diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/hichi10h.htm')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/hichi10h.htm | 22762 |
1 files changed, 22762 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/hichi10h.htm b/old/hichi10h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3510665 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/hichi10h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,22762 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<title>The Hidden Children</title> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= +"text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> +<style type="text/css"> +<!-- +body {margin:10%; text-align:justify} +blockquote {font-size:14pt} +P {font-size:14pt} +--> +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hidden Children, by Robert +W. Chambers</h1> + +<pre> + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Hidden Children + +Author: Robert W. Chambers + +Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4984] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 7, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE HIDDEN CHILDREN *** + + + + +This eBook was produced by Jim Weiler, xooqi.com. + + +</pre> + +<h1>The Hidden Children</h1> + +<h2>by Robert W. Chambers, 1914</h2> + +<p> </p> + +<p align="center" class="center">TO MY MOTHER</p> + +<p align="center" class="center">Whatever merit may lie in this +book is due to her wisdom, her sympathy and her teaching</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p align="center" class="center"><i>AUTHOR'S PREFACE</i></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>BROADALBIN,</p> + +<p class="right" align="right"><i>Early Spring,</i> 1913.</p> + +<hr> +<p class="center" align="center"><i>NOTE</i></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="right" align="right">R. W. C.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p class="center" align="center">149 WEST EIGHTY-EIGHTH +STREET,</p> + +<p class="center" align="center">NEW YORK CITY.</p> + +<p>MRS. HELEN DODGE KNEELAND:</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>These verses have been published a number of times. About +three years ago by chance I read them in the December <i>National +Magazine,</i> 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.</p> + +<p>Should you be in New York any time, I will take pleasure in +showing you the original manuscripts.</p> + +<p class="center" align="center">Very truly yours,</p> + +<p class="right" align="right">ROBERT S. MORRIS, M.D.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>MR. ROBERT CHAMBERS,</p> + +<p class="center" align="center">New York.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>Trusting that you will appreciate the interest we have shown +in this matter, I am</p> + +<p class="center" align="center">Sincerely yours,</p> + +<p class="right" align="right">HELEN DODGE KNEELAND.</p> + +<p class="center" align="center">May 21st, 1914.</p> + +<p class="center" align="center">Ann Arbor, Michigan.</p> + +<p class="center" align="center">MRS. FRANK G. KNEELAND,</p> + +<p class="center" align="center">727 E. University Avenue.</p> + +<hr> +<blockquote> +<p><br> +</p> + +<p>THE LONG HOUSE</p> + +<p> <br> +</p> + +<p class="left" align="left">"Onenh jatthondek +sewarih-wisa-anongh-kwe kaya-renh-kowah!<br> + Onenh wa-karigh-wa-kayon-ne.<br> + Onenh ne okne joska-wayendon.<br> + Yetsi-siwan-enyadanion ne<br> + Sewari-wisa-anonqueh."<br> +</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p class="left" align="left"><i>"Now listen, ye who established +the Great League!<br> + Now it has become old.<br> + Now there is nothing but wilderness.<br> + Ye are in your graves who established it."<br> +</i></p> + +<p><br> +</p> + +<p>"At the Wood's Edge."</p> +</blockquote> + +<hr> +<blockquote> +<p class="left" align="left"><br> +<b>NENE KARENNA</b></p> + +<p> </p> + +<p class="left" align="left">When the West kindles red and +low,<br> +Across the sunset's sombre glow,<br> +The black crows fly— the black crows fly!<br> +High pines are swaying to and fro<br> +In evil winds that blow and blow.<br> +The stealthy dusk draws nigh— draws nigh,<br> +Till the sly sun at last goes down,<br> +And shadows fall on Catharines-town.<br> +</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p class="left" align="left"><i>Oswaya swaying to and +fro.</i></p> + +<p> </p> + +<p class="left" align="left">By the Dark Empire's Western +gate<br> +Eight stately, painted Sachems wait<br> +For Amochol— for Amochol!<br> +Hazel and samphire consecrate<br> +The magic blaze that burns like Hate,<br> +While the deep witch-drums roll— and roll.<br> +Sorceress, shake thy dark hair down!<br> +The Red Priest comes from Catharines-town.<br> +</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p class="left" align="left"><i>Ha-ai! Karenna! Fate is +Fate.</i></p> + +<p> </p> + +<p class="left" align="left">Now let the Giants clothed in +stone<br> +Stalk from Biskoonah; while, new grown,<br> +The Severed Heads fly high— fly high!<br> +White-throat, White-throat, thy doom is known!<br> +O Blazing Soul that soars alone<br> +Like a Swift Arrow to the sky,<br> +High winging— fling thy Wampum down,<br> +Lest the sky fall on Catharines-town.<br> +</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p class="left" align="left"><i>White-throat, White-throat, thy +course is flown.</i><br> +</p> + +<p class="right" align="right">R. W. C.</p> +</blockquote> + +<hr> +<h3>CHAPTER I</h3> + +<h4>THE BEDFORD ROAD</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Also," he nodded, "I can still smell the smoky wood. The +damage is fresh enough. Look at your map."</p> + +<p>He pushed his horse straight up to the closed door, continuing +to examine the dismantled sign which hung motionless, there being +no wind stirring.</p> + +<p>"This should be Hays's Tavern," he said, "unless they lied to +us at Ossining. Can you make anything of the sign, Mr. +Loskiel?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"I see him," said Boyd coolly.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>And to us the silent house seemed to say: "Gentlemen, +gentlemen! Look at the plight <i>I'm</i> 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 +<i>you</i> 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."</p> + +<p>Boyd broke silence with an effort; and his voice was once more +cool and careless, if a little forced:</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Either there is a man or a ghost within," I said again, +"Whatever it is has moved."</p> + +<p>"A man," said Boyd, "or what the inhumanity of man has left of +him."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Cowboys and skinners, eh?" inquired Boyd, unbuckling his +belt.</p> + +<p>"And leather-cape, too, sir."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"I take it that you see few of our corps here below," he +observed indulgently.</p> + +<p>The landlord's lack-lustre eyes rested on me for an instant, +then on Boyd:</p> + +<p>"Few, sir."</p> + +<p>"Do you know the uniform, landlord?"</p> + +<p>"Rifles," he said indifferently.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but <i>whose,</i> man? Whose?" insisted Boyd +impatiently.</p> + +<p>The other shook his head.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," said the man vacantly.</p> + +<p>Boyd laughed a little:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>When we two were alone again, Boyd whispered:</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>I drew the coiled linen roll from the breast of my rifle shirt +and spread it out. We studied it, heads together.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You are still thinking of our landlord's deathly face," I +said. "Lord! What a very shadow of true manhood crawls about this +house!"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"It is sad," I said, under my breath. "Even when a lass smiles +on us it seems to start the tears in my throat."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"It is not so everywhere," I said, "not yet, anyway."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>We sat staring out into the sunshine through a +bullet-shattered window.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Our business here is like to be ended tomorrow," I +remarked.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>en passant,</i> I see small chance of that +accomplishment hereabout. Will you summon the landlord, Mr. +Loskiel?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Are you not Benjamin Hays?" inquired Boyd, carelessly retying +his purse.</p> + +<p>The fellow seemed startled to hear his own name pronounced so +loudly, but answered very quietly that he was.</p> + +<p>"This house belongs to a great villain, one James Holmes, does +it not?" demanded Boyd.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," he whispered.</p> + +<p>"How do you come to keep an ordinary here?"</p> + +<p>"The town authorities required an ordinary. I took it in +charge, as they desired."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Where is this rascal, Holmes?"</p> + +<p>"Gone below, sir, some time since."</p> + +<p>"I have heard so. Was he not formerly Colonel of the 4th +regiment?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"And deserted his men, eh? And they made him +Lieutenant-Colonel below, did they not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"Colonel— of what?" snarled Boyd in disgust.</p> + +<p>"Of the Westchester Refugee Irregulars."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Well, look out for him and his refugees. He'll be back +here one of these days, I'm thinking."</p> + +<p>"He has been back."</p> + +<p>"What did he do?"</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"Was this done by the banditti from the lower party?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"But they burn no houses?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet, sir. They have promised to do so next time."</p> + +<p>"Are there no troops here?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"What troops?"</p> + +<p>"Colonel Thomas's Regiment and Sheldon's Horse and the Minute +Men."</p> + +<p>"Well, what the devil are they about to permit this banditti +to terrify and ravage a peaceful land?" demanded Boyd.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Boyd said: "There is a gentleman, one Major Ebenezer Lockwood, +hereabouts. Do you know him?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir."</p> + +<p>"What? Why, that seems strange!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"I do not blame you," said I gently. "Three years of hell burn +deep."</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, "three years. And, as you say, sir, there was +fire."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"What is all that?" asked Boyd harshly.</p> + +<p>"The seal of the marauders, sir."</p> + +<p>"They burnt you? God, man, you are but one living sore! Did +any white man do that to you?"</p> + +<p>"With hot horse-shoes. It will never quite heal, they +say."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Why do you hesitate to tell us where we may find Major +Lockwood?" I asked gently.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>After a silence, Hays said:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Poundridge lies to the east of Bedford?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, about five miles."</p> + +<p>"Where is the map, Loskiel?"</p> + +<p>Again I drew it from my hunting shirt; we examined it, and +Hays pointed out the two routes.</p> + +<p>Boyd looked up at Hays absently, and said: "Do you know Luther +Kinnicut?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, I know him," he said in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"Where is he?"</p> + +<p>"Below— on our service."</p> + +<p>But it was Luther Kinnicut, the spy, whom we had come to +interview, as well as to see Major Lockwood, and Boyd frowned +thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>I said: "The Indians hereabout are Mohican, are they not, Mr. +Hays?"</p> + +<p>"They <i>were,"</i> he replied; and his very apathy gave the +answer a sadder significance.</p> + +<p>"Have they all gone off?" asked Boyd, misunderstanding.</p> + +<p>"There were very few Mohicans to go. But they have gone."</p> + +<p>"Below?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, sir. They and the Stockbridge Indians, and the +Siwanois are friendly to our party."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"There is some talk of the Legion Cavalry, sir— Major +Tarleton's command."</p> + +<p>"Anything definite?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir— only the talk when men of our party meet. And +Major Lockwood has a price on his head."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Is that all?"</p> + +<p>"That is all, sir."</p> + +<p>Boyd nodded laughingly, wheeled his horse, and we rode slowly +out into the Bedford Road, the mounted rifleman dogging our +heels.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Loskiel," he said in my ear, "did you see that little maid in +the orchard, how shyly she smiled on us?"</p> + +<p>"On you," I nodded, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you always say that," he retorted.</p> + +<p>And I always did say that, and it always pleased him.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"That is your reputation," I remarked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, damme, no!" he protested. "Don't say it is my +reputation!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I now remarked as much to Boyd, who frowned, seeming to +consider the matter for the first time.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"The blessings of peace might permit you more leisure with the +ladies," I suggested smilingly. And he threw back his handsome +head and laughed.</p> + +<p>"Lord!" he exclaimed. "What chance have I, a poor rifleman, +who may not even wear his hair clubbed and powdered."</p> + +<p>Only field and staff now powdered in our corps. I said: +"Heaven hasten your advancement, sir."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A mile outside the town a leather-helmeted dragoon barred our +way, but we soon satisfied him.</p> + +<p>We passed by the Northwest road, crossed the Stamford highway, +and, consulting our map, turned back and entered it, riding south +through the village.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>There was, I knew, something genuine in his pretense of hurt +vanity, even under the merry mask he wore; but I only +laughed.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"There is even talk of a fort for the ridge yonder," he said. +"One may see the Sound from there."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"A pound to a penny!" repeated Boyd; "Do you take me, +Loskiel?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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,</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"From a ruddied camp drab?" I asked scornfully.</p> + +<p>"Her cheeks and lips are not painted. I've discovered that," +he insisted, staring back at her.</p> + +<p>"Lord!" said I. "Would you linger here making sheep's eyes at +yonder ragged baggage? Come, sir, if you please."</p> + +<p>"I tell you, I would give a half year's pay to see her washed +and clothed becomingly!"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>I said nothing.</p> + +<p>He grumbled for a while below his breath, then:</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir! Sheer beauty— by the roadside yonder— in +ragged ribbons and a withered rose. Only— such Puritans as +you perceive it not."</p> + +<p>After a silence, and as we entered the gateway to the manor +house:</p> + +<p>"I swear she wore no paint, Loskiel— whatever she is like +enough to be."</p> + +<p>"Good heavens!" said I. "Are you brooding on her still?"</p> + +<p>Yet, I myself was thinking of her, too; and because of it a +strange, slow anger was possessing me.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>A Philistine thought the same, one day— if I remember +right.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER II</h3> + +<h4>POUNDRIDGE</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"You wish to see Major Lockwood?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Boyd, "and you may say to him that we are come +from headquarters express to speak with him on private +business."</p> + +<p>"From whom in Albany do you come, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, if you must have it, from General Clinton," +returned Boyd in a lower voice. "But we would not wish it +gossipped aloud."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Do you know the contents of this letter?" he asked Boyd +bluntly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Major Lockwood."</p> + +<p>"And does Mr. Loskiel know, also?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," I answered.</p> + +<p>The Major sat musing, turning over and over the letter between +thumb and forefinger.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Major."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Do you know him, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Very well indeed. May I inquire what it is you desire of +Mayaro?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>The Major rose, opened the door into the hall, dismissed the +sentry, closed and locked the door, and returned to us.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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, <i>they have +guessed wrong!"</i></p> + +<p><i>"Not</i> Canada, then?" inquired the Major quietly.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"Sir!" he exclaimed, astonished.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>heard;</i> you have not <i>seen.</i> 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 <i>that</i> is how it goes with us, sir. God save you, here, +from the <i>blue-eyed</i> Indians!"</p> + +<p>He stopped, hesitated, then, softly smiting one fist within +the other:</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Thinking of these things, my deep abstraction was broken by +the pleasant voice of Major Lockwood.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>corps +d'élite."</i></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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!"</p> + +<p>Boyd shook his head in silence. As for me, it was not my place +to speak, nor had I anything to suggest.</p> + +<p>After a moment the Major said, more cheerfully:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>We all laughed a little, and Captain Fancher said:</p> + +<p>"Minute Men are Minute Men, Mr. Boyd. You are welcome to any +you can enlist from my company."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Mayaro, the Mohican Sagamore, is in this vicinity."</p> + +<p>"How do you know that, Alsop?" asked Major Lockwood +quickly.</p> + +<p>"I saw him yesterday."</p> + +<p>"Here in Poundridge?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Hunt glanced at Colonel Thomas, then with a slight colour +mounting to his temples:</p> + +<p>"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.".</p> + +<p>"Would you know the slattern again?" asked Colonel Thomas, +scowling.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"And handsome?" inquired Boyd, smiling at me.</p> + +<p>"I may not deny it, sir," said Mr. Hunt primly. "The child +possessed considerable comeliness."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Would you know her again?" inquired Colonel Thomas.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>had</i> 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.</p> + +<p>I now corrected myself, saying coolly enough:</p> + +<p>"Yes, Colonel Thomas, on second thought I think I might know +her if I see her."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," suggested Captain Fancher, "the wench has gone +a-gypsying after the convoy."</p> + +<p>"These drabs change lovers over night," observed Colonel +Thomas grimly. "Doubtless Sheldon's troopers are already +consoling her."</p> + +<p>Colonel Sheldon, who had been fiddling uneasily with his +sword-knot, exclaimed peevishly:</p> + +<p>"Good God, sir! Am I also to play chaplain to my command?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>corps d'élite</i> to a +village ordinary!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"It will rain before sundown," he said, munching on his apple; +"best seek shelter, sir. When it comes it will come hard."</p> + +<p>"Where runs this road?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"To Boutonville."</p> + +<p>"And what is Boutonville?"</p> + +<p>"It's where the Boutons live— a mile or two north, sir. +They're a wild parcel."</p> + +<p>"Are they of our party?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, sir. But they hunt the leather-caps as we hunt +quail— scare up a company, fire, and then track down the +scattered."</p> + +<p>"Oh; irregulars."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>I had already turned to retrace my steps when it occurred to +me that perhaps an inquiry of this lad might not be +misunderstood.</p> + +<p>So I walked up to his horse and stood caressing the sorry +animal while I described to him the wench I was seeking.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," he said seriously, "that's the one the boys are +ever plaguing to make her rage."</p> + +<p>"Do you know her?"</p> + +<p>"By sight, yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"She is one of the camp followers, I take it," said I +carelessly.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"She was loitering this afternoon by the camp of Colonel +Thomas's men," I said.</p> + +<p>"Very like, sir. Did the men plague her?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>He bit into his apple, unconcerned:</p> + +<p>"They are all after her. But I never saw her kind to any +man— whatever she may be."</p> + +<p>Why, I did not know, but what he said gave me +satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"You do not know which way she went?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>"With a Sagamore?"</p> + +<p>He continued his munching. Having swallowed what he chewed, he +said:</p> + +<p>"I know nothing of savages or Sagamores. The Indian may have +been a Sagamore."</p> + +<p>"Do you know where he is to be found?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir, I do not."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps this young girl knows?"</p> + +<p>"Doubtless she does, seeing she journeys about with him on the +ridge yonder, which we call the Rock Hills."</p> + +<p>"Do you know her name, soldier?"</p> + +<p>"They call her Lois, I believe."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"You need have no fear of me," I called to her pleasantly. +"You know me now, do you not?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Child," I said, smiling at her, I know not why, "I have been +searching for you ever since I first saw you——"</p> + +<p>And: "What do you want of me?" said she, scarce moving her +lips.</p> + +<p>"A favour."</p> + +<p>"Best mount your cobbler's mare and go a-jogging back, my +pretty lad."</p> + +<p>The calm venom in her voice and her insolent grey eyes took me +aback more than her saucy words.</p> + +<p>"Doubtless," I said. "you have not recognized in me the +officer who was at some slight pains to be of +service——"</p> + +<p>"What is it you desire?" said she, so rudely that I felt my +face burn hot.</p> + +<p>"See here, my lass," said I sharply, "you seem to +misunderstand my errand here."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Such men as I——"</p> + +<p>"You and your friend with the bold, black eyes. Ask him how +much change he had of me when he came back."</p> + +<p>"I did not know he had seen you again," said I, still redder. +And saw that she believed me not.</p> + +<p>"Birds sing; men lie," said she. "So if——"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry I spoke as I did," said I, "— however +mistaken you are concerning my seeking you here."</p> + +<p>She said nothing.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I am wise enough— after my own fashion," she said +indifferently.</p> + +<p>"Does a man save and then return to destroy?"</p> + +<p>"Many a hunter has saved many a spotted fawn from wolf and +fox— so he might kill it himself, one day."</p> + +<p>"You do yourself much flattery, young woman," I said, so +unpleasantly that again the hot colour touched her throat and +brow.</p> + +<p>"I reason as I have been taught," she said defiantly. +"Doubtless you are self-instructed."</p> + +<p>"No; men have taught me. You witnessed, I believe, one lesson. +And your comrade gave me still another."</p> + +<p>"I care to witness nothing," I said, furious; "far less desire +to attempt your education. Is all plain now?"</p> + +<p>"Your words are," she said, with quiet contempt.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>She shrugged her shabby shoulders and waited, her eyes, her +expression, her very attitude indifferent, yet dully +watchful.</p> + +<p>"You know the Sagamore, Mayaro?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"You say so."</p> + +<p>"Where is he to be found?" I continued patiently.</p> + +<p>"Why do you desire to know?"</p> + +<p>The drab was exasperating me, and I think I looked it, for the +slightest curl of her sullen lips hinted a scornful smile.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Why do you wish to know?"</p> + +<p>"Because I desire to consult him concerning certain +matters."</p> + +<p>"What matters?"</p> + +<p>"Matters which do not concern you!" I snapped out.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure of that, pretty boy?"</p> + +<p>"Am I sure?" I repeated, furious. "What do you mean? Will you +answer an honest question or not?"</p> + +<p>"Why do you desire to see this Sagamore?" she repeated so +obstinately that I fairly clenched my teeth.</p> + +<p>"Answer me," I said. "Or had you rather I fetched a file of +men up here?"</p> + +<p>"Fetch a regiment, and I shall tell you nothing unless I +choose."</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"You had not so named yourself."</p> + +<p>"Very well, then; I am Euan Loskiel, Ensign in Morgan's rifle +regiment!"</p> + +<p>"You say so."</p> + +<p>"Do you doubt it?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>Then, far on the western hills lightning glimmered; and after +a long while it thundered.</p> + +<p>"Do you wish me to find this Sagamore for you?" she asked very +quietly.</p> + +<p>"Will you do so?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Where do you lodge?" she asked, after a silent scrutiny of +me.</p> + +<p>"This night I am a guest at Major Lockwood's. Tomorrow I +travel north again with my comrade, Lieutenant Boyd."</p> + +<p>She was looking steadily at me all the time; finally she +said:</p> + +<p>"Somehow, I believe you to be a friend to liberty. I know +it— somehow."</p> + +<p>"It is very likely, in this rifle dress I wear," said I +smiling.</p> + +<p>"Yet a man may dress as he pleases."</p> + +<p>"You mistrust me for a spy?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>For a full minute she stood there watching me; then:</p> + +<p>"I ask pardon," she said very gravely.</p> + +<p>And somehow, when she said it I seemed to experience a sense +of inferiority— which was absurd and monstrous, considering +what she doubtless was.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Why," said I astonished, "may I not seek shelter from a storm +in a ruined sugar-house, without asking by your leave?"</p> + +<p>"This sap-house is my own dwelling!" she said hotly. "It is +where I live!"</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>"One moment, sir——"</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>She stood looking at me in the doorway, then slowly dropped +her eyes, and in the same law voice I had heard once before:</p> + +<p>"I ask your pardon once again," she said. "Please to come +inside— and close the door. An open door draws +lightning."</p> + +<p>It was already drawing the rain in violent gusts.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Have you a light hereabout?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"No,"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I went to the door, looked out into the dripping woods, and +turned to her.</p> + +<p>"When will you bring the Sagamore to me?" I demanded.</p> + +<p>"I have not promised."</p> + +<p>"But you will?"</p> + +<p>She waited a while, then:</p> + +<p>"Yes, I will bring him."</p> + +<p>"When?"</p> + +<p>"Tonight."</p> + +<p>"You promise?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And if it rains again''</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>I said to her, with a slight but reassuring smile, most kindly +intended:</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"If I doubted that," she said, "I had rather pass the knife +you wear around my throat than trouble myself to oblige you."</p> + +<p>Her words, and the quiet, almost childish voice, seemed so +oddly at variance that I almost laughed; but changed my mind.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Rain or no," said I, "she has promised me to send this +Sagamore here tonight. And I am confident she will keep her +word."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Major Lockwood went to him instantly, and drew him in the +door; and they spoke together in low and rapid tones.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lockwood murmured in my ear:</p> + +<p>"It's one of Luther's men. There is bad news for us from +below, I warrant you."</p> + +<p>We heard the Major say:</p> + +<p>"You will instantly acquaint Colonels Thomas and Sheldon with +this news. Tell Captain Fancher, too, in passing."</p> + +<p>The messenger turned away into the storm, and Major Lockwood +called after him:</p> + +<p>"Is there no news of Moylan's regiment?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>The Major, who still stood at the door, turned around and +glanced at his wife.</p> + +<p>"What is it, dear— if we may know?" asked she, quite +calmly.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, "you should know, Hannah. And it may not be +true, but— somehow, I think it is. Tarleton is out."</p> + +<p>"Is he headed this way, Ebenezer?" asked Mr. Hunt, after a +shocked silence.</p> + +<p>"Why— yes, so they say. Luther Kinnicut sends the +warning. It seems to be true."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Will they make a stand, do you think?" I whispered to Boyd, " +or shall we be sent a-packing?"</p> + +<p>"If there be not too many of them I make a guess that +Sheldon's Horse will stand."</p> + +<p>"And what is to be our attitude?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER III</h3> + +<h4>VIEW HALLOO!</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>As for Colonel Sheldon, booted, sashed, and helmeted, he sat +apathetic and inert in the hall, obstinately refusing to mount +his men.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Major Lockwood, coming in at the moment, flung aside his +dripping riding cloak.</p> + +<p>"Sir," said he to Sheldon, "the rumour that the Legion is +abroad has reached your men, and they are saddling in my +barns."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>This fiery young dragoon's plume, helmet, and cloak were +dripping, and he impatiently dashed the water from feathers and +folds.