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diff --git a/6608.txt b/6608.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..617dad3 --- /dev/null +++ b/6608.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1373 @@ +Project Gutenberg's On And Near The Delaware, by Charles M. Skinner + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: On And Near The Delaware + Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land, Volume 3. + +Author: Charles M. Skinner + +Release Date: October 22, 2006 [EBook #6608] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ON AND NEAR THE DELAWARE *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + MYTHS AND LEGENDS + OF + OUR OWN LAND + + By + Charles M. Skinner + + Vol. 3. + + + ON AND NEAR THE DELAWARE + + + + +CONTENTS: + +The Phantom Dragoon +Delaware Water Gap +The Phantom Drummer +The Missing Soldier of Valley Forge +The Last Shot at Germantown +A Blow in the Dark +The Tory's Conversion +Lord Percy's Dream +Saved by the Bible +Parricide of the Wissahickon +The Blacksmith at Brandywine +Father and Son +The Envy of Manitou +The Last Revel in Printz Hall +The Two Rings +Flame Scalps of the Chartiers +The Consecration of Washington +Marion + + + + + + +ON AND NEAR THE DELAWARE + + + +THE PHANTOM DRAGOON + +The height that rises a mile or so to the south of Newark, Delaware, is +called Iron Hill, because it is rich in hematite ore, but about the time +of General Howe's advance to the Brandywine it might well have won its +name because of the panoply of war--the sullen guns, the flashing swords, +and glistening bayonets--that appeared among the British tents pitched on +it. After the red-coats had established camp here the American outposts +were advanced and one of the pickets was stationed at Welsh Tract Church. +On his first tour of duty the sentry was thrown into great alarm by the +appearance of a figure robed from head to foot in white, that rode a +horse at a charging gait within ten feet of his face. When guard was +relieved the soldier begged that he might never be assigned to that post +again. His nerves were strong in the presence of an enemy in the +flesh--but an enemy out of the grave! Ugh! He would desert rather than +encounter that shape again. His request was granted. The sentry who +succeeded him was startled, in the small hours, by a rush of hoofs and +the flash of a pallid form. He fired at it, and thought that he heard the +sound of a mocking laugh come back. + +Every night the phantom horseman made his rounds, and several times the +sentinels shot at him without effect, the white horse and white rider +showing no annoyance at these assaults. When it came the turn of a +sceptical and unimaginative old corporal to take the night detail, he +took the liberty of assuming the responsibilities of this post himself. +He looked well to the priming of his musket, and at midnight withdrew out +of the moonshine and waited, with his gun resting on a fence. It was not +long before the beat of hoofs was heard approaching, and in spite of +himself the corporal felt a thrill along his spine as a mounted figure +that might have represented Death on the pale horse came into view; but +he jammed his hat down, set his teeth, and sighted his flint-lock with +deliberation. The rider was near, when bang went the corporal's musket, +and a white form was lying in the road, a horse speeding into the +distance. Scrambling over the fence, the corporal, reassured, ran to the +form and turned it over: a British scout, quite dead. The daring fellow, +relying on the superstitious fears of the rustics in his front, had made +a nightly ride as a ghost, in order to keep the American outposts from +advancing, and also to guess, from elevated points, at the strength and +disposition of their troops. He wore a cuirass of steel, but that did not +protect his brain from the corporal's bullet. + + + + +DELAWARE WATER GAP + +The Indian name of this beautiful region, Minisink, "the water is gone," +agrees with the belief of geologists that a lake once existed behind the +Blue Ridge, and that it burst its way through the hills at this point. +Similar results were produced by a cataclysm on the Connecticut at Mount +Holyoke, on the Lehigh at Mauch Chunk, and Runaway Pond, New Hampshire, +got its name by a like performance. The aborigines, whatever may be said +against them, enjoyed natural beauty, and their habitations were often +made in this delightful region, their councils being attended by chief +Tamanend, or Tammany, a Delaware, whose wisdom and virtues were such as +to raise him to the place of patron saint of America. The notorious +Tammany Society of New York is named for him. When this chief became old +and feeble his tribe abandoned him in a hut at New Britain, Pennsylvania, +and there he tried to kill himself by stabbing, but failing in that, he +flung burning leaves over himself, and so perished. He was buried where +he died. It was a princess of his tribe that gave the name of Lover's +Leap to a cliff on Mount Tammany, by leaping from it to her death, +because her love for a young European was not reciprocated. + +There is a silver-mine somewhere on the opposite mountain of Minsi, the +knowledge of its location having perished with the death of a recluse, +who coined the metal he took from it into valuable though illegal +dollars, going townward every winter to squander his earnings. During the +Revolution "Oran the Hawk," a Tory and renegade, was vexatious to the +people of Delaware Valley, and a detachment of colonial troops was sent +in pursuit of him. They overtook him at the Gap and chased him up the +slopes of Tammany, though he checked their progress by rolling stones +among them. One rock struck a trooper, crushed him, and bore him down to +the base of a cliff, his blood smearing it in his descent. But though he +seemed to have eluded his pursuers, Oran was shot in several places +during his flight, and when at last he cast himself into a thicket, to +rest and get breath, it was never to rise again. His bones, cracked by +bullets and gnawed by beasts, were found there when the leaves fell. + + + + +THE PHANTOM DRUMMER + +Colonel Howell, of the king's troops, was a gay fellow, framed to make +women false; but when he met the rosy, sweet-natured daughter of farmer +Jarrett, near Valley Forge, he attempted no dalliance, for he fell too +seriously in love. He might not venture into the old man's presence, for +Jarrett had a son with Washington, and he hated a red-coat as he did the +devil; but the young officer met the girl in secret, and they plighted +troth beneath the garden trees, hidden in gray mist. As Howell bent to +take his first kiss that night, a rising wind went past, bringing from +afar the roll of a drum, and as they talked the drum kept drawing nearer, +until it seemed at hand. The officer peered across the wall, then hurried +to his mistress' side, as pale as death. The fields outside were empty of +life. + +Louder came the rattling drum; it seemed