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diff --git a/9907-8.txt b/9907-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b4c85e7 --- /dev/null +++ b/9907-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4274 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Raid From Beausejour; And How The +Carter Boys Lifted The Mortgage, by Charles G. D. Roberts + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Raid From Beausejour; And How The Carter Boys Lifted The Mortgage + +Author: Charles G. D. Roberts + +Posting Date: December 8, 2011 [EBook #9907] +Release Date: February, 2006 +First Posted: October 29, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RAID FROM BEAUSEJOUR *** + + + + +Produced by Lee Dawei, Sandra Bannatyne and PG Distributed +Proofreaders. This file was produced from images generously +made available by the Canadian Institute for Historical +Microreproductions. + + + + + + + + + + +THE RAID FROM BEAUSÉJOUR + + +AND + + +HOW THE CARTER BOYS LIFTED THE MORTGAGE + + + +TWO STORIES OF ACADIE + +BY CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + +I. THE RAID FROM BEAUSÉJOUR. + + +CHAPTER I. +"BEAUBASSIN MUST GO!" + +CHAPTER II. +PIERRE VISITS THE ENGLISH LINES. + +CHAPTER III. +FRENCH AND ENGLISH. + +CHAPTER IV. +PREPARING FOR THE RAID. + +CHAPTER V. +THE MIDNIGHT MARCH. + +CHAPTER VI. +THE SURPRISE. + +CHAPTER VII. +PIERRE'S LITTLE ONE. + +CHAPTER VIII. +THE NEW ENGLANDERS. + + * * * * * + + + +II. HOW THE CARTER BOYS LIFTED THE MORTGAGE. + + +CHAPTER I. +CATCHING A TARTAR. + +CHAPTER II. +THE HAND OF THE LAW. + +CHAPTER III. +A PIECE OF ENGINEERING. + +CHAPTER IV. +A RESCUE AND A BATTLE. + +CHAPTER V. +THE TRANSFER OF THE MORTGAGE. + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + + +"BEAUBASSIN MUST GO!" +The family were gathered in the kitchen. + +THE RAID FROM BEAUSÉJOUR. +"They sped rapidly across the marsh." + +MR. HAND. +"When he reached the door he knocked imperiously." + + * * * * * + + + + + + +THE RAID FROM BEAUSÉJOUR. + + + +CHAPTER I. + +"BEAUBASSIN MUST GO!" + + +On the hill of Beauséjour, one April morning in the year 1750 A.D., +a little group of French soldiers stood watching, with gestures +of anger and alarm, the approach of several small ships across +the yellow waters of Chignecto Bay. The ships were flying British +colors. Presently they came to anchor near the mouth of the Missaguash, +a narrow tidal river about two miles to the southeast of Beauséjour. +There the ships lay swinging at their cables, and all seemed quiet +on board. The group on Beauséjour knew that the British would attempt +no landing for some hours, as the tide was scarce past the ebb, and +half a mile of red mire lay between the water and the firm green edges +of the marsh. + +The French soldiers were talking in loud, excited tones. As they spoke +a tallish lad drew near and listened eagerly. The boy, who was apparently +about sixteen or seventeen years of age, was clad in the rough, +yellow-gray homespun cloth of the Acadians. His name was Pierre +Lecorbeau, and he had just come from the village of Beaubassin to +carry eggs, milk, and cheeses to the camp on Beauséjour. The words +he now heard seemed to concern him deeply, for his dark face paled +anxiously as he listened. + +"Yes, I tell you," one of the soldiers was saying, "Beaubassin must go. +Monsieur the abbé has said so. You know, he came into camp this morning +about daybreak, and has been shut up with the colonel ever since. But he +talks so loud when he's angry that Jacques has got hold of all his plans. +His Reverence has brought two score of his Micmacs with him from Cobequid, +and has left 'em over in the woods behind Beaubassin. He swears that +sooner than let the English establish themselves in the village and +make friends with those mutton-head Acadians, he will burn the whole +place to the ground." + +"And he'll do it, too, will the terrible father!" interjected another +soldier. + +"When will the fun begin?" asked a third. + +"O!" responded the first speaker, "if the villagers make no fuss, and are +ready to cross the river and come and settle over here with us, they shall +have all the time they want for removing their stuff--all day, in fact. +But if they are stubborn, and would like to stay where they are, and +knuckle down to the English, they will see their roofs blazing over +their heads just about the time the first English boat puts off for +shore. If any one kicks, why, as like as not, one of His Reverence's +red skins will lift his hair for him." + +A chorus of exclamations, with much shrugging of shoulders, went round +the group at this; and one said thoughtfully: "When my fighting days +are over, and I get back to France, I shall pray all the saints to keep +Father Le Loutre in Acadie. With such fierce priests in old France +I should be afraid to go to mass!" + +Pierre listened to all this with a sinking heart. Not waiting to hear +more, he turned away, with the one thought of getting home as soon as +possible to warn his father of the destruction hanging over their +happy home. At this moment the soldier who had been doing most of the +talking caught sight of him, and called out: + +"Hullo, youngster, come here a minute!" + +Pierre turned back with obvious reluctance, and the speaker continued: + +"Your father, now, the good Antoine--whom may the saints preserve, +for his butter and his cheeses are right excellent--does he greatly +love this gentle abbé of yours?" + +The boy looked about him apprehensively, and blurted out, "No, +monsieur!" A flush mounted to his cheek, and he continued, in a voice +of bitterness, "We hate him!" Then, as if terrified with having spoken +his true thought, the lad darted away down the slope, and was soon +seen speeding at a long trot across the young grass of the marsh +to the ford of the Missaguash. + +At the time when our story opens, events in Acadie were fast ripening +to that unhappy issue known as "the expulsion of the Acadians," which +furnished Longfellow with the theme of "Evangeline." The Acadian +peninsula, now Nova Scotia, had been ceded by France to England. +The dividing line between French and English territory was the +Missaguash stream, winding through the marshes of the isthmus of +Chignecto which connects Acadie with the mainland. The Acadians had +become British subjects in name, but all the secret efforts of France +were devoted to preventing them from becoming so in sentiment. What is +now New Brunswick was still French territory, as were also Prince Edward +Island and Cape Breton. It was the hope of the French king, Louis XV, +that if the Acadians could be kept thoroughly French at heart Acadie +might yet be won back to shine on the front of New France. + +As the two nations were now at peace, any tampering with the allegiance +of the Acadians could only be carried on in secret. In the hands of +the French there remained just two forces to be employed--persuasion +and intimidation; and their religion was the medium through which +these forces were applied. The Acadians had their own priests. Such of +these as would lend themselves to the schemes of the government were +left in their respective parishes; others, more conscientious, were +transferred to posts where their scruples would be less inconvenient. +If any Acadian began to show signs of wishing to live his own life +quietly, careless as to whether a Louis or a George reigned over him, +he was promptly brought to terms by the threat that the Micmacs, who +remained actively French, would be turned loose upon him. Under such +a threat the unhappy Acadian made all haste to forget his partiality +for the lenient British rule. + +The right hand of French influence in Acadie at this time was the +famous Abbé Le Loutre, missionary to the Micmac Indians at Cobequid. +To this man's charge may well be laid the larger part of the misfortunes +which befell the Acadian people. He was violent in his hatred of the +English, unscrupulous in his methods, and utterly pitiless in the +carrying out of his project. His energy and his vindictiveness were +alike untiring; and his ascendency over his savage flock, who had been +Christianized in name only, gave a terrible weapon into his hands. +Liberal were the rewards this fierce priest drew from the coffers of +Quebec and of Versailles. + +In order to keep the symbol of French power and authority ever before +Acadian eyes, and to hinder the spread of English influence, a force +had been sent from Quebec, under the officers La Corne and Boishébert, +to hold the hill of Beauséjour, which was practically the gate of Acadie. +From Beauséjour the flourishing settlement of Beaubassin, on the English +side of the Missaguash, was overawed and kept to the French allegiance. +The design of the French was to induce all those Acadians whom they +could absolutely depend upon to remain in their homes within the English +lines, as a means whereby to confound the English counsels. Those, +however, who were suspected of leaning to the British, either from +sloth or policy, were to be bullied, coaxed, frightened, or compelled +by Le Loutre and his braves into forsaking their comfortable homes +and moving into new settlements on the French side of the boundary. + +But the English authorities at Halifax, after long and astonishing +forbearance, had begun to develop a scheme of their own; and the fleet +which, on this April morning, excited such consternation among the +watchers on Beauséjour, formed a part of it. Lord Cornwallis had decided +that an English force established in Beaubassin would be the most +effective check upon the influence of Beauséjour; and the vessels now +at anchor off the mouth of the red and winding Missaguash contained +a little army of four hundred British troops, under command of Major +Lawrence. This expedition had been sent out from Halifax with a +commendable secrecy, but neither its approach nor its purpose could +be kept hidden from the ever-alert Le Loutre. Since Beaubassin was +on British soil, no armed opposition could be made to the landing +of the British force; and the troops on Beauséjour could only gnaw +their mustaches and gaze in angry silence. But Le Loutre was resolved +that on the arrival of the British there should be no more Beaubassin. +The villagers were not to remain in such bad company! + +Pierre Lecorbeau was swift of foot. As he sped across the gray-green +levels, at this season of the year spongy with rains, he glanced over +his shoulder and saw the abbé, with his companions, just quitting the +log cabin which served as the quarters of Boishébert. The boy's brow +took on a yet darker shadow. When he reached the top of the dike that +bordered the Missaguash, he paused an instant and gazed seaward. +Pierre was eagerly French at heart, loving France, as he hated +Le Loutre, with a fresh and young enthusiasm; and as his eyes rested +on the crimson folds, the red, blue, and white crosses that streamed +from the topmasts of the English ships, his eyes flashed with keen +hostility. Then he vanished over the dike, and was soon splashing +through the muddy shallows of the ford. The water was fast deepening, +and he thought to himself, "If Monsieur the abbé doesn't hurry, +he will have to swim where I am walking but knee-deep!" + +There was another stretch of marsh for Pierre to cross ere reaching +the gentle and fruitful slopes on which the village was outspread. +On the very edge of the village, halfway up a low hill jutting out +into the Missaguash marsh, stood the cabin of Pierre's father amid +its orchards. There was little work to do on the farm at this season. +The stock had all been tended, and the family were gathered in the +kitchen when Pierre, breathless and gasping, burst in with his evil +tidings. + +Now in the household of Antoine Lecorbeau, and in Beaubassin generally, +not less than among the garrison of Beauséjour, the coming of the +English fleet had produced a commotion. But in the heart of Lecorbeau +there was less anxiety than curiosity. This temperate and sagacious +farmer, had preserved an appearance of unimpeachable fidelity to the +French, but in his inmost soul he appreciated the tolerance of the +British rule, and longed to see it strengthened. If the visitors were +coming to stay, as was rumored to be the case, then, to Antoine +Lecorbeau's thinking, the day was a lucky one for Beaubassin. He +thought how he would snap his fingers at Le Loutre and his Micmacs. +But he was beginning to exult too soon. + +When Pierre told his story, and the family realized that their kindly +home was doomed, the little dark kitchen, with its wooden ceiling, was +filled with lamentations. Such of the children as were big enough to +understand the calamity wept aloud, and the littler ones cried from +sympathy. Pierre's father for a moment appeared bowed down beneath +the stroke, but the mother, a stout, dark, gentle-faced woman, suddenly +stopped her sobs and cried out in a shrill voice, with her queer Breton +accent: + +"Antoine, Antoine, we will defy the wicked, cruel abbé, and pray the +English to protect us from him. Did not Father Xavier, just before he +was sent away, tell us that the English were just, and that it was our +duty to be faithful to them? How can we go out into this rough spring +weather with no longer a roof to cover us?" + +This appeal roused the Acadian. His shrewd sense and knowledge of those +with whom he had to deal came at once to his aid. + +"Nay, nay, mother!" said he, rising and passing his gnarled hand over +his forehead, "it is even as Pierre has said. We must be the first +to do the bidding of the abbé, and must seem to do it of our own accord. +It will be hours yet ere the English be among us, and long ere Le Loutre +will have had time to work his will upon those who refuse to do his +bidding. Do thou get the stuff together. This night we must sleep +on the shore of the stream and find us a new home at Beauséjour. +To the sheds, Pierre, and yoke the cattle. Hurry, boy, hurry, for +there is everything to do and small time for the doing of it." + +From Lecorbeau's cottage the news of Le Loutre's decree spread like +wildfire through the settlement. Some half dozen reckless characters +declared at once in the abbé's favor, and set out across the marsh to +welcome him and offer their aid. A few more, a very few, set themselves +reluctantly to follow the example of Antoine Lecorbeau, who bore a +great name in the village for his wise counsels. But most of the +villagers got stubborn, and vowed that they would stay by their homes, +whether it was Indians or English bid them move. The resolution of +these poor souls was perhaps a little shaken as a long line of painted +and befeathered Micmacs, appearing from the direction of the wooded +hills of Jolicoeur, drew stealthily near and squatted down in the +outermost skirts of the village. But Beaubassin had not had the experience +with Le Loutre that had fallen to the lot of other settlements, and +the unwise ones hardened their hearts in their decision. + +As Le Loutre, with his little party, entered the village, he met Antoine +Lecorbeau setting out for Beauséjour with a huge cartload of household +goods, drawn by a yoke of oxen. The abbé's fierce, close-set eyes +gleamed with approval, and he accosted the old man in a cordial voice. + +"This is indeed well done, Antoine. I love thy zeal for the grand cause. +The saints will assuredly reward thee, and I will myself do for thee the +little that lies in my poor power! But why so heavy of cheer, man?" + +"Alas, father!" returned Lecorbeau, sadly, "this is a sorrowful day. +It is a grievous hardship to forsake one's hearth, and these fruitful +fields, and this well bearing orchard that I have planted with my own +hands. But better this than to live in humiliation and in jeopardy every +hour; for I learn that these English are coming to take possession +and to dwell among us!" + +The abbé, as Lecorbeau intended, quite failed to catch the double +meaning in this speech, which he interpreted in accordance with his +own feelings. Like many another unscrupulous deceiver, Le Loutre was +himself not difficult to deceive. + +"Well, cheer up, Antoine!" he replied, "for thou shalt have good lands +on the other side of the hill; and thou wilt count thyself blest when +thou seest what shall happen to some of these slow beasts here, who care +neither for France nor the Church so long as they be let alone to sleep +and fill their bellies." + +As the great cart went creaking on, Lecorbeau looked over his shoulder, +with an inscrutable gaze, and watched the retreating figure of the priest. + +"Thou mayst be a good servant to France," he murmured, "but it is an ill +service, a sorry service, thou dost the Church!" + +Within the next few hours, while Antoine and his family had been getting +nearly all their possessions across the Missaguash, first by the fords, +and then by the aid of the great scow which served for a ferry at high +tide, the tireless abbé had managed to coax or threaten nearly every +inhabitant of the village. His Indians stalked after him, apparently +heedless of everything. His few allies among the Acadians, who had +assumed the Indian garb for the occasion, scattered themselves over +the settlement repeating the abbé's exhortations; but the villagers, +though with anxious hearts, held to their cabins, refusing to stir, +and watching for the English boats to come ashore. They did not realize +how intensely in earnest and how merciless the abbé could be, for they +had nothing but hearsay and his angry face to judge by. But their +awakening was soon to come. + +Early in the afternoon the tide was nigh the full. At a signal from +the masthead of the largest ship there spread a sudden activity +throughout the fleet, and immediately a number of boats were lowered. +For this the abbé had been waiting. Snatching a blazing splinter +of pine from the hearth of a cottage close to the church, he rushed +up to the homely but sacred building about which clustered the warmest +affections of the villagers. At the same moment several of his followers +appeared with armfuls of straw from a neighboring barn. This inflammable +stuff, with some dry brush, was piled into the porch and fired by the +abbé's own hand. The structure was dry as tinder, and almost instantly +a volume of smoke rolled up, followed by long tongues of eager flame, +which looked strangely pallid and cruel in the afternoon sunshine. +A yell broke from the Indians, and then there fell a silence, broken +only by the crackling of the flames. The English troops, realizing +in a moment what was to occur, bent to their oars with redoubled vigor, +thinking to put a stop to the shameless work. And the name of Le Loutre +was straightway on their lips. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +PIERRE VISITS THE ENGLISH LINES. + + +The ships were a mile from shore, and the shore nearly a league from +the doomed village. When that column of smoke and flame rolled up over +their beloved church the unhappy Acadian villagers knew, too late, +the character of the man with whom they had to deal. It was no time +for them to look to the ships for help. They began with trembling haste +to pack their movables, while Le Loutre and a few of his supporters +went from house to house with great coolness, deaf to all entreaties, +and behind the feet of each sprang up a flame. A few of the more stolid +or more courageous of the villagers still held out, refusing to move +even at the threat of the firebrand; but these gave way when the Indians +came up, yelling and brandishing their tomahawks. Le Loutre proclaimed +that anyone refusing to cross the lines and take refuge at Beauséjour +should be scalped. The rest, he said, might retain possession of just +so much of their stuff as they could rescue from the general conflagration. +The English, he swore, should find nothing of Beaubassin except its ashes. + +Presently the thin procession of teams, winding its gloomy way across +the plains of the Missaguash toward Beauséjour, became a hurrying throng +of astonished and wailing villagers, each one carrying with him on his +back or in his rude ox cart the most precious of his movable possessions; +while the women, with loud sobbing, dragged along by their hands the +frightened and reluctant little ones. By another road, leading into +the wooded hills where the villagers were wont to cut their winter +firewood, a few of the more hardy and impetuous of the Acadians, +disdaining to bend to the authority of Le Loutre, fled away into the +wilds with their muskets and a little bread; and these the Indians +dared not try to stop. + +The English boats, driven furiously, dashed high up the slippery beach, +and the troops swarmed over the brown and sticky dikes. Major Lawrence +led the way at a run across the marshes; but the soft soil clogged +their steps, and a wide bog forced them far to one side. When they +reached the outskirts of the village the sorrowful dusk of the April +evening was falling over the further plains and the full tide behind +them, but the sky in front was ablaze. There was little wind, and the +flames shot straight aloft, and the smoke hung on the scene in dense +curtains, doubling the height of the hill behind the village, and +reflecting back alike the fierce heat and the dreadful glare. At one +side, skulking behind some outlying barns just bursting into flame, +a few Indians were sighted and pursued. The savages fired once on their +pursuers, and then, with a yell of derision and defiance, disappeared +behind the smoke. The English force went into camp with the conflagration +covering its rear, and philosophically built its camp fires and cooked +its evening meal with the aid of the burning sheds and hayricks. + +As Pierre Lecorbeau drove his ox cart up the slope of Beauséjour toward +the commandant's cabin, where his father was awaiting him, he halted +and looked back while the blowing oxen took breath. His mother, who had +stayed to the last, was sitting in the cart on a pile of her treasures. +The children had been taken to a place of safety by their father, who +had left the final stripping of the home to his wife and boy, while +he went ahead to arrange for the night's shelter. Antoine Lecorbeau +had lost his home, his farm, his barns, his orchards, and his easy +satisfaction with life; but thanks to Pierre's promptitude and his own +shrewdness he had saved all his household stuff, his cattle, his hay +and grain, and the little store of gold coin which had been hidden +under the great kitchen hearth. His house was the last to be fired, +and even now, as Pierre and his mother stood watching, long red horns +of flame were pushed forth, writhing, from the low gables. The two were +silent, save for the woman's occasional heavy sobs. Presently the roof +fell in, and then the boy's wet eyes flashed. A body of the English +troops could be seen pitching tents in the orchard. "Mother!" said +the boy, "what if we had stayed at home and waited for these English +to protect us? They are our enemies, these English; and the abbé is +our enemy; and the Indians are our enemies; and our only friends +are--yonder!" + +As Pierre spoke he turned his back on the lurid sky and pointed to the +crest of Beauséjour. There, in long, dark lines, stood nearly a thousand +French troops, drawn up on parade. The light from the ruined village +gleamed in blood-red flashes from their steel, and over them the banner +of France flapped idly with its lilies. + +That night, because Antoine Lecorbeau was a leader among the villagers +of Beaubassin, he and his family had shelter in a small but warm stable +where some of the officers' horses were quartered. Their goods were +stacked and huddled together in the open air, and Pierre and his father +cut boughs and spread blankets to cover them from the weather. In the +warm straw of the stable, hungry and homesick, the children clung about +their mother and wept themselves to sleep. But they were fortunate +compared with many of their acquaintances, whom Pierre could see +crowded roofless about their fires, in sheltered hollows and under +the little hillside copses. The night was raw and showery, and there +was not houseroom in Beauséjour for a tenth part of the homeless Acadians. + +By dawn Pierre was astir. He rose from his cramped position under a +manger, stretched himself, shook the chaff and dust from his thick black +hair, and stepped out into the chilly morning. The cattle had been hobbled +and allowed to feed at large, but the boy's eye soon detected that his pet +yoke had disappeared. Nowhere on Beauséjour could they be found, and he +concluded they must have freed themselves completely and wandered back +home. Pierre had no reason to fear the English, but he dreaded lest the +troops