +me; loosened knife and hatchet in their beaded sheaths, stirred, moved +forward inch by inch, closer, closer, then to the left to get behind, +nearer, ever nearer, till the time had come for me to act. I rose +silently to my moccasined feet, softly drew my heavy knife against +events, and lightly struck the ringing blade against my hatchet. + +Instantly the grey shape bounded upright, and I heard a whispering cry +of terror stifled to a sob. + +And then a stunning silence fell between us twain. + +For I was staring upon the maid who had brought the Sagamore to us, and +she was looking back at me, still swaying on her feet and all a-tremble +from the dreadful fear that still possessed her. + +"Lois?" I made out to whisper. + +She placed one hand against her side, fighting for breath; and when she +gained it sighed deeply once or twice, with a low sound like the +whimpering wings of doves. + +At her feet I saw a cup of water shining, a fragment of corn bread and +meat. Near these lay a bundle with straps on it. + +"In God's name," I said in a ghostly voice, "what does this mean? Why +have you followed us these four days past? Are you mad to risk a +scalping party, or, on the open road, hazard the rough gallantries of +soldiers' bivouacs? If you had business in these parts, and desired to +come, why did you not tell me so and travel with us?" + +"I did not wish to ask that privilege of----" She hesitated, then bent +her head. "----of any man. What harm have I caused you by following?" + +I said, still amazed and wondering: + +"I understand it all now. The Sagamore brings you food. Is that true?" + +"Yes," she said sullenly. + +"And you have kept in touch with us ever since we started?" + +"With Mayaro." + +"Why?" + +"I have told you that I had no wish to travel in your company." + +"But for protection----" + +"Protection! I have heard that, too, from men. It is ever on men's +lips--that word meaning damnation. I thank you, Mr. Loskiel, I require +no protection." + +"Do you distrust Lieutenant Boyd or me? Or what?" + +"Men! And you twain are two of them." + +"You fear such men as we are!" I demanded impatiently. + +"I know nothing of you," she answered, "save that you are men." + +"Do you mean Mr. Boyd--and his thoughtless gallantry----" + +"I mean men! All men! And he differs in nothing from the rest that I +can see. Which is why I travel without your leave on my own affairs and +by myself--spite of the Iroquois." She added bitterly; "And it is known +to civilization that the Iroquois are to be trusted where the white man +is not!" + +Her meaning was plain enough now. What this young girl had seen and +suffered and resented amid a world of men I did not know. Boyd's late +gallantry, idle, and even ignoble as it had appeared to me, had +poisoned her against me also, confirming apparently all she ever had +known of men. + +If this young, lonely, ragged thing were what her attitude and words +made plain, she had long endured her beauty as a punishment. What her +business might be in lingering around barracks and soldiers' camps I +could not guess; but women who haunted such resorts seldom complained +of the rough gallantries offered. And if their charms faded, they +painted lip and cheek, and schooled the quivering mouth to smile again. + +What her business might now be in following our little detail northward +I could not surmise. Here was no barracks wench! But wench or gypsy or +what not, it was impossible that I should leave her here alone. Even +the thought of it set one cold. + +"Come into camp this night," I said. + +"I will not." + +"You must do so. I may not leave you here alone." + +"I can care for myself." + +"Yes--as you cared for yourself when I crept up behind you. And if I +had been a savage--then what?" + +"A quick end," she said coolly. + +"Or a wretched captivity--perhaps marriage to some villainous +Iroquois----" + +"Yes, sir; but nothing worse than marriage!" + +"Child!" I exclaimed. "Where have you lived to belie the pitiful youth +of you with such a worldly-worn and bitter tongue? I tell you all men +are not of that stripe! Do you not believe me?" + +"Birds sing, sir." + +"Will you come into camp?" I repeated hotly. + +"And if I will not?" + +"Then, by heaven, I'll carry you in my arms! Will you come?" + +She laughed at me, dangerously calm, seated herself, picked up the +partly eaten food, and began to consume it with all the insolent +leisure in the world. + +I stood watching her for a few moments, then sat down cross-legged +before her. + +"Why do you doubt me, Lois?" I asked. + +"Dear sir, I do not doubt you," she answered with faintest malice. + +"I tell you I am not of that stripe!" I said angrily. + +"Then you are not a man at all. I tell you I have talked with men as +good as you, and heard them protest as you do--yes, with all the gentle +condescension that you use, all of your confidence and masterful +advice. Sooner or later all have proved the same," she shrugged; +"----proved themselves men, in plainer words." + +She sat eating thoughtfully, looking aloft now and then at the thick +splendor of the firmament. + +Then, breaking a bit of corn bread, she said gravely: + +"I do not mean that you have not been kind, as men mean kindness. I do +not even mean that I blame men. God made them different from us. And +had He made me one, doubtless I had been as all men are, taking the +road through life as gaily, sword on thigh and hat in hand to every +pretty baggage that a kindly fate made wayfarer with me. No, I have +never blamed a man; only the silly minx who listens." + +After a short silence, I said: "Who, in the name of heaven, are you, +Lois?" + +"Does that concern you?" + +"I would have it concern me--if you wish." + +"Dear sir," she said very coolly, "I wish nothing of the kind." + +"You do not trust me." + +"Why, yes, as I trust every man--except a red one." + +"Yet, I tell you that all that animates me is a desire to render you a +comrade's service----" + +"And I thank you, Mr. Loskiel, because, like other men, you mean it +generously and well. Yet, you are an officer in the corps d'élite; and +you would be ashamed to have the humblest bugler in your regiment see +you with such a one as I." + +She broke another morsel from her bread: + +"You dare not cross a camp-parade beside me. At least the plaything of +an officer should walk in silk, whatever clothes a soldier's trull. +Sir, do you suppose I do not know?" + +She looked up at the stars, and then quietly at me. + +"The open comradeship of any man with me but marks us both. Only his +taste is criticized, not his morals. But the world's judgment leaves me +nothing to cover me except the silk or rags I chance to wear. And if I +am brave and fine it would be said of me, 'The hussy's gown is brave +and fine!' And if I go in tatters, 'What slattern have we here, +flaunting her boldness in the very sun?' So a comradeship with any man +is all one to me. And I go my way, neither a burden nor a plaything, a +scandal only to myself, involving no man high or low save where their +advances wrong us both in the world's eyes--as did those of your +friend, yonder by a dead fire asleep." + +"All men are not so fashioned. Can you not believe me?" + +"You say so, sir." + +"Yes; and I say that I am not." + +"Birds sing." + +"Lois, will you let me aid you?" + +"In what? The Sagamore feeds me; and the Middle Fort is not so far." + +"And at the Middle Fort how will you live?" + +"As I have lived; wash for the soldiers; sew for them--contrive to find +a living as I journey." + +"Whither?" + +"It is my own affair." + +"May I not aid?" + +"You could not if you would; you would not if you could." + +"Ask me, Lois." + +"No." She shook her head. Then, slowly: "I do thank you for the wish, +Mr. Loskiel. But the Siwanois himself refuses what I ask. And you +would, also, did you know my wish." + +"What is your wish?" + +She shook her head: "It is useless to voice it--useless." + +She gathered the scant fragments of her meal, wrapped them in a bit of +silver birch-bark, unrolled her bundle, and placed them there. Then she +drained the tin cup of its chilly water, and, still sitting there +cross-legged on the rock, tied the little cup to her girdle. It seemed +to me, there in the dusk, that she smiled very faintly; and if it was +so it was the first smile I had had of her when she said: + +"I travel light, Mr. Loskiel. But otherwise there is nothing light +about me." + +"Lois, I pray you, listen. As I am a man, I can not leave you here." + +"For that reason, sir, you will presently take your leave." + +"No, I shall remain if you will not come into camp with us." + +She said impatiently: + +"I lie safer here than you around your fire. You mean well; now take +your leave of me--with whatever flight of fancy," she added mockingly, +"that my present condition invests me with in the eyes of a very young +man." + +The rudeness of the fling burnt my face, but I answered civilly: + +"A scalping party may be anywhere in these woods. It is the season; and +neither Oneida Lake nor Fort Niagara itself are so distant that their +far-hurled hatchets may not strike us here." + +"I will not go with you," said she, making of her bundle a pillow. +Then, very coolly, she extended her slim body and laid her head on the +bundle. + +I made no answer, nor any movement for fully an hour. Then, very +stealthily, I leaned forward to see if she truly slept. And found her +eyes wide open. + +"You waste time mounting sentry over me," she said in a low voice. +"Best employ your leisure in the sleep you need." + +"I can not sleep." + +"Nor I--if you remain here awake beside me." + +She raised herself on her elbow, peering through the darkness toward +the stream. + +"The Siwanois has been standing yonder by the stream watching us this +full hour past. Let him mount sentry if he wishes." + +"You have a tree-cat's eyes," I said. "I see nothing." + +Then I rose and unbuckled my belt. Hatchet and knife dangled from it. I +stooped and laid it beside her. Then, stepping backward a pace or two, +I unlaced my hunting shirt of doe-skin, drew it off, and, rolling it +into a soft pillow, lay down, cradling my cheek among the thrums. + +I do not know how long I lay there before I fell asleep from very +weariness of the new and deep emotions, as strange to me as they were +unwelcome. The restlessness, the misgivings which, since I first had +seen this maid, had subtly invaded me, now, grown stronger, assailed me +with an apprehension I could neither put from me nor explain. Nor was +this vague fear for her alone; for, at moments, it seemed as though it +were for myself I feared--fearing myself. + +So far in my brief life, I had borne myself cleanly and upright, though +the times were loose enough, God knows, and the master of Guy Park had +read me no lesson or set me no example above the morals and the customs +of his class and of the age. + +It may have been pride--I know not what it was, that I could notice the +doings of Sir John and of young Walter Butler and remain aloof, even +indifferent. Yet, this was so. Never had a woman's beauty stirred me +otherwise than blamelessly, never had I entertained any sentiment +toward fashionable folly other than aversion and a kind of shamed +contempt. + +Nor had I been blind at Guy Park and Butlersbury and Tribes Hill, nor +in Albany, either. I knew Clarissa Putnam; I also knew Susannah +Wormwood and her sister Elizabeth, and all that pretty company; and +many another pretty minx and laughing, light-minded lass in county +Tryon. And a few in Cambridge, too. So I was no niais, no naive country +fool, unless to remain aloof were folly. And I often wondered to myself +how this might really be, when Boyd rallied me and messmates laughed. + +And now, as I lay there under the clustered stars, my head pillowed on +my deer-skin shirt, my mind fell a-groping for reason to bear me out in +my strained and strange perplexity. + +Why, from the time I first had spoken to her, should thoughts of this +strange and ragged maid have so possessed me that each day my memory of +her returned, haunting me, puzzling me, plaguing my curiosity till +imagination awoke, spurring my revery to the very border of an unknown +land where rides Romance, in armour, vizor down. + +Until this night I had not crossed that border, nor ever thought to, or +dreamed of doing it. No beggar-maiden-seeking king was I by nature, nor +ever felt for shabby dress and common folk aught but the mixture of +pity and aversion which breeds a kind of charity. And, I once supposed, +were the Queen of Sheba herself to pass me in a slattern's rags, only +her rags could I ever see, for all her beauty. + +But how was it now with me that, from the very first, I had been first +conscious of this maid herself, then of her rags. How was it that I +felt no charity, nor pity of that sort, only a vague desire that she +should understand me better--know that I meant her kindness--God knows +what I wished of her, and why her grey eyes haunted me, and why I could +not seem to put her from my mind. + +That now she fully possessed my mind I convinced myself was due to my +very natural curiosity concerning her; forgetting that a week ago I +should not have condescended to curiosity. + +Who and what was she? She had been schooled; that was plain in voice +and manner. And, though she used me with scant courtesy, I was +convinced she had been schooled in manners, too, and was no stranger to +usages and customs which mark indelibly where birth and breeding do not +always. + +Why was she here? Why alone? Where were her natural protectors then? +What would be her fate a-gypsying through a land blackened with war, or +haunting camps and forts, penniless, in rags--and her beauty ever a +flaming danger to herself, despite her tatters and because of them. + +I slept at last; I do not know how long. The stars still glittered +overhead when I awoke, remembered, and suddenly sat upright. + +She was gone. I might have known it. But over me there came a rush of +fear and anger and hurt pride; and died, leaving a strange, dull aching. + +Over my arm I threw my rifle-frock, looked dully about to find my belt, +discovered it at my feet. As I buckled it, from the hatchet-sling +something fell; and I stooped to pick it up. + +It was a wild-rose stem bearing a bud unclosed. And to a thorn a shred +of silver birch-bark clung impaled. On it was scratched with a knife's +keen point a message which I could not read until once more I crept in +to our fire, which Mount had lighted for our breakfast. + +And there I read her message: "A rose for your ring, comrade. And be +not angry with me." + +I read it again, then curled it to a tiny cylinder and placed it in my +pouch, glancing sideways at the reclining Mohican. Boyd began to murmur +and stretch in his blanket, then relaxed once more. + +So I lay down, leaving Jack Mount a-cooking ashen cakes, and yawning. + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE GATHERING + +Now, no sooner had we broken camp, covered our fire, packed, saddled, +and mounted, than all around us, as we advanced, the wilderness began +to wear an aspect very different to that brooding solitude which +hitherto had been familiar to us--our shelter and our menace also. + +For we had proceeded on our deeply-trodden war trail no more than a +mile or two before we encountered the raw evidences of an army's +occupation. Everywhere spotted leads, game trails, and runways had been +hacked, trimmed, and widened into more open wood-walks; foot-paths +enlarged to permit the passage of mounted men; cattle-roads cleared, +levelled, made smoother for wagons and artillery; log bridges built +across the rapid streams that darkled westward, swamps and swales paved +with logs, and windfalls hewn in twain and the huge abattis dragged +wide apart or burnt to ashes where it lay. Yet, still the high debris +bristling from some fallen forest giant sprawling athwart the highway +often delayed us. Our details had not yet cleared out the road entirely. + +We were, however, within a wolf-hound's easy run to Cherry Valley, Fort +Hunter, and the Mohawk--the outer edges of my own country. Northeast of +us lay Schenectady behind its fort; north of us lay my former home, Guy +Park, and near it old Fort Johnson and Johnson Hall. Farther still to +the northward stretched the Vale and silvery Sacandaga with its pretty +Fish House settlement now in ashes; and Summer House Point and Fonda's +Bush were but heaps of cinders, too, the brave Broadalbin yeomen +prisoners, their women and children fled to Johnstown, save old man +Stoner and his boys, and that Tory villain Charlie Cady who went off +with Sir John. + +Truly I should know something of these hills and brooks and forests +that we now traversed, and of the silent, solitary roads that crept +into the wilderness, penetrating to distant, lonely farms or grist +mills where some hardy fellow had cleared the bush and built his cabin +on the very borders of that dark and fearsome empire which we were +gathering to enter and destroy. + +Here it lay, close on our left flank--so close that its strange +gigantic shadow fell upon us, like a vast hand, stealthy and chill. + +And it was odd, but on the edges of these trackless shades, here, even +with fresh evidences on every side that our own people lately passed +this way--yes, even when we began to meet or overtake men of our own +color--the stupendous desolation yielded nothing of its brooding +mystery and dumb magnificence. + +Westward, the green monotony of trees stretched boundless as an ocean, +and as trackless and uncharted--gigantic forests in the depths of which +twilight had brooded since first the world was made. + +Here, save for the puny, man-made trail--save for the tiny scars left +by his pygmy hacking at some high forest monument, all this magic +shadow-land still bore the imprint of our Lord's own fingers. + +The stillness and the infinite majesty, the haunting fragrance clinging +to the craftsmanship of hands miraculous; all the sweet odour and +untainted beauty which enveloped it in the making, and which had +remained after creation's handiwork was done, seemed still to linger in +this dim solitude. And it was as though the twilight through the wooded +aisles was faintly tinctured still, where the sweet-scented garments of +the Lord had passed. + +There was no underbrush, no clinging sprays or fairy brambles +intertwined under the solemn arches of the trees; only the immemorial +strata of dead leaves spread one above another in endless coverlets of +crumbling gold; only a green and knee-deep robe of moss clothing the +vast bases of the living columns. + +And into this enchanted green and golden dusk no sunlight penetrated, +save along the thread-like roads, or where stark-naked rocks towered +skyward, or where, in profound and velvet depths, crystalline streams +and rivers widened between their Indian willow bottoms. And these were +always set with wild flowers, every bud and blossom gilded by the sun. + +As we journeyed on, the first wayfarer we encountered after passing our +outer line of pickets was an express rider from General Sullivan's +staff, one James Cook, who told us that the right division of the army, +General James Clinton's New York brigade, which was ours, was still +slowly concentrating in the vicinity of Otsego Lake; that innumerable +and endless difficulties in obtaining forage and provisions had delayed +everything; that the main division, Sullivan's, was now arriving at +Easton and Wyoming; and that, furthermore, the enemy had become vastly +agitated over these ominous preparations of ours, but still believed, +from their very magnitude, that we were preparing for an advance into +Canada. + +"Ha-ha!" said Boyd merrily. "So much the better, for if they continue +to believe that, they will keep their cursed scalping parties snug at +home." + +"No, sir," said the express soberly. "Brant and his Mohawks are out +somewhere or other, and so is Walter Butler and his painted crew." + +"In this same district?" + +"No doubt of it, sir. Indians fired on our pickets last week. It will +go hard with the outlying farms and settlements. Small doubt, too, that +they will strike heavily and strive to draw this army from whatever +plan it meditated." + +"Then," said Boyd with a careless laugh, "it is for us to strike more +heavily still and draw them with the very wind of our advance into a +common vortex of destruction with the Iroquois." + +The express rode on, and Boyd, in excellent humour, continued talking +to me, saying that he knew our Commander-in-Chief, and that he was an +officer not to be lightly swayed or turned from the main purpose, but +would hew to the line, no matter what destruction raged and flamed +about him. + +"No, Loskiel, they may murder and burn to right and left of us, and it +may wring his heart and ours to hear the agonized appeals for aid; but +if I judge our General, he will not be halted or drawn aside until the +monstrous, loathesome body of this foul empire lies chopped to bits, +writhing and dying in the flames of Catharines-town." + +"He must truly be a man of iron," said I, "if we win through." + +"We will win through, Loskiel," he said gaily, "--to Catharines-town or +paradise--to hell or heaven. And what a tale to tell our children--we +who survive!" + +An odd expression came into his handsome face, and he said in a low and +dreamy voice: + +"I think that almost every man will live to tell that story--yet, I can +never hear myself telling the tale in years to come." + +On paths and new-made highways we began to encounter people and +cattle--now a long line of oxen laden with military stores or with +canoes and flatboats, and conducted by batt-men in smock and frock, now +a sweating company of military surveyors from headquarters, burdened +with compass, chain, and Jacob-staff, already running their lines into +the wilderness. Here trudged the frightened family of some settler, +making toward the forts; there a company of troops came gaily marching +out on some detail, or perhaps, with fixed bayonets, herded sheep and +cattle down some rutted road. + +It seemed scarce possible that we were already within scouting range of +that never-to-be-forgotten region of Wyoming, where just one year ago +old John Butler with his Rangers, his hell-born Senecas, and Johnson's +Greens, had done their bloody business; where, in "The Shades of +Death," a hundred frightened women and little children had perished in +that ghastly darkness. Also, we were but a few miles from that scene of +terror where, through the wintry dawn at Cherry Valley, young Walter +Butler damned his soul for all eternity while men, women, and children, +old and young, died horribly amid the dripping knives and bayonets of +his painted fiends, or fell under the butchering hatchets of his +Senecas. + +I could see that Boyd also was thinking of this ghastly business, as I +caught his sombre eye. He seemed to shudder, then: + +"Patience," he muttered grimly, with a significant nod toward the +Siwanois, who strode silently between our horses. "We have our guide at +last. A Siwanois hates the Iroquois no more fiercely than do we +white-skins. Wait till he leads our van within rifle-range of +Catharines-town! And if Walter Butler be there, or that bloodless beast +Sir John, or Brant, or any of that hell-brood, and if we let them get +away, may God punish us with the prisoner's fire! Amen." + +Never before had I heard him speak that way, or with such savage +feeling; and his manner of expression, and the uncanny words he used +concerning fire caused me to shudder, too--knowing that if he had ever +dreaded anything it was the stake, and the lingering death that lasted +till the very soul lay burnt to cinders before the tortured body died. +We exchanged no further conversation; many people passed and repassed +us; the woods opened somewhat; the jolly noise of axes resounded near +at hand among the trees. + +Just ahead of us the road from Mattisses' Grist Mill and Stoney Kill +joined ours, where stood the Low Dutch Church. Above us lay the Middle +Fort, and the roads to Cherry Valley and Schenectady forked beyond it +by the Lutheran Church and the Lower Fort. We took the Cherry Valley +Road. + +Here, through this partly cleared and planted valley of the Scoharie +Kill, between the river and the lake, was now gathering a great +concourse of troops and of people; and all the roads were lively with +their comings and goings. Every woodland rang with the racket of their +saws and axes; over the log bridges rumbled their loaded transport +wagons; road and trail were filled with their crowding cattle; the +wheels of Eckerson's and Becker's grist mills clattered and creaked +under the splash of icy, limpid waters, and everywhere men were +hammering and sawing and splitting, erecting soldiers' huts, huts for +settlers, sheds, stables, store-houses, and barracks to shelter this +motley congregation assembling here under the cannon of the Upper Fort, +the Lower, and the Middle. + +As we rode along, many faces we passed were familiar to us; we +encountered officers from our own corps and from other regiments, with +whom we were acquainted, and who greeted us gaily or otherwise, +according to their temper and disposition. But everybody--officers, +troops, batt-men--looked curiously at our Siwanois Indian, who returned +the compliment not at all, but with stately stride and expressionless +visage moved straight ahead of him, as though he noticed nothing. + +Twice since we had started at daybreak that morning, I had managed to +lag behind and question him concerning the maid who now shared +well-nigh every thought of mine--asking if he knew who she was, and +where she came from, and why she journeyed, and whither. + +He answered--when he replied at all--that he had no knowledge of these +things. And I knew he lied, but did not know how I might make him speak. + +Nor would he tell me how and when she had slipped away from me the +night before, or where she had likely gone, pretending that I had been +mistaken when I told him I had seen him watching us beside the +star-illumined stream. + +"Mayaro slept," he said quite calmly. "The soldier, Mount, stood +fire-guard. Of what my brother Loskiel and this strange maiden did +under the Oneida Dancers and the Belt of Tamanund, Mayaro has no +knowledge." + +Why should he lie? I did not know. And even were I to attempt to +confound his statement by an appeal to Mount, the rifleman must +corroborate him, because doubtless the wily Siwanois had not awakened +Mount to do his shift at sentry until the maid had vanished, leaving me +sleeping. + +"Mayaro," I said, "I ask these things only because I pity her and wish +her well. It is for her safety I fear. Could you tell me where she may +have gone?" + +"Fowls to the home-yard; the wild bird to the wood," he said gravely. +"Where do the rosy-throated pigeons go in winter? Does my brother +Loskiel know where?" + +"Sagamore," I said earnestly, "this maid is no wild gypsy thing--no +rose-tinted forest pigeon. She has been bred at home, mannered and +schooled. She knows the cote, I tell you, and not the bush, where the +wild hawk hangs mewing in the sky. Why has she fled to the wilderness +alone?" + +The Indian said cunningly: + +"Why has my brother Loskiel abandoned roof and fire for a bed on the +forest moss?" + +"A man must do battle for his own people, Sagamore." + +"A white maid may do what pleases her, too, for aught I know," he said +indifferently. + +"Why does it please her to roam abroad alone?" + +"How should I know?" + +"You do know!" + +"Loskiel," he said, "if I know why, perhaps I know of other matters, +too. Ask me some day--before they send you into battle." + +"What matters do you know of?" + +"Ask me no more, Loskiel--until your conch-horns blowing in the forest +summon Morgan's men to battle. Then ask; and a Sagamore will answer--a +Siwanois Mohican--of the magic clan. Hiero!" + +That ended it; he had spoken, and I was not fool enough to urge him to +another word. + +And now, as I rode, my mind was still occupied with my growing concern +for the poor child I had come to pity so. Within me a furtive +tenderness was growing which sometimes shamed, sometimes angered me, or +left me self-contemptuous, restless, or dully astonished that my pride +permitted it. For in my heart such sentiments for such a maid as +this--tenderness, consciousness of some subtlety about her that +attracted me--should have no place. There was every reason why I should +pity her and offer aid; none why her grey eyes should hold my own; none +why the frail body of her in her rags should quicken any pulse of mine; +none why my nearness to her should stop my heart and breath. + +Yet, all day long her face and slim shape haunted me--a certain sullen +sweetness of the lips, too--and I remembered the lithe grace of her +little hands as she broke the morsels of that midnight meal and lifted +the cup of chilly water in which I saw the star-light dancing. And +"Lord!" thought I, amazed at my own folly. "What madness lies in these +midsummer solitudes, that I should harbor such fantastic thoughts?" + +Seldom, as yet, had dream of woman vexed me--and when I dreamed at all +it was but a tinselled figment that I saw--the echo, doubtless, of some +tale I read concerning raven hair and rosy lips, and of a vague but +wondrous fairness adorned most suitably in silks and jewels. + +Dimly I was resigned toward some such goal, first being full of honours +won with sword and spur, laden with riches, too, and territories +stretching to those sunset hills piled up like sapphires north of +Frenchman's Creek. + +Out of the castled glory of the dawn, doubtless, I thought, would step +one day my vision--to admire my fame and riches. And her I'd +marry--after our good King had knighted me. + +Alas! For our good King had proved a bloody knave; my visionary lands +and riches all had vanished; instead of silk attire and sword, I wore a +rifle-shirt and skinning-knife; and out of the dawn-born glory of the +hills had stepped no silken damsel of romance to pause and worship +me--only a slender, ragged, grey-eyed waif who came indifferent as the +chilly wind in spring; who went as April shadows go, leaving no trace +behind. + +We were riding by the High Dutch Church at last, and beyond, between +the roads to Duansboro and Cobus-Kill, we saw the tents and huts of the +New York brigade--or as much of it as had arrived--from which we +expected soon to be detached. + +On a cleared hill beyond the Lower Fort, where the Albany Road runs +beside the Fox-Kill, we saw the headquarters flag of the 4th brigade, +and Major Nicholas Fish at his tent door, talking to McCrea, our +brigade surgeon. + +Along the stream were the huts lately tenanted by Colonel Philip Van +Cortlandt's Second New York Regiment, which had gone off toward +Wyalusing. Schott's riflemen camped there now, and, as we rode by, the +soldiers stared at our Indian. Then we passed Gansevoort's Third +Regiment, under tents and making ready to march; and the log cantonment +of Colonel Lamb's artillery, where the cannoneers saluted, then, for no +reason, cheered us. Beyond were camped Alden's Regiment, I think, and +in the rear the Fourth and Fifth New York. A fort flew our own +regimental flag beside the pretty banner of our new nation. + +"Oho!" said Boyd, with an oath. "I'm damned if I care for barracks when +a bed in the open is good enough. Why the devil have they moved us +indoors, do you think?" + +I knew no more than did he, and liked our new quarters no better. + +At the fort gate the sentry saluted, and we dismounted. Our junior +ensign, Benjamin Chambers, a smart young dandy, met us at the +guard-house, directed Boyd to Captain Simpson's log quarters, and then +led the Sagamore inside. + +"Is this our Moses?" whispered the young ensign in my ear. "Egad, +Loskiel, he looks a treacherous devil, in his paint, to lead us to the +promised land." + +"He is staunch, I think," said I. "But for heaven's sake, Benny, are we +to sleep in filthy barracks in July?" + +"Not you, I hear," he said, laughing, "----though they're clean enough, +by the way! But the Major's orders were to build a hut for you and this +pretty and fragrant aborigine down by the river, and lodge him there +under your eye and nose and rifle. I admit very freely, Loskiel, no man +in Morgan's envies you your bed-fellow!" And he whisked his nose with a +scented handkerchief. + +"They would envy me if they knew this Sagamore as I think I know him," +said I, delighted that I was not to lie in barracks foul or clean. +"Where is this same humble hut, my fashionable friend?" + +"I'll show you presently. I think that Jimmy Parr desires to see your +gentle savage," he added flippantly. + +We seated ourselves on the gate-bench to await the Major's summons; the +dandified young ensign crossed the parade, mincing toward the quarters +of Major Parr. And I saw him take a pinch o' the scented snuff he +affected, and whisk his supercilious nose again with his laced hanker. +It seemed odd that a man like that should have saved our Captain +Simpson's life at Saratoga. + +Riflemen, drovers, batt-men, frontier farmers, and some of the dirty +flotsam--trappers, forest-runners, and the like--were continually +moving about the parade, going and coming on petty, sordid business of +their own; and there were women there, too--pallid refugees from +distant farms, and now domiciled within the stockade; gaunt wives of +neighbouring settlers, bringing baskets of eggs or pails of milk to +sell; and here and there some painted camp-wanton lingering by the +gateway on mischief bent, or gossiping with some sister trull, their +bold eyes ever roving. + +Presently our mincing ensign came to us again, saying that the Sagamore +and I were to report ourselves to the Major. + +"Jimmy Parr is in good humour," he whispered. "Leave him in that +temper, for mercy's sake, Loskiel; he's been scarcely amiable since you +left to catch this six-foot savage for him." + +He was a brave soldier, our Major, a splendid officer, and a kind and +Christian man, but in no wise inclined to overlook the delinquencies of +youthful ensigns; and he had rapped our knuckles soundly more than +once. But we all loved him in our small mess of five--Captain Simpson, +Lieutenant Boyd, and we two ensigns; and I think he knew it. Had we +disliked him, among ourselves we would have dubbed him James, intending +thereby disrespect; but to us he was Jimmy, flippantly, perhaps, but +with a sure affection under all our impudence. And I think, too, that +he knew we spoke of him among ourselves as Jimmy, and did not mind. + +"Well, sir," he said sternly, as I entered with the Sagamore and gave +him the officer's salute, "I have a good report of you from Lieutenant +Boyd. I am gratified, Mr. Loskiel, that my confidence in your ability +and in your knowledge of the Indians was not misplaced. And you may +inform me now, sir, how it is proper for me to address this Indian +guide." + +I glanced at Captain Simpson and Lieutenant Boyd, hesitating for a +moment. Then I said: + +"Mayaro is a Sagamore, Major--a noble and an ensign of a unique +clan--the Siwanois, or magic clan, of the Mohican tribe of the great +Delaware nation. You may address him as an equal. Our General Schuyler +would so address him. The corps of officers in this regiment can scarce +do less, I think." + +Major Parr nodded, quietly offered his hand to the silent Siwanois, +and, holding that warrior's sinewy fist in an iron grip that matched +it, named him to Captain Simpson. Then, looking at me, he said slowly, +in English: + +"Mayaro is a great chief among his people--great in war, wise in +council and debate. The Sagamore of the Siwanois Mohicans is welcome in +this army and at the headquarters of this regiment. He is now one of +us; his pay is the pay of a captain in the rifles. By order of General +Clinton, commanding the Fourth, or New York, Brigade, I am requested to +say to the Mohican Sagamore that valuable presents will be offered him +for his services by General Sullivan, commander-in-chief of this army. +These will be given when the Mohican successfully conducts this army to +the Genessee Castle and to Catharines-town. I have spoken." + +And to me he added bluntly: + +"Translate, Mr. Loskiel." + +"I think the Sagamore has understood, sir," said I. "Is it not so, +Sagamore?" + +"Mayaro has understood," said the Indian quietly. + +"Does the great Mohican Sagamore accept?" + +"My elder brother," replied the Sagamore calmly, "Mayaro has pledged +his word to his younger brother Loskiel. A Mohican Sagamore never lies. +Loskiel is my friend. Why should I lie to him? A Sagamore speaks the +truth." + +Which was true in a measure, at least as far as wanton or idle lying is +concerned, or cowardly lying either, But he had lied to me concerning +his knowledge of the strange maid, Lois, which kind of untruth all +Indians consider more civil than a direct refusal to answer a question. + +Boyd stood by, smiling, as the Major very politely informed me of the +disposition he had made of the Sagamore and myself, recommended Mayaro +to my most civil attention, and added that, for the present, I was +relieved from routine duty with my battalion. + +If the Siwanois perceived any undue precaution in the Major's manner of +lodging him, he did not betray by the quiver of an eyelash that he +comprehended he was practically under guard. He stalked forth and +across the parade beside me, head high, bearing dignified and tranquil. + +At the outer gate our junior ensign languidly dusted a speck of snuff +from his wristband, and indicated the roof of our hut, which was +visible above the feathery river willows. So we proceeded thither, I +resigning my horse to the soldier, Mount, who had been holding him, and +who was now detailed to act as soldier-servant to me still. + +"Jack," said I, "if there be fresh-baked bread in the regimental ovens +yonder, fetch a loaf, in God's name. I could gnaw black-birch and +reindeer moss, so famished am I--and the Sagamore, too, no doubt, could +rattle a flam with a wooden spoon." + +But our chief baker was a Low-Dutch dog from Albany; and it was not +until I had bathed me in the Mohawk, burrowed into my soldier's chest, +and put on clean clothing that Jack Mount managed to steal the loaf he +had asked for in vain. And this, with a bit of salt beef and a bowl of +fresh milk, satisfied the Siwanois and myself. + +I had been relieved of all routine duty, and was henceforth detailed to +foregather with, amuse, instruct and casually keep an eye on my +Mohican. In other words, my only duty, for the present, was to act as +mentor to the Sagamore, keep him pleasantly affected toward our cause, +see that he was not tampered with, and that he had his bellyful three +times a day. Also, I was to extract from him in advance any information +concerning the Iroquois country that he might have knowledge of. + +It was a warm and pleasant afternoon along the river where the +batteaux, loaded with stores and soldiers, were passing up, and Oneida +canoes danced across the sparkling water toward Fort Plain. + +Many of our soldiers were bathing, sporting like schoolboys in the +water; Lamb's artillerymen had their horses out to let them swim; many +of the troops were washing their shirts along the gravelly reaches, or, +seated cross-legged on the bank, were mending rents with needle and +thread. Half a dozen Oneida Indians sat gravely smoking and blinking at +the scene--no doubt belonging to our corps of runners, scouts, and +guides, for all were shaved, oiled, and painted for war, and, under +their loosened blankets, I could see their lean and supple bodies, +stark naked, except for clout and ankle moccasin. + +I sat in the willow-shade before the door of our hut, cross-legged, +too, writing in my journal of what had occurred since last I set down +the details of the day. This finished, I pouched quill, ink-horn, and +journal, and sat a-thinking for a while of that strange maid, and what +mischance might come of her woodland roving all alone--with Indian +Butler out, and all that vile and painted, blue-eyed crew under +McDonald. + +Sombre thoughts assailed me there on that sunny July afternoon; I +rested my elbow on my knee, forehead pressed against my palm, +pondering. And ever within my breast was I conscious of a faint, dull +aching--a steady and perceptible apprehension which kept me restless, +giving my mind no peace, my brooding thoughts no rest. + +That this shabby, wandering girl had so gained me, spite of the +rudeness with which she used me, I could never seem to understand; for +she had done nothing to win even my pity, and she was but a ragged +gypsy thing, and had conducted with scant courtesy. + +Why had I given her my ring? Was it only because I pitied her and +desired to offer her a gift she might sell when necessary? Why had I +used her as a comrade--who had been but the comrade of an hour? Why had +I been so loath to part with her whom I scarce had met? What was it in +her that had fixed my attention? What allure? What unusual quality? +What grace of mind or person? + +A slender, grey-eyed gypsy-thing in rags! And I could no longer rid my +mind of her! + +What possessed me? To what lesser nature in me was such a woman as this +appealing? I would have been ashamed to have any officer or man of my +corps see me abroad in company with her. I knew it well enough. I knew +that if in this girl anything was truly appealing to my unquiet heart I +should silence even the slightest threat of any response--discourage, +ignore, exterminate the last unruly trace of sentiment in her regard. + +Yet I remained there motionless, thinking, thinking--her faded rosebud +lying in my hand, drooping but still fragrant. + +Dismiss her from my thoughts I could not. The steady, relentless desire +to see her; the continual apprehension that some mischance might +overtake her, left me no peace of mind, so that the memory of her, not +yet a pleasure even, nagged, nagged, nagged, till every weary nerve in +me became unsteady. + +I stretched out above the river bank, composing my body to rest--sleep +perhaps. But flies and sun kept me awake, even if I could have quieted +my mind. + +So up again, and walked to the hut door, where within I beheld the +Sagamore gravely repainting himself with the terrific emblems of death. +He was seated cross-legged on the floor, my camp mirror before him--a +superb specimen of manhood, naked save for clout, beaded sporran, and a +pair of thigh moccasins, the most wonderful I had ever seen. + +I admired his war-girdle and moccasins, speaking somewhat carelessly of +the beautiful shell-work designs as "wampum"--an Iroquois term. + +"Seawan," he said coldly, correcting me and using the softer Siwanois +term. Then, with that true courtesy which ever seeks to ease a merited +rebuke, he spoke pleasantly concerning shell-beads, and how they were +made and from what, and how it was that the purple beads were the gold, +the white beads the silver, and the black beads the copper equivalents +in English coinage. And so we conducted very politely and agreeably +there in the hut, the while he painted himself like a ghastly death, +and brightened the scarlet clan-symbol tatooed on his breast by +touching its outlines with his brilliant paint. Also, he rebraided his +scalp-lock with great care, doubtless desiring that it should appear a +genteel trophy if taken from him, and be an honour to his conqueror and +himself. + +These matters presently accomplished, he drew from their soft and +beaded sheaths hatchet and knife, and fell to shining them up as +industriously as a full-fed cat polishes her fur. + +"Mayaro," said I, amused, "is a battle then near at hand that you make +so complete a preparation for it?" + +A half-smile appeared for a moment on his lips: + +"It is always well to be prepared for life or death, Loskiel, my +younger brother." + +"Oho!" said I, smiling. "You understood the express rider when he said +that Indians had fired on our pickets a week ago!" + +The stern and noble countenance of the Sagamore relaxed into the +sunniest of smiles. + +"My little brother is very wise. He has discovered that the Siwanois +have ears like white men." + +"Aye--but, Sagamore, I was not at all certain that you understood in +English more than 'yes' and 'no.'" + +"Is it because," he inquired with a merry glance at me, "my brother has +only heard as yet the answer 'no' from Mayaro?" + +I bit my lip, reddened, and then laughed at the slyly taunting +reference to my lack of all success in questioning him concerning the +little maiden, Lois. + +At the same time, I realized on what a friendly footing I already stood +with this Mohican. Few white men ever see an Iroquois or a Delaware +laugh; few ever witness any relaxation in them or see their coldly +dignified features alter, except in scorn, suspicion, pride, and anger. +Only in time of peace and amid their own intimates or families do our +Eastern forest Indians put off the expressionless and dignified mask +they wear, and become what no white man believes them capable of +becoming--human, tender, affectionate, gay, witty, talkative, as the +moment suits. + +At Guy Park, even, I had never seen an Iroquois relax in dignity and +hauteur, though, of course, it was also true that Guy Johnson was never +a man to inspire personal confidence or any intimacy. Nor was Walter +Butler either; and Brant and his Mohawks detested and despised him. + +But I had been told that Indians--I mean the forest Indians, not the +vile and filthy nomad butchers of the prairies--were like ourselves in +our own families; and that, naturally, they were a kindly, +warm-hearted, gay, and affectionate people, fond of their wives and +children, and loyal to their friends. + +Now, I could not but notice how, from the beginning, this Siwanois had +conducted, and how, when first we met, his eye and hand met mine. And +ever since, also--even when I was watching him so closely--in my heart +I really found it well-nigh impossible to doubt him. + +He spoke always to me in a manner very different to that of any Indian +I had ever known. And now it seemed to me that from the very first I +had vaguely realized a sense of unwonted comradeship with this Siwanois. + +At all events, it was plain enough now that, for some reason unknown to +me, this Mohican not only liked me, but so far trusted me--entertained, +in fact, so unusual a confidence in me--that he even permitted himself +to relax and speak to me playfully, and with the light familiarity of +an elder brother. + +"Sagamore," I said, "my heart is very anxious for the safety of this +little forest-running maid. If I could find her, speak to her again, I +think I might aid her." + +Mayaro's features became smooth and blank. + +"What maiden is this my younger brother fears for?" he asked mildly. + +"Her name is Lois. You know well whom I mean." + +"Hai!" he exclaimed, laughing softly. "Is it still the rosy-throated +pigeon of the forest for whom my little brother Loskiel is spreading +nets?" + +My face reddened again, but I said, smilingly: + +"If Mayaro laughs at what I say, all must be well with her. My elder +brother's heart is charitable to the homeless." + +"And to children, also," he said very quietly. And added, with a gleam +of humour, "All children, O Loskiel, my littlest brother! Is not my +heart open to you?" + +"And mine to you, Mayaro, my elder brother." + +"Yet, you watched me at the fire, every night," he said, with keenest +delight sparkling in his dark eyes. + +"And yet I tracked and caught you after all!" I said, smiling through +my slight chagrin. + +"Is my little brother very sure I did not know he followed me?" he +asked, amused. + +"Did you know, Mayaro?" + +The Siwanois made a movement of slight, but good-humoured, disdain: + +"Can my brother who has no wings track and follow the October swallow?" + +"Then you were willing that I should see the person to whom you brought +food under the midnight stars?" + +"My brother has spoken." + +"Why were you willing that I should see?" + +"Where there are wild pigeons there are hawks, Loskiel. But perhaps the +rosy throat could not understand the language of a Siwanois." + +"You warned her not to rove alone?" + +He inclined his head quietly. + +"She refused to heed you! Is that true? She left Westchester in spite +of your disapproval?" + +"Loskiel does not lie." + +"She must be mad!" I said, with some heat. "Had she not managed to keep +our camp in view, what had become of her now, Sagamore?" I added, +reluctantly admitting by implication yet another defeat for me. + +"Of course I know that you must have kept in communication with +her--though how you did so I do not know." + +The Siwanois smiled slyly. + +"Who is she? What is she, Mayaro? Is she, after all, but a camp-gypsy +of the better class? I can not believe it--yet--she roves the world in +tatters, haunting barracks and camps. Can you not tell me something +concerning her?" + +The Indian made no reply. + +"Has she made you promise not to?" + +He did not answer, but I saw very plainly that this was so. + +Mystified, perplexed, and more deeply troubled than I cared to admit to +myself, I rose from the door-sill, buckled on belt, knife, and hatchet, +and stood looking out over the river in silence for a while. + +The Siwanois said pleasantly, yet with a hidden hint of malice: + +"If my brother desires to walk abroad in the pleasant weather, Mayaro +will not run away. Say so to Major Parr." + +I blushed furiously at the mocking revelation that he had noted and +understood the precautions of Major Parr. + +"Mayaro," I said, "I trust you. See! You are confided to me, I am +responsible for you. If you leave I shall be disgraced. But--Siwanois +are free people! The Sagamore is my elder brother who will not blacken +my face or cast contempt upon my uniform. See! I trust my brother +Mayaro, I go." + +The Sagamore looked me square in the eye with a face which was utterly +blank and expressionless. Then he gathered his legs under him, sprang +noiselessly to his feet, laid his right hand on the hilt of my knife, +and his left one on his own, drew both bright blades with a +simultaneous and graceful movement, and drove his knife into my sheath, +mine into his own. + +My heart stood still; I had never expected even to witness such an +act--never dared believe that I should participate in it. + +The Siwanois drew my knife from his sheath, touched the skin of his +wrist with the keen edge. I followed his example; on our wrists two +bright spots of blood beaded the skin. + +Then the Sagamore filled a tin cup with clean water and extended his +wrist. A single drop of blood fell into it. I did the same. + +Then in silence still, he lifted the cup to his lips, tasted it, and +passed it to me. I wet my lips, offered it to him again. And very +solemnly he sprinkled the scarcely tinted contents over the grass at +the door-sill. + +So was accomplished between this Mohican and myself the rite of blood +brotherhood--an alliance of implicit trust and mutual confidence which +only death could end. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SPRING WAIONTHA + +It happened the following afternoon that, having written in my journal, +and dressed me in my best, I left the Mohican in the hut a-painting and +shining up his weapons, and walked abroad to watch the remaining troops +and the artillery start for Otsego Lake. + +A foot regiment--Colonel Gansevoort's--had struck tents and marched +with its drums and colours early that morning, carrying also the +regimental wagons and batteaux. However, I had been told that this +veteran regiment was not to go with the army into the Iroquois country, +but was to remain as a protection to Tryon County. But now Colonel +Lamb's remaining section of artillery was to march to the lake; and +whether this indicated that our army at last was fairly in motion, +nobody knew. Yet, it seemed scarcely likely, because Lieutenant Boyd +had been ordered out with a scout of twenty men toward the West branch +of the Delaware, and he told me that he expected to be absent for +several days. Besides, it was no secret that arms had not yet been +issued and distributed to all the recruits in the foot regiments; that +Schott's riflemen had not yet drawn their equipment, and that as yet we +had not collected half the provisions required for an extensive +campaign, although nearly every day the batteaux came up the river with +stores from Schenectady and posts below. + +Strolling up from the river that afternoon, very fine in my best, and, +I confess, content with myself except for the lack of hair powder, +queue, and ribbon, which ever disconcerted me, I saw already the two +guns of the battalion of artillery moving out of their cantonment, the +limbers, chests, and the forge well horsed and bright with polish and +paint, the men somewhat patched and ragged, but with queues smartly +tied and heads well floured. + +Had our cannoneers been properly and newly uniformed, it had been a +fine and stirring sight, with the artillery bugle-horn sounding the +march, and the camp trumpets answering, and Colonel Lamb riding ahead +with his mounted officers, very fine and nobly horsed, the flag flying +smartly and most beautiful against the foliage of the terraced woods. + +A motley assembly had gathered to see them march out; our General +Clinton and his staff, in the blue and buff of the New York Line, had +come over, and all the officers and soldiers off duty, too, as well as +the people of the vicinity, and a horde of workmen, batteaux-men, and +forest runners, including a dozen Oneida Indians of the guides. + +Poor Alden's 6th Massachusetts foot regiment, which was just leaving +for the lake on its usual road-mending detail, stood in spiritless +silence to see the artillery pass; their Major, Whiting, as well as the +sullen rank and file, seeming still to feel the disgrace of Cherry +Valley, where their former colonel lost his silly life, and Major +Stacia was taken, and still remained a prisoner. + +As for us of Morgan's, we were very sorry for the mortified New +Englanders, yet not at all forgetful of their carping and insolent +attitude toward the ragged New York Line--where at least the majority +of our officers were gentlemen and where proper and military regard for +rank was most decently maintained. Gad! To hear your New Englander +talk, a man might think that this same war was being maintained and +fought by New England alone. And, damn them, they got Schuyler laid +aside after all. But the New York Line went about its grim and patient +business, unheeding their New England arrogance as long as His +Excellency understood the truth concerning the wretched situation. And +I for one marvelled that the sniffling 'prentices of Massachusetts and +the Connecticut barbers and tin-peddlers had the effrontery to boast of +New England valour while that arch-malcontent, Ethan Allen, and his +petty and selfish yokels of Vermont, openly defied New York and +Congress, nor scrupled to conduct most treasonably, to their +everlasting and black disgrace. No Ticonderoga, no Bennington, could +wipe out that outrageous treachery, or efface the villainy of what was +done to Schuyler--the man who knew no fear, the officer without +reproach. + +The artillery jolted and clinked away down the rutty road which their +wheels and horses cut into new and deeper furrows; a veil of violet +dust hung in their wake, through which harness, cannon, and drawn +cutlass glittered and glimmered like sunlit ripples through a mist. + +Then came our riflemen marching as escort, smart and gay in their brown +forest-dress, the green thrums rippling and flying from sleeve and +leggin' and open double-cape, and the raccoon-tails all a-bobbing +behind their caps like the tails that April lambkins wriggle. + +Always the sight of my own corps thrilled me. I thanked God for those +big, sun-masked men with their long, silent, gliding stride, their +shirts open to their mighty chests, and the heavy rifles all swinging +in glancing unison on their caped shoulders, carried as lightly as so +many reeds. + +I stood at salute as our Major and Captain Simpson strode by; grinned +ever so little as Boyd came swinging along, his naked cutlass drawn, +scarlet fringes tossing on his painted cape. He whispered as he passed: + +"Murphy and Elerson took two scalps last night. They're drying on hoops +in the barracks. Look and see if they be truly Seneca." + +At that I was both startled and disgusted; but it was well-nigh +impossible to prevent certain of our riflemen who had once been +wood-runners from treating the Iroquois as the Iroquois treated them. +And they continued to scalp them as naturally as they once had clipped +pads and ears from panther and wolf. Mount and the rifleman Renard no +longer did it, and I had thought to have persuaded Murphy and Elerson +to conduct more becoming. But it seemed that I had failed. + +My mind was filled with resentful thoughts as I entered the Lower Fort +and started across the swarming parade toward the barracks, meaning to +have a look at these ghastly trophies and judge to what nation they +belonged. + +People of every walk in life were passing and repassing where our +regimental wagons were being loaded, and I threaded my way with same +difficulty amid a busy throng, noticing nobody, unless it were one of +my own corps who saluted my cockade. + +Halfway across, a young woman bearing a gunny-sack full of linen +garments and blankets to be washed blocked my passage, and being a +woman I naturally gave her right of way. And the next instant saw it +was Lois. + +She had averted her head, and was now hurriedly passing on, and I +turned sharply on my heel and came up beside her. + +"Lois," I managed to say with a voice that was fairly steady, "have you +forgotten me?" + +Her head remained resolutely averted; and as I continued beside her, +she said, without looking at me: + +"Do you not understand that you are disgracing yourself by speaking to +me on the parade? Pass on, sir, for your own sake." + +"I desire to speak to you," I said obstinately. + +"No. Pass on before any officers see you!" + +My face, I know, was fiery red, and for an instant all the ridicule, +the taunts, the shame which I might well be storing up for myself, +burned there for anyone to see. But stronger than fear of ridicule rose +a desperate determination not to lose this maid again, and whether what +I was doing was worthy, and for her sake, or unworthy, and for my own, +I did not understand or even question. + +"I wish to talk with you," I said doggedly. "I shall not let you go +this time." + +"Are you mad to so conduct under the eyes of the whole fort?" she +whispered. "Go your way!" + +"I'd be madder yet to let you get away again. My way is yours." + +She halted, cheeks blazing, and looked at me for the first time. + +"I ask you not to persist," she said, "----for my sake if not for +yours. What an officer or a soldier says to a girl in this fort makes +her a trull in the eyes of any man who sees. Do you so desire to brand +me, Mr. Loskiel?" + +"No," I said between my teeth, and turned to leave her. And, I think, +it was something in my face that made her whisper low and hurriedly: + +"Waiontha Spring! If you needs must see me for a moment more, come +there!" + +I scarcely heard, so tight emotion had me by the throat, and walked on +blindly, all a-quiver. Yet, in my ears the strange wards sounded: +"Waiontha--Waiontha--come to the Spring Waiontha--if you needs must see +me." + +On a settle before the green-log barrack, some of Schott's riflemen +were idling, and now stood, seeing an officer. + +"Boys," I said, "where is this latest foolery of Tim Murphy hung to +dry?" + +They seemed ashamed, but told me, As I moved on, I said carelessly, +partly turning: + +"Where is the Spring Waiontha?" + +"On the Lake Trail, sir--first branch of the Stoney-Kill." + +"Is there a house there?" + +"Rannock's." + +"A path to find it?" + +"A sheep walk only. Rannock is dead. The destructives murdered him when +they burned Cherry Valley. Mrs. Rannock brings us eggs and milk." + +I walked on and entered the smoky barracks, and the first thing I saw +was a pair o' scalps, stretched and hooped, a-dangling from the rafters. + +Doubtless, Murphy and Elerson meant to sew them to their bullet pouches +when cured and painted. And there was one reckless fellow in my company +who wore a baldrick fringed with Shawanese scalps; but as these same +Shawanese had murdered his father, mother, grandmother, and three +little brothers, no officer rebuked him, although it was a horrid and +savage trophy; but if the wearing of it were any comfort to him I do +not know. + +I looked closely at the ornamented scalps, despite my repugnance. They +were not Mohawk, not Cayuga, nor Onondaga. Nor did they seem to me like +Seneca, being not oiled and braided clean, but tagged at the root with +the claws of a tree-lynx. They were not Oneida, not Lenape. Therefore, +they must be Seneca scalps. Which meant that Walter Butler and that +spawn of satan, Sayanquarata, were now prowling around our outer +pickets. For the ferocious Senecas and their tireless war-chief, +Sayanquarata, were Butler's people; the Mohawks and Joseph Brant +holding the younger Butler in deep contempt for the cruelty he did +practice at Cherry Valley. + +Suddenly a shaft of fear struck me like a swift arrow in the breast, as +I thought of Butler and of his Mountain Snakes, and of that mad child, +Lois, a-gypsying whither her silly inclination led her; and Death in +the forest-dusk watching her with a hundred staring eyes. + +"This time," I muttered, "I shall put a stop to all her +forest-running!" And, at the thought, I turned and passed swiftly +through the doorway, across the thronged parade, out of the gate. + +Hastening my pace along the Lake Road, meeting many people at first, +then fewer, then nobody at all, I presently crossed the first little +brook that feeds the Stoney-Kill, leaping from stone to stone. Here in +the woods lay the Oneida camp. I saw some squaws there sewing. + +The sheep walk branched a dozen yards beyond, running northward through +what had been a stump field. It was already grown head-high in weeds +and wild flowers, and saplings of bird-cherry, which spring up wherever +fire has passed. A few high corn-stalks showed what had been planted +there a year ago. + +After a few moments following the path, I found that the field ended +abruptly, and the solid walls of the forest rose once more like green +cliffs towering on every side. And at their base I saw a house of logs, +enclosed within a low brush fence, and before it a field of brush. + +Shirts and soldiers' blankets lay here and there a-drying on the +bushes; a wretched garden-patch showed intensely green between a waste +of fire-blackened stumps. I saw chickens in a coop, and a cow switching +forest flies. A cloud of butterflies flew up as I approached, where the +running water of a tiny rill made muddy hollows on the path. This +doubtless must be the outlet to Waiontha Spring, for there to the left +a green lane had been bruised through the elder thicket; and this I +followed, shouldering my way amid fragrant blossom and sun-hot foliage, +then through an alder run, and suddenly out across a gravelly reach +where water glimmered in a still and golden pool. + +Lois knelt there on the bank. The soldiers' linen I had seen in her +arms was piled beside her. In a willow basket, newly woven, I saw a +heap of clean, wet shirts and tow-cloth rifle-frocks. + +She heard me behind her--I took care that she should--but she made no +sign that she had heard or knew that I was there. Even when I spoke she +continued busy with her suds and shirts; and I walked around the +gravelly basin and seated myself near her, cross-legged on the sand, +both hands clasping my knees. + +"Well?" she asked, still scrubbing, and her hair was fallen in curls +about her brow--hair thicker and brighter, though scarce longer, than +my own. But Lord! The wild-rose beauty that flushed her cheeks as she +laboured there! And when she at last looked up at me her eyes seemed +like two grey stars, full of reflections from the golden pool. + +"I have come," said I, "to speak most seriously." + +"What is it you wish?" + +"A comrade's privilege." + +"And what may that be, sir?" + +"The right to be heard; the right to be answered--and a comrade's +privilege to offer aid." + +"I need no aid." + +"None living can truthfully say that," said I pleasantly. + +"Oh! Do you then require charity from this pleasant world we live in?" + +"I did not offer charity to you." + +"You spoke of aid," she said coldly. + +"Lois--is there in our brief companionship no memory that may warrant +my speaking as honestly as I speak to you?" + +"I know of none, Do you?" + +I had been looking at her chilled pink fingers. My ring was gone. + +"A ring for a rose is my only warrant," I said. + +She continued to soap the linen and to scrub in silence. After she had +finished the garment and wrung it dry, she straightened her supple +figure where she was kneeling, and, turning toward me, searched in her +bosom with one little, wet hand, drawing from it a faded ribbon on +which my ring hung. + +"Do you desire to have it of me again?" she asked, without any +expression on her sun-freckled face. + +"What? The ring?" + +"Aye! Desire it!" I repeated, turning red. "No more than you desire the +withered bud you left beside me while I slept." + +"What bud, sir?" + +"Did you not leave me a rose-bud?" + +"I?" + +"And a bit of silver birch-bark scratched with a knife point?" + +"Now that I think of it, perhaps I may have done so--or some such +thing--scarce knowing what I was about--and being sleepy. What was it +that I wrote? I can not now remember--being so sleepy when I did it." + +"And that is all you thought about it, Lois?" + +"How can one think when half asleep'' + +"Here is your rose," I said angrily. "I will take my ring again." + +She opened her grey eyes at that. + +"Lord!" she murmured in an innocent and leisurely surprise. "You have +it still, my rose? Are roses scarce where you inhabit, sir? For if you +find the flower so rare and curious I would not rob you of it--no!" +And, bending, soaked and soaped another shirt. + +"Why do you mock me, Lois?" + +"I! Mock you! La! Sir, you surely jest." + +"You do so! You have done so ever since we met. I ask you why?" I +repeated, curbing my temper. + +"Lord!" she murmured, shaking her head. "The young man is surely going +stark! A girl in my condition--such a girl as I mock at an officer and +a gentleman? No, it is beyond all bounds; and this young man is +suffering from the sun." + +"Were it not," said I angrily, "that common humanity brought me here +and bids me remain for the moment, I would not endure this." + +"Heaven save us all!" she sighed. "How very young is this young man who +comes complaining here that he is mocked--when all I ventured was to +marvel that he had found a wild rose-bud so rare and precious!" + +I said to myself: "Damn! Damn!" in fierce vexation, yet knew not how to +take her nor how to save my dignity. And she, with head averted, was +laughing silently; I could see that, too; and never in my life had I +been so flouted to my face. + +"Listen to me!" I broke out bluntly. "I know not who or what you are, +why you are here, whither you are bound. But this I do know, that +beyond our pickets there is peril in these woods, and it is madness for +man or maid to go alone as you do." + +The laughter had died out in her face. After a moment it became grave. + +"Was it to tell me this that you spoke to me in the fort, Mr. Loskiel?" +she asked. + +"Yes, Two days ago our pickets were fired on by Indians. Last night two +riflemen of our corps took as many Seneca scalps. Do you suppose that +when I heard of these affairs I did not think of you--remembering what +was done but yesterday at Cherry Valley?" + +"Did you--remember--me?" + +"Good God, yes!" I exclaimed, my nerves on edge again at the mere +memory of her rashness. "I came here as a comrade--wishing to be of +service, and--you have used me----" + +"Vilely," she said, looking serenely at me. + +"I did not say that, Lois----" + +"I say it, Mr. Loskiel. And yet--I told you where to find me. That is +much for me to tell to any man. Let that count a little to my damaged +credit with you.... And--I still wear the ring you gave.... And left a +rose for you, Let these things count a little in my favour. For you can +scarcely guess how much of courage it had cost me." She knelt there, +her bared arms hanging by her side, the sun bright on her curls, +staring at me out of those strange, grey eyes. + +"Since I have been alone," she said in a low voice, "no man--unless by +a miracle it be you--has offered me a service or a kindness except that +he awaited his reward. Soon or late their various songs became the same +familiar air. It is the only song I've heard from men--with endless +variations, truly, often and cunningly disguised--yet ever the same and +sorry theme.... Men are what God made them; God has seemed to fashion +me to their liking--I scarce know how--seeing I walk in rags, unkempt, +and stained with wind and rain, and leaf and earth and sun." + +She made a childish gesture, sweeping the curls aside with both her +hands: + +"I sheared my hair! Look at me, sir--a wild thing in a ragged shift and +tattered gown--all burnt and roughened with the sun and wind--not even +clean to look on--yet that I am!--and with no friend to speak to save +an Indian.... I ask you, sir, what it is in me--and what lack of pride +must lie in men that I can not trust myself to the company of one among +them--not one! Be he officer, or common soldier--all are the same." + +She dropped her head, and, thoughtfully, her hands again crept up and +wandered over her cheeks and hair, the while her grey eyes, fixed and +remote, seemed lost in speculation. Then she looked up again: + +"Why should I think to find you different?" she asked, "Is any man +different from his fellows, humble or great? Is it not man himself, not +only men, that I must face as I have faced you--with silence, or with +sullen speech, or with a hardness far beyond my years, and a gaiety +that means nothing more kind than insolence?" + +Again her head fell on her breast, and her hands linked themselves on +her knees as she knelt there in silence. + +"Lois," I said, trying to think clearly, "I do not know that other men +and I are different. Once I believed so. But--lately--I do not know. +Yet, I know this: selfish or otherwise, I can not endure the thought of +you in peril." + +She looked at me very gravely; then dropped her head once more. + +"I don't know," I said desperately, "I wish to be honest--tell you no +lie--tell none to myself. I--your beauty--has touched me--or whatever +it is about you that attracts. And, whatever gown you go in, I scarcely +see it--somehow--finding you so--so strangely--lovely--in speech +also--and in--every way.... And now that I have not lied to you--or to +myself--in spite of what I have said, let me be useful to you. For I +can be; and perhaps these other sentiments will pass away----" + +She looked up so suddenly that I ceased speaking, fearful of a rebuff; +but saw only the grave, grey eyes looking straight into mine, and a +sudden, deeper colour waning from her cheeks. + +"Whatever I am," said I, "I can be what I will. Else I were no man. If +your--beauty--has moved me, that need not concern you--and surely not +alarm you. A woman's beauty is her own affair. Men take their chance +with it--as I take mine with yours--that it do me no deep damage. And +if it do, or do not, our friendship is still another matter; for it +means that I wish you well, desire to aid you, ease your burdens, make +you secure and safe, vary your solitude with a friendly word--I mean, +Lois, to be to you a real comrade, if you will. Will you?" + +After a moment she said: + +"What was it that you said about my--beauty?" + +"I take my chances that it do me no deep damage." + +"Oh! Am I to take my chance, too?" + +"What chance?" + +"That--your kindness do me--no damage?" + +"What senseless talk is this you utter?" + +She shook her head slowly, then: + +"What a strange boy! I do not fear you." + +"Fear me?" I repeated, flushing hotly. "What is there to fear? I am +neither yokel nor beast." + +"They say a gentleman should be more dreaded." + +I stared at her, then laughed: + +"Ask yourself how far you need have dread of me--when, if you desire +it, you can leave me dumb, dismayed, lip-bound by your mocking +tongue--which God knows well I fear." + +"Is my tongue so bitter then? I did not know it." + +"I know it," said I with angry emphasis. "And I tell you very freely +that----" + +She stole a curious glance at me. Something halted me--an expression I +had never yet seen there in her face, twitching at her lips--hovering +on them now--parting them in a smile so sweet and winning that, +silenced by the gracious transformation, unexpected, I caught my +breath, astonished. + +"What is your given name?" she asked, still dimpling at me, and her +eyes now but two blue wells of light. + +"Euan," I said, foolish as a flattered schoolboy, and as awkward. + +"Euan," she said, still smiling at me, "I think that I could be your +friend--if you do truly wish it. What is it you desire of me? Ask me +once more, and make it very clear and plain." + +"Only your confidence; that is all I ask." + +"Oh! Is that all you ask of me?" she mimicked mockingly; but so sweet +her smile, and soft her voice, that I did not mind her words. + +"Remember," said I, "that I am older than you. You are to tell me all +that troubles you." + +"When?" + +"Now." + +"No. I have my washing to complete, And you must go. Besides, I have +mending, darning, and my knitting yet to do. It all means bed and bait +to me." + +"Will you not tell me why you are alone here, Lois?" + +"Tell you what? Tell you why I loiter by our soldiers' camps like any +painted drab? I will tell you this much; I need no longer play that +shameless role." + +"You need not use those words in the same breath when speaking of +yourself," I answered hotly. + +"Then--you do not credit ill of me?" she asked, a bright but somewhat +fixed and painful smile on her red lips. + +"No!" said I bluntly. "Nor did I ever." + +"And yet I look the part, and seem to play it, too. And still you +believe me honest?" + +"I know you are." + +"Then why should I be here alone--if I am honest, Euan?" + +"I do not know; tell me." + +"But--are you quite certain that you do not ask because you doubt me?" + +I said impatiently: "I ask, knowing already you are good above +reproach. I ask so I may understand how best to aid you." + +A lovely colour stole into her cheeks. + +"You are kind, Euan. And it is true--though--" and she shrugged her +shoulders, "what other man would credit it?" She lifted her head a +little and looked at me with clear, proud eyes: + +"Well, let them say what they may in fort and barracks twixt this +frontier and Philadelphia. The truth remains that I have been no man's +mistress and am no trull. Euan, I have starved that I might remain +exactly what I am at this moment. I swear to you that I stand here +unsullied and unstained under this untainted sky which the same God +made who fashioned me. I have known shame and grief and terror; I have +lain cold and ill and sleepless; I have wandered roofless, hunted, +threatened, mocked, beset by men and vice. Soldiers have used me +roughly--you yourself saw, there at the Poundridge barracks! And only +you among all men saw truly. Why should I not give to you my +friendship, unashamed?" + +"Give it," I said, more deeply moved than ever I had been. + +"I do! I do! Rightly or wrongly, now, at last, and in the end, I give +my honest heart and friendship to a man!" And with a quick and winning +gesture she offered me her hand; and I took it firmly in my clasp, and +fell a-trembling so I could not find a word to utter. + +"Come to me to-night, Euan," she said. "I lodge yonder. There is a poor +widow there--a Mrs. Rannock--who took me in. They killed her husband in +November. I am striving to repay her for the food and shelter she +affords me. I have been given mending and washing at the fort. You see +I am no leech to fasten on a body and nourish me for nothing. So I do +what I am able. Will you come to me this night?" + +"Yes." But I could not yet speak steadily. + +"Come then; I--I will tell you something of my miserable condition--if +you desire to know.... Truly I think, speaking to no one, this long and +unhappy silence has eaten and corroded part of me within--so ill am I +at moments with the pain and shame I've borne so long--so long, Euan! +Ah--you do not--know.... And it may be that when you do come to-night I +have repented of my purposes--locked up my wounded heart again. But I +shall try to tell you--something. For I need somebody--need kindly +council very sorely, Euan. And even the Sagamore now fails me--on the +threshold----" + +"What?" + +"He means it for the best; he fears for me. I will tell you how it is +with me when you come to-night. I truly desire to tell you--I--I need +to tell you. Will you come to me?" + +"On my honour, Lois." + +"Then--if you please, will you leave me now? I must do my washing and +mending--and----" she smiled, "if you only knew how desperately I need +what money I may earn. My garments, Euan, are like to fall from me if +these green cockspur thorns give way." + +"But, Lois," I said, "I have brought you money!" And I fished from any +hunting shirt a great, thick packet of those poor paper dollars, now in +such contempt that scarce five hundred of them counted for a dozen +good, hard shillings. + +"What are you doing?" she said, so coldly that I ceased counting the +little squares of currency and looked up at her surprised. + +"I am sharing my pay with you," said I. "I have no silver--only these." + +"I can not take--money!" + +"What?" + +"Did you suppose I could?" + +"Comrades have a common purse; Why not?" + +For a few moments her face wore the same strange expression, then, of a +sudden her eyes filled and closed convulsively, and she turned her +head, motioning me to leave her. + +"Will you not share with me?" I asked, very hot about the ears. + +She shook her head and I saw her shoulders heave once or twice. + +"Lois," I said gravely, "did you fear I hoped for some--reward? +Child--little comrade--only the happiness of aiding you is what I ask +for. Share with me then, I beg you. I am not poor." + +"No--I can not, Euan," she answered in a stifled voice. "Is there any +shame to you in sharing with me?" + +"Wait," she whispered. "Wait till you hear. And--thank you--for--your +kindness." + +"I will be here to-night," I said. "And when we know each other better +we will share a common purse." + +She did not answer me. + +I lingered for a moment, desiring to reassure and comfort her, but knew +not how. And so, as she did not turn, I finally went away through the +sunlit willows, leaving her kneeling there alone beside the golden +pool, her bright head drooping and her hands still covering her face. + +As I walked back slowly to the fort, I pondered how to be of aid to +her; and knew not how. Had there been the ladies of any officers with +the army now, I should have laid her desperate case before them; but +all had gone back to Albany before our scout of three returned from +Westchester. + +Here on the river, within our lines, while the army remained, she would +be safe enough from forest peril. Yet I burned and raged to think of +the baser peril ever threatening her among men of her own speech and +colour. I suppose, considering her condition, they had a right to think +her that which she was not and never had been. For honesty and maiden +virtue never haunted camps. Only two kinds of women tramped with +regiments--the wives of soldiers, and their mistresses. + +Yet, somehow her safety must be now arranged, her worth and virtue +clearly understood, her needs and dire necessities made known, so that +when our army moved she might find a shelter, kind and respectable, +within the Middle Fort, or at Schenectady, or anywhere inside our lines. + +My pay was small; yet, having no soul dependent on my bounty and +needing little myself, I had saved these pitiable dollars that our +Congress paid us. Besides, I had a snug account with my solicitor in +Albany. She might live on that. I did not need it; seldom drew a penny; +my pay more than sufficing. And, after the war had ended--ended---- + +Just here my heart beat out o' step, and thought was halted for a +moment. But with the warm thought and warmer blood tingling me once +again, I knew and never doubted that we had not done with one another +yet, nor were like to, war or no war. For in all the world, and through +all the years of youth, I had never before encountered any woman who +had shared with me my waking thoughts and the last and conscious moment +ere I slept. But from the time I lost this woman out of my life, +something seemed also missing from the world. And when again I found +her, life and the world seemed balanced and well rounded once again. +And in my breast a strange calm rested me. + +As I walked along the rutty lake road, all hatched and gashed by the +artillery, I made up my mind to one matter. "She must have clothes!" +thought I, "and that's flat!" Perhaps not such as befitted her, but +something immediate, and not in tatters--something stout that +threatened not to part and leave her naked. For the brier-torn rags she +wore scarce seemed to hold together; and her small, shy feet peeped +through her gaping shoon in snowy hide-and-seek. + +Now, coming hither from the fort, I had already noticed on the +Stoney-Kill where our Oneidas lay encamped. So when I sighted the first +painted tree and saw the stone pipe hanging, I made for it, and found +there the Indians smoking pipes and not in war paint; and their women +and children were busy with their gossip, near at hand. + +As I had guessed, there by the fire lay a soft and heavy pack of +doeskins, open, and a pretty Oneida matron sewing Dutch wampum on a +painted sporran for her warrior lord. + +The lean and silent warriors came up as I approached, sullenly at +first, not knowing what treatment to expect--more shame to the skin we +take our pride in! + +One after another took the hand I offered in self-respecting silence. + +"Brothers," I said, "I come to buy. Sooner or later your young men will +put on red paint and oil their bodies. Even now I see your rifles and +your hatchets have been polished. Sooner or later the army will move +four hundred miles through a wilderness so dark that neither sun nor +moon nor stars can penetrate. The old men, the women, the children, and +the littlest ones still strapped to the cradle-board, must then remain +behind. Is it the truth I speak, my brothers?" + +"It is the truth," they answered very quietly, "Then," said I, "they +will require food and money to buy with. Is it not true, Oneidas?" + +"It is true, brother." + +I smiled and turned toward the women who were listening, and who now +looked up at me with merry faces. + +"I have," said I, "four hundred dollars. It is for the Oneida maid or +matron who will sell to me her pretty bridal dress of doeskin--the +dress which she has made and laid aside and never worn. I buy her +marriage dress. And she will make another for herself against the hour +of need." + +Two or three girls leaped laughing to their feet; but, "Wait!" said I. +"This is for my little sister; and I must judge you where you stand, +Oneida forest flowers, so I may know which one among you is most like +my little sister in height and girth and narrow feet." + +"Is our elder brother's little sister fat and comely?" inquired one +giggling and over-plump Oneida maid. + +"Not plump," I said; and they all giggled. + +Another short one stood on tip-toe, asking bashfully if she were not +the proper height to suit me. + +But there was a third, graceful and slender, who had risen with the +rest, and who seemed to me nearer a match to Lois. Also, her naked, +dusky feet were small and shapely. + +At a smiling nod from me she hastened into the family lodge and +presently reappeared with the cherished clothing. Fresh and soft and +new, she cast the garments on the moss and spread them daintily and +proudly to my view for me to mark her wondrous handiwork. And it was +truly pretty--from the soft, wampum-broidered shirt with its hanging +thrums, to the clinging skirt and delicate thigh-moccasins, wonderfully +fringed with purple and inset in most curious designs with painted +quills and beads and blue diamond-fronds from feathers of a little +jay-bird's wing. + +Bit by bit I counted out the currency; and it took some little time. +But when it was done she took it eagerly enough, laughing her thanks +and dancing away toward her lodge. And if her dusky sisters envied her +they smiled on me no less merrily as I took my leave of them. And very +courteously a stately chief escorted me to the campfire's edge. The +Oneidas were ever gentlemen; and their women gently bred. + +Once more at my own hut door, I entered, with a nod to Mayaro, who sat +smoking there in freshened war paint. One quick and penetrating glance +he darted at the Oneida garment on my arm, but except for that betrayed +no curiosity. + +"Well, Mayaro," said I, in excellent spirits, "you still wear war paint +hopefully, I see. But this army will never start within the week." + +The Siwanois smiled to himself and smoked. Then he passed the pipe to +me. I drew it twice, rendered it. + +"Come," said I, "have you then news that we take the war-trail soon?" + +"The war-trail is always open for those who seek it. When my younger +brother makes ready for a trail, does he summon it to come to him by +magic, or does he seek it on his two legs?" + +"Are you hoping to go out with the scout to-night?" I asked. "That +would not do." + +"I go to-night with my brother Loskiel--to take the air," he said slyly. + +"That may not be," I protested, disconcerted. "I have business abroad +to-night." + +"And I," he said very seriously; but he glanced again at the pretty +garments on my arm and gave me a merry look. + +"Yes," said I, smilingly, "they are for her. The little lady hath no +shoon, no skirt that holds together, save by the grace of cockspur +thorns that bind the tatters. Those I have bought of an Oneida girl. +And if they do not please her, yet these at least will hold together. +And I shall presently write a letter to Albany and send it by the next +batteau to my solicitor, who will purchase for her garments far more +suitable, and send them to the fort where soon, I trust, she will be +lodged in fashion more befitting." + +The Sagamore's face had become smooth and expressionless. I laid aside +the garments, fished out quill and inkhorn, and, lying flat on the +ground, wrote my letter to Albany, describing carefully the maid who +was to be fitted, her height, the smallness of her waist and foot as +well as I remembered. I wrote, too, that she was thin, but not too +thin. Also I bespoke a box of French hair-powder for her, and buckled +shoes of Paddington, and stockings, and a kerchief. + +"You know better than do I," I wrote, "having a sister to care for, how +women dress. They should have shifts, and hair-pegs, and a scarf, and +fan, and stays, and scent, and hankers, and a small laced hat, not +gilded; cloak, foot-mantle, sun-mask, and a chip hat to tie beneath the +chin, and one such as they call after the pretty Mistress Gunning. If +women wear banyans, I know not, but whatever they do wear in their own +privacy at morning chocolate, in the French fashion, and whatever they +do sleep in, buy and box and send to me. And all the money banked with +you, put it in her name as well as mine, so that her draughts on it may +all be honoured. And this is her name----" + +I stopped, dismayed, I did not know her name! And I was about to sign +for her full power to share my every penny! Yet, my amazing madness did +not strike me as amazing or grotesque, that, within the hour, a maid in +a condition such as hers was to divide my tidy fortune with me. Nay, +more--for when I signed this letter she would be free to take what she +desired and even leave me destitute. + +I laughed at the thought--so midsummer mad was I upon that sunny July +afternoon; and within me, like a hidden thicket full of birds, my heart +was singing wondrous tunes I never knew one note of. + +"O Sagamore," I said, lifting my head, "tell me her surname now, +because I need it for this business. And I forgot to ask her at the +Spring Waiontha." + +For a full minute the Indian's countenance turned full on me remained +moon-blank. Then, like lightning, flashed his smile. + +"Loskiel, my friend, and now my own blood-brother, what magic singing +birds have so enchanted your two ears. She is but a child, lonely and +ragged--a tattered leaf still green, torn from the stem by storm and +stress, blown through the woodlands and whirled here and yonder by +every breath of wind. Is it fit that my brother Loskiel should notice +such a woman?" + +"She is in need, my brother." + +"Give, and pass on, Loskiel." + +"That is not giving, O my brother." + +"Is it to give alone, Loskiel? Or is it to give--that she may render +all?" + +"Yes, honestly to give. Not to take." + +"And yet you know her not, Loskiel." + +"But I shall know her yet! She has so promised. If she is friendless, +she shall be our friend. For you and I are one, O Sagamore! If she is +cold, naked, or hungry, we will build for her a fire, and cover her, +and give her meat. Our lodge shall be her lodge; our friends hers, her +enemies ours. I know not how this all has come to me, Mayaro, my +friend--even as I know not how your friendship came to me, or how now +our honour is lodged forever in each other's keeping. But it is true. +Our blood has made us of one race and parentage." + +"It is the truth," he said. + +"Then tell me her name, that I may write it to my friend in Albany." + +"I do not know it," he said quietly. + +"She never told you?" + +"Never," he said. "Listen, Loskiel. What I now tell to you with heart +all open and my tongue unloosened, is all I know of her. It was in +winter that she came to Philipsburgh, all wrapped in her red cloak. The +White Plains Indians were there, and she was ever at their camp asking +the same and endless question." + +"What question, Mayaro?" + +"That I shall also tell you, for I overheard it. But none among the +White Plains company could answer her; no, nor no Congress soldier that +she asked. + +"The soldiers were not unkind; they offered food and fire--as soldiers +do, Loskiel," he added, with a flash of Contempt for men who sought +what no Siwanois, no Iroquois, ever did seek of any maiden or any +chaste and decent woman, white or red. + +"I know," I said. "Continue." + +"I offered shelter," he said simply. "I am a Siwanois. No women need to +dread Mohicans. She learned this truth from me for the first time, I +think. Afterward, pitying her, I watched her how she went from camp to +camp. Some gave her mending to do, some washing, enabling her to live. +I drew clothing and arms and rations as a Hudson guide enrolled, and +together she and I made out to live. Then, in the spring, Major +Lockwood summoned me to carry intelligence between the lines. And she +came with me, asking at every camp the same strange question; and ever +the soldiers laughed and plagued and courted her, offering food and +fire and shelter--but not the answer to her question. And one day--the +day you came to Poundridge-town--and she had sought for me through that +wild storm--I met her by the house as I came from North Castle with +news of horsemen riding in the rain." + +He leaned forward, looking at me steadily. + +"Loskiel," he said, "when first I heard your name from her, and that it +was you who wanted Mayaro, suddenly it seemed to me that magic was +being made. And--I myself gave her her answer--the answer to the +question she had asked at every camp." + +"Good God!" said I, "did you, then know the answer all the while? And +never told her?" But at the same moment I understood how perfectly +characteristic of an Indian had been his conduct. + +"I knew," he said tranquilly, "but I did not know why this maiden +wished to know. Therefore was I silent." + +"Why did you not ask her?" But before he spake I knew why too. + +"Does a Sagamore ask idle questions of a woman?" he said coldly. "Do +the Siwanois babble?" + +"No. And yet--and yet----" + +"Birds sing, maidens chatter. A Mohican considers ere his tongue is +loosed." + +"Aye--it is your nature, Sagamore.... But tell me--what was it in the +mention of my name that made you think of magic?" + +"Loskiel, you came two hundred miles to ask of me the question that +this maid had asked in every camp." + +"What question?" + +"Where lay the trail to Catharines-town," he said. + +"Did she ask that?" I demanded in astonishment. + +"It was ever the burden of her piping--this rosy-throated pigeon of the +woods." + +"That is most strange," said I. + +"It is doubtless sorcery that she should ask of me an interview with +you who came two hundred miles to ask of me the very question." + +"But, Mayaro, she did not then know why I had come to seek you." + +"I knew as quickly as I heard your name." + +"How could you know before you saw me and I had once made plain my +business?" + +"Birds come and go; but eagles see their natal nest once more before +they die." + +"I do not understand you, Mayaro." + +He made no answer. + +"Merely to hear my name from this child's lips, you say you guessed my +business with you?" + +"Surely, Loskiel--surely. It was all done by magic. And, at once, I +knew that I should also speak to her, there in the storm, and answer +her her question." + +"And did you do so?" + +"Yes, Loskiel. I said to her: 'Little sad rosy-throated pigeon of the +woods, the vale Yndaia lies by a hidden river in the West. Some call it +Catharines-town.'" + +I shook my head, perplexed, and understanding nothing. + +"Yndaia? Did you say Yndaia, Mayaro?" + +Then, as he looked me steadily in the eye, my gaze became uneasy, +shifted, fell by an accident upon the blood-red bear reared on his hind +legs, pictured upon his breast. And through and through me passed a +shock, like the dull thrill of some forgotten thing clutched suddenly +by memory--yet clutched in vain. + +Vain was the struggle, too, for the faint gleam passed from my mind as +it had come; and if the name Yndaia had disturbed me, or seeing the +scarlet ensign on his breast, or perhaps both coupled, had seemed to +stir some distant memory, I did not know. Only it seemed as though, in +mental darkness, I had felt the presence of some living and familiar +thing--been conscious of its nearness for an instant ere it had +vanished utterly. + +The