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Title: Wacousta (Volume II)
       or The Prophecy

Author: John Richardson

Release Date: December, 2003 [Etext #4720]
[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
[This file was first posted on March 7, 2002]

Edition: 10

Language: English

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The Project Gutenberg Etext of Wacousta (Volume II), by John Richardson
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WACOUSTA;
  or
THE PROPHECY.

Volume Two of Three




CHAPTER I.

It was on the evening of that day, so fertile in melancholy
incident, to which our first volume has been devoted,
that the drawbridge of Detroit was, for the third time
since the investment of the garrison, lowered; not, as
previously, with a disregard of the intimation that might
be given to those without by the sullen and echoing rattle
of its ponderous chains, but with a caution attesting
how much secrecy of purpose was sought to be preserved.
There was, however, no array of armed men within the
walls, that denoted an expedition of a hostile character.
Overcome with the harassing duties of the day, the chief
portion of the troops had retired to rest, and a few
groups of the guard alone were to be seen walking up and
down in front of their post, apparently with a view to
check the influence of midnight drowsiness, but, in
reality, to witness the result of certain preparations
going on by torchlight in the centre of the barrack
square.

In the midst of an anxious group of officers, comprising
nearly all of that rank within the fort, stood two
individuals, attired in a costume having nothing in common
with the gay and martial habiliments of the former. They
were tall, handsome young men, whose native elegance of
carriage was but imperfectly hidden under an equipment
evidently adopted for, and otherwise fully answering,
the purpose of disguise. A blue cotton shell jacket,
closely fitting to the person, trowsers of the same
material, a pair of strong deer-skin mocassins, and a
coloured handkerchief tied loosely round the collar of
a checked shirt, the whole surmounted by one of those
rough blanket coats, elsewhere described, formed the
principal portion of their garb. Each, moreover, wore a
false queue of about nine inches in length, the effect
of which was completely to change the character of the
countenance, and lend to the features a Canadian-like
expression. A red worsted cap, resembling a bonnet de
nuit, was thrown carelessly over the side of the head,
which could, at any moment, when deeper disguise should
be deemed necessary, command the additional protection
of the rude hood that fell back upon the shoulders from
the collar of the coat to which it was attached. They
were both well armed. Into a broad belt, that encircled
the jacket of each, were thrust a brace of pistols and
a strong dagger; the whole so disposed, however, as to
be invisible when the outer garment was closed: this,
again, was confined by a rude sash of worsted of different
colours, not unlike, in texture and quality, what is worn
by our sergeants at the present day. They were otherwise
armed, however, and in a less secret manner. Across the
right shoulder of each was thrown a belt of worsted also,
to which were attached a rude powder horn and shot pouch,
with a few straggling bullets, placed there as if rather
by accident than design. Each held carelessly in his left
hand, and with its butt resting on the earth, a long gun;
completing an appearance, the attainment of which had,
in all probability, been sedulously sought,--that of a
Canadian duck-hunter.

A metamorphosis so ludicrously operated in the usually
elegant costume of two young English officers,--for such
they were,--might have been expected to afford scope to
the pleasantry of their companions, and to call forth
those sallies which the intimacy of friendship and the
freemasonry of the profession would have fully justified.
But the events that had occurred in such rapid succession,
since the preceding midnight, were still painfully
impressed on the recollection of all, and some there were
who looked as if they never would smile again; neither
laugh nor jeering, therefore, escaped the lips of one of
the surrounding group. Every countenance wore a cast of
thought,--a character of abstraction, ill suited to the
indulgence of levity; and the little conversation that
passed between them was in a low and serious tone. It
was evident some powerful and absorbing dread existed in
the mind of each, inducing him rather to indulge in
communion with his own thoughts and impressions, than to
communicate them to others. Even the governor himself
had, for a moment, put off the dignity and distance of
his usually unapproachable nature, to assume an air of
unfeigned concern, and it might be dejection, contrasting
strongly with his habitual haughtiness. Hitherto he had
been walking to and fro, a little apart from the group,
and with a hurriedness and indecision of movement that
betrayed to all the extreme agitation of his mind. For
once, however, he appeared to be insensible to observation,
or, if not insensible, indifferent to whatever comments
might be formed or expressed by those who witnessed his
undissembled emotion. He was at length interrupted by
the adjutant, who communicated something in a low voice.

"Let him be brought up, Mr. Lawson," was the reply. Then
advancing into the heart of the group, and addressing
the two adventurers, he enquired, in a tone that startled
from its singular mildness, "if they were provided with
every thing they required."

An affirmative reply was given, when the governor, taking
the taller of the young men aside, conversed with him
earnestly, and in a tone of affection strangely blended
with despondency. The interview, however, was short, for
Mr. Lawson now made his appearance, conducting an individual
who has already been introduced to our readers. It was
the Canadian of the Fleur de lis. The adjutant placed a
small wooden crucifix in the hands of the governor.

"Francois," said the latter, impressively, "you know the
terms on which I have consented to spare your life. Swear,
then, by this cross; that you will be faithful to your
trust; that neither treachery nor evasion shall be
practised; and that you will, to the utmost of your power,
aid in conveying these gentlemen to their destination.
Kneel and swear it."

"I do swear it!" fervently repeated the aubergiste,
kneeling and imprinting his lips with becoming reverence
on the symbol of martyrdom. "I swear to do dat I shall
engage, and may de bon Dieu have mercy to my soul as I
shall fulfil my oat."

"Amen," pronounced the governor, "and may Heaven deal by
you even as you deal by us. Bear in mind, moreover, that
as your treachery will be punished, so also shall your
fidelity be rewarded. But the night wears apace, and ye
have much to do." Then turning to the young officers who
were to be his companions,--"God bless you both; may your
enterprise be successful! I fear," offering his hand to
the younger, "I have spoken harshly to you, but at a
moment like the present you will no longer cherish a
recollection of the unpleasant past."

The only answer was a cordial return of his own pressure.
The Canadian in his turn now announced the necessity for
instant departure, when the young men, following his
example, threw their long guns carelessly over the left
shoulder. Low, rapid, and fervent adieus were uttered on
both sides; and although the hands of the separating
parties met only in a short and hurried grasp, there was
an expression in the touch of each that spoke to their
several hearts long after the separation had actually
taken place.

"Stay one moment!" exclaimed a voice, as the little party
now moved towards the gateway; "ye are both gallantly
enough provided without, but have forgotten there is
something quite as necessary to sustain the inward man.
Duck shooting, you know, is wet work. The last lips that
were moistened from this," he proceeded, as the younger
of the disguised men threw the strap of the proffered
canteen over his shoulder, "were those of poor Ellen
Halloway."

The mention of that name, so heedlessly pronounced by
the brave but inconsiderate Erskine, produced a startling
effect on the taller of the departing officers. He struck
his brow violently with his hand, uttered a faint groan,
and bending his head upon his chest, stood in an attitude
expressive of the deep suffering of his mind. The governor,
too, appeared agitated; and sounds like those of suppressed
sobs came from one who lingered at the side of him who
had accepted the offer of the canteen. The remainder of
the officers preserved a deep and mournful silence.

"It is times dat we should start," again observed the
Canadian, "or we shall be taken by de daylight before we
can clear de river."

This intimation once more aroused the slumbering energies
of the taller officer. Again he drew up his commanding
figure, extended his hand to the governor in silence,
and turning abruptly round, hastened to follow close in
the footsteps of his conductor.

"You will not forget all I have said to you," whispered
the voice of one who had reserved his parting for the
last, and who now held the hand of the younger adventurer
closely clasped in his own. "Think, oh, think how much
depends on the event of your dangerous enterprise."

"When you behold me again," was the reply, "it will be
with smiles on my lip and gladness in my heart; for if
we fail, there is that within me, which whispers I shall
never see you more. But keep up your spirits, and hope
for the best. We embark under cheerless auspices, it is
true; but let us trust to Providence for success in so
good a cause,--God bless you!"

In the next minute he had joined his companions; who,
with light and noiseless tread, were already pursuing
their way along the military road that led to the eastern
extremity of the town. Soon afterwards, the heavy chains
of the drawbridge were heard grating on the ear, in
despite of the evident caution used in restoring it to
its wonted position, and all again was still.

It had at first been suggested their course should be
held in an angular direction across the cleared country
alluded to in our last chapter, in order to avoid all
chance of recognition in the town; but as this might have
led them into more dangerous contact with some of the
outlying parties of Indians, who were known to prowl
around the fort at night, this plan had been abandoned
for the more circuitous and safe passage by the village.
Through this our little party now pursued their way, and
without encountering aught to impede their progress. The
simple mannered inhabitants had long since retired to
rest, and neither light nor sound denoted the existence
of man or beast within its precincts. At length they
reached that part of the road which turned off abruptly
in the direction of the Fleur de lis. The rude hut threw
its dark shadows across their path, but all was still
and deathlike as in the village they had just quitted.
Presently, however, as they drew nearer, they beheld,
reflected from one of the upper windows, a faint light
that fell upon the ground immediately in front of the
auberge; and, at intervals, the figure of a human being
approaching and receding from it as if in the act of
pacing the apartment.

An instinctive feeling of danger rose at the same moment
to the hearts of the young officers; and each, obeying
the same impulse, unfastened one of the large horn buttons
of his blanket coat, and thrust his right hand into the
opening.

"Francois, recollect your oath," hastily aspirated the
elder, as he grasped the hand of their conductor rather
in supplication than in threat; "if there be aught to
harm us here, your own life will most assuredly pay the
forfeit of your faith."

"It is noting but a womans," calmly returned the Canadian;
"it is my Babette who is sorry at my loss. But I shall
come and tell you directly."

He then stole gently round the corner of the hut, leaving
his anxious companions in the rear of the little building,
and completely veiled in the obscurity produced by the
mingling shadows of the hut itself, and a few tall pear
trees that overhung the paling of the orchard at some
yards from the spot on which they stood.

They waited some minutes to hear the result of the
Canadian's admittance into his dwelling; but although
each with suppressed breathing sought to catch those
sounds of welcome with which a daughter might be supposed
to greet a parent so unexpectedly restored, they listened
in vain. At length, however, while the ears of both were
on the rack to drink in the tones of a human voice, a
faint scream floated on the hushed air, and all again
was still.

"Good!" whispered the elder of the officers; "that scream
is sweeter to my ear than the softest accents of woman's
love. It is evident the ordinary tones of speech cannot
find their way to us here from the front of the hut. The
faintness of yon cry, which was unquestionably that of
a female, is a convincing proof of it."

"Hist!" urged his companion, in the same almost inaudible
whisper, "what sound was that?"

Both again listened attentively, when the noise was
repeated. It came from the orchard, and resembled the
sound produced by the faint crash of rotten sticks and
leaves under the cautious but unavoidably rending tread
of a human foot. At intervals it ceased, as if the person
treading, alarmed at his own noise, was apprehensive of
betraying his approach; and then recommenced, only to be
checked in the same manner. Finally it ceased altogether.

For upwards of five minutes the young men continued to
listen for a renewal of the sound, but nothing was now
audible, save the short and fitful gusts of a rising wind
among the trees of the orchard.

"It must have been some wild animal in search of its
prey," again whispered the younger officer; "had it been
a man, we should have heard him leap the paling before
this."

"By Heaven, we are betrayed,--here he is," quickly rejoined
the other, in the same low tone. "Keep close to the hut,
and stand behind me. If my dagger fail, you must try
your own. But fire not, on your life, unless there be
more than two, for the report of a pistol will be the
destruction of ourselves and all that are dear to us."

Each with uplifted arm now stood ready to strike, even
while his heart throbbed with a sense of danger, that
had far more than the mere dread of personal suffering
or death to stimulate to exertion in self-defence.
Footsteps were now distinctly heard stealing round that
part of the hut which bordered on the road; and the young
men turned from the orchard, to which their attention
had previously been directed, towards the new quarter
whence they were intruded upon.

It was fortunate this mode of approach had been selected.
That part of the hut which rested on the road was so
exposed as to throw the outline of objects into strong
relief, whereas in the direction of the thickly wooded
orchard all was impenetrable gloom. Had the intruder
stolen unannounced upon the alarmed but determined officers
by the latter route, the dagger of the first would in
all probability have been plunged to its hilt in his
bosom. As it was, each had sufficient presence of mind
to distinguish, as it now doubled the corner of the hut,
and reposed upon the road, the stout square-set figure
of the Canadian. The daggers were instantly restored to
their sheaths, and each, for the first time since the
departure of their companion, respired freely.

"It is quite well," whispered the latter as he approached.
"It was my poor Babette, who tought I was gone to be
kill. She scream so loud, as if she had seen my ghost.
But we must wait a few minute in de house, and you shall
see how glad my girl is to see me once again."

"Why this delay, Francois? why not start directly?" urged
the taller officer; "we shall never clear the river in
time; and if the dawn catches us in the waters of the
Detroit, we are lost for ever."

"But you see I am not quite prepare yet," was the answer.
"I have many tings to get ready for de canoe, which I
have not use for a long times. But you shall not wait
ten minute, if you do not like. Dere is a good fire, and
Babette shall give you some ting to eat while I get it
all ready."

The young men hesitated. The delay of the Canadian, who
had so repeatedly urged the necessity for expedition
while in the fort, had, to say the least of it, an
appearance of incongruity. Still it was evident, if
disposed to harm them, he had full opportunity to do so
without much risk of effectual opposition from themselves.
Under all circumstances, therefore, it was advisable
rather to appear to confide implicitly in his truth,
than, by manifesting suspicion, to pique his self-love,
and neutralize whatever favourable intentions he might
cherish in their behalf. In this mode of conduct they
were confirmed, by a recollection of the sacredness
attached by the religion of their conductor to the oath
so solemnly pledged on the symbol of the cross, and by
a conviction of the danger of observation to which they
stood exposed, if, as they had apprehended, it was actually
a human footstep they had heard in the orchard. This
last recollection suggested a remark.

"We heard a strange sound within the orchard, while
waiting here for your return," said the taller officer;
"it was like the footstep of a man treading cautiously
over rotten leaves and branches. How do you account for
it?"

"Oh, it was my pigs," replied the Canadian, without
manifesting the slightest uneasiness at the information.
"They run about in de orchard for de apples what blows
down wid de wind."

"It could not be a pig we heard," pursued his questioner;
"but another thing, Francois, before we consent to enter
the hut,--how will you account to your daughter for our
presence? and what suspicion may she not form at seeing
two armed strangers in company with you at this unseasonable
hour."

"I have tell her," replied the Canadian, "dat I have
bring two friends, who go wid me in de canoe to shoot de
ducks for two tree days. You know, sir, I go always in
de fall to kill de ducks wid my friends, and she will
not tink it strange."

"You have managed well, my brave fellow; and now we follow
you in confidence. But in the name of Heaven, use all
possible despatch, and if money will lend a spur to your
actions, you shall have plenty of it when our enterprise
has been accomplished."

Our adventurers followed their conductor in the track by
which he had so recently rejoined them. As they turned
the corner of the hut, the younger, who brought up the
rear, fancied he again heard a sound in the direction of
the orchard, resembling that of one lightly leaping to
the ground. A gust of wind, however, passing rapidly at
the moment through the dense foliage, led him to believe
it might have been produced by the sullen fall of one of
the heavy fruits it had detached in its course. Unwilling
to excite new and unnecessary suspicion in his companion,
he confined the circumstance to his own breast, and
followed into the hut.

After ascending a flight of about a dozen rude steps,
they found themselves in a small room, furnished with no
other ceiling than the sloping roof itself, and lighted
by an unwieldy iron lamp, placed on a heavy oak table,
near the only window with which the apartment was provided.
This latter had suffered much from the influence of time
and tempest; and owing to the difficulty of procuring
glass in so remote a region, had been patched with slips
of paper in various parts. The two corner and lower panes
of the bottom sash were out altogether, and pine shingles,
such as are used even at the present day for covering
the roofs of dwelling houses, had been fitted into the
squares, excluding air and light at the same time. The
centre pane of this tier was, however, clear and free
from flaw of every description. Opposite to the window
blazed a cheerful wood fire, recently supplied with fuel;
and at one of the inner corners of the room was placed
a low uncurtained bed, that exhibited marks of having
been lain in since it was last made. On a chair at its
side were heaped a few dark-looking garments, the precise
nature of which were not distinguishable at a cursory
and distant glance.

Such were the more remarkable features of the apartment
into which our adventurers were now ushered. Both looked
cautiously around on entering, as if expecting to find
it tenanted by spirits as daring as their own; but, with
the exception of the daughter of their conductor, whose
moist black eyes expressed, as much by tears as by smiles,
the joy she felt at this unexpected return of her parent,
no living object met their enquiring glance. The Canadian
placed a couple of rush-bottomed chairs near the fire,
invited his companions to seat themselves until he had
completed his preparation for departure, and then, desiring
Babette to hasten supper for the young hunters, quitted
the room and descended the stairs.




CHAPTER II.

The position of the young men was one of embarrassment;
for while the daughter, who was busied in executing the
command of her father, remained in the room, it was
impossible they could converse together without betraying
the secret of their country, and, as a result of this,
the falsehood of the character under which they appeared.
Long residence in the country had, it is true, rendered
the patois of that class of people whom they personated
familiar to one, but the other spoke only the pure and
native language of which it was a corruption. It might
have occurred to them at a cooler moment, and under less
critical circumstances, that, even if their disguise had
been penetrated, it was unlikely a female, manifesting
so much lively affection for her parent, would have done
aught to injure those with whom he had evidently connected
himself. But the importance attached to their entire
security from danger left them but little room for
reflections of a calming character, while a doubt of that
security remained.

One singularity struck them both. They had expected the
young woman, urged by a natural curiosity, would have
commenced a conversation, even if they did not; and he
who spoke the patois was prepared to sustain it as well
as his anxious and overcharged spirit would enable him;
and as he was aware the morning had furnished sufficient
incident of fearful interest, he had naturally looked
for a verbal re-enactment of the harrowing and dreadful
scene. To their surprise, however, they both remarked
that, far from evincing a desire to enter into conversation,
the young woman scarcely ever looked at them, but lingered
constantly near the table, and facing the window. Still,
to avoid an appearance of singularity on their own parts
as far as possible, the elder of the officers motioned
to his companion, who, following his example, took a
small pipe and some tobacco from a compartment in his
shot pouch, and commenced puffing the wreathing smoke
from his lips,--an occupation, more than any other,
seeming to justify their silence.

The elder officer sat with his back to the window, and
immediately in front of the fire; his companion, at a
corner of the rude hearth, and in such a manner that,
without turning his head, he could command every part of
the room at a glance. In the corner facing him stood the
bed already described. A faint ray of the fire-light fell
on some minute object glittering in the chair, the contents
of which were heaped up in disorder. Urged by that wayward
curiosity, which is sometimes excited, even under
circumstances of the greatest danger and otherwise
absorbing interest, the young man kicked the hickory log
that lay nearest to it with his mocassined foot, and
produced a bright crackling flame, the reflection of
which was thrown entirely upon the object of his gaze;
it was a large metal button, on which the number of his
regiment was distinctly visible. Unable to check his
desire to know further, he left his seat, to examine the
contents of the chair. As he moved across the room, he
fancied he heard a light sound from without; his companion,
also, seemed to manifest a similar impression by an almost
imperceptible start; but the noise was so momentary, and
so fanciful, neither felt it worth his while to pause
upon the circumstance. The young officer now raised the
garments from the chair: they consisted of a small grey
great-coat, and trowsers, a waistcoat of coarse white
cloth, a pair of worsted stockings, and the half-boots
of a boy; the whole forming the drum-boy's equipment,
worn by the wretched wife of Halloway when borne senseless
into the hut on that fatal morning. Hastily quitting a
dress that called up so many dreadful recollections, and
turning to his companion with a look that denoted
apprehension, lest he too should have beheld these
melancholy remembrances of the harrowing scene, the young
officer hastened to resume his seat. In the act of so
doing, his eye fell upon the window, at which the female
still lingered. Had a blast from Heaven struck his sight,
the terror of his soul could not have been greater. He
felt his cheek to pale, and his hair to bristle beneath
his cap, while the checked blood crept slowly and coldly,
as if its very function had been paralysed; still he had
presence of mind sufficient not to falter in his step,
or to betray, by any extraordinary movement, that his
eye had rested on any thing hateful to behold.

His companion had emptied his first pipe, and was in the
act of refilling it, when he resumed his seat. He was
evidently impatient at the delay of the Canadian, and
already were his lips opening to give utterance to his
disappointment, when he felt his foot significantly
pressed by that of his friend. An instinctive sense of
something fearful that was to ensue, but still demanding
caution on his part, prevented him from turning hastily
round to know the cause. Satisfied, however, there was
danger, though not of an instantaneous character, he put
his pipe gently by, and stealing his hand under his coat,
again grasped the hilt of his dagger. At length he slowly
and partially turned his head, while his eyes inquiringly
demanded of his friend the cause of his alarm.

Partly to aid in concealing his increasing paleness, and
partly with a view to render it a medium for the conveyance
of subdued sound, the hand of the latter was raised to
his face in such a manner that the motion of his lips
could not be distinguished from behind.

"We are betrayed," he scarcely breathed. "If you can
command yourself, turn and look at the window; but for
God's sake arm yourself with resolution, or look not at
all: first draw the hood over your head, and without any
appearance of design. Our only chance of safety lies in
this,--that the Canadian may still be true, and that our
disguise may not be penetrated."

In despite of his native courage,--and this had often
been put to honourable proof,--he, thus mysteriously
addressed, felt his heart to throb violently. There was
something so appalled in the countenance of his
friend--something so alarming in the very caution he had
recommended--that a vague dread of the horrible reality
rushed at once to his mind, and for a moment his own
cheek became ashy pale, and his breathing painfully
oppressed. It was the natural weakness of the physical
man, over which the moral faculties had, for an instant,
lost their directing power. Speedily recovering himself,
the young man prepared to encounter the alarming object
which had already so greatly intimidated his friend.
Carefully drawing the blanket hood over his head, he rose
from his seat, and, with the energetic movement of one
who has formed some desperate determination, turned his
back to the fire-place, and threw his eyes rapidly and
eagerly upon the window. They fell only on the rude
patchwork of which it was principally composed. The
female had quitted the room.

"You must have been deceived," he whispered, keeping his
eye still bent upon the window, and with so imperceptible
a movement of the lips that sound alone could have betrayed
he was speaking,--"I see nothing to justify your alarm.
Look again."

The younger officer once more directed his glance towards
the window, and with a shuddering of the whole person,
as he recollected what had met his eye when he last looked
upon it. "It is no longer there, indeed," he returned in
the same scarcely audible tone. "Yet I could not be
mistaken; it was between those two corner squares of wood
in the lower sash."

"Perhaps it was merely a reflection produced by the lamp
on the centre pane," rejoined his friend, still keeping
his eye riveted on the suspicious point.

"Impossible! but I will examine the window from the spot
on which I stood when I first beheld it."

Again he quitted his seat, and carelessly crossed the
room. As he returned he threw his glance upon the pane,
when, to his infinite horror and surprise, the same
frightful vision presented itself.

"God of Heaven!" he exclaimed aloud, and unable longer
to check the ebullition of his feelings,--"what means
this?--Is my brain turned? and am I the sport of my own
delusive fancy?--Do you not see it NOW?"

No answer was returned. His friend stood mute and
motionless, with his left hand grasping his gun, and his
right thrust into the waist of his coat. His eye grew
upon the window, and his chest heaved, and his cheek
paled and flushed alternately with the subdued emotion
of his heart. A human face was placed close to the
unblemished glass, and every feature was distinctly
revealed by the lamp that still lay upon the table. The
glaring eye was fixed on the taller of the officers; but
though the expression was unfathomably guileful, there
was nothing that denoted any thing like a recognition of
the party. The brightness of the wood fire had so far
subsided as to throw the interior of the room into partial
obscurity, and under the disguise of his hood it was
impossible for one without to distinguish the features
of the taller officer. The younger, who was scarcely an
object of attention, passed comparatively unnoticed.

Fatigued and dimmed with the long and eager tension of
its nerves, the eye of the latter now began to fail him.
For a moment he closed it; and when again it fell upon
the window; it encountered nothing but the clear and
glittering pane. For upwards of a minute he and his friend
still continued to rivet their gaze, but the face was no
longer visible.

Why is it that what is called the "human face divine" is
sometimes gifted with a power to paralyse, that the most
loathsome reptile in the creation cannot attain? Had a
hyena or cougar of the American forest, roaring for prey,
appeared at that window, ready to burst the fragile
barrier, and fasten its talons in their hearts, its
presence would not have struck such sickness to the soul
of our adventurers as did that human face. It is that
man, naturally fierce and inexorable, is alone the enemy
of his own species. The solution of this problem--this
glorious paradox in nature, we leave to profounder
philosophers to resolve. Sufficient for us be it to know,
and to deplore that it is so.

Footsteps were now heard upon the stairs; and the officers,
aroused to a full sense of their danger, hastily and
silently prepared themselves for the encounter.

"Drop a bullet into your gun," whispered the elder,
setting the example himself. "We may be obliged to have
recourse to it at last. Yet make no show of hostility
unless circumstances satisfy us we are betrayed; then,
indeed, all that remains for us will be to sell our lives
as dearly as we can. Hist! he is here."

The door opened; and at the entrance, which was already
filled up in the imaginations of the young men with a
terrible and alarming figure, appeared one whose return
had been anxiously and long desired. It was a relief,
indeed, to their gallant but excited hearts to behold
another than the form they had expected; and although,
for the moment, they knew not whether the Canadian came
in hostility or in friendship, each quitted the attitude
of caution into which he had thrown himself, and met him
midway in his passage through the room. There was nothing
in the expression of his naturally open and good-humoured
countenance to denote he was at all aware of the causes
for alarm that had operated so powerfully on themselves.
He announced with a frank look and unfaltering voice
every thing was in readiness for their departure.

The officers hesitated; and the taller fixed his eyes
upon those of mine host, as if his gaze would have
penetrated to the innermost recesses of his heart. Could
this be a refinement of his treachery? and was he really
ignorant of the existence of the danger which threatened
them? Was it not more probable his object was to disarm
their fears, that they might be given unprepared and,
therefore, unresisting victims to the ferocity of their
enemies? Aware as he was, that they were both well provided
with arms, and fully determined to use them with effect,
might not his aim be to decoy them to destruction without,
lest the blood spilt under his roof, in the desperation
of their defence, should hereafter attest against him,
and expose him to the punishment he would so richly merit?
Distracted by these doubts, the young men scarcely knew
what to think or how to act; and anxious as they had
previously been to quit the hut, they now considered the
moment of their doing so would be that of their destruction.
The importance of the enterprise on which they were
embarked was such as to sink all personal considerations.
If they had felt the influence of intimidation on their
spirits, it arose less from any apprehension of consequences
to themselves, than from the recollection of the dearer
interests involved in their perfect security from discovery.

"Francois," feelingly urged the taller officer, again
adverting to his vow, "you recollect the oath you so
solemnly pledged upon the cross of your Saviour. Tell
me, then, as you hope for mercy, have you taken that oath
only that you might the more securely betray us to our
enemies? What connection have you with them at this
moment? and who is HE who stood looking through that
window not ten minutes since?"

"As I shall hope for mercy in my God," exclaimed the
Canadian with unfeigned astonishment, "I have not see
nobody. But what for do you tink so? It is not just. I
have given my oat to serve you, and I shall do it."

There was candour both in the tone and countenance of
the man as he uttered these words, half in reproach, half
in justification; and the officers no longer doubted.

"You must forgive our suspicions at a moment like the
present," soothingly observed the younger; "yet, Francois,
your daughter saw and exchanged signals with the person
we mean. She left the room soon after he made his
appearance. What has become of her?"

The Canadian gave a sudden start, looked hastily round,
and seemed to perceive for the first time the girl was
absent. He then put a finger to his lip to enjoin silence,
advanced to the table, and extinguished the light. Desiring
his companions, in a low whisper, to tread cautiously
and follow, he now led the way with almost noiseless step
to the entrance of the hut. At the threshold of the door
were placed a large well-filled sack, a light mast and
sail, and half a dozen paddles. The latter burden he
divided between the officers, on whose shoulders he
carefully balanced them. The sack he threw across his
own; and, without expressing even a regret that an
opportunity of bidding adieu to his child was denied him,
hastily skirted the paling of the orchard until, at the
further extremity, he had gained the high road.

The heavens were obscured by passing clouds driven rapidly
by the wind, during the short pauses of which our
adventurers anxiously and frequently turned to listen if
they were pursued. Save the rustling of the trees that
lined the road, and the slight dashing of the waters on
the beach, however, no sound was distinguishable. At
length they gained the point whence they were to start.
It was the fatal bridge, the events connected with which
were yet so painfully fresh in their recollection.

"Stop one minutes here," whispered the Canadian, throwing
his sack upon the sand near the mouth of the lesser river;
"my canoe is chain about twenty yards up de bridge. I
shall come to you directly." Then cautioning the officers
to keep themselves concealed under the bridge, he moved
hastily under the arch, and disappeared in the dark shadow
which it threw across the rivulet.

The extremities of the bridge rested on the banks of the
little river in such a manner as to leave a narrow passage
along the sands immediately under the declination of the
arch. In accordance with the caution of their conductor,
the officers had placed themselves under it; and with
their backs slightly bent forward to meet the curvature
of the bridge, so that no ray of light could pass between
their bodies and the fabric itself, now awaited the
arrival of the vessel on which their only hope depended.
We shall not attempt to describe their feelings on finding
themselves, at that lone hour of the night, immediately
under a spot rendered fearfully memorable by the tragic
occurrences of the morning. The terrible pursuit of the
fugitive, the execution of the soldier, the curse and
prophecy of his maniac wife, and, above all, the forcible
abduction and threatened espousal of that unhappy woman
by the formidable being who seemed to have identified
himself with the evils with which they stood menaced,--all
rushed with rapid tracery on the mind, and excited the
imagination, until each, filled with a sentiment not
unallied to superstitious awe, feared to whisper forth
his thoughts, lest in so doing he should invoke the
presence of those who had principally figured in the
harrowing and revolting scene.

"Did you not hear a noise?" at length whispered the elder,
as he leaned himself forward, and bent his head to the
sand, to catch more distinctly a repetition of the sound.

"I did; there again! It is upon the bridge, and not unlike
the step of one endeavouring to tread lightly. It may be
some wild beast, however."

"We must not be taken by surprise," returned his companion.
"If it be a man, the wary tread indicates consciousness
of our presence. If an animal, there can be no harm in
setting our fears at rest."

Cautiously stealing from his lurking-place, the young
officer emerged into the open sands, and in a few measured
noiseless strides gained the extremity of the bridge.
The dark shadow of something upon its centre caught his
eye, and a low sound like that of a dog lapping met his
ear. While his gaze yet lingered on the shapeless object,
endeavouring to give it a character, the clouds which
had so long obscured it passed momentarily from before
the moon, and disclosed the appalling truth. It was a
wolf-dog lapping up from the earth, in which they were
encrusted, the blood and brains of the unfortunate Frank
Halloway.

Sick and faint at the disgusting sight, the young man
rested his elbow on the railing that passed along the
edge of the bridge, and, leaning his head on his hand
for a moment, forgot the risk of exposure he incurred,
in the intenseness of the sorrow that assailed his soul.
His heart and imagination were already far from the spot
on which he stood, when he felt an iron hand upon his
shoulder. He turned, shuddering with an instinctive
knowledge of his yet unseen visitant, and beheld standing
over him the terrible warrior of the Fleur de lis.

"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the savage in a low triumphant
tone, "the place of our meeting is well timed, though
somewhat singular, it must be confessed. Nay," he fiercely
added, grasping as in a vice the arm that was already
lifted to strike him, "force me not to annihilate you on
the spot. Ha! hear you the cry of my wolf-dog?" as that
animal now set up a low but fearful howl; "it is for your
blood he asks, but your hour is not yet come."

"No, by Heaven, is it not!" exclaimed a voice; a rapid
and rushing sweep was heard through the air for an instant,
and then a report like a stunning blow. The warrior
released his grasp--placed his hand upon his tomahawk,
but without strength to remove it from his belt tottered
a pace or two backwards--and then fell, uttering a cry
of mingled pain and disappointment, at his length upon
the earth.

"Quick, quick to our cover!" exclaimed the younger officer,
as a loud shout was now heard from the forest in reply
to the yell of the fallen warrior. "If Francois come not,
we are lost; the howl of that wolf-dog alone will betray
us, even if his master should be beyond all chance of
recovery."

"Desperate diseases require desperate remedies," was the
reply; "there is little glory in destroying a helpless
enemy, but the necessity is urgent, and we must leave
nothing to chance." As he spoke, he knelt upon the huge
form of the senseless warrior, whose scalping knife he
drew from its sheath, and striking a firm and steady
blow, quitted not the weapon until he felt his hand
reposing on the chest of his enemy.

The howl of the wolf-dog, whose eyes glared like two
burning coals through the surrounding gloom, was now
exchanged to a fierce and snappish bark. He made a leap
at the officer while in the act of rising from the body;
but his fangs fastened only in the chest of the shaggy
coat, which he wrung with the strength and fury
characteristic of his peculiar species. This new and
ferocious attack was fraught with danger little inferior
to that which they had just escaped, and required the
utmost promptitude of action. The young man seized the
brute behind the neck in a firm and vigorous grasp, while
he stooped upon the motionless form over which this novel
struggle was maintained, and succeeded in making himself
once more master of the scalping knife. Half choked by
the hand that unflinchingly grappled with him, the savage
animal quitted his hold and struggled violently to free
himself. This was the critical moment. The officer drew
the heavy sharp blade, from the handle to the point,
across the throat of the infuriated beast, with a force
that divided the principal artery. He made a desperate
leap upwards, spouting his blood over his destroyer, and
then fell gasping across the body of his master. A low
growl, intermingled with faint attempts to bark, which
the rapidly oozing life rendered more and more indistinct,
succeeded; and at length nothing but a gurgling sound
was distinguishable.

Meanwhile the anxious and harassed officers had regained
their place of concealment under the bridge, where they
listened with suppressed breathing for the slightest
sound to indicate the approach of the canoe. At intervals
they fancied they could hear a noise resembling the
rippling of water against the prow of a light vessel,
but the swelling cries of the rushing band, becoming at
every instant more distinct, were too unceasingly kept
up to admit of their judging with accuracy.