should take a fancy to make beef out of his fat oxen; so, after +a word to his father, he set out for the burned village. Early as it was, +however, Beauséjour was all astir when he left, and he wondered what the +soldiers were so busy about. + +As Pierre approached the smoldering ruins of his home, an English soldier, +standing on guard before the tents in the orchard, ordered him to halt. +Pierre didn't understand the word, but he comprehended the tone in which +it was uttered. He saw his beloved oxen standing with bowed heads by +the water trough, and he tried to make the soldier understand that he +had come for those oxen, which belonged to him. On this point Pierre +spoke very emphatically, as if to make his French more intelligible +to the Englishman. But his struggles were all in vain. The soldier +looked first puzzled, then vacuously wise; then he knit his brows and +looked at the oxen. Finally he laughed, took Pierre by the elbow, and +led him toward one of the tents. At this moment a pleasant-faced +young officer came out of the tent, and, taking in the situation +at a glance, addressed Pierre in French: + +"Well, my boy," said he, kindly, "what are you doing here so early?" + +Pierre became polite at once; so surely does courtesy find courtesy. + +"Sir," said he, taking off his hat, "I have come after my father's oxen, +those beasts yonder, which strayed back here in the night. This was our +home yesterday." + +Pierre's voice quivered as he spoke these last words. + +The officer looked very much interested. + +"Certainly," said he, "you shall have your oxen. We don't take anything +that doesn't belong to us. But tell me, why is not this your home to-day? +Why have you all burnt down your houses and run away? We are the true +friends of all the Acadians. What had you to fear?" + +"_We_ didn't do it!" replied the boy. "It was monsieur the abbé and +his Indians; and they threatened to scalp us all if we didn't leave +before you came!" + +The young officer's face grew very stern at the mention of the abbé, +whom he knew to mean Le Loutre. + +"Ah!" he muttered, "I see it all now! We might have expected as much +from that snake! But tell me," he continued to Pierre, "what is going on +over on the hill this morning? They are not going to attack us, are +they? We are on English soil here. They know that!" + +"I don't know," said Pierre, looking about him, and over at Beauséjour. +"They _were_ very busy getting things ready for something when I left. +But I wanted my oxen, and I didn't wait to ask. May I take them away +now, monsieur?" + +"Very well," answered the officer, and he offered Pierre a shilling. +To his astonishment Pierre drew himself up and wouldn't touch it. The +young man still held it out to him, saying: "Why, it is only a little +memento! See, it has a hole in it, and you can keep it to remember +Captain Howe by. I have many friends among your people!" + +"My heart is French," replied Pierre, with resolution. "I cannot take +money from an enemy." + +"But we English are _not_ your enemies. We wish to do you good, to win +your love. It is that wicked Le Loutre who is your enemy." + +"Yes," assented Pierre, very heartily. "We all hate him. And many of us +love the English, and would be friends if we dared; but _I_ do not +love any but the Holy Saints and the French. I love France!" and the +boy's voice rang with enthusiasm. + +A slight shade of sadness passed over the young captain's earnest face. +Edward Howe was known throughout Acadia as a lover of the Acadians, and +as one who had more than once stood between them and certain well-deserved +restraint. He was attracted by Pierre's intelligence of face and +respectful fearlessness of demeanor, and he determined to give the +young enthusiast something to think about. + +"Do you not know," said he, "that your beloved France is at the back +of all this misery?" And he pointed to the smoking ruins of the village. +"Do you not know that it is the gold of the French king that pays +Le Loutre and his savages? Do you not know that while King Louis +instructs his agents in Quebec and Louisburg and yonder at Beauséjour, +to excite the Indians, and certain of your own people too, to all sorts +of outrages against peaceful English settlers, he at the same time puts +all the blame upon _your_ people, and swears that he does his utmost +to restrain you? O, you are so sorely deceived, and some day you will +open your eyes to it, but perhaps too late! My heart bleeds for your +unhappy people." + +The young man turned back into his tent, after a word to the sentry who +had brought Pierre in. The boy stood a few moments in irresolution, +wanting to speak again to the young officer, whose frank eyes and +winning manner had made a deep impression upon him. But his faith in +the France of his imagination was not daunted. Presently, speaking to +his oxen in a tone of command, he drove the submissive brutes away +across the marsh. + +As he left the English camp a bugle rang out shrilly behind him, and +a great stir arose in the lines. He glanced about him, and continued +his way. Then he observed that the slopes of Beauséjour were dark with +battalions on the march, and he realized with a thrill that the lilies +were advancing to give battle. In another moment, looking behind him, +he saw the scarlet lines of the English already under arms, and a +signal gun boomed from the ships. + +Trembling with excitement, and determined to carry a musket in the coming +fray, Pierre urged his oxen into a gallop, and made a detour to get +around the French army. By the time he got back to his stable, and +possessed himself of his father's musket, and started down the hill +at a run, expecting every moment to hear his father's voice calling him +to return, the soldiers of France had reached the river. But here they +halted, making no move to cross into English territory. To have done so +would have been a violation of the existing treaty between France and +England. + +Major Lawrence, however, did not suspect that the French movement was +merely what is known as a demonstration. He took it for granted that +the French were waiting only for some favorable condition of the tide +in order to cross over and attack him in his position. He saw that the +French force three or four times outnumbered his own; and as his +mission was one of pacification, he decided not to shed blood uselessly. +He ordered a retreat to the ship. The men went very reluctantly, hating +to seem overawed; but Major Lawrence explained the situation, and +declared that, Beaubassin being burned, there was no special object +in remaining. He further promised that later in the summer he would come +again, with a force that would be large enough for the undertaking, and +would build a strong fort on the hill at whose foot they were now +encamped. Then the red files marched sullenly back to their boats; +while a body of Indians, reappearing from the woods, yelled and danced +their defiance, and the French across the river shouted their mocking +ballads. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +FRENCH AND ENGLISH. + + +When it was seen that the English were actually reembarking, a fierce +indignation broke out against Le Loutre for the useless cruelty and +precipitancy of his action. The French troops had some little feeling +for the houseless villagers, and they were angered at being deprived +of their chief and most convenient source of supplies. The fierce abbé +insisted that the movement of the English was a ruse of some sort; +but when the ships got actually under way, with a brisk breeze in their +sails, he withdrew in deep chagrin, and returned with his Micmacs +to his village on the muddy Shubenacadie. Relieved of his dreaded +presence the Acadians set bravely to work building cabins on the new +lands which were allotted them back of Beauséjour, and along the +Missaguash, Au Lac, and Tantramar streams. A few were rash enough +to return to their former holdings in Beaubassin, rebuilding among +the ashes; but not so Antoine Lecorbeau. On the northwest slope of +Beauséjour, where a fertile stretch of uplands skirts the commencement +of the Great Tantramar marsh, he obtained an allotment, and laid his +hearthstone anew. The burning of Beaubassin had not made him love +France the more, but it had cooled his liking for the English. The words +of Captain Howe, nevertheless, which Pierre had repeated to him +faithfully, lay rankling in his heart, and he harbored a bitter +suspicion as to the good faith of the French authorities. He saw that +they professed disapproval of the methods of Le Loutre, but he began +to doubt the sincerity of this disapproval. Pierre, however, was +troubled by no such misgivings. + +The summer, though a laborious one, slipped by not at all unpleasantly. +Mother Lecorbeau soon had a roof to shelter her little brood of swarthy +roisterers; a rough shed, built over a hillside spring in a group of +willows, served as the dairy wherein she made the butter and cheese +so appreciated by the warriors on Beauséjour. Lecorbeau got in crops +both on his new lands and on the old farm, and saw the apples ripening +abundantly around the ruins of his home in Beaubassin. As for Pierre, +in his scanty hours of leisure he was always to be found on the hill, +where an old color sergeant, pleased with his intelligence and his +ambition to become a soldier of France, was teaching him to read and +write. This friendly veteran was, in his comrades' eyes, a marvel of +clerkly skill, for in those days the ability to read and write was by +no means a universal possession among the soldiers of France. + +One evening in the first of the autumn, when here and there on the +dark Minudie hills could be seen the scarlet gleam of an early-turning +maple, just as the bay had become a sheet of glowing copper under the +sunset, a rosy sail appeared on the horizon. The pacing sentry on the +brow of Beauséjour stopped to watch it. Presently another rose into +view, and another, and another; and then Beauséjour knew that the English +fleet had returned. Before the light faded out the watchers had counted +seventeen ships; and when the next morning broke the whole squadron was +lying at anchor about three miles from the shore. + +With the first of daylight Pierre and his father hastened up the hill +to find out what was to be done. To their astonishment they learned +that the troops on Beauséjour would do just nothing, unless the English +should attempt to land on the French side of the Missaguash. They had +received from Quebec a caution not to transgress openly any treaty +obligations. To Antoine Lecorbeau this news seemed not unwelcome. +He was for quiet generally. But Pierre showed in his face, and, indeed, +proclaimed aloud, his disappointment. The old sergeant laughed at his +eager pupil, and remarked: + +"O, my young fire eater, _you_ shall have a chance at the beefeaters +if you like! His Reverence the abbé arrived in Beauséjour last night about +midnight, and he's going to fight, if we can't. Treaties don't bother him +much. He's got all his Micmacs with him, I guess. There they go now--the +other side of the stream. In a bit you'll see them at work strengthening +the line of the dike. They're going to give it to the beefeaters pretty +hot when they try to come ashore. There's your chance now for a brush. +His Reverence will take you, fast enough." + +"Pierre shall do nothing of the sort, whether he wants to or not," +interrupted Lecorbeau, with sharp emphasis. + +"I wouldn't fight under him!" ejaculated the boy, with a ring of scorn +in his voice. + +The old sergeant shrugged his shoulders. + +"O, very well," said he. "I'm of the same way of thinking myself. But all +your people are not so particular. Look now, over at the dike. Did you +ever see an Indian that could handle the shovel as those fellows are +doing. I tell you, half those Indians are just your folks dressed-up, +and painted red and black, and with feathers stuck in their hair. +The abbé ropes a lot of you into this business, and you're lucky, +Antoine Lecorbeau, that he hasn't called on you or Pierre yet." + +At this suggestion Lecorbeau looked grim, but troubled. As for Pierre, +however, with a boy's confidence, he exclaimed: + +"Just let him call. I think I see him getting us!" + +Yet, for all his bitterness against Le Loutre, Pierre felt the fever +of battle stir within him as he watched the preparations behind the long, +red Missaguash dike. His father, seeing the excitement in his flashing +eyes and flushed countenance, exacted from him then and there a promise +that he would take no part in the approaching conflict. + +On that September day the tide was full about noon, and with the tide +came in the English ships. Knowing the anchorage, they came right into +the river's mouth, in a long, ominously silent line. The mixed rabble +of Le Loutre crowded low behind their breastworks; and hundreds of eager +eyes on Beauséjour strained their sight to catch the first flash of +the battle. + +"Do you see that little knoll yonder with the poplars on it?" said Pierre +to his father and the sergeant. "Let's go over there and hide in the +bushes, and we can see twice as well as we can from here. There's +a little creek makes round it on the far side, and we'll be just +as safe as here!" + +"Yes," responded the sergeant, "it's a fine advanced post. We'll just +slip down round the foot of the hill as if we were bound for the dikes, +so there won't be a crowd following us." + +[Illustration "They sped rapidly across the marsh."] + +As the three sped rapidly across the marsh, Antoine Lecorbeau said +significantly to his son: + +"Do you see how these English spare our people? They haven't fired +a single big gun, yet with the metal on board their ships they could +knock those breastworks and the men behind them into splinters. They +could batter down the dike, and let the tide right in on them." + +"Aye! aye!" assented the old sergeant, "they're a brave foe, and +I would we could have a brush with them. They're landing now without +firing a shot!" + +At this moment the irregular firing from the breastwork grew more rapid +and sustained, and our three adventurers hurried on to the knoll, eager +for a better view. They found the post already occupied by half a dozen +interested villagers, who paid no attention to the new arrivals. + +By this time the English boats had reached the water's edge. On this +occasion Major Lawrence had nearly eight hundred men at his command, +and was resolved to carry his enterprise to a successful issue. +The troops did not wait to form, under the now galling fire from the +breastwork, but swarmed up the red slope in loose skirmishing order, +pouring in a hot dropping fire as they ran. As they reached the dike +a ringing cheer broke out, and they dashed at the awkward and slippery +steep. + +A few reached the top, and for a moment the English colors crowned the +embankment. But at the same time the painted defenders rose with a yell, +and beat back their assailants with gunstock and hatchet. The red flag +was seized by a tall savage, and Pierre gave a little cry of excitement +as he thought the enemies' colors were captured. But his enthusiasm was +premature. The stripling who carried the colors, finding no chance +to use his sword, grasped the Indian about the waist and dragged him +off the dike, when he was promptly made captive. + +Now the English withdrew a few paces, held back with difficulty by +their officers, and one, whom the watchers on the knoll took for Lawrence +himself was seen giving orders, standing with his back half turned to +the breastwork, as undisturbed as if the shower of Micmac bullets were +a snowstorm. Presently the redcoats charged again, this time slowly +and silently, in long, regular lines. + +"Ah!" exclaimed the sergeant under his breath, "they'll go through +this time. That advance means business!" + +In fact, they did go through. At the very foot of the dike a single +volley flashed forth along the whole line, momentarily clearing the top +of the barrier. The next instant the dike was covered with scarlet +figures. Along its crest there was a brief struggle, hand to hand, +and then the braves of Le Loutre were seen fleeing through the smoke. + +The Missaguash is a stream with as many windings as the storied Meander, +and about half a mile beyond the lines which the English had just carried +the contortions of the channel brought another and almost parallel ridge +of dike. Over this the flying rout of Micmacs and Acadians clambered with +alacrity, while the English forces halted where they found themselves. + +To the little knot of watchers on the knoll the contest had seemed +too brief, the defeat of their people most inglorious. + +"As a fighting man monsieur the abbé makes rather a poor show, however +good he may be at burning people's houses!" exclaimed Pierre, in a voice +that trembled with a mixture of enthusiasm for the cause, and scorn +for him who had it in charge. + +"You will find, my son," said Lecorbeau, sententiously, "that the cruel +and pitiless are often without real courage!" + +"O!" laughed the old sergeant, "I'll wager my boots that His Reverence +is not in the fight at all. It's likely one of his understrappers, Father +Germain, perhaps, or that cutthroat half-breed, Etienne Le Bâtard, +or Father Laberne, or the big Chief Cope himself, is leading the fight +and carrying out the saintly abbé's orders." + +"Fools! Fools and revilers!" exclaimed a deep and cutting voice behind +them; and turning with a start they saw the dreaded Le Loutre standing +in their midst. Lecorbeau and Pierre became pale with apprehension and +superstitious awe, while the old sergeant laughed awkwardly, abashed +though not dismayed. + +The abbé's sallow face worked with anger, and for a moment his narrow +eyes blazed upon Lecorbeau and seemed to read his very soul. Then, as +he glanced across the marsh, his countenance changed. A fanatic zeal +illumined it, taking away half its repulsiveness. + +"Nay!" he cried, "I am _not_ there in the battle. France and the Church +need me, and what am I that I should risk, to be thought bold, a life +that I must rather hold sacred. Should a chance ball strike me down +which of you traitors and self-seekers is there that could do my work? +Which of you could govern my fierce flock?" + +To this tirade, which showed them their tormentor in a new light, Pierre +and his father could say nothing. Wondering, but not believing, they +exchanged stolen glances. It is probable that the abbé, in his present +mood, was sincere; for in a fanatic one must allow for the wildest +inconsistencies. The old sergeant, more skeptical than the Acadians, +was, at the same time more polite. He hastened to murmur, apologetically: + +"Pardon me, Reverend Father! I see that I misunderstood you!" + +Le Loutre made no answer, for now events on the battlefield were +enchaining every eye. + +Behind the second line of dikes the Micmacs and Acadians had again +intrenched themselves. Major Lawrence, perceiving this, at once ordered +another charge. Then the Indians resolved on a bold and perilous stroke. + +The right of their position was nearest the attacking force. At this +point, acting under a sudden inspiration, they began to cut the dike. +Almost instantly a breach began to appear, under the attack of a dozen +diking spades wielded with feverish energy. + +An involuntary cry of consternation went up from the group of Acadians +on the knoll, but the grim abbé shouted, "Well done! Well done! my brave, +my true Laberne!" And he rushed from his hiding place on some new errand, +leaving the air lighter for his absence. + +The English detected at once the maneuver of their opponents. They broke +into a fierce rush, determined to stop the work of destruction before +it should be too late. From his left Major Lawrence threw out a few +skilled marksmen, who concentrated a telling fire upon the diggers, +delaying but not putting an end to the furious energy of their efforts. +Already a stream of turbid water was stealing through. Presently it +gathered force and volume, spreading out swiftly across the marsh, +and at the same time the crest of the dike was fringed with smoke +and the pale flashes of the muskets. + +The tide was now on the ebb, and a current set strongly against the point +of dike where the diggers were at work. This fact tended to make the +results of their work the more immediately apparent, rendering mighty +assistance to every stroke of the spade. At the same time, however, +it told heavily in favor of the English, for, in order to counteract +the special stream, the dike at this point was of great additional +strength. Moreover, in the tidal rivers of that region the ebb and +flow are so vast and so swift, that the English hoped the tide would +be below a dangerous level before the destruction of the dike could +be accomplished. + +In this hope they were right. Ere they had more than half crossed +the stretch of marsh the waters of the Missaguash were oozing about +their ankles. But as they neared the dike it had grown no deeper. +They saw the diggers throw down their spades, pick up their muskets, +and fall in with their comrades behind the dike. The fire from the top +of the barrier ceased, and in silence, with loaded weapons, the Indians +awaited the assault. From this it was plain to Major Lawrence that the +defense was in the hands of a European. He straightened out his lines +before the charge. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +PREPARING FOR THE RAID. + + +"Thank heaven!" ejaculated Antoine Lecorbeau, "they have saved +the dike!" + +In Acadian eyes to tamper with the dikes was sacrilege. + +"Well!" said the sergeant, with a somewhat cynical chuckle, "at least +the English have got their feet wet!" + +Pierre broke off his laugh in the middle, for at this moment the red +lines charged. The deadly volley which rang out along the summit for +an instant staggered the assailants; but they rallied and went over +the barrier like a scarlet wave. The dike was much easier to scale when +thus approached on the landward side. + +And now ensued a fierce hand-to-hand struggle. The spectators could +hardly contain their excitement as they saw their party, fighting +doggedly, forced back step by step to the edge of the water. Some, +slipping in the ooze of the retreating tide, fell and were carried +down by the current. These soon swam ashore--discreetly landing on +the further side of the river. The rest seeing the struggle hopeless, +now broke and fled with a celerity that the English could not hope +to rival. Along the flats, for perhaps a mile, a detachment of the +English pursued them till a bugle sounded their recall. Then Major +Lawrence, finding himself master of the field, directed his march +to that low hill where he had encamped the previous spring, and a +fatigue party was set to repair the dike. + +On this hill the English proceeded to erect a fortified post, which +they called Fort Lawrence; and in an incredibly short time the red flag +was waving from its battlements, not three miles distant from Beauséjour, +and an abiding provocation to the hot-headed soldiery of France. As for +Le Loutre, after his disastrous repulse, he yielded to the inevitable, +and gave up all thought of preventing the establishment of Fort Lawrence. +But he was not discouraged; he was merely changing his tactics. + +The Missaguash being the dividing line between the two powers, he +caused his Acadian and Indian followers to enrage the English by petty +depredations, by violations of the frontier, by attacks and ambuscades. +Soon the English were provoked into retaliations; whereupon the regulars +of Beauséjour found an excuse for taking part, and the turbid Missaguash +became the scene of such perpetual skirmishes that its waters ran redder +than ever. + +Even then there might have been erelong an attempt at reconciliation, +to which end the efforts of Captain Howe were ceaselessly directed. But +Le Loutre made this forever impossible by an outrage so fiendish as to +call forth the execration of even his unscrupulous employers. One morning +the sentries on Fort Lawrence were somewhat surprised to see one who was +apparently an officer from the garrison of Beauséjour, with several +followers, approaching the banks of the Missaguash with a flag of truce. +The party reached the dike, and the bearer of the flag waved it as if +desiring to hold a parley. His followers remained behind at a respectful +distance, standing knee-deep in the heavy aftermath of the fertile marsh. + +In prompt response to this advance Captain Howe and several companions, +under a white flag, set out from Fort Lawrence to see what was wanted. +When Howe reached the river he detected something in the supposed +officer's dress and language which excited his suspicions of the man's +good faith, and he turned away as if to retrace his step's. Instantly +there flashed out a volley of musketry from behind the dike on the +further shore, and the beloved young captain fell mortally wounded. +The pretended officer was one of Le Loutre's supporters, the Micmac chief, +Jean Baptiste Cope, and the fatal volley came from a band of Micmacs +who had, under cover of darkness, concealed themselves behind the dike. + +The assassins kept up a sharp fire on the rest of the English party, +but failed to prevent them from carrying off their dying captain to the +fort. The scene had been witnessed with horror by the French forces +on Beauséjour, and their officers sent to Fort Lawrence to express their +angry reprobation of the atrocious deed. They openly laid it to the +charge of Le Loutre, declaring that such a man was capable of anything; +and for a few weeks Le Loutre did not care to show himself at Beauséjour. +At last he came, and met the accusations of the French officers with the +most solemn declaration that the whole thing had been done without his +knowledge or sanction. The Indians, he swore, had done it by reason of +their misguided but fervent religious zeal, to take vengeance on Howe +for something he was reported to have said injurious and disrespectful +to the Church. "The zeal of my flock," said he, solemnly, "is, perhaps, +something too rash, but it springs from ardent and simple natures!" + +"Aye! aye!" said the old sergeant to his companions-in-arms, when he +heard of the abbé's explanations, "but I happened to recognize His +Reverence myself in the party that did the murder." + +There were many more on Beauséjour whose eyes had revealed to them the +same truth as that so bluntly stated by the sergeant. But the abbé was +most useful--was, in fact, necessary, to do those deeds which no one +else would stoop to; and, therefore, his explanation was accepted. +At this time, moreover, there was a work to be done at Beauséjour +requiring the assistance of the abbé's methods. Orders had been sent +from Quebec that a strong fort should straightway be built at Beauséjour, +as an offset to Fort Lawrence. And this fort was to be built by the +ill-fated Acadians. + +The labor of the Acadians was supposed to be voluntary. That is, they +were invited to assist, without pay other than daily rations; and those +who appeared reluctant were presently interviewed by the indefatigable +and invaluable Le Loutre. His persuasions, with blood-thirsty Indians +in the background, invariably produced their effect. To be sure, there +was money sent from Quebec for payment of the laborers; but the +authorities of Beauséjour having Le Loutre to depend upon, found +it more satisfactory to put this money in their own pockets. + +With his customary foresight, Antoine Lecorbeau had promptly evinced +his willingness to take part in the building. Either he or Pierre was +continually to be found upon the spot, working diligently and, without +complaint--which was a disappointment to Le Loutre. The abbé had not +forgotten the remark of Antoine which he had caught the day of the battle +on the Missaguash. He was seeking his opportunity to punish him for the +rash utterance. For the present, however, there was nothing to do but +commend the prudent Acadian for his zeal. + +Upon Pierre and his father this fort building fell not heavily. They had +a tight roof and a warm hearth close by. But their hearts ached to see +hundreds of their fellow-countrymen toiling half-clad in the bitter +weather, with no reward but their meager daily bread. These poor +peasants had many of them been the owners of happy homes, whence the +merciless fiat of Le Loutre had banished them. The hill of Beauséjour +lies open to the four winds of heaven, one or the other of which is +pretty sure to be blowing at all seasons; and some of the dispirited +toilers had not even rawhide moccasins to protect their feet from the +biting frost. Le Loutre was continually among them working in his +shirt sleeves, and urging everyone to his utmost exertions. But as +the winter dragged on the Acadians became so weak and heartless that +even the threats of the abbé lost their effect, and the fort grew but +slowly. Upon this it became necessary to increase the rations and even +to give a small weekly wage. The effect of this was magical, and in +the following spring the fortress of Beauséjour was ready for its +garrison. Its strong earthworks overlooked the whole surrounding +country, and in the eyes that watched it from Fort Lawrence formed +no agreeable addition to the landscape. Across the tawny Missaguash +and the stretches of bright green marsh the red flag and the white +flapped each other a ceaseless defiance. + +Elated at the completion of the fort, Le Loutre concluded the times +were ripe for a raid upon the English settlements. On the banks of the +Kenneticook there was a tiny settlement which had been an eyesore to +the abbé ever since its establishment some three years before. There +were only a half dozen houses in the colony and against these Le Loutre +decided to strike. In the enterprise he saw an opportunity of making +Lecorbeau feel his power. He would make the careful Acadian take part +in the expedition. To assume the disguise of an Indian would, he well +knew, be hateful to every instinct of the law-abiding Lecorbeau. As the +abbé took his way to the Acadian's rude cabin his grim face wore a +sinister gleam. + +It was about sunset, and the family were at their frugal meal. All rose +to their feet as the dreaded visitor entered, and the children betook +themselves in terror to the darkest corners they could find. The abbé +sat down by the hearth and motioned his hosts to follow his example. +After a word or two of inquiry as to the welfare of the household, +he remarked abruptly: + +"You are a true man, Antoine--a faithful servant of the Holy Church +and of France!" + +His keen eyes, as he spoke, burned upon the dark face of the Acadian. + +Lecorbeau did not flinch. He returned the piercing gaze calmly and +respectfully, saying: + +"Have I not proved it, Reverend Father?" + +A phantom of a smile went over the priest's thin lips, leaving his +eyes unlightened. + +"It is well! You shall have yet another chance to prove it. It is just +such men as you whose help I want in my next venture. I have business +on hand which my faithful flock at Cobequid are not sufficient for, +unaided. You and certain others whom I need not name shall join them for +a little. I will bring you such dress, equipment, and so forth, as you +will need to become as one of them. Be ready to-morrow night." + +As he spoke he studied intently the face of Lecorbeau. But the sagacious +Acadian was a match for him. Lecorbeau's heart sank in his breast. He was +a prey to the most violent feeling of hatred toward his guest, and of +loathing for the task required of him. He saw in it, also, the probability +of his own ruin, for he believed the complete triumph of the English was +at hand. Notwithstanding, his face remained perfectly untroubled, while +Pierre flushed hotly, clenching his hands, and Mother Lecorbeau let +a sharp cry escape her. + +"Be not a child, Jeanne!" said Lecorbeau, rebuking her with his glance. +Then he answered to the demand of Le Loutre. + +"In truth, Reverend Abbé, I should like to prove my zeal in some easier +way. Have I not obeyed you with all diligence and cheerfulness, nor +complained when your wisdom seemed hard to many? Surely, you will keep +such harassing service for younger men, men who have not a family to +care for! Will you not deal a little gently with an old and obedient +servant? I pray you, let young men go on such enterprises, and let me +serve you at home!" + +"I am too lenient to such as you," cried the priest, in a voice grown +suddenly high and terrible. "I know you. I have long suspected you. +Your heart is with the English. You shall steep your hands in the blood +of those accursed, or I will make you and yours as if you had never been!" + +Antoine Lecorbeau held his countenance unmoved and bowed his head. +"It shall be as you will, father," he said, quietly. "But is this the +way you reward obedience?" + +The abbé's reply was interrupted by Pierre, who stepped forward with +flashing eyes and almost shouted: + +"Our hearts are _not_ with the English! We are the children of France!" + +The abbé, strange to say, seemed not offended by this hot contradiction. +The outburst rather pleased him. He thought he saw in Pierre the making +of an effective partisan. Diverted by this thought, and feeling sure of +Antoine after the threat he had uttered, he rose abruptly, blessed the +household, all unconscious of the irony of the act, and stepped out into +the raw evening. There was silence in the cabin for some minutes after +his going forth. The blow had fallen, even that which Lecorbeau had most +dreaded. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE MIDNIGHT MARCH. + + +The children crept forth from their corners and looked wonderingly at +their sobbing mother. + +"O, you will certainly be killed," wailed the good woman, thoroughly +frightened. + +"There is little danger of _that_," rejoined Lecorbeau. "The abbé prefers +to strike where there is small likelihood of a return blow. There will be +as little of peril as there will be of glory in attacking a few sleeping +villagers and perhaps murdering them in their beds. The thought of such +cold-blooded butchery is terrible, but anything is better than that you +and the little ones should be exposed to the rage of those savages. +It may mean ruin for us, however, for the English governor at Halifax +is likely to hear of me being concerned in the raid; and, you remember, +I was one of those that took the oath when I was a lad. I shall be +an outlaw, that's all!" + +Reassured as to the immediate physical peril of the enterprise, the good +wife dried her eyes. The scruples that troubled her husband were too remote +to give her much concern. + +"Well, if you _must_ go," said she, "I suppose you, must! Do try and +please that hard-hearted priest; and you must put on warm clothes, for +you'll be sleeping out at night, won't you?" + +"But, father!" began Pierre--and then he stopped suddenly. "I wonder if +I foddered the steers," he went on. As he spoke he rose from the bench +whereon he was sitting, and went out to the barn. + +Pierre had been on the point of saying that _he_ was the one to go on +the raid, as he had not taken any oath of allegiance to the English. +It had occurred to him, however, that his father would probably forbid +him thinking of such a thing, and he knew that in such a case he would be +unable to put his plan in execution, as he had not learned in that simple +neighborhood the lesson of disobedience to parents. He saw that if he went +on the raid the requirements of Le Loutre were likely to be satisfied, +while at the same time his father would be delivered from the danger of +an accusation of treason. It was quite certain in Pierre's mind that his +design would commend itself to the clear wisdom of his father, but he +felt that the latter would forbid it because of his mother's terrors. +He decided to act at once, and he turned his steps toward the fort. +Certain misgivings troubled his conscience at first, but he soon became +convinced that he was doing right. + +While good wife Lecorbeau was wondering what kept Pierre so long at the +barn, Pierre was at the commandant's quarters talking to the abbé. The +latter greeted the boy kindly, and asked at once what brought him. + +"I came to speak about to-morrow night, Reverend Father!" began the boy, +doubtfully. + +"Well, what of it?" snarled the priest, in a harsh voice, his brow +darkening. "Your father isn't trying to beg off, is he?" + +"O, no, no!" Pierre hastened to reply. "He's getting ready, and he doesn't +know I've come to see you. He'd have forbidden me had he known, so I stole +away. But _I_ want to go instead of him. See, I'm young and strong; +and I love fighting, while he loves peace; and he has pains in his joints, +and would, maybe, get laid up on the march, whereas I can be of more use +to the cause. Besides, _he_ can be of more use to the cause by staying +home, which I can't be. Take me instead--!" + +Pierre broke off abruptly, breathless in his eagerness. For a moment +his hopes died within him, for the abbé's face remained dark and severe. +That active brain reviewed the situation rapidly, and at length approved +the proposal of Pierre. It was obvious that Pierre, ardent and impetuous, +would be more effective than Antoine in such a venture; and it occurred to +Le Loutre that in taking the boy he was inflicting a sharper punishment +upon the father. + +"You are a right brave youth," he said, presently, "and it shall be as +you ask. You shall see that I do well by those that are faithful. As for +the traitors, let them beware, for my arm is longer than they dream. +I reach to Annapolis and Fort St. John and Louisburg as easily as to +Minas or Memramcook." Here the abbé paused and was turning away. Looking +back over his shoulder he added, but in a low voice: + +"Come hither at dusk to-morrow. I will send a messenger to your father +in the morning, saying that I release him from the expedition. See that +you say nought to him, or to any living soul, of that which is to +be done!" + +When Pierre returned to the cabin his mother began to question him. +He answered simply that he had to go up to the fort. "What for?" inquired +his mother persistently. But Lecorbeau interposed. + +"Pierre is as tall as his father," he said, smiling at the youth. "See +how broad his shoulders are. Is he not old enough, anxious mother, to be +out alone after dark?" + +The good woman, assenting, gazed at her son proudly. And Pierre felt +a pang at the thought of what his mother's grief would be on learning +that he had gone on the abbé's expedition. His heart smote him bitterly +to think he should have to leave without a word of explanation or +farewell; but he knew that if his mother should get so much as a hint +of his undertaking, her fears would ruin all. He crept to his bed, but +lay tossing for hours, wide-eyed in the dark, before sleep put an end +to the wearying conflict of his thoughts. + +The following morning brought unexpected joy to the cabin at the foot +of Beauséjour. Antoine Lecorbeau could hardly believe his ears when +a messenger came to tell him that the abbé, in consideration of faithful +services already rendered, would release him from the duty required +of him. A load rolled off the Acadian's prudent soul, though he remained +in a state of anxious perplexity. Had he known our Shakespeare he would +have said, in the strict privacy of his inward meditations, "I like not +fair terms and a villain's mind." But as for his good wife, she was +radiant, and reproached herself volubly for the evil thought she had +harbored against the good abbé. Pierre himself, seeing that Le Loutre +was sticking to his promise, found a good word to say for him, for the +first time that he could remember. + +That same evening, supper being over about dusk, Pierre said he would +go up to the fort and see the old sergeant. As he got to the cabin door +he turned and threw a kiss to the dear ones he was leaving. Had the +light been stronger his mother could not but have noticed his set mouth +and the moisture in his eyes. He dared not trust himself to speak. + +"Bring us back what news you can of the expedition, lad!" cried Lecorbeau +after him; and it was with a mighty effort that Pierre strained his voice +to answer "All right!" + +At the fort everything was very quiet. Le Loutre was at the commandant's +quarters with a half dozen befeathered and bepainted braves, in each +of whom Pierre presently recognized a fellow-Acadian skillfully disguised. +In fact, there was not an Indian among them. The real Indians were +awaiting their leader and spiritual father in the woods beyond +Fort Lawrence. + +Pierre was warmly greeted by his fellow-villagers, all of whom had +evidently worked themselves up into something like enthusiasm for their +undertaking. Of the regular French soldiery there were none about. Not +even a sentry was to be seen. The commandant was on hand, helping to +complete the disguises of the Acadians, and he did not choose that +any of his men should be able to say they had seen him give personal +countenance to a violation of the treaty. + +The commandant was very well disposed to the family of Antoine Lecorbeau, +from whom he bought farm produce at ridiculously low terms, to sell it +again in Louisburg at a profit of one or two hundred per cent. He spoke +good humoredly to Pierre, and even helped him with his paint and feathers. +Unscrupulous and heartless where his own interests were at stake, in small +matters he was rather amiable than otherwise. + +"Won't your father and mother be terribly anxious about you, when you +fail to put in an appearance to-night? The good abbé tells me they are +not to know of your whereabouts!" said the officer to Pierre, in a low +voice. + +"What, sir!" cried Pierre, aghast at the thought. "Won't they be told +where I've gone?" + +"His Reverence says not," replied the officer. "His Reverence is very +considerate!" + +Pierre was almost beside himself. He knew not what to do. His hands +dropped to his side, and he could only look imploringly at the commandant. + +"Well, well, lad!" continued the latter, presently, "_I'll_ let them +know as soon as the expedition is safely out of this. This priest is quite +too merciless for me. I'll explain the whole thing to your father and +mother, and will assure them that there's no danger; as, indeed, is the +truth, for it is pretty safe and easy work to shoot a man when he's not +more than half awake. Now, be easy in your mind, and leave the hard +work and any little fighting there may be to those red heathens that +His Reverence talks so much about." + +With these words, which relieved Pierre's mind, the commandant turned +away, and left the youth to perfect his transformation into a Micmac +brave. + +It was drawing toward midnight when the abbé's imitation Micmacs, after +a hearty supper of meat, took their way from Beauséjour. They saw no +sentry as they stole forth. Le Loutre was with them, and himself led +the way. The night was raw and gusty, with rain threatening. As they +descended the hill they could hear the stream of the Missaguash brawling +over the stones of the mid-channel, for the tide was out. Across the +solitary marshes could be seen the lights of Fort Lawrence gleaming +from their hilltop. Overhead was the weird cry of flocks of wild geese +voyaging north. The gusts made Pierre draw his blanket closer about him, +and the strangeness of his surroundings, with the dreadful character +of the venture on which he was bound, filled his soul with awe. He was +determined, however, to produce a good impression on the dreaded abbé. +He stalked on with a long, energetic stride, keeping well to the front +and maintaining a stoical silence. + +Le Loutre led the way far up the Missaguash, so giving Fort Lawrence +a wide berth. Once beyond the fort he turned south, skirting the further +edge of what had been peaceful Beaubassin. At this point he led his party +into the woods, and for perhaps half an hour the journey was most painful +and exhausting. Pierre was running against trees and stumbling over +branches, and at the same time, in spite of his discomfort and the +novelty of the situation, growing more and more sleepy. The journey +began to seem to him like a dismal nightmare, from which he would soon +awaken to find himself in his narrow but cosy bunk at home. + +Suddenly he was startled by the half-human cry of the panther, which +sounded as if in the treetops right overhead. "Is that a signal?" +inquired one of the startled travelers, while Pierre drew closer to +his nearest comrade. + +"It's a signal that Monsieur Loup Cervier wants his supper, and would +be quite willing to make it off a fat Acadian!" replied the abbé with +a grim laugh. + +The party upon this began to talk and laugh aloud, which probably daunted +the animal, for nothing more was heard of him. In the course of another +ten minutes a light was seen glowing through the trees, and immediately +the abbé hooted thrice, imitating perfectly the note of the little +Acadian owl. This signal was answered from the neighborhood of the fire, +whereupon the abbé gave the strange, resonant cry of the bittern. A few +moments more and Pierre found himself by a camp fire which blazed +cheerfully in the recess of a sheltered ravine. Around the fire were +gathered some twoscore of Micmacs in their war dress, who merely grunted +as the abbé and his little party joined them. + +Here, wrapped in his blanket, his feet to the fire and his head on an +armful of hemlock boughs, Pierre slept as sweet a sleep as if in his bed +at home. At dawn he woke with a start, just as the abbé drew near to +arouse him. For a moment he was bewildered; then gathering his wits +he sprang quickly to his feet, looking ready for an instant departure. +Le Loutre was content and turned away. Not many minutes were consumed +in breakfasting, and the raiders were under way by the time the sun +was up. + +All that day the stealthy band crept on, avoiding the trails by which +communication was kept up between the settlements. Early in the evening +Le Loutre called a halt, and Pierre, exhausted, fell asleep the moment +he had satisfied his hunger. Next morning the sun was high ere the party +resumed its march, and not long after midday Le Loutre declared they had +gone far enough as they were now near the settlement of Kenneticook. +There was now nothing to be done but wait for night. A scout was sent +forward to reconnoiter, and came back in a couple of hours with word that +all was quiet in the little village, and no danger suspected. + +About nine o'clock the abbé gave his orders. Not a soul in the village +was to be spared, and not a house left standing. The enemy were to be +destroyed, root and branch, and the English were to receive a lesson that +would drive them in terror within the shelter of the Halifax stockades. +In a few minutes the party was on the march, and moving now with the +greatest secrecy and care. + +During that silent march, every minutest detail of which stamped itself +indelibly on Pierre's memory, the lad clung desperately to the thought of +all the injuries, real or pretended, which the English had inflicted upon +his people. He dared not let himself think of the unoffending settlers +trustfully sleeping in their homes. He strove to work himself up to some +sort of martial ardor that might prevent him feeling like an assassin. +Presently the rippling of the Kenneticook made itself heard on the quiet +night, and then the dim outlines of the lonely and doomed hamlet rose +into view. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE SURPRISE. + + +The midnight murderers were at the very doors before even a dog gave +warning. Then several curs raised a shrill alarm, and a great mastiff, +chained to his kennel in the yard of the largest house, snapped his chain +and sprang upon the raiders. The dog bore an Indian to the ground, and +then fell dead, with a tomahawk buried in his skull. At the same moment +the long, strident yell of the Micmacs rang through the hamlet, and a +half dozen hatchets beat in every door. There was no time for resistance. +The butchers were at the bedsides of their victims almost ere the latter +were awake. Here and there a settler found time to snatch his rifle, +or a andiron, or a heavy chair, and so to make a desperate though brief +defense; and in this way three Micmacs and one Acadian were killed. +The yells of the raiders were mingled with the shrieks of the victims, +and almost instantly the scene of horror was lighted up by the flames +of the burning ricks. + +Pierre, with rather a vague idea of what he was going to do, had rushed +to the attack among the foremost, and had plunged headlong over the body +of the dead mastiff. In the fall he dropped his rifle, but clung to his +hatchet, and in a moment he found himself in the hallway of the chief +house. His perception of what took place was confused. He felt himself +carried up the stairs with a rush. A faint light was glimmering into +existence in the large room, in the middle of which he saw a man +standing rifle in hand. There was a deafening report, and everything +was wrapped in a cloud of smoke. Then a sudden glare filled the room +as a barn outside blazed to heaven; and the man, clubbing his rifle, +sprang at his assailants. Pierre did not wait to see his fate, but +darted past him into a room beyond. + +This was plainly the children's bedroom. Pierre's eye fell on a small, +yellow-haired child, who was sitting up amid her bedclothes, her round +eyes wild with terror. She shrieked at the sight of Pierre's painted +visage, but the lad's heart went out to her with passionate pity as he +thought of the little folk at home. He would save her at all hazards. +He was followed into the room by three or four of the fiercest of his +party. Pierre sprang with a yell upon the child's bed, throwing her upon +her face with one hand while he buried his hatchet in the pillows where +she had lain. In an instant the little one was hidden under a heap of +bedclothes, and too frightened to make an outcry. Somewhere in the room +the butchers had evidently found another victim in hiding, for their +triumphant yell was followed by a gasping groan, which smote Pierre +to the heart, and filled him with an avenging fury. + +A cloud of smoke blown past the window, for a moment darkened the room. +An Indian ran against Pierre and grunted, "Ugh! All gone?" + +"All gone!" replied the lad, and he saw the murderers glide forth to +seek their prey. But one remained, delaying to remove a victim's scalp. +The room again became bright, and as the Indian passed Pierre his quick +eye caught a motion in the heap of bedclothes. His eyes gleamed, and he +jerked the coverings aside. Pierre thrust him back violently and angrily, +just as the child sat up with a shrill cry. The savage hesitated, +impressed by Pierre's uncompromising attitude, then turned with a +grunt to seek satisfaction elsewhere. + +The child was apparently five or six years old, but a tiny, fairylike +creature. + +"Sh-sh-sh!" said Pierre, soothingly, taking it for granted that she +would not understand French. The child comprehended the sign, and +stopped her cries, realizing that the strange and dreadful-looking +being was her protector. Pierre, knowing that the house would soon be +in flames, made haste to wrap the child in a thick blanket. He saw +that beneath the window there was a shed with a sloping roof, by which +he could easily reach the ground. He waited a few moments, with the +child in his arms, covered as much as possible by his blanket, and so +held as to look like a roll of booty. When the smoke once more blew in +a stifling volume past the window, Pierre stepped out upon the roof with +his precious burden, dropped to the ground, and made haste away in the +direction of the least glare and tumult. + +As he was stealing past a small cottage just burst into blaze, two of the +raiders stepped in front of him. Pierre's heart sank, but he grasped his +hatchet, and a sort of hunted but deadly look gleamed in his eyes. The men +didn't offer to stop him, but one cried: + +"What have you there?" + +As he spoke Pierre recognized them for two of the Acadians, and his fears +ceased. + +"It's a child I'm saving," he whispered. "Don't say anything about it." + +"Good boy!" chuckled the singular marauders; and Pierre hastened on, +making for a wood near by. + +Ere he could reach that shelter, however, Fate once more confronted him +in the shape of a tall Micmac, whom Pierre recognized as one of the +subchiefs of the tribe, a nephew of Cope. The chief, supposing Pierre was +carrying off something very rich in the way of booty, stopped him and +demanded a share. Pierre protested, declaring it was all his. When +he spoke the savage recognized him, and having a lofty contempt for one +who was both an Acadian and a mere boy, coolly attempted to snatch the +bundle from his arms. + +Pierre's eyes blazed, as he grasped the Indian's wrist and wrenched the +cruel grip loose. He looked the savage straight in the eye. + +"That's _mine!_" said he steadily. "Keep your hands off!" + +The Indian snatched again at the bundle, this time ineffectually; and +then he drew his knife as if to attack Pierre. The latter jumped back, +laid his burden on the ground, and stood before it, hatchet in hand. +Seeing he was not to be intimidated, and willing to avoid a hand-to-hand +struggle with one who seemed so ready for it, the savage withdrew +grumbling, at the same time resolving that he would force Pierre later +on to divide his booty. As soon as he was gone Pierre snatched up his +charge and sped away exultant. + +The boy's design was to follow the Kenneticook to its mouth, and thence +to ascend the Piziquid to the Acadian settlement, which he knew stood +somewhere on its banks. He did not dare to try and find his way back to +Beauséjour. He knew that if he followed the trail of his party he would +be captured and the child killed; and we was equally certain that if he +deserted the trail he should be lost inevitably. Once at Piziquid, +however, he counted on getting a fisherman to take him to Beauséjour +by water. + +After toiling through the woods for perhaps an hour, keeping ever within +hearing of the stream, Pierre set his burden on the ground and threw +himself down beside her to snatch a moment's rest. The little one was +in her bare feet, so it was impossible for her to walk in that rough +and difficult region. Indeed, she had nothing on but a woolen nightdress, +and Pierre had to keep her well wrapped up in the blanket he had brought +from her bed. The little one had been contentedly sleeping in her +deliverer's arms, all unconscious of the awful fate that had befallen +those whom Pierre supposed to be her people. She remained asleep while +Pierre was resting, nor woke till it was clear dawn. + +Long ere this Pierre had found easier traveling, having come out upon +a series of natural meadows skirting the stream. Beyond these meadows +were wide flats, covered at high tide, and Pierre, with an Acadian's +instinct, thought how fine it would be to dike them in. He had little +fear now of being followed. His party would take it for granted, not +finding him or his body, that he had fallen in the attack and been +burnt in the conflagration. He felt that they would not greatly trouble +themselves. As for those four who had seen him with his prize, two at +least would not tell on him and he had strong hopes that the two Micmacs +whom he had encountered would forget his prize in the confusion of the +hour. Beside a rivulet, in the gray of dawn, he stopped to wash himself; +that his appearance might not frighten the child on her awaking. + +When the little one opened her eyes she looked about her in astonishment, +which became delight as she saw the glittering brook close beside her +and the many-colored sky overhead. She crept out of her blanket and stood +with her little white feet shining in the short spring grass. Then she +stepped into the brook, but finding it too cold for her she came out again +at once. Then she stood shivering till Pierre, after drying her feet on +his blanket, once more wrapped her up and seated her on a fallen tree +beside him. The child kept up a continual prattle, of which, of course, +Pierre understood not a word. He could only smile and stroke the little +fair head. When he spoke to her in his own language the child gazed at +him in wide-eyed wonder, and at last laughed gleefully and began to pat +his face, talking a lot of baby gibberish, such as she imagined Pierre +was addressing to her. + +By and by Pierre remembered he was hungry. Taking some barley bread +and dried meat out of the bag he carried at his waist, he offered the +choicest bits to his tiny companion, and the two made a good breakfast. +Out of a strip of birchbark the lad twisted a cup and gave the child +to drink. Then, lifting her to his shoulder, he resumed his journey. + +As the sun rose and the day grew warm Pierre let the child walk by his +side; but the tender little feet were not used to such work, and almost +immediately she cried to be taken up again. On this Pierre improvised +her a clumsy pair of moccasins, made of strips of his blanket. + +These the little one regarded at first with lofty contempt, but when she +found they enabled her to run by her protector's side she was delighted. +It was necessary to stop often and rest long, so our travelers made slow +progress; but at noon, climbing a bluff which overlooked the river for +miles in either direction, Pierre was delighted to find himself within +two or three miles of the mouth. He marked, moreover, a short cut by +which, taking advantage of the curve in the main river, he could cut +off five or six miles and strike the banks of the Piziquid without +difficulty or risk. + +"By this time to-morrow, if all goes well, we'll be safe in Piziquid, +chérie!" he cried joyously to the child, who responded with a mirthful +stream of babble. Pierre's conversation she regarded as a huge and +perpetual joke. + +That night Pierre built a rough lean-to under the shelter of a great +white plaster-rock, and there in a heap of fragrant branches, the child +wrapped closely in the lad's arms, the lonely pair slept warm and secure. +The next day was mild and our travelers found their path easy. Ere noon +they arrived within sight of Piziquid. + +They were on a hill with the Acadian village stretched out before them +far below, but a broad river rolling between them and their destination. +Pierre had forgotten about the St. Croix, but he recognized it now from +description. He saw, to his disappointment, that he would have to make +a long detour to pass this obstacle, so he sat down on the hill to rest +and refresh his little companion. The little one was now so tired that +she fell instantly to sleep, and Pierre thought it wise to let her sleep +a good half hour. Even he himself appreciated well the delay; and the view +that unrolled beneath him was magnificent. + +Right ahead, in the corner of land between the Piziquid River and the +St. Croix, rose a rounded hill crowned with the English post of Fort +Edward. Beyond to right and left expanded plains of vivid emerald, with +a line of undulating uplands running back from Fort Edward and dividing +the marshes of the St. Croix from those of the Piziquid. The scene was +one of plenty and content. Pierre concluded that it would be necessary +for him to avoid being seen by the garrison of the fort, lest he should +be suspected of being one of the raiders. He decided to seek one of the +outermost houses of the settlement about nightfall and there to tell his +story, relying upon the good faith of one Acadian toward another. The +child, he made up his mind must stay in his care and go with him to +Beauséjour. Having risked and suffered so much for her, he already began +to regard her with jealous devotion and to imagine she was indeed his own. + +The child woke as joyous as a bird. Hand in hand the quaint-looking +pair--a seeming Indian with a little white-skinned child in a flannel +nightgown--trudged patiently up the stream, till in the middle of the +afternoon they came to a spot where Pierre thought it safe to wade across. +By this time the little one's feet were so sore that she had to be carried +all the time; and it was well after sunset when Pierre set his armful +down at the door of an outlying cottage of Piziquid, well away from +the surveillance of the fort. + +In answer to Pierre's knock there came a woman to the door, who started +back in alarm. With a laughing salutation, however, Pierre followed her +into the blaze of firelight which poured from the heaped-up hearth. +In spite of his disguise he was at once recognized by the man of the +house as an Acadian, and the wanderers found an instant and hearty +welcome. Over a hot supper (in the midst of which the tired child +fell asleep with her head in her plate, and was carried to bed by +the motherly good wife) Pierre told all his story. + +"We shall have to keep you hidden till we get you away!" said the +villager, one Jean Breboeuf by name. "You see, their eyes are open at +the fort. They got word at Halifax, somehow, that our precious abbé +(whom may the saints confound!) was planning some deviltry, and messages +were sent to the different posts to guard the outlying settlements. +It's a wonder you didn't find English soldiers at Kenneticook, for a +company started thither. However, if the English catch you in this dress +they won't take long deciding what to do with you." + +Pierre was greatly alarmed. + +"Can't you give me something to wear?" he cried. + +"O, yes!" answered the host, "we'll fix you all right in the morning +so nobody will ever suspect you. Then I'll get Marin--he's got a good +boat--to start right off and sail you round to Beauséjour. But what +about the little one?" + +"O, she goes wherever I go!" said Pierre, decidedly. + +"Yes, yes! But she's got to be kept out of sight," replied Breboeuf +"She looks English, every inch of her; and if the people at the fort +get eyes on her there'll be an investigation sure!" + +"Can you speak English?" queried Pierre. + +"Well enough!" replied his host. + +"There'll be no trouble then," continued Pierre. "You can tell her to +keep quiet and keep covered up when we're taking her to the boat. +She'll mind, I'll answer you. And then, if Madame Breboeuf can give +her a little homespun frock and cap, we'll pass her off all right +should anyone see her. And when we get to Beauséjour my father will +make it all right for the clothes." + +"He won't do anything of the sort," answered both Breboeuf and his wife +in one breath. "We all know Antoine Lecorbeau, and we're proud to do +his son a service. If we poor Acadians did not help each other, I'd +like to know who'd help us, anyway!" + +It was with a light heart that Pierre slept that night, and joyfully +in the morning he put away the last trace of his hated disguise. +His little charge showed plainly that she considered the change +an improvement. The child told Breboeuf (whom she understood with +difficulty) that her name was Edie Howe. At this Breboeuf was surprised, +for, as he said to Pierre, there were no Howes at Kenneticook. When +the Acadian tried to question Edie more closely, her answers became +irrelevant, which was probably due to the deficiencies of Monsieur +Breboeuf's English. + +Pierre kept indoors most of the morning, as the little one would not +let him out of her sight, and he dared not be seen with her. Soon after +noon the tide was all ready for a departure, and not behindhand was +the fisherman, Marin, with his stanch Minas craft. Marin had brought +his boat up the St. Croix and into a little creek at some distance +from the fort, because at the regular landing place there were always +some English soldiers strolling about for lack of anything better to do. +It was with some trepidation that Pierre set out for the creek. The +little girl walked between her dear protector and their host, holding +a hand of each, and chattering about everything she saw, till with +great effort Breboeuf got her to understand that if she didn't keep +quite quiet, and not say a word to anybody till they got safely away, +in the boat, something dreadful might happen to her Pierre. She was +dressed like any of the little Acadian maidens of Piziquid, and her +blue cap of quilted linen was so tied on as to hide her sunny hair +and much of her face; but the danger was that she might betray herself +by her speech. + +Before the party reached the boat they had a narrow escape from detection. +They were met by three or four soldiers who were strolling across the +marsh. In passing they gave Breboeuf a hearty good-day in English, and +one of them called Edie his "little sweetheart." The child looked up with +a laugh, and cried, coquettishly, "Not yours! I'm Pierre's." Then, as +Breboeuf squeezed her hand sharply, she remembered his caution and said +no more, though her small heart was filled with wonder to think she might +not talk to the nice soldiers. + +"Why, where did the baby learn her English?" asked the soldier in a tone +of surprise. "_You_ never taught her, I'll be bound." + +"Her mother taught her. Her mother speaks the English better than you +yourself," was Breboeuf's ready reply. Later in the day that soldier +suddenly remembered that the good wife Breboeuf did not speak a word +of English, and he was properly mystified. By that time, however, Pierre +and the little one were far from Piziquid. With a merry breeze behind them +they were racing under the beetling front of Blomidon. + +On the day following they caught the flood tide up Chignecto Bay, and +sailed into the mouth of the Au Lac stream, almost under the willows +of Lecorbeau's cottage. The joy of Pierre's father and mother on seeing +the lad so soon returned was mingled with astonishment at seeing him +arrive by water, and with a little English child in his care. The little +one, with her exciting experiences behind her, did not dream of being shy, +but was made happy at once with a kind welcome; while Pierre, the center +of a wondering and exclaiming circle, narrated the wild adventures of +the past few days, which had, indeed developed him all at once from +boyhood to manhood. As he described the massacre, and the manner in +which he had rescued the yellow-haired lassie, his mother drew the +little one into her arms and cried over her from sympathy and excitement; +and the child wiped her eyes with her own quilted sunbonnet. At the +conclusion of the vivid narrative Lecorbeau was the first to speak. + +"Nobly have you done, my dear son," he cried, with warm emotion. +"But now, where are your companions of that dreadful expedition? +Not one has yet arrived at Beauséjour!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +PIERRE'S LITTLE ONE. + + +This question which Lecorbeau asked, all Beauséjour was asking in an +hour or two. That night an Indian, sent from Le Loutre, who was lying +in exhaustion at Cobequid, arrived at the fort and told the fate of +the expedition. + +As already stated, the English authorities in Halifax had been warned +of the movements of the Indians--though they could only guess the part +that Le Loutre had in them. Without delay they had sent small bands +of troops to each of the exposed settlements, but that dispatched +to Kenneticook arrived, as we have seen, too late. When the breathless +soldiers, lighted through the woods by the glare of the burning village, +reached the scene of ruin, of all who had that night lain down to +fearless sleep in Kenneticook there remained alive but one, the little +child whom Pierre had snatched from death. + +When the English emerged from the woods and saw the extent of the +disaster, they knew they were too late. Not a house, not a building +of any kind, but was already wrapped in a roaring torrent of flame, +and against the broad illumination could be seen the figures of the +savages, fantastically dancing. The English captain formed his line +with prudent deliberation, and then led the attack at a run. + +Never dreaming of so rude an interruption, the raiders were taken +utterly by surprise and made no effective resistance. A number fell +at the first volley, which the English poured in upon them in charging. +Then followed a hand-to-hand fight, fierce but brief, which Le Loutre +didn't see, as he had wisely retired on the instant of the Englishmen's +arrival. He was followed by two of the Acadians, and two or three +of the more prudent of the Micmacs; but the rest of his party, fired +with blind fury by the liquor which they had found among the village +stores, remained to fight with a drunken recklessness and fell to a man +beneath the steel of the avengers. + +Left masters of the field, the rescue party gazed with horror on the +ruin they had come too late to avert. With a grim, poetic justice they +cast the bodies of their slain foes into the fires which had already +consumed the victims of their ferocity. While this was going on the +leader of the party, a young lieutenant, stood apart in deepest dejection. + +"What's the matter with the general?" inquired a soldier, pointing +with his thumb in the direction of his sorrowing chief. + +"I'm afeard as how that little niece of his'n, as you've seed him +a-danderin' many a time in Halifax, was visitin' folks here. If so be +what I've hearn be true, them yellin' butchers has done for her, sure +pop. I tell ye, Bill, she was a little beauty, an' darter of the cap'n +they murdered last September down to Fort Lawrence." + +"I ricklecs the child well" replied Bill, shaking his head slowly. +"It _was_ a purty one, an' _no_ mistake! An' Cap'n Howe's darter, +too. I swan!" + +In a little while the careless-hearted soldiers were asleep amid the +ashes of Kenneticook village, while the young lieutenant lay awake, +his heart aching for his golden-haired pet, his widowed sister's child. +The next day he gave his men a long rest, for they had done some severe +forced marching. When at length he reached Piziquid he little dreamed +that the child whose death he mourned was at that very moment sailing +down the river bound for Beauséjour and a long sojourn among her +people's enemies. + +In the house of Antoine Lecorbeau things went on more pleasantly than +with most of his fellow-Acadians. With the good will of Vergor, the +commandant of Beauséjour, who made enormous profits out of the Acadian's +tireless diligence, Lecorbeau became once more fairly prosperous; and +Le Loutre had grown again friendly. But most of the Acadians found +themselves in a truly pitiable plight. There were not lands enough to +supply them all, and they pined for the farms of Acadie which Le Loutre +had forced them to forsake. Threatened with excommunication and the +scalping knife if they should return to their allegiance, and with +starvation if they obeyed the commands of their heartless superiors +at Quebec, they were girt about on all sides with pain and peril. +Vacillating, unable to think boldly for themselves, they were doubtless +much to blame, but their miseries were infinitely more than they deserved. +The punishments that fell upon them fell upon the wrong shoulders. +The English, who treated them for a long time with the most patient +forbearance, were compelled at length, in self-defense, to adopt an +attitude of rigorous severity; and by the French, in whose cause they +suffered everything, they were regarded as mere tools, to be used +till destroyed. At the door of the corrupt officials of France may be +laid all their miseries. + +After the affair at Kenneticook Le Loutre found that Cobequid was no +longer the place for him. He needed the shelter of Beauséjour. There, +by force of his fanatic zeal, his ability, and his power over the +Acadians, he divided the authority of the fort with its corrupt +commandant. He never dreamed of the part Pierre had played that dreadful +night on the Kenneticook. He knew Lecorbeau had somewhere picked up +an English child. But a child was in his eyes quite too trivial +a matter to call for any comment. + +As time went on Pierre's little one, as she was generally called--"la +p'tite de Pierre"--picked up the French of her new Acadian home, and +went far to forgetting her English. In the eyes of Lecorbeau and his +wife she came to seem like one of their own and she was a favorite with +the whole family; but to Pierre she clung as if he were her father and +mother in one. As soon as she had learned a little French she was +questioned minutely as to her parents and her home. Her name, Edie Howe, +had at once been associated with that of the lamented captain. + +"Edie," good wife Lecorbeau would say to her, "where is your mother?" + +At this the child would shake her head sorrowfully for a moment, and +pointing over the hills, would answer: + +"Away off there!"