to enter the gate, pass but a +yard away, go through the wall, and die in the distance. When it ceased, +Howell started as if a spell had been lifted, laxed his grip on the +maiden's hand, then drew her to his breast convulsively. Ruth's terror +was more vague but no less genuine than his own, and some moments passed +before she could summon voice to ask him what this visitation meant. He +answered, "Something is about to change my fortunes for good or ill; +probably for ill. Important events in my family for the past three +generations have been heralded by that drum, and those events were +disasters oftener than benefits." Few more words passed, and with another +kiss the soldier scaled the wall and galloped away, the triple beat of +his charger's hoofs sounding back into the maiden's ears like drum-taps. +In a skirmish next day Colonel Howell was shot. He was carried to farmer +Jarrett's house and left there, in spite of the old man's protest, for he +was willing to give no shelter to his country's enemies. When Ruth saw +her lover in this strait she was like to have fallen, but when she +learned that it would take but a few days of quiet and care to restore +him to health, she was ready to forgive her fellow-countrymen for +inflicting an injury that might result in happiness for both of them. + +It took a great deal of teasing to overcome the scruples of the farmer, +but he gruffly consented to receive the young man until his hurt should +heal. Ruth attended him faithfully, and the cheerful, manly nature of the +officer so won the farmer's heart that he soon forgot the color of +Howell's coat. Nor was he surprised when Howell told him that he loved +his daughter and asked for her hand; indeed, it had been easy to guess +their affection, and the old man declared that but for his allegiance to +a tyrant he would gladly own him as a son-in-law. It was a long struggle +between love and duty that ensued in Howell's breast, and love was +victor. If he might marry Ruth he would leave the army. The old man gave +prompt consent, and a secret marriage was arranged. Howell had been +ordered to rejoin his regiment; he could not honorably resign on the eve +of an impending battle, and, even had he done so, a long delay must have +preceded his release. He would marry the girl, go to the country, live +there quietly until the British evacuated Philadelphia, when he would +return and cast his lot with the Jarrett household. + +Howell donned citizen's dress, and the wedding took place in the spacious +best room of the mansion, but as he slipped the ring on the finger of his +bride the roll of a drum was heard advancing up the steps into the room, +then on and away until all was still again. The young colonel was pale; +Ruth clung to him in terror; clergymen and guests looked at each other in +amazement. Now there were voices at the porch, the door was flung open, +armed men entered, and the bridegroom was a prisoner. He was borne to his +quarters, and afterward tried for desertion, for a servant in the Jarrett +household, hating all English and wishing them to suffer, even at each +other's hands, had betrayed the plan of his master's guest. The +court-martial found him guilty and condemned him to be shot. When the +execution took place, Ruth, praying and sobbing in her chamber, knew that +her husband was no more. The distant sound of musketry reverberated like +the roll of a drum. + + + + +THE MISSING SOLDIER OF VALLEY FORGE + +During the dreadful winter of the American encampment at Valley Forge six +or eight soldiers went out to forage for provisions. Knowing that little +was to be hoped for near the camp of their starving comrades, they set +off in the direction of French Creek. At this stream the party separated, +and a little later two of the men were attacked by Tory farmers. Flying +along the creek for some distance they came to a small cave in a bluff, +and one of them, a young Southerner named Carrington, scrambled into it. +His companion was not far behind, and was hurrying toward the cave, when +he was arrested by a rumble and a crash: a block of granite, tons in +weight, that had hung poised overhead, slid from its place and completely +blocked the entrance. The stifled cry of despair from the living occupant +of the tomb struck to his heart. He hid in a neighboring wood until the +Tories had dispersed, then, returning to the cave, he strove with might +and main to stir the boulder from its place, but without avail. + +When he reached camp, as he did next day, he told of this disaster, but +the time for rescue was believed to be past, or the work was thought to +be too exhausting and dangerous for a body of men who had much ado to +keep life in their own weak frames. It was a double tragedy, for the +young man's sweetheart never recovered from the shock that the news +occasioned, and on her tomb, near Richmond, Virginia, these words are +chiselled: "Died, of a broken heart, on the 1st of March, 1780, Virginia +Randolph, aged 21 years, 9 days. Faithful unto death." In the summer of +1889 some workmen, blasting rock near the falls on French Creek, +uncovered the long-concealed cavern and found there a skeleton with a few +rags of a Continental uniform. In a bottle beside it was an account, +signed by Arthur L. Carrington, of the accident that had befallen him, +and a letter declaring undying love for his sweetheart. + +He had starved to death. The bones were neatly coffined, and were sent to +Richmond to be buried beside those of the faithful Miss Randolph. + + + + +THE LAST SHOT AT GERMANTOWN + +Many are the tales of prophecy that have been preserved to us from war +times. In the beginning of King Philip's war in Connecticut, in 1675, it +was reported that the firing of the first gun was heard all over the +State, while the drumbeats calling settlers to defence were audible eight +miles away. Braddock's defeat and the salvation of Washington were +foretold by a Miami chief at a council held in Fort Ponchartrain, on +Detroit River, the ambush and the slaughter having been revealed to him +in a dream. The victims of that battle, too, had been apprised, for one +or two nights before the disaster a young lieutenant in Braddock's +command saw his fellow-officers pass through his tent, bloody and torn, +and when the first gun sounded he knew that it spoke the doom of nearly +all his comrades. At Killingly, Connecticut, in the autumn before the +outbreak of the Revolution, a distant roar of artillery was heard for a +whole day and night in the direction of Boston, mingled with a rattle of +musketry, and so strong was the belief that war had begun and the British +were advancing, that the minute men mustered to await orders. It was +afterward argued that these noises came from an explosion of meteors, a +shower of these missiles being then in progress, invisible, of course, in +the day-time. Just after the signing of the Declaration of Independence +the royal arms on the spire of the Episcopal church at Hampton, Virginia, +were