Sagamore's face had become a smooth, blank mask again. + +"What has this maid, Lois, to do with Catharines-town?" I asked. +"Devils live there in darkness." + +"She did not say." + +"You do not know?" + +"No, Loskiel." + +"But," said I, troubled, "why did she journey hither?" + +"Because she now believes that only I in all the world could guide her +to the vale Yndaia; and that one day I will pity her and take her +there." + +"Doubtless," I said anxiously, "she has heard at the forts or +hereabouts that we are to march on Catharines-town." + +"She knows it now, Loskiel" + +"And means to follow?" I exclaimed in horror. + +"My brother speaks the truth." + +"God! What urges the child thither?" + +"I do not know, Loskiel. It seems as though a madness were upon her +that she must go to Catharines-town. I tell you there is sorcery in all +this. I say it--I, a Sagamore of the Enchanted Wolf. Who should know +magic when it stirs but I, of the Siwanois--the Magic Clan? Say what +you will, my comrade and blood-brother, there is sorcery abroad; and +well I know who wrought it, spinning with spiders' webs there by the +lost Lake of Kendaia----" He shuddered slightly. "There by the black +waters of the lake--that hag--and all her spawn!" + +"Catharine Montour!" + +"The Toad-woman herself--and all her spawn." + +"The Senecas?" + +"And the others," he said in a low voice. + +A sudden and terrible misgiving assailed me. I swallowed, and then said +slowly: + +"Two scalps were taken late last night by Murphy and Elerson. And the +scalps were not of the Mohawk. Not Oneida, nor Onondaga, nor Cayuga. +Mayaro!" I gasped. "So help me God, those scalps are never Seneca!" + +"Erie!" he exclaimed with a mixture of rage and horror. And I saw his +sinewy hand quivering on his knife-hilt. "Listen, Loskiel! I knew it! +No one has told me. I have sat here all the day alone, making my steel +bright and my paint fresher, and singing to myself my people's songs. +And ever as I sat at the lodge door, something in the summer wind +mocked at me and whispered to me of demons. And when I rose and stood +at gaze, troubled, and minding every river-breeze, faintly I seemed to +scent the taint of evil. If those two scalps be Erie, then where the +Cat-People creep their Sorcerer will be found." + +"Amochol," I repeated under my breath. And shivered. + +For, deep in the secret shadows of that dreadful place where this vile +hag, Catharine Montour, ruled it in Catharines-town, dwelt also all +that now remained of the Cat-Nation--Eries--People of the Cat--a dozen, +it was rumoured, scarcely more--and demons all, serving that horrid +warlock, Amochol, the Sorcerer of the Senecas. + +What dreadful rites this red priest and his Eries practiced there, none +knew, unless it were true that the False Faces knew. But rumour +whispered with a thousand tongues of horrors viewless, nameless, +inconceivable; and that far to the westward Biskoonah yawned, so close +indeed to the world's surface that the waters boiling deep in hell +burst into burning fountains in the magic garden where the red priest +made his sorcery, alone. + +These things I had heard, but vaguely, here and there--a word perhaps +at Johnson Hall, a whisper at Fort Johnson, rumours discussed at Guy +Park and Schenectady when I was young. But ever the same horror of it +filled me, though I believed it not, knowing full well there were no +witches, sorcerers, or warlocks in the world; yet, in my soul disturbed +concerning what might pass deep in the shadows of that viewless Empire. + +"Mayaro," I said seriously, "do you go instantly to the fort and view +those scalps." + +"Were the braids fastened at the roots with tree-cat claws?" + +"Aye!" + +"No need to view them, then, Loskiel." + +"Are they truly Erie?" + +"Cats!" He spat the word from his lips and his eyes blazed. + +"And--Amochol!" I asked unsteadily. + +"The Cat People creep with the Seneca high priest, mewing under the +moon." + +"Then--he is surely here?" + +"Aye, Loskiel." + +"God!" said I, now all a-quiver; "only to slay him! Only to end this +demon-thing, this poison spawn of the Woman-Toad! Only to glimpse his +scarlet rags fairly along my rifle sight!" + +"No bullets touch him." + +"That is nonsense, Mayaro----" + +"No, Loskiel." + +"I tell you he is human! There are no sorcerers on earth. There never +were--except the Witch of Endor----" + +"I never heard of her. But the Witch of Catharines-town is living. And +her warlock offspring, Amochol!" He squared his broad shoulders, +shaking them. "What do I care?" he said. "I am a Sagamore of the +Enchanted Clan!" He struck the painted symbol on his chest. "What do I +care for this red priest's sorcery--I, who wear the great Witch Bear +rearing in scarlet here across my breast! + +"Let the Cat People make their magic! Let Amochol sacrifice to Leshi in +Biskoonah! Let their accursed Atensi watch the Mohicans from behind the +moon. Mayaro is a Sagamore and his clan are Sachems; and the clan was +old--old--old, O little brother, before their Hiawatha came to them and +made their League for them, and returned again to The Master of Life in +his silver cloud-canoe! + +"And I say to you, O my blood-brother, that between this sorcerer and +me is now a war such as no Mohican ever waged and no man living, white +or red, has ever seen. His magic will I fight with magic; his knife and +hatchet shall be turned on mine! And I shall deceive and trick and mock +him--him and his Erie Cats, till one by one their scalps shall swing +above a clean Mohican fire. O Loskiel, my brother, and my other self, a +warrior and a Sagamore has spoken. Go, now, to your evening tryst in +peace and leave me. For in my ears the Seven Chiefs are whispering--The +Thunderers. And Tamanund must hear my speech and read my heart. And the +long roll of our Mohican dead must be recited--here and alone by +me--the only one who has that right since Uncas died and the Mohican +priesthood ended, save for the Sagamores of the Magic Clan. + +"Go, now, my brother. Go in peace." + + + +CHAPTER VII + +LOIS + +When I came to the log house by the Spring Waiontha, lantern in hand +and my packet tucked beneath my arm, it was twilight, and the starless +skies threatened rain. Road and field and forest were foggy and silent; +and I thought of the first time I had ever set eyes on Lois, in the +late afternoon stillness which heralded a coming storm. + +I had with me, as I say, a camp lantern which enabled me to make my way +through the thicket to the Spring Waiontha. Not finding her there, I +retraced my steps and crossed the charred and dreary clearing to the +house of logs. + +No light burned within; doubtless this widow woman was far too poor to +afford a light of any sort. But my lantern still glimmered, and I went +up to the splintered door and rapped. + +Lois opened it, her knitting gathered in her hand, and stood aside for +me to enter. + +At first, so dusky was the room that I perceived no other occupant +beside ourselves. Then Lois said: "Mrs. Rannock, Mr. Loskiel, of whom I +spoke at supper, is to be made known to you." + +Then first I saw a slight and ghostly figure rise, take shape in the +shadows, and move slowly into my lantern's feeble beams----a frail and +pallid woman, who made her reverence as though dazed, and uttered not a +word. + +Lois whispered in my ear: + +"She scarcely seems to know she is alive, since Cherry Valley. A Tory +slew her little sister with a hatchet; then her husband fell; and then, +before her eyes, a blue-eyed Indian pinned her baby to its cradle with +a bayonet." + +I crossed the room to where she stood, offering my hand; and she laid +her thin and work-worn fingers listlessly in mine. + +"Madam," I said gently, "there are today two thousand widows such as +you betwixt Oriska and Schenectady. And, to our cause, each one of you +is worth a regiment of men, your sorrows sacred to us all, +strengthening our vows, steeling us to a fierce endeavour. No innocent +death in this long war has been in vain; no mother's agony. Yet, only +God can comfort such as you." + +She shook her head slowly. + +"No God can comfort me," she said, in a voice so lifeless that it +sounded flat as the words that sleepers utter, dreaming of trouble. + +"Shall we be seated outside on the door-sill?" whispered Lois. "The +only seat within is on the settle, where she sits." + +"Is this the only room?" + +"Yes--save for the mouse-loft, where I sleep on last year's corn-husks. +Shall we sit outside? We can speak very low. She will not heed us." + +Pity for all this stark and naked wretchedness left me silent; then, as +the lantern's rays fell on this young girl's rags, I remembered my +packet. + +"Yes, we will sit outside. But first, I bring you a little gift----" + +She looked up quickly and drew back a step, "Oh, but such a little +gift, Lois--a nothing--a mere jest of mine which we shall enjoy between +us. Take it as I offer it, lightly, and without constraint." + +Reluctantly she permitted me to lay the packet in her arms, displeasure +still darkening her brow. Then I set my lantern on the puncheon floor +and stepped outside, closing the hatchet-battered door behind me. + +How long I paced the foggy strip of clearing I do not know. The mist +had thickened to rain when I heard the door creak; and, turning in my +tracks, caught the lantern's sparkle on the threshold, and the dull +gleam of her Oneida finery. + +I picked up the lantern and held it high above us. + +Smiling and bashful she stood there in her clinging skirt and +wampum-broidered vest, her slender, rounded limbs moulded into soft +knee-moccasins of fawn-skin, and the Virgin's Girdle knotted across her +thighs in silver-tasselled seawan. + +And, "Lord!" said I, surprised by the lovely revelation. "What a +miracle are you in your forest masquerade!" + +"Am I truly fine to please you, Euan?" + +I said, disturbed, but striving to speak lightly: + +"Little Oneida goddess in your bridal dress, the Seven Dancers are +laughing at me from your eyes; and the Day-Sun and the Night-Sun hang +from your sacred girdle, making it flash like silvery showers of +seawan. Salute, O Watcher at the Gates of Dawn! Onwa oyah! Na-i! A-i! +Lois!" And I drew my light war-hatchet from its sheath and raised it +sparkling, in salute. + +She laughed a little, blushed a little, and bent her dainty head to +view her finery once more, examining it gravely to the last red quill +sewed to the beaded toe-point. + +Then, still serious, she lifted her grey eyes to me: + +"I seem to find no words to thank you, Euan. But my heart +is--very--full----" She hesitated, then stretched forth her hand to me, +smiling; and as I touched it ceremoniously with finger-tip and lip: + +"Ai-me!" she exclaimed, withdrawing under shelter. "It is raining, +Euan! Your rifle-shirt is wet already, and you are like to take a +chill! Come under shelter instantly!" + +"Fancy a man of Morgan's with a chill!" I said, but nevertheless obeyed +her, set the lantern on the puncheon floor, brushed the fine drops from +thrums and hatchet-sheath, rubbed the bright-edged little axe with +buck-skinned elbow, and wiped my heavy knife from hilt to blade. + +As I looked up, busy with my side-arms, I caught her eye. We smiled at +each other; then, as though a common instinct stirred us to caution, we +turned and looked silently toward the settle in the corner, where the +widow sat brooding alone. + +"May we speak freely here, Lois?" I whispered. + +She cast a cautious glance at the shadowy figure, then, lowering her +voice and leaning nearer: + +"I scarcely know whether she truly heeds and hears. She may +not--yet--she may. And I do not care to share my confidences with +anyone--save you. I promised to tell you something about myself.... I +mean to, some day." + +"Then you will not tell me now?" + +"How can I, Euan?" + +We stood silent, thinking. Presently my eyes fell on the rough ladder +leading to the loft above. She followed my gaze, hesitated, shot a keen +and almost hostile glance at me, softened and coloured, then stole +across the room to the ladder's foot. + +I lifted the lantern, followed her, and mounted, lighting the way for +her along low-hanging eaves among the rustling husks. She dropped the +trap-door silently, above the ladder, took the lantern from my hand, +set it on the floor, and seated herself beside it on the husks, her +cheeks still brightly flushed. + +"Is this then your intimate abode?" I asked, half-smiling. + +"Could I desire a snugger one?" she answered gaily. "Here is both +warmth and shelter; and a clean bed of husks; and if I am lonely, there +be friendly little mice to bear me company o' nights. And here my mice +and I lie close and listen to the owls." + +"And you were reared in comfort!" I said with sudden bitterness. + +She looked up quickly, then, shrugging her shoulders: + +"There is still some comfort for those who can remember their brief day +of ease--none for those who never knew it. I have had days of comfort." + +"What age are you, Lois?" + +"Twenty, I think." + +"Scarce that!" I insisted. + +"Do I not seem so?" she asked, smiling. + +"Eighteen at most--save for the--sadness--in your eyes that now and +then surprises me--if it be sadness that I read there." + +"Perhaps it is the wisdom I have learned--a knowledge that means +sadness, Euan. Do my eyes betray it, then, so plainly?" + +"Sometimes," I said, A faint sound from below arrested our attention. + +Lois whispered: + +"It is Mrs. Rannock weeping. She often weeps like that at night. And so +would I, Euan, had I beheld the horrors which this poor thing was born +to look upon--God comfort her! Have you never heard how the +destructives slew her husband, her baby, and her little sister eight +years old? The baby lay in its cradle smiling up at its murderers. Even +the cruel Senecas turned aside, forbearing to harm it. But one of +Walter Butler's painted Tories spies it and bawls out: 'This also will +grow to be a rebel!' And with that he speared the little smiling +creature on his bayonet, tossed it, and caught it--Oh, Euan--Euan!" +Shuddering, she flung her arm across her face as though to shut out the +vision. + +"That villainy," said I, "was done by Newberry or Chrysler, if I +remember. And Newberry we caught and hung before we went to +Westchester. I saw him hang with that wretched Lieutenant Hare. God! +how we cheered by regiments marching back to camp!" + +Through the intense stillness I could still hear the woman sobbing in +the dark below. + +"Lois--little Lois," I whispered, touching her trembling arm with a +hand quite as unsteady. + +She dropped her arm from her face, looking up at me with eyes widened +still in horror. + +I said: "Do you then wonder that the thought of you, roaming these +woods alone, is become a living dread to me, so that I think of nothing +else?" + +She smiled wanly, and sat thinking for a while, her pale face pressed +between her hands. Presently she looked up. + +"Are we so truly friends then, Euan? At the Spring Waiontha it almost +seemed as though it could come true." + +"You know it has come true." + +"Do I?" + +"Do you not know it, little Lois?" + +"I seem to know it, somehow.... Tell me, Euan, does a true and +deathless friendship with a man--with you--mean that I am to strip my +heart of every secret, hiding nothing from you?" + +"Dare you do it, Lois?" I said laughingly, yet thrilled with the +candour of her words. + +"I could not let you think me better than I am. That would be stealing +friendship from you. But if you give it when you really know me--that +will be dear and wonderful----" She drew a swift breath and smiled. + +Surprised, then touched, I met the winning honesty of her gaze in +silence. + +"Unless you truly know me--unless you know to whom you give your +friendship--you can not give it rightly. Can you, Euan? You must learn +all that I am and have been, Is not this necessary?" + +"I--I ask you nothing," I stammered. "All that I know of you is +wonderful enough----" Suddenly the danger of the moment opened out +before me, checking my very thoughts. + +She laid both hands against her temple, pressing them there till her +cheeks cooled. So she pondered for a while, her gaze remote. Then, +looking fearlessly at me: + +"Euan, I am of that sad company of children born without name. I have +lately dared to guess who was my father. Presently I will tell you who +he was." Her grey and troubled eyes gazed into space now, dreamily. "He +died long since. But my mother is living. And I believe she lives near +Catharines-town to-day!" + +"What! Why do you think so?" I exclaimed, astounded. + +"Is not the Vale Yndaia there, near Catharines-town?" + +"Yes. But why----" + +"Then listen, Euan. Every year upon a certain day--the twelfth of +May--no matter where I chance to be, always outside my door I find two +little beaded moccasins. I have had them thirteen times in thirteen +years. And every year--save the last two--the moccasins have been made +a little larger, as though to fit my growing years. Now, for the last +two years, they have remained the same in size, fitting me perfectly. +And--I never yet have worn them more than to fit them on and take them +off." + +"Why?" I asked vaguely. + +"I save them for my journey." + +"What journey?" + +"The long trail through the Long House--straight through it, Euan, to +the Western Door. That is the trail I dream of." + +"Who leaves these strange moccasins at your threshold every year?" + +"I do not know." + +"From where do you suppose they come?" I asked, amazed. + +"From Catharines-town." + +"Do you believe your mother sends them?" + +"Oh, Euan, I know it now! Until two years ago I did not understand. But +now I know it!" + +"Why are you so certain Lois? Is any written message sent with them?" + +"Always within one of each pair of moccasins is sewed a strip of silver +birch. Always the message written is the same; and this is what is +always written: + +"Swift moccasins for little feet as swift against the day that the long +trail is safe. Then, in the Vale Yndaia, little Lois, seek her who bore +you, saved you, lost you, but who love you always. + +"Pray every day for him who died in the Regiment de la Reine. + +"Pray too for her who waits for you, in far Yndaia." + +"What a strange message!" I exclaimed. + +"I must heed it," she said under her breath. "The trail is open, and my +hour is come." + +"But, Lois, that trail means death!" + +"Your army makes it safe at last. And now the time is come when I must +follow it." + +"Is that why you have followed us?" + +"Yes, that is why. Until that night in the storm at Poundridge-town I +had never learned where the Vale Yndaia lay. Month after month I +haunted camps, asking for information concerning Yndaia and the +Regiment de la Reine. But of Yndaia I learned nothing, until the +Sagamore informed me that Yndaia lay near Catharines-town. And, +learning you were of the army, and that the army was bound thither, I +followed you." + +"Why did you not tell me this at Poundridge? You should have camped +with us," I said. + +"Because of my fear of men--except red men. And I had already quite +enough of your Lieutenant Boyd." + +I looked at her seriously; and she comprehended the unasked questions +that were troubling me. + +"Shall I tell you more? Shall I tell you how I have learned my dread of +men--how it has been with me since my foster parents found me lying at +their door strapped to a painted cradle-board?" + +"You!" + +"Aye; that was my shameful beginning, so they told me afterward--long +afterward. For I supposed they were my parents--till two years ago. Now +shall I tell you all, Euan? And risk losing a friendship you might have +given in your ignorance of me?" + +Quick, hot, unconsidered words flew to my lips--so sweet and fearless +were her eyes. But I only muttered: + +"Tell me all." + +"From the beginning, then--to scour my heart out for you! So, first and +earliest my consciousness awoke to the sound of drums. I am sure of +this because when I hear them it seems as though they were the first +sounds that I ever heard.... And once, lately, they were like to be the +last.... And next I can remember playing with a painted mask of wood, +and how the paint tasted, and its odour.... Then, nothing more can I +remember until I was a little child with--him I thought to be my +father. I may not name him. You will understand presently why I do not." + +She looked down, pulling idly at the thrums along her beaded leggins. + +"I told you I was near your age--twenty. But I do not really know how +old I am, I guess that I am twenty--thereabouts." + +"You look sixteen; not more--except the haunting sorrow----" + +"I can remember full that length of time.... I must be twenty, Euan. +When I was perhaps seven years old--or thereabout--I went to +school--first in Schenectady to a Mistress Lydon; where were a dozen +children near my age. And pretty Mistress Lydon taught us A--B--C and +manners--and nothing else that I remember now. Then for a long while I +was at home--which meant a hundred different lodgings--for we were ever +moving on from place to place, where his employment led him, from one +house to another, staying at one tavern only while his task remained +unfinished, then to the road again, north, south, west, or east, +wherever his fancy sped before to beckon him.... He was a strange man, +Euan." + +"Your foster father?" + +"Aye. And my foster mother, too, was a strange woman." + +"Were they not kind to you?" + +"Y-es, after their own fashion. They both were vastly different to +other folk. I was fed and clothed when anyone remembered to do it, And +when they had been fortunate, they sent me to the nearest school to be +rid of me, I think. I have attended many schools, Euan--in Germantown, +in Philadelphia, in Boston, in New York. I stayed not long in school at +New York because there our affairs went badly. And no one invited us in +that city--as often we were asked to stay as guests while the work +lasted--not very welcome guests, yet tolerated." + +"What was your foster father's business?" + +"He painted portraits.... I do not know how well he painted. But he +cared for nothing else, except his wife. When he spoke at all it was to +her of Raphael, and of Titian, and particularly of our Benjamin West, +who had his first three colours of the Indians, they say." + +"I have heard so, too." + +She nodded absently, fingering her leggin-fringe; then, with a sudden, +indrawn breath: + +"We were no more than roving gypsies, you see, living from hand to +mouth, and moving on, always moving from town to town, remaining in one +place while there were portraits to paint--or tavern-signs, or +wagons--anything to keep us clothed and fed. Then there came a day in +Albany when matters mended over night, and the Patroon most kindly +commanded portraits of himself and family. It started our brief +prosperity. + +"Other and thrifty Dutchmen now began to bargain for their portraits. +We took an old house on Pearl Street, and I was sent to school at Mrs. +Pardee's Academy for young ladies as a day pupil, returning home at +evening. About that time my foster mother became ill. I remember that +she lay on a couch all day, watching her husband paint. He and his art +were all she cared for. Me she seldom seemed to see--scarcely noticed +when she saw me--almost never spake to me, and there were days and +weeks, when I saw nobody in that silent house, and sat at meat +alone--when, indeed, anyone remembered I was a hungry, growing child, +and made provision for me. + +"Schoolmates, at first, asked me to their homes. I would not go because +I could not ask them to my home in turn. And so grew up to womanhood +alone, and shy, and silent among my fellows; alone at home among the +shadows of that old Dutch house; ever alone. Always a haunted twilight +seemed to veil the living world from me, save when I walked abroad +along the river, thinking, thinking. + +"Yet, in one sense I was not alone, Euan, for I was fanciful; and +roamed accompanied by those bright visions that unawakened souls +conjure for company; companioned by all creatures of the mind, from +saint to devil. Ai-me! For there were moments when I would have +welcomed devils, so that they rid me of my solitude, at hell's own +price!" + +She drew a long, light breath, smiled at me; then: + +"My foster mother died. And when she died the end also began for him. I +was taken from my school. So dreadfully was he broken that for months +he lay abed never speaking, scarcely eating. And all day long during +those dreary months I sat alone in that hushed house of death. + +"Debt came first; then sheriffs; then suddenly came this war upon us. +But nothing aroused him from his lethargy; and all day long he brooded +there in silence, day after day, until our creditors would endure no +longer, and the bailiff menaced him. Confused and frightened, I +implored him to leave the city--jails seeming to me far more terrible +than death--and at last persuaded him to the old life once more. + +"So, to avoid a debtor's prison, we took the open road again. But war +was ravishing the land; there was no work for him to do. We starved +slowly southward, day by day, shivered and starved from town to town +across the counter. + +"Near to a camp of Continental troops there was a farm house. They took +me there as maid-at-all-work, out of charity, I think. My father +wandered over to the camp, and there, God alone knows why, enlisted--I +shall not tell you in what regiment. But it was Continental Line--a +gaunt, fierce, powder-blackened company, disciplined with iron. And +presently a dreadful thing befell us. For one morning before sunrise, +as I stood scouring the milk-pans by the flare of a tallow-dip, came to +me a yawning sergeant of this same regiment to tell me that, as my +foster father was to be shot at sunrise, therefore, he desired to see +me. And I remember how he yawned and yawned, this lank and bony +sergeant, showing within his mouth his yellow fangs! + +"Oh, Euan! When I arrived, my foster father--who I then supposed was my +own father--lay in a tent a condemned deserter, seeming not even to +care, or to comprehend his dreadful plight. All the defence he ever +made, they say was that he had tired of dirty camps and foolish drums, +and wished to paint again. Euan, it was terrible. He did not +understand. He was a visionary--a man of endless silences, dreamy of +eye, gentle and vague of mind--no soldier, nor fitted to understand a +military life at all. + +"I remember the smoky lantern burning red within the tent, and the vast +shadows it cast; and how he stood there, looking tranquilly at nothing +while I, frightened, sobbed on his breast. 'Lois,' he said, smiling, +'there is a bright company aloft, and watching me. Raphael and Titian +are of them. And West will come some day.' And, 'God!' he murmured, +wonderingly, 'What fellowship will be there! What knowledge to be +acquired a half hour hence--and leave this petty sphere to its own +vexed and petty wrangling, its kings and congresses, and its foolish +noise of drums.' + +"For a while he paid me no attention, save in an absent-minded way to +pat my arm and say, 'There, there, child! There's nothing to it--no, +not anything to weep for. In less than half an hour my wife and I will +be together, listening while Raphael speaks--or Christ, perhaps, or +Leonardo.' + +"Twice the brigade chaplain came to the tent, but seeing me retired. +The third time he appeared my foster father said: 'He's come to talk to +me of Christ and Raphael. It is pleasant to hear his kind assurance +that the journey to them is a swift one, done in the twinkling of an +eye.... So--I will say good-bye. Now go, my child.' + +"Locked in my desperate embrace, his wandering gaze came back and met +my terror-stricken eyes. And after another moment a slow colour came +into his wasted face. 'Lois,' he said, 'before I go to join that +matchless company, I think you ought to know that which will cause you +to grieve less for me.... And so I tell you that I am not your +father.... We found you at our door in Caughnwagha, strapped to a +Seneca cradle-board. Nor had you any name. We did not seek you, but, +having you so, bowed to God's will and suffered you to remain with us. +We strove to do our duty by you----' His vague gaze wandered toward the +tent door where the armed guard stood, terrible and grim and ragged. +Then he unloosened my suddenly limp arms about him, muttering to +himself of something he'd forgotten; and, rummaging in his pockets +found it presently--a packet laced in deerskin. 'This,' he said, 'is +all we ever knew of you. It should be yours. Good-bye.' + +"I strove to speak, but he no longer heard me, and asked the guard +impatiently why the Chaplain tarried. And so I crept forth into the +dark of dawn, more dead than living. And presently the rising sun +blinded my tear-drowned eyes, where I was kneeling in a field under a +tall tree.... I heard the dead-march rolling from the drums, and saw +them passing, black against the sunrise.... Then, filing slowly as the +seconds dragged, a thousand years passed in processional during the +next half hour--ending in a far rattle of musketry and a light smoke +blowing east across the fields----" + +She passed her fingers across her brow, clearing it of the clinging +curls. + +"They played a noisy march--afterward. I saw the ragged ranks wheel and +manoeuvre, stepping out Briskly to the jolly drums and fifes.... I +stood by the grave while the detail filled it cheerily.... Then I went +back to the farm house, through the morning dew and sunshine. + +"When I had opened my packet and had understood its contents, I made of +my clothes a bundle and took the highway to ask of all the world where +lay the road to the vale Yndaia, and where might be found the Regiment +de la Reine. Wherever was a camp of soldiers, there I loitered, asking +the same question, day after day, month after month. I asked of +Indians--our Hudson guides, and the brigaded White Plains Indians. None +seemed to know--or if they did they made no answer. And the soldiers +did not know, and only laughed, taking me for some camp wanton----" + +Again she passed her slender hand slowly across her eyes, shaking her +head. + +"That I am not wholly bad amazes me at times.... I wonder if you know +how hunger tampers with the will? I mean more than mere hunger; I mean +that dreadful craving never completely satisfied--so that the ceaseless +famine gnaws and gnaws while the sick mind still sickens, brooding over +what the body seems to need of meat and drink and warmth--day after +day, night after night, endless and terrible." She flushed, but +continued calmly: "I had nigh sold myself to some young officer--some +gay and heedless boy--a dozen times that winter--for a bit of +bread--and so I might lie warm.... The army starved at Valley Forge.... +God knows where and how I lived and famished through all that bitter +blackness.... An artillery horse had trodden on my hip where I lay +huddled in a cow-barn under the straw close to the horses, for the sake +of warmth. I hobbled for a month.... And so ill was I become in mind as +well as body that had any man been kind--God knows what had happened! +And once I even crept abroad meaning to take what offered. Do you deem +me vile, Euan?" + +"No--no--" I could not utter another word. + +She sighed, gazing at space. + +"And the cold! Well--this is July, and I must try to put it from my +mind. But at times it seems to be still in my bones--deep bitten to the +very marrow. Ai-me! I have seen two years of centuries. Their scars +remain." + +She rocked slightly forward and backward where she sat, her fingers +interlaced, twisting and clenching with her memories. + +"Ai-me! Hunger and cold and men! Hunger and--men. But it was solitude +that nigh undid me. That was the worst of all--the endless silence." + +The rain now swept the roof of bark above us, gust after gust swishing +across the eaves. Beyond the outer circle of the lantern light a mouse +moved, venturing no nearer. + +"Lois?" + +She lifted her head. "All that is ended now. Strive to forget." + +She made no response. + +"Ended," I said firmly. "And this is how it ends. I have with my +solicitor, Mr. Simon Hake, of Albany, two thousand pounds hard +sterling. How I first came by it I do not know. But Guy Johnson placed +it there for me, saying that it was mine by right. Now, today, I have +written to Mr. Hake a letter. In this letter I have commanded some few +trifles to be bought for you, such as all women naturally require." + +"Euan!" she exclaimed sharply. + +"I will not listen!" said I excitedly. "Do you listen now to me, for I +mean to have my way with you--say what you may----" + +"I know--I know--but you have done too much already----" + +"I have done nothing! Listen! I have bespoken trifles of no +value--nothing more--stockings, and shifts, and stays, and +powder-puffs, and other articles----" + +"I will not suffer this!" she said, an angry colour in her cheeks. + +"You suffer now--for lack even of handkerchiefs! I must insist----" + +"Euan! My shifts and stays and stockings are none of your affair!" she +answered hotly. + +"I make them mine!" + +"No--nor is it your privilege to offer them!" + +"My--what?" + +"Privilege!" she said haughtily, flushing clear to her curly hair; and +left me checked. She added: "What you offer is impertinence--however +kindly meant. No friendship warrants it, and I refuse." + +I know not what it was--perhaps my hurt and burning silence under the +sudden lash of her rebuff--but presently I felt her hand steal over +mine and tighten. And looked up, scowling, to see her eyes brimming +with tears and merriment. + +"How much of me must you have, Euan? Even my privacy and pride? You +have given me friendship; you have clothed me to your fancy. You have +had scant payment in exchange--only a poor girl's gratitude. What have +I left to offer in return if you bestow more gifts? Give me no more--so +that you take from me no more than--gratitude." + +"Comrades neither give nor take, Lois. What they possess belongs to +both in common." + +"I know--it is so said--but--you have had of me for all your bounty +only my thanks--and----" she smiled tremulously, "----a wild rose-bud. +And you have given so much--so much--and I am far too poor to +render----" + +"What have I asked of you!" I said impatiently. + +"Nothing. And so I am the more inclined to give--I know not what." + +"Shall I tell you what to offer me? Then offer me the privilege of +giving. It is the rarest gift within your power." + +She sat looking at me while the soft colour waned and deepened in her +cheeks. + +"I--give," she said in a voice scarce audible. + +"Then," said I, very happily, "I am free to tell you that I have +commanded for your comfort a host of pretty things, and a big box of +wood and brass, with a stout hide outside, to keep your clothing in! +The lady of Captain Cresson, of the levies, has a noble one. Yours is +its mate. And into yours will fit your gowns and shoon, patches and +powder, and the hundred articles which every woman needs by day and +night. Also I've named you to Mr. Hake, so that, first writing for me +upon a slip of paper that I may send it to him--then writing your +request to him, you may make draughts for what you need upon our money, +which now lies with him. Do you understand me, Lois? You will need +money when the army leaves." + +Her head moved slightly, acquiescent. + +"So far so good, then. Now, when this army moves into the wilderness, +and when I go, and you remain, you will have clothing that befits you; +you will have means to properly maintain you; and I shall send you by +batteau to Mr. Hake, who will find lodging suitable for you--and be +your friend, and recommend you to his friends not only for my sake, +but, when he sets his eyes on you, for your own sake." I smiled, and +added: + +"Hiero! Little rosy-throated pigeon of the woods! Loskiel has spoken!" + +Now, as I ended, this same and silly wild-thing fell silently a-crying; +and never had I dreamed that any maid could be so full o' tears, when +by all rights she should have sat dimpling there, happy and gay, and +eager as I. + +Out o' countenance again, and vexed in my mind, I sat silent, +fidgetting, made strange and cold and awkward by her tears. The warm +flush of self-approval chilled in my heart; and by and by a vague +resentment grew there. + +"Euan?" she ventured, lifting her wet eyes. + +"What?" said I ungraciously. + +"H--have you a hanker? Else I use my scandalous skirt again----" + +And the next instant we both were laughing there, she still in tears, I +with blithe heart to see her now surrender at discretion, with her grey +eyes smiling at me through a starry mist of tears, and the sweet mouth +tremulous with her low-voiced thanks. + +"Ai-me!" she said. "What manner of boy is this, to hector me and have +his will? And now he sits there laughing, and convinced that when the +army marches I shall wear his finery and do his bidding. And so I +shall--if I remain behind." + +"Lois! You can not go to Catharines-town! That's flat!" + +"I've wandered hungry and ragged for two years, asking the way. Do you +suppose I have endured in vain? Do you suppose I shall give up now?" + +"Lois!" I said seriously, "if it is true that the Senecas hold any +white captives, their liberation is at hand. But that business concerns +the army. And I promise you that if your mother be truly there among +those unhappy prisoners she shall be brought back safely from the Vale +Yndaia. I will tell Major Parr of this; he shall inform the General. +Have no fear or doubt, dear maid. If she is there, and human power can +save her, then is she saved already, by God's grace." + +She said in a quiet voice: + +"I must go with you. And that is why--or partly why--I asked you here +tonight. Find me some way to go to Catharines-town. For I must go!" + +"Why not inquire of me the road to hell?" I asked impatiently. She said +between her teeth: + +"Oh, any man might show me that. And guide me, too. Many have offered, +Euan." + +"What!" + +"I ask your pardon. Two years of camps blunts any woman's speech." + +"Lois," said I uneasily, "why do you wish to go to Catharines-town, +when an armed force is going?" + +She sat considering, then, in a low, firm voice: + +"To tell you why, is why I asked you here.... And first I must show you +what my packet held.... Shall I show you, Euan?" + +"Surely, little comrade." + +She drew the packet from her bosom, unlaced the thong, unrolled the +deer-hide covering. + +"Here is a roll of bark," she said. "This I have never had interpreted. +Can you read it for me, Euan?" + +And there in the lantern light I read it, while she looked down over my +shoulder. + + + "KADON! + + "Aesa-yat-yen-enghdon, Lois! + "Etho! + [And here was painted a white dog lying dead, its tongue hanging + out sideways.] + "Hen-skerigh-watonte. + "Jatthon-ten-yonk, Lois! + "Jin-isaya-dawen-ken-wed-e-wayen. + [Here was drawn in outline the foot and claws of a forest lynx.] + "Niyi-eskah-haghs, na-yegh-nyasa-kenra-dake, niya-wennonh!" [Then a + white symbol.] + +For a long time I gazed at the writing in shocked silence. Then I asked +her if she suspected what was written there in the Canienga dialect. + +"I never have had it read. Indians refuse, shake their heads, and look +askance at me, and tell me nothing; interpreters laugh at me, saying +there is no meaning in the lines. Is there, Euan?" + +"Yes," I said. + +"You can interpret?" + +"Yes." + +"Will you?" + +I was silent, pondering the fearful meaning which had been rendered +plainer and more hideous by the painted symbols. + +"It has to do with the magic of the Seneca priesthood," I muttered. +"Here is a foul screed--and yet a message, too, to you." + +Then, with an effort I found courage to read, as it was written: + +"I speak! Thou, Lois, mightest have been destroyed! Thus! (Here the +white dog.) But I will frustrate their purpose. Keep listening to me, +Lois. That which has befallen you we place it here (or, 'we draw it +here'--i. e., the severed foot and claws of a lynx). Being born white +(literally, 'being born having a white neck'), this happened." And the +ghastly sign of Leshi ended it. + +"But what does it all signify?" she asked, bewildered. + +And even as she spoke, out of the dull and menacing horror of the +symbols, into my mind, leaped terrible comprehension. + +I said coolly: "It must have been Amochol--and his Erie sorcerers! How +came you in Catharines-town?" + +"I? In Catharines-town!" she faltered. "Was I, then, ever there?" + +I pointed at the drawing of the dead white dog. + +"Somebody saved you from that hellish sacrifice. I tell you it is plain +enough to read. The rite is practiced only by the red sorcerers of the +Senecas.... Look! It was because your 'neck' was 'white'! Look again! +Here is the symbol of the Cat-People--the Eries--the acolytes of +Amochol--here! This spread lynx-pad with every separate claw extended! +Yet, it is drawn severed--in symbol of your escape. Lois! Lois! It is +plain enough. I follow it all--almost all--nearly--but not quite----" + +I hesitated, studying the bark intently, pausing to look at her with a +new and keenly searching question in my gaze. + +"You have not shown me all," I said. + +"All that is written in the Iroquois tongue. But there were other +things in the packet with this bark letter." She opened it again upon +her lap. + +"Here is a soldier's belt-buckle," she said, offering it to me for my +inspection. + +It was made of silver and there were still traces of French gilt upon +the device. + +"Regiment de la Reine," I read. "What regiment is that, Lois? I'm sure +I've heard of it somewhere. Oh! Now I remember. It was a very +celebrated French regiment--cut all to pieces at Lake George by Sir +William Johnson in '55. This is an officer's belt-buckle." + +"Was the regiment, then, totally destroyed?" + +"Utterly. In France they made the regiment again with new men and new +officers, and call it still by the same celebrated name." + +"You say Sir William Johnson's men cut it to pieces--the Regiment de la +Reine?" she asked. + +"His Indians, British and Provincials, left nothing of it after that +bloody day." + +She sat thoughtful for a while, then, bestirring herself, drew from the +deerhide packet a miniature on ivory, cracked across, and held together +only by the narrow oval frame of gold. + +There was no need to look twice. This man, whoever he might be, was +this girl's father; and nobody who had ever seen her and this miniature +could ever doubt it. + +She did not speak, nor did I, conscious that her eyes had never left my +face and must have read my startled mind with perfect ease. + +Presently I turned the portrait over. There was a lock of hair there +under the glass--bright, curly hair exactly like her own. And at first +I saw nothing else. Then, as the glass-backed locket glanced in the +lantern-light, I saw that on the glass something had been inscribed +with a diamond. This is what I read, written across the glass: + +"Jean Coeur a son coeur cheri." + +I looked up at her. + +"Jean Coeur," I repeated. "That is no name for a man----" Suddenly I +remembered, years ago--years and years since--hearing Guy Johnson +cursing some such man. Then in an instant all came back to me; and she +seemed to divine it, for her small hand clutched my arm and her eyes +were widening as I turned to meet them. + +"Lois," I said unsteadily, "there was a man called Jean Coeur, deputy +to the adventurer, Joncaire. Joncaire was the great captain who all but +saved this Western Continent to France. Captain Joncaire was feared, +detested, but respected by Sir William Johnson because he held all +Canada and the Hurons and Algonquins in the hollow of his hand, and had +even gained part of the Long House--the Senecas. His clever deputy was +called Jean Coeur. Never did two men know the Indians as these two did." + +I thought a moment, then: "Somewhere I heard that Captain Joncaire had +a daughter. But she married another man--one Louis de Contrecoeur----" +I hesitated, glanced again at the name scratched on the glass over the +lock of hair, and shook my head. + +"Jean Coeur--Louis de Contrecoeur. The names scarce hang +together--yet----" + +"Look at this!" she whispered in a low, tense voice, and laid a bit of +printing in my hand. + +It was a stained and engraved sheet of paper--a fly-leaf detached from +a book of Voltaire. And above the scroll-encompassed title was written +in faded ink: "Le Capitaine Vicomte Louis Jean de Contrecoeur du +Regiment de la Reine." And under that, in a woman's fine handwriting: +"Mon coeur, malgre; mon coeur, se rendre a Contrecoeur, dit Jean Coeur; +coeur contre coeur." + +"That," she said, "is the same writing that the birch bark bears, sewed +in my moccasins." + +"Then," I said excitedly, "your mother was born Mademoiselle Joncaire, +and you are Lois de Contrecoeur!" + +She sat with eyes lowered, fingering the stained and faded page. After +a moment she said: + +"I wrote to France--to the Headquarters of the Regiment de la +Reine--asking about my--father." + +"You had an answer?" + +"Aye, the answer came.... Merely a word or two.... The Vicomte Louis +Jean de Contrecoeur fell at Lake George in '55----" She lifted her +clear eyes to mine. "And died--unmarried." + +A chill passed through me, then the reaction came, taking me by the +throat, setting my veins afire. + +"Then--by God!" I stammered. "If de Contrecoeur died unmarried, his +child shall not!" + +"Euan! I do not credit what they wrote. If my father married here +perhaps they had not heard." + +"Lois! Dearest of maids--whichever is the truth I wish to marry you!" + +But she stopped her ears with both palms, giving me a frightened look; +and checked, but burning still, I stared at her. + +"Is that then all you are?" she asked. "A wisp of tow to catch the +first spark that flies? A brand ever smouldering, which the first +breath o' woman stirs to flame?" + +"Never have I loved before----" + +"Love! Euan, are you mad?" + +We both were breathing fast and brokenly. + +"What is it then, if it be not love!" I asked angrily. + +"What is it?" she repeated slowly. Yet I seemed to feel in her very +voice a faint, cool current of contempt. "Why, it is what always urges +men to speak, I fancy--their natural fire--their easily provoked +emotions.... I had believed you different." + +"Did you not desire my friendship?" I asked in hot chagrin. + +"Not if it be of this kind, Euan." + +"You would not have me love you?" + +"Love!" And the fine edge of her contempt cut clean. "Love!" she +repeated coolly. "And we scarcely know each other; have never passed a +day together; have never broken bread; know nothing, nothing of each +other's minds and finer qualities; have awakened nothing in each other +yet except emotions. Friendships have their deeps and shallows, but are +deathless only while they endure. Love hath no shallows, Euan, and +endures often when friendship dies.... I speak, having no knowledge. +But I believe it. And, believing nobly of true love--in ignorance of +it, but still in awe--and having been assailed by clamours of a +shameful passion calling itself love--and having builded in my heart +and mind a very lofty altar for the truth, how can I feel otherwise +than sorry that you spoke--hotly, unthinkingly, as you did to me?" + +I was silent. + +She rose, lifted the lantern, laid open the trap-door. + +"Come," she whispered, beckoning. + +I followed her as she descended, took the lantern from her hand, +glanced at the shadowy heap, asleep perhaps, on the corner settle, then +walked to the door and opened it. A thousand, thousand stars were +sparkling overhead. + +On the sill she whispered: + +"When will you come again?" + +"Do you want me?" I said sullenly. + +She made no answer for a moment; suddenly she caught my hand and +pressed it, crushing it between both of hers; and turning I saw her +almost helpless with her laughter. + +"Oh, what an infant have I found in this tall gentleman of Morgan's +corps!" said she. "A boy one moment and a man the next--silly and wise +in the same breath--headlong, headstrong, tender, and generous, petty +and childish, grave and kind--the sacred and wondrous being, in point +of fact, known to the world as man! And now he asks, with solemn mien +and sadly ruffled and reproachful dignity whether a poor, friendless, +homeless, nameless girl desires his company again!" + +She dropped my hand, caught at her skirt's edge, and made me a mocking +reverence. + +"Dear sir," she said, "I pray you come again to visit me tomorrow, +while I am mending regimental shirts at tuppence each----" + +"Lois!" I said sadly. "How can you use me so!" + +She began to laugh again. + +"Oh, Euan, I can not endure it if you're solemn and sorry for +yourself----" + +"That is too much!" I exclaimed, furious, and marched out, boiling, +under the high stars. And every star o' them, I think, was laughing at +the sorriest ass who ever fell in love. + +Nevertheless, that night I wrote her name in my letter to Mr. Hake; and +the ink on it was scarce sanded when an Oneida runner had it and was +driving his canoe down the Mohawk River at a speed that promised to win +for him the bonus in hard money which I had promised for a swift +journey and a swift return. + +And far into the July morning I talked with the Sagamore of Amochol and +of Catharines-town; and he listened while he sat tirelessly polishing +his scalping-knife and hatchet. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +OLD FRIENDS + +The sunrise gun awoke me. I rolled out of my blanket, saw the white +cannon-smoke floating above the trees, ran down to the river, and +plunged in. + +When I returned, the Sagamore had already broken his fast, and once +more was engaged in painting himself--this time in a most ghastly +combination of black and white, the startling parti-coloured +decorations splitting his visage into two equal sections, so that his +eyes gleamed from a black and sticky mask, and his mouth and chin and +jaw were like the features of a weather-bleached skull. + +"More war, O Mayaro, my brother?" I asked in a bantering voice. "Every +day you prepare for battle with a confidence forever new; every night +the army snores in peace. Yet, at dawn, when you have greeted the sun, +you renew your war-paint. Such praiseworthy perseverance ought to be +rewarded." + +"It has already been rewarded," remarked the Indian, with quiet humour. + +"In what manner?" I asked, puzzled. + +"In the manner that all warriors desire to be rewarded," he replied, +secretly amused. + +"I thought," said I, "that the reward all warriors desire is a scalp +taken in battle." + +He cast a sly glance at me and went on painting. + +"Mayaro," said I, disturbed, "is it possible that you have been out +forest-running while I've slept?" + +He shot a quick look at me, full of delighted malice. + +And "Ho!" said he. "My brother sleeps sounder than a winter bear. Three +Erie scalps hang stretched, hooped, and curing in the morning sun, +behind the bush-hut. Little brother, has the Sagamore done well?" + +Straightway I whirled on my heel and walked out and around the hut. +Strung like drying fish on a willow wand three scalps hung in the +sunshine, the soft July breeze stirring the dead hair. And as soon as I +saw them I knew they were indeed Erie scalps. + +Repressing my resentment and disgust, I lingered a moment to examine +them, then returned to the hut, where the Siwanois, grave as a +catamount at his toilet, squatted in a patch of sunshine, polishing his +features. + +"So you've done this business every night as soon as I slept," said I. +"You've crept beyond our outer pickets, risking your life, imperilling +the success of this army, merely to satisfy your vanity. This is not +well, Mayaro." + +He said proudly: "Mayaro is safe. What warrior of the Cat-People need a +Sagamore of the Siwanois dread?" + +"Do you count them warriors then, or wizards?" + +"Demons have teeth and claws. Look upon their scalp-locks, Loskiel!" + +I strove to subdue my rising anger. + +"You are the only reliable guide in the army today who can take us +straight to Catharines-town," I said. "If we lose you we must trust to +Hanierri and his praying Oneidas, who do not know the way even to +Wyalusing as well as you do. Is this just to the army? Is it just to +me, O Sagamore? My formal orders are that you shall rest and run no +risk until this army starts from Lake Otsego. My brother Mayaro knew +this. I trusted him and set no sentry at the hut door. Is this well, +brother?" + +The Sagamore looked at me with eyes utterly void of expression. + +"Is Mayaro a prisoner, then?" he asked quietly. + +Instantly I knew that he was not to be dealt with that way. The +slightest suspicion of any personal restraint or of any military +pressure brought to bear on him might alienate him from our cause, if +not, perhaps, from me personally. + +I said: "The Siwanois are free people. No lodge door is locked on them, +not even in the Long House. They are at liberty to come and go as the +eight winds rise and wane--to sleep when they choose, to wake when it +pleases them, to go forth by day or night, to follow the war-trail, to +strike their enemies where they find them. + +"But now, to one of them--to the Mohican Mayaro, Sagamore of the +Siwanois, Sachem of the Enchanted Clan, is given the greatest mission +ever offered to any Delaware since Tamenund put on his snowy panoply of +feathers and flew through the forest and upward into the air-ocean of +eternal light. + +"A great army of his embattled brothers trusts in him to guide them so +that the Iroquois Confederacy shall be pierced from Gate to Gate, and +the Long House go roaring up in flames. + +"There are many valiant deeds to be accomplished on this coming +march--deeds worthy of a war-chief of the Lenni-Lenape--deeds fitted to +do honour to a Sagamore of the Magic Wolf. + +"I only ask of my friend and blood-brother that he reserve himself for +these great deeds and not risk a chance bullet in ambush for the sake +of an Erie scalp or two--for the sake of a patch of mangy fur which +grows on these Devil-Cats of Amochol." + +At first his countenance was smooth and blank; as I proceeded, he +became gravely attentive; then, as I ended, he gave me a quick, +unembarrassed, and merry look. + +"Loskiel," he said laughingly, "Mayaro plays with the Cat-People. A +child's skill only is needed to take their half-shed fur and dash them +squalling and spitting and kicking into Biskoonah!" + +He resumed his painting with a shrug of contempt, adding: + +"Amochol rages in vain. Upon this wizard a Mohican spits! One by one +his scalped acolytes tumble and thump among the dead and bloody forest +leaves. The Siwanois laugh at them. Let the red sorcerer of the Senecas +make strong magic so that his cats return to life, and the vile fur +grows once more where a Mohican has ripped it out!" + +"Each night you go forth and scalp. Each morning you paint. Is this to +continue, Sagamore?" + +"My brother sees," he said proudly. "Cats were made for skinning." + +There was nothing to do about it; no more to be said. I now +comprehended this, as I stood lacing my rifle-shirt and watching him at +his weird self-embellishment. + +"The war-paint you have worn each day has seemed to me somewhat +unusual," I said curiously. + +He glanced sharply up at me, scowled, then said gravely: + +"When a Sagamore of the Mohicans paints for a war against warriors, the +paint is different. But," he added, and his eyes blazed, and the very +scalp-lock seemed to bristle on his shaven head, "when a Lenape Sachem +of the Enchanted Clan paints for war with Seneca sorcerers, he wears +also the clean symbols of his sacred priesthood, so that he may fight +bad magic with good magic, sorcery with sorcery, and defy this scarlet +priest--this vile, sly Warlock Amochol!" + +Truly there was no more for me to say. I dared not let him believe that +his movements were either watched or under the slightest shadow of +restraint. I knew it was useless to urge on him the desirability of +inaction until the army moved. He might perhaps have understood me and +listened to me, were the warfare he was now engaged in only the red +knight-errantry of an Indian seeking glory. But he had long since won +his spurs. + +And this feud with Amochol was something far more deadly than mere +warfare; it was the clash of a Mohican Sagamore of the Sacred Clan with +the dreadful and abhorred priesthood of the Senecas--the hatred and +infuriated contempt of a noble and ordained priest for the black-magic +of a sorcerer--orthodoxy, militant and terrible, scourging blasphemy +and crushing its perverted acolytes at the very feet of their +Antichrist. + +I began to understand this strange, stealthy slaughter in the dark, +which only the eyes of the midnight sky looked down on, while I lay +soundly sleeping. I knew that nothing I could say would now keep this +Siwanois at my side at night. Yet, he had been given me to guard. What +should I do? Major Parr might not understand--might even order the +Sagamore confined to barracks under guard. The slightest mistake in +dealing with the Siwanois might prove fatal to all our hopes of him. + +All the responsibility, therefore, must rest on me; and I must use my +judgment and abide by the consequences. + +Had it been, as I have said, any other nation but the Senecas, I am +certain that I could have restrained the Indian. But the combination of +Seneca, Erie, and Amochol prowling around our picket-line was too much +for the outraged Sagamore of the Spirit Wolf. And I now comprehended it +thoroughly. + +As I sat thinking at our bush-hut door, the endless lines of wagons +were still passing toward Otsego Lake, piled high with stores, and I +saw Schott's riflemen filing along in escort, their tow-cloth +rifle-frocks wide open to their sweating chests. + +Almost all the troops had already marched to the lake and had pitched +tents there, while Alden's chastened regiment was damming the waters so +that when our boats were ready the dam might be broken and the high +water carry our batteaux over miles of shallow water to Tioga Point, +where our main army now was concentrating. + +When were the Rifles to march? I did not know. Sitting there in the +sun, moodily stripping a daisy of its petals, I thought of Lois, +troubled, wondering how her security and well-being might be +established. + +The hour could not be very distant now before our corps marched to the +lake. What would she do? What would become of her if she still refused +to be advised by me? + +As for her silly desire to go to Catharines-town, the more I thought +about it the less serious consideration did I give it. The thing was, +of course, impossible. No soldiers' wives were to be permitted to go as +far as Wyalusing or Wyoming. Even here, at this encampment, the +officers' ladies had left, although perhaps many of them might have +remained longer with their husbands had it been known that the +departure of the troops for Otsego Lake was to be delayed by the slow +arrival of cattle and provisions. + +In the meantime, the two companies of my regiment attached to this +brigade were still out on scout with Major Parr; and when they returned +I made no doubt that we would shoulder packs, harness our wagons, and +take the lake road next morning. + +And what would become of Lois? Perplexed and dejected, I wandered about +the willow-run, pondering the situation; sat for a while on the +river-bank to watch the batteaux and the Oneida canoes; then, ever +restless with my deepening solicitude for Lois, I walked over to the +fort. And the first man I laid eyes on was Lieutenant Boyd, conversing +with some ladies on the parade. + +He did not see me. He had evidently returned from the main body with a +small scout the night before, and now was up and dressed in his best, +spick and span and gay, fairly shining in the sunlight as he stood +leaning against a log prop, talking with these ladies where they were +seated on one of the rustic settles lately made by Alden's men. + +Venturing nearer, I found that I knew all of the ladies, for one was +the handsome wife of Captain Bleecker, of the 3rd New York, and another +proved to be Angelina Lansing, wife of Gerrit Lansing, Ensign in the +same regiment. + +The third lady was a complete surprise to me, she being that pretty and +vivacious Magdalene Helmer--called Lana--the confidante of Clarissa +Putnam--a bright-eyed, laughing beauty from Tribes Hill, whom I had +known very well at Guy Park, where she often stayed with her friend, +Miss Putnam, when Sir John Johnson was there. + +As I recognised them, Boyd chanced to glance around, and saw me. He +smiled and spoke to the ladies; all lifted their heads and looked in my +direction; and Lana Helmer waved her handkerchief and coolly blew me a +kiss from her finger-tips. + +So, cap in hand, I crossed the parade, made my best bow and respects to +each in turn, replaced my cap, and saluted Lieutenant Boyd, who +returned my salute with pretended hauteur, then grinned and offered his +hand. + +"See what a bower of beauty is blossomed over night in these dreary +barracks, Loskiel. There seems to be some happiness left in the world +for the poor rifleman." + +"Do you remain?" I asked of Mrs. Bleecker. + +"Indeed we do," she said, laughing, "provided that my husband's +regiment remains. As soon as we understood that they had not been +ordered into the Indian country we packed our boxes and came up by +batteau last night. The news about my husband's regiment is true, is it +not?" + +"Colonel Gansevoort's regiment is not to join General Sullivan, but is +to be held to guard the Valley. I had the news yesterday for certain." + +"What luck!" said Boyd, his handsome eyes fixed on Lana Helmer, who +shot at him a glance as daring. And it made me uneasy to see she meant +to play coquette with such a man as Boyd; and I remembered her high +spirits and bright daring at the somewhat loose gatherings at Guy Park, +where every evening too much wine was drunk, and Sir John and Clarissa +made no secret of the flame that burned between them. + +Yet, of Lana Helmer never a suspicious word had been breathed that ever +I had heard--for it seemed she could dare where others dared not; say +and do and be what another woman might not, as though her wit and +beauty licensed what had utterly damned another. Nor did her devotion +and close companionship with Clarissa ever seem to raise a question as +to her own personal behaviour. And well I remember a gay company being +at cards and wine one day in the summer house on the river hew she +answered a disrespect of Sir John with a contemptuous rebuke which sent +the muddy blood into his face and left him ashamed--the only time I +ever saw him so. + +Ensign Chambers came a-mincing up, was presented to the ladies, +languidly made preparations for taking Mrs. Lansing by storm; and the +first deadly grace he pictured for her was his macaroni manner of +taking snuff--with which fascinating ceremony he had turned many a +silly head in New York ere we marched out and the British marched in. + +I talked for a while with Mrs. Bleecker of this and that, striving the +while to catch Lana Helmer's eye. For not only did her coquetry with +Boyd make me uneasy, knowing them both as I did, but on my own account +I desired to speak to her in private when opportunity afforded. Alone +and singly either of these people stood in no danger from the outer +world. Pitted against each other, what their recklessness might lead to +I did not know. For since Boyd's attempted gallantries toward Lois--he +believing her to be as youthful and depraved as seemed the case--a deep +and growing distrust for this man which I had never before felt had +steadily invaded my friendship for him. Also, he had already an affair +with a handsome wench at the Middle Fort, one Dolly Glenn, and the poor +young thing was plainly mad about him. + +I heard Mrs. Lansing propose a stroll to the river before dinner, on +the chance of meeting her husband's regiment returning, which +suggestion seemed to suit all; and in the confusion of chatter and +laughter and the tying of a sun-mask by Mrs. Bleecker, aided by Boyd +and by the exquisite courtier, I cleverly contrived to supplant Boyd +with Lana Helmer, and not only stuck to her side, but managed to secure +the rear of the strolling column. + +All this manoeuvre did not escape her, and as we fell a few paces +behind, she looked up at me with a most deadly challenge in her violet +eyes. + +"Now," she said, "that you have driven off your rival, I am resigned to +be courted.... Heaven knows you wasted opportunities enough at Guy +Park." + +I laughed. + +"How strange it is, Lana," I said, "to be here with you; I in rifle +dress and thrums, hatchet, and knife at my Mohawk girdle; you in chip +hat and ribbons and dainty gown, lifting your French petticoat over the +muddy ruts cut on the King's Highway by rebel artillery!" + +"Who would have dreamed it three years ago?" she said, her face now +sober enough. + +"I thought your people were Tory," said I. + +"Not mine, Euan; Clarissa's." + +"Where is that child?" I asked pityingly. + +"Clarissa? Poor lamb--she's in Albany still." + +I did not speak, but it was as though she divined my unasked question. + +"Aye, she is in love with him yet. I never could understand how that +could be after he married Polly Watts. But she has not changed.... And +that beast, Sir John, installed her in the Albany house." + +I said: "He's somewhere out yonder with the marauders against whom we +are to march. They're all awaiting us, it is said; the whole +crew--Johnson's Greens, Butler's Rangers, McDonald's painted Tories, +Brant's Mohawks--and the Senecas with their war-chiefs and their +sorcerer, Amochol--truly a motley devil's brood, Lana; and I pray only +that one of Morgan's men may sight Walter Butler or Sir John over his +rifle's end." + +"To think," she murmured, "that you and I have dined and wined with +these same gentlemen you now so ardently desire to slay.... And young +Walter Butler, too! I saw his mother and his sister in Albany a week +ago--two sad and pitiable women, Euan, for every furtive glance cast +after them seemed to shout aloud the infamy of their son and brother, +the Murderer of Cherry Valley." + +"To my mind," said I, "he is not sane at all, but gone stark blood-mad. +Heaven! How impossible it seems that this young man with his handsome +face and figure, his dreamy melancholy, his charming voice and manners, +his skill in verse and music, can be this same Walter Butler whose name +is cursed wherever righteousness and honour exist in human breasts. +Why, even Joseph Brant has spurned him, they say, since Cherry Valley! +Even his own father stood aghast before such infamy. Old John Butler, +when he heard the news, dashed his hands to his temples, groaning out: +'I would have crawled from this place to Cherry Valley on my hands and +knees to save those people; and why my son did not spare them, God only +knows.'" + +Lana shook her pretty head. + +"I can not seem to believe it of him even yet. I try to think of Walter +as a murderer of little children, and it is not possible. Why, it seems +but yesterday that I stood plaguing him on the stone doorstep at Guy +Park--calling him Walter Ninny and Walter Noodle to vex him. You +remember, Euan, that his full name is Walter N. Butler, and that he +never would tell us what the N. stands for, but we guessed it stood for +Nellis, in honour of Nellis Fonda.... Lord! What a world o' trouble for +us all in these three years!" + +"I had supposed you married long ago, Lana. The young Patroon was very +ardent." + +"I? The sorry supposition! I marry--in the face of the sad and +miserable examples all my friends afford me! Not I, Euan, unless----" +She smiled at me with pretty malice. "----you enter the lists. Do you +then enter?" I reddened and laughed, and she, always enchanted to +plague and provoke me, began her art forthwith, first innocently +slipping her arm through mine, as though to support her flagging steps, +then, as if by accident, letting one light finger slip along my sleeve +to touch my hand and linger lightly. + +Years ago, when we were but seventeen, she had delighted to tease and +embarrass me with her sweetly malicious coquetry, ever on the watch to +observe my features redden. I remember she sometimes offered to +exchange kisses with me; but I was a ninny, and a serious and hopeless +one at that, and would have none of her. + +I believe we were thinking of the same thing now, and when I caught her +eye the gay malice of it was not to be mistaken. + +"Lanette," said I, "take care! I am a soldier since you had your saucy +way with me. You know that the military are not to be dealt with +lightly. And I am grown up in these three years." + +"Grown soberer, perhaps. You always did conduct like a pious +Broad-brim, Euan." + +"I've a mind to kiss you now," said I, vexed. + +"Kiss away, kind sir. You have me in the rear of them. Now's your +opportunity!" + +"Doubtless you'd cry out." + +"Doubtless I wouldn't." + +"Wait for some moonlit evening when we're unobserved----" + +"Broad-brim!" + +I laughed, and so did she, saying: + +"I warrant you that your pretty Lieutenant Boyd had never waited for my +challenge twice!" + +"Best look out for Boyd," said I. "He's of your own careless, reckless +kind, Lanette. Sparks fly when flint and steel encounter." + +"Cold sparks, friend Broad-brim!" + +"Not too cold to set tinder afire." + +"Am I then tinder? You should know me better." + +"In every one of us," said I, "there is an element which, when it meets +its fellow in another, unites with it, turning instantly to fire and +burning to the very soul." + +"How wise have you become in alchemy and metaphysics!" she exclaimed in +mock admiration. + +"Oh, I am not wise in anything, and you know it, Lana." + +"I don't know it. You've been wise enough to keep clear of me, if that +be truly wisdom. Come, Euan, what do you think? Do you and I contain +these fellow elements, that you seem to dread our mutual conflagration +if you kiss me?" + +"You know me better." + +"Do I? No, I don't. Young sir, caper not too confidently in your coat +of many colours! If you flout me once too often I may go after you, as +a Mohawk follows a scalp too often flaunted by the head that wears it!" + +I tried to sustain her delighted gaze and reddened, and the impudent +little beauty laughed and clung to my arm in a very ecstasy of malice, +made breathless by her own mirth. + +"Come, court me prettily, Euan. It is my due after all these grey and +Quaker years when I made eyes at you from the age of twelve, and won +only a scowl or two for my condescension." + +But we had reached the river bank, and there the group came once more +together, the ladies curious to see the batteaux arriving, loaded with +valley sheep, we officers pointing out to them the canoes of our corps +of Oneida guides, and Hanierri and the Reverend Mr. Kirkland reading +their Testaments under the shade of the trees, gravely absorbed in God. + +"A good man," said I, "and brave. But his honest Stockbridge Indians +know no more of Catharines-town than do the converted Oneidas yonder." + +Boyd nodded: "I prophesy they quit us one and all within an +arrow-flight of Wyalusing. Do you take me, Loskiel?" + +"No, you are right," I said. "The fear of the Long House chains them, +and their long servitude has worn like fetters to their very bones. +Redcoats they can face, and have done so gallantly. But there is in +them a fear of the Five Nations past all understanding of a white man." + +I spoke to a diminished audience, for already Boyd and Lana Helmer had +strolled a little way together, clearly much interested in each other's +conversation. Presently our precious senior Consign sauntered the other +way with pretty Mistress Lansing on his arm. As for me, I was contented +to see them go--had been only waiting for it. And what I had thought I +might venture to say to Lana Helmer by warrant of old acquaintance, I +was now glad that I had not said at all--the years having in no wise +subdued the mischief in her, nor her custom of plaguing me. And how +much she had ever really meant I could not truly guess. No, it had been +anything but wise to speak to her of Lois. But now I meant to mention +Lois to Mrs. Bleecker. + +We had seated ourselves on the sun-crisped Indian grass, and for a +while I let her chatter of Guy Park and our pleasant acquaintance +there, and of Albany, too, where we had met sometimes at the Ten +Broecks, the Schuylers, and the Patroons. And all the while I was +debating within my mind how this proud and handsome, newly-married girl +might receive my halting story. For it would not do to conceal anything +vital to the case. Her clear, wise eyes would see instantly through any +evasion, not to say deception--even a harmless deception. No; if she +were to be of any aid in this deeply-perplexing business, I must tell +her the story of Lois--not betraying anything that the girl might +shrink from having others know, but stating her case and her condition +as briefly and as honestly as I might. + +And no sooner did I come to this conclusion than I spoke; and after the +first word or two Mrs. Bleecker put off her sun-mask and turned, +looking me directly in the eyes. + +I said that the young lady's name was Lois de Contrecoeur--and if it +were not that it was nothing, and human creatures require a name! But +this I did not say to her, nor thought it necessary to mention any +doubt as to the girl's parentage, only to say she was the child of +captives taken by the Senecas after the Lake George rout. + +I told of her dreary girlhood, saying merely that her foster parents +were now dead and that the child had conceived the senseless project of +penetrating to Catharines-town, where she believed her mother, at +least, was still held captive. + +The tall, handsome girl beside me listened without a word, her intent +gaze never leaving me; and when I had done, and the last word in my +brief for Lois had been uttered, she bent her head in thought, and so +continued minute after minute while I sat there waiting. + +At last she looked up at me again, suddenly, as though to surprise my +secret reflections; and if she did so I do not know, for she smiled and +held out her hand to me with so pretty a confidence that my lips +trembled as I pressed them to her fingers. And now something within her +seemed to have been reassured, for her eyes and her lips became faintly +humorous. + +"And where is this most forlorn and errant damsel, Sir Euan?" she +inquired. "For if I doubt her when I see her, no more than I doubt you +when I look at you, something should be done in her behalf without +delay.... The poor, unhappy child! And what a little fool! The Lord +looks after his lambs, surely, surely--drat the little hussy! It mads +me to even think of her danger. Did a body ever hear the like of it! +A-gypsying all alone--loitering around this army's camp! Mercy! And +what a little minx it is to so conduct--what with our godless, cursing +headlong soldiery, and the loud, swaggering forest-runners! Lord! But +it chills me to the bone! The silly, saucy baggage!" + +She shuddered there in the hot sunshine, then shot at me a look so keen +and penetrating that I felt my ears go red. Which sudden distress on my +part again curved her lips into an indulgent smile. + +"I always thought I knew you, Euan Loskiel," she said. "I think so +still.... As for your fairy damsel in distress--h'm--when may I see +her?" + +In a low voice I confessed the late raggedness of Lois, and how she now +wore an Oneida dress until the boxes, which I had commanded, might +arrive from Albany. I had to tell her this, had to explain how I had +won from Lois this privilege of giving, spite of her pride. + +"If I could bring her to you," said I, "fittingly equipped and clothed, +the pride in her would suffer less. Were you to go with me now in your +pretty silk and scarf, and patch and powder, and stand before her in +the wretched hut which shelters her--the taint of charity would poison +everything. For she is like you, Mrs. Bleecker, lacking only what does +not make, but merely and prettily confirms your quality and +breeding--clothing and shelter, and the means to live fittingly.... For +it is not condescension, not the lesser charity I ask, or she could +receive; it is the countenance that birth lends to its equal in dire +adversity." + +Curious and various were the emotions which passed in rapid succession +over her pretty features; and not all seemed agreeable. Then suddenly +her eyes reflected a hidden laughter, and presently it came forth, a +merry peal, and sweet withal. + +"Oh, Euan, what a boy you are! Had I been any other woman--but let it +go. You are as translucent as a woodland brook, and--at times you +babble like one, confident that your music pleases everyone who hears +it.... I pray you let me judge whether the errant lady be what a poet's +soul would have her.... I am not speaking with any unkind thought or +doubt.... But woman must judge woman. It is the one thing no man can +ever do for her. And the less he interferes during the judgment the +better." + +"Then I'll say no more," said I, forcing a smile. + +"Oh, say all you please, as long as you do not tell me what you think +about her. Tell me facts, not what your romantic heart surmises. And if +she were the queen of Sheba in disguise, or if she were a titled Saint +James drab, no honest woman but who would see through and through her, +and, ere she rose from her low reverence, would know her truly for +exactly what she is." + +"Lord!" said I. "Is that the way you read us, also?" + +"No. Women may read women. But never one who lived has read truly any +man, humble or high. Say that to the next pretty baggage who vows she +reads you like a book! And in her secret heart she will know you say +the truth--and know it, raging even while her smile remains unaltered. +For it is true, Euan; true concerning you men, also. Not one among you +all has ever really read us right. The difference is this; we know we +can not read you, but scorn to admit it; you honestly believe that you +can read us, and often boast of doing it. Which sex is the greater +fool, judge you? I have my own opinion." + +We both laughed; after a moment she put on her sun-mask and I tied it. + +"Where do you and Mrs. Lansing lodge until your husband's regiment +returns?" I asked. + +"They have given us the old Croghan house. What it lacks in elegance of +appointment it gains in hospitality. If we had a dish of tea to brew +for you gentlemen we would do it; but Indian willow makes a vile and +bitter tea, and I had as lief go tealess, as I do and expect to +continue until our husbands teach the Tory King his manners." + +She rose, giving me her pretty hand to aid her, shook out her dainty +skirts, put up her quizzing glass, and inspected me, smilingly. + +"Bring her when you think it time," she said. "Somehow I already +believe that she may be something of what your fancy paints her. And +that would be a miracle." + +"Truly she is a miracle," I said earnestly. + +"Then remember not to say it to Angelina Lansing--and above all never +hint as much to Lana Helmer. Women are human; and pretty women perhaps +a little less than human. Leave them to me. For if this romantic damsel +be truly what you picture her, I'll have to tell a pretty fib or two +concerning her and you, I warrant you. Leave that saucy baggage, +Lanette, to me, Euan. And you keep clear of her, too. She's murderous +to men's peace of mind--more fatal than ever since Clarissa played the +fool." + +"I was assassinated by Lana long ago," said I, smiling. "I am proof." + +"Nevertheless, beware!" she whispered, as Boyd and Lana came sauntering +up. And there seemed to me to be now about them both a careless +indifference, almost studied, and in noticeable contrast to their +bright animation when they had left us half an hour ago. + +"Such a professional heart-breaker as your Mr. Boyd is," observed Lana +coolly to us both. "I never before encountered such assurance. What he +must be in queue and powder, silk and small-sword, I dare not surmise. +A pitying heaven has protected me so far, and," she added, looking +deliberately at Boyd, "I ought to be grateful, ought I not, sir?" + +Boyd made her a too low and over-courtly bow. + +"Always the gallant and victorious adversary salutes the vanquished as +you, fair lady, have saluted me--imputing to my insignificant prowess +the very skill and address which has overthrown me." + +"Are you overthrown?" + +"Prone in the dust, mademoiselle! Draw Mr. Loskiel's knife and end me +now in mercy." + +"Then I will strike.... Who is the handsome wench who passed us but a +moment since, and who looked at you with her very heart trembling in +her eyes?" + +"How should I know?" + +They stood looking smilingly at each other; and their smile did not +seem quite genuine to me, but too clear, and a trifle hard, as though +somehow it was a sort of mask for some subtler defiance. I reflected +uneasily that no real understanding could be possible between these two +in such a brief acquaintance; and, reassured, turned to greet our +macaroni Ensign and Mistress Angelina Lansing, now approaching us. + +That our regimental fop had sufficient diverted her was patent, she +being over-flushed and smiling, and at gay swords' points already with +him, while he whisked his nose with his laced hanker and scattered the +perfume of his snuff to the four winds. + +So, two and two, we walked along the road to Croghan's house, where was +a negro wench to aid them and a soldier-servant to serve them. And the +odd bits of furniture that had been used at our General's headquarters +had been taken there to eke out with rough make-shifts, fashioned by +Alden's men, a very scanty establishment for these three ladies. + +Lana Helmer, to my surprise, motioned me to walk beside her; and all +the way to Croghan's house she continued close to me, seeming to +purposely avoid Boyd. And he the same, save that once or twice he +looked at her, which was more than she did to him, I swear. + +She was now very serious and sweet with me on our way to Croghan's, not +jeering at me or at any of her teasing tricks, but conversing +reasonably and prettily, and with that careless confidence which to a +man is always pleasant and sometimes touching. + +Of the old days we spoke much; the past was our theme--which is not an +unusual topic for the young, although they live, generally, only in the +future. And it was "Do you recall this?" and "Do you remember that?" +and "Do you mind the day" when this and that occurred? Incidents we +both had nigh forgotten were recalled gravely or smilingly, but there +was no laughter--none, somehow, seemed to be left either in her heart +or mine. + +Twice I spoke of Clarissa, wishing, with kindliest intention, to hear +more of the unhappy child; but in neither instance did Lana appear to +notice what I had said, continuing silent until I, too, grew reticent, +feeling vaguely that something had somehow snapped our mutual thread of +sympathy. + +At the door of Croghan's house we gathered to make our adieux, then +first went mincing our Ensign about his precious business; and then +Boyd took himself off, as though with an effort; and Lana and Angelina +Lansing went indoors. + +"Bring her to me when I am alone," whispered Betty Bleecker, with a +very friendly smile. "And let the others believe that you stand for +nothing in this affair." + +And so I went away, thinking of many things--too many and too +perplexing, perhaps, for the intellect of a very young man deeply in +love--a man who knows he is in love, and yet remains incredulous that +it is indeed love which so utterly bewilders and afflicts him. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MID-SUMMER + +Since our arrival from Westchester the weather had been more or less +unsettled--fog, rain, chilling winds alternating with days of midsummer +heat. But now the exhausting temperature of July remained constant; +fiery days of sunshine were succeeded by nights so hot and suffocating +that life seemed well-nigh insupportable under tents or in barracks, +and officers and men, almost naked, lay panting along the river bank +through the dreadful hours of darkness which brought no relief from the +fiery furnace of the day. + +Schott's riflemen mounted guard stripped to the waist; the Oneidas and +Stockbridge scouts strode about unclothed save for the narrow clout and +sporran; and all day and all night our soldiers splashed in the river +where our horses also stood belly deep, heads hanging, under the +willows. + +During that brief but scorching period I went to Mrs. Rannock's every +evening after dark, and usually found Lois lying in the open under the +stars, the garret being like an oven, so she said. + +Here we had made up our quarrel, and here, on the patch of uncut +English grass, we lay listlessly, speaking only at intervals, gasping +for air and coolness, which neither darkness nor stars had brought to +this sun-cursed forest-land. + +But for the last two nights I had not found Lois waiting for me, nor +did Mrs. Rannock seem to know whither she had gone, which caused me +much uneasiness. + +The third evening I went to find her at Mrs. Rannock's before the +after-glow had died from the coppery zenith, and I encountered her +moving toward the Spring path, just entering the massed elder bloom. +Her face was dewy with perspiration, pale, and somewhat haggard. + +"Lois, why have you avoided me?" I exclaimed. "All manner of vague +forebodings have assailed me these two days past." + +"Listen to this silly lad!" she said impatiently. "As though a few +hours' absence lessen loyalty and devotion!" + +"But where have you been?" + +"Where I may not take you, Euan." + +"And where is that?" I asked bluntly. + +"Lord! What a catechism is this for a free girl to answer willy-nilly! +If you must know, I have played the maid of ancient Greece these two +nights past. Otherwise, I had died, I think." + +And seeing my perplexed mien, she began to laugh. + +"Euan, you are stupid! Did not the Grecian maids spend half their lives +in the bath?" + +The slight flush of laughter faded from her face; the white fatigue +came back; and she passed the back of one hand wearily across her brow, +clearing it of the damp curls. + +"The deadly sultriness of these nights," she sighed. "I was no longer +able to endure the heat under the eaves among my dusty husks. So lately +I have stolen at night to the Spring Waiontha to bathe in the still, +cold pools. Oh, Euan, it is most delicious! I have slept there until +dawn, lying up to my throat in the crystal flood." She laughed again. +"And once, lying so, asleep, my body slipped and in I slid, deep, deep +in, and awoke in a dreadful fright half drowned." + +"Is it wise to sleep so in the Water?" I asked uneasily. + +"Oh! Am I ever wise?" she said wearily. "And the blood beats in my +veins these heated nights so that I am like to suffocate. I made a bed +for me by Mrs. Rannock, but she sobbed in her sleep all night and I +could not close my eyes, So I thought of the Spring Waiontha, and the +next instant was on my way there, feeling the path with naked feet +through the starlight, and dropped my clothing from me in the darkness +and sank into the cool, sweet pool. Oh, it was heaven, Euan! I would +you might come also." + +"I can walk as far as the pool with you, at all events," said I. + +"Wonderful! And will you?" + +"Do I ever await asking to follow you anywhere?" said I sentimentally. + +But she only laughed at me and led the way across the dreary strip of +clearing, moving with a swift confidence in her knowledge of the place, +which imitating, I ran foul of a charred stump, and she heard what I +said. + +"Poor lad!" she exclaimed contritely, slipping her hand into mine. "I +should have guided you. Does it pain you?" + +"Not much." + +Our hands were clasped, and she pressed mine with all the sweet freedom +of a comradeship which means nothing deeper. For I now had learned from +her own lips, sadly enough, how it was with her--how she regarded our +friendship. It was to her a deep and living thing--a noble emotion, not +a passion--a belief founded on gratitude and reason, not a confused, +blind longing and delight possessing every waking moment, ever creating +for itself a thousand tender dreams or fanciful and grotesque +apprehensions. + +Clear-headed so far, reasonable in her affection, gay or tender as the +mood happened, convinced that what I declared to be my love for her was +but a boy's exaggeration for the same sentiments she entertained toward +me, how could she have rightly understood the symptoms of this amazing +malady that possessed me--these reasonless extremes of ardour, of +dejection, of a happiness so keen and thrilling that it pained +sometimes, and even at moments seemed to make me almost drunk. + +Nor did I myself entirely comprehend what ailed me, never having been +able to imagine myself in love, or ever dreamed that I possessed the +capacity for such a violent devotion to any woman. I think now, at that +period, somewhere under all the very real excitement and emotion of an +adolescent encountering for the first time the sweet appeal of youthful +mind and body, that I seemed to feel there might be in it all something +not imperishable. And caught myself looking furtively and a little +fearfully at her, at times, striving to conceive myself indifferent. + + +When we came to the Spring Waiontha I had walked straight into the +water except for her, so dark it was around us. And: + +"How can you ever get back alone?" said she. + +"Oho!" said I, laughing, "I left the willow-tips a-dangle, breaking +them with my left hand. I am woodsman enough to feel my way out." + +"But not woodsman enough to spare your shins in the clearing," she said +saucily. + +"Shall we sit and talk?" I said. + +"Oh, Euan! And my bath! I am fairly melting as I stand here." + +"But I have not seen you for two entire nights, Lois." + +"I know, poor boy, but you seem to have survived." + +"When I do not see you every day I am most miserable." + +"So am I--but I am reasonable, too. I say to myself, if I don't see +Euan today I will nevertheless see him to-morrow, or the day after, or +the next, God willing----" + +"Lois!" + +"What?" + +"How can you reason so coldly?" + +"I--reason coldly? There is nothing cold in me where you are concerned. +But I have to console myself for not seeing you----" + +"I am inconsolable," said I fervently. + +"No more than am I," she retorted hotly, as though jealous that I +should arrogate to myself a warmer feeling concerning her than she +entertained for me. + +"I care so much for you, Lois," said I. + +"And I for you." + +"Not as I care for you." + +"Exactly as you care for me. Do you think me insensible to gratitude +and affection?" + +"I do not desire your gratitude for a few articles----" + +"It isn't for them--though I'm grateful for those things too! It's +gratitude to God for giving me you, Euan Loskiel! And you ought to take +shame to yourself for doubting it!" + +I said nothing, being unable to see her in the darkness, much less +perceive what expression she wore for her rebuke to me. Then as I stood +silent, I felt her little hands groping on my arm; and my own closed on +them and I laid my lips to them. + +"Ai-me!" she said softly. "Why do we fight and fret each other? Why do +I, who adore you so, let you vex me and stir me to say what I do not +mean at all. Always remember, Euan--always, always--that whatever I am +unkind enough to say or do to vex you, in my secret mind I know that no +other man on earth is comparable to you--and that you reign first in my +heart--first, and all by yourself, alone." + +"And will you try to love me some day, Lois?" + +"I do." + +"I mean----" + +"Oh, Euan, I do--I do! Only--you know--not in the manner you once spoke +of----" + +"But I love you in that manner." + +"No, you do not! If you did, doubtless I would respond; no doubt at all +that I also would confess such sentiments in your regard. But it isn't +true for either of us. You're a man. All men are prone to harp on those +strings.... But--there is no harmony in them to me.... I know my own +mind, although you say I don't--and--I do know yours, too. And if a day +ever comes that neither you nor I are longer able to think clearly and +calmly with our minds, but begin to reason with our emotions, then I +shall consider that we are really entering into a state of love--such +as you sometimes have mentioned to me--and will honestly admit as much +to you.... And if you then desire to wed me, no doubt that I shall +desire it, too. And I promise in that event to love you--oh, to death, +Euan!" she said, pressing my hands convulsively. "If ever I love--that +way--it truly will be love! Are you content with what I say?" + +"I must be." + +"What an ungracious answer! I could beat you soundly for it! Euan, you +sometimes vex me so that I could presently push you into that pool.... +I do not mean it, dearest lad. You know you already have my +heart--perhaps only a child's heart yet, though I have seen ages pass +away.... And my eyes have known tears.... Perhaps for that reason I am +come out into this new sunshine which you have made for me, to play as +children play--having never done so in my youth. Bear with me, Euan. +You would not want me if there were nothing in me to respond to you. If +there ever is, it will not remain silent. But first I want my play-day +in the sunshine you have promised me--the sunlight of a comrade's +kindness. Be not too blunt with me. You have my heart, I tell you. Let +it lie quiet and safe in your keeping, like some strange, frail +chrysalis. I myself know there is a miracle within it; but what that +miracle may be, I may not guess till it reveals itself." + +"I am a fool," I said. "God never before sent any man such a comrade as +He has sent in you to me." + +"That was said sweetly and loyally. Thank you. If hearts are to be +awakened and won, I think it might be done that way--with such pleasant +phrases--given always time." + +Presently she withdrew her hands and slipped away from me in the dark. + +"Be careful," said I, "or you will slip overboard." + +"I mean to presently." + +"Then--must I go so soon?" + +She did not answer. Once I thought I heard her moving softly, but the +sound came from the wrong direction. + +"Lois!" + +No reply. + +"Lois!" I repeated uneasily. + +There was a ripple in the pool, silence, then somewhere in the darkness +a faint splash. + +"Good Lord!" said I. "Have you fallen in?" + +"Not fallen in. But I am truly in, Euan. I couldn't endure it any +longer; and you didn't seem to want to go.... So please remain where +you now are." + +"Do you mean to say----" I began incredulously. + +And, "Yes, I do!" she said, defiant. "And I think this ought to teach +you what a comrade's perfect confidence can be. Never complain to me of +my want of trust in you again." + +In astonished and uneasy silence, I stood listening. The unseen pool +rippled in the darkness with a silvery sound, as though a great fish +were swirling there in the pallid lustre of the stars. + +After a while she laughed outright--the light, mischievous laughter of +a child. + +"I feel like one of those smooth and lurking naiads which haunt lost +pools--or like some ambushed water-sprite meditating malice, and slyly +alert to do you a harm. Have a care, else I transform you into a fish +and chase you under the water, and pinch and torment you!" + +And presently her voice came again from the more distant darkness +somewhere: + +"Has the box which you commanded arrived yet, Euan?" + +"It is at my hut. A wagon will bring it to you in the morning." + +I could hear her clap her wet little hands; and she cried out softly: + +"Oh!" and "Oh!" Then she said: "I did not understand at first how much +I wished for everything you offered. Only when I saw the ladies at +Croghan's house, as I was coming with my mending from the fort--then I +knew I wanted everything you have bespoken for me.... Everything, dear +lad! Oh, you don't know how truly grateful I shall be. No, you don't, +Euan! And if the box is really come, when am I going with you to be +made known to Mistress Bleecker?" + +"I think it is better that I first bring her to you." + +"Would she condescend to come?" + +"I think so." + +There was a pause. I seated myself. Then the soft and indecisive sound +of ripples stirred by an idle hand broke the heated silence. + +"You say they all are your good friends?" she remarked thoughtfully. + +"I know them all. Lana Helmer I have known intimately since we were +children." + +"Then why is it not better to present me to her first--if you know her +so very well?" + +"Mrs. Bleecker is older." + +"Oh! Is this Miss Helmer then so young?" + +"Your age." + +"Oh! My age.... And pretty?" + +"The world thinks so." + +"Oh! And what do you think, Euan?" + +"Yes, she is pretty," said I carelessly. + +There was a long silence. I sat there, my knees gathered in my arms, +staring up at the stars. + +Then, faintly came her voice: + +"Good-night, Euan." + +I rose, laid hold of the willow bush that scraped my shoulders, felt +over it until I found the dangling broken branch; stepped forward, +groping, until I touched the next broken branch. Then, knowing I was on +my trail, I turned around and called back softly through the darkness: + +"Good-night, little Lois!" + +"Good-night, and sweet dreams, Euan. I will be dressed and waiting for +you in the morning to go to Mrs. Bleecker, or to receive her as you and +she think fitting.... Is there a looking glass in that same wonder-box?" + +"Two, Lois." + +"You dear and generous lad!... And are there hair-pegs? Heaven knows if +my clipped poll will hold them. Anyway, I can powder and patch, +and--oh, Euan! Is there lip-red and curd-lily lotion for the skin? Not +that I shall love you any less if there be none----" + +"I bespoke of Mr. Hake," said I, laughing, "a full beauty battery, such +as I once saw Betty Schuyler show to Walter Butler, having but then +received it from New York. And all I know, Lois, is that it was full of +boxes, jars, and flasks, and smelled like a garden in late June. And if +Mr. Hake has not chosen with discretion I shall go South and scalp him!" + +"Euan, I adore you!" + +"You adore your battery," said I, not convinced. + +"That, too. But you more than my mirrors, and my lip-red, and the lily +lotion--more than my darling shifts and stays and shoon and gowns!... I +had never dreamed I could accept them from you. But you had become so +dear to me--and I could read you through and through--and found you so +like myself--and it gave me a new pleasure to humble my pride to your +desires. That is how it came about. Also, I saw those ladies.... And I +do not think I shall be great friends with your Lana Helmer--even when +I am fine and brave in gown and powder to face her on equal terms----" + +"Lois, what in the world are you babbling?" + +"Let me babble, Euan. Never have I been so happy, so content, so +excited yet so confident.... Listen; do you dread tomorrow?" + +"I?" + +"Yes--that I might not do you honour before your fashionable +friends?... And I say to you, have no fear. If my gowns are truly what +I think they are, I shall conduct without a tremour--particularly if +your Lana be there, and that careless, rakish friend of yours, +Lieutenant Boyd." + +"Do you remember what you are to say to Boyd if he seems in any wise to +think he has met you elsewhere?" + +"I can avoid a lie and deal with him," she said with calm contempt. +"But there is not a chance he'd know me in my powder." + +There was a silence. Then the unseen water rippled and splashed. + +"Poor Euan!" she said. "I wish you might dare swim here in this +heavenly place with me. But we are not god and goddess, and the fabled +age is vanished.... Good-night, dear lad.... And one thing more.... All +you are to me--all you have done for me--don't you understand that I +could not take it from you unless, in my secret heart, I knew that one +day I must be to you all you desire--and all I, too, shall learn to +wish for?" + +"It is written," I said unsteadily. "It must come to pass." + +"It must come," she said, in the hushed voice of a child who dreams, +wide-eyed awake, murmuring of wonders. + + +I slept on the river-sand, not soundly, for all night long men and +horses splashed in the water all around me, and I was conscious of many +people stirring, of voices, the dip of paddles, and of the slow +batteaux passing with the wavelets slapping on their bows. Then, the +next I knew--bang! And the morning gun jarred me awake. + +I had bathed and dressed, but had not yet breakfasted when one of our +regimental wagons came to take the box to Lois--a fine and noble box +indeed, in its parti-coloured cowhide cover, and a pretty pattern of +brass nails all over it, making here a star and there a sunburst, +around the brass plate engraven with her name: "Lois de Contrecoeur." + +Then the wagon drove away, and the Sagamore and I broke bread together, +seated in the willow shade, the heat in our bush-hut being +insupportable. + +"No more scalps, Mayaro?" I taunted him, having already inspected the +unpleasant trophies behind the hut. "How is this, then? Are the Cats +all skinned?" + +He smiled serenely. "They have crept westward to lick their scars, +Loskiel. A child may safely play in the forest now from the upper +castle and Torloch to the Minnisink." + +"Has Amochol gone?" + +"To make strong magic for his dead Cats, little brother. The Siwanois +hatchets are still sticking in the heads of Hiokatoo's Senecas. Let +their eight Sachems try to pull them out." + +"So you have managed to wound a Seneca or two?" + +"Three, Loskiel--but the rifle was one of Sir William's, and carried to +the left, and only a half-ounce ball. My brother Loskiel will make +proper requisition of the Commissary of Issues and draw a weapon fit +for a Mohican warrior." + +"Indeed I will," said I, smilingly, knowing well enough that the +four-foot, Indian-trade, smooth bore was no weapon for this warrior; +nor was it any kindness in such times as these to so arm our corps of +Oneida scouts. + +After breakfast I went to the fort and found that Major Parr and his +command had come in the night before from their long and very arduous +scout beyond the Canajoharrie Castle. + +The Major received me, inquiring particularly whether I had contrived +to keep the Sagamore well affected toward our cause; and seemed much +pleased when I told him that this Siwanois and I had practiced the rite +of blood-brotherhood. + +"Excellent," said he. "And I don't mind admitting to you that I place +very little reliance on the mission Indians as guides--neither on the +Stockbridge runners nor on the Oneidas, who have come to us more in +fear of the Long House than out of any particular loyalty or desire to +aid us." + +"That is true, sir. They had as soon enter hell as Catharines-town." + +The Major nodded and continued to open and read the letters which had +arrived during his absence. + +"May I draw one of our rifles for my Mohican, sir?" I asked. + +"We have very few. Schott's men have not yet all drawn their arms." + +"Nevertheless----" + +"You think it necessary?" + +"I think it best to properly arm the only reliable guide this army has +in its service, Major." + +"Very well, Mr. Loskiel.... And see that you keep this fellow in good +humour. Use your own wit and knowledge; do as you deem best. All I ask +of you is to keep this wild beast full fed and properly flattered until +we march." + +"Yes, sir," I said gravely, thinking to myself in a sad sort of wonder +how utterly the majority of white men mistook their red brethren of the +forest, and how blind they were not to impute to them the same humanity +that they arrogated to themselves. + +So much could have been done had men of my blood and colour dealt nobly +with a noble people. Yet, even Major Parr, who was no fool and who was +far more enlightened than many, spoke of a Mohican Sagamore as "this +wild beast," and seriously advised me to keep him "full fed and +properly flattered!" + +"Yes, sir," I repeated, saluting, and almost inclined to laugh in his +face. + +So I first made requisition for the lang rifle, then reported to my +captain, although being on special detail under Major Parr's personal +orders, this was nothing more than a mere courtesy. + +The parade already swarmed with our men mustering for inspection; I met +Lieutenant Boyd, and we conversed for a while, he lamenting the +impossibility of making a boating party with the ladies, being on duty +until three o'clock. And: + +"Who is this new guest of Mrs. Bleecker?" he asked curiously. "I +understand that you are acquainted with her. What is her name? A Miss +de Contrecoeur?" + +I had not been prepared for that, never expecting that Mrs. Bleecker +had already started to prepare the way; but I kept my countenance and +answered coolly enough that I had the honour of knowing Miss de +Contrecoeur. + +"She came by batteau from Albany?" + +"Her box," said I, "has just arrived from Albany by batteau." + +"Is the lady young and handsome?" he asked, smiling. + +"Both, Mr. Boyd." + +"Well," he said, with a polite oath, "she must be something more, too, +if she hopes to rival Lana Helmer." + +So it had already come to such terms of intimacy that he now spoke of +her as Lana. For the last few days I had not been to Croghan's house to +pay my respects, the heat leaving me disinclined to stir from the shade +of the river trees. Evidently it had not debarred Boyd from presenting +himself, or her from receiving him, although a note brought to me from +Mrs. Bleecker by her black wench said that both she and Angelina +Lansing were ill with the heat and kept their rooms. + +"We are bidden to cake and wine at five," said I. "Are you going?" + +He said he would be present, and so I left him buckling on his belt, +and the conch-horn's blast echoing over the parade, sounding the +assembly. + +At the gate I encountered Lana and Mrs. Lansing and our precious +Ensign, come to view the inspection, and exchanged a gay greeting with +them. + +Then, mending my pace, I hastened to Croghan's house, and found Mrs. +Bleecker pacing the foot-path and nibbling fennel. + +"How agreeably cool it is growing," she said as I bent over her +fingers. "I truly believe we are to have an endurable day at last." She +smiled at me as I straightened up, and continued to regard me very +intently, still slightly smiling. + +"What has disturbed your usual equanimity, Euan? You seem as flushed +and impatient as--as a lover at a tryst, for example." + +At that I coloured so hotly that she laughed and took my arm, saying: + +"There is no sport in plaguing so honest a heart as yours, dear lad. +Come; shall we walk over to call upon your fairy princess? Or had you +rather bring her here to me?" + +"She also leaves it to your pleasure," I said; "Naturally," said Mrs. +Bleecker, with a touch of hauteur; then, softening, smiled as much at +herself as at me, I think. + +"Come," she said gaily. "Sans cérémonie, n'est-ce pas?" + +And we sauntered down the road. + +"Her box arrived last evening," said I. "God send that Mr. Hake has +chosen to please her." + +"Is he married?" + +"No." + +"Lord!" said she gravely. "Then it is well enough that you pray.... +Perhaps, however," and she gave me a mischievous look, "you have +entrusted such commissions to Mr. Hake before." + +"I never have!" I said earnestly, then was obliged to join in her +delighted laughter. + +"I knew you had not, Euan. But had I asked that question of your +friend, Mr. Boyd, and had he answered me as you did, I might have +thought he lied." + +I said nothing. + +"He is at our house every day, and every moment when he is not on +duty," she remarked. + +"What gallant man would not do the like, if privileged?" I said lightly. + +"Lana talks with him too much. Angelina and I have kept our rooms, as I +wrote you, truly dreading a stroke of the sun. But Lana! Lord! She was +up and out and about with her lieutenant; and he had an Oneida to take +them both boating--and then he had the canoe only, and paddled it +himself.... They were gone too long to suit me," she added curtly. + +"When?" + +"Every night. I wish I knew where they go in their canoe. But I can do +nothing with Lana.... You, perhaps, might say a friendly word to Mr. +Boyd--if you are on that footing with him--to consider Lana's +reputation a little more, and his own amusement a little less." + +I said slowly: "Whatever footing I am on with him, I will say that to +him, if you wish." + +"I don't wish you to provoke him." + +"I shall take pains not to." + +She said impatiently: "There are far too many army duels now. It +sickens me to hear of them. Besides, Lana did ever raise the devil +beyond bounds with any man she could ensnare--and no harm done." + +"No harm," I said. "Walter Butler had a hurt of her bright eyes, and +sulked for months. And many another, Mrs. Bleecker. But somehow, Mr. +Boyd--" + +She nodded: "Yes--he's too much like her--but, being a man, scarcely as +innocent of intention, I've said as much to her, and left her +pouting--the silly little jade." + +We said nothing more, having come in sight of the low house of logs +where Lois dwelt. + +"The poor child," said Mrs. Bleecker softly. "Lord! What a kennel for a +human being!" + +As we approached we saw Mrs. Rannock crossing the clearing in the +distance, laden with wash from the fort; and I briefly acquainted my +handsome companion with her tragic history. Then, coming to the door, I +knocked. A lovely figure opened for us. + +So astonished was I--it having somehow gone from my mind that Lois +could be so changed, that for a moment I failed to recognise her in +this flushed and radiant young creature advancing in willowy beauty +from the threshold. + +As she sank very low in her pretty reverence, I saw her curly hair all +dusted with French powder, under the chip hat with its lilac ribbons +tied beneath her chin--and the beauty-patch on her cheek I saw, and how +snowy her hands were, where her fingers held her flowered gown spread. + +Then, recovering, she rose gracefully from her reverence, and I saw her +clear grey eyes star-brilliant as I had never seen them, and a +breathless little smile edging her lips. + +On Mrs. Bleecker the effect she produced was odd, for that proud and +handsome young matron had flushed brightly at first, lips compressed +and almost stern; and her courtesy had been none too supple either. + +Then in a stupid way I went forward to make my compliments and bend low +over the little hand; and as I recovered myself I found her eyes on me +for the first time--and for a brief second they lingered, soft and +wonderful, sweet, tender, wistful. But the next moment they were clear +and brilliant again with controlled excitement, as Mrs. Bleecker +stepped forward, putting out both hands impulsively. Afterward she said +to me: + +"It was her eyes, and the look she gave you, Euan, that convinced me." + +But now, to Lois, she said very sweetly: + +"I am certain that we are to become friends if you wish it as much as I +do." + +Lois laid her hands in hers. + +"I do wish it," she said. + +"Then the happy accomplishment is easy," said Mrs. Bleecker, smiling. +"I had expected to yield to you very readily my interest and sympathy, +but I had scarce expected to yield my heart to you at our first +meeting." + +Lois stood mute, the smile still stamped on her lips. Suddenly the +tears sprang to her eyes, and she turned away hastily; and Mrs. +Bleecker's arm went 'round her waist. + +They walked into the house together, and I, still dazed and mazed with +the enchanted revelation of her new loveliness, wandered about among +the charred stumps, my thoughts a heavenly chaos, as though a million +angels were singing in my ears. I could even have seen them, save for a +wondrous rosy mist that rolled around them. + +How long I wandered I do not know, but presently the door opened, and +Lois beckoned me, and I went in to find Mrs. Bleecker down on her knees +on the puncheon floor, among the mass of pretty finery overflowing from +the box. + +"Did Mr. Hake's selection please you?" I asked, "Oh, Euan, how can I +make you understand! Everything is too beautiful to be real, and I am +certain that a dreadful Cinderella awakening is in store for me." + +"Yes--but she wore the slipper in the end." + +Lois gave me a shy, sweet look, then, suddenly animated, turned eagerly +once more to discuss her wardrobe with her new friend. + +"Your Mr. Hake has excellent taste, Euan," observed Mrs. Bleecker. +"Or," she added laughingly, "perhaps your late prayer helped." And to +Lois she said mischievously: "You know, my dear, that Mr. Loskiel was +accustomed to petition God very earnestly that your wardrobe should +please you." + +Lois looked at me, the smile curving her lips into a happy tenderness. + +"He is so wonderful," she said, with no embarrassment. And I saw Mrs. +Bleecker look up at her, then smilingly at me, with the slightest +possible nod of approbation. + +For two hours and more that pair of women remained happy among the +ribbons and laces; and every separate article Lois brought to me +naively, for me to share her pleasure. And once or twice I saw Mrs. +Bleecker watching us intently; and when discovered she only laughed, +but with such sweetness and good will that it left me happy and +reassured. + +"We have arranged that Miss de Contrecoeur is to share my room with me +at Croghan's," said Mrs. Bleecker. "And, Euan, I think you should send +a wagon for her box at once. The distance is short; we will stroll home +together." + +I took my leave of them, contented, and walked back to the fort alone, +my heart full of thankfulness for what God had done for her that day. + + + +CHAPTER X + +IN GARRISON + +The end of the month was approaching, and as yet we had received no +marching orders, although every evening the heavy-laden batteaux +continued to arrive from Albany, and every morning the slow wagon train +left for the lake, escorted by details from Schott's irregulars, and +Franklin's Wyoming militia. + +But our veteran rifle battalion did not stir, although all the other +regular regiments had marched to Otsego; and Colonel Gansevoort's 3rd +N. Y. Regiment of the Line, which was now under orders to remain and +guard the Valley, had not yet returned, although early in the week an +Oneida runner had come in with letters for Mrs. Bleecker and Mrs. +Lansing from their husbands, saying that the regiment was on its way to +the fort, and that they, the ladies, should continue at Croghan's as +long as Morgan's Rifles were remaining there in garrison. + +Cooler weather had set in with an occasional day of heavy summer rain; +and now our garrison life became exceedingly comfortable, especially +agreeable because of the ladies' hospitality at Croghan's new house. + +Except for Lois and for them my duties on special detail would have +become most irksome to me, shut off from the regiment as I was, with +only the Mohican to keep an eye on, and nothing else whatever to do +except to write at sundown every evening in my daily journal. + +Not that I had not come to care a great deal for the Siwanois; indeed, +I was gradually becoming conscious of a very genuine affection for this +tall Mohican, who, in the calm confidence of our blood-brotherhood, was +daily revealing his personality to me in a hundred naive and different +ways, and with a simplicity that alternately touched and amused me. + +For, after his own beliefs and his own customs, he was every inch a +man--courteous, considerate, proud, generous, loyal, and brave. Which +seem to me to be the general qualifications for a gentleman. + +Except the Seneca Mountain Snakes, the nations of the Long House, +considering their beliefs, customs, and limited opportunities, were not +a whit inferior to us as men. And the Mohicans have always been their +peers. + +For, contrary to the general and ignorant belief, except for the +Senecas, the Iroquois were civilised people; their Empire had more +moral reasons for its existence than any other empire I ever heard of; +because the League which bound these nations into a confederacy, and +which was called by them "The Great Peace," had been established, not +for the purpose of waging war, but to prevent it. + +Until men of my own blood and colour had taught them treachery and +ferocity and deceit, they had been, as a confederacy, guiltless of +these things. Before the advent of the white man, a lie among the +Iroquois was punished by death; also, among them, unchastity was +scarcely known so rare was it. Even now, that brutal form of violence +toward women, white or red, either in time of war or peace, was +absolutely non-existent. No captive woman needed to fear that. Only the +painted Tories--the blue-eyed Indians--remained to teach the Iroquois +that such wickedness existed. For, as they said of themselves, the +People of the Morning were "real men." + +They had a federal constitution; they had civil and political +ceremonies as wisely conceived and as dignified as they were +impressive, romantic, and beautiful. Their literature, historical and +imaginative, was handed down from generation to generation; and if +memory were at fault, there were the wampum belts in their archives to +corroborate tradition. + +Their federal, national, tribal, sept, and clan systems were devised +solely to prevent international decadence and fraternal strife; their +secret societies were not sinister; their festivals and dances not +immodest; their priesthood not ignoble. They were sedentary and +metropolitan people--dwellers in towns--not nomads; they had cattle and +fowls, orchards and grain-fields, gardens for vegetables, corrals for +breeding stock. They had many towns--some even of two hundred houses, +of which dwellings many were cellared, framed, and glazed. + +They had their well-built and heavily stockaded forts which, because +the first Frenchmen called them chateaux, were still known to us as +"castles." + +Their family life was, typically, irreproachable; they were tender and +indulgent husbands and fathers, charitable neighbours, gay and +good-humoured among their friends; and their women were deferred to, +respected, and honoured, and had a distinct and important role to play +in the social and political practices of the Confederacy. + +If they, by necessity, were compelled to decimate the Eries, crush the +Hurons, and subdue the Lenape and "make women of them," the latter term +meant only that the Lenape could not be trusted to bear arms as allies. + +Yet, with truest consideration and courtesy toward these conquered +ones, and with a kindly desire to disguise and mitigate a necessary and +humiliating restriction, the Iroquois had recognised their priesthood +and their clans; had invested the Lenape with the fire-rights at +Federal Councils; and had even devised for them a diplomatic role. They +were henceforward the ambassadors of the Confederacy, the diplomats and +political envoys of the Long House. + +And if the Delawares never forgot or forgave their position as a +subject nation, yet had the Iroquois done all they dared to soften a +nominal servitude which they believed was vitally necessary to the +peace and well-being of the entire Iroquois Confederacy. + +Of this kind of people, then, were the Iroquois, naturally--not, alas, +wholly so after the white man had drugged them with rum, cheated them, +massacred them, taught them every vice, inoculated them with every +disease. + +For I must bear witness to the truth of this, spite of the incredulity +of my own countrymen; and, moreover, it is true that the Mohicans were, +in all virtuous and noble things, the peers of the civilised people of +the Long House. + +Those vile, horse-riding, murdering, thieving nomad Indians of the +plains--those homeless, wandering, plundering violators of women and +butchers of children, had nothing whatever in common with our forest +Indians of the East--were a totally different race of people, mentally, +spiritually, and physically. And these two species must ever remain +distinct--the Gens des Prairies and the Gens du Bois. + +Only the Senecas resembled the degraded robbers of the Western plains +in having naturally evil and debased propensities, and entertaining +similar gross and monstrous customs and most wicked superstitions. But +in the Long House the Senecas were really aliens; every nation felt +this, from the Canienga and Oneida peoples, whose skin was almost as +white as our own, to the dusky Onondaga, Tuscarora, and Cayuga--darker +people, but no less civilised than the tall, stalwart, and handsome +keepers of the Eastern Gate. + +I have ventured to say this much concerning the Iroquois so that it may +better be understood among my own countrymen how it was possible for +me, a white man of unmixed blood, to love and respect a red man of +blood as pure and unmixed as mine. A dog-trader learns many things +about dogs by dealing in them; an interpreter who deals with men never, +ultimately, mistakes a real man, white or red. + +My isolation from the regiment, as I say, was now more than compensated +by the presence of the ladies at Croghan's house. And Lois had now been +lodged with them for more than a week. How much of her sad history Mrs. +Bleecker had seen fit to impart to Lana Helmer and Angelina Lansing I +did not know. But it seemed to be generally understood in the garrison +that Lois had arrived from Albany on Mrs. Bleecker's invitation, and +that the girl was to remain permanently under her protection. + +The romantic fact that Lois was the orphan of white captives to the +Senecas, and had living neither kith nor kin, impressed Angelina +sentimentally, and Lana with an insatiable curiosity, if not with +suspicion. + +As for Boyd, he had not recognised her at all, in her powder, patches, +and pretty gowns. That was perfectly plain to Lois and to me. And I +could understand it, too, for I hardly recognised her myself. And after +the novelty of meeting her had worn off he paid her no particular +attention--no doubt because of his headlong, impatient, and undisguised +infatuation for Lana, which, with her own propensity for daring +indiscretion, embarrassed us all more or less. + +No warrant had been given me to interfere; I was on no such intimate +terms with Boyd; and as for Lana, she heeded Mrs. Bleecker's cautious +sermons as lightly as a bluebird, drifting, heeds the soft air that +thrills with his careless flight-song. + +What officers there were, regular and militia, who had not yet gone to +Otsego Lake, came frequently to Croghan's to pay their respects; and +every afternoon there were most agreeable parties at Croghan's; nor was +our merriment any less restrained for our lack of chairs and tables and +crockery to contain the cakes and nougats, syllabubs and custards, that +the black wench, Gusta, contrived for us. Neither were there glasses +sufficient to hold the sweet native wines, or enough cups to give each +a dish of the rare tea which had come from France, and which Mr. Hake +had sent to me from Albany, the thoughtful soul! + +If I did not entirely realise it at the time, nevertheless it was a +very happy week for me. To see Lois at last where she belonged; to see +her welcomed, respected, and admired by the ladies and gentlemen at +Croghan's--courted, flattered, sought after in a company so +respectable, and so naturally and sweetly holding her own among them +without timidity or effort, was to me a pleasure so wonderful that even +the quick, light shafts of jealousy--which ignoble but fiery darts were +ever buzzing about my ass's ears, sometimes stinging me--could not +fatally wound my satisfaction or my deep thankfulness that her dreadful +and wretched trials were ended at last, after so many years. + +What seemed to Angelina and Lana an exceedingly quick intimacy between +Lois and me sentimentally interested the former, and, as I have said, +aroused the mischievous, yet not unkindly, curiosity of the latter. +Like all people who are deep in intrigue themselves, any hint of it in +others excited her sophisticated curiosity. So when we concluded it +might be safe to call each other Lois and Euan, Lana's curiosity leaped +over all bounds to the barriers of impertinence. + +There was, as usual, a respectable company gathered at Croghan's that +afternoon; and a floating-island and tea and a punch. Lois, in her +usual corner by the northern window, was so beset and surrounded by +officers of ours, and Schott's, Franklin's, and Spalding's, and +staff-officers halted for the day, that I had quite despaired of a word +with her for the present; and had somewhat sulkily seated myself on the +stairs to bide my time. What between love, jealousy, and hurt pride +that she had not instantly left her irksome poppinjays at the mere +sight of me, and flown to me under the noses of them all, I was in two +minds whether I would remain in the house or no--so absurd and horridly +unbalanced is a young man's mind when love begins meddling with and +readjusting its accustomed mechanism. Long, long were my ears in those +first days of my heart's undoing! + +Solemnly brooding on woman's coldness, fickleness, and general +ingratitude, and silently hating every gallant who crowded about her to +hold her cup, her fan, her plate, pick up her handkerchief or a bud +fallen from her corsage, I could not, however, for the life of me keep +my eyes from the cold-blooded little jilt. + +She had evidently been out walking before I arrived, for she still wore +her coquette garden-hat--the chipstraw affair, with the lilac ribbons +tied in a bow under her rounded chin; and a white, thin gown, most +ravishing, and all bestrewn with sprigs and posies, which displayed her +smooth and delicately moulded throat above the low-pinned kerchief, and +her lovely arms from the creamy elbow lace down to her finger tips. + +The French hair-powder she wore was not sprinkled in any vulgar +profusion; it merely frosted the rich curls, making her pink checks +pinker and her grey eyes a darker and purpler grey, and rendering her +lips fresh and dewy in vivid contrast. And she wore a patch on her +smooth left cheek-bone. And it was a most deadly thing to do, causing +me a sentimental anguish unspeakable. + +As I sat there worshipping, enchanted, resentful, martyred, alternately +aching with loneliness and devotion, and at the same time heartily +detesting every man on whom she chanced to smile, comes a sly and +fragrant breath in my ear. And, turning, I discover Lana perched on a +step of the stairs above me, her mocking eyes brilliant with unkind +delight. + +"Poor swain a-sighing!" said she. "Love is sure a thorny way, Euan." + +"Have a care for your own skirts then," said I ungraciously. + +"My skirts!" + +"Yours, Lanette. Your petticoat needs mending now." + +"If love no more than rend my petticoat I ought to be content," she +said coolly. + +Silenced by her effrontery, which truly passed all bounds, I merely +glared at her, and presently she laughed outright. + +"Broad-brim," said she, "I was not born yesterday. Have no worries +concerning me, but look to yourself, for I think you have been sorely +hit at last. And God knows such wounds go hard with a truly worthy and +good young man." + +"I make nothing of your nonsense," said I coldly. + +"What? Nothing? And yonder sits its pretty and romantic inspiration? I +am glad I have lived to see the maid who dealt you your first wound!" + +"Do you fancy that I am in love?" said I defiantly. + +"Why not admit what your lop-ears and moony mien yell aloud to the +world entire?" + +"Have you no common sense, Lana? Do you imagine a man can fall in love +in a brief week?" + +"I have been wondering," said she coolly, "whether you have ever before +seen her." + +"Continue to wonder," said I bluntly. + +"I do.... Because you call her 'Lois' so readily--and you came near it +the first day you had apparently set eyes on her. Also, she calls you +'Euan' with a tripping lack of hesitation--even with a certain natural +tenderness--" + +I turned on her, exasperated: + +"Come," said I, controlling my temper with difficulty, "I am tired of +playing butt to your silly arrows." + +"Oh, how you squirm, Euan! Cupid and I are shooting you full as a +porcupine!" + +"If Cupid is truly shooting," said I with malice, "you had best hunt +cover, Lana. For I think already a spent shaft or two has bruised you, +flying at hazard from his bow." + +She smilingly ignored what I had said. + +"Tell me," she persisted, "are you not at her pretty feet already? Is +not your very soul down on its worthy marrow-bones before this girl?" + +"Is not every gallant gentleman who comes to Croghan's at the feet of +Miss de Contrecoeur?" + +"One or two are in the neighbourhood of my feet," she remarked. + +"Aye, and too near to please me," said I. + +"Who, for example?" + +"Boyd--for example," I replied, giving her a hearty scowl. + +"Oh!" she drawled airily. "He is not yet near enough my ankles to +please me." + +"You little fool," said I between my teeth, "do you think you can play +alley-taw and cat's-cradle with a man like that?" + +Then a cold temper flashed in her eyes. + +"A man like that," she repeated. "And pray, dear friend, what manner of +man may be 'a man like that?'" + +"One who can over-match you at your own silly sport--and carry the game +to its sinister finish! I warn you, have a care of yourself, Lanette. +Sir John is a tyro to this man." + +She said hotly: "If I should say to him what you have but now said to +me, he would have you out for your impertinence!" + +"If he continues to conduct as he has begun," said I, "the chances are +that I may have him out for his effrontery." + +"What! Who gave you the privilege of interfering in my affairs, you +silly ninny?" + +"So that you display ordinary prudence, I have no desire to interfere," +I retorted angrily. + +"And if I do not! If I am imprudent! If I choose to be audacious, +reckless, shameless! Is it your affair?" + +"Suppose I make it mine?" + +"You are both silly and insulting; do you know it?" + +Flushed, breathing rapidly, we sat facing each other; and I could have +shaken the little vixen, so furious was I at myself as well as at her. + +"Very well," said I, "continue to play with hell-fire if you like. I'm +done with you and with him, too." + +"And I with you," she said between her teeth. "And if you were not the +honest-meaning marplot that you are, Mr. Boyd should teach you a +lesson!" + +"I'll teach him one now," said I, springing to my feet and gone quite +blind with rage so that I was obliged to stand still a moment before I +could discover Boyd where he stood by the open door, trying to converse +with Mrs. Lansing, but watching us both with unfeigned amazement. + +"Euan!" + +Lana's voice arrested me, and I halted and turned, striving to remember +decency and that I was conducting like a very boor. This was neither +the time nor place to force a quarrel on any man.... And Lana was +right. I had no earthly warrant to interfere if she gave me none; +perhaps no spiritual warrant either. + +Still shaken and confused by the sudden fury which had invaded me, and +now sullenly mortified by my own violence and bad manners, I stood with +one hand resting on the banisters, forcing myself to look at Lana and +take the punishment that her scornful eyes were dealing me. + +"Are you coming to your senses?" she asked coldly. + +"Yes," I said. "I ask your pardon." + +A moment more we gazed at each other, then suddenly her under lip +trembled and her eyes filled. + +"Forgive me," she stammered. "You are a better friend to me +than--many.... I am not angry, Euan." + +At that I could scarce control my own voice: + +"Lanette--little Lana! Find it in your generous heart to offer me my +pardon, for I have conducted like a yokel and a fool! But--but I really +do love you." + +"I know it, Euan. I did not know it was in me to use you so cruelly. +Let us be friends again. Will you?" + +"Will you, Lana?" + +"Willingly--oh, with all my heart! And--I am not very happy, Euan. Bear +with me a little.... There is a letter come from Clarissa; perhaps it +is that which edges my tongue and temper--the poor child is so sad and +lonely, so wretchedly unhappy--and Sir John riding the West with all +his hellish crew! And she has no news of him--and asks it of me----" + +She descended a step and stood on the stair beside me, looking up at me +very sweetly, and resting her hand lightly on my shoulder--a caress so +frank and unconcealed that it meant no more then its innocent +significance implied. But at that moment, by chance, I encountered +Lois's eyes fixed on me in cold surprise. And, being a fool, and +already unnerved, I turned red as a pippin, as though I were guilty, +and looked elsewhere till the heat cooled from my cheeks. + +"You dear boy," said Lana gently. "If there were more men like you and +fewer like--Sir John, there'd be no Clarissas in the world." She +hesitated, then smiled audaciously. "Perhaps no Lanas either.... There! +Go and court your sweetheart. For she gave me a look but now which +boded ill for me or for any other maid or matron who dares lay finger +on a single thrum of your rifle-shirt." + +"You are wrong," said I. "She cares nothing for me in that manner." + +"What? How do you know, you astounding boy?" + +"I know it well enough." + +Lana shot a swift and curious look straight across the room at Lois, +who now did not seem to be aware of her. + +"She is beautiful... and--not made of marble," said Lana softly to +herself. "Good God, no! Scarcely made of marble.... And some man will +awaken her one day.... And when he does he will unchain Aphrodite +herself--or I guess wrong." She turned to me smiling. "That girl yonder +has never loved." + +"Why do you think so?" + +"I know it; but I can not tell you why I know it. Women divine where +men reason; and we are oftener right than you.... Are you truly in love +with her?" + +"I can not speak of such things to you," I muttered. + +"Lord! Is it as serious as that already? Is it arrived at the holy and +sacred stage?" + +"Lana! For heaven's sake----" + +"I am not jeering; I am realising the solemn fact that you have +progressed a certain distance in love and are arrived at a definite and +well-known milestone.... And I am merely wondering how far she has +progressed--or if she has as yet journeyed any particular distance at +all--or any more than set out upon the road. For the look she shot at +me convinces me that she has started--in fact, has reached that turn in +the thorny path where she is less inclined to defend herself than her +own possessions. You seem to be one of them." + +Boyd, who had awaited the termination of our tete-a-tete with an +impatience perfectly apparent to anybody who chanced to observe him, +now seemed able to endure it no longer; and as he approached us I felt +Lana's hand on my arm tremble slightly; but the cool smile still curved +her lips. + +She received him with a shaft of light raillery, and he laughed and +retorted in kind, and then we three sauntered over to the table where +was the floating island in a huge stone bowl of Indian ware. + +Around this, and the tea and punch, everybody was now gathering, and +there was much talking and laughing and offering of refreshment to the +ladies, and drinking of humourous or gallant toasts. + +I remember that Boyd, being called upon, instantly contrived some +impromptu verses amid general approbation--for his intelligence was as +lithe and graceful as his body was agile. And our foppish Ensign, who +was no dolt by a long shot either, made a most deft rondeau in flattery +of the ladies, turning it so neatly and unexpectedly that we all drew +our side-arms and, thrusting them aloft, cheered both him and the fair +subjects of his nimble verses. + +I would have been glad to shine in that lively and amusing competition, +but possessed no such desirable talents, and so when called upon +contrived merely a commonplace toast which all applauded as in duty +bound. + +And I saw Lois looking at me with an odd, smiling expression, not one +thing or another, yet scarcely cordial. + +"And now," says Boyd, "each lady in turn should offer an impromptu +toast in verse." + +Whereupon they all protested that the thing was impossible. But he was +already somewhat flushed with the punch and with his own success; and +says he, with that occasional and over-flourishing bow of his: + +"To divinity nothing is impossible; therefore, the ladies, ever divine, +may venture all things." + +"Which is why I venture to decline," remarked Lana. But he was set upon +it, and would not be denied; and he began a most flowery little speech +with the ladies as his inspiration: + +"Poetry and grace in mind and body is theirs by nature," said he, "and +they have but to open the rosy petals of their lips to enthrall us all +with gems of----" + +"Lord!" said Mrs. Bleecker, laughing, "I have never writ a verse in my +life save on my sampler; and if I were to open the rosy petals of my +lips, I should never have done a-giggling. But I'll do it, Mr. Boyd, if +you think it will enthrall you." + +"As for me," quoth Angelina Lansing, "I require a workshop to +manufacture my gems. It follows that they are no true gems at all, but +shop-made paste. Ask Lana Helmer; she is far more adept in sugaring +refusals." + +All turned smilingly toward Lana, who shrugged her shoulders, saying +carelessly: + + "I must decline! + The Muses nine + No sisters are of mine. + Must I repine + Because I'm not divine, + And may not versify some pretty story + To prove to you my own immortal glory? + Make no mistake. Accept; don't offer verses. + Kisses received are mercies--given, curses!" + +Said Boyd instantly: + +"A thousand poems for your couplets! Do you trade with me, Miss Helmer?" + +"Let me hear your thousand first," retorted the coquette disdainfully, +"ere I make up my mind to be damned." + +Major Parr said grimly: + +"With what are we others to trade, who can make no verses? Is there not +some more common form of wampum that you might consider?" + +"A kind and unselfish heart is sound currency," said Lana smiling and +turning her back on Boyd; which brought her to face Lois. + +"Do make a toast in verse for these importunate gentlemen," she said, +"and bring the last laggard to your feet." + +"I?" exclaimed Lois in laughing surprise. Then her face altered subtly. +"I may not dream to rival you in beauty. Why should I challenge you in +wit?" + +"Why not? Your very name implies a nationality in which elegance, +graceful wit, and taste are all inherent." And she curtsied very low to +Lois. + +For a moment the girl stood motionless, her slender forefinger crook'd +in thought across her lips. Then she glanced at me; the pink spots on +her cheeks deepened, and her lips parted in a breathless smile. + +"It will give me a pleasure to do honour to any wish expressed by +anybody," she said. "Am I to compose a toast, Euan?" + +I gazed at her in surprise; Major Parr said loudly: "That's the proper +spirit!" + +And, "Write for us a toast to love!" cried Boyd. + +But Lana coolly proposed a toast to please all, which, she explained, a +toast to love would not by any means. + +"And surely that is easy for you," she added sweetly, "who of your +proper self please all who ever knew you." + +"Write us a patriotic toast!" suggested Captain Simpson, "----A jolly +toast that all true Americans can drink under the nose of the British +King himself." + +"That's it!" cried Captain Franklin. "A toast so cunningly devised that +our poor fellows in the Provost below, and on that floating hell, the +'Jersey,' may offer it boldly and unrebuked in the very teeth of their +jailors! Lord! But that would be a rare bit o' verse--if it could be +accomplished," he added dubiously. + +Lois stood there smiling, thinking, the tint of excitement still +brilliant in her cheeks. + +"No, I could not hope to contrive such a verse----" she mused aloud. +"Yet--I might try----" She lifted her grey eyes to mine as though +awaiting my decision. + +"Try," said I--I don't know why, because I never dreamed she had a +talent for such trifles. + +For a second, as her eyes met mine, I had the sensation of standing +there entirely alone with her. Then the clamour around us grew on my +ears, and the figures of the others again took shape on every side. + +And "Try!" they cried. "Try! Try!" + +"Yes," she said slowly. "I will try----" She looked up at me. "----If +you wish it." + +"Try," I said. + +Very quietly she turned and passed behind the punch bowl and into the +next room, but did not close the door. And anybody could see her there, +seated at the rough pine table, quill in hand, and sometimes +motionless, absorbed in her own thoughts, sometimes scratching away at +the sheet of paper under her nose with all the proper frenzy of a very +poet. + +We had emptied the punch bowl before she reappeared, holding out to me +the paper which was still wet with ink. And they welcomed her lustily, +glasses aloft, but I was in a cold fright for fear she had writ nothing +extraordinary, and they might think meanly of her mind, which, after +all, I myself knew little of save that it was sweet and generous. + +But she seemed in no manner perturbed, waiting smilingly for the noise +to quiet. Then she said: + +"This is a toast that our poor tyrant-ridden countrymen may dare to +offer at any banquet under any flag, and under the very cannon of New +York." + +She stood still, absent-eyed, thinking for a moment; then, looking up +at us: + +"It is really two poems in one. If you read it straight across the page +as it is written, then does it seem to be a boastful, hateful Tory +verse, vilifying all patriots, even His Excellency--God forgive the +thought! + +"But in the middle of every line there is a comma, splitting the line +into two parts. And if you draw a line down through every one of these +commas, dividing the written verse into two halves, each separate half +will be a poem of itself, and the secret and concealed meaning of the +whole will then be apparent." + +She laid the paper in my hands; instantly everybody, a-tiptoe with +curiosity, clustered around to see. And this is what we all read--the +prettiest and most cunningly devised and disguised verse that ever was +writ--or so it seems to me: + + "Hark--hark the trumpet sounds, the din of war's alarms + O'er seas and solid grounds, doth call us all to arms, + Who for King George doth stand, their honour soon shall shine, + Their ruin is at hand, who with the Congress join. + The acts of Parliament, in them I much delight, + I hate their cursed intent, who for the Congress fight. + The Tories of the day, they are my daily toast, + They soon will sneak away, who independence boast, + Who non-resistant hold, they have my hand and heart, + May they for slaves be sold, who act the Whiggish part. + On Mansfield, North and Bute, may daily blessings pour + Confusions and dispute, on Congress evermore, + To North and British lord, may honours still be done, + I wish a block and cord, to General Washington." + +Then Major Parr took the paper, and raising one hand, and with a +strange solemnity on his war-scarred visage, he pronounced aloud the +lines of the two halves, reading first a couplet from the left hand +side of the dividing commas, then a couplet from the right, and so down +the double column, revealing the hidden and patriotic poem: + + "Hark--hark the trumpet sounds + O'er seas and solid grounds! + The din of war's alarms + Doth call us all to arms! + Who for King George doth stand + Their ruin is at hand: + Their honour soon shall shine + Who with the Congress join: + The acts of Parliament + I hate their cursed intent! + In them I much delight + Who for the Congress fight. + The Tories of the day + They soon will sneak away: + They are my daily toast + Who independence boast. + Who non-resistant hold + May they for slaves be sold. + They have my hand and heart + Who act the Whiggish part. + On Mansfield, North, and Bute, + Confusion and dispute. + May daily blessings pour + On Congress evermore. + To North and British lord, + I wish a block and cord! + May honours still be done + To General Washington!" + +As his ringing voice subsided, there fell a perfect silence, then a +very roar of cheering filled it, and the hemlock rafters rang. And I +saw the colour fly to Lois's face like a bright ensign breaking from +its staff and opening in flower-like beauty. + +Then every one must needs drink her health and praise her skill and wit +and address--save I alone, who seemed to have no words for her, or even +to tell myself of my astonishment at her accomplishment, somehow so +unexpected. + +Yet, why might I not have expected accomplishments from such a pliant +intelligence--from a young and flexible mind that had not lacked +schooling, irregular as it was? Far by her own confession to me, her +education had been obtained, while it lasted, in schools as good as any +in the land, if, indeed, all were as excellent as Mrs. Pardee's Young +Ladies' Seminary in Albany, or the school kept by the Misses Primrose. + +And Major Parr, the senior officer present, must have a glass of wine +with her all alone, and offer her his arm to the threshold, where Lana +and Boyd were busily plaiting a wreath of green maple-leaves for her, +which they presently placed around her chip-straw hat. And we all +acclaimed her. + +As for Major Parr, that campaign-battered veteran had out his tablets +and was painfully copying the verses--he being no scholar--while Boyd +read them aloud to us all again in most excellent taste, and Lois +laughed and blushed, protesting that her modest effort was not worthy +such consideration. + +"Egad!" said Major Parr loudly. "I maintain that verses such as these +are worth a veteran battalion to any army on earth! You are an aid, an +honour, and an inspiration to your country, Miss de Contrecoeur, and I +shall take care that His Excellency receives a copy of these same +verses----" + +"Oh, Major Parr!" she protested in dismay. "I should perish with shame +if His Excellency were to be so beset by every sorry scribbler." + +"A copy for His Excellency! Hurrah!" cried Captain Simpson. "Who +volunteers?" + +"I will make it," said I, with jealous authority. + +"And I will aid you with quill, sand, and paper," said Lana. "Come with +me, Euan." + +Lois, who had at first smiled at me, now looked at us both, while the +smile stiffened on her flushed face as Lana caught me by the hand and +drew me toward the other room where the pine camp-table stood. + +While I was writing in my clear and painstaking chirography, which I +try not to take a too great pride in because of its fine shading and +skillful flourishes, the guests of the afternoon were making their +adieux and taking their departure, some afoot, others on horseback. + +When I had finished my copy and had returned to the main room, nothing +remained of the afternoon party save Boyd and Lana, whispering together +by a window, and the black wench, Gusta, clearing away the debris of +the afternoon. + +Outside in the late sunshine, I could see Mrs. Bleecker and Mrs. +Lansing strolling to and fro, arm in arm, but I looked around in vain +for Lois. + +"She is doubtless gone a-boating with her elegant senior Ensign," said +Lana sweetly, from the window. "If you run fast you may kill him yet, +Euan." + +"I was looking for nobody," said I stiffly, and marched out, ridding +them of my company--which I think was what they both desired. + +Now, among other and importunate young fops, the senior Ensign and his +frippery and his marked attention to Lois, and his mincing but +unfeigned devotion to her, had irritated me to the very verge of +madness. + +Twice, to my proper knowledge, this fellow had had her in an Oneida +canoe, and with a guitar at that; and, damn him, he sang with taste and +discretion. Also, when not on duty, he was ever to be found lisping +compliments into her ear, or, in cool possession of her arm, +promenading her to flaunt her beauty--and his good fortune--before the +entire fort. And I had had enough of it. + +So when I learned that she was off again with him, such a rage and +wretchedness possessed me that I knew not what to do. Common sense +yelled in my ear that no man of that stripe could seriously impress +her; but where is the understanding in a very young man so violently +sick with love as was I? All men who approached her I instantly +suspected and mentally damned--even honest old Simpson--aye, even Major +Parr himself. And I wonder now I had not done something to invite +court-martial. For my common sense had been abruptly and completely +upset, and I was at that period in a truly unhappy and contemptible +plight. + +I could not seem to steer my footsteps clear of the river bank, nor +deny myself the fierce and melancholy pleasure of gazing at their canoe +from afar, so I finally walked in that direction, cursing my own +weakness and meditating quarrels and fatal duels. + +But when I arrived on the river bank, I could not discover her in any +of the canoes that danced in the rosy ripples of the declining sun. So, +mooning and miserable, I lagged along the bank toward my bush-hut; and +presently, to my sudden surprise, discovered the very lady of whom I +had been thinking so intently--not dogged as usual by that insufferable +Ensign, but in earnest conversation with the Sagamore. + +And, as I gazed at them outlined against the evening sky, I remembered +what Betsy Hunt had said at Poundridge--how she had encountered them +together on the hill which overlooked the Sound. + +Long before I reached them or they had discovered me, the Sagamore +turned and took his departure, with a dignified gesture of refusal; and +Lois looked after him for a moment, her hand to her cheek, then turned +and gazed straight into the smouldering West, where, stretching away +under its million giant pines, the vast empire of the Long House lay, +slowly darkening against the crimson sunset. + +She did not notice me as I came toward her through the waving Indian +grass, and even when I spoke her name she did not seem startled, but +turned very deliberately, her eyes still reflecting the brooding +thoughts that immersed her. + +"What is it that you and this Mohican have still to say to each other?" +I asked apprehensively. + +The vague expression of her features changed; she answered with +heightened colour: + +"The Sagamore is my friend as well as yours. Is it strange that I +should speak with him when it pleases me to do so?" + +There was an indirectness in her gaze, as well as in her reply, that +troubled me, but I said amiably: + +"What has become of your mincing escort? Is he gone to secure a canoe?" + +"He is on duty and gone to the fort." + +"Where he belongs," I growled, "and not eternally at your heels." + +She raised her eyes and looked at me curiously. + +"Are you jealous?" she demanded, beginning to smile; then, suddenly the +smile vanished and she shot at me a darker look, and stood considering +me with lips slightly compressed, hostile and beautiful. + +"As for that fop of an Ensign----" I began--but she took the word from +my mouth: + +"A fiddle-stick! It is I who have cause to complain of you, not you of +me! You throw dust in my eyes by accusing where you should stand +otherwise accused. And you know it!" + +"I? Accused of what?" + +"If you don't know, then I need not humiliate myself to inform you. But +I think you do know, for you looked guilty enough----" + +"Guilty of what?" + +"Of what? I don't know what you may be guilty of. But you sat on the +stairs with your simpering inamorata--and your courtship quarrels and +your tender reconciliations were plain enough to--to sicken anybody----" + +"Lois! That is no proper way to speak of----" + +"It is your own affair--and hers! I ask your pardon--but she flaunted +her intimacy with you so openly and indiscreetly----" + +"There is no common sense in what you say!" I exclaimed angrily. "If +I----" + +"Was she not ever drowning her very soul in your sheep's eyes? And even +not scrupling to shamelessly caress you in the face of all----" + +"Caress me!" + +"Did she not stand for ten full minutes with her hand upon your +shoulder, and a-sighing and simpering----" + +"That was no caress! It was full innocent and----" + +"Is she so innocent? Indeed! I had scarcely thought it of her," she +said disdainfully. + +"She is a true, good girl, innocent of any evil intention +whatsoever----" + +"I pray you, Euan, spare me your excited rhapsodies. If you prefer this +most bewitching--minx----" + +"She is no minx!" I retorted hotly; and Lois as hotly faced me, pink to +her ears with exasperation. + +"You do favour her! You do! You do! Say what you will, you are ever +listening for the flutter of her petticoats on the stairs, ever at her +French heels, ever at moony gaze with her--and a scant inch betwixt +your noses! So that you come not again to me vowing what you have vowed +to me--I care not how you and she conduct----" + +"I do prefer you!" I cried, furious to be so misconstrued. "I love only +one, and that one is you!" + +"Oh, Euan, yours is a most broad and catholic heart; and any pretty +penitent can find her refuge there; and any petticoat can flutter it!" + +"Yours can. Even your fluttering rags did that!" + +She flushed: "Oh, if I were truly weak and silly enough to listen to +you----" + +"You never do. You give me no hope." + +"I do give you hope! I am ever ladling it out to you as they ladle +soupaan to the militia! I say to you continually that never have I so +devotedly loved any man----" + +"That is not love!" I said, furious. + +"I do not pretend it to be that same boiling and sputtering sentiment +which men call love----" + +"Then if it be not true love, why do you care what I whisper to any +woman?" + +"I do not care," she said, biting the rose-leaf lower lip. "You may +whisper any treason you please to any h-heartless woman who snares your +f-fancy." + +"You do not truly care?" + +"I have said it. No, I do not care! Court whom you please! But if you +do, my faith in man is dead, and that's flat!" + +"What!" + +"Certainly.... After your burning vows so lately made to me. But men +have no shame. I know that much." + +"But," said I, bewildered, "you say that you care nothing for my vows!" + +"Did I say so?" + +"Yes--you----" + +"No, I did not say so!... I--I love your vows." + +"How can you love my vows and not me?" I demanded angrily. + +"I don't know I can do it, but I do.... But I will love them no longer +if you make the selfsame vows to her." + +"Now," said I, perplexed and exasperated, "what does it profit a man +when a maid confesses that she loves to hear his vows, but loves not +him who makes them?" + +"For me to love even your vows," said she, looking at me sideways, "is +something gained for you--or so it seems to me. And were I minded to +play the coquette--as some do----" + +"You play it every minute!" + +"I? When, pray?" + +"When I came to Croghan's this afternoon there were you the centre of +'em all; and one ass in boots and spurs to wave your fan for you--oh, +la! And another of Franklin's, in his Wyandotte finery, to fetch and +carry; and a dozen more young fools all ogling and sighing at your +feet----" + +Her lips parted in a quick, nervous laugh: + +"Was that the way I seemed? Truly, Euan? Were you jealous? And I scarce +heeding one o' them, but my eyes on the doorway, watching for you!" + +"Oh, Lois! How can you say that to me----" + +"Because it was so! Why did you not come to me at once? I was waiting!" + +"There were so many--and you seemed so gay with them--so careless--not +even glancing at me----" + +"I saw you none the less. I never let you escape the range of my +vision." + +"I never dreamed you noticed me. And every time you smiled on one of +them I grew the gloomier----" + +"And what does my gaiety mean--save that the source of happiness lies +rooted in you? What do other men count, only that in their admiration I +read some recompense for you, who made me admirable. These gowns I wear +are yours--these shoon and buckles and silken stockings--these bows of +lace and furbelows--this little patch making my rose cheeks +rosier--this frost of powder on my hair! All these I wear, Euan, so +that man's delight in me may do you honour. All I am to please them--my +gaiety, my small wit, which makes for them crude verses, my modesty, my +decorum, my mind and person, which seem not unacceptable to a +respectable society--all these are but dormant qualities that you have +awakened and inspired----" + +She broke off short, tears filling her eyes: + +"Of what am I made, then, if my first and dearest and deepest thought +be not for you? And such a man as this is jealous!" + +I caught her hands, but she bent swiftly and laid her hot cheek for an +instant against my hand which held them. + +"If there is in me a Cinderella," she said unsteadily, "it is you who +have discovered it--liberated it--and who have willed that it shall +live. Did you suppose that it was in me to make those verses unless you +told me that I could do it? You said, 'Try,' and instantly I dared +try.... Is that not something to stir your pride? A girl as absolutely +yours as that? And do not the lesser and commonplace emotions seem +trivial in comparison--all the heats and passions and sentimental +vapours--the sighs and vows and languishing all the inevitable +trappings and masqueradings which bedizzen what men know as love--do +they not all seem mean and petty compared to our deep, sweet knowledge +of each other?" + +"You are wonderful," I said humbly. "But love is no unreal, unworthy +thing, either; no sham, no trite cut-and-dried convention, made silly +by sighs and vapours. + +"Oh, Euan, it is! I am so much more to you in my soul than if I merely +loved you. You are so much more to me--the very well-spring of my +desire and pride--my reason for pleasing, my happy consolation and my +gratitude.... Seat yourself here on the pleasant, scented grasses and +let me endeavour to explain it once and for all time. Will you? + +"It is this," she continued, taking my hand between hers, when we were +seated, and examining it very intently, as though the screed she +recited were written there on my palm. "We are so marvelously matched +in every measurement and feature, mental and bodily almost--and I am so +truly becoming a vital part of you and you of me, that the miracle is +too perfect, too lofty, too serenely complete to vex it with the lesser +magic--the passions and the various petty vexations they entail. + +"For I would become--to honour you--all that your pride would have me. +I would please the world for your sake, conquer it both with mind and +person. And you must endeavour to better yourself, day by day, nobly +and with high aim, so that the source of my inspiration remain ever +pure and fresh, and I attain to heights unthinkable save for your faith +in me and mine in you." + +She smiled at me, and I said: + +"Aye; but to what end?" + +"To what end, Euan? Why, for our spiritual and worldly profit." + +"Yes, but I love you----" + +"No, no! Not in that manner----" + +"But it is so." + +"No, it is not! We are to be above mere sentiment. Reason rules us." + +"Are we not to wed?" + +"Oh--as for that----" She thought for a while, closely considering my +palm. "Yes--that might some day be a part of it.... When we have +attained to every honour and consideration, and our thoughts and +desires are purged and lifted to serene and lofty heights of +contemplation. Then it would be natural for us to marry, I suppose." + +"Meanwhile," said I, "youth flies; and I may not lay a finger on you to +caress you." + +"Not to caress me--as that woman did to you----" + +"Lois!" + +"I can not help it. There is in her--in all such women--a sly, smooth, +sleek and graceful beast, ever seeming to invite or offer a caress----" + +"She is sweet and womanly; a warm friend of many years." + +"Oh! And am I not--womanly?" + +"Are you, entirely?" + +She looked at me troubled: + +"How would you have me be more womanly?" + +"Be less a comrade, more a sweetheart." + +"Familiar?" + +My heart was beating fast: + +"Familiar to my arms. I love you." + +"I--do not permit myself to desire your arms. Can I help saying so--if +you ask me?" + +"When I love you so----" + +"No. Why are you, after all, like other men, when I once hoped----" + +"Other men love. All men love. How can I be different----" + +"You are more finely made. You comprehend higher thoughts. You can +command your lesser passions." + +"You say that very lightly, who have no need to command yours!" + +"How do you know?" she said in a low voice. + +"Because you have none to curb--else you could better understand the +greater ones." + +She sat with head lowered, playing with a blade of grass. After a while +she looked up at me, a trifle confused. + +"Until I knew you, I entertained but one living passion--to find my +mother and hold her in my arms--and have of her all that I had ached +for through many empty and loveless years. Since I have known you that +desire has never changed. She is my living passion, and my need." + +She bent her head again and sat playing with the scented grasses. Then, +half to herself, she said: + +"I think I am still loyal to her if I have placed you beside her in my +heart. For I have not yet invested you with a passion less innocent +than that which burns for her." + +She lifted her head slowly, propping herself up on one arm, and looked +intently at me. + +"What do you know about me, that you say I am unwomanly and cold?" Her +voice was low, but the words rang a little. + +"Do not deceive yourself," she said. "I am fashioned for love as +thoroughly as are you--for love sacred or profane. But who am I to dare +put on my crown of womanhood? Let me first know myself--let me know +what I am, and if I truly have even a right to the very name I wear. +Let me see my own mother face to face--hold her first of all in my +embrace--give my lips first to her, yield to her my first caresses.... +Else," and her face paled, "I do not know what I might become--I do not +know, I tell you--having been all my life deprived of intimacy--never +having known familiar kindness or its lightest caress--and half dead +sometimes of the need of it!" + +She straightened up, clenching her hands, then smiled her breathless +little smile. + +"Think of it, Euan! For twenty years I have wanted her caresses--or +such harmless kindness of somebody--almost of anybody! My foster-mother +never kissed me, never put her arm about me--or even laid her hand +lightly upon my shoulder--as did that girl do to you on the stairs.... +I tell you, to see her do it went through me like a Shawanese arrow----" + +She forced a mirthless smile, and clasped her fingers across her knee: + +"So bitterly have I missed affection all my life," she added calmly. +"...And now you come into my life! Why, Euan--and my sentiments were +truly pure and blameless when you were there that night with me on the +rock under the clustered stars--and I left for you a rose--and my heart +with it!--so dear and welcome was your sudden presence that I could +have let you fold me in your arms, and so fallen asleep beside you, I +was that deathly weary of my solitude and ragged isolation." + +She made a listless gesture: + +"It is too late for us to yield to demonstration of your affection now, +anyway--not until I find myself safe in the arms that bore me first. +God knows how deeply it would affect me if you conquered me, or what I +would do for very gratitude and happiness under the first close +caress.... Stir not anything of that in me, Euan. Let me not even dream +of it. It were not well for me--not well for me. For whether I love you +as I do, or--otherwise and less purely--it would be all the same--and I +should become--something--which I am not--wedded or otherwise--not my +free self, but to my lesser self a slave, without ambition, +pride--wavering in that fixed resolve which has brought me hither.... +And I should live and die your lesser satellite, unhappy to the very +end." + +After a silence, I said heavily: + +"Then you have not renounced your purpose?" + +"No." + +"You still desire to go to Catharines-town?" + +"I must go." + +"That was the burden of your conversation with the Sagamore but now?" + +"Yes." + +"He refused to aid you?" + +"He refused." + +"Why, then, are you not content to wait here--or at Albany?" + +She sat for a long while with head lowered, then, looking up quietly: + +"Another pair of moccasins was left outside my door last night." + +"What! At Croghan's? Inside our line!" I exclaimed incredulously. + +"Aye. But this time the message sewed within them differed from all the +others. And on the shred of bark was written: 'Swift moccasins for +little feet as swift. The long trail opens. Come!'" + +"You think your mother wrote it?" I asked, astounded. + +"Yes.... She wrote the others." + +"Well?" + +"This writing is the same." + +"The same hand that wrote the other messages throughout the years?" + +"The same." + +"Have you told the Sagamore of this?" + +"I told him but now--and for the first time." + +"You told him everything?" + +"Yes--concerning my first finding--and the messages that came every +year with the moccasins." + +"And did you show him the Indian writing also?" + +"Yes." + +"What did he say?" + +"Nothing. But there flashed up suddenly in his eyes a reddish light +that frightened me, and his face became so hideous and terrible that I +could have cried out. But I contrived to maintain my composure, and I +said: 'What do you make of it, O Sagamore?' And he spat out a word I +did not clearly understand----" + +"Amochol?" + +"Yes--it sounded like that. What did he mean, Euan?" + +"I will presently ask him," said I, thoroughly alarmed. "And in the +meanwhile, you must now be persuaded to remain at this post. You are +contented and happy here. When we march, you will go back to +Schenectady or to Albany with the ladies of the garrison, and wait +there some word of our fate. + +"If we win through, I swear to you that if your mother be there in +Catharines-town I will bring news of her, or, God willing, bring her +herself to you." + +I rose and aided her to stand; and her hands remained limply in mine. + +"I had rather take you from her arms," I said in a low voice, "----if +you ever deign to give yourself to me." + +"That is sweetly said.... Such giving leaves the giver unashamed." + +"Could you promise yourself to me?" + +She stood with head averted, watching the last faint stain of color +fade from the west. + +"Would you have me at any cost, Euan?" + +"Any cost." + +"Suppose that when I find my mother--I find no name for myself--save +hers?" + +"You shall have mine then." + +"Dear lad!... But--suppose, even then I do not love you--as men mean +love." + +"So that you love no other man, I should still want you." + +"Am I then so vital to you?" + +"Utterly." + +"To how many other women have you spoken thus?" she asked gravely. + +"To none." + +"Truly?" + +"Truly, Lois." + +She said in a low voice: + +"Other men have said it to me.... I have heard them swear it with tears +in their eyes and calling God to witness. And I knew all the while that +they were lying--perjuring their souls for the sake of a ragged, unripe +jade, and a wild night's frolic.... Well--God made men.... I know +myself, too.... To love you as you wish is to care less for you than I +already do. I would not willingly.... Yet, I may try if you wish it.... +So that is all the promise I dare make you. Come--take me home now--if +you care to walk as far with me." + +"And I who am asking you to walk through life with me?" I said, forcing +a laugh. + +We turned; she took my arm, and together we moved slowly back through +the falling dusk. + +And, as we approached her door, came a sudden and furious sound of +galloping behind us, and we sprang to the side of the road as the +express thundered by in a storm of dust and driving pebbles. + +"News," she whispered. "Do they bring good news as fast as bad?" + +"It may mean our marching orders," I said, dejected. + +We had now arrived at Croghan's, and she was withdrawing her arm from +mine, when the hollow sound of a conch-horn went echoing and booming +through the dusk. + +"It does mean your marching orders!" she exclaimed, startled. + +"It most certainly means something," said I. "Good-night--I must run +for the fort----" + +"Are you going to----to leave me?" + +"That horn is calling out Morgan's men----" + +"Am I not to see you again?" + +"Why, yes--I expect so--but if----" + +"Oh! Is there an 'if'?' Euan, are you going away forever?" + +"Dear maid, I don't know yet what has happened----" + +"I do! You are going!... To your death, perhaps--for all I know----" + +"Hush! And good-night----" + +She held to my offered hand tightly: + +"Don't go--don't go----" + +"I will return and tell you if----" + +"'If!' That means you will not return! I shall never see you again!" + +I had flung one arm around her, and she stood with one hand clenched +against her lips, looking blankly into my face. + +"Good-bye," I said, and kissed her clenched hand so violently that it +slipped sideways on her cheek, bruising her lips. + +She gave a faint gasp and swayed where she stood, very white in the +face. + +"I have hurt you," I stammered; but my words were lost in a frightful +uproar bursting from the fort; and: + +"God!" she whispered, cowering against me, as the horrid howling +swelled on the affrighted air. + +"It is only the Oneidas' scalp-yell," said I. "They know the news. +Their death-halloo means that the corps of guides is ordered out. +Good-bye! You have means to support you now till I return. Wait for me; +love me if it is in you to love such a man. Whatever the event, my +devotion will not alter. I leave you in God's keeping, dear. Good-bye." + +Her hand was still at her bruised lips; I bent forward; she moved it +aside. But I kissed only her hand. + +Then I turned and ran toward the fort; and in the torch-light at the +gate encountered Boyd, who said to me gleefully: + +"It's you and your corps of guides! The express is from Clinton. +Hanierri remains; the Sagamore goes with you; but the regiment is not +marching yet awhile. Lord help us! Listen to those beastly Oneidas in +their paint! Did you ever hear such a wolf-pack howling! Well, Loskiel, +a safe and pleasant scout to you." He offered his hand. "I'll be +strolling back to Croghan's. Fare you safely!" + +"And you," I said, not thinking, however, of him. But I thought of +Lana, and wished to God that Boyd were with us on this midnight march, +and Lana safe in Albany once more. + +As I entered the fort, through the smoky flare of torches, I saw Dolly +Glenn waiting there; and as I passed she gave a frightened exclamation. + +"Did you wish to speak to me?" I asked. + +"Is--is Lieutenant Boyd going with you?" she stammered. + +"No, child." + +She thanked me with a pitiful sort of smile, and shrank back into the +darkness. + +I remained but a few moments with Major Parr and Captain Simpson; a +rifleman of my own company, Harry Kent, brought me my pack and +rifle--merely sufficient ammunition and a few necessaries--for we were +to travel lightly. Then Captain Simpson went away to inspect the Oneida +scouts. + +"I wish you well," said the Major quietly. "Guard the Mohican as you +would the apple of your eye, and--God go with you, Euan Loskiel." + +I saluted, turned squarely, and walked out across the parade to the +postern. Here I saw Captain Simpson inspecting the four guides, one of +whom, to me, seemed unnecessarily burdened with hunting shirt and +blanket. + +Running my eye along their file, where they stood in the uncertain +torchlight, I saw at once that the guides selected by Major Parr were +not all Oneidas. Two of them seemed to be; a third was a Stockbridge +Indian; but the fourth--he with the hunting-shirt and double blanket, +wore unfamiliar paint. + +"What are you?" said I in the Oneida dialect, trying to gain a square +look at him in the shifty light. + +"Wyandotte," he said quietly. + +"Hell!" said I, turning to Captain Simpson. "Who sends me a Wyandotte?" + +"General Clinton," replied Simpson in surprise. "The Wyandotte came +from Fortress Pitt. Colonel Broadhead, commanding our left wing, sent +him, most highly recommending him for his knowledge of the Susquehanna +and Tioga." + +I took another hard look at the Wyandotte. + +"You should travel lighter," said I. "Split that Niagara blanket and +roll your hunting-shirt." + +The savage looked at me a moment, then his sinewy arms flew up and he +snatched the deerskin shirt from his naked body. The next instant his +knife fairly leaped from its beaded sheath; there was a flash of steel, +a ripping sound, and his blue and scarlet blanket lay divided. Half of +it he flung to a rifleman, and the other half, with his shirt, he +rolled and tied to his pack. + +Such zeal and obedience pleased me, and I smiled and nodded to him. He +showed his teeth at me, which I fancied was his mode of smiling. But it +was somewhat hideous, as his nose had been broken, and the unpleasant +dent in it made horridly conspicuous by a gash of blood-red paint. + +I buckled my belt and pack and picked up my rifle. Captain Simpson +shook hands with me. At the same moment, the rifleman sent to our +bush-hut to summon the Mohican returned with him. And a finer sight I +never saw; for the tall and magnificently formed Siwanois was in +scarlet war-paint from crown to toe, oiled, shaven save for the lock, +and crested with a single scarlet plume--and heaven knows where he got +it, for it was not dyed, but natural. + +His scarlet and white beaded sporran swung to his knees; his ankle +moccasins were quilled and feathered in red and white; the Erie scalps +hung from his girdle, hooped in red, and he bore only a light +pack-slung, besides his rifle and short red blanket. + +"Salute, O Sagamore! Roya-neh!" I said in a low voice, passing him. + +He smiled, then his features became utterly blank, as one by one the +eyes of the other Indians flashed on his for a moment, then shifted +warily elsewhere. + +I made a quick gesture, turned, and started, heading the file out into +the darkness. + +And as we advanced noiselessly and swung west into the Otsego road, I +was aware of a shadow on my right--soft hands outstretched--a faint +whisper as I kissed her tightening fingers. Then I ran on to head that +painted file once more, and for a time continued to lead at hazard, +blinded with tears. + +And it was some minutes before I was conscious of the Mohican's hand +upon my arm, guiding my uncertain feet through the star-shot dark. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A SCOUT OF SIX + +We were now penetrating that sad and devastated region laid waste so +recently by Brant, Butler, and McDonald, from Cobus-Kill on the +pleasant river Askalege, to Minnisink on the silvery Delaware--a vast +and mournful territory which had been populous and prosperous a +twelvemonth since, and was now the very abomination of desolation. + +Cherry Valley lay a sunken mass of blood-wet cinders; Wyoming had gone +up in a whirlwind of smoke, and the wretched Connecticut inhabitants +were dead or fled; Andrustown was now no more, Springfield, Handsome +Brook, Bowmans, Newtown-Martin--all these pretty English villages were +vanished; the forest seedlings already sprouted in the blackened +cellars, and the spotted tree-cats squalled from the girdled orchards +under the July moon. + +Where horses, cows, sheep, men, women, and children had lain dead all +over the trampled fields, the tall English grass now waved, yellowing +to fragrant hay; horses, barns, sheds--nay, even fences, wagons, +ploughs, and haycocks had been laid in cinders. There remained not one +thing that could burn which had not been burned. Only breeze-stirred +ashes marked these silent places, with here and there a bit of iron +from wagon or plough, rusting in the dew, or a steel button from some +dead man's coat, or a bone gone chalky white--dumb witnesses that the +wrath of England had passed wrapped in the lightning of Divine Right. + +But Great Britain's flaming glory had swept still farther westward, for +German Flatts was gone except for its church and one house, which were +too near the forts for the destructives to burn. But they had laid in +ashes more than a hundred humble homes, barns, and mills, and driven +off more than a thousand cattle, horses, sheep, and oxen, leaving the +barnyard creatures dead or dying, and ten thousand skipples of grain +afire. + +So it was no wonder that the provisioning of our forces at Otsego had +been slow, and that we now had five hundred wagons flying steadily +between Canajoharie and the lake, to move our stores as they arrived by +batteaux from below. And there were some foolish and impatient folk in +Congress, so I heard, who cried out at our delay; and one more sinister +jackass, who had said that our army would never move until a few +generals had been court-martialed and shot. And our Major Parr said +that he wished to God we had the Congress with us so that for once they +might have their bellyful of stratagem and parched corn. + +But it is ever so with those home-loving and unsurpassed +butcher-generals, baker-brigadiers, candlestick-colonels, who, yawning +in bed, win for us victories while we are merely planning them--and, +rolling over, go to sleep with a consciousness of work well done, the +candle snuffed, and the cat locked out for the night. + + +About eleven o'clock on the first night out, I halted my scout of six +and lay so, fireless, until sun-up. We were not far, then, from the +head of the lake; and when we marched at dawn next morning we +encountered a company of Alden's men mending roads as usual; and later +came upon an entire Continental regiment and a company of Irregular +Rifles, who were marching down to the lake to try out their guns. Long +after we quitted them we heard their heavy firing, and could +distinguish between the loud and solid "Bang!" of the muskets and the +sharper, whip-lash crack of the long rifles. + +The territory that now lay before us was a dense and sunless +wilderness, save for the forest openings made by rivers, lakes, and +streams. And it was truly the enemy's own country, where he roamed +unchecked except for the pickets of General Sullivan's army, which was +still slowly concentrating at Tioga Point whither my scout of six was +now addressed. And the last of our people that we saw was a detail of +Alden's regiment demolishing beaver dams near the lake's outlet which, +they informed us, the beavers rebuilt as fast as they were destroyed, +to the rage and confusion of our engineers. We saw nothing of the +industrious little animals, who are accustomed to labor while human +beings sleep, but we saw their felled logs and cunningly devised dams, +which a number of our men were attacking with pick and bar, standing in +the water to their arm-pits. + +Beyond them, at the Burris Farm, we passed our outlying +pickets--Irregular Riflemen from the Scoharie and Sacandaga, tall, +lean, wiry men, whose leaf-brown rifle-dress so perfectly blended with +the tree-trunks that we were aware of them only when they halted us. +And, Lord! To see them scowl at my Indians as they let us through, so +that I almost expected a volley in our backs, and was relieved when we +were rid o' them. + +When, later, we passed Yokam's Place, we were fairly facing that vast +solitude of twilight which lay between us and the main army's outposts +at the mouth of the Tioga. Except for a very few places on the Ouleout, +and the Iroquois towns, the region was uninhabited. But the forest was +beautiful after its own somewhat appalling fashion, which was +stupendous, majestic, and awe-inspiring to the verge of apprehension. + +Under these limitless lanes of enormous trees no sunlight fell, no +underbrush grew. All was still and vague and dusky as in pillared +aisles. There were no birds, no animals, nothing living except the +giant columns which bore a woven canopy of leaves so dense that no +glimmer of blue shone through. Centuries had spread the soundless +carpet that we trod; eons had laid up the high-sprung arches which +vanished far above us where vault and column were dimly merged, losing +all form in depthless shadow. + +There was an Indian path all the way from the lake, good in places, in +others invisible. We did not use it, fearing an ambush. + +The Mohican led us; I followed him; the last Oneida marked the trees +for a new and better trail, and a straighter one not following every +bend in the river. And so, in silence we moved southward over gently +sloping ground which our wagons and artillery might easily follow while +the batteaux fell down the river and our infantry marched on either +bank, using the path where it existed. + +Toward ten o'clock we came within sound of the river again, its softly +rushing roar filling the woods; and after a while, far through the +forest dusk, we saw the thin, golden streak of sunlight marking its +lonely course. + +The trail that the Mohican now selected swung ever nearer to the river, +and at last, we could see low willows gilded by the sun, and a patch of +blue above, and a bird flying. + +Treading in file, rifles at trail, and knife and hatchet loosened, we +moved on swiftly just within that strip of dusk that divides the forest +from the river shrub; and I saw the silver water flowing deep and +smooth, where batteaux as well as canoes might pass with unvexed keels; +and, over my right shoulder, above the trees, a baby peak, azure and +amethyst in a cobalt sky; and a high eagle soaring all alone. + +The Mohican had halted; an Oneida ran down to the sandy shore and waded +out into mid-stream; another Oneida was peeling a square of bark from a +towering pine. I rubbed the white square dry with my sleeve, and with a +wood-coal from my pouch I wrote on it: + + + "Ford, three feet at low water." + + +The Stockbridge Indian who had stepped behind a river boulder and laid +his rifle in rest across the top, still stood there watching the young +Oneida in midstream who, in turn, was intently examining the river bank +opposite. + +Nothing stirred there, save some butterflies whirling around each other +over a bed of purple milkweed, but we all watched the crossing, rifles +at a ready, as the youthful Oneida waded slowly out into the full +sunshine, the spray glittering like beaded topazes on his yellow paint. + +Presently he came to a halt, nosing the farther shore like a lean and +suspicious hound at gaze; and stood so minute after minute. + +Mayaro, crouching beside me, slowly nodded. + +"He has seen something," I whispered. + +"And I, too," returned the Mohican quietly. + +I looked in vain until the Sagamore, laying his naked arm along my +cheek, sighted for me a patch of sand and water close inshore--a tiny +bay where the current clutched what floated, and spun it slowly around +in the sunshine. + +A dead fish, lying partly on the shore, partly in the water, was +floating there. I saw it, and for a moment paid it no heed; then in a +flash I comprehended. For the silvery river-trout lying there carried a +forked willow-twig between gill and gill-cover. Nor was this all; the +fish was fresh-caught, for the gills had not puffed out, nor the supple +body stiffened. Every little wavelet rippled its slim and limber +length; and a thread of blood trailed from the throat-latch out over +the surface of the water. + +Suddenly the young Oneida in mid-stream shrank aside, flattening his +yellow painted body against a boulder, and almost at the same instant a +rifle spoke. + +I heard the bullet smack against the boulder; then the Mohican leaped +past me. For an instant the ford boiled under the silent rush of the +Oneidas, the Stockbridge Indian, and the Mohican; then they were +across; and I saw the willows sway and toss where they were chasing +something human that bounded away through the thicket. I could even +mark, without seeing a living soul, where they caught it and where it +was fighting madly but in utter silence while they were doing it to +death--so eloquent were the feathery willow-tops of the tragedy that +agitated each separate slender stem to frenzy. + +Suddenly I turned and looked at the Wyandotte, squatting motionless +beside me. Why he had remained when the red pack started, I could not +understand, and with that confused thought in mind I rose, ran down to +the water's edge, the Wyandotte following without a word. + +A few yards below the ford a giant walnut tree had fallen, spanning the +stream to a gravel-spit; I crossed like a squirrel on this, the burly +Wyandotte padding over at my heels, sprang to the bottom sand, and ran +up the willow-gully. + +They were already dragging out what they had killed; and I came up to +them and looked down on the slain man who had so rashly brought +destruction upon his own head. + +He wore no paint; he was not a warrior but a hunter. "St. Regis," said +the Mohican briefly. + +"The poor fool," I said sadly. + +The young Oneida in yellow clapped the scalp against a tree-trunk +carelessly, as though we could not easily see by his blazing eyes and +quivering nostrils that this was his first scalp taken in war. Then he +washed the blade of his knife in the river, wiped it dry and sheathed +it, and squatted down to braid the dead hair into the hunters-lock. + +We found his still smouldering fire and some split fish baking in green +leaves; nets, hooks, spears, and a bark shoulder-basket. And he had +been a King's savage truly enough, foraging, no doubt, for Brant or +Butler, who had great difficulty in maintaining themselves in a +territory which they had so utterly laid waste--for we found in his +tobacco pouch a few shillings and pennies, and some pewter buttons +stamped, "Butler's Rangers." Also I discovered a line of writing signed +by old John Butler himself, recommending the St. Regis to one Captain +Service, an uncle of Sir John Johnson, and a great villain who recently +had been shot dead by David Elerson, one of my own riflemen, while +attempting to brain Tim Murphy with an axe. + +"The poor fool," I repeated, turning away, "Had he not meddled with war +when his business lay only in hunting, he had gone free or, if we had +caught him, only as a prisoner to headquarters." + +Mayaro shrugged his contempt of the St. Regis hunter; the Oneida youth +sat industriously braiding his first trophy; the others had rekindled +the embers of the dead man's fire and were now parching his raw corn +and dividing the baked river-trout into six portions. + +Mayaro and I ate apart, seated together upon a knoll whence we could +look down upon the river and upon the fire, which I now ordered to be +covered. + +From where I sat I could see the burly Wyandotte, squatting with the +others at his feed, and from time to time my glance returned to him. +Somehow, though I knew not why, there was about this Indian an +indefinable something not entirely reassuring to me; yet, just what it +might be I was not able to say. + +Truly enough he had a most villainous countenance, what with his native +swarthiness and his broken and dented nose, so horridly embellished +with a gash of red paint. He was broad and squat and fearfully +powerful, being but a bulk of gristly muscle; and when he leaped a +gully or a brook, he seemed to strike the earth like a ball of rubber +and slightly rebound an the light impact. I have seen a sinewy panther +so rebound when hurled from a high tree-top. + +The Oneida youth had now braided and oiled his scalp and was stretching +it on a willow hoop, very busy with the pride and importance of his +work. I glanced at Mayaro and caught a gleam of faint amusement in his +eyes; but his features remained expressionless enough, and it seemed to +me that his covert glance rested on the Wyandotte more often than on +anybody. + +The Mohican, as was customary among all Indians when painted for war, +had also repainted his clan ensign, although it was tatooed on his +breast; and the great Ghost Bear rearing on its hind quarters was now +brilliantly outlined in scarlet. But he also wore what I had never seen +any other Indian wear when painted for any ceremony in North America. +For, just below the scarlet bear, was drawn in sapphire blue the ensign +of his strange clan-nation--the Spirit Wolf, or Were-Wolf. And a double +ensign worn by any priest, hunter, or warrior I had never before +beheld. No Delaware wore it unless belonging to the Wolf Clan of the +Lenni-Lenape, or unless he was a Siwanois Mohican and a Sagamore. For +there existed nowhere at that time any social and political society +among any Indian nation which combined clan and tribal, and, in a +measure, national identity, except only among the Siwanois people, who +were all three at the same time. + +As I salted my parched corn and ate it, sitting cross-legged on my +hillock, my eyes wandered from one Indian to another, reading their +clan insignia; and I saw that my Oneida youth wore the little turtle, +as did his comrade; that the Stockbridge Indian had painted a Christian +Cross over his tattooed clan-totem--no doubt the work of the Reverend +Mr. Kirkland--and that the squatting Wyandotte wore the Hawk in +brilliant yellow. + +"What is yonder fellow's name?" I asked Mayaro, dropping my voice. + +"Black-Snake," replied the Mohican quietly. + +"Oh! He seems to wear the Hawk." + +The Sagamore's face grew smooth and blank, and he made no comment. + +"It's a Western clan, is it not, Mayaro?" + +"It is Western, Loskiel." + +"That clan does not exist among the Eastern nations?" + +"Clans die out, clans are born, clans are altered with the years, +Loskiel." + +"I