</p> + +<p>"Sir!" began Colonel Sheldon loudly, "I have as yet given no +order to saddle!"</p> + +<p>And, "By God, sir," says Tallmadge, "the orders must have come +from somebody, for they're doing it!"</p> + +<p>"Sir— sir!" stammered Sheldon, "What d'ye mean by +that?"</p> + +<p>"Ah!" says Tallmadge coolly, "I mean what I say. Orders must +have been given by somebody."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Well, Jack," said I, "this is rare weather for Colonel +Tarleton's fox hunting."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>I could scarcely avoid smiling.</p> + +<p>"Do you then, for one, believe that Colonel Tarleton will +venture abroad on such a night?"</p> + +<p>"I believe as you do," said the rifleman coolly, "— being +some three years or more a soldier of my country."</p> + +<p>"Oh! And what do <i>I</i> believe, Jack?"</p> + +<p>"Being an officer who commands as good a soldier as I am, you, +sir, believe as I do."</p> + +<p>I was obliged to laugh.</p> + +<p>"Well, Jack— so you agree with me that the Legion Cavalry +is out?"</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"And why is it so certain in your mind, Jack Mount?"</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"You mean the unexpected."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Captain Fancher passed with a lantern, and I ventured to +accost him and mention very modestly my present misgivings +concerning our present situation.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Lieutenant Boyd and I have volunteered as a scout of three," +I said, "but Colonel Sheldon has declined our services with scant +politeness."</p> + +<p>Fancher stood far a moment, his rain-smeared lantern hanging +motionless at his side.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"It is <i>you!"</i> I exclaimed, hastening forward to draw her +under shelter.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"You use me very kindly," I said, "to venture abroad tonight +on my behalf."</p> + +<p>"I am abroad," she said, "on behalf of my country."</p> + +<p>Only her eyes I could see over the edge of the scarlet cloak, +and they regarded me very coldly.</p> + +<p>"I meant it so," I said hastily, "What of the Sagamore? Will +he come?"</p> + +<p>"He will come as I promised you."</p> + +<p>"Here?" I said, delighted. "This very night?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, here, this night."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said, calmly, "afoot. Since when, sir, have beggars +ridden to a tryst except in pretty fables?"</p> + +<p>"Had I known it, I would have taken horse and gone for you and +brought you here riding pillion behind me."</p> + +<p>"Had I desired you to come for me, Mr. Loskiel, I should not +have troubled you here."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Come nearer," she motioned.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>She said in a low voice:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Has he business also with Major Lockwood?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Were their jackets red?"</p> + +<p>"He could not tell. They were too closely cloaked,"</p> + +<p>"Colonel Moylan's dragoons?" I said anxiously. "Do you think +so?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Has the Sagamore spoken with Colonel Sheldon?" I asked +gently.</p> + +<p>"I do not know."</p> + +<p>"Will you tarry here till I return?"</p> + +<p>"Have you further use of me, Mr. Loskiel'"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>As I approached them, the Mohican turned his head and shot a +searching glance at me. Boyd said:</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>And: "My brother's given name?" inquired the savage +bluntly.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>The savage's eyes wavered, then sought the floor.</p> + +<p>"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:</p> + +<p>"Is my brother Siwanois or Mohican?"</p> + +<p>A cunning expression came into his features:</p> + +<p>"If a Siwanois marries a Mohican woman, of what nation are the +children, my new brother, Loskiel?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I said in a mortified voice:</p> + +<p>"The Siwanois Sagamore will believe that his new brother, +Loskiel, meant no offense." And I saw that the compliment had +told.</p> + +<p>"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 +<i>Mohican</i> 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."</p> + +<p>Boyd, with a triumphant glance at me, said eagerly:</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>The Sagamore's eyes flashed:</p> + +<p>"The belts we remember are red!" he said. "We Mohicans have +never understood Iroquois wampum. Let the Lenape of the +Kansonsionni bear Iroquois belts!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"O Sagamore! Roya-neh! Noble of the three free clans of a +<i>free Mohican people!</i> Our people have need of you. The path +is dark to Catharines-town. Terror haunts those frightful shades. +Roya-nef! We need you!</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>I raised my right arm slowly, and drew with my forefinger a +great circle in the air around us:</p> + +<p>"Brother! Listen attentively! Since a Sagamore has read the +belt I <i>yesterday</i> 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 — <i>the Fire of +Tamanund!</i> 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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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; +<i>answering my brother's words of yesterday."</i></p> + +<p>I could hear Boyd's deep breath of profound relief. "Thank +God!" I thought.</p> + +<p>The Sagamore spoke again, very quietly:</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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, <i>so that behind us, the steps of +many men shall not stumble,</i> and the darkness of the Long +House shall become redder than dawn, <i>lighted by the flames of +a thousand rifles!</i></p> + +<p>"Brother! A Sagamore never lies. I have drawn my brother's +knife! Brother, I have spoken!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Take a dozen men with you, and meet Colonel Moylan! A dozen +will be sufficient, Major!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>As I came up with her, she said:</p> + +<p>"Why are the light dragoons riding on the Bedford road? Is +aught amiss?"</p> + +<p>"A very large body of horse has passed our videttes, making +toward Ridgefield. Colonel Sheldon thinks it must be Moylan's +regiment."</p> + +<p>"Do you?"</p> + +<p>"It may be so."</p> + +<p>"And if it be the leather-caps?"</p> + +<p>"Then we must find ourselves in a sorry pickle."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>We watched them out of sight, then she said:</p> + +<p>"I have awaited your pleasure, Mr. Loskiel. Pray, in what +further manner can I be of service to— my country?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Have I then done well?" she asked slowly.</p> + +<p>"Indeed you have!" I replied, with such a warmth of feeling +that it surprised myself.</p> + +<p>"Then why may I not understand this thing that I have +done— for my country?"</p> + +<p>"I wish I might tell you."</p> + +<p>"May you not?"</p> + +<p>"No, I dare not."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Wait——" I was by her side again in the same +breath.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"May I not suitably express my gratitude to you?" I said.</p> + +<p>"You have already done so."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>After a pause: "Then— if there is nothing more to say +—"</p> + +<p>"There is, I tell you. Will you not listen?"</p> + +<p>"I have been thanked— suitably.... I will say adieu, +sir."</p> + +<p>"Would you— would you so far favour me as to make known +to me your name?" I said, stammering a little.</p> + +<p>"Lois is my name," she said indifferently.</p> + +<p>"No more than that?"</p> + +<p>"No more than that."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>After a moment, looking away from me across the meadow:</p> + +<p>"Ask," she said.</p> + +<p>"Then the first is— will you take my hand in adieu— +and let us part as good soldiers part?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"And one more thing," I said, while this strange and curious +reluctance to let her go was now steadily invading me.</p> + +<p>"Yes?"</p> + +<p>"Will you wear a comrade's token— in memory of an hour or +two with him?"</p> + +<p><i>"What!"</i></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>At length I gathered sufficient composure to step to her side +again.</p> + +<p>"Once more, little comrade, good-bye," I said. "This ends it +all."</p> + +<p>Again she turned her shoulder to me, but I heard her low +reply:</p> + +<p>"Good-bye— Mr. Loskiel."</p> + +<p>And so it ended.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Another dragoon appeared, riding <i>a diable</i>— 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"See what this damned Sheldon has done for us now! God! What +disgrace is ours!"</p> + +<p>I saw Colonel Sheldon presently, pale as death, and heard him +exclaim:</p> + +<p>"Oh, Christ! I shall be broke for this! I shall be broke!"</p> + +<p>I made out to say to Boyd:</p> + +<p>"The enemy are coming in hundreds, sir, and we have scarce +four score men mounted by the Meeting House."</p> + +<p>"They'll never stand, either," he panted. "But if they do +we'll see this matter to an end."</p> + +<p>"Our orders?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Damn our orders," said he. "We'll see this matter to an +end."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Half a mile farther on there ran a sandy, narrow cross road +into the woods on either side of us.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"They are not too many," said the dragoon captain coolly, +beckoning to his little bugle-horn.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 farces returned.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Somebody said in a low voice:</p> + +<p>"They've fired the church, now."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"They took Mr. Reed, too," said another. "They had a dozen +neighbours under guard when I left."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"What a pitiful mess!" whispered Boyd. "Is there nothing to be +done but sit here and see the red beasts yonder sack the +town?"</p> + +<p>Before I could answer, I caught the sound of distant firing on +the Lewisboro road. Colonel Thomas reared stiffly in his saddle, +and:</p> + +<p>"Those are my own men!" he said loudly, "or I lie like a +Tory!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Along the road below us a column of Continental infantry +appeared on the run, cheering us with their hats.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Surrender, you damned rebels! Pull up, there! Halt!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 curoius.</p> + +<p>I drew bridle, and as the Sagamore came up, I said +uneasily:</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>He shot a glance of lightning intelligence at me, then +instantly his features became smoothly composed and blank +again.</p> + +<p>"Has my brother never before seen the Spirit Bear?" he asked +coldly.</p> + +<p>"Is that a clan, Mayaro?"</p> + +<p>"Among the Siwanois only." "That is strange," I muttered. "I +have never before seen a Siwanois. Where could I have seen a +Siwanois? Where?"</p> + +<p>But he only shook his head.</p> + +<p>Boyd and Mount had pricked forward; I still lingered by the +Mohican. And presently I said:</p> + +<p>"That was a brave little maid who bore our message to +you."</p> + +<p>He made no answer.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>The Indian glanced at me warily, "My brother Loskiel should +ask these questions of the maid herself."</p> + +<p>"But I shall never see her again, Sagamore. How can I ask her, +then?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER IV</h3> + +<h4>A TRYST</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Yet, of one thing I had become almost convinced: the Siwanois, +while we slept, met and held communication with somebody outside +our camp.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Instantly the grey shape bounded upright, and I heard a +whispering cry of terror stifled to a sob.</p> + +<p>And then a stunning silence fell between us twain.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Lois?" I made out to whisper.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>I said, still amazed and wondering:</p> + +<p>"I understand it all now. The Sagamore brings you food. Is +that true?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said sullenly.</p> + +<p>"And you have kept in touch with us ever since we +started?"</p> + +<p>"With Mayaro."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"I have told you that I had no wish to travel in your +company."</p> + +<p>"But for protection——"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Do you distrust Lieutenant Boyd or me? Or what?"</p> + +<p>"Men! And you twain are two of them."</p> + +<p>"You fear such men as we are!" I demanded impatiently.</p> + +<p>"I know nothing of you," she answered, "save that you are +men."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean Mr. Boyd— and his thoughtless +gallantry——"</p> + +<p>"I mean <i>men!</i> <i>All</i> 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 <i>the Iroquois are to be trusted where the white man is +not!"</i></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Come into camp this night," I said.</p> + +<p>"I will not."</p> + +<p>"You must do so. I may not leave you here alone."</p> + +<p>"I can care for myself."</p> + +<p>"Yes— as you cared for yourself when I crept up behind +you. And if I had been a savage— then what?"</p> + +<p>"A quick end," she said coolly.</p> + +<p>"Or a wretched captivity— perhaps marriage to some +villainous Iroquois——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir; but nothing worse than marriage!"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Birds sing, sir."</p> + +<p>"Will you come into camp?" I repeated hotly.</p> + +<p>"And if I will not?"</p> + +<p>"Then, by heaven, I'll carry you in my arms! Will you +come?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I stood watching her for a few moments, then sat down +cross-legged before her.</p> + +<p>"Why do you doubt me, Lois?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Dear sir, I do not <i>doubt</i> you," she answered with +faintest malice.</p> + +<p>"I tell you I am not of that stripe!" I said angrily.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>She sat eating thoughtfully, looking aloft now and then at the +thick splendor of the firmament.</p> + +<p>Then, breaking a bit of corn bread, she said gravely:</p> + +<p>"I do not mean that you have not been kind, as men mean +kindness. I do not even mean that I blame men.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>After a short silence, I said: "Who, in the name of heaven, +are you, Lois?"</p> + +<p>"Does that concern you?"</p> + +<p>"I would have it concern me— if you wish."</p> + +<p>"Dear sir," she said very coolly, "I wish nothing of the +kind."</p> + +<p>"You do not trust me."</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, as I trust every man— except a red one."</p> + +<p>"Yet, I tell you that all that animates me is a desire to +render you a comrade's service——"</p> + +<p>"And I thank you, Mr. Loskiel, because, like other men, you +mean it generously and well. Yet, you are an officer in the +<i>corps d'élite;</i> and you would be ashamed to have the +humblest bugler in your regiment see you with such a one as +I."</p> + +<p>She broke another morsel from her bread:</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>She looked up at the stare, and then quietly at me.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"All men are not so fashioned. Can you not believe me?"</p> + +<p>"You say so, sir."</p> + +<p>"Yes; and I say that I am not."</p> + +<p>"Birds sing."</p> + +<p>"Lois, will you let me aid you?"</p> + +<p>"In what? The Sagamore feeds me; and the Middle Fort is not so +far."</p> + +<p>"And at the Middle Fort how will you live?"</p> + +<p>"As I have lived; wash for the soldiers; sew for them— +contrive to find a living as I journey."</p> + +<p>"Whither?"</p> + +<p>"It is my own affair."</p> + +<p>"May I not aid?"</p> + +<p>"You could not if you would; you would not if you could."</p> + +<p>"Ask me, Lois."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"What is your wish?"</p> + +<p>She shook her head: "It is useless to voice it— +useless."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"I travel light, Mr. Loskiel. But otherwise there is nothing +light about me."</p> + +<p>"Lois, I pray you, listen. As I am a man, I can not leave you +here."</p> + +<p>"For that reason, sir, you will presently take your +leave."</p> + +<p>"No, I shall remain if you will not come into camp with +us."</p> + +<p>She said impatiently:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>The rudeness of the fling burnt my face, but I answered +civilly:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"You waste time mounting sentry over me," she said in a low +voice. "Best employ your leisure in the sleep you need."</p> + +<p>"I can not sleep."</p> + +<p>"Nor I— if you remain here awake beside me."</p> + +<p>She raised herself on her elbow, peering through the darkness +toward the stream.</p> + +<p>"The Siwanois has been standing yonder by the stream watching +us this full hour past. Let him mount sentry if he wishes."</p> + +<p>"You have a tree-cat's eyes," I said. "I see nothing."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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— <i>fearing myself.</i></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 aud because of them.</p> + +<p>I slept at last; I do not know how long. The stars still +glittered overhead when I awoke, remembered, and suddenly sat +upright.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>And there I read her message: "A rose for your ring, comrade. +And be not angry with me."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>So I lay down, leaving Jack Mount a-cooking ashen cakes, and +yawning.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER V</h3> + +<h4>THE GATHERING</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 Vlaie 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"No, sir," said the express soberly. "Brant and his Mohawks +are out somewhere or other, and so is Walter Butler and his +painted crew."</p> + +<p>"In this same district?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"He must truly be a man of iron," said I, "if we win +through."</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>An odd expression came into his handsome face, and he said in +a low and dreamy voice:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I could see that Boyd also was thinking of this ghastly +business, as I caught his sombre eye. He seemed to shudder, +then:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>The Indian said cunningly:</p> + +<p>"Why has my brother Loskiel abandoned roof and fire for a bed +on the forest moss?"</p> + +<p>"A man must do battle for his own people, Sagamore."</p> + +<p>"A white maid may do what pleases her, too, for aught I know," +he said indifferently.</p> + +<p>"Why does it please her to roam abroad alone?"</p> + +<p>"How should I know?"</p> + +<p>"You <i>do</i> know!"</p> + +<p>"Loskiel," he said, "if I know why, perhaps I know of other +matters, too. Ask me some day— before they send you into +battle."</p> + +<p>"What matters do you know of?"</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>That ended it; he had spoken, and I was not fool enough to +urge him to another word.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>I knew no more than did he, and liked our new quarters no +better.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"He is staunch, I think," said I. "But for heaven's sake, +Benny, are we to sleep in filthy barracks in July?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"I'll show you presently. I think that Jimmy Parr desires to +see your gentle savage," he added flippantly.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Presently our mincing ensign came to us again, saying that the +Sagamore and I were to report ourselves to the Major.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>I glanced at Captain Simpson and Lieutenant Boyd, hesitating +for a moment. Then I said:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>And to me he added bluntly:</p> + +<p>"Translate, Mr. Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"I think the Sagamore has understood, sir," said I. "Is it not +so, Sagamore?"</p> + +<p>"Mayaro has understood," said the Indian quietly.</p> + +<p>"Does the great Mohican Sagamore accept?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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? <i>What</i> was it in her that had fixed my +attention? What allure? What unusual quality? What grace of mind +or person?</p> + +<p>A slender, grey-eyed gypsy-thing in rags! And I could no +longer rid my mind of her!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Yet I remained there motionless, thinking, thinking— her +faded rosebud lying in my hand, drooping but still fragrant.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I admired his war-girdle and moccasins, speaking somewhat +carelessly of the beautiful shell-work designs as "wampum"— +an Iroquois term.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Mayaro," said I, amused, "is a battle then near at hand that +you make so complete a preparation for it?"</p> + +<p>A half-smile appeared for a moment on his lips:</p> + +<p>"It is always well to be prepared for life or death, Loskiel, +my younger brother."</p> + +<p>"Oho!" said I, smiling. "You understood the express rider when +he said that Indians had fired on our pickets a week ago!"</p> + +<p>The stern and noble countenance of the Sagamore relaxed into +the sunniest of smiles.</p> + +<p>"My <i>little</i> brother is very wise. He has discovered that +the Siwanois have ears like white men."</p> + +<p>"Aye— but, Sagamore, I was not at all certain that you +understood in English more than 'yes' and 'no.'"</p> + +<p>"Is it because," he inquired with a merry glance at me, "my +brother has only heard as yet the answer 'no' from Mayaro?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Mayaro's features became smooth and blank.</p> + +<p>"What maiden is this my younger brother fears for?" he asked +mildly.</p> + +<p>"Her name is Lois. You know well whom I mean."</p> + +<p>"Hai!" he exclaimed, laughing softly. "Is it still the +rosy-throated pigeon of the forest for whom my little brother +Loskiel is spreading nets?"</p> + +<p>My face reddened again, but I said, smilingly:</p> + +<p>"If Mayaro laughs at what I say, all must be well with her. My +elder brother's heart is charitable to the homeless."</p> + +<p>"And to children, also," he said very quietly. And added, with +a gleam of humour, "All children, O Loskiel, my <i>littlest</i> +brother! Is not my heart open to <i>you?"</i></p> + +<p>"And mine to you, Mayaro, my elder brother."</p> + +<p>"Yet, you watched me at the fire, every night," he said, with +keenest delight sparkling in his dark eyes.</p> + +<p>"And yet I tracked and caught you after all!" I said, smiling +through my slight chagrin.</p> + +<p>"Is my little brother very sure I did not know he followed +me?" he asked, amused.</p> + +<p><i>"Did</i> you know, Mayaro?"</p> + +<p>The Siwanois made a movement of slight, but good-humoured, +disdain:</p> + +<p>"Can my brother who has no wings track and follow the October +swallow?"</p> + +<p>"Then you were willing that I should see the person to whom +you brought food under the midnight stars?"</p> + +<p>"My brother has spoken."</p> + +<p>"Why were you willing that I should see?"</p> + +<p>"Where there are wild pigeons there are hawks, Loskiel. But +perhaps the rosy throat could not understand the language of a +Siwanois."</p> + +<p>"You warned her not to rove alone?"</p> + +<p>He inclined his head quietly.</p> + +<p>"She refused to heed you! Is that true? She left Westchester +in spite of your disapproval?"</p> + +<p>"Loskiel does not lie."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Of course I know that you must have kept in communication +with her— though how you did so I do not know."</p> + +<p>The Siwanois smiled slyly.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>The Indian made no reply.</p> + +<p>"Has she made you promise not to?'</p> + +<p>He did not answer, but I saw very plainly that this was +so.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The Siwanois said pleasantly, yet with a hidden hint of +malice:</p> + +<p>"If my brother desires to walk abroad in the pleasant weather, +Mayaro will not run away. Say so to Major Parr."</p> + +<p>I blushed furiously at the mocking revelation that he had +noted and understood the precautions of Major Parr.</p> + +<p>"Mayaro," I said, <i>"I</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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>My heart stood still; I had never expected even to witness +such an act— never dared believe that I should participate +in it.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER VI</h3> + +<h4>THE SPRING WAIONTHA</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Murphy and Elerson took two scalps last night. They're drying +on hoops in the barracks. Look and see if they be truly +Seneca."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>She had averted her head, and was now hurriedly passing on, +and I turned sharply on my heel and came up beside her.</p> + +<p>"Lois," I managed to say with a voice that was fairly steady, +"have you forgotten me?"</p> + +<p>Her head remained resolutely averted; and as I continued +beside her, she said, without looking at me:</p> + +<p>"Do you not understand that you are disgracing yourself by +speaking to me on the parade? Pass on, sir, for your own +sake,"</p> + +<p>"I desire to speak to you," I said obstinately.</p> + +<p>"No. Pass on before any officers see you!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"I wish to talk with you," I said doggedly. "I shall not let +you go this time."</p> + +<p>"Are you mad to so conduct under the eyes of the whole fort?" +she whispered. "Go your way!"</p> + +<p>"I'd be madder yet to let you get away again. My way is +yours."</p> + +<p>She halted, cheeks blazing, and looked at me for the first +time.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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:</p> + +<p>"Waiontha Spring! If you needs must see me for a moment more, +come there!"</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>On a settle before the green-log barrack, some of Schott's +riflemen were idling, and now stood, seeing an officer.</p> + +<p>"Boys," I said, "where is this latest foolery of Tim Murphy +hung to dry?"</p> + +<p>They seemed ashamed, but told me, As I moved on, I said +carelessly, partly turning:</p> + +<p>"Where is the Spring Waiontha?"</p> + +<p>"On the Lake Trail, sir— first branch of the +Stoney-Kill."</p> + +<p>"Is there a house there?"</p> + +<p>"Rannock's."</p> + +<p>"A path to find it?"</p> + +<p>"A sheep walk only. Rannock is dead. The destructives murdered +him when they burned Cherry Valley. Mrs. Rannock brings us eggs +and milk."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"I have come," said I, "to speak most seriously."</p> + +<p>"What is it you wish?"</p> + +<p>"A comrade's privilege."</p> + +<p>"And what may that be, sir?"</p> + +<p>"The right to be heard; the right to be answered— and a +comrade's privilege to offer aid."</p> + +<p>"I need no aid."</p> + +<p>"None living can truthfully say that," said I pleasantly.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Do <i>you</i> then require charity from this pleasant +world we live in?"</p> + +<p>"I did not offer charity to you."</p> + +<p>"You spoke of aid," she said coldly.</p> + +<p>"Lois— is there in our brief companionship no memory that +may warrant my speaking as honestly as I speak to you?"</p> + +<p>"I know of none, Do you?"</p> + +<p>I had been looking at her chilled pink fingers. My ring was +gone.</p> + +<p>"A ring for a rose is my only warrant," I said.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Do you desire to have it of me again?" she asked, without any +expression on her sun-freckled face.</p> + +<p>"What? The ring?"</p> + +<p>"Aye "Desire it!" I repeated, turning red. "No more than you +desire the withered bud you left beside me while I slept."</p> + +<p>"What bud, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Did you not leave me a rose-bud?"</p> + +<p>"I?"</p> + +<p>"And a bit of silver birch-bark scratched with a knife +point?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"And that is all you thought about it, Lois?"</p> + +<p>"How can one think when half asleep''</p> + +<p>"Here is your rose," I said angrily. "I will take my ring +again."</p> + +<p>She opened her grey eyes at that.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Why do you mock me, Lois?"</p> + +<p>"I! Mock <i>you!</i> La! Sir, you surely jest."</p> + +<p>"You do so! You have done so ever since we met. I ask you +why?" I repeated, curbing my temper.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>officer</i> and a <i>gentleman?</i> No, it is +beyond all bounds; and this young man is suffering from the +sun."</p> + +<p>"Were it not," said I angrily, "that common humanity brought +me here and bids me remain for the moment, I would not endure +this."</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>The laughter had died out in her face. After a moment it +became grave.</p> + +<p>"Was it to tell me this that you spoke to me in the fort, Mr. +Loskiel?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Did you— remember— <i>me?"</i></p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>"Vilely," she said, looking serenely at me.</p> + +<p>"I did not say <i>that,</i> Lois——"</p> + +<p><i>"I</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.</p> + +<p>"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</p> + +<p>She made a childish gesture, sweeping the curls aside with +both her hands:</p> + +<p>"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 +<i>am!</i>— 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."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Why should I think to find <i>you</i> 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?"</p> + +<p>Again her head fell on her breast, and her hands linked +themselves on her knees as she knelt there in silence.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>She looked at me very gravely; then dropped her head once +more.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," I said desperately, "I wish to be honest— +tell you no lie— tell none to myself. I— your +beauty— <i>has</i> 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——"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>After a moment she said:</p> + +<p>"What was it that you said about my— beauty?"</p> + +<p>"I take my chances that it do me no deep damage."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Am I to take my chance, too?"</p> + +<p>"What chance?"</p> + +<p>"That— your kindness do <i>me</i>— no damage?"</p> + +<p>"What senseless talk is this you utter?"