struck off by lightning. Shortly before the surrender of Cornwallis +a display of northern lights was seen in New England, the rays taking the +form of cannon, facing southward. In Connecticut sixty-four of these guns +were counted. + +At the battle of Germantown the Americans were enraged by the killing of +one of their men who had gone out with a flag of truce. He was shot from +the windows of Judge Chew's house, which was crowded with British +soldiers, and as he fell to the lawn, dyeing the peaceful emblem with his +blood, at least one of the Continentals swore that his death should be +well avenged. The British reinforcements, sixteen thousand strong, came +hurrying through the street, their officers but half-dressed, so urgent +had been the summons for their aid. Except for their steady tramp the +place was silent; doors were locked and shutters bolted, and if people +were within doors no sign of them was visible. General Agnew alone of all +the troop seemed depressed and anxious. Turning to an aide as they passed +the Mennonist graveyard, he said, "This field is the last I shall fight +on." + +An eerie face peered over the cemetery wall, a scarred, unshaven face +framed in long hair and surmounting a body clothed in skins, with the +question, "Is that the brave General Gray who beat the rebels at Paoli?" +One of the soldiers, with a careless toss of the hand, seemed to indicate +General Agnew. A moment later there was a report, a puff of smoke from +the cemetery wall, and a bullet whizzed by the head of the general, who +smiled wanly, to encourage his men. Summary execution would have been +done upon the stranger had not a body of American cavalry dashed against +the red-coats at that moment, and a fierce contest was begun. When the +day was over, General Agnew, who had been separated from his command in +the confusion of battle, came past the graves again. Tired and depressed, +he drew rein for a moment to breathe the sweet air, so lately fouled with +dust and smoke, and to watch the gorgeous light of sunset. Again, like a +malignant genius of the place, the savage-looking stranger arose from +behind the wall. A sharp report broke the quiet of evening and awoke +clattering echoes from the distant houses. A horse plunged and General +Agnew rolled from his saddle, dead: the last victim in the strife at +Germantown. + + + + +A BLOW IN THE DARK + +The Tory Manheim sits brooding in his farmhouse near Valley Forge, and +his daughter, with a hectic flush on her cheek, looks out into the +twilight at the falling snow. She is worn and ill; she has brought on a +fever by exposure incurred that very day in a secret journey to the +American camp, made to warn her lover of another attempt on the life of +Washington, who must pass her father's house on his return from a distant +settlement. The Tory knows nothing of this; but he starts whenever the +men in the next room rattle the dice or break into a ribald song, and a +frown of apprehension crosses his face as the foragers crunch by, +half-barefoot, through the snow. The hours go on, and the noise in the +next room increases; but it hushes suddenly when a knock at the door is +heard. The Tory opens it, and trembles as a tall, grave man, with the +figure of an athlete, steps into the fire-light and calmly removes his +gloves. "I have been riding far," said he. "Can you give me some food and +the chance to sleep for an hour, until the storm clears up?" + +Manheim says that he can, and shuffling into the next room, he whispers, +"Washington!" The girl is sent out to get refreshments. It is in vain +that she seeks to sign or speak to the man who sits there so calmly +before the fire, for her father is never out of sight or hearing. After +Washington has finished his modest repast he asks to be left to himself +for a while, but the girl is told to conduct him to the room on the left +of the landing on the next floor. + +Her father holds the candle at the foot of the stairs until he sees his +guest enter; then he bids his daughter go to her own bed, which is in the +chamber on the right of the landing. There is busy whispering in the room +below after that, and the dice box is shaken to see to whose lot it shall +fall to steal up those stairs and stab Washington in his sleep. An hour +passes and all in the house appear to be at rest, but the stairs creak +slightly as Manheim creeps upon his prey. He blows his candle out and +softly enters the chamber on the left. The men, who listen in the dark at +the foot of the stair, hear a moan, and the Tory hurries back with a +shout of gladness, for the rebel chief is no more and Howe's reward will +enrich them for life. + +Glasses are filled, and in the midst of the rejoicing a step is heard on +the stair. Washington stands before them. In calm, deep tones he thanks +the farmer for his shelter, and asks that his horse be brought to the +door and his reckoning be made out. The Tory stares as one bereft. Then +he rushes aloft, flings open the door of the room on the left, and gazes +at the face that rests on the pillow,--a pillow that is dabbled with red. +The face is that of his daughter. The name of father is one that he will +never hear again in this world. The candle falls from his hand; he sinks +to the floor; be his sin forgiven! Outside is heard the tramp of a horse. +It is that of Washington, who rides away, ignorant of the peril he has +passed and the sacrifice that averted it. + + + + +THE TORY'S CONVERSION + +In his firelit parlor, in his little house at Valley Forge, old Michael +Kuch sits talking with his daughter. But though it is Christmas eve the +talk has little cheer in it. The hours drag on until the clock strikes +twelve, and the old man is about to offer his evening prayer for the +safety of his son, who is one of Washington's troopers, when hurried +steps are heard in the snow, there is a fumbling at the latch, then the +door flies open and admits a haggard, panting man who hastily closes it +again, falls into a seat, and shakes from head to foot. The girl goes to +him. "John!" she says. But he only averts his face. "What is wrong with +thee, John Blake?" asks the farmer. But he has to ask again and again ere +he gets an answer. Then, in a broken voice, the trembling man confesses +that he has tried to shoot Washington, but the bullet struck and killed +his only attendant, a dragoon. He has come for shelter, for men are on +his track already. "Thou know'st I am neutral in this war, John Blake," +answered the farmer,--"although I have a boy down yonder in the camp. It +was a cowardly thing to do, and I hate you Tories that you do not fight +like men; yet, since you ask me for a hiding-place, you shall have it, +though, mind you, 'tis more on the girl's account than yours. The men are +coming. Out--this way--to the spring-house. So!" + +Before old Michael has time to return to his chair the door is again +thrust open, this time by men in blue and buff. They demand the assassin, +whose footsteps they have tracked