never heard of the Hawk Clan at Guy Park," said I. + +He said, with elaborate carelessness: + +"It exists among the Senecas." + +"And apparently among the Wyandottes." + +"Apparently." + +I said in a low voice: + +"Yonder Huron differs from any Indian I ever knew. Yet, in what he +differs I can not say. I have seen Senecas like him physically. But +Senecas and Hurons not only fought but interbred. This Wyandotte may +have Seneca blood in him." + +The Sagamore made no answer, and after a moment I said: + +"Why not confess, Mayaro, that you also have been perplexed concerning +this stranger from Fort Pitt? Why not admit that from the moment he +joined us you have had your eye on him--have been furtively studying +him?" + +"Mayaro has two eyes. For what are they unless to observe?" + +"And what has my brother observed?" + +"That no two people are perfectly similar," he said blandly. + +"Very well," I said, vexed, but quite aware that no questions of mine +could force the Sagamore to speak unless he was entirely ready. "I +suppose that there exist no real grounds on which to suspect this +Wyandotte. But you know as well as do I that he crossed not the river +with the others when they did to death that wretched St. Regis hunter. +Also, that there are Wyandottes in our service at Fortress Pitt, I did +not know before." + +I waited a moment, but the Mohican said nothing, and I saw his eyes, +veiled like a dreaming bird of prey, so immersed did he seem to be in +his own and secret reflections. + +Presently I rose, went down to the fire, felt with my fingers among the +ashes to be certain no living spark remained, chatted a moment with the +Oneida youth, praising him till under all his modesty I saw he was like +to burst with pride; then gave the signal for departure. + +"Nevertheless," I added, addressing them all, "this is not a scalping +party; it is the six eyes of an army spying out a way through this +wilderness, so that our wagons, artillery, horses, and cattle may pass +in safety to Tioga Point. + +"Let the Sagamore strike each tree to be marked, as he leads forward. +Let the Mole repeat the blow unless otherwise checked. Then shall the +Oneida, Grey-Feather, mark clearly the tree so doubly designated. The +Oneida, Tahoontowhee, covers our right flank, marching abreast of the +Mohican; the Wyandotte, Black-Snake, covers our left flank, keeping the +river bank in view. March!" + +All that afternoon we moved along south and west, keeping in touch with +the Susquehanna, which here is called Oak Creek, though it is the +self-same stream. And we scouted the river region thoroughly, routing +out nothing save startled deer that bounded from their balsam beds and +went off crashing through the osiers, or a band of wild turkeys that, +bewildered, ran headlong among us so that Tahoontowhee knocked over two +with his rifle butt, and, slinging them to his shoulders, went forward +buried in plumage like same monstrous feathered goblin of the forest. + +The sun was now dropping into the West; the woods on our right had +darkened; on our left a pink light netted the river ripples. Filing in +perfect silence, save for the light sound of a hatchet and the +slithering of sappy bark, I had noticed, or thought I noticed, that the +progress of the Wyandotte was less quiet than ours, where he ranged our +left flank, supposedly keeping within the forest shadow. + +Once or twice I thought I heard a small stone fall to the willow gully, +as though accidentally dislodged by his swiftly passing moccasins. +Once, at any rate, I caught the glimmer of the sun striking some bit of +metal on him, where he had incautiously ranged outside the protecting +shadow belt. + +That these things were purely accidental I felt sure, yet I did not +care to have them repeated. And for a long while there was neither +sound nor sun-glitter from him. Then, without even a glance or a word +for me, the Mohican quietly dropped back from the lead, waited until +the last Oneida had passed, and moved swiftly on a diagonal course to +the left, which brought him in the tracks of the Wyandotte. + +He continued on that course for a while, I taking his place in the +lead, and the Wyandotte unconscious that he was followed. Then the +Sagamore came gliding into our file again, and as he passed me to +resume his lead, he whispered: + +"Halt, and return along the bank. The Black-Snake has overrun a ford +where there are signs for my brother to read and consider." + +I turned sharply and lifted my hand; and as the file halted I caught a +glimpse of the Oneida, Tahoontowhee, on our right, and motioned him to +cross, head the Wyandotte, and return with him. And when in a few +moments he came toward us, followed by the Huron, I said, addressing +them all: + +"There should be a ford hereabouts, if I am not badly mistaken, and I +think we have accidentally overrun it. Did you see nothing that might +indicate it, Black-Snake, my brother?" + +There was a furtive flicker of the Wyandotte's eyes which seemed to +include everybody before him, then he said very coolly that he had seen +no riffle that might indicate shallow water, but that there was a ford +not far below, and we ought to strike it before sunset. + +"Halt here," said I, pretending to remain still unconvinced. "Sagamore, +do you come with me a rod or so upstream." + +"There is no ford within a rod or two," said the Wyandotte stolidly. + +And, after we had left the others, the Mohican murmured, as we hastened +on: + +"No, not with one rod or two, but the third rod marks it." + +Presently, speeding under the outer fringe of trees, I caught sight of +a thin line across the water, slanting from shore to shore--not a +ripple, but as though the edge of an invisible reef slightly affected +the smooth-flowing, glassy surface of the stream. + +"He might have overlooked that," said I. + +The Sagamore's visage became very smooth; and we climbed down among the +willows toward the sand below, and there the Mohican dropped on his +hands and knees. + +Directly under his eyes I saw the faint print of a moccasin. Startled, +I said nothing; the Mohican studied the print for a few moments, then, +crouching, crept forward among the sand-willows. I followed; and at +long intervals I could make out the string of moccasin tracks, still +visible in the loose, dry sand. + +"Could it be the St. Regis?" I whispered. "He may have been here +spearing fish. These tracks are not new.... And the Wyandotte might +have overlooked these, too." + +"Maybe St. Regis," he said. + +We had now crept nearly to the edge of the water, the dry and scarcely +discernible tracks leading us. But they were no fresher in the damp +sand. However, the Mohican did not seem satisfied, so we pulled off our +thigh-moccasins and waded out. + +Although the water looked deep enough along the unseen reef, yet we +found nowhere more than four feet, and so crossed to the other side. +But before I could set foot on the shelving sand the Mohican pulled me +back into the water and pointed. There was no doubting the sign we +looked upon. A canoe had landed here within an hour, had been pushed +off again with a paddle without anybody landing. It was as plain as the +nose on your face. + +Which way had it gone, upstream or down? If it had gone upstream, the +Wyandotte must have seen it and passed it without reporting it. In +other words, he was a traitor. But if the canoe had gone downstream +from this spot, or from some spot on the left bank a little above it, +there was nothing to prove that the Wyandotte had seen it. In fact, +there was every probability that he had not seen it at all. And I said +as much to the Sagamore. + +"Maybe," he replied calmly. + +We now cautiously recrossed the stream, scarcely liking our exposed +position, but there was no help for it. After we had dressed, I marked +the trees from the ford across the old path, which was visible here, +and so through to our main, spotted trail; the Mohican peeled a square +of bark, I wiped the white spot dry, and wrote with my wood-coal the +depth of water at the crossing; then we moved swiftly forward to join +the halted scouts. + +Mayaro said to me: "We have discovered old moccasin tracks, but no ford +and no canoe marks. It is not necessary for the Black-Snake to know." + +"Very well," said I calmly. "Do you suspect him!" + +"Maybe. Maybe not. But--he once wore his hair in a ridge." + +"What!" + +"I looked down on him while he ate fish at the St. Regis fire. He has +not shaved his head since two weeks. There is a thin line dividing his +head, where the hairs at their roots are bent backward. Much oil and +brushing make hairs grow that way." + +"But--what Indians wear their hair that way--like the curved ridge on a +dragoon's helmet?" + +"The Eries." + +I stared at him without comprehension, for I knew an Erie scalp when I +saw one. + +"Not the warriors," he added quietly. + +"What in heaven's name do you mean?" I demanded. But we were already +within sight of the others, and I heeded the cautioning touch of his +hand on my arm, and was silent. + +When we came up to them I said: + +"There are no riffles to indicate a ford"--which was true enough--"and +on the sand were only moccasin tracks a week old." + +"The Black-Snake saw them," said the Wyandotte, so frankly and calmly +that my growing but indefinite suspicions of his loyalty were arrested +for the moment. + +"Why did not the Black-Snake report them?" I asked. + +"They were St. Regis, and a week old, as my brother says." And he +smiled at us all so confidingly that I could no longer believe ill of +him. + +"Nevertheless," said I, "we will range out on either flank as far as +the ford which should be less than a mile down stream." And I placed +the Wyandotte between both Oneidas and on the forest side; and as the +valley was dry and open under its huge standing timber, I myself led, +notching the trail and keeping a lively eye to the left, wherever I +caught a glimpse of water sparkling. + +Presently the Mohican halted in view of the river-bank, making a sign +for me to join him, which I did, briefly bidding the Stockbridge Mole +to notch the trees in my stead. + +"A canoe has passed," said the Sagamore calmly. + +"What! You saw it?" + +"No, Loskiel. But there was spray on a boulder in a calm pool." + +"Perhaps a deer crossed, or a mink or otter crawled across the stone." + +"No; the drops were many, but they lay like the first drops of a rain, +separate and distinct." + +"A great fish leaping might have spattered it." + +"There was no wash against the rock from any fish-swirl." + +"Then you believe that there is a canoe ahead of us going with the +current?" + +"An hour ahead--less, I think." + +"Why an hour?" + +"The sun is low; the river boulders are not hot. Water might dry on +them in an hour or less. These drops were nearly dry, save one or two +where the sun made them shine." + +"A careless paddle-stroke did it," I said in a low voice. + +"No Indian is careless." + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"I mean, Loskiel, that the boulder was splashed purposely, or that +there are white men in that canoe." + +"Splashed purposely?" I said, bewildered. + +"Perhaps. The Black-Snake had the river watch--until you changed our +stations." + +"You think it might have been a sign for him from possible +confederates." + +"Maybe. Maybe clumsy white men." + +"What white men? No forest runners dare range these woods at such a +time as this. Do you mean a scalping party of Butler's men?" + +"Maybe." + +We had been walking swiftly while we spoke together in low and guarded +tones; now I nodded my comprehension, sheered off to the right, took +the trail-lead, replacing the Stockbridge Mole, and signalled the +nearest Oneida, Grey-Feather, to join Mayaro on the left flank. This +made it necessary for me to call the Wyandotte into touch, which I did; +and the other Oneida, the "Night-Hawk," or Tahoontowhee, closed in from +the extreme outer flank. + +The presence of that canoe worried me, nor could I find any explanation +for it. None of our surveyors was out--no scouts had gone in that +direction. Of course I knew that we were likely to run across scouts or +scalping parties of the enemy almost anywhere between the outlet to +Otsego Lake and Tioga Point, yet somehow had not expected to encounter +them until we had at least reached the Ouleout. + +Another thing; if this phantom canoe was now within an hour of us, and +going with the current, it must at one time have been very, very close +to us--in fact, just ahead and within sight of the Wyandotte, if, +indeed, it had not come silently downstream from behind us and shot +past us in plain view of the Black-Snake. + +Was the Wyandotte a traitor? For only he could have seen this. And I +own that I felt more comfortable having him on our right flank in the +forest, and away from the river; and as I notched my trees I kept him +in view, sideways, and pondered an the little that I knew of him, but +came to no conclusion. For of all things in the world I know less of +treachery and its wiles than of any other stratagem; and so utterly do +I misunderstand it, and so profound is my horror of it, that I never +can credit it to anybody until I see them hanged by the neck for it or +shot in hollow square, a-sitting upon their coffins. + +Presently I saw the Sagamore stop and make signs to me that the ford +was in sight. Immediately I signalled the Wyandotte and the farther +Oneida to close in; and a few moments later we were gathered in the +forest shadow above the river, lying on our bellies and gazing far down +stream at the distant line of ripples running blood-red under the +sunset light. + +Was there an ambush there, prepared for us? God knew. Yet, we must +approach and examine that ford, and pass it, too, and resume our march +on the right bank of the river to avoid the hemlock swamps and rocky +hills ahead, which no wagons or artillery could hope to pass. + +My first and naturally cautious thought was to creep nearer and then +send the Wyandotte out under cover of our clustered rifles. But if he +were truly in any collusion with an unseen enemy they would never fire +on him, and so it would be useless to despatch him on such a mission. + +"Wait for the moon," said the Sagamore very quietly. + +His low, melodious voice startled me from my thoughts, and I looked +around at him inquiringly. + +"I will go," said the Wyandotte, smiling. + +"One man will never draw fire from an ambush," said the Grey-Feather +cunningly. "The wild drake swims first into the net; the flock follows." + +"Why does my younger brother of the Oneida believe that we need fear +any ambush at yonder ford?" asked the Wyandotte so frankly that again I +felt that I could credit no ill of any man who spoke so fairly. + +"Listen to the crows," returned the Oneida. "Their evening call to +council is long and deliberate--Kaah! Kaah! Kaah--h! What are they +saying now, Black-Snake, my elder brother?" + +I glanced at the Mohican in startled silence, for we all were listening +very intently to the distant crows. + +"They have discovered an owl, perhaps," said the Wyandotte, smiling, +"and are tormenting him." + +"Or a Mountain Snake," said the Sagamore blandly. + +Now, what the Sagamore said so innocently had two meanings. He might +have meant that the cawing of the crows indicated that they were +objecting to a rattlesnake sunning on some rock. Also he might have +meant to say that their short, querulous cawing betrayed the presence +of Seneca Indians in ambush. + +"Or a Mountain Snake," repeated the Siwanois, with a perfectly blank +face. "The red door of the West is still open." + +"Or a bear," said the Grey-Feather, cunningly slurring the Canienga +word and swallowing the last syllable so that it might possibly have +meant "Mohawk." + +The Wyandotte turned good-humouredly to the Mohican, not pretending to +misunderstand this subtle double entendre and play upon words. + +"You, Sagamore of the Loups," he said, carrying out the metaphor, "are +closer to the four-footed people than are we Wyandottes." + +"That is true," said the Grey-Feather. "My elder brother, the +Black-Snake, wears the two-legged hawk." + +Which, again, if it was meant that way, hinted that the Hawk was an +alien clan, and neither recognized nor understood by the Oneida. Also, +by addressing the Wyandotte as "elder" brother, the Oneida conveyed a +broad hint of blood relationship between Huron and Seneca. Yet, there +need have been nothing definitely offensive in that hint, because among +all the nations a certain amalgamation always took place after an +international conflict. + +The Wyandotte did not lose his temper, nor even, apparently, perceive +how slyly he was being baited by all except myself. + +"What is the opinion of the Loup, O Sagamore?" he asked lightly. + +"Does my brother the Black-Snake desire to know the Sagamore's opinion +concerning the cawing of yonder crows?" + +The Wyandotte inclined his ugly head. + +"I think," said the Mohican deliberately, "that there may be a tree-cat +in their vicinity." + +A dead silence followed. The Wyandotte's countenance was still smiling, +but I thought the smile had stiffened and become fixed, though not a +tremour moved him. Yet, what the Mohican had said--always with two +meanings, and one quite natural and innocent--meant, if taken in its +sinister sense, that not only might there be Senecas lying in ambush at +the ford, but also emissaries from the Red Priest Amochol himself. For +the forest lynx, or tree-cat, was the emblem of these people; and every +Indian present knew it. + +Still, also, every man there had seen crows gather around and scold a +lynx lying flattened out on some arching limb. + +Whether now there was any particular suspicion of this Wyandotte among +the other Indians; whether it was merely their unquenchable and native +distrust of any Huron whatever; whether the subtle chaff were playful +or partly serious, I could not determine from their manner or +expression. All spoke pleasantly and quietly, and with open or +expressionless countenances. And the Wyandotte still smiled, although +what was going on under that urbane mask of his I had no notion +whatsoever. + +I turned cautiously, and looked behind us. We were gathered in a kind +of natural and moss-grown rocky pulpit, some thirty feet above the +stream, and with an open view down its course to the distant riffles. +Beyond them the river swung southward, walling our view with its +flanking palisade of living green. + +"We camp here," I said quietly. "No fire, of course. Two sentinels--the +Night Hawk and the Black-Snake. The guard will be relieved every two +hours. Wake me at the first change of watch." + +I laid my watch on a rock where all could see it, and, opening my sack, +fished out a bit of dried beef and a handful of parched corn. + +Mayaro shared with me on my motioned invitation; the others fell to in +their respective and characteristic manners, the Oneidas eating like +gentlemen and talking together in their low and musical voices; the +Wyandotte gobbling and stuffing his cheeks like a chipmunk. The +Stockbridge Mole, noiseless and mum as the occult and furry animal +which gave to him his name, nibbled sparingly all alone by himself, and +read in his Algonquin Testament between bites. + +The last level sun rays stripped with crimson gold the outer edges of +the woods; the stream ran purple and fire, and the ceaseless sighing of +its waters sounded soft as foliage stirring on high pines. + +I said to the Mole in a low voice: + +"Brother in Christ, do you find consolation and peace in your Testament +when the whole land lies writhing under the talons and bloody beak of +war?" + +The Stockbridge warrior looked up quietly: + +"I read the promise of the Prince of Peace, brother, who came to the +world not bearing a sword." + +"He came to fulfill, not to destroy," I said. + +"So it is written, brother." + +"And yet you and I, His followers, go forth armed to slay." + +"To prepare a place for Him--His humble instruments--lest His hands be +soiled with the justice of God's wrath. What is it that we wade in +blood, so that He pass with feet unsoiled?" + +"My brother has spoken." + +The burning eyes of the calm fanatic were fastened on me, then they +serenely reverted to the printed page on his knees; and he continued +reading and nibbling at his parched and salted corn. If ever a convert +broke bread with the Lord, this red disciple now sat supping in His +presence, under the immemorial eaves of His leafy temple. + +The Grey-Feather, who had been listening, said quietly: + +"We Iroquois alone, among all Indians, have always acknowledged one +Spirit. We call Him the Master of Life; you Christians call Him God. +And does it truly avail anything with Tharon, O my brother Loskiel, if +I wear the Turtle, or if my brother the Mole paints out the Beaver on +his breast with a Christian cross?" + +"So that your religion be good and you live up to it, sign and symbol +avail nothing with God or with Tharon," said I. + +"Men wear what they love best," said the Mole, lightly touching his +cross. + +"But under cross and clan ensign," said I, "lies a man's secret heart. +Does the Master of Life judge any man by the colour of his skin or the +paint he wears, or the clothing? Christ's friends were often beggars. +Did Tharon ever ask of any man what moccasins he wore?" + +The Sagamore said gravely: + +"Uncas went naked to the Holder of the Heavens." + +It was a wonderful speech for a Sagamore and an Algonquin, for he used +the Iroquois term to designate the Holder of Heaven. The perfect +courtesy of a Christian gentleman could go no further. And I thought of +our trivial and petty and warring sects, and was silent and ashamed. + +The Wyandotte wiped his powerful jaw with a handful of dead leaves, and +looked coldly around at the little circle of men who differed with one +another so profoundly in their religious beliefs. + +"Is this then the hour and the place to discuss such matters, and +irritate the Unseen?" + +All eyes were instantly turned on the pagan; the Oneidas seemed +troubled; the Sagamore serious. Only the Christian Indian remained +placid and indifferent, his Testament suspended in his hand. But he +also was listening. + +As for me, I knew as well as did the others what the pagan and burly +Wyandotte meant. + +To every Indian--even to many who had been supposedly converted--air, +earth, and water still remained thronged with demons. The vast and +sunless wilderness was peopled with goblins and fairies. No natural +phenomenon occurred except by their agency. Where the sun went after it +had set, where the moon hid, the stars, the four great winds, the eight +thunders--all remained mysteries to these red children of the forest. +And to these mysteries demons held the keys. For no star fell, +showering the night with incandescence, no comet blazed aloft, its +streaming hair sweeping from zenith to horizon, no eclipse devoured sun +or moon, no sunrise painted the Long House golden, no sunset stained +its lodge-poles crimson, no waters ran, no winds blew, no clouds piled +up quivering with lightning, no thunder rumbled, except that it was +done by demons. + +Fur, feather, and silver-scale also had souls, and slyly took council +together when alone; the great trees talked to one another in forest +depths; moonlit rocks conversed in secret; and peak whispered to peak +above the flowing currents of the mist. + +It was useless to dispute such matters with them, while every +phenomenon of nature remained to them a mystery. For they had brains +and a matchless imagination, and they were obliged to solve these +things for themselves as best they knew how, each people according to +its personal characteristics. + +So, among the Onondagas, Oneidas, and Mohawks, evil demons were few, +and good fairies many; among the Cayugas good and bad seemed fairly +balanced; but among the sullen, brutal, and bestial Senecas, devils, +witches, demons, and goblins were in the vast majority. And their +perverted Erie priesthood, which had debauched some of their own +Sachems, was a stench in the nostrils of any orthodox Sachem, and, to +an ordained Sagamore, an offense and sacrilege unspeakable. + + +I sat looking hard at the Wyandotte, inclined to speak, yet unwilling +to meddle where intervention must be useless. + +His small, unwinking eyes met mine. + +"There are demons," he said in a low voice. + +"Demons in human form," I nodded. "Some were at Cherry Valley a year +ago." + +"There are witches," he said. + +I shook my head: "None." + +"And Giants of Stone, and Flying Heads, and the Dead Hunter, and the +Lake Serpent," he persisted sullenly. + +"There never were either giants or witches," I replied. + +The Mole looked up from his Testament in surprise, but said nothing. +Yet, by his expression I knew he was thinking of the Witch of Endor, +and the Dukes of Edom, and the giants of the scriptures. But it seemed +hopeless to modify his religious teachings by any self-developed +theories of mine. + +All I desired to do was to keep this pagan Huron from tampering with my +warriors' nerves. And it required but little of the supernatural to +accomplish this. + +No Indian, however brave and faithful and wise in battle, however +cunning and tireless and unerring on forest trail or on uncharted +waters, could remain entirely undisturbed by any menace of invisible +evil. For they were an impulsive race, ever curbing their impulses and +blindly seeking for reason. But what appealed to their emotions and +their imagination still affected them most profoundly, and hampered the +slow, gradual, but steady development of a noble race emerging by its +own efforts from absolute and utter ignorance. + + +I said quietly: "After all, the Master of Life stands sentry while the +guiltless sleep!" + +"Amen," said the Mole, lifting his calm eyes to the roof of leaves +above. + +An owl began to hoot--one of those great, fierce cat-owls of the North. +Every Indian listened. + +The Sagamore said pleasantly to the Wyandotte: + +"It is as though he were calling the lynxes together--as Amochol the +Accursed summons his Cat-People to the sacrifice." + +"I know nothing of Amochol and his sacrifices," said the Wyandotte +carelessly. + +"Yet you Wyandottes border the Western Gate." + +The Huron shrugged. + +"Hear the Eared One squall," said Grey-Feather, as the great owl yelled +through the darkening forest. + +"One would think to hear an Erie speaking," said the Sagamore, looking +steadily at the Black-Snake. But the latter seemed totally unaware of +what amounted now to a persistent baiting. + +"They say," continued the Sagamore, "that the Erie priesthood learned +from the Nez Perces a strange and barbarous fashion." + +"What fashion?" asked Grey-Feather, so innocently that I could not +determine whether he was playing into the Sagamore's hands. + +"The fashion of wearing the hair in a short, stiff ridge," said the +Mohican. "Has the Black-Snake ever seen it worn that way?" + +"Never," said the Huron. And there was neither in his voice nor on his +features the slightest tremour that we could discover in the fading +light of the afterglow. + +I rose to put an end to this, for my own nerves were now on edge; and I +directed the two sentinels to their posts, the Wyandotte and the +Oneida, Tahoontowhee. + +Then I lay down beside the Mohican. All the Indians had unrolled and +put on their hunting shirts; I spread my light blanket and pillowed my +head on my pack. + +In range of my vision the Mole had dropped to his knees and was praying +with clasped hands. Shamed, I arose and knelt also, to say in silence +my evening prayer, so often slurred over while I lay prone, or even +entirely neglected. + +Then I returned to my blanket to lie awake and think of Lois, until at +last I dreamed of her. But the dream was terrible, and I awoke, +sweating, and found the Sagamore seated upright in the darkness beside +me. + +"Is it time to change the guard?" I asked, still shivering from the +horror of my dream. + +"You have scarce yet closed your eyes, Loskiel." + +"Why are you seated upright wide awake, my brother?" + +"There is evil in the wind." + +"There is no wind stirring." + +"A witch-wind came slyly while you slept. Did you not dream, Loskiel?" +In spite of me I shivered again. + +"That is foolishness," said I. "The Wyandotte's silly talk has made us +wakeful. Our sentinels watch. Sleep, Mayaro." + +"Have you need of sleep, Loskiel?" + +"I? No. Sleep you, then, and I will sit awake if it reassures you." + +The Sagamore set his mouth close to my ear: + +"The Wyandotte is not posted where you placed him." + +"What? How do you know?" + +"I went out to see. He sits on a rock close to the water." + +"Damn him," I muttered angrily. "I'll teach him----" + +"No!" + +The Mohican's iron grip held me in my place. + +"The Night-Hawk understands. Let the Wyandotte remain unrebuked and +undisturbed while I creep down to yonder ford." + +"I do not intend to reconnoitre the ford until dawn," I whispered. + +"Let me go, Loskiel." + +"Alone?" + +"Secretly and alone. The Siwanois is a magic clan. Their Sagamores see +and hear where others perceive nothing. Let me go, Loskiel." + +"Then I go, also." + +"No." + +"What of our blood-brotherhood, then?" + +There was a silence; then the Mohican rose, and taking my hand in his +drew me noiselessly to my feet beside him. + +By sense of touch alone we lifted our rifles from our blankets, blew +the powder from the pans, reprimed. Then, laying my left arm lightly on +his shoulder, I followed his silent figure over the moss and down among +the huge and phantom trees faintly outlined against the starlit water. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +AT THE FORD + +When at length from the forest's edge we saw star-beams splintering +over broken water, cutting the flat, translucent darkness of the river +with necklaces of light, we halted; for this was the ford foaming there +in obscurity with its silvery, mellow voice, unheeded in the +wilderness, yet calling ever as that far voice called through the +shadows of ages dead. + +Now, from where we stood the faint line of sparkles seemed to run a +little way into the darkness and vanish. But the indications were +sufficient to mark the spot where we should enter the water; and, +stepping with infinite precaution, we descended to the gravel. Here we +stripped to the clout and laid our rifles on our moccasins, covering +the pans with our hunting shirts. Then we strapped on our war-belts, +loosening knife and hatchet, pulled over our feet our spare +ankle-moccasins of oiled moose-hide soled with the coarse hair of the +great, blundering beast himself. + +I led, setting foot in the icy water, and moving out into the shadow +with no more noise than a chub's swirl or a minnow's spatter-leap when +a great chain-pike snaps at him. + +Feeling my way over bed stones and bottom gravel with my feet, striving +in vain to pierce the dense obscurity, I moved forward with infinite +caution, balancing as best I might against the current. Ankle-deep, +shin-deep, knee-deep we waded out. Presently the icy current chilled my +thighs, rising to my waistline. But it grew no deeper. + +Yet, here so swift was the current that I scarcely dared move, and was +peering around to find the Sagamore, when a shape loomed up on my left. +And I reached out and rested my hand on the shadowy shoulder, and stood +so, swaying against the stream. + +Suddenly a voice said, in the Seneca dialect: + +"Is it thou, Butler?" + +And every drop of blood froze in my body. + +God knows how I found voice to answer "Yes," and how I found courage to +let my hand remain upon my enemy's shoulder. + +"It is I, Hiokatoo," said the low voice. + +"Move forward," I said; and dropped my hand from his shoulder. + +Somehow, although I could see nothing, all around me in the water I +felt the presence of living creatures. At the same moment somebody came +close to me from behind, and the Sagamore breathed his name in my ear. + +I managed to retain my presence of mind, and, laying my mouth against +his ear in the darkness, I whispered: + +"The Seneca Hiokatoo and his warriors--all around us in the water. He +mistakes me for Walter Butler, They have been reconnoitring our camp." + +I felt the body of the Mohican stiffen under my grasp, Then he said +quietly: + +"Stand still till all have passed us." + +"Yes; but let no Seneca hear your Algonquin speech. If any speak I will +answer for you." + +"It is well," said the Sagamore quietly. And I heard him cautiously +loosening his hatchet. + +Presently a dark form took shape in the gloom and passed us without +speaking; then another, and another, and another, all wading forward +with scarce a ripple sounding against their painted bodies. Then one +came up who spoke also in Seneca dialect, saying to the Mohican that +the canoe was to be sent up stream on observation, and asking the +whereabouts of McDonald. + +So they were all there, the bloody crew! But once more I found voice to +order the Seneca across, saying that I would attend to the canoe when +the time came to employ it. + +This Indian seemed to understand very little English, and he hesitated; +but I laid my hand flat on his naked back, and gave him a slight shove +toward the farther shore. And he went on, muttering. + +Two more passed. We waited in nervous silence for the next, not knowing +how many had been sent to prowl around our camp. And as no more came, I +whispered to the Sagamore: + +"Let us go back. If more are to come, and if there be among them Butler +or McDonald or any white man, he will never mistake me for any of his +fellows after he hears me speak." + +The Sagamore turned, the water swirling to his waist. I followed. We +encountered nobody until the water began to shoal. Then, in mid-stream, +a dark figure loomed out of the night, confronting us, and I heard him +say in the Seneca language: + +"Halt and turn. You travel the wrong way!" + +"Go forward and mind your business!" I said in English. + +The shadowy figure seemed astounded, remaining motionless there in the +ford. Suddenly he bent forward as though to see my features, and at the +same instant the Sagamore seized him and jerked his head under water. + +But he could not hold him, for the fellow was oiled, and floundered up +in the same instant. No doubt the water he had swallowed kept the yell +safe in his throat, but his hatchet was out and high-swung as the +Sagamore grasped his wrist, holding his arm in the air. Then, holding +him so, the Mohican passed his knife through the man's heart, striking +with swiftness incredible again and again; and as his victim collapsed, +he eased him down into the water, turned him over, and took his +shoulders between his knees. + +"God!" I whispered. "Don't wait for that!" + +But the Siwanois warrior was not to be denied; and in a second or two +the wet scalp flapped at his belt. + +Rolling over and over with the current, the limp body slipped down +stream and disappeared into deeper shadows. We waded swiftly toward our +own shore, crawled across the gravel, drew on our clothing, and stole +up into the woods above. + +"They'll know it by sunrise," I said. "How many did you count?" + +"Thirteen in that war-party, Loskiel. And if Butler and McDonald be +with them, that makes fifteen--and doubtless other renegades besides." + +"Then we had best pull foot," said I. And I drew my knife and blazed +the ford; and, as well as I might without seeing, wrote the depth of +water on the scar. + +I heard the Mohican's low laughter. + +"The Senecas will see it and destroy it. But it will drive them +frantic," he said. + +"Whatever they do to this tree will but mark the ford more plainly," +said I. + +And the Mohican laughed and laughed and patted my shoulder, as we moved +fast on our back trail. I think he was excited, veteran though he was, +at his taking of a Seneca warrior's scalp. "Had you not jerked him +under water when he leaned forward over your shoulder to see what +manner of man was speaking English," said I, "doubtless he had awakened +the forest with his warning yell in another moment." + +"Let him yell at the fishes, now," said the Mohican, laughing. "No +doubt the eels will understand him; they are no more slippery than he." + +Save for the vague forms of the trees dimly discerned against the +water, the darkness was impenetrable; and except for these guides, even +an Indian could scarcely have moved at all. We followed the bank, +keeping just within the shadows; and I was ever scanning the spots of +starlit water for that same canoe which I had learned was to go +upstream to watch us. + +Presently the Siwanois checked me and whispered: + +"Yonder squats your Wyandotte sentinel." + +"Where? I can not see him." + +"On that flat rock by the deep water, seeming a part of it." + +"Are you certain?" + +"Yes, Loskiel." + +"You saw him move?" + +"No. But a Siwanois of the Magic Clan makes nothing of darkness. He +sees where he chooses to see. + +"Mayaro," said I, "what do you make of this Wyandotte?" + +"He has quitted his post without orders for a spot by the deep water. A +canoe could come there, and he could speak to those within it." + +"That might damn a white soldier, but an Indian is different." + +"He is a Wyandotte--or says he is." + +"Yes, but he came with credentials from Fortress Pitt." + +"Once," said the Sagamore, "he wore his hair in a ridge." + +"If the Eries learned that from the Nez Perces, why might not the +Wyandottes also learn it?" + +"He wears the Hawk." + +"Yes, I know it." + +"He saw the moccasin tracks in the sand at the other ford, Loskiel, and +remained silent." + +"I know it." + +"And I believe, also, that he saw the canoe." + +"Then," said I, "you mean that this Wyandotte is a traitor." + +"If he be a Wyandotte at all." + +"What?" + +"He may be Huron; he may be a Seneca-Huron. But we Indians think +differently, Loskiel." + +"What do you think?" + +"We do not know for certain. But"--and the Mohican's voice became +quietly ferocious--"if a war-arrow ever struck this Wyandotte between +the shoulders I think every tree-cat in the Long House would squall at +the condoling council." + +"You think this Wyandotte an Erie in disguise?" I asked incredulously. + +"We Indians of different nations are asking that question of each +other, Loskiel." + +"What is the mind of the Grey-Feather concerning this?" I asked, +horrified. + +"Oneida and Stockbridge begin to believe as I believe." + +"That this creature is a spy engaged to lead us to our deaths? Do they +believe that this self-styled Wyandotte is an infamous Erie?" + +"We so believe, Loskiel. We are not yet certain." + +"But you who have taken Erie scalps should know----" + +"We know an Erie by his paint and lock; by his arms and moccasins. But +when an Erie wears none of these it is not easy to determine exactly +what he might be. There is, in the Western nation, much impure blood, +much mixing of captive and adopted prisoners with the Seneca +conquerors. If an Erie wear cats' claws at the root of his scalp-lock, +even a blind Quaker might know him. If one of their vile priests wear +his hair in a ridge, then, unless he be a Nez Perce, there need be no +doubt. But this man dresses and paints and conducts like no Erie I have +ever seen. And yet I believe him one, and a Sachem at that!" + +"Then, by God!" said I in a cold fury. "I will go down to the stream +and put him under arrest until such time as his true colours may be +properly determined!" + +"Loskiel, if yonder Indian once saw in your eye that you meant to take +him, he would slip between your hands like a spotted trout and be off +down stream to his comrades. Go not toward him angry, or with anything +in your manner and voice that he might distrust." + +"I never learned to smile in the face of a traitor!" + +"Learn now, then. Brother, you are young; and war is long. And of many +aspects are they who take arms in their hands to slay. Strength is +good; quickness and a true eye to the rifle-sight are good. But best of +all in war are the calmness and patience of wisdom. A Sagamore has +spoken." + +"What would you have me do?" + +"Nothing, yet." + +"But we must make a night march of it, and I could not endure that +infamous creature's company, even if it were safe for us to take him +with us." + +"My brother may remain tranquil. The Grey-Feather and I are watching +him. The praying Indian and Tahoontowhee understand also. When we once +are certain, the Erie dies." + +"When you are certain," said I in a fury, "I will have him properly +tried by military court and hung as high as Amherst hung two of his +fellow devils. I wish to God he had executed the entire nation while he +was about it. For once Sir William Johnson was wrong to interfere." + +The Sagamore laughed and laid one hand on my shoulder: + +"Is it a custom for an Ensign to pass judgment on a Major-General, O +Loskiel, my dear but much younger brother?" + +I blushed hot with annoyance and shame. Of all things on earth, +self-control was the most necessary quality to any officer commanding +Indians. + +"The Sagamore is right," I said in a mortified voice. + +"The Sagamore has lived longer than his younger brother," he rejoined +gently. + +"And is far wiser," said I. + +"A little wiser in some few things concerning human life, Loskiel.... +Does my brother desire that Mayaro shall bring in the Wyandotte?" + +"Bring him," I said; and walked forward toward our camp. + +Tahoontowhee stopped me with his challenge, then sprang forward at the +sound of my voice. + +"Men in the woods," he whispered, "creeping up from the South. They saw +no fire and prowled no nearer than panthers prowl when they know a camp +is awake." + +"Senecas," I said briefly. "We make a night march of it. Remain on +guard here. The Grey-Feather will bring your pack to you when we pick +you up." + +As I ascended the rocky pulpit, both the Grey-Feather and the +Stockbridge were standing erect and wide awake, packs strapped and +slung, rifles in hand. + +"Senecas," I said. "Too many for us." + +"Are we not to strike?" asked the Oneida wistfully, as the Mohican came +swiftly up the rock followed by the Wyandotte, who seemed inclined to +lag. + +"Why did you quit your post?" I asked him bluntly. + +"There was a better post and more to see on the rock," he said simply. + +"You made a mistake. Your business is to obey your commanding officer. +Do you understand?" + +"The Black-Snake understands." + +"Did you discover nothing from your rock?" + +"Nothing. Deer moved in the woods." + +"Red deer," I said coolly. + +"A July deer is in the red coat always." + +"The deer you heard are red the whole year round." + +"Eho! The Black-Snake understands." + +"Very well. Tie your pack, sling it, and shoulder your rifle. We march +immediately." + +He seemed to be willing enough, and tied his points with alacrity. Nor +could I, watching him as well I might in so dark a spot, see anything +suspicious in any movement he made. + +"The Sagamore leads," I said; "the Black-Snake follows; I follow him; +after me the Mole; and the Oneidas close the rear.... Attention!... +Trail arms! File!" + +And as we climbed out of our pulpit and descended over the moss to the +soundless carpet of moist leaves: + +"Silence," I said. "A sound may mean the death of us all. Cover your +rifle-pans with your blankets. No matter what happens, no man is to +fire without orders----" + +I stopped abruptly and laid my hand on the Black-Snake's +hatchet-sheath, feeling it all over with my finger-tips in the dark. + +"Damnation!" I said. "There are tin points on the fringe! You might +better wear a cow-bell! Where did you get it?" + +"It was in my pack." + +"You have not worn it before. Why do you wear it now?" + +"It is looser in time of need." + +"Very well. Stand still." I whipped out my knife and, bunching the +faintly tinkling thrums in my fingers, severed the tin points and +tossed them into the darkness. + +"I can understand," said I, "a horse-riding Indian of the plains +galloping into battle all over cow-bells, but never before have I heard +of any forest Indian wearing such a fringe in time of war." + +The rebuke seemed to stun the Wyandotte. He kept his face averted while +I spoke, then at my brief word stepped forward into his place between +myself and the Mohican. + +"March!" I said in a low voice. + +The Sagamore led us in a wide arc north, then west; and there was no +hope of concealing or covering our trail, for in the darkness no man +could see exactly where the man in front of him set foot, nor hope to +avoid the wet sand of rivulets or the soft moss which took the imprint +of every moccasin as warm wax yields to the seal. + +That there was in the primeval woods no underbrush, save along streams +or where the windfall had crashed earthward, made travelling in silence +possible. + +The forest giants branched high; no limbs threatened us; or, if there +were any, the Sagamore truly had the sight of all night-creatures, for +not once did a crested head brush the frailest twig; not once did a +moccasined foot crash softly through dead and fallen wood. + +The slope toward the river valley became steeper; we travelled along a +heavily-wooded hillside at an angle that steadily increased. After an +hour of this, we began to feel rock under foot, and our moccasins +crushed patches of reindeer moss, dry as powder. + +It was in such a place as this, or by wading through running water, +that there could be any hope of hiding our trail; and as we began to +traverse a vast, flat shoulder of naked rock, I saw that the Mohican +meant to check and perplex any pursuit next morning. + +What was my disgust, then, to observe that the Wyandotte's moccasins +were soaking wet, and that he left at every step his mark for the +morning sun to dry at leisure. + +Stooping stealthily, I laid my hand flat in his wet tracks, and felt +the grit of sand. Accidentally or otherwise, he had stepped into some +spring brook which we had crossed in the darkness. Clearly the man was +a fool, or something else. + +And I was obliged to halt the file and wait until the Wyandotte had +changed to spare moccasins; which I am bound to say he seemed to do +willingly enough. And my belief in his crass stupidity grew, relieving +me of fiercer sentiments which I had begun to harbour as I thought of +all we knew or suspected concerning this man. + +So it was forward once more across the naked, star-lit rock, where +blueberry bushes grew from crevices, and here and there some tall +evergreen, the roots of which were slowly sundering the rock into soil. + +Rattlesnakes were unpleasantly numerous here--this country being +notorious for them, especially where rocks abound. But so that they +sprung their goblin rattles in the dark to warn us, we had less fear of +them than of that slyer and no less deadly cousin of theirs, which +moved abroad at night as they did, but was often too lazy or too +vicious to warn us. + +The Mohican sprang aside for one, and ere I could prevent him, the +Wyandotte had crushed it. And how to rebuke him I scarcely knew, for +what he had done seemed natural enough. Yet, though the Mohican seized +the twisting thing and flung it far into the blueberry scrub, the marks +of a bloody heel were now somewhere on the rocks for the rising sun to +dry but not to obliterate. God alone knew whether such repeated +evidence of stupidity meant anything worse. But now I was resolved to +have done with this Indian at the first opportunity, and risk the +chance of clearing myself of any charge concerning disobedience of +orders as soon as I could report to General Sullivan with my command. + +The travelling now, save for the dread of snakes, was pleasant and +open. We had been gradually ascending during the last two hours, and +now we found ourselves traversing the lengthening crest of a rocky and +treeless ridge, with valleys on either side of us, choked with +motionless lakes of mist, which seemed like vast snow fields under the +splendour of the stars. + +I think we all were weary enough to drop in our tracks and sleep as we +fell. But I gave no order to halt, nor did I dream of interfering with +the Sagamore, or even ask him a single question. It was promising to +give me a ruder schooling than my regiment could offer me--this +travelling with men who could outrun and outmarch the vast majority of +white men. + +Yet, I had been trained under Major Parr, and with such men in my +command as Elerson, Mount, and Murphy; and I had run with Oneidas +before and scouted far and wide with the best of them. + +It was the rock-running that tired us, and I for one was grateful when +we left the starlit obscurity of the ridge and began to swing downward, +first through berry scrub and ground-hemlock, then through a thin belt +of birches into the dense blackness of the towering forest. + +Down, ever down we moved on a wide-slanting and easy circle, such as +the high hawk swings when he is but a speck in the midsummer sky. + +Presently the ground under our feet became level. A low, murmuring +sound stole out of the darkness, pleasantly filling our ears as we +advanced. A moment later, the Mohican halted; and we caught a faint +gleam in the darkness. + +"Sisquehanne," he said. + +If, was the Susquehanna. Tired as I was I could not forbear a smile +when this Mohican saluted the noble river by its Algonquin name in the +presence of those haughty Iroquois who owned it. And it seemed to me as +though I could hear the feathered crests stiffen on the two Oneida +heads; for this was Oneida country, and they had been maliciously +reminded that the Lenape had once named for them their river under +circumstances in which no Iroquois took any pride. Little evidences of +the subtle but ever-living friction between my Mohican and the two +Oneidas were plenty, but never more maliciously playful than this. And +presently I heard the Sagamore politely mention the Ouleout by its +Iroquois name, Aulyoulet, which means "a voice that continues"; and +while I sent the Night-Hawk down to the water to try for a crossing, +Mohican and Oneida conversed very amiably, the topic being our enemies, +and how it was that on the Ouleout and in Pennsylvania they had so +often spared the people of that state and had directed their full fury +toward New York. + +The Oneida said it was because the Iroquois had no quarrel with Penn's +people, who themselves disliked the intruding Yankee and New Yorker; +but they were infuriated against us because we had driven the Iroquois +from their New York lands and had punished them so dreadfully at +Oriskany. And he further said that Cherry Valley would not have been +made such a shambles except that Colonel Clyde and Colonel Campbell +lived there, who had done them so much injury at Oriskany. + +I myself thought that this was the truth, for no Iroquois ever forgave +us Oriskany; and what we were now about to do to them must forever +leave an implacable and unquenchable hatred between the Long House and +the people of New York. + +For on this river which we now followed, and between us and Tioga, +where our main army lay, were the pretty Iroquois towns, Ingaren, +Owaga, Chenang, and Owega, with their well-built and well-cellared +houses, their tanneries, mills, fields of corn and potatoes, orchards, +and pleasant gardens full of watermelons, muskmelons, peas, beans, +squashes--in fact, everything growing that might ornament the estate of +a proud man of my own colour. Thus had the Mohican described these +towns to me. And now, as I sat weary, thinking, I knew that even before +our army at Otsego joined the Tioga army, it would utterly destroy +these towns on its way down; ruin the fields, and burn and girdle the +orchards. + +And this was not even the beginning of our destined march of +destruction and death from one end of the Long House to the other! + +Now our Oneida crept back to us, saying that the river was so low we +could cross up to our arm-pits; and stood there naked, a slender and +perfect statue, all adrip, and balancing pack and rifle on his head. + +Wearily we picked our way down to the willows, stripped, hoisted rifles +and packs, and went into the icy water. It seemed almost impossible for +me to find courage and energy to dress, even after that chilling and +invigorating plunge; but at last I was into my moccasins and shirt +again. The Sagamore strode lightly to the lead; the Wyandotte started +for the rear, but I shoved him next to the Mohican and in front of me, +hating him suddenly, so abrupt and profound was my conviction that his +stupidity was a studied treachery and not the consequences of a loutish +mind. + +"That is your place," I said sharply. + +"You gave no orders." + +"Nor did I rescind my last order, which was that you march behind the +Sagamore." + +"Is that to be the order of march?" he asked. + +"What do you mean by questioning your officer?" I demanded. + +"I am no soldier, but an Indian!" he said sullenly. + +"You are employed and paid as a guide by General Sullivan, are you not? +Very well. Then obey my orders to the letter, or I'll put you under +arrest!" + +That was not the way to talk to any Indian; but such a great loathing +and contempt far this Wyandotte had seized me, so certain in my mind +was I that he was disloyal and that every stupid act of his had been +done a-purpose, that I could scarce control my desire to take him by +that thick, bull-throat of his and kick him into the river. + +For every stupid act or omission of his--or any single one of +them--might yet send us all to our deaths. And their aggregate now +incensed me; for I could not see how we were entirely to escape their +consequences. + +Again and again I was on the point of ordering a halt and having the +fellow tried; but I dreaded the effect of such summary proceedings on +the Oneidas and the Stockbridge, whose sense of justice was keen, and +who might view with alarm such punishment meted out to mere stupidity. + +It was very evident that neither they nor my Mohican had come to any +definite conclusion concerning the Wyandotte. And until they did so, +and until I had the unerring authority of my Indians' opinions, I did +not care to go on record as either a brutal or a hasty officer. Indians +entertain profound contempt for the man who arrives hastily and lightly +at conclusions, without permitting himself leisure for deep and +dignified reflection. + +And I was well aware that with these Indians the success of any +enterprise depended entirely upon their opinion of me, upon my personal +influence with them. + +Dawn was breaking before the Sagamore turned his head toward me. I gave +the signal to halt. + +"The Ouleout," whispered Tahoontowhee in my ear. "Here is its +confluence with the Susquehanna." + +The Mohican nodded, saying that we now stood on a peninsula. + +I tried to make out the character of the hillock where we stood, but it +was not yet light enough to see whether the place was capable of +defence, although it would seem to be, having two streams to flank it. + +"Sagamore," said I, "you and I will stand guard for the first two +hours. Sleep, you others." + +One after another unrolled his blanket and dropped where he stood. The +Mohican came quietly toward me and sat down to watch the Susquehanna, +his rifle across his knees. As for me, I dared not sit, much less lie +flat, for fear sleep would overpower me. So I leaned against a rock, +resting heavily on my rifle, and strained my sleepy eyes toward the +invisible Ouleout. A level stream of mist, slowly whitening, marked its +course; and "The Voice that Continues" sounded dreamily among the trees +that bordered its shallow flood of crystal. + +Toward sunrise I caught the first glimmer of water; in fact, so near +was I that I could hear the feeding trout splashing along the reaches, +and the deer, one by one, retreating from the shore. + +Birds that haunt woodland edges were singing, spite of their moulting +fever; and I heard the Scarlet Tanager, the sweet call of the Crimson +Cardinal, the peeping of the Recollet chasing gnats above the water, +the lovely, linked notes of the White-throat trailing to a minor +infinitely prolonged. + +Greyer, greyer grew the woods; louder sang the birds; suddenly a +dazzling shaft of pink struck the forest; the first shred of mist +curled, detached itself, and floated slowly upward. The sun had risen. + +Against the blinding glory, looming gigantic in the mist, I saw the +Sagamore, an awful apparition in his paint, turn to salute the rising +sun. Then, the mysterious office of his priesthood done, he lifted his +rifle, tossed the heavy piece lightly to his shoulder, and strode +toward me. + +I shook the sleeping Oneidas, and, as they sprang to their feet, I +pointed out their posts to them, laid my rifle on my sack, and dropped +where I stood like a lump of lead. + + +I was aroused toward nine by the Mohican, and sat up as wide awake as a +disturbed tree-cat, instantly ready for trouble. + +"An Oneida on the Ouleout," he said. + +"Where?" + +"Yonder--just across." + +"Friendly?" + +"He has made the sign." + +"An ambassador?" + +"A runner, not a belt-bearer." + +"Bring him to me." + +Strung along the banks of the Ouleout, each behind a tree, I saw my +Indians crouching, rifles ready. Then, on the farther bank, at the +water's shallow edge, I saw the strange Indian--a tall, spare young +fellow, absolutely naked except clout, ankle moccasins, hatchet-girdle, +and pouch; and wearing no paint except a white disc on his forehead the +size of a shilling. A single ragged frond hung from his scalp lock. + +Answering the signal of the Mohican, he sprang lightly into the stream +and crossed the shallow water. My Oneidas seemed to know him, for they +accosted him smilingly, and Tahoontowhee turned and accompanied him +back toward the spot where I was standing, naively exhibiting to the +stranger his first scalp. Which seemed to please the dusty and +brier-torn runner, for he was all smiles and animation until he caught +sight of me. Then instantly the mask of blankness smoothed his +features, so that when I confronted him he was utterly without +expression. + +I held out my hand, saying quietly: + +"Welcome, brother." + +"I thank my brother for his welcome," he said, taking my offered hand. + +"My brother is hungry," I said. "He shall eat. He is weary because he +has came a long distance. He shall rest unquestioned." I seated myself +and motioned him to follow my example. + +The tall, lank fellow looked earnestly at me; Tahoontowhee lighted a +pipe, drew a deep, full inhalation from it, passed it to me. I drew +twice, passed it to the runner. Then Tahoontowhee laid a square of bark +on the stranger's knees; I poured on it from my sack a little parched +corn, well salted, and laid beside it a bit of dry and twisted meat. +Tahoontowhee did the same. Then, very gravely and in silence we ate our +morning meal with this stranger, as though he had been a friend of many +years. + +"The birds sing sweetly," observed Tahoontowhee politely. + +"The weather is fine," said I urbanely. + +"The Master of Life pities the world He fashioned. All should give +thanks to Him at sunrise," said the runner quietly. + +The brief meal ended, Tahoontowhee laid his sack for a pillow; the +strange Oneida stretched out on the ground, laid his dusty head on it, +and closed his eyes. The next moment he opened them and rose to his +feet. The ceremony and hospitality devolving upon me had been formally +and perfectly accomplished. + +As I rose, free now to question him without losing dignity in his eyes, +he slipped the pouch he wore around in front, where his heavy knife and +hatchet hung, and drew from it some letters. + +Holding these unopened in my hand, I asked him who he was and from whom +and whence he came. + +"I am Red Wings, a Thaowethon Oneida of Ironderoga, runner for General +Clinton--and my credentials are this wampum string, so that you shall +know that I speak the truth!" And he whipped a string of red and black +wampum from his pouch and handed it to me. + +Holding the shining coil in my hands, I looked at him searchingly. + +"By what path did you come?" + +"By no path. I left Otsego as you left, crossed the river where you had +crossed, recrossed where you did not recross, but where a canoe had +landed." + +"And then?" + +"I saw the Mengwe," he said politely, as the Sagamore came up beside +him. + +Mayaro smiled his appreciation of the Algonquin term, then he spat, +saying: + +"The Mengwe were Sinako and Mowawak. One has joined the Eel Clan." + +"The Red Wings saw him. The Cat-People of the Sinako sat in a circle +around that scalpless thing and sang like catamounts over their dead!" + +It is impossible to convey the scorn, contempt, insult, and loathing +expressed by the Mohican and the Oneida, unless one truly understand +the subtlety of the words they used in speaking of their common enemies. + +"The Red Wings came by the Charlotte River?" I asked. + +"By the Cherry, Quenevas, and Charlotte to the Ouleout. The Mengwe +fired on me as I stood on a high cliff and mocked them." + +"Did they follow you?" + +"Can my brother Loskiel trail feathered wings through the high air +paths? A little way I let them follow, then took wing, leaving them to +whine and squall on the Susquehanna." + +"And Butler and McDonald?" I demanded, smiling. + +"I do not know. I saw white men's tracks on the Charlotte, not two +hours old. They pointed toward the Delaware. The Minisink lies there." + +I nodded. "Now let the Red Wings fold his feathers and go to rest," I +said, "until I have read my letters and considered them." + +The Oneida immediately threw himself on the ground and drew his pouch +under his head. Before I could open my first letter, he was asleep and +breathing quietly as a child. And, on his naked shoulder, I saw a smear +of balsam plastered over with a hazel leaf, where a bullet had left its +furrow. He had not even mentioned that he had been hit. + +The first letter was from my General Clinton: + + +"Have a care," he wrote, "that your Indians prove faithful. The +Wyandotte I assigned to your command made a poor impression among our +Oneida guides. This I hear from Major Parr, who came to tell me so +after you had left. Remember, too, that you and your Mohican are most +necessary to General Sullivan. Interpreters trained by Guy Johnson are +anything but plenty; and another Mohican who knows the truest route to +Catharines-town is not to be had for whistling." + + +This letter decided me to rid myself of the Wyandotte. Here was +sufficient authority; time enough had elapsed since he had joined us +for me to come to a decision. Even my Indians could not consider my +judgment hasty now. + +I cast a cold glance at him, where he stood in the distance leaning +against a huge walnut tree and apparently keeping watch across the +Ouleout. The Grey-Feather was watching there, too, and I had no doubt +that his wary eyes were fixed as often on the Wyandotte as on the +wooded shore across the stream. + +A second letter was from Major Parr, and said: + +"An Oneida girl called Drooping Wings, of whom you bought some trumpery +or other, came to the fort after you had left, and told me that among +the party in their camp was an adopted Seneca who had seen and +recognized your Wyandotte as a Seneca and not as a Huron. + +"Not that this information necessarily means that the Indian called +Black-Snake is a traitor. He brought proper credentials from the +officer commanding at Pitt. But it is best that you know of this, and +that you feel free to use your judgment accordingly." + + +"Yes," said I to myself, "I'll use it." + +I took another long look at the suspect, then opened my third and last +letter. It was from Lois; and my heart beat the "general" so violently +that for a moment it stopped my breath: + + +"Euan Loskiel, my comrade, and my dear friend: Since you have gone, +news has come that our General Wayne, with twelve hundred light +infantry, stormed and took Stony Point on the Hudson on the 15th of +this past month. All the stores, arms, ammunition, and guns are ours, +with more than five hundred prisoners. The joy at this post is +wonderful to behold; our soldiers are mad with delight and cheer all +day long. + +"Lieutenant Beatty tells me that we have taken fourteen pieces of good +ordnance, seven hundred stand of arms, tents, rum, cheese, wine, and a +number of other articles most agreeable to recount. + +"On Wednesday morning last a sad affair; at Troop Beating three men +were brought out to be shot, all found guilty of desertion, one from +the 4th Pennsylvania, one from the 6th Massachusetts, and one from the +3rd New York. The troops were drawn up on the grand parade. Two of the +men were reprieved by the General; the third was shot.... It meant more +to me, kneeling in my room with both hands over my ears to shut out the +volley, than it meant to those who witnessed the awful scene. Marching +back, the fifes and drums played 'Soldiers' Joy.' I had forgotten to +stop my ears, and heard them. + +"On Tuesday rain fell. News came at noon that Indians had surprised and +killed thirty-six haymakers near Fort Schuyler; and that other Indians +had taken fifteen or seventeen of our men who were gathering +blueberries at Sabbath Day Point. Whereupon Colonel Gansevoort +immediately marched for Canajoharie with his regiment, which had but +just arrived; and in consequence Betty Bleecker and Angelina are +desolate. + +"As you see from this letter, we have left Croghan's new house, and are +living at Otsego in a fine Bush House, and near to the place where +Croghan's old house stood before it was destroyed. + +"Sunday, after an all night rain, clear skies; and all the officers +were being schooled in saluting with the sword, the General looking on. +In the afternoon the Chaplain, 'Parson' Gano, as the soldiers call him, +gave us a sermon. I went with Betty and Angelina. Miss Helmer went on +the lake in a batteau with Mr. Boyd. The Rifles tried their guns on the +lake, shooting at marks. Murphy and Elerson made no misses. + +"On Monday the officers had a punch, most respectable and gay. We +ladies went with Major Parr, Lieutenant Boyd, and the Ensign you so +detest, to view the hilarity, but not to join, it being a sociable +occasion for officers only, the kegs of rum being offered by General +Clinton--a gentleman not famed for his generosity in such matters. + +"This, Euan, is all the general news I have to offer, save that the +army expects its marching orders at any moment now. + +"Euan, I am troubled in my heart. First, I must acquaint you that Lana +Helmer and I have become friends. The night you left I was sitting in +my room, thinking; and Lana came in and drew my head on her shoulder. +We said nothing to each other all that night, but slept together in my +room. And since then we have come to know each other very well in the +way women understand each other. I love her dearly. + +"Euan, she will not admit it, but she is mad about Lieutenant Boyd--and +it is as though she had never before loved and knows not how to +conduct. Which is strange, as she has been so courted and is deeply +versed in experience, and has lived more free of restraint than most +women I ever heard of. Yet, it has taken her like a pernicious fever; +and I do neither like nor trust that man, for all his good looks, and +his wit and manners, and the exceedingly great courage and military +sagacity which none denies him. + +"Yesterday Lana came to my little room in our Bush House, where I sleep +on a bed of balsam, and we sat there, the others being out, and she +told me about Clarissa, and wept in the telling. What folly will not a +woman commit for love! And Sir John riding the wilderness with his +murdering crew! May the Lord protect and aid all women from such birds +o' passage and of prey! And I thought I had seen the pin-feathers of +some such plumage on this man Boyd. But he may moult to a prettier +colour. I hope so--but in my heart I dare not believe it. For he is of +that tribe of men who would have their will of every pretty petticoat +they notice. Some are less unscrupulous than others, that is the only +difference. And he seems still to harbour a few scruples, judging from +what I see of him and her, and what I know of her. + +"Yet, if a man bear not his good intention plainly written on his face, +and yet protests he dies unless you love him, what scruples he may +entertain will wither to ashes in the fiercer flame. And how after all +does he really differ from the others? + +"Euan, I am sick of dread and worry, what with you out in the West with +your painted scouts, and Mr. Boyd telling me that he has his doubts +concerning the reliability of one o' them! And what with Lana so white +and unhappy, and coming into my bed to cry against my breast at +night----" + + +Here the letter ended abruptly, and underneath in hurried writing: + + +"Major Parr calls to say that an Oneida runner is ordered to try to +find you with despatches from headquarters. I had expected to send this +letter by some one in your own regiment when it marched. But now I +shall intrust it to the runner. + +"I know not how to close my letter--how to say farewell--how to let you +know how truly my heart is yours. And becomes more so every hour. Nor +can you understand how humbly I thank God for you--that you are what +you are--and not like Sir John and--other men. + +"Women are of a multitude of kinds--until they love. Then they are of +but two kinds. Of one of these kinds shall I be when I love. Not that I +doubt myself, yet, who can say what I shall be? Only three, Euan--God, +the man who loves me, and myself." + + +"I sit here waiting for a rifleman to take my letter to the General who +has promised to commit it to the runner. + +"A regiment is trying its muskets at the lake. I hear the firing. + +"I have a tallow dip and wax and sand, ready to close my letter +instantly. No one comes." + + +"Lana comes, very tired and pale. Her eyes frighten me, they seem so +tragic. I learn that the army marches on the 9th. Yet, you went +earlier, and I do not think my eyes resembled hers." + + +"Soldiers passing, drums beating. A Pennsylvania regiment. Lana lies on +my bed, her face to the wall, scarce breathing at all, as far as I can +see. Conch-horns blowing--the strange and melancholy music of your +regiment. It seems to fill my heart with dread unutterable." + + +"The runner is here! Euan--Euan! Come back to me! + + "Lois de Contrecoeur." + +My eyes fell from the letter to the sleeping runner stretched out at my +feet, then shifted vaguely toward the river. + +After a while I drew my tablets, quill, and ink-horn from my pouch, and +setting it on my knees wrote to her with a heart on fire, yet perfectly +controlled. + +And after I had ended, I sealed the sheet with balsam, pricking the +globule from the tree behind me, and setting over it a leaf of +partridge-berry. Also I wrote letters to General Clinton and to Major +Parr, sealed them as I had sealed the other, and set a tiny, shining +leaf on each. + +Then, very gently I bent forward and aroused the Oneida runner. He sat +up, rubbed his eyes, then got to his feet smiling. And I consigned to +him my letters. + +The Mohican, on guard by the Susquehanna, was watching me; and as soon +as the Red Wings had started on his return, and was well across the +Ouleout, I signalled the Sagamore to come to me, leaving the Mole and +Tahoontowhee by the Susquehanna. + +"Blood-brother of mine," I said as he came up, "I ask counsel of a +wiser head and a broader experience than my own. What is to be done +with this Wyandotte?" + +"Must that be decided now, Loskiel?" + +"Now. Because the Unadilla lies below not far away, and beyond that the +Tioga. And I am charged to get myself thither in company with you as +soon us may be. Now, what is a Sagamore's opinion of this Wyandotte?" + +"Erie," he said quietly. + +"You believe it?" + +"I know it, Loskiel." + +"And the others--the Oneidas and the Stockbridge?" + +"They are as certain as I am." + +"Good God! Then why have you not told me this before, Mayaro?" + +"Is there haste?" + +"Haste? Have I not said that we march immediately? And you would have +let me give my order and include that villain in it!" + +"Why not? It is an easier and safer way to take a prisoner to Tioga +Point than to drag him thither tied." + +"But he may escape----" + +The Sagamore gave me an ironic glance. + +"Is it likely," he said softly, "when we are watching?" + +"But he may manage to do us a harm. You saw how cunningly he has kept +up communication with our enemies, to leave a trail for them to follow." + +"He has done us what harm he is able," said the Sagamore coolly. + +I hesitated, then asked him what he meant. + +"Why," he said, "their scouts have followed us. There are two of them +now across the Susquehanna." + +Thunderstruck, I stared at the river, where its sunlit surface +glittered level through the trees. + +"Do the others know this?" I asked. + +"Surely, Loskiel." + +I looked at my Indians where they lay flat behind their trees, rifles +poised, eyes intent on the territory in front of them. + +"If my brother does not desire to bring the Wyandotte to General +Sullivan, I will go to him now and kill him," said the Mohican +carelessly. + +"He ought to hang," I said between my teeth. + +"Yes. It is the most dreadful death a Seneca can die. He would prefer +the stake and two days' torture. Loskiel is right. The Erie has been a +priest of Amochol. Let him die by the rope he dreads more than the +stake. For all Indians fear the rope, Loskiel, which chokes them so +that they can not sing their death-song. There is not one of us who has +not courage to sing his death-song at the stake; but who can sing when +he is being choked to death by a rope?" + +I nodded, looking uneasily toward the river where the two Seneca spies +lurked unseen as yet by me. + +"Let the men sling their packs," I said. + +"They have done so, Loskiel." + +"Very well. Our order of march will be the same as yesterday. We keep +the Wyandotte between us." + +"That is wisdom." + +"Is it to be a running fight, Mayaro?" + +"Perhaps, if their main body comes up." + +"Then we had best start across the Ouleout, unless you mean to ford the +Susquehanna." + +The Sagamore shook his head with a grimace, saying that it would be +easier to swim the Susquehanna at Tioga than to ford it here. + +Very quietly we drew in or picked up our pickets, including the +ruffianly Wyandotte, or Erie, as he was now judged to be, and, filing +as we had filed the night before we crossed the Ouleout and entered the +forest. + +Two hours later the Oneida in the rear, Tahoontowhee, reported that the +Seneca scouts were on our heels, and asked permission to try for a +scalp. + +By noon he had taken his second scalp, and had received his first +wound, a mere scratch from a half-ounce ball, below the knee. But he +wore it and the scalp with a dignity unequalled by any monarch loaded +with jewelled orders. + +"Some day," said the Sagamore in my ear, "Tahoontowhee will accept the +antlers and the quiver." + +"He would be greater yet if he accepted Christ," said the Stockbridge +quietly. + +We had halted to breathe, and were resting on our rifles as the Mohican +said this; and I was looking at the Stockbridge who so quietly had +confessed his Master, when of a sudden the Wyandotte, who had been +leaning against a tree, straightened up, turned his head over his +shoulder, stared intently at something which we could not see, and then +pointed in silence. + +So naturally was it done that we all turned also. Then, like a +thunder-bolt, his hatchet flew, shearing the raccoon's tail from my +cap, and struck the Stockbridge Indian full between the eyes, dashing +his soul into eternity. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE HIDDEN CHILDREN + +So silently, suddenly, and with such incredible swiftness had this +happened, and so utterly unprepared were we for this devilish audacity, +that the Erie had shoved his trade-rifle against my ribs and fired +before anybody comprehended what he was about. + +But he had driven the muzzle so violently against me that the blow +knocked me breathless and flat on my face, and his rifle, slipping +along with the running swivel of my pouch buckle, was discharged, +blowing the pouch-flap to fragments, and setting fire to my thrums +without even scorching my body. + +As, partly stunned, I lay on the moss, choking in the powder smoke, my +head still ringing with the crash of the old smooth-bore, man after man +leaped over me like frantic deer, racing at full speed toward the +river. And I swayed to my knees, to my feet, and staggered after them, +beating out the fire on my smoking fringes as I ran. + +The Erie took the bank at one bound, struck the river sand like a ball, +and bounded on. Both Oneidas shot at him, and I tried to wing him in +mid-stream, but my hands were unsteady from the shock, and he went +under like a diver-duck, drifted to the surface under the willows far +below, and was out and among them before we could fire again. + +The sight of him tore a yell of fury from the Oneidas' throats; but the +Mohican, rifle a-trail, was speeding low and swiftly, and we sprang +forward in his tracks. + +A few moments later the Sagamore gave tongue to the fierce, hysterical +view-halloo of his Wolf Clan; the Oneidas answered till the forest rang +with the dreadful tumult of the pack-cry. Then, as I ran up breathless +to where they were crouching, a more terrible whoop burst from them. +The quarry was at bay. + +It was where the river turned south, making a vast and glassy bay. A +smooth cliff hung over it, wet and shining with the water from hidden +springs, and sheering down into profound and limpid depths. + +High on the face of the cliff, squatted on a narrow shelf, and hidden +by the rocky formation, our quarry had taken cover. The twisted strands +of a wild grapevine, severed by his knife, hung dangling below his +eyrie, betraying his mode of ascent. He had gone up hand over hand, +aided by his powerful shoulder muscles and by his feet, which must have +stuck like the feet of flies to the perpendicular wall of rock. + +To follow him, even with the aid of the vine he had severed, had been +hopeless in the face of his rifle fire. A thousand men could not have +taken him that way, while his powder and lead held out, for they would +have been obliged to ascend one by one in slow and painful file, and he +had but to shove his gun-muzzle in their faces as they appeared. + +The war-yelps of the Oneidas had subtly changed their timbre so that +ever amid the shrill yelling I marked the guttural snarls of baffled +rage. The Mohican lay on his belly behind a tree, silent, but his eyes +were like coals in their red intensity. + +Presently the Oneidas, lying prone at our side, ceased their tumult and +became silent. And for a long while we lay waiting for a shot. + +All this time the Erie had given no sign of life, and I had begun to +hope that he had been hit and would ultimately perish there, as wild +things perish in solitude and silence. + +Then the Mohican said in my ear: + +"Unless we can stir him to move and expose himself, we must lose him. +For his fellows will surely track us to this place." + +"Good God! By what unfortunate accident should such a hiding place +exist so near!" I said miserably. + +The Sagamore's stern visage slightly relaxed. + +"It is no accident, Loskiel. Do you not suppose he knew it was here? +Else he had never dared attempt what he did." + +"The vile Witch-cat has been here many a time," said the Grey-Feather, +his ferocious gaze fixed on the cliff. + +"Is the Mole dead?" I asked. + +"He is with his God--Tharon or Christ, whichever it may be, Loskiel." + +"The Mole must not be scalped," said Tahoontowhee softly. "If the +Senecas pass that way they will have at last one thing to boast of." + +I said to the Mohican: + +"Hold the Erie. The Night-Hawk and I will go back and bury our dead +against Seneca profanation." + +"Let the Grey-Feather go, Loskiel." + +"No. The Mole was Christian. Does a Christian fail his own kind at the +last?" + +"Loskiel has spoken," said the Mohican gravely. "The Grey-Feather and I +will hold the filthy cat." + +So we went back together across the river, the young Oneida and I; and +we hid the Mole deep in the bed of a rotting log, and laid his +Testament on his breast over the painted cross, and his weapons beside +him. Then, working cautiously, we rolled back the log, replaced the +dead leaves, brushed up the deep green pile of the moss, and smoothed +all as craftily us we might, so that no Seneca prowling might suspect +that a grave was here, and disinter the dead to take his scalp. + +Over the blood-wet leaves where he had fallen, we made a fire of dry +twigs, letting it burn enough to deceive. Then we covered it as hunters +cover their ashes; the Oneida took the Erie's hatchet; and we hastened +back to the others. + +They were still lying exactly where we left them. Neither the Erie nor +they had stirred or spoken. And, as I settled down in my ambush beside +the Mohican, I asked him again whether there was any possible way to +provoke the Erie so that he might stir and expose some portion of his +limbs or body. + +The Night-Hawk, who carried strapped to his back the quiver of an +Oneida adolescent containing a boy's short bow and a dozen game arrows, +consulted with the Grey-Feather in a low voice. + +Presently he wriggled off to where some sun-dried birch-bark fluttered +in the river breeze, returned with it, shredded it with care, strung +his bow, tipped an arrow with the bark, and held it out to me. + +I struck flint to steel, lighted my tinder, and set the shred of bark +afire. + +Then the Night-Hawk knelt, bent his bow, and the blazing arrow soared +whistling with flame, and fell behind the rock on the shelf. + +Arrow after arrow followed, whizzing upward and dropping accurately; +but the wet mosses of the cliff extinguished the flashes. + +As the last arrow fell, flared a moment, then merely smoked, an +insulting laugh came from aloft, and my Indians uttered fierce +exclamations and cuddled their rifle-stocks close to their cheeks, +fairly trembling for a shot. + +"Dogs of Oneidas!" called the Erie. "Go howl for your dead pig of a +Stockbridge slave." + +"The Mole wears his scalp with Tharon!" retorted the Grey-Feather, +choking with fury. "But Tahoontowhee's hatchet is still sticking in the +Senecas' heads!" + +"For which the Night-Hawk shall burn at the Seneca stake, sobbing his +death-song!" shouted the Erie, so fiercely that for a moment we lay +silent, hoping that by some ungovernable movement he might expose +himself. + +"Taunt him!" I whispered; and the Mohican said with a derisive laugh: + +"Four scalp-tufts from the mangy Cats of Amochol trim my +hatchet-sheath. When the young men ask me what this sparse and sickly +fur may be, I shall strip it off and cast it at their feet, saying it +is but Erie filth to spit upon." + +"Liar of a conquered nation!" roared the Erie, "for every priest of +Amochol who fell by Otsego under your cowardly butcher's knife, a +Siwanois Sagamore shall burn three days, and yet live to die the +fourth! The day that August dies, so shall the Sagamore die at the +Festival of Dreams in Catharines-town!" + +"I shall remember," said I in a low voice to the Sagamore, "that the +Onon-hou-aroria is to be celebrated in Catharines-town on the last day +of August." + +He nodded, then: + +"A Mohican Sagamore insults a dirty priest of Amochol! I do you honour +by offering you battle, with knife, with hatchet, with rifle, with +naked hands! Choose, spawn of Atensi--still-born kitten of Iuskeha, +choose! Not one soul except myself will raise hand against you. By +Tharon, I swear it! Choose! And the victor passes freely and whither he +wills!" + +The Erie mocked him from his high perch: + +"Squirrels talk! Long since has your Tharon been hurled headlong into +Biskoonah by Atensi and her flaming grandson!" + +At this awful blasphemy, the Mohican fairly blanched so that under his +paint his skin grew ashy for a moment. + +The Grey-Feather shouted: + +"Lying and degraded priest! Mowawak Cannibal of a Sinako Cat! It is +Atensi herself who burns with Iuskeha in Biskoonah; and the +sacrilegious fires lick your altars!" + +The Erie laughed horribly: + +"Where is your fool of a stripling called Loskiel? Is he there with +you? Or did my hatchet fetch him such a clip that he died of fright and +a bullet in his belly?" + +"He is unharmed," replied the Mohican, tauntingly. "A squaw shoots +better than a Cat!" + +"A lie! I saw my rifle blow a hole in his body!" + +"Hatchet and rifle failed. The Ensign, Loskiel, laughed, asking what +forest-flies were buzzing at his ear. Loskiel spits on Cats, and +brushes their flying hatchets from his ears as others brush mosquitos!" + +"Let him speak, then, to prove it!" shouted the Erie, incredulously. + +But I remained silent. + +Then the Erie's ferocious laugh rang out from the cliff. + +"Now, you Mohican slave and you Oneida dogs, you shall know the power +of Amochol. For what was done to Loskiel and to the Praying Mole, will +be done to you all on the last day of this month, when the Dream Feast +is held at Catharines-town! You shall die. And others shall die--not as +you, but on the red altar of the Great Sachem Amochol! Strangled, +disemboweled, sacrificed to clothe Atensi!" + +The Grey-Feather, unable any longer to retain his self-control, was +getting to his feet, staring wildly up at the cliff; but the Mohican +drew him back into his form and held him there with powerful grip. + +"Listen," he hissed, "to what this warlock blabbs." + +The Erie laughed, evidently awaiting a retort. None came, and he +laughed again triumphantly. + +"Amochol's arm is long, O you Oneida dogs who howl outside the Long +House gates! Amochol's eyes are like the white-crested eagle's eyes, +seeing everything, and his ears are like the red buck's ears, so that +nothing stirs unheard by him. + +"Phantoms arise and walk at night; Amochol sees. Under earth and water, +demons are breathing; Amochol hears. Then we Eries listen, too, and +make the altar fires burn hotter. For the ghosts of the night and the +demons that stir must be fed." + +He waited again, doubtless expecting some exclamation of protest +against his monstrous profession. After a moment he went on: + +"Spectres and demons must be fed--but not on the foul flesh of dogs +like you! We cut your throats to feed the Flying Heads." + +He paused; and as no reply was forthcoming, the sorcerer laughed +scornfully. + +"Your blood becomes water! You cringe at the power of Amochol. But the +red altar is not for you. Listen, dogs! Had I not found it necessary to +slay your stripling, Loskiel, he had been burned and strangled an that +altar!... And there is another at Otsego who shall die strangled on the +altar of Amochol--the maiden called Lois! Long have we followed her. +Long is the arm of the Red Priest--when his White Sorceress dreams for +him! + +"And now you know, you Mohican mongrel, why Amochol was at Otsego. His +arm reaches even into the barracks of Clinton! Because to Atensi the +sacrifice of these two would be grateful--the maiden Lois and your +Loskiel. Only the pure and guarded pleasure her. And these two are +Hidden Children. One has died. The other shall not escape us. She shall +die strangled by Amochol upon his own altar!" + +I sat up, sick with horror and surprise, and stared at the Mohican for +an explanation. He and the Oneidas were now looking at me very gravely +and in silence. And after a moment my head dropped. + +I knew well enough what the brutal Erie meant by "Hidden Children." But +that I was one I never dreamed, nor had it occurred to me that Lois was +one, in spite of her strange history. For among the Iroquois and their +adopted captives there are both girls and boys who are spoken of as +"Hidden Persons" or "Hidden Children." They are called +Ta-neh-u-weh-too, which means, "hidden in the husks," like ears of corn. + +And the reason is this: a mother, for one cause or another, or perhaps +for none at all, decides to make of her unborn baby a Hidden Child. And +so, when born, the child is instantly given to distant foster-parents, +and by them hidden; and remains so concealed until adolescence. And, +being considered from birth pure and unpolluted, a girl and a boy thus +hidden are expected to marry, return to their people when informed by +their foster-parents of the truth, and bring a fresh, innocent, and +uncontaminated strain into their clan and tribe. + +What the Erie said seemed to stun me. What did this foul creature know +of me? What knowledge had this murdering beast of Lois? And +Amochol--what in God's name did the Red Sorcerer know of us, or of our +history? + +Even the horrid threat against Lois seemed so fantastic, so unreal, so +meaningless, that at the moment, it did not impress me even with its +unspeakable wickedness. + +The Sagamore touched my arm as though with awe and pity, and I lifted +my head. + +"Is this true, brother?" he asked gently. + +"I do not know if it is," I said, dazed. + +"Then--it is the truth." + +"Why do you say that, Mayaro?" + +"I know it, now. I suspected it when your eyes first fell on the +Ghost-bear rearing on my breast. I thought I knew you, there at Major +Lockwood's house in Poundridge. It was your name, Loskiel, and your +knowledge of your red brothers, that stirred my suspicions. And when I +learned that Guy Johnson had sheltered you, then I was surer still." + +"Who, then, am I?" I asked, bewildered. + +The three Indians were staring at me as though that murderer aloft on +his eyrie did not exist. I, too, had forgotten him for the moment; and +it was only the loud explosion of his smooth-bore that shocked us to +the instant necessity of the situation. + +The bullet screamed through the leaves above us; we clapped our rifles +to our cheeks, striving to glimpse him. Nothing moved on the rocky +shelf. + +"He fired to signal his friends," whispered the Mohican. "He must +believe them to be within hearing distance." + +I set my teeth and stared savagely at the cliff. + +"If that is so," said I, "we must leave him here and pull foot." + +There was a tense silence, then, as we rose, an infuriated yell burst +from the Oneidas, and in their impotence they fired blindly at the +cliff, awaking a very hell of echo. + +Through the clattering confusion of the double discharge, the demoniac +laughter of the Erie rang, and my Oneidas, retreating, hurled back +insult and anathema, promising to return and annihilate every living +sorcerer in the Dark Empire, including Amochol himself. + +"Ha-e!" he shouted after us, giving the evil spirits' cry. "Ha-e! +Ha-ee!" From his shelf he cast a painted stick after us, which came +hurtling down and landed in the water. And he screamed as he heard us +threshing over the shallows: "Koue! Askennon eskatoniot!" + +The thing he had cast after us was floating, slowly turning round and +round in the water; and it seemed to be a stick something thicker than +an arrow and as long, and painted in concentric rings of black, +vermillion, and yellow. + +Then, as we gave it wide berth, to our astonishment it suddenly +crinkled up and was alive, and lifted a tiny, evil head from the water, +running out at us a snake's tongue that flickered. + +That this was magic my Indians never doubted. They gave the thing one +horrified glance, turned, and fairly leaped through the water till the +shallow flood roared as though a herd of deer were passing over. + +As for me, I ran, too, and felt curiously weak and shaken; though I +suspected that this wriggling thing now swimming back to shore was the +poison snake of the Ksaurora, and no Antouhonoran witchcraft at all, as +I had seen skins of the brilliant and oddly marked little serpent at +Guy Park, whither some wandering Southern Tuscaroras had brought them. + +But the bestial creature of the cliff had now so inspired us all with +loathing that it was as though our very breath was poisoned; and in +swift and silent file we pushed forward, as if the very region--land, +water, the air itself--had become impure, and we must rid ourselves of +the place itself to breathe. + +No war-party burning to distinguish itself ever travelled more swiftly. +Sooner than I expected, we crossed the small creek which joins the +river from the east, opposite the Old England District, and saw the +ruins of Unadilla across the water. + +Here was a known ford; and we crossed to Old Unadilla, where that +pretty river and the Butternut run south into the broadening +Susquehanna. + +At this place we halted to eat; and I was of two minds whether to go by +the West Branch of the Delaware, by Owaga and Ingaren across the +Stanwix Treaty Line to Wyalusing, and from thence up the river to the +Chemung and Tioga Point; or to risk the Chenango country and travel +southwest by Owego, and so cutting off that great southern loop that +the Susquehanna makes through the country of the Esaurora. + +But when I asked the opinion of my Indians, they were of one mind +against my two, saying that to follow the river was the easiest, +swiftest, and safest course to Tioga Point. + +They knew better than did I. This side of Tioga the Oneidas knew the +ground as well as the Siwanois; but beyond, toward Catharines-town, +only my Siwanois knew. Indeed, if my Oneidas remained with me at all +beyond Tioga I might deem myself lucky, in such dread and detestation +did they hold that gloomy region where the Wyoming Witch brooded her +deadly crew, and where the Toad Woman, her horrible sister, fed the +secret and midnight fires of hell with the Red Priest, Amochol. + +A grey hawk was circling above us mewing. Truly, our nerves had been +somewhat shattered, for as we rose and resumed pack and sack, a distant +partridge drumming on his log startled us all; and it was as though we +had thought to hear the witch-drums rolling at the Onon-hou-aroria, and +the hawk mewing seemed like the Sorcerers calling "Hiou! Hiou! Hiou!" +And the Unadilla made a clatter over its stones like the False-Faces +rattling their wooden masks. + +"Eheu!" sighed the pines above us as we sped on; and ever I thought of +Okwencha and the Dead Hunter. And the upward roar of a partridge covey +bursting in thunder through the river willows was like the flight of +the hideous Flying Heads. + +On we went, every sound and movement of the forest seeming to spur us +forward and add flight-feathers to our speeding feet. For in my +Indians, ascendant now, was the dull horror of the supernatural; and as +for me my hatred of the Sorcerers was tightening every nerve to the +point of breaking. + +As I travelled that trail through the strange, eternal twilight of the +great trees, I vowed to myself that Amochol should die; that the +Sagamore and I would guide a thousand rifles to his pagan altar and lay +this foul priesthood prone upon it as the last sacrifice. + +Then