</p> + +<p>She shook her head slowly, then:</p> + +<p>"What a strange boy! I do not fear you."</p> + +<p>"Fear me?" I repeated, flushing hotly. "What is there to fear? +I am neither yokel nor beast."</p> + +<p>"They say a gentleman should be more dreaded."</p> + +<p>I stared at her, then laughed:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Is my tongue so bitter then? I did not know it."</p> + +<p>"I know it," said I with angry emphasis. "And I tell you very +freely that——"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"What is your given name?" she asked, still dimpling at me, +and her eyes now but two blue wells of light.</p> + +<p>"Euan," I said, foolish as a flattered schoolboy, and as +awkward.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Only your confidence; that is all I ask."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Is <i>that</i> all you ask of me?" she mimicked +mockingly; but so sweet her smile, and soft her voice, that I did +not mind her words.</p> + +<p>"Remember," said I, "that I am older than you. You are to tell +me all that troubles you."</p> + +<p>"When?"</p> + +<p>"Now."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Will you not tell me why you are alone here, Lois?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You need not use those words in the same breath when speaking +of yourself," I answered hotly.</p> + +<p>"Then— you do not credit ill of me?" she asked, a bright +but somewhat fixed and painful smile on her red lips.</p> + +<p>"No!" said I bluntly. "Nor did I ever."</p> + +<p>"And yet I look the part, and seem to play it, too. And still +you believe me honest?"</p> + +<p>"I know you are."</p> + +<p>"Then why should I be here alone— if I am honest, +Euan?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know; tell me."</p> + +<p>"But— are you quite certain that you do not ask because +you doubt me?"</p> + +<p>I said impatiently: "I ask, knowing already you are good above +reproach. I ask so I may understand how best to aid you."</p> + +<p>A lovely colour stole into her cheeks.</p> + +<p>"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:</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Give it," I said, more deeply moved than ever I had been.</p> + +<p>"I do! I <i>do!</i> 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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Yes." But I could not yet speak steadily.</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"On my honour, Lois."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing?" she said, so coldly that I ceased +counting the little squares of currency and looked up at her +surprised.</p> + +<p>"I am sharing my pay with you," said I. "I have no +silver— only these."</p> + +<p>"I can not take— <i>money!"</i></p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"Did you suppose I could?"</p> + +<p>"Comrades have a common purse; Why not?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Will you not share with me?" I asked, very hot about the +ears.</p> + +<p>She shook her head and I saw her shoulders heave once or +twice.</p> + +<p>"Lois," I said gravely, "did you fear I hoped for some— +<i>reward?</i> 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."</p> + +<p>"No— I can not, Euan," she answered in a stifled voice. +"Is there any shame to you in sharing with me?"</p> + +<p>"Wait," she whispered. "Wait till you hear. And— thank +you— for— your kindness."</p> + +<p>"I will be here to-night," I said. "And when we know each +other better we will share a common purse."</p> + +<p>She did not answer me.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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——</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>One after another took the hand I offered in self-respecting +silence.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"It is true, brother."</p> + +<p>I smiled and turned toward the women who were listening, and +who now looked up at me with merry faces.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"Is our elder brother's little sister fat and comely?" +inquired one giggling and over-plump Oneida maid.</p> + +<p>"Not plump," I said; and they all giggled.</p> + +<p>Another short one stood on tip-toe, asking bashfully if she +were not the proper height to suit me.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Well, Mayaro," said I, in excellent spirits, "you still wear +war paint hopefully, I see. But this army will never start within +the week."</p> + +<p>The Siwanois smiled to himself and smoked. Then he passed the +pipe to me. I drew it twice, rendered it.</p> + +<p>"Come," said I, "have you then news that we take the war-trail +soon?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Are you hoping to go out with the scout to-night?" I asked. +"That would not do."</p> + +<p>"I go to-night with my brother Loskiel— to take the air," +he said slyly.</p> + +<p>"That may not be," I protested, disconcerted. "I have business +abroad to-night,"</p> + +<p>"And I," he said very seriously; but he glanced again at the +pretty garments on my arm and gave me a merry look.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said I, smilingly, "they are for <i>her.</i> 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."</p> + +<p>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 <i>was</i> 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.</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>For a full minute the Indian's countenance turned full on me +remained moon-blank. Then, like lightning, flashed his smile.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"She is in need, my brother."</p> + +<p>"Give, and pass on, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"That is not giving, O my brother."</p> + +<p>"Is it to give alone, Loskiel? Or is it to give— that she +may render all?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, honestly to give. <i>Not</i> to <i>take."</i></p> + +<p>"And yet you know her not, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"It is the truth," he said.</p> + +<p>"Then tell me her name, that I may write it to my friend in +Albany."</p> + +<p>"I do not know it," he said quietly.</p> + +<p>"She never told you?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"What question, Mayaro?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"I know," I said. "Continue."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>He leaned forward, looking at me steadily.</p> + +<p>"Loskiel," he said, "when first I heard <i>your name</i> from +her, and that it was <i>you</i> 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."</p> + +<p>"Good God!" said I, "did <i>you,</i> 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.</p> + +<p>"I knew," he said tranquilly, "but I did not know why this +maiden wished to know. Therefore was I silent."</p> + +<p>"Why did you not ask her?" But before he spake I knew why +too.</p> + +<p>"Does a Sagamore ask idle questions of a woman?" he said +coldly. "Do the Siwanois babble?"</p> + +<p>"No. And yet— and yet——"</p> + +<p>"Birds sing, maidens chatter. A Mohican considers ere his +tongue is loosed."</p> + +<p>"Aye— it is your nature, Sagamore.... But tell me— +what was it in the mention of my name that made you think of +magic?"</p> + +<p>"Loskiel, you came two hundred miles to ask of me the question +that this maid had asked in every camp."</p> + +<p>"What question?"</p> + +<p><i>"Where lay the trail to Catharines-town,"</i> he said.</p> + +<p>"Did <i>she</i> ask that?" I demanded in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"It was ever the burden of her piping— this rosy-throated +pigeon of the woods."</p> + +<p>"That is most strange," said I.</p> + +<p>"It is doubtless sorcery that she should ask of me an +interview with you who came two hundred miles to ask of <i>me</i> +the very question."</p> + +<p>"But, Mayaro, she did not then know why I had come to seek +you."</p> + +<p><i>"I</i> knew as quickly as I heard your name."</p> + +<p>"How could you know before you saw me and I had once made +plain my business?"</p> + +<p>"Birds come and go; but eagles see their natal nest once more +before they die."</p> + +<p>"I do not understand you, Mayaro."</p> + +<p>He made no answer.</p> + +<p>"Merely to hear my name from this child's lips, you say you +guessed my business with you?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"And did you do so?"</p> + +<p>"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. +<i>Some call it Catharines-town.'"</i></p> + +<p>I shook my head, perplexed, and understanding nothing.</p> + +<p>"Yndaia? Did you say Yndaia, Mayaro?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The Sagamore's face had become a smooth, blank mask again.</p> + +<p>"What has this maid, Lois, to do with Catharines-town?" I +asked. "Devils live there in darkness."</p> + +<p>"She did not say."</p> + +<p>"You do not know?"</p> + +<p>"No, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"But," said I, troubled, "why did she journey hither?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Doubtless," I said anxiously, "she has heard at the forts or +hereabouts that we are to march on Catharines-town."</p> + +<p>"She knows it now, Loskiel"</p> + +<p>"And means to follow?" I exclaimed in horror.</p> + +<p>"My brother speaks the truth."</p> + +<p>"God! What urges the child thither?"</p> + +<p>"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— <i>that hag</i>— and all her +spawn!"</p> + +<p>"Catharine Montour!"</p> + +<p>"The Toad-woman herself— and all her spawn."</p> + +<p>"The Senecas?"</p> + +<p>"And <i>the others,"</i> he said in a low voice.</p> + +<p>A sudden and terrible misgiving assailed me. I swallowed, and +then said slowly:</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Amochol," I repeated under my breath. And shivered.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Mayaro," I said seriously, "do you go instantly to the fort +and view those scalps."</p> + +<p>"Were the braids fastened at the roots with tree-cat +claws?"</p> + +<p>"Aye!"</p> + +<p>"No need to view them, then, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"Are they truly Erie?"</p> + +<p>"Cats!" He spat the word from his lips and his eyes +blazed.</p> + +<p>"And— Amochol!" I asked unsteadily.</p> + +<p>"The Cat People creep with the Seneca high priest, mewing +under the moon."</p> + +<p>"Then— <i>he</i> is surely here?"</p> + +<p>"Aye, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"No bullets touch him."</p> + +<p>"That is nonsense, Mayaro——"</p> + +<p>"No, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"I tell you he is human! There are no sorcerers on earth. +There never were— except the Witch of Endor——"</p> + +<p>"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!</p> + +<p>"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— <i>old,</i> 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!</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Go, now, my brother. Go in peace."</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER VII</h3> + +<h4>LOIS</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Lois opened it, her knitting gathered in her hand, and stood +aside for me to enter.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Lois whispered in my ear:</p> + +<p>"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 <i>blue-eyed</i> Indian pinned +her baby to its cradle with a bayonet."</p> + +<p>I crossed the room to where she stood, offering my hand; and +she laid her thin and work-worn fingers listlessly in mine.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>She shook her head slowly.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Shall we be seated outside on the door-sill?" whispered Lois. +"The only seat within is on the settle, where she sits."</p> + +<p>"Is this the only room?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Yes, we will sit outside. But first, I bring you a little +gift——"</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I picked up the lantern and held it high above us.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>And, "Lord!" said I, surprised by the lovely revelation. "What +a miracle are you in your forest masquerade!"</p> + +<p>"Am I truly fine to please you, Euan?"</p> + +<p>I said, disturbed, but striving to speak lightly:</p> + +<p>"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! <i>Onwa oyah! Na-i! A-i!</i> Lois!" And I drew my light +war-hatchet from its sheath and raised it sparkling, in +salute.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Then, still serious, she lifted her grey eyes to me:</p> + +<p>"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:</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"May we speak freely here, Lois?" I whispered.</p> + +<p>She cast a cautious glance at the shadowy figure, then, +lowering her voice and leaning nearer:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Then you will not tell me now?"</p> + +<p>"How can I, Euan?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Is <i>this</i> then your intimate abode?" I asked, +half-smiling.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"And <i>you</i> were reared in comfort!" I said with sudden +bitterness.</p> + +<p>She looked up quickly, then, shrugging her shoulders:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"What age are you, Lois?"</p> + +<p>"Twenty, I think."</p> + +<p>"Scarce that!" I insisted.</p> + +<p>"Do I not seem so?" she asked, smiling.</p> + +<p>"Eighteen at most— save for the— sadness— in +your eyes that now and then surprises me— if it be sadness +that I read there."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it is the wisdom I have learned— a knowledge +that means sadness, Euan. Do my eyes betray it, then, so +plainly?"</p> + +<p>"Sometimes," I said, A faint sound from below arrested our +attention.</p> + +<p>Lois whispered:</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>Through the intense stillness I could still hear the woman +sobbing in the dark below.</p> + +<p>"Lois— little Lois," I whispered, touching her trembling +arm with a hand quite as unsteady.</p> + +<p>She dropped her arm from her face, looking up at me with eyes +widened still in horror.</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>She smiled wanly, and sat thinking for a while, her pale face +pressed between her hands. Presently she looked up.</p> + +<p>"Are we so truly friends then, Euan? At the Spring Waiontha it +almost seemed as though it could come true."</p> + +<p>"You know it has come true."</p> + +<p>"Do I?"</p> + +<p>"Do you not know it, little Lois?"</p> + +<p>"I seem to know it, somehow.... Tell me, Euan, does a true and +deathless friendship with a man— with <i>you</i>— mean +that I am to strip my heart of every secret, hiding nothing from +you?"</p> + +<p>"Dare you do it, Lois?" I said laughingly, yet thrilled with +the candour of her words.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>Surprised, then touched, I met the winning honesty of her gaze +in silence.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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. <i>"He</i> died long since. But <i>my mother</i> +is living. And I believe she lives near Catharines-town +to-day!"</p> + +<p><i>"What!</i> Why do you think so?" I exclaimed, +astounded.</p> + +<p>"Is not the Vale Yndaia there, near Catharines-town?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. But why——"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Why?" I asked vaguely.</p> + +<p><i>"I save them for my journey."</i></p> + +<p>"What journey?"</p> + +<p>"The long trail through the Long House— straight through +it, Euan, to the Western Door. That is the trail I dream of."</p> + +<p>"Who leaves these strange moccasins at your threshold every +year?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know."</p> + +<p>"From where do you suppose they come?" I asked, amazed.</p> + +<p>"From Catharines-town."</p> + +<p>"Do you believe your <i>mother</i> sends them?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Euan, I know it now! Until two years ago I did not +understand. But now I know it!"</p> + +<p>"Why are you so certain Lois? Is any written message sent with +them?"</p> + +<p>"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:</p> + +<p><i>"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.</i></p> + +<p><i>"Pray every day for him who died in the Regiment de la +Reine.</i></p> + +<p><i>"Pray too for her who waits for you, in far +Yndaia."</i></p> + +<p>"What a strange message!" I exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"I must heed it," she said under her breath. "The trail is +open, and my hour is come."</p> + +<p>"But, Lois, that trail means death!"</p> + +<p>"Your army makes it safe at last. And now the time is come +when I must follow it."</p> + +<p>"Is that why you have followed <i>us?"</i></p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Why did you not tell me this at Poundridge? You should have +camped with us," I said.</p> + +<p>"Because of my fear of men— except red men. And I had +already quite enough of your Lieutenant Boyd."</p> + +<p>I looked at her seriously; and she comprehended the unasked +questions that were troubling me.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>strapped to a painted +cradle-board?"</i></p> + +<p>"You!"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>Quick, hot, unconsidered words flew to my lips— so sweet +and fearless were her eyes. But I only muttered:</p> + +<p>"Tell me all."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>She looked down, pulling idly at the thrums along her beaded +leggins.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You look sixteen; not more— except the haunting +sorrow——"</p> + +<p>"I can remember full that length of time.... I <i>must</i> 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."</p> + +<p>"Your foster father?"</p> + +<p>"Aye. And my foster mother, too, was a strange woman."</p> + +<p>"Were they not kind to you?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"What <i>was</i> your foster father's business?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I have heard so, too."</p> + +<p>She nodded absently, fingering her leggin-fringe; then, with a +sudden, indrawn breath:</p> + +<p>"We <i>were</i> 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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>She drew a long, light breath, smiled at me; then:</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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!</p> + +<p>"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 <i>not</i> 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.</p> + +<p>"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.'</p> + +<p>"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.'</p> + +<p>"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.'</p> + +<p>"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.'</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>She passed her fingers across her brow, clearing it of the +clinging curls.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>Again she passed her slender hand slowly across her eyes, +shaking her head.</p> + +<p>"That I am not wholly bad amazes me at times.... I wonder if +<i>you</i> 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?"</p> + +<p>"No— no— " I could not utter another word.</p> + +<p>She sighed, gazing at space.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>She rocked slightly forward and backward where she sat, her +fingers interlaced, twisting and clenching with her memories.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Lois?"</p> + +<p>She lifted her head. "All that is ended now. Strive to +forget."</p> + +<p>She made no response.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"I will <i>not</i> listen!" said I excitedly. "Do <i>you</i> +listen now to me, for I mean to have my way with you— say +what you may——"</p> + +<p>"I know— I know— but you have done too much +already——"</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>"I will not suffer this!" she said, an angry colour in her +cheeks.</p> + +<p>"You suffer <i>now</i>— for lack even of handkerchiefs! I +must insist——"</p> + +<p>"Euan! My shifts and stays and stockings are none of your +affair!" she answered hotly.</p> + +<p>"I make them mine!"</p> + +<p>"No— nor is it your privilege to offer them!"</p> + +<p>"My— <i>what?"</i></p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Comrades neither give nor take, Lois. What they possess +belongs to both in common."</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>"What have I asked of you!" I said impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Nothing. And so I am the more inclined to give— I know +not what."</p> + +<p>"Shall I tell you what to offer me? Then offer me the +privilege of giving. It is the rarest gift within your +power."</p> + +<p>She sat looking at me while the soft colour waned and deepened +in her cheeks.</p> + +<p>"I— give," she said in a voice scarce audible.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>our</i> money, which +now lies with him. Do you understand me, Lois? You will need +money when the army leaves."</p> + +<p>Her head moved slightly, acquiescent.</p> + +<p>"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:</p> + +<p>"Hiero! Little rosy-throated pigeon of the woods! Loskiel has +spoken!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Euan?" she ventured, lifting her wet eyes.</p> + +<p>"What?" said I ungraciously.</p> + +<p>"H— have you a hanker? Else I use my scandalous skirt +again——"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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— <i>if I remain behind."</i></p> + +<p>"Lois! You can not go to Catharines-town! That's flat!"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>She said in a quiet voice:</p> + +<p>"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 <i>must</i> go!"</p> + +<p>"Why not inquire of me the road to hell?" I asked impatiently. +She said between her teeth:</p> + +<p>"Oh, any man might show me that. And guide me, too. Many have +offered, Euan."</p> + +<p>"What!"</p> + +<p>"I ask your pardon. Two years of camps blunts any woman's +speech."</p> + +<p>"Lois," said I uneasily, "why do <i>you</i> wish to go to +Catharines-town, when an armed force is going?"</p> + +<p>She sat considering, then, in a low, firm voice:</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Surely, little comrade."</p> + +<p>She drew the packet from her bosom, unlaced the thong, +unrolled the deer-hide covering.</p> + +<p>"Here is a roll of bark," she said. "This I have never had +interpreted. Can you read it for me, Euan?"</p> + +<p>And there in the lantern light I read it, while she looked +down over my shoulder.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p> </p> + +<p><br> +</p> + +<p>"KADON!</p> + +<p class="left" align="left"><br> +"Aesa-yat-yen-enghdon, Lois!<br> +"Etho!<br> +[And <i>here</i> was painted a <i>white</i> dog lying dead, its +tongue hanging out sideways.]<br> +"Hen-skerigh-watonte.<br> +"Jatthon-ten-yonk, Lois!<br> +"Jin-isaya-dawen-ken-wed-e-wayen.<br> +[Here was drawn in outline the foot and claws of a forest +lynx.]<br> +"Niyi-eskah-haghs, na-yegh-nyasa-kenra-dake, niya-wennonh!" +[<i>Then a white symbol.</i>]<br> +</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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. <i>Is</i> there, +Euan?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," I said.</p> + +<p>"You can interpret?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Will you?"</p> + +<p>I was silent, pondering the fearful meaning which had been +rendered plainer and more hideous by the painted symbols.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Then, with an effort I found courage to read, as it was +written:</p> + +<p><i>"I speak! Thou, Lois, mightest have been destroyed! +Thus!</i> (Here the white dog.) <i>But I will frustrate their +purpose. Keep listening to me, Lois. That which has befallen you +we place it here</i> (or, 'we draw it here'— i. e., the +<i>severed</i> foot and claws of a lynx). <i>Being born white</i> +(literally, 'being born having a white neck'), <i>this +happened."</i> And the ghastly sign of Leshi ended it.</p> + +<p>"But what does it all signify?" she asked, bewildered.</p> + +<p>And even as she spoke, out of the dull and menacing horror of +the symbols, into my mind, leaped terrible comprehension.</p> + +<p>I said coolly: "It must have been Amochol— and his Erie +sorcerers! How came <i>you</i> in Catharines-town?"</p> + +<p>"I? In Catharines-town!" she faltered. "Was I, then, ever +there?"</p> + +<p>I pointed at the drawing of the <i>dead</i> white dog.</p> + +<p>"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 +<i>severed</i>— in symbol of your escape. Lois! Lois! It is +plain enough. I follow it all— almost all— nearly— +but not quite——"</p> + +<p>I hesitated, studying the bark intently, pausing to look at +her with a new and keenly searching question in my gaze.</p> + +<p>"You have not shown me all," I said.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Here is a soldier's belt-buckle," she said, offering it to me +for my inspection.</p> + +<p>It was made of silver and there were still traces of French +gilt upon the device.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Was the regiment, then, totally destroyed?"</p> + +<p>"Utterly. In France they made the regiment again with new men +and new officers, and call it still by the same celebrated +name."</p> + +<p>"You say Sir William Johnson's men cut it to pieces— the +Regiment de la Reine?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"His Indians, British and Provincials, left nothing of it +after that bloody day."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>There was no need to look twice. This man, whoever he might +be, was this girl's father; and nobody who had ever <i>seen</i> +her and this miniature could ever doubt it.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Jean Coeur a son coeur cheri."</p> + +<p>I looked up at her.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Jean Coeur— Louis de Contrecoeur. The names scarce hang +together— yet——"</p> + +<p>"Look at <i>this!"</i> she whispered in a low, tense voice, +and laid a bit of printing in my hand.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"That," she said, "is the same writing that the birch bark +bears, sewed in my moccasins."</p> + +<p>"Then," I said excitedly, "your mother <i>was</i> born +Mademoiselle Joncaire, and you <i>are</i> Lois de +Contrecoeur!"</p> + +<p>She sat with eyes lowered, fingering the stained and faded +page. After a moment she said:</p> + +<p>"I wrote to France— to the Headquarters of the Regiment +de la Reine— asking about my— father."</p> + +<p>"You had an answer?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>A chill passed through me, then the reaction came, taking me +by the throat, setting my veins afire.</p> + +<p>"Then— by God!" I stammered. "If de Contrecoeur died +unmarried, his child shall not!"</p> + +<p>"Euan! I do not credit what they wrote. If my father married +here perhaps they had not heard."</p> + +<p>"Lois! Dearest of maids— whichever is the truth I wish to +marry you!"</p> + +<p>But she stopped her ears with both palms, giving me a +frightened look; and checked, but burning still, I stared at +her.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Never have I loved before——"</p> + +<p>"Love! Euan, are you mad?"</p> + +<p>We both were breathing fast and brokenly.</p> + +<p>"What is it then, if it be not love!" I asked angrily.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Did you not desire my friendship?" I asked in hot +chagrin.</p> + +<p>"Not if it be of this kind, Euan."</p> + +<p>"You would not have me love you?"</p> + +<p>"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, +<i>nothing</i> 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?"</p> + +<p>I was silent.</p> + +<p>She rose, lifted the lantern, laid open the trap-door.</p> + +<p>"Come," she whispered, beckoning.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>On the sill she whispered:</p> + +<p>"When will you come again?"</p> + +<p>"Do you want me?" I said sullenly.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>She dropped my hand, caught at her skirt's edge, and made me a +mocking reverence.</p> + +<p>"Dear sir," she said, "I pray you come again to visit me +tomorrow, while I am mending regimental shirts at tuppence +each——"</p> + +<p>"Lois!" I said sadly. "How can you use me so!"</p> + +<p>She began to laugh again.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Euan, I can not endure it if you're solemn and sorry for +yourself——"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER VIII</h3> + +<h4>OLD FRIENDS</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"It has already been rewarded," remarked the Indian, with +quiet humour.</p> + +<p>"In what manner?" I asked, puzzled.</p> + +<p>"In the manner that all warriors desire to be rewarded," he +replied, secretly amused.</p> + +<p>"I thought," said I, "that the reward all warriors desire is a +scalp taken in battle."</p> + +<p>He cast a sly glance at me and went on painting.</p> + +<p>"Mayaro," said I, disturbed, "is it possible that you have +been out forest-running while I've slept?"</p> + +<p>He shot a quick look at me, full of delighted malice.</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>He said proudly: "Mayaro is safe. What warrior of the +Cat-People need a Sagamore of the Siwanois dread?"</p> + +<p>"Do you count them warriors then, or wizards?"</p> + +<p>"Demons have teeth and claws. Look upon their scalp-locks, +Loskiel!"</p> + +<p>I strove to subdue my rising anger.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>The Sagamore looked at me with eyes utterly void of +expression.</p> + +<p>"Is Mayaro a prisoner, then?" he asked quietly.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>He resumed his painting with a shrug of contempt, adding:</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"Each night you go forth and scalp. Each morning you paint. Is +this to continue, Sagamore?"</p> + +<p>"My brother sees," he said proudly. "Cats were made for +skinning."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"The war-paint you have worn each day has seemed to me +somewhat unusual," I said curiously.</p> + +<p>He glanced sharply up at me, scowled, then said gravely:</p> + +<p>"When a Sagamore of the Mohicans paints for a war against +<i>warriors,</i> 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 <i>sorcerers,</i> 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!"</p> + +<p>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. Be 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>All the responsibility, therefore, must rest on me; and I must +use my judgment and abide by the consequences.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Do you remain?" I asked of Mrs. Bleecker.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>I laughed.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"Who would have dreamed it three years ago?" she said, her +face now sober enough.</p> + +<p>"I thought your people were Tory," said I.</p> + +<p>"Not mine, Euan; Clarissa's."</p> + +<p>"Where is that child?" I asked pityingly.</p> + +<p>"Clarissa? Poor lamb— she's in Albany still."</p> + +<p>I did not speak, but it was as though she divined my unasked +question.