They now began to give themselves up for lost, and many
and bitter were the curses they inwardly bestowed on the
Canadian, when the outline of a human form was seen
advancing along the sands, and a dark object upon the
water. It was their conductor, dragging the canoe along,
with all the strength and activity of which he was capable.

"What the devil have you been about all this time,
Francois?" exclaimed the taller officer, as he bounded
to meet him. "Quick, quick, or we shall be too late. Hear
you not the blood-hounds on their scent?" Then seizing
the chain in his hand, with a powerful effort he sent
the canoe flying through the arch to the very entrance
of the river. The burdens that had been deposited on the
sands were hastily flung in, the officers stepping lightly
after. The Canadian took the helm, directing the frail
vessel almost noiselessly through the water, and with
such velocity, that when the cry of the disappointed
savages was heard resounding from the bridge, it had
already gained the centre of the Detroit.




CHAPTER III.

Two days had succeeded to the departure of the officers
from the fort, but unproductive of any event of importance.
About daybreak, however, on the morning of the third,
the harassed garrison were once more summoned to arms,
by an alarm from the sentinels planted in rear of the
works; a body of Indians they had traced and lost at
intervals, as they wound along the skirt of the forest,
in their progress from their encampment, were at length
developing themselves in force near the bomb proof. With
a readiness which long experience and watchfulness had
rendered in some degree habitual to them, the troops flew
to their respective posts; while a few of the senior
officers, among whom was the governor, hastened to the
ramparts to reconnoitre the strength and purpose of their
enemies. It was evident the views of these latter were
not immediately hostile; for neither were they in their
war paint, nor were their arms of a description to carry
intimidation to a disciplined and fortified soldiery.
Bows, arrows, tomahawks, war clubs, spears, and scalping
knives, constituted their warlike equipments, but neither
rifle nor fire-arms of any kind were discernible. Several
of their leaders, distinguishable by a certain haughty
carriage and commanding gesticulation, were collected
within the elevated bomb-proof, apparently holding a
short but important conference apart from their people,
most of whom stood or lay in picturesque attitudes around
the ruin. These also had a directing spirit. A tall and
noble looking warrior, wearing a deer-skin hunting frock
closely girded around his loins, appeared to command the
deference of his colleagues, claiming profound attention
when he spoke himself, and manifesting his assent or
dissent to the apparently expressed opinions of the lesser
chiefs merely by a slight movement of the head.

"There he is indeed!" exclaimed Captain Erskine, speaking
as one who communes with his own thoughts, while he kept
his telescope levelled on the form of the last warrior;
"looking just as noble as when, three years ago, he
opposed himself to the progress of the first English
detachment that had ever penetrated to this part of the
world. What a pity such a fine fellow should be so
desperate and determined an enemy!"

"True; you were with Major Rogers on that expedition,"
observed the governor, in a tone now completely divested
of the haughtiness which formerly characterised his
address to his officers. "I have often heard him speak
of it. You had many difficulties to contend against, if
I recollect."

"We had indeed, sir," returned the frank-hearted Erskine,
dropping the glass from his eye. "So many, in fact, that
more than once, in the course of our progress through
the wilderness, did I wish myself at head-quarters with
my company. Never shall I forget the proud and determined
expression of Ponteac's countenance, when he told Rogers,
in his figurative language, 'he stood in the path in
which he travelled.' "

"Thank Heaven, he at least stands not in the path in
which OTHERS travel," musingly rejoined the governor.
"But what sudden movement is that within the ruin?"

"The Indians are preparing to show a white flag," shouted
an artillery-man from his station in one of the embrasures
below.

The governor and his officers received this intelligence
without surprise: the former took the glass from Captain
Erskine, and coolly raised it to his eye. The consultation
had ceased; and the several chiefs, with the exception
of their leader and two others, were now seen quitting
the bomb-proof to join their respective tribes. One of
those who remained, sprang upon an elevated fragment of
the ruin, and uttered a prolonged cry, the purport of
which,--and it was fully understood from its peculiar
nature,--was to claim attention from the fort. He then
received from the hands of the other chief a long spear,
to the end of which was attached a piece of white linen.
This he waved several times above his head; then stuck
the barb of the spear firmly into the projecting fragment.
Quitting his elevated station, he next stood at the side
of the Ottawa chief, who had already assumed the air and
attitude of one waiting to observe in what manner his
signal would be received.

"A flag of truce in all its bearings, by Jupiter!" remarked
Captain Erskine. "Ponteac seems to have acquired a few
lessons since we first met."

"This is evidently the suggestion of some European,"
observed Major Blackwater; "for how should he understand
any thing of the nature of a white flag? Some of those
vile spies have put him up to this."

"True enough, Blackwater; and they appear to have found
an intelligent pupil," observed Captain Wentworth. "I
was curious to know how he would make the attempt to
approach us; but certainly never once dreamt of his having
recourse to so civilised a method. Their plot works well,
no doubt; still we have the counter-plot to oppose to
it."

"We must foil them with their own weapons," remarked the
governor, "even if it be only with a view to gain time.
Wentworth, desire one of your bombardiers to hoist the
large French flag on the staff."

The order was promptly obeyed. The Indians made a
simultaneous movement expressive of their satisfaction;
and in the course of a minute, the tall warrior, accompanied
by nearly a dozen inferior chiefs, was seen slowly
advancing across the common, towards the group of officers.

"What generous confidence the fellow has, for an Indian!"
observed Captain Erskine, who could not dissemble his
admiration of the warrior. "He steps as firmly and as
proudly within reach of our muskets, as if he was leading
in the war-dance."

"How strange," mused Captain Blessington, "that one who
meditates so deep a treachery, should have no apprehension
of it in others!"

"It is a compliment to the honour of our flag," observed
the governor, "which it must be our interest to encourage.
If, as you say, Erskine, the man is really endowed with
generosity, the result of this affair will assuredly call
it forth."

"If it prove otherwise, sir," was the reply, "we must
only attribute his perseverance to the influence which
that terrible warrior of the Fleur de lis is said to
exercise over his better feelings. By the by, I see
nothing of him among this flag of truce party. It could
scarcely be called a violation of faith to cut off such
a rascally renegade. Were he of the number of those
advancing, and Valletort's rifle within my reach, I know
not what use I might not be tempted to make of the last."

Poor Erskine was singularly infelicitous in touching,
and ever unconsciously, on a subject sure to give pain
to more than one of his brother officers. A cloud passed
over the brow of the governor, but it was one that
originated more in sorrow than in anger. Neither had he
time to linger on the painful recollections hastily and
confusedly called up by the allusion made to this formidable
and mysterious being, for the attention of all was now
absorbed by the approaching Indians. With a bold and
confiding carriage the fierce Ponteac moved at the head
of his little party, nor hesitated one moment in his
course, until he got near the brink of the ditch, and
stood face to face with the governor, at a distance that
gave both parties not only the facility of tracing the
expression of each other's features, but of conversing
without effort. There he made a sudden stand, and thrusting
his spear into the earth, assumed an attitude as devoid
of apprehension as if he had been in the heart of his
own encampment.

"My father has understood my sign," said the haughty
chief. "The warriors of a dozen tribes are far behind
the path the Ottawa has just travelled; but when the red
skin comes unarmed, the hand of the Saganaw is tied behind
his back."

"The strong hold of the Saganaw is his safeguard," replied
the governor, adopting the language of the Indian. "When
the enemies of his great father come in strength, he
knows how to disperse them; but when a warrior throws
himself unarmed into his power, he respects his confidence,
and his arms hang rusting at his side."

"The talk of my father is big," replied the warrior, with
a scornful expression that seemed to doubt the fact of
so much indifference as to himself; "but when it is a
great chief who directs the nations, and that chief his
sworn enemy, the temptation to the Saganaw may be strong."

"The Saganaw is without fear," emphatically rejoined the
governor; "he is strong in his own honour; and he would
rather die under the tomahawk of the red skin, than
procure a peace by an act of treachery."

The Indian paused; cold, calm looks of intelligence passed
between him and his followers, and a few indistinct and
guttural sentences were exchanged among themselves.

"But our father asks not why our mocassins have brushed
the dew from off the common," resumed the chief; "and
yet it is long since the Saganaw and the red skin have
spoken to each other, except through the war whoop. My
father must wonder to see the great chief of the Ottawas
without the hatchet in his hand."

"The hatchet often wounds those who use it unskilfully,"
calmly returned the governor. "The Saganaw is not blind.
The Ottawas, and the other tribes, find the war paint
heavy on their skins. They see that my young men are not
to be conquered, and they have sent the great head of
all the nations to sue for peace."

In spite of the habitual reserve and self-possession of
his race, the haughty warrior could not repress a movement
of impatience at the bold and taunting language of his
enemy, and for a moment there was a fire in his eye that
told how willingly he would have washed away the insult
in his blood. The same low guttural exclamations that
had previously escaped their lips, marked the sense
entertained of the remark by his companions.

"My father is right," pursued the chief, resuming his
self-command; "the Ottawas, and the other tribes, ask
for peace, but not because they are afraid of war. When
they strike the hatchet into the war post, they leave it
there until their enemies ask them to take it out."

"Why come they now, then, to ask for peace?" was the cool
demand.

The warrior hesitated, evidently at a loss to give a
reply that could reconcile the palpable contradiction of
his words.

"The rich furs of our forests have become many," he at
length observed, "since we first took up the hatchet
against the Saganaw; and every bullet we keep for our
enemies is a loss to our trade. We once exchanged furs
with the children of our father of the pale flag. They
gave us, in return, guns, blankets, powder, ball, and
all that the red man requires in the hunting season.
These are all expended; and my young men would deal with
the Saganaw as they did with the French."

"Good; the red skins would make peace; and although the
arm of the Saganaw is strong, he will not turn a deaf
ear to their desire."

"All the strong holds of the Saganaw, except two, have
fallen before the great chief of the Ottawas!" proudly
returned the Indian, with a look of mingled scorn and
defiance. "They, too, thought themselves beyond the
reach of our tomahawks; but they were deceived. In less
than a single moon nine of them have fallen, and the
tents of my young warriors are darkened with their scalps;
but this is past. If the red skin asks for peace, it is
because he is tired of seeing the blood of the Saganaw
on his tomahawk. Does my father hear?"

"We will listen to the great chief of the Ottawas, and
hear what he has to say," returned the governor, who, as
well as the officers at his side, could with difficulty
conceal their disgust and sorrow at the dreadful
intelligence thus imparted of the fates of their companions.
"But peace," he pursued with dignity, "can only be made
in the council room, and under the sacred pledge of the
calumet. The great chief has a wampum belt on his shoulder,
and a calumet in his hand. His aged warriors, too, are
at his side. What says the Ottawa? Will he enter? If so,
the gate of the Saganaw shall be open to him."

The warrior started; and for a moment the confidence that
had hitherto distinguished him seemed to give place to
an apprehension of meditated treachery. He, however,
speedily recovered himself, and observed emphatically,
"It is the great head of all the nations whom my father
invites to the council seat. Were he to remain in the
hands of the Saganaw, his young men would lose their
strength. They would bury the hatchet for ever in despair,
and hide their faces in the laps of their women."

"Does the Ottawa chief see the pale flag on the strong
hold of his enemies. While that continues to fly, he is
safe as if he were under the cover of his own wigwam. If
the Saganaw could use guile like the fox" (and this was
said with marked emphasis), "what should prevent him from
cutting off the Ottawa and his chiefs, even where they
now stand?"

A half smile of derision passed over the dark cheek of
the Indian. "If the arm of an Ottawa is strong," he said,
"his foot is not less swift. The short guns of the chiefs
of the Saganaw" (pointing to the pistols of the officers)
"could not reach us; and before the voice of our father
could be raised, or his eye turned, to call his warriors
to his side, the Ottawa would be already far on his way
to the forest."

"The great chief of the Ottawas shall judge better of
the Saganaw," returned the governor.--"He shall see
that his young men are ever watchful at their posts:--Up,
men, and show yourselves."

A second or two sufficed to bring the whole, of Captain
Erskine's company, who had been lying flat on their faces,
to their feet on the rampart. The Indians were evidently
taken by surprise, though they evinced no fear. The low
and guttural "Ugh!" was the only expression they gave to
their astonishment, not unmingled with admiration.

But, although the chiefs preserved their presence of
mind, the sudden appearance of the soldiers had excited
alarm among their warriors, who, grouped in and around
the bomb-proof, were watching every movement of the
conferring parties, with an interest proportioned to the
risk they conceived their head men had incurred in
venturing under the very walls of their enemies. Fierce
yells were uttered; and more than a hundred dusky warriors,
brandishing their tomahawks in air, leaped along the
skirt of the common, evidently only awaiting the signal
of their great chief, to advance and cover his retreat.
At the command of the governor, however, the men had
again suddenly disappeared from the surface of the rampart;
so that when the Indians finally perceived their leader
stood unharmed and unmolested, on the spot he had previously
occupied, the excitement died away, and they once more
assumed their attitude of profound attention.

"What thinks the great chief of the Ottawas now?" asked
the governor;--"did he imagine that the young white men
lie sleeping like beavers in their dams, when the hunter
sets his traps to catch them?--did he imagine that they
foresee not the designs of their enemies? and that they
are not always on the watch to prevent them?"

"My father is a great warrior," returned the Indian; "and
if his arm is full of strength, his head is fall of
wisdom. The chiefs will no longer hesitate;--they will
enter the strong hold of the Saganaw, and sit with him
in the council."

He next addressed a few words, and in a language not
understood by those upon the walls, to one of the younger
of the Indians. The latter acknowledged his sense and
approbation of what was said to him by an assentient and
expressive "Ugh!" which came from his chest without any
apparent emotion of the lips, much in the manner of a
modern ventriloquist. He then hastened, with rapid and
lengthened boundings, across the common towards his band.
After the lapse of a minute or two from reaching them,
another simultaneous cry arose, differing in expression
from any that had hitherto been heard. It was one denoting
submission to the will, and compliance with some conveyed
desire, of their superior.

"Is the gate of the Saganaw open?" asked the latter, as
soon as his ear had been greeted with the cry we have
just named. "The Ottawa and the other great chiefs are
ready;--their hearts are bold, and they throw themselves
into the hands of the Saganaw without fear."

"The Ottawa chief knows the path," drily rejoined the
governor: "when he comes in peace, it is ever open to
him; but when his young men press it with the tomahawk
in their hands, the big thunder is roused to anger, and
they are scattered away like the leaves of the forest in
the storm." "Even now," he pursued, as the little band of
Indians moved slowly round the walls, "the gate of the
Saganaw opens for the Ottawa and the other chiefs."

"Let the most vigilant caution be used every where along
the works, but especially in the rear," continued the
governor, addressing Captain Blessington, on whom the
duty of the day had devolved. "We are safe, while their
chiefs are with us; but still it will be necessary to
watch the forest closely. We cannot be too much on our
guard. The men had better remain concealed, every twentieth
file only standing up to form a look-out chain. If any
movement of a suspicious nature be observed, let it be
communicated by the discharge of a single musket, that
the drawbridge may be raised on the instant." With the
delivery of these brief instructions he quitted the
rampart with the majority of his officers.

Meanwhile, hasty preparations had been made in the
mess-room to receive the chiefs. The tables had been
removed, and a number of clean rush mats, manufactured,
after the Indian manner, into various figures and devices,
spread carefully upon the floor. At the further end from
the entrance was placed a small table and chair, covered
with scarlet cloth. This was considerably elevated above
the surface of the floor, and intended for the governor.
On either side of the room, near these, were ranged a
number of chairs for the accommodation of the inferior
officers.

Major Blackwater received the chiefs at the gate. With
a firm, proud step, rendered more confident by his very
unwillingness to betray any thing like fear, the tall,
and, as Captain Erskine had justly designated him, the
noble-looking Ponteac trod the yielding planks that might
in the next moment cut him off from his people for ever.
The other chiefs, following the example of their leader,
evinced the same easy fearlessness of demeanour, nor
glanced once behind them to see if there was any thing
to justify the apprehension of hidden danger.

The Ottawa was evidently mortified at not being received
by the governor in person. "My father is not here!" he
said fiercely to the major:--"how is this? The Ottawa
and the other chiefs are kings of all their tribes. The
head of one great people should be received only by the
head of another great people!"

"Our father sits in the council-hall," returned the major.
"He has taken his seat, that he may receive the warriors
with becoming honour. But I am the second chief, and our
father has sent me to receive them."

To the proud spirit of the Indian this explanation scarcely
sufficed. For a moment he seemed to struggle, as if
endeavouring to stifle his keen sense of an affront put
upon him. At length he nodded his head haughtily and
condescendingly, in token of assent; and gathering up
his noble form, and swelling out his chest, as if with
a view to strike terror as well as admiration into the
hearts of those by whom he expected to be surrounded,
stalked majestically forward at the head of his
confederates.

An indifferent observer, or one ignorant of these people,
would have been at fault; but those who understood the
workings of an Indian's spirit could not have been deceived
by the tranquil exterior of these men. The rapid, keen,
and lively glance--the suppressed sneer of exultation--the
half start of surprise--the low, guttural, and almost
inaudible "Ugh!"--all these indicated the eagerness with
which, at one sly but compendious view, they embraced
the whole interior of a fort which it was of such vital
importance to their future interests they should become
possessed of, yet which they had so long and so
unsuccessfully attempted to subdue. As they advanced into
the square, they looked around, expecting to behold the
full array of their enemies; but, to their astonishment,
not a soldier was to be seen. A few women and children
only, in whom curiosity had overcome a natural loathing
and repugnance to the savages, were peeping from the
windows of the block houses. Even at a moment like the
present, the fierce instinct of these latter was not to
be controlled. One of the children, terrified at the wild
appearance of the warriors, screamed violently, and clung
to the bosom of its mother for protection. Fired at the
sound, a young chief raised his hand to his lips, and
was about to peal forth his terrible war whoop in the
very centre of the fort, when the eye of the Ottawa
suddenly arrested him.




CHAPTER IV.

There were few forms of courtesy observed by the warriors
towards the English officers on entering the council
room. Ponteac, who had collected all his native haughtiness
into one proud expression of look and figure, strode in
without taking the slightest notice even of the governor.
The other chiefs imitated his example, and all took their
seats upon the matting in the order prescribed by their
rank among the tribes, and their experience in council.
The Ottawa chief sat at the near extremity of the room,
and immediately facing the governor. A profound silence
was observed for some minutes after the Indians had seated
themselves, during which they proceeded to fill their
pipes. The handle of that of the Ottawa chief was
decorated with numerous feathers fancifully disposed.

"This is well," at length observed the governor. "It is
long since the great chiefs of the nations have smoked
the sweet grass in the council hall of the Saganaw. What
have they to say, that their young men may have peace to
hunt the beaver, and to leave the print of their mocassins
in the country of the Buffalo?--What says the Ottawa
chief?"

"The Ottawa chief is a great warrior," returned the other,
haughtily; and again repudiating, in the indomitableness
of his pride, the very views that a more artful policy
had first led him to avow. "He has already said that,
within a single moon, nine of the strong holds of the
Saganaw have fallen into his hands, and that the scalps
of the white men fill the tents of his warriors. If the
red skins wish for peace, it is because they are sick
with spilling the blood of their enemies. Does my father
hear?"

"The Ottawa has been cunning, like the fox," calmly
returned the governor. "He went with deceit upon his
lips, and said to the great chiefs of the strong holds
of the Saganaw,--'You have no more forts upon the lakes;
they have all fallen before the red skins: they gave
themselves into our hands; and we spared their lives,
and sent them down to the great towns near the salt lake.'
But this was false: the chiefs of the Saganaw, believing
what was said to them, gave up their strong holds; but
their lives were not spared, and the grass of the Canadas
is yet moist with their blood. Does the Ottawa hear?"

Amazement and stupefaction sat for a moment on the features
of the Indians. The fact was as had been stated; and yet,
so completely had the several forts been cut off from
all communication, it was deemed almost impossible one
could have received tidings of the fate of the other,
unless conveyed through the Indians themselves.

"The spies of the Saganaw have been very quick to escape
the vigilance of the red skins," at length replied the
Ottawa; "yet they have returned with a lie upon their
lips. I swear by the Great Spirit, that nine of the strong
holds of the Saganaw have been destroyed. How could the
Ottawa go with deceit upon his lips, when his words were
truth?"

"When the red skins said so to the warriors of the last
forts they took, they said true; but when they went to
the first, and said that all the rest had fallen, they
used deceit. A great nation should overcome their enemies
like warriors, and not seek to beguile them with their
tongues under the edge of the scalping knife!"

"Why did the Saganaw come into the country of the red
skins?" haughtily demanded the chief. "Why did they take
our hunting grounds from us? Why have they strong places
encircling the country of the Indians, like a belt of
wampum round the waist of a warrior?"

"This is not true," rejoined the governor. "It was not
the Saganaw, but the warriors of the pale flag, who first
came and took away the hunting grounds, and built the
strong places. The great father of the Saganaw had beaten
the great father of the pale flag quite out of the Canadas,
and he sent his young men to take their place and to make
peace with the red skins, and to trade with them, and to
call them brothers."

"The Saganaw was false," retorted the Indian. "When a
chief of the Saganaw came for the first time with his
warriors into the country of the Ottawas, the chief of
the Ottawas stood in his path, and asked him why, and
from whom, he came? That chief was a bold warrior, and
his heart was open, and the Ottawa liked him; and when
he said he came to be friendly with the red skins, the
Ottawa believed him, and he shook him by the hand, and
said to his young men, 'Touch not the life of a Saganaw;
for their chief is the friend of the Ottawa chief, and
his young men shall be the friends of the red warriors.'
Look," he proceeded, marking his sense of the discovery
by another of those ejaculatory "Ughs!" so expressive of
surprise in an Indian, "at the right hand of my father
I see a chief," pointing to Captain Erskine, "who came
with those of the Saganaw who first entered the country
of the Detroit;--ask that chief if what the Ottawa says
is not true. When the Saganaw said he came only to remove
the warriors of the pale flag, that he might be friendly
and trade with the red skins, the Ottawa received the
belt of wampum he offered, and smoked the pipe of peace
with him, and he made his men bring bags of parched corn
to his warriors who wanted food, and he sent to all the
nations on the lakes, and said to them, 'The Saganaw must
pass unhurt to the strong hold on the Detroit.' But for
the Ottawa, not a Saganaw would have escaped; for the
nations were thirsting for their blood, and the knives
of the warriors were eager to open their scalps. Ask the
chief who sits at the right hand of my father," he again
energetically repeated, "if what the Ottawa says is not
true."

"What the Ottawa says is true," rejoined the governor;
"for the chief who sits on my right hand has often said
that, but for the Ottawa, the small number of the warriors
of the Saganaw must have been cut off; and his heart is
big with kindness to the Ottawa for what he did. But if
the great chief meant to be friendly, why did he declare
war after smoking the pipe of peace with the Saganaw?
Why did he destroy the wigwams of the settlers, and carry
off the scalps even of their weak women and children?
All this has the Ottawa done; and yet he says that he
wished to be friendly with my young men. But the Saganaw
is not a fool. He knows the Ottawa chief had no will of
his own. On the right hand of the Ottawa sits the great
chief of the Delawares, and on his left the great chief
of the Shawanees. They have long been the sworn enemies
of the Saganaw; and they came from the rivers that run
near the salt lake to stir up the red skins of the Detroit
to war. They whispered wicked words in the ear of the
Ottawa chief, and he determined to take up the bloody
hatchet. This is a shame to a great warrior. The Ottawa
was a king over all the tribes in the country of the
fresh lakes, and yet he weakly took council like a woman
from another."

"My father lies!" fiercely retorted the warrior, half
springing to his feet, and involuntarily putting his hand
upon his tomahawk. "If the settlers of the Saganaw have
fallen," he resumed in a calmer tone, while he again sank
upon his mat, "it is because they did not keep their
faith with the red skins. When they came weak, and were
not yet secure in their strong holds, their tongues were
smooth and full of soft words; but when they became strong
under the protection of their thunder, they no longer
treated the red skins as their friends, and they laughed
at them for letting them come into their country." "But,"
he pursued, elevating his voice, "the Ottawa is a great
chief, and he will be respected." Then adverting in
bitterness to the influence supposed to be exercised over
him,--"What my father has said is false. The Shawanees
and the Delawares are great nations; but the Ottawas are
greater than any, and their chiefs are full of wisdom.
The Shawanees and the Delawares had no talk with the
Ottawa chief to make him do what his own wisdom did not
tell him."

"Then, if the talk came not from the Shawanees and the
Delawares, it came from the spies of the warriors of the
pale flag. The great father of the French was angry with
the great father of the Saganaw, because he conquered
his warriors in many battles; and he sent wicked men to
whisper lies of the Saganaw into the ears of the red
skins, and to make them take up the hatchet against them.
There is a tall spy at this moment in the camp of the
red skins," he pursued with earnestness, and yet paling
as he spoke. "It is said he is the bosom friend of the
great chief of the Ottawas. But I will not believe it.
The head of a great nation would not be the friend of a
spy--of one who is baser than a dog. His people would
despise him; and they would say, 'Our chief is not fit
to sit in council, or to make war; for he is led by the
word of a pale face who is without honour.'"

The swarthy cheek of the Indian reddened, and his eye
kindled into fire. "There is no spy, but a great warrior,
in the camp of the Ottawas," he fiercely replied. "Though
he came from the country that lies beyond the salt lake,
he is now a chief of the red skins, and his arm is mighty,
and his heart is big. Would my father know why he has
become a chief of the Ottawas?" he pursued with scornful
exultation. "When the strong holds of the Saganaw fell,
the tomahawk of the 'white warrior' drank more blood than
that of a red skin, and his tent is hung around with
poles bending under the weight of the scalps he has taken.
When the great chief of the Ottawas dies, the pale face
will lead his warriors, and take the first seat in the
council. The Ottawa chief is his friend."

"If the pale face be the friend of the Ottawa," pursued
the governor, in the hope of obtaining some particular
intelligence in regard to this terrible and mysterious
being, "why is he not here to sit in council with the
chiefs? Perhaps," he proceeded tauntingly, as he fancied
he perceived a disinclination on the part of the Indian
to account for the absence of the warrior, "the pale face
is not worthy to take his place among the head men of
the council. His arm may be strong like that of a warrior,
but his head may be weak like that of a woman; or, perhaps,
he is ashamed to show himself before the pale faces, who
have turned him out of their tribe."

"My father lies!" again unceremoniously retorted the
warrior. "If the friend of the Ottawa is not here, it is
because his voice cannot speak. Does my father recollect
the bridge on which he killed his young warrior? Does he
recollect the terrible chase of the pale face by the
friend of the Ottawa? Ugh!" he continued, as his attention
was now diverted to another object of interest, "that
pale face was swifter than any runner among the red skins,
and for his fleetness he deserved to live to be a great
hunter in the Canadas; but fear broke his heart,--fear
of the friend of the Ottawa chief. The red skins saw
him fall at the feet of the Saganaw without life, and
they saw the young warriors bear him off in their arms.
Is not the Ottawa right?" The Indian paused, threw his
eye rapidly along the room, and then, fixing it on the
governor, seemed to wait with deep but suppressed interest
for his reply.

"Peace to the bones of a brave warrior!" seriously and
evasively returned the governor: "the pale face is no
longer in the land of the Canadas, and the young warriors
of the Saganaw are sorry for his loss; but what would
the Ottawa say of the bridge? and what has the pale
warrior, the friend of the Ottawa, to do with it?"

A gleam of satisfaction pervaded the countenance
of the Indian, as he eagerly bent his
ear to receive the assurance that the fugitive
was no more; but when allusion was again
made to the strange warrior, his brow became
overcast, and he replied with mingled haughtiness
and anger,--

"Does my father ask? He has dogs of spies among the
settlers of the pale flag, but the tomahawk of the red
skins will find them out, and they shall perish even as
the Saganaw themselves. Two nights ago, when the warriors
of the Ottawas were returning from their scout upon the
common, they heard the voice of Onondato, the great
wolf-dog of the friend of the Ottawa chief. The voice
came from the bridge where the Saganaw killed his young
warrior, and it called upon the red skins for assistance.
My young men gave their war cry, and ran like wild deer
to destroy the enemies of their chief; but when they
came, the spies had fled, and the voice of Onondato was
low and weak as that of a new fawn; and when the warriors
came to the other end of the bridge, they found the pale
chief lying across the road and covered over with blood.
They thought he was dead, and their cry was terrible;
for the pale warrior is a great chief, and the Ottawas
love him; but when they looked again, they saw that the
blood was the blood of Onondato, whose throat the spies
of the Saganaw had cut, that he might not hunt them and
give them to the tomahawk of the red skins."

Frequent glances, expressive of their deep interest in
the announcement of this intelligence, passed between
the governor and his officers. It was clear the party
who had encountered the terrible warrior of the Fleur de
lis were not spies (for none were employed by the garrison),
but their adventurous companions who had so recently
quitted them. This was put beyond all doubt by the night,
the hour, and the not less important feet of the locality;
for it was from the bridge described by the Indian, near
which the Canadian had stated his canoe to be chained,
they were to embark on their perilous and uncertain
enterprise. The question of their own escape from danger
in this unlooked for collision with so powerful and
ferocious an enemy, and of the fidelity of the Canadian,
still remained involved in doubt, which it might be
imprudent, if not dangerous, to seek to have resolved by
any direct remark on the subject to the keen and observant
warrior. The governor removed this difficulty by artfully
observing,--

"The great chief of the Ottawas has said they were the
spies of the Saganaw who killed the pale warrior. His
young men has found them, then; or how could he know they
were spies?"

"Is there a warrior among the Saganaw who dares to show
himself in the path of the red skins, unless he come in
strength and surrounded by his thunder?" was the sneering
demand. "But my father is wrong, if he supposes the friend
of the Ottawa is killed. No," he pursued fiercely, "the
dogs of spies could not kill him; they were afraid to
face so terrible a warrior. They came behind him in the
dark, and they struck him on the head like cowards and
foxes as they were. The warrior of the pale face, and
the friend of the Ottawa chief, is sick, but not dead.
He lies without motion in his tent, and his voice cannot
speak to his friend to tell him who were his enemies,
that he may bring their scalps to hang up within his
wigwam. But the great chief will soon be well, and his
arm will be stronger than ever to spill the blood of the
Saganaw as he has done before."

"The talk of the Ottawa chief is strange," returned the
governor, emphatically and with dignity. "He says he
conies to smoke the pipe of peace with the Saganaw, and
yet he talks of spilling their blood as if it was water
from the lake. What does the Ottawa mean?"

"Ugh!" exclaimed the Indian, in his surprise. "My father
is right, but the Ottawa and the Saganaw have not yet
smoked together. When they have, the hatchet will be
buried for ever. Until then, they are still enemies."

During this long and important colloquy of the leading
parties, the strictest silence had been preserved by the
remainder of the council. The inferior chiefs had
continued deliberately puffing the smoke from their curled
lips, as they sat cross-legged on their mats, and nodding
their heads at intervals in confirmation of the occasional
appeal made by the rapid glance of the Ottawa, and uttering
their guttural "Ugh!" whenever any observation of the
parlant parties touched their feelings, or called forth
their surprise. The officers had been no less silent and
attentive listeners, to a conversation on the issue of
which hung so many dear and paramount interests. A pause
in the conference gave them an opportunity of commenting
in a low tone on the communication made, in the strong
excitement of his pride, by the Ottawa chief, in regard
to the terrible warrior of the Fleur de lis; who, it was
evident, swayed the councils of the Indians, and
consequently exercised an influence over the ultimate
destinies of the English, which it was impossible to
contemplate without alarm. It was evident to all, from
whatsoever cause it might arise, this man cherished a
rancour towards certain individuals in the fort, inducing
an anxiety in its reduction scarcely equalled by that
entertained on the part of the Indians themselves. Beyond
this, however, all was mystery and doubt; nor had any
clue been given to enable them to arrive even at a well
founded apprehension of the motives which had given birth
to the vindictiveness of purpose, so universally ascribed
to him even by the savages themselves.

The chiefs also availed themselves of this pause in the
conversation of the principals, to sustain a low and
animated discussion. Those of the Shawanee and Delaware
nations were especially earnest; and, as they spoke across
the Ottawa, betrayed, by their vehemence of gesture, the
action of some strong feeling upon their minds, the
precise nature of which could not be ascertained from
their speech at the opposite extremity of the room. The
Ottawa did not deign to join in their conversation, but
sat smoking his pipe in all the calm and forbidding
dignity of a proud Indian warrior conscious of his own
importance.

"Does the great chief of the Ottawas, then, seek for
peace in his heart at length?" resumed the governor; "or
is he come to the strong hold of Detroit, as he went to
the other strong holds, with deceit on his lips?"

The Indian slowly removed his pipe from his mouth, fixed
his keen eye searchingly on that of the questioner for
nearly a minute, and then briefly and haughtily said,
"The Ottawa chief has spoken."

"And do the great chiefs of the Shawanees, and the great
chiefs of the Delawares, and the great chiefs of the
other nations, ask for peace also?" demanded the governor.
"If so, let them speak for themselves, and for their
warriors."

We will not trespass on the reader, on whom we have
already inflicted too much of this scene, by a transcript
of the declarations of the inferior chiefs. Suffice it
to observe, each in his turn avowed motives similar to
those of the Ottawa for wishing the hatchet might be
buried for ever, and that their young men should mingle
once more in confidence, not only with the English troops,
but with the settlers, who would again be brought into
the country at the cessation of hostilities. When each
had spoken, the Ottawa passed the pipe of ceremony, with
which he was provided, to the governor.

The latter put it to his lips, and commenced smoking.
The Indians keenly, and half furtively, watched the act;
and looks of deep intelligence, that escaped not the
notice of the equally anxious and observant officers,
passed among them.

"The pipe of the great chief of the Ottawas smokes well,"
calmly remarked the governor; "but the Ottawa chief, in
his hurry to come and ask for peace, has made a mistake.
The pipe and all its ornaments are red like blood: it
is the pipe of war, and not the pipe of peace. The great
chief of the Ottawas will be angry with himself; he has
entered the strong hold of the Saganaw, and sat in the
council, without doing any good for his young men. The
Ottawa must come again."