I recalled the Black-Snake's threat against Lois; and shuddered; +then the astounding reason he had given for the Red Priest's design +upon us both set me dully wondering again. + +Fear that his emissaries might penetrate our lines stirred me; and I +remembered the moccasins she had received, and the messages sewed +within them. If a red messenger had found her every year and had left +at her door, unseen, a pair of moccasins, why might not an invisible +assassin find her, too? Already, within our very encampment, she had +received another pair of moccasins and a message entirely different +from the customary one. + +Whoever had brought it had come and gone unseen. + +Distressed, perplexed, half sick with fear for her, I plodded on behind +the Mohican, striving to drive from me the sombre thoughts assailing +me, trying to reassure myself with the knowledge that she was safe at +Otsego with her new friends, and that very shortly now she would be +still safer in Albany, and under the shrewd and kindly eye of Mr. Hake. + +The sun had set; the pallid daylight lingering along the forest edges +by the river grew sickly and died. And after a little the Mohican +halted on a hillock, and we cast our packs from us and peered around. + +The forms of rocks took dim shape all about us, huge slabs and benches +of stone, from which great bushes of laurel and rhododendron spread, +forming beyond us an entangled and impenetrable jungle. + +And under these we crawled and lay, listening for snakes. But there +seemed to be none there, though our rocky fastness was a very likely +place. And after we had eaten and emptied our canteens, the two Oneidas +went out on guard to the eastern limit of the rocks; and the Sagamore +and I lay on our sides, facing each other in the dark. And for a while +we lay there, neither of us speaking. Finally I said under my breath: + +"Then I am one of the Hidden People." + +"Yes, brother," he replied very gently. + +"Tell me why you believe this to be true. Tell me all you know." + +For a little while the Mohican lay there very silent, and I did not +stir. And presently he said: + +"It was in '57, Loskiel, when I first laid eyes on you." + +"What!" + +"I am more than twice your age. You were then three years old." + +In my astonishment it occurred to me that instead of twenty-two I was +now twenty-five years of age, if what the Mohican said were true. + +"Listen, Loskiel, blood-brother of mine, for you shall hear the truth +now--the truth which Guy Johnson never told you. + +"It was in '57; Munro lay at Fort William Henry; Webb at Fort Edward; +and Montcalm came down from the lakes with his white-coats and Hurons +and shook his sword at Munro and spat upon Webb. + +"Then came Sir William Johnson to Webb with half a thousand Iroquois. +And because Sir William was the only white man we Delawares trusted, +and in spite of his Iroquois, three Mohicans offered their +services--the Great Serpent, young Uncas, and I, Mayaro, Sagamore of +the Siwanois." + +He paused, then with infinite contempt: + +"Webb was a coward. Nor could Sir William kick him forward. He lay +shivering behind the guns at Edward; and Fort William Henry fell. And +the white-coats could do nothing with their Hurons; the prisoners fell +under their knives and hatchets--soldiers, women, little children. + +"When Montcalm had gone, Webb let us loose. And, following the trail of +murder, in a thicket among the rocks we came upon a young woman with a +child, very weak from privation. Guy Johnson and I discovered them--he +a mere youth at that time. + +"And the young woman told him how it had been with her--that her +husband and herself had been taken by the St. Regis three years +before--that they had slain her husband but had offered her no +violence; that her child had been born a few weeks later and that the +St. Regis chief who took her had permitted her to make of it a Hidden +Person. + +"For three years the fierce St. Regis chief wooed her, offering her the +first place in his lodge. For three years she refused him, living in a +bush-hut alone with her child, outside the St. Regis village, fed by +them, and her solitude respected. Then Munro came and his soldiers +scattered the St. Regis and took her and her baby to the fort. And the +St. Regis chief sent word that he would kill her if she ever married." + +So painfully intent was I on his every low-spoken word that I scarce +dared breathe as the story of my mother slowly unfolded. + +"Guy Johnson and I took the young woman and her child to Edward," he +said. "Her name was Marie Loskiel, and she told us that she was the +widow of a Scotch fur trader, one Ian Loskiel, of Saint Sacrament." + +There was another silence, as though he were not willing to continue. +Then in a quiet voice I bade him speak; and he spoke, very gravely: + +"Your mother's religion and Guy Johnson's were different. If that were +the reason she would not marry him I do not know. Only that when he +went away, leaving her at Edward, they both wept. I was standing by his +stirrup; I saw him--and her. + +"And--he rode away, Loskiel.... Why she tried to follow him the next +spring, I do not know.... Perhaps she found that love was stronger than +religion.... And after all the only difference seemed to be that she +prayed to the mother of the God he prayed to.... We spoke of it +together, the Great Serpent, young Uncas, and I. And Uncas told us +this. But the Serpent and I could make nothing of it. + +"And while Guy Johnson was at Edward, only he and I and your mother +ever saw or touched you.... And ever you were tracing with your baby +fingers the great Ghost Bear rearing on my breast----" + +"Ah!" I exclaimed sharply. "That is what I have struggled to remember!" + +He drew a deep, unsteady breath: + +"Do you better understand our blood-brotherhood now, Loskiel?" + +"I understand--profoundly." + +"That is well. That is as it should be, O my blood-brother, pure from +birth, and at adolescence undefiled. Of such Hidden Ones were the +White-Plumed Sagamores. Of such was Tamanund, the Silver-Plumed; and +the great Uncas, with his snowy-winged and feathered head--Hidden +People, Loskiel--without stain, without reproach. + +"And as it was to be recorded on the eternal wampum, you were found at +Guy Johnson's landing place asleep beside a stranded St. Regis canoe; +and your dead mother lay beside you with a half ounce ball through her +heart. The St. Regis chief had spoken." + +"Why do you think he slew her?" I whispered. + +"Strike flint. It is safe here." + +I drew myself to my elbow, struck fire and blew the tinder to a glow. + +"This is yours," he said. And laid in my hand a tiny, lacquered folder +striped with the pattern of a Scotch tartan. + +Wondering, I opened it. Within was a bit of wool in which still +remained three rusted needles. And across the inside cover was written +in faded ink: + +"Marie Loskiel." + +"How came you by this?" I stammered, the quick tears blinding me. + +"I took it from the St. Regis hunter whom Tahoontowhee slew." + +"Was he my mother's murderer!" + +"Who knows?" said the Sagamore softly. "Yet, this needle-book is a poor +thing for an Indian to treasure--and carry in a pouch around his neck +for twenty years." + +The glow-worm spark in my tinder grew dull and went out. For a long +while I lay there, thinking, awed by the ways of God--so certain, so +inscrutable. And understood how at the last all things must be +revealed--even the momentary and lightest impulse, and every deepest +and most secret thought. + +Lying there, I asked of the Master of Life His compassion on us all, +and said my tremulous and silent thanks to Him for the dear, sad secret +that His mercy had revealed. + +And, my lips resting on my mother's needle-book, I thought of Lois, and +how like mine in a measure was her strange history, not yet fully +revealed. + +"Sagamore, my elder brother?" I said at last. + +"Mayaro listens." + +"How is it then with Lois de Contrecoeur that you already knew she was +of the Hidden Children?" + +"I knew it when I first laid eyes on her, Loskiel." + +"By what sign?" + +"The moccasins. She lay under a cow-shed asleep in her red cloak, her +head on her arms. Beside her the kerchief tied around her bundle lay +unknotted, revealing the moccasins that lay within. I saw, and knew. +And for that reason have I been her friend." + +"You told her this?" + +"Why should I tell her?" + +There was no answer to this. An Indian is an Indian. + +I said after a moment: + +"What mark is there on the moccasins that you knew them?" + +"The wings, worked in white wampum. A mother makes a pair with wings +each year for her Hidden One, so that they will bring her little child +to her one day, swiftly and surely as the swallow that returns with +spring." + +"Has she told you of these moccasins--how every year a pair of them is +left for her, no matter where she may be lodged?" + +"She has told me. She has shown me the letter on bark which was found +with her; the relics of her father; this last pair of moccasins, and +the new message written within. And she asked me to guide her to +Catharines-town. And I have refused. + +"No, Loskiel, I have never doubted that she was of the Hidden People. +And for that reason have I been patient and kind when she has beset me +with her pleading that I show to her the trail to Catharines-town. + +"But I will not. For although in rifle dress she might go with us--nay, +nor do I even doubt that she might endure the war-path as well as any +stripling eager for honour and his first scalp taken--I will not have +her blood upon my hands. + +"For if she stir thither--if she venture within the Great Shadow--the +ghouls of Amochol will know it. And they will take her and slay her on +their altar, spite of us all--spite of you and me and your generals and +colonels, and all your troops and riflemen--spite of your whole army +and its mighty armament, I say it--I, a Siwanois Mohican of the +Enchanted Clan. A Sagamore has spoken." + +Chill after chill crept over me so that I shook as I lay there in the +darkness "Who is this maiden, Lois?" I asked. + +"Do you not guess, Loskiel?" + +"Vaguely." + +"Then listen, brother. Her grandfather was the great Jean Coeur who +married the white daughter of the Chevalier de Clauzun. Her mother was +Mlle. Jeanne Coeur; her father the young Vicomte de Contrecoeur, of the +Regiment de la Reine--not that stupid Captain Contrecoeur of the +regiment of Languedoc, who, had it depended on him, would never have +ventured to attack Braddock at all. + +"This is true, because I knew them both--both of these Contrecoeur +captains. And the picture she showed to me was that of the officer in +the Regiment de la Reine. + +"I saw that regiment die almost to a man. I saw Dieskau fall; I saw +that gay young officer, de Contrecoeur, who had nicknamed himself Jean +Coeur, laugh at our Iroquois as he stood almost alone--almost the last +man living, among his fallen white-coats. + +"And I saw him dead, Loskiel--the smile still on his dead lips, and his +eyes still open and clear and seeming to laugh up at the white clouds +sailing, which he could not see. + +"That was the man she showed me painted on polished bone." + +"And--her mother?" I asked. + +"I can only guess, Loskiel, for I never saw her. But I believe she must +have been with the army. Somehow, Sir William's Senecas got hold of her +and took her to Catharines-town. And if the little Lois was born there +or at Yndaia, or perhaps among the Lakes before the mother was made +prisoner, I do not know. Only this I gather, that when the Cats of +Amochol heard there was a child, they demanded it for a sacrifice. And +there must have been some Seneca there--doubtless some adopted Seneca +of a birth more civilized--who told the mother, and who was persuaded +by her to make of it a Hidden One. + +"How long it lay concealed, and in whose care, how can I know? But it +is certain that Amochol learned that it had been hidden, and sent his +Cat-People out to prowl and watch. Then, doubtless did the mother send +it from her by the faithful one whose bark letter was found by the new +foster-parents when they found the little Lois. + +"And this is how it has happened, brother. And that the Cat-People now +know she is alive, and who she is, does not amaze me. For they are +sorcerers, and if one of them did not steal after the messenger when he +left Yndaia with the poor mother's yearly gift of moccasins, then it +was discovered by witchcraft." + +"For Amochol never forgets. And whom the Red Priest chooses for his +altar sooner or later will surely die there, unless the Sorcerer dies +first and his Cat-People are slain and skinned, and the vile altar is +destroyed among the ashes of its accursed fire!" + +"Then, with the help of an outraged God, these righteous things shall +come to pass!" I said between clenched teeth. + +The Sagamore sat with his crested head bowed. And if he were in ghostly +communication with the Mighty Dead I do not know, for I heard him +breathe the name of Tamanund, and then remain silent as though +listening for an answer. + +I had been asleep but a few moments, it seemed to me, when the +Grey-Feather awoke me for my turn at guard duty; and the Mohican and I +rose from our blankets, reprimed our rifles, crept out from under the +laurel and across the shadowy rock-strewn knoll to our posts. + +The rocky slope below us was almost clear to the river, save for a bush +or two. + +Nothing stirred, no animals, not a leaf. And after a while the profound +stillness began to affect me, partly because the day had been one to +try my nerves, partly because the silence was uncanny, even to me. And +I knew how dread of the supernatural had already tampered with the +steadiness of my red comrades--men who were otherwise utterly fearless; +and I dreaded the effect on the Mohican, whose mind now was surcharged +with hideous and goblin superstitions. + +In the night silence of a forest, always there are faint sounds to be +heard which, if emphasizing the stillness, somehow soften it too. +Leaves fall, unseen, whispering downward from high trees, and settling +among their dead fellows with a faintly comfortable rustle. Small +animals move in the dark, passing and repassing warily; one hears the +high feathered ruffling and the plaint of sleepy birds; breezes play +with the young leaves; water murmurs. + +But here there was no single sound to mitigate the stillness; and, had +I dared in my mossy nest behind the rocks, I would have contrived same +slight stirring sound, merely to make the silence more endurable. + +I could see the river, but could not hear it. From where I lay, close +to the ground, the trees stood out in shadowy clusters against the +vague and hazy mist that spread low over the water. + +And, as I lay watching it, without the slightest warning, a head was +lifted from behind a bush. It was the head of a wolf in silhouette +against the water. + +Curiously I watched it; and as I looked, from another bush another head +was lifted--the round, flattened head and tasselled ears of the great +grey lynx. And before I could realize the strangeness of their +proximity to each other, these two heads were joined by a third--the +snarling features of a wolverine. + +Then a startling and incredible thing happened; the head of the big +timber-wolf rose still higher, little by little, slowly, stealthily, +above the bush. And I saw to my horror that it had the body of a man. +And, already overstrained as I was, it was a mercy that I did not faint +where I lay behind my rock, so ghastly did this monstrous vision seem +to me. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +NAI TIOGA! + +How my proper senses resisted the swoon that threatened them I do not +know; but when the lynx, too, lifted a menacing and flattened head on +human shoulders; and when the wolverine also stood out in human-like +shadow against the foggy water, I knew that these ghostly things that +stirred my hair were no hobgoblins at all, but living men. And the +clogged current of my blood flowed free again, and the sweat on my skin +cooled. + +The furry ears of the wolf-man, pricked up against the vaguely lustrous +background of the river, fascinated me. For all the world those pointed +ears seemed to be listening. But I knew they were dead and dried; that +a man's eyes were gazing through the sightless sockets of the beast. + +From somewhere in the darkness the Mohican came gliding on his belly +over the velvet carpet of the moss. + +"Andastes," he whispered scornfully; "they wear the heads of the beasts +whose courage they lack. Fling a stone among them and they will +scatter." + +As I felt around me in the darkness for a fragment of loose rock, the +Mohican arrested my arm. + +"Wait, Loskiel. The Andastes hang on the heels of fiercer prowlers, +smelling about dead bones like foxes after a battle. Real men can not +be far away." + +We lay watching the strange and grotesque creatures in the starlight; +and truly they seemed to smell their way as beasts smell; and they were +as light-footed and as noiseless, slinking from bush to bush, lurking +motionless in shadows, nosing, listening, prowling on velvet pads to +the very edges of our rock escarpment. + +"They have the noses of wild things," whispered the Mohican uneasily. +"Somewhere they have found something that belongs to one of us, and, +having once smelled it, have followed." + +I thought for a moment. + +"Do you believe they found the charred fragments of my pouch-flap? +Could they scent my scorched thrums from where I now lie? Only a hound +could do that! It is not given to men to scent a trail as beasts scent +it running perdu." + +The Mohican said softly: + +"Men of the settlement detect no odour where those of the open perceive +a multitude of pungent smells." + +"That is true," I said. + +"It is true, Loskiel. As a dog scents water in a wilderness and comes +to it from afar, so can I also. Like a dog, too, can I wind the hidden +partridge brood--though never the nesting hen--nor can a mink do that +much either. But keen as the perfume of a bee-tree, and certain as the +rank smell of a dog-fox in March--which even a white man can +detect--are the odours of the wilderness to him whose only home it is. +And even as a lad, and for the sport of it, have I followed and found +by its scent alone the great night-butterfly, marked brown and crimson, +and larger than a little bat, whose head bears tiny ferns, and whose +wings are painted with the four quarters of the moon. Like crushed +sumac is the odour of it, and in winter it hides in a bag of silk." + +I nodded, my eyes following the cautious movements of the Andastes +below; and again and again I saw their heads thrown buck, noses to the +stars, as though sniffing and endeavouring to wind us. And to me it was +horrid and unhuman. + +For an hour they were around the river edge and the foot of the +hillock, trotting silently and uneasily hither and thither, always +seemingly at fault. Then, apparently made bold by finding no trace of +what they hunted, they ranged this way and that at a sort of gallop, +and we could even hear their fierce and whining speech as they huddled +a moment to take counsel. + +Suddenly their movements ceased, and I clutched the Mohican's arm, as a +swift file of shadows passed in silhouette along the river's brink, one +after another moving west--fifteen ghostly figures dimly seem but +unmistakable. + +"Senecas," breathed the Mohican. + +The war party defiled at a trot, disappearing against the fringing +gloom. And after them loped the Andastes pack, scurrying, hurrying, +running into thickets and out again, but ever hastening along the +flanks of their silent and murderous masters, who seemed to notice them +not at all. + +When they had gone, the Mohican aroused the Oneidas, and all night long +we lay there behind the rocks, rifles in rest, watching the river. + +What we awaited came with the dawn, and, in the first grey pallour of +the breaking day, we saw their advanced guard; Cayugas and Senecas of +the fierce war-chief Hiokatoo, every Indian stripped, oiled, head +shaved, and body painted for war; first a single Cayuga, scouting +swiftly; then three furtive Senecas, then six, then a dozen, followed +by their main body. + +Doubtless they had depended on the Andastes and advanced guard of +Senecas for flankers, for the main body passed without even a glance up +at the hilly ground where we lay watching them. + +Then there was a break in the line, an interval of many minutes before +their pack horses appeared, escorted by green-coated soldiers. + +And in the ghostly light of dawn, I saw Sir John Johnson riding at the +head of his men, his pale hair unpowdered, his heavy, colourless face +sunk on his breast. After him, in double file, marched his regiment of +Greens; then came more Indians--Owagas, I think--then that shameless +villain, McDonald, in bonnet and tartan, and the heavy claymore a-swing +on his saddle-bow, and his blue-eyed Indians swarming in the rear. + +Lord, what a crew! And as though that were not enough to affront the +rising sun, comes riding young Walter Butler, in his funereal cloak, +white as a corpse under the black disorder of his hair, and staring at +nothing like a damned man. On his horse's heels his ruffianly Rangers +marched in careless disorder but with powerful, swinging strides that +set their slanting muskets gleaming like ripples glinting athwart a +windy pond, and their canteens all a-bobbing. + +Then, hunched on his horse, rode old John Butler--squat, swarthy, +weather-roughened, balancing on his saddle with the grace of a chopping +block; and after him more Rangers crowding close behind. + +Behind these, quite alone, stalked an Indian swathed in a scarlet +blanket edged with gold, on which a silver gorget glittered. He seemed +scarce darker than I in colour; and if he wore paint I saw none. There +was only a scarlet band of cloth around his temples, and the +flight-feather of the white-crested eagle set there low above the left +ear and slanting backward. + +"Brant!" I whispered to the Sagamore; and I saw him stiffen to very +stone beside me; and heard his teeth grate in his jaws. + +Then, last of all, came the Keepers of the Eastern Gate, the flower of +the warriors of the Long House--the Mohawks. + +They passed in the barbaric magnificence of paint and feather and +shining steel, a hundred lithe, light-stepping warriors, rifles +swinging a-trail, and gorgeous beaded sporrans tossing at every stride. + +An interval, then the first wary figure of the lurking rear-guard, +another, half a dozen, smooth-bore rifles at a ready, scanning river +and thicket. Every one of them looked up at our craggy knoll as they +glided along its base; two hesitated, ran half way up over the rock +escarpment, loitered for a few moments, then slunk off, hastening to +join their fellows. + +After a long while a single Seneca came speeding, and disappeared in +the wake of the others. + +The motley Army of the West had passed. + + +And it was a terrible and an infamous sight to me, who had known these +men under other circumstances to see the remnant of the landed gentry +of Tryon County now riding the wilderness like very vagabonds, squired +by a grotesque horde of bloody renegades. + +To what a doleful pass had these gentlemen come, who lately had so +lorded it among us--these proud and testy autocrats of County Tryon, +with their vast estates, their baronial halls, their servants, +henchmen, tenantry, armed retainers, slaves? + +Where were all these people now? Where were their ladies in their +London silks and powder? Where were their mistresses, their +distinguished guests? Where was my Lord Dunmore now--the great Murray, +Earl of Dunmore and Brent Meester to unhappy Norfolk! And, alas, where +was the great and good Sir William--and where was Sir William's friend, +Lady Grant, and the fearless Duchess of Gordon, and the dark and lovely +Lady Johnson, and the pretty ladies of Guy Johnson, of Colonel Butler, +of Colonel Claus? Where was Sir John's pitifully youthful and +unfortunate lady, and her handsome brother, crippled at Oriskany, and +the gentle, dark-eyed sister of Walter Butler, and his haughty mother? +All either dead or prisoners, or homeless refugees, or exiles living on +the scant bounty of the Government they had suffered for so loyally. + +The merciless Committee of Sequestration had seized Johnson Hall, Fort +Johnson, Guy Park, Butlersbury; Fish House was burned; Summer House +Point lay in ashes, and the charming town built by Sir William was now +a rebel garrison, and the jail he erected was their citadel, flying a +flag that he had never heard of when he died. + +All was gone--gone the kilted Highlanders from the guard house at the +Hall; gone the Royal Americans with all their bugle-horns and clarions +and scarlet pageantry; gone the many feathered chieftains who had +gathered so often at Guy Park, or the Fort, or the Hall. Mansions, +lands, families, servants, all were scattered and vanished; and of all +that Tryon County glory only these harassed and haggard horsemen +remained, haunting the forest purlieus of their former kingdoms with +hatred in their hearts, and their hands red with murder. Truly, the Red +Beast we hunted these three years through was a most poisonous thing, +that it should belch forth such pests as Lord George Germaine, and +Loring, and Cunningham, and turn the baronets and gentry of County +Tryon into murdering and misshapen ghouls! + + +When the sun rose we slung pack and pulled foot. And all that day we +travelled without mischance; and the next day it was the same, +encountering nothing more menacing than peeled and painted trees, where +some scouting war-party of the enemy had written threats and boasts, +warning the "Boston people" away from the grizzly fastnesses of the +dread Long House, and promising a horrid vengeance for every mile of +the Dark Empire we profaned. + +And so, toward sundown, the first picket of General Sullivan's army +challenged us; and my Indians shouted: "Nai Tioga!" And presently we +heard the evening gun very near. + +Signs of their occupation became more frequent every minute now; there +were batteaux and rafts being unloaded at landing places, heavily +guarded by Continental soldiery; canoes at carrying places, brush huts +erected along the trail, felled trees, bushes cut and lying in piles, +roads being widened and cleared, and men everywhere going cheerily +about their various affairs. + +We encountered the cattle-guard near to a natural meadow along a tiny +binikill, and they gave us an account of how Brant had fallen upon +Minisink and had slain more than a hundred of our people along the +Delaware and Neversink. And I saw my Indians listening with grim +countenances while their eyes glowed like coals. As soon as we forded +the river, we passed a part of Colonel Proctor's artillery, parleyed in +a clearing, where a fine block-fort was being erected; and there were +many regimental wagons and officers' horses and batt-horses and cattle +to be seen there, and great piles of stores in barrels, sacks, skins, +and willow baskets. + +As we passed the tents of a foot regiment, the 3rd New Hampshire Line, +one of their six Ensigns, Bradbury Richards, recognized me and came +across the road to shake my hand, and to inform me that a small scout +was to go out to reconnoitre the Indian town of Chemung; and that we +would doubtless march thither on the morrow. + +With Richards came also my old friend Ezra Buell, lately lieutenant in +my own regiment, but now a captain in the 3rd New York Continentals, +and a nephew of that Ezra Buell who ran the Stanwix survey in '69 and +married a pretty Esaurora girl while marking the Treaty Line. + +"Well!" says Ezra, shaking my hand, and: "How are you lazy people up +the river, and what are you doing there?" + +"Damming the lake," said I, "whilst you damn us for making you wait." + +Bradbury Richards laughed, saying that they themselves had but just +come up, admitting, however, that there had been some little cursing +concerning our delay. + +"It has been that way with us, too," said I, "but it is the rebel +'Grants' we curse, and the Ethan Allens and John Starks, and +treacherous Green Mountain Boy's, who would shoot us in the backs or +make a dicker with Sir Henry sooner than lift a finger to obey the laws +of the State they are betraying." + +"So hot and yet so young!" said Buell, laughing, "and after a long +trail, too--" glancing at my Indians, "and another in view already! But +you were ever an uncompromising youngster, Loskiel." + +"Your regiment has marched for Canajoharie," I said. "When do you go +a-tagging after it?" + +"This evening with the headquarter's guide, Heoikim, and the express +rider, James Cooke. Lord, what a dreary business!" + +"Better learn the news we have concerning your back trail before you +start. Ask Captain Franklin to mention it to the General." + +"Certainly," said Buell. "I would to God my regiment were ordered here +with the rest of them, I'm that sick of the three forts and the +scalping-party fighting on the Schoharie." + +"It's what you are likely to get for a long while yet," said I. "And +now will you or Richards guide me and my party to headquarters?" + +"Will you mess with us?" said Richards. "I'll speak to Colonel +Dearborn." + +I said I would with pleasure, if free to do so, and we walked on +through the glorious sunset light, past camp after camp, very smoky +with green fires. And I saw three more block-houses being builded, and +armed with cannon. + +The music of Colonel Proctor's Artillery Regiment was playing "Yankee +Doodle" near headquarters as we sighted the General's marquee, and the +martial sounds enthralled me. + +One of the General's aides-de-camp, a certain Captain Dayton, met us +most politely, detained my Indians with tobacco and pipes, and +conducted me straight to the General, who, he assured me, happened to +be alone. Having seen our General on various occasions, I recognized +him at once, although he was in his banyan, having, I judged, been +bathing himself in a small, wooden bowl full of warm water, which stood +on the puncheon flooring near, very sloppy. + +He received me most civilly and listened to my report with interest and +politeness, whilst I gave him what news I had of Clinton and how it was +with us at the Lake, and all that had happened to my scout of six--the +death of the St. Regis and the two Iroquois, the treachery of the Erie +and his escape, the murder of the Stockbridge--and how we witnessed the +defile of Indian Butler's motley but sinister array headed northwest on +the Great Warrior Trail. Also, I gave him as true and just an account +as I could give of the number of soldiers, renegades, Indians, and +batt-horses in that fantastic and infamous command. + +"Where are your Indians?" he asked bluntly. + +I informed him, and he sent his aide to fetch them. + +General Sullivan understood Indians; and I am not at all sure that my +services as interpreter were necessary; but as he said nothing to the +contrary, I played my part, presenting to him the stately Sagamore, +then the Grey-Feather, then the young warrior, Tahoontowhee, who fairly +quivered with pride as I mentioned the scalps he had taken on his first +war-path. + +With each of my Indians the General shook hands, and on each was +pleased to bestow a word of praise and a promise of reward. For a +while, through medium of me, he conversed with them, and particularly +with the Sagamore, concerning the trail to Catharines-town; and, +seeming convinced and satisfied, dismissed us very graciously, telling +an aide to place two bush-huts at our disposal, and otherwise see that +we lacked nothing that could be obtained for our comfort and good cheer. + +As I saluted, he said in a low voice that he preferred I should remain +with the Mohican and Oneidas until the evening meal was over. Which I +took to indicate that any rum served to my Indians must be measured out +by me. + +So that night I supped with my red comrades in front of our bush-huts, +instead of joining Colonel Dearborn's mess. And I was glad I did so; +and I allowed them only a gill of rum. After penning my report by the +light of a very vile torch, and filing it at headquarters, I was so +tired that I could scarce muster courage to write in my diary. But I +did, setting down the day's events without shirking, though I yawned +like a volcano at every pen-stroke. + +Captains Franklin and Buell, in high spirits, came just as I finished, +desiring to learn what I had to say of the road to Otsego; but when I +informed them they went away looking far more serious than when they +arrived. + +A few minutes later I saw the scout march out, bound for Chemung--a +small detachment of the 2nd Jersey, one Stockbridge Indian, and a +Coureur-de-Bois in very elegant deerskin shirt and gorgeous leggins. +Captain Cummins led them. + +As they left, Captain Dayton arrived to take me again to the General. +There was a throng of officers in the marquee when I was announced, but +evidently by some preconcerted understanding all retired as soon as I +entered. + +When we were alone, the General very kindly pointed to a camp stool at +his elbow and requested me to be seated; and for a little while he said +nothing, but remained leaning with both elbows on his camp table, +seeming to study space as though it were peopled with unpleasant +pictures. + +However, presently his symmetrical features recovered pleasantly from +abstraction, and he said: + +"Mr. Loskiel, it is said of you that, except for the Oneida Sachem, +Spenser, you are perhaps the most accomplished interpreter Guy Johnson +employed." + +"No," I said, "there are many better interpreters, my General, but few, +perhaps, who understand the most intimate and social conditions of the +Long House better than do I." + +"You are modest in your great knowledge, Mr. Loskiel." + +"No, General, only, knowing as much as I do, I also perceive how much +more there is that I do not know. Which makes me wary of committing +myself too confidently, and has taught me that to vaunt one's knowledge +is a dangerous folly." + +General Sullivan laughed that frank, manly, and very winning laugh of +his. Then his features gradually became sombre again. + +"Colonel Broadhead, at Fortress Pitt, sent you a supposed Wyandotte who +might have been your undoing," he said abruptly. "He is a cautious +officer, too, yet see how he was deceived! Are you also likely to be +deceived in any of your Indians?" + +"No, sir." + +"Oh! You are confident, then, in this matter!" + +"As far as concerns the Indians now under my command." + +"You vouch for them?" + +"With my honour, General." + +"Very well, sir.... And your Mohican Loup--he can perform what he has +promised? Guide us straight to Catharines-town, I mean?" + +"He has said it." + +"Aye--but what is your opinion of that promise?" + +"A Siwanois Sagamore never lies." + +"You trust him?" + +"Perfectly. We are blood-brothers, he and I." + +"Oho!" said the General, nodding. "That was cunningly done, sir." + +"No, sir. The idea was his own." + +General Sullivan laughed again, playing with the polished gorget at his +throat. + +"Do you never take any credit for your accomplishments, Mr. Loskiel?" +he inquired. + +"How can I claim credit for that which was not of my own and proper +plotting, sir?" + +"Oh, it can be done," said the General, laughing more heartily. "Ask +some of our brigadiers and colonels, Mr. Loskiel, who desire +advancement every time that heaven interposes to save them from their +own stupidities! Well, well, let it go, sir! It is on a different +matter that I have summoned you here--a very different business, Mr. +Loskiel--one which I do not thoroughly comprehend. + +"All I know is this: that we Continentals are warring with Britain and +her allies of the Long House, that our few Oneida and Stockbridge +Indians are fighting with us. But it seems that between the Indians of +King George and those who espouse our cause there is a deeper and +bloodier and more mysterious feud." + +"Yes, General." + +"What is it?" he asked bluntly. + +"A religious feud--terrible, implacable. But this is only between the +degraded and perverted priesthood of the Senecas and our Oneidas and +Mohicans, whose Sachems and Sagamores have been outraged and affronted +by the blasphemous mockeries of Amochol." + +"I have heard something of this." + +"No doubt, sir. And it is true. The Senecas are different. They belong +not in the Long House. They are an alien people at heart, and seem more +nearly akin to the Western Indians, save that they share with the +Confederacy its common Huron-Iroquois speech. For although their +ensigns sit at the most sacred rite of the Confederacy, perhaps not +daring in Federal Council to reveal what they truly are, I am +convinced, sir, that of the Seneca Sachems the majority are at heart +pagans. I do not mean non-Christians, of course; they are that anyway; +but I mean they are degenerated from the more noble faith of the +Iroquois, who, after all, acknowledge one God as we do, and have become +the brutally superstitious slaves of their vile and perverted priests. + +"It is the spawn of Frontenac that has done this. What the Wyoming +Witch did at Wyoming her demons will do hereafter. Witchcraft, the +frenzied worship of goblins, ghouls, and devils, the sacrifice to +Biskoonah, all these have little by little taken the place of the +grotesque but harmless rites practiced at the Onon-hou-aroria. Amochol +has made it sinister and terrible beyond words; and it is making of the +Senecas a swarm of fiends from hell itself. + +"This, sir, is the truth. The orthodox priesthood of the Long House +shudders and looks askance, but dares not interfere. As for Sir John, +and Butler, and McDonald, what do they care as long as their Senecas +are inflamed to fury, and fight the more ruthlessly? No, sir, only the +priesthood of our own allies has dared to accept the challenge from +Amochol and his People of the Cat. Between these it is now a war of +utter extermination. And must be so until not one Erie survives, and +until Amochol lies dead upon his proper altar!" + +The General said in a low voice: + +"I had not supposed that this business were so vital." + +"Yes, sir, it is vital to the existence of the Iroquois as a federated +people who shall remain harmless after we have subdued them, that +Amochol and his acolytes die in the very ashes they have so horribly +profaned. Amherst hung two of them. The nation lay stunned until he +left this country. Had he remained and executed a dozen more Sachems +with the rope, the world, I think, had never heard of Amochol." + +The General looked hard at me: + +"Can you reach Amochol, Mr. Loskiel?" + +"That is what I would say to you, sir. I think I can reach him at +Catharines-town with my Indians and a detachment from my own regiment, +and crush him before he is alarmed by the advance of this army. I have +spoken with my Indians, and they believe this can be accomplished, +because we have learned that on the last day of this month the secret +and debased rites of the Onon-hou-aroria will be practiced at +Catharines-town; and every Sorcerer will be there." + +"Do you propose to go out in advance on this business?" + +"It must be done that way, sir, if we can hope to destroy this +Sorcerer. The Seneca scouts most certainly watch this encampment from +every hilltop. And the day this army stirs on its march to +Catharines-town and Kendaia, the news will run into the North like +lightning. You, sir, can hope to encounter no armed resistance as you +march northward burning town after town, save only if Butler makes a +stand or attempts an ambuscade in force. + +"Otherwise, no Seneca will await your coming--I mean there will be no +considerable force of Senecas to oppose you in their towns, only the +usual scalping parties hanging just outside the smoke veil. All will +retire before you. And how is Amochol to be destroyed at +Catharines-town unless he be struck at secretly before your advance is +near enough to frighten him?" + +"What people would you take with you?" + +"My Indians, Lieutenant Boyd, and thirty riflemen." + +"Is that not too few?" + +"In all swift and secret marches, sir, a few do better service than +many--as you have taught your own people many a time." + +"That is quite true. But they never seem to learn the lesson. I am +somewhat astonished that you have seemed to learn it, and lay it +practically to heart." He smiled, drummed on the table with a Faber +pencil, then, knitting his brows, drew to him a sheet of paper and +wrote on it slowly, pausing from time to time in troubled reflection. +Once he glanced up at me coldly, and: + +"Who is to lead this expedition?" he asked bluntly. + +"Why, Lieutenant Boyd, sir," said I, wondering. + +"Oh! You have no ambitions then?" + +"Mr. Boyd ranks me," I said, smiling. "Who else should lead?" + +"I see. Well, sir, you understand that a new commission lies all neatly +folded for you in Catharines-town. Even such a modest man as you, Mr. +Loskiel, could scarce doubt that," he added laughingly. + +"No, sir, I do not doubt it." + +"That is well, then. Orders will be sent you in due time--not until +General Clinton's army arrives, however." + +He looked at me pleasantly: "I have robbed you of the sleep most justly +due you. But I think perhaps you may not regret this conference. +Good-night, sir." + +I saluted and went out. An orderly with a torch lighted me to my +quarters. Inside the bush-hut assigned to the Mohican and myself, the +red torch-light flickered over the recumbent Sagamore, swathed in his +blanket, motionless. But even as I looked one of his eyes opened a +little way, glimmering like a jewel in the ruddy darkness, then closed +again. + +So I stretched myself out in my blanket beside the Sagamore, and, +thinking of Lois, fell presently into a sweet and dreamless sleep. + + +At six o'clock the morning gun awoke me with its startling and annoying +thunder. The Sagamore sat up in his blanket, wearing that +half-irritated, half-shamed expression always to be seen on an Indian's +countenance when cannon are fired. An Indian has no stomach for +artillery, and hates sight and sound of the metal monsters. + +For a few moments I bantered him sleepily, then dropped back into my +blanket. What cared I for their insolent morning gun! I snapped my +fingers at it. + +And so I lolled on my back, half asleep, yet not wholly, and soon tired +of this, and, wrapping me in my blanket and drawing on ankle moccasins, +went down to the Chemung where its crystal current clattered over the +stones, and found me a clear, deep pool to flounder in. + +Before I plunged, noticing several fine trout lying there, I played a +scurvy trick on them, tickling three big ones; and had a fourth out of +water, but was careless, and he slipped back. + +Some Continental soldiers who had been watching me, mouths agape, went +to another pool to try their skill; but while I would not boast, it is +not everybody who can tickle a speckled trout; and after my bath the +soldiers were still at it, and damning their eyes, their luck, and the +pretty fish which so saucily flouted them. + +So I flung 'em a big trout and went back to camp whistling, and there +found that my Indians had fed and were now gravely renewing their paint. + +Tahoontowhee dressed and cooked my fish for me, each in a bass-wood +leaf, and when they were done and smelling most fragrant, we all made a +delicious feast, with corn bread from the ovens and salt pork and a +great jug of milk from the army's herd. + +At eight o'clock another gun was fired. This was the daily signal, I +learned, to stack tents and load pack-horses. And another gun fired at +ten o'clock meant "March." With all these guns, and a fourth at +sundown, I saw an unhappy time ahead for my Indians. Truly, I think the +sound makes them sick. They all pulled wry faces now, and I had my jest +at their expense, ours being a most happy little family, so amiably did +the Mohican and Oneidas foregather; and also, there being among them a +Sagamore and a Chief of the noble Oneida clan, I could meet them on an +equality of footing which infringed nothing on military etiquette. +There were doubtless many interpreters in camp, but few, if any, I +suppose, who had had the advantage of such training as I under Guy +Johnson, who himself, after Sir William's death, was appointed Indian +Superintendent under the Crown for all North America, Guy Johnson knew +the Iroquois. And if he lacked the character, personal charm, and +knowledge that Sir William possessed, yet in the politics and diplomacy +of Indian affairs his knowledge and practice were vast, and his +services most valuable to his King. + +Under him I had been schooled, and also under the veteran deputies, +Colonel Croghan, Colonel Butler, and Colonel Claus; and had learned +much from old Cadwallader Colden, too, who came often to Guy Park, as +did our good General Philip Schuyler in these peaceful days. + +So I knew how to treat any Indian I had ever seen, save only the +outlandish creatures of the Senecas. Else, perhaps, I had sooner +penetrated the villainy of the Erie. Yet, even my own Indians had not +been altogether certain of the traitor's identity until almost at the +very end. + +At ten another gun was fired, but only a small detachment of infantry +marched, the other regiments unpacking and pitching tents again, and +the usual routine of camp life, with its multitudinous duties and +details, was resumed. + +I reported at headquarters, to which my guides were now attached, and +there were orders for me to hold myself and Indians in readiness for a +night march to Chemung. + +All that day I spent in acquainting myself with the camp which had been +pitched, as I say, on the neck of land bounded by the Susquehanna and +the Chemung, with a small creek, called Cayuga by some, Seneca Creek by +others, intersecting it and flowing south into the Susquehanna. It was +but a trout brook. + +This site of the old Indian town of Tioga seemed to me very lovely. The +waters were silvery and sweet, the flats composed of rich, dark soil, +the forests beautiful with a great variety of noble and gigantic +trees--white pines on the hills; on the level country enormous +black-walnuts, oaks, button-woods, and nut trees of many species, +growing wide apart, yet so roofing the forest with foliage that very +little sunlight penetrated, and only the flats were open and bright +with waving Indian grass, now so ripe that our sheep, cattle, and +horses found in it a nourishment scarcely sufficient for beasts so +exercised and driven. + +That day, as I say, I walked about the camp and adjacent river-country, +seeking out my friends in the various regiments to gossip with them. +And was invited to a Rum Punch given by all the officers at the +Artillery Lines to celebrate the victory of General Wayne at Stony +Point. + +Colonel Proctor's artillery band discoursed most noble music for us; +and there was much hilarity and cheering, and many very boisterous. + +These social parties in our army, where rum-punch was the favourite +beverage, were gay and lively; but there was a headache in every cup of +it, they say. I, being an interpreter, held aloof because I must ever +set an example to my red comrades. And this day had all I could do to +confine them to proper rations. For all spirit is a very poison to any +Indian. And of all the crimes of which men of my colour stand +attainted, the offering of this death-cup to our red brothers is, I +think, the wickedest and the most contemptible. + +For when we white men become merely exhilarated in the performance of +such social usages as politeness requires of us, the Indian becomes +murderous. And I remember at this Artillery Punch many officers danced +a Shawanese dance, and General Hand, of the Light Troops, did lead this +war-dance, which caused me discomfiture, I not at all pleased to see +officers who ranked me cut school-boy capers 'round a midday fire. + +And it was like very school-lads that many of us behaved, making of +this serious and hazardous expedition a silly pleasure jaunt. I have +since thought that perhaps the sombre and majestic menace of a sunless +and unknown forest reacted a little on us all, and that many found a +nervous relief in brief relaxations and harmless folly, and in antics +performed on its grim and dusky edges. + +For no one, I think, doubted there was trouble waiting for us within +these silent shades. And the tension had never lessened for this army, +what with waiting for the Right Wing, which had not yet apparently +stirred from Otsego; and the inadequacy of provisions, not known to the +men but whispered among the officers; and the shots already exchanged +this very morning along the river between our outposts and prowling +scouts of the enemy; and the daily loss of pack-animals and cattle, +strayed or stolen; and of men, too, scalped since they left Wyoming, +sometimes within gunshot of headquarters. + +But work on the four block-forts, just begun, progressed rapidly; and, +alas, the corps of invalids destined to garrison them had, since the +army left Easton, increased too fast to please anybody, what with +wounds, accidents in camp from careless handling of firearms, kicks +from animals, and the various diseases certain to appear where many +people congregate. + +There were a number of regiments under tents or awaiting the unfinished +log barracks at Tioga Point; in the First Brigade there were four from +New Jersey; in the Second Brigade three from New Hampshire; in the +Third two from Pennsylvania, and an artillery regiment; and what with +other corps and the train, boatmen, guides, workmen, servants, etc., it +made a great and curious spectacle even before our Right Wing joined. + +Every regiment carried its colours and its music, fifes, drums, and +bugle-horns; and sometimes these played on the march when a light +detachment went forward for a day's scout, or to forage or to destroy. +But best of all music I ever heard, I loved now to hear the band of +Colonel Proctor's artillery regiment, filling me as it did with solemn, +yet pleasurable, emotions, and seemingly teaching me how dear had Lois +become to me. + +The scout, sent out the day before, returned in the afternoon with an +account that Chemung was held by the enemy, which caused a bustle in +camp, particularly among the light troop. + +Headquarters was very busy all day long, and sometimes even gay, for +the gentlemen of General Sullivan's family were not only sufficient, +but amiable and delightful. And there I had the honour of being made +known to his aides-de-camp, Mr. Pierce, Mr. Van Cortlandt, and Major +Hoops. I already knew Captain Dayton. Also, of the staff I met there +Captain Topham, our Commissary of Militia Stores, Captain Lodge, our +surveyor, Colonels Antis and Bond, Conductors of Boats, Dr. Hogan, +Chief Surgeon, Lieutenant R. Pemberton, Judge Advocate, Lieutenant +Colonel Frasier, Colonel Hooper, Lieutenant Colonel Barber, Adjutant +General, the Reverend S. Kirkland, Chaplain, and others most agreeable +but too numerous to mention. Still, I have writ them all down in my +diary, as I try always to do, so that if God gives me wife and children +some day they may find, perhaps, an hour of leisure, when to peruse a +blotted page of what husband and father saw in the great war might not +prove too tedious or disagreeable. + +In this manner, then, the afternoon of that August day passed, and what +with these occupations, and the catching of several trouts, which I +love to do with hook and line and alder pole, and what with sending to +Lois a letter by an express who went to Clinton toward evening, the +time did not seem irksome. + +Yet, it had passed more happily had I heard from Lois. But no runners +came; and if any were sent out from Otsego and taken by the enemy I +know not, only that none came through that day, Thursday, August the +12th. + +One thing in camp had disagreeably surprised me, that there were women +and children here, and like to remain in the block forts after the army +had departed from its base for the long march through the Seneca +country. + +This I could not understand or reconcile with any proper measure of +safety, as the cannon in the block-houses were not to be many or of any +great calibre, and only the corps of invalids were to remain to defend +them. + +I had told Lois that no women would be permitted at Tioga Point. That +these were the orders that had been generally understood at Otsego. + +And now, lo and behold, here were women arrived from Easton, Bethlehem, +Wyalusing, and Wyoming, including the wives and children of several +non-commissioned officers and soldiers from the district; widows of +murdered settlers, washerwomen, and several tailoresses--in all a very +considerable number. + +And I hoped to heaven that Lois might not hear of this mischievous +business and discover in it an excuse for coming as the guest of any +lady at Otsego, or, in fact, make any further attempt to stir until the +Right Wing marched and the batteaux took the ladies of Captain +Bleecker, Ensign Lansing, and Lana, and herself to Albany. + + +After sundown an officer came to me and said that the entire army was +ordered to march at eight that evening, excepting troops sufficient to +guard our camp; that there would be no alarm sounded, and that we were +to observe secrecy and silence. + +Also, it appeared that a gill of rum per man had been authorized, but I +refused for myself and my Indians, thinking to myself that the General +might have made it less difficult for me if he had confined his +indulgence to the troops. + +About eight o'clock a Stockbridge Indian--the one who had been with the +scout to Chemung--came to me with a note from Dominie Kirkland. + +I gave him my hand, and he told me that his name was Yellow Moth, and +that he was a Christian. Also, he inquired about the Mole, and I was +obliged to relate the circumstances of that poor convert's murder. + +"God's will," said the Yellow Moth very quietly. "You, my brother, and +I may see a thousand fall, and ten thousand on our right hand, and it +shall not come nigh us." + +"Amen," said I, much moved by this simple fellow's tranquil faith. + +I made him known to the Sagamore and to the two Oneidas, who received +him with a grave sincerity which expressed very plainly their respect +for a people of which the Mole had been for them a respectable example. + +Like the Mole, the Yellow Moth wore no paint except a white cross +limned on his breast over a clan sign indecipherable. And if, in truth, +there had ever really been a totem under the white paint I do not know, +for like the Algonquins, these peoples had but a loose political, +social, religious, and tribal organization, which never approached the +perfection of the Iroquois system in any manner or detail. + +About eight o'clock came Captain Carbury, of the 11th Pennsylvania, to +us, and we immediately set out, marching swiftly up the Chemung River, +the Sagamore and the Yellow Moth leading, then Captain Carbury and +myself, then the Oneidas. + +Behind us in the dusk we saw the Light Troops falling in, who always +lead the army. All marched without packs, blankets, horses, or any +impedimenta. And, though the distance was not very great, so hilly, +rocky, and rough was the path through the hot, dark night, and so +narrow and difficult were the mountain passes, that we were often +obliged to rest the men. Also there were many swamps to pass, and as +the men carried the cohorn by hand, our progress was slow. Besides +these difficulties and trials, a fog came up, thickening toward dawn, +which added to the hazards of our march. + +So the dawn came and found us still marching through the mist, and it +was not until six o'clock that we of the guides heard a Seneca dog +barking far ahead, and so knew that Chemung was near. + +Back sped Tahoontowhee to hasten the troops; I ran forward with Captain +Carbury and the Sagamore, passing several outlying huts, then some +barns and houses which loomed huge as medieval castles in the fog, but +were really very small. + +"Look out!" cried Carbury. "There is their town right ahead!" + +It lay straight ahead of us, a fine town of over a hundred houses built +on both sides of the pretty river. The casements of some of these +houses were glazed and the roofs shingled; smoke drifted lazily from +the chimneys; and all around were great open fields of grain, maize, +and hay, orchards and gardens, in which were ripening peas, beans, +squashes, pumpkins, watermelons, muskmelons. + +"Good God!" said I. "This is a fine place, Carbury!" + +"It's like a dozen others we have laid in ashes," said he, "and like +scores more that we shall treat in a like manner. Look sharp! Here some +our light troops." + +The light infantry of Hand arrived on a smart run--a torrent of +red-faced, sweating, excited fellows, pouring headlong into the town, +cheering as they ran. + +General Hand, catching sight of me, signalled with his sword and +shouted to know what had become of the enemy. + +"They're gone off!" I shouted back. "My Indians are on their heels and +we'll soon have news of their whereabouts." + +Then the soldiery began smashing in doors and windows right and left, +laughing and swearing, and dragging out of the houses everything they +contained. + +So precipitate had been the enemy's flight that they had left +everything--food still cooking, all their household and personal +utensils; and I saw in the road great piles of kettles, plates, knives, +deerskins, beaver-pelts, bearhides, packs of furs, and bolts of striped +linen, to which heaps our soldiers were adding every minute. + +Others came to fire the town; and it was sad to see these humble homes +puff up in a cloud of smoke and sparks, then burst into vivid flame. In +the orchards our men were plying their axes or girdling the +heavily-fruited trees; field after field of grain was fired, and the +flames swept like tides across them. + +The corn was in the milk, and what our men could not burn, using the +houses for kilns, they trampled and cut with their hangers--whole +regiments marching through these fields, destroying the most noble corn +I ever saw, for it was so high that it topped the head of a man on +horseback. + +So high, also, stood the hay, and it was sad to see it burn. + +And now, all around in this forest paradise, our army was gathered, +destroying, raging, devastating the fairest land that I had seen in +many a day. All the country was aflame; smoke rolled up, fouling the +blue sky, burying woodlands, blotting out the fields and streams. + +From the knoll to which I had moved to watch the progress of my scouts, +I could see an entire New Jersey regiment chasing horses and cattle; +another regiment piling up canoes, fish-weirs, and the hewn logs of +bridges, to make a mighty fire; still other regiments trampling out the +last vestige of green stuff in the pretty gardens. + +Not a shot had yet been fired; there was no sound save the excited and +terrifying roar of a vast armed mob obliterating in its fury the very +well-springs that enabled its enemies to exist. + +Cattle, sheep, horses were being driven off down the trail by which we +had come; men everywhere were stuffing their empty sacks with green +vegetables and household plunder; the town fairly whistled with flame, +and the smoke rose in a great cloud-shape very high, and hung above us, +tenting us from the sun. + +In the midst of this uproar the Grey-Feather came speeding to me with +news that the enemy was a little way upstream and seemed inclined to +make a stand. I immediately informed the General; and soon the +bugle-horns of the light infantry sounded, and away we raced ahead of +them. + +I remember seeing an entire company marching with muskmelons pinned on +their bayonets, all laughing and excited; and I heard General Sullivan +bawl at them: + +"You damned unmilitary rascals, do you mean to open fire on 'em with +vegetables?" + +Everybody was laughing, and the General grinned as Hand's bugle-horns +played us in. + +But it was another matter when the Seneca rifles cracked, and a +sergeant and a drummer lad of the 11th Pennsylvania fell. The +smooth-bores cracked again, and four more soldiers tumbled forward +sprawling, the melons on their bayonets rolling off into the bushes. + +Carbury, marching forward beside me, dropped across my path; and as I +stooped over him gave me a ghastly look. + +"Don't let them scalp me," he said--but his own men came running and +picked him up, and I ran forward with the others toward a wooded hill +where puffs of smoke spotted the bushes. + +Then the long, rippling volleys of Hand's men crashed out, one after +another, and after a little of this their bugle-horns sounded the +charge. + +But the Senecas did not wait; and it was like chasing weasels in a +stone wall, for even my Indians could not come up with them. + +However, about two o'clock, returning to that part of the town across +the river, which Colonel Dearborn's men were now setting afire, we +received a smart volley from some ambushed Senecas, and Adjutant Huston +and a guide fell. + +It was here that the Sagamore made his kill--just beyond the first +house, in some alders; and he came back with a Seneca scalp at his +girdle, as did the Grey-Feather also. + +"Hiokatoo's warriors," remarked the Oneida briefly, wringing out his +scalp and tying it to his belt. + +I looked up at the hills in sickened silence. Doubtless Butler's men +were watching us in our work of destruction, not daring to interfere +until the regulars arrived from Fort Niagara. But when they did arrive, +it meant a battle. We all knew that. And knew, too, that a battle lost +in the heart of that dark wilderness meant the destruction of every +living soul among us. + +About two o'clock, having eaten nothing except what green and uncooked +stuff we had picked up in field and garden, our marching signal sounded +and we moved off; driving our captured stock, every soldier laden with +green food and other plunder, and taking with us our dead and wounded. + +Chemung had been, but was no longer. And if, like Thendara, it was ever +again to be I do not know, only that such a horrid and pitiful +desolation I had never witnessed in all my life before. For it was not +the enemy, but the innocent earth we had mutilated, stamping an armed +heel into its smiling and upturned face. And what we had done sickened +me. + +Yet, this was scarcely the beginning of that terrible punishment which +was to pass through the Long House in flame and smoke, from the Eastern +Door to the Door of the West, scouring it fiercely from one end to the +other, and leaving no living thing within--only a few dead men prone +among its blood-soaked ashes. + +*Etho ni-ya-wenonh! + +[*Thus it befell!] + +By six that evening the army was back in its camp at Tioga Point. All +the fever and excitement of the swift foray had passed, and the +inevitable reaction had set in. The men were haggard, weary, sombre, +and harassed. There was no elation after success either among officers +or privates; only a sullen grimness, the sullenness of repletion after +an orgy--the grimness of disgust for an unwelcome duty only yet begun. + +Because this sturdy soldiery was largely composed of tillers of the +soil, of pioneer farmers who understood good land, good husbandry, good +crops, and the stern privations necessary to wrest a single rod of land +from the iron jaws of the wilderness. + +To stamp upon, burn, girdle, destroy, annihilate, give back to the +forest what human courage and self-denial had wrested from it, was to +them in their souls abhorrent. + +Save for the excitement of the chase, the peril ever present, the +certainty that failure meant death in its most dreadful forms, it might +have been impossible for these men to destroy the fruits of the earth, +even though produced by their mortal enemies, and designed, ultimately, +to nourish them. + +Even my Indians sat silent and morose, stretching, braiding, and +hooping their Seneca scalps. And I heard them conversing among +themselves, mentioning frequently the Three Sisters* they had +destroyed; and they spoke ever with a hint of tenderness and regret in +their tones which left me silent and unhappy. + +[*Corn, squash, and bean were so spoken of affectionately, as they +always were planted together by the Iroquois.] + +To slay in the heat and fury of combat is one matter; to scar and +cripple the tender features of humanity's common mother is a different +affair. And I make no doubt that every blow that bit into the laden +fruit trees of Chemung stabbed more deeply the men who so mercilessly +swung the axes. + +Well might the great Cayuga chieftain repeat the terrible prophecy of +Toga-na-etah the Beautiful: + +"When the White Throats shall come, then, if ye be divided, ye will +pull down the Long House, fell the tall Tree of Peace, and quench the +Onondaga Fire forever." + +As I stood by the rushing current of the Thiohero,* on the profaned and +desolate threshold of the Dark Empire, I thought of O-cau-nee, the +Enchantress, and of Na-wenu the Blessed, and of Hiawatha floating in +his white canoe into the far haven where the Master of Life stood +waiting. + +[*Seneca River.] + +And now, for these doomed people of the Kannonsi, but one rite remained +to be accomplished. And the solemn thunder of the last drum-roll must +summon them to the great Festival of the Dead. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +BLOCK-HOUSE NO. 2 + +On the 14th the army lay supine. There was no news from Otsego. One man +fell dead in camp of heart disease. The cattle-guard was fired on. On +the 15th a corporal and four privates, while herding our cattle, were +fired on, the Senecas killing and scalping one and wounding another. On +the 16th came a runner from Clinton with news that the Otsego army was +on the march and not very far distant from the Ouleout; and a +detachment of eight hundred men, under Brigadier General Poor, was sent +forward to meet our Right Wing and escort it back to this camp. + +By one of the escort, a drummer lad, I sent a letter directed to Lois, +hoping it might be relayed to Otsego and from thence by batteau to +Albany. The Oneida runner had brought no letters, much to the disgust +of the army, and no despatches except the brief line to our General +commanding. The Brigadiers were furious. So also was I that no letters +came for me. + +On the 17th our soldier-herdsmen were again fired on, and, as before, +one poor fellow was killed and partly scalped, and one wounded. The +Yellow Moth, Tahoontowhee, and the Grey-Feather went out at night on +retaliation bent, but returned with neither trophies nor news, save +what we all knew, that the Seneca scouts were now swarming like hornets +all around us ready to sting to death anyone who strayed out of bounds. + +On the 18th the entire camp lay dull, patiently expectant of Clinton. +He did not come. It rained all night. + +On Thursday, the 19th, it still rained steadily, but with no +violence--a fine, sweet, refreshing summer shower, made golden and +beautiful at intervals by the momentary prophecy of the sun; yet he did +not wholly reveal himself, though he smiled through the mist at us in +friendly fashion. + +I had been out fishing for trouts very early, the rain making it +favourable for such pleasant sport, and my Indians and I had finished a +breakfast of corn porridge and the sweet-fleshed fishes that I took +from the brook where it falls into the Susquehanna. + +It was still very early--near to five o'clock, I think--for the morning +gun had not yet bellowed, and the camp lay very still in the gentle and +fragrant rain. + +A few moments before five I saw a company of Jersey troops march +silently down to the river, hang their cartouche-boxes on their +bayonets, and ford the stream, one holding to another, and belly deep +in the swollen flood. + +Thinks I to myself, they are going to protect our cattle-guards; and I +turned and walked down to the ford to watch the crossing. + +Then I saw why they had crossed: there were some people come down to +the landing place on the other bank in two batteaux and an Oneida +canoe--soldiers, boatmen, and two women; and our men were fording the +river to protect the crossing of this small flotilla. + +I seated myself, wondering what foolhardy people these might be, and +trying to see more plainly the women in the two batteaux. As the +boatmen poled nearer, it seemed to me that some of the people looked +marvelously like the riflemen of my own corps; and a few moments later +I sprang to my feet astounded, for of the two women in the nearest +batteau one was Lois de Contrecoeur and the other Lana Helmer. + +Suddenly the Oneida canoe shot out from the farther shore, passed both +batteaux, paddles flashing, and came darting toward the landing where I +stood. Two riflemen were in it; one rose as the canoe's nose grated on +the gravel, cast aside the bow-paddle, balanced himself toward the bow +with both hands, and leaped ashore, waving at me a gay greeting. + +"My God!" said I excitedly, as Boyd ran lightly up the slope. "Are you +stark mad to bring ladies into this damnable place?" + +"There are other women, too. Why, even that pretty jade, Dolly Glenn, +is coming! What could I do? The General himself permitted it. Miss de +Contrecoeur and Lana heard that a number of women were already here, +and so come for a frolic they must." + +"Who accompanies them? I see no older woman yonder." + +"Mrs. Sabin, the lady of Captain Sabin, Staff Commissary of Issues." + +"Where is she, then?" + +"We left her with the army at the Ouleout." + +"Where do you propose to quarter these ladies?" + +"We understand that you have four block-forts mounting cannon. That +would argue barracks. Therefore, I don't think the danger is very +considerable. Do you?" + +"There is danger, of course," I said. "The entire Seneca nation is here +with Indian Butler and Brant." + +"Well, then, we'll turn your Butler into a turn-spit, and make of your +wild Brant a domestic gander!" + +He spoke coolly, a slight smile on his eager, handsome features. And I +wondered how he could make a jest of this business, and how he could +have permitted so mad a prank if he truly entertained any very deep +regard for Lana Helmer. + +"Danger," I repeated coldly. "Yes, there is a-plenty of that +hereabouts, what with the Seneca scalping parties combing the woods +around us, and the cattle-guard fired upon in plain sight of +headquarters." + +"Well, there were and still are some few scalping parties hanging +around Otsego. I myself see no real reason why the ladies should not +pay us a visit here, have their frolic, and later return with the +heavier artillery down the river to Easton. Or, if they choose, they +shall await our return from Catharines-town." + +"And if we do not return? Have you thought of that, Boyd?" + +"You shall not conjure me with any such forebodings!" he laughed. "This +raid of ours will be no very great or fearsome affair. They'll +run--your Brants and Butlers--I warrant you. And we'll follow and burn +their towns. Then, like the French king of old, down hill we'll all go +strutting, you and I and the army, Loskiel; and no great harm done to +anybody or anything, save to the Senecas' squash harvest, and the +sensitive feelings of Walter Butler!" + +While he was speaking, I kept my eye on the slow batteau which led. +Three boatmen poled it; Lois and Lana sat in the middle; behind them +crouched two riflemen, long weapons ready, the ringed coon-tail +floating in the breeze. + +Neither of the ladies had yet recognized me; Lana leaned lightly +against Lois, her cheek resting on her companion's shoulder. + +A black rage against Boyd rose suddenly in my breast; and so savage and +abrupt was the emotion that I could scarce stifle and subdue it. + +"It is wrong for them to come," I said with an effort to speak calmly, +"----utterly and wickedly wrong. Our block-forts are not finished. And +when they are they will be more or less vulnerable. I can not +understand why you did not make every effort to prevent their coming +here." + +"I made every proper effort," he said carelessly. "What man is vain +enough to believe he can influence a determined woman?" + +I did not like what he said, and so made him no answer. + +"Is your camp still asleep?" he asked, yawning. + +"Yes. The morning gun is usually fired at six." + +"Can you lodge us and bait us until I make my report?" + +"I can lodge the ladies and give breakfast to you all. How near is our +main army?" + +"Between twenty and thirty miles above--one can scarce tell the way +this accursed river winds about. Our men are exhausted. They'll not +arrive tonight. General Poor's men from this camp met us last night. +Clinton desired me to take a few riflemen and push forward; and the +ladies--except the fat one--begged so prettily to go with us that he +consented. So we took two empty batteaux and a canoe and came on in +advance, with no effort whatever." + +"That was a rash business!" I said, controlling my anger. "The river +woods along the Ouleout swarm with Seneca scouts. Didn't you understand +that?" + +"So I told 'em," he said, laughing, "but do you know, Loskiel, between +you and me I believe that your pretty inamorata really loves the thrill +of danger. And I know damned well that Lana Helmer loves it. For when +we came through without so much as sighting a muskrat, 'What!' says +she, 'Not a savage to be seen and not a shot fired! Lord,' says she, 'I +had as lief take the air on Bowling Green--there being some real peril +of beaux and macaronis!'" + +Everything this man said now conspired to enrage me; and it was a +struggle for me to restrain the bitter affront ever twitching at my +lips for utterance. Perhaps I might not have restrained it any longer +had I not seen Lois lean suddenly forward in her seat, shade her eyes +with her hands, then stand up beside one of the boatmen. And I knew she +recognized me. + +Instantly within me all anger, rancour, and even dread melted in the +warmer and more generous emotion which nigh overwhelmed me, so that for +an instant I could scarce see her for the glimmering of my eyes. + +But that passed; I went down to the shore and stood there while the +clumsy boat swung inshore, the misty waves slapping at the bow and +side. The landing planks lay on the gravel. Boyd and I laid them. Lana, +wrapped in her camblet, crossed them first, giving me her hand with a +pale smile. I laid my lips to it; she passed, Boyd moving forward +beside her. + +Then came Lois in her scarlet capuchin, eager and shy at the same time, +smiling, yet with fearfulness and tenderness so strangely blended that +ever her laughing eyes seemed close to tears and the lips that smiled +were tremulous. + +"I came--you see.... Are you angry?" she asked as I bent low over her +little hand. "You will not chide me--will you, Euan?" + +"No. What is done is done. Are you well, Lois?" + +"Perfect in health, my friend. And if you truly are glad to see me, +then I am content. But I am also very wet, Euan, spite of my capuchin. +Lana and I have a common box. It belongs to her. May our boatmen carry +it ashore?" + +I gave brief directions to the men, returned the smiling salute of my +wet riflemen from the other boat now drawing heavily inshore, and +climbed the grassy bank with Lois to where Lana and Boyd stood under +the trees awaiting us. + +"I have but one bush-hut to offer you at present," I said. "Proper +provision in barracks will be made, no doubt, as soon as the General +learns who it is who has honoured him so unexpectedly with a visit." + +"That's why we came, Euan--to honour General Sullivan," said Lois +demurely. "Did we not, Lanette?" + +Then again I noticed that the old fire, the old gaiety in Lana Helmer +had been almost quenched. For instead of a saucy reply she only smiled; +and even her eyes seemed spiritless as they rested on me a moment, then +turned wearily elsewhere. + +"You are much fatigued," I said to Lois. + +"I? No. But my poor Lana slept very badly in the boat. Before dawn we +went ashore for an hour's rest. That seemed sufficient for me, but +Lana, poor dove, did not profit, I fear. Did you, dearest?" + +"Very little," said Lana, forcing a gaiety she surely did not inspire +in others with her haunted eyes that looked at everything, yet saw +nothing--or so it seemed to me. + +As we came to our bush-huts, Lois caught sight of the Sagamore for the +first time, and held out both hands with a pretty cry of recognition: + +"Nai, Mayaro!" + +The Sagamore turned in silent astonishment; though when he saw Boyd +there also his features became smooth and blank again. But he came +forward with stately grace to welcome her; and, bending his crested +head, took her hands and laid them lightly over his heart. + +"Nai, Lois!" he exclaimed emphatically. + +"Itoh, Mayaro!" she replied gaily, pressing his hands in hers. "I am +that contented to see you! Are you not amazed to see me here?" she +insisted, mischievously amused at his unaltered features. + +The Sagamore said smilingly: + +"When she wills it, who can follow the Rosy-throated Pigeon in her +swift flight? Not the Enchantress in the moon. Tharon alone, O +Rosy-throated One!" + +"The wild pigeon has outwitted you all, has she not, Mayaro, my friend?" + +"Nakwah! Let my brother Loskiel deny it, then. I, a Sagamore, know +better than to deny a fire its ashes, or a wild pigeon its magic +flight." + +Boyd now spoke to the Mohican, who returned his greeting courteously, +but very gravely. I then made the Mohican known to Lana, who gave him a +lifeless hand from the green folds of her camblet. My Oneidas, who had +finished their somewhat ominous painting, came from the other hut in +company with the Yellow Moth, the latter now painted for the first time +in a brilliant and poisonous yellow. All these people I made acquainted +one with another. Lois was very gracious to them all, using what Indian +words she knew in her winning greetings--and using them quite +wrongly--God bless her! + +Then the Yellow Moth hung my new blue blanket, which I had lately drawn +from our Commissary of Issues, across the door of my hut; two huge +boatmen came up with Lana's box, swung between them, and deposited it +within the hut. + +"By the time you are ready," said I, "we will have a breakfast for you +such as only the streams of this country can afford." + + +The six o'clock gun awoke the camp and found me already at the +General's tent, awaiting permission to see him. + +He seemed surprised that Clinton had allowed any ladies to accompany +the Otsego army, but it was evident that the happiness and relief he +experienced at learning that Clinton was on the Ouleout had put him +into a most excellent humour. And he straightway sent an officer with +orders to remove Lana's box to Block-Fort No. 2 in the new fort, where +were already domiciled the wives of two sergeants and a corporal, and +gave me an order assigning to Lois and Lana a rough loft there. + +But the General's chief concern and curiosity was for Boyd and the +eight riflemen who had come through from the Ouleout as the first +advanced guard of that impatiently awaited Otsego army; and I heard +Boyd telling him very gaily that they were bringing more than two +hundred batteaux, loaded with provisions. And, this, I think, was the +best news any man could have brought to our Commander at that moment. +One thing I do know; from that time Boyd was an indulged favourite of +our General, who admired his many admirable qualities, his gay spirits, +his dashing enterprise, his utter fearlessness; and who overlooked his +military failings, which were rashness to the point of folly, and a +tendency to obey orders in a manner which best suited his own ideas. +Captain Cummings was a far safer man. + +I say this with nothing in my heart but kindness for Boyd. God knows I +desire to do him justice--would wish it for him even more than for +myself. And I not only was not envious of his good fortune in so +pleasing our General, but was glad of it, hoping that this honour might +carry with it a new and graver responsibility sufficiently heavy to +curb in him what was least admirable and bring out in him those nobler +qualities so desirable in officer and man. + +When I returned to my hut there were many fish smoking hot on their bark +plates, and Lana and Lois in dry woollen dresses, worsted stockings, +and stout, buckled shoon, already at porridge. + +So I sat down with them and ate, and it was, or seemed to be, a happy +company there before our little hut, with officers and troops passing +to and fro and glancing curiously at us, and our Indians squatted +behind us all a-row, and shining up knife and hatchet and rifle; and +the bugle-horns of the various regiments sounding prettily at +intervals, and the fifers and drummers down by the river at distant +morning practice. + +"You love best the bellowing conch-horn of the rifles," observed Lana +to Lois, with a touch of her old-time impudence. + +"I?" exclaimed Lois. + +"You once told me that every blast of it sets you a-trembling," +insisted Lana. "Naturally I take it that you quiver with +delight--having some friend in that corps----" + +"Lana! Have done, you little baggage!" + +"Lord!" said Lana. "'Twas Major Parr I meant. What does an infant +Ensign concern such aged dames as you and I?" + +Lois, lovely under her mounting colour, continued busy with her +porridge. Lana said in my ear: + +"She is a wild thing, Euan, and endures neither plaguing nor wooing +easily. How I have gained her I do not know.... Perhaps because I am +aging very fast these days, and she hath a heart as tender as a forest +dove's." + +Lois looked up, seeing us whispering together. + +"Uncouth manners!" said she. "I am greatly ashamed of you both." + +I thought to myself, wondering, how utter a change had come over the +characters of these two in twice as many weeks! Lois had now something +of that quick and mischievous gaiety that once was Lana's; and the +troubled eyes that once belonged to Lois now were hers no longer, but +Lana's. It seemed very strange and sad to me. + +"Had I a dozen beaux," quoth Lois airily, "I might ask of one o' them +another bit of trout." And, "Oh!" she exclaimed, in affected surprise, +as I aided her. "It would seem that I have at least one young man who +aspires to that ridiculous title. Do you covet it, Euan? And humbly?" + +"Do I merit it?" I asked, laughing. + +"Upon my honour," she exclaimed, turning to Lana, "I believe the poor +young gentleman thinks he does merit the title. Did you ever hear of +such insufferable conceit? And merely because he offers me a bit of +trout." + +"I caught them, too," said I. "That should secure me in my title." + +"Oh! You caught them too, did you! And so you deem yourself entitled to +be a beau of mine? Lana, do you very kindly explain to the unfortunate +Ensign that you and I were accustomed at Otsego to a popularity and an +adulation of which he has no conception. Colonels and majors were at +our feet. Inform him very gently, Lana." + +"Yes," said Lana, "you behaved very indiscreetly at Otsego Camp, dear +one--sitting alone for hours and hours over this young gentleman's +letters----" + +"Traitor!" exclaimed Lois, blushing. "It was a letter from his +solicitor, Mr. Hake, that you found me doting on!" + +"Did you then hear from Mr. Hake?" I asked, laughing and very happy. + +"Indeed I did, by every post! That respectable Albany gentleman seemed +to feel it his duty to write me by every batteau and inquire concerning +my health, happiness, and pleasure, and if I lacked anything on earth +to please me. Was it not most extraordinary behaviour, Euan?" + +She was laughing when she spoke, and for a moment her eyes grew +strangely tender, but they brightened immediately and she tossed her +head. + +"Oh, Lana!" said she. "I think I may seriously consider Mr. Hake and +his very evident intentions. So I shall require no more beaux, Euan, +and thank you kindly for volunteering. Besides, if I want 'em, this +camp seems moderately furnished with handsome and gallant young +officers," she added airily, glancing around her. "Lana! Do you please +observe that tall captain with the red facings! And the other +staff-major yonder in blue and buff! Is he not beautiful as Apollo? And +I make no doubt that this agreeable young Ensign of ours will presently +make them known to us for our proper diversion." + +Somehow, now, with the prospect of all these officers besetting her +with their civilities and polite assiduities, nothing of the old and +silly jealousy seemed to stir within me. Perhaps because, although for +days I had not seen her, I knew her better. And also I had begun to +know myself. Even though she loved not me in the manner I desired, yet +the lesser, cruder, and more unworthy solicitude which at first seemed +to have possessed me in her regard was now gone. And if inexperience +and youth had inspired me with unworthy jealousies I do not know; but I +do know that I now felt myself older--years older than when first I +knew Lois; and perhaps my being so honestly in love with her wrought +the respectable change in me. For real love ages the mind, even when it +makes more youthful the body, and so controls both body and mind. And I +think it was something that way with me. + +Presently, as we sat chattering there, came men to take away Lana's box +to Block-House No. 2 on the peninsula. So Lana went into the bush-hut +and refilled and locked the box, and then we all walked together to the +military works which were being erected on a cleared knoll overlooking +both rivers, and upon which artillerymen were now mounting the +three-pounder and the cohorn, or "grasshopper," as our men had named +it, because our artillery officers had taken it from its wooden +carriage and had mounted it on a tripod. And at every discharge it +jumped into the air and kicked over backward. + +This miniature fortress, now called Fort Sullivan, was about three +hundred feet square, with strong block-forts at the four corners, so +situated as to command both rivers; and these fortifications were now +so nearly completed that the men of the invalid corps who were to +garrison the place had already marched into their barracks, and were +now paraded for inspection. + +The forts had been very solidly constructed of great logs, the serrated +palisade, deeply and solidly embedded, rose twelve feet high. A rifle +platform ran inside this, connecting the rough barracks and stables, +which also were built of logs, the crevices stuffed with moss and +smeared and plastered with blue clay from the creek. + +These, with the curtain, block-forts, and a deep ditch over which was a +log bridge, composed the military works at Tioga; and this was the +place into which we now walked, a sentry directing us to Block-House +No. 2, which overlooked the Chemung. + +And no sooner had we entered and climbed the ladder to the women's +quarters overhead, than: + +"What luxury!" exclaimed Lois, looking down at her bed of fresh-cut +balsam, over which their blankets had been cast. "Could any reasonable +woman demand more? With a full view of the pretty river in the rain, +and a real puncheon floor, and a bed of perfume to dream on, and a +brave loop to shoot from! What more could a vain maid ask?" She glanced +at me with sweet and humorous eyes, saying: "Fort Orange is no safer +than this log bastion, so scowl on me no more, Euan, but presently take +Lanette and me to the parapet where other and lovelier wonders are +doubtless to be seen." + +"What further wonders?" asked Lana indifferently. + +"Why, sky and earth and river, dear, and the little dicky birds all +a-preening under this sweet, sunny veil of rain. Is not all this +mystery of nature wonderful enough to lure us to the rifle-platform?" + +Said Lana listlessly: "I had liefer court a deeper mystery." + +"Which, dear one?" + +"Sleep," said Lana briefly; and I saw how pale she was, kneeling there +beside the opened box and sorting out the simple clothing they had +brought with them. + +For a few minutes longer we conversed, talking of Otsego and of our +friends there; and I learned how Colonel Gansevoort had left with his +regiment and Lieutenant-Colonel Willet, and was marching hither with +Clinton after all. + +A soldier brought a wooden bowl, an iron sap-kettle full of sweet +water, a hewn bench, and nailed up a blanket cutting the room in two. +Their quarters were now furnished. + +I pushed aside the blanket, walked to the inner loop, and gazed down on +the miniature parade where the invalids were now being inspected by +Colonel Shreve. When I returned, Lana had changed to a levete and was +lying on her balsam couch, cheek on hand, looking up at Lois, who knelt +beside her on the puncheon floor, smoothing back her thick, bright +hair. And in the eyes of these two was an expression the like of which +I had never before seen, and I stepped back instinctively, like a man +who intrudes on privacy unawares. + +"Come in, Euan!" cried Lois, with a gaiety which seemed slightly +forced; and I came, awkwardly, not meeting their eyes, and made for the +ladder to get myself below. + +Whereat both laughed. Lois rose and went behind the blanket to the +loop, and Lana said, with a trace of her former levity: + +"Broad-brim! Do you fly blushing from my levete? The Queen of France +receives in scanter attire, I hear. Sit you on yonder bench and play +courtier amiably for once." + +She seemed so frail and white and young, lying there, her fair hair +unpowdered and tumbled about her face--so childlike and helpless--that +a strange and inexplicable apprehension filled me; and, scarce thinking +what I did, I went over to her and knelt down beside her, putting one +arm around her shoulders. + +Her expression, which had been smiling and vaguely audacious, changed +subtly. She lay looking up at me very wistfully for a moment, then +lifted her hands a little way. I laid them to my lips, looking over +them down into her altered eyes. + +"Always," she said under her breath, "always you have been kind and +true, Euan, even when I have used you with scant courtesy." + +"You have never used me ill." + +"No--only to plague you as a girl torments what she truly loves.... +Lois and I have spoken much of you together----" She turned her head. +"Where are you, sweeting?" + +Lois came from behind the blanket and knelt down so close to me that +the fragrance of her freshened the air; and once again, as it happened +at the first day's meeting in Westchester, the same thrill invaded me. +And I thought of the wild rose that starlight night, and how fitly was +it her symbol and her flower. + +Lana looked at us both, unsmiling; then drew her hands from mine and +crook'd her arms behind her neck, cradling her head on them, looking at +us both all the while. Presently her lids drooped on her white cheeks. + +When we rose on tiptoe, I thought she was asleep, but Lois was not +certain; and as we crept out onto the rifle-platform and seated +ourselves in a sheltered corner under the parapet, she said uneasily: + +"Lanette is a strange maid, Euan. At first I knew she disliked me. +Then, of a sudden, one day she came to me and clung like a child +afraid. And we loved from that minute.... It is strange." + +"Is she ill?" + +"In mind, I think." + +"Why?" + +"I do not know, Euan." + +"Is it love, think you--her disorder?" + +"I do not know, I tell you. Once I thought it was--that. But knew not +how to be certain." + +"Does Boyd still court her?" + +"No--I do not know," she said with a troubled look. + +"Is it that affair which makes her unhappy?" + +"I thought so once. They were ever together. Then she avoided him--or +seemed to. It was Betty Bleecker who interfered between them. For Mrs. +Bleecker was very wrathful, Euan, and Lana's indiscretions madded +her.... There was a scene.... So Boyd came no more, save when other +officers came, which was every day. Somehow I have never been certain +that he and Lana did not meet in secret when none suspected." + +"Have you proof?" I asked, cold with rage. + +She shook her head, and her gaze grew vague and remote. After a while +she seemed to put away her apprehensions, and, smiling, she turned to +me, challenging me with her clear, sunny eyes: + +"Come, Euan, you shall do me reason, now that my curly pate is innocent +of powder, no French red to tint my lips and hide my freckles, and but +a linsey-woolsey gown instead of chintz and silk to cover me! So tell +me honestly, does not the enchantment break that for a little while +seemed to hold you near me?" + +"Do you forget," said I, "that I first saw my enchantress in rags and +tattered shoon?" + +"Oh!" she said, tossing her pretty head. "Extremes attract all men. But +now in this sober and common guise of every day, I am neither +Cinderella nor yet the Princess--merely a frowsy, rustic, freckled maid +with a mouth somewhat too large for beauty, and the clipped and curly +poll of a careless boy. And I desire to know, once for all, how I now +suit you, Euan." + +"You are perfection--once for all." + +"I? What obstinate foolishness you utter! In all seriousness--" + +"You are--more beautiful than ever--in all seriousness!" + +"What folly!" She began to laugh nervously, then shrugged her +shoulders, adding: "This young man is plainly partizan and deaf to +reason." + +"Being in love." + +"You! In love! What nonsense!" + +"Do you doubt it?" + +"Oh!" she said carelessly. "You are in love with love--as all men +are--and not particularly in love with me. Men, my dear Euan, are +gamblers. When first you saw me in tatters, you laid a wager with +yourself that I'd please you in silks. A gay hazard! A sporting wager! +And straight you dressed me up to suit you; and being a man, and +therefore conceited, you could scarcely admit that you had lost your +wager to your better senses. Could you? But now you shall admit that in +this frowsy, woollen gown the magic of both Cinderella and the Princess +vanishes with yesterday's enchantment, and, instead of Chloe, pink and +simpering, only a sturdy comrade stands revealed who now, as guerdon +for the future, strikes hands with you--like this! Koue!" And with the +clear and joyous cry on her lips she struck my palm violently with +hers, nor winced under my quick-closing grip. + +"Is all now clear and plain between us, Euan?" she inquired. And it +seemed to me that her eagerness and fervour rang false. + +"You can not love me, then?" I asked in a low voice. + +"I? What has love to do with us--here in the woods--and I without +knowledge and experience----" + +"You do not love me, then?" + +"I can not." + +"Why?" + +She made no answer, but bit her lip. + +"You need not reply," said I. "Yet--that night I left Otsego--and when +I passed you in the dark--I thought----" + +"My heart was full that night! What comrade could feel less and still +possess