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.'"</p> + +<p>Lana shook her pretty head.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"I had supposed you married long ago, Lana. The young Patroon +was very ardent."</p> + +<p>"I? The sorry supposition! <i>I</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. +"—— <i>you</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Grown soberer, perhaps. You always did conduct like a pious +Broad-brim, Euan."</p> + +<p>"I've a mind to kiss you now," said I, vexed.</p> + +<p>"Kiss away, kind sir. You have me in the rear o! them. Now's +your opportunity!"</p> + +<p>"Doubtless you'd cry out."</p> + +<p>"Doubtless I wouldn't."</p> + +<p>"Wait for some moonlit evening when we're unobserved +"Broad-brim!"</p> + +<p>I laughed, and so did she, saying:</p> + +<p>"I warrant you that your pretty Lieutenant Boyd had never +waited for my challenge twice!"</p> + +<p>"Best look out for Boyd," said I. "He's of your own careless, +reckless kind, Lanette. Sparks fly when flint and steel +encounter."</p> + +<p>"Cold sparks, friend Broad-brim!"</p> + +<p>"Not too cold to set tinder afire."</p> + +<p>"Am I then tinder? You should know me better."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"How wise have you become in alchemy and metaphysics!" she +exclaimed in mock admiration.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am not wise in anything, and you know it, Lana."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"You know <i>me</i> better."</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"A good man," said I, "and brave. But his honest Stockbridge +Indians know no more of Catharines-town than do the converted +Oneidas yonder,"</p> + +<p>Boyd nodded: "I prophesy they quit us one and all within an +arrow-flight of Wyalusing. Do you take me, Loskiel?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll say no more," said I, forcing a smile.</p> + +<p>"Oh, say all you please, as long as you do not tell me what +you <i>think</i> 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."</p> + +<p>"Lord!" said I. "Is that the way you read us, also?"</p> + +<p>"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; <i>we know</i> we +can not read you, but scorn to admit it; <i>you</i> 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,"</p> + +<p>We both laughed; after a moment she put on her sun-mask and I +tied it.</p> + +<p>"Where do you and Mrs. Lansing lodge until your husband's +regiment returns?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>She rose, giving me her pretty hand to aid her, shook out her +dainty skirts, put up her quizzing glass, and inspected me, +smilingly.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Truly she is a miracle," I said earnestly.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>less</i> 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."</p> + +<p>"I was assassinated by Lana long ago," said I, smiling. "I am +proof."</p> + +<p>"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 limation when they had left us half an hour +ago.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>Boyd made her a too low and over-courtly bow.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Are you overthrown?"</p> + +<p>"Prone in the dust, mademoiselle! Draw Mr. Loskiel's knife and +end me now in mercy."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"How should I know?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER IX</h3> + +<h4>MID-SUMMER</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Lois, why have you avoided me?" I exclaimed. "All manner of +vague forebodings have assailed me these two days past</p> + +<p>"Listen to this silly lad!" she said impatiently. "As though a +few hours' absence lessen loyalty and devotion!"</p> + +<p>"But where have you been?"</p> + +<p>"Where I may not take you, Euan."</p> + +<p>"And where is that?" I asked bluntly.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>And seeing my perplexed mien, she began to laugh.</p> + +<p>"Euan, you are stupid! Did not the Grecian maids spend half +their lives in the bath?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Is it wise to sleep so in the Water?" I asked uneasily.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I can walk as far as the pool with you, at all events," said +I.</p> + +<p>"Wonderful! And will you?"</p> + +<p>"Do I ever await asking to follow you anywhere?" said I +sentimentally.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Poor lad!" she exclaimed contritely, slipping her hand into +mine. "I should have guided you. Does it pain you?"</p> + +<p>"Not much."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>When we came to the Spring Waiontha I had walked straight into +the water except for her, so dark it was around us. And:</p> + +<p>"How can you ever get back alone?" said she.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"But not woodsman enough to spare your shins in the clearing," +she said saucily.</p> + +<p>"Shall we sit and talk?" I said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Euan! And my bath! I am fairly melting as I stand +here."</p> + +<p>"But I have not seen you for two entire nights, Lois."</p> + +<p>"I know, poor boy, but you seem to have survived."</p> + +<p>"When I do not see you every day I am most miserable."</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>"Lois!"</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"How can you reason so coldly?"</p> + +<p><i>"I</i>— reason <i>coldly?</i> There is nothing cold in +me where you are concerned. But I have to console myself for not +seeing you——"</p> + +<p><i>"I</i> am inconsolable," said I fervently.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"I care so much for you, Lois," said I.</p> + +<p>"And I for you."</p> + +<p>"Not as I care for you."</p> + +<p><i>"Exactly</i> as you care for me. Do you think me insensible +to gratitude and affection?"</p> + +<p>"I do not desire your gratitude for a few +articles——"</p> + +<p>"It isn't for them— though I'm grateful for those things +too! It's gratitude to God for giving me <i>you,</i> Euan +Loskiel! And you ought to take shame to yourself for doubting +it!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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, <i>always</i>— 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."</p> + +<p>"And will you try to love me some day, Lois?"</p> + +<p>"I do."</p> + +<p>"I mean——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Euan, I do— I <i>do!</i> Only— you know— +<i>not</i> in the manner you once spoke of——"</p> + +<p>"But I love you in that manner."</p> + +<p>"No, you do <i>not!</i> 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 <i>do</i> 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 <i>love!</i> Are you content with +what I say?"</p> + +<p>"I must be."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I am a fool," I said. "God never before sent any man such a +comrade as He has sent in you to me."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Presently she withdrew her hands and slipped away from me in +the dark.</p> + +<p>"Be careful," said I, "or you will slip overboard."</p> + +<p>"I mean to presently."</p> + +<p>"Then— must I go so soon?"</p> + +<p>She did not answer. Once I thought I heard her moving softly, +but the sound came from the wrong direction.</p> + +<p>"Lois!"</p> + +<p>No reply.</p> + +<p>"Lois!" I repeated uneasily.</p> + +<p>There was a ripple in the pool, silence, then somewhere in the +darkness a faint splash.</p> + +<p>"Good Lord!" said I. "Have you fallen in?"</p> + +<p>"Not <i>fallen</i> 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."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to say——" I began incredulously.</p> + +<p>And, "Yes, I do!" she said, defiant. "And I think <i>this</i> +ought to teach you what a comrade's perfect confidence can be. +Never complain to me of my want of trust in you again."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>After a while she laughed outright— the light, +mischievous laughter of a child.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>And presently her voice came again from the more distant +darkness somewhere:</p> + +<p>"Has the box which you commanded arrived yet, Euan?"</p> + +<p>"It is at my hut. A wagon will bring it to you in the +morning."</p> + +<p>I could hear her clap her wet little hands; and she cried out +softly:</p> + +<p>"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.... <i>Everything,</i> 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?"</p> + +<p>"I think it is better that I first bring her to you."</p> + +<p>"Would she condescend to come?"</p> + +<p>"I think so."</p> + +<p>There was a pause. I seated myself. Then the soft and +indecisive sound of ripples stirred by an idle hand broke the +heated silence.</p> + +<p>"You say they all are your good friends?" she remarked +thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"I know them all. Lana Helmer I have known intimately since we +were children."</p> + +<p>"Then why is it not better to present me to her first— if +you know her so <i>very</i> well?"</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Bleecker is older."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Is this Miss Helmer then so young?"</p> + +<p>"Your age."</p> + +<p>"Oh! <i>My</i> age.... And pretty?"</p> + +<p>"The world thinks so."</p> + +<p>"Oh! And what do <i>you</i> think, Euan?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, she is pretty," said I carelessly.</p> + +<p>There was a long silence. I sat there, my knees gathered in my +arms, staring up at the stars.</p> + +<p>Then, faintly came her voice:</p> + +<p>"Good-night, Euan."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Good-night, little Lois!"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Two, Lois."</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"Euan, I adore you!"</p> + +<p>"You adore your battery," said I, not convinced.</p> + +<p>"That, too. But <i>you</i> 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——"</p> + +<p>"Lois, what in the world are you babbling?"</p> + +<p>"Let me babble, Euan. Never have I been so happy, so content, +so excited yet so confident.... Listen; do you dread +tomorrow?"</p> + +<p>"I?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Do you remember what you are to say to Boyd if he seems in +any wise to think he has met you elsewhere?"</p> + +<p>"I can avoid a lie and deal with <i>him,"</i> she said with +calm contempt. "But there is not a chance he'd know me in my +powder,"</p> + +<p>There was a silence. Then the unseen water rippled and +splashed.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"It is written," I said unsteadily. "It must come to +pass."</p> + +<p>"It must come," she said, in the hushed voice of a child who +dreams, wide-eyed awake, murmuring of wonders.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"Has Amochol gone?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"So you have managed to wound a Seneca or two?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"That is true, sir. They had as soon enter hell as +Catharines-town."</p> + +<p>The Major nodded and continued to open and read the letters +which had arrived during his absence.</p> + +<p>"May I draw one of our rifles for my Mohican, sir?" I +asked.</p> + +<p>"We have very few. Schott's men have not yet all drawn their +arms."</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless——"</p> + +<p>"You think it necessary?"</p> + +<p>"I think it best to properly arm the only reliable guide this +army has in its service, Major."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," I repeated, saluting, and almost inclined to laugh +in his face.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"She came by batteau from Albany?"</p> + +<p>"Her box," said I, "has just arrived from Albany by +batteau."</p> + +<p>"Is the lady young and handsome?" he asked, smiling.</p> + +<p>"Both, Mr. Boyd."</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, with a polite oath, "she must be something +more, too, if she hopes to rival Lana Helmer."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"We are bidden to cake and wine at five," said I. "Are you +going?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Then, mending my pace, I hastened to Croghan's house, and +found Mrs. Bleecker pacing the foot-path and nibbling fennel.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"What has disturbed your usual equanimity, Euan? You seem as +flushed and impatient as— as a lover at a tryst, for +example."</p> + +<p>At that I coloured so hotly that she laughed and took my arm, +saying:</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Come," she said gaily. <i>"Sans cérémonie, +n'est-ce pas?"</i></p> + +<p>And we sauntered dawn the road.</p> + +<p>"Her box arrived last evening," said I. "God send that Mr. +Hake has chosen to please her."</p> + +<p>"Is he married?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I never have!" I said earnestly, then was obliged to join in +her delighted laughter.</p> + +<p>"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 +<i>might</i> have thought he lied."</p> + +<p>I said nothing.</p> + +<p>"He is at our house every day, and every moment when he is not +on duty," she remarked.</p> + +<p>"What gallant man would not do the like, if privileged?" I +said lightly.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>were</i> gone +too long to suit me," she added curtly.</p> + +<p>"When?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>I said slowly: "Whatever footing I am on with him, I will say +that to him, if you wish."</p> + +<p>"I don't wish you to provoke him."</p> + +<p>"I shall take pains not to."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"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— "</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>We said nothing more, having come in sight of the low house of +logs where Lois dwelt.</p> + +<p>"The poor child," said Mrs. Bleecker softly. "Lord! What a +kennel for a human being!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"It was her eyes, and the look she gave you, Euan, that +convinced me."</p> + +<p>But now, to Lois, she said very sweetly:</p> + +<p>"I am certain that we are to become friends if you wish it as +much as I do."</p> + +<p>Lois laid her hands in hers.</p> + +<p>"I do wish it," she said.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Yes— but she wore the slipper in the end."</p> + +<p>Lois gave me a shy, sweet look, then, suddenly animated, +turned eagerly once more to discuss her wardrobe with her new +friend.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Lois looked at me, the smile curving her lips into a happy +tenderness.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER X</h3> + +<h4>IN GARRISON</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Except the Seneca Mountain Snakes, the nations of the Long +House, considering their beliefs, customs, and limited +opportunities, were not a whit inferior to <i>us</i> as men. And +the Mohicans have always been their peers.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>blue-eyed Indians</i>— remained to teach the Iroquois +that such wickedness existed. For, as they said of themselves, +the People of the Morning were "real men."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>They had their well-built and heavily stockaded forts which, +because the first Frenchmen called them chateaux, were still +known to us as "castles."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Poor swain a-sighing!" said she. "Love is sure a thorny way, +Euan."</p> + +<p>"Have a care for your own skirts then," said I +ungraciously.</p> + +<p><i>"My</i> skirts!"</p> + +<p>"Yours, Lanette. Your petticoat needs mending now."</p> + +<p>"If love no more than rend my petticoat I ought to be +content," she said coolly.</p> + +<p>Silenced by her effrontery, which truly passed all bounds, I +merely glared at her, and presently she laughed outright.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I make nothing of your nonsense," said I coldly.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"Do you fancy that I am in love?" said I defiantly.</p> + +<p>"Why not admit what your lop-ears and moony mien yell aloud to +the world entire?"</p> + +<p>"Have you no common sense, Lana? Do you imagine a man can fall +in love in a brief week?"</p> + +<p>"I have been wondering," said she coolly, "whether you have +ever before seen her."</p> + +<p>"Continue to wonder," said I bluntly.</p> + +<p>"I do.... Because you call her 'Lois' so readily— and you +came near it the first day you had <i>apparently</i> set eyes on +her. Also, she calls you 'Euan' with a tripping lack of +hesitation— even with a certain natural tenderness—</p> + +<p>I turned on her, exasperated:</p> + +<p>"Come," said I, controlling my temper with difficulty,. "I am +tired of playing butt to your silly arrows."</p> + +<p>"Oh, how you squirm, Euan! Cupid and I are shooting you full +as a porcupine!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>She smilingly ignored what I had said.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Is not every gallant gentleman who comes to Croghan's at the +feet of Miss de Contrecoeur?"</p> + +<p>"One or two are in the neighbourhood of <i>my</i> feet," she +remarked.</p> + +<p>"Aye, and <i>too</i> near to please me," said I.</p> + +<p>"Who, for example?"</p> + +<p>"Boyd— for example," I replied, giving her a hearty +scowl.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" she drawled airily. "He is not yet near enough my ankles +to please <i>me."</i></p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>Then a cold temper flashed in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"A man like <i>that,"</i> she repeated. "And pray, dear +friend, what manner of man may be 'a man like <i>that?'"</i></p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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!"</p> + +<p>"If he continues to conduct as he has begun," said I, "the +chances are that I may have him out for his effrontery."</p> + +<p>"What! Who gave you the privilege of interfering in my +affairs, you silly ninny?"</p> + +<p>"So that you display ordinary prudence, I have no desire to +interfere," I retorted angrily.</p> + +<p>"And if I do not! If I am imprudent! If I choose to be +audacious, reckless, shameless! Is it <i>your</i> affair?"</p> + +<p>"Suppose I make it mine?"</p> + +<p>"You are both silly and insulting; do you know it?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Very well," said I, "continue to play with hell-fire if you +like. I'm done with you and with him, too."</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Euan!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Are you coming to your senses?"" she asked coldly.</p> + +<p>"Yes," I said. "I ask your pardon."</p> + +<p>A moment more we gazed at each other, then suddenly her under +lip trembled and her eyes filled.</p> + +<p>"Forgive me," she stammered. "You are a better friend to me +than— many.... I am not angry, Euan."</p> + +<p>At that I could scarce control my own voice:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I know it, Euan. I did not know it was in me to use you so +cruelly. Let us be friends again. Will you?"</p> + +<p>"Will you, Lana?"</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>She descended a step and stood on the stair beside</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You are wrong," said I. "She cares nothing for me in that +manner."</p> + +<p>"What? How do you know, you astounding boy?"</p> + +<p>"I know it well enough."</p> + +<p>Lana shot a swift and curious look straight across the room at +Lois, who now did not seem to be aware of her.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Why do you think so?"</p> + +<p>"I <i>know</i> 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?"</p> + +<p>"I can not speak of such things to you," I muttered.</p> + +<p>"Lord! Is it as serious as that already? Is it arrived at the +holy and sacred stage?"</p> + +<p>"Lana! For heaven's sake——"</p> + +<p>"I am <i>not</i> 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 <i>she</i> 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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>And I saw Lois looking at me with an odd, smiling expression, +not one thing or another, yet scarcely cordial.</p> + +<p>"And now," says Boyd, "each lady in turn should offer an +impromptu toast in verse."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"To divinity nothing is impossible; therefore, the ladies, +ever divine, may venture all things."</p> + +<p>"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:</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>All turned smilingly toward Lans, who shrugged her shoulders, +saying carelessly:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><br> +"I must decline!<br> +The Muses nine<br> +No sisters are of mine.<br> +Must I repine<br> +Because I'm not divine,<br> +And may not versify some pretty story<br> +To prove to you my own immortal glory?<br> +Make no mistake. Accept; don't offer verses.<br> +Kisses received are mercies— given, curses!"<br> +</p> +</blockquote> + +Said Boyd instantly: + +<p>"A thousand poems for your couplets! Do you trade with me, +Miss Helmer?"</p> + +<p>"Let me hear your thousand first," retorted the coquette +disdainfully, "ere I make up my mind to be damned."</p> + +<p>Major Parr said grimly:</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"A kind and unselfish heart is sound currency," said Lana +smiling and turning her back on Boyd; which brought her to face +Lois.</p> + +<p>"Do make a toast in verse for these importunate gentlemen," +she said, "and bring the last laggard to your feet."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"It will give me a pleasure to do honour to any wish expressed +by anybody," she said. "Am I to compose a toast, Euan?"</p> + +<p>I gazed at her in surprise; Major Parr said loudly: "That's +the proper spirit!"</p> + +<p>And, "Write for us a toast to love!" cried Boyd.</p> + +<p>But Lana coolly proposed a toast to please all, which, she +explained, a toast to love would not by any means.</p> + +<p>"And surely that is easy for you," she added sweetly, "who of +your proper self please all who ever knew you."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>Lois stood there smiling, thinking, the tint of excitement +still brilliant in her cheeks.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Try," said I— I don't know why, because I never dreamed +she had a talent for such trifles.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>And "Try!" they cried. "Try! Try!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said slowly. "I will try——" She looked up +at me. "—— If you wish it."</p> + +<p>"Try," I said.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>But she seemed in no manner perturbed, waiting smilingly for +the noise to quiet. Then she said:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>She stood still, absent-eyed, thinking for a moment; then, +looking up at us:</p> + +<p>"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!</p> + +<p>"But in the middle of every line there is a <i>comma,</i> +splitting the line into two parts. And if you <i>draw a line down +through every one of these commas, dividing the written verse +into two halves,</i> each separate half will be a poem of itself, +and the secret and concealed meaning of the whole will then be +apparent."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<blockquote><br> +"Hark— hark the trumpet sounds, the din of war's alarms<br> +O'er seas and solid grounds, doth call us all to arms,<br> +Who for King George doth stand, their honour soon shall +shine,<br> +Their ruin is at hand, who with the Congress join.<br> +The acts of Parliament, in them I much delight,<br> +I hate their cursed intent, who for the Congress fight.<br> +The Tories of the day, they are my daily toast,<br> +They soon will sneak away, who independence boast,<br> +Who non-resistant hold, they have my hand and heart,<br> +May they for slaves be sold, who act the Whiggish part.<br> +On Mansfield, North and Bute, may daily blessings pour<br> +Confusions and dispute, on Congress evermore,<br> +To North and British lord, may honours still be done,<br> +I wish a block and cord, to General Washington."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>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:</p> + +<blockquote><br> +"Hark— hark the trumpet sounds<br> +O'er seas and solid grounds!<br> +The din of war's alarms<br> +Doth call us all to arms!<br> +Who for King George doth stand<br> +Their ruin is at hand:<br> +<i>Their</i> honour soon shall shine<br> +Who with the Congress join:<br> +The acts of Parliament<br> +I hate their cursed intent!<br> +In them I much delight<br> +Who for the Congress fight.<br> +The Tories of the day<br> +They soon will sneak away:<br> +<i>They</i> are my daily toast<br> +Who independence boast.<br> +Who non-resistant hold<br> +May they for slaves be sold.<br> +They have my hand and heart<br> +Who act the Whiggish part.<br> +On Mansfield, North, and Bute,<br> +Confusion and dispute.<br> +May daily blessings pour<br> +On Congress evermore.<br> +To North and British lord,<br> +I wish a block and cord!<br> +May honours still be done<br> +To General Washington!"<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Major Parr!" she protested in dismay. "I should perish +with shame if His Excellency were to be so beset by every sorry +scribbler."</p> + +<p>"A copy for His Excellency! Hurrah!" cried Captain Simpson. +"Who volunteers?"</p> + +<p>"I will make it," said I, with jealous authority.</p> + +<p>"And I will aid you with quill, sand, and paper," said Lana. +"Come with me, Euan."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I was looking for nobody," said I stiffly, and marched out, +ridding them of my company— which I think was what they both +desired.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"What is it that you and this Mohican have still to say to +each other?" I asked apprehensively.</p> + +<p>The vague expression of her features changed; she answered +with heightened colour:</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>There was an indirectness in her gaze, as well as in her +reply, that troubled me, but I said amiably:</p> + +<p>"What has become of your mincing escort? Is he gone to secure +a canoe?"</p> + +<p>"He is on duty and gone to the fort."</p> + +<p>"Where he belongs," I growled, "and not eternally at your +heels."</p> + +<p>She raised her eyes and looked at me curiously.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"As for that fop of an Ensign——" I began— but +she took the word from my mouth:</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"I? Accused of what?"</p> + +<p>"If you don't know, then I need not humiliate myself to inform +you. But I think you <i>do</i> know, for you looked guilty +enough——"</p> + +<p>"Guilty of what?"</p> + +<p>"Of what? <i>I</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——"</p> + +<p>"Lois! That is no proper way to speak of——"</p> + +<p>"It is your own affair— and <i>hers!</i> I ask your +pardon— but she flaunted her intimacy with you so openly and +indiscreetly——"</p> + +<p>"There is no common sense in what you say!" I exclaimed +angrily. "If I——"</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>"Caress <i>me!"</i></p> + +<p>"Did she not stand for ten full minutes with her hand upon +your shoulder, and a-sighing and simpering——"</p> + +<p><i>"That</i> was no caress! It was full innocent +and——"</p> + +<p>"Is she so innocent? Indeed! I had scarcely thought it of +her," she said disdainfully.</p> + +<p>"She is a true, good girl, innocent of any evil intention +whatsoever——"</p> + +<p>"I pray you, Euan, spare me your excited rhapsodies. If you +prefer this most bewitching— minx——"</p> + +<p>"She is no minx!" I retorted hotly; and Lois as hotly faced +me, pink to her ears with exasperation.</p> + +<p>"You <i>do</i> 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——"</p> + +<p>"I <i>do</i> prefer you!" I cried, furious to be so +misconstrued. "I love only one, and that one is you!"</p> + +<p>"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!?'</p> + +<p><i>"Yours</i> can. Even your fluttering rags did that!"</p> + +<p>She flushed: "Oh, if I were truly weak and silly enough to +listen to you——"</p> + +<p>"You never do. You give me no hope."</p> + +<p>"I <i>do</i> 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——"</p> + +<p><i>"That</i> is not love!" I said, furious.</p> + +<p>"I do not pretend it to be that same boiling and sputtering +sentiment which men call love——"</p> + +<p>"Then if it be not true love, why do you care what I whisper +to any woman?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You do not truly care?"</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"What!"</p> + +<p>"Certainly.... After your burning vows so lately made to me. +But men have no shame. I know that much."</p> + +<p>"But," said I, bewildered, "you say that you care nothing for +my vows!"</p> + +<p>"Did I say so?"</p> + +<p>"Yes— you——"</p> + +<p>"No, I did not say so!... I— I <i>love</i> your +vows."</p> + +<p>"How can you love my vows and not me?" I demanded angrily.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>her."</i></p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"For me to love even your vows," said she, looking at me +sideways, "is <i>something</i> gained for you— or so it +seems to me. And were I minded to play the coquette— as +<i>some</i> do——"</p> + +<p>"You play it every minute!"</p> + +<p>"I? When, pray?"</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>Her lips parted in a quick, nervous laugh:</p> + +<p>"Was that the way I seemed? Truly, Euan? <i>Were</i> you +jealous? And I scarce heeding one o' them, but my eyes on the +doorway, watching for you!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lois! How can you say that to me——"</p> + +<p>"Because it was so! Why did you not come to me at once? I was +waiting!"</p> + +<p>"There were so many— and you seemed so gay with +them— so careless— not even glancing at +me——"</p> + +<p>"I saw you none the less. I never let you escape the range of +my vision."</p> + +<p>"I never dreamed you noticed me. And every time you smiled on +one of them I grew the gloomier——"</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>She broke off short, tears filling her eyes:</p> + +<p>"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 +<i>jealous!"</i></p> + +<p>I caught her hands, but she bent swiftly and laid her hot +cheek for an instant against my hand which held them.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>try</i>.... 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?"</p> + +<p>"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</p> + +<p>"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?</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>She smiled at me, and I said:</p> + +<p>"Aye; but to what end?"</p> + +<p>"To what end, Euan? Why, for our spiritual and worldly +profit."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I love you——"</p> + +<p>"No, no! Not in that manner——"</p> + +<p>"But it is so."</p> + +<p>"No, it is <i>not!</i> We are to be above mere sentiment. +Reason rules us."</p> + +<p>"Are we not to wed?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Meanwhile," said I, "youth flies; and I may not lay a finger +on you to caress you."