there through the snow. Michael does +not answer. They are about to use violence when, through the open door, +comes Washington, who checks them with a word. The general bears a +drooping form with a blood splash on its breast, and deposits it on the +hearth as gently as a mother puts a babe into its cradle. As the +firelight falls on the still face the farmer's eyes grow round and big; +then he shrieks and drops upon his knees, for it is his son who is lying +there. Beside him is a pistol; it was dropped by the Tory when he +entered. Grasping it eagerly the farmer leaps to his feet. His years have +fallen from him. With a tiger-like bound he gains the door, rushes to the +spring-house where John Blake is crouching, his eyes sunk and shining, +gnawing his fingers in a craze of dismay. But though hate is swift, love +is swifter, and the girl is there as soon as he. She strikes his arm +aside, and the bullet he has fired lodges in the wood. He draws out his +knife, and the murderer, to whom has now come the calmness of despair, +kneels and offers his breast to the blade. Before he can strike, the +soldiers hasten up, and seizing Blake, they drag him to the house--the +little room--where all had been so peaceful but a few minutes before. + +The culprit is brought face to face with Washington, who asks him what +harm he has ever suffered from his fellow countrymen that he should turn +against them thus. Blake hangs his head and owns his willingness to die. +His eyes rest on the form extended on the floor, and he shudders; but his +features undergo an almost joyous change, for the figure lifts itself, +and in a faint voice calls, "Father!" The young man lives. With a cry of +delight both father and sister raise him in their arms. "You are not yet +prepared to die," says Washington to the captive. "I will put you under +guard until you are wanted. Take him into custody, my dear young lady, +and try to make an American of him. See, it is one o'clock, and this is +Christmas morning. May all be happy here. Come." And beckoning to his men +he rides away, though Blake and his affianced would have gone on their +knees before him. Revulsion of feeling, love, thankfulness and a latent +patriotism wrought a quick change in Blake. When young Kuch recovered +Blake joined his regiment, and no soldier served the flag more honorably. + + + + +LORD PERCY'S DREAM + +Leaving the dissipations of the English court, Lord Percy came to America +to share the fortunes of his brethren in the contest then raging on our +soil. His father had charged him with the delivery of a certain package +to an Indian woman, should he meet her in his rambles through the western +wilds, and, without inquiring into the nature of the gift +or its occasion, he accepted the trust. At the battle of the +Brandywine--strangely foretold by Quaker prophecy forty years before--he +was detailed by Cornwallis to drive the colonial troops out of a +graveyard where they had intrenched themselves, and though he set upon +this errand with the enthusiasm of youth, his cheek paled as he drew near +the spot where the enemy was waiting. + +It was not that he had actual physical fear of the onset: he had dreamed +a dream a few nights before, the purport of which he had hinted to his +comrades, and as he rode into the clearing at the top of Osborn's Hill he +drew rein and exclaimed, "My dream! Yonder is the graveyard. I am fated +to die there." Giving a few of his effects to his brother officers, and +charging one of them to take a message of love to his betrothed in +England, he set his lips and rode forward. + +His cavalry bound toward the scene of action and are within thirty paces +of the cemetery wall, when from behind it rises a battalion of men in the +green uniform of the Santee Rangers and pours a withering fire into the +ranks. The shock is too great to withstand, and the red-coats stagger +away with broken ranks, leaving many dead and wounded on the ground. Lord +Percy is the coolest of all. He urges the broken columns forward, and +almost alone holds the place until the infantry, a hundred yards behind, +come up. Thereupon ensues one of those hand-to-hand encounters that are +so rare in recent war, and that are the sorest test of valor and +discipline. Now rides forward Captain Waldemar, chief of the rangers and +a half-breed Indian, who, seeing Percy, recognizes him as an officer and +engages him in combat. There is for a minute a clash of steel on steel; +then the nobleman falls heavily to the earth--dead. His dream has come +true. That night the captain Waldemar seeks out the body of this officer, +attracted by something in the memory of his look, and from his bosom +takes the packet that was committed to his care. + +By lantern-light he reads, carelessly at first, then rapidly and eagerly, +and at the close he looks long and earnestly at the dead man, and seems +to brush away a tear. Strange thing to do over the body of an enemy! Why +had fate decreed that they should be enemies? For Waldemar is the +half-brother of Percy. His mother was the Indian girl that the earl, now +passing his last days in England, had deceived with a pretended marriage, +and the letters promise patronage to her son. The half-breed digs a grave +that night with his own hands and lays the form of his brother in it. + + + + +SAVED BY THE BIBLE + +It was on the day after the battle of Germantown that Warner, who wore +the blue, met his hated neighbor, the Tory Dabney, near that bloody +field. + +By a common impulse the men fell upon each other with their knives, and +Warner soon had his enemy in a position to give him the death-stroke, but +Dabney began to bellow for quarter. "My brother cried for quarter at +Paoli," answered the other, "and you struck him to the heart." + +"I have a wife and child. Spare me for their sakes." + +"My brother had a wife and two children. Perhaps you would like to beg +your life of them." + +Though made in mockery, this proposition was caught at so earnestly that +Warner at length consented to take his adversary, firmly bound, to the +house where the bereaved family was living. The widow was reading the +Bible to her children, but her grief was too fresh to gather comfort from +it. When Dabney was flung into the room he grovelled at her feet and +begged piteously for mercy. Her face did not soften, but there was a kind +of contempt in the settled sadness of her tone as she said, "It shall be +as God directs. I will close this Bible, open it at chance, and when this +boy shall put his finger at random on a line, by that you must live or +die." + +The book was opened, and the child put his finger on a line: "That man +shall die." + +Warner drew his knife and motioned his prisoner to the door. He was going +to lead him into the wood to offer him as a sacrifice to his brother's +spirit. + +"No, no!" shrieked the wretch. "Give me one more chance; one more! Let +the girl open the book." + +The woman coldly consents, and when the book is opened for the second +time she