--and sometimes she would add, "Poor mamma's sick!" + +At last one day she seemed suddenly to remember, and cried as if she +were announcing a great discovery, "Why, mamma's in Halifax." + +Mother Lecorbeau was not a little triumphant at having elicited this +definite information. + +On the subject of her father the little one had not much to say. When +questioned about him she merely said that she was his little girl, and +that he had gone away somewhere, and some bad people wouldn't let him +come back again. She said her mamma had cried a great deal while telling +her that papa would never come back--and from this it was clear at once +that the father was dead. To get any definite idea from the child as to +the time of his death proved a vain endeavor; she was not very clear +in her ideas of time. But she said he was a tall man and a soldier. +She further declared that he hadn't a lot of hair on his face, like +father Lecorbeau, but was nice and smooth, like her Pierre, only with +a mustache. All this tallied with a description of Captain Howe, so +Lecorbeau concluded that she was Howe's child. As for the people with +whom she had been visiting in the hapless village of Kenneticook, they +were evidently old servants of her father's family. + +"I was staying at nurse's," she used to say. "Uncle Willie sent me +there because my mamma was sick." Of this Uncle Willie she talked +so much and so often that Pierre said he was jealous. + +While several years rolled by, bringing no great event to the cabin +in the willows at the foot of Beauséjour, a cloud was slowly gathering +over the fortressed hill. The relations between France and England +in Acadie were growing more and more strained. It was plain that a +rupture must soon come. In the cabin, by the light of fire or candle, +after the day's work was done, Pierre and his father, with sometimes +the old sergeant from the fort, used to talk over the condition of +affairs. To Pierre and the sergeant it was obvious that France must win +back Acadie, and that soon; and they paid little heed to Lecorbeau's +sagacious comparisons between the French and English methods of +conducting the government. Lecorbeau, naturally did not feel like +arguing his points with much determination; but across the well-scrubbed +deal table he uttered several predictions which Pierre recalled when +he saw them brought to pass. + +"Here's about how it stands," remarked the sergeant one night, shaking +the ashes of his pipe into the hollow of his hand, "there's hundreds +upon hundreds now of your Acadians shifting round loose, waiting for a +chance to get back to their old farms. They don't dare go back while the +English hold possession, for fear of His Reverence yonder"--signifying, +of course, Le Loutre--"so they're all ready to fight just as soon as +France gives the word. They don't care much for France, maybe--not +much more than for the English--but they do just hanker after their +old farms. When the government thinks it the right time, and sends us +some troops from Quebec and Louisburg, all the Acadians out of Acadie +will walk in to take possession, and the Acadians in Acadie will bid +good day to King George and help us kick the English out of Halifax. +It's bound to come, sure as fate; and pretty soon, I'm thinking." + +"I believe you're right!" assented Pierre, enthusiastically. + +"What would you think, now," said Lecorbeau, suggestively, "if the +English should take it into their slow heads not to wait for all this +to happen? What would you do up there in the fort if some ships were +to sail up to-morrow and land a little English army under Beauséjour? +You've got a priest and a greedy old woman (begging Monsieur Vergor's +pardon) to lead you. How long would Beauséjour hold out? And suppose +Beauséjour was taken, where would the settlements be--Ouestkawk and +Memramcook, and even the fort on the St. John? Wouldn't it rather +knock on the head this rising of the Acadians, this 'walking in and +taking possession' of which you feel so confident?" + +"But we won't give the English a chance!" cried the warlike pair, +in almost the same breath. "We'll strike first. You'll see!" + +Meanwhile the English were making ready to do just what Lecorbeau said +they might do. At the same time the French at Quebec, at Louisburg, +at Beauséjour, though talking briskly about the great stroke by which +Acadie was to be recaptured, were too busy plundering the treasury +to take any immediate steps. Following the distinguished example of the +notorious intendant, Bigot, almost every official in New France had +his fingers in the public purse. They were in no haste for the fray. + +The English, however, seeing what the French _might_ do, naturally +supposed they would try and do it. To prevent this, they were planning +the capture of Beauséjour. Governor Lawrence, in Halifax, and Governor +Shirley, in Boston, were preparing to join forces for the undertaking. +In New England Shirley raised a regiment of two thousand volunteers +who mustered, in April of the year 1755, amid the quaint streets of +Boston. This regiment was divided into two battalions, one of which +was commanded by Colonel John Winslow, and the other by John Scott. +After a month's delay, waiting for muskets, the little army set sail +for Beauséjour. The chief command was in the hands of Colonel Moncton, +who had been sent to Boston by Lawrence to arrange the expedition. + +On the night when Lecorbeau, Pierre, and the old sergeant were holding +the conversation of which I have recorded a fragment, the fleet containing +the Massachusetts volunteers were already at Annapolis. A day or two +later they were sailing up the restless tide of Fundy. On the first day +of June they were sighted from the cloud-topped mountain of Chepody, +or "_Chapeau Dieu_." As the sun went down the fleet cast anchor under +the high bluffs of Far Ouestkawk, not three leagues from Beauséjour. +As the next dawn was breaking over the Minudie hills there arrived +at the fort a little party of wearied Acadians, who had hastened up +from Chepody to give warning. Instantly all Beauséjour became a scene +of excitement. There was much to be done in the way of strengthening +the earthworks. Urgent messengers were sent out to implore reinforcements +from Louisburg, while others called together all the Acadians of the +neighborhood, to the number of fourteen hundred fighting men. As Pierre +and his father were taking the rest of the family, with some supplies, +to a little wooded semi-island beside the Tantramar, some miles from +the fort, Lecorbeau said to his son: + +"I rather like the idea of that bold stroke of yours and the sergeant's! +When do you think it will be carried out?" + +Pierre looked somewhat crestfallen, but he mustered up spirit to reply: + +"Just wait till we've beaten off those fellows. Then you'll see what +we'll do." + +"Well," said his father, "I'll wait as patiently as possible!" + +After placing the mother and children in their refuge, which was already +thronged, our two Acadians, with a tearful farewell, hastened back +to take their part in the defense of Beauséjour. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE NEW ENGLANDERS. + + +The refuge of good wife Lecorbeau, and the children, and "Pierre's little +one" was a wooded bit of rising ground which, before the diking-in of +the Tantramar marshes, had been an island at high water. It was still +called Isle au Tantramar. Among the trees, under rude lean-to tents and +improvised shelters of all sorts, were gathered the women and children +of Beauséjour, out of range of the cannon balls that they knew would +soon be flying over their homes. The weather was balmy, and their +situation not immediately painful, but their hearts were a prey to +the wildest anxieties. + +By this time the New Englanders had landed over against Fort Lawrence, +and had joined their forces with those of the English at the fort. +The numbers of the attacking army filled the Acadians with apprehension +of defeat. Many of them, like Lecorbeau, had in the past taken oath +of allegiance to King George, and these feared lest, in the probable +event of the English being victorious, they should be put to death +as traitors. This difficulty was solved, and their fears much mitigated, +in a thoroughly novel way. The commandant assured them solemnly that if +they refused to join in the defense of the fort he would shoot them down +like dogs. Upon this the Acadians conceived themselves released from +all responsibility in the matter, and went quite cheerfully to work. +Even Lecorbeau feeling himself secured by Vergor's menace, was quietly +and fearlessly interested in the approaching struggle. Lecorbeau, was +no faint-heart, though his far-seeing sagacity often made him appear so +in the eyes of those who did not know him well. As for Pierre, he was +now in his element, sniffing the battle like a young warhorse, and +forgetful of the odds against him. Le Loutre was everywhere at once, +tireless, seeing everything, spurring the work, and worth a hundred +Vergors in such a crisis as this. + +Beauséjour was a strong post, a pentagon with heavy ramparts of earth, +with two bombproofs, so called, and mounting twenty-five pieces +of artillery. Some of the guns were heavy metal for those days and +that remote defense. I have seen them used as gateposts by the more +aristocratic of Beauséjour's present inhabitants. Within the fort was +a garrison of one hundred and sixty regulars. Three hundred Acadians +were added to this garrison--among them being Pierre and his father. +The rest of the Acadians spread themselves in bands through the woods +and uplands, in order to carry on a system of harassing attacks. + +Across the Missaguash, some distance from its mouth, there was a bridge +called Pont-â-Buot, and thither, after a day or two of reconnoitering, +Colonel Moncton led his forces from Fort Lawrence. They marched in long +column up the Missaguash shore, wading through the rich young grasses. +As they approached they saw that the bridge had been broken down, and +the fragments used to build a breastwork on the opposite shore. This +breastwork, as far as they could see, was unoccupied. + +Appearances in this case were deceptive. Hidden behind the breastwork +was a body of troops from Beauséjour. There were nearly four hundred +of them--Acadians and Indians, with a few regulars to give them +steadiness. Pierre, as might have been expected, was among the band, +beside his instructor, the old sergeant. Trembling with excitement, +though outwardly calm enough, Pierre watched, through the chinks of +the breastwork, the approach of the hostile column. Just as it reached +the point opposite, where the bridge had been broken away, he heard +a sharp command from an officer just behind him. Instantly, he hardly +knew how, he found himself on his feet, yelling fiercely, and firing +as fast as he could reload his musket. Through the rifts of the smoke +he could see that the hot fire was doing execution in the English ranks. +Presently, he heard the old sergeant remark: + +"There come the guns! Now look out for a squall!"--and he saw two +fieldpieces being hurriedly dragged into position. The next thing +he knew there was a roar--the breastwork on one side of him flew +into fragments, and he saw a score of his comrades dead about him. +The roar was repeated several times, but his blood was up, and he +went on loading and firing as before, without a thought of fear. +At length the sergeant grabbed him by the arm. + +"We've got to skip out of this and cut for cover in those bushes +yonder. We'll do more good there, and this breastwork, or what's +left of it, is no longer worth holding." + +Pierre looked about him astonished, and found they were almost alone. +He shouldered his musket and strode sullenly into cover, the old +sergeant laughingly slapping him on the back. + +Firing irregularly from the woods, the French succeeded in making it +very unpleasant for the English in their work of laying a new bridge. +But, notwithstanding, the bridge grew before their eyes. Pierre was +disgusted. + +"We're beaten, it seems, already," he cried to the sergeant. + +"Not at all!" responded the latter, cheerfully. "All this small force +could be expected to do has been already done. We have suffered but +slightly, while we have caused the enemy considerable loss. That's all +we set out to do. We're not strong enough to stand up to them; we're +only trying to weaken them all we can. See, now they're crossing--and +it's about time we were out of this!" + +It was indeed so. The bridge was laid, the column was hastening across. +A bugle rang out the signal for retreat, and the fire from the bushes +ceased. In a moment the Acadian force had dissolved, scattering like +a cloud of mist before the sun. Pierre found himself, with a handful +of his comrades, speeding back to the fort. Others sought their proper +rendezvous. There was nothing for the English to chase, so they kept +their column unbroken. As Pierre entered the fort he saw the enemy +establishing themselves in the uplands, about a mile and a half +from Beauséjour. + +When night fell the heavens were lit up with a glare that carried terror +to the women and children on Isle au Tantramar. Vergor had set fire +to the chapel, and to all the houses of Beauséjour that might shelter +an approach to the ramparts. "Alas," cried the unhappy mother Lecorbeau +to the children about her, "we are once more homeless, without a roof +to shelter us!" and she and all the women broke into loud lamentations. +The children, however, seemed rather to enjoy the scene, and Edie told +an interested audience about the great blaze there was, and how red the +sky looked, the night her dear Pierre carried her away from Kenneticook. + +For several days the English made no further advance, and to Pierre +and his fellow-Acadians in the fort the suspense became very trying. +The regulars took the delay most philosophically, seeming content +to wait just as long as the enemy would permit them. Pierre began +to wish he was with one of the guerilla parties outside, for these +were busy all the time, making little raids, cutting off foraging +parties, skirmishing with pickets, and retreating nimbly to the hills +whenever attacked in force. At length there came a change. A battalion +of New Englanders, about five hundred strong, advanced to within easy +range of the fort, and occupied a stony ridge well adapted for their +purpose. + +A braggart among the French officers, one Vannes by name, begged +to be allowed to sally forth with a couple of hundred men and rout +the audacious provincials. Vergor sanctioned the enterprise, and the +boaster marched proudly forth with his company. Arriving in front of +the New Englanders he astounded the latter, and supplied his comrades +in the fort with food for endless mirth, by facing the right about +and leading his shame-faced files quietly back to Beauséjour. Pierre +was profoundly thankful to the old sergeant for having dissuaded him +from joining in the sally. Covering Vannes's humiliation the fort +opened a determined fire, which after a time disabled one of the small +mortars which the assailants had placed in position. Gradually the +English brought up the rest of their guns, and on the following day +a sharp artillery duel was carried on between the fort and the ridge. + +Within the ramparts things went but ill, and Pierre became despondent +as his eyes were opened to the almost universal corruption about him. +Enlightened by the shrewd comments of the old sergeant, the quiet +penetration of his father's glance, which saw everything, he soon +realized that fraud and self-seeking were become the ruling impulse +in Beauséjour. "Like master, like man" was a proverb which he saw +daily fulfilled. Vergor thought more of robbing than of serving his +country, and from him his subordinates took their cue. Le Loutre, +with his fiery fanaticism, went up, by contrast, in the estimation +of the honest-hearted boy. As the siege dragged on some of the Acadians +became homesick, or anxious about their families. These begged leave +to go home; which was of course refused. Others quietly went without +asking. An air of hopelessness stole over the garrison, which was +deepened to despair when news came from Louisburg that no help could +be expected from that quarter, the town being strictly blockaded by +the English. + +At length, in an ignoble way, came the crisis. In one of the two vaulted +chambers of masonry which were dignified with the title of "bombproofs," +a party of French officers, with a captive English lieutenant, were +sitting at breakfast. A shell from the English mortars dropped through +the ceiling, exploded, and killed seven of the company. Vergor, with +other officers and Le Loutre, was in the second bombproof. His martial +spirit was confounded at the thought that the one retreat might turn +out to be no more "bomb-proof" than the other. Most of his subordinate +officers shared his feelings, and in a few minutes, to the pleasant +astonishment of the English, and in spite of the furious protests +of Le Loutre and of two or three officers who were not lost to all +sense of manhood, a white flag was hoisted on Beauséjour. The firing +straightway ceased, on both sides, and an officer was sent forth to +negotiate a capitulation. + +Pierre threw down his musket, and looked at his father, who stood +watching the proceedings with a smile of grim contempt. Then he turned +to the sergeant, who was smoking philosophically. + +"Is _this_ the best France can do?" he cried, in a sharp voice. + +"The English do certainly show to rather the better advantage," +interposed Lecorbeau; but the old sergeant hastened to answer, in a +tone of sober grief: + +"You must'nt judge _la belle France_ by the men she has been sending +out to Canada and Acadie these late years, my Pierre. These are the +creatures of Bigot, the notorious. It is he and they that are dragging +our honor in the dust!" + +"Well," exclaimed Pierre, "I shall stay and see this thing through; +but as there is no more fighting to be done, you, father, had better go +and take care of mother and the children. There is nothing to be gained, +but a good deal to be risked by staying here and being taken prisoner. +The English may not think much of the powers of compulsion of a man +that can't fight any better than our commandant" + +"You're right, my boy," said Lecorbeau, cheerfully. "My situation +just now is a delicate one, to say the least of it. Well, good-bye +for the present. By this time to-morrow, if all goes as expeditiously +as it has hitherto, we shall meet in our own cabin again." + +With these words Lecorbeau walked coolly forth, on the side of the fort +opposite to the besiegers, and strolled across the marshes toward +Isle au Tantramar. Two or three more, who were in the same awkward +position as Lecorbeau, proceeded to follow his example. The rest, +considering that for them there was now no danger, the fighting being +done, stayed to see the end, and to pick up what they could in the way +of spoils. As for Le Loutre, realizing that his cause was lost and his +neck in the utmost jeopardy, he hid himself in a skillful disguise and +fled in haste for Quebec. + +The same evening, at seven o'clock, the garrison marched out of Beauséjour +with the honors of war; whereupon a body of New Englanders marched in, +hoisted the flag of England, and fired a royal salute from the ramparts +of the fort. By the terms of the capitulation the garrison was to be sent +at once to Louisburg, and those Acadians who in taking part in the defense +had violated their oath of allegiance to King George were to be pardoned +as having done it under compulsion. All such matters of detail having been +arranged satisfactorily, Vergor gave a grand dinner to the English and +French officers in the stronghold of which his cowardice had robbed his +country. The fort was rechristened "Fort Cumberland," and the curiously +assorted guests all joined most cordially in drinking to the new title. + +On the following day Lecorbeau brought his wife and family back to +the cottage under the willows, and Pierre was reunited to his beloved +"petite." Isle au Tantramar was soon deserted, for the families whose +homes at Beauséjour had just been burnt returned to camp amid the ashes +and erected rude temporary shelters. They were all overjoyed at the +leniency of the English; but a blow more terrible than any that had +yet befallen them was hanging over this most unhappy people. + +Among the English officers encamped at Beauséjour was the slim young +lieutenant who had led the band of avengers at Kenneticook. He spoke +French; he was interested in the Acadian people; and he moved about +among them inquiring into their minds and troubles. The cabin under +the willows, almost the only house left standing in Beauséjour village, +at once attracted him, and he sauntered down the hill to visit it. + +The household was in a bustle getting things once more to rights; +and a group of children played chattering about the low, red, ocher-washed +door. As the lieutenant approached, Lecorbeau came forth to meet and greet +him. The Englishman was just on the point of grasping the Acadian's +outstretched hand, when a shrill cry of "Uncle Willie" rang in his ears, +and he found one of the children clinging to him rapturously. For an +instant he was utterly bewildered, gazing down on the sunburned fair +little face upturned to his. Then he snatched the child to his heart, +exclaiming passionately, "My Edie, my darling!" To Lecorbeau, and to +his wife and Pierre, who now appeared, the scene was clear in an instant; +and a weight of misery rolled down upon the heart of Pierre as he +realized that now he should lose the little one he loved so well. + +For a few moments the child and her new-found uncle were entirely +absorbed in each other. But presently the little one looked around +and pointed to Pierre. + +"Here's my Pierre!" she explained in her quaint French--"and there's +papa Lecorbeau, and mamma Lecorbeau, and there's little Jacques, +and Bibi, and Vergie, and Tiste. Won't you come and live with us, too?" + +Her uncle covered her face anew with his kisses. "My darling," he said, +"you will come with me to Halifax, to mamma!" + +"And leave Pierre?" she cried, her eyes filling. "I can't leave my +Pierre, who saved me from the cruel Indians." + +This recalled the young man's thoughts to the mystery of the little +one's presence at Beauséjour. Lecorbeau gave him a bench, and sitting +down beside him told the story, while Edie sat with one hand in her +uncle's clasp and the other in that of Pierre. The young Englishman +was deeply moved. Having heard all, and questioned of the matter +minutely, he rose and shook Pierre by the hand, thanking him in few +words, indeed, but in a voice that spoke his emotion. Then he poured +out his gratitude to Lecorbeau and his wife for their goodness, to this +child of their foes; and little by little he gathered the Acadian's +feelings toward the English, and the part he had played throughout. +At length he said: + +"Can you allow me to quarter myself here for the present? I cannot take +Edie into the camp, and she would not be willing if I could. I see from +her love for you how truly kind she has found you. I want to be with +the little one as much as possible; and, moreover, my presence here +may prove of use to you in the near future." + +The significance of these last words Lecorbeau did not care to question, +but after a glance at his wife, who looked dumfounded at the proposition, +he said: + +"You may well realize, monsieur, that with this small cabin and this +large family we can give you but poor accommodation. But such as it is, +you are more than welcome to it. Your coming will be to us an honor +and a pleasure, and a most valued protection." + +The lieutenant at once took up his abode in Lecorbeau's cabin. When, +a few weeks later, the first scenes were enacted in the tragedy known +as the "Expulsion of the Acadians," the friendship of the young +lieutenant and of Edie stood Lecorbeau in good stead. This storm +which scattered to the four winds the remnant of the Acadians, passed +harmlessly over the cabin beneath the willows of Beauséjour. When +Acadie was once more quiet, and Edie and her uncle went to Halifax, +Lecorbeau added fertile acres to his farm; while Pierre accompanied +his "petite" to the city, where his own abilities, and the lieutenant's +steadfast friendship, won him advancement and success. + + * * * * * + + + + + + +HOW THE CARTER BOYS LIFTED THE MORTGAGE. + + + +[Illustration: "When he reached the door he knocked imperiously."