A deep but subdued expression of disappointment passed
over the features of the chiefs. They watched the
countenances of the officers, to see whether the
substitution of one pipe for the other had been attributed,
in their estimation, to accident or design. There was
nothing, however, to indicate the slightest doubt of
their sincerity.

"My father is right," replied the Indian, with an appearance
of embarrassment, which, whether natural or feigned, had
nothing suspicious in it. "The great chief of the Ottawas
has been foolish, like an old woman. The young chiefs of
his tribe will laugh at him for this. But the Ottawa
chief will come again, and the other chiefs with him,
for, as my father sees, they all wish for peace; and that
my father may know all the nations wish for peace, as
well as their head men, the warriors of the Ottawa, and
of the Shawanee, and of the Delaware, shall play at ball
upon the common, to amuse his young men, while the chiefs
sit in council with the chiefs of the Saganaw. The red
skins shall come naked, and without their rifles and
their tomahawks; and even the squaws of the warriors
shall come upon the common, to show the Saganaw they may
be without fear. Does my father hear?"

"The Ottawa chief says well," returned the governor; "but
will the pale friend of the Ottawa come also to take his
seat in the council hall? The great chief has said the
pale warrior has become the second chief among the Ottawas;
and that when he is dead, the pale warrior will lead the
Ottawas, and take the first seat in the council. He, too,
should smoke the pipe of peace with the Saganaw, that
they may know he is no longer their enemy."

The Indian hesitated, uttering merely his quick ejaculatory
"Ugh!" in expression of his surprise at so unexpected a
requisition. "The pale warrior, the friend of the Ottawa,
is very sick," he at length said; "but if the Great Spirit
should give him back his voice before the chiefs come
again to the council, the pale face will come too. If my
father does not see him then, he will know the friend of
the Ottawa chief is very sick."

The governor deemed it prudent not to press the question
too closely, lest in so doing he should excite suspicion,
and defeat his own object. "When will the Ottawa and the
other chiefs come again?" he asked; "and when will their
warriors play at ball upon the common, that the Saganaw
may see them and be amused?"

"When the sun has travelled so many times," replied
Ponteac, holding up three fingers of his left hand. "Then
will the Ottawa and the other chiefs bring their young
warriors and their women."

"It is too soon," was the reply;. "the Saganaw must have
time to collect their presents, that they may give them
to the young warriors who are swiftest in the race, and
the most active at the ball. The great chief of the
Ottawas, too, must let the settlers of the pale flag,
who are the friends of the red skins, bring in food for
the Saganaw, that a great feast may be given to the
chiefs, and to the warriors, and that the Saganaw may
make peace with the Ottawas and the other nations as
becomes a great people. In twice so many days," holding
up three of his fingers in imitation of the Indian, "the
Saganaw will be ready to receive the chiefs in council,
that they may smoke the pipe of peace, and bury the
hatchet for ever. What says the great chief of the
Ottawas?"

"It is good," was the reply of the Indian, his eye lighting
up with deep and exulting expression. "The settlers of
the pale flag shall bring food to the Saganaw. The Ottawa
chief will send them, and he will desire his young men
not to prevent them. In so many days, then," indicating
with his fingers, "the great chiefs will sit again in
council with the Saganaw, and the Ottawa chief will not
be a fool to bring the pipe he does not want."

With this assurance the conference terminated. Ponteac
raised his tall frame from the mat on which he had been
squatted, nodded condescendingly to the governor, and
strode haughtily into the square or area of the fort.
The other chiefs followed his example; and to Major
Blackwater was again assigned the duty of accompanying
them without the works. The glance of the savages, and
that of Ponteac in particular, was less wary than at
their entrance. Each seemed to embrace every object on
which the eye could rest, as if to fix its position
indelibly in his memory. The young chief, who had been
so suddenly and opportunely checked while in the very
act of pealing forth his terrible war whoop, again looked
up at the windows of the block house, in quest of those
whom his savage instinct had already devoted in intention
to his tomahawk, but they were no longer there. Such was
the silence that reigned every where, the fort appeared
to be tenanted only by the few men of the guard, who
lingered near their stations, attentively watching the
Indians, as they passed towards the gate. A very few
minutes sufficed to bring the latter once more in the
midst of their warriors, whom, for a few moments, they
harangued earnestly, when the whole body again moved off
in the direction of their encampment.




CHAPTER V.

The week that intervened between the visit of the chiefs
and the day appointed for their second meeting in council,
was passed by the garrison in perfect freedom from alarm,
although, as usual, in diligent watchfulness and
preparations for casualties. In conformity with his
promise, the Indian had despatched many of the Canadian
settlers, with such provisions as the country then
afforded, to the governor, and these, happy to obtain
the gold of the troops in return for what they could
conveniently spare, were not slow in availing themselves
of the permission. Dried bears' meat, venison, and Indian
corn, composed the substance of these supplies, which
were in sufficient abundance to produce a six weeks'
increase to the stock of the garrison. Hitherto they had
been subsisting, in a great degree, upon salt provisions;
the food furtively supplied by the Canadians being
necessarily, from their dread of detection, on so limited
a scale, that a very small portion of the troops had been
enabled to profit by it. This, therefore, was an important
and unexpected benefit, derived from the falling in of
the garrison with the professed views of the savages;
and one which, perhaps, few officers would, like Colonel
de Haldimar, have possessed the forethought to have
secured. But although it served to relieve the animal
wants of the man, there was little to remove his moral
inquietude. Discouraged by the sanguinary character of
the warfare in which they seemed doomed to be for ever
engaged, and harassed by constant watchings,--seldom
taking off their clothes for weeks together,--the men
had gradually been losing their energy of spirit, in the
contemplation of the almost irremediable evils by which
they were beset; and looked forward with sad and
disheartening conviction to a fate, that all things tended
to prove to them was unavoidable, however the period of
its consummation might be protracted. Among the officers,
this dejection, although proceeding from a different
cause, was no less prevalent; and notwithstanding they
sought to disguise it before their men, when left to
themselves, they gave unlimited rein to a despondency
hourly acquiring strength, as the day fixed on for the
second council with the Indians drew near.

At length it came, that terrible and eventful day, and,
as if in mockery of those who saw no beauty in its golden
beams, arrayed in all the gorgeous softness of its autumnal
glory. Sad and heavy were the hearts of many within that
far distant and isolated fort, as they rose, at the first
glimmering of light above the horizon, to prepare for
the several duties assigned them. All felt the influence
of a feeling that laid prostrate the moral energies even
of the boldest: but there was one young officer in
particular, who exhibited a dejection, degenerating almost
into stupefaction; and more than once, when he received
an order from his superior, hesitated as one who either
heard not, or, in attempting to perform it, mistook the
purport of his instructions, and executed some entirely
different duty. The countenance of this officer, whose
attenuated person otherwise bore traces of languor and
debility, but too plainly marked the abstractedness and
terror of his mind, while the set stiff features and
contracted muscles of the face contributed to give an
expression of vacuity, that one who knew him not might
have interpreted unfavourably. Several times, during the
inspection of his company at the early parade, he was
seen to raise his head, and throw forward his ear, as if
expecting to catch the echo of some horrible and appalling
cry, until the men themselves remarked, and commented,
by interchange of looks, on the singular conduct of their
officer, whose thoughts had evidently no connection with
the duty he was performing, or the spot on which he stood.

When this customary inspection had been accomplished,--how
imperfectly, has been seen,--and the men dismissed from
their ranks, the same young officer was observed, by one
who followed his every movement with interest, to ascend
that part of the rampart which commanded an unbroken view
of the country westward, from the point where the encampment
of the Indians was supposed to lie, down to the bridge
on which the terrible tragedy of Halloway's death had
been so recently enacted. Unconscious of the presence of
two sentinels, who moved to and fro near their respective
posts, on either side of him, the young officer folded
his arms, and gazed in that direction for some minutes,
with his whole soul riveted on the scene. Then, as if
overcome by recollections called up by that on which he
gazed, he covered his eyes hurriedly with his hands, and
betrayed, by the convulsed movement of his slender form,
he was weeping bitterly. This paroxysm past, he uncovered
his face, sank with one knee upon the ground, and upraising
his clasped hands, as if in appeal to his God, seemed to
pray deeply and fervently. In this attitude he continued
for some moments, when he became sensible of the approach
of an intruder. He raised himself from his knee, turned,
and beheld one whose countenance was stamped with a
dejection scarcely inferior to his own. It was Captain
Blessington.

"Charles, my dear Charles!" exclaimed the latter hurriedly,
as he laid his hand upon the shoulder of the emaciated
De Haldimar, "consider you are not alone. For God's sake,
check this weakness! There are men observing you on every
side, and your strange manner has already been the subject
of remark in the company."

"When the heart is sick, like mine," replied the youth,
in a tone of fearful despondency, "it is alike reckless
of forms, and careless of appearances. I trust, however,"
and here spoke the soldier, "there are few within this
fort who will believe me less courageous, because I have
been seen to bend my knee in supplication to my God. I
did not think that YOU, Blessington, would have been the
first to condemn the act."

"I condemn it, Charles! you mistake me, indeed you do,"
feelingly returned his captain, secretly pained at the
mild reproach contained in the concluding sentence; "but
there are two things to be considered. In the first
instance, the men, who are yet in ignorance of the great
evils with which we are threatened, may mistake the cause
of your agitation; you were in tears just now, Charles,
and the sentinels must have remarked it as well as myself.
I would not have them to believe that one of their officers
was affected by the anticipation of coming disaster, in
a way their own hearts are incapable of estimating. You
understand me, Charles? I would not have them too much
discouraged by an example that may become infectious."

"I DO understand you, Blessington," and a forced and
sickly smile played for a moment over the wan yet handsome
features of the young officer; "you would not have me
appear a weeping coward in their eyes."

"Nay, dear Charles, I did not say it."

"But you meant it, Blessington; yet, think not,"--and he
warmly pressed the hand of his captain,--"think not, I
repeat, I take your hint in any other than the friendly
light in which it was intended. That I have been no
coward, however, I hope I have given proof more than once
before the men, most of whom have known me from my very
cradle; yet, whatever they may think, is to me, at this
moment, a matter of utter indifference. Blessington,"
and again the tears rolled from his fixed eyes over his
cheek, while he pointed with his finger to the western
horizon, "I have neither thought nor feeling for myself;
my whole heart lies buried there. Oh, God of Heaven!" he
pursued after a pause, and again raising his eyes in
supplication, "avert the dreadful destiny that awaits my
beloved sister."

"Charles, Charles, if only for that sister's sake, then,
calm an agitation which, if thus indulged in, will
assuredly destroy you. All will yet be well. The delay
obtained by your father has been sufficient for the
purpose proposed. Let us hope for the best: if we are
deceived in our expectation, it will then be time enough
to indulge in a grief, which could scarcely be exceeded,
were the fearful misgivings of your mind to be realised
before your eyes."

"Blessington," returned the young officer,--and his
features exhibited the liveliest image of despair,--"all
hope has long since been extinct within my breast. See
you yon theatre of death?" he mournfully pursued, pointing
to the fatal bridge, which was thrown into full relief
against the placid bosom of the Detroit: "recollect you
the scene that was acted on it? As for me, it is ever
present to my mind,--it haunts me in my thoughts by day,
and in my dreams by night. I shall never forget it while
memory is left to curse me with the power of retrospection.
On the very spot on which I now stand was I borne in a
chair, to witness the dreadful punishment; you see the
stone at my feet, I marked it by that. I saw you conduct
Halloway to the centre of the bridge; I beheld him kneel
to receive his death; I saw, too, the terrible race for
life, that interrupted the proceedings; I marked the
sudden upspring of Halloway to his feet upon the coffin,
and the exulting waving of his hand, as he seemed to
recognise the rivals for mastery in that race. Then was
heard the fatal volley, and I saw the death-struggle of
him who had saved my brother's life. I could have died,
too, at that moment; and would to Providence I had! but
it was otherwise decreed. My aching interest was, for a
moment, diverted by the fearful chase now renewed upon
the height; and, in common with those around me, I watched
the efforts of the pursuer and the pursued with painful
earnestness and doubt as to the final result. Ah,
Blessington, why was not this all? The terrible shriek,
uttered at the moment when the fugitive fell, apparently
dead, at the feet of the firing party, reached us even
here. I felt as if my heart must have burst, for I knew
it to be the shriek of poor Ellen Halloway,--the suffering
wife,--the broken-hearted woman who had so recently, in
all the wild abandonment of her grief, wetted my pillow,
and even my cheek, with her burning tears, while
supplicating an intercession with my father for mercy,
which I knew it would be utterly fruitless to promise.
Oh, Blessington," pursued the sensitive and affectionate
young officer, "I should vainly attempt to paint all that
passed in my mind at that dreadful moment. Nothing but
the depth of my despair gave me strength to support the
scene throughout. I saw the frantic and half-naked woman
glide like a phantom past the troops, dividing the air
with the rapidity of thought. I knew it to be Ellen; for
the discovery of her exchange of clothes with one of the
drum boys of the grenadiers was made soon after you left
the fort. I saw her leap upon the coffin, and, standing
over the body of her unhappy husband, raise her hands to
heaven in adjuration, and my heart died within me. I
recollected the words she had spoken on a previous
occasion, during the first examination of Halloway, and
I felt it to be the prophetic denunciation, then threatened,
that she was now uttering on all the race of De Haldimar.
I saw no more, Blessington. Sick, dizzy, and with every
faculty of my mind annihilated, I turned away from the
horrid scene, and was again borne to my room. I tried to
give vent to my overcharged heart in tears; but the power
was denied me, and I sank at once into that stupefaction
which you have since remarked in me, and which has been
increasing every hour. What additional cause I have had
for the indulgence of this confirmed despondency you are
well acquainted with. It is childish, it is unsoldierlike,
I admit: but, alas! that dreadful scene is eternally
before my eyes, and absorbs my mind, to the exclusion of
every other feeling. I have not a thought or a care but
for the fate that too certainly awaits those who are most
dear to me; and if this be a weakness, it is one I shall
never have the power to shake off. In a word, Blessington,
I am heart-broken."

Captain Blessington was deeply affected; for there was
a solemnity in the voice and manner of the young officer
that carried conviction to the heart; and it was some
moments before he could so far recover himself as to
observe,--

"That scene, Charles, was doubtless a heart-rending one
to us all; for I well recollect, on turning to remark
the impression made on my men when the wretched Ellen
Halloway pronounced her appalling curse to have seen the
large tears coursing each other over the furrowed cheeks
of some of our oldest soldiers: and if THEY could feel
thus, how much more acute must have been the grief of
those immediately interested in its application!"

"THEIR tears were not for the denounced race of De
Haldimar," returned the youth,--"they were shed for
their unhappy comrade--they were wrung from their stubborn
hearts by the agonising grief of the wife of Halloway."

"That this was the case in part, I admit," returned
Captain Blessington. "The feelings of the men partook of
a mixed character. It was evident that grief for Halloway,
compassion for his wife, secret indignation and, it may
be, disgust at the severity of your father, and sorrow
for his innocent family, who were included in that
denunciation, predominated with equal force in their
hearts at the same moment. There was an expression that
told how little they would have pitied any anguish of
mind inflicted on their colonel, provided his children,
whom they loved, were not to be sacrificed to its
accomplishment."

"You admit, then, Blessington, although indirectly,"
replied the young De Haldimar in a voice of touching
sorrow, "that the consummation of the sacrifice IS to be
looked for. Alas! it is that on which my mind perpetually
lingers; yet, Heaven knows, my fears are not for myself."

"You mistake me, dearest Charles. I look upon the
observations of the unhappy woman as the ravings of a
distracted mind--the last wild outpourings of a broken
heart, turning with animal instinct on the hand that has
inflicted its death-blow."

"Ah, why did she except no one member of that family!"
said the unhappy De Haldimar, pursuing rather the chain
of his reflections than replying to the observation of
his captain. "Had the weight of her malediction fallen
on all else than my adored sister, I could have borne
the infliction, and awaited the issue with resignation,
if not without apprehension. But my poor gentle and
unoffending Clara,--alike innocent of the cause, and
ignorant of the effect,--what had she done to be included
in this terrible curse?--she, who, in the warm and generous
affection of her nature, had ever treated Ellen Halloway
rather as a sister than as the dependant she always
appeared." Again he covered his eyes with his hands, to
conceal the starting tears.

"De Haldimar," said Captain Blessington reprovingly, but
mildly, "this immoderate grief is wrong--it is unmanly,
and should be repressed. I can feel and understand the
nature of your sorrow; but others may not judge so
favourably. We shall soon be summoned to fall in; and I
would not that Mr. Delme, in particular, should notice
an emotion he is so incapable of understanding."

The hand of the young officer dropped from his face to
the hilt of his sword. His cheek became scarlet; and even
through the tears which he half choked himself to command,
there was an unwonted flashing from his blue eye, that
told how deeply the insinuation had entered into his
heart.

"Think you, Captain Blessington," he proudly retorted,
"there is an officer in the fort who should dare to taunt
me with my feelings as you have done? I came here, sir,
in the expectation I should be alone. At a fitting hour
I shall be found where Captain Blessington's subaltern
should be--with his company."

"De Haldimar--dear De Haldimar, forgive me!" returned
his captain. "Heaven knows I would not, on any
consideration, wantonly inflict pain on your sensitive
heart. My design was to draw you out of this desponding
humour; and with this view I sought to arouse your pride,
but certainly not to wound your feelings. De Haldimar,"
he concluded, with marked expression, "you must not,
indeed, feel offended with one who has known and esteemed
you from very boyhood. Friendship and interest in your
deep affliction of spirit alone brought me here--the same
feelings prompted my remark. Do you not believe me?"

"I do," impressively returned the young man, grasping
the hand that was extended to him in amity. "It is I,
rather, Blessington, who should ask you to forgive my
petulance; but, indeed, indeed," and again his tone
faltered, and his eye was dimmed, "I am more wretched
even than I am willing to confess. Pardon my silly
conduct--it was but the vain and momentary flashing of
the soldier's spirit impatient of an assumed imputation,
and the man less than the profession is to be taxed with
it. But it is past; and already do you behold me once
more the tame and apprehensive being I must ever continue
until all is over."

"What can I possibly urge to console one who seems so
willing to nurse into conviction all the melancholy
imaginings of a diseased mind," observed Captain
Blessington, in a voice that told how deeply he felt for
the situation of his young friend. "Recollect, dearest
Charles, the time that has been afforded to our friends.
More than a week has gone by since they left the fort,
and a less period was deemed sufficient for their purpose.
Before this they must have gained their destination. In
fact, it is my positive belief they have; for there could
be nothing to detect them in their disguise. Had I the
famous lamp of Aladdin," he pursued, in a livelier tone,
"over the history of which Clara and yourself used to
spend so many hours in childhood, I have no doubt I could
show them to you quietly seated within the fort, recounting
their adventures to Clara and her cousin, and discoursing
of their absent friends."

"Would I to Heaven you had the power to do so!" replied
De Haldimar, smiling faintly at the conceit, while a ray
of hope beamed for a moment upon his sick soul; "for
then, indeed, would all my fears for the present be at
rest. But you forget, Blessington, the encounter stated
to have taken place between them and that terrible stranger
near the bridge. Besides, is it not highly probable the
object of their expedition was divined by that singular
and mysterious being, and that means have been taken to
intercept their passage? If so, all hope is at an end."

"Why persevere in viewing only the more sombre side of
the picture?" returned his friend. "In your anxiety to
anticipate evil, Charles, you have overlooked one important
fact. Ponteac distinctly stated that his ruffian friend
was still lying deprived of consciousness and speech
within his tent, and yet two days had elapsed since the
encounter was said to have taken place. Surely we have
every reason then to infer they were beyond all reach of
pursuit, even admitting, what is by no means probable
the recovery of the wretch immediately after the return
of the chiefs from the council."

A gleam of satisfaction, but so transient as to be scarcely
noticeable, passed over the pale features of the youthful
De Haldimar. He looked his thanks to the kind officer
who was thus solicitous to tender him consolation; and
was about to reply, when the attention of both was diverted
by the report of a musket from the rear of the fort.
Presently afterwards, the word was passed along the chain
of sentinels, upon the ramparts, that the Indians were
issuing in force from the forest upon the common near
the bomb-proof. Then was heard, as the sentinel at the
gate delivered the password, the heavy roll of the drum
summoning to arms.

"Ha! here already!" said Captain Blessington, as, glancing
towards the forest, he beheld the skirt of the wood now
alive with dusky human forms: "Ponteac's visit is earlier
than we had been taught to expect; but we are as well
prepared to receive him now, as later; and, in fact, the
sooner the interview is terminated, the sooner we shall
know what we have to depend upon. Come, Charles, we must
join the company, and let me entreat you to evince less
despondency before the men. It is hard, I know, to
sustain an artificial character under such disheartening
circumstances; still, for example's sake, it must be
done."

"What I can I will do, Blessington," rejoined the youth,
as they both moved from the ramparts; "but the task is,
in truth, one to which I find myself wholly unequal. How
do I know that, even at this moment, my defenceless,
terrified, and innocent sister may not be invoking the
name and arm of her brother to save her from destruction."

"Trust in Providence, Charles. Even although our worst
apprehensions be realised, as I fervently trust they will
not, your sister may be spared. The Canadian could not
have been unfaithful, or we should have learnt something
of his treachery from the Indians. Another week will
confirm us in the truth or fallacy of our impressions.
Until then, let us arm our hearts with hope. Trust me,
we shall yet see the laughing eyes of Clara fill with
tears of affection, as I recount to her all her too
sensitive and too desponding brother has suffered for
her sake."

De Haldimar made no reply. He deeply felt the kind
intention of his captain, but was far from cherishing
the hope that had been recommended. He sighed heavily,
pressed the arm, on which he leaned, in gratitude for
the motive, and moved silently with his friend to join
their company below the rampart.




CHAPTER VI.

Meanwhile the white flag had again been raised by the
Indians upon the bomb-proof; and this having been readily
met by a corresponding signal from the fort, a numerous
band of savages now issued from the cover with which
their dark forms had hitherto been identified, and spread
themselves far and near upon the common. On this occasion
they were without arms, offensive or defensive, of any
kind, if we may except the knife which was always carried
at the girdle, and which constituted a part rather of
their necessary dress than of their warlike equipment.
These warriors might have been about five hundred in
number, and were composed chiefly of picked men from the
nations of the Ottawas, the Delawares, and the Shawanees;
each race being distinctly recognisable from the others
by certain peculiarities of form and feature which
individualised, if we may so term it, the several tribes.
Their only covering was the legging before described,
composed in some instances of cloth, but principally of
smoked deerskin, and the flap that passed through the
girdle around the loins, by which the straps attached to
the leggings were secured. Their bodies, necks, and arms
were, with the exception of a few slight ornaments,
entirely naked; and even the blanket, that served them
as a couch by night and a covering by day, had, with one
single exception, been dispensed with, apparently with
a view to avoid any thing like encumbrance in their
approaching sport. Each individual was provided with a
stout sapling of about three feet in length, curved, and
flattened at the root extremity, like that used at the
Irish hurdle; which game, in fact, the manner of
ball-playing among the Indians in every way resembled.

Interspersed among these warriors were a nearly equal
number of squaws. These were to be seen lounging carelessly
about in small groups, and were of all ages; from the
hoary-headed, shrivelled-up hag, whose eyes still sparkled
with a fire that her lank and attenuated frame denied,
to the young girl of twelve, whose dark and glowing cheek,
rounded bust, and penetrating glance, bore striking
evidence of the precociousness of Indian beauty. These
latter looked with evident interest on the sports of the
younger warriors, who, throwing down their hurdles, either
vied with each other in the short but incredibly swift
foot-race, or indulged themselves in wrestling and leaping;
while their companions, abandoned to the full security
they felt to be attached to the white flag waving on the
fort, lay at their lazy length upon the sward, ostensibly
following the movements of the several competitors in
these sports, but in reality with heart and eye directed
solely to the fortification that lay beyond. Each of
these females, in addition to the machecoti, or petticoat,
which in one solid square of broad-cloth was tightly
wrapped around the loins, also carried a blanket loosely
thrown around the person, but closely confined over the
shoulders in front, and reaching below the knee. There
was an air of constraint in their movements, which accorded
ill with the occasion of festivity for which they were
assembled; and it was remarkable, whether it arose from
deference to those to whom they were slaves, as well as
wives and daughters, or from whatever other cause it
might be, none of them ventured to recline themselves
upon the sward in imitation of the warriors.

When it had been made known to the governor that the
Indians had begun to develop themselves in force upon
the common unarmed, yet redolent with the spirit that
was to direct their meditated sports, the soldiers were
dismissed from their respective companies to the ramparts;
where they were now to be seen, not drawn up in formidable
and hostile array, but collected together in careless
groups, and simply in their side-arms. This reciprocation
of confidence on the part of the garrison was acknowledged
by the Indians by marks of approbation, expressed as much
by the sudden and classic disposition of their fine forms
into attitudes strikingly illustrative of their admiration
and pleasure, as by the interjectional sounds that passed
from one to the other of the throng. From the increased
alacrity with which they now lent themselves to the
preparatory and inferior amusements of the day, it was
evident their satisfaction was complete.

Hitherto the principal chiefs had, as on the previous
occasion, occupied the bomb-proof; and now, as then, they
appeared to be deliberating among themselves, but evidently
in a more energetic and serious manner. At length they
separated, when Ponteac, accompanied by the chiefs who
had attended him on the former day, once more led in the
direction of the fort. The moment of his advance was the
signal for the commencement of the principal game. In an
instant those of the warriors who lay reclining on the
sward sprang to their feet, while the wrestlers and racers
resumed their hurdles, and prepared themselves for the
trial of mingled skill and swiftness. At first they formed
a dense group in the centre of the common; and then,
diverging in two equal files both to the right and to
the left of the immediate centre, where the large ball
was placed, formed an open chain, extending from the
skirt of the forest to the commencement of the village.
On the one side were ranged the Delawares and the Shawanees,
and on the other the more numerous nation of the Ottawas.
The women of these several tribes, apparently much
interested in the issue of an amusement in which the
manliness and activity of their respective friends were
staked, had gradually and imperceptibly gained the front
of the fort, where they were now huddled in groups at
about twenty paces from the drawbridge, and bending
eagerly forward to command the movements of the
ball-players.

In his circuit round the walls, Ponteac was seen to remark
the confiding appearance of the unarmed soldiery with a
satisfaction that was not sought to be disguised; and
from the manner in which he threw his glance along each
face of the rampart, it was evident his object was to
embrace the numerical strength collected there. It was
moreover observed, when he passed the groups of squaws
on his way to the gate, he addressed some words in a
strange tongue to the elder matrons of each.

Once more the dark warriors were received at the gate by
Major Blackwater; and, as with firm but elastic tread,
they moved across the square, each threw his fierce eyes
rapidly and anxiously around, and with less of concealment
in his manner than had been manifested on the former
occasion. On every hand the same air of nakedness and
desertion met their gaze. Not even a soldier of the
guard was to be seen; and when they cast their eyes
upwards to the windows of the blockhouses, they were
found to be tenantless as the area through which they
passed. A gleam of fierce satisfaction pervaded the
swarthy countenances of the Indians; and the features of
Ponteac, in particular, expressed the deepest exultation.
Instead of leading his party, he now brought up the rear;
and when arrived in the centre of the fort, he, without
any visible cause for the accident, stumbled, and fell
to the earth. The other chiefs for a moment lost sight
of their ordinary gravity, and marked their sense of the
circumstance by a prolonged sound, partaking of the
mingled character of a laugh and a yell. Startled at
the cry, Major Blackwater, who was in front, turned to
ascertain the cause. At that moment Ponteac sprang lightly
again to his feet, responding to the yell of his
confederates by another even more startling, fierce, and
prolonged than their own. He then stalked proudly to the
head of the party, and even preceded Major Blackwater
into the council room.

In this rude theatre of conference some changes had been
made since their recent visit, which escaped not the
observation of the quick-sighted chiefs. Their mats lay
in the position they had previously occupied, and the
chairs of the officers were placed as before, but the
room itself had been considerably enlarged. The slight
partition terminating the interior extremity of the
mess-room, and dividing it from that of one of the
officers, had been removed; and midway through this,
extending entirely across, was drawn a curtain of scarlet
cloth, against which the imposing figure of the governor,
elevated as his seat was above those of the other officers,
was thrown into strong relief. There was another change,
that escaped not the observation of the Indians, and that
was, not more than one half of the officers who had been
present at the first conference being now in the room.
Of these latter, one had, moreover, been sent away by
the governor the moment the chiefs were ushered in.

"Ugh!" ejaculated the proud leader, as he took his seat
unceremoniously, and yet not without reluctance, upon
the mat. "The council-room of my father is bigger than
when the Ottawa was here before, yet the number of his
chiefs is not so many."

"The great chief of the Ottawas knows that the Saganaw
has promised the red skins a feast," returned the governor.
"Were he to leave it to his young warriors to provide
it, he would not be able to receive the Ottawa like a
great chief, and to make peace with him as he could wish."

"My father has a great deal of cloth, red, like the blood
of a pale face," pursued the Indian, rather in demand
than in observation, as he pointed with his finger to
the opposite end of the room. "When the Ottawa was here
last, he did not see it."

"The great chief of the Ottawas knows that the great
father of the Saganaw has a big heart to make presents
to the red skins. The cloth the Ottawa sees there is
sufficient to make leggings for the chiefs of all the
nations."

Apparently satisfied with this reply, the fierce Indian
uttered one of his strong guttural and assentient "ughs,"
and then commenced filling the pipe of peace, correct on
the present occasion in all its ornaments, which was
handed to him by the Delaware chief. It was remarked by
the officers this operation took up an unusually long
portion of his time, and that he frequently turned his
ear, like a horse stirred by the huntsman's horn, with
quick and irrepressible eagerness towards the door.

"The pale warrior, the friend of the Ottawa chief, is
not here," said the governor, as he glanced his eye along
the semicircle of Indians. "How is this? Is his voice
still sick, that he cannot come; or has the great chief
of the Ottawas forgotten to tell him?"

"The voice of the pale warrior is still sick, and he
cannot speak," replied the Indian. "The Ottawa chief is
very sorry; for the tongue of his friend the pale face
is full of wisdom."

Scarcely had the last words escaped his lips, when a wild
shrill cry from without the fort rang on the ears of the
assembled council, and caused a momentary commotion among
the officers. It arose from a single voice, and that
voice could not be mistaken by any who had heard it once
before. A second or two, during which the officers and
chiefs kept their eyes intently fixed on each other,
passed anxiously away, and then nearer to the gate,
apparently on the very drawbridge itself, was pealed
forth the wild and deafening yell of a legion of devilish
voices. At that sound, the Ottawa and the other chiefs
sprang to their feet, and their own fierce cry responded
to that yet vibrating on the ears of all. Already were
their gleaming tomahawks brandished wildly over their
heads, and Ponteac had even bounded a pace forward to
reach the governor with the deadly weapon, when, at the
sudden stamping of the foot of the latter upon the floor,
the scarlet cloth in the rear was thrown aside, and twenty
soldiers, their eyes glancing along the barrels of their
levelled muskets, met the startled gaze of the astonished
Indians.

An instant was enough to satisfy the keen chief of the
true state of the case. The calm composed mien of the
officers, not one of whom had even attempted to quit his
seat, amid the din by which his ears were so alarmingly
assailed,--the triumphant, yet dignified, and even severe
expression of the governor's countenance; and, above all,
the unexpected presence of the prepared soldiery,--all
these at once assured him of the discovery of his treachery,
and the danger that awaited him. The necessity for an
immediate attempt to join his warriors without, was now
obvious to the Ottawa; and scarcely had he conceived the
idea before it was sought to be executed. In a single
spring he gained the door of the mess-room, and, followed
eagerly and tumultuously by the other chiefs, to whose
departure no opposition was offered, in the next moment
stood on the steps of the piazza that ran along the front
of the building whence he had issued.

The surprise of the Indians on reaching this point, was
now too powerful to be dissembled; and, incapable either
of advancing or receding, they remained gazing on the
scene before them with an air of mingled stupefaction,
rage, and alarm. Scarcely ten minutes had elapsed since
they had proudly strode through the naked area of the
fort; and yet, even in that short space of time, its
appearance had been entirely changed. Not a part was
there now of the surrounding buildings that was not
redolent with human life, and hostile preparation. Through
every window of the officers' low rooms, was to be seen
the dark and frowning muzzle of a field-piece, bearing
upon the gateway; and behind these were artillerymen,
holding their lighted matches, supported again by files
of bayonets, that glittered in their rear. In the
block-houses the same formidable array of field-pieces
and muskets was visible; while from the four angles of
the square, as many heavy guns, that had been artfully
masked at the entrance of the chiefs, seemed ready to
sweep away every thing that should come before them. The
guard-room near the gate presented the same hostile front.
The doors of this, as well as of the other buildings,
had been firmly secured within; but from every window
affording cover to the troops, gleamed a line of bayonets
rising above the threatening field-pieces, pointed, at
a distance of little more than twelve feet, directly upon
the gateway. In addition to his musket, each man of the
guard moreover held a hand grenade, provided with a short
fuze that could be ignited in a moment from the matches
of the gunners, and with immediate effect. The soldiers
in the block-houses were similarly provided.

Almost magic as was the change thus suddenly effected in
the appearance of the garrison, it was not the most
interesting feature in the exciting scene. Choking up
the gateway, in which they were completely wedged, and
crowding the drawbridge, a dense mass of dusky Indians
were to be seen casting their fierce glances around; yet
paralysed in their movements by the unlooked-for display
of a resisting force, threatening instant annihilation
to those who should attempt either to advance or to
recede. Never, perhaps, were astonishment and disappointment
more forcibly depicted on the human countenance, than as
they were now exhibited by these men, who had already,
in imagination, secured to themselves an easy conquest.
They were the warriors who had so recently been engaged
in the manly yet innocent exercise of the ball; but,
instead of the harmless hurdle, each now carried a short
gun in one hand and a gleaming tomahawk in the other.
After the first general yelling heard in the council-room,
not a sound was uttered. Their burst of rage and triumph
had evidently been checked by the unexpected manner of
their reception, and they now stood on the spot on which
the further advance of each had been arrested, so silent
and motionless, that, but for the rolling of their dark
eyes, as they keenly measured the insurmountable barriers
that were opposed to their progress, they might almost
have been taken for a wild group of statuary.