reads, "Love your enemies." There are no other words. The knife +is used, but it is to cut the prisoner's bonds, and he walks away with +head hung down, never more to take arms against his countrymen. And glad +are they all at this, when the husband is brought home--not dead, though +left among the corpses at Paoli, but alive and certain of recovery, with +such nursing as his wife will give him. After tears of joy have been shed +she tells him the story of the Bible judgment, and all the members of the +family fall on their knees in thanksgiving that the blood of Dabney is +not upon their heads. + + + + +PARRICIDE OF THE WISSAHICKON + +Farmer Derwent and his four stout sons set off on an autumn night for the +meeting of patriots at a house on the Wissahickon,--a meeting that bodes +no good to the British encamped in Philadelphia, let the red-coats laugh +as they will at the rag-tag and bob-tail that are joining the army of Mr. +Washington in the wilds of the Skippack. The farmer sighs as he thinks +that his younger son alone should be missing from the company, and +wonders for the thousandth time what has become of the boy. They sit by a +rock that juts into the road to trim their lantern, and while they talk +together they are startled by an exclamation. It is from Ellen, the +adopted daughter of Derwent and the betrothed of his missing son. On the +night that the boy stole away from his father's house he asked her to +meet him in this place in a year's time, and the year is up to-night. + +But it is not to meet him that she is hastening now: she has heard that +the British have learned of the patriot gathering and will try to make +prisoners of the company. Even as she tells of this there is a sound to +the southward: the column is on the march. The farmer's eye blazes with +rage and hate. "Boys," he says, "yonder come those who intend to kill us. +Let them taste of their own warfare. Stand here in the shadow and fire as +they pass this rock." + +The troopers ride on, chuckling over their sure success, when there is a +report of rifles and four of the red-coats are in the dust. The +survivors, though taken by surprise, prove their courage by halting to +answer the volley, and one of them springs from his saddle, seizes +Derwent, and plunges a knife into his throat. The rebel falls. His blood +pools around him. The British are successful, for two of the young men +are bound and two of them have fallen, and there is a cheer of victory, +but the trooper with the knife in his hand does not raise his voice. He +bends above the farmer as still as one dead, until his captain claps him +on the shoulder. As he rises, the prisoners start in wonder, for the face +they see in the lantern-light is that of their brother, yet strange in +its haggardness and its smear of blood on the cheek. The girl runs from +her hiding-place with a cry, but stands in horror when her foot touches +the gory pool in the road. The trooper opens his coat and offers her a +locket. It contains her picture, and he has worn it above his heart for a +year, but she lets it fall and sinks down, moaning. The soldier tears off +his red coat, tramples it in the dust, then vaulting to his saddle he +plunges into the river, fords it, and crashes through the underbrush on +the other side. In a few minutes he has reached the summit of a rock that +rises nearly a hundred feet above the stream. The horse halts at the +edge, but on a fierce stab of the spur into his flank he takes the leap. +With a despairing yell the traitor and parricide goes into eternity. + + + + +THE BLACKSMITH AT BRANDYWINE + +Terrible in the field at Brandywine was the figure of a man armed only +with a hammer, who plunged into the ranks of the enemy, heedless of his +own life, yet seeming to escape their shots and sabre cuts by magic, and +with Thor strokes beat them to the earth. But yesterday war had been to +him a distant rumor, a thing as far from his cottage at Dilworth as if it +had been in Europe, but he had revolted at a plot that he had overheard +to capture Washington and had warned the general. In revenge the Tories +had burned his cottage, and his wife and baby had perished in the flames. +All day he had sat beside the smoking ruins, unable to weep, unable to +think, unable almost to suffer, except dumbly, for as yet he could not +understand it. But when the drums were heard they roused the tiger in +him, and gaunt with sleeplessness and hunger he joined his countrymen and +ranged like Ajax on the field. Every cry for quarter was in vain: to +every such appeal he had but one reply, his wife's name--Mary. + +Near the end of the fight he lay beside the road, his leg broken, his +flesh torn, his life ebbing from a dozen wounds. A wagoner, hasting to +join the American retreat, paused to give him drink. "I've only five +minutes more of life in me," said the smith. "Can you lift me into that +tree and put a rifle in my hands?" The powerful teamster raised him to +the crotch of an oak, and gave him the rifle and ammunition that a dying +soldier had dropped there. A band of red-coats came running down the +road, chasing some farmers. The blacksmith took careful aim; there was a +report, and the leader of the band fell dead. A pause; again a report +rang out, and a trooper sprawled upon the ground. The marksman had been +seen, and a lieutenant was urging his men to hurry on and cut him down. +There was a third report, and the lieutenant reeled forward into the +road, bleeding and cursing. "That's for Mary," gasped the blacksmith. The +rifle dropped from his hands, and he, too, sank lifeless against the +boughs. + + + + +FATHER AND SON + +It was three soldiers, escaping from the rout of Braddock's forces, who +caught the alleged betrayer of their general and put him to the death. +They threw his purse of ill-gotten louis d'or into the river, and sent +him swinging from the edge of a ravine, with a vine about his neck and a +placard on his breast. And so they left him. + +Twenty years pass, and the war-fires burn more fiercely in the vales of +Pennsylvania, but, too old to fight, the schoolmaster sits at his door +near Chad's Ford and smokes and broods upon the past. He thinks of the +time when he marched with Washington, when with two wounded comrades he +returned along the lonely trail; then comes the vision of a blackening +face, and he rises and wipes his brow. "It was right," he mutters. "He +sent a thousand of his brothers to their deaths." + +Gilbert Gates comes that evening to see the old man's daughter: a smooth, +polite young fellow, but Mayland cannot like him, and after some short +talk he leaves him, pleading years and rheumatism, and goes to bed. But +not to sleep; for toward ten o'clock his daughter goes to him and urges +him to fly, for men are gathering near the house--Tories, she is +sure,--and they mean no good. Laughing at her fears, but willing to +relieve her anxiety, the old man slips into his clothes, goes into the +cellar, and thence starts for the barn, while the