--_See +page 159_.] + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +CATCHING A TARTAR. + + +As long as they could remember, the roaring flow and rippling ebb of +the great tides had been the most conspicuous and companionable sounds +in the ears of Will and Ted Carter. The deep, red channel of the creek +that swept past their house to meet the Tantramar, a half mile further on, +was marked on the old maps, dating from the days of Acadian occupation, +by the name of the Petit Canard. But to the boys, as to all the villagers +of quiet Frosty Hollow, it was known as "the Crick." + +To "the Crick" the Carters owed their little farm. Mrs. Carter was +a sea captain's widow, living with her two boys, Will and Ted, +in a small yellow cottage on the crest of a green hill by the water. +Behind the cottage, framing the barn and the garden and the orchard, +and cutting off the north wind, was a thick grove of half-grown fir +trees. From the water, however, these were scarcely visible, and the +yellow house twinkled against the broad blue of the sky like the golden +eye of a great forget-me-not. + +I have said that the Carters owed their little farm to the creek. That +is to say, their farm was made up chiefly of marsh, or diked meadow, +which had been slowly deposited by the waters of the creek at high tide, +then captured and broken into the service of man by the aid of long, +imprisoned ramparts of sodded clay. This marsh land was inexhaustibly +fertile, deep with grass, purple in patches with vetch blossoms, pink +and crimson, along the ditches with beds of wild roses. Outside the dikes +the tawny current of the creek clamored almost ceaselessly, quiet only +for a little while at high water. When the tide was low, or nearly so, +the creek was a shining, slippery, red gash, twisting hither and thither +through stretches of red-brown, sun-cracked flats, whitened here and +there with deposited salt. Where the creek joined the Tantramar, its +parent stream, the abyss of coppery and gleaming ooze revealed at ebb +tide made a picture never to be forgotten; for the tidal Tantramar does +not conform to conventional ideas of what a river should be. + +Had the creek been their only creditor the Carters would have been +fortunate. As it was, the little farm was mortgaged up to its full value. +When Captain Carter died of yellow fever on the voyage home from Brazil, +he left the family little besides the farm. To be sure, there was a share +in the ship, besides; but this Mrs. Carter made haste to sell, though +shipping was at the time away down, and she realized almost nothing +from the sale. Had she held on to the property a year longer she would +have found herself almost comfortable, for there came a sudden activity +in the carrying trade, and shipowners made their fortunes rapidly. +But Mrs. Carter cared little for business considerations where a +sentiment was concerned; and being descended from one of the oldest +and most distinguished families of the country, she had a lofty +confidence that the country owed her a living, and would be at pains +to meet the obligation. In this confidence she was sadly disappointed; +and so it came about that, while Will and Ted were yet but small lads, +the farm was mortgaged to Mr. Israel Hand, who greatly desired to +add it to his own adjoining property. + +It happened one summer afternoon, when Will was nearly eighteen years +of age, and Ted fifteen, that the boys were raking hay in the meadow, +while Mr. Israel Hand was toiling up the long hill that led from +Frosty Hollow to the yellow cottage. The figure of Mr. Hand was hidden +from the boys' view by the dense foliage of the maples and birch trees +bordering the road. Toward the top of the hill, however, the line +of trees was broken; and in the gap towered a superb elm. Immediately +beneath the elm, half inclosed in a luxuriant thicket of cinnamon, +rose, and clematis, stood an inviting rustic seat which commanded +a view of the marshes, and the windings of the Tantramar, and the +far-off waters of the bay, and the historic heights of ramparted +Beauséjour. + +Toward the seat beneath the elm tree Ted kept casting eager but furtive +glances. This presently attracted Will's attention. + +"What have you, young one, been up to now?" he queried, in a tone half +amused and half rebuking. + +Ted's eyes sparkled mischievously. + +"O, nothing much!" said he, bending his curly head over the remains +of a bird's egg, which he suddenly discovered in the grass. But his +denial was not intended to deny so much as to provoke further inquiry. +He was a persistent, and sometimes troublesome practical joker; but he +usually wanted Will to know of his pranks beforehand, that Will's +steady good sense might keep him from anything too extravagant in +the way of trickery. + +"O, come off now, Ted," exclaimed Will, grinning. "Tell me what it is, +or I'll go and find out, and spoil the fun." + +"It's just a little trap I've set for a fellow I want to catch," +replied Ted, thus adjured. + +"Well?" said Will, expectantly. + +"Well!" continued the joker. "I've set a tub of 'crick' water--with +lots of mud in it--right under the seat up there, and fixed the bushes +and vines round it so that it hardly shows. I've sawed the seat almost +through, from underneath, so that when a fellow sits down on it--and +after climbing the hill, you know, he always sits down hard--well, +you can see just what's going to happen." + +"O, yes," grumbled the elder boy, "I see _just_ what's going to happen. +_I'll_ have to fix a new seat there to-morrow; for _you_ can't make +a decent job of it. But, look here, I don't think much of that for +a trick: There's nothing clever about it, and you may catch the wrong +person. I think you'd better go and fix it, before you do something +you'll be sorry for." + +"Don't you worry your old head!" answered Ted, determinedly. "I'm watching +to see who comes along. Do you suppose I'd let Mrs. Burton, or the rector +tumble into the tub? What d'you take me for, you old duffer?" + +"Well," said Will, good-humoredly, "whom do you expect to catch?" + +"Is your head so taken up with scientific musings that you haven't +noticed how, lately, Will Hen Baizley has taken to going home this way +every afternoon, instead of by the short cut over the back road? +I expect he's got a girl down at the corners, or he wouldn't be coming +such a long way round. Anyway, when he gets to the top of the hill +he always sits down on our seat, and fills up his pipe. I've been +looking for a chance at him this long while!" + +Will Hen Baizley was the most objectionable "tough" that Frosty Hollow +could boast. He was a bad-tempered bully, cruel in his propensities, +and delighting to interfere in all the innocent amusements of the +village youngsters. He was a loutish tyrant, and Ted had suffered +various petty annoyances at his hands for several years. In fact, the +boy was looking forward to the day when he might, without presumption, +undertake to give the bully a thrashing and deliver the neighbourhood +from his thraldom. As Will Hen, however, was about twenty years of age, +large, and not unskillful with his fists, Ted saw some years of waiting +yet ahead of him. Such suspense he could not endure. He preferred to +begin now, and trust to fate--and his brother Will--to pull him through. + +Will raked the hay thoughtfully for a few minutes without replying. +He was a clear-headed youth, and he speedily caught the drift of +Ted's ideas. + +"It'll be good enough for him," said Will, at length, "but you've got +a good deal of gall, it seems to me, young one! Why, Will Hen'll pound +you for it, sure. He'll know it's your doing." + +"Let him pound, the brute!" answered Ted, defiantly. "Anyway, I don't +suppose _you_ are going to let him handle me _too_ rough! I dare +say he won't actually punch me, for fear of getting into a row +with you--though" (and here a wicked twinkle came into Ted's eye, for +he knew the pugnacity that lurked in his big brother's scientific +nature), "though he _does_ say he can particularly knock the +stuffing out of you!" + +"Dear me," murmured Will, grinning thoughtfully. "If he talks to you +about it, tell him there isn't any stuffing in me to speak of." + +During this conversation the boys had both, for a few minutes, forgotten +to watch the seat under the elm tree. Suddenly Ted glanced up, a thrill +of mingled apprehension and delight went through him as he saw Mr. Israel +Hand approaching the fatal spot. + +"Look, quick!" he exclaimed, in a gleeful whisper. + +Will looked. But Will was not amused. + +"Hi! there! _Don't sit down_, Mr. Hand! Don't!" He yelled, jumping +into the air and waving his hay rake to attract additional attention. + +But it was too late! + +Mr. Israel Hand was tired and hot from his walk up the hill. He was vexed, +too, at the prospect of a disagreeable interview with Mrs. Carter, who +would not understand business matters. The seat beneath the elm was +a most inviting place. From it he could see the whole farm which he +meant presently to annex to his own broad acres. He was on the point +of seating himself when he heard Will's yell. He had a vague consciousness +that the boys did not love him, to say the least of it. He concluded +they were now making game of him. Why shouldn't he sit down? If it was +their seat now, it would soon be his, anyway. + +"Impudent young scoundrels!" he muttered, and sat down firmly. + +As the boys saw him crash through, and disappear, all but his head +and heels, in a great splash of leaves and blossoms and muddy water, +Ted fairly shrieked with uncontrollable mirth. But as for Will, he +was too angry to see the fun of the situation. + +"There," he exclaimed, bitterly, with a ring in his voice that checked +Ted's laughter on the instant, "your tomfoolery has fixed us at last. +Out we'll go next spring, as sure as you want a licking. Hand'll +foreclose now, for sure; and I can't say I'll blame him. No use me +trying to stave him off now!" + +Ted hung his head, feeling miserable enough, and casting about vainly +for an excuse. + +"But I never--" + +"O, don't wriggle, now," retorted Will, sternly. "You know you saw him +in time to warn him. You _wanted_ to get him into it. You just come along +with me, and apologize. If he _is_ an old skinflint, you've got to +remember he could have sold us out last year, only I succeeded in +begging off. Mother's high and mighty airs to him made the job twice +as hard as it might have been; but _you've_ made it _impossible_ to do +anything more. Now he'll have us out in a twelve-month--and I was just +getting things so into shape that with two years more I could have +saved the old place!" + +As the boys climbed the hillside Will's face was very white, and his +mouth twitched nervously. He had taken hold of affairs about two +years before, stopped a number of leaks, and displayed great tact +in neutralizing the effects of Mrs. Carter's aristocratic and exclusive +notions. Mrs. Carter was a woman of untiring industry, most capable +in all household matters, but superbly uncommercial. Having got the +management into his own hands, and having entirely won his mother's +confidence, Will was beginning to see a gleam of light ahead of him. +If he could keep Mr. Israel Hand pacified for two years more, and yet +prevent the schemer from imagining that the mortgage was going to be +paid in the end, he felt that victory was his. Mr. Hand wanted the +farm--but if he could win a reputation for forbearance, and get the +farm not less surely in the long run, he would be all the better +satisfied. It was thus Will had gauged him. The boy's ambition was +to clear off the debt, and then earn something wherewith to finish +his own education and Ted's. Now, seeing the whole scheme nipped in +the fair bud by Ted's recklessness, small wonder if his heart grew hard. +Presently, however, catching sight of Ted's face of misery, stained +with one or two furtive tears, his wrath began to melt. + +"Well, Ted," said he, "never mind now. It's no use crying over spilt +milk. You hadn't much time to think. I know you wouldn't have had it +happen for a good deal if you'd had time to think. Brace up, and maybe +we'll find some way out of the scrape!" + +At this Ted's face brightened a little, and he ejaculated fervently: + +"I wish I wasn't such an idiot!" + +"Don't fret!" replied Will, and the two trudged on to the little white +gate in front of the yellow cottage, carrying grievous apprehensions +in their hearts. + +Meanwhile, Mr. Israel Hand had extricated himself from the tub. He was +not hurt saving as regards his dignity. But his heart was absolutely +bursting with righteous rage. And yet, and yet, it was sweet to think +of the revenge that lay so close within his grasp. No one now could +accuse him of being too severe. Public feeling would justify his +course--and Mr. Israel Hand had a good deal of respect for public +feeling. + +He did not pause to remove one atom of the sticky creek mud that +plastered grotesquely his rusty but solemn suit of black. Drenched +and defiled, he felt himself an object of sympathy. He would not even +remove the occasional green leaves and rosebuds that clung to him here +and there with a most ludicrous effect, making one think of a too +festive picnicker. Mr. Hand was quite lacking in a sense of the +ridiculous. + +When he reached the door he knocked imperiously, and after a second, +rapped again. Mrs. Carter was busy in the kitchen. She resented the +hastiness of the summons. Under no circumstances would she let herself +be seen in the rôle of kitchen girl. She clung to appearances with a +tenacity that nothing could shake. Long practice in this sort of thing, +however, had made her very expert; and by the time Mr. Hand had +thundered at the knocker four or five times, his wrath getting hotter +as his damp clothes got more chilly, Mrs. Carter had made herself +presentable and was ready to open the door. + +Severe and stately in her widow's garments, cool of countenance as if +she had been but sitting in expectancy of callers, she opened the door +and confronted Mr. Hand. Recognizing her unwelcome visitor, she drew +herself up to her full height, and the little, dripping old man looked +the more grotesque and mean by contrast. + +"Good afternoon, Mr. Hand," she began in tones of ice; "can I do +anything"--but at this point she took in the full absurdity of his +appearance. With all her stateliness she had a keen appreciation +of the ridiculous, and it was from her that Ted derived his excess +of humor and his love of mischief. Passionately as she scorned Mr. Hand, +she could forget herself so far as to let him amuse her. Her large face +melted into a smile. She struggled to keep from open laughter. + +"Look at me, just look at me, at my condition!" burst forth Mr. Hand +"This is some of the work of your two brats of boys, madam. I'll +horsewhip them, I'll have them horsewhipped!" + +By this time Mrs. Carter was laughing unreservedly. She was consumed +with mirth, as Mr. Hand continued: + +"O, yes! I don't doubt you put them up to it! I don't doubt you think +it is a great joke; a great joke, madam. But I'll make you smart for it! +You think there's no one in Frosty Hollow fit to associate with you, eh! +You're a pauper, and your brats are paupers! That's what you are. +I'll foreclose that mortgage at once, and out you'll go, just as quickly +as the course of law will permit. This time next year you'll have no +roof over your head, and everyone in the village will say I have done +quite right by you! I--" + +"Really, Mr. Hand" exclaimed Mrs. Carter, interrupting, "you have +no right to appear before me in such a shocking condition. If you wish +to talk to me you must call again, and in more suitable attire. Excuse +me!" And she shut the door in his face. + +Mr. Hand shook his fist at the big brass knocker, then turned to go. +The boys were just opening the little white gate. Mr. Hand paused +between the beds of sweet williams and canterbury bells. He was +in doubt as to the attitude he had better assume to Will and Ted. +Glancing along the road he saw the figure of Will Hen Baizley +inspecting curiously the ruins of the seat beneath the elm. Here +was an ally if need should arise. He decided on prompt retribution, +and seized his stick in a firmer grasp. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE HAND OF THE LAW. + + +"You pauper brats," began Mr. Hand, advancing along the garden path, +"I'll teach you to play your dirty tricks on me!" And he raised his +heavy cane. + +With a quick movement of his arm, Will had the stick firmly in his +grip so that Mr. Hand could not stir it. + +"Stop that, Mr. Hand!" said Will, quietly. "You mustn't do that, sir. +It was never intended _you_ should fall into that trap, sir. It was +set for another person altogether. You know, sir, you heard me yell +to you not to sit down on it!" + +"Let go of my stick, you young scoundrel!" exclaimed Mr. Hand, somewhat +less outrageously than he had spoken before. The firmness of Will's +grasp and the steadiness of his glance had a quieting effect on the +money lender's temper. + +"Certainly, sir," said Will, releasing the cane. "Only don't do anything +foolish. I don't wonder you are angry, very angry indeed. But I tried +to stop you. And now we want to apologize and tell you how sorry we--" + +"Indeed, indeed we are sorry, sir," burst in Ted, impetuously. "We +wouldn't have had it happen for worlds, Mr. Hand!" + +"Very likely not--not for a farm, in fact," retorted Mr. Hand with +elaborate sarcasm. + +"But it was only I did it, and I'm the only one to blame, sir," urged +Ted, desperately, catching the full meaning of the last remark. + +By this time Will Hen Baizley had approached. He paused in the middle +of the road, filled with curiosity. Catching sight of Mr. Hand's absurd +appearance, he understood what had happened. He saw the whole thing, +as he thought, and he relished the joke hugely. Shaking and cackling +with laughter, he came over and leaned against the picket fence. His +ridicule exasperated Mr. Hand, who suddenly resolved that he did not +want Mr. Baizley's assistance. He scowled menacingly at the young +ruffian, and then replied to Ted's beseeching plea: + +"You needn't talk to me, and think you're going to come round me with +your soft soap. You're all alike, the whole lot of you. You play a +disgraceful trick on me, and then your mother slams the door in my face. +You're a pack of fools. When you're just paupers, at my mercy for the +roof that covers you, one'd think, even if you hadn't any decency, +you might know what side your bread was buttered on. I reckon you +expect everyone to lick your shoes because your name's Carter! Well, +your name's mud now. I'm going to foreclose right off, and out you'll +go next spring. And I don't want to hear no talk about it." + +Ted's face got very red, and it was with difficulty he kept back the +tears of shame and bitterness, as he realized the consequences of +his folly. But Will Hen Baizley was there, so he held himself manfully +erect, and glared defiantly at the tough who was grinning over the fence. +Mr. Hand pushed past and was about to open the gate, when Will spoke: + +"That's all right, Mr. Hand," said the tactful youth, soothingly. "Of +course I can't blame you. Don't think I blame you. Business is business, +and you might have honestly enough turned us out a year ago. We are +grateful to you, Ted and I, for having been so forbearing in the past. +_We_ won't complain a bit. And as for mother, why, sir, you mustn't +think hard of her if _she_ complains, because you know she doesn't +understand business. And then, she's had such a lot of trouble it has +made her a little quick tempered to some people." + +These remarks were very gratifying to Mr. Israel Hand. They did not +alter his determination in the slightest degree, but they soothed +his sense of injury. They largely removed his desire for revenge, +and left nothing but his desire to possess the farm as soon as possible. +The astute Will rightly judged that an opponent with two motives for +hostility would be more difficult to handle than one with but a single +motive. + +"Well," said Mr. Hand, "you know now exactly what I'm going to do. +You seem to be a very sensible young man, William, and please remember +it was only on your representations and at your earnest request that +I waited so long as I have. I look to you to prevent unnecessary fuss. +You must yield to the inevitable. So don't let your mother raise any +useless trouble. It won't do any good." + +With a sense of satisfaction that quite outweighed the humiliations +he had suffered, Mr. Hand strode off down the hill, ignoring Will Hen +Baizley, and forgetful of the mud and rose leaves on his raiment. + +"Haw!" exclaimed Will Hen Baizley. "That's a good un! You done that +slick! An' the old fellow b'lieved yer, too! Couldn't 'a lied out'n +it slicker'n that myself!" + +"There was no lying about it," answered Ted, fiercely, flushing redder +than ever. But Will replied more calmly: + +"What we told Mr. Hand was the exact truth, Will Hen. You can just bet +we didn't want to let _him_ in for that. No, sir-ee! It was another +lad altogether that little surprise party was intended for!" + +And Will grinned mysteriously. + +"Mebbe 'twas me you was after!" suggested Will Hen Baizley, with +a snarl. + +"I wouldn't bother my head about who it was intended for, if I were +you," said Will, in a good-natured voice. + +"Ef't had been me stidder old Hand, I'd 'a' broke every bone in yer +carkus," growled Baizley. + +"It wasn't Will that fixed the trap, anyway," said Ted. "It was me, +and Will never saw it till he came up the hill just now!" + +"O, 'twas you, was it!" remarked Will Hen Baizley. "_I_ see, I see! +Thought yer'd git square, eh? So it _was_ me you expected to see +flounderin' in that there old tub! I've 'most a mind to lick you fur it +right now!" + +Ted laughed; and the tough made a motion to spring over the fence. + +"Baizley!" said Will. And the fellow paused. + +"Go slow, now!" continued Will, with an amiable smile, but with a +significant look in his eye. "I dare say you'd sooner fight than eat, +but you'd better go home to your supper just now. Anyway, you mustn't +come in here, for I don't want to be bothered!" + +"Do you want to fight?" queried Will Hen Baizley, defiantly, but at +the same time withdrawing from the fence. "I can lick you out o' +yer skin!" + +"But I don't want to be licked out of my skin, thank you, not this +evening!" responded Will, sweetly. + +"Yer dars'n't come out here an' stand up to me," said the tough. + +"O, go along, Will Hen, and quit talking to your hat," laughed Will, +picking up the hoe and beginning to attack some weeds. "Do you suppose +I've nothing better to do than punching your soft head? Maybe I'll +fight you some day when there's something to fight about, and then +you won't be half as eager. Bye-bye!" + +At this Ted tittered with delight. As for Will Hen Baizley, he was +impressed by Will's confidence and coolness so much that he did not +really wish just then to try conclusions with him. Therefore he +contented himself with repeating his taunt of "you dars'n't!" and +swaggered slowly away. The boys went into the house. + +They found their mother in high good humor. She felt that she had +come off victorious in the encounter with Mr. Hand, and she gave the +boys a spirited account of the interview. This was received by Ted +with unfeigned relish, but Will smiled rather grimly. + +"And what was the impertinent old man saying to you out in the garden?" +inquired the lady at length. + +"O, nothing more than we expected to hear, mother," replied Will. +"He merely gave us formal notice that he could let matters run on no +longer, but would foreclose instantly." + +"By all means let him foreclose, as he calls it!" said Mrs. Carter, +loftily. + +"We've got to let him, as we can do nothing else," answered Will. +"But it's a little tough to think we'll have to leave the old place +next spring!" + +"Leave this place!" exclaimed Mrs. Carter, warmly. "Indeed, we won't +do anything of the sort. I should like to see him try to turn us out! +Old Hand, whose father used to blacken your poor grandfather's boots, +turn _us_ out of our own house! You don't know what you are talking +about, Willie!" + +To this Will made no reply. He merely smiled very slightly, and thrust +his chin forward with an expression of mingled doggedness and good humor. +His mother felt that he was not convinced. + +"But, mother," began Ted, "Will does know all about it. Old Hand _is_ +going to--" + +"You hush at once, Teddie," interrupted Mrs. Carter. "You are only +a little boy. As for Hand, if he attempts to interfere with me I will +drive over to Barchester and see the Hon. Mr. Germain about it. I will +go to law, if necessary, to defend our rights!" + +"The trouble is, mother, in this matter we haven't any rights left +to speak of. It is the rights of Mr. Hand that the law will think of," +said Will, gently. + +"Willie," said his mother with severity, "I don't want to hear any +more nonsense. I'm sure it was not so when _I_ was young, that the +law would allow our domestics to trample upon us. The judges in those +days were all gentlemen. I'm sure, Willie, I don't know where you get +those low, radical ideas. I fear I have been foolish not to look more +closely into the kind of books you read!" + +"Now, mother," began Ted, pugnaciously, fired as usual with indiscreet +zeal to make his mother see things with Will's eyes. + +But Will interrupted him. "Come off, Ted," said he, "mother's right. +The very best thing she can do is to go and see Mr. Germain. Come along +now, it's time the cattle were tended." + +"Hurry in again, then," said Mrs. Carter, mollified. "I'm going to have +pancakes for you to-night, because you've been working so hard." + +"Bully for you, muz!" cried Ted, joyously, regardless of his mother's +aversion to slang. And Will smiled back his gratification as they +started for the barn. + +In a few minutes the cow stable was musical with the recurrent bubbling +swish of the streams of milk which the boys' skilled hands were directing +into their tin pails. + +"Say, Ted," exclaimed Will, from under the red and white flank of his cow. + +"What's up now?" inquired Ted. + +"I've just got hold of a brilliant idea," continued Will. "We may escape +old Hand yet, and come out of this scrape fairly and creditably." + +"But you _are_ a clever old beggar!" responded Ted, in a voice of +admiration. "You've got the brains of the family! What is it?" + +"Come down to the crick with me after tea, and I'll explain," said Will. +"But don't say anything to mother. It's no use worrying her, and she's +got enough to attend to!" + +"Now don't keep me dying with curiosity," urged Ted, pausing in his +milking and turning round. "Just give me a hint, to keep me from +'bursting,' so to speak!" + +"Well," answered Will, "it's _new marsh_ I'm after. Some more dike. +See? Now wait till we're on the spot. I'm thinking." + +"By all means, _let_ it think if it can think like that," exclaimed +Ted, jubilantly, and went on with his milking. Already he saw the +mortgage lifted, and all their difficulties at an end, so unbounded +was his confidence in Will's resources. + +After tea Will led his brother down to the marsh. Along the breezy +top of the dike the boys walked rapidly, one behind the other, the dike +top being narrow. It was near low tide, and the creek clamored cheerfully +along the bottom of its naked red channel. A crisp, salty fragrance came +from the moist slopes and gullies; and here and there a little pond, left +behind by the ebb, gleamed like flames in the low sunset. + +Toward the upper end of the Carter farm the dike curved sharply inland +till it joined the steep slope of their pasture lot. Here was a spacious +cove, inclosed by the Carter's pasture lot on the south and west, by +their dike on the east, and on the north by the channel of the creek. +At the time the dike was built the channel had lain close in along +the foot of the upland, but it had gradually moved out to a straight +course as the cove filled up with sediment. Of this change the dike +itself had been the main cause. Now the cove appeared at high water +as a bay or lagoon; but very early in the ebb its whole surface was +uncovered, and, except along the outermost edge, thin patches of salt +grass were already beginning to appear. + +To this spot the boys betook themselves, treading the way gingerly +over the tenacious but slippery surface. Will pointed to a half barrel +sunk level in the ooze. It was full to the brim with fine silt. + +"What do you think of that?" inquired Will, mysteriously. + +Ted racked his brain for a suitable reply. He could gather no clew +to Will's purpose, so he remarked: + +"Very nice, healthy looking mud, seems to me? Going to sell it for +brown paint?" + +"Paint!" exclaimed Will, scornfully. "But how long do you suppose +that tub has been there?" + +"Looks as if it had been there from the year one," replied Ted, still +hopelessly adrift. + +"_I_ put _it_ there just three weeks ago!" said Will, watching +his brother's face. + +"You _did!