Conspicuous at the head of these was he who wore the
blanket; a tall warrior, on whom rested the startled eye
of every officer and soldier who was so situated as to
behold him. His face was painted black as death; and as
he stood under the arch of the gateway, with his white
turbaned head towering far above those of his companions,
this formidable and mysterious enemy might have been
likened to the spirit of darkness presiding over his
terrible legions.

In order to account for the extraordinary appearance of
the Indians, armed in every way for death, at a moment
when neither gun nor tomahawk was apparently within miles
of their reach, it will be necessary to revert to the
first entrance of the chiefs into the fort. The fall of
Ponteac had been the effect of design; and the yell pealed
forth by him, on recovering his feet, as if in taunting
reply to the laugh of his comrades, was in reality a
signal intended for the guidance of the Indians without.
These, now following up their game with increasing spirit,
at once changed the direction of their line, bringing
the ball nearer to the fort. In their eagerness to effect
this object, they had overlooked the gradual secession
of the unarmed troops, spectators of their sport from
the ramparts, until scarcely more than twenty stragglers
were left. As they neared the gate, the squaws broke up
their several groups, and, forming a line on either hand
of the road leading to the drawbridge, appeared to separate
solely with a view not to impede the action of the players.
For an instant a dense group collected around the ball,
which had been driven to within a hundred yards of the
gate, and fifty hurdles were crossed in their endeavours
to secure it, when the warrior, who formed the solitary
exception to the multitude, in his blanket covering, and
who had been lingering in the extreme rear of the party,
came rapidly up to the spot where the well-affected
struggle was maintained. At his approach, the hurdles of
the other players were withdrawn, when, at a single blow
from his powerful arm, the ball was seen flying into the
air in an oblique direction, and was for a moment lost
altogether to the view. When it again met the eye, it
was descending perpendicularly into the very centre of
the fort.

With the fleetness of thought now commenced a race that
had ostensibly for its object the recovery of the lost
ball; and in which, he who had driven it with such
resistless force outstripped them all. Their course lay
between the two lines of squaws; and scarcely had the
head of the bounding Indians reached the opposite extremity
of those lines, when the women suddenly threw back their
blankets, and disclosed each a short gun and a tomahawk.
To throw away their hurdles and seize upon these, was
the work of an instant. Already, in imagination, was the
fort their own; and, such was the peculiar exultation of
the black and turbaned warrior, when he felt the planks
of the drawbridge bending beneath his feet, all the
ferocious joy of his soul was pealed forth in the terrible
cry which, rapidly succeeded by that of the other Indians,
had resounded so fearfully through the council-room. What
their disappointment was, when, on gaining the interior,
they found the garrison prepared for their reception,
has already been shown.

"Secure that traitor, men!" exclaimed the governor,
advancing into the square, and pointing to the black
warrior, whose quick eye was now glancing on every side,
to discover some assailable point in the formidable
defences of the troops.

A laugh of scorn and derision escaped the lips of the
warrior. "Is there a man--are there any ten men, even
with Governor de Haldimar at their head, who will be bold
enough to attempt it?" he asked. "Nay!" he pursued,
stepping boldly a pace or two in front of the wondering
savages,--"here I stand singly, and defy your whole
garrison!"

A sudden movement among the soldiers in the guard-room
announced they were preparing to execute the order of
their chief. The eye of the black warrior sparkled with
ferocious pleasure; and he made a gesture to his followers,
which was replied to by the sudden tension of their
hitherto relaxed forms into attitudes of expectance and
preparation.

"Stay, men; quit not your cover for your lives!" commanded
the governor, in a loud deep voice:--"keep the barricades
fast, and move not."

A cloud of anger and disappointment passed over the
features of the black warrior. It was evident the object
of his bravado was to draw the troops from their defences,
that they might be so mingled with their enemies as to
render the cannon useless, unless friends and foes (which
was by no means probable) should alike be sacrificed.
The governor had penetrated the design in time to prevent
the mischief.

In a moment of uncontrollable rage, the savage warrior
aimed his tomahawk at the head of the governor. The latter
stepped lightly aside, and the steel sank with such force
into one of the posts supporting the piazza, that the
quivering handle snapped close off at its head. At that
moment, a single shot, fired from the guard-house, was
drowned in the yell of approbation which burst from the
lips of the dark crowd. The turban of the warrior was,
however, seen flying through the air, carried away by
the force of the bullet which had torn it from his head.
He himself was unharmed.

"A narrow escape for us both, Colonel de Haldimar," he
observed, as soon as the yell had subsided, and with an
air of the most perfect unconcern. "Had my tomahawk obeyed
the first impulse of my heart, I should have cursed myself
and died: as it is, I have reason to avoid all useless
exposure of my own life, at present. A second bullet may
be better directed; and to die, robbed of my revenge,
would ill answer the purpose of a life devoted to its
attainment. Remember my pledge!"

At the hasty command of the governor, a hundred muskets
were raised to the shoulders of his men; but, before a
single eye could glance along the barrel, the formidable
and active warrior had bounded over the heads of the
nearest Indians into a small space that was left unoccupied;
when, stooping suddenly to the earth, he disappeared
altogether from the view of his enemies. A slight movement
in the centre of the numerous band crowding the gateway,
and extending even beyond the bridge, was now discernible:
it was like the waving of a field of standing corn,
through which some animal rapidly winds its tortuous
course, bending aside as the object advances, and closing
again when it has passed. After the lapse of a minute,
the terrible warrior was seen to spring again to his
feet, far in the rear of the band; and then, uttering a
fierce shout of exultation, to make good his retreat
towards the forest.

Meanwhile, Ponteac and the other chiefs of the council
continued rooted to the piazza on which they had rushed
at the unexpected display of the armed men behind the
scarlet curtain. The loud "Waugh" that burst from the
lips of all, on finding themselves thus foiled in their
schemes of massacre, had been succeeded, the instant
afterwards, by feelings of personal apprehension, which
each, however, had collectedness enough to disguise. Once
the Ottawa made a movement as if he would have cleared
the space that kept him from his warriors; but the
emphatical pointing of the finger of Colonel de Haldimar
to the levelled muskets of the men in the block-houses
prevented him, and the attempt was not repeated. It was
remarked by the officers, who also stood on the piazza,
close behind the chiefs, when the black warrior threw
his tomahawk at the governor, a shade of displeasure
passed over the features of the Ottawa; and that, when
he found the daring attempt was not retaliated on his
people, his countenance had been momentarily lighted up
with a satisfied expression, apparently marking his sense
of the forbearance so unexpectedly shown.

"What says the great chief of the Ottawas now?" asked
the governor calmly, and breaking a profound silence that
had succeeded to the last fierce yell of the formidable
being just departed. "Was the Saganaw not right, when he
said the Ottawa came with guile in his heart, and with
a lie upon his lips? But the Saganaw is not a fool, and
he can read the thoughts of his enemies upon their faces,
and long before their lips have spoken."

"Ugh!" ejaculated the Indian; "my father is a great chief,
and his head is full of wisdom. Had he been feeble, like
the other chiefs of the Saganaw, the strong-hold of the
Detroit must have fallen, and the red skins would have
danced their war-dance round the scalps of his young men,
even in the council-room where they came to talk of
peace."

"Does the great chief of the Ottawas see the big thunder
of the Saganaw?" pursued the governor: "if not, let him
open his eyes and look. The Saganaw has but to move his
lips, and swifter than the lightning would the pale faces
sweep away the warriors of the Ottawa, even where they
now stand: in less time than the Saganaw is now speaking,
would they mow them down like the grass of the Prairie."

"Ugh!" again exclaimed the chief, with mixed doggedness
and fierceness: "if what my father says is true, why does
he not pour out his anger upon the red skins?"

"Let the great chief of the Ottawas listen," replied the
governor with dignity. "When the great chiefs of all the
nations that are in league with the Ottawas came last to
the council, the Saganaw knew that they carried deceit
in their hearts, and that they never meant to smoke the
pipe of peace, or to bury the hatchet in the ground. The
Saganaw might have kept them prisoners, that their warriors
might be without a head; but he had given his word to
the great chief of the Ottawas, and the word of a Saganaw
is never broken. Even now, while both the chiefs and
the warriors are in his power,--he will not slay them,
for he wishes to show the Ottawa the desire of the Saganaw
is to be friendly with the red skins, and not to destroy
them. Wicked men from the Canadas have whispered lies in
the ear of the Ottawa; but a great chief should judge
for himself, and take council only from the wisdom of
his own heart. The Ottawa and his warriors may go," he
resumed, after a short pause; "the path by which they
came is again open to them. Let them depart in peace;
the big thunder of the Saganaw shall not harm them."

The countenance of the Indian, who had clearly seen the
danger of his position, wore an expression of surprise
which could not be dissembled: low exclamations passed
between him and his companions; and, then pointing to
the tomahawk that lay half buried in the wood, he said,
doubtingly,--

"It was the pale face, the friend of the great chief of
the Ottawas, who struck the hatchet at my father. The
Ottawa is not a fool to believe the Saganaw can sleep
without revenge."

"The great chief of the Ottawas shall know us better,"
was the reply. "The young warriors of the Saganaw might
destroy their enemies where they now stand, but they seek
not their blood. When the Ottawa chief takes council from
his own heart, and not from the lips of a cowardly dog
of a pale face, who strikes his tomahawk and then flies,
his wisdom will tell him to make peace with the Saganaw,
whose warriors are without treachery, even as they are
without fear."

Another of those deep interjectional "ughs" escaped the
chest of the proud Indian.

"What my father says is good," he returned; "but the pale
face is a great warrior, and the Ottawa chief is his
friend. The Ottawa will go."

He then addressed a few sentences, in a tongue unknown
to the officers, to the swarthy and anxious crowd in
front. These were answered by a low, sullen, yet assentient
grunt, from the united band, who now turned, though with
justifiable caution and distrust, and recrossed the
drawbridge without hinderance from the troops. Ponteac
waited until the last Indian had departed, and then making
a movement to the governor, which, with all its haughtiness,
was meant to mark his sense of the forbearance and good
faith that had been manifested, once more stalked proudly
and calmly across the area, followed by the remainder of
the chiefs. The officers who were with the governor
ascended to the ramparts, to follow their movements; and
it was not before their report had been made, that the
Indians were immerging once more into the heart of the
forest, the troops were withdrawn from their formidable
defences, and the gate of the fort again firmly secured.




CHAPTER VII.

While the reader is left to pause over the rapid succession
of incidents resulting from the mysterious entrance of
the warrior of the Fleur de lis into the English fort,
be it our task to explain the circumstances connected
with the singular disappearance of Captain de Haldimar,
and the melancholy murder of his unfortunate servant.

It will be recollected that the ill-fated Halloway, in
the course of his defence before the court-martial,
distinctly stated the voice of the individual who had
approached his post, calling on the name of Captain de
Haldimar, on the night of the alarm, to have been that
of a female, and that the language in which they
subsequently conversed was that of the Ottawa Indians.
This was strictly the fact; and the only error into which
the unfortunate soldier had fallen, had reference merely
to the character and motives of the party. He had naturally
imagined, as he had stated, it was some young female of
the village, whom attachment for his officer had driven
to the desperate determination of seeking an interview;
nor was this impression at all weakened by the subsequent
discourse of the parties in the Indian tongue, with which
it was well known most of the Canadians, both male and
female, were more or less conversant. The subject of that
short, low, and hurried conference was, indeed, one that
well warranted the singular intrusion; and, in the
declaration of Halloway, we have already seen the importance
and anxiety attached by the young officer to the
communication. Without waiting to repeat the motives
assigned for his departure, and the prayers and
expostulations to which he had recourse to overcome the
determination and sense of duty of the unfortunate
sentinel, let us pass at once to the moment when, after
having cleared the ditch, conjointly with his faithful
follower, in the manner already shown, Captain de Haldimar
first stood side by side with his midnight visitant.

The night, it has elsewhere been observed, was clear and
starry, so that objects upon the common, such as the rude
stump that here and there raised its dark low head above
the surface, might be dimly seen in the distance. To
obviate the danger of discovery by the sentinels, appeared
to be the first study of the female; for, when Captain
de Haldimar, followed by his servant, had reached the
spot on which she stood, she put the forefinger of one
hand to her lips, and with the other pointed to his booted
foot. A corresponding signal showed that the lightness
of the material offered little risk of betrayal. Donellan,
however, was made to doff his heavy ammunition shoes;
and, with this precaution, they all stole hastily along,
under the shadows of the projecting ramparts, until they
had gained the extreme rear. Here the female suddenly
raised her tall figure from the stooping position in
which she, as well as her companions, had performed the
dangerous circuit; and, placing her finger once more
significantly on her lips, led in the direction of the
bomb-proof, unperceived by the sentinels, most of whom,
it is probable, had, up to the moment of the alarm
subsequently given, been too much overcome by previous
watching and excitement to have kept the most vigilant
look-out.

Arrived at the skirt of the forest, the little party drew
up within the shadow of the ruin, and a short and earnest
dialogue ensued, in Indian, between the female and the
officer. This was succeeded by a command from the latter
to his servant, who, after a momentary but respectful
expostulation, which, however, was utterly lost on him
to whom it was addressed, proceeded to divest himself of
his humble apparel, assuming in exchange the more elegant
uniform of his superior. Donellan, who was also of the
grenadiers, was remarkable for the resemblance he bore,
in figure, to Captain de Haldimar; wanting, it is true,
the grace and freedom of movement of the latter, but
still presenting an outline which, in an attitude of
profound repose, might, as it subsequently did, have set
even those who were most intimate with the officer at
fault.

"This is well," observed the female, as the young man
proceeded to induct himself in the grey coat of his
servant, having previously drawn the glazed hat close
over his waving and redundant hair: "if the Saganaw is
ready, Oucanasta will go."

"Sure, and your honour does not mane to lave me behind!"
exclaimed the anxious soldier, as his captain now
recommended him to stand closely concealed near the ruin
until his return. "Who knows what ambuscade the she-divil
may not lade your honour into; and thin who will you have
to bring you out of it?"

"No, Donellan, it must not be: I first intended it, as
you may perceive by my bringing you out; but the expedition
on which I am going is of the utmost importance to us
all, and too much precaution cannot be taken. I fear no
ambuscade, for I can depend on the fidelity of my guide;
but the presence of a third person would only embarrass,
without assisting me in the least. You must remain behind;
the woman insists upon it, and there is no more to be
said."

"To ould Nick with the ugly winch, for her pains!" half
muttered the disappointed soldier to himself. "I wish it
may be as your honour says; but my mind misgives me sadly
that evil will come of this. Has your honour secured the
pistols?"

"They are here," returned his captain, placing a hand on
either chest. "And now, Donellan, mark me: I know nothing
that can detain me longer than an hour; at least the
woman assures me, and I believe her, that I may be back
then; but it is well to guard against accidents. You must
continue here for the hour, and for the hour only. If I
come not then, return to the fort without delay, for the
rope must be removed, and the gate secured, before Halloway
is relieved. The keys you will find in the pocket of my
uniform: when you have done with them, let them be hung
up in their proper place in the guard-room. My father
must not know either that Halloway suffered me to pass
the gate, or that you accompanied me."

"Lord love us! your honour talks as if you nivir would
return, giving such a heap of orders!" exclaimed the
startled man; "but if I go back alone, as I trust in
heaven I shall not, how am I to account for being dressed
in your honour's rigimintals?"

"I tell you, Donellan," impatiently returned the officer,
"that I shall be back; but I only wish to guard against
accidents. The instant you get into the fort, you will
take off my clothes and resume your own. Who the devil
is to see you in the uniform, unless it be Halloway?"

"If the Saganaw would not see the earth red with the
blood of his race, he will go," interrupted the female.
"Oucanasta can feel the breath of the morning fresh upon
her cheek, and the council of the chiefs must be begun."

"The Saganaw is ready, and Oucanasta shall lead the way,"
hastily returned the officer. "One word more, Donellan;"
and he pressed the hand of his domestic kindly: "should
I not return, you must, without committing Halloway or
yourself, cause my father to be apprised that the Indians
meditate a deep and treacherous plan to get possession
of the fort. What that plan is, I know not yet myself,
neither does this woman know; but she says that I shall
hear it discussed unseen, even in the heart of their own
encampment. All you have to do is to acquaint my father
with the existence of danger. And now be cautious: above
all things, keep close under the shadow of the bomb-proof;
for there are scouts constantly prowling about the common,
and the glittering of the uniform in the starlight may
betray you."

"But why may I not follow your honour?" again urged the
faithful soldier; "and where is the use of my remaining
here to count the stars, and hear the 'All's well!' from
the fort, when I could be so much better employed in
guarding your honour from harm? What sort of protection
can that Ingian woman afford, who is of the race of our
bitterest enemies, them cursed Ottawas, and your honour
venturing, too, like a spy into the very heart of the
blood-hounds? Ah, Captain de Haldimar, for the love of
God, do not trust yourself alone with her, or I am sure
I shall never see your honour again!"

The last words (unhappily too prophetic) fell only on
the ear of him who uttered them. The female and the
officer had already disappeared round an abrupt angle of
the bomb-proof; and the soldier, as directed by his
master, now drew up his tall figure against the ruin,
where he continued for a period immovable, as if he had
been planted there in his ordinary character of sentinel,
listening, until they eventually died away in distance,
to the receding footsteps of his master; and then ruminating
on the several apprehensions that crowded on his mind,
in regard to the probable issue of his adventurous project.

Meanwhile, Captain de Haldimar and his guide trod the
mazes of the forest, with an expedition that proved the
latter to be well acquainted with its bearings. On quitting
the bomb-proof, she had struck into a narrow winding
path, less seen than felt in the deep gloom pervading
the wood, and with light steps bounded over obstacles
that lay strewed in their course, emitting scarcely more
sound than would have been produced by the slimy crawl
of its native rattlesnake. Not so, however, with the less
experienced tread of her companion. Wanting the pliancy
of movement given to it by the light mocassin, the booted
foot of the young officer, despite of all his precaution,
fell heavily to the ground, producing such a rustling
among the dried leaves, that, had an Indian ear been
lurking any where around, his approach must inevitably
have been betrayed. More than once, too, neglecting to
follow the injunction of his companion, who moved in a
stooping posture, with her head bent over her chest, his
hat was caught in the closely matted branches, and fell
sullenly and heavily to the earth, evidently much to the
discomfiture of his guide.

At length they stood on the verge of a dark and precipitous
ravine, the abrupt sides of which were studded with
underwood, so completely interwoven, that all passage
appeared impracticable. What, however, seemed an
insurmountable obstacle, proved, in reality, an inestimable
advantage; for it was by clinging to this, in imitation
of the example set him by his companion, the young officer
was prevented from rolling into an abyss, the depth of
which was lost in the profound obscurity that pervaded
the scene. Through the bed of this dark dell rolled a
narrow stream, so imperceptible to the eye in the "living
darkness," and so noiseless in its course, that it was
not until warned by his companion he stood on the very
brink of it, Captain de Haldimar was made sensible of
its existence. Both cleared it at a single bound, in
which the activity of the female was not the least
conspicuous, and, clambering up the opposite steep,
secured their footing, by the aid of the same underwood
that had assisted them in their descent.

On gaining the other summit, which was not done without
detaching several loose stones from their sandy bed, they
again, fell into the path, which had been lost sight of
in traversing the ravine. They had proceeded along this
about half a mile, when the female suddenly stopped, and
pointing to a dim and lurid atmosphere that now began to
show itself between the thin foliage, whispered that in
the opening beyond stood the encampment of the Indians.
She then seated herself on the trunk of a fallen tree,
that lay at the side of the almost invisible path they
had hitherto pursued, and motioning to her companion to
unboot himself, proceeded to unlace the fastenings of
her mocassins.

"The foot of the Saganaw must fall like the night dew on
the prairie," she observed: "the ear of the red skin is
quicker than the lightning, and he will know that a pale
face is near, if he hear but his tread upon a blade of
grass."

Gallantry in the civilised man is a sentiment that never
wholly abandons him; and in whatever clime he may be
thrown, or under whatever circumstances he may be
placed,--be it called forth by white or by blackamoor,--it
is certain to influence his conduct: it is a refinement,
of that instinctive deference to the weaker sex, which
nature has implanted in him for the wisest of purposes;
and which, while it tends to exalt those to whom its
influence is extended, fails not to reflect a corresponding
lustre on himself.

The young officer had, at the first suggestion of his
guide, divested himself of his boots, prepared to perform
the remainder of the journey merely in his stockings,
but his companion now threw herself on her knees before
him, and, without further ceremony, proceeded to draw
over his foot one of the mocassins she had just
relinquished.

"The feet of the Saganaw are soft as those of a young
child," she remarked, in a voice of commiseration; "but
the mocassins of Oucanasta shall protect them from the
thorns of the forest."

This was too un-European,--too much reversing the
established order of things, to be borne patiently. As
if he had felt the dignity of his manhood offended by
the proposal, the officer drew his foot hastily back,
declaring, as he sprang from the log, he did not care
for the thorns, and could not think of depriving a female,
who must be much more sensible of pain than himself.

Oucanasta, however, was not to be outdone in politeness.
She calmly reseated herself on the log, drew her right
foot over her left knee, caught one of the hands of her
companion, and placing it upon the naked sole, desired
him to feel how impervious to attack of every description
was that indurated portion of the lower limb.

This practical argument was not without its weight, and
had more effect in deciding the officer than a volume of
remonstrance. Most men love to render tribute to a delicate
and pretty foot. Some, indeed, go so far as to connect
every thing feminine with these qualities, and to believe
that nothing can be feminine without them. For our parts,
we confess, that, although no enemies to a pretty foot,
it is by no means a sine qua non in our estimate of female
perfection; being in no way disposed, where the head and
heart are gems, to undervalue these in consideration of
any deficiency in the heels. Captain de Haldimar probably
thought otherwise; for when he had passed his unwilling
hand over the foot of Oucanasta, which, whatever her face
might have been, was certainly any thing but delicate,
and encountered numerous ragged excrescences and raspy
callosities that set all symmetry at defiance, a wonderful
revolution came over his feelings; and, secretly determining
the mocassins would be equally well placed on his own
feet, he no longer offered any opposition.

This important point arranged, the officer once more
followed his guide in silence. Gradually the forest, as
they advanced, became lighter with the lurid atmosphere
before alluded to; and at length, through the trees,
could be indistinctly seen the Indian fires from which
it proceeded. The young man was now desired by his
conductress to use the utmost circumspection in making
the circuit of the wood, in order to gain a position
immediately opposite to the point where the path they
had hitherto pursued terminated in the opening. This,
indeed, was the most dangerous and critical part of the
undertaking. A false step, or the crackling of a decayed
branch beneath the foot, would have been sufficient to
betray proximity, in which case his doom was sealed.

Fortunate did he now deem himself in having yielded to
the counsel of his guide. Had he retained his unbending
boot, it must have crushed whatever it pressed; whereas,
the pliant mocassin, yielding to the obstacles it
encountered, enabled him to pass noiselessly over them.
Still, while exempt from danger on this score, another,
scarcely less perplexing, became at every instant more
obvious; for, as they drew nearer to the point which the
female sought to gain, the dim light of the half-slumbering
fires fell so immediately upon their path, that had a
single human eye been turned in that direction, their
discovery was inevitable. It was with a beating heart,
to which mere personal fear, however, was a stranger,
that Captain de Haldimar performed this concluding stage
of his adventurous course; but, at a moment when he
considered detection unavoidable, and was arming himself
with resolution to meet the event, the female suddenly
halted, placing, in the act, the trunk of an enormous
beech between her companion and the dusky forms within,
whose very breathing could be heard by the anxious officer.
Without uttering a word, she took his hand, and, drawing
him gently forward, disappeared altogether from his view.
The young man followed, and in the next moment found
himself in the bowelless body of the tree itself; into
which, on the side of the encampment, both light and
sound were admitted by a small aperture formed by the
natural decay of the wood.

The Indian pressed her lips to the ear of her companion,
and rather breathed than said,--"The Saganaw will see
and hear every thing from this in safety; and what he
hears let him treasure in his heart. Oucanasta must go.
When the council is over she will return, and lead him
back to his warriors."

With this brief intimation she departed, and so noiselessly,
that the young officer was not aware of her absence until
some minutes of silence had satisfied him she must be
gone. His first care then was to survey, through the
aperture that lay in a level with his eye, the character
of the scene before him. The small plain, in which lay
the encampment of the Indians, was a sort of oasis of
the forest, girt round with a rude belt of underwood,
and somewhat elevated, so as to present the appearance
of a mound, constructed on the first principles of art.
This was thickly although irregularly studded with tents,
some of which were formed of large coarse mats thrown
over poles disposed in a conical shape, while others were
more rudely composed of the leafy branches of the forest.

Within these groups of human forms lay, wrapped in their
blankets, stretched at their lazy length. Others, with
their feet placed close to the dying embers of their
fires, diverged like so many radii from their centre,
and lay motionless in sleep, as if life and consciousness
were wholly extinct. Here and there was to be seen a
solitary warrior securing, with admirable neatness, and
with delicate ligatures formed of the sinew of the deer,
the guiding feather, or fashioning the bony barb of his
long arrow; while others, with the same warlike spirit
in view, employed themselves in cutting and greasing
small patches of smoked deerskin, which were to secure
and give a more certain direction to the murderous bullet.
Among the warriors were interspersed many women, some of
whom might be seen supporting in their laps the heavy
heads of their unconscious helpmates, while they occupied
themselves, by the firelight, in parting the long black
matted hair, and maintaining a destructive warfare against
the pigmy inhabitants of that dark region. These signs
of life and activity in the body of the camp generally
were, however, but few and occasional; but, at the spot
where Captain de Haldimar stood concealed, the scene was
different. At a few yards from the tree stood a sort of
shed, composed of tall poles placed upright in the earth,
and supporting a roof formed simply of rude boughs, the
foliage of which had been withered by time. This simple
edifice might be about fifty feet in circumference. In
the centre blazed a large fire that had been newly fed,
and around this were assembled a band of swarthy warriors,
some twenty or thirty in number, who, by their proud,
calm, and thoughtful bearing, might at once be known to
be chiefs.

The faces of most of these were familiar to the young
officer, who speedily recognised them for the principals
of the various tribes Ponteac had leagued in arms against
his enemies. That chief himself, ever remarkable for
his haughty eye and commanding gesture, was of the number
of those present; and, a little aloof from his inferiors,
sat, with his feet stretched towards the fire, and half
reclining on his side in an attitude of indolence; yet
with his mind evidently engrossed by deep and absorbing
thought. From some observations that distinctly met his
ear, Captain de Haldimar gathered, the party were only
awaiting the arrival of an important character, without
whose presence the leading chief was unwilling the
conference should begin. The period of the officer's
concealment had just been long enough to enable him to
fix all these particulars in his mind, when suddenly the
faint report of a distant rifle was heard echoing throughout
the wood. This was instantly succeeded by a second, that
sounded more sharply on the ear; and then followed a long
and piercing cry, that brought every warrior, even of
those who slept, quickly to his feet.

An anxious interval of some minutes passed away in the
fixed and listening attitudes, which the chiefs especially
had assumed, when a noise resembling that of some animal
forcing its way rapidly through the rustling branches,
was faintly heard in the direction in which the shots
had been fired. This gradually increased as it evidently
approached the encampment, and then, distinctly, could
be heard the light yet unguarded boundings of a human
foot. At every moment the rustling of the underwood,
rapidly divided by the approaching form, became more
audible; and so closely did the intruder press upon the
point in which Captain de Haldimar was concealed, that
that officer, fancying he had been betrayed, turned
hastily round, and, grasping one of the pistols he had
secreted in his chest, prepared himself for a last and
deadly encounter. An instant or two was sufficient to
re-assure him. The form glided hastily past, brushing
the tree with its garments in its course, and clearing,
at a single bound, the belt of underwood that divided
the encampment from the tall forest, stood suddenly among
the group of anxious and expectant chiefs.

This individual, a man of tall stature, was powerfully
made. He wore a jerkin, or hunting-coat, of leather; and
his arms were, a rifle which had every appearance of
having just been discharged, a tomahawk reeking with
blood, and a scalping-knife, which, in the hurry of some
recent service it had been made to perform, had missed
its sheath, and was thrust naked into the belt that
encircled his loins. His countenance wore an expression
of malignant triumph; and as his eye fell on the assembled
throng, its self-satisfied and exulting glance seemed to
give them to understand he came not without credentials
to recommend him to their notice. Captain de Haldimar
was particularly struck by the air of bold daring and
almost insolent recklessness pervading every movement of
this man; and it was difficult to say whether the
haughtiness of bearing peculiar to Ponteac himself, was
not exceeded by that of this herculean warrior.

By the body of chiefs his appearance had been greeted
with a mere general grunt of approbation; but the
countenance of the leader expressed a more personal
interest. All seemed to expect he had something of moment
to communicate; but as it was not consistent with the
dignity of Indian etiquette to enquire, they waited calmly
until it should please their new associate to enter on
the history of his exploits. In pursuance of an invitation
from Ponteac, he now took his seat on the right hand of
that chief, and immediately facing the tree, from which
Captain de Haldimar, strongly excited both by the reports
of the shots that had been fired, and the sight of the
bloody tomahawk of the recently arrived Indian, gazed
earnestly and anxiously on the swarthy throng.

Glancing once more triumphantly round the circle, who
sat smoking their pipes in calm and deliberative silence,
the latter now observed the eye of a young chief, who
sat opposite to him, intently riveted on his left shoulder.
He raised his hand to the part, withdrew it, looked at
it, and found it wet with blood. A slight start of surprise
betrayed his own unconsciousness of the accident; yet,
secretly vexed at the discovery which had been made, and
urged probably by one of his wayward fits, he demanded
haughtily and insultingly of the young chief, if that
was the first time he had ever looked on the blood of a
warrior.

"Does my brother feel pain?" was the taunting reply. "If
he is come to us with a trophy, it is not without being
dearly bought. The Saganaw has spilt his blood."

"The weapons of the Saganaw, like those of the smooth
face of the Ottawa, are without sting," angrily retorted
the other. "They only prick the skin like a thorn; but
when Wacousta drinks the blood of his enemy," and he
glanced his eye fiercely at the young man, "it is the
blood next his heart."

"My brother has always big words upon his lips," returned
the young chief, with a scornful sneer at the implied
threat against himself. "But where are his proofs?"

For a moment the eye of the party thus challenged kindled
into flame, while his lips were firmly compressed together;
and as he half bent himself forward, to scan with greater
earnestness the features of his questioner, his right
hand sank to his left side, tightly grasping the handle
of his scalping-knife. The action was but momentary.
Again he drew himself up, puffed the smoke deliberately
from his bloody tomahawk, and, thrusting his right hand
into his bosom, drew leisurely forth a reeking scalp,
which he tossed insolently across the fire into the lap
of the young chief. A loud and general "ugh!" testified
the approbation of the assembled group, at the unequivocal
answer thus given to the demand of the youth. The eye
of the huge warrior sparkled with a deep and ferocious
exultation.

"What says the smooth face of the Ottawas now?" he
demanded, in the same insolent strain. "Does it make his
heart sick to look upon the scalp of a great chief?"

The young man quietly turned the horrid trophy over
several times in his hand, examining it attentively in
every part. Then tossing it back with contemptuous coolness
to its owner, he replied,--

"The eyes of my brother are weak with age. He is not
cunning, like a red skin. The Ottawa has often seen the
Saganaw in their fort, and he knows their chiefs have
fine hair like women; but this is like the bristles of
the fox. My brother has not slain a great chief, but a
common warrior."

A flush of irrepressible and threatening anger passed
over the features of the vast savage.

"Is it for a boy," he fiercely asked, "whose eyes know
not yet the colour of blood, to judge of the enemies that
fall by the tomahawk of Wacousta? but a great warrior
never boasts of actions that he does not achieve. It is
the son of the great chief of the Saganaw whom he has
slain. If the smooth face doubts it, and has courage to
venture, even at night, within a hundred yards of the
fort, he will see a Saganaw without a scalp; and he will
know that Saganaw by his dress--the dress," he pursued,
with a low emphatic laugh, "that Oucanasta, the sister
of the smooth face, loved so much to look upon."

Quicker than thought was the upspringing of the young
Indian to his feet. With a cheek glowing, an eye flashing,
and his gleaming tomahawk whirling rapidly round his
head, he cleared at a single bound the fire that separated
him from his insulter. The formidable man who had thus
wantonly provoked the attack, was equally prompt in
meeting it. At the first movement of the youth, he too
had leapt to his feet, and brandished the terrible weapon
that served in the double capacity of pipe and hatchet.
A fierce yell escaped the lips of each, as they thus met
in close and hostile collision, and the scene for the
moment promised to be one of the most tragic character;
but before either could find an assailable point on which
to rest his formidable weapon, Ponteac himself had thrown
his person between them, and in a voice of thunder
commanded the instant abandonment of their purpose.
Exasperated even as they now mutually were, the influence
of that authority, for which the great chief of the
Ottawas was well known, was not without due effect on
the combatants. His anger was principally directed against
the assailant, on whom the tones of his reproving voice
produced a change the intimidation of his powerful opponent
could never have effected. The young chief dropped the
point of his tomahawk, bowed his head in submission, and
then resuming his seat, sat during the remainder of the
night with his arms folded, and his head bent in silence
over his chest.

"Our brother has done well," said Ponteac, glancing
approvingly at him who had exhibited the reeking trophy,
and whom he evidently favoured. "He is a great chief,
and his words are truth. We heard the report of his rifle,
and we also heard the cry that told he had borne away
the scalp of an enemy. But we will think of this to-morrow.
Let us now commence our talk."