</p> + +<p>"Not to caress me— as that woman did to +you——"</p> + +<p>"Lois!"</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>"She is sweet and womanly; a warm friend of many years."</p> + +<p>"Oh! And am I not— womanly?"</p> + +<p>"Are you, entirely?"</p> + +<p>She looked at me troubled:</p> + +<p>"How would you have me be more womanly?"</p> + +<p>"Be less a comrade, more a sweetheart."</p> + +<p>"Familiar?"</p> + +<p>My heart was beating fast:</p> + +<p>"Familiar to my arms. I love you."</p> + +<p>"I— do not permit myself to desire your arms. Can I help +saying so— if you ask me?"</p> + +<p>"When I love you so——"</p> + +<p>"No. Why are you, after all, like other men, when I once +hoped——"</p> + +<p>"Other men love. All men love. How can I be +different——"</p> + +<p>"You are more finely made. You comprehend higher thoughts. You +can command your lesser passions."</p> + +<p>"You say that very lightly, who have no need to command +yours!"</p> + +<p>"How do you know?" she said in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"Because you have none to curb— else you could better +understand the greater ones."</p> + +<p>She sat with head lowered, playing with a blade of grass. +After a while she looked up at me, a trifle confused.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>She bent her head again and sat playing with the scented +grasses. Then, half to herself, she said:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>She lifted her head slowly, propping herself up on one arm, +and looked intently at me.</p> + +<p>"What do you know about me, that you say I am unwomanly and +cold?" Her voice was low, but the words rang a little.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>her first of all</i> 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!"</p> + +<p>She straightened up, clenching her hands, then smiled her +breathless little smile.</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>She forced a mirthless smile, and clasped her fingers across +her knee:</p> + +<p>"So bitterly have I missed affection all my life," she added +calmly. "...And now <i>you</i> 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."</p> + +<p>She made a listless gesture:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>After a silence, I said heavily:</p> + +<p>"Then you have not renounced your purpose?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"You still desire to go to Catharines-town?"</p> + +<p>"I must go."</p> + +<p><i>"That</i> was the burden of your conversation with the +Sagamore but now?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"He refused to aid you?"</p> + +<p>"He refused."</p> + +<p>"Why, then, are you not content to wait here— or at +Albany?"</p> + +<p>She sat for a long while with head lowered, then, looking up +quietly:</p> + +<p><i>"Another pair of moccasins was left outside my door last +night."</i></p> + +<p>"What! At Croghan's? Inside our line!" I exclaimed +incredulously.</p> + +<p>"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!'"</p> + +<p>"You think your mother wrote it?" I asked, astounded.</p> + +<p>"Yes.... She wrote the others."</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"This writing is the same."</p> + +<p>"The same hand that wrote the other messages throughout the +years?"</p> + +<p>"The same."</p> + +<p>"Have you told the Sagamore of this?"</p> + +<p>"I told him but now— and for the first time."</p> + +<p>"You told him <i>everything?"</i></p> + +<p>"Yes— concerning my first finding— and the messages +that came every year with the moccasins."</p> + +<p>"And did you show him the Indian writing also?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"What did he say?"</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>"Amochol?"</p> + +<p>"Yes— it sounded like that. What did he mean, Euan?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>I rose and aided her to stand; and her hands remained limply +in mine.</p> + +<p>"I had rather take you from her arms," I said in a low voice, +"—— if you ever deign to give yourself to me."</p> + +<p>"That is sweetly said.... Such giving leaves the giver +unashamed."</p> + +<p>"Could you promise yourself to me?"</p> + +<p>She stood with head averted, watching the last faint stain of +color fade from the west.</p> + +<p>"Would you have me at any cost, Euan?"</p> + +<p>"Any cost."</p> + +<p>"Suppose that when I find my mother— I find no name for +myself— save hers?"</p> + +<p>"You shall have mine then."</p> + +<p>"Dear lad!... But— suppose, even then I do not love +you— as men mean love."</p> + +<p>"So that you love no other man, I should still want you."</p> + +<p>"Am I then so vital to you?"</p> + +<p>"Utterly."</p> + +<p>"To how many other women have you spoken thus?" she asked +gravely.</p> + +<p>"To none."</p> + +<p>"Truly?"</p> + +<p>"Truly, Lois."</p> + +<p>She said in a low voice:</p> + +<p>"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 <i>is</i> 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."</p> + +<p>"And I who am asking you to walk through life with me?" I +said, forcing a laugh.</p> + +<p>We turned; she took my arm, and together we moved slowly back +through the falling dusk.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"News," she whispered. "Do they bring good news as fast as +bad?"</p> + +<p>"It may mean our marching orders," I said, dejected.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"It <i>does</i> mean your marching orders!" she exclaimed, +startled.</p> + +<p>"It most certainly means something," said I. "Good-night— +I must run for the fort——"</p> + +<p>"Are you going to—— to leave me?"</p> + +<p>"That horn is calling out Morgan's men——"</p> + +<p>"Am I not to see you again?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes— I expect so— but if——"</p> + +<p>"Oh! Is there an 'if'?' Euan, <i>are</i> you going away +forever?"</p> + +<p>"Dear maid, I don't know yet what has +happened——"</p> + +<p><i>"I</i> do! You <i>are</i> going!... To your death, +perhaps— for all I know——"</p> + +<p>"Hush! And good-night——"</p> + +<p>She held to my offered hand tightly:</p> + +<p>"Don't go— don't go——"</p> + +<p>"I will return and tell you if——"</p> + +<p><i>"'If!'</i> That means you will not return! <i>I</i> shall +never see you again!"</p> + +<p>I had flung one arm around her, and she stood with one hand +clenched against her lips, looking blankly into my face.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye," I said, and kissed her clenched hand so violently +that it slipped sideways on her cheek, bruising her lips.</p> + +<p>She gave a faint gasp and swayed where she stood, very white +in the face.</p> + +<p>"I have hurt you," I stammered; but my words were lost in a +frightful uproar bursting from the fort; and:</p> + +<p>"God!" she whispered, cowering against me, as the horrid +howling swelled on the affrighted air.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Her hand was still at her bruised lips; I bent forward; she +moved it aside. But I kissed only her hand.</p> + +<p>Then I turned and ran toward the fort; and in the torch-light +at the gate encountered Boyd, who said to me gleefully:</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Did you wish to speak to me?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Is— is Lieutenant Boyd going with you?" she +stammered.</p> + +<p>"No, child."</p> + +<p>She thanked me with a pitiful sort of smile, and shrank back +into the darkness.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"What are you?" said I in the Oneida dialect, trying to gain a +square look at him in the shifty light.</p> + +<p>"Wyandotte," he said quietly.</p> + +<p>"Hell!" said I, turning to Captain Simpson. "Who sends me a +Wyandotte?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>I took another hard look at the Wyandotte.</p> + +<p>"You should travel lighter," said I. "Split that Niagara +blanket and roll your hunting-shirt."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Salute, O Sagamore! Roya-neh!" I said in a low voice, passing +him.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I made a quick gesture, turned, and started, heading the file +out into the darkness.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XI</h3> + +<h4>A SCOUT OF SIX</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p align="center" class="center">"Ford, three feet at low +water."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Presently he came to a halt, nosing the farther shore like a +lean and suspicious hound at gaze; and stood so minute after +minute.</p> + +<p>Mayaro, crouching beside me, slowly nodded.</p> + +<p>"He has seen something," I whispered.</p> + +<p>"And I, too," returned the Mohican quietly.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>He wore no paint; he was not a warrior but a hunter. "St. +Regis," said the Mohican briefly.</p> + +<p>"The poor fool," I said sadly.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"What is yonder fellow's name?" I asked Mayaro, dropping my +voice.</p> + +<p>"Black-Snake," replied the Mohican quietly.</p> + +<p>"Oh! He seems to wear the Hawk."</p> + +<p>The Sagamore's face grew smooth and blank, and he made no +comment.</p> + +<p>"It's a Western clan, is it not, Mayaro?"</p> + +<p>"It is Western, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"That clan does not exist among the Eastern nations?"</p> + +<p>"Clans die out, clans are born, clans are altered with the +years, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"I never heard of the Hawk Clan at Guy Park," said I.</p> + +<p>He said, with elaborate carelessness:</p> + +<p>"It exists among the Senecas."</p> + +<p>"And apparently among the Wyandottes."</p> + +<p>"Apparently."</p> + +<p>I said in a low voice:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>The Sagamore made no answer, and after a moment I said:</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Mayaro has two eyes. For what are they unless to +observe?"</p> + +<p>"And what has my brother observed?"</p> + +<p>"That no two people are perfectly similar," he said +blandly.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Halt, and return along the bank. The Black-Snake has overrun +a ford where there are signs for my brother to read and +consider."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Halt here," said I, pretending to remain still unconvinced. +"Sagamore, do you come with me a rod or so upstream."</p> + +<p>"There is no ford within a rod or two," said the Wyandotte +stolidly.</p> + +<p>And, after we had left the others, the Mohican murmured, as we +hastened on:</p> + +<p>"No, not with one rod or two, but the third rod marks it."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"He might have overlooked that," said I.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Maybe St. Regis," he said.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Maybe," he replied calmly.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said I calmly. "Do you suspect him!"</p> + +<p>"Maybe. Maybe not. But— <i>he once wore his hair in a +ridge."</i></p> + +<p>"What!"</p> + +<p>"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 <i>bent +backward.</i> Much oil and brushing make hairs grow that +way."</p> + +<p>"But— what Indians wear their hair that way— like +the curved ridge on a dragoon's helmet?"</p> + +<p><i>"The Eries."</i></p> + +<p>I stared at him without comprehension, for I knew an Erie +scalp when I saw one.</p> + +<p><i>"Not</i> the warriors," he added quietly.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>When we came up to them I said:</p> + +<p>"There are no riffles to indicate a ford"— which was true +enough— "and on the sand were only moccasin tracks a week +old."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Why did not the Black-Snake report them?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"A canoe has passed," said the Sagamore calmly.</p> + +<p>"What! You saw it?"</p> + +<p>"No, Loskiel. But there was spray on a boulder in a calm +pool."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps a deer crossed, or a mink or otter crawled across the +stone."</p> + +<p>"No; the drops were many, but they lay like the first drops of +a rain, separate and distinct."</p> + +<p>"A great fish leaping might have spattered it."</p> + +<p>"There was no wash against the rock from any fish-swirl."</p> + +<p>"Then <i>you</i> believe that there is a canoe ahead of us +going with the current?"</p> + +<p>"An hour ahead— less, I think."</p> + +<p>"Why an hour?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"A careless paddle-stroke did it," I said in a low voice.</p> + +<p><i>"No Indian is careless."</i></p> + +<p>"What do you mean by that?"</p> + +<p>"I mean, Loskiel, that the boulder was splashed purposely, or +that there are white men in that canoe."</p> + +<p>"Splashed purposely?" I said, bewildered.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps. The Black-Snake had the river watch— until you +changed our stations."</p> + +<p>"You think it might have been a sign for him from possible +confederates."</p> + +<p>"Maybe. Maybe clumsy white men."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Maybe."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Wait for the moon," said the Sagamore very quietly.</p> + +<p>His low, melodious voice startled me from my thoughts, and I +looked around at him inquiringly.</p> + +<p>"I will go," said the Wyandotte, smiling.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>I glanced at the Mohican in startled silence, for we all were +listening very intently to the distant crows.</p> + +<p>"They have discovered an owl, perhaps," said the Wyandotte, +smiling, "and are tormenting him."</p> + +<p>"Or a Mountain Snake," said the Sagamore blandly.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Or a Mountain Snake," repeated the Siwanois, with a perfectly +blank face. "The red door of the West is still open."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>The Wyandotte turned good-humouredly to the Mohican, not +pretending to misunderstand this subtle <i>double entendre</i> +and play upon words.</p> + +<p>"You, Sagamore of the Loups," he said, carrying out the +metaphor, "are closer to the four-footed people than are we +Wyandottes."</p> + +<p>"That is true," said the Grey-Feather. "My elder brother, the +Black-Snake, wears the two-legged hawk."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The Wyandotte did not lose his temper, nor even, apparently, +perceive how slyly he was being baited by all except myself.</p> + +<p>"What is the opinion of the Loup, O Sagamore?" he asked +lightly.</p> + +<p>"Does my brother the Black-Snake desire to know the Sagamore's +opinion concerning the cawing of yonder crows?"</p> + +<p>The Wyandotte inclined his ugly head.</p> + +<p>"I think," said the Mohican deliberately, "that there may be a +tree-cat in their vicinity."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Still, also, every man there had seen crows gather around and +scold a lynx lying flattened out on some arching limb.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I said to the Mole in a low voice:</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>The Stockbridge warrior looked up quietly:</p> + +<p>"I read the promise of the Prince of Peace, brother, who came +to the world not bearing a sword."</p> + +<p>"He came to fulfill, not to destroy," I said.</p> + +<p>"So it is written, brother."</p> + +<p>"And yet you and I, His followers, go forth armed to +slay."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"My brother has spoken."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The Grey-Feather, who had been listening, said quietly:</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"So that your religion be good and you live up to it, sign and +symbol avail nothing with God or with Tharon," said I.</p> + +<p>"Men wear what they love best," said the Mole, lightly +touching his cross.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>The Sagamore said gravely:</p> + +<p>"Uncas went naked to the Holder of the Heavens."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Is this then the hour and the place to discuss such matters, +and irritate the Unseen?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>As for me, I knew as well as did the others what the pagan and +burly Wyandotte meant.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>I sat looking hard at the Wyandotte, inclined to speak, yet +unwilling to meddle where intervention must be useless.</p> + +<p>His small, unwinking eyes met mine.</p> + +<p>"There are demons," he said in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"Demons in human form," I nodded. "Some were at Cherry Valley +a year ago."</p> + +<p>"There are witches," he said.</p> + +<p>I shook my head: "None."</p> + +<p>"And Giants of Stone, and Flying Heads, and the Dead Hunter, +and the Lake Serpent," he persisted sullenly.</p> + +<p>"There never were either giants or witches," I replied.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>I said quietly: "After all, the Master of Life stands sentry +while the guiltless sleep!"</p> + +<p>"Amen," said the Mole, lifting his calm eyes to the roof of +leaves above.</p> + +<p>An owl began to hoot— one of those great, fierce cat-owls +of the North. Every Indian listened.</p> + +<p>The Sagamore said pleasantly to the Wyandotte:</p> + +<p>"It is as though he were calling the lynxes together— as +Amochol the Accursed summons his Cat-People to the +sacrifice."</p> + +<p>"I know nothing of Amochol and his sacrifices," said the +Wyandotte carelessly.</p> + +<p>"Yet you Wyandottes border the Western Gate."</p> + +<p>The Huron shrugged.</p> + +<p>"Hear the Eared One squall," said Grey-Feather, as the great +owl yelled through the darkening forest.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"They say," continued the Sagamore, "that the Erie priesthood +learned from the Nez Perces a strange and barbarous fashion."</p> + +<p>"What fashion?" asked Grey-Feather, so innocently that I could +not determine whether he was playing into the Sagamore's +hands.</p> + +<p>"The fashion of wearing the hair in a short, stiff ridge," +said the Mohican. "Has the Black-Snake ever seen it worn that +way?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Is it time to change the guard?" I asked, still shivering +from the horror of my dream.</p> + +<p>"You have scarce yet closed your eyes, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"Why are you seated upright wide awake, my brother?"</p> + +<p>"There is evil in the wind."</p> + +<p>"There is no wind stirring."</p> + +<p>"A witch-wind came slyly while you slept. Did you not dream, +Loskiel?" In spite of me I shivered again.</p> + +<p>"That is foolishness," said I. "The Wyandotte's silly talk has +made us wakeful. Our sentinels watch. Sleep, Mayaro."</p> + +<p>"Have <i>you</i> need of sleep, Loskiel?"</p> + +<p>"I? No. Sleep you, then, and I will sit awake if it reassures +you."</p> + +<p>The Sagamore set his mouth close to my ear:</p> + +<p>"The Wyandotte is not posted where you placed him."</p> + +<p>"What? How do you know?"</p> + +<p>"I went out to see. He sits on a rock close to the water."</p> + +<p>"Damn him," I muttered angrily. "I'll teach +him——"</p> + +<p>"No!"</p> + +<p>The Mohican's iron grip held me in my place.</p> + +<p>"The Night-Hawk understands. Let the Wyandotte remain +unrebuked and undisturbed while I creep down to yonder ford."</p> + +<p>"I do not intend to reconnoitre the ford until dawn," I +whispered.</p> + +<p>"Let me go, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"Alone?"</p> + +<p>"Secretly and alone. The Siwanois is a magic clan. Their +Sagamores see and hear where others perceive nothing. Let me go, +Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"Then I go, also."</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"What of our blood-brotherhood, then?"</p> + +<p>There was a silence; then the Mohican rose, and taking my hand +in his drew me noiselessly to my feet beside him.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XII</h3> + +<h4>AT THE FORD</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a voice said, in the Seneca dialect:</p> + +<p>"Is it thou, Butler?"</p> + +<p>And every drop of blood froze in my body.</p> + +<p>God knows how I found voice to answer "Yes," and how I found +courage to let my hand remain upon my enemy's shoulder.</p> + +<p>"It is I, Hiokatoo," said the low voice.</p> + +<p>"Move forward," I said; and dropped my hand from his +shoulder.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I managed to retain my presence of mind, and, laying my mouth +against his ear in the darkness, I whispered:</p> + +<p>"The Seneca Hiokatoo and his warriors— all around us in +the water. He mistakes me for Walter Butler, They have been +reconnoitring our camp."</p> + +<p>I felt the body of the Mohican stiffen under my grasp, Then he +said quietly:</p> + +<p>"Stand still till all have passed us."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but let no Seneca hear your Algonquin speech. If any +speak I will answer for you."</p> + +<p>"It is well," said the Sagamore quietly. And I heard him +cautiously loosening his hatchet.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Halt and turn. You travel the wrong way!"</p> + +<p>"Go forward and mind your business!" I said in English.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"God!" I whispered. "Don't wait for that!"</p> + +<p>But the Siwanois warrior was not to be denied; and in a second +or two the wet scalp flapped at his belt.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"They'll know it by sunrise," I said. "How many did you +count?"</p> + +<p>"Thirteen in that war-party, Loskiel. And if Butler and +McDonald be with them, that makes fifteen— and doubtless +other renegades besides."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>I heard the Mohican's low laughter.</p> + +<p>"The Senecas will see it and destroy it. But it will drive +them frantic," he said.</p> + +<p>"Whatever they do to this tree will but mark the ford more +plainly," said I.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Presently the Siwanois checked me and whispered:</p> + +<p>"Yonder squats your Wyandotte sentinel."</p> + +<p>"Where? I can not see him."</p> + +<p>"On that flat rock by the deep water, seeming a part of +it."</p> + +<p>"Are you certain?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"You saw him move?"</p> + +<p>"No. But a Siwanois of the Magic Clan makes nothing of +darkness. He sees where he chooses to see.</p> + +<p>"Mayaro," said I, "what do you make of this Wyandotte?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"That might damn a white soldier, but an Indian is +different."</p> + +<p>"He is a Wyandotte— or says he is."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but he came with credentials from Fortress Pitt."</p> + +<p>"Once," said the Sagamore, "he wore his hair in a ridge."</p> + +<p>"If the Eries learned that from the Nez Perces, why might not +the Wyandottes also learn it?"</p> + +<p>"He wears the Hawk."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know it."</p> + +<p>"He saw the moccasin tracks in the sand at the other ford, +Loskiel, and remained silent."</p> + +<p>"I know it."</p> + +<p>"And I believe, also, that he saw the canoe."</p> + +<p>"Then," said I, "you mean that this Wyandotte is a +traitor."</p> + +<p>"If he be a Wyandotte at all."</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"He may be Huron; he may be a Seneca-Huron. But we Indians +think differently, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"What do you think?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You think this Wyandotte an Erie in disguise?" I asked +incredulously.</p> + +<p>"We Indians of different nations are asking that question of +each other, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"What is the mind of the Grey-Feather concerning this?" I +asked, horrified.</p> + +<p>"Oneida and Stockbridge begin to believe as I believe."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"We so believe, Loskiel. We are not yet certain."</p> + +<p>"But you who have taken Erie scalps should +know——"</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I never learned to smile in the face of a traitor!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"What would you have me do?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, yet."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>The Sagamore laughed and laid one hand on my shoulder:</p> + +<p>"Is it a custom for an Ensign to pass judgment on a +Major-General, O Loskiel, my dear but <i>much younger</i> +brother?"</p> + +<p>I blushed hot with annoyance and shame. Of all things on +earth, self-control was the most necessary quality to any officer +commanding Indians.</p> + +<p>"The Sagamore is right," I said in a mortified voice.</p> + +<p>"The Sagamore has lived longer than his younger brother," he +rejoined gently.</p> + +<p>"And is far wiser," said I.</p> + +<p>"A little wiser in some few things concerning human life, +Loskiel.... Does my brother desire that Mayaro shall bring in the +Wyandotte?"</p> + +<p>"Bring him," I said; and walked forward toward our camp.</p> + +<p>Tahoontowhee stopped me with his challenge, then sprang +forward at the sound of my voice.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Senecas," I said. "Too many for us."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Why did you quit your post?" I asked him bluntly.</p> + +<p>"There was a better post and more to see on the rock," he said +simply.</p> + +<p>"You made a mistake. Your business is to obey your commanding +officer. Do you understand?"</p> + +<p>"The Black-Snake understands."</p> + +<p>"Did you discover nothing from your rock?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing. Deer moved in the woods."</p> + +<p>"Red deer," I said coolly.</p> + +<p>"A July deer is in the red coat always."</p> + +<p>"The deer you heard are red the whole year round."</p> + +<p>"Eho! The Black-Snake understands."</p> + +<p>"Very well. Tie your pack, sling it, and shoulder your rifle. +We march immediately."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>And as we climbed out of our pulpit and descended over the +moss to the soundless carpet of moist leaves:</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Damnation!" I said. "There are tin points on the fringe! You +might better wear a cow-bell! Where did you get it?"</p> + +<p>"It was in my pack."</p> + +<p>"You have not worn it before. Why do you wear it now?"</p> + +<p>"It is looser in time of need."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"March!" I said in a low voice.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>That there was in the primeval woods no underbrush, save along +streams or where the windfall had crashed earthward, made +travelling in silence possible.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Sisquehanne," he said.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"That is your place," I said sharply.</p> + +<p>"You gave no orders."</p> + +<p>"Nor did I rescind my last order, which was that you march +behind the Sagamore."</p> + +<p>"Is that to be the order of march?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by questioning your officer?" I +demanded.</p> + +<p>"I am no soldier, but an Indian!" he said sullenly.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Dawn was breaking before the Sagamore turned his head toward +me. I gave the signal to halt.</p> + +<p>"The Ouleout," whispered Tahoontowhee in my ear. "Here is its +confluence with the Susquehanna."</p> + +<p>The Mohican nodded, saying that we now stood on a +peninsula.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Sagamore," said I, "you and I will stand guard for the first +two hours. Sleep, you others."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>I was aroused toward nine by the Mohican, and sat up as wide +awake as a disturbed tree-cat, instantly ready for trouble.</p> + +<p>"An Oneida on the Ouleout," he said.</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>"Yonder— just across."</p> + +<p>"Friendly?"</p> + +<p>"He has made the sign."</p> + +<p>"An ambassador?"</p> + +<p>"A runner, not a belt-bearer."</p> + +<p>"Bring him to me."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I held out my hand, saying quietly:</p> + +<p>"Welcome, brother."</p> + +<p>"I thank my brother for his welcome," he said, taking my +offered hand.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"The birds sing sweetly," observed Tahoontowhee politely.</p> + +<p>"The weather is fine," said I urbanely.</p> + +<p>"The Master of Life pities the world He fashioned. All should +give thanks to Him at sunrise," said the runner quietly.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Holding these unopened in my hand, I asked him who he was and +from whom and whence he came.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>Holding the shining coil in my hands, I looked at him +searchingly.</p> + +<p>"By what path did you come?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"And then?"</p> + +<p>"I saw the Mengwe," he said politely, as the Sagamore came up +beside him.</p> + +<p>Mayaro smiled his appreciation of the Algonquin term, then he +spat, saying:</p> + +<p>"The Mengwe were Sinako and Mowawak. One has joined the Eel +Clan."</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"The Red Wings came by the Charlotte River?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"By the Cherry, Quenevas, and Charlotte to the Ouleout. The +Mengwe fired on me as I stood on a high cliff and mocked +them."</p> + +<p>"Did they follow you?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"And Butler and McDonald?" I demanded, smiling.</p> + +<p>"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,"</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The first letter was from my General Clinton:</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A second letter was from Major Parr, and said:</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>"Yes," said I to myself, "I'll use it."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"This, Euan, is all the general news I have to offer, save +that the army expects its marching orders at any moment now.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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?</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>Here the letter ended abruptly, and underneath in hurried +writing:</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>"I sit here waiting for a rifleman to take my letter to the +General who has promised to commit it to the runner.</p> + +<p>"A regiment is trying its muskets at the lake. I hear the +firing.</p> + +<p>"I have a tallow dip and wax and sand, ready to close my +letter instantly. No one comes."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>"The runner is here! Euan— Euan! Come back to me!</p> + +<p align="right" class="right">"Lois de Contrecoeur."</p> + +<p>My eyes fell from the letter to the sleeping runner stretched +out at my feet, then shifted vaguely toward the river.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Must that be decided now, Loskiel?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Erie," he said quietly.</p> + +<p>"You believe it?"</p> + +<p>"I know it, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"And the others— the Oneidas and the Stockbridge?"</p> + +<p>"They are as certain as I am."