a human heart?" she said almost sullenly. + +"Your letter--and mine--encouraged me to believe----" + +"I know," she said, with the curt and almost breathless impatience of +haste, "but have I ever denied our bond of intimacy, Euan? Closer bond +have I with no man. But it must be a comrade's bond between us.... I +meant to make that plain to you--and doubtless, my heart being +full--and I but a girl--conveyed to you--by what I said--and did----" + +"Lois! Is it not in you to love me as a woman loves a man?" + +"I told you that when the time arrived I would doubtless be what you +wish me to be----" + +"You can love me, then?" + +"How do I know? You perplex and vex me. Who else would I love but you? +Who else is there in the world--except my mother?" + +There was a silence; then I said: + +"Has this passionate quest of her so wholly absorbed and controlled you +that all else counts as nothing?" + +"Yes, yes! You know it. You knew it at Otsego! Nothing else matters. I +will not permit anything else to matter! And, lest you deem me cold, +thankless, inhuman, ask of yourself, Euan, why such a lonely girl as I +should close her eyes and stop her ears and lock her heart and--and +turn her face away when the man--to whom she owes all--to whom she +is--utterly devoted--urges her toward emotions--toward matters strange +to her--and too profound as yet. So I ask you, for a time, to let what +sleeps within us both lie sleeping, undisturbed. There is a love more +natural, more imperious, more passionate still; and--it has led me +here! And I will not confuse it with any other sentiment; nor share it +with any man--not even with you--dear as you have become to me--lonely +as I am,--no, not even with you will I share it! For I have vowed that +I shall never slake my thirst with love save first in her dear +embrace.... After these wistful, stark, and barren years--loveless, +weary, naked, and unkind----" Suddenly she covered her face with her +hands, bowing her head to her knees. + +"Yet you bid me hope, Lois?" I asked under my breath. + +She nodded. + +"You make me happy beyond words," I whispered. + +She looked up from her hands: + +"Is that all you required to make you happy?" + +"Can I ask more?" + +"I--I thought men were more ruthless--more imperious and hotly +impatient with the mistress of their hearts--if truly I am mistress of +yours, as you tell me." + +"I am impatient only for your happiness; ruthless only to secure it." + +"For my happiness? Not for your own?" + +"How can that come to me save when yours comes to you?" + +"Oh!... I did not understand. I had not thought it mattered very +greatly to men, so that they found their happiness--so that they found +contentment in their sweethearts' yielding.... Then my surrender would +mean nothing to you unless I yielded happily?" + +"Nothing. Good God! In what school have you learned of love!" + +She nodded thoughtfully, looking me in the eyes. + +"What you tell me, Euan, is pleasant to think on. It reassures and +comforts; nay, it is the sweetest thing you ever said to me--that you +could find no happiness in my yielding unless I yield happily.... Why, +Euan, that alone would win me--were it time. It clears up much that I +have never understood concerning you.... Men have not used me +gently.... And then you came.... And I thought you must be like the +others, being a man, except that you are the only one to whom I was at +all inclined--perhaps because you were from the beginning gentler and +more honest with me.... What a way to win a woman's heart! To seek her +happiness first of all!... Could you give me to another--if my +happiness required it?" + +"What else could I do, Lois?" + +"Would you do that!" she demanded hotly. + +"Have I any choice?" + +"Not if your strange creed be sincere. Is it sincere?" + +"There is no other creed for those who really love." + +"You are wrong," she said angrily, looking at me with tightened lips. + +"How wrong?" + +"Because--I would not give you to another woman, though you cried out +for her till the heavens fell!" + +I began to laugh, but her eyes still harboured lightning. + +"You should not go to her, whether or not you loved her!" she repeated. +"I would not have it. I would not endure it!" + +"Yet--if I loved another----" + +"No! That is treason! Your happiness should be in me. And if you +wavered I would hold you prisoner against your treacherous and very +self!" + +"How could you hold me?" + +"What? Why--why--I----" She sat biting her scarlet lips and thinking, +with straight brows deeply knitted, her greyish-purple eyes fixed hard +on me. Then a slight colour stained her cheeks, and she looked +elsewhere, murmuring: "I do not know how I would hold you prisoner. But +I know I should do it, somehow." + +"I know it, too," said I, looking at my ring she wore. + +She blushed hotly: "It is well that you do, Euan. Death is the dire +penalty if my prisoner escapes!" She hesitated, bit her lip, then added +faintly: "Death for me, I mean." After a moment she slowly lifted her +eyes to mine, and so still and clear were they that it seemed my regard +plunged to the very depths of her. + +"You do love me then," I said, taking her hand in mine. + +Her face paled, and she caught her breath. + +"Will you not wait--a little while--before you court me?" she faltered. +"Will you not wait because I ask it of you?" + +"Yes, I will wait." + +"Nor speak of love--until----" + +"Nor speak of love until you bid me speak." + +"Nor--caress me--nor touch me--nor look in my eyes--this way----" Her +hand had melted somehow closely into mine. We both were trembling now; +and she withdrew her hand and slowly pressed it close against her +heart, gazing at me in a white and childish wonder, as though dumb and +reproachful of some wound that I had dealt her. And as I saw her there, +so hurt and white and sweet, all quivering under the first swift +consciousness of love, I trembled, too, with the fierce desire to take +her in my arms and whisper what was raging in my heart of passionate +assurance and devotion. + +And I said nothing, nor did she. But presently the wild-rose tint crept +back into her pale cheeks, and her head dropped, and she sat with eyes +remote and vaguely sweet, her hands listless in her lap. + +And I, my heart in furious protest, condemned to batter at its walls in +a vain summons to the silent lips that should have voiced its every +beat, remained mute in futile and impotent adoration of the miracle +love had wrought under my very eyes. + +Consigned to silence, condemned to patience super-human, I scarce knew +how to conduct. And so cruelly the restraint cut and checked me that +what with my perplexity, my happiness, and my wretchedness, I was in a +plight. + +No doubt the spectacle that my features presented--a very playground +for my varying emotions--was somewhat startling to a maid so new at +love. For, glancing with veiled eyes at me, presently her own eyes flew +open wide. And: + +"Euan!" she faltered. "Is aught amiss with you? Are you ill, dear lad? +And have not told me?" + +Whereat I was confused and hot and vexed; and I told her very plainly +what it was that ailed me. And now mark! In place of an understanding +and sympathy and a nice appreciation of my honourable discomfort, she +laughed; and as her cheeks cooled she laughed the more, tossing back +her pretty head while her mirth, now uncontrolled, rippled forth till +the wild birds, excited, joined in with restless chirping, and a +squirrel sprung his elfin rattle overhead. + +"And that," said I, furious, "is what I get for deferring to your +wishes! I've a mind to kiss you now!" + +Breathless, her hands pressed to her breast, she looked at me, and made +as though to speak, but laughter seized her and she surrendered to it +helplessly. + +Whereat I sprang to my feet and marched to the parapet, and she after +me, laying her hand on my arm. + +"Dear lad--I do not mean unkindness.... But it is all so new to me--and +you are so tall a man to pull such funny faces--as though love was a +stomach pain----" She swayed, helpless again with laughter, still +clinging to my arm. + +"If you truly find my features ridiculous----" I began, but her hand +instantly closed my lips. I kissed it, however, with angry +satisfaction, and she took it away hurriedly. + +"Are you ashamed--you great, sulky and hulking boy--to take my harmless +pleasantry so uncouthly? And how is this?" says she, stamping her foot. +"May I not laugh a little at my lover if I choose? I will have you +know, Euan, that I do what pleases me with mine own, and am not to sit +in dread of your displeasure if I have a mind to laugh." + +"It hurt me that you should make a mockery----" + +"I made no mockery! I laughed. And you shall know that one day, please +God, I shall laugh at you, plague you, torment you, and----" She looked +at me smilingly, hesitating; then in a low voice: "All my caprices you +shall endure as in duty bound.... Because your reward shall be--the +adoration of one who is at heart--your slave already.... And your +desires will ever be her own--are hers already, Euan.... Have I made +amends?" + +"More fully than----" + +"Then be content," she said hastily, "and pull me no more lugubrious +faces to fright me. Lord! What a vexing paradox is this young man who +sits and glowers and gnaws his lips in the very moment of his victory, +while I, his victim, tranquil and happy in defeat, sit calmly telling +my thoughts like holy beads to salve my new-born soul. Ai-me! There are +many things yet to be learned in this mad world of men." + +We leaned over the parapet, shoulder to shoulder, looking down upon the +river. The rain had ceased, but the sun gleamed only at intervals, and +briefly. + +After a moment she turned and looked at me with her beautiful and +candid eyes--the most honest eyes I ever looked upon. + +"Euan," she said in a quiet voice, "I know how hard it is for us to +remain silent in the first flush of what has so sweetly happened to us +both. I know how natural it is for you to speak of it and for me to +listen. But if I were to listen, now, and when one dear word of yours +had followed another, and the next another still; and when our hands +had met, and then our lips--alas, dear lad, I had become so wholly +yours, and you had so wholly filled my mind and heart that--I do not +know, but I deeply fear--something of my virgin resolution might relax. +The inflexible will--the undeviating obstinacy with which I have +pursued my quest as far as this forest place, might falter, be swerved, +perhaps, by this new and other passion--for I am as yet ignorant of its +force and possibilities. I would not have it master me until I am free +to yield. And that freedom can come happily and honourably to me only +when I set my foot in Catharines-town. Do you understand me, Euan?" + +"Yes." + +"Then--we will not speak of love. Or even let the language of our eyes +trouble each other with all we may not say and venture.... You will not +kiss me, will you? Before I ask it of you?" + +"No." + +"Under no provocation? Will you--even if I should ask it?" + +"No." + +"I will tell you why, Euan. I have promised myself--it is odd, too, for +I first thought of it the day I first laid eyes on you. I said to +myself that, as God had kept me pure in spite of all--I should wish +that the first one ever to touch my lips should be my mother. And I +made that vow--having no doubt of keeping it--until I saw you again----" + +"When?" + +"When you came to me in Westchester before the storm." + +"Then!" I exclaimed, amazed. + +"Is it not strange, Euan? I know not how it was with me or why, all +suddenly, I seemed to know--seemed to catch a sudden glimmer of my +destiny--a brief, confusing gleam. And only seemed to fear and hate +you--yet, it was not hate or fear, either.... And when I came to you in +the rain--there at the stable shed--and when you followed, and gave +your ring--such hell and heaven as awakened in my heart you could not +fathom--nor could I--nor can I yet understand.... Do you think I loved +you even then? Not knowing that I loved you?" + +"How could you love me then?" + +"God knows.... And afterward, on the rock in the moonlight--as you lay +there asleep--oh, I knew not what so moved me to leave you my message +and a wild-rose lying there.... It was my destiny--my destiny! I seemed +to fathom it.... For when you spoke to me on the parade at the Middle +Fort, such a thrill of happiness possessed me----" + +"You rebuked and rebuked me, sweeting!" + +"Because all my solicitude was for you, and how it might disgrace you." + +"I could have knelt there at your ragged feet, in sight of all the +fort!" + +"Could you truly, Euan?" + +"As willingly as I kneel at prayer!" + +"How dear and gallant and sweet you are to me----" She broke off in +dismay. "Ai-me! Heaven pity us both, for we are saying what should wait +to be said, and have talked of love only while vowing not to do so!... +Let loose my hand, Euan--that somehow has stolen into yours. Ai-me! +This is a very maze I seem to travel in, with every pitfall hiding all +I would avoid, and everywhere ambush laid for me.... Listen, dear lad, +I am more pitifully at your mercy than I dreamed of. Be faithful to my +faithless self that falters. Point out the path from your own strength +and compassion.... I--I must find my way to Catharines-town before I +can give myself to thoughts of you--to dreams of all that you inspire +in me." + +"Listen, Lois. This fort is as far as you may go." + +"What!" + +"Truly, dear maid. It is not alone the perils of an unknown country +that must check you here. There is a danger that you know not of--that +you never even heard of." + +"A danger?" + +"Worse. A threat of terrors hellish, inconceivable, terrible beyond +words." + +"What do you mean? The hatchet? The stake? Dear lad, may I not then +venture what you soldiers brave so lightly?" + +"It is not what we brave that threatens you!" + +"What then?" she asked, startled. + +"Dear did you ever learn that you are a 'Hidden Child'?" + +"What is that, Euan?" + +"Then you do not know?" + +She shook her head. + +And so I told her; told her also all that we had guessed concerning +her; how that her captive mother, terrified by Amochol and his red +acolytes, had concealed her, consecrated her, and, somehow, had found a +runner to carry her beyond the doors of the Long House to safety. + +This runner must have written the Iroquois message which I had read +amid the corn-husks of her garret. It was all utterly plain and +horrible now, to her and to myself. + +As for the moccasins, the same faithful runner must have carried them +to her, year after year, and taken back with him to the desolate mother +the assurance that her child was living and still undiscovered and +unharmed by Amochol. + +All this I made plain to her; and I also told her that I, too, was of +the Hidden Ones; and made it most clear to her who I really was. And I +told her of the Cat-People, and of the Erie, and how the Sorcerer had +defied us and boasted that the Hidden Child should yet die strangled +upon the altar of Red Amochol. + +She was quiet and very pale while I was speaking, and at moments her +grey eyes widened with the unearthly horror of the thing; but never a +tremour touched her, nor did lid or lips quiver or her gaze falter. + +And when I had done she remained silent, looking out over the river at +our feet, which was now all crinkling with the sun's bright network +through the tracery of leaves. + +"There is a danger to you," I said, "which will not cease until this +army has left the Red Priest dead amid the sacrilegious ashes of his +own vile altar. My Indians have made a vow to leave no Erie, no +blasphemous and perverted priest alive. Amochol, the Wyoming Witch, the +Toad-Woman--all that accursed spawn of Frontenac must die. + +"Major Parr is of the same opinion; Clinton sees the importance of +this, having had the sense to learn of Amherst how to stop the Seneca +demons with a stout hempen rope. Two Sachems he hung, and the whole +nation cowed down in terror of him while his authority remained. + +"But Amherst left us; and the yelps of the Toad-Woman aroused the +Sorcerers from their torpor. But I swear to you by St. Catharine, who +is the saint of the Iroquois also, that the sway of Amochol shall end, +and that he shall lie on his own bloody altar, nor die there before he +sees the flames of Catharines-town touch the very heaven of an +affronted God!" + +"Can you do this?" + +"With God's help and General Sullivan's," I said cheerfully. "For I +daily pray to the One, and I have the promise of the other that before +our marching army alarms Catharines-town, I and my Indians and Boyd and +his riflemen shall strike the Red Priest there at the Onon-hou-aroria." + +"What is that, Euan?" + +"Their devil-rites--an honest feast which they have perverted. It was +the Dream Feast, Lois, but Amochol has made of it an orgy unspeakable, +where human sacrifices are offered to the Moon Witch, Atensi, and to +Leshi and the Stone-Throwers, and the Little People--many of which were +not goblins and ghouls until Amochol so decreed them." + +"When is this feast to be held in Catharines-town?" + +"On the last day of this month. Until then you must not leave this +camp; and after the army marches you must not go outside this fort. +Amochol's arm is long. His acolytes are watching. And now I think you +understand at last." + +She nodded. Presently she rested her pale cheek on her arms and looked +at the reddening edges of the woods. Northwest lay Catharines-town, so +Mayaro said. And into the northwest her grey eyes now gazed, calmly and +steadily, while the sun went out behind the forest and the high heavens +were plumed with fire. + +Under us the river ran, all pink and primrose, save where deep, glassy +shadows bounded it under either bank. The tips of the trees glowed with +rosy flame, faded to ashes, then, burnt out, stood once more dark and +serrated against the evening sky. + +Suddenly an unearthly cry rang out from somewhere close to the river +bank up stream. Instantly a sentry on the parapet near us fired his +piece. + +"Oh, God! What is it!" faltered Lois, grasping my arm. But I sprang for +the ladder and ran down it; and the scattered soldiers and officers +below on the parade were already running some grasping their muskets, +others drawing pistols and hangers. + +We could hear musketry firing ahead, and drums beating to arms in our +camp behind us. + +"The cattle-guard!" panted an officer at my elbow as we ran up stream +along the river-bank. "The Senecas have made their kill again, God +curse them!" + +It was so. Out of the woods came running our frightened cattle, with +the guard plodding heavily on their flanks; and in the rear two of our +soldiers urged them on with kicks and blow; two more retreated +backward, facing the dusky forest with levelled muskets, and a third +staggered beside them, half carrying, half trailing a man whose head +hung down crimsoning the leaves as it dragged over them. + +He had been smoking a cob pipe when the silent assassin's hatchet +struck him, and the pipe now remained clenched between his set teeth. +At first, for the dead leaves stuck to him, we could not see that he +had been scalped, but when we turned him over the loose and horrible +features, all wrinkled where the severed brow-muscles had released the +skin, left us in no doubt. + +"This man never uttered that abominable cry," I said, shuddering. "Is +there yet another missing from the guard?" + +"Oh, no, sir," said the soldier who had dragged him. "That there was a +heifer bawling when them devils cut her throat." + +He stood scratching his head and gazing blankly down at his dead +comrade. + +"Jesus," he drawled. "What be I a-goin' for to tell his woman now?" + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +LANA HELMER + +Our Sunday morning gun had scarce been fired when from up the river +came the answering thunder of artillery. Thirteen times did the distant +cannon bellow their salute, announcing Clinton's advance, our camp +swarmed like an excited hive, mounted officers galloping, foot officers +running, troops tumbling out as the drums rattled the "general" in +every regimental bivouac. + +Colonel Proctor's artillery band marched out toward the landing place +as I entered No. 2 Block-House and ran up the ladder, and I heard the +ford-guard hurrahing and the garrison troops on the unfinished parapets +answering them with cheer after cheer. + +At my loud rapping on the flooring, Lois opened the trap for me, her +lovely, youthful features flushed with excitement; Lana, behind her, +beckoned me; and I sprang up into the loft and paid my duty to them +both. + +"What a noble earthquake of artillery up the river!" said Lois. "Butler +has no cannon, has he?" + +"Not even a grasshopper!" said I gaily. "Those cannon shot are +Clinton's how d'ye do!" + +"Poor's guns, were they not?" asked Lana, striving to smile. "And that +means you march away and leave us with 'The World Turned Upside Down!'" +And she shrugged her shoulders and whistled a bar of the old-time +British air. + +"Come to the parapet!" said Lois impatiently. "For the last few minutes +there has been a sound in the woods--very far away, Euan--yet, if one +could hear so far I would swear that I heard the conch-horn of your +rifles!" + +"Did I not tell you she knew it well?" said Lana with her pallid smile, +as we opened the massive guard-door, squeezed through the covered way, +and came out along the rifle-platform among our noisy soldiers. + +"Listen!" murmured Lois, close at my elbow. "There! It comes again! Do +you not hear it, Euan! That low, long, sustained and heart-thrilling +undertone droning in the air through all this tumult!" + +And presently I heard the sound--the wondrous melancholy, yet seductive +music of our conch-horn. Its magic call set my every pulse a-throbbing. +All the alluring mystery and solitude, all the sorrow of the wilderness +were in those long-drawn blasts; all the enchantment of the woodland, +too, calling, calling to the sons of the forest, riflemen, hunter, +Coureur-de-Bois. + +For its elfin monotone was the very voice of the forest itself--the +deep, sweet whisper of virgin wilds, sacred, impenetrable, undefiled, +tempting forever the sons of men. + +And now, across the misty river, there was a great tumult of shouting +as the first Otsego batteaux came into view; louder boomed our jolly +cohorn, leaping high in its sulphurous powder-cloud; and the artillery +band at the landing began to play "Iunadilla," which so deeply +pleasured me that I forgot and caught Lois's hands between my own and +pressed them there while her shoulder trembled against mine, and her +breath came faster as the music swung into "The Huron" with a barbaric +clash of cymbals. + +It was a wondrous spectacle to see the navy of our Right Wing coming +on, the waves slapping on bow and quarter--two hundred and ten loaded +batteaux in line falling grandly down with the smooth and sunlit +current, three men to every boat. Then, opposite, a wild flurry of +bugle-horns announced our light infantry; and on they came, our merry +General Hand riding ahead. And we saw him dismount, fling his bridle to +an orderly, and lifting his sword and belt above his head, wade +straight into the ford. And Asa Chapman and Justus Gaylord guided him. + +After these came the light troops in their cocked hats, guided by +Frederick Eveland; then a dun-coloured and dusty column emerged from +the brilliant green of the woods, a mass of tossing fringes and ringed +coon-tails and flashing rifle-barrels. + +"The Rifles! hurrah for Morgan's men! Ha-i! The Eleventh Virginia!" +roared the soldiery all about us, while Lois tightened her arm around +mine and almost crushed my fingers with her own. + +"There is Major Parr--and Captain Simpson--oh, and yonder minces my +macaroni Ensign!" cried Lois, as the brown column swung straight into +the ford, every rifle lifted, powder-horn and cartouche-box high +swinging and glittering in the sun. + +I turned to look for Lana; and first caught sight of the handsome +wench, Dolly Glenn. And, following her restless gaze, I saw that Boyd +had come up to the rifle-platform to join Lana, and that they stood +together at a little distance from us. Also, I noticed that Lana's hand +was resting on his arm. In sharp contrast to the excited, cheering +soldiery thronging the platform, the attitude of these two seemed dull +and spiritless; and Boyd looked more frequently at her than on the +stirring pageant below; and once, under cover of the movement and +tumult, I saw her pale cheek press for a moment against his green +fringed shoulder cape--lightly--only for one brief moment. Yonder was +no coquetry, no caprice of audacity. There was a heart there as heavy +as the cheek was pale. It was love and nothing less--the pitiful +devotion of a lass in love whose lover marches on the morrow. +Lord--Lord! Had we but known! + +As I stood beside Lois, I could not refrain from glancing toward them +at moments, not meaning to spy, yet somehow held fascinated and +troubled by what I had seen; for it seemed plain to me that if there +was love there, little of happiness flavored it. Also, whenever I +looked at them always I saw Dolly Glenn watching Boyd out of her darkly +beautiful and hostile eyes. + +And afterward, when our big riflemen marched on to the parade below, +and we all hastened down, and the whole fort was a hubbub of cries and +cheers and the jolly voices of friends greeting friends--even then I +could scarce keep my eyes from these two and from the Glenn girl. And I +was glad when a large, fat dame came a-waddling, who proved to be Mrs. +Sabin; and she had a cold and baleful eye for Boyd, which his gay +spirits and airy blandishments neither softened nor abated. + +Lois made me known to her very innocently and discreetly, and I made +her my best manners; but to my mortification, the disdain in her gaze +increased, as did her stiffness with Boyd and her chilling hauteur. +Lord! Here was no friend to men--at least, no friend to young men! That +I comprehended in a trice; and my chagrin was nothing mended as I +caught a sly glance from the merry and slightly malicious eyes of Boyd. + +"Her husband is a fussy fat-head and she's a basalisk," he whispered. +"I thought she'd bite my head of when the ladies came on under my +protection." + +She was more square and heavily solid than fat, like a squat +block-house; and as I stole another glance at her I wondered how she +was to mount the ladder and get her through the trap above. And by +heaven! When the moment came to try it, she could not. She attempted it +thrice; and the third effort hung her there, wedged in, squeaking like +a fat doe-rabbit--and Boyd and I, stifling with laughter, now pushing, +now tugging at her fat ankles. And finally got her out upon the ladder +platform, crimson and speechless in her fury; and we lingered not, but +fled together, not daring to face the lady at whose pudgy and nether +limbs we had pulled so heartily. + +"Lord!" said Boyd. "If she complains of us to her Commissary husband, +there'll be a new issue not included in his department!" + +And it doubled us with laughter to think on't, so that for lack o' +breath I sat down upon a log to hold my aching sides. + +"Now, she'll be ever on their heels," muttered Boyd, "hen-like, +malevolent, and unaccountable. No man dare face and flout that lady, +whose husband also is utterly subjected. It was Betty Bleecker who set +her on me. Well, so no more of yonder ladies save in her bristling +presence." + +Yet, as it happened, one thing barred Mistress Sabin from a perpetual +domination and sleepless supervision of her charges, and that was the +trap-door. Through it she could not force herself, nor could she come +around by the guard-door, for the covered way would not admit her ample +proportions. She could but mount her guard at the ladder's foot. And +there were two exits to that garret room. + +That day I would have messed with my own people, Major Parr inviting +me, but that our General had all the Otsego officers to dine with him +at headquarters, and a huge punch afterward, from which I begged to be +excused, as it was best that I look to my Indians when any rum was +served in camp. + +Boyd came later to the bush-hut, overflushed with punch, saying that he +had drawn sixty pair of shoes for his men, to spite old Sabin, and +meant to distribute them with music playing; and that afterward I was +to join him at the fort as he had orders for himself and for me from +the General, and desired to confer with me concerning them. + +Later came word from him that he had a headache and would confer with +me on the morrow. Neither did I see Lois again that evening, a gill of +rum having been issued to every man, and I sticking close as a +wood-tick to my red comrades--indeed, I had them out after sunset to +watch the cattle-guard, who were in a sorry pickle, sixty head having +strayed and two soldiers missing. And the manoeuvres of that same guard +did ever sicken me. + +It proved another bloody story, too, for first we found an ox with +throat cut; and, it being good meat, we ordered it taken in. And then, +in the bushes ahead, a soldier begins a-bawling that the devil is in +his horses, and that they have run back into the woods. + +I heard him chasing them, and shouted for him to wait, but the poor +fool pays no heed, but runs on after his three horses; and soon he +screams out: + +"God a'mighty!" And, "Christ have mercy!" + +With that I blow my ranger's whistle, and my Indians pass me like +phantoms in the dusk, and I hot-foot after them; but it was too late to +save young Elliott, who lay there dead and already scalped, doubled up +in the bed of a little brook, his clenched hand across his eyes and a +Seneca knife in his smooth, boyish throat. + +Late that night the Sagamore started, chased, and quickly cornered +something in a clump of laurel close to the river bank; and my Indians +gathered around like fiercely-whining hounds. It was starlight, but too +dark to see, except what was shadowed against the river; so we all lay +flat, waiting, listening for whatever it was, deer or bear or man. + +Then the Night Hawk, who stood guard at the river, uttered the shrill +Oneida view-halloo; and into the thicket we all sprang crashing, and +strove to catch the creature alive; but the Sagamore had to strike to +save his own skull; and out of the bushes we dragged one of Amochol's +greasy-skinned assassins, still writhing, twisting, and clawing as we +flung him heavily and like a scotched snake upon the river sand, where +the Mohican struck him lifeless and ripped the scalp from his oiled and +shaven head. + +The Erie's lifeless fist still clutched the painted casse-tete with +which he had aimed a silently murderous blow at the Sagamore. +Grey-Feather drew the death-maul from the dead warrior's grasp, and +handed it to the Siwanois. + +Then Tahoontowhee, straightening his slim, naked figure to its full and +graceful height, raised himself on tiptoe and, placing his hollowed +hands to his cheeks, raised the shuddering echoes with the most +terrific note an Indian can utter. + +As the forest rang with the fierce Oneida scalp-yell, very far away +along the low-browed mountain flank we could hear the far tinkle of +hoof and pebble, where the stolen horses moved; and out of the intense +blackness of the hills came faintly the answering defiance of the +Senecas, and the hideous miauling of the Eries, quavering, shuddering, +dying into the tremendous stillness of the Dark Empire which we had +insulted, challenged, and which we were now about to brave. + +Once more Tahoontowhee's piercing defiance split the quivering silence; +once more the whining panther cry of the Cat-People floated back +through the far darkness. + +Then we turned away toward our pickets; and, as we filed into our +lines, I could smell the paint and oil on the scalp that the Siwanois +had taken. And it smelled rank enough, God wot! + + +About nine on Monday morning the entire camp was alarmed by irregular +and heavy firing along the river; but it proved to be my riflemen +clearing their pieces; which did mortify General Clinton, and was the +subject of a blunt order from headquarters, and a blunter rebuke from +Major Parr to Boyd, who, I am inclined to think, did do this out of +sheer deviltry. For that schoolboy delight of mischief which never, +while he lived, was entirely quenched, was ever sparkling in those +handsome and roving eyes of his. For which our riflemen adored him, +being by every instinct reckless and irresponsible themselves, and only +held to discipline by their worship of Daniel Morgan, and the upright +character and the iron rigour of Major Parr. + +Not that the 11th Virginia ever shrank from duty. No regiment in the +Continental army had a prouder record. But the men of that corps were +drawn mostly from those free-limbed, free-thinking, powerful, headlong, +and sometimes ruthless backwoodsmen who carried law into regions where +none but Nature's had ever before existed. And the law they carried was +their own. + +It was a reproach to us that we scalped our red enemies. No officer in +the corps could prevent these men from answering an Indian's insult +with another of the same kind. And there remained always men in that +command who took their scalps as carelessly as they clipped a catamount +of ears and pads. + +As for my special detail, I understood perfectly that I could no more +prevent my Indians from scalping enemies of their own race than I could +whistle a wolf-pack up wind. But I could stop their lifting the hair +from a dead man of my own race, and had made them understand very +plainly that any such attempt would be instantly punished as a personal +insult to myself. Which every warrior understood. And I have often +wondered why other officers commanding Indians, and who were ever +complaining that they could not prevent scalping of white enemies, did +not employ this argument, and enforce it, too. For had one of my men, +no matter which one, disobeyed, I would have had him triced up in a +twinkling and given a hundred lashes. + +Which meant, also, that I would have had to kill him sooner or later. + +There was a stink of rum in camp that morning and it is a quaffing +beverage which while I like to drink it in punch, the smell of it +abhors me. And ever and anon my Indians lifted their noses, sniffling +the tainted air; so that I was glad when a note was handed me from Boyd +saying that we were to take a forest stroll with my Indians around the +herd-guard, during which time he would unfold to me his plans. + +So I started for the fort, my little party carrying rifles and sidearms +but no packs; and there waited across the ditch in the sunshine my +Indians, cross-legged in a row on the grass, and gravely cracking and +munching the sweet, green hazelnuts with which these woods abound. + +On the parade inside the fort, and out o' the tail of my eye, I saw +Mistress Sabin knitting on a rustic settle at the base of Block-house +No. 2, and Captain Sabin beside her writing fussily in a large, +leather-bound book. + +She did not know that the dovecote overhead was now empty, and that the +pigeons had flown; nor did I myself suspect such a business, even when +from the woods behind me came the low sound of a ranger's whistle blown +very softly. I turned my head and saw Boyd beckoning; and arose and +went thither, my Indians trotting at my heels. + +Then, as I came up and stood to offer the officer's salute, Lois +stepped from behind a tree, laughing and laying her finger across her +lips, but extending her other hand to me. + +And there was Lana, too, paler it seemed to me than ever, yet sweet and +simple in her greeting. + +"The ladies desire to see our cattle," said Boyd, "The herd-guard is +doubled, our pickets trebled, and the rounds pass every half hour. So +it is safe enough, I think." + +"Yet, scarce the country for a picnic," I said, looking uneasily at +Lois. + +"Oh, Broad-brim, Broad-brim!" quoth she. "Is there any spice in life to +compare to a little dash o' danger?" + +Whereat I smiled at her heartily, and said to Boyd: + +"We pass not outside our lines, of course." + +"Oh, no!" he answered carelessly. Which left me still reluctant and +unconvinced. But he walked forward with Lana through the open forest, +and I followed beside Lois; and, without any signal from me my Indians +quietly glided out ahead, silently extending as flankers on either side. + +"Do you notice what they are about?" said I sourly. "Even here within +whisper of the fort?" + +"Are you not happy to see me, Euan?" she cooed close to my ear. + +"Not here; inside that log curtain yonder." + +"But there is a dragon yonder," she whispered, with mischief adorable +in her sparkling eyes; then slipped hastily beyond my reach, saying: +"Oh, Euan! Forget not our vows, but let our conduct remain seemly +still, else I return." + +I had no choice, for we were now passing our inner pickets, where a +line of bush-huts, widely set, circled the main camp. There were some +few people wandering along this line--officers, servants, boatmen, +soldiers off duty, one or two women. + +Just within the lines there was a group of people from which a fiddle +sounded; and I saw Boyd and Lana turn thither; and we followed them. + +Coming up to see who was making such scare-crow music, Lana said in a +low voice to us: + +"It's an old, old man--more than a hundred years old, he tells us--who +has lived on the Ouleout undisturbed among the Indians until yesterday, +when we burnt the village. And now he has come to us for food and +protection. Is it not pitiful?" + +I had a hard dollar in my pouch, and went to him and offered it. Boyd +had Continental money, and gave him a handful. + +He was not very feeble, this ancient creature, yet, except among +Indians who live sometimes for more than a hundred years, I think I +never before saw such an aged visage, all cracked into a thousand +wrinkles, and his little, bluish eyes peering out at us through a sort +of film. + +To smile, he displayed his shrivelled gums, then picked up his fiddle +with an agility somewhat surprising, and drew the bow harshly, saying +in his cracked voice that he would, to oblige us, sing for us a ballad +made in 1690; and that he himself had ridden in the company of horse +therein described, being at that time thirteen years of age. + +And Lord! But it was a doleful ballad, yet our soldiers listened, +fascinated, to his squeaking voice and fiddle; and I saw the tears +standing in Lois's eyes, and Lana's lips a-quiver. As for Boyd, he +yawned, and I most devoutly wished us all elsewhere, yet lost no word +of his distressing tale: + + "God prosper long our King and Queen, + Our lives and safeties all; + A sad misfortune once there did + Schenectady befall. + + "From forth the woods of Canady + The Frenchmen tooke their way, + The people of Schenectady + To captivate and slay. + + "They march for two and twenty daies, + All thro' ye deepest snow; + And on a dismal winter night + They strucke ye cruel blow. + + "The lightsome sunne that rules the day + Had gone down in the West; + And eke the drowsie villagers + Had sought and found their reste. + + "They thought they were in safetie all, + Nor dreamt not of the foe; + But att midnight they all swoke + In wonderment and woe. + + "For they were in their pleasant beddes, + And soundlie sleeping, when + Each door was sudden open broke + By six or seven menne! + + "The menne and women, younge and olde, + And eke the girls and boys, + All started up in great affright + Att the alarming noise. + + "They then were murthered in their beddes + Without shame or remorse; + And soon the floors and streets were strew'd + With many a bleeding corse. + + "The village soon began to blaze, + Which shew'd the horrid sight; + But, O, I scarce can beare to tell + The mis'ries of that night. + + "They threw the infants in the fire, + The menne they did not spare; + But killed all which they could find, + Tho' aged or tho' fair. + + . . . . . . + + . . . . . . + + "But some run off to Albany + And told the doleful tale; + Yett, tho' we gave our chearful aid, + It did not much avail. + + "And we were horribly afraid, + And shook with terror, when + They gave account the Frenchmen were + More than a thousand menne. + + "The news came on a Sabbath morn, + Just att ye break o' day; + And with my companie of horse + I galloped away. + + "Our soldiers fell upon their reare, + And killed twenty-five; + Our young menne were so much enrag'd + They took scarce one alive. + + "D'Aillebout them did command, + Which were but thievish rogues, + Else why did they consent to goe + With bloodye Indian dogges? + + "And here I end my long ballad, + The which you just heard said; + And wish that it may stay on earth + Long after I be dead." + +The old man bowed his palsied head over his fiddle, struck with his +wrinkled thumb a string or two; and I saw tears falling from his almost +sightless eyes. + +Around him, under the giant trees, his homely audience stood silent and +spellbound. Many of his hearers had seen with their own eyes horrors +that compared with the infamous butchery at Schenectady almost a +hundred years ago. Doubtless that was what fascinated us all. + +But Boyd, on whom nothing doleful made anything except an irritable +impression, drew us away, saying that it was tiresome enough to fight +battles without being forced to listen to the account of 'em afterward; +at which, it being true enough, I laughed. And Lois looked up winking +away her tears with a quick smile. As for Lana, her face was tragic and +colourless as death itself. Seeing which, Boyd said cheerfully: + +"What is there in all the world to sigh about, Lanette? Death is far +away and the woods are green." + +"The woods are green," repeated Lana under her breath, "yet, there are +many within call who shall not live to see one leaf fall." + +"Why, what a very dirge you sing this sunny morning!" he protested, +still laughing; and I, too, was surprised and disturbed, for never had +I heard Lana Helmer speak in such a manner. + +"'Twas that dreary old fiddler," he added with a shrug. "Now, God save +us all, from croaking birds of every plumage, and give us to live for +the golden moment." + +"And for the future," said Lois. + +"The devil take the future," said Boyd, his quick, careless laugh +ringing out again. "Today I am lieutenant, and Loskiel, here, is +ensign. Tomorrow we may be captains or corpses. But is that a reason +for pulling a long face and confessing every sin?" + +"Have you, then, aught to confess?" asked Lois, in pretense of surprise. + +"I? Not a peccadillo, my pretty maid--not a single one. What I do, I +do; and ask no leniency for the doing. Therefore, I have nothing to +confess." + +Lana stopped, bent low over a forest blossom, and touched her face to +it. Her cheeks were burning. All about us these frail, snowy blossoms +grew, and Lois gathered one here and yonder while Boyd and I threw +ourselves down on a vast, deep bed of moss, under which a thread of icy +water trickled. + +Ahead of us, in plain view, stood one of our outer picket guards, and +below in a wide and bowl-shaped hollow, running south to the river, we +could see cattle moving amid the trees, and the rifle-barrel of a herd +guard shining here and there. + +My Indians on either flank advanced to the picket line, and squatted +there, paying no heed to the challenge of the sentinels, until Boyd was +obliged to go forward and satisfy the sullen Pennsylvania soldiery on +duty there. + +He came back in his graceful, swinging stride, chewing a twig of +black-birch, his thumbs hooked in his belt, damning all Pennsylvanians +for surly dogs. + +I pointed out that many of them were as loyal as any man among us; and +he said he meant the Quakers only, and cursed them for rascals, every +one. Again I reminded him that Alsop Hunt was a Quaker; and he said +that he meant not the Westchester folk, but John Penn's people, Tories, +every one, who would have hired ruffians to do to the Connecticut +people in Forty Fort what later was done to them by Indians and Tory +rangers. + +Lana protested in behalf of the Shippens in Philadelphia, but Boyd said +they were all tarred with the same brush, and all were selfish and +murderous, lacking only the courage to bite--yes, every Quaker in +Penn's Proprietary--the Shippens, Griscoms, Pembertons, Norrises, +Whartons, Baileys, Barkers, Storys--"'Every damned one o' them!" he +said, "devised that scheme for the wanton and cruel massacre of the +Wyoming settlers, and meant to turn it to their own pecuniary profit!" + +He was more than partly right; yet, knowing many of these to be friends +and kinsmen to Lana Helmer, he might have more gracefully remained +silent. But Boyd had not that instinctive dread of hurting others with +ill-considered facts; he blurted out all truths, whether timely or +untimely, wherever and whenever it suited him. + +For the Tory Quakers he mentioned I had no more respect than had he, +they being neither fish, flesh, nor fowl, but a smooth, sanctimonious +and treacherous lot, more calculated to work us mischief because of +their superior education and financial means. Indeed, they generally +remained undisturbed by the ferocious Iroquois allies of our late and +gentle King; secure in their property and lives while all around them +men, women, and little children fell under the dripping hatchets. + +"Had I my say," remarked Boyd loudly, "I'd take a regiment and scour me +out these rattlesnakes from the Proprietary, and pack 'em off to +prison, bag and baggage!" + +Lana had knelt, making a cup of her hand, and was drinking from the +silvery thread of water at our feet. Now, as Boyd spoke, she +straightened up and cast a shower of sparkling drops in his face, +saying calmly that she prayed God he might have the like done for him +when next he needed a cooling off. + +"Lanette," said he, disconcerted but laughing, "do you mean in hell or +at the Iroquois stake?" + +Whereupon Lana flushed and said somewhat violently that he should not +make a jest of either hell or stake; and that she for one marvelled at +his ill-timed pleasantries and unbecoming jests. + +So here was a pretty quarrel already sur le tapis; but neither I nor +Lois interposed, and Lana, pink and angry, seated herself on the moss +and gazed steadily at our watchful Indians. But in her fixed gaze I saw +the faint glimmer of tears. + +After a moment Boyd got up, went down to her, and asked her pardon. She +made no answer; they remained looking at each other for another second, +then both smiled, and Boyd lay down at her feet, resting his elbow on +the moss and his cheek on his hand, so that he could converse with me +across her shoulder. + +And first he cautioned both Lana and Lois to keep secret whatever was +to be said between us two, then, nodding gaily at me: + +"You were quite right, Loskiel, in speaking to the General about the +proper trap for this Wizard-Sachem Amochol, who is inflaming the entire +Seneca nation to such a fury." + +"I know no other way to take and destroy him," said I. + +"There is no other way. It must be done secretly, and by a small party +manoeuvring ahead and independently of our main force." + +"Are you to command?" I asked. + +"I am to have that honour," he said eagerly, "and I take you, your +savages, and twenty riflemen----" + +"What is this?" said Lana sharply; but he lifted an impatient hand and +went on in his quick, interested manner, to detail to me the plan he +had conceived for striking Amochol at Catharines-town, in the very +midst of the Onon-hou-aroria. + +"Last night," he said, "I sent out Hanierri and Iaowania, the +headquarters scouts; and I'm sorry I did, for they came in this morning +with their tails between their legs, saying the forest swarmed with the +Seneca scouts, and it was death to stir. + +"And I was that disgusted--what with their cowardice and the aftermath +of that headquarters punch--that I bade them go paint and sing their +death-songs----" + +"Oh, Lord! You should not lose your temper with an Indian!" I said, +vexed at his indiscretion. + +"I know it. I'll not interfere with your tame wolves, Loskiel. But +Hanierri madded me; and now he's told Dominie Kirkland's praying +Indians, and not one o' them will stir from Tioga--the chicken-hearted +knaves! What do you think of that, Loskiel?" + +"I am sorry. But we really need no other Indians than my Sagamore, the +two Oneidas, and the Stockbridge, Yellow Moth, to do Amochol's business +for him, if you and your twenty riflemen are going." + +"I think as you do; and so I told the General, who wanted Major Parr to +command and the entire battalion to march. 'Oh, Lord!' says I. 'Best +bring Colonel Proctor's artillery band, also!' And was frightened +afterward at what I said, with so little reflection and respect; but +the General, who had turned red as a pippin, burst out laughing and +says he: 'You are a damnably disrespectful young man, sir, but you and +your friend Loskiel may suit yourselves concerning the taking of this +same Amochol. Only have a care to take or destroy him, for if you do +not, by God, you shall be detailed to the batteaux and cool your heels +in Fort Sullivan until we return!'" + +We both laughed heartily, and Boyd added: + +"He said it to fright me for my impudence. Trust that man to know a man +when he sees one!" + +"Meaning yourself?" said I, convulsed. + +"And you, too, Loskiel," he said so naively that Lois, too, laughed, +exclaiming: + +"What modest opinions of themselves have these two boys! Do you hear +them, Lana, dubbing each other men?" + +"I hear," said Lana listlessly. + +Boyd plucked a long, feathery stalk, and with its tip caressed Lana's +cheeks. + +"Spiders!" said he. "Spinning a goblin veil for you!" + +"I wish the veil of Fate were as transparent," said she. + +"Would you see behind it if you could?" + +She said under her breath: + +"I sometimes dream I see behind it now." + +"What do you see?" he asked. + +She shook her head; but we all begged her to disclose her dreams, +saying laughingly that as dreams were the most important things in the +lives of all Indians, our close association with them had rendered us +credulous. + +"Come, Lanette," urged Boyd, "tell us what it is you see in dreams +behind the veil." + +She hesitated, shuddered: + +"Flames--always flames. And a man in black with leaden buttons, whose +face is always hidden in his cloak. But, oh! I know--I seem to know +that he has no face at all, but is like a skull under his black cloak." + +"A merry dream," said Boyd, laughing. + +"Is there more to it?" asked Lois seriously. + +"Yes.... Lieutenant Boyd is there, and he makes a sign--like this----" + +"What!" exclaimed Boyd, sitting up, astounded. "Where did you learn +that sign?" + +"In my dream. What does it mean?" + +"Make it no more, Lana," he said, in a curiously disturbed voice. "For +wherever you have learned it--if truly from a dream, or from some +careless fellow--of my own----" He hesitated, glanced at me. "You are +not a Mason, Loskiel. And Lana has just given the Masonic signal of +distress--having seen me give it in a dream. It is odd." He sat very +silent for a moment, then lay down again at Lana's feet; and for a +little while they conversed in whispers, as though forgetting that we +were there at all, his handsome head resting against her knees, and her +hand touching the hair on his forehead lightly at intervals. + +After a few moments I rose and, with Lois, walked forward toward our +picket line, from where we could see very plainly the great cattle herd +among the trees along the river. + +She said in a low and troubled voice: + +"It has come so far, then, that Lana makes no longer a disguise of her +sentiments before you and me. It seems as though they had bewitched +each other--and find scant happiness in the mutual infatuation." + +I said nothing. + +"Is he not free to marry her?" asked Lois. + +"Why, yes--I suppose he is--if she will have him," I said, startled by +the direct question. "Why not?" + +"I don't know. Once, at Otsego Camp I overheard bitter words between +them--not from him, for he only laughed at what she said. It was in the +dusk, close to our tent; and either they were careless or thought I +slept.... And I heard her say that he was neither free nor fit to speak +of marriage. And he laughed and vowed that he was as free and fit as +was any man. 'No,' says she, 'there are other men like Euan Loskiel in +the world.' 'Exceptions prove the case,' says he, laughing; and there +was a great sob in her voice as she answered that such men as he were +born to damn women. And he retorted coolly that it was such women as +she who ever furnished the provocation, but that only women could lose +their own souls, and that it was the same with men; but neither of 'em +could or ever had contributed one iota toward the destruction of any +soul except their own.... Then Lana came into our tent and stood +looking down at me where I lay; and dimly through my lashes I could +perceive the shadow of Boyd behind her on the tent wall, wavering, +gigantic, towering to the ridge-pole as he set the camp-torch in its +socket on the flooring." She passed her slim hand across her eyes. "It +was like an unreal scene--a fevered vision of two phantoms in the +smoky, lurid lustre of the torch. Boyd stood there dark against the +light, edged with flickering flame as with a mantle, figure and visage +scintilant with Lucifer's own beauty--and Lana, her proud head +drooping, and her sad, young eyes fixed on me--Oh, Euan!" She stood +pressing down both eyelids with her fingers, motionless; then, with a +quick-drawn breath and a brusque gesture, flung her arms wide and let +them drop to her sides. "How can men follow what they call their +'fortune,' headlong, unheeding, ranging through the world as a +hot-jowled hound ranges for rabbits? Are they never satiated? Are they +never done with the ruthless madness? Does the endless chase with its +intervals of killing never pall?" + +"Hounds are hounds," I said slowly. "And the hound will chase his +thousandth hare with all the unslaked eagerness that thrilled him when +his first quarry fled before him." + +"Why?" + +But I shook my head in silence. + +"Are you that way?" + +"I have not been." + +"The instinct then is not within you?" + +"Yes, the instinct is.... But some hounds are trained to range only as +far as their mistress, Old Dame Reason, permits. Others slip leash and +take to the runways to range uncontrolled and mastered only by a dark +and second self, urging them ever forward.... There are but two kinds +of men, Lois--the self-disciplined, and the unbroken. But the raw +nature of the two differed nothing at their birth." + +She stood looking down at the distant cattle along the river for a +while without speaking; then her hand, which hung beside her, sought +mine and softly rested within my clasp. + +"It is wonderful," she murmured, "that it has been God's pleasure I +should come to you unblemished--after all that I have lived to learn +and see. But more wonderful and blessed still it is to me to find you +what you are amid this restless, lawless, ruthless world of +soldiery--upright and pure in heart.... It seems almost, with us, as +though our mothers had truly made of us two Hidden Children, white and +mysterious within the enchanted husks, which only our own hands may +strip from us, and reveal ourselves unsullied as God made us, each to +the other--on our wedding morn." + +I lifted her little hand and laid my lips to it, touching the ring. +Then she bent timidly and kissed the rough gold circlet where my lips +had rested. Somehow, a shaft of sunlight had penetrated the green roof +above, and slanted across her hair, so that the lovely contour of her +head was delicately edged with light. + +* "Nene-nea-wen-ne, Lois!" I whispered passionately. + +[* "This thing shall happen, Lois!"] + +* "Nen-ya-wen-ne, O Loskiel! Teni-non-wes." + +[* "It shall happen, O Loskiel! We love, thou and I."] + +We stood yet a while together there, and I saw her lift her eyes and +gaze straight ahead of us beyond our picket line, and remain so, gazing +as though her regard could penetrate those dim and silent forest aisles +to the red altar far beyond in unseen Catharines-town. + +"When must you go?" she asked under her breath. + +"The army is making ready today." + +"To march into the Indian country?" + +I nodded. + +"When does it march?" + +"On Friday. But that is not to be known at present." + +"I understand. By what route do you go?" + +"By Chemung." + +"And then?" + +"At Chemung we leave the army, Boyd and I. You heard." + +"Yes, Euan." + +I said, forcing myself to speak lightly: + +"You are not to be afraid for us, Little Rosy Pigeon of the Forest. +Follow me with your swift-winged thoughts and no harm shall come to me." + +"Must you go?" + +I laughed: * "Ka-teri-oseres, Lois." + +[* "I am going to this war, Lois."] + +* "Wa-ka-ton-te-tsihon," she said calmly. "Wa-ka-ta-tiats-kon." + +[* "I understand perfectly. I am resigned."] + +Then I gave way to my increasing surprise: + +"Wonder-child!" I exclaimed. "When and where have you learned to +understand and answer me in the tongue of the Long House?" + +* "Kio-ten-se," she said with a faint smile. + +[* "I am working for somebody."] + +"For whom?" + +"For my mother, Euan. Did you suppose I could neglect anything that +might be useful in my life's quest? Who knows when I might need the +tongue I am slowly learning to speak?... Oh, and I know so little, yet. +Something of Algonquin the Mohican taught me; and with it a little of +the Huron tongue. And now for nearly a month every day I have learned a +little from the Oneidas at Otsego--from the Oneida girl whose bridal +dress you bought to give to me. Do you remember her? The maid called +Drooping Wings?" + +"Yes--but--I do not understand. To what end is all this? When and where +is your knowledge of the Iroquois tongue likely to aid you?" + +She gave me a curious, veiled look--then turned her face away. + +"You do not dream of following our army, do you?" I demanded. "Not one +woman would be permitted to go. It is utterly useless for you to expect +it, folly to dream of such a thing.... You and Lana are to go to Easton +as soon as the heavier artillery is sent down the river, which will be +the day we start--Friday. This frontier gypsying is ended--all this +coquetting with danger is over now. The fort here is no place for you +and Lana. Your visit, brief as it has been, is rash and unwarranted. +And I tell you very plainly, Lois, that I shall never rest until you +are at Easton, which is a stone town and within the borders of +civilization. The artillery will be sent down by boat, and all the +women and children are to go also. Neither Boyd nor I have told this to +you and Lana, but----" I glanced over my shoulder. "I think he is +telling her now." + +Lois slowly turned and looked toward them. Evidently they no longer +cared what others saw or thought, for Lana's cheek lay pressed against +his shoulder, and his arm encircled her body. + + +We walked back, all together, to the fort, and left Lois and Lana at +the postern; then Boyd and I continued on to my bush-hut, the Indians +following. + +Muffled drums of a regiment were passing, and an escort with reversed +arms, to bury poor Kimball, Captain in Colonel Cilly's command, shot +this morning through the heart by the accidental discharge of a musket +in the careless hands of one of his own men. + +We stood at salute while the slow cortege passed. + +Said Boyd thoughtfully: + +"Well, Kimball's done with all earthly worries. There are those who +might envy him." + +"You are not one," I said bluntly. + +"I? No. I have not yet played hard enough in the jolly blind man's +buff--which others call the game of life. I wear the bandage still, and +still my hands clutch at the empty air, and in my ears the world's +sweet laughter rings----" He smiled, then shrugged. "The charm of +Fortune's bag is not what you pull from it, but what remains within." + +"Boyd," I said abruptly. "Who is that handsome wench that followed us +from Otsego?" + +"Dolly Glenn?" + +"That is her name." + +"Lord, how she pesters me!" he said fretfully. "I chanced upon her at +the Middle Fort one evening--down by the river. And what are our +wenches coming to," he exclaimed impatiently, "that a kiss on a +summer's night should mean to them more than a kiss on a night in +summer!" + +"She is a laundress, is she not?" + +"How do I know? A tailoress, too, I believe, for she has patched and +mended for me; and she madded me because she would take no pay. There +are times," he added, "when sentiment is inconvenient----" + +"Poor thing," I said. + +"My God, why? When I slipped my arm around her she put up her face to +be kissed. It was give and take, and no harm done--and the moon +a-laughing at us both. And why the devil she should look at me +reproachfully is more than I can comprehend." + +"It seems a cruel business," said I. + +"Cruel!" + +"Aye--to awake a heart and pass your way a-whistling." + +"Now, Loskiel," he began, plainly vexed, "I am not cruel by nature, and +you know it well enough. Men kiss and go their way----" + +"But women linger still." + +"Not those I've known." + +"Yet, here is one----" + +"A silly fancy that will pass with her. Lord! Do you think a gentleman +accountable to every pretty chit of a girl he notices on his way +through life?" + +"Some dare believe so." + +He stared at me, then laughed. + +"You are different to other men, of course," he said gaily. "We all +understand that. So let it go----" + +"One moment, Boyd. There is a matter I must speak of--because +friendship and loyalty to a childhood friend both warrant it. Can you +tell me why Lana Helmer is unhappy?" + +A dark red flush surged up to the roots of his hair, and the muscles in +his jaw tightened. He remained a moment mute and motionless, staring at +me. But if my question, for the first moment, had enraged him, that +quickly died out; and into his eyes there came a haggard look such as I +had never seen there. + +He said slowly: + +"Were you not the man you are, Loskiel, I had answered in a manner you +might scarcely relish. Now, I answer you that if Lana is unhappy I am +more so. And that our unhappiness is totally unnecessary--if she would +but listen to what I say to her." + +"And what is it that you say to her?" I inquired as coolly as though +his answer might not very easily be a slap with his fringed sleeve +across my face. + +"I have asked her to marry me," he said. "Do you understand why I tell +you this?" + +I shook my head. + +"To avoid killing you at twenty paces across the river.... I had rather +tell you than do that." + +"So that you have told me," said I, "the reason for your telling +matters nothing. And my business with you ends with your answer.... +Only--she is my friend, Boyd--a playmate of pleasant days. And if you +can efface that wretchedness from her face--brighten the quenched +sparkle of her eyes, paint her cheeks with rose again--do it, in God's +name, and make of me a friend for life." + +"Shall I tell you what has gone amiss--from the very first there at +Otsego?" + +"No--that concerns not me----" + +"Yes, I shall tell you! It's that she knew about--the wench here--Dolly +Glenn." + +"Is that why she refuses you and elects to remain unhappy?" I said +incredulously. + +"Yes--I can say no more.... You are right, Loskiel, and such men as I +are wrong--utterly and wretchedly wrong. Sooner or later comes the bolt +of lightning. Hell! To think that wench should hurl it!" + +"But what bolt had she to hurl?" said I, astonished. + +He reddened, bit his lip savagely, made as though to speak, then, with +a violent gesture, turned away. + +A few moments later a cannon shot sounded. It was the signal for +striking tents and packing up; and in every regiment hurry and +confusion reigned and the whole camp swarmed with busy soldiery. + +But toward evening orders came to unpack and pitch tents again; and +whether it had been an exercise to test the quickness of our army for +marching, or whether some accident postponed the advance, I do not know. + +All that evening, being on duty with my Indians to watch the +cattle-guard, I did not see Lois. + +The next day I was ordered to take the Indians a mile or two toward +Chemung and lie there till relieved; so we went very early and remained +near the creek on observation, seeing nothing, until evening, when the +relief came with Hanierri and three Stockbridges. These gave us an +account that another soldier had been shot in camp by the accidental +discharge of a musket, and that the Light Troops had marched out of +their old encampment and had pitched tents one hundred rods in advance. + +Also, they informed us that the flying hospital and stores had been +removed to the fort, and that Colonel Shreve had taken over the command +of that place. + +By reason of the darkness, we were late in getting into camp, so again +that day I saw nothing of Lois. + +On Wednesday it rained heavily about eleven o'clock, and the troops +made no movement. Some Oneidas came in and went to headquarters. My +Indians did not seem to know them. + +I was on duty all day at headquarters, translating into Iroquois for +the General a speech which he meant to deliver to the Tuscaroras on his +return through Easton. The rain ceased late in the afternoon. Later, an +express came through from Fort Pitt; and before evening orders had gone +out that the entire army was to march at eight o'clock in the morning. + +Morning came with a booming of cannon. We did not stir. + +Toward eleven, however, the army began to march out as though departing +in earnest; but as Major Parr remained with the Rifles, I knew +something had gone amiss. + +Yet, the other regiments, including my own, marched away gaily enough, +with music sounding and colours displayed; and the garrison, boatmen, +artillerymen, and all the civil servants and women and children waved +them adieu from the parapets of the fort. + +But high water at Tioga ford, a mile or two above, soon checked them, +and there they remained that night. As I was again on duty with +Hanierri and the Dominie, I saw not Lois that day. + +Friday was fair and sunny, and the ground dried out. And all the +morning I was with Dominie Kirkland and Hanierri, translating, +transcribing, and writing out the various speeches and addresses left +for me by General Sullivan. + +Runners came in toward noon with news that our main forces had encamped +at the pass before Chemung, and were there awaiting us. + +Murphy, the rifleman, came saying that our detail was packing up at the +fort, that Major Parr had sent word for Lieutenant Boyd to strike tents +and pull foot, and that the boats were now making ready to drop down +the river with the non-combatants. + +My pack, and those of my Indians, had been prepared for days, and there +was little for me to do to make ready. Some batt-men carried my +military chest to the fort, where it was bestowed with the officers' +baggage until we returned. + +Then I hastened away to the fort and discovered our twenty riflemen +paraded there, and Boyd inspecting them and their packs. His face +seemed very haggard under its dark coat of sunburn, but he returned my +salute with a smile, and presently came over to where I stood, saying +coolly enough: + +"I have made my adieux to the ladies. They are at the landing place +expecting you. Best not linger. We should reach Chemung by dusk." + +"My Indians are ready," said I. + +"Very well," he said absently, and returned to his men, continuing his +careful inspection. + +As I passed the log bridge, I saw Dolly Glenn standing there with a +frightened look on her face, but she paid no heed to me, and I went on +still haunted by the girl's expression. + +A throng of people--civilians and soldiers--were at the landing. The +redoubtable Mrs. Sabin was bustling about a batteau, terrorizing its +crew and bullying the servants, who were stowing away her property. +Looking about me, I finally discovered Lois and Lana standing on the +shore a little way down stream, and hastened to them. + +Lana was as white as a ghost, but to my surprise Lois seemed cheerful +and in gayest spirits, and laughed when I saluted her hand. And it +relieved me greatly to find her so animated and full of confidence that +all would be well with us, and the parting but a brief one. + +"I know in my heart it will be brief," she said smilingly, and +permitting both her hands to remain in mine. "Soon, very soon, we shall +be again together, Euan, and this interrupted fairy tale, so prettily +begun by you and me, shall be once more resumed." + +"To no fairy finish," I said, "but in sober reality." + +She looked at Lana, laughing: + +"What a lad is this, dear! How can a fairy tale be ever real? Yet, he +is a magician like Okwencha, this tall young Ensign of mine, and I make +no doubt that his wizardry can change fancy to fact in the twinkling of +an eye. Indeed, I think I, too, am something of a witch. Shall I make +magic for you, Euan? What most of anything on earth would you care to +see tonight?" + +"You, Lois." + +"Hai-e! That is easy. I will some night send to you my spirit, and it +shall be so like me and so vivid nay, so warm and breathing--that you +shall think to even touch it.... Shall I do this with a spell?" + +"I only have to close my eyes and see you. Make it that I can also +touch you." + +"It shall be done." + +We both were smiling, and I for one was forcing my gay spirits, for now +that the moment had arrived, I knew that chance might well make of our +gay adieux an endless separation. + +Lana had wandered a little way apart; I glanced at Lois, then turned +and joined her. She laid her hand on my arm, as though her knees could +scarcely prop her, and turned to me a deathly face. + +"Euan," she breathed, "I have said adieu to him. Somehow, I know that +he and I shall never meet again.... Tell him I pray for him--for his +soul.... And mine.... And that before he goes he shall do the thing I +bid him do.... And if he will not--tell him I ask God's mercy on +him.... Tell him that, Euan." + +"Yes," I said, awed. + +She stood resting her arm on mine to support her, closed her eyes for a +moment, then opened them and looked at me. And in her eyes I saw her +heart was breaking as she stood there. + +"Lana! Lanette! Little comrade! What is this dreadful thing that +crushes you? Could you not tell me?" I whispered. + +"Ask him, Euan." + +"Lana, why will you not marry him, if you love him so?" + +She shuddered and closed her eyes. + +Neither of us spoke again. Lois, watching us, came slowly toward us, +and linked her arm in Lana's. + +"Our batteau is waiting," she said quietly. + +I continued to preserve my spirits as we walked together down to the +shore where Mrs. Sabin stood glaring at me, then turned her broad back +and waddled across the planks. + +Lana followed; Lois clung a second to my hands, smiling still; then I +released her and she sprang lightly aboard. + +And now batteau after batteau swung out into the stream, and all in +line dropped slowly down the river, pole and paddle flashing, kerchiefs +fluttering. + +For a long way I could see the boat that carried Lois gliding in the +channel close along shore, and the escort following along the bank +above, with the sunshine glancing on their slanting rifles. Then a bend +in the river hid them; and I turned away and walked slowly toward the +fort. + +By the gate my Indians were waiting. The Sagamore had my pack and rifle +for me. On the rifle-platform above, the soldiers of the garrison stood +looking down at us. + +And now I heard the short, ringing word of command, and out of the gate +marched our twenty riflemen, Boyd striding lightly ahead. + +Then, as he set foot on the log bridge, I saw Dolly Glenn standing +there, confronting him, blocking his way, her arms extended and her +eyes fixed on him. + +"Are you mad?" he said curtly. + +"If you go," she retorted unsteadily, "leaving me behind you +here--unwedded--God will punish you." + +The column had came to a halt. There was a dead silence on parapet and +parade while three hundred pair of eyes watched those two there on the +bridge of logs. + +"Dolly, you are mad!" he said, with the angry colour flashing in his +face and staining throat and brow. + +"Will you do me justice before you go?" + +"Will you stand aside?" he said between his teeth. + +"Yes--I will stand aside.... And may you remember me when you burn at +the last reckoning with God!" + +"'Tention! Trail arms! By the left flank--march!" he cried, his voice +trembling with rage. + +The shuffling velvet tread of his riflemen fell on the bridge; and they +passed, rifles at a trail, and fringes blowing in the freshening breeze. + +Without a word I fell in behind. After me loped my Indians in perfect +silence. + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE BATTLE OF CHEMUNG + +Toward sundown we hailed our bullock guard below the ruins of Old +Chemung, and passed forward through the army to the throat of the pass, +where the Rifles lay. + +The artillery was already in a sorry mess, nine guns stalled and an +ammunition wagon overturned in the ford. And I heard the infantry +cursing the drivers and saying that we had lost thousands of +cartridges. Stewart's bullock-guard was in a plight, too, forty head +having strayed. + +At the outlet to the pass Major Parr met us, cautioning silence. No +fires burned and the woods were very still, so that we could hear in +front of us the distant movement of men; and supposed that the enemy +had come down to Chemung in force. But Major Parr told us that our +scouts could make nothing of these incessant noises, reporting only a +boatload of Sir John Johnson's green-coated soldiers on the river, and +a few Indians in two canoes; and that he had no knowledge whether Sir +John, the two Butlers, McDonald, and Brant lay truly in front of us, or +whether these people were only a mixed scalping party of blue-eyed +Indians, Senecas, and other ragamuffin marauders bent on a more distant +foray, and now merely lingering along our front over night to spy out +what we might be about. + +Also, he informed us that a little way ahead, on the Great Warrior +trail, lay an Indian town which our scouts reported to be abandoned; +and said that he had desired to post our pickets there, but that orders +from General Hand had prevented that precaution until the General +commanding arrived at the front. + +Some few minutes after our appearance in camp, and while we were eating +supper, there came a ruddy glimmer of torches from behind us, lighting +up the leaves overhead; and Generals Sullivan, Clinton, Hand, and Poor +rode up and drew bridle beside Major Parr, listening intently to the +ominous sounds in front of us. + +And, "What the devil do you make of it, Major?" says Sullivan, in a low +voice. "It sounds like a log-rolling in March." + +"My scouts give me no explanation," says Parr grimly. "I think the +rascals are terrified." + +"Send Boyd and that young interpreter," said Sullivan curtly. + +So, as nobody could understand exactly what these noises indicated, and +as headquarters' scouts could obtain no information, Lieutenant Boyd +and I, with my Indians, left our supper of fresh roast corn and beans +and went forward at once. We moved out of the defile with every +precaution, passing the throat of the rocky pass and wading the little +trout-brook over which our trail led, the Chemung River now lying +almost south of us. Low mountains rose to the north and west, very dark +and clear against the stars; and directly ahead of us we saw the small +Indian town surrounded by corn fields; and found it utterly deserted, +save for bats and owls; and not even an Indian dog a-prowling there. + +A little way beyond it we crossed another brook close to where it +entered the river, opposite an island. Here the Chemung makes a great +bend, flowing in more than half a circle; and there are little hills to +the north, around which we crept, hearing always the stirring and +movements of men ahead of us, and utterly unable to comprehend what +they were so busily about. + +Just beyond the island another and larger creek enters the river; and +here, no longer daring to follow the Seneca trail, we turned southwest, +slinking across the river flats, through the high Indian grass, until +we came to a hardwood ridge, from whence some of these sounds proceeded. + +We heard voices very plainly, the splintering of saplings, and a +heavier, thumping sound, which the Mohican whispered to us was like +hewn logs being dragged over the ground and then piled up. A few +moments later, Tahoontowhee, who had crept on ahead, glided up to us +and whispered that there was a high breastwork of logs on the ridge, +and that many men were cutting bushes, sharpening the stems, and +planting them to screen this breastwork so that it could not be seen +from the Seneca trail north of us, along which lay our army's line of +march. A pretty ambuscade, in truth! But Braddock's breed had passed. + +Silently, stealthily, scarcely breathing, we got out of that dangerous +place, recrossed the grassy flats, and took to the river willows the +entire way back. At the mouth of the pass, where my battalion lay +asleep, we found Major Parr anxiously awaiting us. He sent Captain +Simpson back with the information. + +Before I could unlace my shirt, drag my pack under my head, and compose +myself to sleep, Boyd, who had stretched himself out beside me, touched +my arm. + +"Are you minded to sleep, Loskiel?" + +"I own that I am somewhat inclined that way," said I. + +"As you please." + +"Why? Are you unwell?" + +He lay silent for a few moments, then: + +"What a mortifying business was that at the Tioga fort," he said under +his breath. "The entire garrison saw it, did they not, Loskiel? Colonel +Shreve and all?" + +"Yes, I fear so," + +"It will be common gossip tomorrow," he said bitterly. "What a +miserable affair to happen to an officer of Morgan's!" + +"A sad affair," I said. + +"It will come to her ears, no doubt. Shreve's batt-men will carry it +down the river." + +I was silent. + +"Rumour runs the woods like lightning," he said. "She will surely hear +of this disgraceful scene. She will hear of it at Easton.... Strange," +he muttered, "strange how the old truths hold!... Our sins shall find +us out.... I never before believed that, Loskiel--not in a wilderness, +anyway.... I had rather be here dead and scalped than have had that +happen and know that she must hear of it one day." + +He lay motionless for a while, then turned heavily on his side, facing +me across the heap of dead leaves. + +"Somehow or other," he said, "she heard of that miserable +business--heard of it even at Otsego.... That is why she would not +marry me, Loskiel. Did you ever hear the like! That a man must be so +utterly and hopelessly damned for a moment's careless folly--lose +everything in the world for a thoughtless moonlight frolic! Where lies +the justice in such a judgment?" + +"It is not the world that judges you severely. The world cares little +what a man's way may be with a maid." + +"But--Lana cares. It has ended everything for her." + +I said in a low voice: + +"You ended everything for Dolly Glenn." + +"How was I to know she was no light o' love--this camp tailoress--this +silly little wench who--but let it go! Had she but whimpered, and +seemed abashed and unfamiliar with a kiss---- Well, let it go.... But I +could cut my tongue out that I ever spoke to her. God! How lightly +steps a man into a trap of his own contriving!... And here I lie +tonight, caring not whether I live or die in tomorrow's battle already +dawning on the Chemung. And yonder, south of us, in the black +starlight, drift the batteaux, dropping down to Easton under the very +sky that shines above us here.... If Lana be asleep at this moment I do +not know.... She tells me I have broke her heart--but yet will have +none of me.... Tells me my duty lies elsewhere; that I shall make +amends. How can a man make amends when his heart lies not in the +deed?... Am I then to be fettered to a passing whim for all eternity? +Does an instant's idle folly entail endless responsibility? Do I merit +punishment everlasting for a silly amourette that lasted no longer than +the July moon? Tell me, Loskiel, you who are called among us blameless +and unstained, is there no hope for a guilty man to shrive himself and +walk henceforward upright?" + +"I can not answer you," I said dully. "Nor do I know how, of such a +business, a man may be shriven, or what should be his amends.... It all +seems pitiful and sad to me--a matter perplexing, unhappy, and far +beyond my solving.... I know it is the fashion of the times to regard +such affairs lightly, making of them nothing.... Much I have heard, +little learned, save that the old lessons seem to be the truest; the +old laws the best. And that our cynical and modern disregard of them +make one's salvation none the surer, one's happiness none the safer." + +I heard Boyd sigh heavily, where he lay; but he said nothing more that +I heard; for I slept soon afterward, and was awakened only at dawn. + +Everywhere in the rocky pass the yawning riflemen were falling in and +calling off; a detail of surly Jersey men, carrying ropes, passed us, +cursing the artillery which, it appeared, was in a sorry plight again, +the nine guns all stalled behind us, and an entire New Jersey brigade +detailed to pull them out o' the mud and over the rocks of the +narrowing defile. + +Boyd shared my breakfast, seeming to have recovered something of his +old-time spirits. And if the camp that night had gossiped concerning +what took place at Tioga Fort, it seemed to make no difference to his +friends, who one and all greeted him with the same fellowship and +affection that he had ever inspired among fighting men. No man, I +think, was more beloved and admired in this Western army, by officers +and men alike; for in him were naturally combined all those brilliant +qualities of daring, fearlessness, and gaiety in the face of peril, +which endear, and which men strive to emulate. In no enterprise had he +ever failed to perform the part allotted him; never had he faltered in +the hundred battles fought by Morgan's veteran corps; never had he +seemed dismayed. And if sometimes he did a little more than he was +asked to do, his superior officers forgave this handsome, impetuous +young man--the more readily, perhaps, because, so far, no disaster had +befallen when he exceeded the orders given him. + +My Indians had eaten, and were touching up their paint when Major Parr +came up, wearing a magnificent new suit of fringed buckskins, and +ordered us to guide the rifle battalion. A moment later our conch-horn +boomed out its thrilling and melodious warning. Far in the rear I heard +the drums and bugle-horns of the light infantry sounding the general. + +As we went forward in the early daylight, the nature of the ambuscade +prepared for us became very plain to me; and I pointed out to Major +Parr where the unseen enemy rested, his right flank protected by the +river, his left extending north along the hog-bank, so that his lines +enveloped the trail on which we marched, threatening our entire army in +a most cunning and evil manner. Truly there was no fox like Butler in +the Northland! + +All was very still about us as we marched; the river mist hung along +the woods; a few birds sang; the tops of the Indian corn rustled. + +Toward eight o'clock the conch-horn blew; our riflemen halted and +deployed in perfect silence, facing the unseen works on the wooded +ridge ahead. Another division of troops swung to the left, continuing +the movement to the river in splendid order, where they also halted and +formed a line of battle, facing north. And still the unseen enemy gave +no sign; birds sang; the mist drifted up through the trees. + +From where we lay we could see our artillery horses straining, +plunging, stumbling up a high knoll in the centre of our line, while +Maxwell's division halted and extended behind our riflemen to support +the artillery, and Clinton's four splendid New York regiments hurried +forward on a double, regiment after regiment dropping their packs +behind our lines and running north through the open woods, their +officers all finely mounted and cantering ahead, swords drawn. + +A few moments later, General Sullivan passed along our front on +horseback, and drew bridle for a moment where Boyd and I were standing +at salute. + +"Now is your opportunity, young gentlemen," he said in a low voice. "If +you would gain Catharines-town and destroy Amochol before we drive this +motley Tory army headlong through it, you should start immediately. And +have a care; Butler's entire army and Brant's Mohawks are now +intrenched in front of us; and it is a pitched battle we're facing--God +be thanked!" + +He spurred forward with a friendly gesture toward us, as we saluted; +and his staff officers followed him at a canter while our riflemen +turned their heads curiously to watch the brilliant cavalcade. + +"Where the devil are their log works?" demanded Major Parr, using his +field glasses. "I can see naught but green on that ridge ahead." + +Boyd painted at the crest; but our Major could see nothing; and I +called to Timothy Murphy and Dave Elerson to climb trees and spy out if +the works were still occupied. + +Murphy came down presently from the dizzy top of a huge black-walnut +tree, reporting that he had been able to see into the river angle of +their works; had for a while distinguished nothing, but presently +discovered Indians, crouched motionless, the brilliancy of their paint, +which at first he had mistaken for patches of autumn leaves, betraying +them when they moved. + +"Now, God be praised!" said Major Parr grimly. "For we shall this day +furnish these Western-Gate Keepers with material for a Condolence Feast +such as no Seneca ever dreamed of. And if you gentlemen can surprise +and destroy Amochol, it will be a most blessed day for our unhappy +country." + +General Hand, in his patched and faded uniform of blue and buff, drew +his long, heavy sword and walked his horse over to Major Parr. + +"Well, sir," he said, "we must amuse them, I suppose, until the New +Yorkers gain their left. Push your men forward and draw their fire, +Major." + +There came a low order; the soft shuffle of many mocassined feet; +silence. Presently, ahead of us, a single rifle-shot shattered the +stillness. + +Instantly a mighty roar of Tory musketry filled the forest; and their +Indians, realizing that the ambuscade had been discovered, came leaping +down the wooded ridge, yelling and firing all along our front; and our +rifles began to speak quicker and quicker from every rock and tuft and +fallen log. + +"Are we to miss this?" said Boyd, restlessly. "Listen to that firing! +The devil take this fellow Amochol and his Eries! I wish we were yonder +with our own people. I wish at least that I could see what our New +Yorkers are about!" + +Behind us, Boyd's twenty riflemen stood craning their sunburnt necks; +and my Indians, terribly excited, fairly quivered where they crouched +beside us. But all we could see was the rifle smoke sifting through the +trees, and early sunshine slanting on the misty river. + +The fierce yelling of the unseen Mohawks and Senecas on the wooded +ridge above us had become one continuous and hideous scream, shrill and +piercing above the racket of musketry and rifle fire; sometimes the +dreadful volume of sound surged nearer as though they were charging, or +showing themselves in order to draw us into a frontal attack on their +pits and log breastworks; but always after a little while the yelping +tumult receded, and our rifle fire slackened while the musketry from +the breastworks grew more furious, crashing out volley on volley, while +the entire ridge steamed like a volcano in action. Further to the north +we heard more musketry break out, as our New York regiments passed +rapidly toward Butler's left flank. And by the running fire we could +follow their hurried progress. + +"Hell!" said Boyd, furiously, flinging his rifle to his shoulder. "Come +on, Loskiel, or we'll miss this accursed Amochol also." And he gave the +signal to march. + +As we skirted the high knoll where our artillery was planted, the first +howitzer shot shook the forest, and my Indians cringed as they ran +beside me. High towering rose the shell, screaming like a living thing, +and plunged with a shriek into the woods on the ridge, exploding there +with a most infernal bang. + +Up through the trees gushed a very fountain of smoke, through which we +could dimly see dark objects falling; but whether these were the limbs +of trees or of men we could not tell. + +Crash! A howitzer hurled its five and a half inch shell high into the +sunshine. Boom! Another shot from a three-pounder. Bang! The little +cohorn added its miniature bellow to the bigger guns, which now began +to thunder regularly, one after another, shaking the ground we trod. +The ridge was ruddy with the red lightning of exploding shells. Very +far away in the forest we could hear entire regiments, as they climbed +the slopes, cheering above the continuous racket of musketry; the +yelling of the Senecas and Mohawks grew wavering, becoming ragged and +thinner. + +It was hard for us all, I think, to turn our backs on the first real +battle we had seen in months--hard for Boyd, for me, and for our twenty +riflemen; harder, perhaps, for our Indians, who could hear the yells of +their most deadly enemies, and who knew that they were within striking +distance at last. + +As we marched in single file, I leading with my Indians, I said aloud, +in the Iroquois tongue: + +"If in this Battle of the Chemung the Mountain Snake be left writhing, +yet unless we crush his head at Catharines-town, the serpent will live +to strike again. For though a hundred arrows stick in the Western +Serpent's body, his poison lies in his fangs; his fangs are rooted in +his head; and the head still hisses at God and man from the shaggy +depths of Catharines-town. It is for us of the elect to slay him +there--for us few and chosen ones honoured by this mandate from our +commander. Why, then, should the thunder of Proctor's guns arouse in us +envy for those who join in battle? Let the iron guns do their part; let +the men of New York, of Jersey, of Virginia, of New Hampshire, of +Pennsylvania, do the great part allotted them. Let us in our hearts +pray God to speed them. For if we do our part as worthily, only then +shall their labour be not in vain. Their true title to glory is in our +keeping, locked inevitably with our own. If we fail, they have failed. +Judge, therefore, O Sagamore, judge, you Yellow Moth, and you +Oneidas--Grey-Feather, with your war-chief's feather and your Sachem's +ensign, Tahoontowhee, chieftain to be--judge, all of you, where the +real glory lies--whether behind us in the rifle smoke or before us in +the red glare of Amochol's accursed altar!" + +They had been listening to every word as I walked beside them. The +Mohican made answer first: + +"It was hard for us to leave the Chemung, O Loskiel, my brother--with +the dog-yelps at the Sinako and Mowawaks insulting our ears. But it was +wiser. I, a Sagamore, say it!" + +"It is God's will," said the Yellow Moth. But his eyes were still red +with his fierce excitement; and the distant cannonade steadily +continued as we marched. + +"I am Roya-neh!" said the Grey-Feather. "What wisdom counsels I +understand, He who would wear the scaly girdle must first know where +the fangs lie buried.... But to hear the Antouhonoran scalp-yelp, and +to turn one's back, is very hard, O my friend, Loskiel." + +The Night-Hawk controlled his youthful features, forcing a merry smile +as my eye fell on him. + +"Koue!" he exclaimed softly. "I have made promise to my thirsty +hatchet, O Loskiel! Else it might have leaped from its sheath and +bitten some one." + +"A good hatchet and a good dog bite only under orders," I said. "My +younger brother's hatchet has acquired glory; now it is acquiring +wisdom." + +Boyd came up along the line, his deerskin shirt open to the breastbone, +the green fringe blowing in the hill wind. + +Far below us in the river valley sounded the uproar of the battle--a +dull, confused, and distant thunder--for now we could no longer hear +the musketry and rifle fire, only the boom-booming of the guns and the +endless roar of echoes. + +Here on a high hill's spur, with a brisk wind blowing in our faces, the +heavy rumble of forest warfare became deadened; and we looked out over +the naked ridge of rock, across the forests of this broken country, +into a sea of green which stretched from horizon to horizon, accented +only by the silver glimmer of lakes and the low mountain peaks east, +west, and south of us. + +Below us lay a creek, its glittering thread visible here and there. The +Great Warrior trail crossed it somewhere in that ravine. + +I drew the Mohican aside. + +"Sagamore," said I, "now is your time come. Now we depend on you. If it +lay with us, not one white man here, not one Indian, could take us +straight to Catharines-town; for the Great Warrior trail runs not +thither. Are you, then, confident that you know the way?" + +"I know the way, Loskiel." + +"Is there then a trail that leads from the Great Warrior trail below?" + +"There are many." + +"And you know the right one?" + +"I have spoken, brother." + +"I am satisfied. But we must clearly mark the trail for our surveyors +and for the army." + +"We will mark it," he said meaningly, "so that no Seneca dog can ever +mistake which way we passed." + +I did not exactly understand him, but I nodded to Boyd and he gave the +signal, and we began the descent through the warm twilight of an open +forest that sloped to the creek a thousand feet below us. + +Down and down we went, partly sliding, and plowing up the moss and +leaves knee-deep, careless how we left our trail, as there was none to +follow, save the debris of a flying army or the flanking scouts of a +victorious one. + +Below us the foaming rifles of the creek showed white in the woodland +gloom, and presently we heard its windy voice amid rocks and fallen +trees, soughing all alone through leafy solitudes; and its cool, damp +breath mounted to us as we descended. + +The Indians dropped prone to slake their thirst; the riflemen squatted +and used their cups of bark or leather, pouring the sweet, icy water +over their cropped heads and wrists. + +"Off packs!" said Boyd quietly, and drew a bit of bread and meat from +his beaded wallet. And so the Mohican and I left them all eating by the +stream, and crossed to the western bank. Here the Sagamore pointed to +the opposite slope; I gave a low whistle, and Boyd looked across the +water at me. + +Then