Our readers will readily imagine the feelings of Captain
de Haldimar during this short but exciting scene. From
the account given by the warrior, there could be no doubt
the murdered man was the unhappy Donellan; who, probably,
neglecting the caution given him, had exposed himself to
the murderous aim of this fierce being, who was apparently
a scout sent for the purpose of watching the movements
of the garrison. The direction of the firing, the allusion
made to the regimentals, nay, the scalp itself, which he
knew from the short crop to be that of a soldier, and
fancied he recognised from its colour to be that of his
servant, formed but too conclusive evidence of the fact;
and, bitterly and deeply, as he gazed on this melancholy
proof of the man's sacrifice of life to his interest,
did he repent that he had made him the companion of his
adventure, or that, having done so, he had not either
brought him away altogether, or sent him instantly back
to the fort. Commiseration for the fate of the unfortunate
Donellan naturally induced a spirit of personal hostility
towards his destroyer; and it was with feelings strongly
excited in favour of him whom he now discovered to be
the brother of his guide, that he saw him spring fiercely
to the attack of his gigantic opponent. There was an
activity about the young chief amply commensurate with
the greater physical power of his adversary; while the
manner in which he wielded his tomahawk, proved him to
be any thing but the novice in the use of the formidable
weapon the other had represented him. It was with a
feeling of disappointment, therefore, which the peculiarity
of his own position could not overcome, he saw Ponteac
interpose himself between the parties.

Presently, however, a subject of deeper and more absorbing
interest than even the fate of his unhappy follower
engrossed every faculty of his mind, and riveted both
eye and ear in painful tension to the aperture in his
hiding-place. The chiefs had resumed their places, and
the silence of a few minutes had succeeded to the fierce
affray of the warriors, when Ponteac, in a calm and
deliberate voice, proceeded to state he had summoned all
the heads of the nations together, to hear a plan he had
to offer for the reduction of the last remaining forts
of their enemies, Michilimackinac and Detroit. He pointed
out the tediousness of the warfare in which they were
engaged; the desertion of the hunting-grounds by their
warriors; and their consequent deficiency in all those
articles of European traffic which they were formerly in
the habit of receiving in exchange for their furs. He
dwelt on the beneficial results that would accrue to them
all in the event of the reduction of those two important
fortresses; since, in that case, they would be enabled
to make such terms with the English as would secure to
them considerable advantages; while, instead of being
treated with the indignity of a conquered people, they
would be enabled to command respect from the imposing
attitude this final crowning of their successes would
enable them to assume. He stated that the prudence and
vigilance of the commanders of these two unreduced
fortresses were likely long to baffle, as had hitherto
been the case, every open attempt at their capture; and
admitted he had little expectation of terrifying them
into a surrender by the same artifice that had succeeded
with the forts on the Ohio and the lower lakes. The plan,
however, which he had to propose, was one he felt assured
would be attended with success. He would disclose that
plan, and the great chiefs should give it the advantage
of their deliberation.

Captain de Haldimar was on the rack. The chief had
gradually dropped his voice as he explained his plan,
until at length it became so low, that undistinguishable
sounds alone reached the ear of the excited officer. For
a moment he despaired of making himself fully master of
the important secret; but in the course of the deliberation
that ensued, the blanks left unsupplied in the discourse
of the leader were abundantly filled up. It was what the
reader has already seen. The necessities of the Indians
were to be urged as a motive for their being tired of
hostilities. A peace was to be solicited; a council held;
a ball-playing among the warriors proposed, as a mark of
their own sincerity and confidence during that council;
and when the garrison, lulled into security, should be
thrown entirely off their guard, the warriors were to
seize their guns and tomahawks, with which (the former
cut short, for the better concealment of their purpose)
their women would be provided, rush in, under pretext of
regaining their lost ball, when a universal massacre of
men, women, and children was to ensue, until nothing
wearing the garb of a Saganaw should be left.

It would be tedious to follow the chief through all the
minor ramifications of his subtle plan. Suffice it they
were of a nature to throw the most wary off his guard;
and so admirably arranged was every part, so certain did
it appear their enemies must give into the snare, that
the oldest chiefs testified their approbation with a
vivacity of manner and expression little wont to
characterize the deliberative meetings of these reserved
people. But deepest of all was the approval of the tall
warrior who had so recently arrived. To him had the
discourse of the leader been principally directed, as
one whose counsel and experience were especially wanting
to confirm him in his purpose. He was the last who spoke;
but, when he did, it was with a force--an energy--that
must have sunk every objection, even if the plan had not
been so perfect and unexceptionable in its concoction as
to have precluded a possibility of all negative argument.
During the delivery of his animated speech, his swarthy
countenance kindled into fierce and rapidly varying
expression. A thousand dark and complicated passions
evidently struggled at his heart; and as he dwelt leisurely
and emphatically on the sacrifice of human life that must
inevitably attend the adoption of the proposed measure,
his eye grew larger, his chest expanded, nay, his very
nostril appeared to dilate with unfathomably guileful
exultation. Captain de Haldimar thought he had never
gazed on any thing wearing the human shape half so
atrociously savage.

Long before the council was terminated, the inferior
warriors, who had been so suddenly aroused from their
slumbering attitudes, had again retired to their tents,
and stretched their lazy length before the embers of
their fires. The weary chiefs now prepared to follow
their example. They emptied the ashes from the bowls of
their pipe-tomahawks, replaced them carefully at their
side, rose, and retired to their respective tents. Ponteac
and the tall warrior alone remained. For a time they
conversed earnestly together. The former listened
attentively to some observations made to him by his
companion, in the course of which, the words "chief of
the Saganaw--fort--spy--enemy," and two or three others
equally unconnected, were alone audible to the ear of
him who so attentively sought to catch the slightest
sound. He then thrust his hand under his hunting-coat,
and, as if in confirmation of what he had been stating,
exhibited a coil of rope and the glossy boot of an English
officer. Ponteac uttered one of his sharp ejaculating
"ughs!" and then rising quickly from his seat, followed
by his companion, soon disappeared in the heart of the
encampment.




CHAPTER VIII.

How shall we attempt to paint all that passed through
the mind of Captain de Haldimar during this important
conference of the fierce chiefs?--where find language to
convey the cold and thrilling horror with which he listened
to the calm discussion of a plan, the object of which
was the massacre, not only of a host of beings endeared
to him by long communionship of service, but of those
who were wedded to his heart by the dearer ties of
affection and kindred? As Ponteac had justly observed,
the English garrisons, strong in their own defences, were
little likely to be speedily reduced, while their enemies
confined themselves to overt acts of hostility; but,
against their insidious professions of amity who could
oppose a sufficient caution? His father, the young officer
was aware, had all along manifested a spirit of conciliation
towards the Indians, which, if followed up by the government
generally, must have had the effect of preventing the
cruel and sanguinary war that had so recently desolated
this remote part of the British possessions. How likely,
therefore, was it, having this object always in view, he
should give in to the present wily stratagem, where such
plausible motives for the abandonment of their hostile
purpose were urged by the perfidious chiefs! From the
few hasty hints already given him by his guide,--that
kind being, who evidently sought to be the saviour of
the devoted garrisons,--he had gathered that a deep and
artful plan was to be submitted to the chiefs by their
leader; but little did he imagine it was of the finished
nature it now proved to be. Any other than the present
attempt, the vigilance and prudence of his experienced
father, he felt, would have rendered abortive; but there
was so much speciousness in the pleas that were to be
advanced in furtherance of their assumed object, he could
not but admit the almost certainty of their influence,
even on him.

Sick and discouraged as he was at the horrible perspective
thus forced on his mental view, the young officer had
not, for some moments, presence of mind to reflect that
the danger of the garrison existed only so long as he
should be absent from it. At length, however, the cheering
recollection came, and with it the mantling rush of blood,
to his faint heart. But, short was the consoling hope:
again he felt dismay in every fibre of his frame; for he
now reflected, that although his opportune discovery of
the meditated scheme would save one fort, there was no
guardian angel to extend, as in this instance, its
protecting influence to the other; and within that other
there breathed those who were dearer far to him than his
own existence;--beings, whose lives were far more precious
to him than any even in the garrison of which he was a
member. His sister Clara, whom he loved with a love little
inferior to that of his younger brother; and one, even
more dearly loved than Clara,--Madeline de Haldimar, his
cousin and affianced bride,--were both inmates of
Michilimackinac, which was commanded by the father of
the latter, a major in the ---- regiment. With Madeline
de Haldimar he had long since exchanged his vows of
affection; and their nuptials, which were to have taken
place about the period when the present war broke out,
had only been suspended because all communication between
the two posts had been entirely cut off by the enemy.

Captain de Haldimar had none of the natural weakness and
timidity of character which belonged to the gentler and
more sensitive Charles. Sanguine and full of enterprise,
he seldom met evils half way; but when they did come, he
sought to master them by the firmness and collectedness
with which he opposed his mind to their infliction. If
his heart was now racked with the most acute suffering--his
reason incapacitated from exercising its calm deliberative
power, the seeming contradiction arose not from any
deficiency in his character, but was attributable wholly
to the extraordinary circumstances of the moment.

It was a part of the profound plan of the Ottawa chief,
that it should be essayed on the two forts on the same
day; and it was a suggestion of the murderer of poor
Donellan, that a parley should be obtained, through the
medium of a white flag, the nature of which he explained
to them, as it was understood among their enemies. If
invited to the council, then they were to enter, or not,
as circumstances might induce; but, in any case, they
were to go unprovided with the pipe of peace, since this
could not be smoked without violating every thing held
most sacred among themselves. The red, or war-pipe, was
to be substituted as if by accident; and, for the success
of the deception, they were to presume on the ignorance
of their enemies. This, however, was not important, since
the period of their first parley was to be the moment
chosen for the arrangement of a future council, and the
proposal of a ball-playing upon the common. Three days
were to be named as the interval between the first
conference of Ponteac with the governor and the definitive
council which was to ensue; during which, however, it
was so arranged, that, before the lip of a red skin should
touch the pipe of peace, the ball-players should rush in
and massacre the unprepared soldiery, while the chiefs
despatched the officers in council.

It was the proximity of the period allotted for the
execution of their cruel scheme that mainly contributed
to the dismay of Captain de Haldimar. The very next day
was appointed for carrying into effect the first part of
the Indian plan: and how was it possible that a messenger,
even admitting he should elude the vigilance of the enemy,
could reach the distant post of Michilimackinac within
the short period on which hung the destiny of that devoted
fortress. In the midst of the confused and distracting
images that now crowded on his brain, came at length one
thought, redolent with the brightest colourings of hope.
On his return to the garrison, the treachery of the
Indians being made known, the governor might so far, and
with a view of gaining time, give in to the plan of his
enemies, as to obtain such delay as would afford the
chance of communication between the forts. The attempt,
on the part of those who should be selected for this
purpose, would, it is true, be a desperate one: still
it must be made; and, with such incentives to exertion
as he had, how willingly would he propose his own services!

The more he dwelt on this mode of defeating the subtle
designs of the enemy, the more practicable did it appear.
Of his own safe return to the fort he entertained not a
doubt; for he knew and relied on the Indian woman, who
was bound to him by a tie of gratitude, which her conduct
that night evidently denoted to be superior even to the
interests of her race. Moreover, as he had approached
the encampment unnoticed while the chiefs were yet awake
to every thing around them, how little probability was
there of his return being detected while all lay wrapped
in the most profound repose. It is true that, for a
moment, his confidence deserted him as he recurred to
the earnest dialogue of the two Indians, and the sudden
display of the rope and boot, the latter of which articles
he had at once recognised to be one of those he had so
recently worn; but his apprehensions on that score were
again speedily set to rest, when he reflected, had any
suspicion existed in the minds of these men that an enemy
was lurking near them, a general alarm would have been
spread, and hundreds of warriors despatched to scour the
forest.

The night was now rapidly waning away, and already the
cold damp air of an autumnal morning was beginning to
make itself felt. More than half an hour had elapsed
since the departure of Ponteac and his companion, and
yet Oucanasta came not. With a sense of the approach of
day came new and discouraging thoughts, and, for some
minutes, the mind of the young officer became petrified
with horror, as he reflected on the bare possibility of
his escape being intercepted. The more he lingered on
this apprehension, the more bewildered were his ideas;
and already, in horrible perspective, he beheld the
destruction of his nearest and dearest friends, and the
host of those who were humbler followers, and partakers
in the same destiny. Absolutely terrified with the
misgivings of his own heart, he, in the wildness and
unconnectedness of his purpose, now resolved to make the
attempt to return alone, although he knew not even the
situation of the path he had so recently quitted. He had
actually moved a pace forward on his desperate enterprise,
when he felt a band touching the extended arm with which
he groped to find the entrance to his hiding-place. The
unexpected collision sent a cold shudder through his
frame; and such was the excitement to which he had worked
himself up, it was not without difficulty he suppressed
an exclamation, that must inevitably have sealed his
doom. The soft tones of Oucanasta's voice re-assured him.

"The day will soon dawn," she whispered; "the Saganaw
must go."

With the return of hope came the sense of all he owed to
the devotedness of this kind woman. He grasped the hand
that still lingered on his arm, pressed it affectionately
in his own, and then placed it in silence on his throbbing
heart. The breathing of Oucanasta became deeper, and the
young officer fancied he could feel her trembling with
agitation. Again, however, and in a tone of more subdued
expression, she whispered that he must go.

There was little urging necessary to induce a prompt
compliance with the hint. Cautiously emerging from his
concealment, Captain de Haldimar now followed close in
the rear of his guide, who took the same circuit of the
forest to reach the path that led towards the fort. This
they speedily gained, and then pursued their course in
silence, until they at length arrived at the log where
the exchange of mocassins had been made.

"Here the Saganaw may take breath," she observed, as she
seated herself on the fallen tree; "the sleep of the red
skin is sound, and there is no one upon the path but
Oucanasta."

Anxious as he felt to secure his return to the fort,
there was an implied solicitation in the tones of her to
whom he owed so much, that prevented Captain de Haldimar
from offering an objection, which he feared might be
construed into slight.

For a moment or two the Indian remained with her arms
folded, and her head bent over her chest; and then, in
a low, deep, but tremulous voice, observed,--

"When the Saganaw saved Oucanasta from perishing in the
angry waters, there was a girl of the pale faces with
him, whose skin was like the snows of the Canadian winter,
and whose hair was black like the fur of the squirrel.
Oucanasta saw," she pursued, dropping her voice yet lower,
"that the Saganaw was loved by the pale girl, and her
own heart was very sick, for the Saganaw had saved her
life, and she loved him too. But she knew she was very
foolish, and that an Indian girl could never be the wife
of a handsome chief of the Saganaw; and she prayed to
the Great Spirit of the red skins to give her strength
to overcome her feelings; but the Great Spirit was angry
with her, and would not hear her." She paused a moment,
and then abruptly demanded, "Where is that pale girl now?"

Captain de Haldimar had often been rallied, not only by
his brother-officers, but even by his sister and Madeline
de Haldimar herself, on the conquest he had evidently
made of the heart of this Indian girl. The event to which
she had alluded had taken place several months previous
to the breaking out of hostilities. Oucanasta was
directing her frail bark, one evening, along the shores
of the Detroit, when one of those sudden gusts of wind,
so frequent in these countries, upset the canoe, and left
its pilot struggling amid the waves. Captain de Haldimar,
who happened to be on the bank at the moment with his
sister and cousin, was an eye-witness of her danger, and
instantly flew down the steep to her assistance. Being
an excellent swimmer, he was not long in gaining the
spot, where, exhausted with the exertion she had made,
and encumbered with her awkward machecoti, the poor girl
was already on the point of perishing. But for his timely
assistance, indeed, she must have sunk to the bottom;
and, since that period, the grateful being had been
remarked for the strong but unexpressed attachment she
felt for her deliverer. This, however, was the first
moment Captain de Haldimar became acquainted with the
extent of feelings, the avowal of which not a little
startled and surprised, and even annoyed him. The last
question, however, suggested a thought that kindled every
fibre of his being into expectancy,--Oucanasta might be
the saviour of those he loved; and he felt that, if time
were but afforded her, she would. He rose from the log,
dropped on one knee before the Indian, seized both her
hands with eagerness, and then in tones of earnest
supplication whispered,--

"Oucanasta is right: the pale girl with the skin like
snow, and hair like the fur of the squirrel, is the bride
of the Saganaw. Long before he saved the life of Oucanasta,
he knew and loved that pale girl. She is dearer to the
Saganaw than his own blood; but she is in the fort beyond
the great lake, and the tomahawks of the red skins will
destroy her; for the warriors of that fort have no one
to tell them of their danger. What says the red girl?
will she go and save the lives of the sister and the wife
of the Saganaw."

The breathing of the Indian became deeper; and Captain
de Haldimar fancied she sighed heavily, as she replied,--

"Oucanasta is but a weak woman, and her feet are not
swift like those of a runner among the red skins; but
what the Saganaw asks, for his sake she will try. When
she has seen him safe to his own fort, she will go and
prepare herself for the journey. The pale girl shall lay
her head on the bosom of the Saganaw, and Oucanasta will
try to rejoice in her happiness."

In the fervour of his gratitude, the young officer caught
the drooping form of the generous Indian wildly to his
heart; his lips pressed hers, and during the kiss that
followed, the heart of the latter bounded and throbbed,
as if it would have passed from her own into the bosom
of her companion.

Never was a kiss less premeditated, less unchaste.
Gratitude, not passion, had called it forth; and had
Madeline de Haldimar been near at the moment, the feeling
that had impelled the seeming infidelity to herself would
have been regarded as an additional claim on her affection.
On the whole, however, it was a most unfortunate and
ill-timed kiss, and, as is often the case under such
circumstances, led to the downfall of the woman. In the
vivacity of his embrace, Captain de Haldimar had drawn
his guide so far forward upon the log, that she lost her
balance, and fell with a heavy and reverberating crash
among the leaves and dried sticks that were strewed
thickly around.

Scarcely a second elapsed when the forest was alive with
human yells, that fell achingly on the ears of both; and
bounding warriors were heard on every hand, rapidly
dividing the dense underwood they encountered in their
pursuit.

Quick as thought the Indian had regained her feet. She
grasped the hand of her companion; and hurrying, though
not without caution, along the path, again stood on the
brow of the ravine through which they had previously
passed.

"The Saganaw must go alone," she whispered. "The red
skins are close upon our trail, but they will find only
an Indian woman, when they expect a pale face. Oucanasta
will save her friend."

Captain de Haldimar did as he was desired. Clinging to
the bushes that lined the face of the precipitous descent,
he managed once more to gain the bed of the ravine. For
a moment he paused to listen to the sounds of his pursuers,
whose footsteps were now audible on the eminence he had
just quitted; and then, gathering himself up for the leap
that was to enable him to clear the rivulet, he threw
himself heavily forward. His feet alighted upon an elevated
and yielding substance, that gave way with a crashing
sound that echoed far and near throughout the forest,
and he felt himself secured as if in a trap. Although
despairing of escape, he groped with his hands to discover
what it was that thus detained him, and found he had
fallen through a bark canoe, the bottom of which had been
turned upwards. The heart of the fugitive now sank within
him: there could be no doubt that his retreat was
intercepted. The canoe had been placed there since he
last passed through the ravine: and it was evident, from
the close and triumphant yell that followed the rending
of the frail bark, such a result had been anticipated.

Stunned as he was by the terrific cries of the savages,
and confused as were his ideas, Captain de Haldimar had
still presence of mind to perceive the path itself offered
him no further security. He therefore quitted it altogether,
and struck, in an oblique direction, up the opposite face
of the ravine. Scarcely had he gone twenty yards, when
he heard the voices of several Indians conversing earnestly
near the canoe he had just quitted; and presently afterwards
he could distinctly hear them ascending the opposite brow
of the ravine by the path he recently congratulated
himself on having abandoned. To advance or to recede was
now equally impracticable; for, on every side, he was
begirt by enemies, into whose hands a single false step
must inevitably betray him. What would he not have given
for the presence of Oucanasta, who was so capable of
advising him in this difficulty! but, from the moment of
his descending into the ravine, he had utterly lost sight
of her.

The spot on which he now rested was covered with thick
brushwood, closely interwoven at their tops, but affording
sufficient space beneath for a temporary close concealment;
so that, unless some Indian should touch him with his
foot, there was little seeming probability of his being
discovered by the eye. Under this he crept, and lay,
breathless and motionless, with his head raised from the
ground, and his ear on the stretch for the slightest
noise. For several minutes he remained in this position,
vainly seeking to catch the sound of a voice, or the fall
of a footstep; but the most deathlike silence had succeeded
to the fierce yellings that had so recently rent the
forest. At times he fancied he could distinguish faint
noises in the direction of the encampment; and so certain
was he of this, he at length came to the conclusion that
the Indians, either baffled in their search, had
relinquished the pursuit, or, having encountered Oucanasta,
had been thrown on a different scent. His first intention
had been to lie concealed until the following night, when
the warriors, no longer on the alert, should leave the
path once more open to him; but now that the conviction
of their return was strong on his mind, he changed his
determination, resolving to make the best of his way to
the fort with the aid of the approaching dawn. With this
view he partly withdrew his body from beneath its canopy
of underwood; but, scarcely had he done so, when a hundred
tongues, like the baying of so many blood-hounds, again
rent the air with their wild cries, which seemed to rise
up from the very bowels of the earth, and close to the
appalled ear of the young officer.

Scarcely conscious of what he did, Captain de Haldimar
grasped one of his pistols, for he fancied he felt the
hot breathing of human life upon his cheek. With a sickly
sensation of fear, he turned to satisfy himself whether
it was not an illusion of his heated imagination. What,
however, was his dismay, when he beheld bending over him
a dark and heavy form, the outline of which alone was
distinguishable in the deep gloom in which the ravine
remained enveloped! Desperation was in the heart of the
excited officer: he cocked his pistol; but scarcely had
the sharp ticking sound floated on the air, when he felt
a powerful hand upon his chest; and, with as much facility
as if he had been a child, was he raised by that invisible
hand to his feet. A dozen warriors now sprang to the
assistance of their comrade, when the whole, having
disarmed and bound their prisoner, led him back in triumph
to their encampment.




CHAPTER IX.

The fires of the Indians were nearly now extinct; but
the faint light of the fast dawning day threw a ghastly,
sickly, hue over the countenances of the savages, which
rendered them even more terrific in their war paint. The
chiefs grouped themselves immediately around their
prisoner, while the inferior warriors, forming an outer
circle, stood leaning their dark forms upon their rifles,
and following, with keen and watchful eye, every movement
of their captive. Hitherto the unfortunate officer had
been too much engrossed by his despair to pay any immediate
attention to the individual who had first discovered and
seized him. It was sufficient for him to know all hope
of the safety of the garrison had perished with his
captivity: and, with that recklessness of life which
often springs from the very consciousness of inability
to preserve it, he now sullenly awaited the death which
he expected at each moment would be inflicted. Suddenly
his ear was startled by an interrogatory, in English,
from one who stood behind him.

With a movement of surprise, Captain de Haldimar turned
to examine his questioner. It was the dark and ferocious
warrior who had exhibited the scalp of his ill-fated
servant. For a moment the officer fixed his eyes firmly
and unshrinkingly on those of the savage, seeking to
reconcile the contradiction that existed between his
dress and features and the purity of the English he had
just spoken. The other saw his drift, and, impatient of
the scrutiny, again repeated, as he fiercely pulled the
strong leathern thong by which the prisoner now found
himself secured to his girdle,--

"Who and what are you?--whence come you?--and for what
purpose are you here?" Then, as if struck by some sudden
recollection, he laid his hand upon the shoulder of his
victim; and, while his eye grew upon his features, he
pursued, in a tone of vehemence,--"Ha! by Heaven, I
should know that face!--the cursed lines of the blood
of De Haldimar are stamped upon that brow! But stay, one
proof and I am satisfied." While he yet spoke he dashed
the menial hat of his captive to the earth, put aside
his hair, and then, with fiendish exultation, pursued,--"It
is even so. Do you recollect the battle of the plains of
Abraham, Captain de Haldimar?--Recollect you the French
officer who aimed so desperately at your life, and whose
object was defeated by a soldier of your regiment? I am
that officer: my victim escaped me then, but not for
ever. The hour of vengeance is nearly now arrived, and
your capture is the pledge of my success. Hark, how the
death-cry of all his hated race will ring in madness on
your father's ear!"

Amazement, stupefaction, and horror, filled the mind of
the wretched officer at this extraordinary declaration.
He perfectly recollected that the individual who had
evinced so much personal hostility on the occasion alluded
to, was indeed a man wearing the French uniform, although
at the head of a band of savages, and of a stature and
strength similar to those of him who now so fiercely
avowed himself the bitter and deadly foe of all his race.
If this were so, and his tone and language left little
room for doubt, the doom of the ill-fated garrison was
indeed irrevocably sealed. This mysterious enemy evidently
possessed great influence in the councils of the Indians;
and while the hot breath of his hatred continued to fan
the flame of fierce hostility that had been kindled in
the bosom of Ponteac, whose particular friend he appeared
to be, there would be no end to the atrocities that must
follow. Great, however, as was the dismay of Captain de
Haldimar, who, exhausted with the adventures of the night,
presented a ghastly image of anxiety and fatigue, it was
impossible for him to repress the feelings of indignation
with which the language of this fierce man had inspired
him.

"If you are in reality a French officer," he said, "and
not an Englishman, as your accent would denote, the
sentiments you have now avowed may well justify the
belief, that you have been driven with ignominy from a
service which your presence must eternally have disgraced.
There is no country in Europe that would willingly claim
you for its subject. Nay, even the savage race, with whom
you are now connected, would, if apprised of your true
nature, spurn you as a thing unworthy to herd even with
their wolf-dogs."

A fierce sardonic laugh burst from the lips of the warrior,
but this was so mingled with rage as to give an almost
devilish expression to his features.

"Ignominy--ignominy!" he repeated, while his right hand
played convulsively with the handle of his tomahawk; "is
it for a De Haldimar to taunt me with ignominy? Fool!"
he pursued, after a momentary pause, "you have sealed
your doom." Then abruptly quitting the handle of his
weapon, he thrust his hand into his bosom, and again
drawing forth the reeking scalp of Donellan, he dashed
it furiously in the face of his prisoner. "Not two hours
since," he exclaimed, "I cheered myself with the thought
that the scalp of a De Haldimar was in my pouch. Now,
indeed, do I glory in my mistake. The torture will be
a more fitting death for you."

Had an arm of the insulted soldier been at liberty, the
offence would not have gone unavenged even there; for
such was the desperation of his heart, that he felt he
could have hugged the death struggle with his insolent
captor, notwithstanding the fearful odds, nor quitted
him until one or both should have paid the debt of fierce
enmity with life. As it was he could only betray, by his
flashing eye, excited look, and the impatient play of
his foot upon the ground, the deep indignation that
consumed his heart.

The tall savage exulted in the mortification he had
awakened, and as his eye glanced insolently from head to
foot along his enemy, its expression told how much he
laughed at the impotence of his anger. Suddenly, however,
a change passed over his features. The mocassin of the
officer had evidently attracted his attention, and he
now demanded, in a more serious and imperative tone,--

"Ha! what means this disguise? Who is the wretch whom I
have slain, mistaking him for a nobler victim; and how
comes it that an officer of the English garrison appears
here in the garb of a servant? By heaven, it is so! you
are come as a spy into the camp of the Indians to steal
away the councils of the chiefs. Speak, what have you
heard?"

With these questions returned the calm and self-possession
of the officer. He at once saw the importance of his
answer, on which hung not merely his own last faint chance
of safety, but that also of his generous deliverer.
Struggling to subdue the disgust which he felt at holding
converse with this atrocious monster, he asked in turn,--

"Am I then the only one whom the warriors have overtaken
in their pursuit?"

"There was a woman, the sister of that boy," and he
pointed contemptuously to the young chief who had so
recently assailed him, and who now, in common with his
followers, stood impatiently listening to a colloquy that
was unintelligible to all. "Speak truly, was SHE not the
traitress who conducted you here?"

"Had you found me here," returned the officer, with
difficulty repressing his feelings, "there might have
been some ground for the assertion; but surely the councils
of the chiefs could not be overheard at the distant point
at which you discovered me."

"Why then were you there in this disguise?--and who is
he," again holding up the bloody scalp, "whom I have
despoiled of this?"

"There are few of the Ottawa Indians," returned Captain
de Haldimar, "who are ignorant I once saved that young
woman's life. Is it then so very extraordinary an attachment
should have been the consequence? The man whom you slew
was my servant. I had brought him out with me for protection
during my interview with the woman, and I exchanged my
uniform with him for the same purpose. There is nothing
in this, however, to warrant the supposition of my being
a spy."

During the delivery of these more than equivocal sentences,
which, however, he felt were fully justified by
circumstances, the young officer had struggled to appear
calm and confident; but, despite of his exertions, his
consciousness caused his cheek to colour, and his eye to
twinkle, beneath the searching glance of his ferocious
enemy. The latter thrust his hand into his chest, and
slowly drew forth the rope he had previously exhibited
to Ponteac.

"Do you think me a fool, Captain de Haldimar," he observed,
sneeringly, "that you expect so paltry a tale to be palmed
successfully on my understanding? An English officer is
not very likely to run the risk of breaking his neck by
having recourse to such a means of exit from a besieged
garrison, merely to intrigue with an Indian woman, when
there are plenty of soldiers' wives within, and that too
at an hour when he knows the scouts of his enemies are
prowling in the neighbourhood. Captain de Haldimar," he
concluded, slowly and deliberately, "you have lied."

Despite of the last insult, his prisoner remained calm.
The very observation that had just been made afforded
him a final hope of exculpation, which, if it benefited
not himself, might still be of service to the generous
Oucanasta.

"The onus of such language," he observed coolly and with
dignity, "falls not on him to whom it is addressed, but
on him who utters it. Yet one who professes to have been
himself a soldier, must see in this very circumstance a
proof of my innocence. Had I been sent out as a spy to
reconnoitre the movements, and to overhear the councils
of our enemies, the gate would have been open for my
egress; but that rope is in itself an evidence I must
have stolen forth unknown to the garrison."

Whether it was that the warrior had his own particular
reasons for attaching truth to this statement, or that
he merely pretended to do so, Captain de Haldimar saw
with secret satisfaction his last argument was conclusive.

"Well, be it so," retorted the savage, while a ferocious
smile passed over his swarthy features; "but, whether
you have been here as a spy, or have merely ventured out
in prosecution of an intrigue, it matters not. Before
the sun has travelled far in the meridian you die; and
the tomahawk of your father's deadly foe--of--of--of
Wacousta, as I am called, shall be the first to drink
your blood."

The officer made a final effort at mercy. "Who or what
you are, or whence your hatred of my family, I know not,"
he said; "but surely I have never injured you: wherefore,
then, this insatiable thirst for my blood? If you are,
indeed, a Christian and a soldier, let your heart be
touched with humanity, and procure my restoration to my
friends. You once attempted my life in honourable combat,
why not wait, then, until a fitting opportunity shall
give not a bound and defenceless victim to your steel,
but one whose resistance may render him a conquest worthy
of your arm?"

"What! and be balked of the chance of my just revenge?
Hear me, Captain de Haldimar," he pursued, in that low,
quick, deep tone that told all the strong excitement of
his heart:--"I have, it is true, no particular enmity to
yourself, further than that you are a De Haldimar; but
hell does not supply a feeling half so bitter as my enmity
to your proud father; and months, nay years, have I passed
in the hope of such an hour as this. For this have I
forsworn my race, and become--what you now behold me--a
savage both in garb and character. But this matters not,"
he continued, fiercely and impatiently, "your doom is
sealed; and before another sun has risen, your stern
father's gaze shall be blasted with the sight of the
mangled carcase of his first born. Ha! ha! ha!" and he
laughed low and exultingly; "even now I think I see him
withering, if heart so hard can wither, beneath this
proof of my undying hate."

"Fiend!--monster!--devil!" exclaimed the excited officer,
now losing sight of all considerations of prudence in
the deep horror inspired by his captor:--"Kill me--torture
me--commit any cruelty on me, if such be your savage
will; but outrage not humanity by the fulfilment of your
last disgusting threat. Suffer not a father's heart to
be agonised--a father's eye to be blasted--with a view
of the mangled remains of him to whom he has given life."

Again the savage rudely pulled the thong that bound his
prisoner to his girdle, and removing his tomahawk from
his belt, and holding its sullied point close under the
eye of the former, exclaimed, as he bent eagerly over
him,--

"See you this, Captain de Haldimar? At the still hour of
midnight, while you had abandoned your guard to revel in
the arms of your Indian beauty, I stole into the fort by
means of the same rope that you had used in quitting it.
Unseen by the sentinels I gained your father's apartment.
It was the first time we had met for twenty years; and
I do believe that had the very devil presented himself
in my place, he would have been received with fewer marks
of horror. Oh, how that proud man's eye twinkled beneath
this glittering blade! He attempted to call out, but my
look paralysed his tongue, and cold drops of sweat stole
rapidly down his brow and cheek. Then it was that my
seared heart once more beat with the intoxication of
triumph. Your father was alone and unarmed, and throughout
the fort not a sound was to be heard, save the distant
tread of the sentinels. I could have laid him dead, at
my feet at a single blow, and yet have secured my retreat.
But no, that was not my object. I came to taunt him with
the promise of my revenge--to tell him the hour of my
triumph was approaching fast; and, ha!" he concluded,
laughing hideously as he passed his large rude hand
through the wavy hair of the now uncovered officer," this
is, indeed, a fair and unexpected first earnest of the
full redemption of my pledge. No--no!" he continued, as
if talking to himself, "he must not die. Tantulus-like,
he shall have death ever apparently within his grasp;
but, until all his race have perished before his eyes,
he shall not attain it."

Hitherto the Indians had preserved an attitude of calm,
listening to the interrogatories put to the prisoner with
that wonder and curiosity with which a savage people hear
a language different from their own; and marking the
several emotions that were elicited in the course of the
animated colloquy of the pale faces. Gradually, however,
they became impatient under its duration; and many of
them, in the excitement produced by the fierce manner of
him who was called Wacousta, fixed their dark eyes upon
the captive, while they grasped the handles of their
tomahawks, as if they would have disputed with the former
the privilege of dying his weapon first in his blood.
When they saw the warrior hold up his menacing blade to
the eye of his victim, while he passed his hand through
the redundant hair, they at once inferred the sacrifice
was about to be completed, and rushing furiously forward,
they bounded, and leaped, and yelled, and brandished
their own weapons in the most appalling manner.