_" said Ted, blankly. Then a light dawned upon him. +"But that's mighty quick work!" he continued. "You don't mean to tell +me that all that mud was deposited by the tide in three weeks!" + +"Every bit of it!" averred Will. "You see the Tantramar water is just +loaded with silt. It has so much that the moment it stops to rest +it throws down as much of the load as it can. When it gets moving, +regularly under way, it has to pick it up again. But the longer it +stops the more it throws down; and the slower it moves the less it +picks up again. Inside the tub it is always slack water, so whatever +falls there stays there. That's why the tub has filled up so quick. +Nearly a foot and a half in three weeks! Why, Ted, a raise of a foot +and a half along the outer slope of this cove, and we could dike in +the whole cove. See?" + +Ted's eyes grew round and triumphant at the suggestion. + +"But how can it be done?" he asked + +"Won't we have to wait till the tide does it for us?" and his tone +dropped gradually from elation to dejection. + +"Not much!" said Will, turning back to the dike. "Just look here a +minute!" + +Seating himself on the dike top, he took a book from his pocket and +began making rough diagrams on the fly leaf. + +[Illustration: Diagram of Warping Dykes.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +A PIECE OF ENGINEERING. + + +Ted craned his neck eagerly to watch the movements of Will's pencil. + +"You know," began Will, with his head on one side, "in some parts of +the world, when they want to make the tide work for them, they use +things they call 'warping dikes.' These run on a slant out from the +shore toward the channel. They generally slope up stream pretty sharply. +The tide comes in, loaded right up with fine mud, flows over and into +and around the long lines of warping dike, then stops and begins to +unload. Now, you see, when there are no warping dikes, the current +has nothing to delay it, so it soon gets going on the ebb so fast that +it washes away pretty near all it has deposited. But these warping dikes +bring in a new state of affairs. They so hinder the ebb that there is +more silt deposited, and at the same time there is less current on the +flats to carry the mud away. As the engineers say, there is not so much +'scouring'--a first-rate word to express it. Haven't you noticed how, +in some spots, the current seems to scour away all the mud and leave +naked stones and pebbles?" + +"Yes," exclaimed Ted, "I get hold of the idea now. And when the warping +dikes have got their work in, what then?" + +"Why, we'll dike the whole cove in. A short bit of dike from that corner +straight across to the point will do it. We'll be able to get at it in a +couple of months; and then, if you and I can't put the job through before +the ground gets frozen, why, I'll hire help, that's all!" + +"But it's a pretty big contract you're giving us, isn't it?" queried Ted, +doubtfully. "Those warping dikes you're talking of look to me like an +all summer's job. What'll they be like, anyway?" + +"O, they'll be very slight. We can run them, with the help of old Jerry +to haul for us, in less than no time, working evenings and wet days. +We'll just lay lines of brush a foot high, and pile heavy stones along +the top to keep it in place. Then we can raise them a little higher as +the place fills up!" + +"O!" murmured Ted, greatly relieved. "I thought we'd have to _dig_ +them all, like the other dikes." + +After this the boys' talk was of nothing but deposits and warping +dikes and scouring. Their evenings and rainy days, usually spent in +their mother's company and in study, were now devoted to the labor of +hauling stones and brush down to the shore of the cove. To Mrs. Carter +they explained the scheme, but without reference to its connection +with Mr. Israel Hand. She grasped its possibilities at once, being +clear-headed except where her prejudices were involved. + +"How many acres do you expect to reclaim?" she inquired, after praising +Will's sagacity warmly. + +"Well," said Will, "of course we won't have it surveyed till the work's +done and we are sure of the property; but I have an idea it will go a +good ten acres, or maybe twelve." + +"And good diked land, or _ma'sh_ as these people call it, is worth +about two hundred dollars an acre, isn't it?" went on Mrs. Carter. + +"_This_ will be, in two or three years, anyway," answered Will, +"for it will be _deep_ marsh, alluvial to the bottom and permanently +fertile." + +"And what do you suppose it ought to be worth next year, as soon as +it's diked in?" asked Ted. + +"O," said Will, carelessly, "maybe a hundred and fifty, or ten better, +perhaps!" + +"Dear boys," said Mrs. Carter, "if all goes well you'll both be able +to get through college, perhaps. I must keep on steadily with Ted's Latin +this fall and winter. Dear me, I'm so sorry I let them laugh me out of my +desire to study Greek when I was a girl. I could be so useful to you both +now if I'd learnt it!" + +"Don't you worry about that, muz," said Ted, jumping up to kiss her. +"If you plug me up in my Latin, we'll find some way to manage about +the Greek time enough!" + +When haying was over there was a slack time on the farm for a few weeks, +and these few weeks sufficed the boys, working with eager energy, to get +all the warping dikes laid down. To avoid the nuisance of neighbors' +questionings, the idea occurred to Ted of sticking up stakes at intervals +along the rows of brush and stone. When these stakes were connected +at the tops by binders, they looked like the framework of a long and +elaborate series of fish weirs. Gaspereaux were fairly abundant in the +creek at certain seasons, so there was nothing unreasonable in the +supposition. But the dwellers in Frosty Hollow laughed hugely. + +"Them Carter boys thinks they knows everything," was the universal +comment, "but they don't know the first thing about how to run a fish +weir. Why, them there weirs 'll shet every gaspereaux aout o' the cove, +'n 'tain't much of a place fur gaspereaux, anyways!" + +When such remarks were tendered to the boys they would merely reply, +"You just wait till you see how our way works. If it doesn't work +the way we expect, then maybe it'll be time enough to try your way!" +The experiment interested the village for a few weeks, and at length +died out of notice. + +It was utterly eclipsed, indeed, by a topic of profounder interest. +The village learned that Mr. Hand was foreclosing his mortgage, and +that the Carters were to be sold out the ensuing spring. Some of the +people were sympathetic, but others, resenting Mrs. Carter's proud +exclusiveness, took a malicious delight in the near prospect of her +humiliation. + +Roused at last to a sense of the reality of the danger, Mrs. Carter, +who was quite too busy at her buttermaking and other indoor farmwork +to spare time for her threatened visit to Barchester, wrote urgently +to the Hon. Mr. Germain. The boys posted her letter, from which they +knew nothing could come, and then went to comfort themselves with a +sight of the way the silt was piling up inside their warping dikes. + +The growth of the deposit had exceeded their most sanguine expectations. +Early in August they decided that it was time to begin the permanent +dike, the "running dike," as it was called in local parlance. That same +day came a letter from Mr. Germain. When the boys came in to tea they +found their mother in tears of indignation and despair. + +"_There's_ what he says!" exclaimed she, pointing to the open letter, +which she had laid on Will's plate. "I do think things have come +to a strange pass in these days. I _certainly_ never dreamed that +Charles Germain could change like the rest!" + +"Never mind, mother dear," said Will, soothingly. "We're not in our +last ditch yet. Trust me!" + +And taking up the letter he read aloud for Ted's benefit: + +"_My dear Mrs. Carter_: Believe me, it gives me great grief to learn + of the difficulties you are in, and to feel myself so powerless to + render you assistance. I feel bound to tell you that Mr. Hand, if I + understand your letter, is entirely within his rights. You would + have not a shadow of a case against him in the courts. There is but + one way of escape from the penalty, and that is by payment of your + indebtedness to him. In this, alas! I cannot help you at all adequately, + as I have lately suffered such losses that I am just now financially + embarrassed. Even had you good security to offer I could not lend you + the sum you need, as my own borrowing powers (this strictly between + ourselves) are just now taxed to their utmost. I think I can, however, + offer one of your boys a position in my office on a small salary; and + for the other I could, perhaps, within the next few months, obtain a + situation in the Exchange Bank of this town. This, perhaps, would + relieve your most pressing anxieties, and it would be a great pleasure + to me to serve you. + +"Yours, with sincerest regards and sympathy, + CHARLES GERMAIN." + +"That's a jolly nice letter!" exclaimed Ted. + +"Yes, mother," said Will, handing it back to her, "I don't see anything +the matter with that." + +Mrs. Carter drew herself up proudly. "Don't you see," said she, "that he +_puts me off!_ I asked him to extricate me from this difficulty, to +defend for me _my rights!_ In reply he offers me, as if I were a beggar, +employment for my sons. Practically, he takes the part of old Hand. +O, I've no patience with such men! I'm serious!" + +"Well, mother, you must allow," said Will, "that if Mr. Germain says so, +it's no use thinking of going to law against old Hand, is it? As for +Mr. Germain's kind offer to find places for Ted and me, why, if the worst +comes to the worst, that wouldn't be _too_ bad. We could live pretty +comfortably in Barchester with our little salaries and your clever +housekeeping. But maybe we won't have to leave here after all! _That's_ +what Ted and I have been up to all summer. We anticipated that Mr. Germain +would disappoint you; but we wouldn't say so. Our plan is to _sell the +new marsh_, when we get it diked in, and with the proceeds pay off Hand's +mortgage with all the arrears of interest. There ought to be something +left over, too!" + +"But I was proposing--I wanted to deed that piece of marsh to you boys!" +objected Mrs. Carter, in a voice of mingled gratification and doubt. + +"O, muz!" answered Will, putting his arm around her, "what do we want +of it? The whole farm is ours, in that it's yours. That's all we want +the new marsh for--just to clear off the mortgage. And we're going +to do it, too! We begin work on the running dike to-morrow." + +"You are two dear, good boys!" exclaimed their mother, tenderly. "If only +your poor father could have lived! How proud he would have been of both +of you!" And her eyes filled with tears. Next day Will and Ted armed +themselves with diking spades, and set to work determinedly. They had +the old horse, Jerry, on the spot, harnessed to a light cart, ready +to haul material as wanted. They began at the lower end of the cove, +building upward from the corner of the old dike. Their purpose in this +was to keep the scouring in check. By this method of procedure they +would have the final outlet (usually so difficult to close) located +at the shallowest part of the cove. There would thus, as soon as the +dike extended a little distance, be some water left behind after every +flood tide, and there would be so much less to make violent escape +with the ebb. If there should be left, finally, more imprisoned water +than the sun could well evaporate that autumn, Will explained to Ted +that it would be a simple matter to drain it off and close up the +outlet between tides. + +At the end of the first day's work Mrs. Carter came down to note +progress, and was shown several feet of sound, shapely dike, with +planks and large stones laid on the exposed end as a protection against +the tide. A little calculation showed that it would be quite feasible, +with perhaps a week or so of hired help toward the last, to finish +the dike before hard weather should set in. + +Everybody now at the yellow cottage on the hill was cheerful in the +hope of speedy success. To their ears the clamor of the ebbing and +flowing tides was a jubilant music. Their loved "crick" was becoming +their friend-in-need. Its unctuous red flats acquired a new beauty +in their eyes, and the mighty, sweeping tides they came to regard +as the embodiment of their good genius. + +With the rapidly growing dike all went swimmingly for a time. But the +neighbors were now completely undeceived. Though nettled at their former +dullness, they could not but applaud the ingenuity of the scheme; +and they rather approved the reticence which the boys had observed +in the matter. + +Among the villagers, however, there was one who did not like the +turn affairs were taking. Mr. Hand perceived that he might yet be +defeated in his effort to gain possession of the Carters' farm. +He was an astute old man, if he _didn't_ at first understand the +warping dikes. + +His first step was to threaten Will with proceedings to stop the work. +He owned the marsh on the opposite side of the creek, and he claimed +that the building of the new dike would so alter the channel that his +property would be endangered. Will presently proved to him, beyond +cavil, that the slight deflection of the currents would only throw +the scouring force of the stream against a point of rocky upland, +some hundreds of yards below his marsh, where it could not possibly +do any harm. Then Mr. Hand professed himself entirely satisfied, +and departed to devise other weapons. + +By the middle of September the dike extended more than halfway across +the mouth of the cove, and the work was daily growing easier. The +facing of the water front, of course, was being left to do afterwards, +when the weather should be unfit for digging. + +One morning, after a very high tide, the boys came down to find a +good ten feet or more of their work washed away. They were terribly +cast down. + +"How on earth did it happen?" groaned Ted. "Do you suppose we didn't +protect the end properly?" + +"I don't see any other explanation," said Will, gloomily. + +"But if the stones were _swept_ off by the tide," exclaimed Ted, with +sudden significance, "wouldn't they be lying to one side or the other? +These look as if they had been pulled off!" + +"By the great horn spoon, you've hit it, young one!" cried Will, +excited beyond his wont. "Good for you! The tide never did it! Some +one has been helping the tide!" + +"Will Hen Baizley!" declared Ted. "I shouldn't wonder a bit!" said +Will. "Well, Ted, there's nothing to do but go to work and build it +up again. And to-night, why, we'll 'lay for him,' that's all!" + +Doggedly and wrathfully the boys toiled all day. At tea they told +their mother what had occurred. Mrs. Carter was furious. But when +Will declared their intention of watching that night for the depredator, +her anger vanished in fear. At first she forbid positively all thought +of such a thing. Will declared that he _must_ do it--it simply had to +be done. Thereupon she said she would forbid Ted going. At this Ted +burst forth indignantly. + +"What, mother, would you have me leave Will all alone out there?" +An idea which was, of course, to Mrs. Carter intolerable. She forgot +to be imperative; she became appealing. + +"But, muz," said Will, reassuringly, "there is no danger at all. You +can trust me, can't you? Ted and I will each take a good, big club, +and if, as we think, it is Will Hen Baizley, we'll give him a pounding +that will keep him civil for a while." + +"But what if he should have some ruffians with him?" urged the mother. + +"Well, just to be safe, _I'll_ take my gun, so as to be able to give +them a scare, you know. But Ted is so impetuous and bloodthirsty +that he'd better not take anything but a club!" + +"O, dear me! I suppose you _will_ go!" said Mrs. Carter. "But at least +you must wrap up warm and take something in your pockets to eat!" + +Just about dark the boys betook themselves to the lower corner of the +new dike. Under the shelter of the old dike they fixed themselves +a hiding place of brush and grass. From this point they could see +distinctly the figure of anyone approaching across the marsh. When +they were comfortably established Ted inquired: + +"Say, old fellow, have you got your gun loaded?" + +"No!" whispered Will. + +"Why not?" asked Ted, anxiously. + +"You don't suppose I want to shoot anybody, do you?" said Will. "I've +got both barrels loaded with powder and wadding, so I can scare them +out of their wits. And I've some bird shot in my pocket, to pepper +their legs with if I should have to!" + +"O!" said Ted. + +The boys talked for perhaps an hour, in a cautious undertone, not +audible ten feet off by reason of the rushing and hissing and clamoring +of the incoming tide. Then they were silent for a while. At length Ted +murmured: + +"O, I say, but I'm getting sleepy. Can't you let me go to sleep for +a bit? Wake me in an hour, and I'll let you snooze." + +"S't!" whispered Will, laying his hand on his brother's arm. "I heard +something splash in that pool yonder!" + +The boys noiselessly raised their eyes to a level with the top of the +dike. At first they could see nothing. Then they detected a shadowy +figure making for the place where they had last been at work. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A RESCUE AND A BATTLE. + + +"He's alone!" whispered Ted. "Shall we jump on him?" + +"Hold on; wait till he gets to work," said Will. "Then, if we catch +him in the act, he can't make any excuse, but just take his medicine +like a man!" + +"It's Baizley, eh?" murmured Ted. + +At this moment they heard the stones and planks being pulled off the +end of the dike. Then came the sound of a spade thrust into the clay +with violence. + +"Now," exclaimed Will, "let's onto him! let me get hold of him first, +and then you take a hand in." + +Grasping their clubs, and leaving the gun lying by their nest, the +boys slipped over the dike and dashed upon the marauder. So occupied +was the latter with his nefarious task that he heard nothing till +the boys were within ten feet of him. Then he started up, and raised +his spade threateningly. + +"Drop that, Baizley, or I'll blow a hole in you!" cried Will, springing +at his neck. + +At this instant the silent figure flung itself adroitly off the dike, +dropping the spade and eluding Will's grasp. It started swiftly across +the muddy flat, the two boys close on its heels. + +For a few yards the boys just held their own. Then Ted, being the +swifter, forged ahead. In a few seconds more he overtook the fugitive, +sprang upon his neck, and bore him headlong to the ground. The next +moment, before either could recover, Will had come up, and his iron +grip was on the stranger's throat. + +"No nonsense, now," said Will, in a voice that carried conviction, +at the same time tapping the fellow's cranium lightly with his club. +"If you don't want the life half pounded out of you, keep still!" + +The fellow lay quiet, only gasping: + +"Don't choke me!" + +Will relaxed his grip, and then exclaimed to Ted, in astonishment: + +"Why, it ain't Baizley!" + +"Course, it ain't!" growled the fallen one, sullenly, appearing +indignant at the imputation. + +"Sit up, and let's look at the fellow that goes round nights cutting +people's dikes!" commanded Will. + +The fellow turned over on his face. + +"Sit up!" repeated Will, in a cold voice, which sounded as if he was +in earnest. + +"Why," exclaimed Ted. "If it isn't Jim Hutchings!" + +"Old Hand's man, eh? I begin to smell a mouse," said Will, sarcastically. + +"It's as plain as a pikestaff!" almost shouted Ted. "It's old Hand +that ought to get the licking we were going to give you. But we'll +have to pound you a little for his sake and your own too!" + +"No, Hutchings," said Will, after a moment's thought. "You deserve +a licking, but we'll let you off. Only take warning. I'll blame old +Hand this time, and you can let him know he's likely to hear from us +about this, and about last night's work. But as for you, if we catch +you fooling round this dike again, you'll be sorry as long as you live. +We're on the watch for you and the likes of you. And over yonder I've +got my gun, in case there were more than one of you in the scrape." + +"We've loaded her up, both barrels," said Ted, maliciously, "with +big charges of bird shot, so she'll scatter well and everybody get +his share!" + +By this time Jim Hutchings was on his feet. + +"Now clear out!" was Will's peremptory direction. + +Hutchings started back toward the dike to get his spade. + +"No, you don't," laughed Ted. "That's confiscated!'" + +"Never mind the spade!" said Will, firmly, as Hutchings hesitated. +"We'll keep it and try and find some use for it!" + +The fellow would have liked to contest the point, but he remembered +the feeling of Will's grip. With an oath he turned on his heel and +made for the uplands. Then the boys went back to the dike, possessed +themselves of the spade, and repaired the slight damage that had +been done. + +"Shall we stay any longer?" asked Ted, again getting sleepy. + +"No, I fancy we won't be bothered this way any more!" answered Will. +"At all events, Jim Hutchings won't come back!" And he chuckled to +himself. + +Will proved right. The dike was no more molested. By the middle of October +it was within two or three yards of completion. At the gap the ground +was high, so that at ordinary tides there was small outflow and inflow. +Two or three days more of satisfactory work, and the new marsh