</p> + +<p>"Good God! Then why have you not told me this before, +Mayaro?"</p> + +<p>"Is there haste?"</p> + +<p>"Haste? Have I not said that we march immediately? And you +would have let me give my order and include that villain in +it!"</p> + +<p>"Why not? It is an easier and safer way to take a prisoner to +Tioga Point than to drag him thither tied."</p> + +<p>"But he may escape——"</p> + +<p>The Sagamore gave me an ironic glance.</p> + +<p>"Is it likely," he said softly, "when we are watching?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"He has done us what harm he is able," said the Sagamore +coolly.</p> + +<p>I hesitated, then asked him what he meant.</p> + +<p>"Why," he said, "their scouts <i>have</i> followed us. There +are two of them now across the Susquehanna."</p> + +<p>Thunderstruck, I stared at the river, where its sunlit surface +glittered level through the trees.</p> + +<p>"Do the others know this?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Surely, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>I looked at my Indians where they lay flat behind their trees, +rifles poised, eyes intent on the territory in front of them.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"He ought to hang," I said between my teeth.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>I nodded, looking uneasily toward the river where the two +Seneca spies lurked unseen as yet by me.</p> + +<p>"Let the men sling their packs," I said.</p> + +<p>"They have done so, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"Very well. Our order of march will be the same as yesterday. +We keep the Wyandotte between us."</p> + +<p>"That is wisdom."</p> + +<p>"Is it to be a running fight, Mayaro?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps, if their main body comes up."</p> + +<p>"Then we had best start across the Ouleout, unless you mean to +ford the Susquehanna."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Some day," said the Sagamore in my ear, "Tahoontowhee will +accept the antlers and the quiver."</p> + +<p>"He would be greater yet if he accepted Christ," said the +Stockbridge quietly.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XIII</h3> + +<h4>THE HIDDEN CHILDREN</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Then the Mohican said in my ear:</p> + +<p>"Unless we can stir him to move and expose himself, we must +lose him. For his fellows will surely track us to this +place."</p> + +<p>"Good God! By what unfortunate accident should such a hiding +place exist so near!" I said miserably.</p> + +<p>The Sagamore's stern visage slightly relaxed.</p> + +<p>"It is no accident, Loskiel. Do you not suppose he knew it was +here? Else he had never dared attempt what he did."</p> + +<p>"The vile Witch-cat has been here many a time," said the +Grey-Feather, his ferocious gaze fixed on the cliff.</p> + +<p>"Is the Mole dead?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"He is with his God— Tharon or Christ, whichever it may +be, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>I said to the Mohican:</p> + +<p>"Hold the Erie. The Night-Hawk and I will go back and bury our +dead against Seneca profanation."</p> + +<p>"Let the Grey-Feather go, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"No. The Mole was Christian. Does a Christian fail his own +kind at the last?"</p> + +<p>"Loskiel has spoken," said the Mohican gravely. "The +Grey-Feather and I will hold the filthy cat."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I struck flint to steel, lighted my tinder, and set the shred +of bark afire.</p> + +<p>Then the Night-Hawk knelt, bent his bow, and the blazing arrow +soared whistling with flame, and fell behind the rock on the +shelf.</p> + +<p>Arrow after arrow followed, whizzing upward and dropping +accurately; but the wet mosses of the cliff extinguished the +flashes.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Dogs of Oneidas!" called the Erie. "Go howl for your dead pig +of a Stockbridge slave."</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Taunt him!" I whispered; and the Mohican said with a derisive +laugh:</p> + +<p>"Four scalp-tufts from the mangy Cats of Amochol trim +<i>my</i> 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."</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>He nodded, then:</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>The Erie mocked him from his high perch:</p> + +<p>"Squirrels talk! Long since has your Tharon been hurled +headlong into Biskoonah by Atensi and her flaming grandson!"</p> + +<p>At this awful blasphemy, the Mohican fairly blanched so that +under his paint his skin grew ashy for a moment.</p> + +<p>The Grey-Feather shouted:</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>The Erie laughed horribly:</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"He is unharmed," replied the Mohican, tauntingly. "A squaw +shoots better than a Cat!"</p> + +<p>"A lie! I saw my rifle blow a hole in his body!"</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"Let him speak, then, to prove it!" shouted the Erie, +incredulously.</p> + +<p>But I remained silent.</p> + +<p>Then the Erie's ferocious laugh rang out from the cliff.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Listen," he hissed, "to what this warlock blabbs."</p> + +<p>The Erie laughed, evidently awaiting a retort. None came, and +he laughed again triumphantly.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>He waited again, doubtless expecting some exclamation of +protest against his monstrous profession. After a moment he went +on:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>He paused; and as no reply was forthcoming, the sorcerer +laughed scornfully.</p> + +<p>"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— <i>when his White Sorceress dreams for +him!</i></p> + +<p>"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. <i>And these two are Hidden +Children.</i> One has died. The other shall not escape us. She +shall die strangled by Amochol upon his own altar!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The Sagamore touched my arm as though with awe and pity, and I +lifted my head.</p> + +<p>"Is this true, brother?" he asked gently.</p> + +<p>"I do not know if it is," I said, dazed.</p> + +<p>"Then— it <i>is</i> the truth."</p> + +<p>"Why do you say that, Mayaro?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Who, then, am I?" I asked, bewildered.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"He fired to signal his friends," whispered the Mohican. "He +must believe them to be within hearing distance."</p> + +<p>I set my teeth and stared savagely at the cliff.</p> + +<p>"If that is so," said I, "we must leave him here and pull +foot."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Here was a known ford; and we crossed to Old Unadilla, where +that pretty river and the Butternut run south into the broadening +Susquehanna.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Whoever had brought it had come and gone unseen.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 cart our packs +from us and peered around.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Then I <i>am</i> one of the Hidden People."</p> + +<p>"Yes, brother," he replied very gently.</p> + +<p>"Tell me why you believe this to be true. Tell me all you +know."</p> + +<p>For a little while the Mohican lay there very silent, and I +did not stir. And presently he said:</p> + +<p>"It was in '57, Loskiel, when I first laid eyes on you."</p> + +<p>"What!"</p> + +<p>"I am more than twice your age. You were then three years +old."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Listen, Loskiel, blood-brother of mine, for you shall hear +the truth now— the truth which Guy Johnson never told +you.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>He paused, then with infinite contempt:</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>So painfully intent was I on his every low-spoken word that I +scarce dared breathe as the story of my mother slowly +unfolded.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>"Ah!" I exclaimed sharply. <i>"That</i> is what I have +struggled to remember!"</p> + +<p>He drew a deep, unsteady breath:</p> + +<p>"Do you better understand our blood-brotherhood now, +Loskiel?"</p> + +<p>"I understand— profoundly."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>half +ounce ball through her heart.</i> The St. Regis chief had +spoken."</p> + +<p>"Why do you think he slew her?" I whispered.</p> + +<p>"Strike flint. It is safe here."</p> + +<p>I drew myself to my elbow, struck fire and blew the tinder to +a glow.</p> + +<p>"This is yours," he said. And laid in my hand a tiny, +lacquered folder striped with the pattern of a Scotch tartan.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p><i>"Marie Loskiel. "</i></p> + +<p>"How came you by this?" I stammered, the quick tears blinding +me.</p> + +<p>"I took it from the St. Regis hunter whom Tahoontowhee +slew."</p> + +<p>"Was <i>he</i> my mother's murderer!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Sagamore, my elder brother?" I said at last.</p> + +<p>"Mayaro listens."</p> + +<p>"How is it then with Lois de Contrecoeur that you already knew +she was of the Hidden Children?"</p> + +<p>"I knew it when I first laid eyes on her, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"By what sign?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You told her this?"</p> + +<p>"Why should I tell her?"</p> + +<p>There was no answer to this. An Indian is an Indian.</p> + +<p>I said after a moment:</p> + +<p>"What mark is there on the moccasins that you knew them?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Chill after chill crept over me so that I shook as I lay there +in the darkness "Who is this maiden, Lois?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Do you not guess, Loskiel?"</p> + +<p>"Vaguely."</p> + +<p>"Then listen, brother. Her grandfather was the great Jean +Coeur who married the <i>white</i> 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— +<i>not</i> that stupid Captain Contrecoeur of the regiment of +Languedoc, who, had it depended on him, would never have ventured +to attack Braddock at all.</p> + +<p>"This is true, because <i>I</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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"That was the man she showed me painted on polished bone."</p> + +<p>"And— her mother?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"Then, with the help of an outraged God, these righteous +things shall come to pass!" I said between clenched teeth.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The rocky slope below us was almost clear to the river, save +for a bush or two.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XIV</h3> + +<h4>NAI TIOGA!</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>From somewhere in the darkness the Mohican came gliding on his +belly over the velvet carpet of the moss.</p> + +<p>"Andastes," he whispered scornfully; "they wear the heads of +the beasts whose courage they lack. Fling a stone among them and +they will scatter."</p> + +<p>As I felt around me in the darkness for a fragment of loose +rock, the Mohican arrested my arm.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>I thought for a moment.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>The Mohican said softly:</p> + +<p>"Men of the settlement detect no odour where those of the open +perceive a multitude of pungent smells."</p> + +<p>"That is true," I said.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Senecas," breathed the Mohican.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Then there was a break in the line, an interval of many +minutes before their pack horses appeared, escorted by +green-coated soldiers.</p> + +<p>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 <i>blue-eyed</i> Indians swarming in the +rear.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Brant!" I whispered to the Sagamore; and I saw him stiffen to +very stone beside me; and heard his teeth grate in his jaws.</p> + +<p>Then, last of all, came the Keepers of the Eastern Gate, the +flower of the warriors of the Long House— the Mohawks.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>After a long while a single Seneca came speeding, and +disappeared in the wake of the others.</p> + +<p>The motley Army of the West had passed.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Well!" says Ezra, shaking my hand, and: "How are you lazy +people up the river, and what are you doing there?"</p> + +<p>"Damming the lake," said I, "whilst <i>you</i> damn <i>us</i> +for making you wait."</p> + +<p>Bradbury Richards laughed, saying that they themselves had but +just come up, admitting, however, that there had been some little +cursing concerning our delay.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Your regiment has marched for Canajoharie," I said. "When do +you go a-tagging after it?"</p> + +<p>"This evening with the headquarter's guide, Heoikim, and the +express rider, James Cooke. Lord, what a dreary business!"</p> + +<p>"Better learn the news we have concerning your back trail +before you start. Ask Captain Franklin to mention it to the +General."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Will you mess with us?" said Richards. "I'll speak to Colonel +Dearborn."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Where are <i>your</i> Indians?" he asked bluntly.</p> + +<p>I informed him, and he sent his aide to fetch them.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>However, presently his symmetrical features recovered +pleasantly from abstraction, and he said:</p> + +<p>"Mr. Loskiel, it is said of you that, except for the Oneida +Sachem, Spenser, you are perhaps the most accomplished +interpreter Guy Johnson employed."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You are modest in your great knowledge, Mr. Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>General Sullivan laughed that frank, manly, and very winning +laugh of his. Then his features gradually became sombre +again.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir."</p> + +<p>"Oh! You <i>are</i> confident, then, in this matter!"</p> + +<p>"As far as concerns the Indians now under my command."</p> + +<p>"You vouch for them?"</p> + +<p>"With my honour, General."</p> + +<p>"Very well, sir.... And your Mohican Loup — he can +perform what he has promised? Guide us straight to +Catharines-town, I mean?"</p> + +<p>"He has said it."</p> + +<p>"Aye— but what is your opinion of that promise?"</p> + +<p>"A Siwanois Sagamore never lies."</p> + +<p>"You trust him?"</p> + +<p>"Perfectly. We are blood-brothers, he and I."</p> + +<p>"Oho!" said the General, nodding. "That was cunningly done, +sir."</p> + +<p>"No, sir. The idea was his own."</p> + +<p>General Sullivan laughed again, playing with the polished +gorget at his throat.</p> + +<p>"Do you never take any credit for your accomplishments, Mr. +Loskiel?" he inquired.</p> + +<p>"How can I claim credit for that which was not of my own and +proper plotting, sir?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Yes, General."</p> + +<p>"What is it?" he asked bluntly.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I have heard something of this."</p> + +<p>"No doubt, sir. And it is true. The Senecas <i>are</i> +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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>The General said in a low voice:</p> + +<p>"I had not supposed that this business were so vital."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>The General looked hard at me:</p> + +<p>"Can <i>you</i> reach Amochol, Mr. Loskiel?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Do you propose to go out in advance on this business?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"What people would you take with you?"</p> + +<p>"My Indians, Lieutenant Boyd, and thirty riflemen."</p> + +<p>"Is that not too few?"</p> + +<p>"In all swift and secret marches, sir, a few do better service +than many— as you have taught your own people many a +time."</p> + +<p>"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:</p> + +<p>"Who is to lead this expedition?" he asked bluntly.</p> + +<p>"Why, Lieutenant Boyd, sir," said I, wondering.</p> + +<p>"Oh! You have no ambitions then?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Boyd ranks me," I said, smiling. "Who else should +lead?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"No, sir, I do not doubt it."</p> + +<p>"That is well, then. Orders will be sent you in due time— +not until General Clinton's army arrives, however."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>So I stretched myself out in my blanket beside the Sagamore, +and, thinking of Lois, fell presently into a sweet and dreamless +sleep.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Colonel Proctor's artillery band discoursed most noble music +for us; and there was much hilarity and cheering, and many very +boisterous.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Every regiment carried its colours and its music, fifes, +drums, and bugle-horns; and sometimes these played an 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Amen," said I, much moved by this simple fellow's tranquil +faith.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Look out!" cried Carbury. "There is their town right +ahead!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Good God!" said I. "This is a fine place, Carbury!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>General Hand, catching sight of me, signalled with his sword +and shouted to know what had become of the enemy.</p> + +<p>"They're gone off!" I shouted back. "My Indians are on their +heels and we'll soon have news of their whereabouts."</p> + +<p>Then the soldiery began smashing in doors and windows right +and left, laughing and swearing, and dragging out of the houses +everything they contained.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>So high, also, stood the hay, and it was sad to see it +burn.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"You damned unmilitary rascals, do you mean to open fire on +'em with vegetables?"</p> + +<p>Everybody was laughing, and the General grinned as Hand's +bugle-horns played us in.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Carbury, marching forward beside me, dropped across my path; +and as I stooped over him gave me a ghastly look.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Hiokatoo's warriors," remarked the Oneida briefly, wringing +out his scalp and tying it to his belt.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>*Etho ni-ya-wenonh!</p> + +<p class="footnote">[*Thus it befell!]</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="footnote">[*Corn, squash, and bean were so spoken of +affectionately, as they always were planted together by the +Iroquois.]</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Well might the great Cayuga chieftain repeat the terrible +prophecy of Toga-na-etah the Beautiful:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="footnote">[*Seneca River.]</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XV</h3> + +<h4>BLOCK-HOUSE NO. 2</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>On the 18th the entire camp lay dull, patiently expectant of +Clinton. He did not come. It rained all night.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"My God!" said I excitedly, as Boyd ran lightly up the slope. +"Are you stark mad to bring ladies into this damnable place?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Who accompanies them? I see no older woman yonder."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Sabin, the lady of Captain Sabin, Staff Commissary of +Issues."</p> + +<p>"Where is she, then?"</p> + +<p>"We left her with the army at the Ouleout."</p> + +<p>"Where do you propose to quarter these ladies?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"There is danger, of course," I said. "The entire Seneca +nation is here with Indian Butler and Brant."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, we'll turn your Butler into a turn-spit, and make +of your wild Brant a domestic gander!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"And if we do not return? Have you thought of that, Boyd?"</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Neither of the ladies had yet recognized me; Lana leaned +lightly against Lois, her cheek resting on her companion's +shoulder.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I made every proper effort," he said carelessly. "What man is +vain enough to believe he can influence a determined woman?"</p> + +<p>I did not like what he said, and so made him no answer.</p> + +<p>"Is your camp still asleep?" he asked, yawning.</p> + +<p>"Yes. The morning gun is usually fired at six."</p> + +<p>"Can you lodge us and bait us until I make my report?"</p> + +<p>"I can lodge the ladies and give breakfast to you all. How +near is our main army?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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!'"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"No. What is done is done. Are you well, Lois?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"That's why we came, Euan— to honour General Sullivan," +said Lois demurely. "Did we not, Lanette?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"You are much fatigued," I said to Lois.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Nai, Mayaro!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Nai, Lois!" he exclaimed emphatically.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>The Sagamore said smilingly:</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"The wild pigeon has outwitted you all, has she not, Mayaro, +my friend?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>The six o'clock gun awoke the camp and found me already at the +General's tent, awaiting permission to see him.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>When I returned to my hut there were any fish smoking hot on +their bark plates, and Lana and Lois in dry woollen dresses, +worsted stockings, and stout, buckled shoon, already at +porridge.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"You love best the bellowing conch-horn of the rifles," +observed Lana to Lois, with a touch of her old-time +impudence.</p> + +<p>"I?" exclaimed Lois.</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>"Lana! Have done, you little baggage!"</p> + +<p>"Lord!" said Lana. "'Twas Major Parr I meant. What does an +infant Ensign concern such aged dames as you and I?"</p> + +<p>Lois, lovely under her mounting colour, continued busy with +her porridge. Lana said in my ear:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Lois looked up, seeing us whispering together.</p> + +<p>"Uncouth manners!" said she. "I am greatly ashamed of you +both."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Do I merit it?" I asked, laughing.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I caught them, too," said I. "That should secure me in my +title."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Lana, "you behaved very indiscreetly at Otsego +Camp, dear one— sitting alone for hours and hours over this +young gentleman's letters——"</p> + +<p>"Traitor!" exclaimed Lois, blushing. "It was a letter from his +solicitor, Mr. Hake, that you found me doting on!"</p> + +<p>"Did you then hear from Mr. Hake?" I asked, laughing and very +happy.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>She was laughing when she spoke, and for a moment her eyes +grew strangely tender, but they brightened immediately and she +tossed her head.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>And no sooner had we entered and climbed the ladder to the +women's quarters overhead, than:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"What further wonders?" asked Lana indifferently.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>Said Lana listlessly: "I had liefer court a deeper +mystery."</p> + +<p>"Which, dear one?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>Whereat both laughed. Lois rose and went behind the blanket to +the loop, and Lana said, with a trace of her former levity:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Always," she said under her breath, "always you have been +kind and true, Euan, even when I have used you with scant +courtesy."</p> + +<p>"You have never used me ill."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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;</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Is she ill?"</p> + +<p>"In mind, I think."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know, Euan."</p> + +<p>"Is it love, think you— her disorder?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know, I tell you. Once I thought it was — that. +But knew not how to be certain."</p> + +<p>"Does Boyd still court her?"</p> + +<p>"No— I do not know," she said with a troubled look.</p> + +<p>"Is it that affair which makes her unhappy?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Have you proof?" I asked, cold with rage.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Do you forget," said I, "that I first saw my enchantress in +rags and tattered shoon?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You are perfection— once for all."</p> + +<p>"I? What obstinate foolishness you utter! In all +seriousness— "</p> + +<p>"You are— more beautiful than ever— in all +seriousness!"</p> + +<p>"What folly!" She began to laugh nervously, then shrugged her +shoulders, adding: "This young man is plainly partizan and deaf +to reason."</p> + +<p>"Being in love."</p> + +<p><i>"You!</i> In <i>love!</i> What nonsense!"</p> + +<p>"Do you doubt it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" she said carelessly. "You are in love with +<i>love</i>— as all men are— and not particularly in +love with <i>me.</i> 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.</p> + +<p>"Is all now clear and plain between us, Euan?" she inquired. +And it seemed to me that her eagerness and fervour rang +false.</p> + +<p>"You can not love me, then?" I asked in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"I? What has love to do with us— here in the woods— +and I without knowledge and experience——"</p> + +<p>"You do not love me, then?"</p> + +<p>"I can not."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>She made no answer, but bit her lip.</p> + +<p>"You need not reply," said I. "Yet— that night I left +Otsego— and when I passed you in the dark— I +thought——"</p> + +<p>"My heart was full that night! What comrade could feel less +and still possess a human heart?" she said almost sullenly.</p> + +<p>"Your letter— and mine— encouraged me to +believe——"</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>"Lois! Is it not in you to love me as a woman loves a +man?"</p> + +<p>"I told you that when the time arrived I would doubtless be +what you wish me to be——"</p> + +<p>"You <i>can</i> love me, then?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>There was a silence; then I said:</p> + +<p>"Has this passionate quest of her so wholly absorbed and +controlled you that all else counts as nothing?"</p> + +<p>"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— <i>it has led me here!</i> 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.</p> + +<p>"Yet you bid me hope, Lois?" I asked under my breath.</p> + +<p>She nodded.</p> + +<p>"You make me happy beyond words," I whispered.</p> + +<p>She looked up from her hands:</p> + +<p>"Is <i>that</i> all you required to make you happy?"</p> + +<p>"Can I ask more?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I am impatient only for your happiness; ruthless only to +secure it."</p> + +<p>"For <i>my</i> happiness? Not for your <i>own?"</i></p> + +<p>"How can that come to me save when yours comes to you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh!... I did not understand. I had not thought it mattered +very greatly to men, so that they found <i>their</i> +happiness— so that they found contentment in their +sweethearts' yielding.... Then my surrender would mean nothing to +you unless I yielded happily?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing. Good God! In what school have you learned of +love!"</p> + +<p>She nodded thoughtfully, looking me in the eyes.</p> + +<p>"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 +<i>you</i> 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 <i>her</i> happiness first of all!... Could you +give me to another— if my happiness required it?"</p> + +<p>"What else could I do, Lois?"</p> + +<p>"Would you do <i>that!"</i> she demanded hotly.</p> + +<p>"Have I any choice?"</p> + +<p>"Not if your strange creed be sincere. Is it sincere?"</p> + +<p>"There is no other creed for those who really love."</p> + +<p>"You are wrong," she said angrily, looking at me with +tightened lips.</p> + +<p>"How wrong?"</p> + +<p>"Because— <i>I</i> would not give <i>you</i> to another +woman, though you cried out for her till the heavens fell!"</p> + +<p>I began to laugh, but her eyes still harboured lightning.</p> + +<p>"You should not go to her, whether or not you loved her!" she +repeated. "I would not have it. I would not endure it!"</p> + +<p>"Yet— if I loved another——"</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"How could you hold me?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I know it, too," said I, looking at my ring she wore.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"You do love me then," I said, taking her hand in mine.</p> + +<p>Her face paled, and she caught her breath.</p> + +<p>"Will you not wait— a little while— before you court +me?" she faltered. "Will you not wait because I ask it of +you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I will wait."</p> + +<p>"Nor speak of love— until——"</p> + +<p>"Nor speak of love until you bid me speak."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Euan!" she faltered. "Is aught amiss with you? Are you ill, +dear lad? And have not told me?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"And that," said I, furious, "is what I get for deferring to +your wishes! I've a mind to kiss you now!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Whereat I sprang to my feet and marched to the parapet, and +she after me, laying her hand on my arm.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Are you ashamed— you great, sulky and hulking boy— +to take my harmless pleasantry <i>so</i> 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."</p> + +<p>"It hurt me that you should make a mockery——"</p> + +<p>"I made no <i>mockery!</i> I <i>laughed.</i> 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?"</p> + +<p>"More fully than——"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>After a moment she turned and looked at me with her beautiful +and candid eyes— the most honest eyes I ever looked +upon.</p> + +<p>"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 l 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?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Under no provocation? Will you— even if I should ask +it?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>"When?"</p> + +<p>"When you came to me in Westchester before the storm."</p> + +<p>"Then!" I exclaimed, amazed.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"How could you love me then?"</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>"You rebuked and rebuked me, sweeting!"</p> + +<p>"Because all my solicitude was for you, and how it might +disgrace you."