Already had the unhappy officer given himself self up
for lost; fifty bright tomahawks were playing about his
head at the same instant, and death--that death which is
never without terror to the young, however brave they
may be in the hour of generous conflict--seemed to have
arrived at last. He raised his eyes to Heaven, committing
his soul to his God in the same silent prayer that he
offered up for the preservation of his friends and
comrades; and then bending them upon the earth, summoned
all his collectedness and courage to sustain him through
the trial. At the very moment, however when he expected
to feel the crashing steel within his brain, he felt
himself again violently pulled by the thong that secured
his hands. In the next instant he was pressed close to
the chest of his vast enemy, who, with one arm encircling
his prisoner, and the other brandishing his fierce blade
in rapid evolutions round his head, kept the yelling band
at bay, with the evident unshaken determination to maintain
his sole and acknowledged right to the disposal of his
captive.

For several moments the event appeared doubtful; but,
notwithstanding his extreme agility in the use of a
weapon, in the management of which he evinced all the
dexterity of the most practised native, the odds were
fearfully against Wacousta; and while his flashing eye
and swelling chest betrayed his purpose rather to perish
himself than suffer the infringement of his claim, it
was evident that numbers must, in the end, prevail against
him. On an appeal to Ponteac, however, of which he now
suddenly bethought himself, the authority of the latter
was successfully exerted, and he was again left in the
full and undisturbed possession of his prisoner.

A low and earnest conversation now ensued among the
chiefs, in which, as before, Wacousta bore a principal
part. When this was terminated, several Indians approached
the unhappy officer, and unfastening the thong with which
his hands were firmly and even painfully girt, deprived
him both of coat, waistcoat, and shirt. He was then bound
a second time in the same manner, his body besmeared with
paint, and his head so disguised as to give him the
caricature semblance of an Indian warrior. When these
preparations were completed, he was led to the tree in
which he had been previously concealed, and there firmly
secured. Meanwhile Wacousta, at the head of a numerous
band of warriors, had departed once more in the direction
of the fort.

With the rising of the sun now vanished all traces of
the mist that had fallen since the early hours of morning,
leaving the unfortunate officer ample leisure to survey
the difficulties of his position. He had fancied, from
the course taken by his guide the previous night, that
the plain or oasis, as we have elsewhere termed it, lay
in the very heart of the forest; but that route now proved
to have been circuitous. The tree to which he was bound
was one of a slight belt, separating the encampment from
the open grounds which extended towards the river, and
which was so thin and scattered on that side as to leave
the clear silver waters of the Detroit visible at intervals.
Oh, what would he not have given, at that cheering sight,
to have had his limbs free, and his chance of life staked
on the swiftness of his flight! While he had imagined
himself begirt by interminable forest, he felt as one
whose very thought to elude those who were, in some
degree, the deities of that wild scene, must be paralysed
in its first conception. But here was the vivifying,
picture of civilised nature. Corn fields, although trodden
down and destroyed--dwelling houses, although burnt or
dilapidated--told of the existence of those who were of
the same race with himself; and notwithstanding these
had perished even as he must perish, still there was
something in the aspect of the very ruins of their
habitations which, contrasted with the solemn gloom of
the forest, carried a momentary and indefinable consolation
to his spirit. Then there was the ripe and teeming
orchard, and the low whitewashed cabin of the Canadian
peasant, to whom the offices of charity, and the duties
of humanity, were no strangers; and who, although the
secret enemies of his country, had no motive for personal
hostility towards himself. Then, on the river itself,
even at that early hour, was to be seen, fastened to the
long stake driven into its bed, or secured by the rude
anchor of stone appended to a cable of twisted bark, the
light canoe or clumsy periagua of the peasant fisherman,
who, ever and anon, drew up from its deep bosom the
shoal-loving pickerel or pike, or white or black bass,
or whatever other tenant of these waters might chance to
affix itself to the traitorous hook. It is true that his
view of these objects was only occasional and indistinct;
but his intimate acquaintance with the localities beyond
brought every thing before Captain de Haldimar's eye;
and even while he sighed to think they were for ever cut
off from his reach, he already, in idea, followed the
course of flight he should pursue were the power but
afforded him.

From this train of painful and exciting thought the
wretched captive was aroused, by a faint but continued
yelling in a distant part of the forest, and in the
direction that had been taken by Wacousta and his warriors.
Then, after a short interval, came the loud booming of
the cannon of the fort, carried on with a spirit and
promptitude that told of some pressing and dangerous
emergency, and fainter afterwards the sharp shrill reports
of the rifles, bearing evidence the savages were already
in close collision with the garrison. Various were the
conjectures that passed rapidly through the mind of the
young officer, during a firing that had called almost
every Indian in the encampment away to the scene of
action, save the two or three young Ottawas who had been
left to guard his own person, and who lay upon the sward
near him, with head erect and ear sharply set, listening
to the startling sounds of conflict. What the motive of
the hurried departure of the Indians was he knew not;
but he had conjectured the object of the fierce Wacousta
was to possess himself of the uniform in which his wretched
servant was clothed, that no mistake might occur in his
identity, when its true owner should be exhibited in it,
within view of the fort, mangled and disfigured, in the
manner that fierce and mysterious man had already
threatened. It was exceedingly probable the body of
Donellan had been mistaken for his own, and that in the
anxiety of his father to prevent the Indians from carrying
it off, the cannon had been directed to open upon them.
But if this were the case, how were the reports of the
rifles, and the fierce yellings that continued, save at
intervals, to ring throughout the forest to be accounted
for? The bullets of the Indians evidently could not reach
the fort, and they were too wily, and attached too much
value to their ammunition, to risk a shot that was not
certain of carrying a wound with it. For a moment the
fact itself flashed across his mind, and he attributed
the fire of small arms to the attack and defence of a
party that had been sent out for the purpose of securing
the body, supposed to be his own; yet, if so, again how
was he to account for his not hearing the report of a
single musket? His ear was too well practised not to know
the sharp crack of the rifle from the heavy dull discharge
of the musket, and as yet the former only had been
distinguishable, amid the intervals that ensued between
each sullen booming of the cannon. While this impression
continued on the mind of the anxious officer, he caught,
with the avidity of desperation, at the faint and improbable
idea that his companions might be able to penetrate to
his place of concealment, and procure his liberation;
but when he found the firing, instead of drawing nearer,
was confined to the same spot, and even more fiercely
kept up by the Indians towards the close, he again gave
way to his despair, and resigning himself to his fate,
no longer sought comfort in vain speculation as to its
cause. His ear now caught the report of the last shell
as it exploded, and then all was still and hushed, as if
what he had so recently heard was but a dream.

The first intimation given him of the return of the
savages was the death howl, set up by the women within
the encampment. Captain de Haldimar turned his eyes,
instinct with terror, towards the scene, and beheld the
warriors slowly issuing from the opposite side of the
forest into the plain, and bearing in silence the dead
and stiffened forms of those who had been cut down by
the destructive fire from the fort. Their mien was sullen
and revengeful, and more than one dark and gleaming eye
did he encounter turned upon him, with an expression that
seemed to say a separate torture should avenge the death
of each of their fallen comrades.

The early part of the morning wore away in preparation
for the interment of the slain. These were placed in
rows under the council shed, where they were attended by
their female relatives, who composed the features and
confined the limbs, while the gloomy warriors dug, within
the limit of the encampment, rude graves, of a depth just
sufficient to receive the body. When these were completed,
the dead were deposited, with the usual superstitious
ceremonies of these people, in their several receptacles,
after which a mound of earth was thrown up over each,
and the whole covered with round logs, so disposed as to
form a tomb of semicircular shape: at the head of each
grave was finally planted a pole, bearing various devices
in paint, intended to illustrate the warlike achievements
of the defunct parties.

Captain de Haldimar had followed the course of these
proceedings with a beating heart; for too plainly had he
read in the dark and threatening manner both of men and
women, that the retribution about to be wreaked upon
himself would be terrible indeed. Much as he clung to
life, and bitterly as he mourned his early cutting off
from the affections hitherto identified with his existence,
his wretchedness would have been less, had he not been
overwhelmed by the conviction that, with him, must perish
every chance of the safety of those, the bare recollection
of whom made the bitterness of death even more bitter.
Harrowing as were these reflections, he felt that immediate
destruction, since it could not be avoided, would be
rather a blessing than otherwise. But such, evidently,
was not the purpose of his relentless enemy. Every
species of torment which his cruel invention could supply
would, he felt convinced, be exercised upon his frame;
and with this impression on his mind, it would have
required sterner nerves than his, not to have shrunk from
the very anticipation of so dreadful an ordeal.

It was now noon, and yet no visible preparation was making
for the consummation of the sacrifice. This, Captain de
Haldimar imputed to the absence of the fierce Wacousta,
whom he had not seen since the return of the warriors
from their skirmish. The momentary disappearance of this
extraordinary and ferocious man was, however, fraught
with no consolation to his unfortunate prisoner, who felt
he was only engaged in taking such measures as would
render not only his destruction more certain, but his
preliminary sufferings more complicated and protracted.
While he was thus indulging in fruitless speculation as
to the motive for his absence, he fancied he heard the
report of a rifle, succeeded immediately afterwards by
the war-whoop, at a considerable distance, and in the
direction of the river. In this impression he was confirmed,
by the sudden upstarting to their feet of the young
Indians to whose custody he had been committed, who now
advanced to the outer edge of the belt of forest, with
the apparent object of obtaining a more unconfined view
of the open ground that lay beyond. The rapid gliding of
spectral forms from the interior of the encampment in
the same direction, denoted, moreover, that the Indians
generally had heard, and were attracted by the same sound.

Presently afterwards, repeated "waughs!" and
"Wacousta!--Wacousta!" from those who had reached the
extreme skirt of the forest, fell on the dismayed ear of
the young officer. It was evident, from the peculiar
tones in which these words were pronounced, that they
beheld that warrior approaching them with some communication
of interest; and, sick at heart, and filled with
irrepressible dismay, Captain de Haldimar felt his pulse
to throb more violently as each moment brought his enemy
nearer to him.

A startling interest was now created among the Indians;
for, as the savage warrior neared the forest, his lips
pealed forth that peculiar cry which is meant to announce
some intelligence of alarm. Scarcely had its echoes died
away in the forest, when the whole of the warriors rushed
from the encampment towards the clearing. Directed by
the sound, Captain de Haldimar bent his eyes upon the
thin skirt of wood that lay immediately before him, and
at intervals could see the towering form of that vast
warrior bounding, with incredible speed, up the sloping
ground that led from the town towards the forest. A ravine
lay before him; but this he cleared, with a prodigious
effort, at a single leap; and then, continuing his way
up the slope, amid the low guttural acclamations of the
warriors at his extraordinary dexterity and strength,
finally gained the side of Ponteac, then leaning carelessly
against a tree at a short distance from the prisoner.

A low and animated conversation now ensued between these
two important personages, which at moments assumed the
character of violent discussion. From what Captain de
Haldimar could collect, the Ottawa chief was severely
reproving his friend for the inconsiderate ardour which
had led him that morning into collision with those whom
it was their object to lull into security by a careful
avoidance of hostility, and urging the possibility of
their plan being defeated in consequence. He moreover
obstinately refused the pressing request of Wacousta, in
regard to some present enterprise which the latter had
just suggested, the precise nature of which, however,
Captain de Haldimar could not learn. Meanwhile, the rapid
flitting of numerous forms to and from the encampment,
arrayed in all the fierce panoply of savage warfare,
while low exclamations of excitement occasionally caught
his ear, led the officer to infer, strange and unusual
as such an occurrence was, that either the detachment
already engaged, or a second, was advancing on their
position. Still, this offered little chance of security
for himself; for more than once, during his long conference
with Ponteac, had the fierce Wacousta bent his eye in
ferocious triumph on his victim, as if he would have
said,--"Come what will--whatever be the result--you, at
least, shall not escape me." Indeed, so confident did
the latter feel that the instant of attack would be the
signal of his own death, that, after the first momentary
and instinctive cheering of his spirit, he rather regretted
the circumstance of their approach; or, if he rejoiced
at all, it was only because it afforded him the prospect
of immediate death, instead of being exposed to all the
horror of a lingering and agonising suffering from the
torture.

While the chiefs were yet earnestly conversing, the alarm
cry, previously uttered by Wacousta, was repeated, although
in a low and subdued tone, by several of the Indians who
stood on the brow of the eminence. Ponteac started suddenly
to the same point; but Wacousta continued for a moment
or two rooted to the spot on which he stood, with the
air of one in doubt as to what course he should pursue.
He then abruptly raised his head, fixed his dark and
menacing eye on his captive, and was already in the act
of approaching him, when the earnest and repeated demands
for his presence, by the Ottawa chief, drew him once more
to the outskirt of the wood.

Again Captain de Haldimar breathed freely. The presence
of that fierce man had been a clog upon the vital functions
of his heart; and, to be relieved from it, even at a
moment like the present, when far more important interests
might be supposed to occupy his mind, was a gratification,
of which not even the consciousness of impending death
could wholly deprive him. From the continued pressing of
the Indians towards one particular point in the clearing,
he now conjectured, that, from that point, the advance
of the troops was visible. Anxious to obtain even a
momentary view of those whom he deemed himself fated
never more to mingle with in this life, he raised himself
upon his feet, and stretched his neck and bent his eager
glance in the direction by which Wacousta had approached;
but, so closely were the dark warriors grouped among the
trees, he found it impossible. Once or twice, however,
he thought he could distinguish the gleaming of the
English bayonets in the bright sunshine, as they seemed
to file off in a parallel line with the ravine. Oh, how
his generous heart throbbed at that moment; and how
ardently did he wish that he could have stood in the
position of the meanest soldier in those gallant ranks!
Perhaps his own brave and devoted grenadiers were of the
number, burning with enthusiasm to be led against the
captors or destroyers of their officer; and this thought
added to his wretchedness still more.

While the unfortunate prisoner, thus strongly excited,
bent his whole soul on the scene before him, he fancied
he heard the approach of a cautious footstep. He turned
his head as well as his confined position would admit,
and beheld, close behind him, a dark Indian, whose eyes
alone were visible above the blanket in which his person
was completely enveloped. His right arm was uplifted,
and the blade of a scalping knife glittered in his hand.
A cold shudder ran through the veins of the young officer,
and he closed his eyes, that he might not see the blow
which he felt was about to be directed at his heart. The
Indian glanced hurriedly yet cautiously around, to see
if he was observed; and then, with the rapidity of thought,
divided, first the thongs that secured the legs, and then
those which confined the arms of the defenceless captive.
When Captain de Haldimar, full of astonishment at finding
himself once more at liberty, again unclosed his eyes,
they fell on the not unhandsome features of the young
chief, the brother of Oucanasta.

"The Saganaw is the prisoner of Wacousta," said the Indian
hastily; "and Wacousta is the enemy of the young Ottawa
chief. The warriors of the pale faces are there" (and he
pointed directly before him). "If the Saganaw has a bold
heart and a swift foot, he may save his life:" and, with
this intimation, he hurried away in the same cautious
manner, and was in the next instant seen making a circuit
to arrive at the point at which the principal strength
of the Indians was collected.

The position of Captain de Haldimar had now attained its
acme of interest; for on his own exertions alone depended
every thing that remained to be accomplished. With
wonderful presence of mind he surveyed all the difficulties
of his course, while he availed himself at the same moment
of whatever advantages were within his grasp. On the
approach of Wacousta, the young Indians, to whose custody
he had been committed, had returned to their post; but
no sooner had that warrior, obeying the call of Ponteac,
again departed, than they once more flew to the extreme
skirt of the forest, after first satisfying themselves
the ligatures which confined their prisoner were secure.
Either with a view of avoiding unnecessary encumbrance
in their course, or through hurry and inadvertence, they
had left their blankets near the foot of the tree. The
first thought of the officer was to seize one of these;
for, in order to gain the point whence his final effort
to join the detachment must be made, it was necessary he
should pass through the body of scattered Indians who
stood immediately in his way; and the disguise of the
blanket could alone afford him a reasonable chance of
moving unnoticed among them. Secretly congratulating
himself on the insulting mockery that had inducted his
upper form in the disguising warpaint of his enemies, he
now drew the protecting blanket close up to his eyes;
and then, with every nerve braced up, every faculty of
mind and body called into action, commenced his dangerous
enterprise.

He had not, however, taken more than two or three steps
in advance, when, to his great discomfiture and alarm,
he beheld the formidable Wacousta approaching from a
distance, evidently in search of his prisoner. With the
quickness of thought he determined on his course. To
appear to avoid him would be to excite the suspicion of
the fierce warrior; and, desperate as the alternative
was, he resolved to move undeviatingly forward. At each
step that drew him nearer to his enemy, the beating of
his heart became more violent; and had it not been for
the thick coat of paint in which he was invested, the
involuntary contraction of the muscles of his face must
inevitably have betrayed him. Nay, even as it was, had
the keen eye of the warrior fallen on him, such was the
agitation of the officer, he felt he must have been
discovered. Happily, however, Wacousta, who evidently
took him for some inferior warrior hastening to the point
where his fellows were already assembled, passed without
deigning to look at him, and so close, their forms almost
touched. Captain de Haldimar now quickened his pace. It
was evident there was no time to be lost; for Wacousta,
on finding him gone, would at once give the alarm, when
a hundred warriors would be ready on the instant to
intercept his flight. Taking the precaution to disguise
his walk by turning in his toes after the Indian manner,
he reached, with a beating heart, the first of the numerous
warriors who were collected within the belt of forest,
anxiously watching the movements of the detachment in
the plain below. To his infinite joy he found that each
was too much intent on what was passing in the distance,
to heed any thing going on near themselves; and when he
at length gained the extreme opening, and stood in a line
with those who were the farthest advanced, without having
excited a single suspicion in his course, he could scarcely
believe the evidence of his senses.

Still the most difficult part of the enterprise remained
to be completed. Hitherto he had moved under the friendly
cover of the underwood, the advantage of which had been
to conceal that part of his regimental trousers which
the blanket left exposed; and if he moved forward into
the clearing, the quick glance of an Indian would not be
slow in detecting the difference between these and his
own ruder leggings. There was no alternative now but to
commence his flight from the spot on which he stood; and
for this he prepared himself. At one rapid and comprehensive
view he embraced the immediate localities before him. On
the other side of the ravine he could now distinctly see
the English troops, either planning, as he conceived,
their own attack, or waiting in the hope of drawing the
Indians from their cover. It was evident that to reach
them the ravine must be crossed, unless the more circuitous
route by the bridge, which was hid from his view by an
intervening hillock, should be preferred; but as the
former had been cleared by Wacousta in his ascent, and
was the nearest point by which the detachment could be
approached, to this did he now direct his undivided
attention.

While he yet paused with indecision, at one moment fancying
the time for starting was not yet arrived, and at the
next that he had suffered it to pass away, the powerful
and threatening voice of Wacousta was heard proclaiming
the escape of his captive. Low but expressive exclamations
from the warriors marked their sense of the importance
of the intelligence; and many of them hastily dispersed
themselves in pursuit. This was the critical moment for
action: for, as the anxious officer had rather wished
than expected, those Indians who had been immediately in
front, and whose proximity he most dreaded, were among
the number of those who dashed into the heart of the
forest--Captain de Haldimar now stood alone, and full
twenty paces in front of the nearest of the savages. For
a moment he played with his mocassined foot to satisfy
himself, of the power and flexibility of its muscles,
and then committing himself to his God, dashed the blanket
suddenly from his shoulders, and, with eye and heart
fixed on the distant soldiery, darted down the declivity
with a speed of which he had never yet believed himself
capable. Scarcely, however, had his fleeing form appeared
in the opening, when a tremendous and deafening yell rent
the air, and a dozen wild and naked warriors followed
instantly in pursuit. Attracted by that yell, the terrible
Wacousta, who had been seeking his victim in a different
quarter, bounded forward to the front with an eye flashing
fire, and a brow compressed into the fiercest hate; and
so stupendous were his efforts, so extraordinary was his
speed, that had it not been for the young Ottawa chief,
who was one of the pursuing party, and who, under the
pretence of assisting in the recapture of the prisoner,
sought every opportunity of throwing himself before, and
embarrassing the movements of his enemy, it is highly
probable the latter would have succeeded. Despite of
these obstacles, however, the fierce Wacousta, who had
been the last to follow, soon left the foremost of his
companions far behind him; and but for his sudden fall,
while in the very act of seizing the arm of his prisoner,
his gigantic efforts must have been crowned with the
fullest success. But the reader has already seen how
miraculously Captain de Haldimar, reduced to the last
stage of debility, as much from inanition as from the
unnatural efforts of his flight, finally accomplished
his return to the detachment.




CHAPTER X.

At the western extremity of the lake Huron, and almost
washed by the waters of that pigmy ocean, stands the fort
of Michilimackinac. Constructed on a smaller scale, and
garrisoned by a less numerical force, the defences of
this post, although less formidable than those of the
Detroit, were nearly similar, at the period embraced by
our story, both in matter and in manner. Unlike the latter
fortress, however, it boasted none of the advantages
afforded by culture; neither, indeed, was there a single
spot in the immediate vicinity that was not clad in the
eternal forest of these regions. It is true, that art
and laborious exertion had so far supplied the deficiencies
of nature as to isolate the fort, and throw it under the
protecting sweep of its cannon; but, while this afforded
security, it failed to produce any thing like a pleasing
effect to the eye. The very site on which the fortress
now stood had at one period been a portion of the wilderness
that every where around was only terminated by the sands
on the lake shore: and, although time and the axe of the
pioneer had in some degree changed its features, still
there was no trace of that blended natural scenery that
so pleasingly diversified the vicinity of the sister
fort. Here and there, along the imperfect clearing, and
amid the dark and thickly studded stumps of the felled
trees, which in themselves were sufficient to give the
most lugubrious character to the scene, rose the rude
log cabin of the settler; but, beyond this, cultivation
appeared to have lost her power in proportion with the
difficulties she had to encounter. Even the two Indian
villages, L'Arbre-Croche and Chabouiga, situate about a
mile from the fort, with which they formed nearly an
equilateral triangle, were hid from the view of the
garrison by the dark dense forest, in the heart of which
they were embedded.

Lake ward the view was scarcely less monotonous; but it
was not, as in the rear, that monotony which is never
occasionally broken in upon by some occurrence of interest.
If the eye gazed long and anxiously for the white sail
of the well known armed vessel, charged at stated intervals
with letters and tidings of those whom time, and distance,
and danger, far from estranging, rendered more dear to
the memory, and bound more closely to the heart, it was
sure of being rewarded at last; and then there was no
picture on which it could love to linger so well as that
of the silver waves bearing that valued vessel in safety
to its wonted anchorage in the offing. Moreover, the
light swift bark canoes of the natives often danced
joyously on its surface; and while the sight was offended
at the savage, skulking among the trees of the forest,
like some dark spirit moving cautiously in its course of
secret destruction, and watching the moment when he might
pounce unnoticed on his unprepared victim, it followed,
with momentary pleasure and excitement, the activity and
skill displayed by the harmless paddler, in the swift
and meteor-like race that set the troubled surface of
the Huron in a sheet of hissing foam. Nor was this all.
When the eye turned wood-ward, it fell heavily, and
without interest, upon a dim and dusky point, known to
enter upon savage scenes and unexplored countries; whereas,
whenever it reposed upon the lake, it was with an eagerness
and energy that embraced the most vivid recollections of
the past, and led the imagination buoyantly over every
well-remembered scene that had previously been traversed,
and which must be traversed again before the land of the
European could be pressed once more. The forest, in a
word, formed, as it were, the gloomy and impenetrable
walls of the prison-house, and the bright lake that lay
before it the only portal through which happiness and
liberty could be again secured.

The principal entrance into the fort, which presented
four equal sides of a square, was from the forest; but,
immediately opposite to this, and behind the apartments
of the commanding officer, there was another small gate
that opened upon the lake shore; but which, since the
investment of the place, had been kept bolted and locked,
with a precaution befitting the danger to which the
garrison was exposed. Still, there were periods, even
now, when its sullen hinges were to be heard moaning on
the midnight breeze; for it served as a medium of
communication between the besieged and others who were
no less critically circumstanced than themselves.

The very day before the Indians commenced their simultaneous
attack on the several posts of the English, the only
armed vessel that had been constructed on these upper
lakes, serving chiefly as a medium of communication
between Detroit and Michilimackinac, had arrived with
despatches and letters from the former fort. A
well-concerted plan of the savages to seize her in her
passage through the narrow waters of the river Sinclair
had only been defeated by the vigilance of her commander;
but, ever since the breaking out of the war, she had been
imprisoned within the limits of the Huron. Laborious
indeed was the duty of the devoted crew. Several attempts
had been renewed by the Indians to surprise them; but,
although their little fleets stole cautiously and
noiselessly, at the still hour of midnight, to the spot
where, at the last expiring rays of twilight, they had
beheld her carelessly anchored, and apparently lulled
into security, the subject of their search was never to
be met with. No sooner were objects on the shore rendered
indistinct to the eye, than the anchor was silently
weighed, and, gliding wherever the breeze might choose
to carry her, the light bark was made to traverse the
lake, with every sail set, until dawn. None, however,
were suffered to slumber in the presumed security afforded
by this judicious flight. Every man was at his post; and,
while a silence so profound was preserved, that the noise
of a falling pin might have been heard upon her decks,
every thing was in readiness to repel an attack of their
enemies, should the vessel, in her course, come accidentally
in collision with their pigmy fleets. When morning broke,
and no sign of their treacherous foes was visible, the
vessel was again anchored, and the majority of the crew
suffered to retire to their hammocks, while the few whose
turn of duty it chanced to be, kept a vigilant look-out,
that, on the slightest appearance of alarm, their slumbering
comrades might again be aroused to energy and action.

Severe and harassing as had been the duty on board this
vessel for many months,--at one moment exposed to the
assaults of the savages, at another assailed by the
hurricanes that are so prevalent and so dangerous on the
American lakes,--the situation of the crew was even less
enviable than that of the garrison itself. What chiefly
contributed to their disquietude, was the dreadful
consciousness that, however their present efforts might
secure a temporary safety, the period of their fall was
only protracted. A few months more must bring with them
all the severity of the winter of those climes, and then,
blocked up in a sea of ice,--exposed to all the rigour
of cold,--all the miseries of hunger,--what effectual
resistance could they oppose to the numerous bands of
Indians who, availing themselves of the defenceless
position of their enemies, would rush from every quarter
to their destruction.

At the outset of these disheartening circumstances the
officer had summoned his faithful crew together, and
pointing out the danger and uncertainty of their position,
stated that two chances of escape still remained to them.
The first was, by an attempt to accomplish the passage
of the river Sinclair during some dark and boisterous
night, when the Indians would be least likely to suspect
such an intention: it was at this point that the efforts
of their enemies were principally to be apprehended; but
if, under cover of storm and darkness, they could accomplish
this difficult passage, they would easily gain the Detroit,
and thence pass into lake Erie, at the further extremity
of which they might, favoured by Providence, effect a
landing, and penetrate to the inhabited parts of the
colony of New York. The other alternative was,--and he
left it to themselves to determine,--to sink the vessel
on the approach of winter, and throw themselves into the
fort before them, there to await and share the destiny
of its gallant defenders.

With the generous enthusiasm of their profession, the
noble fellows had determined on the latter course. With
their officer they fully coincided in opinion, that their
ultimate hopes of life depended on the safe passage of
the Sinclair; for it was but too obvious, that soon or
late, unless some very extraordinary revolution should
be effected in the intentions of the Indians, the fortress
must be starved into submission. Still, as it was
tolerably well supplied with provisions, this gloomy
prospect was remote, and they were willing to run all
chances with their friends on shore, rather than desert
them in their extremity. The determination expressed by
them, therefore, was, that when they could no longer keep
the lake in safety, they would, if the officer permitted
it, scuttle the vessel, and attempt an entrance into the
fort, where they would share the fate of the troops,
whatever it might chance to be.

No sooner was this resolution made known, than their
young commander sought an opportunity of communicating
with the garrison, This, however, was no very easy task;
for, so closely was the fort hemmed in by the savages,
it was impossible to introduce a messenger within its
walls; and so sudden had been the cutting off of all
communication between the vessel and the shore, that the
thought had not even occurred to either commander to
establish the most ordinary intelligence by signal. In
this dilemma recourse was had to an ingenious expedient.
The dispatches of the officer were enclosed in one of
the long tin tubes in which were generally deposited the
maps and charts of the schooner, and to this, after having
been carefully soldered, was attached an inch rope of
several hundred fathoms in length: the case was then put
into one of the ship's guns, so placed as to give it the
elevation of a mortar; thus prepared, advantage was taken
of a temporary absence of the Indians to bring the vessel
within half a mile of the shore, and when the attention
of the garrison, naturally attracted by this unusual
movement, was sufficiently awakened, that opportunity
was chosen for the discharge of the gun; and as the
quantity of powder had been proportionably reduced for
the limited range, the tube was soon safely deposited
within the rampart. The same means were adopted in
replying; and one end of the rope remaining attached to
the schooner, all that was necessary was to solder up
the tube as before, and throw it over the ramparts upon
the sands, whence it was immediately pulled over her side
by the watchful mariners.

As the dispatch conveyed to the garrison, among other
subjects of interest, bore the unwelcome intelligence
that the supplies of the crew were nearly expended, an
arrangement was proposed by which, at stated intervals,
a more immediate communication with the former might be
effected. Whenever, therefore, the wind permitted, the
vessel was kept hovering in sight during the day, beneath
the eyes of the savages, and on the approach of evening
an unshotted gun was discharged, with a view of drawing
their attention more immediately to her movements; every
sail was then set, and under a cloud of canvass the course
of the schooner was directed towards the source of the
Sinclair, as if an attempt to accomplish that passage
was to be made during the night. No sooner, however,
had the darkness fairly set in, than the vessel was put
about, and, beating against the wind, generally contrived
to reach the offing at a stated hour, when a boat, provided
with muffled oars, was sent off to the shore. This ruse
had several times deceived the Indians, and it was on
these occasions that the small gate to which we have
alluded was opened, for the purpose of conveying the
necessary supplies.

The buildings of the fort consisted chiefly of block-houses,
the internal accommodations of which were fully in keeping
with their rude exterior, being but indifferently provided
with the most ordinary articles of comfort, and fitted
up as the limited resources of that wild and remote
district could supply. The best and most agreeably situated
of these, if a choice could be made, was that of the
commanding officer. This building rose considerably
above the others, and overhanging that part of the rampart
which skirted the shores of the Huron, commanded a full
view of the lake, even to its extremity of frowning and
belting forest.

To this block-house there were two staircases; the
principal leading to the front entrance from the
barrack-square, the other opening in the rear, close
under the rampart, and communicating by a few rude steps
with the small gate that led upon the sands. In the lower
part of this building, appropriated by the commanding
officer to that exclusive purpose, the official duties
of his situation were usually performed; and on the
ground-floor a large room, that extended from front to
rear of the block-house on one side of the passage, had
formerly been used as a hall of council with the Indian
chiefs. The floor above this comprised both his own
private apartments and those set apart for the general
use of the family; but, above all, and preferable from
their cheerful view over the lake, were others, which
had been reserved for the exclusive accommodation of Miss
de Haldimar. This upper floor consisted of two sleeping
apartments, with a sitting-room, the latter extending
the whole length of the block-house and opening immediately
upon the lake, from the only two windows with which that
side of the building was provided. The principal staircase
led into one of the bed-rooms, and both of the latter
communicated immediately with the sitting-room, which
again, in its turn, opened, at the opposite extremity,
on the narrow staircase that led to the rear of the
block-house.

The furniture of this apartment, which might be taken as
a fair sample of the best the country could afford, was
wild, yet simple, in the extreme. Neat rush mats, of an
oblong square, and fantastically put together, so as to
exhibit in the weaving of the several coloured reeds both
figures that were known to exist in the creation, and
those which could have no being save in the imagination
of their framers, served as excellent substitutes for
carpets, while rush bottomed chairs, the product of Indian
ingenuity also, occupied those intervals around the room
that were unsupplied by the matting. Upon the walls were
hung numerous specimens both of the dress and of the
equipments of the savages, and mingled with these were
many natural curiosities, the gifts of Indian chiefs to
the commandant at various periods before the war.

Nothing could be more unlike the embellishments of a
modern European boudoir than those of this apartment,
which had, in some degree, been made the sanctum of its
present occupants. Here was to be seen the scaly carcass
of some huge serpent, extending its now harmless length
from the ceiling to the floor--there an alligator, stuffed
after the same fashion; and in various directions the
skins of the beaver, the marten, the otter, and an
infinitude of others of that genus, filled up spaces that
were left unsupplied by the more ingenious specimens of
Indian art. Head-dresses tastefully wrought in the shape
of the crowning bays of the ancients, and composed of
the gorgeous feathers of the most splendid of the forest
birds--bows and quivers handsomely, and even elegantly
ornamented with that most tasteful of Indian decorations,
the stained quill of the porcupine; war clubs of massive
iron wood, their handles covered with stained horsehair
and feathers curiously mingled together--machecotis,
hunting coats, mocassins, and leggings, all worked in
porcupine quill, and fancifully arranged,--these, with
many others, had been called into requisition to bedeck
and relieve the otherwise rude and naked walls of the
apartment.

Nor did the walls alone reflect back the picture of savage
ingenuity, for on the various tables, the rude polish of
which was hid from view by the simple covering of green
baize, which moreover constituted the garniture of the
windows, were to be seen other products of their art.
Here stood upon an elevated stand a model of a bark canoe,
filled with its complement of paddlers carved in wood
and dressed in full costume; the latter executed with
such singular fidelity of feature, that although the
speaking figures sprung not from the experienced and
classic chisel of the sculptor but from the rude scalping
knife of the savage, the very tribe to which they belonged
could be discovered at a glance by the European who was
conversant with the features of each: then there were
handsomely ornamented vessels made of the birch bark,
and filled with the delicate sugars which the natives
extract from the maple tree in early spring; these of
all sizes, even to the most tiny that could well be
imagined, were valuable rather as exquisite specimens of
the neatness with which those slight vessels could be
put together, sewn as they were merely with strips of
the same bark, than from any intrinsic value they possessed.
Covered over with fantastic figures, done either in paint,
or in quill work artfully interwoven into the fibres of
the bark, they presented, in their smooth and polished
surface, strong evidence of the address of the savages
in their preparation of this most useful and abundant
produce of the country. Interspersed with these, too,
were numerous stands filled with stuffed birds, some of
which combined in themselves every variety and shade of
dazzling plumage; and numerous rude cases contained the
rarest specimens of the American butterfly, most of which
were of sizes and tints that are no where equalled in
Europe. One solitary table alone was appropriated to
whatever wore a transatlantic character in this wild and
museum-like apartment. On this lay a Spanish guitar, a
few pieces of old music, a collection of English and
French books, a couple of writing-desks, and, scattered
over the whole, several articles of unfinished needle-work.