girl remains for a few +minutes to hide the silver. + +He does not go far before Gates is at his elbow with the whispered words, +"Into the stack-quick. They are after you." Mayland hesitates with +distrust, but the appearance of men with torches leaves no time for talk. +With Gilbert's help he crawls deep into the straw and is covered up. +Presently a rough voice asks which way he has gone. Gilbert replies that +he has gone to the wood, but there is no need for getting into a passion, +and that on no account would it be advisable to fire the stack. "Won't we +though?" cries one of the party. "We'll burn the rebel out of house and +home," and thrusting his torch into the straw it is ablaze in an instant. +The crowd hurries away toward the wood, and does not hear the stifled +groan that comes out of the middle of the fire. Gates takes a paper from +his pocket, and, after reading it for the last time, flings it upon the +flame. It bears the inscription, "Isaac Gates, Traitor and Spy, hung by +three soldiers of his majesty's army. Isaac Mayland." + +From his moody contemplation he rouses with a start, for Mayland's +daughter is there. Her eyes are bent on a distorted thing that lies among +the embers, and in the dying light of the flames it seems to move. She +studies it close, then with a cry of pain and terror she falls upon the +hot earth, and her senses go out, not to be regained in woful years. With +head low bowed, Gilbert Gates trudges away. In the fight at Brandywine +next day, Black Samson, a giant negro, armed with a scythe, sweeps his +way through the red ranks like a sable figure of Time. Mayland had taught +him; his daughter had given him food. It is to avenge them that he is +fighting. In the height of the conflict he enters the American ranks +leading a prisoner--Gilbert Gates. The young man is pale, stern, and +silent. His deed is known, he is a spy as well as a traitor, but he asks +no mercy. It is rumored that next day he alone, of the prisoners, was led +to a wood and lashed by arms and legs to a couple of hickory trees that +had been bent by a prodigious effort and tied together by their tops. The +lashing was cut by a rifle-ball, the trees regained their straight +position with a snap like whips, and that was the way Gilbert Gates came +to his end. + + + + +THE ENVY OF MANITOU + +Behind the mountains that gloom about the romantic village of Mauch +Chunk, Pennsylvania, was once a lake of clear, bright water, its winding +loops and bays extending back for several miles. On one of its prettiest +bits of shore stood a village of the Leni Lenape, and largest of its +wigwams, most richly pictured without, most luxurious in its couching of +furs within, was that of the young chief, Onoko. This Indian was a man of +great size, strength, and daring. Single-handed he had slain the bear on +Mauch Chunk [Bear Mountain], and it was no wonder that Wenonah, the +fairest of her tribe, was flattered when he sued for her hand, and +promptly consented to be his wife. It was Onoko's fortune in war, the +chase, and love that roused the envy of Mitche Manitou. + +One day, as the couple were floating in their shallop of bark on the calm +lake, idly enjoying the sunshine and saying pretty things to each other, +the Manitou arose among the mountains. Terrible was his aspect, for the +scowl of hatred was on his face, thunder crashed about his head, and fire +snapped from his eyes. Covering his right hand with his invincible magic +mitten, he dealt a blow on the hills that made the earth shake, and rived +them to a depth of a thousand feet. Through the chasm thus created the +lake poured a foaming deluge, and borne with it was the canoe of Onoko +and Wenonah. One glance at the wrathful face in the clouds above them and +they knew that escape was hopeless, so, clasping each other in a close +embrace, they were whirled away to death. Manitou strode away moodily +among the hills, and ever since that time the Lehigh has rolled through +the chasm that he made. The memory of Onoko is preserved in the name of a +glen and cascade a short distance above Mauch Chunk. + +It is not well to be too happy in this world. It rouses the envy of the +gods. + + + + +THE LAST REVEL IN PRINTZ HALL + +"Young man, I'll give thee five dollars a week to be care-taker in Printz +Hall," said Quaker Quidd to fiddler Matthews, on an autumn evening. + +Young Matthews had just been taunting the old gentleman with being afraid +to sleep on his own domain, and as the eyes of all the tavern loungers +were on him he could hardly decline so flattering a proposition, so, +after some hemming and hawing, he said he would take the Quaker at his +word. He played but two or three more tunes that evening, did Peter +Matthews, and played them rather sadly; then, as Quidd had finished his +mulled cider and departed, he took his homeward way in thoughtful mood. +Printz Hall stood in a lonely, weed-grown garden near Chester, +Pennsylvania, and thither repaired Peter, as next day's twilight shut +down, with a mattress, blanket, comestibles, his beloved fiddle, and a +flask of whiskey. Ensconcing himself in the room that was least +depressing in appearance he stuffed rags into the vacant panes, lighted a +candle, started a blaze in the fireplace, and ate his supper. + +"Not so bad a place, after all," mumbled Peter, as he warmed himself at +the fire and the flask; then, taking out his violin, he began to play. +The echo of his music emphasized the emptiness of the house, the damp got +into the strings so that they sounded tubby, and there were unintentional +quavers in the melody whenever the trees swung against the windows and +splashed them with rain, or when a distant shutter fell a-creaking. +Finally, he stirred the fire, bolted the door, snuffed his candle, took a +courageous pull at the liquor, flung off his coat and shoes, rolled his +blanket around him, stretched himself on the mattress, and fell asleep. +He was awakened by--well, he could not say what, exactly, only he became +suddenly as wide awake as ever he had been in his life, and listened for +some sound that he knew was going to come out of the roar of the wind and +the slamming, grating, and whistling about the house. Yes, there it was: +a tread and a clank on the stair. The door, so tightly bolted, flew open, +and there entered a dark figure with steeple-crowned hat, cloak, +jack-boots, sword, and corselet. The terrified fiddler wanted to howl, +but his voice was gone. "I am Peter Printz, governor-general of his +Swedish Majesty's American colonies, and builder of this house," said the +figure. "'Tis the night of the autumnal equinox, when my friends meet +here for revel. Take thy fiddle and come. Play, but speak not." + +And whether he wished or no, Peter was drawn to follow the figure, which +he could make out by the phosphor gleam of it. Down-stairs they went, +doors swinging open before them, and along corridors that clanged to the +stroke of the spectre's boot heels. Now they came to the ancient +reception-room, and as they entered it Peter was dazzled. The floor was +smooth with wax, logs snapped in the fireplace, though the flame was +somewhat blue, the old hangings and portraits looked fresh, and in the +light of wax candles a hundred people, in the brave array of old times, +walked, courtesied, and seemed to laugh and talk together. As the fiddler +appeared, every eye was turned on him in a disquieting way, and when he +addressed himself to his bottle, from every throat came a hollow laugh. +Finding his way to a chair he sank into it and put his instrument in +position. At the first note the couples took hands, and as he struck into +a jig they began to circle swiftly, leaping wondrous high. + +Faster went the music, for the whiskey was at work in Peter's noddle, and +wilder grew the dance. It was as if the storm had come in through the +windows and was blowing these people hither and yon, around and around. +The fiddler vaguely wondered at himself, for he had never played so well, +though he had never heard the tune before. Now loomed Governor Printz in +the middle of the room, and extending his hand he ordered the dance to +cease. "Thou bast played well, fiddler," he said, "and shalt be paid." +Then, at his signal, came two negro men tugging at a strong box that +Printz unlocked. It was filled with gold pieces. "Hold thy fiddle bag," +commanded the governor, and Peter did so, watching, open mouthed, the +transfer of a double handful of treasure from box to sack. Another such +handful followed, and another. At the fourth Peter could no longer +contain himself. He forgot the injunction not to speak, and shouted +gleefully, "Lord Harry! Here's luck!" + +There was a shriek of demon laughter, the scene was lost in darkness, and +Peter fell insensible. In the morning a tavern-haunting friend, anxious +to know if Peter had met with any adventure, entered the house and went +cautiously from room to room, calling on the watcher to show himself. +There was no response. At last he stumbled on the whiskey bottle, empty, +and knew that Peter must be near. Sure enough, there he lay in the great +room, with dust and mould thick on everything, and his fiddle smashed +into a thousand pieces. Peter on being awakened looked ruefully about +him, then sprang up and eagerly demanded his money. "What money?" asked +his friend. The fiddler clutched at his green bag, opened it, shook it; +there was nothing. Nor was there any delay in Peter's exit from that +mansion, and when, twenty-four hours after, the house went up in flames, +he averred that the ghosts had set it afire, and that he knew where they +brought their coals from. + + + + +THE TWO RINGS + +Gabrielle de St. Pierre, daughter of the commandant of Fort Le Boeuf, +now--Waterford, Pennsylvania, that the French had setup on the Ohio +River, was Parisian by birth and training, but American by choice, for +she had enjoyed on this lonesome frontier a freedom equal to that of the +big-handed, red-faced half-breeds, and she was as wild as an Indian in +her sports. Returning from a hunt, one day, she saw three men advancing +along the trail, and, as it was easy to see that they were not Frenchmen, +her guide slipped an arrow to the cord and discharged it; but Gabrielle +was as quick as he, for she struck the missile as it was leaving the bow +and it quivered harmlessly into a beech. The younger of the men who were +advancing--he was Harry Fairfax, of Virginia--said to his chief, "Another +escape for you, George. Heaven sent one of its angels to avert that +stroke." + +Washington, for it was he, answered lightly, and, as no other hostile +demonstrations were made, the new-comers pressed on to the fort, where +St. Pierre received them cordially, though he knew that their errand was +to claim his land on behalf of the English and urge the French to retire +to the southwest. The days that were spent in futile negotiation passed +all too swiftly for Fairfax, for he had fallen in love with Gabrielle. +She would not consent to a betrothal until time had tried his affection, +but as a token of friendship she gave him a stone circlet of Indian +manufacture, and received in exchange a ring that had been worn by the +mother of Fairfax. + +After the diplomats had returned the English resolved to enforce their +demand with arms, and Fairfax was one of the first to be despatched to +the front. + +Early in the campaign his company engaged the enemy near the Ohio River, +and in the heat of battle he had time to note and wonder at the strange +conduct of one of the French officers, a mere stripling, who seemed more +concerned to check the fire of his men than to secure any advantage in +the fight. Presently the French gave way, and with a cheer the English +ran forward to claim the field, the ruder spirits among them at once +beginning to plunder the wounded. A cry for quarter drew Fairfax with a +bound to the place whence it came, and, dashing aside a pilfering +soldier, he bent above a slight form that lay extended on the earth: the +young officer whose strange conduct had so surprised him. In another +moment he recognized his mother's ring on one of the slender hands. It +was Gabrielle. Her father had perished in the fight, but she had saved +her lover. + +In due time she went with her affianced to his home in Williamsburg, +Virginia, and became mistress of the Fairfax mansion. But she never liked +the English, as a people, and when, in later years, two sturdy sons of +hers asked leave to join the Continental army, she readily consented. + + + + +FLAME SCALPS OF THE CHARTIERS + +Before Pittsburg had become worthy to be called a settlement, a white man +rowed his boat to the mouth of Chartiers creek, near that present city. +He was seeking a place in which to make his home, and a little way +up-stream, where were timber, water, and a southern slope, he marked a +"tomahawk claim," and set about clearing the land. Next year his wife, +two children, and his brother came to occupy the cabin he had built, and +for a long time all went happily, but on returning from a long hunt the +brothers found the little house in ashes and the charred remains of its +occupants in the ruins. Though nearly crazed by this catastrophe they +knew that their own lives were in hourly peril, and they wished to live +until they could punish the savages for this crime. After burying the +bodies, they started east across the hills, leaving a letter on birch +bark in a cleft stick at the mouth of Chartiers creek, in which the +tragedy was recounted. + +This letter was afterward found by trappers. The men themselves were +never heard from, and it is believed that they, too, fell at the hands of +the Indians. Old settlers used to affirm that on summer nights the cries +of the murdered innocents could be heard in the little valley where the +cabin stood, and when storms were coming up these cries were often +blended with the yells of savages. More impressive are the death +lights--the will-o'-the-wisps--that wander over the scene