would be +an accomplished fact Will and Ted were in a fever of anxiety, day and +night, lest something should happen at the last to mar their plans. +Above all, they had a vague dread of some sinister move on the part +of Mr. Hand. + +Just at this time it happened that old Jerry lost a shoe. Ted was away +in the woods looking for a stray cow, so Will had to take the horse +down into the village to the blacksmith. + +On his return, about the middle of the forenoon, he passed a field in +which Will Hen Baizley was at work digging a ditch. Along the foot of +the field ran a clear trout brook, into which it was evidently the +intention to drain a little swamp which lay further up the slope. Near +where Baizley was digging, the brook widened out into a sandy-bottomed, +sunny pool, in which the minnows were always darting and flickering. + +Not far off stood the house of Mr. Israel Hand, where he guarded +the one being he was supposed to love, his little four-year-old orphan +grandson. Whether or not he cared for anyone else, it would be hard +to say; but there was no questioning the fact that he absolutely +worshiped Toddles, as the baby was called. The little one was a +blue-eyed, chubby, handsome lad, with long yellow curls and an unlimited +capacity for mischief. + +As Will passed along the road he saw Toddles playing in the field where +Baizley was digging. Presently he was tickled to observe that the child +had discovered Baizley's tin dinner pail, hidden in a clump of raspberry +bushes. The mischievous little rascal promptly emptied the contents out +upon the sward, and then, with his chubby hands full of cheese and +pumpkin pie, scampered over to the edge of the pool. + +"Pitty pishies! give pishies 'eir dinner! Pishies! Pishies!" cried +the gleeful little voice; and splash into the pool went the cheese +and pumpkin pie, frightening the "pishies" nearly out of their wits. + +Will exploded with laughter; and at the same moment Baizley, looking +up from his work, discovered the fate that had befallen his dinner. + +Now Will Hen Baizley was in an unusually bad temper. Digging ditches +was not a labor he was accustomed to, and it made his back ache. In his +best of humors he was a coarse and heartless bully. On this occasion +he was filled with rage against the baby depredator. Toddles had annoyed +him on several previous occasions, and just now Will's laughter was the +one thing best calculated to sting his annoyance into fury. With a roar +that frightened Toddles into instant silence, he rushed forward and +grabbed the child, giving him a violent cuff on the side of the head. + +It happened that Mr. Hand was looking out of the window of his house +on the hillside and saw all that happened. With a hoarse cry of rage +and terror he rushed out to the rescue. But the house was three or four +hundred yards away, and his old knees trembled beneath him as he thought +of what the little one might suffer before he could get there. + +The poor little fellow was dazed by the blow, and could not get his +breath to scream. The next moment Baizley had seized him by the legs +and soused him in the pool. When he came out again he found his voice, +and a long shriek of pain and terror went through Mr. Hand's heart +like a knife. + +All this had happened so quickly that Will was unable to hinder it. +He was choking with indignant pity, and found himself on the fence +and half way across the field before he could yell: + +"Drop that, you brute!" + +Baizley was too much occupied to hear or heed. He was just about to +duck the little one a second time when Will arrived. + +With one hand Will seized the child by the petticoats, and with the +other dealt the ruffian a blow in the mouth that staggered him and +made him release his victim. Will had just time to drop the little +fellow to one side and put up his guard when Baizley was upon him +with a curse. + +The blow was a mighty one, and so sudden that Will parried it with +difficulty, at the same time almost staggering upon Toddles, who lay +on his face wailing piteously. Afraid lest the child should get injured +in the conflict, Will dodged aside and ran off a few paces. Ascribing +this movement to fear, Baizley followed him up impetuously, with oaths +and taunts. + +On a bit of level, dry turf Will faced his big antagonist. Baizley was +heavy of build, strong of arm, and not without some knowledge of the +pugilistic art. He was also a little taller than Will. To the casual +glance the latter appeared no match for him. Fair-skinned, slender, +and with something of a studious stoop to his shoulders, Will's +appearance gave small indication of the strength that lurked in his +well-corded sinews. Under his pale skin he concealed almost as much +sheer lifting power as Baizley's big frame could muster; and the +steel-like elasticity of his compact muscles gave his blows swiftness +and precision. + +Keen of eye, and with a cool, provoking, indulgent smile hovering faintly +about his mouth at times, he successfully parried several terrific lunges. +He spoke not a word, husbanding his wind prudently, while Baizley, on the +other hand, kept interjecting bursts of fragmentary profanity. About this +time Mr. Hand arrived upon the scene, panting heavily, and seating himself +on the ground, gathered the sobbing Toddles into his arms. + +Will's first intention was to act on the defensive till he should weary +his opponent; but his opponent's sledge-hammer fists were not easily +warded off. He got one heavy blow on the chest that made him gasp for +breath; then he tried dodging, and giving ground nimbly and unexpectedly. +At length he saw an opening, and quicker than thought he struck heavily +with his left fist on Baizley's eye. At the same instant in came a +terrific blow which made his head ring and the stars chase themselves +before his eyes. + +For a moment the two combatants lurched apart. Will was the first to +recover himself. A white rage surged up within him, and he felt his +veins prickle, his sinews tighten. A new access of nervous energy +seemed to flow into him, and he imagined his strength had been suddenly +doubled. The ruffian's hands struck out both together wildly. + +Will's chance had come, and he grasped it. The bully reeled under a +blow between the eyes, and fell headlong. + +For a moment he did not stir. Then he began to gather himself up. + +"Have you had enough?" inquired Will. + +"Yes, I've quit!" growled Baizley. + +"You are a contemptible, cowardly brute," continued Will, "and it's +in jail you ought to be. Mind you, now, if I catch you, or hear of +you abusing a youngster again, it's in jail you'll certainly be!" + +As Baizley slunk away, Mr. Hand came up with Toddles in his arms. +The little one was still shaking with sobs, and his tear-stained +face looked so white and pitiful that Will felt like going after +Baizley and giving him another thrashing. + +"Poor little kid!" he said, compassionately, taking no notice whatever +of Mr. Hand. + +But Mr. Hand positively refused to be ignored. + +"God bless you, God bless you, William!" he exclaimed, with the ring +of sincere feeling in his voice. "You're a noble young man, a _noble_ +young man. I can't thank you; words can't express what I--what I feel +toward you for this." + +Here he kissed passionately the yellow head of Toddles as it lay on +his shoulder. + +"Don't speak of it, Mr. Hand," said Will, wiping his bleeding face. +"Any other fellow would have done the same if he'd had the chance. +That cowardly brute! I wish I hadn't let him off so easy!" + +"I'll have him arrested to-morrow," burst out Mr. Hand, his voice +quavering and shrill with anger. "But as for you, William," he continued +more quietly, "what you've done for my Toddles I never can forget. +You sha'n't have no cause to say I'm ungrateful to one that's been +a friend to Toddles!" + +"Well, Mr. Hand," said Will, returning to his wagon, "all I can say is +I'm mighty glad I happened along just when I did. Toddles is a great boy, +and I've always liked him, whatever I may have had against his grandfather +since that night on the dike! I hope Toddles won't be a bit the worse now!" + +"Don't talk about that dike," pleaded Mr. Hand, nervously. "_Don't_ +mention it again! Don't, William! And, William, you will hear from me +in a day or two about business matters. Or, I'll be in to see you!" + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +A TRANSFER OF THE MORTGAGE. + + +When Will reached home Ted met him at the gate with a cry of surprise +and commiseration. + +"What in the world have you been doing to your face?" he questioned. + +"Thrashing Baizley!" said Will, tersely. + +Ted's exclamations had brought Mrs. Carter to the door in time to hear +Will's reply. She was alarmed at the sight of Will's swollen and +discolored features; and her alarm made her angry. + +"I'm ashamed of you, Willie," she cried, "stooping to brawl with a low +fellow like that. It serves you right if you have got hurt. Come, run in +and get your face bathed in hot water. Why, it's dreadful! Go right +up stairs and get me the arnica, Teddie!" + +As Mrs. Carter bathed the swollen face in hot water, Ted standing by +with the arnica bottle, Will managed to get out a somewhat grimly +jocose account of the affray. Ted, of course, was jubilant. From time +to time he sprang up and shouted. At length, clapping Will on the back, +so violently that his mother spilled the hot water, he cried: + +"Good boy! _Good_ boy! O, if I'd _only_ been there!" + +As for Mrs. Carter, her assumed vexation had quickly disappeared. She +listened proudly and in silence. At the end she merely said: + +"Dear boy, that was fine of you. It was just what your poor father +would have expected of you!" + +Will spluttered some discolored water out of his mouth before replying, +and twisted his features into a lugubrious attempt at a smile. + +"I felt pretty big, myself just after it was over," he said at length, +"but now it's sort of different. A fellow can't feel heroic with his +face bunged up like this. But say, muz, old Hand can't be as bad as +they make out when he's so wrapped up in Toddles. He just worships +the youngster!" + +There was a pause, and in through the window came the rushing clamor +of the creek. + +"Well," said Mrs. Carter, rather reluctantly, "Mr. Hand has probably +his redeeming qualities. At least, he appreciated your courage. By +your account he did speak quite nicely." + +"What do you suppose he meant by saying you would hear from him in a +day or two?" queried Ted. + +"O," said Will, "I think the old fellow is grateful; and I think he's +mighty ashamed of what he got Hutchings to do to our dike that time. +I shouldn't wonder if he'd offer us more time, and withdraw proceedings +against us!" + +"I should _think_ so!" exclaimed Mrs. Carter, indignantly. "He could +hardly have the face to sell us out now! But I don't wish to be under +any obligation to him, that's certain. When the new marsh is sold we +can be entirely independent of him!" + +"Yes, muz, that's so," said Will, "but _do_ let _me_ arrange with +him! You say you wanted to deed that new marsh to Ted and me! Now I +make a request of you. Don't talk business at all with Mr. Hand till +I've had a talk with him myself. I promise you I'll consider your wishes +in the matter!" + +"Well, since you wish it so much, it shall be as you say!" said +Mrs. Carter, rather unwillingly, at length. + +"And also, muz," continued Will, removing the big, wet sponge from +his eyes to make the more potent appeal; "_if_ Mr. Hand should come +to see me when I'm out, _do_ promise to be nice to him!" + +Mrs. Carter made no reply. + +"Ted wishes it as much as I do, don't you, Ted?" added Will. + +"You're just right," responded Ted, fervently. "So much depends on +little things just now!" + +Still Mrs. Carter kept silence. Mr. Hand was her most cordial detestation. + +"And you know, muz," went on Will, coaxingly, "you can be _so_ fetching +when you want to be, and when you want to be otherwise, well" (and here +Will chuckled). "I don't exactly wonder that old Hand doesn't love you +much. But no one can smooth him down like you, if you only will. Do it, +muz, just for us boys! All you'll have to do will be just smile on him, +and talk about the weather!" + +"O, you dreadful flatterer," laughed Mrs. Carter. "Do you think it's +right to try and soft soap your mother this way? Well, I'll promise +to be polite and nice to Mr. Hand if he should call! Will that do?" + +"Thank you, muz!" said both the boys together. + +The copious use of hot water and arnica soon brought Will's face into +something like shape, and work on the dike was not greatly hindered. +In less than three days more the gap was closed, and the tides finally +shut out from the new marsh. The expanse of reddish-brown mud, dotted +with pools of muddy water and patches of yellow-green salt grass, was +not exactly fair to look upon; but the boys' hearts swelled with triumph +as they surveyed it, leaning on their victorious spades. There was yet +the dike front to be faced, and much ditching to be done besides, ere +the land would become productive. + +"But it's good for a hundred and fifty an acre, just as it stands," +declared Will, his voice trembling a little with exultation. + +"Lay it there, old man!" exclaimed Ted, holding out his hand. And the +two boys clasped hands in a grip that was full of love and trust, and +a pledge of mutual support all through the future. + +"Now," said Will, "in a day or two I'd better go and see Mr. Germain +and get his advice as to the best way of selling." + +"That's a good plan," answered Ted "You take mother with you, she'll +enjoy the drive. And I'll stay and look after things." + +"As for old Hand," went on Will, "I shouldn't wonder a bit if he would +offer to knock off that two hundred and fifteen dollars arrears of +interest!" + +"Perhaps," said Ted. "It would be decent of him." + +That afternoon, as the Carters were sitting down to tea, Jim Hutchings +arrived with a note from Mr. Hand. The man looked very uncomfortable +as Ted came to the kitchen door. He said he would wait for an answer; +but he surlily refused to come in. + +Mr. Hand's note was to Will, asking if he would be at home that evening. +Will answered that he would, and would be glad to see Mr. Hand. + +About eight o'clock Mr. Hand appeared, and was ushered by Ted into the +sitting room where Will and his mother were talking over the matter of +the new marsh. Mrs. Carter greeted Mr. Hand quite graciously, as Will +brought forward a chair. Then she started to leave the room. + +But Mr. Hand, flattered by her politeness, begged her to remain. + +"I thought," said Mrs. Carter, "that if you had business with my son +Will, Ted and I might perhaps be in your way!" and returning to her +chair she took up a piece of sewing. Ted hovered over her, too anxious +and excited to sit down. + +"Yes," said Mr. Hand, "my business is entirely with William; but I +should be glad to hear that you approve of it." + +Mr. Hand had rather dreaded the possible attitude of Mrs. Carter. It had +been his intention not to let the warm regard he felt for Will interfere +with the stiffness of his demeanor to Will's mother. But Mrs. Carter's +affability had flattered him in spite of himself. At the same time, +he glowed with the consciousness that he was going to perform an act +of really distinguished generosity. He was, by second nature, just what +he got the credit of being, hard, unscrupulous, avaricious. But his +unselfish devotion to his little grandson was gradually opening up a warm +and wholesome spot in his heart, where flourished anew the capabilities +for good which had not been lacking to him in his youth. + +As he gazed about the cozy room, and felt his presence not distasteful, +he began to feel very much at ease. The luxury of benefaction was a new +one to him, and he wondered at the keenness of its flavor. He began to +forget what he had intended to say. + +"And how is Toddles, Mr. Hand?" inquired Will, presently. + +"None the worse, none the worse at all," said Mr. Hand, recalling +himself. "He said he wanted to come and see you, William. He was +anxious to give you a kiss; and he's got a lot of pebbles and his +favorite jackknife stowed away in a little box, to give you when +he sees you!" And Mr. Hand laughed genially. He was prepared to talk +all night on the subject of Toddles. + +"And what has become of that ruffian Baizley?" asked Mrs. Carter. +"I never could have imagined anyone being such a fiend as to treat +an innocent baby that way. I hope you have had him arrested." + +"He got away. He left on a ship that night," replied Mr. Hand. "But, +madam, you should be very proud of your son William." + +"I am," laughed Mrs. Carter. "I am very proud of both my sons." + +"But William, if you will allow me to say so, is a very unusual young +man," persisted Mr. Hand. "Edward, of course, is younger, and I don't +know him so well. But I never saw anything like the courage with which +William attacked that ferocious Baizley, who must have been twice his +weight. And the way he handled him, too! It was truly wonderful, madam. +Baizley was just nowhere. I never could have believed it if I had'nt +seen it with my own eyes!" + +"Now, Mr. Hand, you'll make me vain, if you don't stop," laughed Will. + +"You wouldn't think Baizley was just nowhere if you could have seen +Will's face when he came home that morning," interrupted Ted. + +But Mr. Hand was now on the track he had laid down for himself, and +would not be switched off. + +"And, moreover," he continued, "you are a judicious young man, William, +and you seem to have an excellent head for business. I admire good +business abilities. In fact, I may say that for a long time I have +felt well disposed toward you. Now, however, allow me to say that +I feel the very highest esteem and regard for you; and as a little +mark of my gratitude, and in the name of my grandson, I beg that you +will accept what is enclosed in this envelope." + +He drew from his pocket a long, official-looking envelope, and handed +it to Will with a ceremonious bow. + +Will hardly knew what to say. He could not guess what was in it, and all +he could do was to stammer a few confused words of thanks. The envelope +had a very important look, and he was both impressed and mystified. +Ted could not repress his eager curiosity, and came around to Will's +side. Even Mrs. Carter was intensely interested, and forgot to refrain +from showing it. Mr. Hand looked on with a swelling sense of benevolence. +He had anticipated no such delightful sensations. + +With his pocketknife Will opened the envelope very carefully along +the end. With nervous fingers he drew out a legal document, with +red seals and several smaller documents attached. + +For a moment the legal verbiage of the instruments bewildered him. +Then he exclaimed: + +"Why, it's the mortgage! I don't exactly understand! O, Mr. Hand, +this is _too_ good of you. You relinquish the mortgage, the whole debt, +for nothing. That is _too_ generous, really!" + +Mrs. Carter was a little overwhelmed. She rose to try and mingle +thanks and protestations, but Mr. Hand cut her short. + +"O no, William," he explained, "you have not read all the papers! You +will see that I have not released the mortgage at all. I have made it +over to another person, to _you_, that's all. This farm is still under +mortgage, but you, William, are now the mortgagee. I have nothing more +to do with the matter at all. The claim is all yours, with some two +hundred and fifteen dollars arrears of interest, which you must collect +for yourself the best way you can. But if I may, I would like to intercede +for your good mother now, and beg you not to be too severe!" + +Mr. Hand chuckled, as he gazed on the mystified faces about him. Then +Will sprang forward and grasped his hand. He could not find words to +express his gratitude. They simply would not come. + +"Then we're not going to be sold out?" cried Ted. + +"Not unless William sells you out for the amount of the mortgage. +Ask him," replied Mr. Hand. + +Such an act of generosity on the part of "old Hand" deprived even the +impetuous Ted of his powers of expression. But Mrs. Carter found words. + +"Really, Mr. Hand," she said, and her voice trembled with deep feeling. +"I wish I could make you see how we appreciate your noble generosity. +I wish you could see how bitterly I reproach myself for the injustice +I have done you in the past. However hard and merciless you may have +seemed to me, I must have grossly misunderstood you; for only a good +and generous heart could prompt you to such an action as this. Neither +I nor my sons can even pretend to thank you. We feel your kindness too +deeply." + +"Mother hits it exactly. That's what I wanted to say, only somehow +I couldn't, Mr. Hand," said Will. + +"But will you not let us hope we may be honored with your friendship +in the future?" continued Mrs. Carter. "You must often be lonely at home, +and I should be so pleased to see your little grandson here whenever you +can manage to bring him." + +"That's so," exclaimed Ted. "I want to see the young hero that fed Will +Hen Baizley's dinner to the fishes. _He's_ the one we have to thank +for the present jolly state of affairs!" + +Mr. Hand was overflowing with good will. Moreover, he was hugely +flattered by Mrs. Carter's words and manner. In his heart he attached +an extravagant importance to the accidents of pedigree. He was struggling +to utter his appreciation of Mrs. Carter's proffered friendship, when +there came a knock at the front door. It was Jim Hutchings, whom Mr. Hand +had left outside to hold the horse. + +"There's somebuddy a-goin' to set your barn afire," he whispered eagerly. +"Come quiet, an' we'll ketch him in the act!" + +"Fetch a pail of water, Ted," said Will, with prompt presence of mind, +running upstairs for his gun. + +While he was gone Mr. Hand asked Hutchings how he knew of it. + +"I thought I seen a chap slide behind the barn, so I jest hitched the +hoss an' crep' over to see what he was up ter," explained Hutchings. + +As the boys and Hutchings, followed discreetly by Mrs. Carter and +Mr. Hand, emerged from the back door, a glimmer of flame appeared +behind the stable. There was a swift rush, and Ted dashed out the +growing flame with his bucket of water. At the same moment Will and +Jim Hutchings threw themselves upon a man who was just fanning the +flame into vigor. + +The stranger sprang up, and a revolver shot rang out upon the night. +On the instant a blow from Will's gunstock brought him to the ground, +and Hutchings grabbed the revolver. "Now keep still, or it'll be the +worse for you," said Will. "Ted, bring a rope." + +Partly stunned, or realizing that resistance was useless, the stranger +lay still with one arm over his face. Presently Ted came back with the +rope and a lantern. + +"If it isn't Will Hen Baizley back again!" exclaimed Hutchings. + +"Thought you'd get even with me before the ship sailed, eh?" inquired +Will, amiably. + +"Well," said Mr. Hand, "I'll see that he is taken care of for a good +while in the penitentiary. Tie him up so he can't make trouble, and +we'll drive him right over to the jail now." + +Baizley could not be induced to utter a word, so he was put into the +wagon, where Hutchings held him while Mr. Hand took the reins. As he +bid good night, Mr. Hand said to Will: + +"By the way, William, if you decide to sell your mother out, you had +better see the sheriff pretty soon. There'll be some costs, and fees, +and so forth, that you'll have to pay, you know." + +"All right," laughed Will, happily. "I guess I can manage. I'm pretty +rich now, you know." + +The boys stood at the garden gate with their arms linked to their +mother's and listened to the wagon as it clattered away. Then the +rushing of the flood tide, washing up to their dikes, attracted +their attention. + +"The tide's coming in for us, dear boys," said Mrs. Carter. "How +lovely the creek sounds to-night! Surely God has been very good +to us, and the prospect, that was so dark a while ago, has become +very bright and happy." + +"Fifteen hundred dollars' worth of new marsh at least," said Will, +joyously, "and no debt on the farm, no foreclosure, no sheriff's sale! +You, muz and Ted, I verily believe I'll have to sell you out after all, +to keep you from getting too big!" + +"Say, old man, let's yell!" exclaimed Ted. + +"All right!" began Will; but their mother laid her hands over their mouths. + +"O, no! no!" she pleaded "What would the neighbors think--and Mr. Hand?" + + +THE END. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Raid From Beausejour; And How The +Carter Boys Lifted The Mortgage, by Charles G. D. 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