Such was the apartment in which Madeline and Clara de
Haldimar were met at the moment we have selected for
their introduction to our readers. It was the morning of
that day on which the second council of the chiefs, the
result of which has already been seen, was held at Detroit.
The sun had risen bright and gorgeously above the adjacent
forest, throwing his golden beams upon the calm glassy
waters of the lake; and now, approaching rapidly towards
the meridian, gradually diminished the tall bold shadows
of the block-houses upon the shore. At the distance of
about a mile lay the armed vessel so often alluded to;
her light low hull dimly seen in the hazy atmosphere that
danced upon the waters, and her attenuated masts and
sloping yards, with their slight tracery of cordage,
recalling rather the complex and delicate ramifications
of the spider's web, than the elastic yet solid machinery
to which the lives of those within had so often been
committed in sea and tempest. Upon the strand, and close
opposite to the small gate which now stood ajar, lay one
of her boats, the crew of which had abandoned her with
the exception only of a single individual, apparently
her cockswain, who, with the tiller under his arm, lay
half extended in the stern-sheets, his naked chest exposed,
and his tarpaulin hat shielding his eyes from the sun
while he indulged in profound repose. These were the only
objects that told of human life. Everywhere beyond the
eye rested on the faint outline of forest, that appeared
like the softened tracing of a pencil at the distant
junction of the waters with the horizon.

The windows that commanded this prospect were now open;
and through that which was nearest to the gate, half
reclined the elegant, slight, and somewhat petite form
of a female, who, with one small and delicately formed
hand supporting her cheek, while the other played almost
unconsciously with an open letter, glanced her eye
alternately, and with an expression of joyousness, towards
the vessel that lay beyond, and the point in which the
source of the Sinclair was known to lie. It was Clara de
Haldimar.

Presently the vacant space at the same window was filled
by another form, but of less girlish appearance--one that
embraced all the full rich contour of the Medicean Venus,
and a lazy languor in its movements that harmonised with
the speaking outlines of the form, and without which the
beauty of the whole would have been at variance and
imperfect. Neither did the face belie the general expression
of the figure. The eyes, of a light hazel, were large,
full, and somewhat prominent--the forehead broad, high,
and redolent with an expression of character--and the
cheek rich in that peculiar colour which can be likened
only to the downy hues of the peach, and is, in itself,
a physical earnest of the existence of deep, but not
boisterous--of devoted, but not obtrusive affections;
an impression that was not, in the present instance,
weakened by the full and pouting lip, and the rather
heavy formation of the lower face. The general expression,
moreover, of a countenance which, closely analysed, could
not be termed beautiful, marked a mind at once ardent in
its conceptions, and steady and resolute in its silent
accomplishments of purpose. She was of the middle height.

Such was the person of Madeline de Haldimar; but attractive,
or rather winning, as were her womanly attributes, her
principal power lay in her voice,--the beauty, nay, the
voluptuousness of which nothing could surpass. It was
impossible to listen to the slow, full, rich, deep, and
melodious tones that fell trembling from her lips upon
the ear, and not feel, aye shudder, under all their
fascination on the soul. In such a voice might the
Madonna of Raphael have been supposed to offer up her
supplications from the gloomy precincts of the cloister.
No wonder that Frederick de Haldimar loved her, and loved
her with all the intense devotedness of his own glowing
heart. His cousin was to him a divinity whom he worshipped
in the innermost recesses of his being; and his, in
return, was the only ear in which the accents of that
almost superhuman voice had breathed the thrilling
confession of an attachment, which its very tones announced
could be deep and imperishable as the soul in which it
had taken root. Often in the hours that preceded the
period when they were to have been united heart and mind
and thought in one common destiny, would he start from
her side, his brain whirling with very intoxication, and
then obeying another wild impulse, rush once more into
her embrace; and clasping his beloved Madeline to his
heart, entreat her again to pour forth all the melody of
that confession in his enraptured ear. Artless and
unaffected as she was generous and impassioned, the fond
and noble girl never hesitated to gratify him whom alone
she loved; and deep and fervent was the joy of the soldier,
when he found that each passionate entreaty, far from
being met with caprice, only drew from the lips of his
cousin warmer and more affectionate expressions of her
attachment. Such expressions, coming from any woman,
must have been rapturous and soothing in the extreme;
but, when they flowed from a voice whose very sound was
melody, they acted on the heart of Captain de Haldimar
with a potency that was as irresistible as the love itself
which she inspired.

Such was the position of things just before the commencement
of the Indian war. Madeline de Haldimar had been for some
time on a visit to Detroit, and her marriage with her
cousin was to have taken place within a few days. The
unexpected arrival of intelligence from Michilimackinac
that her father was dangerously ill, however, retarded
the ceremony; and, up to the present period, their
intercourse had been completely suspended. If Madeline
de Haldimar was capable of strong attachment to her lover,
the powerful ties of nature were no less deeply rooted
in her heart, and commiseration and anxiety for her father
now engrossed every faculty of her mind. She entreated
her cousin to defer the solemnisation of their nuptials
until her parent should be pronounced out of danger, and,
having obtained his consent to the delay, instantly set
off for Michilimackinac, accompanied by her cousin Clara,
whom, she had prevailed on the governor to part with
until her own return. Hostilities were commenced very
shortly afterwards, and, although Major de Haldimar
speedily recovered from his illness, the fair cousins
were compelled to share the common imprisonment of the
garrison.

When Miss de Haldimar joined her more youthful cousin at
the window, through which the latter was gazing thoughtfully
on the scene before her, she flung her arm around her
waist with the protecting manner of a mother. The mild
blue eyes of Clara met those that were fastened in
tenderness upon her, and a corresponding movement on her
part brought the more matronly form of her cousin into
close and affectionate contact with her own.

"Oh, Madeline, what a day is this!" she exclaimed; "and
how often on my bended knees have I prayed to Heaven that
it might arrive! Our trials are ended at last, and
happiness and joy are once more before us. There is the
boat that is to conduct us to the vessel, which, in its
turn, is to bear me to the arms of my dear father, and
you to those of the lover who adores you. How beautiful
does that fabric appear to me now! Never did I feel half
the pleasure in surveying it I do at this moment."

"Dear, dear girl!" exclaimed Miss de Haldimar,--and she
pressed her closer and in silence to her heart: then,
after a slight pause, during which the mantling glow upon
her brow told how deeply she desired the reunion alluded
to by her cousin--"that, indeed, will be an hour of
happiness to us both, Clara; for irrevocably as our
affections have been pledged, it would be silly in the
extreme to deny that I long most ardently to be restored
to him who is already my husband. But, tell me," she
concluded, with an archness of expression that caused
the long-lashed eyes of her companion to sink beneath
her own, "are you quite sincere in your own case? I know
how deeply you love your father and your brothers, but
do these alone occupy your attention? Is there not a
certain friend of Charles whom you have some little
curiosity to see also?"

"How silly, Madeline!" and the cheek of the young girl
became suffused with a deeper glow; "you know I have
never seen this friend of my brother, how then can I
possibly feel more than the most ordinary interest in
him? I am disposed to like him, certainly, for the mere
reason that Charles does; but this is all."

"Well, Clara, I will not pretend to decide; but certain
it is, this is the last letter you received from Charles,
and that it contains the strongest recommendations of
his friend to your notice. Equally certain is it, that
scarcely a day has passed, since we have been shut up
here, that you have not perused and re-perused it half
a dozen times. Now, as I am confessedly one who should
know something of these matters, I must be suffered to
pronounce these are strong symptoms, to say the very
least. Ah! Clara, that blush declares you guilty.--But,
who have we here? Middleton and Baynton."

The eyes of the cousins now fell upon the ramparts
immediately under the window. Two officers, one apparently
on duty for the day, were passing at the moment; and, as
they heard their names pronounced, stopped, looked up,
and saluted the young ladies with that easy freedom of
manner, which, unmixed with either disrespect or effrontery,
so usually characterises the address of military men.

"What a contrast, by heaven!" exclaimed he who wore the
badge of duty suspended over his chest, throwing himself
playfully into a theatrical attitude, expressive at once
of admiration and surprise, while his eye glanced
intelligently over the fair but dissimilar forms of the
cousins. "Venus and Psyche in the land of the Pottowatamies
by all that is magnificent! Come, Middleton, quick, out
with that eternal pencil of yours, and perform your
promise."

"And what may that promise be?" asked Clara, laughingly,
and without adverting to the hyperbolical compliment of
the dark-eyed officer who had just spoken.

"You shall hear," pursued the lively captain of the guard.
"While making the tour of the ramparts just now, to visit
my sentries, I saw Middleton leaning most sentimentally
against one of the boxes in front, his notebook in one
hand and his pencil in the other. Curious to discover
the subject of his abstraction, I stole cautiously behind
him, and saw that he was sketching the head of a tall
and rather handsome squaw, who, in the midst of a hundred
others, was standing close to the gateway watching the
preparations of the Indian ball-players. I at once taxed
him with having lost his heart; and rallying him on his
bad taste in devoting his pencil to any thing that had
a red skin, never combed its hair, and turned its toes
in while walking, pronounced his sketch to be an absolute
fright. Well, will you believe what I have to add? The
man absolutely flew into a tremendous passion with me,
and swore that she was a Venus, a Juno, a Minerva, a
beauty of the first water in short; and finished by
promising, that when I could point out any woman who was
superior to her in personal attraction, he would on the
instant write no less than a dozen consecutive sonnets
in her praise. I now call upon him to fulfil his promise,
or maintain the superiority of his Indian beauty."

Before the laughing Middleton could find time to reply
to the light and unmeaning rattle of his friend, the
quick low roll of a drum was heard from the front. The
signal was understood by both officers, and they prepared
to depart.

"This is the hour appointed for the council," said Captain
Baynton, looking at his watch, "and I must be with my
guard, to receive the chiefs with becoming honour. How
I pity you, Middleton, who will have the infliction of
one of their great big talks, as Murphy would call it,
dinned into your ear for the next two hours at least!
Thank heaven, my tour of duty exempts me from that; and
by way of killing an hour, I think I shall go and carry
on a flirtation with your Indian Minerva, alias Venus,
alias Juno, while you are discussing the affairs of the
nation with closed doors. But hark! there is the assembly
drum again. We must be off. Come, Middleton, come.--Adieu!"
waving his hand to the cousins, "we shall meet at dinner."

"What an incessant talker Baynton is!" observed Miss de
Haldimar, as the young men now disappeared round an angle
of the rampart; "but he has reminded me of what I had
nearly forgotten, and that is to give orders for dinner.
My father has invited all the officers to dine with him
to day, in commemoration of the peace which is being
concluded. It will be the first time we shall have all
met together since the commencement of this cruel war,
and we must endeavour, Clara, to do honour to the feast."

"I hope," timidly observed her cousin, shuddering as she
spoke, "that none of those horrid chiefs will be present,
Madeline; for, without any affectation of fear whatever,
I feel that I could not so far overcome my disgust as to
sit at the same table with them. There was a time, it is
true, when I thought nothing of these things; but, since
the war, I have witnessed and heard so much of their
horrid deeds, that I shall never be able to endure the
sight of an Indian face again. Ah!" she concluded, turning
her eyes upon the lake, while she clung more closely to
the embrace of her companion; "would to Heaven, Madeline,
that we were both at this moment gliding in yonder vessel,
and in sight of my father's fort!"




CHAPTER XI.

The eyes of Miss de Haldimar followed those of her cousin,
and rested on the dark hull of the schooner, with which
so many recollections of the past and anticipations of
the future were associated in their minds. When they had
last looked upon it, all appearance of human life had
vanished from its decks; but now there was strong evidence
of unusual bustle and activity. Numerous persons could
be seen moving hastily to and fro, their heads just
peering above the bulwarks; and presently they beheld a
small boat move from the ship's side, and shoot rapidly
ahead, in a direct line with the well-known bearings of
the Sinclair's source. While they continued to gaze on
this point, following the course of the light vessel,
and forming a variety of conjectures as to the cause of
a movement, especially remarkable from the circumstance
of the commander being at that moment in the fort, whither
he had been summoned to attend the council, another and
scarcely perceptible object was dimly seen, at the distance
of about half a mile in front of the boat. With the aid
of a telescope, which had formed one of the principal
resources of the cousins during their long imprisonment,
Miss de Haldimar now perceived a dark and shapeless mass
moving somewhat heavily along the lake, and in a line
with the schooner and the boat. This was evidently
approaching; for each moment it loomed larger upon the
hazy water, increasing in bulk in the same proportion
that the departing skiff became less distinct: still, it
was impossible to discover, at that distance, in what
manner it was propelled. Wind there was none, not as much
as would have changed the course of a feather dropping
through space; and, except where the dividing oars of
the boatmen had agitated the waters, the whole surface
of the lake was like a sea of pale and liquid gold.

At length the two dark bodies met, and the men in the
boat were seen to lie upon their oars, while one in the
stem seemed to be in the act of attaching a rope to the
formless matter. For a few moments there was a cessation
of all movement; and then again the active and sturdy
rowing of the boatmen was renewed, and with an exertion
of strength even more vigorous than that they had previously
exhibited. Their course was now directed towards the
vessel; and, as it gradually neared that fabric, the rope
by which the strange-looking object was secured, could
be distinctly though faintly seen with the telescope. It
was impossible to say whether the latter, whatever it
might be, was urged by some invisible means, or merely
floated in the wake of the boat; for, although the waters
through which it passed ran rippling and foaming from
their course, this effect might have been produced by
the boat which preceded it. As it now approached the
vessel, it presented the appearance of a dense wood of
evergreens, the overhanging branches of which descended
close to the water's edge, and baffled every attempt of
the cousins to discover its true character. The boat had
now arrived within a hundred yards of the schooner, when
a man was seen to rise from its bows, and, putting both
his hands to his mouth, after the manner of sailors in
hailing, to continue in that position for some moments,
apparently conversing with those who were grouped along
the nearest gangway. Then were observed rapid movements
on the decks; and men were seen hastening aloft, and
standing out upon the foremast yards. This, however, had
offered no interruption to the exertions of the boatmen,
who still kept plying with a vigour that set even the
sail-less vessel in motion, as the foaming water, thrown
from their bending oar-blades, dashed angrily against
her prow. Soon afterwards both the boat and her prize
disappeared on the opposite side of the schooner, which,
now lying with her broadside immediately on a line with
the shore, completely hid them from the further view of
the cousins.

"Look!--Look!" said Clara, clinging sensitively and with
alarm to the almost maternal bosom against which she
reposed, while she pointed with her finger to another
dark mass that was moving through the lake in a circular
sweep from the point of wood terminating the clearing on
the right of the fort.

Miss de Haldimar threw the glass on the object to which
her attention was now directed. It was evidently some
furred animal, and presented all the appearance either
of a large water-rat or a beaver, the latter of which it
was pronounced to be as a nearer approach rendered its
shape more distinct. Ever and anon, too, it disappeared
altogether under the water; and, when it again came in
sight, it was always several yards nearer. Its course,
at first circuitous, at length took a direct line with
the stern of the boat, where the sailor who was in charge
still lay extended at his drowsy length, his tarpaulin
hat shading his eyes, and his arms folded over his
uncovered and heaving chest, while he continued to sleep
as profoundly as if he had been comfortably berthed in
his hammock in the middle of the Atlantic.

"What a large bold animal it is," remarked Clara, in die
tone of one who wishes to be confirmed in an impression
but indifferently entertained. "See how close it approaches
the boat! Mad that lazy sailor but his wits about him,
he might easily knock it on the head with his oar. It
is--it is a beaver, Madeline; I can distinguish its head
even with the naked eye."

"Heaven grant it may be a beaver," answered Miss de
Haldimar, in a voice so deep and full of meaning, that
it made her cousin startle and turn paler even than
before. "Nay, Clara, dearest, command yourself, nor give
way to what may, after all, prove a groundless cause of
alarm. Yet, I know not how it is, my heart misgives me
sadly; for I like not the motions of this animal, which
are strangely and unusually bold. But this is not all:
a beaver or a rat might ruffle the mere surface of the
water, yet this leaves behind it a deep and gurgling
furrow, as if the element had been ploughed to its very
bottom. Observe how the lake is agitated and discoloured
wherever it has passed. Moreover, I dislike this sudden
bustle on board the schooner, knowing, as I do, there is
not an officer present to order the movements now visibly
going forward. The men are evidently getting up the
anchor; and see how her sails are loosened, apparently
courting the breeze, as if she would fly to avoid some
threatened danger. Would to Heaven this council scene
were over; for I do, as much as yourself, dearest Clara,
distrust these cruel Indians!"

A significant gesture from her trembling cousin again
drew her attention from the vessel to the boat. The
animal, which now exhibited the delicate and glossy fur
of the beaver, had gained the stern, and remained stationary
within a foot of her quarter. Presently the sailor made
a sluggish movement, turning himself heavily on his side,
and with his face towards his curious and daring visitant.
In the act the tarpaulin hat had fallen from his eyes,
but still he awoke not. Scarcely had he settled himself
in his new position, when, to the infinite horror of the
excited cousins, a naked human hand was raised from
beneath the surface of the lake, and placed upon the
gunwale of the boat Then rose slowly, and still covered
with its ingenious disguise, first the neck, then the
shoulders, and finally the form, even to the midwaist,
of a dark and swarthy Indian, who, stooping low and
cautiously over the sailor, now reposed the hand that
had quitted the gunwale upon his form, while the other
was thrust searchingly into the belt encircling his waist.

Miss de Haldimar would have called out, to apprise the
unhappy man of his danger; but her voice refused its
office, and her cousin was even less capable of exertion
than herself. The deep throbbings of their hearts were
now audible to each; for the dreadful interest they took
in the scene, had excited their feelings to the most
intense stretch of agony. At the very moment, however,
when, with almost suspended animation, they expected to
see the knife of the savage driven into the chest of the
sleeping and unsuspecting sailor, the latter suddenly
started up, and, instinct with the full sense of the
danger by which he was menaced, in less time than we take
to describe it, seized the tiller of his rudder, the only
available instrument within his reach, and directing a
powerful blow at the head of his amphibious enemy, laid
him, without apparent life or motion, across the boat.

"Almighty God! what can this mean?" exclaimed Miss de
Haldimar, as soon as she could recover her presence of
mind. "There is some fearful treachery in agitation; and
a cloud now hangs over all, that will soon burst with
irresistible fury on our devoted heads. Clara, my love,"
and she conducted the almost fainting girl to a seat,
"wait here until I return. The moment is critical, and
my father must be apprised of what we have seen. Unless
the gates of the fort be instantly closed, we are lost."

"Oh, Madeline, leave me not alone," entreated the sinking
Clara. "We will go together. Perhaps I may be of service
to you below."

"The thought is good; but have you strength and courage
to face the dark chiefs in the council-room. If so, hasten
there, and put my father on his guard, while I fly across
the parade, and warn Captain Baynton of the danger."

With these words she drew the arm of her agitated cousin
within her own, and, rapidly traversing the apartment,
gained the bed-room which opened close upon the head of
the principal staircase. Already were they descending
the first steps, when a loud cry, that sent a thrill of
terror through their blood, was heard from without the
fort. For a moment Miss de Haldimar continued irresolute;
and leaning against the rude balustrade for support,
passed her hand rapidly across her brow, as if to collect
her scattered energies. The necessity for prompt and
immediate action was, however, evident; and she alone
was capable of exertion. Speechless with alarm, and
trembling in every joint, the unhappy Clara had now lost
all command of her limbs; and, clinging close to the side
of her cousin, by her wild looks alone betrayed
consciousness had not wholly deserted her. The energy of
despair lent more than woman's strength to Miss de
Haldimar. She caught the fainting girl in her arms,
retraced her way to the chamber, and depositing her burden
on the bed, emphatically enjoined her on no account to
move until her return. She then quitted the room, and
rapidly descended the staircase.

For some moments all was still and hushed as the waveless
air; and then again a loud chorus of shouts was heard
from the ramparts of the fort. The choked breathing of
the young girl became more free, and the blood rushed
once more from her oppressed heart to the extremities.
Never did tones of the human voice fall more gratefully
on the ear of mariner cast on some desert island, than
did those on that of the highly excited Clara. It was
the loud laugh of the soldiery, who, collected along the
line of rampart in front, were watching the progress of
the ball-players. Cheered by the welcome sounds, she
raised herself from the bed to satisfy her eye her ear
had not deceived her. The windows of both bed-chambers
looked immediately on the barrack square, and commanded
a full view of the principal entrance. From that at which
she now stood, the revived but still anxious girl could
distinctly see all that was passing in front. The ramparts
were covered with soldiers, who, armed merely with their
bayonets, stood grouped in careless attitudes--some with
their wives leaning on their arms--others with their
children upraised, that they might the better observe
the enlivening sports without--some lay indolently with
their legs overhanging the works--others, assuming
pugilistic attitudes, dealt their harmless blows at each
other,--and all were blended together, men, women, and
children, with that heedlessness of thought that told
how little of distrust existed within their breasts. The
soldiers of the guard, too, exhibited the same air of
calm and unsuspecting confidence; some walking to and
fro within the square, while the greater portion either
mixed with their comrades above, or, with arms folded,
legs carelessly crossed, and pipe in mouth, leant lazily
against the gate, and gazed beyond the lowered drawbridge
on the Indian games.

A mountain weight seemed to have been removed from the
breast of Clara at this sight, as she now dropped upon
her knees before the window, and raised her hands in
pious acknowledgment to Heaven.

"Almighty God, I thank thee," she fervently exclaimed,
her eye once more lighting up, and her cheek half suffused
with blushes at her late vague and idle fears; while she
embraced, at a single glance, the whole of the gladdening
and inspiriting scene.

While her soul was yet upturned whither her words had
gone before, her ears were again assailed by sounds that
curdled her blood, and made her spring to her feet as if
stricken by a bullet through the heart; or powerfully
touched by some electric fluid. It was the well-known
and devilish war-cry of the savages, startling the very
air through which it passed, and falling like a deadly
blight upon the spirit. With a mechanical and desperate
effort at courage, the unhappy girl turned her eyes below,
and there met images of death in their most appalling
shapes. Hurry and confusion and despair were every where
visible; for a band of Indians were already in the fort,
and these, fast succeeded by others, rushed like a torrent
into the square, and commenced their dreadful work of
butchery. Many of the terrified soldiers, without thinking
of drawing their bayonets, flew down the ramparts in
order to gain their respective block-houses for their
muskets: but these every where met death from the crashing
tomahawk, short rifle, or gleaming knife;--others who
had presence of mind sufficient to avail themselves of
their only weapons of defence, rushed down in the fury
of desperation on the yelling fiends, resolved to sell
their lives as dearly as possible; and for some minutes
an obstinate contest was maintained: but the vast
superiority of the Indian numbers triumphed; and although
the men fought with all the fierceness of despair, forcing
their way to the block-houses, their mangled corpses
strewed the area in every direction. Neither was the
horrid butchery confined to these. Women clinging to
their husbands for protection, and, in the recklessness
of their despair, impeding the efforts of the latter in
their self-defence--children screaming in terror, or
supplicating mercy on their bonded knees--infants clasped
to their parents' breasts,--all alike sunk under the
unpitying steel of the blood-thirsty savages. At the
guard-house the principal stand had been made; for at
the first rush into the fort, the men on duty had gained
their station, and, having made fast the barricades,
opened their fire upon the enemy. Mixed pele-mele as they
were with the Indians, many of the English were shot by
their own comrades, who, in the confusion of the moment,
were incapable of taking a cool and discriminating aim.
These, however, were finally overcome. A band of desperate
Indians rushed upon the main door, and with repeated
blows from their tomahawks and massive war-clubs, succeeded
in demolishing it, while others diverted the fire of
those within. The door once forced, the struggle was soon
over. Every man of the guard perished; and their scalpless
and disfigured forms were thrown out to swell the number
of those that already deluged the square with their blood.

Even amid all the horrors of this terrific scene, the
agonised Clara preserved her consciousness. The very
imminence of the danger endued her with strength to
embrace it under all its most disheartening aspects; and
she, whose mind had been wrought up to the highest pitch
of powerful excitement by the mere preliminary threatenings,
was comparatively collected under the catastrophe itself.
Death, certain death, to all, she saw was inevitable;
and while her perception at once embraced the futility
of all attempts at escape from the general doom, she
snatched from despair the power to follow its gloomy
details without being annihilated under their weight.

The confusion of the garrison had now reached its acme
of horror. The shrieks of women and the shrill cries of
children, as they severally and fruitlessly fled from
the death certain to overtake them in the end,--the
cursings of the soldiers, the yellings of the Indians,
the reports of rifles, and the crashings of tomahawks;--
these, with the stamping of human feet in the death
struggle maintained in the council-room below between
the chiefs and the officers, and which shook the block-house
to its very foundation, all mixed up in terrible chorus
together, might have called up a not inapt image of hell
to the bewildered and confounding brain. And yet the sun
shone in yellow lustre, and all Nature smiled, and wore
an air of calm, as if the accursed deed had had the
sanction of Heaven, and the spirits of light loved to
look upon the frightful atrocities then in perpetration.

In the first distraction of her spirit, Clara had utterly
lost all recollection of her cousin; but now that she
had, with unnatural desperation, brought her mind to bear
upon the fiercest points of the grim reality, she turned
her eye every where amid the scene of death in search of
the form of her beloved Madeline, whom she did not remember
to have seen cross the parade in pursuance of the purpose
she had named. While she yet gazed fearfully from the
window, loud bursts of mingled anguish and rage, that
were almost drowned in the fiercer yells with which they
were blended, ascended from the ground floor of the
block-house. These had hitherto been suppressed, as if
the desperate attack of the chiefs on the officers had
been made with closed doors. Now, however, there was an
evident outburst of all parties into the passage; and
there the struggle appeared to be desperately and fearfully
maintained. In the midst of that chaotic scene, the loud
and piercing shriek of a female rose far above the
discordant yell even of the savages. There was an instant
of pause, and then the crashing of a skull was heard,
and the confusion was greater than before, and shrieks,
and groans, and curses, and supplications rent the air.

The first single shriek came from Madeline de Haldimar,
and vibrated through every chord of the heart on which
it sank. Scarcely conscious of what she did, Clara,
quitting the window, once more gained the top of the
staircase, and at the extremity of her voice called on
the name of her cousin in the most piteous accents. She
was answered by a loud shout from the yelling band; and
presently bounding feet and screaming voices were heard
ascending the stairs. The terrified girl fancied at the
moment she heard a door open on the floor immediately
below her, and some one dart suddenly up the flight
communicating with the spot on which she stood. Without
waiting to satisfy herself, she rushed with all the
mechanical instinct of self-preservation back into her
own apartment. As she passed the bed-room window, she
glanced once more hastily into the area below, and there
beheld a sight that, filling her soul with despair,
paralysed all further exertion. A tall savage was bearing
off the apparently lifeless form of her cousin through
the combatants in the square, her white dress stained
all over with blood, and her beautiful hair loosened and
trailing on the ground. She followed with her burning
eyes until they passed the drawbridge, and finally
disappeared behind the intervening rampart, and then
bowing her head between her hands, and sinking upon her
knees, she reposed her forehead against the sill of the
window, and awaited unshrinkingly, yet in a state of
inconceivable agony, the consummation of her own unhappy
destiny.

The sounds of ascending feet were now heard in the passage
without; and presently, while the clangour of a thousand
demons seemed to ring throughout the upper part of the
building, a man rushed furiously into the room. The blood
of the young girl curdled in her veins. She mechanically
grasped the ledge of the window on which her aching head
still reposed, and with her eyes firmly closed, to shut
out from view the fiend whose sight she dreaded, even
more than the death which threatened her, quietly awaited
the blow that was to terminate at once her misery and
her life. Scarcely, however, had the feet of the intruder
pressed the sanctuary of her bedchamber, when the heavy
door, strongly studded with nails, was pushed rapidly
to, and bolt and lock were heard sliding into their
several sockets. Before Clara could raise her head to
discover the cause of this movement, she felt herself
firmly secured in the grasp of an encircling arm, and
borne hastily through the room. An instinctive sense of
something worse even than death now flashed across the
mind of the unhappy girl; and while she feared to unclose
her eyes, she struggled violently to disengage herself.

"Clara! dear Miss de Haldimar, do you not know me?"
exclaimed her supporter, while, placing her for a moment
on a seat, he proceeded to secure the fastenings of the
second door, that led from the bed-chamber into the larger
apartment.

Re-assured by the tones of a voice which, even in that
dreadful moment of trial and destruction, were familiar
to her ear, the trembling girl opened her eyes wildly
upon her protector. A slight scream of terror marked her
painful sense of the recognition. It was Captain Baynton
whom she beheld: but how unlike the officer who a few
minutes before had been conversing with her from the
ramparts. His fine hair, matted with blood, now hung
loosely and disfiguringly over his eyes, and his pallid
face and brow were covered with gore spots, the evident
spatterings from the wounds of others; while a stream
that issued from one side of his head attested he himself
had not escaped unhurt in the cruel melee. A skirt and
a lappel had been torn from his uniform, which, together
with other portions of his dress, were now stained in
various parts by the blood continually flowing from his
wound.

"Oh, Captain Baynton," murmured the fainting girl, her
whole soul sinking within her, as she gazed shudderingly
on his person, "is there no hope for us? must we die?"

"No, by Heaven, not while I have strength to save you,"
returned the officer, with energy. "If the savages have
not penetrated to the rear, we may yet escape. I saw the
postern open just now, on my passage round the rampart,
and the boat of the schooner upon the strand. Ha!" he
exclaimed, as he flew to the window, and cast his eye
rapidly below, "we are lost! The gate is still clear,
and not an Indian to be seen; but the coward sailor is
pulling for his life towards the vessel. But hold! another
boat is now quitting the ship's side. See, how manfully
they give themselves to the oars: in a few minutes they
will be here. Come, Clara, let us fly!" and again he
caught her in his arms, and bore her across the room.
"Hark, hear you not the exulting yellings of the monsters?
They are forcing the outer door: mark how they redouble
their efforts to break it open! That passed, but one more
barrier remains between us and inevitable and instant
death."

"And my cousin, my uncle!" shrieked the unhappy girl, as
the officer now bore her rapidly down the back staircase.

"Oh, ask me not!" exclaimed Baynton: "were I to linger
again on all I have witnessed, I should go mad. All, all
have perished! but, hark!"

A tremendous yell now bursting from the passage, announced
at once, the triumph of the savages in having effected
an entrance into the bed-room, and their disappointment
at finding their pursuit baulked by a second door.
Presently afterwards their heavy weapons were to be heard
thundering at this new obstacle, in the most furious
manner. This gave new stimulus to the exertions of the
generous officer. Each winding of the staircase was
familiar to him, and he now descended it with a rapidity
which, considering the burden that reposed against his
chest, could only have been inspired by his despair. The
flight terminated at a door that led directly upon the
rampart, without communicating with any of the passages
of the building; and in this consisted the principal
facility of escape: for, in order to reach them, the
savages must either make the circuit of the block-house,
or overtake them in the course they were now following.
In this trying emergency, the presence of mind of the
young officer, wounded and bleeding as he was, did not
desert him. On quitting the larger apartment above, he
had secured the outside fastenings of a small door at
the top of the stairs, and having now gained the bottom,
he took a similar precaution. All that remained was to
unclose the bolts of the ponderous door that opened upon
their final chance of escape: this was speedily done,
but here the feelings of the officer were put to a severe
test. A rude partition divided him from the fatal
council-room; and while he undid the fastenings, the
faint and dying groans of his butchered brother officers
rung in his ears, even at the moment that he felt his
feet dabbling in the blood that oozed through the
imperfectly closed planks of which the partition was
composed. As for Clara, she was insensible to all that
was passing. From the moment of the Indian yell, announcing
their entry into the bed-room, she had fainted.

The huge door came now creaking back upon its hinges,
when the sounds of the yet unfinished conflict in front,
which had hitherto been deadened in their descent through
the remote staircase, rang once more fiercely and
startlingly upon the ear. A single glance satisfied
Captain Baynton the moment for exertion was come, and
that the way to the lake shore, which, by some strange
oversight, both the Indians and the men had overlooked,
was perfectly clear. He clasped his unconscious burden
closer to his chest, and then, setting his life upon the
cast, hastened down the few steps that led to the rampart,
and dashed rapidly through the postern; in the next minute
he stood on the uttermost verge of the sands, unharmed
and onfollowed. He cast his eyes anxiously along the
surface of the lake; but such was the excitement and
confusion of his mind, produced by the horrid recollection
of the past scene, it was not until he had been abruptly
hailed from it, he could see a boat, at the distance of
about two hundred yards, the crew of which were lying on
their oars. It was the long boat of the schooner, which,
prevented from a nearer approach by a sand bar that ran
along the lake to a considerable extent, had taken her
station there to receive the fugitives. Two tall young
men in the dress, yet having little the mien, of common
sailors, were standing up in her stern; and one of these,
with evident anxiety in his manner, called on Baynton by
name to make the best of his way to the boat. At that
moment a loud and frantic yell came from the block-house
the latter had just quitted. In the wild impulse of his
excited feelings, he answered with a cheer of defiance,
as he turned to discover the precise point whence it
proceeded. The windows of the apartment so recently
occupied by the unhappy cousins, were darkened with savage
forms, who now pealed forth their mingled fury and
disappointment in the most terrific manner.

"Fly, fly, Baynton, or you are lost!" exclaimed the same
voice from the boat; "the devils are levelling from the
windows."

While he yet spake several shots came whizzing along the
waters, and a spent ball even struck the now rapidly
fleeing officer in the back; but the distance was too
great for serious injury. The guns of the savages had
been cut so short for their desperate enterprise, that
they carried little further than a horse pistol.