of the tragedy, +and up and down the neighboring slopes. These apparitions are said to be +the spirits of husband and wife seeking each other, or going together in +search of their children; but some declare that in their upward streaming +rays it can readily be seen that they are the scalps of the slain. Two of +them have a golden hue, and these are the scalps of the children. From +beneath them drops of red seem to distil on the grass and are found to +have bedewed the flowers on the following morning. + + + + +THE CONSECRATION OF WASHINGTON + +In 1773 some of the Pietist monks were still living in their rude +monastery whose ruins are visible on the banks of the Wissahickon. Chief +among these mystics was an old man who might have enjoyed the wealth and +distinction warranted by a title had he chosen to remain in Germany, but +he had forsworn vanities, and had come to the new world to pray, to rear +his children, and to live a simple life. Some said he was an alchemist, +and many believed him to be a prophet. The infrequent wanderer beside the +romantic river had seen lights burning in the window of his cell and had +heard the solemn sound of song and prayer. On a winter night, when snow +lay untrodden about the building and a sharp air stirred in the trees +with a sound like harps, the old man sat in a large room of the place, +with his son and daughter, waiting. For a prophecy had run that on that +night, at the third hour of morning, the Deliverer would present himself. +In a dream was heard a voice, saying, "I will send a deliverer to the new +world who shall save my people from bondage, as my Son saved them from +spiritual death." The night wore on in prayer and meditation, and the +hours tolled heavily across the frozen wilderness, but, at the stroke of +three, steps were heard in the snow and the door swung open. The man who +entered was of great stature, with a calm, strong face, a powerful frame, +and a manner of dignity and grace. + +"Friends, I have lost my way," said he. "Can you direct me?" + +The old man started up in a kind of rapture. "You have not lost your +way," he cried, "but found it. You are called to a great mission. Kneel +at this altar and receive it." + +The stranger looked at the man in surprise and a doubt passed over his +face. "Nay, I am not mad," urged the recluse, with a slight smile. +"Listen: to-night, disturbed for the future of your country, and unable +to sleep, you mounted horse and rode into the night air to think on the +question that cannot be kept out of your mind, Is it lawful for the +subject to draw sword against his king? The horse wandered, you knew and +cared not whither, until he brought you here." + +"How do you know this?" asked the stranger, in amazement. + +"Be not surprised, but kneel while I anoint thee deliverer of this land." + +Moved and impressed, the man bowed his knee before one of his fellows for +the first time in his life. The monk touched his finger with oil, and +laying it on the brow of the stranger said, "Do you promise, when the +hour shall strike, to take the sword in defence of your country? Do you +promise, when you shall see your soldiers suffer for bread and fire, and +when the people you have led to victory shall bow before you, to remember +that you are but the minister of God in the work of a nation's freedom?" + +With a new light burning in his eyes, the stranger bent his head. + +"Then, in His name, I consecrate thee deliverer of this oppressed people. +When the time comes, go forth to victory, for, as you are faithful, be +sure that God will grant it. Wear no crown, but the blessings and honor +of a free people, save this." As he finished, his daughter, a girl of +seventeen, came forward and put a wreath of laurel on the brow of the +kneeling man. "Rise," continued the prophet, "and take my hand, which I +have never before offered to any man, and accept my promise to be +faithful to you and to this country, even if it cost my life." + +As he arose, the son of the priest stepped to him and girt a sword upon +his hip, and the old man held up his hands in solemn benediction. The +stranger laid his hand on the book that stood open on the altar and +kissed the hilt of his sword. "I will keep the faith," said he. At dawn +he went his way again, and no one knew his name, but when the fires of +battle lighted the western world America looked to him for its +deliverance from tyranny. Years later it was this spot that he revisited, +alone, to pray, and here Sir William Howe offered to him, in the name of +his king, the title of regent of America. He took the parchment and +ground it into a rag in the earth at his feet. For this was Washington. +MARION + +Blooming and maidenly, though she dressed in leather and used a rifle +like a man, was Marion, grand-daughter of old Abraham, who counted his +years as ninety, and who for many of those years had lived with his books +in the tidy cabin where the Youghiogheny and Monongahela come together. +This place stood near the trail along which Braddock marched to his +defeat, and it was one of the stragglers from this command, a bony +half-breed with red hair, called Red Wolf, that knocked at the door and +asked for water. Seeing no one but Marion he ventured in, and would have +tried not only to make free with the contents of the little house but +would have kissed the girl as well, only that she seized her rifle and +held him at bay. Still, the fellow would have braved a shot, had not a +young officer in a silver-laced uniform glanced through the open door in +passing and discovered the situation. He doffed his chapeau to Marion, +then said sternly to the rogue, "Retire. Your men are waiting for you." +Red Wolf slunk away, and Washington, for it was he, begged that he might +rest for a little time under the roof. + +This request was gladly complied with, both by the girl and by her +grandfather, who presently appeared, and the fever that threatened the +young soldier was averted by a day of careful nursing. Marion's innate +refinement, her gentleness, her vivacity, could not fail to interest +Washington, and the vision of her face was with him for many a day. He +promised to return, then he rode forward and caught up with the troops. +He survived the battle in which seven hundred of his comrades were shot +or tomahawked and scalped. One Indian fired at him eleven times, and five +of the bullets scratched him; after that the savage forbore, believing +that the officer was under Manitou's protection. When the retreating +column approached the place where Marion lived he hastened on in advance +to see her. The cabin was in ashes. He called, but there was no answer. +When he turned away, with sad and thoughtful mien, a brown tress was +wrapped around his finger, and in his cabinet he kept it until his death, +folded in a paper marked "Marion, July 11, 1755." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's On And Near The Delaware, by Charles M. 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