I drew my hatchet and notched a tree so that he saw what I did; he +nodded comprehension; we went on, notching trees at intervals, and so +ascended the slope ahead until we arrived at the top. + +Here the forest lay flat beyond, and the Great Warrior trail ran +through it--a narrow path fifteen inches wide, perhaps, and worn nearly +a foot deep, and patted as hard as rock by the light feet of +generations--men and wild beasts--which had traversed it for centuries. + +North and south the deeply graven war trail ran straight through the +wilderness. The Mohican bent low above it, scrutinizing it in the +subdued light, then stepped lightly into it, and I behind him. + +For a little way we followed it, seeing other and narrower trails +branching from it right and left, running I knew not whither--the +narrow, delicate lanes made by game--deer and bear, fox and hare--all +spreading out into the dusk of the unknown forest. + +Presently we came to a trail which seemed wet, as though swampy land +were not far away; and into this the Mohican turned, slashing a great +scar on the nearest tree as he entered it. + +There was a mossy stream ahead, and the banks of it were dark and soft. +Here we rested high and dry on the huge roots of an oak, and ate our +midday meal. + +In a little while the remainder of our party came gliding through the +trees, Boyd ahead. + +"Is this the Catharines-town trail?" he asked. "By God, they'll never +get their artillery through here. Mark it, all the same," he added +indifferently, and seated himself beside me, dropping his rifle across +his knees with a gesture of weariness. + +"Are you tired?" I asked. + +He looked up at me with a wan smile. + +"Weary of myself, Loskiel, and of a life lived too lightly and now nigh +ended." + +"Nigh ended!" I repeated. + +"I go not back again," he said, sombrely. + +I glanced sharply at him, where he sat brooding over his rifle; and +there was in his face an expression such as I had never before seen +there--something unnatural that altered him altogether, as death alters +the features, leaving them strangely unfamiliar. And even as I looked, +the expression passed. He lifted his eyes to mine, and even smiled. + +"There is," he said, "a viewless farm which companions even the +swiftest on the last long trail, a phantom-pilot which leads only +toward that Shadowed Valley of endless rest. In my ears all day--close, +close to my ear, I have heard the whisper of this unseen +ghost--everywhere I have heard it, amid the din of the artillery, on +windy hill-tops, in the long silence of the forest, through the noise +of torrents in lost ravines, by flowing rivers sparkling in the +sun--everywhere my pilot whispers to me. I can not escape, Loskiel; +whatever trail I take, that is the trail; whichever way I turn, that is +the way. And ever my phantom pilots me--forward or back, aside or +around--it is all one to him and to me, for at the end of every trail I +take, nearer and nearer draw I to mine end." + +I had heard of premonitions before a battle; had known officers and +soldiers to utter them--brave men, too, yet obsessed by the conviction +of their approaching death. Sometimes they die; sometimes escape, and +the premonition ends forever. But until the moment of peril is passed, +or they fall as they had foretold, no argument will move them, no +assurance cheer them. But our corps had been in many battles during the +last three years, and I had never before seen Boyd this way. + +He said, brooding on his rifle: + +"The one true passion of my life has been Lana Helmer. It began +ignobly; it continues through all this pain and bewilderment, a pure, +clean current, running to the deep, still sea of dreams.... There it is +lost; I follow it no further.... And were I here today as upright and +as stainless as are you, Loskiel, still I could follow it no further +than that sea of dreams. Nor would my viewless pilot lead me elsewhere +than to the destiny of silence that awaits me; and none the less would +I hear his whisper in my ears.... My race is run." + +I said: "Is it vain to appeal to your reason when your heart is heavy?" + +"Had I another chance," he said, "I would lighten the load of sin I +bear--the heavy load I bear with me into the unknown." + +"God gives us all our chance." + +"He gave me my last chance at Tioga Fort. And I cursed it in my heart +and put it aside." + +"One day you will return," + +"Never again, Loskiel.... I am no coward. I dare face the wrath to +come. It is not that; but--I am sorry I did not spare when I might have +been more generous.... The little thing was ignorant.... Doves mate +like that.... And somewhere--somehow--I shall be required to answer for +it all--shall be condemned to make amends.... I wonder how the dead +make their amends?... For me to burn in hell avails her nothing.... If +she thought it she would weep uncomforted.... No; there is a justice. +But how it operates I shall never understand until it summons me to +hear my sentence." + +"You will return and do what a contrite heart bids you to do," I said. + +"If that might be," he said gently, "that would I do--for the child's +sake and for hers." + +"Good God!" I said under my breath. + +"Did you not surmise it?" + +"No." + +"Well, then, now you know how deeply I am damned.... God gave me a last +chance. There was a chaplain at the fort." + +"Kirkland." + +"Yes, Gann went forward.... But--God's grace was not within me.... And +to see her angered me--that and the blinding hurt I had when Lana +left--heart-broken, wretched, still loving me, but consigning me to my +duty.... So I denied her at the bridge.... And from that moment has my +unseen pilot walked beside me, and I know he leads me swiftly to my +end." + +I raised my troubled eyes and glanced toward my Indians. They had +stripped great squares of bark from half a dozen trees, and were busily +painting upon them, in red and blue, insulting signs and symbols--a +dead tree-cat, scalped, and full of arrows; a snake severed into +sections; a Seneca tied to a post and a broken wampum belt at his feet. +And on every tree they had also painted the symbol of their own clans +and nation--pointed stones and the stars of the Pleiades; a witch-wolf +and an enchanted bear; a yellow moth alighted on a white cross; a +night-hawk, perfectly recognizable, soaring high above a sun, setting, +bisecting the line of the horizon. + +Every scalp taken was duly enumerated and painted there, together with +every captured weapon. Such a gallery of art in the wilderness I had +never before beheld. + +Boyd's riflemen sat around, cross-legged on the moss, watching the +Indians at their labour--all except Murphy and Elerson, who, true to +their habits, had each selected a tree to decorate, and were hard at +work with their hunting knives on the bark. + +On Murphy's tree I read: "To hell with Walter Butler." + +Elerson, who no doubt had scraped the outlines of this legend with his +knife-point before Murphy carved it, had produced another message on +his own tree, not a whit more complimentary: "Dam Butler, Brant, +Hiakotoo, and McDonald for bloody rogues and murtherin' rascals all!" + +They were ever like this, these two great overgrown boys, already +celebrated so terribly in song and legend. And the rank and file of +Morgan's resembled them--brave to a fault, innately lawless, of scant +education save what the forest had taught them, headstrong, quick to +anger, quick to forgive, violent in every emotion through the entire +gamut from love to hatred. + +Boyd rose, glanced quietly at me, then made his signal. And in a few +moments the riflemen were on the trail again, spotting it wherever a +new path led away, trotting steadily forward in single file, my Indians +ranging wide on either flank. + +Late in the afternoon we came to the height of land, where the little +water-courses all ran north; and here we halted, dropped packs, and the +men sat down while the Sagamore and I once more went forward to the +headwaters of a stream, beside which the narrow and swampy trail ran +due north. And here the nature of the country changed entirely, for +beyond it was all one vast swamp, as still and dark as death. + +A little way along this blackish stream Mayaro halted, and for a while +stood motionless, his powerful arms folded, gazing straight in front of +him with the half-closed eyes of a dreaming wolf. + +Never had I looked upon so sinister a country or a swamp so vast and +desolate. It seemed more black than dusky, and the gloom lay not in the +obscure light of thick-set spruce, pine, and hemlock, but in the +shaggy, monstrous, and forbidding growth which appeared to be soiled +with some common dye, water, earth, tree-trunks, foliage--all wore the +same inky livery, and seemed wrought of rusty iron, so still the huge +trees stood, with every melancholy branch a-droop. + +Sign of life there was none; the current of the narrow stream ran like +smooth oil; nor was its motion visible where it wound between soft, +black banks of depthless swamp through immemorial shadows. + +The Mohican's voice came to me, low in the silence, sounding dull and +remote; nor did his dreaming eyes move in their vague intensity. + +"This is the land of Amochol," he said. "Here, through these viewless +shades, his sway begins, as this stream begins, whose source is +darkness and whose current moves slowly like thick blood. Here is the +haunt of witch and sorcerer--of the hag Catrine, of the Wyoming Fiend, +of Amochol--of Amochol! Here run the Andastes, hunting through the dusk +like wolves and foxes--running, smelling, listening, ever hunting. Here +slink the Cat-People under a moon which is hidden forever by this +matted forest roof. This is the Dark Empire, O Loskiel! Behold!" + +A slight shudder chilled me, but I said calmly enough: + +"Where lies Catharines-town, O Sagamore?" + +"This thick, dark stream runs through it." + +"Through Catharines-town?" + +"Aye." + +"And then?" + +"Along the vast chain of inland seas--first into the Lake of the +Senecas, then to that of the Cayugas, fed by Owasco, by Onondaga, by +Oneida, until it is called Oswego, and flows north by the great fort +into the sea Ontario." + +"And where lies Catharines-town?" + +"Nine miles beyond us, northward." + +"And the trail?" + +"None, Loskiel, save for the maze of game trails where long leaps are +made from tussock to swale, from root to rotting log across black pools +of mud, and quivering quicksands whose depths are white as snow under +the skin of mud, set with tarnished rainbow bubbles." + +"But--those who come after us, Mayaro! The army--the wagons, horses, +artillery, cattle--nay, the men themselves! How are they to pass?" + +He pointed east, then west: "For six miles, flanking this swamp, run +ridges of high hills northward. By these must the army march to +Catharines-town, the pioneers opening a road for the artillery. This +you shall make plain to Boyd presently, for he must march that way, +marking plain the trail north on the eastern ridge of hills, then west. +Thus shall Boyd move to cut off Amochol from the lake, while you and I +and the Oneidas and the Yellow Moth must thread this swamp and comb it +clean to head him from the rivers south of us." + +"Is there a path along the ridge?" + +"No path, Loskiel. So Boyd shall march by compass, slowly, seeking over +the level way, and open woods, with the artillery and wagons ever in +his thoughts. Six miles due north shall he march; then, where the hills +end a swamp begins--thick, miry, set with maple, brier, and tamarack. +But through this he must blaze his trail, and the pioneers who are to +follow shall lay their wagon-path across felled trees, northward still, +across the forests that border the flats of Catharines-town; and then, +still northward for a mile; and so swing west, severing the lake trail. +Thus we shall trap Amochol between us." + +Slowly we walked back together to the height of land, where our little +party lay looking down at the dark country below. I sat down beside +Boyd, cleared from the soil the leaves for a little space, drew my +knife, and with its point traced out the map. + +He listened in silence, while I went over all that the Sagamore had +taught me; and around us squatted our Indians, motionless, fiercely +intent upon my every word and gesture. + +"Today is Sunday," I said. "By this hour, Butler's people should be in +headlong flight. Our army will not follow them at once, because it will +take all day tomorrow for our men to destroy the corn along the +Chemung. But on Tuesday our army will surely march, laying waste the +Indian towns and fields. Therefore, giving them ample time for this, +they should arrive at this spot on Wednesday." + +"I have so calculated," said Boyd, listlessly. + +"But Wednesday is the first day of September; and if we are to strike +Amochol at all it must be done during the Onon-hou-aroria. And that +ends on Tuesday. Therefore, must you move within the hour. And by +tomorrow evening you shall have blazed your hill-trail and shall be +lying with your men beside the stream and across the lake trail, north +of Catharines-town." + +He nodded. + +"Tonight," said I, "I and my Indians lie here on this height of land, +watching the swamp below, that nothing creep out of it. On Monday +morning, we move through it, straight northward, following the stream, +and by Monday night we scout to Catharines-town." + +"That is clear," he said, lifting his handsome head from his hands. +"And the signal should come from me. Listen, Loskiel; you shall expect +that signal between midnight of Monday and dawn." + +He rose, and I stood up; and for a moment we looked each other steadily +in the eye. Then he smiled faintly, shaking his head: + +"Not this time, Loskiel," he said in a low voice. "My spectral pilot +gives no sign. Death lies beyond the fires of Catharines-town. I know, +Loskiel--I know." + +"I also," said I in a low voice, taking his outstretched hand, "for you +shall live to make material amends as you have made them spiritually. +Only the act of deep contrition lies between you and God's swift +pardon. It were a sin to doubt it." + +But he slowly shook his head, the faint smile lingering still. Then his +grip closed suddenly on my hand, released it, and he swung on his heel. + +"Attention!" he said crisply. "Sling packs! Fall in! Tr-r-rail arms! +March!" + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE RITE OF THE HIDDEN CHILDREN + +My Indians and I stood watching our riflemen as they swung to the east +and trotted out of sight among the trees. Then, at a curt nod from me, +the Indians lengthened their line, extending it westward along the +height of land, and so spreading out that they entirely commanded the +only outlet to the swamp below, by encircling both the trail and the +headwaters of the evil-looking little stream. + +Through the unbroken thatch of matted foliage overhead no faintest ray +of sunlight filtered--not even where the stream coiled its slimy way +among the tamaracks and spruces. But south of us, along the ascending +trail by which we had come, the westering sun glowed red across a ledge +of rock, from which the hill fell sheer away, plunging into profound +green depths, where unseen waters flowed southward to the Susquehanna. + +Around the massive elbow of this ledge, our back-trail, ascending into +view, curved under shouldering boulders. Blueberry scrub, already +turning gold and crimson, grew sparsely on the crag--cover enough for +any watcher of the trail. And thither I crept and stretched me out flat +in the bushes, where I could see the trail we had lately traversed, and +look along it far to our rear as clearly as one sees through a dim and +pillared corridor. + +West of me, a purplish ridge ran north, the sun shining low through a +pine-clad notch. Southwest of me, little blue peaks pricked the +primrose sky; south-east lay endless forests, their green already +veiled in an ashy blue bloom. Far down, under me, wound the narrow +back-trail through the gulf below. + +Presently, beside me came creeping the lithe Mohican, and lay down +prone, smooth and golden, and shining like a sleek panther in the sun. + +"Is all well guarded, brother?" I whispered. + +"Not even a wood-mouse could creep from the swamp unless our warriors +see it." + +"And when dark comes?" + +"Our ears must be our eyes, Loskiel.... But neither the Cat-People nor +the Andastes will venture out of that morass, save only by the trail. +And we shall have two watchers on it through the night." + +"There is no other outlet?" + +"None, except by the ridge Boyd travels. He blocks that pass with his +twenty men." + +"Then we should have their egress blocked, except only in the north?" + +"Yes--unless they learn of this by magic," muttered the Mohican. + +It was utterly useless for me to decry or ridicule his superstitions; +and there was but one way to combat them. + +"If witchcraft there truly be in Catharines-town," said I, "it is bad +magic, and therefore weak; and can avail nothing against true +priesthood. What could the degraded acolytes of this Red Priest do +against a consecrated Sagamore of the Lenape--against an ensign of the +Enchanted Clan? Else why do you wear your crest--or the great Ghost +Bear there rearing upon your breast?" + +"It is true," he murmured uneasily. "What spell can Amochol lay upon +us? What magic can he make to escape us? For the trail from +Catharines-town is stopped by a Siwanois Sagamore and a Mohican +warrior! It is closed by an Oneida Sachem who stand watching. When the +Ghost Bear and the Were-Wolf watch, then the whole forest watches with +them--Loup, Blue Wolf, and Bear. Where, then, can the Forest Cats slink +out? Where can the filthy Carcajou escape?" + +"Mayaro has spoken. It is a holy barrier that locks and bolts this door +of secret evils. Under Tharon shall this trap remain inviolate till the +last sorcerer be taken in it, the last demon be dead!" + +* "Yo-ya-ne-re!" he said, deliberately employing the Canienga +expression with a fierce scorn that, for a moment, made his noble +features terrible. Then he spat as though to wash from his mouth the +taste of the hated language that had soiled it, even when used in +contempt and derision; and he said in the suave tongue of his own +people: "Pray to your white God, Holder of Heaven, Master of Life and +Death, that into our hands be delivered these scoffers who mock at Him +and at Tharon--these Cat-murderers of little children, these pollutors +of the Three Fires. And in the morning I shall arise and look into the +rising sun, and ask the same of the far god who made of me a Mohican, a +Siwanois, and a Sagamore. Let these things be done, brother, ere our +hatchets redden in the flames of Catharines-town. For," he added, +naively, "it is well that God should know what we are about, lest He +misunderstand our purpose." + +[* "It is well!"] + +I assented gravely. + +The sun hung level, now, sending its blinding light straight into our +eyes; and for precaution's sake we edged away under the blue shadows of +the shrubbery, in case some far prowler note the light spots where our +faces showed against the wall of green behind us. + +"How far from Catharines-town," I asked, "lies the Vale Yndaia, of +which our little Lois has spoken?" + +"It is the next valley to the westward. A pass runs through and a +little brook. Pleasant it is, Loskiel, with grassy glades and half a +hundred little springs which we call 'Eyes of the Inland Seas.'" + +"You know," I said, "that in this valley all the hopes of Lois de +Contrecoeur are centred." + +"I know, Loskiel," he answered gravely. + +"Do you believe her mother lives there still?" + +"How shall I know, brother? If it were with these depraved and +perverted Senecas as it is with other nations, the mother of a Hidden +Child had lived there unmolested. Her lodge would have remained her +sanctuary; her person had been respected; her Hidden One undisturbed +down to this very hour. But see how the accursed Senecas have dealt +with her, so that to save her child from Amochol she sent it far beyond +the borders of the Long House itself! What shame upon the Iroquois that +the Senecas have defiled their purest law! May Leshi seize them all! So +how, then, shall I know whether this white captive mother lives in the +Vale Yndaia still--or if she lives at all? Or if they have not made of +her a priestess--a sorceress--perhaps The Dreaming Prophetess of the +Onon-hou-aroria!--by reason of her throat being white!" + +"What!" I exclaimed, startled. + +"Did not the Erie boast a Prophetess to confound us all?" + +"I did not comprehend." + +"Did he not squat, squalling at us from his cave, deriding every secret +plan we entertained, and boasting that the Senecas had now a prophetess +who could reveal to them everything their white enemies were +plotting--because her own throat was white?" + +I looked at him in silent horror. + +"Hai-ee!" he said grimly. "If she still lives at all it is because she +dreams for Amochol. And this, Loskiel, has long remained my opinion. +Else they had slain her on their altars long ago--strangled her as soon +as ever she sent her child beyond their reach. For what she did broke +sanctuary. According to the code of the Long House, the child belonged +to the nation in which the mother was a captive. And by the mother's +act this child was dedicated to a stainless marriage with some other +child who also had been hidden. But the Red Sorcerer has perverted this +ancient law; and when he would have taken the child to sacrifice it, +then did the mother break the law of sanctuary and send her child away, +knowing, perhaps, that the punishment for this is death. + +"So you ask me whether or not she still lives. And I say to you that I +do not know; only I judge by the boasting of that vile Erie Cat that +she has bought her life of them by dreaming for their Red Priest. And +if she has done this thing, and has deceived them until this day, then +it is very plain to me that they believe her to be a witch. For it is +true, Loskiel, that those who dream wield heavy influences among all +Indians--and among the Iroquois in particular. Yet, with all this, I +doubt not that, if she truly be alive, her life hangs by a single +thread, ever menaced by the bloody knife of Amochol." + +"I can not understand," said I, "why she sent out no appeal during her +long captivity. Before this war broke, had her messengers to Lois gone +to Sir William Johnson, or to Guy Johnson, with word that the Senecas +held in their country a white woman captive, she had been released +within a fortnight, I warrant you!" + +"Loskiel, had that appeal gone out, and a belt been sent to +Catharines-town from Johnstown or Guy Park, the Senecas would have +killed her instantly and endured the consequences--even though Amherst +himself was thundering on their Western Gate." + +"Are you sure, Mayaro?" + +"Certain, Loskiel. She could not have lived a single moment after the +Senecas learned that she had sent out word of her captivity. That is +their law, which even Amochol could not break." + +"It was a mercy that our little Lois appealed not to His Excellency, so +that the word ran through Canada by flag to Haldimand." + +"She might have done this," said the Sagamore quietly. "She asked me at +Poundridge how this might be accomplished. But when I made it clear to +her that it meant her mother's death, she said no more about it." + +"But pushed on blindly by herself," I exclaimed, "braving the sombre +Northland forests with her little ragged feet--half naked, hungry, +friendless, and alone, facing each terror calmly, possessed only of her +single purpose! O Sagamore of a warrior clan that makes a history of +brave deeds done, can you read in the records of your most ancient +wampum a braver history than this?" + +He said: "Let what this maid has done be written in the archives of the +white men, where are gathered the records of brave but unwise deeds. So +shall those who come after you know how to praise and where to pity our +little rosy pigeon of the forest. No rash young warrior of my own +people, bound to the stake itself can boast of greater bravery than +this. And you, blood-brother to a Siwanois, shall witness what I say." + +After a silence I said: "They must have passed Wyoming already. At this +hour our little Lois may be secure under the guns of Easton. Do you not +think so, Mayaro?" + +As he made no answer, I glanced around at him and found him staring +fixedly at the trail below us. + +"What do you see on our back-trail?" I whispered. + +"A man, Loskiel--if it be not a deer." + +A moment and I also saw something moving far below us among the trees. +As yet it was only a mere spot in the dim light of the trail, slowly +ascending the height of land. Nearer, nearer it came, until at length +we could see that it was a man. But no rifle slanted across his +shoulder. + +"He must be one of our own people," I said, puzzled. "Somebody sends us +a messenger. Is he white or Indian?" + +"White," said the Sagamore briefly, his eyes still riveted on the +approaching figure, which now I could see was clothed in deerskin shirt +and leggins. + +"He carries neither pack nor rifle; only a knife and pouch. He is a +wood-running fool!" I said, disgusted. "Why do they send us such a +forest-running battman, when they have Oneidas at headquarters, and +Coureurs-de-Bois to spare who understand their business?" + +"I make nothing of him," murmured the Mohican, his eyes fairly +glittering with excitement and perplexity. + +"Is he, perhaps, some fugitive from Butler's rangers?" I whispered, +utterly at a loss to account for such a silly spectacle. "The pitiful +idiot! Did you ever gaze upon the like, Mayaro--unless he be some +French mission priest. Otherwise, yonder walks the greatest of God's +fools!" + +"Then he is easily taken," muttered Mayaro. "Fix thy flint, Loskiel, +and prime. Here is a business I do not understand." + +Once the man halted and looked up at our ledge of rock, where the last +sun rays still lingered, then lightly continued the ascent. And I, +turning to the Mohican for some possible explanation of this amazing +sight, ere we crept out to closer ambush, found Mayaro staring through +the trees with a glassy and singular expression which changed swiftly +to astonishment, and then to utter blankness. + +"Etho!" he exclaimed, bluntly, springing to his feet behind the nearer +trees, regardless whether or not the stranger saw him. "Go forward now, +Loskiel. This is a fool's business--and badly begun. Now, let a white +man's wisdom finish it." + +I, too, had risen in surprise, stepping backward also, in order that +the trees might screen me. And at the same moment the stranger rounded +the jutting shoulder of our crag, and came suddenly face to face with +me in midtrail. + +"Euan!" + +So astounded was I that my rifle fell clattering from my nerveless hand +as she sprang forward and caught my shoulders with both her hands. And +I saw her grey eyes filling and her lips quivering with words she could +not utter. + +"Lois!" I repeated, as though stupefied. "Lois!" + +"Oh, Euan! Euan! I thought I would never, never come up with you!" she +whimpered. "I left the batteau where it touched at Towanda Creek, and +hid in the woods and dressed me in the Oneida dress you gave me. Then, +by the first batt-man who passed, I sent a message to Lana saying that +I was going back to--to join you. Are you displeased?" + +Her trembling hands clasped my shoulders tighter, and her face drew +closer, so that her sweet, excited breath fell on my cheek. + +"Listen!" she stammered. "I desire to tell you everything! I will tell +you all, Euan! I ran back along the trail, meeting the boat-guard, +batt-men, and the sick horses all along the way to Tioga, where they +took me over on a raft of logs.... I paid them three hard shillings. +Then Colonel Shreve heard of what I had been about, and sent a soldier +after me, but I avoided the fort, Euan, and went boldly up through the +deserted camps until I came to where the army had crossed. Some +teamsters mending transport wagons gave me bread and meat enough to +fill my pouch; and one of them, a kindly giant, took me over the +Chemung dry shod, I clinging to his broad back like a very cat--and all +o' them a-laughing fit to burst!... Are you displeased, dear lad?... +Then, just at night, I came up with the rear-guard, where they were +searching for strayed cattle; and I stowed myself away in a broken-down +wagon, full of powder--quietly, like a mouse, no one dreaming that I +was not the slender youth I looked. So none molested me where I lay +amid the powder casks and sacking." + +She smiled wistfully, and stood caressing my arms with her eager little +hands, as though to calm the wrath to come. + +"I heard your regiment's pretty conch-horn in the morning," she said, +"and slipped out of my wagon and edged forward amid all that swearing, +sweating confusion, noticed not at all by anybody, save when a red-head +Jersey sergeant bawled at me to man a rope and haul at the mired cannon +with the others. But I was deaf just then, Euan, and got free o' them +with nothing worse than a sound cursing from the sergeant; and away +across the creek I legged it, where I hid in the bush until the firing +began and the horrid shouting on the ridge. Then it was that, badly +scared, I crept through the Indian grass like a hunted hare, and saw +Lieutenant Boyd there, and his men, halted across the trail. And very +soon our cannon began, and then it was that I saw you and your Indians +filing out to the right. So I followed you. Oh, Euan, are you very +angry? Because, dear lad, I have had so lonely a trail, what with +keeping clear of your party so that you might not catch me and send me +back, and what with losing you after you had left the main, trodden +trail! Save for the marks you left on trees, I had been utterly +lost--and must have perished, no doubt----" She looked at me with +melting eyes. + +"Think on that, Euan, ere you grow too angry and are cruel with me." + +"Cruel? Lois, you have been more heartless than I ever----" + +"There! I knew it! Your anger is about to burst its dreadful bounds----" + +"Child! What is there to say or do now? What is there left for me, save +to offer you what scant protection I may--good God!--and take you +forward with us in the morning? This is a cruel, unmerited perplexity +you have caused me, Lois. What unkind inspiration prompted you to do +this rash, mad, foolish thing! How could you so conduct? What can you +hope to accomplish in all this wicked and bloody business that now +confronts us? How can I do my duty--how perform it to the letter--with +you beside me--with my very heart chilling to water at thought of your +peril----" + +"Hush, dearest lad," she whispered, tightening her fingers on my +sleeve. "All in the world I care for lies in this place where we now +stand--or near it. Have I not told you that I must go to +Catharines-town? How could I remain behind when every tie I have in all +the world was tugging at my heart to draw me hither? You ask me what I +can do--what I can hope to accomplish. God knows--but my mother and my +lover are here--and how could I stay away if there was a humble chance +that I might do some little thing to aid her--to aid you, Euan? + +"Why do you scowl at me? Try me, Test me. I am tough as an Indian +youth, strong and straight and supple--and as tireless. See--I am not +wearied with the trail! I am not afraid. I can do what you do. If you +fast I can fast, too; when you go thirsty I can endure it also; and you +may not even hope to out-travel me, Euan, for I am innured to +sleeplessness, to hunger, to fatigue, by two years' +vagabondage--hardened of limb and firm of body, self-taught in +self-denial, in quiet endurance, in stealth, and patience. Oh, Euan! +Make me your comrade, as you would take a younger brother, to school +him in the hardy ways of life you know so well! I will be no burden to +you; I will serve you humbly and faithfully; prove docile, obedient, +and grateful to the end. And if the end comes in the guise of +death--Euan--Euan! Why may I not share that also with you? For the +world's joy dies when you die, and my body might as well die with it!" + +So eager and earnest her argument, so tightly she clung to my arms, so +pleading and sweet her ardent face, upturned, with the tears scarcely +dry under her lashes, that I found nought to answer her, and could only +look into her eyes--deep, deep into those grey-blue wells of +truth--troubled to silence by her present plight and mine. + +I could not take her back now, and also keep my tryst with Boyd at +Catharines-town. I could not leave her here by this trail, even +guarded--had I the guards to spare--for soon in our wake would come +thundering the maddened debris of the Chemung battle, pell-mell, +headlong through the forests, desperate, with terror leading and fury +lashing at their heels. + +I laid my hands heavily upon her firm, young shoulders, and strove to +think the while I studied her; but the enchantment of her confused my +mind, and I saw only the crisp and clustering curls, and clear, young +eyes looking into mine, and the lips scarce parted, hanging breathless +on my words. + +"O boy-girl comrade!" I said in a low, unsteady voice. "Little boy-girl +born to do endless mischief in this wide and wind-swept forest world of +men! What am I to say to you, who have your will of everyone beneath +the sun? Who am I to halt the Starry Dancers, or bar your wayward trail +when Tharon himself has hidden you, and the Little People carry to you +'winged moccasins for flying feet as light and swift!' For truly I +begin to think it has been long since woven in the silvery and eternal +wampum--belt after belt, string twisted around string--that you shall +go to Catharines-town unscathed. + +"Where she was born returns the rosy Forest Pigeon to her native tree +for mating. White-Throat--White-Throat--your course is flown! For this +is Amochol's frontier; and by tomorrow night we enter +Catharines-town--thou and I, little Lois--two Hidden Children--one +hidden by the Western Gate, one by the Eastern Gate's dark threshold, +'hidden in the husks.'...How shall it be with us now, O little rosy +spirit of the home-wood? My Indians will ask. What shall I say to them +concerning you?" + +"All laws break of themselves before us twain, who, having been hidden, +are prepared for mating--where we will--and when.... And if the long +flight be truly ended--and the home forests guard our secret--and if +Tharon be God also--and His stars the altar lights--and his river-mist +my veil----" She faltered, and her clear gaze became confused. "Why +should your Indians question you?" she asked. + +The last ray of the sun reddened the forest, lingered, faded, and went +out in ashes. I said: + +"God and Tharon are one. Priest and Sagamore, clergyman and Sachem, +minister, ensign, Roya-neh--red men or white, all are consecrated +before the Master of Life. If in these Indians' eyes you are still to +remain sacred, then must you promise yourself to me, little Lois. And +let the Sagamore perform the rite at once." + +"Betroth myself, Euan?" + +"Yes, under the Rite of the Hidden Children. Will you do this--so that +my Indians can lay your hands upon their hearts? Else they may turn +from you now--perhaps prove hostile." + +"I had desired to have you take me from my mother's arms." + +"And so I will, in marriage--if she be alive to give you." + +"Then--what is this we do?" + +"It is our White Bridal." + +"Summon the Sagamore," she said faintly. + +And so it was done there, I prompting her with her responses, and the +mysterious rite witnessed by the priesthood of two nations--Sachem and +Sagamore, Iroquois and Algonquin, with the tall lodge-poles of the +pines confirming it, and the pale ghost-flowers on the moss fulfilling +it, and the stars coming one by one to nail our lodge door with silver +nails, and the night winds, enchanted, chanting the Karenna of the +Uncut Corn. + +And now the final and most sacred symbol of betrothal was at hand; and +the Oneida Sachem drew away, and the Yellow Moth and the Night Hawk +stood aside, with heads quietly averted, leaving the Sagamore alone +before us. For only a Sagamore of the Enchanted Clan might stand as +witness to the mystery, where now the awful, viewless form of Tharon +was supposed to stand, white winged and plumed, and robed like the +Eight Thunders in snowy white. + +"Listen, Loskiel," he said, "my younger brother, blood-brother to a +Siwanois. Listen, also, O Rosy-Throated Pigeon of the Woods--home from +the unseen flight to mate at last!" + +He plucked four ghost-flowers, and cast the pale blossoms one by one to +the four great winds. + +"O untainted winds that blow the Indian corn," he said, "winds of the +wilderness, winds of the sounding skies--clean and pure as ye are, not +one of you has blown the green and silken blankets loose from these, +our Hidden Children, nestling unseen, untouched, unstained, close +cradled in a green embrace. Nor wind, nor rain, nor hail, not the +fierce heat of many summers have revealed these Hidden Ones, stripped +them of the folded verdure that conceals them still, each wrapped +within the green leaves of the corn. + +"Continue to listen, winds of the sounding skies. Let the Eight +White-plumed Thunders listen. An ensign of the Magic Clan bears witness +under Tharon. A Sagamore veils his face. Let Tharon hear these children +when they speak. Let Tamenund listen!" + +Standing straight and tall there in the starlight, he drew his blanket +across his eyes. The Oneidas and the Stockbridge did the same. + +Slowly, timidly, in compliance with my whispered bidding, the slender, +trembling hands of Lois unlaced my throat-points to the shoulder, +baring my chest. Then she said aloud, but in a voice scarce audible, I +prompting every word: + +"It is true! Under the folded leaves a Hidden Youth is sleeping. I bid +him sleep awhile. I promise to disturb no leaf. This is the White +Bridal. I close what I have scarcely parted. I bid him sleep this +night. When--when----" + +I whispered, prompting her, and she found her voice, continuing: + +"When at his lodge door they shall come softly and lay shadows to bar +it, a moon to seal it, and many stars to nail it fast, then, in the +dark within, I shall hear the painted quiver rattle as he puts it off; +and the antlers fall clashing to the ground. Only the green and tender +cloak of innocence shall endure--a little while--then, falling, enfold +us twain embraced where only one had slept before. A promised bride has +spoken." + +She bowed her head, took my hands in hers, laid them lightly on her +heart; then straightened up, with a long-drawn, quivering breath, and +stood, eyes closed, as I unlaced her throat-points, parting the +fawn-skin cape till the soft thrums lay on her snowy shoulders. + +"It is true," I whispered. "Under the folded leaves a Hidden Maid lies +sleeping. I bid her sleep awhile; I bid her dream in innocence through +this White Bridal night. I promise to disturb no leaf that sheathes +her. I now refold and close again what I have scarcely touched and +opened. I bid her sleep. + +"When on my lodge door they nail the Oneida stars, and seal my door +with the moon of Tharon, and lay long shadows there to bar it; then I, +within the darkness there, shall hear the tender rustle of her clinging +husks, parting to cradle two where one alone had slept since she was +born." + +Gently I drew the points, closing the cape around her slender throat, +knotted the laces, smoothed out the thrums, took her small hands and +laid them on my breast. + +One by one the stately Indians came to make their homage, bending their +war-crests proudly and placing her hands upon their painted breasts. +Then they went away in silence, each to his proper post, no doubt. Yet, +to be certain, I desired to make my rounds, and bade Lois await me +there. But I had not proceeded three paces when lo! Of a sudden she was +at my side, laughing her soft defiance at me in the darkness. + +"No orders do I take save what I give myself," she said. "Which is no +mutiny, Euan, and no insubordination either, seeing that you and I are +one--or are like to be when the brigade chaplain passes--if the Tories +meddle not with his honest scalp! Come! Honest Euan, shall we make our +rounds together? Or must I go alone?" + +And she linked her arm in mine and put one foot forward, looking up at +me with all the light mischief of the very boy she seemed in her soft +rifle-dress and leggins, and the bright hair crisply curling 'round her +moleskin cap. + +"Have a care of the trees, then, little minx," I said. + +"Pooh! Can you not see in the dark?" + +"Can you?" + +"Surely. When you and I went to the Spring Waiontha, I needed not your +lantern light to guide me." + +"I see not well by night," I admitted. + +"You do see well by night--through my two eyes! Are we not one? How +often must I repeat it that you and I are one! One! One! O +Loskiel--stealer of hearts, if you could only know how often on my +knees I am before you--how truly I adore, how humbly, scarcely daring +to believe my heart that tells me such a tale of magic and +enchantment--after these barren, loveless years. Mark! Yonder stands +the Grey-Feather! Is that his post?" + +"Wonder-eyes, I see him not! Wait--aye, you are right. And he is at his +post. Pass to the left, little minx." + +And so we made the rounds, finding every Indian except the Sagamore at +his post. He lay asleep. And after we had returned to our southern +ledge of rock, and I had spread my blanket for her and laid my pack to +pillow her, I picked up my rifle and rose from my knees. + +"And you?" she asked. + +"I stand guard across the trail below." + +"Why? When all except the Siwanois are watching! The Night Hawk is +there. Stretch yourself here beside me and try to sleep. Your watch +will come too soon to suit you, or me either, for that matter." + +"Do you mean to go on guard with me?" + +"Do you dream that I shall let you stand your guard alone, young sir?" + +"This is folly, Lois--" + +"Euan, you vex me. Lie beside me. Here is sufficient blanket room and +pillow. And if you do not sleep presently and let me sleep too, our +wits will all be sadly addled when they summon us." + +So I stretched myself out beside her and looked up, open eyed, into +darkness. + +"Sleep well," she whispered, smothering a little laugh. + +"Sleep safely, Lois." + +"That is why I desired you--so I might sleep safely, knowing myself +safe when you are, too. And you are safe only when you are at my side. +Do you follow my philosophy?" + +I said presently: "This is our White Bridal, Lois. The ceremony +completes itself by dawn." + +"Save that the Sagamore is but a heathen priest, truly I feel myself +already wedded to you, so solemn was our pretty rite.... Dare you kiss +me, Euan? You never have. Christians betrothed may kiss each other +once, I think." + +"Not such as we--if the rite means anything to us." + +"Why?" + +"Not on the White Bridal night--if we regard this rite as sacred." + +"I feel its sacredness. That is why I thought no sin if you should kiss +me--on such a night." + +She sat up in her blanket; and I sat up, too. + +* "Tekasenthos," she said. + +[* "I am weeping."] + +* "Chetena, you are laughing!" + +[* "Mouse."] + +* "Neah. Tekasenthos!" she insisted. + +[* "No, I am weeping."] + +"Why?" + +"You do not love me," she remarked, kicking off one ankle moccasin. + +* "Kenonwea-sasita-ha-wiyo, chetenaha!" I said, laughing. + +[* "I love your beautiful foot, little mouse."] + +* "Akasita? Katontats. But is that all of me you love?" + +[* "My foot? I consent."] + +"The other one also." + +"The other one also." + +* "Neah-wenh-a, O Loskiel. I shall presently slay you and go to sleep." + +[* "I thank you."] + +There fell a silence, then: + +"Do you not know in your heart how it is with me?" I said unsteadily. + +She lay down, facing me. + +"In my heart I know, beloved above all men! But I am like a child with +you--desiring to please, ardent, confused, unaccustomed. And everything +you say delights me--and all you do--or refrain from doing--thrills me +with content.... It was so true and sweet of you to leave my lips +untouched. I adore you for it--but then I had adored you if you had +kissed me, also. Always, your decision pleasures me." + +After a long while I spoke cautiously. She lay asleep, her lips scarce +parted; but in her sleep she seemed to hear my voice, for one arm stole +out in the dark and closed around my neck. + +And so we lay until the dark forms gliding from the forest summoned me +to mount my guard, and Lois awoke with a little sigh, sat upright, then +sprang to her feet to face the coming dawn alone with me. + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +AMOCHOL + +By daybreak we had salted our parched corn, soaked, and eaten it, and +my Indians were already freshening their paint. The Sagamore, stripped +for battle, barring clout and sporran, stood tall and powerfully +magnificent in his white and vermilion hue of war. On his broad chest +the scarlet Ghost Bear reared; on his crest the scarlet feathers +slanted low. The Yellow Moth was unbelievably hideous in the poisonous +hue of a toad-stool; his crest and all his skin glistened yellow, +shining like the sulphurous belly of a snake. But the Grey-Feather was +ghastly; his bony features were painted like a skull, spine, ribs, and +limb-bones traced out heavily in yellowish white so that he seemed a +stalking and articulated skeleton as he moved in the dim twilight of +the trees. And I could see that he was very proud of the effect. + +As for the young and ambitious Night Hawk, he had simply made one +murderous symbol of himself--a single and terrific emblem of his entire +body, for he was painted black from head to foot like an Iroquois +executioner, and his skin glistened as the plumage of a sleek crow +shines in the sunlight of a field. Every scalp-lock was neatly braided +and oiled; every crown shaven; every knife and war-axe and rifle-barrel +glimmered silver bright under the industrious rubbing; flints had been +renewed; with finest priming powder pans reprimed; and now all my +Indians squatted amiably together in perfect accord, very loquacious in +their guarded voices, Iroquois, Mohican, and Stockbridge, foregathering +as though there had never been a feud in all the world. + +Through the early dusk of morning, Lois had stolen away, having +discovered a spring pool to bathe in, the creek water being dark and +bitter; and I had freshened myself, too, when she returned, her soft +cheeks abloom, and the crisp curls still wet with spray. + +When we had eaten, the Sagamore rose and moved noiselessly down the +height of land to the trail level, where our path entered the ghostly +gloom of the evergreens. I followed; Lois followed me, springing +lightly from tussock to rotting log, from root to bunchy swale, swift, +silent footed, dainty as a lithe and graceful panther crossing a morass +dry-footed. + +Behind her trotted in order the Yellow Moth, Tohoontowhee, and lastly +the Grey-Feather--"Like Father Death herding us all to destruction," +whispered Lois in my ear, as I halted while the Sagamore surveyed the +trail ahead with cautious eyes. + +As we moved forward once more, I glanced around at Lois and thought I +never had seen such fresh and splendid vigor in any woman. Nor had I +ever seen her in such a bright and happy spirit, as though the nearness +to the long sought goal was changing her every moment, under my very +eyes, into a lovelier and more radiant being than ever had trod this +war-scarred world. + +While we had eaten our hasty morning meal, I had told her what I had +learned of the Vale Yndaia; and this had excited her more than anything +I ever saw to happen to her, so that her grey eyes sparkled with +brilliant azure lights, and the soft colour flew from throat to brow, +waxing and waning with every quick-drawn breath. + +She wore also, and for the first time, the "moccasins for flying +feet"--and ere she put them on she showed them to me with eager and +tender pride, kissing each soft and beaded shoe before she drew it over +her slender foot. Around her throat, lying against her heart, nestled +her father's faded picture. And as we sped I could hear her murmuring +to herself: + +"Jean Coeur! Jean Coeur! Enfin! Me voici en chemin!" + +North, always north we journeyed, moving swiftly on a level runway, or, +at fault, checked until the Sagamore found the path, sometimes picking +our dangerous ways over the glistening bog, from swale to log, now +leaping for some solid root or bunch of weed, now swinging across +quicksands, hanging to tested branches by our hands. + +Duller grew the light as the foliage overhead became denser, until we +could scarce see the warning glimmer of the bog. Closer, taller, more +unkempt grew the hemlocks on every hand. In the ghostly twilight we +could not distinguish their separate spectral trunks, so close they +grew together. And it seemed like two solid walls through which wound a +dusky corridor of mud and bitter tasting water. + +Then, far ahead a level gleam caught my eye. Nearer it grew and +brighter; and presently out of the grewsome darkness of the swamp we +stepped into a lovely oval intervale of green ferns and grasses, set +with oak trees, and a clear, sweet thread of water dashing through it, +and spraying the tall ferns along its banks so that they quivered and +glistened with the sparkling drops. And here we saw a little bird +flitting--the first we had seen that day. + +At the western end of the oval glade a path ran straight away as far as +we could see, seeming to pierce the western wall of the hills. The +little brook followed at. + +As Lois knelt to drink, the Sagamore whispered to me: + +"This is the pass to the Vale Yndaia! You shall not tell her yet--not +till we have dealt with Amochol." + +"Not till we have dealt with Amochol," I repeated, staring at the +narrow opening which crossed this black and desolate region like a +streak of sunshine across burnt land. + +Tahoontowhee examined the trail; nothing had passed since the last +rain, save deer and fox. + +So I went over to where Lois was bathing her flushed face in the tiny +stream, and lay down to drink beside her. + +"The water is cold and sweet," she said, "not like that bitter water in +the swamp." She held her cupped hands for me to drink from. And I +kissed the fragrant cup. + +As we rose and I shouldered my rifle, the Grey-Feather began to sing in +a low, musical, chanting voice; and all the Indians turned merry faces +toward Lois and me as they nodded time to the refrain: + + "Continue to listen and hear the truth, + Maiden Hidden and Hidden Youth. + The song of those who are 'more than men'! + *Thi-ya-en-sa-y-e-ken!" + + [* "They will (live to) see it again!"] + +"It is the chant of the Stone Throwers--the Little People!" said +Mayaro, laughing. "Ye two are fit to hear it." + +"They are singing the Song of the Hidden Children," I whispered to +Lois. "Is it not strangely pretty?" + +"It is wild music, but sweet," she murmured, "--the music of the Little +People--che-kah-a-hen-wah." + +"Can you catch the words?" + +"Aye, but do not understand them every one." + +"Some day I will make them into an English song for you. Listen! 'The +Voices' are beginning! Listen attentively to the Chant of +*Ta-neh-u-weh-too!" + +[* "Hidden in the Husks."] + +The Night Hawk was singing now, as he walked through the sunlit glade, +hip-deep in scented ferns and jewel-weed. Two brilliant humming-birds +whirled around him as he strode. + + A VOICE + + "Who shall find my Hidden Maid + Where the tasselled corn is growing? + Let them seek her in Kandaia, + Let them seek her in Oswaya, + Where the giant pines are growing, + Let them seek and be afraid! + Where the Adriutha flowing + Splashes through the forest glade, + Where the Kennyetto flowing + Thunders through the hemlock shade, + Let them seek and be afraid, + From Oswaya To Yndaia, + All the way to Carenay!" + + ANOTHER VOICE + + "Who shall find my Hidden Son + Where the tasselled corn is growing? + Let them seek my Hidden One + From the Silver Horicon + North along the Saguenay, + Where the Huron cocks are crowing, + Where the Huron maids are mowing + Hay along the Saguenay; + Where the Mohawk maids are hoeing + Corn along the Carenay, + Let them seek my Hidden Son, + West across the inland seas, + South to where the cypress trees + Quench the flaming scarlet flora + Of the painted Esaurora, + Drenched in rivers to their knees! + *Honowehto! Like Thendara! + [* "They have vanished."] + Let them hunt to Danascara + Back along the Saguenay, + On the trail to Carenay, + Through the Silver Horicon + Till the night and day are one! + Where the Adriutha flowing + Sings below Oswaya glowing. + Where the sunset of Kandaia + Paints the meadows of Yndaia, + Let them seek my Hidden Son + 'Till the sun and moon are one!" + + *TE-KI-E-HO-KEN + [* "Two Voices (together)."] + + * "Nai Shehawa! She lies sleeping, + [* "Behold thy children!"] + Where the green leaves closely fold her! + He shall wake first and behold her + Who is given to his keeping; + He shall strip her of her leaves + Where she sleeps amid the sheaves, + Snowy white, without a stain, + Nothing marred of wind or rain. + So from slumber she shall waken, + And behold the green robe shaken + From his shoulders to her own! + *Ye-ji-se-way-ad-kerone!" + [* "So ye two are laid together."] + +The pretty song of the Hidden Children softened to a murmur and died +out as our trail entered the swamp once more, north of the oval glade. +And into its sombre twilight we passed out of the brief gleam of +sunshine. Once more the dark and bitter water coiled its tortuous +channel through the slime; huge, gray evergreens, shaggy and +forbidding, towered above, closing in closer and closer on every side, +crowding us into an ever-narrowing trail. + +But this trail, since we had left the sunny glade, had become harder +under foot, and far more easy to travel; and we made fast time along +it, so that early in the afternoon we suddenly came out into that vast +belt of firm ground and rocky, set with tremendous oaks and pines and +hemlocks, on the northern edge of which lies Catharines-town, on both +banks of the stream. + +And here the stream rushed out through this country as though +frightened, running with a mournful sound into the northern forest; and +the pines were never still, sighing and moaning high above us, so that +the never ceasing plaint of wind and water filled the place. + +And here, on a low, bushy ridge, we lay all day, seeing in the forest +not one living thing, nor any movement in that dim solitude, save where +the grey and wraith-like water tossed a flat crest against some fallen +tree, or its dull and sullen surface gleamed like lead athwart the +valley far ahead. + +My Indians squatted, or sprawled prone along the ridge; Lois lay flat +on her stomach beside me, her chin resting on her clasped hands. We +talked of many things that afternoon--of life as we had found it, and +what it promised us--of death, if we must find it here in these woods +before I made her mine. And of how long was the spirit's trail to +God--if truly it were but a swift, upward flight like to the rushing of +an arrow already flashing out of sight ere the twanging buzz of the +bow-string died on the air. Or if it were perhaps a long, slow, painful +journey through thick night, toilsome, blindly groping, wings adroop +trailing against bruised heels. Or if we two must pass by hell, within +sight and hearing of the thunderous darkness, and feel the rushing wind +of the pit hot on one's face. + +Sometimes, like a very child, she prattled of happiness, which she had +never experienced, but meant to savour, wedded or not--talked to me +there of all she had never known and would now know and realize within +her mother's tender arms. + +"And sometimes, Euan, dreaming of her I scarce see how, within my +heart, I can find room for you also. Yet, I know well there is room for +both of you, and that one without the other would leave my happiness +but half complete.... I wonder if I resemble her? Will she know me--and +I her? How shall we meet, Euan--after more than a score of years? She +will see my moccasins, and cry out! She will see my face and know me, +calling me by name! Oh, happiness! Oh, miracle! Will the night never +come!" + +"Dear maid and tender! You should not build your hopes too high, so +that they crush you utterly if they must fall to earth again." + +"I know. Amochol may have slain her. We will learn all when you take +Amochol--when God delivers him into your hands this night.... How will +you do it, Euan?" + +"Take him, you mean?" + +"Aye." + +"We lie south, just outside the fire-ring's edge. Boyd watches them +from the north. His signal to us begins the business. We leap straight +for the altar and take Amochol at its very foot, the while Boyd's heavy +rifles deal death on every side, keeping the others busy while we are +securing Amochol. Then we all start south for the army, God willing, +and meet our own people on the high-ridge east of us." + +"But Yndaia!" + +"That we will scour the instant we have Amochol." + +"You promise?" + +"Dearest, I promise solemnly. Yet--I think--if your mother lives--she +may be here in Catharines-town tonight. This is the Dream Feast, Lois. +I and my Indians believe that she has bought her life of Amochol by +dreaming for them. And if this be true, and she has indeed become their +Prophetess and Interpreter of Dreams, then this night she will be +surely here to read their dreams for them." + +"Will we see her before you begin the attack?" + +"Little Lois, how can I tell you such things? We are to creep up close +to the central fire--as close as we dare." + +"Will there be crowds of people there?" + +"Many people." + +"Warriors?" + +"Not many. They are with Hiokatoo and Brant. There will be hunters and +Sachems, and the Cat-People, and the Andastes pack, and many women. The +False Faces will not be there, nor the Wyoming Witch, nor the Toad +Woman, because all these are now with Hiokatoo and Walter Butler. For +which I thank God and am very grateful." + +"How shall I know her in this fire-lit throng?" murmured Lois, staring +ahead of her where the evening dusk had now veiled the nearer trees +with purple. + +Before I could reply, the Sagamore rose from his place on my left, and +we all sprang lightly to our feet, looked to our priming, covered our +pans, and trailed arms. + +"Now!" he muttered, passing in front of me and taking the lead; and we +all filed after him through the open forest, moving rapidly, almost on +a run, for half a mile, then swung sharply out to the right, where the +trees grew slimmer and thinner, and plunged into a thicket of hazel and +osier. + +"I smell smoke," whispered Lois, keeping close to me. + +I nodded. Presently we halted and stood in silence, minute after +minute, while the purple dusk deepened swiftly around us, and overhead +a few stars came out palely, as though frightened. + +Then Mayaro dropped noiselessly to the ground and began to crawl +forward over the velvet moss; and we followed his example, feeling our +way with our right hands to avoid dry branches and rocks. From time to +time we paused to regain our strength and breathe; and the last time we +did so the aromatic smell of birch-smoke blew strong in our nostrils, +and there came to our ears a subdued murmur like the stirring of +pine-tops in a steady breeze. But there were no pines around us now, +only osier, hazel, and grey-birch, and the deep moss under foot. + +"A house!" whispered the Yellow Moth, pointing. + +There it stood, dark and shadowy against the north. Another loomed +dimly beyond it; a haystack rose to the left. + +We were in Catharines-town. + +And now, as we crawled forward, we could see open country on our left, +and many unlighted houses and fields of corn, dim and level against the +encircling forest. The murmur on our right had become a sustained and +distinct sound, now swelling in the volume of many voices, now +subsiding, then waxing to a dull tumult. And against the borders of the +woods, like a shining crimson curtain shifting, we could see the red +reflection of a fire sweeping across the solid foliage. + +With infinite precautions, we moved through the thicket toward it, the +glare growing yellower and more brilliant as we advanced. And now we +remained motionless and very still. + +Massed against the flare of light were crowded many people in a vast, +uneven circle ringing a great central fire, except at the southern end. +And here, where the ring was open so that we could see the huge fire +itself, stood a great, stone slab on end, between two round mounds of +earth. It was the altar of Amochol, and we knew it instantly, where it +stood between the ancient mounds raised by the Alligewi. + +The drums had not yet begun while we were still creeping up, but they +began now, muttering like summer thunder, the painted drummers marching +into the circle and around it twice before they took their places to +the left of the altar, squatting there and ceaselessly beating their +hollow sounding drums. Then, in file, the eight Sachems of the +dishonoured Senecas filed into the fiery circle, chanting and timing +their slow steps to the mournful measure of their chant. All wore the +Sachem's crest painted white; their bodies were most barbarously +striped with black and white, and their blankets were pure white, +crossed by a single blood-red band. + +What they chanted I could not make out, but that it was some blasphemy +which silently enraged my Indians was plain enough; and I laid a +quieting hand on the Sagamore's shaking arm, cautioning him; and he +touched the Oneidas and the Stockbridge, one by one, in warning. + +Opposite us, the ruddy firelight played over the massed savages, women, +children, and old men mostly, gleaming on glistening eyes, sparkling on +wampum and metal ornaments. To the right and left of us a few knives +and hatchets caught the firelight, and many multi-coloured plumes and +blankets glowed in its shifting brilliancy. + +The eight Sachems stood, tall and motionless, behind the altar; the +drumming never ceased, and from around the massed circle rose a low +sing-song chant, keeping time to the hollow rhythm of the drums: + + * "Onenh are oya + Egh-des-ho-ti-ya-do-re-don + Nene ronenh + 'Ken-ki-ne ne-nya-wenne!" + + [* "Now again they decided and said: 'This shall be done!'"] + +Above this rumbling undertone sounded the distant howling of dogs in +Catharines-town; and presently the great forest owls woke up, yelping +like goblins across the misty intervale. Strangely enough, the dulled +pandemonium, joined in by dog and owl and drum and chanting savages, +made but a single wild and melancholy monotone seeming to suit the time +and place as though it were the voice of this fierce wilderness itself. + +Now into the circle, one by one, came those who had dreamed and must be +answered--not as in the old-time and merry Feast of Dreams, where the +rites were harmless and the mirth and jollity innocent, if rough--for +Amochol had perverted the ancient and innocent ceremony, making of a +fourteen-day feast a sinister rite which ended in a single night. + +I understood this more clearly now, as I lay watching the proceedings, +for I had seen this feast in company with Guy Johnson on the Kennyetto, +and found in it nothing offensive and no revolting license or +blasphemy, though others may say this is not true. + +Yet, how can a rite which begins with three days religious services, +including confession of sins on wampum, be otherwise than decent? As +for the rest of the feast, the horse-play, skylarking, dancing, +guessing contests--the little children's dance on the tenth day, the +Dance for Four on the eleventh, the Dance for the Eight Thunders on the +thirteenth--the noisy, violent, but innocent romping of the False +Faces--all this I had seen in the East, and found no evil in it and no +debauchery. + +But what was now already going on I had never seen at any Iroquois +feast or rite, and what Amochol had made of this festival I dared not +conjecture as I gazed at the Dreamers now advancing into the circle +with an abandon and an effrontery scarcely decent. + +Six young girls came first, naked except for a breadth of fawn-skin +falling from waist to instep. Their bodies were painted vermilion from +brow to ankle; they carried in their hands red harvest apples, which +they tossed one to another as they move lightly across the open space +in a slow, springy, yet not ungraceful dance. + +Behind them came a slim maid, wearing only a black fox-head, and the +soft pelt dangling from her belt, and the tail behind. She was painted +a ruddy yellow everywhere except a broad line of white in front, like a +fox's belly; and, like a fox, too, her feet and hands were painted +black. + +Following her came eight girls plumed in spotless white and clothed +only in white feathers--aping the Thunders, doubtless; but even to me, +a white man and a Christian, it was a sinister and evil sight to see +this mockery as they danced forward, arms entwined, and the snowy +plumes floating out in the firelight, disclosing the white painted +bodies which the firelight tinted with rose and amber lights. + +Then came dancing other girls, dressed in most offensive mockery of the +harmless and ancient rite--first the Fire Keeper, crowned with oak +leaves instead of wild cherry, and wearing a sewed garment made of oak +twigs and tufted leaves, from which the acorns hung. Followed two girls +in cloaks of shimmering pine-needles, and wearing wooden masks, +dragging after them the carcasses of two white dogs, to "Clothe the +Moon Witch!" they cried to the burly Erie acolyte who followed them, +his heavy knife shining in his hand. + +Then the Erie disemboweled the strangled dogs, cast their entrails into +the fire, and kicked aside the carcasses, shouting: + +"Atensi stands naked upon the Moon! What shall she wear to cover her?" + +"The soft hide of a Hidden Child!" answered a Sachem from behind the +altar. "We have so dreamed it." + +"It shall be done!" cried the Erie; and, lifting himself on tip toe, he +threw back his brutal head and gave the Panther Cry so that his voice +rang hideously through the night. + +Instantly into the circle came scurrying the Andastes, some wearing the +heads of bulls, some of wolves, foxes, bears, their bodies painted +horribly in raw reds and yellows, and running about like a pack of +loosened hounds. All their movements were wild and aimless, and like +animals, and they seemed to smell their way as they ran about hither +and thither, sniffing, listening, but seldom looking long or directly +at any one thing. + +I was sorely afraid that some among them might come roving and muzzling +into the bushes where we lay; but they did not, gradually gathering +into an uneasy pack and settling on their haunches near the dancing +girls, who played with them, and tormented them with branches of hazel, +samphire and green osier. + +Suddenly a young girl, jewelled with multi-coloured diamonds of paint, +and jingling all over with little bells, came dancing into the ring, +beating a tiny, painted drum as she advanced. She wore only a narrow +sporran of blue-birds' feathers to her knees, glistening blue moccasins +of the same plumage, and a feathered head dress of the scarlet +fire-bird. Behind her filed the Cat-People, Amochol's hideous acolytes, +each wearing the Nez Perce ridge of porcupine-like hair, the lynx-skin +cloak and necklace of claws; and all howling to the measure of the +little painted drum. I could feel Mayaro beside me, quivering with +eagerness and fury; but the time was not yet, and he knew it, as did +his enraged comrades. + +For behind the Eries, moving slowly, came a slender shape, shrouded in +white. Her head was bent in the shadow of her cowl; her white wool +vestments trailed behind her. Both hands were clasped together under +her loose robe. On her cowl was a wreath of nightshade, with its dull +purple fruit and blossoms clustering around her shadowed brow. + +"Who is that?" whispered Lois, beginning to tremble, "God knows," I +said. "Wait!" + +The shrouded shape moved straight to the great stone altar and stood +there a moment facing it; then, veiling her face with her robe, she +turned, mounted the left hand mound, and seated herself, head bowed. + +Toward her, advancing all alone, was now approaching a figure, painted, +clothed, and plumed in scarlet. Everything was scarlet about him, his +moccasins, his naked skin, the fantastic cloak and blanket, girdle, +knife-hilt, axe shaft, and the rattling quiver on his back--nay, the +very arrows in it were set with scarlet feathers, and the looped +bowstring was whipped with crimson sinew. + +The Andastes came moaning, cringing, fawning, and leaping about his +knees; he noticed them not at all; the Cat-People, seated in a +semicircle, looked up humbly as he passed; he ignored them. + +Slowly he moved to the altar and laid first his hand upon it, then +unslung his bow and quiver and laid them there. A great silence fell +upon the throng. And we knew we were looking at last upon the Scarlet +Priest. + +Yes, this was Amochol, the Red Sachem, the vile, blaspheming, +murderous, and degraded chief who had made of a pure religion a horror, +and of a whole people a nation of unspeakable assassins. + +As the firelight flashed full in his face, I saw that his features were +not painted; that they were delicate and regular, and that the skin was +pale, betraying his French ancestry. + +And good God! What a brood of demons had that madman, Frontenac, begot +to turn loose upon this Western World! For there appeared to be a +Montour in every bit of devil's work we ever heard of--and it seemed as +though there was no end to their number. One, praise God, had been +slain before Wyoming--which some said enraged the Witch, his mother, to +the fearsome deeds she did there--and one was this man's sister, Lyn +Montour--a sleek, lithe girl of the forest, beautiful and depraved. But +the Toad Woman, mother of Amochol, was absent, and of all the Montours +only this strange priest had remained at Catharines-town. And him we +were now about to take or slay. + +"Amochol!" whispered the Sagamore in my ear. + +"I know," I said. "It is strange. He is not like a monster, after all." + +"He is beautiful," whispered Lois. + +I stared at the pale, calm face over which the firelight played. The +features seemed almost perfect, scarcely cruel, yet there was in the +eyes a haunting beauty that was almost terrible when they became fixed. + +To his scarlet moccasins crept the Andastes, one by one, and squatted +there in silence. + +Then a single warrior entered the ring. He was clad in the ancient +arrow-proof armour of the Iroquois, woven of sinew and wood. His face +was painted jet black, and he wore black plumes. He mounted the eastern +mound, strung his bow, set an arrow to the string, and seated himself. + +The red acolytes came forward, and the slim Prophetess bent her head +till the long, dark hair uncoiled and fell down, clouding her to the +waist in shadow. + +"Hereckenes!" cried Amochol in a clear voice; and at the sound of their +ancient name the Cat-People began a miauling chant. + +"Antauhonorans!" cried Amochol. + +Every Seneca took up the chant, and the drums timed it softly and +steadily. + +"Prophetess!" said Amochol in a ringing voice. "I have dreamed that the +Moon Witch and her grandson Iuskeha shall be clothed. With what, then, +shall they be clothed, O Woman of the Night Sky? Explain to my people +this dream that I have dreamed." + +The slim, white-cowled figure answered slowly, with bowed head, +brooding motionless in the shadow of her hair: + +"Two dogs lie yonder for Atensi and her grandson. Let them be painted +with the sun and moon. So shall the dream of Amochol come true!" + +"Sorceress!" he retorted fiercely. "Shall I not offer to Atensi and +Iuskeha two Hidden Children, that white robes may be made of their +unblemished skins to clothe the Sun and Moon?" + +"Into the eternal wampum it is woven that the soft, white skins shall +clothe their bodies till the husks fall from the silken corn." + +"And then, Witch of the East? Shall I not offer them when the husks are +stripped?" + +"I see no further than you dream, O Amochol!" + +He stretched out his arm toward her, menacingly: + +"Yet they shall both be strangled here upon this stone!" he said. +"Look, Witch! Can you not see them lying there together? I have dreamed +it." + +She silently pointed at the two dead dogs. + +"Look again!" he cried in a loud voice. "What do you see?" + +She made no reply. + +"Answer!" he said sharply. + +"I have looked. And I see only the eternal wampum lying at my +feet--lacking a single belt." + +With a furious gesture the Red Priest turned and stared at the dancing +girls who raised their bare arms, crying: + +"We have dreamed, O Amochol! Let your Sorceress explain our dreams to +us!" + +And one after another, as their turns came, they leaped up from the +ground and sprang forward. The first, a tawny, slender, mocking thing, +flung wide her arms. + +"Look, Sorceress! I dreamed of a felled sapling and a wolverine! What +means my dream?" + +And the slim, white figure, head bowed in her dark hair, answered +quietly: + +"O dancer of the Na-usin, who wears okwencha at the Onon-hou-aroria, +yet is no Seneca, the felled sapling is thou thyself. Heed lest the +wolverine shall scent a human touch upon thy breast!" And she pointed +at the Andastes. + +A dead silence followed, then the girl, horror struck, shrank back, her +hands covering her face. + +Another sprang forward and cried: + +"Sorceress! I dreamed of falling water and a red cloud at sunset +hanging like a plume!" + +"Water falls, daughter of Mountain Snakes. Every drop you saw was a +dead man falling. And the red cloud was red by reason of blood; and the +plume was the crest of a war chief." + +"What chief!" said Amochol, turning his deadly eyes on her. + +"A Gate-Keeper of the West." + +The shuddering silence was broken by the eager voice of another girl, +bounding from her place--a flash of azure and jewelled paint. + +"And I, O Sorceress! I dreamed of night, and a love song under the +million stars. And of a great stag standing in the water." + +"Had the stag no antlers, little daughter?" + +"None, for it was spring time." + +"You dreamed of night. It shall be night for a long while--for ages and +ages, ere the stag's wide antlers crown his head again. For the antlers +were lying upon a new made grave. And the million stars were the lights +of camp-fires. And the love-song was the Karenna. And the water you +beheld was the river culled Chemung." + +The girl seemed stunned, standing there plucking at her fingers, +scarlet lips parted, and her startled eyes fixed upon the white-draped +sibyl. + +"Executioner! Bend your bow!" cried Amochol, with a terrible stare at +the Sorceress. + +The man in woven armour raised his bow, bent it, drawing the arrow to +the tip. At the same instant the Prophetess rose to her feet, flung +back her cowl, and looked Amochol steadily in the eyes from the shadow +of her hair. + +So, for a full minute in utter silence, they stared at each other; then +Amochol said between his teeth: + +"Have a care that you read truly what my people dream!" + +"Shall I lie?" she asked in even tones. And, quivering with impotent +rage and superstition, the Red Priest found no word to answer. + +"O Amochol," she said, "let the armoured executioner loose his shaft. +It is poisoned. Never since the Cat-People were overthrown has a +poisoned arrow been used within the Long House. Never since the +Atotarho covered his face from Hiawatha--never since the snakes were +combed from his hair--has a Priest of the Long House dared to doubt the +Prophetess of the Seneca nation. Doubt--and die!" + +Amochol's face was like pale brown marble; twice he half turned toward +the executioner, but gave no signal. Finally, he laid his hand flat on +the altar; the executioner unbent his bow and the arrow drooped from +the painted haft and dangled there, its hammered iron war-head glinting +in the firelight. + +Then the Prophetess turned and stood looking out over the throng +through the thick, aromatic smoke from the birch-fire, and presently +her clear voice rang through the deathly silence: + +"O People of the Evening Sky! Far on the Chemung lie many dead men. I +see them lying there in green coats and in red, in feathers and in +paint! Through forests, through mountains, through darkness, have my +eyes beheld this thing. There is a new thunder in the hills, and red +fire flowers high in the pines, and a hail falls, driving earthward in +iron drops that slay all living things. + +"New clouds hang low along the river; and they are not of the water +mist that comes at twilight and ascends with the sun. Nor is this new +thunder in the hills the voice of the Eight White Plumed Ones; nor is +the boiling of the waters the stirring of the Serpent Bride. + +"Red run the riffles, yet the sun is high; and those who would cross at +the ford have laid them down to dam the waters with their bodies. + +"And I see fires along the flats; I see flames everywhere, towns on +fire, corn burning, hay kindling to ashes under a white ocean of +smoke--the Three Sisters scorched, trampled, and defiled!" She lifted +one arm; her spellbound audience never stirred. + +"Listen!" she cried, "I hear the crashing of many feet in northward +flight! I hear horses galloping, and the rattle of swords. Many who run +are stumbling, falling, lying still and crushed and wet with blood. I, +Sorceress of the Senecas, see and hear these things; and as I see and +hear, so must I speak my warning to you all!" + +She whirled on Amochol, flinging back her hair. Her skin was as white +us my own! + +With a stifled cry Lois sprang to her feet; but I caught her and held +her fast. + +"Good God!" I whispered to the Sagamore. "Where is Boyd?" + +The executioner had risen, and was bending his bow; the Sorceress +turned deathly pale but her blue eyes flashed, never swerving from the +cruel stare of Amochol. + +"Where is Boyd?" I whispered helplessly. "They mean to murder her!" + +"Kill that executioner!" panted Lois, struggling in my arms. "In God's +name, slay him where he stands!" + +"It means our death," said the Sagamore. + +The Night Hawk came crouching close to my shoulder. He had unslung and +strung his little painted bow of an adolescent, and was fitting the +nock of a slim arrow to the string. + +He looked up at me; I nodded; and as the executioner clapped his heels +together, straightened himself, and drew the arrow to his ear, we heard +a low twang! And saw the black hand of the Seneca pinned to his own bow +by the Night Hawk's shaft. + +So noiselessly was it done that the fascinated throng could not at +first understand what had happened to the executioner, who sprang into +the air, screamed, and stood clawing and plucking at the arrow while +his bow hung dripping with blood, yet nailed to his shrinking palm. + +Amochol, frozen to a scarlet statue, stared at the contortions of the +executioner for a moment, then, livid, wheeled on the Prophetess, +shaking from head to foot. + +"Is this your accursed magic?" he shouted. "Is this your witchcraft, +Sorceress of Biskoonah? Is it thus you strike when threatened? Then you +shall burn! Take her, Andastes!" + +But the Andastes, astounded and terrified, only cowered together in a +swaying pack. + +Restraining Lois with all my strength, I said to the Mohican: + +"If Boyd comes not before they take her, concentrate your fire on +Amochol, for we can not hope to make him prisoner----" + +"Hark!" motioned the Sagamore, grasping my arm. I heard also, and so +did the others. The woods on our left were full of noises, the trample +of people running, the noise of crackling underbrush. + +We all thought the same thing, and stood waiting to see Boyd's onset +break from the forest. The Red Priest also heard it, for he had turned +where he stood, his rigid arm still menacing the White Sorceress. + +Suddenly, into the firelit circle staggered a British soldier, hatless, +dishevelled, his scarlet uniform in rags. + +For a moment he stood staring about him, swaying where he stood, then +with a hopeless gesture he flung his musket from him and passed a +shaking hand across his eyes. + +"O Amochol!" cried the Sorceress, pointing a slim and steady finger at +the bloody soldier. "Have I dreamed lies or have I dreamed the truth? +Hearken! The woods are full of people running! Do you hear? And have I +lied to you, O Amochol?" + +"From whence do you come?" cried Amochol, striding toward the soldier. + +"From the Chemung. Except for the dead we all are coming--Butler and +Brant and all. Bring out your corn, Seneca! The army starves." + +Amochol stared at the soldier, at the executioner still writhing and +struggling to loose his hand from the bloody arrow, at the Sorceress +who had veiled her face. + +"Witch!" he cried, "get you to Yndaia. If you stir elsewhere you shall +burn!" + +He had meant to say more, I think, but at that moment, from the +southern woods men came reeling out into the fire-circle--ghastly, +bloody, ragged creatures in shreds of uniforms, green, red, and +brown--men and officers of Sir John's regiment, men of Butler's +Rangers, British regulars. On their heels glided the Seneca warriors, +warriors of the Cayugas, Onondagas, Caniengas, Esauroras, and here and +there a traitorous Oneida, and even a few Hurons. + +Pell-mell this mob of fighting men came surging through the +fire-circle, and straight into Catharines-town, while I and my Indians +crouched there, appalled and astounded. + +I saw Sir John Johnson come up with the officers of his two battalions +and a captain, a sergeant, a corporal, and fifteen British regulars. + +"Clear me out this ring of mummers!" he said in his cold, penetrating +voice. "And thou, Amochol, if this damned town of thine be stocked, +bring out the provisions and set these Eries a-roasting corn!" + +I saw McDonald storming and cursing at his irregulars, where the poor +brutes had gathered into a wavering rank; I saw young Walter Butler +haranguing his Rangers and Senecas; I saw Brant, calm, noble, stately, +standing supported by two Caniengas while a third examined his wounded +leg. + +The whole place was a tumult of swarming savages and white men; already +the Seneca women, crowding among the men, were raising the death wail. +The dancing girls huddled together in a frightened and half-naked +group; the Andastes cowered apart; the servile Eries were staggering +out of the corn fields laden with ripe ears; and the famished soldiers +were shouting and cursing at them and tearing the corn from their arms +to gnaw the raw and milky grains. + +How we were to withdraw and escape destruction I did not clearly see, +for our path must cross the eastern belt of forest, and it was still +swarming with fugitives arriving, limping, dragging themselves in from +the disaster of the Chemung. + +Hopeless to dream of taking or slaying Amochol now; hopeless to think +of warning Boyd or even of finding him. Somewhere in the North he had +met with obstacles which delayed him. He must scout for himself, now, +for the entire Tory army was between him and us. + +"There is but one way now," whispered the Mohican. + +"By Yndaia," I said. + +My Indians were of the same opinion. + +"I should have gone there anyway," said Lois, still all a-quiver, and +shivering close to my shoulder. I put my arm around her; every muscle +of her body was rigid, taut, yet trembling, as a smooth and finely +turned pointer trembles with eagerness and powerful self-control. + +"Amochol has driven her thither," she whispered. "Shall we not be on +our way?" + +"Can you lead, Mayaro?" I whispered. + +The Mohican turned and crawled southward on his hands and knees, moving +slowly. + +"For God's sake let them hear no sound in this belt of bush," I +whispered to Lois. + +"I am calm, Euan. I am not afraid." + +"Then fallow the Sagamore." + +One by one we turned and crept away southward; and I was ever fearful +that some gleam from the fire, catching our rifle-barrels or axe-heads, +might betray us. But we gained the denser growth undiscovered, then +rose to our feet in the open forest and hurried forward in file, +crowding close to keep in touch. + +Once Lois turned and called back in a low, breathless voice; + +"I thank Tahoontowhee from my heart for his true eye and his avenging +arrow." + +The young warrior laughed; but I knew he was the proudest youth in all +the West that night. + +The great cat-owls were shrieking and yelping through the forest as we +sped southward. My Indians, silent and morose, their vengeance unslaked +and now indefinitely deferred, moved at a dog trot through the forest, +led by the Sagamore, whose eyes saw as clearly in the dark as my own by +day. + +And after a little while we noticed the stars above us, and felt ferns +and grass under our feet, and came out into that same glade from whence +runs the trail to Yndaia through the western hill cleft. + +"People ahead!" whispered the Sagamore. "Their Sorceress and six Eries!" + +"Are you certain?" I breathed, loosening my hatchet. + +"Certain, Loskiel. Yonder they are halted within the ferns. They are at +the stream, drinking." + +I caught Lois by the wrist. + +"Come with me--hurry!" I said, as the Indians darted away and began to +creep out and around the vague and moving group of shadows. And as we +sped forward I whispered brokenly my instructions, conjuring her to +obey. + +We were right among them before they dreamed of our coming; not a +war-cry was uttered; there was no sound save the crashing blows of +hatchets, the heavy, panting breathing of those locked in a death +struggle, the deep groan and coughing as a knife slipped home. + +I flung a clawing Erie from me ere his blood drenched me, and he fell +floundering, knifed through and through, and tearing a hole in my +rifle-cape with his teeth as he fell. Two others lay under foot; my +Oneidas were slaying another in the ferns, and the Sagamore's hatchet, +swinging like lightning, dashed another into eternity. + +The last one ran, but stumbled, with three arrows in his burly neck and +spine; and the Night Hawk's hatchet flew, severing the thread of life +far him and hurling him on his face. Instantly the young Oneida leaped +upon the dead man's shoulders, pulled back his heavy head, and tore the +scalp off with a stifled cry of triumph. + +"The Black-Snake!" said the Sagamore at my side, breathing heavily from +his bloody combat, and dashing the red drops from the scalp he swung. +"Look yonder, Loskiel! Our little Rosy Pigeon has returned at last!" + +I had seen it already, but I turned to look. And I saw the White +Sorceress and my sweetheart close locked in each other's arms--so close +and motionless that they seemed but a single snowy shape there under +the lustre of the stars. + + + +CHAPTER XX + +YNDAIA + +At the mouth of the pass which led to the Vale Yndaia I lay with my +Indians that night, two mounting guard, then one, then two more, and +the sentinels changed every three hours throughout the night. But all +were excited and all slept lightly. + +Within the Vale Yndaia, perhaps a hundred yards from the mouth of the +pass, stood the lonely little house of bark in which Madame de +Contrecoeur had lived alone for twenty years. + +And here, that night, Lois lay with her mother; and no living thing +nearer the dim house than we who mounted guard--except for the little +birds asleep that Madame de Contrecoeur had tamed, and the small forest +creatures which had learned to come fearlessly at this lonely woman's +low-voiced call. And these things I learned not then, but afterwards. + +Never had I seen such utter loneliness--for it had been less a +solitude, it seemed to me, had the little house not stood there under +the pale lustre of the stars. + +On every side lofty hills enclosed the valley, heavily timbered to +their crests; and through the intervale the rill ran, dashing out of +the pass and away into that level, wooded strip to the fern-glade which +lay midway between the height of land and Catharines-town; and there +joined the large stream which flowed north. I could see in the darkness +little of the secret and hidden valley called Yndaia, only the heights +silhouetted against the stars, a vague foreground sheeted with mist, +and the dark little house standing there all alone under the stars. + +All night long the great tiger-owls yelped and hallooed across the +valley; all night the spectral whip-poor-will whispered its husky, +frightened warning. And long after midnight a tiny bird awoke and sang +monotonously for an hour or more. + +Awaiting an attack from Catharines-town at any moment, we dared not +make a fire or even light a torch. Rotten trunks which had fallen +across the stream we dragged out and piled up across the mouth of the +pass to make a defence; but we could do no more than that; and, our +efforts ended, my Indians sat in a circle cross-legged, quietly hooping +and stretching their freshly taken scalps by the dim light of the +stars, and humming their various airs of triumph in low, contented, and +purring voices. All laboured under subdued excitement, the brief and +almost silent slaughter in the ferns having thoroughly aroused them. +But the tension showed only in moments of abrupt gaiety, as when Mayaro +challenged them to pronounce his name, and they could not, there being +no letter "M" in the Iroquois language--neither "P" nor "B" either, for +that matter--so they failed at "Butler" too, and Philip Schuyler, which +aroused all to nervous merriment. + +The Yellow Moth finished braiding his trophy first, went to the stream, +and washed the blood from his weapons and his hands, polished up knife +and hatchet, freshened his priming and covered it, and then, being a +Christian, said his prayers on his knees, rolled over on his blanket, +and instantly fell asleep. + +One by one the others followed his example, excepting the Sagamore, who +yawning with repressed excitement, picked up his rifle, mounted the +abattis, and squatted there, his chin on a log, motionless and intent +as a hunting cat in long grass. I joined him; and there we sat +unstirring, listening, peering ahead into the mist-shot darkness, until +our three hours' vigil ended. + +Then we noiselessly summoned the Grey-Feather, and he crept up to the +log defence, rifle in hand, to sit there alone until his three hours' +duty was finished, when the Yellow Moth and Tahoontowhee should take +his place. + +It was already after sunrise when I was awakened by the tinkle of a +cow-bell. A broad, pinkish shaft of sunshine slanted through the pass +into the hidden valley; and for the first time in my life I now beheld +the Vale Yndaia in all the dewy loveliness of dawn. A milch cow fed +along the brook, flank-deep in fern. Chickens wandered in its wake, +snapping at gnats and tiny, unseen creatures under the leaves. + +Dainty shreds of fog rose along the stream, films of mist floated among +sun-tipped ferns and bramble sprays. The little valley, cup-shaped and +green, rang with the loud singing of birds. The pleasant noises of the +brook filled my ears. All the western hills were now rosy where the +rising sun struck their crests; north and south a purplish plum-bloom +still tinted velvet slopes, which stretched away against a saffron sky +untroubled by a cloud. + +But the pretty valley and its green grass and ferns and hills held my +attention only at moments, for my eyes ever reverted to the low bark +house, with its single chimney of clay, now stained orange by the sun. + +All the impatience and tenderness and not ignoble curiosity so long +restrained assailed me now, as I gazed upon that solitary dwelling, +where the unhappy mother of Lois de Contrecoeur had endured captivity +for more than twenty years. + +Vines of the flowering scarlet bean ran up the bark sides of the house, +and over the low doorway; and everywhere around grew wild flowers and +thickets of laurel and rhododendron, as in a cultivated park. And I saw +that she had bordered a walk of brook-pebbles with azaleas and +marsh-honeysuckles, making a little path to the brook over which was a +log bridge with hand rails. + +But laurel, azalea, and rhododendron bloomed no longer; the flowers +that now blossomed in a riot of azure, purple, and gold on every side +were the lovely wild asters and golden-rod; and no pretty garden set +with formal beds and garnished artfully seemed to compare with this +wild garden in the Vale Yndaia. + +As the sun warmed the ground, the sappy perfume of tree and fern and +grass mounted, scenting the pure, cool air with warm and balm-like +odours. Gauzy winged creatures awoke, flitted, or hung glittering to +some frail stem. The birds' brief autumn music died away; only the dry +chirring of a distant squirrel broke the silence, and the faint tinkle +of the cow-bell. + +My Indians, now all awake, were either industriously painting their +features or washing their wounds and scratches and filling them with +balsam and bruised witch-hazel, or were eating the last of our parched +corn and stringy shreds of leathery venison. All seemed as complacent +as a party of cats licking their rumpled fur; and examining their +bites, scratches, bruises, and knife wounds, I found no serious injury +among them, and nothing to stiffen for very long the limbs of men in +such a hardy condition. + +The youthful Night Hawk was particularly proud of an ugly knife-slash, +with which the Black Snake had decorated his chest--nay, I suspected +him of introducing sumac juice to make it larger and more showy--but +said nothing, as these people knew well enough how to care for their +bodies. + +Doubtless they were full as curious as was I concerning Madame de +Contrecoeur--perhaps more so, because not one of them but believed her +the Sorceress which unhappy circumstances had obliged her to pretend to +be. Pagan or Christian, no Indian is ever rid of superstition. + +Yet, devoured by curiosity, not one of them betrayed it, forbearing, at +least in my presence, even to mention the White Prophetess of the +Senecas, though they voiced their disappointment freely enough +concerning the escape of Amochol. + +So we ate our corn and dried meat, and drank at the pretty rill, and +cleansed us of mud and blood, each after his own fashion--discussing +the scalping of the Eries the while, the righteous death of the +Black-Snake, the rout of Butler's army, and how its unexpected arrival +had saved Amochol. For none among us doubted that, another half hour at +most, and we had heard the cracking signal of Boyd's rifles across the +hideous and fiery space. + +We were not a whit alarmed concerning Boyd and