Again, in the desperation of his feelings, and heedless
of the danger he was drawing on himself and charge, the
officer turned fiercely round and shouted, at his utmost
lungs, a peal of triumph in the ears of his enemies.
Scarcely, however, had the sounds escaped his lips, when
two hideously painted Indians sprang through the postern,
and, silent as the spectres they resembled, rushed down
the sands, and thence into the lake. Loud shouts from
the windows above were again pealed forth, and from the
consternation visible on the features of those within
the boat, the nearly exhausted Baynton learnt all the
risk he incurred. Summoning all his strength, he now made
the most desperate efforts to reach his friends. The lake
was little more than knee deep from the shore to the bar,
but, encumbered as he was, the difficulty opposed to his
movements was immeasurably against him, and yet he seemed
generously resolved rather to perish than relinquish his
charge. Already were his pursuers, now closely followed
by a numerous band, within twenty yards of him, when the
two young men, each armed with a cutlass and pistol,
sprang from the boat upon the sand bar: as the Indians
came on they fired deliberately at them, but both missed
their aim. Encouraged by this failure, the fearless devils
dashed eagerly on, brandishing their gleaming tomahawks,
but littering not a sound. Already was the unfortunate
Baynton within a few feet of the bar, when he felt that
the savages were immediately upon him.

"Take, take, for God's sake take her!" he cried, as with
a desperate effort he threw the light form of the still
unconscious girl into the arms of one of the young men.
"My strength is quite exhausted, and I can do no more."

For the first time a yell burst from the lips of the
pursuing savages, as they saw him, to whom the guardianship
of the wretched Clara was now confided, suddenly spring
from the sand bar into the lake, and in a few rapid
strokes gain the side of the boat. Leaving the hapless
Baynton to be disposed of by his companion, the foremost
darted upon the bank, burning with disappointment, and
resolved to immolate another victim. For a moment he
balanced his tomahawk, and then, with the rapidity of
thought, darted it at the covered head of the youth who
still lingered on the bar. A well-timed movement of the
latter averted the blow, and the whizzing steel passed
harmlessly on. A gutteral "Ugh!" marked the disappointment
of the Indian, now reduced to his scalping-knife; but
before he could determine whether to advance or to retreat,
his opponent had darted upon him, and, with a single blow
from his cutlass, cleft his skull nearly asunder. The
next instantaneous purpose of the victor was to advance
to the rescue of the exhausted Baynton; but, when he
turned to look for him, he saw the mangled form of what
had once been that gallant and handsome officer floating,
without life or motion, on the blood-stained surface of
the Huron, while his fiendish murderer, calmly awaiting
the approach of his companions, held up the reeking scalp,
in triumph, to the view of the still yelling groups within
the block-house.

"Noble, generous, self-devoted fellow!" exclaimed the
youth, as he fixed his burning tearless eye for a moment
on the unfortunate victim; "even you, then, are not spared
to tell the horrid story of this butchery; yet is the
fate of the fallen far, far more enviable than that of
those who have survived this day." He then committed his
cutlass to its sheath; and, leaping into the deep water
that lay beyond the bar, was, in a few seconds, once more
in the stern of the boat.

Meanwhile, the numerous band, who followed their two
first fierce comrades into the lake, bounded rapidly
forward; and, so active were their movements, that, at
almost the same moment when the second of the youths had
gained his temporary place of refuge, they stood yelling
and screaming on the sand bar he had just quitted. Two
or three, excited to desperation by the blood they had
seen spilt, plunged unhesitatingly into the opposite
depths of the lake; and the foremost of these was the
destroyer of the ill-fated Baynton. With his bloody
scalping-knife closely clutched between his teeth, and
his tomahawk in his right hand, this fierce warrior
buffeted the waves lustily with one arm, and, noiselessly
as in the early part of his pursuit, urged his way towards
the boat. In the stern of this a few planks from the
schooner had been firmly lashed, to serve as a shield
against the weapons of the savages, and was so arranged
as to conceal all within while retiring from the shore.
A small aperture had, however, been bored for the purpose
of observing the movements of the enemy without risk.
Through this an eye was now directed, while only the
blades of the oars were to be seen projecting from the
boat's sides as they reposed in their rowlocks. Encouraged
by the seeming apathy and inertness of the crew, the
swimming savages paused not to consider of consequences,
but continued their daring course as if they had apprehended
neither risk nor resistance. Presently a desperate splash
was heard near the stern of the boat, and the sinuous
form of the first savage was raised above the gunwale,
his grim face looking devilish in its war-paint, and his
fierce eyes gleaming and rolling like fire-balls in their
sockets. Scarcely was he seen, however, when he had again
disappeared. A blow from the cutlass that had destroyed
his companion descended like lightning on his naked and
hairless head; and, in the agony of death, he might be
seen grinding his teeth against the knife which the
instinctive ferocity of his nature forbade his
relinquishing. A yell of fury burst from the savages on
the bar, and presently a shower of bullets ran whistling
through the air. Several were heard striking the rude
rampart in the stem; but, although the boat was scarcely
out of pistol-shot, the thickness of the wood prevented
all injury to those within. Another fierce yell followed
this volley; and then nearly a score of warriors, giving
their guns in charge to their companions, plunged furiously
into the water; and, with an air of the most infuriated
determination, leaped rather than swam along its surface.

"Now, then, my lads, give way," said he at the look-out;
"there are more than a dozen of the devils in full cry;
and our only chance is in flight! Ha! another here!" as,
turning to issue these directions, he chanced to see the
dark hand of a savage at that moment grasping the gunwale
of the boat, as if with a view to retard her movements
until the arrival of his companions.

A heavy blow from his cutlass accompanied these words.
The fingers, divided at their very roots, rolled to the
bottom of the boat, and the carcase of the savage dropped,
with a yell of anguish, far in the rear. The heavy
oar-blades of the seamen now made play, dashing the lake
away in sheets of foam; and, in less than five minutes,
the heads of the swimming savages were seen mingling like
so many rats upon the water, as they returned once more
in disappointment from their fruitless pursuit.




CHAPTER XII.

The sun had gone down, as he had risen, in all the
gloriousness of his autumnal splendour, and twilight was
now fast descending on the waters of the Huron. A slight
breeze was just beginning to make itself felt from the
land, the gradual rising of which was hailed by many an
anxious heart, as the schooner, which had been making
vain attempts to quit her anchorage during the day, now
urged her light bows through the slightly curling element.
A death-like silence, interrupted only by the low gruff
voice of a veteran seaman, as he issued, in technical
language, the necessary orders for the management of the
vessel, prevailed every where along her decks. The dress
and general appearance of this individual announced him
for a petty officer of the royal service; and it was
evident, from the tone of authority with which he spoke,
he was now in the enjoyment of a temporary command. The
crew, consisting of about thirty souls, and chiefly
veterans of the same class, were assembled along the
gangways, each man wearing a brace of pistols in the
belt, which, moreover, secured a naked cutlass around
his loins; and these now lingered near the several guns
that were thrown out from their gloomy looking ports, as
if ready for some active service. But, although the arming
of these men indicated hostile preparation, there was
none of that buoyancy of movement and animation of feature
to be observed, which so usually characterise the
indomitable daring of the British sailor. Some stood
leaning their heads pensively on their hands against the
rigging and hammocks that were stowed away along the
bulwarks, after the fashion of war ships in boarding;
others, with arms tightly folded across their chests,
spirted the tobacco juice thoughtfully from their closed
teeth into the receding waters; while not a few gazed
earnestly and despondingly on the burning fort in the
distance, amid the rolling volumes of smoke and flame
from which, ever and anon, arose the fiendish yell of
those who, having already sacked, were now reducing it
to ashes. Nor was this the only object of their attention.
On the sand bank alluded to in our last chapter were to
be dimly seen through the growing dusk, the dark outlines
of many of the savages, who, frantic with rage at their
inability to devote them to the same doom, were still
unwilling to quit a spot which approached them nearest
to the last surviving objects of their enmity. Around
this point, were collected numerous canoes, filled also
with warriors; and, at the moment when the vessel, obeying
the impulse given by her flowing sails, glided from her
anchorage, these followed, scudding in her wake, and made
a show of attacking her in the stern. The sudden yawing
of the schooner, however, in bringing her tier of bristling
ports into view, had checked the ardour of the pursuing
fleet; and the discharge of a single gun, destroying in
its course three of their canoes, and carrying death
among those who directed them, had driven them back, in
the greatest hurry and confusion, to their yelling and
disappointed comrades.

The after-deck of the schooner presented a different,
though not less sombre and discouraging, scene. On a pile
of mattresses lay the light and almost inanimate form of
Clara de Haldimar; her fair and redundant hair overshadowing
her pallid brow and cheek, and the dress she had worn at
the moment of her escape from the fort still spotted with
the blood of her generous but unfortunate preserver.
Close at her side, with her hands clasped in his, while
he watched the expression of deep suffering reflected
from each set feature, and yet with the air of one
pre-occupied with some other subject of painful interest,
sat, on an empty shot-box, the young man in sailor's
attire, whose cutlass had performed the double service
of destroying his own immediate opponent, and avenging
the death of the devoted Baynton. At the head of the rude
couch, and leaning against a portion of the schooner's
stern-work, stood his companion, who from delicacy appeared
to have turned away his eyes from the group below, merely
to cast them vacantly on the dark waters through which
the vessel was now beginning to urge her course.

Such was the immediate position of this little party,
when the gun fired at the Indians was heard booming
heavily along the lake. The loud report, in exciting
new sources of alarm, seemed to have dissipated the spell
that had hitherto chained the energies and perception of
the still weak, but now highly excited girl.

"Oh, Captain Baynton, where are we?" she exclaimed,
starting up suddenly in terror, and throwing her arms
around him, who sat at her side, as if she would have
clung to him for protection. "Is the horrid massacre not
finished yet? Where is Madeline? where is my cousin? Oh,
I cannot leave the fort without her."

"Ha! where indeed is she?" exclaimed the youth, as he
clasped his trembling and scarcely conscious burden to
his chest, "Almighty God, where is she?" Then, after a
short pause, and in a voice of tender but exquisite
anguish, "Clara, my beloved sister, do you not know me?
It is not Baynton but your brother, who now clasps you
to his breaking heart."

A deluge of tears was the only answer of the wretched
girl. They were the first she had shed,--the first marks
of consciousness she had exhibited. Hitherto her heart
had been oppressed; every fibre of her brain racked almost
to bursting, and filled only with ghastly flitting visions
of the dreadful horrors she had seen perpetrated, she
had continued, since the moment of her fainting in the
block-house, as one bereft of all memory of the past, or
apprehension of the present. But now, the full outpouring
of her grief relieved her overcharged brain and heart,
even while the confused images floating before her
recollection acquired a more tangible and painful character.
She raised herself a moment from the chest on which her
burning head reposed, looked steadfastly in the face that
hung anxiously over her own, and saw indeed that it was
her brother. She tried to speak, but she could not utter
a word, for the memory of all that had occurred that
fatal morning rushed with mountain weight upon her fainting
spirit, and again she wept, and more bitterly than before.

The young man pressed her in silence to his chest; nor
was it until she had given full vent to her grief, that
he ventured to address her on the subject of his own
immediate sorrows. At length, when she appeared somewhat
more calm, he observed, in a voice broken by emotion,--

"Clara, dearest, what account have you to give me of
Madeline? Has she shared the fate of all? or have you
reason to suppose her life has been spared?"

Another burst of tears succeeded to these questions, for
coupled with the name of her cousin arose all the horrid
associations connected with her loss. As soon, however,
as she could compose herself, she briefly stated all she
had witnessed of the affair, from the moment when the
boat of the schooner was seen to meet the strange looking
object on the water, to that when she had beheld her
ill-fated cousin borne away apparently lifeless in the
arms of the tall Indian by whom she had been captured.

During this recital, the heart of Captain de Haldimar,
--for it was he,--beat audibly against the cheek that
still reposed on his breast; but when his sister had, in
a faint voice, closed her melancholy narrative with the
manner of her cousin's disappearance, he gave a sudden
start, uttering at the same time an exclamation of joy.

"Thank God, she still lives!" he cried, pressing his
sister once more in fondness to his heart; then turning
to his companion, who, although seemingly abstracted,
had been a silent and attentive witness of the scene,--"By
Heaven! Valletort, there is yet a hope. She it was indeed
whom we saw borne out of the fort, and subsequently made
to walk by the cruel Indian who had charge of her."

"Valletort, Valletort," murmured Clara unconsciously,
her sick heart throbbing with she knew not what. "How is
this, Frederick?--Where, then, is Captain Baynton? and
how came you here?"

"Alas! Clara, poor Baynton is no more. Even at the moment
when he confided the unconscious burden, preserved at
the peril of his own life, to the arms of Sir Everard
here, he fell beneath the tomahawk of a pursuing savage.
Poor, noble, generous Baynton," he continued, mournfully;
"to him, indeed, Clara, are you indebted for your life;
yet was it purchased at the price of his own."

Again the pained and affectionate girl wept bitterly,
and her brother proceeded:--

"The strange object you saw on the lake, my love, was
nothing more than a canoe disguised with leafy boughs,
in which Sir Everard Valletort and myself, under the
guidance of old Francois of the Fleur de lis, whom you
must recollect, have made the dangerous passage of the
Sinclair in the garb of duck hunters,--which latter we
had only discarded on reaching the schooner, in order to
assume another we conceived better suited to our purpose.
Alas!" and he struck his hand violently against his brow,
"had we made directly for the shore without touching the
vessel at all, there might have been time to save those
we came to apprise of their danger. Do you not think
there was, Valletort?"

"Most assuredly not," returned his companion, anxious to
remove the impression of self-blame that existed in the
mind of Captain de Haldimar. "From the moment of our
reaching the schooner, which lay immediately in our route,
to that when the shout was raised by the savages as they
rushed into the fort, there was scarcely an interval of
three minutes; and it would have required a longer period
to have enabled us even to gain the shore."

"Thank, thank you for that!" exclaimed the officer,
drawing himself up with the air of one who breathes more
freely. "I would not, for the wealth and honours of the
united world, that such a cause for self-reproach should
linger on my mind. By Heaven! it would break my heart to
think we had been in time to save them, and yet had lost
the opportunity through even one moment of neglect." Then
turning once more to his sister,--"Now, Clara, that I
see you in safety, I have another sacred duty to perform.
I must leave you, but not alone."

"What mean you, Frederick?" exclaimed his agitated sister,
clinging more closely to his embrace. "Scarce have we
met, and you talk of leaving me. Oh, whither would you
go?"

"Surely, my love," and he spoke half reproachfully,
although with tenderness of accent, "my meaning must be
obvious. But what do I say? You know it not. Madeline
still lives. We saw her, as we pulled towards the shore,
led across the clearing in the direction of Chabouiga.
Hear me, then: the canoe in which we came is still towing
from the vessel's stern, and in this do I mean to embark,
without further loss of time, in search of her who is
dearer to me than existence. I know," he pursued with
emotion, "I have but little hope of rescuing, even if I
do succeed in finding her; but at least I shall not have
to suffer under the self-reproach of having neglected
the only chance that now lies within my reach. If she
be doomed to die, I shall then have nothing left to live
for--except you, Clara," he concluded, after a pause,
pressing the weeping girl to his heart, as he remarked
how much she seemed pained by the declaration.

Having placed his sister once more on the couch, and
covered her with a cloak that had been brought from the
cabin of the unfortunate commander, Captain de Haldimar
now rose from his humble seat, and grasping the hand of
his friend,--

"Valletort," he said, "I commit this dear girl to your
keeping. Hitherto we have been equal sharers in an
enterprise having for its object the preservation of our
mutual companions and friends. At present, interests of
a more personal nature occupy my attention; and to these
must I devote myself alone. I trust you will reach Detroit
in safety; and when you have delivered my unfortunate
sister into the arms of her father, you will say to him
from me, I could not survive the loss of that being to
whom I had sworn eternal fidelity and affection. Francois
must be my only companion on this occasion. Nay," he
continued, pointing to his sister, in answer to the rising
remonstrance of the baronet," will you desert the precious
charge I have confided to your keeping? Recollect,
Valletort," in a more subdued tone, "that besides yourself,
there will be none near her but rude and uneducated
sailors;--honest men enough in their way, it is true;
but not the sort of people to whom I should like to
confide my poor sister."

The warm and silent pressure by Sir Everard of his hand
announced his participation in the sentiment; and Captain
de Haldimar now hastened forward to apprise the Canadian
of his purpose. He found mine host of the Fleur de lis
seated in the forecastle of the schooner; and with an
air of the most perfect unconcern discussing a substantial
meal, consisting of dried uncooked venison, raw onions,
and Indian corn bread, the contents of a large bag or
wallet that lay at his feet. No sooner, however, had the
impatient officer communicated his design, asking at the
same time if he might expect his assistance in the
enterprise, than the unfinished meal of the Canadian was
discontinued, the wallet refilled, and the large greasy
clasp-knife with which the portions had been separated,
closed and thrust into a pocket of his blanket coat.

"I shall go to de devils for you, capitaine, if we must,"
he said, as he raised his portly form, not without effort,
from the deck, slapping the shoulder of the officer at
the same time somewhat rudely with his hand. There was
nothing, however, offensively familiar in this action.
It expressed merely the devotedness of heart with which
the man lent himself to the service to which he had
pledged himself, and was rather complimentary than
otherwise to him to whom it was directed. Captain de
Haldimar took it in the light in which we have just shown
it, and he grasped and shook the rough hand of the Canadian
with an earnestness highly gratifying to the latter.

Every thing was now in readiness for their departure.
The canoe, still covered with its streaming boughs, was
drawn close up to the gangway, and a few hasty necessaries
thrown in. While this was passing, the officer had again
assumed his disguise of a duck-hunter; and he now appeared
in the blanket costume in which we introduced Sir Everard
and himself at the opening of this volume.

"If I may be so bold as to put in my oar, your
honour,"--said the veteran boatswain, on whom the command
of the schooner had fallen, as he now advanced, rolling
his quid in his mouth, and dropping his hat on his
shoulder, while the fingers of the hand which clutched
it were busily occupied in scratching his bald head,--"if
I may be so bold, there is another chap here as might
better sarve your honour's purpose than that 'ere fat
Canadian, who seems to think only of stuffing while his
betters are fasting."

"And who is he, my good Mullins?" asked Captain de
Haldimar.

"Why, that 'ere Ingian, your honour, as began the butchery
in the fort, yonder, by trying to kill Jack Fuller while
he laid asleep this morning, waiting for the captain in
the jolly boat. Jack never seed him coming, until he felt
his black hands upon his throat, and then he ups with
the tiller at his noddle, and sends him floundering across
the boat's thwarts like a flat-fish. I thought, your
honour, seeing as how I have got the command of the
schooner, of tying him up to the mainmast, and giving
him two or three round dozen or so, and then sending him
to swim among the mascannungy with a twenty-four pound
shot in his neckcloth; but, seeing as how your honour is
going among them savages agin, I thought as how some good
might be done with him, if your honour could contrive to
keep him in tow, and close under your lee quarter, to
prevent his escape."

"At all events," returned the officer, after a pause of
some moments, during which he appeared to be deliberating
on his course of action, "it may be dangerous to keep
him in the vessel; and yet, if we take him ashore, he
may be the means of our more immediate destruction;
unless, indeed, as you observe, he can be so secured as
to prevent the possibility of escape: but that I very
much doubt indeed. Where is he, Mullins? I should like
to see and question him."

"He shall be up, your honour, in no time," replied the
sailor, once more resuming his hat, and moving a pace or
two forward. Then addressing two or three men in the
starboard gangway in the authoritative tone of command:
--"Bear a hand there, my men, and cast off the lashings
of that black Ingian, and send him aft, here, to the
officer."

The order was speedily executed. In a few minutes the
Indian stood on the quarter-deck, his hands firmly secured
behind, and his head sunk upon his chest in sullen
despondency. In the increasing gloom in which objects
were now gradually becoming more and more indistinct, it
was impossible for Captain de Haldimar to distinguish
his features; but there was something in the outline of
the Indian's form that impressed him with the conviction
he had seen it before. Advancing a pace or two forward,
he pronounced, in an emphatic and audible whisper, the
name of "Oucanasta!"

The Indian gave an involuntary start,--uttered a deep
interjectional "Ugh!"--and, raising his head from his
chest, fixed his eye heavily on the officer.

"Hookynaster!--Hookynaster!" growled Jack Fuller, who
had followed to hear the examination of his immediate
captive: "why, your honour, that jaw-breaking name reminds
me as how the chap had a bit of a paper when I chucked
him into the jolly boat, stuck in his girdle. It was
covered over with pencil-marks, as writing like; but all
was rubbed out agin, except some such sort of a name as
that."

"Where is it?--what have you done with it?" hastily asked
Captain de Haldimar.

"Here, in my backy-box, your honour. I kept it safe,
thinking as how it might sarve to let us know all about
it afterwards."

The sailor now drew from the receptacle just named a
dirty piece of folded paper, deeply impregnated with the
perfume of stale and oft rechewed quids of coarse tobacco;
and then, with the air of one conscious of having "rendered
the state some service," hitched up his trowsers with
one hand, while with the other he extended the important
document.

To glance his eye hurriedly over the paper by the light
of a dark lanthorn that had meanwhile been brought upon
deck, unclasp his hunting-knife, and divide the ligatures
of the captive, and then warmly press his liberated hands
within his own, were, with Captain de Haldimar, but the
work of a minute.

"Hilloa! which the devil way does the wind blow now?"
muttered Fuller, the leer of self-satisfaction that had
hitherto played in his eye rapidly giving place to an
air of seriousness and surprise; an expression that was
not at all diminished by an observation from his new
commander.

"I tell you what it is, Jack," said the latter,
impressively; "I don't pretend to have more gumption (qu.
discernment?) than my messmates; but I can see through
a millstone as clear as any man as ever heaved a lead in
these here lakes; and may I never pipe boatswain's whistle
again, if you 'ar'n't, some how or other, in the wrong
box. That 'ere Ingian's one of us!"

The feelings of Captain de Haldimar may easily be
comprehended by our readers, when, on glancing at the
paper, he found himself confirmed in the impression
previously made on him by the outline of the captive's
form. The writing, nearly obliterated by damp, had been
rudely traced by his own pencil on a leaf torn from his
pocket-book. In the night of his visit to the Indian
encampment, and at the moment when, seated on the fatal
log, Oucanasta had generously promised her assistance in
at least rescuing his betrothed bride. They were addressed
to Major de Haldimar, and briefly stated that a treacherous
plan was in contemplation by the enemy to surprise the
fort, which the bearer, Oucanasta (the latter word strongly
marked), would fully explain, if she could possibly obtain
access within. From the narrative entered into by Clara,
who had particularly dwelt on the emotions of fear that
had sprung up in her own and cousin's heart by the sudden
transformation of a supposed harmless beaver into a fierce
and threatening savage, he had no difficulty in solving
the enigma.

The Indian, in whom he had recognised the young chief
who had saved him from the fury of Wacousta, had evidently
been won upon by his sister to perform a service which
offered so much less difficulty to a warrior than to a
woman; and it was clear, that, finding all other means
of communication with the fort, undiscovered by his own
people, impracticable, he had availed himself of the
opportunity, when he saw the boat waiting on the strand,
to assume a disguise so well adapted to insure success.
It was no remarkable thing in these countries, to see
both the beaver and the otter moving on the calm surface
of the waters in the vicinity of the forts, even at
mid-day; and occupied as the Indians were, to a man, at
that moment with their cruel projects, it was by no means
likely that their attention should have been called off
from these to so apparently unimportant a circumstance.
The act that had principally alarmed the cousins, and
terminated, as we have seen, in the sudden attack of the
sailor, had evidently been misconceived. The hand supposed
to be feeling for the heart of the sluggard, had, in all
probability, been placed on his chest with a view to
arouse him from his slumber; while that which was believed
to have been dropped to the handle of his knife, was, in
reality, merely seeking the paper that contained the
announcement, which, if then delivered, might have saved
the garrison.

Such was the tram of conjecture that now passed through
the mind of the officer; but, although he thus placed
the conduct of the Indian in the most favourable light,
his impression received no confirmation from the lips of
the latter. Sullen and doggedly, notwithstanding the
release from his bonds, the Ottawa hung his head upon
his chest, with his eyes riveted on the deck, and
obstinately refused to answer every question put to him
by his deliverer. This, however, did not the less tend
to confirm Captain de Haldimar in his belief. He knew
enough of the Indian character, to understand the indignant
and even revengeful spirit likely to be aroused by the
treatment the savage had met with in return for his
intended services. He was aware that, without pausing to
reflect on the fact, that the sailor, ignorant of his
actual purpose, could merely have seen in him an enemy
in the act of attempting his life, the chief would only
consider and inflame himself over the recollection of
the blow inflicted; and that, with the true obstinacy of
his race, he would rather suffer captivity or death
itself, than humble the haughty pride of his nature, by
condescending to an explanation with those by whom he
felt himself so deeply injured. Still, even amid all his
own personal griefs,--griefs that rendered the boon in
some degree at present valueless,--Captain de Haldimar
could not forget that the youth, no matter by what motive
induced, had rescued him from a dreadful death on a
previous occasion. With the generous warmth, therefore,
of a grateful mind, he now sought to impress on the Indian
the deep sense of obligation under which he laboured;
explaining at the same time the very natural error into
which the sailor had fallen, and concluding with a
declaration that he was free to quit the vessel in the
canoe in which he himself was about to take his departure
for the shore, in search of her whom his sister had
pledged herself, at all hazards, to save.

The address of the officer, touching and impressive as
language ever is that comes from the heart, was not
altogether without effect on the Indian. Several times
he interrupted him with a short, quick, approving "Ugh!"
and when he at length received the assurance that he was
no longer a prisoner, he raised his eyes rapidly, although
without moving his head, to the countenance of his
deliverer. Already were his lips opening to speak for
the first time, when the attention of the group around
him was arrested by his giving a sudden start of surprise.
At the same moment he raised his head, stretched his
neck, threw forward his right ear, and, uttering a loud
and emphatic "Waugh!" pointed with his finger over the
bows of the vessel.

All listened for upwards of a minute in mute suspense;
and then a faint and scarcely distinguishable sound was
heard in the direction in which he pointed. Scarcely had
it floated on the air, when a shrill, loud, and prolonged
cry, of peculiar tendency, burst hurriedly and eagerly
from the lips of the captive; and, spreading over the
broad expanse of water, seemed to be re-echoed back from
every point of the surrounding shore.

Great was the confusion that followed this startling yell
on the decks of the schooner. "Cut the hell-fiend
down!"--"Chuck him overboard!"--" We are betrayed!"--"Every
man to his gun!"--"Put the craft about!" were among the
numerous exclamations that now rose simultaneously from
at least twenty lips, and almost drowned the loud shriek
that burst again from the wretched Clara de Haldimar.

"Stop, Mullins!--Stop, men!" shouted Captain de Haldimar,
firmly, as the excited boatswain, with two or three of
his companions,--now advanced with the intention of
laying violent hands on the Indian. "I will answer for
his fidelity with my life. If he be false, it will be
time enough to punish him afterwards; but let us calmly
await the issue like men. Hear me," he proceeded, as he
remarked their incredulous, uncertain, and still threatening
air;--"this Indian saved me from the tomahawks of his
tribe not a week ago; and, even now, he has become our
captive in the act of taking a note from me to the
garrison, to warn them of their danger. But for that
slumbering fool," he added, bitterly, pointing to Fuller,
who slept when he should have watched, "your fort would
not now have been what it is,--a mass of smoking ruins.
He has an ocean of blood upon his soul, that all the
waters of the Huron can never wash out!"

Struck by the vehement manner of the officer, and the
disclosure he had just made, the sailors sunk once more
into inaction and silence. The boatswain alone spoke.

"I thought, your honour, as how Jack Fuller, who sartainly
is a better hand at a snooze than a watch, had got into
a bit of a mess; but, shiver my topsails, if I think it's
quite fair to blame him, neither, for clapping a stopper
on the Indian's cable, seeing as how he was expecting a
shot between wind and water. Still, as the chap turns
out to be an honest chap, and has saved your honour's
life above all, I don't much care if I give him a grip.
Here, old fellow, tip us your fist!"

Without seeming to understand that his cry had been
productive of general and intense alarm throughout the
vessel, the Indian had viewed the sudden rushing of the
crew towards him as an act of gratuitous hostility; and,
without shrinking from the attack, had once more resumed
his original air of dogged sullenness. It was evident
to him, from the discussion going on, that some violence,
about to be offered to his person, had only been prevented
by the interference of the officer. With the natural
haughtiness of his savage nature, he therefore rejected
the overtures of the sailor, whose hand he had observed
among the first that were raised against him.

While the angry boatswain was yet rolling his quid within
his capacious jaws, racking his brain for the strongest
language wherein to give vent to his indignation, his
ears were suddenly saluted by a low but clear "Hilloa!"
from the bows of the schooner.

"Ay, ay!" was the brief response.

"There's something approaching us ahead, on the weather
fore quarter," continued the same voice, which was that
of the man on the look-out.

The most profound silence now pervaded the deck. Every
individual, including Captain de Haldimar and the boatswain,
had flown to the gangway of the quarter indicated, which
was on the side occupied by the couch of the unfortunate
Clara. Presently a noise like that produced by a single
paddle rapidly dividing the water, was heard by every
anxious ear. Night had long since thrown her mantle over
the surrounding waste; and all that was to be seen
reflected from the bosom of the gradually darkening river,
scarcely ruffled by the yet incipient breeze, were a few
straggling stars, that here and there appeared in the
overcast heavens. Hitherto no object could be discovered
by those who strained their eyes eagerly and painfully
through the gloom, although the sounds became at each
moment more distinct. It was evident the party, guided
by the noise of the rippling waves that fell from the
bows of the schooner, was enabled to follow up a course,
the direct clue to which had been indicated by the cry
of the captive. Every man stood near his gun on the
starboard battery, and the burning matches hanging over
their respective buckets ready to be seized at a moment's
notice. Still, but little room for apprehension existed;
for the practised ear of the mariners could easily tell
that a solitary bark alone approached; and of one, or
even ten, they entertained no fear. Suddenly, as the
course of the vessel was now changed a point to windward,
--a movement that brought her bows more off the adjacent
shore,--the sound, in which all were more or less
interested, was heard not more than twenty yards off,
and in a line with the gangway at which the principal of
the crew were assembled. In the next minute the low hull
of a canoe came in sight, and then a tall and solitary
human figure was seen in the stern, bending alternately
to the right and to the left, as the paddle was rapidly
and successively changed from side to side.

Another deep and exulting "Ugh!" was now heaved from the
chest of the Indian, who stood calmly on the spot on
which he had first rested, while Fuller prepared a coil
of rope to throw to the active steersman.

"Avast there, Jack!" growled the boatswain, addressing
the sailor; "how can the stranger keep the bow of his
craft on, and grapple at the same time? Just pass one
end of the coil round your waist, and swing yourself
gently into her."

The head of the canoe was now near enough for the purpose.
The sailor did as he was desired, having previously
divested himself of his shoes, and leaping forward,
alighted on what appeared to be a bundle of blankets
stowed away in her bows. No sooner, however, had he
secured his footing, when with another desperate leap,
and greatly to the astonishment of all around, he bounded
once more to the deck of the schooner, his countenance
exhibiting every mark of superstitious alarm. In the act
of quitting the canoe he had spurned her violently several
feet from the vessel, which the silent steersman was
again making every effort to reach.

"Why what the devil's the matter with you now?" exclaimed
the rough boatswain, who, as well as Captain de Haldimar
and the rest of the crew, had quitted the gangway to
learn the cause of this extraordinary conduct. "Damn my
eyes, if you ar'n't worse scared than when the Ingian
stood over you in the jolly boat."

"Scared, ay, to be sure I am; and so would you be scared
too, if you'd a see'd what I did. May I never touch the
point at Portsmouth, if I a'n't seen her ghost."

"Where?--whose ghost?--what ghost?--what do you mean,
Jack?" exclaimed several of the startled men in the same
breath, while the superstitious dread so common to mariners
drew them still closer in the group that encircled their
companion.

"Well, then, as I am a miserable sinner," returned the
man, impressively, and in a low tone, "I see'd in the
bows of the canoe,--and the hand that steered it was not
made of flesh and blood like ours,--what do you think?--
the ghost of---"

Captain de Haldimar heard no more. At a single bound he
had gained the ship's side. He strained his eyes anxiously
over the gangway in search of the canoe, but it was gone.
A death-like silence throughout the deck followed the
communication of the sailor, and in that pause the sound
of the receding boat could be heard, not urged, as it
had approached, by one paddle, but by two. The heart of
the officer throbbed almost to suffocation; and his
firmness, hitherto supported by the manly energies of
his nature, now failed him quite. Heedless of appearances,
regardless of being overlooked, he tottered like a drunken
man for support against the mainmast. For a moment or
two he leant his head upon his hand, with the air of one
immersed in the most profound abstraction; while the
crew, at once alarmed and touched by the deep distress
into which this mysterious circumstance had plunged him,
stood silently and respectfully watching his emotion.
Suddenly he started from his attitude of painful repose,
like one awaking from a dream, and demanded what had
become of the Indian.

Every one looked around, but the captive was nowhere to
be seen. Search was made below, both in the cabin and in
the fore decks, and men were sent up aloft to see if he
had secreted himself in the rigging; but all returned,
stating he was nowhere to be found. He had disappeared
from the vessel altogether, yet no one knew how; for he
had not been observed to stir from the spot on which he
had first planted himself. It was plain, however, he had
joined the mysterious party in the canoe, from the fact
of the second paddle having been detected; and all attempts
at pursuit, without endangering the vessel on the shallows,
whither the course of the fugitives was now directed,
was declared by the boatswain utterly impracticable.

The announcement of the Indian's disappearance seemed to
put the climax to the despair of the unfortunate officer.
--"Then is our every hope lost!" he groaned aloud, as,
quitting the centre of the vessel, he slowly traversed
the deck, and once more stood at the side of his no less
unhappy and excited sister. For a moment or two he remained
with his arms folded across his chest, gazing on the dark
outline of her form; and then, in a wild paroxysm of
silent tearless grief, threw himself suddenly on the edge
of the couch, and clasping her in a long close embrace
to his audibly beating heart, lay like one bereft of all
sense and consciousness of surrounding objects.




END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.







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End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of Wacousta (Volume II), by John Richardson