</p> + +<p>"I could have knelt there at your ragged feet, in sight of all +the fort!"</p> + +<p>"Could you truly, Euan?"</p> + +<p>"As willingly as I kneel at prayer!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Listen, Lois. This fort is as far as you may go."</p> + +<p>"What!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"A danger?"</p> + +<p>"Worse. A threat of terrors hellish, inconceivable, terrible +beyond words."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean? The hatchet? The stake? Dear lad, may I not +then venture what you soldiers brave so lightly?"</p> + +<p>"It is not what <i>we</i> brave that threatens +<i>you!"</i></p> + +<p>"What then?" she asked, startled.</p> + +<p>"Dear did you ever learn that you are a 'Hidden Child'?"</p> + +<p>"What is that, Euan?"</p> + +<p>"Then you do not know?"</p> + +<p>She shook her head.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"Can <i>you</i> do this?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"What is that, Euan?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"When is this feast to be held in Catharines-town?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>We could hear musketry firing ahead, and drums beating to arms +in our camp behind us.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"This man never uttered that abominable cry," I said, +shuddering. "Is there yet another missing from the guard?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, sir," said the soldier who had dragged him. "That +there was a heifer bawling when them devils cut her throat."</p> + +<p>He stood scratching his head and gazing blankly down at his +dead comrade.</p> + +<p>"Jesus," he drawled. "What be I a-goin' for to tell his woman +now?"</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XVI</h3> + +<h4>LANA HELMER</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"What a noble earthquake of artillery up the river!" said +Lois. "Butler has no cannon, has he?"</p> + +<p>"Not even a grasshopper!" said I gaily. "Those cannon shot are +Clinton's how d'ye do!"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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 an 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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Lord!" said Boyd. "If she complains of us to her Commissary +husband, there'll be a new issue not included in his +department!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"God a'mighty!" And, "Christ have mercy!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Which meant, also, that I would have had to kill him sooner or +later.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>And there was Lana, too, paler it seemed to me than ever, yet +sweet and simple in her greeting.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Yet, scarce the country for a picnic," I said, looking +uneasily at Lois.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Broad-brim, Broad-brim!" quoth she. "Is there any spice +in life to compare to a little dash o' danger?"</p> + +<p>Whereat I smiled at her heartily, and said to Boyd:</p> + +<p>"We pass not outside our lines, of course."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Do you notice what they are about?" said I sourly. "Even here +within whisper of the fort?"</p> + +<p>"Are you not happy to see me, Euan?" she cooed close to my +ear.</p> + +<p>"Not here; inside that log curtain yonder."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Coming up to see who was making such scare-crow music, Lana +said in a low voice to us:</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>I had a hard dollar in my pouch, and went to him and offered +it. Boyd had Continental money, and gave him a handful.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><br> +"God prosper long our King and Queen,<br> + Our lives and safeties all;<br> +A sad misfortune once there did<br> + Schenectady befall.<br> +</p> + +<p><br> +"From forth the woods of Canady<br> + The Frenchmen tooke their way,<br> +The people of Schenectady<br> + To captivate and slay.<br> +</p> + +<p><br> +"They march for two and twenty daies,<br> + All thro' ye deepest snow;<br> +And on a dismal winter night<br> + They strucke ye cruel blow.<br> +</p> + +<p><br> +"The lightsome sunne that rules the day<br> + Had gone down in the West;<br> +And eke the drowsie villagers<br> + Had sought and found their reste.<br> +</p> + +<p><br> +"They thought they were in safetie all,<br> + Nor dreamt not of the foe;<br> +But att midnight they all swoke<br> + In wonderment and woe.<br> +</p> + +<p><br> +"For they were in their pleasant beddes,<br> + And soundlie sleeping, when<br> +Each door was sudden open broke<br> + By six or seven menne!<br> +</p> + +<p><br> +"The menne and women, younge and olde,<br> + And eke the girls and boys,<br> +All started up in great affright<br> + Att the alarming noise.<br> +</p> + +<p><br> +"They then were murthered in their beddes<br> + Without shame or remorse;<br> +And soon the floors and streets were strew'd<br> + With many a bleeding corse.<br> +</p> + +<p><br> +"The village soon began to blaze,<br> + Which shew'd the horrid sight;<br> +But, O, I scarce can beare to tell<br> + The mis'ries of that night.<br> +</p> + +<p><br> +"They threw the infants in the fire,<br> + The menne they did not spare;<br> +But killed all which they could find,<br> + Tho' aged or tho' fair.<br> +</p> + +<p>. . . . . .</p> + +<p>. . . . . .</p> + +<p><br> +"But some run off to Albany<br> + And told the doleful tale;<br> +Yett, tho' we gave our chearful aid,<br> + It did not much avail.<br> +</p> + +<p><br> +"And we were horribly afraid,<br> + And shook with terror, when<br> +They gave account the Frenchmen were<br> + More than a thousand menne.<br> +</p> + +<p><br> +"The news came on a Sabbath morn,<br> + Just att ye break o' day;<br> +And with my companie of horse<br> + I galloped away.<br> +</p> + +<p><br> +"Our soldiers fell upon their reare,<br> + And killed twenty-five;<br> +Our young menne were so much enrag'd<br> + They took scarce one alive.<br> +</p> + +<p><br> +"D'Aillebout them did command,<br> + Which were but thievish rogues,<br> +Else why did they consent to goe<br> + With bloodye Indian dogges?<br> +</p> + +<p><br> +"And here I end my long ballad,<br> + The which you just heard said;<br> +And wish that it may stay on earth<br> + Long after I be dead."<br> +</p> + +<p><br> +</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"What is there in all the world to sigh about, Lanette? Death +is far away and the woods are green."</p> + +<p>"The woods are green, repeated Lana under her breath, "yet, +there are many within call who shall not live to see one leaf +fall."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"'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."</p> + +<p>"And for the future," said Lois.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Have <i>you,</i> then, aught to confess?" asked Lois, in +pretense of surprise.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Lanette," said he, disconcerted but laughing, "do you mean in +hell or at the Iroquois stake?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>So here was a pretty quarrel already <i>sur le tapis;</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>And first he cautioned both Lana and Lois to keep secret +whatever was to be said between us two, then, nodding gaily at +me:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I know no other way to take and destroy him," said I.</p> + +<p>"There is no other way. It must be done secretly, and by a +small party manoeuvring ahead and independently of our main +force."</p> + +<p>"Are you to command?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"I am to have that honour," he said eagerly, "and I take you, +your savages, and twenty riflemen——"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lord! You should not lose your temper with an Indian!" I +said, vexed at his indiscretion.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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!'"</p> + +<p>We both laughed heartily, and Boyd added:</p> + +<p>"He said it to fright me for my impudence. Trust that man to +know a man when he sees one!"</p> + +<p>"Meaning yourself?" said I, convulsed.</p> + +<p>"And you, too, Loskiel," he said so naively that Lois, too, +laughed, exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"What modest opinions of themselves have these two boys! Do +you hear them, Lana, dubbing each other men?"</p> + +<p>"I hear," said Lana listlessly.</p> + +<p>Boyd plucked a long, feathery stalk, and with its tip caressed +Lana's cheeks.</p> + +<p>"Spiders!" said he. "Spinning a goblin veil for you!"</p> + +<p>"I wish the veil of Fate were as transparent," said she.</p> + +<p>"Would you see behind it if you could?"</p> + +<p>She said under her breath:</p> + +<p>"I sometimes dream I see behind it now."</p> + +<p>"What do you see?" he asked.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Come, Lanette," urged Boyd, "tell us what it is you see in +dreams behind the veil."</p> + +<p>She hesitated, shuddered:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"A merry dream," said Boyd, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Is there more to it?" asked Lois seriously.</p> + +<p>"Yes.... Lieutenant Boyd is there, and he makes a sign— +like this——"</p> + +<p>"What!" exclaimed Boyd, sitting up, astounded. "Where did you +learn that sign?"</p> + +<p>"In my dream. What does it mean?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>She said in a low and troubled voice:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>I said nothing.</p> + +<p>"Is he not free to marry her?" asked Lois.</p> + +<p>"Why, yes— I suppose he is— if she will have him," I +said, startled by the direct question. "Why not?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>But I shook my head in silence.</p> + +<p>"Are you that way?"</p> + +<p>"I have not been."</p> + +<p>"The instinct then is not within you?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>* "Nene-nea-wen-ne, Lois!" I whispered passionately.</p> + +<p class="Footnote">[* "This thing shall happen, Lois!"]</p> + +<p>* "Nen-ya-wen-ne, O Loskiel! Teni-non-wes."</p> + +<p class="footnote">[* "It shall happen, O Loskiel! We love, thou +and I."]</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"When must you go?" she asked under her breath.</p> + +<p>"The army is making ready today."</p> + +<p>"To march into the Indian country?"</p> + +<p>I nodded.</p> + +<p>"When does it march?"</p> + +<p>"On Friday. But that is not to be known at present."</p> + +<p>"I understand. By what route do you go?"</p> + +<p>"By Chemung."</p> + +<p>"And then?"</p> + +<p>"At Chemung we leave the army, Boyd and I. You heard."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Euan."</p> + +<p>I said, forcing myself to speak lightly:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Must you go?"</p> + +<p>I laughed: * "Ka-teri-oseres, Lois."</p> + +<p class="footnote">[* "I am going to this war, Lois."]</p> + +<p>* "Wa-ka-ton-te-tsihon," she said calmly. +"Wa-ka-ta-tiats-kon."</p> + +<p class="footnote">[* "I understand perfectly. I am +resigned."]</p> + +<p>Then I gave way to my increasing surprise:</p> + +<p>"Wonder-child!" I exclaimed. "When and where have you learned +to understand and answer me in the tongue of the Long House?"</p> + +<p>*"Kio-ten-se," she said with a faint smile.</p> + +<p class="footnote">[* "I am working for somebody."]</p> + +<p>"For whom?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>She gave me a curious, veiled look— then turned her face +away.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>We stood at salute while the slow cortege passed.</p> + +<p>Said Boyd thoughtfully:</p> + +<p>"Well, Kimball's done with all earthly worries. There are +those who might envy him."</p> + +<p>"You are not one," I said bluntly.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Boyd," I said abruptly. "Who is that handsome wench that +followed us from Otsego?"</p> + +<p>"Dolly Glenn?"</p> + +<p>"That is her name."</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"She is a laundress, is she not?"</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>"Poor thing," I said.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"It seems a cruel business," said I.</p> + +<p>"Cruel!"</p> + +<p>"Aye— to awake a heart and pass your way +a-whistling."</p> + +<p>"Now, Loskiel," he began, plainly vexed, "I am not cruel by +nature, and you know it well enough. Men kiss and go their +way— — "</p> + +<p>"But women linger still."</p> + +<p>"Not those I've known."</p> + +<p>"Yet, here is one——"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Some dare believe so."</p> + +<p>He stared at me, then laughed.</p> + +<p>"You are different to other men, of course," he said gaily. +"We all understand that. So let it go——"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>He said slowly:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"I have asked her to marry me," he said. "Do you understand +why I tell you this?"</p> + +<p>I shook my head.</p> + +<p>"To avoid killing you at twenty paces across the river.... I +had rather tell you than do that."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Shall I tell you what has gone amiss— from the very +first there at Otsego?"</p> + +<p>"No— that concerns not me——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I shall tell you! It's that she knew about— the +wench here— Dolly Glenn."</p> + +<p>"Is that why she refuses you and elects to remain unhappy?" I +said incredulously.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"But what bolt had she to hurl?" said I, astonished.</p> + +<p>He reddened, bit his lip savagely, made as though to speak, +then, with a violent gesture, turned away.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>All that evening, being on duty with my Indians to watch the +cattle-guard, I did not see Lois.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>By reason of the darkness, we were late in getting into camp, +so again that day I saw nothing of Lois.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Morning came with a booming of cannon. We did not stir.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Runners came in toward noon with news that our main forces had +encamped at the pass before Chemung, and were there awaiting +us.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"My Indians are ready," said I.</p> + +<p>"Very well," he said absently, and returned to his men, +continuing his careful inspection.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"To no fairy finish," I said, "but in sober reality."</p> + +<p>She looked at Lana, laughing:</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"You, Lois."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"I only have to close my eyes and see you. Make it that I can +also touch you."</p> + +<p>"It shall be done."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Yes," I said, awed.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Lana! Lanette! Little comrade! What is this dreadful thing +that crushes you? Could you not tell me?" I whispered.</p> + +<p>"Ask <i>him,</i> Euan."</p> + +<p>"Lana, why will you not marry him, if you love him so?"</p> + +<p>She shuddered and closed her eyes.</p> + +<p>Neither of us spoke again. Lois, watching us, came slowly +toward us, and linked her arm in Lana's.</p> + +<p>"Our batteau is waiting," she said quietly.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Lana followed; Lois clung a second to my hands, smiling still; +then I released her and she sprang lightly aboard.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>And now I heard the short, ringing word of command, and out of +the gate marched our twenty riflemen, Boyd striding lightly +ahead.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Are you mad?" he said curtly.</p> + +<p>"If you go," she retorted unsteadily, "leaving me behind you +here— unwedded— God will punish you."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Dolly, you are mad!" he said, with the angry colour flashing +in his face and staining throat and brow.</p> + +<p>"Will you do me justice before you go?"</p> + +<p>"Will you stand aside?" he said between his teeth.</p> + +<p>"Yes— I will stand aside.... And may you remember me when +you burn at the last reckoning with God!"</p> + +<p>"'Tention! Trail arms! By the left flank— march!" he +cried, his voice trembling with rage.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Without a word I fell in behind. After me loped my Indians in +perfect silence.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XVII</h3> + +<h4>THE BATTLE OF CHEMUNG</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>And, "What the devil do you make of it, Major?" says Sullivan, +in a low voice. "It sounds like a log-rolling in March."</p> + +<p>"My scouts give me no explanation," says Parr grimly. "I think +the rascals are terrified."</p> + +<p>"Send Boyd and that young interpreter," said Sullivan +curtly.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Are you minded to sleep, Loskiel?"</p> + +<p>"I own that I am somewhat inclined that way," said I.</p> + +<p>"As you please."</p> + +<p>"Why? Are you unwell?"</p> + +<p>He lay silent for a few moments, then:</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I fear so,"</p> + +<p>"It will be common gossip tomorrow," he said bitterly. "What a +miserable affair to happen to an officer of Morgan's!"</p> + +<p>"A sad affair," I said.</p> + +<p>"It will come to <i>her</i> ears, no doubt. Shreve's batt-men +will carry it down the river."</p> + +<p>I was silent.</p> + +<p>"Rumour runs the woods like lightning," he said. <i>"She</i> +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."</p> + +<p>He lay motionless for a while, then turned heavily on his +side, facing me across the heap of dead leaves.</p> + +<p>"Somehow or other," he said, "she heard of that miserable +business— heard of it even at Otsego.... <i>That</i> 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?"</p> + +<p>"It is not the world that judges you severely. The world cares +little what a man's way may be with a maid."</p> + +<p>"But— Lana cares. It has ended everything for her."</p> + +<p>I said in a low voice:</p> + +<p>"You ended everything for Dolly Glenn."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Where the devil are their log works?" demanded Major Parr, +using his field glasses. "I can see naught but green on that +ridge ahead."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>There came a low order; the soft shuffle of many mocassined +feet; silence. Presently, ahead of us, a single rifle-shot +shattered the stillness.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>As we marched in single file, I leading with my Indians, I +said aloud, in the Iroquois tongue:</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>They had been listening to every word as I walked beside them. +The Mohican made answer first:</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>The Night-Hawk controlled his youthful features, forcing a +merry smile as my eye fell on him.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Boyd came up along the line, his deerskin shirt open to the +breastbone, the green fringe blowing in the hill wind.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Below us lay a creek, its glittering thread visible here and +there. The Great Warrior trail crossed it somewhere in that +ravine.</p> + +<p>I drew the Mohican aside.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"I know the way, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"Is there then a trail that leads from the Great Warrior trail +below?"</p> + +<p>"There are many."</p> + +<p>"And you know the right one?"</p> + +<p>"I have spoken, brother."</p> + +<p>"I am satisfied. But we must clearly mark the trail for our +surveyors and for the army."</p> + +<p>"We will mark it," he said meaningly, "so that no Seneca dog +can ever mistake which way we passed."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In a little while the remainder of our party came gliding +through the trees, Boyd ahead.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Are you tired?" I asked.</p> + +<p>He looked up at me with a wan smile.</p> + +<p>"Weary of myself, Loskiel, and of a life lived too lightly and +now nigh ended."</p> + +<p>"Nigh ended!" I repeated.</p> + +<p>"I go not back again," he said, sombrely.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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, +<i>that</i> is the trail; whichever way I turn, <i>that</i> 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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>He said, brooding on his rifle:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>I said: "Is it vain to appeal to your reason when your heart +is heavy?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"God gives us all our chance."</p> + +<p>"He gave me my last chance at Tioga Fort. And I cursed it in +my heart and put it aside."</p> + +<p>"One day you will return,"</p> + +<p>"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 <i>is</i> +a justice. But how it operates I shall never understand until it +summons me to hear my sentence."</p> + +<p>"You will return and do what a contrite heart bids you to do," +I said.</p> + +<p>"If that might be," he said gently, "that would I do— for +the child's sake and for hers."</p> + +<p>"Good God!" I said under my breath.</p> + +<p>"Did you not surmise it?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, now you know how deeply I am damned.... God gave +me a last chance. There was a chaplain at the fort."</p> + +<p>"Kirkland."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>On Murphy's tree I read: "To hell with Walter Butler."</p> + +<p>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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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. <i>This</i> is the Dark Empire, O Loskiel! +Behold!"</p> + +<p>A slight shudder chilled me, but I said calmly enough:</p> + +<p>"Where lies Catharines-town, O Sagamore?"</p> + +<p>"This thick, dark stream runs through it."</p> + +<p>"Through Catharines-town?"</p> + +<p>"Aye."</p> + +<p>"And then?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"And where lies Catharines-town?"</p> + +<p>"Nine miles beyond us, northward."</p> + +<p>"And the trail?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"But— those who come after us, Mayaro! The army— the +wagons, horses, artillery, cattle— nay, the men themselves! +How are they to pass?"</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"Is there a path along the ridge?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I have so calculated," said Boyd, listlessly.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>He nodded.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Attention!" he said crisply. "Sling packs! Fall in! Tr-r-rail +arms! March!"</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XVIII</h3> + +<h4>THE RITE OF THE HIDDEN CHILDREN</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Presently, beside me came creeping the lithe Mohican, and lay +down prone, smooth and golden, and shining like a sleek panther +in the sun.</p> + +<p>"Is all well guarded, brother?" I whispered.</p> + +<p>"Not even a wood-mouse could creep from the swamp unless our +warriors see it."</p> + +<p>"And when dark comes?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"There is no other outlet?"</p> + +<p>"None, except by the ridge Boyd travels. He blocks that pass +with his twenty men."</p> + +<p>"Then we should have their egress blocked, except only in the +north?"</p> + +<p>"Yes— unless they learn of this by magic," muttered the +Mohican.</p> + +<p>It was utterly useless for me to decry or ridicule his +superstitions; and there was but one way to combat them.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>*"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 <i>your</i> 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."</p> + +<p class="footnote">[* "It is well!"]</p> + +<p>I assented gravely.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"How far from Catharines-town," I asked, "lies the Vale +Yndaia, of which our little Lois has spoken?"</p> + +<p>"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.'"</p> + +<p>"You know," I said, "that in this valley all the hopes of Lois +de Contrecoeur are centred."</p> + +<p>"I know, Loskiel," he answered gravely.</p> + +<p>"Do you believe her mother lives there still?"</p> + +<p>"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!— <i>by reason of +her throat being white!"</i></p> + +<p>"What!" I exclaimed, startled.</p> + +<p>"Did not the Erie boast a Prophetess to confound us all?"</p> + +<p>"I did not comprehend."</p> + +<p>"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— <i>because her own throat was +white?"</i></p> + +<p>I looked at him in silent horror.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure, Mayaro?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"It was a mercy that our little Lois appealed not to His +Excellency, so that the word ran through Canada by flag to +Haldimand."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>As he made no answer, I glanced around at him and found him +staring fixedly at the trail below us.</p> + +<p>"What do you see on our back-trail?" I whispered.</p> + +<p>"A man, Loskiel— if it be not a deer."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"He must be one of our own people," I said, puzzled. "Somebody +sends us a messenger. Is he white or Indian?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"I make nothing of him," murmured the Mohican, his eyes fairly +glittering with excitement and perplexity.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"Then he is easily taken," muttered Mayaro. "Fix thy flint, +Loskiel, and prime. Here is a business I do not understand."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Euan!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Lois!" I repeated, as though stupefied. "Lois!"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>Her trembling hands clasped my shoulders tighter, and her face +drew closer, so that her sweet, excited breath fell on my +cheek.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>She smiled wistfully, and stood caressing my arms with her +eager little hands, as though to calm the wrath to come.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Think on that, Euan, ere you grow too angry and are cruel +with me."</p> + +<p>"Cruel? Lois, you have been more heartless than I +ever——"</p> + +<p>"There! I knew it! Your anger is about to burst its dreadful +bounds——"</p> + +<p>"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 <i>you</i> +beside me— with my very heart chilling to water at thought +of your peril— —"</p> + +<p>"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?</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 looting into mine, and the lips +scarce parted, hanging breathless on my words.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Where she was born returns the rosy Forest Pigeon to her +native tree for mating. White-Throat— White-Throat— +your course is flown! For <i>this</i> 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, 0 little rosy +spirit of the home-wood? My Indians will ask. What shall I say to +them concerning you?"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>The last ray of the sun reddened the forest, lingered, faded, +and went out in ashes. I said:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Betroth myself, Euan?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I had desired to have you take me from my mother's arms."</p> + +<p>"And so I will, in marriage— if she be alive to give +you."</p> + +<p>"Then— what is this we do?"</p> + +<p>"It is our White Bridal."</p> + +<p>"Summon the Sagamore," she said faintly.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>He plucked four ghost-flowers, and cast the pale blossoms one +by one to the four great winds.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>Standing straight and tall there in the starlight, he drew his +blanket across his eyes. The Oneidas and the Stockbridge did the +same.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>I whispered, prompting her, and she found her voice, +continuing:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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,"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Have a care of the trees, then, little minx," I said.</p> + +<p>"Pooh! Can you not see in the dark?"</p> + +<p>"Can you?"</p> + +<p>"Surely. When you and I went to the Spring Waiontha, I needed +not your lantern light to guide me."</p> + +<p>"I see not well by night," I admitted.</p> + +<p>"You <i>do</i> 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?"</p> + +<p>"Wonder-eyes, I see him not! Wait— aye, you are right. +And he is at his post. Pass to the left, little minx."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"And you?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I stand guard across the trail below."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to go on guard with me?"</p> + +<p>"Do you dream that I shall let you stand your guard alone, +young sir?"</p> + +<p>"This is folly, Lois— "</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>So I stretched myself out beside her and looked up, open eyed, +into darkness.</p> + +<p>"Sleep well," she whispered, smothering a little laugh.</p> + +<p>"Sleep safely, Lois."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>I said presently: "This is our White Bridal, Lois. The +ceremony completes itself by dawn."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Not such as we— if the rite means anything to us."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Not on the White Bridal night— if we regard this rite as +sacred."</p> + +<p>"I feel its sacredness. That is why I thought no sin if you +should kiss me— on such a night."</p> + +<p>She sat up in her blanket; and I sat up, too.</p> + +<p>*"Tekasenthos," she said.</p> + +<p class="footnote">[*"I am weeping."]</p> + +<p>*"Chetena, you are laughing!"</p> + +<p class="footnote">[* "Mouse."]</p> + +<p>*"Neah. Tekasenthos!" she insisted.</p> + +<p class="footnote">[* "No, I am weeping."]</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"You do not love me," she remarked, kicking off one ankle +moccasin.</p> + +<p>* "Kenonwea-sasita-ha-wiyo, chetenaha!" I said, laughing.</p> + +<p class="footnote">[* "I love your beautiful foot, little +mouse."]</p> + +<p>* "Akasita? Katontats. But is that all of me you love?"</p> + +<p class="footnote">[* "My foot? I consent."]</p> + +<p>"The other one also."</p> + +<p>"The other one also."</p> + +<p>*"Neah-wenh-a, O Loskiel. I shall presently slay you and go to +sleep."</p> + +<p class="footnote">[* "I thank you."]</p> + +<p>There fell a silence, then:</p> + +<p>"Do you not know in your heart how it is with me?" I said +unsteadily.</p> + +<p>She lay down, facing me.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XIX</h3> + +<h4>AMOCHOL</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Jean Coeur! Jean Coeur! Enfin! Me voici en chemin!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 very 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>As Lois knelt to drink, the Sagamore whispered to me:</p> + +<p>"This is the pass to the Vale Yndaia! You shall not tell her +yet— not till we have dealt with Amochol."