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diff --git a/old/cs03w10.txt b/old/cs03w10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..843698d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cs03w10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1378 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land, v3 +#3 in our series by Charles M. Skinner + +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: Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land (On And Near The Delaware) + +Author: Charles M. Skinner + +Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6608] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on December 31, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTHS-LEGENDS, BY SKINNER, V3 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + + 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 thatthese 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 THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTHS-LEGENDS, BY SKINNER, V3 *** + +********* This file should be named cs03w10.txt or cs03w10.zip ********* + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, cs03w11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, cs03w10a.txt + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + +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. 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