his party. Reconnoitring +Catharines-town from the north, they must have very quickly discovered +the swarm of partly crippled hornets, so unexpectedly infesting the +nest; and we felt sure that they had returned in safety to watch and +keep in touch with the beaten army. + +Yet, beaten at Chemung, exhausted after a rapid and disorderly retreat, +this same defeated Tory army was still formidable and dangerous. We had +seen enough of them to understand that. Fewer men than these at +Catharines-town had ambuscaded Braddock; fewer still had destroyed +another British expedition; while in the north Abercrombie had been +whipped by an enemy less than a quarter as strong as his own force. + +No, we veteran riflemen knew that this motley army of Butler and +McDonald, if it had indeed lost a few rattles, had however parted with +none of its poison fangs. Also, Amochol still lived. And it had been +still another Montour of the wily and accursed Frontenac +breed--"Anasthose the Huron"--who had encompassed the destruction of +Braddock. + +That the night had passed without a sign of an enemy, and the dawn had +heralded no yelling onset, we could account for either because no +scouts from Catharines-town had as yet discovered the scalped bodies of +the Eries in the glade, or because our own pursuing army was so close +that no time could be taken by the Senecas to attack a narrow pass held +by five resolute men. + +Now that the sun had risen I worried not at all over our future +prospects, believing that we would hear from our advancing army by +afternoon; and the Sagamore was of my opinion. + +And even while we were discussing these chances, leaning against our +log abattis in the sunshine, far away across the sunlit flat-woods we +saw a man come out among the ferns from the southward, and lie down. +And then another man came creeping from the south, and another, and yet +another, the sunlight running red along their rifle barrels. + +After them went both Oneidas, gliding swiftly out and speeding forward +just within the encircling cover, taking every precaution, although we +were almost certain that the distant scouts were ours. + +And they proved to be my own men--a handful of Morgan's--pushing far in +advance to reconnoitre Catharines-town from the south, although our +main army was marching by the western ridges, where Boyd had marked a +path for them. + +A corporal in my corps, named Baily, came back with the Oneidas, +climbed with them over the logs, sprang down inside, and saluted me +coolly enough. + +His scout of four, he admitted, had made a bad job of the swamp +trail--and his muddy and disordered dress corroborated this. But the +news he brought was interesting. + +He had not seen Boyd. The Battle of the Chemung had ended in a +disorderly rout of Butler's army, partly because we had outflanked +their works, partly because Butler's Indians could not be held to face +our artillery fire, though Brant displayed great bravery in rallying +them. We had lost few men and fewer officers; grain-fields, hay-stacks, +and Indian towns were afire everywhere along our line of march. + +Detachments followed every water-course, to wipe out the lesser towns, +gardens, orchards, and harvest fields on either flank, and gather up +the last stray head of the enemy's cattle. The whole Iroquois Empire +was now kindling into flames and the track our army left behind it was +a blackened desolation, as horrible to those who wrought it as to the +wretched and homeless fugitives who had once inhabited it. + +He added to me in a lower voice, glancing at my Indians with the +ineradicable distrust of the average woodsman, that our advanced guard +had discovered white captives in several of the Indian towns--in one a +young mother with a child at her breast. She, her husband, and five +children had been taken at Wyoming. The Indians and Tories had murdered +all save her and her baby. Her name was Mrs. Lester. + +In one town, he said, they found a pretty little white child, terribly +emaciated, sitting on the grass and playing with a chicken. It could +speak only the Iroquois language. Doubtless its mother had been +murdered long since. So starved was the little thing that had our +officers not restrained it the child might have killed itself by too +much eating. + +Also, they found a white prisoner--a man taken at Wyoming, one Luke +Sweatland; and it was said in the army that another young white girl +had been found in company with her little brother, both painted like +Indians, and that still another white child was discovered, which +Captain Machin had instantly adopted for his own. + +The Corporal further said that our army was proceeding slowly, much +time being consumed in laying the axe to the plum, peach, and apple +orchards; and that it was a sad sight to see the heavily fruited trees +fall over, crushing the ripe fruit into the mud. + +He thought that the advanced guard of our army might be up by evening +to burn Catharines-town, but was not certain. Then he asked permission +to go back and rejoin the scout which he commanded; which permission I +gave, though it was not necessary; and away he went, running like a +young deer that has lagged from the herd--a tall, fine, wholesome young +fellow, and as sturdy and active as any I ever saw in rifle-dress and +ruffles. + +My Indians lay down on their bellies, stretching themselves out in the +sun across the logs, and, save for the subdued but fierce glimmer under +their lazy lids, they seemed as pleasant and harmless as four tawny +pumas a-sunning on the rocks. + +As for me, I wandered restlessly along the brook, as far as the bridge, +and, seating myself here, fished out writing materials and my journal +from my pouch, and filled in the events of the preceding days as +briefly and exactly as I knew how. Also I made a map of Catharines-town +and of Yndaia from memory, resolving to correct it later when Mr. Lodge +and his surveyors came up, if opportunity permitted. + +As I sat there musing and watching the chickens loitering around the +dooryard, I chanced to remember the milch cow. + +Casting about for a receptacle, I discovered several earthen jars of +Seneca make set in willow baskets and standing by the stream. These I +washed in the icy water, then slinging two of them on my shoulder I +went in quest of the cow. + +She proved tame enough and glad, apparently, to be relieved of her +milk, I kneeling to accomplish the business, having had experience with +the grass-guard of our army on more than one occasion. + +Lord! How sweet the fragrance of the milk to a man who had seen none in +many days. And so I carried back my jars and set them by the door of +the bark house, covering each with a flat stone. And as I turned away, +I saw smoke coming from the chimney; and heard the shutters on the +southern window being gently opened. + +Lord! What a sudden leap my heart gave as the door before me moved with +the soft sliding of the great oak bolt, and was slowly opened wide to +the morning sunshine. + +For a moment I thought it was Lois who stood there so white and still, +looking at me with grey, unfathomable eyes; then I stepped forward +uncertainly, bending in silence over the narrow, sun-tanned hand that +lay inert under the respectful but trembling salute I offered. + +"Euan Loskiel," she murmured in the French tongue, laying her other +hand over mine and looking me deep in the eyes. "Euan Loskiel, a +soldier of the United States! May God ever mount guard beside you for +all your goodness to my little daughter." + +Tears filled her eyes; her pale, smooth cheeks were wet. + +"Lois is still asleep," she said. "Come quietly with her mother and you +shall see her where she sleeps." + +Cap in hand, coon-tail dragging, I entered the single room on silent, +moccasined feet, set my rifle in a corner, and went over to the couch +of tumbled fawn-skin and silky pelts. + +As I stood looking down at the sweetly flushed face, her mother lifted +my brier-scarred hand and pressed her lips to it; and I, hot and +crimson with happiness and embarrassment, found not a word to utter. + +"My little daughter's champion!" she murmured. "Brave, and pure of +heart! Ah, Monsieur, chivalry indeed is of no nation! It is a broader +nobility which knows neither race nor creed nor ancestry nor birth.... +How the child adores you!" + +"And you, Madame. Has ever history preserved another such example of +dauntless resolution and filial piety as Lois de Contrecoeur has shown +us all?" + +Her mother's beautiful head lifted a little: + +"The blood of France runs in her veins, Monsieur." Then, for the first +time, a pale smile touched her pallour. "Quand meme! No de Contrecoeur +tires of endeavour while life endures.... Twenty-two years, Monsieur. +Look upon her!... And for one and twenty years I have forced myself to +live in hope of this moment! Do you understand?" She made a vague +gesture and shook her head. "Nobody can understand--not even I, though +I have lived the history of many ages." + +Still keeping my hand in hers, she stood there silent, looking down at +her daughter. Then, silently, she knelt beside her on the soft +fawnskin, drawing me gently to my knees beside her. + +"And you are to take her from me," she murmured. + +"Madame----" + +"Hush, soldier! It must be. I give her to you in gratitude--and +tears.... My task is ended; yours at last begins. Out of my arms you +shall take her as she promised. What has been said shall be done this +day in the Vale Yndaia.... May God be with us all." + +"Madame--when I take her--one arm of mine must remain empty--as half +her heart would be--if neither may hold you also to the end." + +She bent her head; her grey eyes closed, and I saw the tears steal out +along the long, soft lashes. + +"Son, if you should come to love me----" + +"Madame, I love you now." + +She covered her face with her slim hands; I drew it against my +shoulder. A moment later Lois unclosed her eyes, looked up at us; then +rose to her knees in her white shift and put both bare arms around her +mother's neck. And, kneeling so, turned her head, offering her +untouched lips to me. Thus, for the first time in our lives, we kissed +each other. + + +There was milk, ash-bread, corn, and fresh laid eggs for all our party +when Lois went to the door and called, in a clear, sweet voice: + +* "Nai! Mayaro! Yon-kwa-ken-nison!" + +[* "Oh, Mayaro! We are all assembled!"] + +Never have I seen any Indian eat as did my four warriors--the Yellow +Moth cleaning his bark platter, where he sat on guard upon the logs at +the pass, the others in a circle at our threshold. + +Had we a siege to endure in this place, there was a store of plenty +here, not only in apple-pit and corn-pit, but in the good, dry cellar +with which the house was provided. + +Truly, the Senecas had kept their Prophetess well provided; and now, +before the snow of a not distant winter choked this pass, the place had +been provisioned from the harvest against November's wants and stress. + +And it secretly amused me to note the ever latent fear born of respect +which my Indians endeavoured not to betray when in the presence of +Madame de Contrecoeur; nor could her gentle dignity and sweetness +toward them completely reassure them. To them a sorceress was a +sorceress, and must ever remain a fearsome and an awesome personage, +even though it were plain that she was disposed toward them most +agreeably. + +So they replied to her cautiously, briefly, but very respectfully, nor +could her graciousness to the youthful Night Hawk for his unerring +arrow, nor her quiet kindness toward the others, completely reassure +them. They were not accustomed to converse, much less to take their +breakfast, with a Sorceress of Amochol, and though this dread fact did +nothing alter their appetites, it discouraged any freedom of +conversation. + +Lois and her mother and I understood this; Lois and I dared not laugh +or rally them; Madame de Contrecoeur, well versed, God knows, in Indian +manners and customs, calmly and pleasantly accepted the situation; and +I think perhaps quietly enjoyed it. + +But neither mother nor daughter could keep their eyes from each other +for any length of time, nor did their soft hand-clasp loosen save for a +moment now and then. + +Later, Lois came to me, laid both hands over mine, looked at me a +moment in silence too eloquent to misunderstand, then drew her mother +with her into the little house. And I went back on guard to join my +awed red brethren. + +So the soft September day wore away with nothing untoward to alarm us, +until late in the afternoon we saw smoke rising above the hills to the +southwest. This meant that our devastating army was well on its way, +and, as usual, laying waste the Indian towns and hamlets which its +flanking riflemen discovered; and we all jumped up on our breastworks +to see better. + +For an hour we watched the smoke staining the pure blue sky; saw where +new clouds of smoke were rising, always a little further northward. At +evening it rolled, glowing with sombre tints, in the red beams of the +setting sun; then dusk came and we could see the reflection on it of +great fires raging underneath. + +And where we were watching it came a far, dull sound which shook the +ground, growing louder and nearer, increasing to a rushing, thundering +gallop; and presently we heard our riflemen running through the +flat-woods after the frightened herds of horses which were bred in +Catharines-town for the British service, and which had now been +discovered and frightened by our advance. + +Leaving the Mohican and the Oneidas on guard, I went out with the +Stockbridge, and soon came in touch with our light troops, stealing +westward through the flat-woods to surround Catharines-town. + +When I returned to our breastworks, Lois and her mother were standing +there, looking at the fiery smoke in the sky, listening to the noise of +the unseen soldiery. But on my explaining the situation, they went back +to the little house together, after bidding us all good night. + +So I set the first watch for the coming night, rolled myself in my +blanket, and went to sleep with the lightest heart I had carried in my +breast for many a day. + +At dawn I was awakened by the noise of horses and cattle and the +shouting of the grass-guard, where they were rounding to the half-wild +stock from Catharines-town, and our own hoofed creatures which had +strayed in the flat-woods. + +A great cloud of smoke was belching up above the trees to the +northward; and we knew that Catharines-town was on fire, and the last +lurking enemy gone. + +Long before Lois was astir, I had made my way through our swarming +soldiery to Catharines-town, where there was the usual orderly +confusion of details pulling down houses or firing them, troops cutting +the standing corn, hacking apple-trees, kindling the stacked hay into +roaring columns of flame. + +Regiment after regiment paraded along the stream, discharged its +muskets, filling the forests with crashing echoes and frightening our +cattle into flight again; but they were firing only to clean out their +pieces, for the last of our enemies had pulled foot before sunset, and +the last howling Indian dog had whipped his tail between his legs and +trotted after them. + +Suddenly in the smoke I saw General Sullivan, mounted, and talking with +Boyd; and I hastened to them and reported, standing at salute. + +"So that damned Red Sachem escaped you?" said the General, biting his +lip and looking now at me, now at Boyd. + +Boyd said, glancing curiously at me: + +"When we came up we found the entire Tory army here. I must admit, sir, +that we were an hour late, having been blocked by the passage of two +hundred Hurons and Iroquois who crossed our trail, cutting us from the +north." + +"What became of them?" + +"They joined Butler, Brant, and Hiokatoo at this place, General." + +Then the General asked for my report; and I gave it as exactly as I +could, the General listening most attentively to my narrative, and Boyd +deeply and sombrely interested. + +When I ended he said: + +"We have taken also a half-breed, one Madame Sacho. You say that Madame +de Contrecoeur is at the Vale Yndaia with her daughter?" + +"Guarded by my Indians, General." + +"Very well, sir. Today we send back ten wagons, our wounded, and four +guns of the heavier artillery, all under proper escort. You will notify +Madame de Contrecoeur that there will be a wagon for her and her +daughter." + +"Yes, General." + +He gathered his bridle, leaned from his saddle, and looked coldly at +Boyd and me. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "I shall expect you to take Amochol, dead or +alive, before this command marches into the Chinisee Castle. How you +are to accomplish this business is your own affair. I leave you full +liberty, except," turning to Boyd, "you, sir, are not to encumber +yourself again with any such force as you now have with you. Twenty men +are too many for a swift and secret affair. Four is the limit--and four +of Mr. Loskiel's Indians." + +He sat still, gnawing at his lip for a moment, then: + +"I am sorry that, through no fault apparently of your own, this +Sorcerer, Amochol, escaped. But, gentlemen, the service recognizes only +success. I am always ready to listen to how nearly you failed, when you +have succeeded; I have no interest in hearing how nearly you succeeded +when you have failed. That is all, gentlemen." + +We stood at salute while he wheeled, and, followed by his considerable +staff, walked his fine horse away toward the train of artillery which +stood near by, the gun-teams harnessed and saddled, the guns limbered +up, drivers and cannoneers in their saddles and seats. + +"Well," said Boyd heavily, "shall we be about this matter of Amochol?" + +"Yes.... Will you aid me in placing Madame de Contrecoeur and her +daughter in the wagon assigned them?" + +He nodded, and together we started back toward the Vale Yndaia in +silence. + +After a long while he looked up at me and said: + +"I know her now." + +"What?" + +"I recognize your pretty Lois de Contrecoeur. For weeks I have been +troubled, thinking of her and how I should have known her face. And +last night, lying north of Catharines-town, it came to me suddenly." + +I was silent. + +"She is the ragged maid of the Westchester hills," he said. + +"She is the noblest maid that ever breathed in North America," I said. + +"Yes, Loskiel.... And, that being true, you are the fittest match for +her the world could offer." + +I looked up, surprised, and flushed; and saw how colourless and wasted +his face had grown, and how in his eyes all light seemed quenched. +Never have I gazed upon so hopeless and haunted a visage as he turned +to me. + +"I walk the forests like a damned man," he said, "already conscious of +the first hot breath of hell.... Well--I had my chance, Loskiel." + +"You have it still." + +But he said no more, walking beside me with downcast countenance and +brooding eyes fixed on our long shadows that led us slowly west. + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +CHINISEE CASTLE + +For twelve days our army, marching west by north, tore its terrible way +straight through the smoking vitals of the Iroquois Empire, leaving +behind it nearly forty towns and villages and more than two hundred +cabins on fire; thousands and thousands of bushels of grain burning, +thousands of apple, peach, pear, and plum trees destroyed, thousands of +acres of pumpkins, beans, peas, corn, potatoes, beets, turnips, +carrots, watermelons, muskmelons, strawberry, black-berry, raspberry +shrubs crushed and rotting in the trampled gardens under the hot +September sun. + +In the Susquehanna and Chinisee Valleys, not a roof survived unburnt, +not a fruit tree or an ear of corn remained standing, not a domestic +animal, not a fowl, was left. And, save for the aged squaw we left at +Chiquaha in a new hut of bark, with provisions sufficient for her +needs, not one living soul now inhabited the charred ruins of the Long +House behind us, except our fierce soldiery. And they, tramping +doggedly forward, voluntarily and cheerfully placing themselves on half +rations, were now terribly resolved to make an end for all time of the +secret and fruitful Empire which had nourished so long the merciless +marauders, red and white, who had made of our frontiers but one vast +slaughter-house and bloody desolation. + +Town after town fell in ashes as our torches flared; Kendaia, +Kanadesaga, Gothsunquin, Skoi-yase, Kanandaigua, Haniai, Kanasa; acre +after acre was annihilated. So vast was one field of corn that it took +two thousand men more than six hours to destroy it. And the end was not +yet, nor our stern business with our enemies ended. + +As always on the march, the division of light troops led; the advance +was piloted by my guides, reinforced by Boyd with four riflemen of +Morgan's--Tim Murphy, David Elerson, and Garrett Putnam, privates, and +Michael Parker, sergeant. + +Close behind us, and pretty well ahead of the rifle battalion, under +Major Parr, and the pioneers, followed Mr. Lodge, the surveyor, and his +party--Thomas Grant with the Jacob-staff, four chain-carriers, and +Corporal Calhawn. Usually we remained in touch with them while they ran +their lines through the wilderness, but sometimes we were stealing +forward, far ahead and in touch with the retreating Tory army, +patiently and persistently contriving plans to get at Amochol. But the +painted hordes of Senecas enveloped the Sorcerer and his acolytes as +with a living blanket; and, prowling outside their picket fires at +night, not one ridged-crest did we see during those twelve days of +swift pursuit. + +Boyd, during the last few days, had become very silent and morose; and +his men and my Indians believed that he was brooding over his failure +to take the Red Priest at Catharines-town. But my own heavy heart told +me a different story; and the burden of depression which this young +officer bore so silently seemed to weight me also with vague and +sinister apprehensions. + +I remember, just before sunset, that our small scout of ten were halted +by a burnt log bridge over a sluggish inlet to a lake. The miry trail +to the Chinisee Castle led over it, swung westward along the lake, +rising to a steep bluff which was gashed with a number of deep and +rocky ravines. + +It was plain that the retreating Tory army had passed over this bridge, +and that their rearguard had set it afire. + +I said to Boyd, pointing across the southern end of the lake: + +"From what I have read of Braddock's Field, yonder terrain most +astonishingly resembles it. What an ambuscade could Butler lay for our +army yonder, within shot of this crossing!" + +"Pray God he lays it," said Boyd between his teeth. + +"Yet, we could get at him better beyond those rocky gashes," I +muttered, using my spyglass. + +"Butler is there," said the Mohican, calmly. + +Both Boyd and I searched the wooded bluffs in vain for any sign of +life, but the Sagamore and the other Indians quietly maintained their +opinion, because, they explained, though patches of wild rice grew +along the shore, the wild ducks and geese had left their feeding coves +and were lying half a mile out in open water. Also, the blue-jays had +set up a screaming in the yellowing woods along the western shore, and +the tall, blue herons had left their shoreward sentry posts, and now +mounted guard far to the northward among the reeds, where solitary +black ducks dropped in at intervals, quacking loudly. + +Boyd nodded; the Oneidas drew their hatchets and blazed the trees; and +we all sat down in the woods to await the coming of our advanced guard. + +After a little while, our pioneers appeared, rifles slung, axes +glittering on their shoulders, and immediately began to fell trees and +rebuild the log bridge. Hard on their heels came my rifle battalion; +and in the red sunshine we watched the setting of the string of +outposts. + +Far back along the trail behind us we could hear the halted army making +camp; flurries of cheery music from the light infantry bugle-horns, the +distant rolling of drums, the rangers penetrating whistle, lashes of +wagoners cracking, the melancholy bellow of the beef herd. + +Major Parr came and talked with us for a few minutes, and went away +convinced that Butler's people lay watching us across the creek. Ensign +Chambers came a-mincing through the woods, a-whisking the snuff from +his nose with the only laced hanker in the army; and: + +"Dear me!" says he. "Do you really think we shall have a battle, +Loskiel? How very interesting and enjoyable it will be." + +"Who drilled your pretty hide, Benjamin?" said I bluntly, noting that +he wore his left arm in a splint. + +"Lord!" says he. "'Twas a scratch from a half-ounce ball at the +Chemung. Dear, dear, how very disappointing was that affair, Loskiel! +Most annoying of them not to stand our charge!" And, "Dear, dear, +dear," he murmured, mincing off again with all the air of a Wall Street +beau ogling the pretty dames on Hanover Square. + +"Where is this damned Castle?" growled Boyd. "Chinisee, Chenussio, +Genesee--whatever it is called? The name keeps buzzing in my head--nay, +for the last three days I have dreamed of it and awakened to hear it +sounding in my ears, as though beside me some one stooped and whispered +it." + +I pulled out our small map, which we had long since learned to +distrust, yet even our General had no better one. + +Here was marked the Chinisee Castle, near the confluence of Canaseraga +Creek and the Chinisee River; and I showed the place to Boyd, who +looked at it curiously. + +Mayaro, however, shook his crested head: + +"No, Loskiel," he said. "The Chinisee Castle stands now on the western +shore. The Great Town should stand here!"--placing his finger on an +empty spot on the map. "And here, two miles above, is another town." + +"And you had better tell that to the General when he comes," remarked +Boyd. And to me he said: "If we are to take Amochol at all, it will be +this night or at dawn at the Chinisee Castle." + +"I am also of that opinion," said I. + +"I shall want twenty riflemen," he said. + +"If it can not be done with four, and my Indians, we need not attempt +it." + +"Why?" he asked sullenly. + +"The General has so ordered." + +"Yes, but if I am to catch Amochol I must do it in my own way. I know +how to do it. And if I risk taking my twenty riflemen, and am +successful, the General will not care how it was accomplished." + +I said nothing, because Boyd ranked me, but what he proposed made me +very uneasy. More than once he had interpreted orders after his own +fashion, and, being always successful in his enterprises, nothing was +said to him in reproof. + +My Indians had made a fire, I desiring to let the enemy suppose that we +suspected nothing of his ambuscade so close at hand; and around this we +lay, munching our meagre meal of green corn roasted on the coals, and +ripe apples to finish. + +As we ended, the sun set behind the western bluffs, and our evening gun +boomed good-night in the forest south of us. And presently came, +picking their way through the trail-mire, our General, handsomely +horsed as usual, attended by Major Adam Hoops, of his staff, and +several others. + +We instantly waited on him and told him what we knew and suspected; and +I showed him my map and warned him of the discrepancy between its +marked places and the report of the Mohican Sagamore. + +"Damnation!" he said. "Every map I have had lies in detail, misleading +and delaying me when every hour empties our wagons of provisions. Were +it not for your Indians, Mr. Loskiel, and that Sagamore in particular, +we had missed half the game as it lies." + +He sat his saddle in silence for a while, looking at the unfinished log +bridge and up at the bluffs opposite. + +"I feel confident that Butler is there," he said bluntly. "But what I +wish to know is where this accursed Chinisee Castle stands. Boyd, take +four men, move rapidly just before midnight, find out where this castle +stands, and report to me at sunrise." + +Boyd saluted, hesitated, then asked permission to speak. And when the +General accorded it, he explained his plan to take Amochol at the +Chinisee Castle, and that this matter would neither delay nor interfere +with a prompt execution of his present orders. + +"Very well," nodded the General, "but take no more than four men, and +Mr. Loskiel and his Indians with you; and report to me at sunrise." + +I heard him say this; Major Hoops heard him also. So I supposed that +Boyd would obey these orders to the letter. + +When the mounted party had moved away, Boyd and I went back to the fire +and lay down on our blankets. We were on the edge of the trees; it was +still daylight; the pioneers were still at work; and my Indians were +freshening their paint, rebraiding their scalp-locks, and shining up +hatchet, rifle, and knife. + +"Look at those bloodhounds," muttered Boyd. "They did not hear what we +were talking about, but they know by premonition." + +"I do not have any faith in premonitions," said I. + +"Why?" + +"I have dreamed I was scalped, and my hair still grows." + +"You are not out of the woods yet," he said, sombrely. + +"That does not worry me." + +"Nor me. Yet, I do believe in premonition." + +"That is old wives' babble." + +"Maybe, Loskiel. Yet, I know I shall not leave this wilderness alive." + +"Lord!" said I, attempting to jest. "You should set up as a rival to +Amochol and tell us all our fortunes." + +He smiled--and the effort distorted his pale, handsome face. + +"I think it will happen at Chinisee," he said quietly. + +"What will happen?" + +"The end of the world for me, Loskiel." + +"It is not like you, Boyd, to speak in such a manner. Only lately have +I ever heard from you a single note of such foreboding." + +"Only lately have I been dowered with the ominous clairvoyance. I am +changed, Loskiel." + +"Not in courage." + +"No," he said with a shrug of his broad shoulders that set ruffles and +thrums a-dancing on his rifle-dress. + +We were silent for a while, watching the Indians at their polishing. +Then he said in a low but pleasant voice: + +"How proud and happy must you be with your affianced. What a splendour +of happiness lies before you both! An unblemished past, an innocent +passion, a future stretching out unstained before you--what more can +God bestow on man and maid?... May bright angels guard you both, +Loskiel." + +I made to thank him for the wish, but suddenly found I could not +control my voice, so lay there in silence and with throat contracted, +looking at this man whose marred young life lay all behind him, and +whose future, even to me, lowered strangely and ominously veiled. + +And as we lay there, into our fire-circle came a dusty, mud-splashed, +and naked runner, plucking from his light skin-pouch two letters, one +for Boyd and one for me. + +I read mine by the flickering fire; it was dated from Tioga Point: + + +"Euan Loskiel, my honoured and affianced husband, and my lover, +worshipped and adored, I send you by this runner my dearest affections, +my duties, and my most sacred sentiments. + +"You must know that this day we have arrived at the Fort at Tioga Point +without any accident or mischance of any description, and, indeed, not +encountering one living creature between Catharines-town and this post. + +"My beloved mother desires her particular and tender remembrances to be +conveyed to you, her honoured son-in-law to be, and further commands +that I express to you, as befittingly as I know how, her deep and +ever-living gratitude and thanks for your past conduct in regard to me, +and your present and noble-minded generosity concerning the +dispositions you have made for us to remain under the amiable +protection of Mr. Hake in Albany. + +"Dear lad, what can I say for myself? You are so glorious, so +wonderful--and in you it does seem that all the virtues, graces, and +accomplishments are so perfectly embodied, that at moments, thinking of +you, I become afraid, wondering what it is in me that you can accept in +exchange for the so perfect love you give me. + +"I fear that you may smile on perusing this epistle, deeming it, +perhaps, a trifle flowery in expression--but, Euan, I am so torn +between the wild passion I entertain for you, and a desire to address +you modestly and politely in terms of correspondence, as taught in the +best schools, that I know not entirely how to conduct. I would not have +you think me cold, or too stiffly laced in the formalities of polite +usage, so that you might not divine my heart a-beating under the dress +that covers me, be it rifle-frock or silken caushet. I would not have +you consider me over-bold, light-minded, or insensible to the deep and +sacred tie that already binds me to you evermore--which even, I think, +the other and tender tie which priest and church shall one day impose, +could not make more perfect or more secure. + +"So I must strive to please you by writing with elegance befitting, yet +permitting you to perceive the ardent heart of her who thinks of you +through every blessed moment of the day. + +"I pray, as my dear mother prays, that God, all armoured, and with His +bright sword drawn, stand sentinel on your right hand throughout the +dangers and the trials of this most just and bloody war. For your +return I pray and wait. + +"Your humble and dutiful and obedient and adoring wife to be, + + "Lois de Contrecoeur. + +"Post scriptum: The memory of our kiss fades not from my lips. I will +be content when circumstances permit us the liberty to repeat it." + + +When I had read the letter again and again, I folded it and laid it in +the bosom of my rifle-shirt. Boyd still brooded over his letter, the +red firelight bathing his face to the temples. + +After a long while he raised his eyes, saw me looking at him, stared at +me for a moment, then quietly extended the letter toward me. + +"You wish me to read it?" I asked. + +"Yes, read it, Loskiel, before I burn it," he said drearily. "I do not +desire to have it discovered on my body after death." + +I took the single sheet of paper and read: + + + "Lieutenant Thomas Boyd, + "Rifle Corps, + "Sir: + + "For the last time, I venture to importune you in behalf of one for + whose present despair you are entirely responsible. Pitying her + unhappy condition, I have taken her as companion to me since we are + arrived at Easton, and shall do what lies within my power to make + her young life as endurable as may be. + + "You, sir, on your return from the present campaign, have it in + your power to make the only reparation possible. I trust that your + heart and your sense of honour will so incline you. + + "As for me, Mr. Boyd, I make no complaint, desire no sympathy, + expect none. What I did was my fault alone. Knowing that I was + falling in love with you, and at the same time aware what kind of + man you had been and must still be, I permitted myself to drift + into deeper waters, too weak of will to make an end, too miserable + to put myself beyond the persuasion of your voice and manner. And + perhaps I might never have found courage to give you up entirely + had I not been startled into comprehension by what I learned + concerning the poor child in whose behalf I now am writing. + + "That instantly sobered me, ending any slightest spark of hope that + I might have in my secret heart still guarded. For, with my new and + terrible knowledge, I understood that I must pass instantly and + completely out of your life; and you out of mine. Only your duty + remained--not to me, but to this other and more unhappy one. And + that path I pray that you will follow when a convenient opportunity + arises. + + "I am, sir y' ob't, etc., etc. + + "Magdalene Helmer. + + "P. S. If you love me, Tom, do your full duty in the name of God! + + "Lana." + +I handed the letter back to him in silence. He stared at it, not seeing +the written lines, I think, save as a blurr; and after a long while he +leaned forward and laid it on the coals. + +"If I am not already foredoomed," he said to me, "what Lana bids me do +that I shall do. It is best, is it not, Loskiel?" + +"A clergyman is fitter to reply to you than I." + +"Do you not think it best that I marry Dolly Glenn?" + +"God knows. It is all too melancholy and too terrible for me to +comprehend the right and wrong of it, or how a penitence is best made. +Yet, as you ask me, it seems to me that what she will one day become +should claim your duty and your future. The weakest ever has the +strongest claim." + +"Yes, it-is true. I stand tonight so fettered to an unborn soul that +nothing can unloose me.... I wish that I might live." + +"You will live! You must live!" + +"Aye, 'must' and 'will' are twins of different complexions, Loskiel.... +Yet, if I live, I shall live decently and honestly hereafter in the +sight of God and--Lana Helmer." + + +We said nothing more. About ten o'clock Boyd rose and went away all +alone. Half an hour later he came back, followed by some score and more +of men, a dozen of our own battalion, half a dozen musket-men of the +4th Pennsylvania Regiment, three others, two Indians, Hanierri, the +headquarters Oneida guide, and Yoiakim, a Stockbridge. + +"Volunteers," he said, looking sideways at me. "I know how to take +Amochol; but I must take him in my own manner." + +I ventured to remind him of the General's instructions that we find the +Chinisee Castle and report at sunrise. + +"Damn it, I know it," he retorted impatiently, "but I have my own +plans; and the General will bear me out when I fling Amochol's scalp at +his feet." + +The Grey-Feather drew me aside and said in a low, earnest voice: + +"We are too many to surprise Amochol. Before Wyoming, with only three +others I went to Thenondiago, the Castle of the Three Clans--The Bear, +The Wolf, and The Turtle--and there we took and slew Skull-Face, +brother of Amochol, and wounded Telenemut, the husband of Catrine +Montour. By Waiandaia we stretched the scalp of Skull-Face; at +Thaowethon we painted it with Huron and Seneca tear-drops; at Yaowania +we peeled three trees and wrote on each the story so that the Three +Clans might read and howl their anguish. Thus should it be done tonight +if we are to deal with Amochol!" + +Once more I ventured to protest to Boyd. + +"Leave it to me, Loskiel," he said pleasantly. And I could say no more. + +At eleven our party of twenty-nine set out, Hanierri, the Oneida, from +headquarters, guiding us; and I could not understand why Boyd had +chosen him, for I was certain he knew less about this region than did +Mayaro, However, when I spoke to Boyd, he replied that the General had +so ordered, and that Hanierri had full instructions concerning the +route from the commander himself. + +As General Sullivan was often misinformed by his maps and his scouts, I +was nothing reassured by Boyd's reply, and marched with my Indians, +feeling in my heart afraid. And, without vaunting myself, nor meaning +to claim any general immunity from fear, I can truly say that for the +first time in my life I set forth upon an expedition with the most +melancholy forebodings possible to a man of ordinary courage and +self-respect. + +We followed the hard-travelled war-trail in single file; and Hanierri +did not lose his way, but instead of taking, as he should have done, +the unused path which led to the Chinisee Castle, he passed it and +continued on. + +I protested most earnestly to Boyd; the Sagamore corroborated my +opinion when summoned. But Hanierri remained obstinate, declaring that +he had positive information that the Chinisee Castle lay in the +direction we were taking. + +Boyd seemed strangely indifferent and dull, making apparently no effort +to sift the matter further. So strange and apathetic had his manner +become, so unlike himself was he, that I could make nothing of him, and +stood in uneasy wonderment while the Mohican and the Oneida, Hanierri, +were gravely disputing. + +"Come," he said, in his husky and altered voice, "let us have done with +this difference in opinion. Let the Oneida guide us--as we cannot have +two guides' opinions. March!" + +In the darkness we crept past Butler's right flank, silently and +undiscovered; nor could we discover any sign of the enemy, though now +not one among us doubted that he lay hidden along the bluffs, waiting +for our army to move at sunrise into the deadly trap that the nature of +the place had so perfectly provided. + +All night long we moved on the hard and trodden trail; and toward dawn +we reached a town. Reconnoitering the place, we found it utterly +abandoned. If the Chinisee Castle lay beyond it, we could not +determine, but Hanierri insisted that it was there. So Boyd sent back +four men to Sullivan to report on what we had done; and we lay in the +woods on the outskirts of the village, to wait for daylight. + +When dawn whitened the east, it became plain to us all that we had +taken the wrong direction. The Chinisee Castle was not here. Nothing +lay before us but a deserted village. + +I knew not what to make of Boyd, for the discovery of our mistake +seemed to produce no impression on him. He stood at the edge of the +woods, gazing vacantly across the little clearing where the Indian +houses straggled on either side of the trail. + +"We have made a bad mistake," I said in a low voice. + +"Yes, a bad one," he said listlessly. + +"Shall we not start on our return?" I asked. + +"There is no hurry." + +"I beg your pardon, but I have to remind you that you are to report at +sunrise." + +"Aye--if that were possible, Loskiel." + +"Possible!" I repeated, blankly. "Why not?" + +"Because," he said in a dull voice, "I shall never see another sunrise +save this one that is coming presently. Let me have my fill of it +unvexed by Generals and orders." + +"You are not well, Boyd," I said, troubled. + +"As well as I shall ever be--but not as ill, Loskiel." + +At that moment the Sagamore laid his hand on my shoulder and pointed. I +saw nothing for a moment; then Boyd and Murphy sprang forward, rifles +in hand, and Mayaro after them, and I after them, running into the +village at top speed. For I had caught a glimpse of a most unusual +sight; four Iroquois Indians on horseback, riding into the northern +edge of the town. Never before, save on two or three occasions, had I +ever seen an Iroquois mounted on a horse. + +We ran hard to get a shot at them, and beyond the second house came in +full view of our enemies. Murphy fired immediately, knocking the +leading Indian from his horse; I fired, breaking the arm of the next +rider; both my Indians fired and missed; and the Iroquois were off at +full speed. Boyd had not fired. + +We ran to where the dead man was lying, and the Mohican recognized him +as an Erie named Sanadaya. Murphy coolly took his scalp, with an +impudent wink at the Sagamore and a grin at Boyd and me. + +In the meanwhile, our riflemen and Indians had rushed the town and were +busy tearing open the doors of the houses and setting fire to them. In +vain I urged Boyd to start back, pointing out that this was no place +for us to linger in, and that our army would burn this village in due +time. + +But he merely shrugged his shoulders and loitered about, watching his +men at their destruction; and I stood by, a witness to his strange and +inexplicable delay, a prey to the most poignant anxiety because the +entire Tory army lay between us and our own army, and this smoke signal +must draw upon us a very swarm of savages to our inevitable destruction. + +At last Boyd sounded the recall on his ranger's whistle, and ordered me +to take my Indians and reconnoiter our back trail. And no sooner had I +entered the woods than I saw an Indian standing about a hundred yards +to the right of the trail, and looking up at the smoke which was +blowing southward through the tree-tops. + +His scarlet cloak was thrown back; he was a magnificent warrior, in his +brilliant paint, matching the flaming autumn leaves in colour. My +Indians had not noticed him where he stood against a crimson and yellow +maple bush. I laid my rifle level and fired. He staggered, stood a +moment, turning his crested head with a bewildered air, then swayed, +sank at the knee joints, dropped to them, and very slowly laid his +stately length upon the moss, extending himself like one who prepared +for slumber. + +We ran up to where he lay with his eyes closed; he was still breathing. +A great pity for him seized me; and I seated myself on the moss beside +him, staring into his pallid face. + +And as I sat beside him while he was dying, he opened his eyes, and +looked at me. And I knew that he knew I had killed him. After a few +moments he died. + +"Amochol!" I said under my breath. "God alone knows why I am sorry for +this dead priest." And as I rose and stared about me, I caught sight of +two pointed ears behind a bush; then two more pricked up sharply; then +the head of a wolf popped up over a fallen log. But as I began to +reload my rifle, there came a great scurrying and scattering in the +thickets, and I heard the Andastes running off, leaving their dead +master to me and to my people, who were now arriving. + +I do not know who took his scalp; but it was taken by some Indian or +Ranger who came crowding around to look down upon this painted dead man +in his scarlet cloak. + +"Amochol is dead," I said to Boyd. + +He looked at me with lack-lustre eyes, nodding. We marched on along the +trail by which we had arrived. + +For five miles we proceeded in silence, my Indians flanking the file of +riflemen. Then Boyd gave the signal to halt, and sent forward the +Sagamore, the Grey-Feather, and Tahoontowhee to inform the General that +we would await the army in this place. + +The Indians, so coolly taken from my command, had gone ere I came up +from the rear to find what Boyd had done. + +"Are you mad?" I exclaimed, losing my temper, "Do you propose to halt +here at the very mouth of the hornet's nest?" + +He did not rebuke me for such gross lack of discipline and respect--in +fact, he seemed scarcely to heed at all what I said, but seated himself +at the foot of a pine tree and lit his pipe. As I stood biting my lip +and looking around at the woods encircling us, he beckoned two of his +men, gave them some orders in a low voice, crossed one leg over the +other, and continued to smoke the carved and painted Oneida pipe he +carried in his shot-pouch. + +I saw the two riflemen shoulder their long weapons and go forward in +obedience to his orders; and when again I approached him he said: + +"They will make plain to Sullivan what your Indians may garble in +repeating--that I mean to await the army in this place and save my +party these useless miles of travelling. Do you object?" + +"Our men are not tired," I said, astonished, "and our advanced guard +can not be very far away. Do you not think it more prudent for us to +continue the movement toward our own people?" + +"Very well--if you like," he said indifferently. + +After a few minutes' inaction, he rose, sounded his whistle; the men +got to their feet, fell in, and started, rifles a-trail. But we had +proceeded scarcely a dozen rods into the big timber when we discovered +our two riflemen, who had so recently left us, running back toward us +and looking over their shoulders as they ran. When they saw us, they +halted and shouted for us to hasten, as there were several Seneca +Indians standing beside the trail ahead. + +In a flash of intuition it came to me that here was a cleared runway to +some trap. + +"Don't leave the trail!" I said to Boyd. "Don't be drawn out of it now. +For God's sake hold your men and don't give chase to those Indians." + +"Press on!" said Boyd curtly; and our little column trotted forward. + +Something crashed in a near thicket and went off like a deer. The men, +greatly excited, strove to catch a glimpse of the running creature, but +the bush was too dense. + +Suddenly a rifleman, who was leading our rapid advance, caught sight of +the same Senecas who had alarmed him and his companion; and he started +toward them with a savage shout, followed by a dozen others. + +Hanierri turned to Boyd and begged him earnestly not to permit any +pursuit. But Boyd pushed him aside impatiently, and blew the +view-halloo on his ranger's whistle; and in a moment we all were +scattering in full pursuit of five lithe and agile Senecas, all in full +war-paint, who appeared to be in a panic, for they ran through the +thickets like terrified sheep, huddling and crowding on one another's +heels. + +"Boyd!" I panted, catching up with him. "This whole business looks like +a trap to me. Whistle your men back to the trail, for I am certain that +these Senecas are drawing us toward their main body." + +"We'll catch one of them first," he said; and shouted to Murphy to fire +and cripple the nearest. But the flying Senecas had now vanished into a +heavily-wooded gully, and there was nothing for Murphy to fire at. + +I swung in my tracks, confronting Boyd. + +"Will you halt your people before it is too late?" I demanded. "Where +are your proper senses? You behave like a man who has lost his mental +balance!" + +He gave me a dazed look, where he had been within his rights had he cut +me down with his hatchet. + +"What did you say?" he stammered, passing his hand over his eyes as +though something had obscured his sight. + +"I asked you to sound the recall. Those Indians we chase are leading us +whither they will. What in God's name ails you, Boyd? Have you never +before seen an ambush?" + +He stood motionless, as though stupefied, staring straight ahead of +him. Then he said, hesitatingly, that he desired Tim Murphy to cripple +one of the Senecas and fetch him in so that we might interrogate him. + +Such infant's babble astounded and sickened me, and I was about to +retort when a shout from one of our men drew our attention to the gully +below. And there were our terrified Indians peering out cunningly at us +like so many foxes playing tag with an unbroken puppy pack. + +"Come, sir," said I in deepest anxiety, "the game is too plain for +anybody but a fool to follow. Sound your recall!" + +He set his whistle to his lips, and as I stood there, thunderstruck and +helpless, the shrill call rang out: "Forward! Hark-away!" + +Instantly our entire party leaped forward; the Indians vanished; and we +ran on headlong, pell-mell, hellward into the trap prepared for our +destruction. + +The explosion of a heavy rifle on our right was what first halted us, I +think. One of the soldiers from the 4th Pennsylvania was down in the +dead leaves kicking and scuffling about all over blood. Before he had +rolled over twice, a ragged but loud volley on our left went through +our disordered files, knocking over two more soldiers. The screaming of +one poor fellow seemed to bring Boyd to his senses. He blew the recall, +and our men fell back, and, carrying the dead and wounded, began to +ascend the wooded knoll down which we had been running when so abruptly +checked. + +There was no more firing for the moment; we reached the top of the +knoll, laid our dead and wounded behind trees, loaded, freshened our +priming, and stood awaiting orders. + +Then, all around us, completely encircling the foot of our knoll, +woods, thickets, scattered bushes, seemed to be literally moving in the +vague forest light. + +"My God!" exclaimed Elerson to Murphy. "The woods are crawling with +savages!" + +A dreadful and utter silence fell among us; Boyd, pale as a corpse, +motioned his men to take posts, forming a small circle with our dead +and wounded in the centre. + +I saw Hanierri, the Oneida guide, fling aside his blanket, strip his +painted body to the beaded clout, draw himself up to his full and +superb height, muttering, his eyes fixed on the hundreds of dark shapes +stealing quietly among the thickets below our little hill. + +The two Stockbridge Indians, the Yellow Moth and Yoiakim, pressed +lightly against me on either side, like two great, noble dogs, afraid, +yet trusting their master, and still dauntless in the threatening face +of duty. + +Through the terrible stillness which had fallen upon us all, I could +hear the Oneida guide muttering his death-song; and presently my two +Christian Indians commenced in low voices to recite the prayers for the +dying. + +The next moment, Murphy and Elerson began to fire, slowly and +deliberately; and for a little while these two deadly and unerring +rifles were the only pieces that spoke from our knoll. Then my distant +target showed for a moment; I fired, reloaded, waited; fired again; and +our little circle of doomed men began to cheer as a brilliantly painted +warrior sprang from the thicket below, shouted defiance, and crumpled +up as though smitten by lightning when Murphy's rifle roared out its +fatal retort. + +Then, for almost every soul that stood there, the end of the world +began; for a thousand men swarmed out of the thickets below, completely +surrounding us; and like a hurricane shrilling through naked woods +swept the death-halloo of five hundred Iroquois in their naked paint. + +On every side the knoll was black with them as they came leaping +forward, hatchets glittering; while over their heads the leaden hail of +Tory musketry pelted us from north and south and east and west. + +Down crashed Yoiakim at my side, his rifle exploding in mid-air as he +fell dead and rolled over and over down the slope toward the masses of +his enemies below. + +As a Seneca seized the rolling body, set his foot on the dead shoulders +and jerked back the head to scalp him, the Yellow Moth leaped forward, +launching his hatchet. It flew, sparkling, and struck the scalper full +in the face. The next instant the Yellow Moth was among them, snarling, +stabbing, raging, almost covered by Senecas who were wounding one +another in their eagerness to slay him. + +For a moment it seemed to me that there was a chance in this melee for +us to cut our way through, and I caught Boyd by the arm and pointed. A +volley into our very backs staggered and almost stupefied us; through +the swirling powder gloom, our men began to fall dead all around me. I +saw Sergeant Hungerman drop; privates Harvey, Conrey, Jim McElroy, Jack +Miller, Benny Curtin and poor Jack Putnam. + +Murphy, clubbing his rifle, was bawling to his comrade, Elerson: + +"To hell wid this, Davey! Av we don't pull foot we're a pair o' dead +ducks!" + +"For God's sake, Boyd!" I shouted. "Break through there beside the +Yellow Moth!" + +Boyd, wielding his clubbed rifle, cleared a circle amid the crowding +savages; Sergeant Parker ran out into the yelling crush; the two +gigantic riflemen, Murphy and Elerson, swinging their terrible weapons +like flails, smashed their way forward; behind them, using knife, +hatchet, and stock, I led out the last men living on that knoll--Ned +McDonald, Garrett Putnam, Jack Youse, and a French coureur-de-bois +whose name I have never learned. + +All around us raged and yelled the maddened Seneca pack, slashing each +other again and again in their crazed attempts to reach us. The Yellow +Moth was stabbed through and through a hundred times, yet the ghastly +corpse still kept its feet, so terrible was the crushing pressure on +every side. + +Suddenly, tearing a path through the frenzied mob, I saw a mob of +cursing, sweating, green-coated soldiers and rangers, struggling toward +us--saw one of Butler's rangers seize Sergeant Parker by the collar of +his hunting shirt, bawling out: + +"Hurrah! Hurrah! Prisoner taken from Morgan's corps!" + +Another, an officer of British regulars, I think, threw himself on +Boyd, shouting: + +"By heaven! It's Boyd of Derry! Are you not Tom Boyd, of Derry, +Pennsylvania?" + +"Yes, you bloody-backed Tory!" retorted Boyd, struggling to knife him +under his gorget. "And I'm Boyd of Morgan's, too!" + +I aimed a blow at the red-coated officer, but my rifle stock broke off +across the skull of an Indian; and I began to beat a path toward Boyd +with the steel barrel of my weapon, Murphy and Elerson raging forward +beside me in such a very whirlwind of half-crazed fury that the Indians +gave way and leaped aside, trying to shoot at us. + +Headlong through this momentary opening rushed Garrett Putnam, his +rifle-dress torn from his naked body, his heavy knife dripping in the +huge fist that clutched it. After him leaped Ned McDonald, the +coureur-de-bois, and Jack Youse, letting drive right and left with +their hatchets. And, as the painted crowd ahead recoiled and shrank +aside, Murphy, Elerson, and I went through, smashing out the way with +our heavy weapons. + +How we got through God only knows. I heard Murphy bellowing to Elerson: + +"We're out! We're out! Pull foot, Davey, or the dirty Scutts will take +your hair!" + +A Pennsylvania soldier, running heavily down hill ahead of me, was +shot, sprang high into the air in one agonized bound, like a stricken +hare, and fell forward under my very feet, so that I leaped over him as +I ran. The Canadian coureur-de-bois was hit, but the bullet stung him +to a speed incredible, and he flew on, screaming with pain, his broken +arm flapping. + +Behind me I dared not look, but I knew the Seneca warriors were after +us at full speed. Bullets whined and whizzed beside us, striking the +trees on every side. A long slope of open woods now slanted away below +us. + +As I ran, far ahead of me, among the trees, I saw men moving, yet dared +not change my course. Then, as I drew nearer, I recognized Mr. Lodge, +our surveyor, and Thomas Grant with the Jacob-staff, the four +chain-bearers with the chain, and Corporal Calhawn, all standing stock +still and gazing up the slope toward us. + +The next moment Grant dropped his Jacob-staff, turned and ran; the +chain-men flung away their implements, and Mr. Lodge and the entire +party, being totally unarmed, turned and fled, we on their heels, and +behind us a score of yelling Senecas, now driven to frenzy by the sight +of so much terrified game in flight. + +I saw poor Calhawn fall; I saw Grant run into the swamp below, shouting +for help. Mr. Lodge, closely chased by a young warrior, ran toward a +distant sentinel, and so eager was the Seneca to slay him that he +chased the fleeing surveyor past the sentinel, and was shot in the back +by the amazed soldier. + +And now, all along the edge of the morass where our pickets were +posted, the bang! bang! bang! of musketry began. Murphy and Elerson +bounded into safety; Ned McDonald, Garrett Putnam, the coureur-de-bais, +and Jack Youse went staggering and reeling into the swamp. I attempted +to follow them, but three Senecas cut me out, and, with bursting heart, +I sheered off and ran parallel with them, striving to reach our lines, +the sentinels firing at my pursuers and running forward to intercept +them. Yet, so intent were these Seneca bloodhounds on my destruction +that they never swerved under the running fire of musketry; and I was +forced out and driven into the woods again to the northwest of our +lines. + +Farther and farther away sounded the musketry in my ears, until the +pounding pulses deadened and finally obliterated the sound. I could no +longer carry the shattered and bloody fragment of my rifle, and dropped +it. Bullet-pouch, shot-pouch, powder-horn, water-bottle, hatchet I let +fall, keeping only my knife, belt, and the thin, flat wallet which +contained my letters from Lois and my journal. Even my cap I flung +away, moving always forward on a dog-trot, and ever twisting my +sweat-drenched head to look behind. + +Several times I caught distant glimpses of my pursuers, and saw that +they walked sometimes, as though exhausted. Yet, I dared not bear to +the South, not knowing how many of them had continued on westward to +cut me off from a return; so I jogged on northward, my heart nigh +broken with misery and foreboding, sickened to the very soul with the +memory of our slaughtered men upon the knoll. For of some thirty-odd +riflemen, Indians, line soldiers, and scouts that Boyd had led out the +night before, only Elerson, Murphy, McDonald, Youse, the +coureur-de-bois, and I remained alive or untaken. Boyd was a prisoner, +together with Sergeant Parker; all the others were dead to a man, +excepting possibly my three Indians, Mayaro, Grey-Feather, and +Tahoontowhee, who Boyd had sent in to report us before we had sighted +the Senecas, and who might possibly have escaped the ambuscade. + +As I plodded on, I dared not let my imagination dwell on Boyd and +Parker, for a dreadful instinct told me that the dead men on the knoll +were better off. Yet, I tried to remember that a red-coated officer had +taken Boyd, and one of Sir John's soldiers had captured Michael Parker. +But I could find no comfort, no hope in this thought, because Walter +Butler was there, and Hiokatoo, and McDonald, and all that bloody band. +The Senecas would surely demand the prisoners. There was not one soul +to speak a word for them, unless Brant were near. That noble and humane +warrior alone could save them from the Seneca stake. And I feared he +was at the burnt bridge with his Mohawks, facing our army as he always +faced it, dauntless, adroit, resourceful, and terrible. + +A little stony stream ran down beside the trackless course I travelled +and I seized the chance of confusing the tireless men who tracked me, +and took to the stones, springing from one step to the next, taking +care not to wet my moccasins, dislodge moss or lichen, or in any manner +mark the stones I trod on or break or disturb the branches and leaves +above me. + +The stream ran almost north as did all the little water-courses +hereabouts, and for a long while I followed it, until at last, to my +great relief, it divided; and I followed the branch that ran northeast. +Again this branch forked; I took the eastern course until, on the right +bank, I saw long, naked beds of rock stretching into low crags and +curving eastward. + +Over this rock no Seneca could hope to track a cautious and hunted man. +I walked sometimes, sometimes trotted; and so jogged on, bearing ever +to the east and south, meaning to cross the Chinisee River north of the +confluence, and pass clear around the head of the lake. + +Here I made my mistake by assuming that, as our pioneers must still be +working on the burnt bridge, the enemy that had merely enveloped our +party by curling around us his right flank, would again swing back to +their bluffs along the lake, and, though hope of ambuscade was over, +dispute the passage of the stream and the morass with our own people. + +But as I came out among the trees along the river bank, to my +astonishment and alarm I saw an Indian house, and smoke curling from +the chimney. So taken aback was I that I ran south to a great oak tree +and stood behind it, striving to collect my thoughts and make out my +proper bearings. But off again scattered every idea I had in my head, +and I looked about me in a very panic, for I heard close at hand the +barking of Indian dogs and a vast murmur of voices; and, peering out +again from behind my tree I could see other houses close to the strip +of forest where I hid, and the narrow lane between them was crowded +with people. + +Where I was, what this town might be, I could not surmise; nor did I +perceive any way out of this wasp's nest where I was now landed, except +to retrace my trail. And that I dared not do. + +There was now a great shouting in the village as though some person had +just made a speech and his audience remained in two nods concerning its +import. + +Truly, this seemed to be no place for me; the woods were very open--a +sugar bush in all the gorgeous glory of scarlet, yellow, and purple +foliage, heavily fringed with thickets of bushes and young hardwood +growth, which for the moment had hid the town from me, and no doubt +concealed me from the people close at hand. To retreat through such a +strip of woodland was impossible without discovery. Besides, somewhere +on my back trail were enemies, though just where I could not know. For +a moment's despair, it seemed to me that only the wings of a bird could +save me now; then, as I involuntarily cast my gaze aloft, the thought +to climb followed; and up I went into the branches, where the blaze of +foliage concealed me; and lay close to a great limb looking down over +the top of the thicket to the open river bank. And what I saw astounded +me; the enemy's baggage wagons were fording the river; his cattle-drove +had just been herded across, and the open space was already full of his +gaunt cows and oxen. + +Rangers and Greens pricked them forward with their bayonets, forcing +them out of the opening and driving them northwest through the +outskirts of the village. The wagons, horses, and vehicles, in a +dreadful plight, followed the herd-guard. After them marched Butler's +rear-guard, rangers, Greens, renegades, Indians sullenly turning their +heads to listen and to gaze as the uproar from the village increased +and burst into a very frenzy of diabolical yelling. + +Suddenly, out through the narrow lane or street surged hundreds of +Seneca warriors, all clustering and crowding around something in the +centre of the mass; and as the throng, now lurching this way, now +driving that way, spread out over the cleared land up to the edges of +the very thicket which I overlooked, my blood froze in my veins. + +For in the centre of that mass of painted, capering demons, walked Boyd +and Parker, their bloodless faces set and grim, their heads carried +high. + +Into this confusion drove the baggage wagons; the herd-guards began to +shout angrily and drive back the Indians; the wagons drove slowly +through the lane, the drivers looking down curiously at Boyd and his +pallid companion, but not insulting them. + +One by one the battered and rickety wagons jolted by; then came the +bloody and dishevelled soldiery plodding with shouldered muskets +through the lanes of excited warriors, scarcely letting their haggard +eyes rest on the two prisoners who stood, unpinioned in the front rank. + +A mounted officer, leaning from his saddle, asked the Senecas what they +meant to do with these prisoners; and the ferocious response seemed to +shock him, for he drew bridle and stared at Boyd as though fascinated. + +So near to where I lay was Boyd standing that I could see the checked +quiver of his lips as he bit them to control his nerves before he +spoke. Then he said to the mounted officer, in a perfectly even and +distinct voice: + +"Can you not secure for us, sir, the civilized treatment of prisoners +of war?" + +"I dare not interfere," faltered the officer, staring around at the sea +of devilish faces. + +"And you, a white man, return me such a cowardly answer?" + +Another motley company came marching up from the river, led by a superb +Mohawk Indian in full war-paint and feathers; and, blocked by the +mounted officer in front, halted. + +I saw Boyd's despairing glance sweep their files; then suddenly his +eyes brightened. + +"Brant!" he cried. + +And then I saw that the splendid Mohawk leader was the great +Thayendanegea himself. + +"Boyd," he said calmly, "I am sorry for you. I would help you if I +could. But," he added, with a bitter smile, "there are those in +authority among us who are more savage than those you white men call +savages. One of these--gentlemen--has overruled me, denying my more +humane counsel.... I am sorry, Boyd." + +"Brant!" he said in a ringing voice. "Look at me attentively!" + +"I look upon you, Boyd." + +Then something extraordinary happened; I saw Boyd make a quick sign; +saw poor Parker imitate him; realized vaguely that it was the Masonic +signal of distress. + +Brant remained absolutely motionless for a full minute; suddenly he +sprang forward, pushed away the Senecas who immediately surrounded the +prisoners, shoving them aside right and left so fiercely that in a +moment the whole throng was wavering and shrinking back. + +Then Brant, facing the astonished warriors, laid his hand on Boyd's +head and then on Parker's. + +"Senecas!" he said in a cold and ringing voice. "These men are mine; +Let no man dare interfere with these two prisoners. They belong to me. +I now give them my promise of safety. I take them under my +protection--I, Thayendanegea! I do not ask them of you; I take them. I +do not explain why. I do not permit you--not one among you to--to +question me. What I have done is done. It is Joseph Brant who has +spoken!" + +He turned calmly to Boyd, said something in a low voice, turned sharply +on his heel, and marched forward at the head of his company of Mohawks +and halfbreeds. + +Then I saw Hiokatoo come up and stand glaring at Boyd, showing his +teeth at him like a baffled wolf; and Boyd laughed in his face and +seated himself on a log beside the path, coolly and insolently turning +his back on the Seneca warriors, and leisurely lighting his pipe. + +Parker came and seated himself beside him; and they conversed in voices +so low that I could not hear what they said, but Boyd smiled at +intervals, and Parker's bruised visage relaxed. + +The Senecas had fallen back in a sullen line, their ferocious eyes +never shifting from the two prisoners. Hiokatoo set four warriors to +guard them, then, passing slowly in front of Boyd, spat on the ground. + +"Dog of a Seneca!" said Boyd fiercely. "What you touch you defile, +stinking wolverine that you are!" + +"Dog of a white man!" retorted Hiokatoo. "You are not yet in your own +kennel! Remember that!" + +"But you are!" said Boyd. "The stench betrays the wolverine! Go tell +your filthy cubs that my young men are counting the scalps of your +Cat-People and your Andastes, and that the mangy lock of Amochol shall +be thrown to our swine!" + +Struck entirely speechless by such rash effrontery and by his own fury, +the dreaded Seneca war-chief groped for his hatchet with trembling +hands; but a warning hiss from one of his own Mountain Snakes on guard +brought him to his senses. + +Such an embodiment of devilish fury I had never seen on any human +countenance; only could it be matched in the lightning snarl of a +surprised lynx or in the deadly stare of a rattlesnake. He uttered no +sound; after a moment the thin lips, which had receded, sheathed the +teeth again; and he walked to a tree and stood leaning against it as +another company of Sir John's Royal Greens marched up from the river +bank and continued northwest, passing between the tree where I lay +concealed, and the log where Boyd and Parker sat. + +McDonald, mounted, naked claymore in his hand, came by, leading a +company of his renegades. He grinned at Boyd, and passed his +basket-hilt around his throat with a significant gesture, then grinned +again. + +"Not yet, you Scotch loon!" said Boyd gently. "I'll live to pepper your +kilted tatterdemalions so they'll beg for the mercies of Glencoe!" + +After that, for a long while only stragglers came limping by--lank, +bloody, starved creatures, who never even turned their sick eyes on the +people they passed among. + +Then, after nearly half an hour, a full battalion of Johnson's Greens +forded the river, and behind them came Butler's Rangers. + +Old John Butler, squatting his saddle like a weather-beaten toad, rode +by with scarcely a glance at the prisoners; and Greens and Rangers +passed on through the village and out of sight to the northwest. + +I had thought the defile was ended, when, looking back, I saw some +Indians crossing the ford, carrying over a white officer. At first I +supposed he was wounded, but soon saw that he had not desired to wet +his boots. + +What had become of his horse I could only guess, for he wore spurs and +sword, and the sombre uniform of the Rangers. + +Then, as he came up I saw that he was Walter Butler. + +As he approached, his dark eyes were fixed on the prisoners; and when +he came opposite to them he halted. + +Boyd returned his insolent stare very coolly, continuing to smoke his +pipe. Slowly the golden-brown eyes of Butler contracted, and into his +pale, handsome, but sinister face crept a slight colour. + +"So you are Boyd!" he said menacingly. + +"Yes, I am Boyd. What next?" + +"What next?" repeated Walter Butler. "Well, really I don't know, my +impudent friend, but I strongly suspect the Seneca stake will come +next." + +Boyd laughed: "We gave Brant a sign that you also should recognize. We +are now under his protection." + +"What sign?" demanded Butler, his eyes becoming yellow and fixed. And, +as Boyd carelessly repeated the rapid and mystical appeal, "Oh!" he +said coolly. "So that is what you count on, is it?" + +"Naturally." + +"With me also?" + +"You are a Mason." + +"Also," snarled Butler, "I am an officer in his British Majesty's +service. Now, answer the questions I put to you. How many cannon did +your Yankee General send back to Tioga after Catharines-town was burnt, +and how many has he with him?" + +"Do you suppose that I am going to answer your questions?" said Boyd, +amused. + +"I think you will, Come, sir; what artillery is he bringing north with +him?" + +And as Boyd merely looked at him with contempt, he stepped nearer, bent +suddenly, and jerked Boyd to his feet. + +"You Yankee dog!" he said; "Stand up when your betters stand!" + +Boyd reddened to his temples. + +"Murderer!" he said. "Does a gentleman stand in the presence of the +Cherry Valley butcher?" And he seated himself again on his log. + +Butler's visage became deathly, and for a full minute he stood there in +silence. Suddenly he turned, nodded to Hiokatoo, pointed at Boyd, then +at Parker. Both prisoners rose as a yell of ferocious joy split the air +from the Senecas. Then, wheeling on Boyd: + +"Will you answer my questions?" + +"No!" + +"Do you refuse to answer the military questions put to you by an +officer?" + +"No prisoner of war is compelled to do that!" + +"You are mistaken; I compel you to answer on pain of death!" + +"I refuse." + +Both men were deadly pale. Parker also had risen and was now standing +beside Boyd. + +"I claim the civilized treatment due to an officer," said Boyd quietly. + +"Refused unless you answer!" + +"I shall not answer. I am under Brant's protection!" + +"Brant!" exclaimed Butler, his pallid visage contorted. "What do I care +for Brant? Who is Brant to offer you immunity? By God, sir, I tell you +that you shall answer my questions--any I think fit to ask you--every +one of them--or I turn you over to my Senecas!" + +"You dare not!" + +"Answer me, or you shall soon learn what I dare and dare not do!" + +Boyd, pale as a sheet, said slowly: + +"I do believe you capable of every infamy, Mr. Butler. I do believe, +now, that the murderer of little children will sacrifice me to these +Senecas if I do not answer his dishonorable questions. And so, +believing this, and always holding your person in the utmost loathing +and contempt, I refuse to reveal to you one single item concerning the +army in which I have the honour and privilege to serve." + +"Take him!" said Butler to the crowding Senecas. + + +I have never been able to bring myself to write down how my comrade +died. Many have written something of his death, judging the manner of +it from the condition in which his poor body was discovered the next +day by our advance. Yet, even these have shrunk from writing any but +the most general details, because the horror of the truth is +indescribable, and not even the most callous mind could endure it all. + +God knows how I myself survived the swimming horror of that hellish +scene--for the stake was hewn and planted full within my view.... And +it took him many hours to die--all the long September afternoon.... And +they never left him for one moment. + +No, I can not write it, nor could I even tell my comrades when they +came up next day, how in detail died Thomas Boyd, lieutenant in my +regiment of rifles. Only from what was left of him could they draw +their horrible and unthinkable conclusions. + +I do not know whether I have more or less of courage than the usual man +and soldier, but this I do know, that had I possessed a rifle where I +lay concealed, long before they wrenched the first groan from his +tortured body I would have fired at my comrade's heart and trusted to +my Maker and my legs. + +No torture that I ever heard of or could ever have conceived--no +punishment, no agony, no Calvary ever has matched the hellish +hideousness of the endless execution of this young man.... He was only +twenty-two years old; only a lieutenant among the thousands who served +their common motherland. No man who ever lived has died more bravely; +none, perhaps, as horribly and as slowly. And it seemed as though in +that powerful, symmetrical, magnificent body, even after it became +scarcely recognizable as human, that the spark of life could not be +extinguished even though it were cut into a million shreds and +scattered to the winds like the fair body of Osiris. + +And this is all I care to say how it was that my comrade died, save +that he endured bravely; and that while consciousness remained, not one +secret would he reveal; not one plea for mercy escaped his lips. + +Parker died more swiftly and mercifully. + +It was after sunset when the Senecas left the place, but the sky above +was still rosy. And as they slowly marched past the corpses of the two +men whom they had slain, every Seneca drew his hatchet and shouted: + +"Salute! O Roya-neh!" fiercely honoring the dead bodies of the bravest +men who had ever died in the Long House. + + +On the following afternoon I ventured from my concealment, and was +striving to dig a grave for my two comrades, using my knife to do it, +when the riflemen of our advance discovered me across the river. + +A moment later I looked up, my eyes blinded by tears, as the arm of the +Sagamore was flung round my shoulders, and the hands of the +Grey-Feather and Tahoontowhee timidly sought mine. + +"Brother!" they said gently. + +* "Tekasenthos, O Sagamore!" I whispered, dropping my head on his broad +shoulder. "Issi tye-y-ad-akeron, akwah de-ya-kon-akor-on-don!" + +[* "I weep, O Sagamore! Yonder are lying bodies, yea, and of chiefs!"] + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +MES ADIEUX + +For my acquaintances in and outside of the army, and for my friends and +relatives, this narrative has been written; and if in these pages I +have seemed to present myself, my thoughts, and behaviour as matters of +undue importance, it is not done so purposely or willingly, but because +I knew no better method of making from my daily journal the story of +the times and of the events witnessed by me, and of which I was a small +and modest part. + +It is very true that no two people, even when standing shoulder to +shoulder, ever see the same episode in the same manner, or draw similar +conclusions concerning any event so witnessed. Yet, except from +hearsay, how is an individual to describe his times except in the light +of personal experience and of the emotions of the moment so derived? + +In active events, self looms large, even in the crisis of supreme +self-sacrifice. In the passive part, which even the most active among +us play for the greater portion of our lives, self is merged in the +detached and impersonal interest which we take in what passes before +our eyes. Yet must we describe these things only as they are designed +and coloured by our proper eyes, and therefore, with no greater hope of +accuracy than to approximate to the general and composite truth. + +Of any intentional injustice to our enemies, their country, and their +red allies, I do not hesitate to acquit myself; yet, because I have +related the history of this campaign as seen through the eyes of a +soldier of the United States, so I would not deny that these same and +daily episodes, as seen by a British soldier, might wear forms and +colours very different, and yet be as near to the truth as any +observations of my own. + +Therefore, without diffidence or hesitation--because I have explained +myself--and prejudiced by an unalterable belief in the cause which I +have had the honour and happiness to serve, it is proper that I bring +my narrative of these three months to a conclusion. + +With these same three months the days of my youth also ended. No +stripling could pass through those scenes and emerge still immature. +The test was too terrible; the tragedy too profound; the very setting +of the tremendous scene--all its monstrous and gigantic +accessories--left an impression ineradicable upon the soul. Adolescence +matured to manhood in those days of iron; youthful ignorance became +stern experience, sobering with its enduring leaven the serious years +to come. + + +I remember every separate event after the tragedy of Chenundana, where +they found me dazed with grief and privation, digging with my broken +hunting knife a grave for my dead companions. + +The horror of their taking off passed from my shocked brain as the +exigencies of the perilous moments increased, demanding of me constant +and untiring effort, and piling upon my shoulders responsibilities that +left no room for morbid brooding or even for the momentary inaction of +grief. + +From Tioga, Colonel Shreve sent forward to us a wagon train of +provisions, even wines and delicacies for our sick and wounded; but +even with this slight aid our men remained on half rations; and for all +our voluntary sacrifice we could not hope now to reach Niagara and +deliver the final blow to that squirming den of serpents. + +True, Amochol was dead; but Walter Butler lived. And there was now no +hope of reaching him. Bag and baggage, horse, foot, and Indians, he had +gone clear out of sight and sound into a vast and trackless wilderness +which we might not hope to penetrate because, even on half rations, we +had now scarcely enough flour left to take us back to the frontiers of +civilization. + +Of our artillery we had only a light piece or two left, and the cohorn; +of cattle we had scarcely any; of wagons and horses very few, having +killed and eaten the more worn-out animals at Horseheads. Only the +regimental wagons contained any flour; half our officers were without +mounts; ammunition was failing us; and between us and our frontiers lay +the ashes of the Dark Empire and hundreds of miles of a wilderness so +dreary and so difficult that we often wondered whether it was possible +for human endurance to undergo the endless marches of a safe return. + +But our task was ended; and when we set our faces toward home, every +man in our ragged, muddy, brier-torn columns knew in his heart that the +power of the Iroquois Empire was broken forever. Senecas, Cayugas, +Onondagas, might still threaten and even strike like crippled snakes; +but the Long House lay in ashes, and the heart of every Indian in it +was burnt out. + +Swinging out our wings east and west as we set our homeward course, +burning and destroying all that we had hitherto spared, purposely or by +accident, we started south; and from the fifteenth of September until +the thirtieth the only living human being we encountered was the aged +squaw we had left at Catharines. + +Never had I seen such a desolation of utter destruction, for amid the +endless ocean of trees every oasis was a blackened waste, every town +but a heap of sodden ashes, every garden a mass of decay, rotting under +the autumn sun. + +On the 30th of September, we marched into Tioga Fort, Colonel Shreve's +cannon thundering their welcome, and Colonel Proctor's artillery band +playing a most stirring air. But Lord! What a ragged, half-starved army +it was! Though we cared nothing for that, so glad were we to see our +flag flying and the batteaux lying in the river. And the music of the +artillery filled me with solemn thoughts, for I thought of Lois and of +Lana; and of Boyd, where he lay in his solitary grave under the frosty +stars. + +On the third of October, the army was in marching order once more; +Colonel Shreve blew up the Tioga military works; the invalids, women +and children, and some of the regiments went by batteaux; but we +marched for Wyoming, passing through it on the tenth, and arriving at +Easton on the fifteenth. + +And I remember that, starved as we were, dusty, bloody with briers, and +half naked, regiment after regiment halted, sent back for their wagons, +combed out and tied their hair, and used the last precious cupfulls of +flour to powder their polls, so that their heads, at least might make a +military appearance as they marched through the stone-built town of +Easton. + +And so, with sprigs of green to cock their hats, well floured hair, and +scarce a pair of breeches to a company, our rascals footed it proudly +into Easton town, fifes squealing, drums rattling, and all the church +bells and the artillery of the place clanging and booming out a welcome +to the sorriest-clad army that ever entered a town since Falstaff +hesitated to lead his naked rogues through Coventry. + +Here the thanksgiving service was held; and Lord, how we did eat +afterward! But for the rest or repose which any among us might have +been innocent enough to suppose the army had earned, none was meted +out. Nenny! For instead, marching orders awaited us, and sufficient +clothing to cool our blushes; and off we marched to join His +Excellency's army in the Highlands; for what with the new Spanish +alliance and the arrival of the French fleet, matters were now stewing +and trouble a-brewing for Sir Henry. They told us that His Excellency +required pepper for the dose, therefore had he sent for us to mix us +into the red-hot draught that Sir Henry and my Lord Cornwallis must +presently prepare to swallow. + +I had not had a letter or any word from Lois at Fort Tioga. At Easton +there was a letter which, she wrote, might not reach me; but in it she +said that they had taken lodgings in Albany near to the house of Lana +Helmer; that Mr. Hake had been more than kind; that she and her dear +mother awaited news of our army with tenderest anxiety, but that up to +the moment of writing no news was to be had, not even any rumours. + +Her letter told me little more, save that her mother and Mr. Hake had +conferred concerning the estate of her late father; and that Mr. Hake +was making preparations to substantiate her mother's claim to the small +property of the family in France--a house, a tiny hamlet, and some +vineyards, called by the family name of Contrecoeur, which meant her +mother was her father's wedded wife. + +"Also," she wrote, "my mother has told me that there are in the house +some books and pictures and pretty joyeaux which were beloved by my +father, and which he gave to her when she came to Contrecoeur, a bride. +Also that her dot was still untouched, which, with her legal interest +in my father's property, would suffice to properly endow me, and still +leave sufficient to maintain her. + +"So you see, Euan, that the half naked little gypsy of Poundridge camp +comes not entirely shameless to her husband after all. Oh, my own +soldier, hasten--hasten! Every day I hear drums in Albany streets and +run out to see; every evening I sit with my mother on the stoop and +watch the river redden in the sunset. Over the sandy plains of pines +comes blowing the wind of the Western wilderness. I feel its breath on +my cheek, faintly frosty, and wonder if the same wind had also touched +your dear face ere it blew east to me." + +Often I read this letter on the march to the Hudson; ever wondering at +the history of this sweet mistress of my affections, marvelling at its +mystery, its wonders, and eternally amazed at this young girl's +courage, her loyalty and chaste devotion. + +I remember one day when we were halted at a cavalry camp, not far from +the Hudson, conversing with three soldiers--Van Campen, Perry, and Paul +Sanborn, they being the three men who first discovered poor Boyd's +body; and then noticed me a-digging in the earth with bleeding fingers +and a broken blade. + +And they knew the history of Lois, and how she had dressed her in +rifle-dress, and how she had come to French Catharines. And they told +me that in the cavalry camp there was talk of a young English girl, not +yet sixteen, who had clipped her hair, tied it in a queue, powdered it, +donned jack-boots, belt, and helmet, and come across the seas enlisted +in a regiment of British Horse, with the vague idea of seeking her +lover who had gone to America with his regiment. + +Further, they told me that, until taken by our men in a skirmish, her +own comrades had not suspected her sex; that she was a slim, boyish, +pretty thing; that His Excellency had caused inquiry to be made; and +that it had been discovered that her lover was serving in Sir John's +regiment of Royal Greens. + +This was a true story, it seemed; and that very morning His Excellency +had sent her North to Haldimand with a flag, offering her every +courtesy and civility and recommendation within his power. + +Which pretty history left me very thoughtful, revealing as it did to me +that my own heart's mistress was not the solitary and bright exception +in a sex which, like other men, I had deemed inferior in every virile +and mental virtue, and only spiritually superior to my own. And I +remembered the proud position of social and political equality enjoyed +by the women of the Long House; and vaguely thought it was possible +that in this matter the Iroquois Confederacy was even more advanced in +civilization than the white nations, who regarded its inhabitants as +debased and brutal savages. + +In three months I had seen an Empire crash to the ground; already in +the prophetic and visionary eyes of our ragged soldiery, a mightier +empire was beginning to crumble under the blasts from the blackened +muzzles of our muskets. Soon kings would live only in the tales of +yesterday, and the unending thunder of artillery would die away, and +the clouds would break above the smoky field, revealing as our very own +all we had battled for so long--the right to live our lives in freedom, +self-respect, and happiness. + +And I wondered whether generations not yet born would pay to us the +noble tribute which the sons of the Long House so often and reverently +offered to the dead who had made for them their League of Peace--alas! +now shattered for all time. + +And in my ears the deep responses seemed to sound, solemnly and low, as +the uncorrupted priesthood chanted at Thendara: + + "Continue to listen, + Thou who wert ruler, + Ayonhwahtha! + Continue to listen, + Thou who wert ruler, + Shatekariwate! + + This was the roll of you, + You who have laboured, + You who completed + The Great League! + + Continue to listen, + Thou who wert ruler, + Sharenhaowane! + Continue to listen, + Thou who wert ruler--" + +And the line of their noble hymn, the "Karenna": "I come again to greet +and thank the women!" + +Lord! A great and noble civilization died when the first cancerous +contact of the lesser scratched its living Eastern Gate. + +* "Hiya-thondek! Kahiaton. Kadi-kadon." + +[* "Listen! It is written. Therefore, I speak."] + +My commission as lieutenant in the 6th company of Morgan's Rifles +afforded me only mixed emotions, but became pleasurable when I +understood that staff duty as interpreter and chief of Indian guides +permitted me to attach to my person not only Mayaro, the Mohican +Sagamore, but also my Oneidas, Grey-Feather and Tahoontowhee. + +Mounted service the two Oneidas abhorred, preferring to trot along on +either side of me; but the Sagamore, being a Siwanois, was a horseman, +and truly he presented a superb figure as the handsome General and his +staff led the New York brigade into the city of Albany, our battered +old drums thundering, our fifes awaking the echoes in the old Dutch +city, and our pretty faded colors floating in the primrose light of +early evening. + +Right and left I glanced as we rode up the hilly street; and suddenly +saw Lois! And so craned my head and twisted my neck and fidgeted that +the General, who was sometimes humorous, and who was perfectly +acquainted with my history, said to me that I had his permission to +ride standing on my head if I liked, but for the sake of military +decency he preferred that I dismount at once and make my manners +otherwise to my affianced wife. + +Which I lost no time in doing, not noticing that my Indians were +following me, and drew bridle at the side-path and dismounted. + +But where, in the purple evening light, Lois had been standing on her +stoop, now there was nobody, though the front door was open wide. So I +ran across the street between the passing ranks of Gansevoort's +infantry, sprang up the steps, and entered the dusky house. Through the +twilight of the polished hallway she came forward, caught me around the +neck with a low cry, clung to me closer as I kissed her, holding to me +in silence. + +Outside, the racketting drums of a passing regiment filled the house +with crashing echoes. When the noise had died away again, and the drums +of the next regiment were still distant, she loosened her arms, +whispering my name, and framing my face with her slim hands. + +Then, out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of three tall and +shadowy figures hovering in the doorway. Lois saw them, too, and +stretched out one hand. One after another my three Indians came to her, +bent their stately crests in silence, took her small hand, and laid it +on their hearts. + +"Shall I bid them to dine with us tomorrow?" she whispered. + +"Bid them." + +So she asked them a trifle shyly, and they thanked her gravely, turned +one by one to take a silent leave of me, then went noiselessly out into +the early dusk. + +"Euan, my dear mother is awaiting you in our best room." + +"I will instantly pay my duties and----" + +"Lana is there also." + +"Does she know?" + +"Yes. God help her and the young thing she has taken to her heart. The +news came by courier a week ago." + +"How he died? Does she know?" + +"Oh, Euan! Yes, we all know now!... I have scarce slept since I heard, +thinking of you.... When you have paid your respects to my mother and +to Lana, come quietly away with me again. Lana has been weeping--what +with the distant music of the approaching regiments, and the memory of +him who will come no more----" + +"I understand." + +She lifted her face to mine, laying her hands upon my shoulders. + +"Dost thou truly love me, Lois?" I asked. + +* "Sat-kah-tos," she murmured. + +[* "Thou seest."] + +* "Se-non-wes?" I insisted. + +[* "Dost thou love?"] + +* "Ke-non-wes, O Loskiel." Her arms tightened around my neck, "Ai-hai! +Ae-saya-tyen-endon! Ae-sah-hah-i-yen-en-hon----" + +[* "I love thee, O Loskiel... Ah, thou mightest have been destroyed! If +thou hadst perished by the wayside----"] + +"Hush, dearest--dearest maid. 'Twixt God and Tharon, nothing can harm +us now." + +And I heard the faint murmur of her lips on mine: + +"Etho, ke-non-wes. Nothing can harm us now." + + + + THE END + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Hidden Children, by Robert W. 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