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>Tahoontowhee examined the trail; nothing had passed since the +last rain, save deer and fox.</p> + +<p>So I went over to where Lois was bathing her flushed face in +the tiny stream, and lay down to drink beside her.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><br> +"Continue to listen and hear the truth,<br> +Maiden Hidden and Hidden Youth.<br> +The song of those who are 'more than men'!<br> +*Thi-ya-en-sa-y-e-ken!"<br> +</p> + +<p class="footnote">[* "They will (live to) see it again!"]<br> +</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>"It is the chant of the Stone Throwers— the Little +People!" said Mayaro, laughing. "Ye two are fit to hear it."</p> + +<p>"They are singing the Song of the Hidden Children," I +whispered to Lois. "Is it not strangely pretty?"</p> + +<p>"It is wild music, but sweet," she murmured, "— the music +of the Little People— che-kah-a-hen-wah."</p> + +<p>"Can you catch the words?"</p> + +<p>"Aye, but do not understand them every one."</p> + +<p>"Some day I will make them into an English song for you. +Listen! <i>'The Voices'</i> are beginning! Listen attentively to +the Chant of *Ta-neh-u-weh-too!"</p> + +<p class="footnote">[* "Hidden in the Husks."]</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>A VOICE</p> + +<p><br> +"Who shall find my Hidden Maid<br> +Where the tasselled corn is growing?<br> +Let them seek her in Kandaia,<br> +Let them seek her in Oswaya,<br> +Where the giant pines are growing,<br> +Let them seek and be afraid!<br> +Where the Adriutha flowing<br> +Splashes through the forest glade,<br> +Where the Kennyetto flowing<br> +Thunders through the hemlock shade,<br> +Let them seek and be afraid,<br> +From Oswaya To Yndaia,<br> +All the way to Carenay!"<br> +</p> + +<p><br> +ANOTHER VOICE<br> +</p> + +<p><br> +"Who shall find my Hidden Son<br> +Where the tasselled corn is growing?<br> +Let them seek my Hidden One<br> +From the Silver Horicon<br> +North along the Saguenay,<br> +Where the Huron cocks are crowing,<br> +Where the Huron maids are mowing<br> +Hay along the Saguenay;<br> +Where the Mohawk maids are hoeing<br> +Corn along the Carenay,<br> +Let them seek my Hidden Son,<br> +West across the inland seas,<br> +South to where the cypress trees<br> +Quench the flaming scarlet flora<br> +Of the painted Esaurora,<br> +Drenched in rivers to their knees!<br> +*Honowehto! Like Thendara!<br> +[* "They have vanished."]<br> +Let them hunt to Danascara<br> +Back along the Saguenay,<br> +On the trail to Carenay,<br> +Through the Silver Horicon<br> +Till the night and day are one!<br> +Where the Adriutha flowing<br> +Sings below Oswaya glowing.<br> +Where the sunset of Kandaia<br> +Paints the meadows of Yndaia,<br> +Let them seek my Hidden Son<br> +'Till the sun and moon are one!"<br> +</p> + +<p><br> +*TE-KI-E-HO-KEN<br> +[* "Two Voices (together)."]<br> +</p> + +<p><br> +*"Nai Shehawa! <i>She</i> lies sleeping,<br> +[* "Behold thy children!"]<br> +Where the green leaves closely fold her!<br> +<i>He</i> shall wake first and behold her<br> +Who is given to his keeping;<br> +He shall strip her of her leaves<br> +Where she sleeps amid the sheaves,<br> +Snowy white, without a stain,<br> +Nothing marred of wind or rain.<br> +So from slumber she shall waken,<br> +And behold the green robe shaken<br> +From his shoulders to her own!<br> +*Ye-ji-se-way-ad-kerone!"<br> +[*"So ye two are laid together."]<br> +</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Take him, you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Aye."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"But Yndaia!"</p> + +<p>"That we will scour the instant we have Amochol."</p> + +<p>"You promise?"</p> + +<p>"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,"</p> + +<p>"Will we see her before you begin the attack?"</p> + +<p>"Little Lois, how can I tell you such things? We are to creep +up close to the central fire— as close as we dare."</p> + +<p>"Will there be crowds of people there?"</p> + +<p>"Many people."</p> + +<p>"Warriors?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"I smell smoke," whispered Lois, keeping close to me.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"A house!" whispered the Yellow Moth, pointing.</p> + +<p>There it stood, dark and shadowy against the north. Another +loomed dimly beyond it; a haystack rose to the left.</p> + +<p>We were in Catharines-town.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p align="left" class="left">*"Onenh are oya<br> + Egh-des-ho-ti-ya-do-re-don<br> +Nene ronenh<br> + 'Ken-ki-ne ne-nya-wenne!"<br> +</p> + +<p>[* "Now again they decided and said: 'This shall be +done!'"]</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Then the Erie disemboweled the strangled dogs, cast their +entrails into the fire, and kicked aside the carcasses, +shouting:</p> + +<p>"Atensi stands naked upon the Moon! What shall she wear to +cover her?"</p> + +<p>"The soft hide of a Hidden Child!" answered a Sachem from +behind the altar. "We have so dreamed it."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Nez +Perce</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Who is that?" whispered Lois, beginning to tremble, "God +knows," I said. "Wait!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Amochol!" whispered the Sagamore in my ear.</p> + +<p>"I know," I said. "It is strange. He is not like a monster, +after all."</p> + +<p>"He is beautiful," whispered Lois.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>To his scarlet moccasins crept the Andastes, one by one, and +squatted there in silence.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Hereckenes!" cried Amochol in a clear voice; and at the sound +of their ancient name the Cat-People began a miauling chant.</p> + +<p>"Antauhonorans!" cried Amochol.</p> + +<p>Every Seneca took up the chant, and the drums timed it softly +and steadily.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>The slim, white-cowled figure answered slowly, with bowed +head, brooding motionless in the shadow of her hair:</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Into the eternal wampum it is woven that the soft, white +skins shall clothe their bodies till the husks fall from the +silken corn."</p> + +<p>"And then, Witch of the East? Shall I not offer them when the +husks are stripped?"</p> + +<p>"I see no further than you dream, O Amochol!"</p> + +<p>He stretched out his arm toward her, menacingly:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>She silently pointed at the two dead dogs.</p> + +<p>"Look again!" he cried in a loud voice. "What do you see?"</p> + +<p>She made no reply.</p> + +<p>"Answer!" he said sharply.</p> + +<p>"I have looked. And I see only the eternal wampum lying at my +feet— lacking a single belt."</p> + +<p>With a furious gesture the Red Priest turned and stared at the +dancing girls who raised their bare arms, crying:</p> + +<p>"We have dreamed, O Amochol! Let your Sorceress explain our +dreams to us!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Look, Sorceress! I dreamed of a felled sapling and a +wolverine! What means my dream?"</p> + +<p>And the slim, white figure, head bowed in her dark hair, +answered quietly:</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>A dead silence followed, then the girl, horror struck, shrank +back, her hands covering her face.</p> + +<p>Another sprang forward and cried:</p> + +<p>"Sorceress! I dreamed of falling water and a red cloud at +sunset hanging like a plume!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"What chief!" said Amochol, turning his deadly eyes on +her.</p> + +<p>"A Gate-Keeper of the West."</p> + +<p>The shuddering silence was broken by the eager voice of +another girl, bounding from her place— a flash of azure and +jewelled paint.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Had the stag no antlers, little daughter?"</p> + +<p>"None, for it was spring time."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>The girl seemed stunned, standing there plucking at her +fingers, scarlet lips parted, and her startled eyes fixed upon +the white-draped sibyl.</p> + +<p>"Executioner! Bend your bow!" cried Amochol, with a terrible +stare at the Sorceress.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>So, for a full minute in utter silence, they stared at each +other; then Amochol said between his teeth:</p> + +<p>"Have a care that you read truly what my people dream!"</p> + +<p>"Shall I lie?" she asked in even tones. And, quivering with +impotent rage and superstition, the Red Priest found no word to +answer.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>She whirled on Amochol, flinging back her hair. <i>Her skin +was as white us my own!</i></p> + +<p>With a stifled cry Lois sprang to her feet; but I caught her +and held her fast.</p> + +<p>"Good God!" I whispered to the Sagamore. "Where is Boyd?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Where is Boyd?" I whispered helplessly. "They mean to murder +her!"</p> + +<p>"Kill that executioner!" panted Lois, struggling in my arms. +"In God's name, slay him where he stands!"</p> + +<p>"It means our death," said the Sagamore.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>But the Andastes, astounded and terrified, only cowered +together in a swaying pack.</p> + +<p>Restraining Lois with all my strength, I said to the +Mohican:</p> + +<p>"If Boyd comes not before they take her, concentrate your fire +on Amochol, for we can not hope to make him +prisoner——"</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, into the firelit circle staggered a British soldier, +hatless, dishevelled, his scarlet uniform in rags.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"From whence do you come?" cried Amochol, striding toward the +soldier.</p> + +<p>"From the Chemung. Except for the dead we all are coming— +Butler and Brant and all. Bring out your corn, Seneca! The army +starves."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Witch!" he cried, "get you to Yndaia. If you stir elsewhere +you shall burn!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"There is but one way now," whispered the Mohican.</p> + +<p>"By Yndaia," I said.</p> + +<p>My Indians were of the same opinion.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Amochol has driven her thither," she whispered. "Shall we not +be on our way?"</p> + +<p>"Can you lead, Mayaro?" I whispered.</p> + +<p>The Mohican turned and crawled southward on his hands and +knees, moving slowly.</p> + +<p>"For God's sake let them hear no sound in this belt of bush," +I whispered to Lois.</p> + +<p>"I am calm, Euan. I am not afraid."</p> + +<p>"Then fallow the Sagamore."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Once Lois turned and called back in a low, breathless +voice;</p> + +<p>"I thank Tahoontowhee from my heart for his true eye and his +avenging arrow."</p> + +<p>The young warrior laughed; but I knew he was the proudest +youth in all the West that night.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"People ahead!" whispered the Sagamore. "Their Sorceress and +six Eries!"</p> + +<p>"Are you certain?" I breathed, loosening my hatchet.</p> + +<p>"Certain, Loskiel. Yonder they are halted within the ferns. +They are at the stream, drinking."</p> + +<p>I caught Lois by the wrist.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XX</h3> + +<h4>YNDAIA</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>As I sat there musing and watching the chickens loitering +around the dooryard, I chanced to remember the milch cow.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Tears filled her eyes; her pale, smooth cheeks were wet.</p> + +<p>"Lois is still asleep," she said. "Come quietly with her +mother and you shall see her where she sleeps."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"And you, Madame. Has ever history preserved another such +example of dauntless resolution and filial piety as Lois de +Contrecoeur has shown us all?"</p> + +<p>Her mother's beautiful head lifted a little:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"And you are to take her from me," she murmured.</p> + +<p>"Madame——"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>She bent her head; her grey eyes closed, and I saw the tears +steal out along the long, soft lashes.</p> + +<p>"Son, if you should come to love me——"</p> + +<p>"Madame, I love you now."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>* "Nai! Mayaro! Yon-kwa-ken-nison!"</p> + +<p class="footnote">[* "Oh, Mayaro! We are all assembled!"]</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Suddenly in the smoke I saw General Sullivan, mounted, and +talking with Boyd; and I hastened to them and reported, standing +at salute.</p> + +<p>"So that damned Red Sachem escaped you?" said the General, +biting his lip and looking now at me, now at Boyd.</p> + +<p>Boyd said, glancing curiously at me:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"What became of them?"</p> + +<p>"They joined Butler, Brant, and Hiokatoo at this place, +General."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>When I ended he said:</p> + +<p>"We have taken also a half-breed, one Madame Sacho. You say +that Madame de Contrecoeur is at the Vale Yndaia with her +daughter?"</p> + +<p>"Guarded by my Indians, General."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Yes, General."</p> + +<p>He gathered his bridle, leaned from his saddle, and looked +coldly at Boyd and me.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>He sat still, gnawing at his lip for a moment, then:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Boyd heavily, "shall we be about this matter of +Amochol?"</p> + +<p>"Yes.... Will you aid me in placing Madame de Contrecoeur and +her daughter in the wagon assigned them?"</p> + +<p>He nodded, and together we started back toward the Vale Yndaia +in silence.</p> + +<p>After a long while he looked up at me and said:</p> + +<p>"I know her now."</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"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,"</p> + +<p>I was silent.</p> + +<p>"She is the ragged maid of the Westchester hills," he +said.</p> + +<p>"She is the noblest maid that ever breathed in North America," +I said.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Loskiel.... And, that being true, you are the fittest +match for her the world could offer."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You have it still."</p> + +<p>But he said no more, walking beside me with downcast +countenance and brooding eyes fixed on our long shadows that led +us slowly west.</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXI</h3> + +<h4>CHINISEE CASTLE</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It was plain that the retreating Tory army had passed over +this bridge, and that their rearguard had set it afire.</p> + +<p>I said to Boyd, pointing across the southern end of the +lake:</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"Pray God he lays it," said Boyd between his teeth.</p> + +<p>"Yet, we could get at him better beyond those rocky gashes," I +muttered, using my spyglass.</p> + +<p>"Butler is there," said the Mohican, calmly.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Dear me!" says he. "Do you really think we shall have a +battle, Loskiel? How very interesting and enjoyable it will +be."</p> + +<p>"Who drilled your pretty hide, Benjamin?" said I bluntly, +noting that he wore his left arm in a splint.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>I pulled out our small map, which we had long since learned to +distrust, yet even our General had no better one.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Mayaro, however, shook his crested head:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I am also of that opinion," said I.</p> + +<p>"I shall want twenty riflemen," he said.</p> + +<p>"If it can not be done with four, and my Indians, we need not +attempt it."</p> + +<p>"Why?" he asked sullenly.</p> + +<p>"The General has so ordered."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>He sat his saddle in silence for a while, looking at the +unfinished log bridge and up at the bluffs opposite.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>I heard him say this; Major Hoops heard him also. So I +supposed that Boyd would obey these orders to the letter.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Look at those bloodhounds," muttered Boyd. "They did not hear +what we were talking about, but they know by premonition."</p> + +<p>"I do not have any faith in premonitions," said I.</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"I have dreamed I was scalped, and my hair still grows."</p> + +<p>"You are not out of the woods yet," he said, sombrely.</p> + +<p>"That does not worry me."</p> + +<p>"Nor me. Yet, I do believe in premonition."</p> + +<p>"That is old wives' babble."</p> + +<p>"Maybe, Loskiel. Yet, I know I shall not leave this wilderness +alive."</p> + +<p>"Lord!" said I, attempting to jest. "You should set up as a +rival to Amochol and tell us all our fortunes."</p> + +<p>He smiled— and the effort distorted his pale, handsome +face.</p> + +<p>"I think it will happen at Chinisee," he said quietly.</p> + +<p>"What will happen?"</p> + +<p>"The end of the world for me, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Only lately have I been dowered with the ominous +clairvoyance. I am changed, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"Not in courage."</p> + +<p>"No," he said with a shrug of his broad shoulders that set +ruffles and thrums a-dancing on his rifle-dress.</p> + +<p>We were silent for a while, watching the Indians at their +polishing. Then he said in a low but pleasant voice:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I read mine by the flickering fire; it was dated from Tioga +Point:</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"Your humble and dutiful and obedient and adoring wife to +be,</p> + +<p class="center" align="center">"Lois de Contrecoeur.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"You wish me to read it?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, read it, Loskiel, before I burn it," he said drearily. +"I do not desire to have it discovered on my body after +death."</p> + +<p>I took the single sheet of paper and read:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p> <br> +"Lieutenant Thomas Boyd,<br> + "Rifle Corps,<br> + "Sir:<br> +</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"I am, sir y' ob't, etc., etc.</p> + +<p align="right" class="right">"Magdalene Helmer.</p> + +<p>"P. S. If you love me, Tom, do your full duty in the name of +God!</p> + +<p align="center" class="center">"Lana."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"A clergyman is fitter to reply to you than I."</p> + +<p>"Do you not think it best that I marry Dolly Glenn?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it-is true. I stand tonight so fettered to an unborn +soul that nothing can unloose me.... I wish that I might +live."</p> + +<p>"You will live! You <i>must</i> live!"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Volunteers," he said, looking sideways at me. "I know how to +take Amochol; but I must take him in my own manner."</p> + +<p>I ventured to remind him of the General's instructions that we +find the Chinisee Castle and report at sunrise.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>The Grey-Feather drew me aside and said in a low, earnest +voice:</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>Once more I ventured to protest to Boyd.</p> + +<p>"Leave it to me, Loskiel," he said pleasantly. And I could say +no more.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"We have made a bad mistake," I said in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"Yes, a bad one," he said listlessly.</p> + +<p>"Shall we not start on our return?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"There is no hurry."</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, but I have to remind you that you are to +report at sunrise."</p> + +<p>"Aye— if that were possible, Loskiel."</p> + +<p>"Possible!" I repeated, blankly. "Why not?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You are not well, Boyd," I said, troubled.</p> + +<p>"As well as I shall ever be— but not as ill, +Loskiel."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Amochol is dead," I said to Boyd.</p> + +<p>He looked at me with lack-lustre eyes, nodding. We marched on +along the trail by which we had arrived.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The Indians, so coolly taken from my command, had gone ere I +came up from the rear to find what Boyd had done.</p> + +<p>"Are you mad?" I exclaimed, losing my temper, "Do you propose +to halt here at the very mouth of the hornet's nest?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Very well— if you like," he said indifferently.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In a flash of intuition it came to me that here was a cleared +runway to some trap.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Press on!" said Boyd curtly; and our little column trotted +forward.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>I swung in my tracks, confronting Boyd.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>He gave me a dazed look, where he had been within his rights +had he cut me down with his hatchet.</p> + +<p>"What did you say?" he stammered, passing his hand over his +eyes as though something had obscured his sight.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Come, sir," said I in deepest anxiety, "the game is too plain +for anybody but a fool to follow. Sound your recall!"</p> + +<p>He set his whistle to his lips, and as I stood there, +thunderstruck and helpless, the shrill call rang out: "Forward! +Hark-away!"</p> + +<p>Instantly our entire party leaped forward; the Indians +vanished; and we ran on headlong, pell-mell, hellward into the +trap prepared for our destruction.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"My God!" exclaimed Elerson to Murphy. "The woods are crawling +with savages!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Murphy, clubbing his rifle, was bawling to his comrade, +Elerson:</p> + +<p>"To hell wid this, Davey! Av we don't pull foot we're a pair +o' dead ducks!"</p> + +<p>"For God's sake, Boyd!" I shouted. "Break through there beside +the Yellow Moth!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Hurrah! Hurrah! Prisoner taken from Morgan's corps!"</p> + +<p>Another, an officer of British regulars, I think, threw +himself on Boyd, shouting:</p> + +<p>"By heaven! It's Boyd of Derry! Are you not Tom Boyd, of +Derry, Pennsylvania?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, you bloody-backed Tory!" retorted Boyd, struggling to +knife him under his gorget. "And I'm Boyd of Morgan's, too!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>How we got through God only knows. I heard Murphy bellowing to +Elerson:</p> + +<p>"We're out! We're out! Pull foot, Davey, or the dirty Scutts +will take your hair!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Can you not secure for us, sir, the civilized treatment of +prisoners of war?"</p> + +<p>"I dare not interfere," faltered the officer, staring around +at the sea of devilish faces.</p> + +<p>"And you, a white man, return me such a cowardly answer?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I saw Boyd's despairing glance sweep their files; then +suddenly his eyes brightened.</p> + +<p>"Brant!" he cried.</p> + +<p>And then I saw that the splendid Mohawk leader was the great +Thayendanegea himself.</p> + +<p>"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— <i>gentlemen</i>— has +overruled me, denying my more humane counsel.... I am sorry, +Boyd."</p> + +<p>"Brant!" he said in a ringing voice. "Look at me +attentively!"</p> + +<p>"I look upon you, Boyd."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Then Brant, facing the astonished warriors, laid his hand on +Boyd's head and then on Parker's.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Dog of a Seneca!" said Boyd fiercely. "What you touch you +defile, stinking wolverine that you are!"</p> + +<p>"Dog of a white man!" retorted Hiokatoo. "You are not yet in +your own kennel! Remember that!"</p> + +<p>"But <i>you</i> 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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Then, after nearly half an hour, a full battalion of Johnson's +Greens forded the river, and behind them came Butler's +Rangers.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>What had become of his horse I could only guess, for he wore +spurs and sword, and the sombre uniform of the Rangers.</p> + +<p>Then, as he came up I saw that he was Walter Butler.</p> + +<p>As he approached, his dark eyes were fixed on the prisoners; +and when he came opposite to them he halted.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"So you are Boyd!" he said menacingly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am Boyd. What next?"</p> + +<p>"What next?" repeated Walter Butler. "Well, really I don't +know, my impudent friend, but I strongly suspect the Seneca stake +will come next."</p> + +<p>Boyd laughed: "We gave Brant a sign that you also should +recognize. We are now under his protection."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Naturally."</p> + +<p>"With me also?"</p> + +<p>"You are a Mason."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose that I am going to answer your questions?" +said Boyd, amused.</p> + +<p>"I think you will, Come, sir; what artillery is he bringing +north with him?"</p> + +<p>And as Boyd merely looked at him with contempt, he stepped +nearer, bent suddenly, and jerked Boyd to his feet.</p> + +<p>"You Yankee dog!" he said; "Stand up when your betters +stand!"</p> + +<p>Boyd reddened to his temples.</p> + +<p>"Murderer!" he said. "Does a gentleman stand in the presence +of the Cherry Valley butcher?" And he seated himself again on his +log.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Will you answer my questions?"</p> + +<p>"No!"</p> + +<p>"Do you refuse to answer the military questions put to you by +an officer?"</p> + +<p>"No prisoner of war is compelled to do that!"</p> + +<p>"You are mistaken; I compel you to answer on pain of +death!"</p> + +<p>"I refuse."</p> + +<p>Both men were deadly pale. Parker also had risen and was now +standing beside Boyd.</p> + +<p>"I claim the civilized treatment due to an officer," said Boyd +quietly.</p> + +<p>"Refused unless you answer!"</p> + +<p>"I shall not answer. I am under Brant's protection!"</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"You dare not!"</p> + +<p>"Answer me, or you shall soon learn what I dare and dare not +do!"</p> + +<p>Boyd, pale as a sheet, said slowly:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Take him!" said Butler to the crowding Senecas.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Parker died more swiftly and mercifully.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Salute! O Roya-neh!" fiercely honoring the dead bodies of the +bravest men who had ever died in the Long House.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Brother!" they said gently.</p> + +<p>*"Tekasenthos, O Sagamore!!' I whispered, dropping my head on +his broad shoulder. "Issi tye-y-ad-akeron, akwah +de-ya-kon-akor-on-don!"</p> + +<p class="footnote">[* "I weep, O Sagamore! Yonder are lying +bodies, yea, and of chiefs!"]</p> + +<h3>CHAPTER XXII</h3> + +<h4>MES ADIEUX</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>was</i> her father's wedded wife.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>And in my ears the deep responses seemed to sound, solemnly +and low, as the uncorrupted priesthood chanted at Thendara:</p> + +<blockquote>"Continue to listen,<br> +Thou who wert ruler,<br> + <i>Ayonhwahtha!</i><br> +Continue to listen,<br> +Thou who wert ruler,<br> + <i>Shatekariwate!</i><br> +<p><br> +This was the roll of you,<br> +You who have laboured,<br> +You who completed<br> +The Great League!<br> +</p> + +<p><br> +Continue to listen,<br> +Thou who wert ruler,<br> + <i>Sharenhaowane!</i><br> +Continue to listen,<br> +Thou who wert ruler— "<br> +</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>And the line of their noble hymn, the "Karenna": "I come again +to greet and thank the women!"</p> + +<p>Lord! A great and noble civilization died when the first +cancerous contact of the lesser scratched its living Eastern +Gate.</p> + +<p>* "Hiya-thondek! Kahiaton. Kadi-kadon."</p> + +<p class="footnote">[* "Listen! It is written. Therefore, I +speak."]</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Which I lost no time in doing, not noticing that my Indians +were following me, and drew bridle at the side-path and +dismounted.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Shall I bid them to dine with us tomorrow?" she +whispered.</p> + +<p>"Bid them."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Euan, my dear mother is awaiting you in our best room."</p> + +<p>"I will instantly pay my duties and——"</p> + +<p>"Lana is there also."</p> + +<p>"Does she know?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. God help her and the young thing she has taken to her +heart. The news came by courier a week ago."</p> + +<p>"How he died? Does she know?"</p> + +<p>"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——"</p> + +<p>"I understand."</p> + +<p>She lifted her face to mine, laying her hands upon my +shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Dost thou truly love me, Lois?" I asked.</p> + +<p>* "Sat-kah-tos," she murmured.</p> + +<p class="footnote">[* "Thou seest."]</p> + +<p>* "Se-non-wes?" I insisted.</p> + +<p class="footnote">[* "Dost thou love?"]</p> + +<p>* "Ke-non-wes, O Loskiel." Her arms tightened around my neck, +"Ai-hai! Ae-saya-tyen-endon! +Ae-sah-hah-i-yen-en-hon——"</p> + +<p class="footnote">[* "I love thee, O Loskiel... Ah, thou +mightest have been destroyed! If thou hadst perished by the +wayside——"]</p> + +<p>"Hush, dearest— dearest maid. 'Twixt God and Tharon, +nothing can harm us now."</p> + +<p>And I heard the faint murmur of her lips on mine:</p> + +<p>"Etho, ke-non-wes. Nothing can harm us now."</p> + +<p class="center" align="center">THE END</p> + + +<pre> +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE HIDDEN CHILDREN *** + +This file should be named hichi10.txt or hichi10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, hichi11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, hichi10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +<a href="http://gutenberg.net">http://gutenberg.net</a> or +<a href="http://promo.net/pg">http://promo.net/pg</a> + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +<a href= +"http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext04">http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext04</a> or +<a href= +"ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03">ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03</a> + +Or /etext03, 02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +<a href= +"http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html">http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html</a> + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +<a href="mailto:hart@pobox.com">hart@pobox.com</a> + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + + +</pre> +</body> +</html> + + |